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For many businesses, communication is a major contributing factor to their success. Technology--when it’s properly implemented, anyway--can play a big part in keeping communication productive, but with certain solutions, it can be difficult to determine context. Today, MyTek, a Phoenix managed IT services firm, provides some ways that you can help your employees be as clear and concise as possible with specific communication methods. Just to be as clear as possible, we are going to be discussing how to be more efficient with communications that don’t involve face-to-face interaction. This includes email and instant messaging, where context and emotion can be misconstrued. Limit the Scope of MessagesIt might seem easy to send a message that is simple, but you should never discount the importance of sending multi-purpose emails. The issue, is that certain tasks might be put to the wayside because they are either forgotten or are set aside because they aren’t seen as “urgent.”

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In business today outsourcing your IT management or project management is routine. It wasn’t always so. For the first couple of decades of IT for business, that was the only way you were going to get a piece of technology up and working again without massive capital investment. Today, we will take a look at the break/fix method to IT management and how it is far more expensive than you may think. Break/FixFor the business that depends on a number of different computers, networking equipment, and other technology, it can be a challenge keeping all of it working for you over any period of time. Components fail, business’ needs change, and innovations in technology present different (often better) opportunities. When something breaks, you fix it, it’s as simple as that. In IT this is called the break/fix model. The break/fix model to IT management is precisely the same method that you use with your car. Your car breaks, you take it into the shop, they fix it, you take it home. Some

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These days, our society is infamously connected, especially in the business sense. This can make it jarring to not receive a reply back from an email. While we all need a break every now and then, we also need to get back to our contacts efficiently - this is where the ‘out of office’ message in Gmail comes in. How to Set Up Your Message In Gmail, access the Settings menu by clicking the cog icon at the top-right of your display. In the mobile application, select the Settings option from the hamburger menu at the top left and scroll to the bottom of your options. If you have more than one address connected to your Gmail application, you will have to confirm which of your accounts you want to alter the settings of. Locate the Vacation responder section. On the desktop version, this can be found at the very bottom of your Settings. In the app, this can be found about two-thirds of the way down, under General. On the desktop Gmail application, you can set up your responder from th

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For any business to be successful, its inner workings need to be able to work together seamlessly, each with a defined role and purpose. While we usually stick to talking about how to make your IT more collaborative, we’re devoting this week’s tip to ensuring that your employees are also capable of effective collaboration while using these solutions. To do so, we’ll discuss a few things that you have to make hard and fast policies for your employees to follow. Establish Roles and ResponsibilitiesOne of the most important features of successful collaborative efforts is the role that each person has in the greater process, and what they are responsible for as a result. While collaboration is a great way to help expedite the completion of tasks and projects, this is only the case so long as redundancy doesn’t enter into the mix. In essence, you need to establish a firm order of operations within your collaborative efforts, especially if that collaboration crosses between differen

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The Internet of Things is simultaneously the most remarkable and the most dangerous current IT trend. This is because it promotes the use of connected devices, while not supplying the integrated security necessary to keep all these new endpoints from stretching an organization’s network security thin. Today, Phoenix IT security firm, MyTek, shares five trending topics for the IoT, and what they mean for a business like yours.  New SecurityIt’s not exactly a secret that connected devices don’t always come with powerful security. In fact, the IoT has been looked at as a risk by IT administrators since its inception. After all, if there isn’t any strength to the integrated security of the device, it is a vulnerability that could, if leveraged as such, be a handle to pull an organization’s computing network down with. One of the biggest shifts we will begin to see within the IoT is a focus on device security. As it is right now, devices like wearables, internet-connected ap

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There has been a lot made in the media about the effect that movies and television has had on society. More often than not, the media that is produced is a result of the ebbs and flows that happen in society, which ironically makes the whole notion that television and movies affect society an interesting paradox. The ludicrous portrayal of criminality in media is one issue that is resoundingly debated by lawmakers and sociologists, alike. One crime that has seen several false portrayals is the act of hacking. This is not very surprising as hacking is a clandestine effort that would be in reality extraordinarily tedious and boring. That’s not to say that media doesn’t have an effect on how people view hackers, however. The more ludicrous content creators make depictions of hacking and hackers out to be in TV and movies, the less people actually consider that they are, in fact, the people being targeted. This is your average hacker screen from a movie or tv show: https://www.youtube

