ATECH MSP Blog

Business telephone systems are an interesting topic to consider these days. On one hand, you have the Internet, a sophisticated communication infrastructure that connects you with countless opportunities, but on the other, you have email and phone systems, which are direct lines to your business. At the end of the day, your customers will connect with you by phone—and as you might have guessed, how your business handles telephone calls matters.

Updates and upgrades are expensive, but that doesn’t mean your business can afford to skip them. More often than not, ignoring an update or upgrade to your technology is going to result in eventual bugs, hardware issues, and security vulnerabilities that can only be addressed with an update or an upgrade. First of all, what’s the difference between the two, and how do you know which one is necessary in a given situation?

There are a lot of issues that can impact the operations of your business, many of which are rooted in the hardware components of your computers. One of the most common issues with devices that are on their way out is issues with RAM. What is RAM, and how do you know if it’s time for a replacement?

For anyone who has seen the movie Moneyball, remember Billy Beane and the Oakland A's? In the early 2000s, Beane revolutionized baseball with "Moneyball," a radical approach to team building. Faced with a shoestring budget, he eschewed traditional scouting metrics and instead used sabermetrics—advanced statistical analysis—to identify undervalued players. The result? A small-market team consistently outperforming richer rivals, proving that data, not just dollars, could buy success.

Fast forward to today, and the principles of Moneyball are more relevant than ever for modern businesses. In an increasingly competitive landscape, every company, regardless of size or industry, can leverage data to make smarter decisions, optimize resources, and ultimately, build a better business for less.

Let’s face it, your business probably can’t remember the last time it used that old fax machine sitting in the corner. It’s taking up precious time, money, and resources that could be reinvested into other parts of your business. Don’t believe us? Here are three reasons why you should ditch the fax machine.

If your business’ technology seems to be a-okay, the thought of updating it may seem unnecessary. This is decidedly not the case. Updates are what keep your business functioning (and therefore, profitable), while every skipped update opens you up to vulnerabilities, bugs, and much more severe consequences when you experience a true threat.

Updates are critical for the continued utility and security of any computer system or program. That said, updates aren’t always perfect. It’s possible that even a routine update could sideline your critical applications. If this happens, you’re dealing with downtime and failing to serve your customers… all because you were trying to do the right thing and maintain your technology.

Make no mistake: updates are crucial, so to make sure they don’t disrupt your business, they need to be approached with strategy and discipline.

When it comes to your technology, can you honestly say you have a plan? Or do you just pick things up that you think you need without a second thought? If your business doesn’t take technology acquisitions seriously, you’re setting yourself up for failure—and that’s where an IT roadmap presents a ton of value.

Business technology can often put business owners in a tough spot. There are dozens of options out there in terms of hardware and software alike, each promising earth-shattering changes… many with an equally earth-shattering price tag.

This presents a significant dilemma for business owners. While the goal is to innovate and empower their teams, it can seem like many of these tools are simply not worth the investment, but at the same time, denying access feels like denying innovation.

The solution to this dilemma, however, is fortunately simple: leaning on data to inform your decisions and enable yourself to say the dreaded two-letter word: “no.”

Nowadays, technology isn't just an advantage; it's an essential part of everything you do; and with endless new tools appearing, how do you decide which tech investments are genuinely good for your business and which are just distractions? Saying yes to everything can drain your budget, while saying no to the right innovation can leave you behind.

Navigating this is difficult and needs a smart approach. Here are key tips to help you know when to embrace new technology and when to politely decline:

Businesses need to innovate and there are many ways in which they can do so today. There are new solutions emerging all the time, and this month we thought we’d introduce you to three that are really moving the needle.

Implementing cool new technology solutions is fun and all… until you realize that there’s a lot of work involved in it. Your employees, for example, might even resist the change that it brings. How is your business going to address these challenges in a way that is productive for not just your employees, but for your entire organization? That’s what we want to discuss today.

The daily grind is characterized by the feeling that you’re busy all day, but not necessarily “productive.” Your technology could influence this feeling and make the daily grind feel like a slog, but with the right approach to IT, you can focus on technology that empowers rather than overwhelms. How do you make this transition? That’s what we’ll discuss today.

You might want to get as much life as possible out of your technology, but this is often counterproductive. While it might cost serious capital to invest in new computers and servers, even when your current equipment works “just fine,” there will come a day when “just fine” doesn’t cut it anymore. Your outdated hardware comes with all kinds of hidden costs that will slowly leech capital from your business and leave it worse off compared to if you just bought new tech.

How many devices around you are connected to the Internet? While connected technologies inject convenience into our lives, it comes at a cost: security. Let’s discuss how the rise of connected devices, collectively known as the Internet of Things, has taken a toll on network security and what you need to know about it to protect your business.

It can be too easy for anyone’s work desktop to become cluttered and filled with applications and windows, leading to a mess that gets in the way whenever one tries to accomplish anything. Chances are, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a quick and easy way to clean up the desktop and just focus on the window you need to focus on?

If you agree, I have some good news.

Putting new software into your business can feel just as tricky as any other action you are going to take. If it doesn't go well, it can lead to headaches, confused employees, and wasted money. Here are three simple tips to help you add new software without the stress.

A good data backup system is like having insurance for your data. Yes, you hope you never have to use it, but you’ll be glad to have it if you do. Today, we want to cover three of the biggest components of any modern data backup system and how we can use the latest technology to make your data backups as seamless a process as possible.

You should actively be asking yourself if your technology is helping your business grow, or is it just another set of bills to pay? For many businesses, technology, with all the constant attention it needs and frustrations it can bring, can feel like a constant, confusing expense. IT has a rare ability to be essential and costly at the same time; but, it really doesn't have to be.

Today (as of when this was posted) is Friday, so ideally, the feeling in the office would be one of happy anticipation for the weekend… but what if a server crashes, and work gets put on pause, but all the deadlines still stand? This would undoubtedly put a damper on the weekend, and that’s the least of your worries. Who’s going to fix the server?

This kind of situation is precisely why modern businesses can’t afford to wait for things to go wrong, and need to have a resource on their side to proactively address these kinds of issues and catastrophes.