SMART Blog

Smart Services has been providing independent agents with proactive, fast, and expert technology services since 1991.

Tip of the Week: How a Hokie Gift Can Revolutionize Your Network

Tip of the Week: How a Hokie Gift Can Revolutionize Your Network

How many times have you gone to the store and bought something that you already had? Unfortunately, this happens all the time, but fortunately it’s usually a half gallon of milk or a loaf of bread. When it happens in your business, it can be much more expensive. Today, we will advocate for an inventory strategy that will keep you from spending wads of cash on redundant investments. 

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Controlling Distractions Can Improve Productivity

Controlling Distractions Can Improve Productivity

Technology is such a wonderful tool for productivity, but one thing that you need to understand is that it cannot work miracles. At the end of the day, we are all still human; distractions creep in that technology cannot prevent. Some users struggle with staying focused, which in turn leads to unproductive behaviors, all of which compounds to create wasted time and money. Let’s discuss some ways that your employees can overcome distractions in the workplace.

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Don’t Make Security Harder for Your Business

Don’t Make Security Harder for Your Business

Security can be tough for small businesses to optimize, but that does not make it any less important. One such way that security can work against you is actually your employees’ predispositions toward it; the cognitive biases that your employees have regarding security can put your company at risk, even if that is the last thing on their minds.

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What You Need to Do to Keep Your IT Projects from Failing

What You Need to Do to Keep Your IT Projects from Failing

The process of implementing new technology for your business can be a tiresome, frustrating, and confusing process. This is especially the case when you implement a new technology solution only to find that it was absolutely not worth the effort. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why your IT project deployment might not go according to plan, as well as how you can make sure this does not happen for your company.

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Is Your Business’ Antiquated Technology Holding You Back?

Is Your Business’ Antiquated Technology Holding You Back?

When was the last time that you took a hard look at your business’ technology? How old are some of the devices that you rely on each day? These are critical questions to answer if you want your business to succeed. Let’s discuss why upgrading is so important, and how to determine when the time to upgrade comes.

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Hybrid Work Can Keep Your Workforce Together

Hybrid Work Can Keep Your Workforce Together

Ever since employees began returning to the office after getting a taste of remote work, there has been an ongoing war between employers wishing a return to normalcy and the employees who would rather get their work done from the comforts of their own home. Now, a new survey indicates that half of employees would rather quit than deal with an employer who mandates a return to the office environment.

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Look Outside Your Business to Get the Help You Need

Look Outside Your Business to Get the Help You Need

There are countless moving parts to any successful business, and smaller companies often have the issue of their employees juggling multiple different tasks and wearing all kinds of different hats in addition to their outlined job duties and responsibilities. You might encounter situations where you don’t know what to do, and it can be overwhelming when so much needs to get done in so little time.

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Three Quick Ways to Boost Your Business’ Cybersecurity

Three Quick Ways to Boost Your Business’ Cybersecurity

Cyberattacks are a serious problem that all businesses face in some form or another, but there are small, everyday tasks you can do to ensure that they impact your organization as minimally as possible. It takes intention and effort to protect your business and its infrastructure, but that doesn’t mean that it has to be hard. Here are three simple ways you can keep your infrastructure secure.

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Just Because You Can Automate Something, Doesn’t Mean You Should

Just Because You Can Automate Something, Doesn’t Mean You Should

One way businesses attempt to save money is through automating certain processes and tasks that have traditionally been time-consuming or monotonous for their workforce. When implemented appropriately, automation can cut costs, streamline operations, and improve quality of life for workers. However, just because a task can be automated doesn’t necessarily mean that it should be automated. Let’s look at the arguments for and against automation in these contexts.

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5 Ways You Can Improve Your Business’ Inventory Management

5 Ways You Can Improve Your Business’ Inventory Management

Sure, retailers have to manage their inventory effectively, but have you ever thought about the way your own business manages what it keeps on hand? Today we want to discuss five ways your business can more effectively manage inventory—and it turns out technology plays a pretty significant part in improving any inventory control system.

