3 Ways Your Small Business Might Benefit from Artificial Intelligence Technology
Artificial intelligence has taken the world by storm, and the advent of emerging technologies has many small businesses thinking about how they can utilize it to cut costs, improve operations, and eliminate unnecessary or repetitive tasks. Let’s take a look at three ways your business can leverage artificial intelligence to the best of its ability.
We should first start by outlining what we mean by “artificial intelligence.” In the business environment, AI and, on a more broad scale, machine learning, is when automated technology performs tasks normally accomplished by human workers with an emphasis on taking data and applying it to specific scenarios in which it can learn or identify trends. It is expected that the AI industry will exceed $390 billion by the year 2025, so it’s safe to say that this technology is not going anywhere. Your business has much to gain by thinking about how it might apply it in the near future.
Here are just a couple of ideas for how you might be able to use AI for your business.
Streamline Certain Tasks and Operations
Businesses often have a lot on their plate. Between managing resources and maintaining operations, it can often feel like an overwhelming balancing act where spending too much time on one thing leads to not spending enough on another. Some tasks require more time and focus than others by virtue of how complex and thorough the work must be, such as vetting new hires or assisting customers in need.
Consider some of the more lengthy or time-consuming tasks out there. Most businesses need to search for top-tier talent to keep themselves competitive, which means sifting through mounds of resumes, cover letters, and other documents for job applications for qualified candidates. This process can be automated through the use of artificial intelligence. Another aspect that can be automated and improved through the use of AI is customer support. Customers often ask the same questions, and if AI systems can learn from and build their foundation of knowledge based on interactions with consumers or clients, they can provide your organization’s employees with more time to focus on innovative new ideas and workflows.
Improve Data-Driven Analytics
All businesses collect data in some way, shape, or form, but the way that this data is used will vary by industry. In fact, some organizations don’t fully utilize the data available to them; either they collect the data and don’t know what to do with it, or they collect the data and don’t have the tools to adequately act with it. Either way, AI gives businesses the opportunity to make full use of this important asset.
AI allows your organization to use any data it collects to its advantage through predictive modeling. By extrapolating data for trends, AI is able to take its best guess at what the future could hold for your business. Through the use of AI, organizations can leverage available data to make educated decisions about their futures; this ensures that the organization can move forward in an informed way that is both in line with its business model and progress-driven.
Cut Costs and Increase Efficiency
We have all heard the horror stories related to AI and how it is stealing jobs away from qualified human beings, but this is the wrong mindset to approach this technology with. While it might be concerning to laborers in unskilled industries, the truth of the matter is that most workers can stand to benefit from AI to a certain extent. Let’s reframe this perspective; instead of saying “AI is going to steal my job,” you can instead say “AI will make my job easier.” Suddenly, the prospect of implementing an automated system is not so scary.
When looked at through this lens, it’s easy to see the value that AI presents and the opportunities it poses for not just simple tasks, but more complex ones as well. Even if AI cannot fully automate more complex tasks, the fact alone that it can help make certain aspects of them easier to manage should be reason enough for celebration, as any technology that can make running your business and managing your workload easier should be given full consideration. And you know what they say… less time wasted means more profit!
Now that you know about some of the ways that businesses can use AI to their advantage, the only question remaining is this: how are YOU going to leverage artificial intelligence? What ideas do you have for this exciting technology? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
The Components of a Successful Business Continuity Strategy
With the future so uncertain, it’s no surprise that many organizations are turning their focus toward business continuity. There are a lot of components that go into making a successful continuity plan, and if you want to optimize your chances of survival in the face of a disaster, you need to ensure that all your bases are covered.
First, let’s take a look at what business continuity means, particularly in a post-pandemic world.
Defining Business Continuity
A lot of things can go wrong when you run a business. From natural disasters like electrical storms, fires, floods, and so on, to not-so-natural disasters like hacking attacks, ransomware, and user error, there are a lot of ways that your business’ operations could be disrupted for extended periods of time. At its core, the business continuity plan is a list of steps that must be taken following such a disaster to keep downtime and losses to an acceptable minimum. It should be noted that business continuity and disaster recovery, while two sides of the same coin, are not one and the same. Disaster recovery is simply one of the many components of a successful business continuity strategy.
