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Growing your business involves learning how to make money and hang on to it responsibly. When you’re in the weeds, it’s easy to think that a fancy piece of well-marketed software could help dig your way out. That’s usually not the case, and you’ll likely end up paying for software that you don’t need and barely use, and that burns through your bank account. 

On the other end, a few pieces of technology benefit most growing organizations. When set up and implemented correctly, these pieces of software can improve operations, increase efficiency and lend a hand to revenue-generating efforts. Investing in the right technology is not a wasted expense. However, with so many options, especially with the new wave of AI-powered digital tools, it can be challenging to decide which ones you need and which ones are distractions.

In today’s blog, we’re outlining five tech tools you should use to grow your business and a few that will only take up space.  

Tools To Use: 

• Direct Messaging Platforms – Whether everyone is in-office, remote or hybrid, a communication tool is a must. These tools allow for targeted communication that can be one-on-one, small, select groups, entire departments, channels within the organization or the entire organization. This feature helps to keep messages relevant instead of consuming everyone’s time. Tools like Microsoft Teams or Slack are popular options that offer video call capabilities, integrate with other tech tools, can leverage AI and more. Other critical factors to consider when choosing which software you’ll use are whether it’s high-speed, easy to use and scalable, and whether the company provides great support.  
  

• Project Management Software – This is essential for internal and external projects to keep you on track, on budget and organized. Using this tool, you can work with others on your team to set deadlines, assign tasks, monitor deliverables, track issues, connect with clients for feedback or approval and more. However, there are many options available that have more features than you need. When choosing project management software, first see if there are any industry favorites. For example, JobNimbus is specialized software for roofers in the contracting industry. Others exist specifically for health care. Finding these unique options can help you get the project solutions you need. If you’re looking for a general tool, software like Monday, Asana and ClickUp all continue to top the popularity chart. 
  

• Customer Relationship Management Software (CRM) – If you’ve been tracking leads and customers via pencil and paper or with a simple spreadsheet, this tool will change the game for you. CRMs allow you to store your customer information in one place, which can help streamline your sales process, strengthen customer relationships, increase sales and run a smoother operation. Again, look for industry-specific options first. After that, tools like Keap or Salesforce come highly recommended.
  

• Cloud Computing Solutions – These are vital for all organizations that share data or collaborate on projects. The cloud is a web-based hub that holds all your data virtually and can be manipulated by anyone with access at any time, even at the same time. It syncs to all connected devices to share changes in real time, allowing for better collaboration and scale-up as your company grows. Cloud platforms to consider are Microsoft Azure, Google Drive, Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Dropbox. 
  

• Cyber Security Solutions – Digital tools make running your company easier, but they invite new threats into your business. Cyber security is a serious issue for business owners. You handle sensitive data, financial information and more for you and your clients, so safeguarding it against cybercriminals is necessary. Computers, USBs, mobile devices, servers and networks must all be secured.  

 While there are antivirus and firewall solutions available for you to set up on your own, having an IT company with a cyber security expert on the team monitoring your network is recommended. Hackers break through the standard firewalls regularly, which leaves people who think they are protected unknowingly exposed. With 24/7 monitoring, an IT team can patch those holes before cybercriminals can find them. 

 Those are five tools all business owners would benefit from. But what about items you don’t need? Here are two you can avoid wasting money on. 

• Ineffective AI Tools – With the launch of ChatGPT, a wave of new AI-powered programs has popped up. It seems like there is an AI tool for everything. The problem is, can these tools be used effectively? Many programs were rushed to market and are still in the early stages of development. They have frustrating bugs and limitations and don’t produce quality results. 
  

Be selective about which AI tools you use. Do you need it? Does it work? Remember, whenever you sign up for another free trial or create an account, you’re giving your private information to a company that could experience a data breach. Choose carefully!  

• Duplicates – Are you paying twice for the same tool? As software companies merge and develop new features, you might find that you can consolidate your tools in one place. For example, if you’re using Canva to design images for social media and something else like Hootsuite to schedule them, you could reduce the number of tools you use from two to one because Canva can schedule the posts for you! There are likely other areas in your business where this can happen. Spend some time evaluating what you invest in to see if you can eliminate anything. 

