BNMC Blog

Entrepreneurship and business ownership are lofty goals to strive for. Unfortunately, there are a few pitfalls that could easily send an enterprising new owner tumbling down to earth like Icarus. Here, we’ll go over six of these errors so, if you happen to be starting a business, you know what you need to avoid.

We’ve all worked late nights, but that’s just the reality of modern business - our technology allows us to be productive whenever we have the opportunity to be. However, our physiology doesn’t always agree with our work habits - or the tools we use. One example: the influence that staring at a screen late into the night has on our ability to achieve restful sleep.

Have you ever opened a file on your PC only to not be able to find what you are looking for because it’s an absolute mess? It has numerous file types, folders, and applications just sitting there providing absolutely no continuity. Well, today we’re going to help you out by giving you some tips on how to organize your files so that you can easily find what you are looking for and maneuver around your OS or cloud-based file storage efficiently.

Everyone in a business has set responsibilities that they need to fulfill, one major one being proper security maintenance. A failure to uphold this responsibility could have serious consequences, including the very real potential of a security breach. It could be argued, in fact, that if you aren’t patching your systems, you’re inviting cybercriminals in.

A small-to-medium-sized business, by definition, isn’t going to have the same resources that are afforded to enterprise corporations, especially where its IT is concerned. However, this doesn’t mean that the SMB is stuck using sub-par solutions. Here, we’ll review a few key needs of any business, and the solutions that an SMB can access to meet them.

For decades, a common quick fix for a slow computer was to run a disk defrag on the hard drive. For most modern computers, however, this common practice can actually harm your computer. Let’s talk about why, and how you can tell.

Is your business prepared for any disasters that come its way? If you haven’t considered which threats could cause your operations the most trouble, you need to devise a strategy that takes all possibilities into account. Here, we’ll help guide you through these considerations.

If you’ve ever received an email without a subject line, chances are you’ve never felt inclined to open it as soon as possible. The email subject line is critical to capturing the user’s attention, as it helps to ensure they understand what they can expect from the email’s contents. Here are a couple of pointers on how you can create more effective email subject lines to increase the chances of them being read.

As a business owner, I’m sure you’ve reviewed your business expenses… but have you ever gone through them and wondered just what it was that you had spent your money on? It’s an understandable feeling to have. The many different IT expenses that show up on the standard invoice can add up quickly, and might inspire you to reconsider how you’re investing them… besides, how much do you really need an IT provider that you never seem to call?

When you think about your data security, what kind of solutions pop into mind? If you’re like many, you probably start thinking about passwords, firewalls, and antivirus, right? While these are all good things to have, you also have to consider the possibility that someone could break into your office and bypass all of these defenses, simply by picking up your server and walking out.

If you use a computer today, there’s a fair chance that you have a Google account. The practicality that if offers with its comprehensive service offerings simply can’t be ignored. However, it is also important that a user’s, whether they utilize it for business or personal use, security isn’t ignored either.

Mobile devices - like smartphones, tablets, and the like - are expected to be used by 2.87 billion people by 2020. That’s a lot of devices, with a good portion of them contributing to business operations. Unfortunately, that’s also a lot of potential security issues if the right preparations aren’t taken in advance.

Microsoft Excel is an extremely useful program for visually displaying data. Having said that, these spreadsheets aren’t exactly the most attention-catching things on their own. Fortunately, Excel has some options built-in that can allow you to display your figures in a more engaging, more expressive, and more meaningful way.

Considering how long we’ve had access to the basic technology, telephones (and proper telephone etiquette while using them) haven’t changed all that much on the surface. What has changed is how the technology fundamentally works, and the options that are available for businesses. Here, we’ll go over some of the options today’s businesses have.

It is no secret that kids these days have more access to technology than any generation before them. While this access can truly help to enrich their lives if leveraged properly, it can also have serious ramifications if it isn’t checked.

As a managed service provider, one of our responsibilities is to ensure that your computing infrastructure is running without issue, and also without unduly interrupting your other employees. To accomplish this, we leverage remote monitoring and management tools that provide your operations with some notable benefits.

Mistakes happen. This is part of doing business with other people, as well as relying on them to make sure tasks are accomplished in a timely manner. If you want to reduce the amount of user error that your organization suffers from, you unfortunately have to assume the worst--that any user will inevitably cause a problem if it’s not addressed properly beforehand. Thankfully, we have some measures you can consider so as not to create unnecessary issues for yourself.

We have almost made it through this year’s hurricane season, but unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that businesses will suddenly be safe again. Many businesses that are impacted by these kinds of disasters are unprepared, and so when push comes to shove, some ultimately close their doors after trying (and failing) to bounce back. We’re going to tell you how to help avoid this outcome for your business the next time there’s a disaster.

The one truth about technology is that it will always break--usually at the most inopportune time. When it does finally kick the bucket, how are you getting rid of it? It’s not as though you can just toss an old server or printer in the bin. Recycling your technology is the most responsible thing to do, but you have to be cognizant of the company you are trusting to dispose of your Compaq Presario from 1997, because they may not be doing what they are claiming to do; or worse yet, they may be trying to syphon data off your old hardware.

While it may not be fun to consider the worst-case scenario, it is important that you have a plan to ensure that your business will be able to survive when the chips are down. This plan to ensure that your business will continue is called (appropriately enough) a business continuity plan, and needs to address a few things that we will go over here.