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Even if you’re tired of hearing about AI, the reality is that those who embrace it, find the tools that work and learn how to use them efficiently WILL get ahead of those who refuse to try. However, sorting through the thousands of AI-powered programs on the market can feel like a daunting task, which is why we want to highlight one that we support.

Microsoft Copilot is an advanced AI-driven tool that leverages artificial intelligence to automate routine tasks, analyze data, facilitate collaboration and more. Its chat-like design works seamlessly across commonly used Microsoft applications like Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel and Teams and can significantly boost productivity. Unfortunately, most companies often underutilize it. Today, we’re sharing seven ways you should use Microsoft Copilot to enhance efficiency in your business.

1. Automating Routine Tasks – Routine tasks like data entry, scheduling and managing e-mails are time suckers. Microsoft Copilot can handle these for you, freeing your time to focus on more strategic activities. You can start your day with a clear inbox and a well-organized schedule without lifting a finger.
2. Data Analysis And Reporting – Data is crucial for making informed decisions, but analyzing it can be time-consuming and require some level of technical expertise. With Microsoft Copilot, you can effortlessly sift through large datasets and quickly create comprehensive reports. Whether you need insights into sales trends, customer behavior or financial performance, Copilot can provide actionable data in minutes.
3. Improve Customer Support – Quality customer support is crucial to growing a business. Copilot can help you develop scripts for customer service representatives to handle inquiries and complaints, edit e-mails to sound more professional, automate responses to common questions, and even direct more complex issues to the appropriate team member. This means faster response times and happier customers.
4. Content Creation – Creating content for e-mails, presentations and marketing campaigns can take time. Copilot can draft e-mails and blogs, develop creative ad copy for various advertising campaigns, generate sales pitches and presentations and even create social media content, all while ensuring your messaging stays consistent. Whether you’re putting together a newsletter or a social media post, Copilot keeps the engaging content flowing smoothly in half the time it normally takes and without the usual hassle.
5. Financial Management – Microsoft Copilot can help you draft budget proposals; create financial summaries; accurately forecast, create and organize invoices; track expenses; automate data collection; and generate accurate financial reports. This helps you keep track of your finances and make informed decisions based on real-time data. With Copilot, monitoring your financial health and planning for future growth becomes much more manageable.
6. Improve HR And Operations – Copilot can quickly help your human resources department and operations team get more done in less time in various ways. Leverage Copilot to:
   ● Manage documentation such as employee manuals, policy documents and FAQs, ensuring they are always up-to-date.
   ● Assist in developing training modules and educational content for new hires or ongoing employee development.
   ● Generate templates for performance evaluations and feedback forms that can be personalized for each employee.
   ● Ensure compliance with regulations by using Copilot to stay informed about legal changes and update necessary documentation accordingly.
   And more!
7. Streamline Task And Workflow Management – Keeping track of tasks and deadlines can be challenging and overwhelming. Copilot integrates with tools like Microsoft Planner and Project to help you organize tasks, set deadlines and track progress. Using this to your advantage helps projects stay on track and team members remain accountable. By streamlining task and workflow management, you can maintain a productive and organized work environment.

While this list barely scratches the surface of what Microsoft Copilot can do, there is no magic button that will make your business run itself. But leveraging tools like Microsoft Copilot can get you closer to that. From automating routine tasks to enhancing collaboration and financial management, Copilot offers a wide range of benefits that can significantly boost your productivity. By leveraging the power of artificial intelligence, Copilot allows you to focus on what matters most – growing your business.

And remember, no matter how advanced technology gets, nothing replaces the value of good old-fashioned hard work and dedication. So, integrate these tools, but keep pushing forward with the grit and determination that got you here in the first place. If you need help learning how to set up or leverage Microsoft Copilot in your organization, our team of experts is here to help.
Give us a call at 480-464-0202 or book a FREE Network Assessment here.

When 8.5 million Windows devices, including those at airlines, banks and hospitals, suddenly displayed the “Blue Screen of Death,” people began to panic. “We are under a cyber-attack!” most speculated. Fortunately, that was not the case, but the real reason behind the outage is alarming and something every business owner should be concerned about.

