SMART Blog

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

Your IT Should Offer Benefits to Your Business’ Audience, Too

Your IT Should Offer Benefits to Your Business’ Audience, Too

Every so often, it helps to reflect for a moment on the purpose of your business, which is—with almost no exceptions—to deliver a good or service to your customers/clients. As such, every improvement you make to your technology should yield dividends for this base, even if the improvement is internal.

Let’s talk about how this might take shape and how we can help you facilitate it.

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Why and How a Technology Refresh is Actually Worth It

Why and How a Technology Refresh is Actually Worth It

It’s easy to skimp here and there when you run a business. After all, it isn’t cheap, and you have to make difficult decisions every day for where you’re prioritizing your spending. One area where you can’t scrimp on a substandard investment is your technology; especially an old computer that has broken down over and over again. If you’re not careful, that broken computer could be holding you back and costing you profit.

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How to Make Sure Updates and Patches Don’t Create More Problems

How to Make Sure Updates and Patches Don’t Create More Problems

If you want your devices to keep running smoothly, including utility and security, you need to ensure they are updated. Updates sometimes cause problems beyond what they solve, however. What looks like a routine patch or update could impact your important applications, and if you’re not careful, you could potentially cause a downtime scenario simply by being proactive with your updates.

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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.

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The Hidden Dangers of Outdated Hardware and Software

The Hidden Dangers of Outdated Hardware and Software

One of the greatest threats to modern businesses is a cyberattack and the consequent data breach. These types of threats often target outdated systems that haven’t been patched or upgraded with fixes to vulnerabilities. Today, we want to go over some of the most likely outdated hardware and software issues you might encounter on your own infrastructure so you can address them and keep your business safe.

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The True Expense of Running Outdated Technology

The True Expense of Running Outdated Technology

There’s a lot of comfort to be found in familiarity. It’s why so many of us cling to the way we’ve always done things. It’s the root of the old adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” In many contexts, this can be very good advice. One place it isn’t: your business’ technology.

Neglecting to improve the technology your business relies on can itself incur significant inherent costs that aren’t immediately apparent. Let’s explore them to truly appreciate the benefits of keeping your business’ tech up to date.

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Is Windows 10 Via Extended Security Updates Feasible for a Business?

Is Windows 10 Via Extended Security Updates Feasible for a Business?

Windows 10 is rapidly reaching the end of its secure lifetime, with support scheduled to end on October 14, 2025. While this doesn’t mean that the OS will no longer be available to use, it does mean that it will no longer be able to be safely and securely used—a critically important distinction.

That is, however, unless you pay for the Windows 10 Extended Security Updates… but is this a feasible or maintainable strategy for businesses?

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Sometimes, Loving Something Means Letting IT Go

Sometimes, Loving Something Means Letting IT Go

Happy Valentine’s Day! Today is a day to celebrate love, romance, and every butterfly that has ever fluttered in a stomach. However, the greatest loves can bring the greatest sorrow… particularly when the time comes to say goodbye.

Take Windows 10, for instance. PC users have loved the OS for a decade, but in a few short months, it will no longer be a good relationship for anyone—particularly business users—to maintain.

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How Planning Your Software Can Prevent Tech Sprawl

How Planning Your Software Can Prevent Tech Sprawl

Your business needs software, along with the various integrations it allows for to keep your operations going. A little planning goes a long way, especially if you want to get the best return on your investment. Today, we want to look at how you can find the right mix of software for your business without breaking the bank or experiencing the dreaded “tech sprawl.”

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There’s Yet Another Reason to Update to Windows 11 (As If We Needed One)

There’s Yet Another Reason to Update to Windows 11 (As If We Needed One)

As you should be aware by this point, the Windows 10 operating system is reaching its end of support on October 15 of this year—meaning that it will no longer receive updates of any kind afterward, including critical security updates. What you may not know, however, is that Microsoft is following suit and pulling Office support around the same time.

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How to Get Rid of an Old Computer Without Sacrificing Security

How to Get Rid of an Old Computer Without Sacrificing Security

Time passes, and things get old. This is especially true of technology, as new and better options are developed and released all the time. Sooner or later, you’re likely to find yourself in need of a new system… The only question left is how to get rid of the old one.

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Tip of the Week: Simple IT Practices for Business Success

Tip of the Week: Simple IT Practices for Business Success

Most businesses nowadays rely quite heavily on information technology to operate, as I’ve no doubt that you’re aware of. That’s why we thought it would be valuable to share some very simple IT best practices to help assist your operations by keeping your resources productive and secured.

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What the Windows 8.1 End-of-Life Event Means for Your Business

What the Windows 8.1 End-of-Life Event Means for Your Business

Windows 11 seems to be rapidly approaching, so now is the perfect time to discuss Windows upgrades and upcoming end-of-life scenarios, including Windows 8.1, which is slated to expire in 2023. You might be wondering if you have the hardware to handle this upgrade, and that’s a valid question, but what does the end-of-life scenario for Windows 8.1 really look like for your business? Let’s take a look.

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Tip of the Week: Why Your Team is Resistant to IT (or Any) Change

Tip of the Week: Why Your Team is Resistant to IT (or Any) Change

Change, whether you’re referring to that of your technology or any other business process, is often a point of contention between management and the rest of the business. Let’s explore this resistance to change that so many feel, and how you can help them overcome it

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Tip of the Week: How to Manage People Better by Using Technology

Tip of the Week: How to Manage People Better by Using Technology

When all is said and done, being a manager is a far different experience than being an employee. So, when you promote one of your team members to this position—or perhaps you’ve recently been promoted to management yourself—it is important that a few practices are incorporated into their new workflow. Let’s go over these practices, and how the right IT can help.

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New Technologies That May Soon Be Part of Your Business (If They Aren’t Already)

New Technologies That May Soon Be Part of Your Business (If They Aren’t Already)

Every piece of technology we regularly use today was once earth-shakingly innovative, regardless of how mundane and common it seems to us now. Think about it: people once had endless questions about the Internet, about computers…even about electricity. Let’s consider some modern innovations that we have many questions about now, but may someday be just as much of a given as the other tools we so commonly use today.

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Sorry Bob, But Technology Means the Times Will Always Be a-Changing

Sorry Bob, But Technology Means the Times Will Always Be a-Changing

The thing about technology is that, regardless of how miraculous or otherworldly it may seem upon its introduction, it can quickly become so very familiar to us. Hard as it may seem to believe, someday (maybe even soon), things like ChatGPT and other bleeding-edge technologies will seem typical, perhaps even humdrum.

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Is Antiquated Technology Hurting Your Business?

Is Antiquated Technology Hurting Your Business?

When your technology gets older it has a tendency to get less effective. This can be a major roadblock to organizational productivity, and have devastating effects on your business. These include major downtime events and overwhelming inefficiency. Let’s take a look at some ways that you know that it’s time to focus on reinvestment. 

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This is Your Last Chance to Abandon Windows 7

This is Your Last Chance to Abandon Windows 7

In just over a week, Microsoft is retiring two of its most popular operating systems - although this shouldn’t be news at this point. Microsoft has consistently been reminding Windows 7 users that they need to upgrade before January 14, running a major campaign to do so, but there are still a quarter of all desktop users that haven’t done so.

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Your Options Once Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 are Gone

Your Options Once Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 are Gone

By the time you read this, Microsoft is shortly going to retire both Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 operating systems - assuming that you are reading this before January 14. If you still are utilizing these software in your business at this point, you need to upgrade, or else deal with the security consequences of dealing with unsupported software. Here, we’ll review your options.

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