The Primary Components of Your Strategy
Before identifying where you should invest your time and effort when planning for business continuity, it’s best practice to run what is called a business impact analysis, which helps to identify critical functions of your organization. Basically, you take a look at which operations would be most costly during a disaster scenario; this helps you shore them up with your business continuity strategy.
The various parts of your business continuity strategy will generally fall into one of these three categories, based on what the above critical functions are for your specific industry:
- Digital resources: Most businesses rely on data of some form or another, whether it is stored on-premises or in the cloud. Making sure that you retain access to that data in the worst of times will be crucial. Data backup systems can aid in this process and make certain that your digital assets are not lost forever.
- Human resources: Your business cannot function without its employees, so you need to account for them, too. Establishing a chain of command and guaranteeing that you stay in touch with any clients or vendors will be critical to ensuring business continuity.
- Physical resources: This includes things such as your office space, physical assets like your hardware solutions, and anything else of the sort that’s needed for your employees to do their jobs in an effective way. Especially if you rely on manufacturers or a supply chain, ensuring that this is not broken is critical to success in the face of a disaster.
At the end of the day, your business continuity strategy should be accessible to anyone who will need it, along with a list of necessary equipment, the locations of your data backups, and contact information for additional resources as needed.
Reinforcing Business Continuity
A business continuity strategy is only effective if it can be feasibly pulled off and it meets your expectations. Imagine going through a disaster scenario only to discover that your business continuity strategy simply does not return the expected results, or perhaps it doesn’t execute well at all. This is why it is important to routinely test and adjust your strategy; you don’t want to be caught unawares. Here are some details to look for when testing your business continuity plan:
- Expected downtime: Does your plan meet the expected minimum amount of downtime and the costs associated with it?
- Ease of implementation: Is your plan able to kick off without a hitch?
- Feedback from staff: Have you listened to key staff who might be able to identify opportunities for improvement?
Need a Hand Getting Started?
The world of business continuity can be a bit daunting, but in today’s business climate, you cannot afford to be passive with it. Point North networks, Inc., can equip you with the tools needed to ensure minimal downtime and disruption in the face of a disaster. To learn more, reach out to us at 651-234-0895.
Password Best Practices from the National Institute of Standards and Technology
Passwords are probably the most important part of keeping accounts secure. That’s why it is so important to follow industry best practices when creating them. Today, we’ll take a look at the standards outlined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in creating the best and most secure passwords.
What Is NIST?
For years, NIST has been the predominant organization in the establishment of password creation standards. They continuously change their advised practices to meet with the current cybersecurity demands. They recently updated their guidelines so we thought we would go over what strategies they suggest, to give you an idea of what makes a secure password.
New Guidelines
Many corporations are currently using the NIST guidelines and all Federal agencies are expected to utilize them. Let’s go through their newest password guidelines step by step.
#1 – Longer Passwords are Better than More Complicated Ones
For years, it was preached that the more complicated the password, the more secure the account. Today’s guidelines refute that notion. NIST suggests that the longer the password, the harder it is to decrypt. What’s more, they suggest that organizations that require new passwords meet a certain criteria of complexity (letters, symbols, changes of case) actually make passwords less secure.
The reasoning behind this is two-fold. First, most users, in an attempt to complicate their passwords will either make them too complicated (and forget them) or they will take the cursory step of adding a one or an exclamation point to the end of a password, which doesn’t complicate the password as much, if at all. Secondly, the more complex a user makes a password, the more apt they are to use the same password for multiple accounts, which of course, is not a great idea.
#2 – Get Rid of the Resets
Many organizations like to have their staff reset their password every month or few months. This strategy is designed to give them the peace of mind that if a password were compromised that the replacement password would lock unauthorized users out after a defined set of time. What NIST suggests is that it actually works against your authentication security.
The reason for this is that if people have to set passwords up every few weeks or months, they will take less time and care on creating a password that will work to keep unwanted people out of the business’ network. Moreover, when people do change their password, they typically keep a pattern to help them remember them. If a previous password has been compromised, there is a pretty good chance that the next password will be similar, giving the attacker a solid chance of guessing it quickly.
