XFER Blog

The traditional help desk addresses technology that’s already broken, which doesn’t help you much when you factor in the costs of lost opportunities and productivity. With us on your side, however, you can leverage more proactive solutions that make tech fixes feel more like a high-tech production line. Instead of waiting for the phone call that something’s wrong, we use Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) tools to find and fix bugs before they ever become a problem for your employees. 

No matter how you look at it, there will always be a significant difference between a data backup and a successful recovery. Businesses are too often under the impression that they are one and the same, but this is a faulty belief that puts them at risk. If you back up your files to the cloud, your business needs a way to recover those files, and fast. Otherwise, downtime ensues, and you don’t want that.

SaaS—Software as a Service—is a hugely effective tool for businesses of all sizes. That said, like any tool, it can quickly become a weapon against your success… slowly cutting into your business until you suddenly realize your budget has been bleeding out.

Let’s talk about what makes SaaS either a great tool or your biggest internal threat, depending on how you manage it.

It is common to spend more time discussing tasks than actually completing them. Consider how many email threads you have managed recently that consisted entirely of back-and-forth volleys about logistics. This constant chatter regarding meeting windows, calendar availability, and repetitive explanations creates significant administrative friction. It is a drain on your energy and a major waste of your professional hours.

We are exploring three specific strategies to automate your communication and scheduling so you can finally focus on your core work.

Most stories you consume will follow the format of introduction, rising action, conflict, falling action, and resolution. The tense parts of the story, the rising action and conflict, are what drive it forward, and they’re also what make things interesting along the way. That said, you can’t run your business like a story, and you can’t run your IT in this way either.

We’ve all been there: You’re deep into a complex problem, finally finding your rhythm, when, “ping”... A quick question pops up on one of the platforms you use to communicate (we all have several, personal and professional). You answer it in thirty seconds and try to get back to work. If this happens one time, it might be okay, but if it happens repeatedly as the day goes on, the damage is already done. 

How productive are your employees, really? You want your investments in people and resources to yield results, but if those results aren’t visible, either because they don’t exist or because it’s so slow that it might as well not be there, then you have a real problem on your hands. Today, we’re discussing how you can use productivity to measure efficiency and how you can overcome the struggle of not being where you want to be.

Have you ever thought about why your home Wi-Fi is fantastic in one spot but completely vanishes in another? You might have paid for the fastest internet package and own a brand-new router, yet you still deal with frustrating dead zones and slow connections. It turns out that one of the most crucial elements affecting your speed isn't your internet company or the router itself; it's simply where you decide to place the device.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has moved from science fiction to a daily reality, fundamentally reshaping how we work and communicate. Yet, behind every groundbreaking AI application lies massive infrastructure in the form of data centers. These sprawling facilities, packed with servers, storage, and networking equipment, aren't just filing cabinets for data; they are the engines that make AI possible. Today, we are going to look at the data center and the pros and cons society will see from the expansion of AI.

How do you approach decision-making for your business? While it might be tempting to forego critical thought and rely on your gut instinct for major decisions, we urge you to instead follow the data and observe what it’s trying to tell you. If data analysis sounds like pulling teeth, however, you’ll be relieved to know that AI tools have made it significantly easier to analyze large amounts of data and make more informed decisions.

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.

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.”

You probably want a certain onboarding experience for any new hires: meeting the team, getting their computer set up, setting up all necessary accounts, and going through any necessary training. In reality, you’re likely going to spend most of that time ensuring secure access to all necessary resources, and until they get into the swing of things, they’ll feel a little awkward and out of the loop rather than a part of the team. Here’s how you can build a better onboarding process to make sure this doesn’t happen.

When considering the strengths of shapes, the triangle is generally considered the strongest, its three vertices creating the optimally stable configuration. The same can be said of your business’ approach to cybersecurity. The difference is that, instead of three equal legs working together to support whoever is seated on a stool, your business’ cybersecurity relies on equal investment in three key areas: your people, your processes, and your technology.

Let’s talk about how this holistic approach puts your business in the best position to stay secure, and where many organizations fall short.

I’m sure you have some idea of what you’d want any new hire’s first day to be like. They’re welcomed by the team, and brought to their workstation where everything is ready for them to get to business: all accounts are set up, the laptop works, and there’s a game plan for them to follow.

In reality, however, this first day is likely spent obtaining any available laptop and ensuring your new hire has the secure access they need. Meanwhile, the new team member feels increasingly like an outsider, rather than a contributor, as they jump through these hoops. Less appealing than the alternative, right?

Let’s discuss how crucial it is to get the onboarding experience right.

How many duties and responsibilities fall on you as a business owner? More often than not, you’ll find yourself wearing multiple hats, picking up the slack where you can because you just don’t have the time or the resources to hire staff for certain specialized tasks. Unfortunately, IT maintenance and management is one such role that falls to the wayside all too often—but it doesn’t have to.

Having a backup is always a smart idea, but it is essential to remember that there are different levels of backup that a business can implement. It’s one thing to be protected against a server crash; it’s quite another to be protected against a disaster that destroys your servers, as well as those of every business within a five-block radius. While local backups serve a purpose, they cannot be the only thing you rely on. Real resilience means looking elsewhere to achieve redundancy.

Even though it’s incredibly helpful, technology can be frustrating—sometimes to an absurd degree. Businesses can’t function without it, so they have to learn to live with it, but it doesn’t have to be hard. You can develop some habits by using these tricks to reduce some of the friction in your workday.

Artificial intelligence has consumed the zeitgeist and isn’t letting go anytime soon. Businesses can leverage this trend in technology to great effect, provided they can get over how intimidating some of the more complicated use cases of AI can be. That said, there are plenty of easy ways to leverage AI, even for small and medium-sized businesses.

Business owners have a lot going on in their workday, and with so many duties and responsibilities, adding technology troubles to the mix only makes it all the more frustrating when your IT doesn’t work the way it should. That said, you cannot let the laissez-faire attitude prevail. In fact, lazy IT practices can make real problems significantly worse.