The choice to monitor your employees’ computers or not is a tricky one. While part of you may think it’s unethical, it could end up saving you hours of lost productivity or preventing a data breach. Here are some pros and cons of employee monitoring, and some tips to handle it fairly if you decide it’s right for your business.

The case for monitoring

There are a number of reasons why monitoring your employees’ activities on company devices is a good idea. Doing so can help you:

• Protect your organization from data theft or harm – because careless or disgruntled employees may leak or steal your data.
• Ensure you have a harassment-free workplace – because cyberharassment (sexual or otherwise) happens among employees.
• Ensure staff are complying with policies – such as not downloading illegal programs or spending time on websites with illegal or hostile content.
• Provide evidence in case of a lawsuit – heaven forbid this happens, but if an employee participates in illegal activities using your business’s computers, monitoring can provide evidence of who was involved.

The sad fact of the matter is that many business owners who begin monitoring their employees often end up discovering that their staff members aren’t focused solely on the company’s success.

Arguments against employee monitoring

Of course, there are some potential downsides to monitoring that you should be aware of as well. These include:

• Productivity loss – monitoring can put a damper on employee morale and you may see the distrust lead to productivity losses.
• Lost privacy and lawsuits – you’ll likely learn personal details of your employees that you would’ve never known about had you not monitored them. You may discover their political or religious views, sexual orientation, or medical problems. This could potentially open up your business to privacy or discrimination issues if you or your management team acts negatively based on any of this information.

Monitoring guidelines to follow

If you decide to monitor your employees, here are a few tips you should follow.

1. Create written policies
When you decide to monitor your employees, ask yourself: Am I doing this for security purposes? Is it to ensure your employees aren’t wasting time on social media? If your monitoring policies are too strict, you could create an atmosphere of distrust.

Set guidelines for acceptable use of email, social media, web browsing, instant messaging, and downloading software and apps. Also, make sure to include how monitoring will be carried out and how data will be secured or destroyed.

2. Tell your employees
It’s important to inform your employees about the scope of your monitoring policies. If they find out you’re doing it without their knowledge, you could face legal issues. By being transparent and open, you may actually see a boost in productivity by deterring employees from wasting time on the web.

When you tell your employees, explain why you’re doing it and the risks your business faces from misuse of digital assets. Reassure them you’re not doing it to spy on their personal life, but to create a compliant and law-abiding workplace. Because their activities will now be less private, encourage your staff to keep their personal communication to their smartphones. Also, provide a copy of your written policy to employees to read and sign.

3. Get the right technology tools
You don’t need to know every little employee activity, so look for apps and software that alert you of the most relevant problems so you can focus on more important tasks.

If implemented correctly, employee monitoring makes your business more secure and productive. For more information about security and other IT support tools, get in touch with us today.

The majority of internet users worldwide has chosen Chrome as the best web browser, and the Chrome Web Store helps enhance the browser’s features by housing thousands of powerful add-ons to enhance its features. But while it’s amazing to have so many choices, it can be quite overwhelming and time-consuming to pick the right extensions for your Chrome browser. This list of powerful extensions can come in handy and save you a lot of time.

StayFocusd

As the name suggests, StayFocusd helps you stay focused. This is a perfect tool for people who work on computers all day to stop themselves from getting distracted by the many wonderful things on the internet. Essentially, it’s an extension that restricts your time on websites that can cause your productivity to dip, particularly social media sites like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Once you’ve reached the time limit, StayFocusd blocks access to those sites, reminding you to focus on your work.

AdBlock

AdBlock claims to be the most popular extension for Chrome. It has over 10 million active users, and for good reason. In a virtual world full of advertisements, AdBlock offers a break by blocking most ads from showing on Chrome. It’s also bound to improve your experience and increase the speed of your browser, since it blocks shady advertisements on the web, some of which are designed to trick people into downloading something that could harm their computers.

LastPass

Remembering passwords can be quite a headache; good thing there’s LastPass. While Chrome already has a built-in password manager, LastPass is a better option when it comes to password management. Instead of trying to memorize countless passwords for your online accounts, LastPass can generate new and secure passwords every time you log in to a website and sync your passwords whenever you need them. With LastPass, you can easily gain access to your accounts, enter credit card details, and fill out online forms with just a few clicks.