#3 – Don’t Hurt Security by Eliminating Ease of Use
One fallacy many network administrators have is that if they remove ease of use options like showing a password while a user types it or allowing for copy and pasting in the password box that it is more likely that the password will be compromised. In fact, the opposite is true. Giving people options that make it easier for them to properly authenticate works to keep unauthorized users out of an account.
#4 – Stop Using Password Hints
One popular way systems were set up was to allow them to answer questions to get into an account. This very system is a reason why many organizations have been infiltrated. People share more today than ever before and if all a hacker needs to do is know a little personal information about a person to gain access to an account, they can come across that information online; often for free.
#5 – Limit Password Attempts
If you lock users out after numerous attempts of entering the wrong credentials, you are doing yourself a service. Most times people will remember a password, and if they don’t they typically have it stored somewhere. Locking users out of an account, at least for a short period of time is a good deterrent from hackers that use substitution codes to try and guess a user’s credentials.
#6 – Use Multi-factor Authentication
At Point North Networks, Inc., we urge our clients to use multi-factor or two-factor authentication on every account that allows them to. According to NIST they want users to be able to demonstrate at least two of three authentication measures before a successful login. They are:
- “Something you know” (like a password)
- “Something you have” (like a mobile device)
- “Something you are” (like a face or a fingerprint)
It stands to reason that if you can provide two out of three of those criteria, that you belong accessing the system or data that is password protected.
Security has to be a priority for your business, and password creation has to be right up there with the skills everyone should have. If you would like to talk to one of our IT experts about password management and how we can help your business improve its authentication security, give us a call today at 651-234-0895.
Hackers Spark Major Gas Crisis Throughout the Southern U.S.
You’ve probably heard by now, a Russia-based hacking collective by the name of DarkSide targeted Colonial Pipeline, a company that supplies nearly 45 percent of the fuel used along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, with a ransomware attack. Not only does this hack have an effect on fuel prices and availability, it highlights just how vulnerable much of the nation’s energy infrastructure is. Let’s discuss the details of the hack and the raging discussion about cybersecurity that’s happening as a result.
The Facts Surrounding the Hack
On Friday, May 7, 2020, Colonial Pipeline had to shut down operations after a ransomware attack threatened to spread into critical systems that control the flow of fuel. Almost immediately gas prices started to jump in the region, averaging around six cents per gallon this week. The pipeline, which runs from Texas to New York, transports an estimated 2.5 million barrels of fuel per day. The shutdown has caused some fuel shortages and caused panic buying in some southern U.S. states. Administrators said that the ransomware that caused the precautionary shutdown did not get into core system controls but also mentions that it will take days for the supply chain to get back up and running as usual again.
Who Is DarkSide?
The hacker group DarkSide is a relatively new player, but it has set its sights high. The group claims to be an apolitical hacking group that is only out to make money. In fact, they put out the following statement after the FBI started a full-scale investigation of the group:
“Our goal is to make money, and not creating problems for society. From today we introduce moderation and check each company that our partners want to encrypt to avoid social consequences in the future.”
DarkSide seems to be a professionally-run organization that deals in ransomware. They follow what is called the Ransomware-as-a-Service model, where hackers develop and sell their ransomware to parties looking to conduct operations like the one that stymied Colonial Pipeline. They also are known for their “double extortion” methodology, where they threaten to take the data they encrypt public if their demands aren’t met. Their ransom demands are paid through cryptocurrency and have only been in the six-to-seven figure range.
What’s interesting is that the group seems to have its own code of ethics, stating that they will never attack hospitals, schools, non-profits, or government agencies. Either way, their current attempt at extortion has made a mess for millions of Americans.
Problems Securing Infrastructure
Even before the world completely changed, cybersecurity analysts were recommending that more had to be done to protect aging utility systems around the world. Back in 2015, hackers took down a power grid in Ukraine and left 250,000 people without electricity, and it caused some movement to improve system security, but nowhere near as much as is required. Now, with the push to use renewable energy and more efficient systems of deployment, more technology has been added to these systems than at any time in history. These smart systems, coupled with a resounding lack of security, means that the next cybersecurity catastrophe is just around the corner.