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Virtualization has opened up a lot of doors for businesses who want to make their operations more flexible, but your business can’t simply implement it all willy-nilly. You need to have specific requirements in mind for your cloud hardware. This week’s tip from leading Phoenix IT services company MyTek is dedicated to helping you make the best decisions possible regarding the adoption of virtualization for your business’ needs. What is Virtualization?With a traditional server infrastructure, you’ll have one operating system installed on each server. The software compatible with the server will depend on what operating system is installed on it, which in turn is also affected by the hardware. In comparison, virtualization allows the operating system to be abstracted, meaning that it’s capable of running outside the hardware using an emulated copy hosted in a layer of software called the hypervisor. In other words, one physical server can do the work of many. What’s So Great

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As we’re sure you already know, Microsoft has become a juggernaut in the increasingly competitive business world with its countless solutions for organizations both small and large. With so many options, it can be tricky to figure out the right solution for your business. Thankfully, you don’t have to go about it alone. We’ll help you understand the difference between Microsoft’s Office 365 and Microsoft 365 solution… and yes, they are different. Office 365We’re sure you’ve already heard quite a bit about Microsoft’s productivity suite, Microsoft Office. In its most basic form, it consists of a word processor (Microsoft Word), slideshow creator (PowerPoint), and spreadsheet builder (Excel), among many others, depending on the subscription plan. Office 365 is essentially the Microsoft productivity suite, but in cloud application format. These services can be accessed either through the cloud or an on-premise solution, depending on where they are hosted and stored. Organ

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Every so often, even the best employee needs to take a break for the sake of their mental well-being. Just like the devices we all use every day, our brains need a chance to charge back up. Without a chance to de-stress and decompress, we are all vulnerable to burnout. Here, Phoenix managed IT services firm MyTek goes over a few ways you and your employees could refresh yourselves. Of course, there is always the other key question that goes along with asking how… asking when. Judging When You (Really) Need a Break There are a few reliable warning signs that someone needs to step away for a moment. For instance, while someone may be prone to typos, there’s a difference between always making spelling and grammar errors versus specifically starting to make them seven hours into a Wednesday. Alternatively, some workers will grow disinterested in their work and just start going through the motions. In severe cases, they may detach entirely, causing accuracy, morale, and productivity to

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Your servers are some of the most important resources your business has, and they should last for many years. After a few years, however, they may begin to struggle to handle the workloads they once did; and, they often fail leaving a whole business in a lurch. To avoid this scenario, knowing the signs of a failing server can come in extraordinarily handy. Today MyTek Phoenix managed IT services goes through three ways to ascertain if your server needs to replaced. #1: Random Failure & Noise Your server is surprisingly resilient. It can go for years without a sign of any problems. Although, a server can give out under extraneous loads, so when it goes down, typically there isn’t much to be worried about. That said, if you are concerned over your servers’ viability for the long term, you need to understand some important facts. The average lifespan for any server is about five years. Some last three, some last seven, but if your server is making clicking noises or is randomly shutt

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Cards are one of the most common methods of making payments these days, as it’s simply more convenient than carrying a ton of cash on you at any given time. Still, if your business takes card payments, it puts you in a place of vulnerability. Considering how often payment cards are used for transactions, you need to take action now to keep your company from experiencing data breaches related to payment information. Here are some tips  from Phoenix IT security firm MyTek.  How People Use Payment Cards Some people don’t even keep cash on their person anymore, instead opting to use payment cards for their ease of use. About what percentage of your transactions do you use a card for? In particular, countries in the European Union have a lower percentage of cash usage compared to card usage, while less developed parts of the world rely on cash. In countries that have the technology to take advantage of payment cards, data privacy laws are much more specific and comprehensive.

