4
Sep, 2019
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Tip of the Week: Best Patch Management Practices

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Patches are a critically important aspect of your technology. As a result, you need to be sure that yours are managed properly. We have three tips to share so you can optimize your patch management processes.

Create Procedures for Both Routine and Emergency Patches

Many patches are released on a predictable schedule, so as to make it easier to keep up on patches – after all, if you know that a patch is going to be released on a certain date, you can set aside time to apply that patch. There are also emergency patches that are released when a vulnerability is discovered and remediated.

As you might imagine, both are important to maintain – one, to keep your business as free as possible from vulnerabilities, and second (and perhaps more obviously), to keep your business secure in the face of an impending threat. That’s why you need to make sure you have set processes in place to ensure that all patches are tested and applied. While it may not always be a pressing security issue, it is better to be prepared for anything that the vendor is concerned about.

At NuTech Services, we always build out and update our procedure, and test updates before they are applied to prevent downtime and other issues. It’s all about working smarter, not harder.

Have a Controlled, but Realistic, Environment for Testing Purposes

Let me ask you a hypothetical question: someone comes up to you on the street and offers you a pill that would make you immune to the common cold, but with no peer reviews by any medical board or the FDA. So, do you take it?

I would hope you would say no, simply because you have no idea of the effectiveness of the pill without it having been tested. Patches are the same way. Without any testing, you simply don’t know how well the patch will work, or if it will interfere with another process. Before you apply any patches to your primary infrastructure, you need to have made these evaluations in a reasonable approximation of it. An effective means of doing so is to spin up a virtualized environment and stress-test the patch there, before actually applying it – just make sure you give your tests enough time to produce trustworthy results.

Keep Track of When Patches Are Released

Depending on the hardware and software you use, patches are going to be released on a different schedule. This is because different manufacturers and vendors manage their schedules differently. Just look at Microsoft and their famous Patch Tuesday (typically the second and sometimes the fourth Tuesday of each month). In order to properly keep your patches up-to-date, you need to know when to expect them.

For assistance with your business’ patch management, you can always turn to NuTech Services. Give our professionals a call at 810.230.9455.

30
Aug, 2019
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How You Should Judge Potential Password Management Programs

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Passwords are hard to remember – there’s no denying that. However, there is also no denying how important it is to use different ones for each account, all sufficiently complex, and all the rest. The point is, a lot of people use bad password practices because (to be frank) good password practices are too intimidating. There has to be some kind of acceptable middle ground… right?

Fortunately, there is: password management systems.

What Are Password Management Systems?

A password manager is effectively what it says on the box: it’s a program that keeps track of your passwords for you. While these are available for individual users, we are more concerned with those that are meant for businesses to leverage.

These solutions have a reputation for being complicated and time-intensive to set up. However, this no longer has to be the case, and it is now more important that you find a solution that offers the features that every business needs to prioritize.

What to Look for from a Password Manager

During your search, you will want to make sure your chosen password management system offers the following features:

Security

While this may seem obvious, not all of your password management options will necessarily offer the same protections or follow the same practices. For instance, standalone password managers are inherently more secure than those tied to another solution, like a built-in one in your browser of choice.

These separate solutions usually have additional features to assist your security as you use them. Good password managers will remind you of best practices if too many saved passwords are the same or too weak and will require multi-factor authentication to be accessed in the first place. It also wouldn’t hurt to find one that also notifies you when you’re due to update some of the passwords you have saved.

It should also never save one password: the master password used to access the solution itself. That is still the user’s responsibility.

As far as behind-the-scenes security is concerned, you should find a password manager that is itself protected by a variety of security features, like encryption, role-based access, and secure cloud storage.

Storage Considerations

Determining where your credentials are kept by the password manager is another important detail to keep in mind, largely as an extension of your security considerations. Does your password manager save your passwords to the cloud, or are they kept natively on the device? Either approach has its pros and cons.

If the cloud is leveraged, your credentials will be available to you on any of your devices… but this does put your credentials in the crosshairs if that cloud solution was ever breached. If you keep your credentials stored locally, you won’t risk losing them in a cloud storage breach, but they are still vulnerable. For instance, if that device fails, there go your passwords.

Generally, this won’t have much impact on the solution you choose, as most enable either option, if not a combination of both.

User Friendliness

As difficult as your password manager should make things for cybercriminals, it should make simple for your legitimate users – starting with adding and removing them to the business’ accounts. They should find it easy to change their password as needed, and your password manager should automatically log a user into a website or application. If it senses that there are not currently credentials for that site, it should offer to save them.

NuTech Services has plenty of experience dealing with password security, which means we’re familiar with password managers and maintaining them. If you’d like assistance with selecting, implementing, and utilizing one in your business, let us know! We’re just a call to 810.230.9455 away.

21
Aug, 2019
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Tip of the Week: How to Keep Your POS from Being a PITA

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If your business is in retail, you’re going to need a Point-of-Sale (also known as a POS) system. This is a common device in businesses that directly sell to their clients and customers, as it can do a lot to assist these businesses as they manage their processes. As you seek out a POS system for your business, you’ll likely be looking for (and avoiding) certain features.