Evernote Web Clipper

Never lose anything on the internet again by storing web pages on Evernote. While you can mark sites by using Chrome’s built-in bookmarks option, Evernote is a more powerful option. The extension allows you to quickly and easily save web content from Chrome and transfer it straight into your Evernote account. With the press of a button, you can grab an image from the web page, make annotations, create summary links, and save a distraction-free version for later use.

Pocket

Pocket is another way to keep track of your favorite web content. With Pocket, you can save articles, videos, and any other web pages for later viewing. Simply hit the Pocket extension button when you come across something interesting and that page will automatically be synced to all your devices, so you can view it at any time, even without an internet connection. With Pocket, you can set things aside when you have important work at hand. If you can’t read the content now, Pocket it for later.

Momentum

Momentum is an alternative new tab page that replaces the default Chrome landing page. Equipped with a personalized dashboard that features a beautiful scenic background, a daily inspirational quote, the weather report, a to-do list, and quick links widgets for your favorite sites, Momentum could just be the dose of inspiration you’re looking for.

Learn more about the different productivity apps the Chrome Web Store has to offer. Get in touch with our experts today.

Google Chrome is fast, clean, and versatile. It delivers a great browsing experience to users, so it’s no surprise that it has the widest user base out of all web browsers. It’s also expandable and customizable, thanks to the thousands of extensions available at the Chrome Web Store. It can be quite taxing to sort out every extension there is, so to help you save time, we’ve compiled a list of the best Chrome extensions you should install.

StayFocusd

As the name suggests, StayFocusd helps you stay focused. This is a perfect tool for people who work on computers all day to stop themselves from getting distracted by the many wonderful things on the internet. Essentially, it’s an extension that restricts your time on websites that can cause your productivity to dip, particularly social media sites like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Once you’ve reached the time limit, StayFocusd blocks access to those sites, reminding you to focus on your work.

AdBlock

AdBlock claims to be the most popular extension for Chrome. It has over 10 million active users, and for good reason. In a virtual world full of advertisements, AdBlock offers a break by blocking most ads from showing on Chrome. It’s also bound to improve your experience and increase the speed of your browser, since it blocks shady advertisements on the web, some of which are designed to trick people into downloading something that could harm their computers.

LastPass

Remembering passwords can be quite a headache; good thing there’s LastPass. While Chrome already has a built-in password manager, LastPass is a better option when it comes to password management. Instead of trying to memorize countless passwords for your online accounts, LastPass can generate new and secure passwords every time you log in to a website and sync your passwords whenever you need them. With LastPass, you can easily gain access to your accounts, enter credit card details, and fill out online forms with just a few clicks.

Evernote Web Clipper

Never lose anything on the internet again by storing web pages on Evernote. While you can mark sites by using Chrome’s built-in bookmarks option, Evernote is a more powerful option. The extension allows you to quickly and easily save web content from Chrome and transfer it straight into your Evernote account. With the press of a button, you can grab an image from the web page, make annotations, create summary links, and save a distraction-free version for later use.

Pocket

Pocket is another way to keep track of your favorite web content. With Pocket, you can save articles, videos, and any other web pages for later viewing. Simply hit the Pocket extension button when you come across something interesting and that page will automatically be synced to all your devices, so you can view it at any time, even without an internet connection. With Pocket, you can set things aside when you have important work at hand. If you can’t read the content now, Pocket it for later.

Momentum

Momentum is an alternative new tab page that replaces the default Chrome landing page. Equipped with a personalized dashboard that features a beautiful scenic background, a daily inspirational quote, the weather report, a to-do list, and quick links widgets for your favorite sites, Momentum could just be the dose of inspiration you’re looking for.

Learn more about the different productivity apps the Chrome Web Store has to offer. Get in touch with our experts today.

Google Chrome is the most popular and most used browser in the world. And because of its unparalleled speed, user-friendly interface, and powerful performance, it’s also touted as the best browser. But did you know that the Chrome Web Store is full of extensions you can install to add extra features to your browser? Here are some extensions you should definitely try.