So, What Happened?

On July 19, 2024, millions of Windows devices crashed, triggering an endless reboot cycle and an unresolvable blue screen. This issue caused massive global disruptions. Airlines had to ground flights, leaving thousands of passengers stranded in airports and unable to book new routes home. Electronic health record software was knocked offline, forcing providers to cancel or delay nonemergency procedures, surgeries and medical visits. Several major banks also went offline, leaving customers unable to access their accounts. These were just some of the significant issues caused by what is now labeled the largest IT outage in history. Almost brings back those Y2K fears, doesn’t it?

If It Wasn’t A Cyber-Attack, What Caused It?

Many worried that the outage was due to a cybersecurity attack, but the source of the problem was a botched software update from CrowdStrike, a leading cybersecurity company. The team behind their endpoint detection and response (EDR) platform, Falcon, configured what should have been a routine sensor update. This update, specifically for Microsoft Windows, unknowingly had a flaw, and due to its tight integration with Windows OS, it resulted in widespread system crashes when it was pushed through.

How could a multibillion-dollar organization release an update with such a serious flaw? Representatives for the company later explained that it was due to a gap in their testing software. The issue stemmed from a flaw in the content validator tool, which failed to detect the problem in the update, leading engineers to believe everything was ready for release. As a result, the update forced Windows systems to enter an endless reboot cycle, displaying the infamous Blue Screen of Death.

As the situation unfolded, CrowdStrike immediately acted to fix the issue, but the damage was already done. Reports from insurers now estimate the outage will cost US Fortune 500 companies upward of $5.4 billion.

Why Should This Concern You?

This event reinforces how integrated technology is in our lives and underscores the significant impact a single software flaw can have on global IT infrastructure. When it comes to your company’s technology management, there is no substitute for having three things:

1. A reliable, knowledgeable IT professional managing your network. Accidents happen even in large organizations, as seen with CrowdStrike, but you can reduce your odds of being caught up in an issue like this by working with an experienced IT team. Their expertise and knowledge in updates, backups and constant awareness keep your operations running smoothly and prevent minor hiccups from escalating into full-blown disasters.

2. Rigorous software testing. If you have a reliable IT team, they should handle this for you.

3. A robust disaster recovery plan. Mistakes will happen, and you need to be prepared to take action quickly so you can continue doing business and mitigate damage quickly. Many organizations affected by this outage had to pause business because they had no action plan for a disaster like this. Don’t be caught without plan B if something like this happens in your organization.

Don’t wait until you’re hit with a crisis to take action. Ensure your business is prepared by partnering with an experienced IT team. We offer a FREE, no-obligation Network Assessment where our team of experts will evaluate your current systems, identify potential vulnerabilities and develop a comprehensive plan to safeguard your business against future outages. Your company’s security and continuity depend on it.

Call us at 480-464-0202 or click here to book your FREE Network Assessment today!

If the software your organization used to close deals and pay employees unexpectedly went down and you had no idea when it would be fixed, what would you do? Could you continue doing business? How much money would you lose? Unfortunately, in June, this happened to over 15,000 US- and Canada-based car dealerships when two cyber-attacks occurred on the popular industry software provider, CDK Global.
This software attack shut down the sales, financing and payroll systems for thousands of dealers, forcing them to either stop business or revert to the old-fashioned pen-and-paper method. This incident should be a wake-up call for all small business owners, highlighting the importance of robust cybersecurity measures.

What Happened?

The initial attack occurred on the evening of Tuesday, June 18. Once it was detected, CDK Global immediately took the correct action, bringing the entire system offline to investigate the issue. The system was up and running again the following day until a second incident occurred, which resulted in the company bringing the system back offline. It’s thought the system was brought back online prematurely, before all compromised areas were discovered, resulting in a second attack. Cybersecurity experts are saying it could be weeks before the system is back to being fully operational.

