SMART Blog

So, what is digital waste?

Digital waste is all the useless data in our data storage that lingers until we do something with it. Extra files no longer needed, old emails and chats, and old, blurry pictures you never have and will never use… all qualify as digital waste. While it’s easy to discount digital waste as an annoyance (which it certainly can be), it creates a much bigger and more serious problem.

Obviously, we won’t tell you to cut down on your cybersecurity. That said, it can be easy to overinvest and overreach if you aren’t careful about what you’re implementing. This phenomenon is known as cybersecurity sprawl, and if not prevented, it can easily have serious consequences for your business. Let’s go into how to avoid this sprawl.

Technology is an essential part of most business operations nowadays, regardless of the size of the business… and how that size may change over time. As such, it is essential that the infrastructure that supports this IT can adapt to these swells and declines.

Let’s discuss why it is so important that your IT infrastructure fits your business and a few best practices for tailoring it.

“Quit.” The q-word is (at least, in the business setting) one of the worst four-letter words someone can use… usually. In the context you probably first thought of, yes, but there are plenty of times that quitting can directly benefit your operations.

For instance, let’s say you have a project that is eating all of your resources, with no real returns in sight. What do you do then?

Every business relies on technology for at least part of its operations. This means that every business—particularly those with operations that make IT an essential part of the process—will need access to some form of IT support.

For most small and medium-sized businesses today, managed IT is the best option. Let’s discuss a few reasons why this is.

Projects are a big part of the small business model. Whether they are projects to improve organizational efficiency or productivity or projects that are completed for customers, strong project management is extremely important. Scope creep happens when a project becomes less efficient because the demands of the project keep changing. In today’s blog, we will try to define scope creep and how to prevent it from being a problem for your business.

AI has become a major tool all throughout the modern economy. Businesses are using technology with built-in AI, and that’s because it improves operational efficiency. Let's take a look at some of the benefits small businesses can take advantage of with AI.

Being a green business is certainly not a bad thing. Not only does it help boost your company's environmental friendliness, but it can often attract customers and clients who prioritize the environment. Less mentioned, however, is how being greener can actually give your business an advantage in the right circumstances.

It’s natural for businesses to rely on their tools, like IT, to achieve success, but if you don’t take care of your systems, it could lead to downtime. You can bypass many of these challenges with the right approach to technology maintenance. We want to highlight some of the proactive methods you can use to keep downtime to a minimum.

Many businesses need to deal with a lot of vendors in order to keep their doors open - enough that, at times, it might seem that the most time and energy is spent juggling these vendors. That doesn’t have to be the case, however, at least where your technology solutions are concerned. 

When people talk about a business’ efficiency, it’s typically referring to the ability for the organization to bring a product or service to market quickly with a small amount of wasted resources. The prevailing theory is that an efficiently-run business costs less, makes more, and grows faster than one that is inefficient. With the way business is headed--that is, with smaller profit margins than ever before--boosting efficiency has become a core business strategy. In fact, in today’s technology-driven marketplace, there are many that would argue that the efficient business is the only good business.

Cloud computing offers businesses an economical way to obtain the software and services they need. Yet, there comes a point when having too much of a good thing becomes wasteful, no matter how affordable the service may be. If a business owner isn’t careful about how they utilize the cloud, then they can unknowingly find themselves experiencing “cloud waste.”

A mouse is necessary for working with documents or for browsing the Internet. However, that shouldn’t stop you from using key command shortcuts to cut down on the number of clicks you need to make. With Windows 10, there are plenty of shortcuts that can be used to accomplish more throughout the workday.

Your staff’s ability to access the data they need to do their jobs is paramount to the success of your business. Are you serious about making it as easy as possible for your team to get the information they need, or is this responsibility an afterthought?

Technology is a double-edged sword. It provides businesses with powerful tools that can bring unparalleled organization and efficiency to their operations; yet, technology provides workers with a tidal wave of distractions. What's your company doing to manage this unique technological paradox?

The office might be moving toward digital filing more and more every day, but that doesn't change the fact that you sometimes need to print something out for your own needs. Some offices need a printer for hard copies of documents in the event that their system can't be accessed. Overall, having a printer around can be very beneficial to your company, but do you know how to choose between the many different types of printers?

A basic Intranet can be an invaluable tool for a budding company, and can help connect your employees over your own network. However, that's not all that an intranet is good for. It can also save you a lot of money in the long run by streamlining operations and decreasing downtime!

How long does it take to boot up your computer when you start your workday? Most people would be fine with a one minute boot time; five minutes can get a little annoying, and anything longer than ten minutes warrants a coffee break. You may not have realized it, but a few extra minutes of boot time can impact the productivity of your company in a big way.

Let's say that you're on the phone with a client going over a major proposal and they utter four words that fill you with dread, "Fax it to me." It's not that you don't know how to send a fax, but you dread faxing because you know that you're in for a big waste of time, especially considering how many pages your proposal is.

When your business runs efficiently, you will see the positive side effects start relatively quickly. While this seems pretty reasonable to most everyone, there are many business owners that don't know how to best produce the kind of efficiency that will take their business to the next level.