Blue Ridge Technology

Are your people Christmas shopping from work? The holidays are fast approaching, and let’s be real — we’re all scrambling for those gifts, especially for the folks on our lists that are hard to shop for! More than likely, you’ve got an employee or two doing a little holiday shopping on their work machine. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they’re doing it on break time or over lunch. Still, if you and your people aren’t careful, that online holiday shopping could actually turn into a business threat! Here’s how — and how you can keep your business data safe this holiday season. Online Scams Are Everywhere We’ve said it before, and it’s just as true now: online scams are everywhere. Well, not everywhere. If you’re buying from trustworthy retailers like Amazon or Macy’s or Wal-Mart — and you’re certain you’re on their actual legit website — it’s pretty tough to get scammed. During the holidays, online scammers like to take advantage of how busy and even desperate some p...

Will your business be able to keep up with the pace of change? It’s hard to believe, but we’re almost to a new year (again!). We’re all starting to look toward what next year has in store— whether in personal development (the dreaded new year’s resolutions) or in our businesses. As we push onward into the new year, the pace of business technology innovations isn’t slowing down. If anything, it’s moving faster than ever. Here are a few of the biggest business tech developments and trends that will shape the next year — or even the next decade — of how business gets done. Process Automation Grows in Importance and Capability First, expect process automation to take off, even more than it already has. Business process automation isn’t new; it’s been happening in physical manufacturing for decades, and the software variety is already happening in mid- to large-sized companies. In fact, process automation is probably already a part of your routine in small, less noticeable ways. For example...

Why you will not be fine on this Cloud9 There’s a new online security threat circulating right now. It’s a pretty bad one, so you’ll want to make sure you and your team haven’t fallen victim to it yet — and that you don’t unknowingly do so in the future. Here’s everything you need to know about the Cloud9 threat. What Is Cloud9? Cloud9 is the name of a malicious browser extension that affects Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge (two of the most popular web browsers out there, and almost certainly what you’re using if you’re on a PC). What’s a Browser Extension, Again? Browser extensions are usually harmless and can be incredibly helpful: they let you do more with your web browser, like interact with your Google Calendar or run a grammar checker like Grammarly on any text you’re typing into a browser. Some password managers run as browser extensions, too, and we’ve told you before how much we love password managers. The problem with browser extensions is that anyone can make one. And they...

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...

Are you using Teams to share sensitive data? We love Microsoft Teams as a collaboration, chat, and video calling hub. The way it integrates deeply with everything else in Microsoft 365 is nearly miraculous when it works as it should, and the tool is one of the biggest influences on making our new way of working work well. But did you know that Microsoft Teams has a dark side? Don’t get us wrong: the app is well built and generally secure. But there are risks you should be aware of, mostly centering on how your employees use the app. Here’s what you need to know. What Are People Sharing? Understanding the risks of Teams starts with understanding what people are sharing on the app. Sensitive, Confidential, and Critical Information Recent research found that around half of employees admit to sharing sensitive company information on Teams. To be honest, we think that number is a little low. After all, Teams is specifically designed for sharing information within a company, so there’s no su...