Business Technology Archives - Point North Networks

In business, experience is always useful. Nowhere is that more apparent than when managing your organization’s IT infrastructure. The problem is that acquiring the expertise to do just that can be quite confusing for most business owners. Today, we’ll talk about how technology management experience can produce better business from one end to the other.

Value of Modern IT

For any-sized business, the use of technology can present huge steps forward in terms of productivity and efficiency. For the business that actively tries to find the right technology to aid its operations, it can be maddening and frustrating. This is because there is seemingly an endless amount of options available, all of which promise to help build a better business. The thing is, not all technology that works for one business, works for another.

The technology consultants at Point North Networks work daily with Minnesota businesses to help them get the technology to drive their business initiatives forward. This isn’t just about getting computers set up, it’s about getting the tools into a business that can work to make productivity easier, automate menial tasks, and build an efficient workforce that doesn’t have to struggle to collaborate.

The value of modern IT can be immeasurable if it is implemented and supported correctly. That’s why having experienced technicians that understand both the fundamentals of supporting business technology and how it works to improve a business’ operational effectiveness is important.

Experience With Business Technology

As far as delivering the right technology, technicians with experience not only understand how a business can utilize certain solutions to solve operational problems, but they also understand the potential value it has to a business as a whole. The procurement of new technology can be difficult for people that don’t know exactly what is needed to accomplish organizational goals.

Since most businesses have to be diligent about choosing prudent technology investments, having experienced perspectives is a great benefit that can go beyond dollars and cents; it can create environments where workers can be the most productive and allow business leaders to build processes that can bring a level of consistency that isn’t found in businesses that don’t have expert perspective driving their IT investments.

In business today there are a lot of considerations to be made about IT. Does your business use remote workers? Does it have systems that need more security or more transparency? Most important of all, can it build the dynamic IT infrastructure you need to forge ahead confidently? With Point North Networks consultants working to help build your business’ technology, you can gain the peace of mind needed to know that you are getting the IT you need affordably. This makes for a more reliable technology environment.

Experience with Support

Getting the right technology is only half the battle. If it isn’t supported, managed, and maintained correctly, you might as well flush money down the toilet. The key to a reliable IT infrastructure is expert support. This means experienced IT technicians that know what they are looking for/at and that are able to reliably keep your technology up and running efficiently and securely.

Today, there are more threats than ever, and that is before you consider that technology breaks. To ensure that your business doesn’t grind to a halt with technology problems, having experienced IT experts actively working on keeping your IT running effectively is more important than ever. Of course, you can hire IT staff to accomplish this, but if your business can’t afford the thousands of dollars a month that a professional IT technician would command, considering a managed service provider like Point North Networks is your best option. Not only can you have experienced IT technicians at the ready if something happens, they work proactively to ensure that you don’t have to deal with productivity-sapping downtime.

Business IT can get complicated, but at Point North Networks we pride ourselves on being a solution to our clients’ IT problems, not another problem. Give us a call at 651-234-0895 today to talk to one of our consultants about how we can help you get the most out of your business.

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.