 When it comes to running an efficient business, choosing the right tech tools is critical to your success. Instead of spending your limited time researching the best options, let our tech experts help. Using our FREE Network Assessment, we can help you identify bottlenecks and areas of opportunity in your business to help you save money, improve productivity and grow. Click here to book your free assessment now or call our team at 480-464-0202 to get started. 

Training employees on anything can be an expensive process. You incur the cost of investing in necessary materials plus the time it takes away from your employees doing revenue-generating activities. But what’s worse when it comes to cyber security training is the expense you’ll incur if that training fails.  

Recent studies show that human error plays a role in a shocking 90% of data breach cases! Smart business owners are taking a proactive approach and training their employees on cyber security do’s and don’ts. While we applaud their efforts and encourage all owners to take this step, research suggests their efforts aren’t paying off. Despite their willingness to train employees, the number of data breaches continues to increase.  

What gives? We’ll be first to say it – cyber security training can be boring. And what happens during boring presentations? People aren’t engaged, so they tune out and miss the critical information needed to keep your company secure. After the presentation, they sign off, saying they have learned the lessons, but have they really or are they a ticking time bomb in your organization? 

The latter is likely true. If you want the information to stick, you must take some additional steps – and the most important is putting them to the test! 

According to Education World, interactive activities are six times more effective when learning and remembering material than simply listening to a lesson. You can incorporate this tactic by putting employees to the test to find out whether or not they can apply what they learned. 

One of the best ways to do this is to use phishing simulations. Here’s how the process works: 

• A third party creates a realistic but fake phishing e-mail that shows identifiable signs discussed in the training. An example could be creating an e-mail that is similar to the CEO’s requesting private information, an outside company sending a bad link, etc. You can customize it to look like something relevant that your employees could potentially see and fall for.

• The employees are then put to the test. You choose which employees will receive what links and what dates the e-mails will be sent. Will they be able to identify the threats or will they fall for the scams?
   

• The results are collected and shared with you to develop more comprehensive training programs and help you identify which employees are your biggest risks so you can provide specific coaching. 

 Another great way to use phishing simulations is to send out the tests before the training. When employees see that people in the company are making mistakes, they are more likely to pay attention to the lesson. 

 It’s not enough to just teach the information! It must be learned and implemented every day to be effective and keep your organization secure. 

If you’re looking for effective cyber security awareness training for your employees, our team has a comprehensive program that will engage, teach and test your employees so you can have peace of mind knowing they are working to keep your company safe. Click here to get in touch with our team and get started on your cyber security training session today. 

As former President Ronald Regan once said, the scariest words you’ll ever hear are “We’re from the government, and we’re here to help.”  

In this case, the government is trying to help by forcing nearly all businesses to implement and maintain a strong cyber security program to protect the customer information these companies host – definitely not a bad thing, and all businesses should take this seriously without the government mandating it. 

Sadly, the majority of small businesses don’t take cyber security seriously enough and believe they are doing enough to prevent a cyber-attack when they aren’t, which is why the government is having to step in and create laws (the GLBA Act) to enforce better security protocols.  

What Is The New FTC Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act Safeguards Rule And Who Does It Apply To? 

Back in April of 2022, the FTC issued a new publication entitled “FTC Safeguards Rule: What Your Business Needs to Know.” This was published as a “compliance guide” to ensure that all companies that fall under the Safeguards Rule maintain safeguards to protect the security of customer information. 

While you might think your business is “too small” to need to comply or doesn’t hold any data “that a hacker would want,” you’ll be shocked to discover you are likely to be wrong on both fronts. 

Hacking groups use automated bots to randomly carry out their attacks – and small businesses are their #1 target due to the gross negligence and inadequate protections they have. You are low-hanging fruit. That’s why it’s not only the obvious organizations, such as CPAs, financial institutions and credit unions, that need to comply. Here’s a short list of just a few of the organizations that fall under this new law. You should know that this is NOT a complete list: 

• Printers that print checks or other financial documents.  
• Automotive dealers who provide financing for car purchases. 

• Any organization that accepts credit or loans for the goods and services they sell, whether or not the credit is granted. 
• Companies that do tax preparation or credit counseling of any kind. 
• Real estate settlements, services or appraisals.  
• Career counselors that provide services to people employed by or recently displaced from a financial organization.  

