When purchasing computers for your small business, one of the biggest decisions you’ll have to make is whether to get desktops or laptops. The choice ultimately depends on five factors, which we’ve outlined for you below.

Portability

The COVID-19 pandemic has driven most businesses to adopt remote work and hybrid work setups.

Callers generally don’t like being put on hold for very long periods. But sometimes, your staff will have to put them on hold to verify their identity, find answers to their queries, or refer the call to a supervisor. One way to make sure callers do not feel abandoned while on hold is to use certain Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) features.

Migrating workflows to the cloud, securing all company devices and software, and ensuring 24/7 data access are gargantuan IT admin tasks, especially as companies adopt flexible working arrangements post-COVID-19. Fortunately for Microsoft 365 Apps users, the admin center offers features that empower IT personnel to be more efficient and effective in handling these crucial responsibilities.

Each of the original types of cloud infrastructure — public and private — comes with their own sets of pros and cons. Fortunately for resource-strapped small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), they don’t need to conduct trial and error to see which one is best for them — they can simply reach a happy medium with the hybrid cloud.

For years, big companies have been harnessing the power of business intelligence (BI) to improve business performance. And for them, paying experts to analyze large data sets is no issue. It’s different with small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). SMBs also store large volumes of data, but many SMB owners are wary of spending too much on BI. Fortunately, there are plenty of budget-friendly BI tools and resources available for your SMB nowadays.

Modern web browsers and password managers come with a feature called password autofill. This helps users store and automatically use their account credentials to access websites and other applications. While password autofill is convenient, it comes with security risks.

If you want to cut costs on IT hardware, don’t settle for cheap but old or low-quality machines. They’ll offer subpar performance, which will hurt your team’s productivity. What’s worse, they’ll break down often, too, which means the money you initially saved will go to repairs and upgrades.

If you’re looking for a way to connect your remote or hybrid team, you can’t go wrong with Microsoft Teams and Google Meet, two of the most popular digital communication platforms today. Each offers a robust set of features that make communication among colleagues, as well as with clients and business partners, easier and more efficient.

If your business uses Microsoft 365 Groups, you know how useful this cross-application service can be. Groups allows users to choose people with whom they can share resources like Microsoft Outlook inbox or document library. But connectors further enhance this feature by enabling users to send information to anyone in the group right from a shared inbox.

If you see ads on your social media newsfeed that are suspiciously attuned to your preferences, it’s likely because your online activities are being tracked and analyzed by market researchers. These researchers likely get their data from the websites you visit as you surf the internet.

Every technology you use — whether it’s a cloud-based program, a mobile application, or on-premises servers — contains sensitive business data vital to conducting operations. So how can you ensure the security of such data from cyberthreats like identity theft, phishing attacks, and other forms of fraud? Identity and access management (IAM) is the answer to this.

Fast, reliable Wi-Fi is a business necessity, whether you’re working in an office or at home. Now that more people are working remotely, having an optimal Wi-Fi connection is more important than ever. A wireless repeater device and additional access points may just be what you need to ensure a stable and lightning-fast wireless connection throughout your home.