StayFocusd

As the name suggests, StayFocusd helps you stay focused. This is a perfect tool for people who work on computers all day to stop themselves from getting distracted by the many wonderful things on the internet. Essentially, it’s an extension that restricts your time on websites that can cause your productivity to dip, particularly social media sites like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Once you’ve reached the time limit, StayFocusd blocks access to those sites, reminding you to focus on your work.

AdBlock

AdBlock claims to be the most popular extension for Chrome. It has over 10 million active users, and for good reason. In a virtual world full of advertisements, AdBlock offers a break by blocking most ads from showing on Chrome. It’s also bound to improve your experience and increase the speed of your browser, since it blocks shady advertisements on the web, some of which are designed to trick people into downloading something that could harm their computers.

LastPass

Remembering passwords can be quite a headache; good thing there’s LastPass. While Chrome already has a built-in password manager, LastPass is a better option when it comes to password management. Instead of trying to memorize countless passwords for your online accounts, LastPass can generate new and secure passwords every time you log in to a website and sync your passwords whenever you need them. With LastPass, you can easily gain access to your accounts, enter credit card details, and fill out online forms with just a few clicks.

Evernote Web Clipper

Never lose anything on the internet again by storing web pages on Evernote. While you can mark sites by using Chrome’s built-in bookmarks option, Evernote is a more powerful option. The extension allows you to quickly and easily save web content from Chrome and transfer it straight into your Evernote account. With the press of a button, you can grab an image from the web page, make annotations, create summary links, and save a distraction-free version for later use.

Pocket

Pocket is another way to keep track of your favorite web content. With Pocket, you can save articles, videos, and any other web pages for later viewing. Simply hit the Pocket extension button when you come across something interesting and that page will automatically be synced to all your devices, so you can view it at any time, even without an internet connection. With Pocket, you can set things aside when you have important work at hand. If you can’t read the content now, Pocket it for later.

Momentum

Momentum is an alternative new tab page that replaces the default Chrome landing page. Equipped with a personalized dashboard that features a beautiful scenic background, a daily inspirational quote, the weather report, a to-do list, and quick links widgets for your favorite sites, Momentum could just be the dose of inspiration you’re looking for.

Learn more about the different productivity apps the Chrome Web Store has to offer. Get in touch with our experts today.

Welcome to TechCrunch’s 2018 Holiday Gift Guide! Need more gift ideas? Check out our Gift Guide Hub.

Since digital product designer Ryder Carroll’s list-based method for organizing his life first went viral five years ago, bullet journaling has become a movement of its own, helping people take charge of their time with a notebook and pen.

The system’s flexibility means it can be used for many things: time management, academic note taking, mental health tracking, meal planning, project management, scrapbooking, and more. While Carroll’s own approach is minimalistic — a simple system of lists and symbols — others have turned their bullet journals (or “bujos”) into elaborate works of art, with hand-lettering, embellishments, and illustrated “trackers” for to-do lists and goals.

In his new book, The Bullet Journal Method, Carroll explains that he began developing his “cross between a planner, diary, notebook, to-do list, and sketchbook” that eventually evolved into the bullet journal to cope with attention deficit disorder. Much of bullet journaling’s effectiveness comes from writing tasks out by hand: researchers have found that handwriting activates parts of the brain that typing doesn’t, helps people retain information, and, as Carroll puts it, “allows us to form new connections that can yield unconventional solutions and insights.”

If you know someone who’d be into bullet journaling, the end of the year is a great time to help them get the ball rolling. Veteran bullet journalers, meanwhile, probably won’t mind some new pens or stationery. This list also has suggestions for people who prefer digital journaling, too.

The definitive guide to bullet journaling

Sure, there are already a lot of bullet journaling guides online, including the original tutorial on Carroll’s site, but even seasoned bullet journaling fans can still get a lot out of his new book “The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future.”

It includes the basics, but also motivation for people who are turning to bullet journals to help overcome hardships or achieve major life goals. Carroll is a thoughtful writer and his chapters on how bullet journaling can guide people to live more intentional, meaningful lives is a big step above the standard productivity book. The print edition ($17 on Amazon) is a beautifully produced hardback that makes a great gift.