While some businesses were able to revert to manual processes, this incident highlights the vulnerabilities that come with relying on digital systems. In our ever-advancing digital world, where most transactions are a couple of clicks away, significant issues arise when systems go offline. Critical parts of the business process, such as completing transactions, managing payroll and interacting with financial institutions, can come to a standstill. This means that until the systems are back online, many business operations cannot be fully completed, leading to delays and potential financial losses. Business owners know that there is no sale until the check clears the bank!

So, What’s Next?

CDK Global didn’t disclose the exact cause of the attack. Whether that was intentional or they are still unsure remains to be seen. Their security team will need to meticulously comb over every area of the business to determine exactly what was compromised. It’s often difficult for large companies to get the details about cyber-attacks 100% correct after the first review because they may not be able to determine the extent of an attack’s network penetration if there are multiple points of vulnerability.

In the meantime, businesses need to take a hard look at their systems for selling and operational continuity. Will they be prepared to continue doing business if and when this happens again?

This incident should serve as a wake-up call for all business leaders. If you don’t have a business recovery and continuity plan in place, you’re putting yourself at risk. And if you do, you need to ask yourself if it is high-quality, tested often and able to handle a large-scale attack where multiple operational systems are disabled. If the answer is no, it’s time to do something about it.

We’ll do a FREE Security Risk Assessment that will achieve two important things:

1. We’ll analyze your network for vulnerabilities. This will show you if and where an attack can occur, and we’ll offer solutions to patch it so you’re not actively setting yourself up to be the next cyber-attack victim.

2. We’ll help you determine what continuity or recovery plan makes sense for your organization. Cybersecurity is an essential and necessary element of doing business, but even the most robust security solutions are not 100% foolproof. This means you must have a plan to bounce back and continue doing business if something should happen to your network or to a third-party piece of software you rely on, like CDK.

To get started, call our office at 480-464-0202 or click here to book your FREE Security Risk Assessment now.

Summer is a popular time for vacation travel. If you’re looking to squeeze in any last-minute travel, there is a scam circulating that you need to be aware of. As costs for everything from food to travel continue to increase, the logical step is to search for the best deals online to book a memorable trip without breaking your budget. According to Booking.com, cybercriminals have decided to capitalize on this need and are now using one scarily convincing, AI-generated phishing e-mail that can cost victims way more than their vacation fund. Booking.com’s CISO, Marnie Wilking, shared that the organization has seen a 500% to 900% increase in travel-related scams in the past 18 months using this malicious tactic.

How are these scammers doing it? Phishing e-mails have existed since the dawn of the Internet, but AI tools like ChatGPT are making it increasingly easy to create realistic and professional scam e-mails that are more likely to trick readers. In the past, phishing e-mails were riddled with red flags such as spelling and grammatical errors. With the rise of AI, it’s easier for cybercriminals to pump out dozens of seemingly legitimate e-mails that often go undetected by software and readers.

Here’s how they work:

Scammers will use sites like Booking.com or Airbnb.com that allow people to list their places as short-term rentals. The scammers send out e-mails offering incredible rates or time-sensitive deals on nonexistent properties. After someone pays, the cybercriminals will either disappear with the money, leaving the renter without a place to stay, or use follow-up e-mails to collect additional “fees” or “charges” before vanishing.

To be clear, these vacation-focused phishing scams are NOT new. The problem now is that, with AI, more people are falling for them because these e-mails are becoming more convincing.

What can you do?

Vacationers can take several key steps to ensure they’re not being duped.

1. Use two-factor or multifactor authentication, where applicable. Having a confirmation code sent to your phone every time you log in will help prevent phishing attacks and credential theft.

2. Avoid clicking on e-mail links. If you receive an e-mail promoting a too-good-to-be-true deal, remember, it is likely too good to be true! Go to the website and search for the special. If you can’t find it, there is a chance you will avoid a scam.

3. Before booking ANY property online, make sure contact information and reviews are readily available. Have other verified users stayed at the property? If so, it’s less likely to be a scam.

