SMART Blog

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

3 Types of Data You’ll Need to Dominate In 2026

3 Types of Data You’ll Need to Dominate In 2026

Is your business ready to grow as we head into 2026? You may have heard that data is what fuels the decisions that lead to growth, but without a focus on the right types of data, you could be floundering and playing catch-up. Today, we’re sharing three types of data that your business can use to dominate in 2026, as well as solutions to help you collect it.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Avoiding Digital Lemons is Easy with Strategic IT Roadmapping

Avoiding Digital Lemons is Easy with Strategic IT Roadmapping

You invested in technology to support your business, spending time and money to acquire and implement it. What happens if that technology turns out to be a lemon… a high-priced item that’s ultimately a dud, or at the very least doesn’t mesh with your future plans?

This is often the result when tech is purchased to fix a short-term issue without a long-term strategy, and ultimately means that the purchaser loses money and productivity due to incompatibility issues. Alternatively, planning a strategic roadmap for your IT to follow helps ensure your investments actually advance your business’ future.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Why It Frequently Takes 3 Weeks for New Employees to Become Productive

Why It Frequently Takes 3 Weeks for New Employees to Become Productive

Congratulations! After a long and arduous interview process, you’ve found the ideal candidate for your business. They’re enthusiastic and experienced, but as soon as they sit down, they realize that they aren’t properly equipped to do their job.

This is precisely how to start a new hire on the wrong foot. Not only is it discouraging for them, but it is also expensive for you. While it may be tempting to blame individuals in these situations, they actually indicate a systemic shortcoming in your onboarding process. The only effective way to prevent these outcomes is to create procedures that ensure everyone on your team—new people included—can fully contribute.  

0 Comments
Continue reading

Sick of Sifting Through a Packed Inbox? Unsubscribing is Easier Than You’d Think

Sick of Sifting Through a Packed Inbox? Unsubscribing is Easier Than You’d Think

The average email inbox can easily become packed with so many unwanted messages… not necessarily spam, per se, but threads and feeds you’re just no longer interested in. Fortunately, there are capabilities baked into Gmail and Microsoft Outlook alike that allow you to remove these messages from your concern.

0 Comments
Continue reading

How to Build a Workplace That Fights Back Against Burnout

How to Build a Workplace That Fights Back Against Burnout

No one likes the feeling of being plugged into work all the time. Not even the most diligent employees will appreciate receiving an email after hours. Yet despite this feeling, there’s an unspoken expectation that you are always on, so to speak, especially with the advent of mobile technology and remote work. How can you prevent these issues from escalating into burnout?

0 Comments
Continue reading

What "Digital Transformation" Actually Means for Your Business

What "Digital Transformation" Actually Means for Your Business

Synergy. Paradigm shift. Disruption. There are so many buzzwords saturating modern business jargon nowadays, including and especially “digital transformation.”

Unfortunately, “digital transformation” sounds big and, worse, expensive… especially for our small and medium-sized business neighbors. We wanted to step in and assure you that this is not the case and that any business can benefit from it, provided it is approached correctly and mindfully.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Celebrate World Productivity Day by Boosting Your Business’ Productivity

Celebrate World Productivity Day by Boosting Your Business’ Productivity

Productivity is one of the most common business goals today, with many doing everything they can to optimize it. In fact, today is officially World Productivity Day, highlighting the significant importance placed on this specific metric.

Despite this, productivity can often feel unattainable… regardless of how busy one is throughout the day. Let’s fix that and consider three habits that will greatly support your work and help make the most of your time.

0 Comments
Continue reading

3 Signs Your IT is a Money Pit (and How to Turn It into a Gold Mine!)

3 Signs Your IT is a Money Pit (and How to Turn It into a Gold Mine!)

Many—we’d go so far as to say most, at some times—businesses have a pretty concrete view of the role that their IT plays in operations: cost center, money pit, necessary evil.

Something we’ve realized, however, is that these impressions are simply warning signs that a business’ technology strategy and approach need some attention. Let’s identify three signs that might be all too familiar to you, and address what can be done to change course and help turn your IT into a contributing part of your overall productivity.

0 Comments
Continue reading

If Your IT Resource Can't Explain ROI in 60 Seconds, It’s Time to Look Elsewhere

If Your IT Resource Can't Explain ROI in 60 Seconds, It’s Time to Look Elsewhere

You see it everywhere, again and again: how much return an investment into proper business technology will bring, with little to no context behind these claims. We want to fix that.