The first considerations you need to make are fairly straightforward.

Cost

You really do get what you pay for. Rather than settling for a cheaper system with plans of replacing it later, make sure you select a system that can be upgraded and expanded (yes, there is a difference). That way, you can avoid doubling your costs by eliminating the need to procure more than one system. It also helps to seek out a vendor that can supply all the needs your business has – like additional hardware for your POS, or enhanced software to power it – to simplify your processes.

Integration and Implementation

As mentioned before, your POS system should have the ability to grow as your needs of it do. For instance, while you may want to implement customer pagers at some point, it is probably wiser to focus on the essentials – like receipt printers and cash drawers. However, you will also want to make sure that your POS system has the capability to be upgraded to incorporate more advanced features as your business grows.

Tracking

Although this isn’t too far off from integration, you may want your POS to integrate with your inventory system, your quoting system, your CRM software, or any other business app on your network. Depending on your needs, you might even want your security cameras to pull a feed from your POS system to record purchases.

Support

Let’s face facts… you don’t want to find your POS system experiencing technical difficulties without anyone available to help you resolve them. Whether its complications with the software itself or a hardware issue, you need to be sure that support is always available to you.

When running a business, it is crucial that you have the technology to properly take payments. NuTech Services can help ensure that you are prepared to do business with reliable solutions. Give us a call at 810.230.9455 to get started.

2
Aug, 2019
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Tip of the Week: Simple Windows 10 Tips

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Windows 10 is the benchmark in PC operating systems at this juncture. It offers users all types of great options from previous versions of Windows, while integrating some of today’s most dynamic technology to provide users with the very best in organization and ease-of-use. Today we will talk about five very simple tips that will get you started getting the full function of Windows 10.

Shake to Minimize

Sometimes when you are working in any Windows platform, you will have too many windows open and you just want everything out of your face except the thing you are currently viewing. Well in Windows 10 there is a cool little feature you can use to make that happen very quickly. Just take your mouse (or your finger if you have a touchscreen) and click-and-hold the title bar of the app you are working in and shake it back and forth. This will minimize all other open applications. To get them back, simply repeat the action.

Choose Folders on Start Menu

The start menu is extremely useful in Windows 10, but sometimes it can get cluttered. To choose which folders you want to see on your Start Menu go to Settings > Personalization > Start then click on the “Choose which folders appear on Start” link at the bottom of the screen. From there you can toggle the folders you want to see in your Start menu. 

Find the Original Control Panel

The settings options in Windows 10 are far and away easier to use, but if you are one of those people that likes working with tools they know, the old Control Panel is still available in Windows 10 as it is still the go-to option for customizing advanced options. The easiest way to access the control panel is by clicking on the Cortana icon on the taskbar and typing in “control panel”. It will give you immediate access to all user settings. 

Selectively Sync Folders with OneDrive

One of the best parts of using Windows 10 is the integration with OneDrive cloud storage. Windows 10’s OneDrive integration provides users a lot of flexibility. To sync folders with data stored in OneDrive, make sure OneDrive is running and right-click on the OneDrive icon in the notification area. Select Settings and then navigate to the Account tab. Under the Account tab you will see the option to “Choose folders”. Click on choose folders and you will see a list of the folders you have in OneDrive, select the ones that you would like access to through Windows 10 and select OK. Now you have access to this data through your File Explorer in Windows 10.

Customize Your Application Notifications

Having too many notifications is one of the most frustrating parts of modern technology. To keep from being bogged down with too many notifications, you can customize which notifications you see in Windows 10. To do so, click on Start > Settings > System > Notifications & action. Once there all you have to do is scroll down and select the notifications you want on, and which ones would be better served not notifying you.

Windows 10 has hundreds of options for any user to customize their experience. Check back next week when we provide some more advanced tips on how to best experience the OS.

27
May, 2019
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Efficiency Is More Likely to Produce Business Success

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Business can be tricky, especially if you’re good at it. It’s important to know when to be comfortable with your position without starting to feel complacent. If you fall into this trap, you’ll be running the risk of hindering your organization’s growth, potentially blocking any future successes.

Operations change over time. It’s likely that your business’ operations don’t even remotely resemble what they were in previous years. For example, mobile technology first became more popular for computing around the year 2013, and “unified communications” was a hot commodity in the business world. Nowadays, productivity and collaboration solutions using mobile devices are some of the most basic solutions out there.

Many organizations fall into the trap of believing their past successes guarantee their future, but this isn’t necessarily the case. The reverse could be true. Here are some questions to ask if you suspect that your organization could be falling into complacency:

  • Are any potential changes or growth opportunities avoided or rebuffed through the use of highly selective facts?
  • Do conversations amongst your team skirt around topics like new markets, possible competition, or other developing business opportunities?
  • Are failures used to postpone new attempts instead of as learning moments?
  • Do meetings frequently end in a holding pattern?