4. Use credit cards for online purchases. Using debit cards that are linked directly to your bank account is dangerous. When theft occurs from your debit card, it is difficult to get your money back – if you get it back at all. Using a credit card provides an additional layer of protection.

The most important thing is to stay vigilant. Analyze every e-mail offer you receive and follow cyber security best practices. Standard security software can help detect some of these scam e-mails, but often not all of them, so it’s important to be cautious and look for red flags.

Personal scams may ruin a vacation, but business breaches can cost you and your family their livelihood. To keep your network secure, call us at 480-464-0202 or click here to book a FREE 10-minute discovery call with our cyber security experts, who can help you create a plan that protects you. We are here to help! Enjoy a well-deserved break this summer, and remember to be cybersmart.

Is your organization currently bleeding money due to its reliance on outdated technology? The answer is likely yes. A recent survey by Deloitte revealed that a staggering 82% of companies failed to meet their cost-reduction targets last year, with an inefficient technology infrastructure being the primary culprit.

The 2024 poll of nearly 300 business leaders on business margin improvement and technology transformation efforts revealed that challenges with their technology infrastructure are the biggest barrier to organizations seeking to improve margins by cutting costs. This same study found that over 50% of the respondents reported that leveraging data and generative AI strategies for improving margins would be their focus for 2024.

What does this tell us? Organizations are looking to adopt new, automated, AI-powered ways of doing business to save money and improve efficiency but are held back by antiquated technology.

Why Should Businesses Upgrade Their Technology?

Legacy systems, typically categorized as technology that’s at least a decade old, can quickly become expensive to maintain. They are slower, need constant updates and patches, and don’t leverage new features as they’re developed. As a result, businesses struggle to keep up with their tech-savvy competitors in every area of the organization, from scaling and cloud usage to human resources and customer service operations.

But that’s not the only issue. Outdated technology increases your risk of cyber-attacks. Old technology typically cannot keep up with the rapidly changing world of cyber security. As new, more malicious threats emerge, older technology eventually becomes incapable of keeping up with the latest updates required to keep your network secure.

So, why do business owners put off updating technology when the data clearly shows that it will positively impact productivity and the bottom line? There are a couple of reasons, the main one being sticker shock. Seeing the price of updating technology infrastructure can feel overwhelming. Smart business leaders run through risk-related questions like “What if something breaks?” or “What if it doesn’t work like they say it will?” However, the data shows that maintaining old technology could be more costly. A separate Deloitte study of CIOs in 2023 found that respondents spent an average of 55% of their technology budget on maintaining their existing systems.

There’s also the cost of switching. What will bringing systems down and transitioning to a new system cost? What will the cost be to train employees to use the software? These are all questions your IT team can help you answer BEFORE you start upgrading your technology. An experienced technician will help you analyze your system to see what needs to be updated and when, and map out a plan to upgrade your system in the most efficient way possible. It’s easier than most business leaders think and pays off in increased productivity and profitability.

If you’re looking to upgrade your technology or are just tired of slow, outdated tech and want to see what the next step could look like, we’ll do a FREE Network Assessment. Our techs will dig into your system and determine what you need to get technology that helps you run your business better. To book your assessment, call us at 480-464-0202.

A recent report from Check Point Research revealed a shocking statistic – the Microsoft-owned business platform LinkedIn is impersonated in nearly half of all phishing attacks globally.

One of the ways scammers leverage LinkedIn to deploy their phishing attack is when they zero in on anyone seeking a new job or career change. While e-mails like “You have 1 new invitation” or “Your profile has been viewed by 63 people” can be authentic, it’s critical to verify the e-mail address it’s sent from to ensure that it’s genuinely from LinkedIn. These impersonators will send e-mails that look identical to the real ones, with links to fake LinkedIn pages that will rip off your information as soon as you enter it.

Another way cybercriminals leverage LinkedIn is by creating fake profiles and messaging people about job opportunities. Once you’re on the hook, they’ll either ask for a small payment upfront to process your application (that you’ll never see again) or send you a link to a form you must fill out that’s actually a phishing link in disguise.