The pandemic didn’t help matters. Systems that are being updated are increasingly being connected to public and private networks for remote access. All it takes is one vulnerability and hackers can exploit and take control of systems that affect the lives of millions of Americans. Hackers causing a gas shortage is scary, but hackers taking down power grids or other systems that the public depends on to live could be looked at as an act of war.
The scariest part is it seems as though no system is immune to these problems. According to CISA, the Colonial Pipeline hack is the fourth major cyberattack of the past year. You have the Solar Winds breach that allowed Russian Intelligence to infiltrate thousands of corporate and government servers; an attack where Chinese nationals rented servers inside the U.S. to invade a still unnumbered amount of Microsoft Exchange servers; and a still-unknown hacker that hijacked a tool called Codecov to deploy spyware on thousands of systems.
Microsoft is widely renowned as being at the forefront of cybersecurity and Solar Winds is itself a cybersecurity company. This tells you a little bit about where we are about protecting essential systems. It’s not a good situation.
While you can’t always worry about cybersecurity everywhere you are, you have to prioritize it for your business. If you want to talk to one of our security experts about your cybersecurity, give Point North Networks, Inc., a call today at 651-234-0895.
A Company’s Boss Needs to Take the Lead on Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is critically important to businesses of all sizes, which means that all businesses need to put forth a concerted effort to ensure their security is locked down. This, in turn, will require someone to take point on developing a cybersecurity-focused internal culture.
Who better to do this than the boss?
Here’s the deal: it doesn’t matter how advanced your cybersecurity solutions are, or how recently your team updated their passwords. No amount of cybersecurity safeguards will protect you if your team members aren’t behaving in a security-conscious way.
The Importance of a Cybersecurity-Centric Company Culture
Have you ever heard of social proof? While it is more often a term associated with marketing, describing how people can be convinced by testimonials from their peers and contemporaries, it can play a significant role in shaping your workplace environment… although this can be a double-edged sword.
Basically, the culture around your cybersecurity will reinforce itself over time.
Let’s say that John Doe gets a job with a company, and is busy getting set up with network access and permissions to everything he will need to do his job. With a poor cybersecurity culture in place, his coworkers may suggest he just repeat his username as his password, or take some similar shortcut. If the whole department insists that this practice is okay and accepted, it’s likely that John will do just that. What’s more, old Johnny boy will likely amplify this message to Jane, the next person hired, and so on and so forth.
However, if we take this same scenario and change just one detail—the message that the team shares with their new coworker—the outcome could be much, much different. If company policies outline the expectation that passwords will meet a set of best practices and the employees emphasize this in their day-to-day, it is far more likely that they will be upheld.
The Boss is the One Who Sets the Tone in the Business
So, apart from turning your employee handbook into a glorified cybersecurity dream journal, what can you do to infuse security awareness into your day-to-day? There are a few things, actually:
- In addition to implementing password policies, you can enforce them by only permitting passwords that meet these policies to be accepted.
- In addition to establishing access controls, you need to audit your protections at regular intervals to identify any overlooked weak points, civilly calling attention to these shortfalls as you encounter them.
- In addition to adding security training into your onboarding processes, you should periodically have your employees go through a refresher training course on occasion.
As the business’ leader, it is on the boss to take the lead in all things. Security is not where you want to make an exception. Point North Networks, Inc., is here to facilitate your improvements to your cybersecurity. Reach out to us today by calling 651-234-0895 and find out the many ways that we can assist you in improving your business—whether it’s regarding your security, your processes, or any other IT considerations.
How to Get the Most Out of Your VoIP System
By now you’ve heard of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), the telephone system that runs through your Internet connection rather than a phone line. VoIP can save your business up to 60 percent off your current phone bill. What many people don’t know—even ones that utilize a VoIP platform—is that there are many available options that can have major benefits for your business. Companies that have VoIP typically only use between one-third and one-half of the available options. Today, we wanted to showcase five VoIP features that you may not be taking advantage of.
Call Screening
Of course, nobody will ever really admit that they are screening their calls, but most people are guilty of it. Whether you just don’t cop to it or not, it can keep you from having to have conversations that you just don’t have time for. With VoIP, you can send the call to voicemail, disconnect it without giving the caller the chance to fill up your email with solicitation, or you can push it to your mobile phone. Either way, you have complete control.
