Ferrum Technology Services Blog

Relying on remote workers was always scary for a lot of businesses; particularly small businesses. The fear stems from a lack of control, whether it be monitoring security or productivity. This is why, before the pandemic, you saw a lot of businesses limit or disallow the practice completely. Today, however, most organizations have a completely different view of remote work. It literally saved many businesses. 

As your business grows and your list of achievements grows ever longer, you will eventually realize that your network cannot keep up with the strain you place on it every day. When your network experiences so much traffic that it buckles under the pressure, or slows to a crawl, we call that a network bottleneck, and it can be indicative of other problems on your infrastructure that must be addressed.

Remote work has cemented itself in today’s business environment, but there are some issues regarding whether or not people can effectively work outside of the office. In particular, the idea of a workation has sprung up in that people are working while going on a vacation. This “workation” trend is one that must be examined.

It can be hard to look into the future, especially today when that future can often look bleak and unpredictable. It’s incredibly important, however, to do so, especially in the realm of your business’ operations. When the pandemic is over, how are you going to corral your employees back to your office? Are you even going to attempt this? Perhaps, now more than ever, it’s time to reevaluate your operational infrastructure and how technology can impact it.

You hear the term “best practices” quite often, but unless you know what the buzzword means, it is pretty much meaningless. There actually is some merit to understanding what the term “best practice” is and why it is so important, so without further ado, let’s take a deeper dive into what a best practice actually is.

Modern businesses need to take advantage of every opportunity they can get in today’s crowded marketplace, almost regardless of the industry they work in. One great way to gain an advantage is to put technology in place that can significantly enhance how your business works, inside and out.

Some high-profile business owners are notorious for having daily routines that build good habits, like going to the gym or waking up early, but more often than not, the stressors of day-to-day business build bad habits that compound on each other over time. Therefore, it is imperative that you address this now and develop good, productive habits.

When many businesses look to add to their teams, they typically have a series of qualifications they need each applicant to meet before they grant interviews. They make their selection, do their entrance training, and then expect that the new hire will settle in and be as productive as possible as soon as possible.

More people are consistently working remotely now than before the pandemic, and while many businesses have been able to make it work, some continue to struggle. Workers that were moved out of the brick and mortar office to their homes at the beginning of the pandemic aren’t all looking forward to going back. If your business is considering a sustained remote or hybrid workplace strategy, having a team that can successfully collaborate from where they work is essential. This month we thought we would take a look at three problems businesses with remote workers could experience and the solutions for those challenges.

Technology might be a great tool to enhance productivity, but we need everyone to understand that it can only do so much for an unproductive user. It’s not uncommon for users to bounce back and forth between tasks, and this can lead to unfortunate bouts of unproductive behavior. Let’s discuss some ways that you can help your team overcome these obstacles.

To stay competitive, businesses need to leverage any tools they can to optimize productivity. This includes what is often marketed as productivity software. Unfortunately, shopping for these tools can often lead you down the same rabbit hole, looking at the same products over and over, trying to determine which one is the best bang for your buck. Here are some pointers for finding the best productivity apps for your organization’s needs.

The concept of productivity isn’t what it used to be. It has evolved significantly over time. In fact, it wasn’t until the late 16th century, where subsistence living was less frequent, where the term started to mean what we know it to mean today. Today, we’ll take a look at how the modern definition of productivity came about.

Laptops are pretty great. They’re powerful, yet portable computers that can be brought effectively anywhere work needs to be done. That being said, there are a few drawbacks that can irritate many users to some extent. For instance: trying to click-and-drag your cursor as you are using the trackpad. For this week’s tip, let’s go into a feature that you can use to make this process a lot simpler.

The typical workday is filled with tasks—oftentimes, more than can be handled in the span of a day and all given the same priority level. As I’m sure you’ve realized at some point, this just isn’t a sustainable way to operate. To minimize this issue, we’re going over a few tips to help you prioritize the tasks that you’re given.

 Many businesses have turned to the productivity suite as they’ve added more and more useful tools. Traditionally, the productivity suite came with a word processor, spreadsheet program, note-taking program, and presentation software. Today, we will take a look at the variables that decision makers need to confront when choosing the right productivity suite for their business.

Businesses are always looking for a way to boost productivity. Some businesses will try almost anything to do so. For the individual, however, managing your productivity is a little less complicated. That’s not to say that it is always simple. Typically, the best way to improve productivity is to improve time management. How does one go about changing their behaviors to improve their productivity? Let’s take a look at a couple of ways.

Business owners try to avoid downtime like the plague, but it’s often a major challenge. The impact of downtime can be devastating for even the most well-to-do business because it effectively stops productivity, but the costs keep. This month, we thought we’d take a look at how you can calculate the cost of a downtime event to help you understand the impact downtime can have on your business. 

We’ve all had those days when motivation eludes us, and they can be extremely frustrating. Fortunately, there are ways that you can rejuvenate your drive in either your personal or professional life. Let’s go over some of these tactics to try and keep burnout at arm’s length.

Remote collaboration, especially online meetings, have recently surged in popularity amongst businesses. However, as this has happened, many new adopters have gotten the impression that they just can’t accomplish as much as they could otherwise. To help readjust this perspective, we wanted to share a few productivity tips to apply to your next remote (or even in-person) meeting.

While Google Lens has flown under the radar for most Android users, it can be leveraged as a major productivity booster. Let’s go over a few of the capabilities that can be embraced after installing the application on your mobile device for this week’s tip.