Any of the above questions indicate whether or not a business has gotten too comfortable, preventing them from making sound decisions. Thankfully, once you’ve identified this complacency, it becomes easy to resolve it. Try asking these questions about your business, its policies, and its culture:

  • Is there any way that your processes could be made more efficient?
  • Does your business plan reflect the goals that your business is currently striving for?
  • Is your service offering a good fit for your current audience? What needs will they have in the near future?
  • Are there any technologies that could soon cause a disruption in your market, or could be used as an invaluable tool?
  • How engaged are your employees?

Answering these questions will give you all the ammunition you need to put together a solid understanding of what your business needs to do on both a local and industrial level. Of course, this can be challenging as well, as you might encounter issues that need to be resolved before you can make progress as a business.

NuTech Services can help your business implement IT solutions designed to keep your business running efficiently while still maintaining the status quo. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

24
May, 2019
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Small and Medium-Sized Businesses are Using Enterprise Technology

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Compared to an enterprise corporation, a small-to-medium-sized business is going to have far fewer resources, especially in terms of its IT. Having said this, an SMB isn’t necessarily without a few quality options. Let’s review the needs that any business needs to have filled, and how they can do so with the right solutions.

Need #1: Security

In order to be successful, a business needs to have the security necessary to protect its resources. The first step to accomplishing that, is to identify any weaknesses in its infrastructure through a preliminary IT evaluation known as an IT risk assessment. This assessment can reveal where a business is the most vulnerable. At that point, these flaws can be mitigated using tools like firewalls, antivirus, and multi-factor authentication – tools that either SMBs or enterprises can (and do) use.

With SMBs increasing their use of cloud services, a large portion of this process should be fulfilled by the cloud provider. However, the business leveraging the cloud provider needs to make sure that the provider they have selected is able to uphold what they have promised as part of their service-level agreement. If this is the case, the SMB could find themselves in the position to leverage enterprise-caliber security solutions, for a cost that fits their budget.

Need #2: Data Storage

While their budgets put enterprise businesses in a much more favorable position to create an infrastructure that can contend with their operational needs, this is not to say that SMBs are left without any options. Any good data storage solution will perform well based on a few benchmarks: how well it works, how often it works, how easily it can be accessed, and how easily its contents can be searched.

The enterprise business has quite a few options to leverage, such as data tiering (where data of differing importance is stored on different servers) and higher-performing data storage solutions. If this is starting to sound expensive, it is – but again, thanks to the cloud, SMBs aren’t left without options, either. With scalable Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service being available for a much more affordable rate, SMBs are able to leverage the advanced tools that would otherwise only be available to corporate-level businesses.

Interested in leveraging some of these capabilities in your business, or want to find out more? Reach out to the professionals at NuTech Services! We have the experience necessary to bring your information technology to the corporate level. Reach out to us at 810.230.9455 to learn more.

20
Feb, 2019
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Tip of the Week: Do Yourself a Favor, Document Your Processes

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The average business has a lot of internal processes, and these processes are typically pretty concrete: to accomplish this task, follow steps A, B, and C, in that order. However, due to the sheer volume of processes like these, it helps to have these processes documented for the benefit of your future employees… and, if we’re being honest, your future self. For this week’s tip, we’ll go over the proper process for documenting a task.

Let’s face it, if your business operates anything like most do, you have far too many of these processes for anyone to reasonably remember. This means that making sure that your processes are both comprehensively recorded and accessible for your employees to reference is a crucial facet to your productivity.

Fortunately, doing so is relatively simple, as long as you go about it properly.

Step One: Identify What You’re Documenting
The important thing to remember about creating documentation is that, unless the task itself is incredibly granular, making the documentation too specific isn’t going to help anyone. On the flip side, any documentation that is too vague isn’t likely to provide anyone with the value that it should.

You need to store your documentation in a centralized place that all employees can access. It helps even more if there is a system in place to allow you to search the contents of each document, sort them in various ways, and highlight changes and edits made to processes. In other words, utilizing a document management system or a knowledge center of some kind will go a long way in preserving the functionality of your processes. There are plenty of tools and applications out there for this, and we can help you choose the best one for your situation based on your specific needs.

Step Two: DIARI (Do It And Record It)
This step will form the basic shape of your documentation, as it will create a step-by-step guide to completing the task as a whole. You’ll need to go through a run-through of the process you’re trying to document, recording every step you take.

Don’t be shy about including details, either. For instance, if your process will require the same questions to be asked each time it is put into action, include the list of questions in your documentation. If someone is supposed to be contacted specifically, identify them in your documentation and provide their contact information.

From here, you should have a pretty good handle on how the process typically goes down… and the insights to make it even better.

Step Three: Refine, Repeat, Revise
When you were running through your process, were there any steps that would have made more sense to do earlier so you could be better prepared for a later responsibility? Try rearranging the steps in your documentation and trying it again. Did it work better, or worse? Take these observations into account and act accordingly.