Auto Attendant
One useful feature is the auto attendant. It’s basically a simple automated receptionist that can facilitate call transfers, send callers to voicemail, or even provide basic information and support. A lot of businesses completely forego having an actual receptionist and use the call attendant feature as a call hub to direct calls. It’s extremely useful.
Find Me, Follow Me
Some members of your staff are always on the move and it can be difficult for clients and other people to get them on the phone in their office. The find me, follow me feature is a sophisticated form of call routing. It provides a person to go where they are needed and still get the calls that come through for them by calling multiple phones at one time.
Hold Music
Many VoIP platforms don’t just make the people you put on hold listen to the same ol’ elevator music, you can pick your own. This may be a completely aesthetic feature, but it can be a benefit and fit in nicely with the company culture you are trying to cultivate. Insert marketing messages, promotions, and helpful advice for your callers.
Do Not Disturb
This is a feature that is not used enough. If you want to stay productive you need to be able to eliminate distractions. Nothing is more distracting than your phone blowing up constantly. In fact, studies have shown that people take over ten minutes to get back into the flow after a call. If you want to shut it down and focus on the task at hand, using the do not disturb feature can help you get in the headspace you need to be truly productive.
With other features like text messaging and video conferencing, VoIP can add a lot of value to your business’ roster of communications tools. If you would like to learn more about VoIP or other productivity-boosting tools, give us a call today at 651-234-0895.
Building Trust in Business with a Consistent Approach
For a worker, one of the most maddening things that can happen at work is when there is a lack of consistency with the leadership. It can throw a figurative wrench into everything that you are trying to accomplish. Some examples of people not being consistent include:
- Not doing something when they say they will.
- Not showing up to meetings on time or at all.
- Creating business processes without announcing changes and then expecting people to know what to do without being briefed.
- Promising new services without checking if the company can deliver.
- Guaranteeing success without a plan to do so.
Inconsistency can cause turnover, inefficiency, poor customer service and support, and many other poor results. It affects workers, customers, and even potential customers. Today, we thought we’d take a look at how consistency is important.
Consistency Shows Respect
We might as well start at the most troubling part of being inconsistent when you run a business: it shows a complete lack of responsibility. As a business owner, your staff has to take your lead and your customers make commitments based on your word. If you are just flying by the seat of your pants in every situation, the lack of consistency will be apparent.
Many people take an inconsistent approach, especially one that shows a lack of interest in the issue at hand, to be a giant slap in the face. The best leaders are the ones that lead by example. Doing the right things for your staff and for your customers will be reciprocated at a very high percentage. Building trust has to be on the short list of any organizational leader’s to-do list, so setting the tone and being consistent can really help establish trust.
Consistency Creates a Culture of Accountability
When you work with other people, there has to be some accountability taken by each member of the team, especially in a management capacity. If you are managing people and they have inconsistent results, you wouldn’t say they were doing a good job, would you? The same goes for when you are managing people. If you bring inconsistent leadership, you will get mixed results, inflated costs, and a general lack of productivity.
Consistency Allows for Useful Analysis
One often overlooked reason to prioritize a consistent approach is that if things are done consistently then you can get reliable metrics for any analysis you are going to do. It may take some time to build consistency with new platforms, but after some time (at least three months), if the issue you are trying to measure has been carried out consistently, after a pretty short period of time it will give you the notion if it is working or if it isn’t.
Consistency Defines Your Business
Nowadays businesses do more to manage their reputation than at any other period in business history. They have to, they are exposed in ways older businesses weren’t. If customers and workers get a fair shake and find that your business’ processes are carried out consistently, the negativity will be muted. Consider a Major League Baseball Umpire. His job is to call balls and strikes, and he may have a wider or taller strike zone, but if he constantly calls the same pitches a strike, hitters won’t complain too much. Your business can still be innovative and do things outside the box, but if you change things repeatedly with no warning, people are going to get frustrated.
How consistent is your business? What do you think the most important part about being consistent is? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below and return to our blog for more great business and technology advice.