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It isn’t often that one hears it discussed in the office, but the human body is an incredible piece of technology. Since your employees are so key to your business’ success, you’d benefit from doing everything you could to help your employees to take good care of their physical health.  Phoenix managed IT services firm MyTek share some helpful workplace habits and policies that will be good for your employees’ overall wellness. Healthy Foods in the Office There’s no denying that the presence of snacks in the office is seen as a major workplace benefit in the eyes of many employees. This is advantageous to you, the employer, as you can cultivate a positive feeling in the office just by having something available. However, by choosing one snack over the other, you can influence greater changes that you might not have considered connected before. For instance, it is a general fact that the snacks that are more readily made available aren’t exactly the healthiest ones out

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Google is the most visited website in the world. That distinction doesn’t come easily as 4.2 billion people are active users of the Internet. Google claims to process around 3.5 billion search queries per day, or 1.2 trillion searches per year. As a result, it has become the world’s most successful advertising site, which can actually be a hindrance for users looking to get information about a subject. How is information about Google relevant enough to be MyTek's Phoenix Tech Services Tip of the Week? Google.com First, it is fair to say that there are very few resources in the world as useful as google.com. In fact, the act of searching the Internet is now the verb “google”. With that kind of success, it isn’t a surprise that people could get a little frustrated when they “google” a query only to not get the results they were expecting. This scenario is exactly why you should learn that there are search commands that you can make inside of Google search to help you get

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Cybersecurity is a critical part of managing any business. This is especially true nowadays when there are countless individuals and organizations formed specifically to steal credentials and sensitive information from your organization. Today we will discuss Phoenix IT security, and ways your business can reinforce proper cybersecurity practices. Shadow IT Makes Your Phoenix IT Vulnerable Time is money, and people will go to great lengths to keep themselves productive throughout the workday, even if it’s not sanctioned by your business.  While you might have certain preferences for solutions, your employees might have other ideas. This is called Shadow IT, where your employees will download and use a piece of software that hasn’t passed the test of your Phoenix IT security protocols issued by your IT department. Most of the time, the employee who downloads the off-brand software isn’t doing it out of spite for the organization--only for their own convenience. In fact, 80 p

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In many ways, social media is the defining characteristic of the information age. It has transformed the way people communicate, market their products and services, and it has brought a litany of issues into the public consciousness. On the other side of the coin, social media currently costs many business billions of dollars a year in lost productivity. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of social media, and how your business can put yourself in a net-positive position by strategically deploying Phoenix business software tools. Benefits The benefits of social media are numerous and far-reaching. The first we have to mention is that it is social, meaning that the people who would buy a company’s products or services are on there. So, no matter what kind of marketing and advertising a business has done up until the advent of social media, the platforms are an absolute game-changer for these companies. In fact, studies show that about half of all adults use more than one social

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There are some cases where productivity is a challenge, especially in the case where you’re being asked to work on something repetitive or monotonous. To make these tasks more bearable, automation solutions can be used. The Phoenix IT solutions available through MyTek can help you incorporate automation into your business’ productivity strategy. There are some cases where productivity is a challenge, especially in the case where you’re being asked to work on something repetitive or monotonous. To make these tasks more bearable, automation solutions can be used. The Phoenix IT solutions available through MyTek can help you incorporate automation into your business’ productivity strategy. For the purposes of business, automation allows for certain time-consuming tasks to be effectively “removed” from everyday operations. The reason we put that in quotes is because the tasks aren’t removed, but they are handled by an automated system that doesn’t require the attention

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You walk into the office, just like you would on any other morning, and discover that there are updates that need to finish applying before you can use your workstation. Well, that’s certainly frustrating. Sure, it’ll probably only take a few minutes to complete, but you have your coffee in hand, and you’re ready to dive into the day. Now you are wishing you had signed a contract with one of the Phoenix technology companies you researched last month… But for now, how can you burn that time, without it being a total waste? Luckily, there are a few ways to spend this time that could prove beneficial to the day’s responsibilities, and that don’t require your computer to do! The first one is to call MyTek, one of the leading Phoenix technology companies you researched last month, and have them come out for the free technology consultation they offered. Prepare for Your Day Fortunately, your computer is only necessary to actually complete the tasks in store for you. Planning yo