Really, once you commit the time to doing it properly, creating invaluable and useful documentation isn’t that difficult of a process. You can even bring multimedia into it, if it’s a good fit, using tools like Steps Recorder on Windows.

For more handy IT tips, make sure you subscribe to our blog!

6
Feb, 2019
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Google Search Practices That Have Purpose

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You could say that Google is an extremely popular website, but even that is an understatement. It’s the most visited website in the world, with 3.5 billion search queries being processed every day, and over 1.2 trillion searches a year. With so many people using Google, it’s no wonder that it’s such an advertising conglomerate, but the fact remains that this can come at the user’s detriment more often than not.

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There are few resources out there that are as valuable as Google’s website. Even the act of “googling” something has become a verb. Granted, “googling” a query might not yield the results the user is expecting, which can lead to frustration. By effectively using search commands, you can make any Google search more accurate, saving time better spent actually using the plethora of knowledge you have at your fingertips.

Tip #1: Use the Tabs
Google has built-in search functionality for images, videos, news, and so much more. There are tabs for images, news, videos, maps, shopping, books, flights, and finance. You can use each of these to narrow down the results you get when you make a specific query.

#2: Use Quotes
Even if you type in what you’re looking for, Google will sometimes misconstrue what you’re looking for as something else. If you’re looking for a specific phrase, you can use quotes around it to find exactly what you’re looking for.

Example: “happy days”

The results will be the term or phrase exactly as it’s typed.

#3: Use a Hyphen to Exclude Words
Think of the hyphen as the “minus” sign of Google searches. If you have a word that you’d rather omit from a search, place a hyphen in front of it.

Example: scale -weight

By removing the topic of one of the homonyms from the equation, you will get more targeted and accurate results.

#4: Use a Colon to Search Specific Sites
If you know that what you’re searching for is found on a specific website, you can limit the search to that site with a colon.

Example: Virtualization site:azure.microsoft.com

In the above example, you can also use a specific keyword to include it in your search.

#5: Search Locally
Google can determine your location, giving you a lot of power to find local businesses, restaurants, institutions, you name it. Just type it into Google.

Example: Laundromats nearby.

Just make sure you have your location services on if mobile. Otherwise, the search engine will use your Internet connection’s IP address to figure out what’s close to you.

What are some of your favorite ways to use Google? Let us know in the comments.

4
Feb, 2019
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3 Ways Digital Signage Pays Off

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With so many new devices and strategies to use in the workplace, it should come as no surprise that even your office’s signage can receive a major facelift from IT. Digital signage in itself offers the chance for a business to use displays in innovative ways. Here are a few reasons why you should consider it for your office.

It Gets the Job Done
You can’t share information about your goods, services, or business if you can’t get the consumer’s attention. Digital signage has the potential to outperform other traditional media types to catch the viewer’s attention. If you don’t have enough room for all of the displays you want to share, digital signage might be able to help you better capture the message you want the viewer to walk away with.

It Makes Your Audience More Patient
If you find yourself at a loss for words, you can instead let the digital signage do the talking in certain cases. In other words, if you have a lot to get done but not a lot of time, you can use your digital signage to distract your audience long enough to enact what you need to accomplish. This is especially true in customer-facing establishments. After all, everyone appreciates something to look at while they’re waiting.

It’s More Affordable
Digital signage might require a significant up-front investment, but it saves you money in the long term thanks to its ability to change to anything you want your sign to say. There are minimal costs of upkeep related to digital signage, with the only real one being the occasional software update and the image it will display. You’ll save not just money, but spacial costs associated with the signs. Your solution will pay for itself in the long run.

You don’t even need a special display of any kind–just a simple television with the right inputs will work the way you need it to. If you’re looking to get started with digital signage, NuTech Services can help. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

28
Dec, 2018
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You’ll Be Glad You Protected Your Google Account

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Computer users today more than likely have a Google account, either for business or personal use. Not only is it accessible and convenient, it offers a versatile assortment of features. Regardless, no amount of accessibility, convenience, or versatility are worth your security. However, many users put precisely that, their security, at risk… often without even realizing it, or why this is such a big deal.

Today, we aim to fix that. We will review why a Google account is so important to keep secure, as well as a few means and methods of doing so.

How a Google Account Can Be So Valuable
The purpose of the Internet has evolved greatly in the relatively few years it has been around. Today, the Internet is largely used as a communications and information sharing tool – true to its roots. This is where the name Internet comes from: inter (reciprocal or shared) and network (a system of connected things). However, as new purposes for the Internet emerged over time, circumstances changed, and the view of the Internet shifted.

The Internet was always meant for sharing information, from the very first inklings of an idea. In 1962, J.C.R. Licklider of MIT wrote up a series of memos that illustrated a system of interconnected computers, intended to share programs and data the world over, that he coined the “Galactic Network.” This idea of sharing information was also the driving force behind Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s development of the World Wide Web. As Sir Berners-Lee said:

“Had the technology been proprietary, and in my total control, it would probably not have taken off. You can’t propose that something be a universal space and at the same time keep control of it.”