LinkedIn is aware of the problem and is working on developing advanced security features to protect its users. Here are three of the current security features it has already deployed:

1. Suspicious Message Warnings – LinkedIn’s technology can detect messages from people who are attempting to take you off the platform or are saying something potentially inappropriate, and will send you a warning notification.

2. Profile Verification – This feature allows you to verify your page’s authenticity. By submitting an additional form of ID, you can get a verification badge on your profile, so anyone who looks at it knows you are who you say you are. This is a valuable feature since scammers are always looking for fresh targets and have pages that get shut down quickly, so they don’t often bother keeping information up-to-date.

3. Profile Information – This feature allows you to see the details of a person’s profile to help you determine whether or not to respond to a message, accept a connection request, trust an offer, etc. Under your profile, if you click “More” and select “About this profile” from the drop-down menu, you’ll see information like:

● When the profile was created.
● When the profile was last updated.
● Whether the member has verified a phone number.
● Whether the member has a work e-mail associated with their account.

4. AI-Generated Profile Picture Detection – Scammers will use AI to generate realistic profile pictures of fake people to create fake profiles used to scam users. Scarily, LinkedIn’s research showed that users were generally unable to visually distinguish real faces from these synthetically generated ones. As a result, LinkedIn partnered with Academia to develop and deploy advanced detection features that allow LinkedIn to detect AI-generated profile pictures and shut down their profiles before they cause problems.

Do you use LinkedIn to find jobs, employees or clients? It’s a great resource for business, but it’s important to stay secure. However, LinkedIn’s features are just the first line of defense. If someone in your organization were to fall for a scam and click a bad link, would your internal security solutions be enough to protect your network?

We can help you find out. We’ll do a FREE Security Risk Assessment to help you determine if your network is vulnerable to any type of attack. To book yours, call us at 480-464-0202

The massive wave of layoffs in 2024 brings a cybersecurity threat that most business owners aren’t focusing on – offboarding employees. Even big-time brands that you would expect to have top-of-the-line cybersecurity systems, processes and procedures in place fail to adequately protect themselves from insider threats. This August marks a year since two disgruntled Tesla employees went rogue after being let go and exposed the personal information – including names, addresses, phone numbers and even the Social Security numbers – of over 75,000 people, including employees.

And, of course, the issue is expected to get worse. According to NerdWallet, as of May 24, 2024, 298 US-based tech companies have laid off 84,600 workers and counting. This includes major layoffs at big companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft, as well as smaller tech start-ups. In total, around 257,254 jobs were eliminated in the first quarter of 2024 alone.

Whether or not you’ll need to downsize your team this year, having a proper offboarding process in place is essential to every business, big or small, because it’s more than a routine administrative task – it’s a critical security precaution. Failing to revoke access for former employees can lead to serious business and legal implications later.
Some of those issues include:

● Theft Of Intellectual Property – Employees can sneak away with YOUR company’s files, client data and confidential information stored on personal devices, as well as retain access to cloud-based applications like social media sites and file-sharing sites (Dropbox or OneDrive, for example) that your IT department doesn’t know about or forgets to change the password to.

A study by Osterman Research revealed that 69% of businesses experience data loss due to employee turnover, and 87% of employees who leave take data with them. Most often, the information you worked hard to gather is sold to competitors, used by them when they’re hired by the competition or used by the former employee to BECOME a competitor. Any way you cut it, it screws YOU.

● Compliance Violations – Failing to revoke access privileges and remove employees from authorized user lists can register you as noncompliant in heavily regulated industries. This simple mistake can result in large fines, hefty penalties and, in some cases, legal consequences.

● They DELETE Everything – If an employee feels unfairly laid-off and retains access to their accounts, they could easily delete ALL of their e-mails and any critical files they can get their hands on. If that data isn’t backed up, you will lose it ALL.

And for those thinking, “I’ll sue them!” Rightfully so, but even if you do sue them and win, the hard reality is that the legal costs, time wasted on the lawsuit and recovering the data, plus the aggravation and distraction of dealing with it all, are greater costs than what you might get awarded if you win the lawsuit and might collect in damages.