3 Ways to Improve Communication In Your Small Business
When we say “improve communications” you probably are expecting an article about telephone systems or which video conferencing platform works the best. Normally, you’d be right, but today we decided to briefly go over four ways that you can foster better communications between management and their employees inside of your business.
We know that good, effective communication can be tricky, but if you can set up constructive give-and-take, your business is sure to benefit from it. Let’s take a look at four ways your business can create an environment where communication actually helps your business.
Create a Collaborative Company Culture
A collaborative company culture is one where people trust others to pick them up when they need help to produce the best products and services possible. It’s true that every business relies on the efforts of their employees. Why then are there often such efforts taken to keep them out of the loop? Sure, the staff doesn’t need to know everything in order to do their jobs, but in order to build the relationships necessary to create trust, being transparent about how things are going and the goals you have for the business is a solid practice.
If everyone that works toward a singular goal understands where the organization stands, they will not only be open to being helpful toward others inside the business, they are more likely to provide feedback that is a key resource to better business processes.
Listen to Learn
Business is often fast-paced and doesn’t offer a lot of time for reflection. This is why when employees talk, managers have to listen. The truth is that people aren’t adept at listening. Everyone has their own responsibilities and sometimes the thought of taking more on is impossible. For decision makers, it can be difficult to listen to superfluous information that doesn’t have anything to do with getting the job done.
Well, it’s your job to listen.
If you want to have the kind of business where communication is a major part of what you do, you better listen. Most of those superfluous gripes are not actionable, sure, but if you just don’t listen to what your staff is saying and go about dictating what needs to be done without taking any of their suggestions or comments or complaints seriously, you are going to be in for a tough time. You can’t make everyone happy, but what you can do is listen to the people you depend on if only to ascertain their perspective.
Don’t Rely on Meetings
If you are going to make an announcement to the staff, a staff meeting is the best way to do so. You can gather everyone there either in the conference room or via video conference and make announcements. If you are looking to enhance communications, however, meetings are some of the worst settings for communication between people. Firstly, people never say what they are thinking as to not rock the boat or cause arguments, so they are much more conservative in a meeting setting.
If you want more effective communications, choose settings that will keep people from putting their defenses up. That means smaller meetings or one-on-ones. You’ll get more out of many smaller chats than you ever will out of a large-scale meeting. Managers should always encourage feedback and accept it with grace, and check in on those they manage from time to time. Your managers should also expect to be checked in on by those above them too.
Solid communications can boost productivity and the morale of your entire organization. What do you think? Do you have any other tips that can help knock down barriers and create a better flow of information within your business? Leave your comments below and reach out to us at 651-234-0895 to talk with us about finding the technology to improve your business’ communications.
Patch Management and How It Can Save Your Business
Software runs our lives. It certainly runs your business. What if I told you that this essential cog in your business’ operations can also be the thing that is most susceptible to being exposed by outside attackers? It’s true, software can be the very door that hackers and scammers need to get into your network and run amok. Let’s take a look at the unsung service that is patch management and why it is so important.
For the first years of managed IT services, patch management was more of a value proposition than it was a crucial part of the offering. Today, the script has officially flipped and it is no longer perfunctory, but crucial. This is because threats have changed. In fact, they’ve changed for both the business and its IT service provider.
MSPs and IT departments use software known as Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) tools to cover all the ends of a business’ IT infrastructure and network. As the core software that allows IT experts to keep a watchful eye over their domain, IT providers were horrified to learn that hackers with a keen eye for opportunity, hacked into unpatched RMM software and were able to not only able to access that company’s information, but other companies that were being managed by the platform. These hackers exploited these vulnerabilities and injected malware into all managed systems. We don’t have to tell you, that’s not a good look for any service provider.
That’s just an anecdote, sure, but it goes to show what can happen if your software isn’t patched and updated properly.
Challenges of Patch Management in 2021
Managing software updates isn’t a very easy process anyway, but with all that has happened recently, patch management has become extremely difficult. With growing complexities of remote workers, cloud platforms, the immense amount of software that an organization uses, and the rapid-fire updates being developed, it isn’t as simple as signing in and updating eight files once a month. You really have to stay on top of it to ensure that your network and infrastructure are properly protected.
