Ferrum Technology Services Blog

With months and months of bad news, many businesses are trying to find the right recipe to keep from having to make the hard decisions. Problem is that these hard decisions are looking as if they are going to be inevitable. With costs rising and revenues shrinking, there needs to be a strategic urgency that will allow your business to sustain operations when other companies are laying off their workers and folding into obscurity. Today, we take a look at some of the technology investments that you can make to keep your business afloat during the economic downturn. 

All a business’ technology is important to its operations, but based on its industry, certain priorities are bound to arise. A recent survey cast a light on some of these priorities, giving us a view of what small to medium-sized businesses are concerning themselves with. Let’s review some of the trends this survey revealed to see how well your priorities match up.

As restrictions have started to ease and business returns to some semblance of normal, organizations are left picking up the pieces of a disaster that almost none of them planned for. Let’s look at some of the statistics that explain where small businesses are at this time, and some tips on how to get your business back being the productive company you remember.

Millions of businesses are being affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. As a result, it may not surprise you that you will have to adjust your budget to accommodate the massive amount of changes that we will see when the outbreak is handled and everyday life begins to normalize. Today, we thought we’d take you through some of the financial challenges your business is sure to have to deal with when the stay-at-home orders lift.

The Coronavirus outbreak is one of the most remarkable events in our lives, but it is not the first time that people have had to deal with these seemingly mystical forces. Today, we have been able to stem the tide a little bit with our access to information technology, but for past pandemic victims, some good did come out of tragedy. This month we thought we’d talk about the importance of innovation in dark times. 

If you are a subscriber of this blog, you know that each week we create content that aims to educate people about the value of managed services and the growing importance of information technology. Today, we thought it would be useful to put together a glossary of some terms that we regularly use to ensure our readers understand what we are referencing. 

With so many different technologies being used in business, it can sometimes be too much for the people out there who aren’t as tech savvy as others. In fact, some of the people you will work alongside will not be able to grasp some of the simplest technology concepts. Unfortunately, these people don’t know a fraction of what they need to about the technology they use, and it could put your organization at a disadvantage. This month, we thought we’d give you a few pointers on how to talk to your less-technology-inclined co-workers.

Your business is always looking for ways to improve its operations. The more efficiently you do business, the more productive your company will be. To accelerate this growth many businesses look to information technology to build that added efficiency. Today, we will go over when you should consider upgrading your systems, and what benefits you can see from doing so. 

The small business owner has to do a lot. In fact, the smaller the business, the more he/she has to do. One thing that many small business owners do is make technology decisions. By acting like the organization's CIO or CTO (short for Chief Information Officer or Chief Technology Officer, respectively), the small business owner needs to understand what his/her organization’s technology needs are. Or, he/she needs to outsource that role. 

Healthcare is undoubtedly one of the hot-button issues in 21st century life. In the past, information technology has been a driving force in the improvement of primary care, but there is evidence that IT integration and innovation have both regressed. Today, we take a look at some of the technologies that are being leveraged by healthcare organizations.

2020 is just a week old, and as a technology company, we are proud to promote the use of technology. To celebrate 2020, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at just how far technology has come in the past 50 years. 

Everyone likes cool technology gifts. Your family loves them and as the holiday’s approach, many offices hold Christmas parties and have gift swaps where co-workers are always looking to give and receive useful doodads. Let’s take a look at some of our favorite tech gadgets for 2019.

Do you remember the days when wireless connectivity was primarily associated with computers, or laptops? With today's advancing technology, virtually anything is able to connect to the internet. We call everything in this category the Internet of Things, or IoT. 

As information technology becomes commonplace in nearly every business, it stands to reason that some businesses will put pressure on themselves to get some of the most innovative tools available. On the surface, this seems like a great idea, but just because a piece of technology exists, doesn’t mean it will help your business right now. We thought it would be a good time to take a look at some strategies that will help you build the technology your business needs to see a positive return on those investments.

I wanted to share a few stories we’ve gathered about times when a person or business has lost data. First, thank you to everyone who shared these stories with us and allowed us to publish them on our blog, and… we’re glad you made it through. The first one is a story about someone who learned their lesson the hard way.

AR, or augmented reality, has been touted as the next “big thing” for nearly a decade, while other “big things” have been introduced. Google Glass almost made AR more commonplace, but security and privacy concerns turned it into a non-starter. Today, AR has taken a new life, so let’s review some predictions for the future.

Business success relies entirely on communication. Think about it, a product or a service is entirely useless if there is no way to share or request information. Whether the communication is internal or external, the method upon which your business relies should be simple yet effective. Today, we will analyze the different methods your business can utilize. 

Some businesses have caught lightning in a bottle with the advent and overt use of the Internet. These companies now read like a who’s who of technology: Amazon, Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft. These companies are now some of the most lucrative in the world and there has been some very serious questions if they’re using their positions at the top of tech in unethical ways. Today, we’ll take a look at “Big Tech” and debate whether or not something has to be done to break up these companies before they become too powerful to fail. 

Retail businesses have been around for centuries. From livestock bartering 8,000 years ago to the establishment of currency to buy goods 5,000 years ago to the first shopping mall in 1930 to the advent of eCommerce, retail has followed the evolution of society. Like many other businesses, today’s retail stores rely on computers and information technology. This month we will take a look at retail IT, and how managed IT services present the modern retail establishment with the tools needed to run their stores effectively.  

Most people and businesses rely on computers to get things done. When you are looking to buy a new PC for your home or office, you need to understand all the elements so that you can make an educated choice. To assist you along in this process we’ve put together a five-part guide that outlines the different variables you have to take into account when buying a PC that is right for your needs. In part one, we take a look at the CPU.