XFER Blog

It’s the holiday season, so many people will be spending a lot of time online, likely seeking out the perfect gift for everyone on their list. Considering you’re reading this blog, you could be one of them. Do you have the perfect gifts in mind for everyone in your circle, but just can’t seem to find what you’re looking for?

Let’s go over some tricks that Google has baked into its search functionality, and how they could prove handy during your holiday shopping… and your workday, too!

Let’s imagine that your business has a hidden back door—one that your building manager doesn’t even know exists—and that door leads straight into the heart of your office. By the time someone finds out that door exists, someone could have snuck in to wreak all kinds of havoc, unbeknownst to you. This is what is known as a zero-day threat; it’s a security vulnerability that is being actively exploited in the wild, one that was previously unknown to the vendor and unpatched against, and it’s a serious problem for any SMB.

We’ve all said it. It’s the unofficial motto of pragmatism, the quiet commitment to frugality that businesses cling to: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

It feels responsible. It feels safe.

Here is the hard truth from an IT professional: When it comes to your business technology, this motto is a recipe for disaster. It is the single most dangerous, most expensive, and highest-risk strategy you can have.

Imagine that your screen flashes a devastating message: your critical data is encrypted, and you face a massive ransom demand. Your operation grinds to a halt. This isn't just an enterprise problem; it's the harsh reality for businesses of all sizes.

Cyber threats don't discriminate. Your small or mid-sized business is a prime target.

You likely use basic shortcuts like cut, copy, and paste every day. While essential, these are just the foundation. To truly maximize your productivity and demonstrate peak efficiency, mastering a few advanced keyboard shortcuts is key.

Each shortcut may only save a few seconds, but over time, these moments accumulate into significant time savings. Ready to move beyond the basics?

Good luck going about your day without hearing how AI is changing the workplace as we know it; let alone running a business without considering its useful applications. While you might feel pressured to adopt AI, we want to urge you to think before you act. Doing so could prevent you from investing money into a solution that doesn’t help your business in the slightest.

To find out if AI is an appropriate next step for your business, consider these steps:

With over $101 million in jewelry stolen, the recent Louvre heist was a costly success for criminals. However, French publications suggest the thieves may have encountered less resistance than an organization of the museum's stature should provide, thanks to a documented history of severe cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

This history offers a crucial lesson for all businesses: Foundational security flaws can undermine even the most complex physical protections. Let's examine the documented oversights and what they imply about the museum's current security posture.

Small and medium-sized businesses face a relentless challenge: competing with industry titans while grappling with supply chain complexity. The good news is that the right technology is now more accessible and affordable than ever. This month, let's explore how you can strategically leverage tech to turn your supply chain from a cost center into a powerful competitive advantage.

Microsoft Excel is a powerful tool that businesses leverage every day to store, track, and report on data, but it can be tedious to work in the document without knowing all of its little tricks. Today, we want to share with you one that could save you valuable clicks and time spent copying and pasting values. You’ll learn how to enter the same data into multiple cells at once.

Your business technology is not just a tool; it's the very foundation upon which modern enterprises are built. From optimizing operations to enhancing customer experiences, strategic technology implementation is paramount for growth and competitive advantage. We invest heavily in it, pour resources into its adoption, and celebrate its initial successes. What happens when that investment starts to become a liability, however?

Today, simply working harder isn't enough; you need to work smarter. This is where productivity software comes into play. Far from being just a suite of digital tools, this technology fundamentally transforms the way employees operate, leading to dramatic gains in efficiency and overall output. How does this software actually work to boost your team's performance? This month, let's dive into the mechanisms that make it an indispensable asset for the modern workplace.

Every day, your small-to-medium business handles sensitive information: customer names, credit card details, employee records, and vendor contracts. This data is valuable, not just to you, but to the hackers and regulators who are paying attention. The old idea that "only big companies get audited" is completely outdated. Data privacy compliance has moved from a niche legal issue to a core operational requirement for every SMB owner and manager.

Open your Profit & Loss statement. I'm willing to bet that the IT line is sitting squarely in the expense column, right next to rent, electricity, and paper towels.

For many business owners, IT is seen as a necessary evil; a cost center, a black hole they just have to throw money into. When you see a technology bill, you get that double-take and cringe. Your primary goal is to minimize this cost; often to the point of avoidance.

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.

The shift to remote work has transformed business, yet the virtual meeting remains a point of friction. A poorly executed remote meeting isn't just a time-waster; it drains productivity and damages company culture.

With the right strategy and tools, your remote meetings can be even more effective and engaging than in-person ones.

If you’ve played with AI for any purpose, but particularly for your business’ benefit, you may have found your results less than impressive. One of the biggest challenges of working with artificial intelligence is our assumption that our instructions are sufficient, even when they are vague or non-specific.

A prompt of this caliber will not produce the quality responses that you need. Instead, you need to use “prompt engineering” to come up with a request that will. Fortunately, you can improve your prompts considerably by simply remembering three things.

It doesn’t matter how big or small your business is or which industry you fall into; communication is always going to be a major pain point that influences your technology investments. Thankfully, there’s a simple solution called Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, that is a strategic and sound upgrade from your traditional telephone solution, and it’s one that can transform your communication infrastructure for the better.

Here are three reasons why you should consider a VoIP phone system today.

How effectively can you multitask in the office? Are you known to have multiple windows and tabs open at any given time? With so many windows, applications, and tabs cluttering your brain, it helps to have tricks to keep them all in line. Using Smart windows (or Snap windows), you can place two or more side-by-side to clear things up a bit and make working in multiple apps or windows easier than ever.

When was the last time you actually powered down your Android smartphone and gave it a much-needed restart? Chances are you go way too long in between restarts, but what if the reason you haven’t done so recently is because you can’t? Whether it’s wear and tear on your power button or some other issue, it’s good to have alternative ways to restart your Android operating system. Today, we want to show you how.

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.