The best notebooks

Many bullet journalers prefer to use notebooks with dotted grid paper that helps them keep things neat but also gives them more flexibility than lined or graph paper. Notebooks by Scribbles That Matter (shown above, about $23), a new U.K. brand, are gaining popularity among bullet journalers because their 100gsm paper allows them to be used with a wide variety of pens, markers, and even watercolors. Hardcover Moleskine ($12 on Amazon) and Leuchtturm1917 notebooks ($20 on Amazon) are often used for bullet journals because of their durability and paper quality. In fact, Leuchtturm1917 offers a bullet journal edition ($25) with a guide, three page markers, and stickers for labeling entries.

Bullet journals include “collections,” or individual sections dedicated to specific projects or goals. Since collections can become lengthy, some bullet journalers prefer to use traveler’s notebooks, which are several slim notebook inserts gathered in a flexible cover. The inserts can be swapped in and out, making the journal even more customizable. Japanese stationery company Midori makes the original and best-known version with leather covers (starter kits begin at $58 from Baum-kuchen). For non-leather ones, check out Cadeneta (starting from about $31) on Etsy.

Writing tools

A lot of bullet journalers prefer fountain pens because they perform especially well on the high-quality paper used in notebooks like Moleskines and Leuchtturm1917s. The Lamy Safari (starting from $30 at Goulet Pens, one of the most comprehensive fountain pen stores online) is a popular “starter pen” because of its ergonomic grip and wide variety of colors and finishes, while the Pilot Vanishing Point (starting from $148) has a retractable nib, making it ideal for people who like the feel of a fountain pen, but prefer the convenience of a click pen.

Pre-filled ink cartridges are available for Pilot and Lamy pens (and many other fountain pen brands), but if you really want to get fancy, give your recipient a set of three mini Pilot Iroshizuku ink bottles ($32 for a box of three), known for their unique colors, smooth ink flow, and quick drying times.

If your recipient does a lot of sketching, they will appreciate a set of eight Sakura Pigma Micron pens in different sizes ($14.50). For marathon journalers, gel pens are a good option because the ink, pigment suspended in a water-based gel, glides onto the page and can help alleviate writer’s cramp. The Uni-ball Signo UM-151 is one of the most popular versions and comes in many colors. JetPens currently has a set of 12 new colors for $34.

Highlighters help keep bullet journals organized, but if your recipient isn’t into blinding neon colors, try a set of Zebra Mildliners ($18 for a set of 15). As their name suggests, Mildliners are highlighters that come in subtle colors.

Stationery

One of the biggest draws of bullet journals is how customizable the system is. If your recipient is a stationery fan, consider giving them a subscription to ZenPop’s Japanese stationery pack, starting from $30 for one month. For artists, Artsnacks is packed with four to five full-sized art supply products each month (subscriptions start from $24 each month for U.S. plans and there are international options available, too).

Photo Supplies

Many people turn their bullet journals into a personal scrapbook or use it for project planning. Fuji Instax is a simple way to add photos and its Mini 70 model (starting from $60 on Amazon) weighs just 10 ounces. For diehard smartphone photographers who still want the look of instant film, the Instax SP-3 photo printer ($150) lets them print photos on Fuji Instax mini film ($44 for a pack of three).

Other options include the HP Sprocket ($100 on HP.com), which prints photos onto HP ZINK sticker paper ($10 for a pack of 20 sheets), and the Canon Selphy CP1300, one of the most popular compact photo printers ($168 on Amazon).

Digital Journalers

Pen and paper not your recipient’s thing? Consider gifting GoodNotes ($8 on the App Store), a popular app for digital bullet journalers because it does a great job of replicating the experience of writing on paper (its handwriting search function is also very useful). The app has a marketplace of downloadable bullet journaling spreads and templates created by other users. Digital bullet journals are also a good excuse to gift a stylus: an Apple Pencil for iOS users ($99 on Apple’s site) or Adonit Droid ($25 on Adonit’s site) for Android fans.

Organizers

Your bullet recipient will probably need a way to keep their notebook, pens, and other supplies together. Vitra’s Toolbox ($70 on Vitra) is a desk caddy that comes in 11 colors and is an attractive and portable alternative to clunky desk organizers. The Lihit Lab Teffa Bag in Bag ($11.25 on JetPens) fits an A5 size notebook and keeps stationery, coins, and other small things from getting lost in the bottom of their bag. Japanese stationery company Raymay’s Topliner ($16) is like a lightweight, grownup version of the pencil cases kids use in elementary school.

