Blue Ridge Technology

Are you losing hours each week setting up video calls? Video calls are the new norm throughout most of the business world. Certainly during the first months of the pandemic they were a life-saver: business couldn’t have happened without them. Now, as we shift to a more long-term remote and hybrid work environment, video calls are here to stay. They unlock all sorts of good for your business: Saves money on unnecessary travel Enables participation when people can’t be in the office (isolation, family care, recovery, etc.) Powers long-distance collaboration that wouldn’t otherwise be feasible Can be recorded and viewed later Allows users to share screen content, ensuring everyone’s on the same page We could go on, but today’s focus is actually on a hidden cost associated with every video call, one that adds up over the year. We’re talking about lost time. The Time Loss Problem Video calls enable so much, but they aren’t free. Every single time an employee gets on the video call, there’s ...

Don’t walk the plank with pirated software Startups and small businesses are always on the lookout for ways to save money and reduce operating expenses. And most of the time we’d say that’s a good thing. But one area in particular seems especially tempted for many businesses, and it’s a dangerous one: pirated software. We get it: software can get pretty expensive, especially business products that charge by the seat. But stealing that software is a problem for all sorts of reasons beyond the obvious. Here’s what you need to know. What Is Pirated Software? Pirated software is any computer application that has been modified so that it will function without requiring payment or authorization or so that it can be distributed in ways the creators didn’t intend or won’t allow. In most cases, hackers take a software product that costs money — say, Microsoft Word — and modify it so that the software no longer requires an authorization code (or accepts a fake one). The classic example is Adobe ...

5 quick ways to boost your business’s Wi-Fi speed No matter where you are, Wi-Fi that’s slow or unreliable can completely disrupt the pace of business. This is true whether you’re in your company offices, working from home, or working remotely in some other location. Sometimes there’s nothing much you can do. If you’ve ever tried to jump on Zoom or Teams for a video call over satellite internet while on a trip to the mountains, it probably wasn’t pretty. And while we don’t recommend accessing sensitive company information on them, the public Wi-Fi at McDonald’s or Starbucks or Panera is also subject to speed and reliability issues outside your control. That said, for most of us working from a business location or our homes, there are some tricks worth trying. If you’re dealing with slow Wi-Fi in the office or in your home office, try these 5 quick tips before calling in the pros. 1. Run a Speed Test For starters, you should run a speed test. Some ISPs offer this within their app or por...