● Data Breach – This could be the most terrifying of all. Unhappy employees who feel they have been wronged can make you the star of the next devastating data breach headline and incur a costly lawsuit to go with it. It could be as simple as making one click and downloading, exposing or modifying your clients’ or employees’ private information, financial records or even trade secrets.

Do you have an airtight offboarding process to curb these risks? Chances are you don’t. A 2024 study by Wing revealed that one out of five organizations has indications that some of their former users were not properly offboarded, and those are the people who were astute enough to detect it.
How DO you properly offboard an employee?

● Implement The Principle Of Least Privilege – Successful offboarding starts with proper onboarding. New employees should ONLY be given access to the files and programs they need to do their jobs. This should be meticulously documented to make offboarding easier.

● Leverage Automation – Your IT team can help use automation to streamline revoking access to multiple software applications simultaneously, saving time and resources while reducing the likelihood of manual errors.

● Implement Continuous Monitoring – You can implement software that tracks who is doing what and where on the company network. This can help you identify suspicious behavior by an unauthorized user and help you determine if a former employee retains access to private accounts.

These are only a few ways your IT team can help improve your offboarding process to make it more efficient and secure.

Insider threats can be devastating, and if you think this can’t happen to you, think again. You have to be proactive in protecting your organization.

To find out if any gaps in your offboarding process expose you to theft or a data breach, our team will do a free, in-depth risk assessment to help you resolve it. Call us at 480-464-0202

A recent stream of Reddit comments emerged detailing a series of poor customer service experiences with tech support. While I typically try to stay clear of Reddit and its gang of chronic whiny-pants commenters, I scrolled through a few, you know, for research purposes since I’m in the industry. A few of the complaints sounded so outlandish – like the lady who claimed the technician took a bathroom break in her attic – that it almost seemed impossible they could be true. However, other more common issues on the thread I’ve experienced myself, and to be candid with you, they sucked!

When you are experiencing a tech emergency – be it a broken printer, hardware malfunctions, Internet connectivity issues, login troubles or something similar – poor tech support only worsens the irritation. It leaves you with frustrated employees who can’t efficiently get their jobs done because they’re troubleshooting their tech and on hold with an IT company that is “looking into it” and irritated customers who just want a smooth process when dealing with your organization.

This can result in losing customers and A-player employees to your competitors that don’t have these same daily issues. At first, it might seem dramatic that a few unresolved “tech issues” could cause such a stir, but as these problems continue to repeat themselves, with no solution in sight, resentment grows and will eventually result in these people seeking organizations that don’t have to deal with such headaches.

What can you do to get ahead of the problem? Start by polling your employees. Ask them questions that will help you “grade” your current IT company to see if they’re dealing with your team as fast and efficiently as they should. Here are a few questions to ask:

1. Do you experience any recurring technical problems that haven’t been fully resolved? If so, what are they?
2. How would you rate the response time of the IT support team when you encounter a technical issue?
3. Have you found the IT support team to be knowledgeable and helpful in resolving your issues?
4. Do you feel that the IT company communicates effectively and keeps you informed about the status of your requests?
5. How would you describe your overall satisfaction with the support provided by our IT company?

These questions take only a few minutes to answer and can help you gain valuable insight into whether or not your current IT team is properly handling issues or if there is trouble brewing within your organization that you weren’t aware of.

If you would like to see what good IT support actually looks like, we’ll do TWO FREE hours of support for your organization.

Here are SOME of the ways you could use your time with us:

● Diagnose any computer network problem you are experiencing.
● Check your network’s security against hacker attacks and viruses.
● Scan and review spyware.
● Check your network backup system to make sure it is working properly.
● Diagnose slow, unstable PCs.
● Have us conduct our proprietary 57-point IT Systems Security And Performance Assessment.
● Discuss a project or upgrade you are considering, or even get a second opinion on a quote you received.

To get started, give our team a call at 480-464-0202.