Does your organization need to optimize its migration and provision of Office 365? Here are 6 strategies for managing and making the most out of your subscription to Microsoft’s premium cloud-based productivity suite.

Declutter your inbox

If you’re having trouble managing the overwhelming amount of emails in your inbox, then using Office 365’s “Clutter” feature can clear up some space. To enable this feature, go to Settings > Options > Mail > Automatic processing > Clutter then select Separate items identified as Clutter. Once activated, mark any unwanted messages as “clutter.” After learning your email preferences, Office 365 will automatically move low-priority messages into your “Clutter” folder, helping you focus on more important emails.

Ignore group emails

Want to keep messages from an email thread you don’t want to be part of out of your inbox? If so, simply go to the message and find the Ignore setting. Doing this will automatically move future reply-alls to the trash so they never bother you again. Of course, if you ever change your mind, you could un-ignore the message; just find the email in your trash folder and click Stop ignoring.

Unsend emails

In case you sent a message to the wrong recipient or attached the wrong file, use Office 365’s  message recall function. Simply open your sent message, click Actions, and select Recall this message. From here, you can either “Delete unread copies of this message” or “Delete unread copies and replace with a new message.” Bear in mind that this applies only to unread messages and for Outlook users within the same company domain.

Work offline

Whenever you’re working outside the office or in an area with unstable internet, it’s a good idea to enable Offline Access. Found under the Settings menu, this feature allows you to continue working on documents offline and syncs any changes made when you have an internet connection. Offline access is also available in your SharePoint Online document libraries.

Use Outlook plugins

Aside from sending and receiving emails, Outlook also has some awesome third-party plugins. Some of our favorite integrations include PayPal, which allows you to send money securely via email; and Uber, which lets you set up an Uber ride reminder for any calendar event. Find more productivity-boosting plugins in the Office Store.

Tell Office applications what to do

If you’re not a fan of sifting through menus and options, you can always take advantage of the Tell Me function in your Office apps. When you press Alt + Q, you bring up a search bar that allows you to look for the functions you need. Suppose you need to put a wall of text into columns on Word but can’t find where it is specifically, just type “column” in the search bar and Microsoft will help you with the rest.

These tricks and features will definitely increase productivity. And fortunately, there’s more coming. Microsoft is continuously  expanding Office 365’s capabilities, and if you truly want to make the most out of the software, don’t be afraid to explore its newly released features.

For more Office 365 tips and updates, get in touch with us today.

This post contains some tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your Office 365 subscription. We’ll also share some of the options you can take advantage of when migrating your system to the cloud, including how to streamline the entire process based on your business needs.

Declutter your inbox

If you’re having trouble managing the overwhelming amount of emails in your inbox, then using Office 365’s “Clutter” feature can clear up some space. To enable this feature, go to Settings > Options > Mail > Automatic processing > Clutter then select Separate items identified as Clutter. Once activated, mark any unwanted messages as “clutter.” After learning your email preferences, Office 365 will automatically move low-priority messages into your “Clutter” folder, helping you focus on more important emails.

Ignore group emails

Want to keep messages from an email thread you don’t want to be part of out of your inbox? If so, simply go to the message and find the Ignore setting. Doing this will automatically move future reply-alls to the trash so they never bother you again. Of course, if you ever change your mind, you could un-ignore the message; just find the email in your trash folder and click Stop ignoring.

Unsend emails

In case you sent a message to the wrong recipient or attached the wrong file, use Office 365’s  message recall function. Simply open your sent message, click Actions, and select Recall this message. From here, you can either “Delete unread copies of this message” or “Delete unread copies and replace with a new message.” Bear in mind that this applies only to unread messages and for Outlook users within the same company domain.

Work offline

Whenever you’re working outside the office or in an area with unstable internet, it’s a good idea to enable Offline Access. Found under the Settings menu, this feature allows you to continue working on documents offline and syncs any changes made when you have an internet connection. Offline access is also available in your SharePoint Online document libraries.

Use Outlook plugins

Aside from sending and receiving emails, Outlook also has some awesome third-party plugins. Some of our favorite integrations include PayPal, which allows you to send money securely via email; and Uber, which lets you set up an Uber ride reminder for any calendar event. Find more productivity-boosting plugins in the Office Store.