In many ways, these ideals are retained in today’s environment. Online sharing is at its peak, social media and collaboration fulling leveraging a network that is, for the most part, still free of control by any central source. These are ideals that have developed into the demand for net neutrality and open-access information. However, while these ideals have been largely upheld, there are a few notable caveats that give us a more accurate view of today’s Internet.

As the Internet grew in capability, it also grew in utility… many of which featuring the need for greater security and privacy. With the confidential information that only select users should be accessing growing in popularity within Internet-based communications, this spurred a balance to the Internet that both individuals and businesses can appreciate, and that Google has shaped its offerings around.

From its beginnings as a dissertation project by two Stamford doctorate students, Google has grown into the dominant force online today. Businesses use its G Suite applications every day, as private users leverage some of their other services to their own benefit. Many people, both for business and personal use, leverage Gmail. Let’s face it, Gmail is just useful, whether you use it for work, or just maintain an account to open accounts with other web services.

It is this last point that makes your Google account’s security so important to maintain.

How many of your online accounts are accessible by Google? On the subject, how many of your accounts would be compromised if your Google account was first?

The Impact
This is the double-edged sword of a Google account. On the one hand, it only makes sense to use a Google account to create others, either using your associated Gmail address or linking it directly. The convenience is inarguable, and Google does equip these resources with reasonable security standards. So why not use a Google account?

Unfortunately, there’s one critical consideration that doing so adds into your security equation, that many overlook:

Linking an account to your Google account ties your Google account’s security to it directly.

This means that, if your Google account was to be compromised, all of the accounts you had connected to it are also compromised by association. Depending on what you had saved in this way, that could have some devastating ramifications.

Finding Out How Devastating
If you’re on your desktop right now, you can access your Google account by clicking here. In the Security section, you can review all the devices that your Google account has been active on, all the third-party applications with access to your account, and all the websites that are utilizing Google Smart Lock.

Is this list longer than you would have expected? Does it include your bank?

If it does, all it would take for someone to defraud you would be to access your Google account–or even lock you out of your own bank, resetting your bank credentials by using your Gmail account to activate an account recovery process.

A Solution
Again, this creates a conflict between two priorities: convenience against security. While the convenience could make anything that you use online more efficient in both your professional and personal life, nothing is worth compromising the security of either. So… where do we stand?

Like any conflict between two interests, the ideal place to meet is in the middle. In this case, it is the conclusion that you can have the best of both worlds–you just have to make sure that your Google account is secured properly.

While it would be great if there was, there just isn’t an option somewhere in Google you can select to make everything perfectly secure, just like that. Having said this, it is just a matter of taking a few precautions.

Securing Your Google Account
The first thing to securing any account is to understand that it isn’t a one-time activity and will need to be revisited periodically to make sure that everything remains secure. You should keep an eye out for news stories that discuss breaches among any of the organizations you have an account with, as you will still need to alter your credentials for these accounts.

Once this is set, there are a few best practices that it would be in your best interest to follow.

Passwords and Account Security
While all of your accounts should have the protection of a strong password, the fact that your Google account serves as a repository for your others make it only more crucial to implement one to its authentication measures. To accomplish this, make sure the password or passphrase you select is well in keeping with best practices, and that your Google account is the only account secured with it.

You should also be careful about what you are using to access your account. Any device that is available to the public should be avoided, as they are not only magnets for viruses and other digitally-based cyberthreats, but a cybercriminal could potentially retrieve your credentials from the device you used and thereby gain access to your account. Public Wi-Fi signals can have very similar issues, so use a secured, private connection whenever possible.

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
There is also the option to make your Google account ask more of someone trying to access it, a secondary code sent to you in a text message, delivered in the Google Authenticator application, or dictated through a direct call to your mobile device. By enabling 2FA, you can greatly decrease the likelihood that a cybercriminal will have everything they need to get in, assuming they don’t have access to your phone as well. We generally recommend that you utilize Google Authenticator, as it is the most secure of those three options.

You can also use your Google account to access a list of one-time authentication codes that you can print out and keep with you. This way, if you need to access your account and don’t have your phone handy, you can reference these to get in. If you run out of codes or lose the list, you can easily reset them and start over.

To set up these features, log in to your Google account.

At the end of the day, you don’t have to sacrifice the convenience of Google, as long as you have protected it responsibly. NuTech Services has the expertise to help you manage this security, as well as the rest of your business’ IT solutions and infrastructure. Call 810.230.9455 to learn more.

5
Sep, 2018
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Know Your Tech: A/B Testing

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A key component to effectively attracting your audience is to better understand their preferences. Even the most seemingly insignificant change, like changing the color of the buttons on your website, can have a major impact on how effective your materials are. Fortunately, through a process called A/B testing, observing the impact of these changes is somewhat straightforward.

A/B Testing, Defined
Running an A/B test is the process of comparing a single variable to deem which option, Option A or Option B, is the more effective of the two. The key to an effective A/B test is to only change one thing between the two test subjects – otherwise, you have no way of knowing exactly what it was that was the influential change.