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The Problem With Devaluing Employees

The Problem With Devaluing Employees

Running a business can be tough and result in a lot of frustration from staff, management, and customers. Sometimes that frustration can boil over and cause consternation among the core elements that need to function for a business to be successful. This week, let’s look at an issue that can really hurt your business.

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Line of Business Software Is Improving Business

Line of Business Software Is Improving Business

It’s true that today’s businesses rely on software to help them fill in the gaps. For certain businesses, however, not just any piece of software will do. If your business is reliant on specific software to properly run your business, or if your business functions in an industry rife with regulations, you might be looking for a line of business software.

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Strong Internal Communications Can Bring Major Benefits

Strong Internal Communications Can Bring Major Benefits

Internal communications are remarkably important for a business with multiple moving parts. In a world with many choices for communication, how does your company keep in touch? We’ve put together five great ways that your company can take advantage of today’s networking technology to create an infrastructure meant to help your employees stay connected to one another and promote organizational cooperation.

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Is Unplugging From Technology While on Vacation a Good Idea?

Is Unplugging From Technology While on Vacation a Good Idea?

Vacations are an important part of maintaining one’s sanity, especially if you’re an agency owner. However, unless you have a reliable staff that can handle the management of your business, chances are you might feel you can’t get away from the office long enough to relax. While it might seem tempting to disconnect yourself from the office entirely while on vacation, it’s actually better for your business if you don’t.

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The 4 Most Pressing IT Issues You Have to Be Aware Of

The 4 Most Pressing IT Issues You Have to Be  Aware Of

Regardless of how your business’s administration is set up, you should be aware that anyone in a position of authority must have a basic understanding of how IT, and its related responsibilities, functions for your business. Here are four ways that you can learn more about how IT works within your organization.

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In Business, It’s Dangerous to Go It Alone

b2ap3_thumbnail_business_partners_help_you_achieve_400.jpgSeasoned business owners understand the value of working with professionally-trained teams. Due to the complexities and time constraints of running a business, there’s no way that one person can do everything, much less doing everything well. Therefore, it’s ideal to have a professional team dedicated to every aspect of your business, especially when it comes to IT.

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3 Signs Your Business is Stuck in the Not-So-Good Old Days

b2ap3_thumbnail_paper_technolgy_waste_400.jpgThere are some good things about the past. Events that happened then have led you to where you are now - you're an owner of a thriving business, and you can remember being a startup like it was yesterday. But, does your technology also remember those halcyon days? If so, you might be due for a much-needed upgrade.

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By the Numbers: The Growing Trend of IT Consulting

b2ap3_thumbnail_outsourced_it_rules_400.jpgFor years, IT departments have been stereotyped as an antisocial bunch hiding in the shadows of server rooms, only coming out when a fellow employee experiences a problem with their workstation or a new gadget is released. Today, thanks to the prevalence of technology in every aspect of business, technicians are on the forefront of major business decisions and this stereotype is no more!

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The Most Expensive Paper You’ll Ever Buy… or Not

b2ap3_thumbnail_digital_paper_400.jpgIt's no surprise that technology is taking over our lives. It's everywhere; from the workplace to every inch of our homes, new technology exists where it wouldn't have twenty years ago. Bluetooth-connected kitchen appliances allow their owners to turn them on and off from a distance. Cars can connect to the Internet. Google has produced glasses that allow you to browse the Internet. There are tons of innovative, new inventions that have had a huge impact on the way small business owners manage their workplaces, but nothing can compare to the significance of being able to receive text files from anywhere in the world via email and fax.

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Cloud Safety Presents New Options for Businesses

b2ap3_thumbnail_cloud_security_400.jpgAdmit it, you've thought about moving some of your computing infrastructure to the cloud, but just couldn't take the leap because there is a perception out there that suggests cloud-based computing systems are less secure than the ones that you house within the confines of your office. The fact of the matter is that every piece of computing infrastructure has the same shortcomings as far as security goes. Whether hosted in a cloud or in an enterprise data server, the thing that makes data security work for business is having the right people managing your information.

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