Let’s examine why so much information about modern IT options can be less than helpful, and see if we can’t clarify what it means. Simplifying tech for the businesses we work with is one of our primary goals, after all.

0 Comments
Continue reading

How Tech Sprawl Impacts Your Business (And What to Do About It)

How Tech Sprawl Impacts Your Business (And What to Do About It)

Over time, you might add new technology solutions to your infrastructure to solve specific problems. Before you know it, you might have an overwhelming amount of technology that keeps your business operational. This issue—tech sprawl—can hold your business back from efficient operations, but don’t worry… we have a solution for you.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Think Your Employees Aren’t Burnt Out? Think Again

Think Your Employees Aren’t Burnt Out? Think Again

If you want your business to succeed, you need to take care of your employees, but businesses sometimes let this important task slip in the throes of the day-to-day. Deloitte estimates that around 8 out of every 10 wage workers show signs of burnout. So the question then becomes… What are you doing about it?

0 Comments
Continue reading

Any Business Can Benefit from Digital Signage

Any Business Can Benefit from Digital Signage

While there are definitely gimmicks when it comes to technology in the small business (for instance, USB-powered staplers) there are many devices and technologies that have far more utility, although they may not seem to be applicable to all industries. One example would be the digital signage solutions that have grown in popularity. While they may seem to have limited uses outside of retail, there are plenty of ways to use them to your advantage.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Automation Options Any Business Can Use

Automation Options Any Business Can Use

If they are doing their job well, a business’ decision makers are always looking for ways to increase efficiency. For years, businesses were looking to their human resources to improve, but today, technology can fill in the gaps more effectively. A culture of automation--the act of having machines do tasks that humans used to do--is proving to be a potent strategy for all types of tasks. 

0 Comments
Continue reading

Be More Productive by Following a Routine

Be More Productive by Following a Routine

Business efficiency can be greatly helped by putting a concrete process in place, which is why it feels so natural to develop one in the workplace. Of course, these processes should also come into play when working from home. Let’s review what makes a routine so beneficial, and how you can develop one to optimize your success.

0 Comments
Continue reading

How to Reposition Yourself for Remote Productivity (Literally!)

How to Reposition Yourself for Remote Productivity (Literally!)

As current events have made congregating in an office irresponsible and hazardous, many companies are sustaining their operations by enabling remote work. While we normally focus on how you should properly take care of your technology, we wanted to shift our focus momentarily to the people using this technology, and how they can do so more safely.

To do so, we have to consider ergonomics.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Tip of the Week: Four Essential Network Management Practices

Tip of the Week: Four Essential Network Management Practices

Businesses depend on their networks to effectively complete the tasks they need to accomplish, making it critically important that the one you rely on is managed properly. Let’s go over a few tips and best practices that can help you ensure that it is.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Tip of the Week: How to Effectively Task Out Responsibilities

Tip of the Week: How to Effectively Task Out Responsibilities

With so many things that need to be accomplished each day, it always helps to have all the information needed to complete these tasks. If a task has no context assigned to it or no insight into how to approach it, productivity and morale are going to suffer. To prevent this, you need to properly task out your team’s goals. Here, we’ve provided some practices to help.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Tip of the Week: Time Management at Its Best

Tip of the Week: Time Management at Its Best

You can make more money, but you can’t make more time. Making the most of your time at work isn’t always easy. There are all types of unexpected distractions that take up a lot of time, so you should know what works to help you get the most out of the time you do have. Today, we present three considerations that will help you manage your time better.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Collaboration Spans Multiple Apps

Collaboration Spans Multiple Apps

The improvement in technology directly contributes to the amount of productivity business sees. One place this is evident is in the way in which businesses use collaboration tools to move business forward. Let’s take a brief look at what exactly we mean by collaboration tools and how they benefit the businesses that use them. 

0 Comments
Continue reading

How to Spend Less Time in Your Email Inbox

How to Spend Less Time in Your Email Inbox

While email is an indispensably useful tool in the office, it can quickly become a time-sink if finding the right messages to read and respond to becomes an overbearing responsibility. Fortunately, there is a simple solution to remedy this that, after spending some time learning about the full capabilities of your email platform, can once again make your email the useful tool it is meant to be.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Mobile? Grab this Article!

QR-Code dieser Seite

Blog Archive

2026
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
2012
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
2011
January
February
March
April
May
July
August
September
October
December

Sign up for our Newsletter!

  • Company Name *
  • First Name *
  • Last Name *