Tell Office applications what to do

If you’re not a fan of sifting through menus and options, you can always take advantage of the Tell Me function in your Office apps. When you press Alt + Q, you bring up a search bar that allows you to look for the functions you need. Suppose you need to put a wall of text into columns on Word but can’t find where it is specifically, just type “column” in the search bar and Microsoft will help you with the rest.

These tricks and features will definitely increase productivity. And fortunately, there’s more coming. Microsoft is continuously  expanding Office 365’s capabilities, and if you truly want to make the most out of the software, don’t be afraid to explore its newly released features.

For more Office 365 tips and updates, get in touch with us today.

Your company may be done migrating to Office 365, but there’s still a lot you must do. Now that your productivity tools are online via the cloud, there are a few optimizations that will provide your users with a better experience.

Declutter your inbox

If you’re having trouble managing the overwhelming amount of emails in your inbox, then using Office 365’s “Clutter” feature can clear up some space. To enable this feature, go to Settings > Options > Mail > Automatic processing > Clutter then select Separate items identified as Clutter. Once activated, mark any unwanted messages as “clutter.” After learning your email preferences, Office 365 will automatically move low-priority messages into your “Clutter” folder, helping you focus on more important emails.

Ignore group emails

Want to keep messages from an email thread you don’t want to be part of out of your inbox? If so, simply go to the message and find the Ignore setting. Doing this will automatically move future reply-alls to the trash so they never bother you again. Of course, if you ever change your mind, you could un-ignore the message; just find the email in your trash folder and click Stop ignoring.

Unsend emails

In case you sent a message to the wrong recipient or attached the wrong file, use Office 365’s  message recall function. Simply open your sent message, click Actions, and select Recall this message. From here, you can either “Delete unread copies of this message” or “Delete unread copies and replace with a new message.” Bear in mind that this applies only to unread messages and for Outlook users within the same company domain.

Work offline

Whenever you’re working outside the office or in an area with unstable internet, it’s a good idea to enable Offline Access. Found under the Settings menu, this feature allows you to continue working on documents offline and syncs any changes made when you have an internet connection. Offline access is also available in your SharePoint Online document libraries.

Use Outlook plugins

Aside from sending and receiving emails, Outlook also has some awesome third-party plugins. Some of our favorite integrations include PayPal, which allows you to send money securely via email; and Uber, which lets you set up an Uber ride reminder for any calendar event. Find more productivity-boosting plugins in the Office Store.

Tell Office applications what to do

If you’re not a fan of sifting through menus and options, you can always take advantage of the Tell Me function in your Office apps. When you press Alt + Q, you bring up a search bar that allows you to look for the functions you need. Suppose you need to put a wall of text into columns on Word but can’t find where it is specifically, just type “column” in the search bar and Microsoft will help you with the rest.

These tricks and features will definitely increase productivity. And fortunately, there’s more coming. Microsoft is continuously  expanding Office 365’s capabilities, and if you truly want to make the most out of the software, don’t be afraid to explore its newly released features.

For more Office 365 tips and updates, get in touch with us today.

Businesses need technology to be profitable and productive. But not all technologies are capable of delivering on their perceived benefits. To make sure your investments are still worth keeping, you need to perform technology business reviews.

What is a technology business review?
A technology business review reveals the strengths and weaknesses of your company’s IT framework. It’s often performed by a third-party IT consultant who will give an objective assessment of your technology and provide recommendations to help meet your goals. If done properly, technology business reviews allow you to:

Save money
Every review starts with a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether a solution you’ve implemented is worth the continued investment. If there are technologies costing you a fortune in management and maintenance fees, consultants will advise you to cut them from your budget. The best ones will even recommend cost-effective alternatives so you can do more with less.

Increase productivity
System-wide reviews of your IT infrastructure show you what processes are hindering operations and propose solutions that let you work faster and smarter. For example, if employees are mainly sharing files via email, consultants might suggest cloud collaboration platforms like Office 365 or G Suite that store data in a centralized location for seamless file sharing.