A/B tests can be used to make a wide variety of choices, from something as simple as an adjustment to a call-to-action to a different layout to a particular page. In this case, Option A should be the way things currently are to serve as a control for the experiment, while Option B displays your proposed change. Each option is then presented to an equally-sized segment of your audience to deem which of the two is the more effective.

Setting Up an A/B Test
A/B testing can be used to make a vast number of decisions, as long as they are approached one at a time. As we said before, if multiple variables are involved in a single test, that test isn’t going to deliver reliable enough results to make any well-supported decisions. It is also worth mentioning that A/B testing tends to work better when comparing options for relatively minor changes, like calls-to-action or images included in an email or on a landing page, rather than big ones.

The first step will be to decide which variable you intend to test, followed by your determination of a metric to base your observations against. Does this change boost engagement? Increase the time spent on page? Improve your click-through rate?

Once this has been accomplished, you’re ready to state what your control option will be, and what your change will be after that. Your control group should be whatever you currently have in place, so you can accurately judge if a change would be an improvement or not. Then you need to settle on a sample size, or the number of recipients that will be a part of this test.

Not all changes will be accurately measured with a sample size alone. Some changes would be better left running until a statistically significant data sample has been collected. Speaking of statistical significance, you will also need to decide how significant your results have to be before a change is deemed to be worthwhile.

Running An A/B Test
There are two real keys to running a successful A/B test: first, you have to give it enough time to collect the data you’ll need to come to a conclusion, and second, both options need to be tested at the same time to prevent other variables from affecting your data. Of course, if the variable that your A/B test is evaluating is timing, this doesn’t apply so much.

In short, A/B testing is a relatively simple way to make sure that you’re having as large an impact on your audience as possible. Can you think of any times that you’ve done something similar to test out a proposed change? Tell us about it in the comments!

25
Jul, 2018
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Tip of the Week: Why You Shouldn’t Just Kill Power to Windows

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There’s a big difference between turning off any other appliance, like a stereo or a television, and turning off a computer. A computer takes much more time to shut down than your average device, but why is this the case? Is there a way to speed up this process? This tip will explain these processes and provide some ideas for how you can make this process much faster.

Why Shutdown is So Slow
Let’s take a look at this process as a whole. As a computer is running, there are many components that are doing different jobs. When a computer (or any computing device, like a phone or game console) is shut down, it needs to follow a procedure to make sure data doesn’t get lost. A full shutdown will aim to minimize damage to internal components, empty the RAM, wipe the virtual memory on the hard drive, remove all cached data, close all open applications, and turn off the operating system.

If your computer shuts down without going through this entire process, it could cause file corruption or other damage to its contents that could create issues.

Steps to a Proper Shutdown
It’s important to remember that even though there are a lot of different stages to the shutdown process, but it should go pretty quickly.

The first step in this process is that any applications that are opened are checked to make sure that the data has been saved. If not, the process is interrupted to inform the user. The computer then initiates a sequence that shuts down all services and programs, and it has to confirm that they have indeed been closed before eliminating any unneeded program data. A log is made of anything strange happening during the process, so the user can consult it later. All users are logged out of the system and the computer shuts down on an operating system level. Once this happens, any updates are installed, and the machine is turned off completely.

Speed Up Your Shutdown (and Startup) Times
There are ways your business can improve shutdown speed, but they are somewhat complex and difficult to do on your own with limited IT experience. This is why we recommend working with a provider like NuTech Services to make the process easier and more efficient for your organization. We can help your organization make sure that the shutdown process is as streamlined as possible. The same goes for your computer boot times. If you or someone on your staff has a laptop that seems to take forever to ‘wake up,’ there are steps we can take to investigate why and resolve it.

We recommend that your computers get restarted regularly (based on their performance) so as to help the computer keep itself in top working order. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

18
Jul, 2018
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Tip of the Week: Excel Features for the Power User

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As useful as a spreadsheet can be to convey information, they can be a little drab and disengaging if the full capabilities of Microsoft Excel aren’t understood and leveraged. For today’s tip, we’ll go over a few little-known and underutilized features that can help you create spreadsheets with both more style, and more utility.

Visible Zeros
There is a fair chance that, at some point, you will need to input data into Excel that begins with zeroes, whether you’re documenting serial numbers or what have you. The trouble is, Excel has a habit of hiding these zeros, so 0056907 would display as 56907. This unfortunately renders the data inaccurate. However, an easy fix to this is to just add a quotation mark in front of the number. This prevents the zeros from being omitted, so instead of resulting in 56907, you would keep your original “0056907.

Adding a Drop-Down List
Adding a drop-down list to a spreadsheet is a simple, yet effective way to limit the input a particular cell will accept. The first thing you have to do is select the cell that needs to have drop-down capabilities, and then click Validate in the Data tab in the header menu. On the Settings page of the window that pops up, there will be a menu labelled Allow. From that menu, select List and highlight the cells that make up the options you want in your drop-down, and finally, click OK.

