Blue Ridge Technology

You’ve heard of Copilot… but what is it? Microsoft Copilot is here now, and it’s worth checking out. You might have heard of Microsoft Copilot by now, but we can't blame you if the details are a little fuzzy. New tech developments are coming fast and furious these days, and it's easy to miss some as they come along or to not see how a particular tool will impact your business. So here’s what you need to know about Microsoft’s newest assistant — what it is, why it’s better than previous options, and the limitations you should know about before diving deep. What Is Microsoft Copilot? Microsoft Copilot is Microsoft’s latest AI-driven virtual assistant. It’s built into Microsoft Edge (the company’s newish web browser), and businesses with a Microsoft 365 subscription will eventually see it show up across Microsoft’s office suite — in Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and more. Getting Déjà vu? Take a Closer Look If you’re reading this and thinking “I’ve seen this movie before,” yo...

SHOCK STAT: A third of business owners don’t trust their staff Business success thrives on trust: to some degree, you trust that your customers and suppliers and vendors will all pay what they’ve promised, deliver goods on time, and keep the services running that you rely on to power your business. But trust is a tricky thing. And we’re often unsure exactly how much we can (or should) trust people. It’s one of the reasons some business owners struggled with the idea of remote or hybrid work. Too much trust is also a significant driver in cyberattacks, data theft, and any other sort of digital threat your business faces. One recent survey revealed something shocking: around a third of business owners don’t trust their own staff. Let’s take a look at why this is — both the good and the not-so-good reasons business leaders struggle to trust employees — along with what you can do to improve this crucial area. Why Leaders Struggle to Trust Many leaders struggle to trust because of past expe...

It’s time to say goodbye to traditional passwords We talk a lot about account security and passwords: how to avoid getting caught in a phishing scheme, what good password hygiene looks like, why you should use a password manager, and so on. But this week we’re dropping some new password advice that might surprise you: maybe it’s time to stop using passwords at all! Or at least, maybe that time will be here sooner than later. Here’s what you need to know about big changes coming in the cybersecurity space. Down with the Password? Google, Microsoft, Apple, and several other tech behemoths have joined forces to kill the password, essentially. And that’s a good thing. Passwords are notoriously, well, bad. They’re hard to remember, which leads to lots of password reuse and people using the simplest possible passwords…which makes those passwords really easy to steal, crack, or hack. Phishing schemes and other credential compromise attacks cost businesses trillions each year. And while those ...