Enhance security and compliance
Technology business reviewers also uncover security risks within your business. Consultants scan for missed patches, poorly configured networks, and other software vulnerabilities that make it easy for cybercriminals to hack your systems.

They’ll then compile their findings to create a more robust defense strategy, usually one that involves implementing advanced solutions like intrusion prevention systems, file access restrictions, and patch management software.

If you operate a business that’s subjected to data regulations like HIPAA or PCI-DSS, consultants will also pinpoint IT practices and solutions that are noncompliant and customize a strategy that ensures the privacy, integrity, and availability of your data.

Implement technologies that fit
Considering that new technologies are released at a breakneck pace, it’s important you pick the ones that make sense for your operation, its goals, and the bottom line. Technology business reviews keep you up to date on the latest technology trends and gauge the impact of implementing them, so you can make informed decisions.

Whether your goal is to increase profits, productivity, security, or all of the above, technology business reviews can put you on the right track. Our seasoned IT consultants can conduct these reviews for you and develop a strategy that gives you an edge over the competition. Just give us a call.

Identifying opportunities in all areas of business is vital for growth, but one area that’s often overlooked is technology. Although it’s easy to adopt an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” attitude with IT, conducting regular technology business reviews is a must.

What is a technology business review?
A technology business review reveals the strengths and weaknesses of your company’s IT framework. It’s often performed by a third-party IT consultant who will give an objective assessment of your technology and provide recommendations to help meet your goals. If done properly, technology business reviews allow you to:

Save money
Every review starts with a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether a solution you’ve implemented is worth the continued investment. If there are technologies costing you a fortune in management and maintenance fees, consultants will advise you to cut them from your budget. The best ones will even recommend cost-effective alternatives so you can do more with less.

Increase productivity
System-wide reviews of your IT infrastructure show you what processes are hindering operations and propose solutions that let you work faster and smarter. For example, if employees are mainly sharing files via email, consultants might suggest cloud collaboration platforms like Office 365 or G Suite that store data in a centralized location for seamless file sharing.

Enhance security and compliance
Technology business reviewers also uncover security risks within your business. Consultants scan for missed patches, poorly configured networks, and other software vulnerabilities that make it easy for cybercriminals to hack your systems.

They’ll then compile their findings to create a more robust defense strategy, usually one that involves implementing advanced solutions like intrusion prevention systems, file access restrictions, and patch management software.

If you operate a business that’s subjected to data regulations like HIPAA or PCI-DSS, consultants will also pinpoint IT practices and solutions that are noncompliant and customize a strategy that ensures the privacy, integrity, and availability of your data.

Implement technologies that fit
Considering that new technologies are released at a breakneck pace, it’s important you pick the ones that make sense for your operation, its goals, and the bottom line. Technology business reviews keep you up to date on the latest technology trends and gauge the impact of implementing them, so you can make informed decisions.

Whether your goal is to increase profits, productivity, security, or all of the above, technology business reviews can put you on the right track. Our seasoned IT consultants can conduct these reviews for you and develop a strategy that gives you an edge over the competition. Just give us a call.

Small- and medium-sized businesses don’t have the time to maintain IT infrastructure, let alone assess whether it’s still driving value for the company. However, if you want to ensure everything runs smoothly, it’s important to be proactive and conduct technology business reviews when you can.

What is a technology business review?
A technology business review reveals the strengths and weaknesses of your company’s IT framework. It’s often performed by a third-party IT consultant who will give an objective assessment of your technology and provide recommendations to help meet your goals. If done properly, technology business reviews allow you to:

Save money
Every review starts with a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether a solution you’ve implemented is worth the continued investment. If there are technologies costing you a fortune in management and maintenance fees, consultants will advise you to cut them from your budget. The best ones will even recommend cost-effective alternatives so you can do more with less.

Increase productivity
System-wide reviews of your IT infrastructure show you what processes are hindering operations and propose solutions that let you work faster and smarter. For example, if employees are mainly sharing files via email, consultants might suggest cloud collaboration platforms like Office 365 or G Suite that store data in a centralized location for seamless file sharing.

Enhance security and compliance
Technology business reviewers also uncover security risks within your business. Consultants scan for missed patches, poorly configured networks, and other software vulnerabilities that make it easy for cybercriminals to hack your systems.