Accessing Tools on the Developer Tab
Depending on your needs, you may require some more advanced capabilities in your spreadsheet, like creating option buttons, creating macros, and other features. These can all be found in the Developer tab, which is hidden by default. In order to access it, you will first have to access the Excel menu at the top of your screen and select Preferences. Once you’re provided with the Preferences menu, select Ribbon & Toolbar. You will then see a list of the various options that you can add or remove from your Tabs. Selecting Developer will give you access to the tools that tab contains.

Shading Every Other Row
If spreadsheets have any faults, the eye can easily wander when one is looking at them. Adding shading to the formatting, more specifically, to break up individual rows can be very helpful to someone trying to read the information the spreadsheet has to share. To do this, you will need to highlight the area where you want to display the effect or use the Select All shortcut (Ctrl + A) to apply the effect to the entire sheet. In the Home tab, click into Conditional Formatting and select New Rule from the drop-down menu. You will then have a Style drop-down menu to select from, from which you should pick Classic, after which you should select Use a formula to determine which cells to format. Enter the formula =MOD(ROW(),2) and pick your desired color, and your spreadsheet should be striped quite nicely.

Do you know any other tricks to improve the use of Microsoft Excel? Share them in the comments!

22
Jun, 2018
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How to Be Selective when Picking a Backup Solution

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You literally never know when your data may be lost. It may be frightening to consider, but there are so many factors that could lead to you losing your data, ranging from an act of nature to user error. To counter this, you need to make sure your backup solution meets certain requirements. Today, we’ll review those requirements.

What Does Your Company Need from Its Backup?
Your backup, in many ways, should be your company’s saving grace. Whatever the cause of your data loss may be, the loss itself creates a significant issue in and of itself. Buildings can be repaired, equipment can be replaced, but once data is gone, it is practically impossible to retrieve it without some kind of backup in place.

Therefore, it is important for your backup to meet certain benchmarks:

  • How quickly can data be backed up?
  • How quickly can data be restored?
  • How badly could your operations be interrupted in the interim?
  • How protected is my backup against its own disasters, especially the same ones that could influence the data I have stored in-house?

What Kind of Data Backup Best Fits My Needs?
There are a few kinds of backup solutions available, and while it may not be a bad idea to maintain multiple forms of backup in a hybrid approach, we always recommend that your backup strategy revolve around the use of a cloud backup solution. The reasons for this are simple: a cloud solution can be automated, eliminating the risk of user error leading to a backup not being refreshed, and your data is kept in multiple locations, adding the protection of redundancy.

How Can I Get Started with a Backup Solution?
In order to really begin with a backup solution that fits the requirements we’ve reviewed, it is best to go through a reputable vendor. NuTech Services can help with that – not only do we have good working relationships with a variety of reputable vendors, we’ll act as your representative with them, ensuring that you get what you need for your business’ benefit.

For more information about backups and how to go about implementing one, give us a call at 810.230.9455.

18
Jun, 2018
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Does Your Server Room Need Air Conditioning?

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You don’t need us to tell you that servers, workstations, and many other network components create a lot of heat from constant use. Servers in particular produce an incredible amount of heat, so much that they need to be kept in a climate-controlled room to ensure they don’t overheat and cause hardware failure. How can you make sure that your business’ servers are in an adequate environment to preserve your organization’s future?

It all starts by examining the current environment in which you store your hardware. Are you storing your servers in a closet (or other small room) with only fans to cool them? Is there poor air circulation? What about humidity? All of these variables need to be addressed before too much damage is done to your server.

Prolonged exposure to heat can cause permanent damage to your server units, decreasing their value over time and lowering the quality of service you get from them. However, not just any air conditioning system will do to protect this critical hardware. The best kind of air conditioning for a server room includes a comprehensive approach to climate control. This includes sensors that can measure room humidity and temperature. Ideally, you want sensors that can be monitored remotely so that you can always keep an eye on the environment. This allows you to properly manage the environment your organization’s critical hardware is in.

While you want to monitor humidity and make sure that it doesn’t exceed a certain threshold, you should also be wary of the room becoming too dry. Storing active electronics in a dry room is certainly not an ideal situation, as this can create unwanted static electricity that can cause damage to devices.

Air flow is also extremely important, as you want to make sure that your servers are actually being hit by the cool air so that they can be adequately cooled down. For example, you don’t want to have your air conditioning on at its highest setting in your server room because it might be wasteful in the long run, whereas air blowing directly on your server cabinets can accomplish largely the same goal with less investment into your energy costs. To this end, air conditioning units can be installed in the floor or ceiling, directly above or below the cabinets, so as to get the most out of your investment.

Of course, no amount of air conditioning can prepare you for the worst-case scenario–the inevitable failure of your business’ server units and loss of its data. In cases like this, you should always be prepared for the worst. A comprehensive data backup system needs to be implemented in order to guarantee that the worst doesn’t wipe your organization off the map entirely. To this end, NuTech Services can help. We’ll identify how you can optimize your server infrastructure and data backup system so that an unexpected disaster doesn’t prematurely end your business. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

13
Jun, 2018
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Tip of the Week: How to Improve Your Invoicing Processes

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One of the most important considerations in any business is to ensure that payments are properly received and processed. Otherwise, you may as well not be in business at all. To help expedite this, we’re dedicating this week’s tip to creating a better, more effective invoice. Let’s get into it.