As you can see, the companies that must comply are growing rapidly. Bottom line, if you handle any kind of financial data or personally identifiable information, you need to make sure you are complying with these new standards. 

What You Need To Do Now 

The rule requires you to implement a “reasonable” information security program. But what does that mean? For starters, you need to designate a qualified individual to implement and supervise your IT security program – and you cannot outsource this. Yes, you can and should get a professional IT firm like us to guide you on the implementation, but the buck still stops with you. 

The person you designate doesn’t have to have a background in IT or cyber security – but they will be the person responsible for ensuring your company is taking reasonable precautions to comply with the new security standards. 

Second, the Safeguards Rule requires you to conduct a risk assessment to initiate an effective security program. From there, you would work with your IT company (us!) to roll out a plan to secure and protect the data you have by putting in place access controls, encryption, data backups, 2FA and a number of other protections. 

Cyber security is not something you do once – it’s an ongoing effort of protection as new threats evolve. If you want to see where your organization stands on cyber security, click here to sign up for a quick, easy and completely free Cyber Security Risk Assessment. That is the first step toward complying and will give you the information you need to know about your own security stance. 

Along with the surge of people working from home or in hybrid situations over the last few years, there has also been an increase in employers looking for ways to monitor their employees’ work activities to ensure they actually ARE working when remote.

This is no surprise given the new “quiet quitting” trend that has now evolved into “Bare Minimum Mondays” and “Try Less Tuesdays.” Sadly, some employees are taking advantage of working remotely as a way of working less.

Of course, not all remote employees are slackers – but how can an employer know the difference? That’s where tools like Teramind and ActivTrak come into play. These are software tools that can be installed on employees’ workstations and laptops to monitor their activity, both while in the office and remote.

Not only will these tools provide insights into productivity and where employees are spending their time, an employer can also see when someone checks in to work and leaves for the day. These apps can also help in ensuring employees aren’t surfing inappropriate websites during work hours using company resources.

While many people are against monitoring, it’s perfectly legal in the US, provided this is for work-related activities on workplace devices. Monitoring laws do vary by state, so you should always check with an HR attorney on any employee-related monitoring. While there is no requirement to gain consent on a federal level, some states require that you establish consent before monitoring.

It’s also legal to monitor company-owned devices outside of work hours, including Internet traffic, search terms, websites visited, GPS geolocation and content viewed, to name a few things. If you issue your employees’ phones, you are legally allowed to monitor them as well. It’s even legal to monitor your employees’ own personal devices if you have a BYOD (bring your own device) to work, provided those devices are used for work purposes.

If you are thinking of rolling out employee-monitoring software, here are a few recommendations.

• Let your employees know you WILL be monitoring them, and how, before rolling out any monitoring activities. Being totally transparent about what you are monitoring and why is important to establishing and maintaining trust with your employees. Most people would be very upset to discover you were monitoring them without their knowledge. While it’s legally your right (in most states) to monitor without letting them know, we feel it’s best to be open about this so they understand what’s being recorded.
• Put in writing what is and isn’t allowed during work hours and on company-owned assets. If you don’t want employees visiting what you deem as inappropriate websites and mixing personal activities with work activities on company-owned devices, let them know that. If they work from home, set guidelines such as start and end times for work and how long and how frequently they can take breaks, detailing when they need to be available (at work). No one likes getting a speeding ticket when there’s no speed limit signs posted. Be absolutely clear on your expectations and put them in writing so there’s no risk of “You never told me that…” happening.
• Get legal advice before implementing any kind of monitoring software, cameras or activities. Laws can change – and with privacy of data becoming more critical (and a legal hot potato), we suggest you work with an HR attorney to make sure you’re not violating anyone’s rights. Recently, the fast-food restaurant White Castle was hit with a lawsuit that could cost them up to $17 billion for using fingerprint login software for their employees to access certain systems. The lawsuit claims they violated Illinois’s biometric identification laws by asking employees to use their fingerprint as a secure way of logging in to their systems without first gaining consent.So, while it’s legal to monitor employees, you still need to be mindful of employment laws and data and privacy protection of the employees you monitor.

Need help implementing a more secure and productive remote workplace? Click here to schedule a quick call to discuss your options and to get ideas on how we can help you and your entire team be productive and safe, no matter where or how you choose to work.