They’ll then compile their findings to create a more robust defense strategy, usually one that involves implementing advanced solutions like intrusion prevention systems, file access restrictions, and patch management software.

If you operate a business that’s subjected to data regulations like HIPAA or PCI-DSS, consultants will also pinpoint IT practices and solutions that are noncompliant and customize a strategy that ensures the privacy, integrity, and availability of your data.

Implement technologies that fit
Considering that new technologies are released at a breakneck pace, it’s important you pick the ones that make sense for your operation, its goals, and the bottom line. Technology business reviews keep you up to date on the latest technology trends and gauge the impact of implementing them, so you can make informed decisions.

Whether your goal is to increase profits, productivity, security, or all of the above, technology business reviews can put you on the right track. Our seasoned IT consultants can conduct these reviews for you and develop a strategy that gives you an edge over the competition. Just give us a call.

Asana, the platform where people can create and track the progress of work projects, made its name originally as a place where individuals and smaller teams can create and track the progress of a specific project. Now, as the startup courts bigger organizations among its 50,000 paying organizations and millions of (paying and free) users globally, it is adding another tier for enterprises that are using Asana for multiple projects: Asana Business, priced at $19.95 per user, per month.

Aimed primarily at teams that have managers or executives overseeing multiple projects simultaneously — sometimes in the thousands for a single organization — the idea is that Business will have extra features to help designated people handle and triage that workload more effectively.

Asana co-founder and CEO Dustin Moskovitz

“Our role is to help leaders understand where their attention can be most useful and what to be focused on,” Dustin Moskovitz, pictured, the co-founder and CEO of Asana, said to me in an interview recently.

That focus on executives and managers is one part of the company’s bigger vision of where it sees its own place in the range of productivity tools that a business might use, alongside other areas like efficient storage (a la Dropbox, Box or another cloud-based service) or communication (eg, Slack, Workplace, Teams, etc.).

Asana is also not alone in its category: other alternatives include Airtable, Write, Trello, and Basecamp, another reason the company is on the path to continue innovating and finding ways to make its service more sticky.

The new Asana Business tier includes a couple of specific new tools that will differentiate it from Teams (Asana’s $9.99/user/month tier for groups of more than five) and Enterprise (the tier that you need to speak to an account manager to determine pricing). In all cases the pricing is based on buying an annual subscription: prices are higher if you pay by the month.

The first, Portfolio, will give a manager a way of viewing what everyone in an organization is working on in Asana — a “mission control” that provides a single view of what is going on, which can be useful for figuring out more big-picture progress or to oversee a larger project that has multiple streams of work within it.

Alongside that, it’s also soon going to launch another feature in Business called Workloads, which will let managers then assign people to projects or redeploy them, based on what they are seeing progress through the Portfolios tool.

The two features, Asana hopes, will mean that organizations will not only get better insights into their current projects on the platform, but might be enticed to buy into using it for more of them. Alex Hood, the company’s head of product (who joined a year ago after many years at Intuit) noted that it’s something that companies had already been trying to address themselves to some degree. “We’ve seen customers hack solutions together,” he said. So, it seemed like time to make it into a more formal tool, Hood said.

The company’s move to add another tier to generate more revenue comes on the heels of Asana raising $75 million on a $900 million valuation earlier this year — money that Moskovitz told TechCrunch is still largely in the bank.

“We’re not yet profitable, but we’re rapidly approaching it,” he said, describing Asana to me as a “high volume SaaS business, very efficient and very successful.” The company is not in sight of an IPO, he added, but it seems that it is just getting started on what more it might add to the platform to make it more sticky and useful to the average business user. 

Key on that roadmap, Hood said, is the use of more machine learning and other artificial intelligence tools in the creation of new features — something that the company first introduced through Timeline, introduced in March, which knits together different project threads to start creating a bigger overview of what is going on.

One new feature that Asana is working on is a way to highlight when projects might not be going to plan, or that there are areas that have yet to be addressed; and then to suggest ways of helping to fix things through the redeployment of people.

Another area that Asana is exploring is how to use AI to match people better to projects. Hood said that it’s now working on a system that might be able to suggest where an employee or team member might get assigned — for example, using the profile of a person that invited you into a team as an indicator of where you might be working.