Ferrum Technology Services Blog

Your workstation has all of the applications that you need to make it through the workday, but sometimes you’ll be pleasantly surprised by finding a program that you didn’t know was on there. If you’re looking for a specific application, or you just want to see what programs are installed on your workstation, be sure to keep reading for this week’s tip.

Your cell phone rings while you’re in the middle of a meeting. Do you answer it? Regardless of if you do or not, the fact remains that it’s embarrassing and that it shouldn’t be happening in the first place. Thankfully, for Android users, you can turn your phone’s volume up or down by scheduling it.

While online shopping is great for finding exactly what you need, you still need to remember that cybercrime is a major problem and that you need to be careful of where you plug in your financial information. Here are some best practices that can help to keep you safe this holiday season while bargain-hunting.

Email may be crucial to the functionality of your business, but at times it can seem like your inbox is far beyond your control. You might find yourself throwing away hours on end just to clean up the pile of unread messages in your inbox. Thankfully, with a bit of effort, you too can free yourself from an overburdened inbox.

When it comes to making progress on your organization’s future, your IT budget presents your business with a major roadblock. We bet that it would feel great to eliminate the stress associated with your IT budget. Here are three ways that you can plan for your business’s future and keep that IT budget slimmed down.

So you have elected to relocate your operations to a new office space. While this can be a great way to make progress toward a variety of goals, there are important considerations you need to take into account during your search to find a space that is just right for you and your business’s needs. What follows is a list of factors to keep in mind as you narrow your real estate search.

Back in 2011, Facebook released their Messenger app. It was designed to be a chat system that could be used to communicate outside of the Facebook app. Since then, Facebook has provided Messenger with much more functionality than your average everyday messaging system. In fact, Messenger might now offer features that could be helpful for your business.

When Facebook first created a splash online, the business world was slow to climb aboard. Businesses thought that social media wouldn’t benefit them. Yet, many companies have had great success through social media, spreading their brand and establishing a more powerful online presence. Therefore, it makes sense that Facebook would invest in ways to make its services more friendly to the business sector, and Messenger is a great example of the social media giant’s evolution.

Here are eight ways that Facebook Messenger can provide value with its business-friendly features:

Use the Facebook Messenger Website for Desktops
Messenger is typically seen as a mobile app, and as such, businesses might be reluctant to use it. Facebook has moved past this with a standalone website specifically for use with Messenger, allowing those working on desktops to use the app on their PC without dealing with Facebook and all of its distractions. You can access the Messenger website here: https://www.messenger.com/

Use Messenger to Share Files
Your business shares files all of the time, and Messenger makes doing so simple enough. Click on the paperclip icon, upload the desired file, and click send. In this way, it works similar to an email. However, this only works if used on the web application version of Messenger. Mobile users will have to consider other ways of sharing files. Messenger supports plenty of different file types, including Microsoft Word files, Photoshop files, PDFs, and so much more.

The Internet is a great place to find information on a technology solution before going all-in on the purchase. Yet, sometimes you’ll purchase a hardware component that doesn’t quite meet your expectations. While it’s sometimes possible to go through the hassle of returning it, you can avoid this problem altogether by renting the technology rather than purchasing it immediately.

Have you ever tried lugging around two smartphones? It’s not as fun as it sounds, especially since having two devices means double the chance of losing one. Often times, this two-phone dilemma results from having both a work-issued phone and a personal phone. Thankfully, merging two phones is easy to do.

It’s important that your workflow allows you to get the most success out of your workday, yet this is often easier said than done. Everyone has different routines and practices that might work for them, and no one else. If you’re looking for ways to improve your own productivity processes, why not consider these four famous individuals with unorthodox practices?

Windows 10 has been issued updates that provide users with brand new ways to receive notifications. While you can go through Android and iOS’s Cortana app, there’s a better way to manage your notifications. We’ll walk you through the process of customizing your Windows 10 notifications.

Making the move to the cloud is far from an easy task. You need a process that’s tailored specifically for your organization, and one which is open to adaptation. If your plans are foiled by unexpected complications, it can be difficult to keep on track, and your cloud’s migration could become a nightmare.

Thanks to modern office technology, traditional office barriers that held businesses back are being brought down. With the right technology solutions, workers can work at any time from any location. This has led many employers to consider hiring remote workers due to the ability to bypass the restraints of geographical locations. Yet, just because you can hire anyone for a remote position doesn’t mean that you should.

For the busy business owner, getting work done while traveling is a way of life. Unfortunately, working on the go can be a disaster if you don’t properly prep your technology. Here are seven guidelines to make sure your technology is ready for your big trip.

Be sure to add these suggestions to your pre-trip checklist.

Tracking metrics is a major part of today’s business world. Many organizations use time-tracking software and other KPIs to ensure that their team is working at maximum efficiency, all day every day. Yet, some organizations are so bent on doing so that they’ve forgotten to ask the question of whether they should be doing all of this.

You may have heard of the Chromebook. It’s an inexpensive alternative to a laptop that allows for web browsing over an Internet connection, using Google’s own Chrome OS. The problem isn’t its functionality--rather, its lack of functionality when it’s not connected to the Internet. Thankfully, with a couple of apps, you can take advantage of some of the Chromebook’s more dynamic features, even when you’re not connected to the Internet.

It’s not always easy to keep your accounts secure, but with two-factor authentication, it gets much easier. You might already be using it for a number of services, even if you don’t realize it. Usernames and passwords are fairly commonplace for securing digital accounts, but some require you to further prove your identity. We’ll show you how to do this with your Gmail account.

Do you know what your office’s Wi-Fi password is? You’ll need to know, just in case new staff members or clients ask. Thankfully, if you already have a computer that’s connected to your network, you can easily find out what your forgotten Wi-Fi password is.

It’s a typical work day. You’re going about your business, when you decide to take a short break and check Facebook. Maybe you see a post that you’d like to share, but you’d rather not have that post on your timeline. While you could just delete it later, there’s a new feature that lets you share a post to your news feed, without posting it on your timeline.

All businesses must be prepared to deal with any unforeseen circumstances that could disrupt operations and derail their goals. One often unforeseen method for doing this is keeping an extra workstation on-hand, just in case a worker needs to use it. By doing so, you can prevent downtime and improve the way your business handles maintenance.