A big challenge for IT teams concerning patch management is actually downtime. When software is patched, systems typically need to reboot. This can be a real hindrance to productivity if it is done while someone is working. Most IT administrators won’t make people restart in the middle of the workday, but then they have to remember to reboot these machines when they are not in use. Forgetting is just like not patching the system in the first place, so coordinating patches and reboots at a time when people aren’t working is its own challenge.
It’s a fact that most vulnerabilities that are exploited are over six months old. This tells you that somewhere along the way that either patches and updates were overlooked, or they weren’t properly coordinated in the first place. Combine all that wrangling with the fact that sometimes patches simply don’t “play nice” with corresponding systems and cause more headaches and hand wringing and you have a complicated and often frustrating task list that is just a fraction of the IT admins’ responsibilities.
Some MSP Patch Management Tips
Of course, the best way to get comprehensive patches and updates is to outsource your patch management to a managed IT services provider like Point North Networks, Inc. Any business can save time and money by relying on our certified technicians to ensure that your systems are up-to-date and patched correctly. Furthermore, we won’t cause any downtime as we will schedule patches for times when traffic is low or non-existent.
If you insist on doing your own software maintenance, a couple of tips that you should adhere to include:
The first thing you should consider is to understand all the software your company is using officially and ensure that you are up to date with all the relevant patches. Missing software updates, while probably not the end of the world for an individual, is a horrible practice for any business.
You’ll also want to schedule maintenance on some machines as soon as possible after official software updates are released and if there are no problems, schedule maintenance on all other machines the following week. The test group will go a long way toward exposing any possible hiccups you may be facing.
Software is extremely important to your business, and your business is extremely important to your employees and customers. In order to keep it that way, you will need to ensure that your software systems are patched and updated regularly. To talk to one of our It professionals about patch management, co-managed IT services, or comprehensive managed IT services, give us a call today at 651-234-0895.
Tip of the Week: The ABCs of Windows Shortcuts
Windows has no shortage of capabilities to offer its users, with many of these tools coming with an associated Windows shortcut. Since keeping track of all of them can be a challenge, we wanted to assemble a list of most of them for you. This blog will serve as that list, so make sure you add it to your browser’s favorites for quick reference!
Let’s get into it.
The ABCs of Windows Shortcuts
Naturally, almost every letter of the alphabet on the keyboard has a shortcut assigned to it:
- WinKey + A opens your Action Center.
- WinKey + B highlights your notification area.
- WinKey + C launches Cortana in listening mode.
- WinKey + D toggles Show Desktop and the previous state.
- WinKey + E launches File Explorer in the Quick Access tab.
- WinKey + F opens the Microsoft Feedback hub.
- WinKey + G opens the Game Bar tools, if that’s how you spend your time at home.
- WinKey + H opens the Dictation toolbar.
- WinKey + I opens your Settings.
- WinKey + K opens the Connect pane to connect to wireless displays and devices.
- WinKey + L locks the device.
- WinKey + M minimizes all open windows.
- WinKey + O locks the device’s orientation on tablets and mobile devices.
- WinKey + P opens the Project pane.
- WinKey + Q opens Search.
- WinKey + R displays the run dialog box.
- WinKey + S launches Cortana in typing mode.
- WinKey + T cycles through the apps on the taskbar.
- WinKey + U launches the Ease of Access/Display Center to manage your screens.
- WinKey + V opens your clipboard app to view things you have copied to your clipboard with Ctrl + C.
- WinKey + X opens the advanced, Secret Start menu.
Adjusting Your Open Windows
Some of Windows’ shortcuts are designed to help the user arrange their display to the appearance that best suits their needs. For instance:
- WinKey + Left/Right Arrow will take the active window and adjust it to fill the left or right side of the monitor it is displayed in.
- WinKey + Shift + Left/Right Arrow will move the active window over to another display.
- WinKey + Up Arrow will maximize the active window.
- WinKey + Down Arrow will minimize the active window.
There are, of course, many more Windows shortcuts to take advantage of, as well as plenty of other tips to help make your workday more efficient. We often share them in this blog, so make sure you come back often to check in!
