Managed Service Provider Blog Articles and Best Practices

If you look around your company, there’s a good chance that it has a lot of technology that you completely take for granted. No matter if you run a small retail store, a factory, or a multi-location office, your business needs IT to function properly. Today, we will take a look into several ways your organization can use technology to improve your business.

Customer Service
The relationships you forge with your customers are some of the most rewarding you will build in business; and, unmistakably the most crucial. When businesses fail to support the products and services that they sell, they have a much harder time sustaining positive consumer relationships. There are plenty of technologies that can help a business improve customer service. One such technology is customer relationship management software. Not only does it provide a ticketing system to get customer complaints and concerns in front of decision makers, it also provides several options to help manage support work.

Today, companies are routinely utilizing social media, including social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter to engage with their customers. These platforms in particular give the business the chance to promote their knowledge base, their products, and also hold a public conversation about their products and services. While this may not always work out in the business’ favor, it has proven to be a great outlet for businesses looking to engage in substantive conversations with customers and prospects.

Productivity
In order to be a successful business, revenue needs to flow; and, in order for that to happen productivity has to commence. No matter what your businesses, some value has to be created for you to be doing what you are doing. As a result, companies are looking to make investments in technology that will help build their revenue streams. That’s why you see many of today’s businesses, regardless of their industry or size, using technology to facilitate a boost to their organizational productivity.

One solution that is very useful for any service business is time-tracking software. Typically, this comes as a part of a scheduling solution. Software like this allows managers to assign time for certain tasks, while being able to review how long projects and service delivery takes, providing a way to best monetize the time their employees spend and streamline work processes.

Moreover, many of today’s most useful technology-based solutions for productivity are filled with collaborative options and hosted in the cloud. In utilizing cloud-hosted software solutions, companies are giving their employees the flexibility to do more. Cloud-hosted apps typically are available on any device and are scalable to ensure that the company isn’t paying more than it needs to for the productivity solutions they need.

Finance
It would be an understatement to say that money is a major consideration when it comes to business. Decisions are made every day with the bottom line the major consideration. Technology solutions can help small business owners better manage their finances. They can utilize online invoicing services to help them collect payment and reduce expenses.

The use of software to manage payroll and accounts receivable not only makes those inherently frustrating tasks much easier, they allow them to be handled with care. These are, after all, crucial aspects of your organization’s ability to conduct business. By having software solutions that provide the ability to streamline your organization’s revenue streams and expenses, business simply runs better.

Security
Let’s face it, security is crucial to the sustainability of every single business. Whether it is network security or physical security, if people are free to do other people harm with impunity, there is total chaos. With solutions that include antivirus, firewall, content filtering, and spam blocking, technology can keep the business’ IT safe.

On the other end of things, IT-fueled physical security is a big hit with organizations of all types. With digital cameras, biometric security locks, and more solutions keeping a constant eye (or eyes) out, you can ensure that your workplace, your employees, and your assets are properly protected.

Nowadays, organizations also have to worry about their wireless networks and mobile access. Today there are plenty of solutions aimed at enhancing your business’ mobility, while keeping the increased amount of enemies out of your business’ network and infrastructure.

Growth in the use of technology has been leading the way for quite some time, and, with all the new solutions on the market, this trend doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. Call the technology professionals at MSPNetworks at (516) 403-9001 to talk about getting an assessment to see how you can improve your business through technology.

Election Day in the United States is coming up quick on November 6th. It doesn’t matter what your thoughts or opinions on U.S. politics are--the fact remains that millions of Americans will be using the technology available at polling places to cast their ballots, and if this technology isn’t secured properly, the integrity of the voting system will be at risk.

Technology Found at Most Polling Places
Most polling places in America are using technology that is quickly approaching 15 years old. To put that in perspective, let’s think about some technologies and products today that haven’t even reached ten years old yet.

• Google Chrome
• Airbnb
• Spotify
• Kickstarter
• 4G
• Mobile GPS
• Instagram
• The iPad

A co-founder of a nonprofit group called Open Source Election Technology, Greg Miller, has this to say about election technology: ”You have equipment that was introduced in 2005. In that time frame, how many times have you changed your mobile phone? And how many times have we replaced our laptops?” In essence, Miller describes election technology as “...obsolete hardware [and] software that relies on a diet of spare parts.”

The other co-founder of OSET, John Sebes, takes a different approach by showing just how vulnerable the systems are to manipulation. Most polling places have a portable media device, like a CD or USB drive, that must be used to transport the results to another location for the tally. The machines that count the votes are usually outdated in terms of both hardware and software. Sebes initiated a live demonstration for a national news network to show how he could influence the results of an election between two fictional candidates named Thorfer and Varda. Thorfer won with 3,000 votes while Varda received only 100, yet Sebes was able to use malware to switch the tallies around, creating a fraudulent winner. While some computers used for this purpose are secured, others are not so much.

Furthermore, there is some inconsistency in regard to whether or not polling places keep a paper backup of the vote in the event a recount is needed. This includes some of the “battleground” or “swing” states where small numbers of votes can sway the final outcome much more than in other states.

How to Minimize the Issue
The easiest way to resolve this problem is one that is just impossible to pull off. The United States Constitution specifies that each state is responsible for maintaining its own set of electoral procedures, meaning that any attempts at consistency will be made impossible. There are other ways to make progress regarding election system security, even if some of them are more low-tech than anything else.

Temporarily Cease Online Voting
Some states allow online voting for those who are abroad or are unable to make it to the polling place for whatever reason. Some even allow for email ballots. Unfortunately, security for these methods is subpar to say the least, and it should be suspended until it can be secured properly.

Use Physical Backups
Ordinarily, we would suggest that all backups be saved to the cloud. In this case, we’re dealing with something a bit different, as digital assets can be hacked. A physically-generated paper backup of the voting records is less susceptible to being tampered with, and it allows for cross-checking any results.

Invest in Improved Voting Equipment
Since the devices used in the voting process are over a decade old, it’s clear that updating this infrastructure is not a priority. Some have suggested that Congress get involved to expedite the process, creating funding opportunities to improve machines and replace older devices, but this hasn’t happened since 2002.

What are your thoughts on the current state of election technology? Let us know in the comments.