How to Create Your Invoice
First, you need to have some way to actually construct the invoice document itself. For this, you have some options. If you use Microsoft Office products, both Excel and Word have templates you can use to put it together, and G Suite users can leverage any number of integrations to do the same. Alternatively, there are many software titles out there that offer more specific functions based on need and preference.

Once you have selected your software, you can start to put your invoice together. You will want to be sure that your invoice includes the following information:

  • Description – You want to be crystal clear on your invoices about what you are billing for, especially if part of it refers to time spent rendering a service. This will allow you to properly bill your clients while allowing them to understand exactly what they are being billed for, cutting back on how often your invoices are contested. Overall, every invoice should include the order number it refers to, the total amount owed, how the invoice can be paid, and when payment is due.
  • Discount Details – If you are offering any discounts, you will also want to make sure these are clearly annotated on your invoices as well – especially for those who are first signing on to your services. Otherwise, these discounts may confuse your clients and instill a false expectation for the future – creating surprise and frustration when the discounts are gone later.
  • Schedules and Policies – Just as you were held to a schedule to deliver your service, your client needs to be held to a schedule to pay for it. Consistency will also help your client prepare their payments on time. On a related note, your invoice should thoroughly explain your company policies on discounts, late payments and associated fines, and due dates to make your expectations of the client very clear.

Of course, this isn’t everything that can, or should, go on your invoices. However, these aspects are crucial enough to be mentioned and detailed separately. You should also consider other elements to include on your invoice, making use of what would otherwise be blank space. You may consider adding a more personalized touch and suggesting the next steps that a client should take, based on the services you are billing them for.

Furthermore, add some more of a personal touch by including some kind of thank-you message on the invoice. Write up a brief piece thanking your client for their business and have it printed on the invoice. Not only is this a visible way to earnestly say thank you, the appreciation you show may help to expedite payments and encourage repeat business.

When and How to Distribute Your Invoice
If you want to receive your payments on time, how you send your invoices is just as important as how they look. First and foremost, they need to be sent much sooner than later.

If yours is like many businesses, you may have found that your invoices go unpaid for long stretches of time. Estimates put the total of unpaid invoices to small businesses at well over $800 billion, and that was back in January of this year. This is why it is crucial that your invoices are distributed efficiently – it may be a long time before you get them back.

This is another reason that technology solutions are useful tools to assist you in managing your invoices digitally. Most invoicing software will likely enable you to track the status of the invoices you’ve sent.

If you want more assistance in managing your invoices, reach out to NuTech Services. We’d be happy to assist you, all you have to do is call 810.230.9455. In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to our blog for more useful technology tips and advice!

9
Apr, 2018
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Cybersecurity Requires Flexibility to Changes

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Security is always changing due to the volatility of online threats and vulnerabilities. Things have changed so much over the past decade that solutions that worked back then are so outdated that they put your business at risk today. This brings into question what you should expect in the years to come. What are some of the threats that your business can expect to face in the future?

For reference, this information is from a study performed by Cisco. The study references the findings of 3,600 data security professionals from organizations such as Talos and others from all over the world.

Malware Has Grown More Autonomous
Early types of malware relied heavily on the user actually clicking on a link or downloading an attachment to install itself on their computer. Nowadays, malware doesn’t take the risk that the victim will know better than to click on a link or download something bad. Instead, a ransomware might be more network-based, meaning that all it takes is a simple mistake to spread to your entire infrastructure. Cisco suspects that this type of threat could potentially grow so widespread that it could take over the Internet.

Ransomware Is About More Than Just Money
Ransomware used to be all about making money and disrupting operations. It was a way to make money to fund further hacking attacks against even more victims. People would pay up because they were too scared to imagine losing their data. Trends are showing that hackers are increasingly more interested not in the financial side of ransomware, but with the destruction of businesses. Ransomware is being actively used by criminals to put an end to any business unfortunate enough to be hit by it.

Threats Are Avoiding Detection More Effectively
Ultimately, any online threat’s level of danger is equivalent to how easy it is to hide. The easier it hides, the more dangerous it can be. Ransomware can now hide in encrypted traffic to make itself much harder to detect. It can even use cloud-based applications and services to implement a command and control attack, all hidden within normal traffic.

Watch Out for Internet of Things Devices
The Internet of Things–a large collection of connected devices that all perform various functions–has grown at a considerable rate. Since Internet of Things devices are difficult to patch properly, they can provide backdoor access to an infrastructure. Since many IoT endpoints aren’t secured properly, your company network could potentially be opened up to all kinds of threats.

Security changes every day, but the one thing that never changes is that NuTech Services can help your business secure its infrastructure. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

6
Apr, 2018
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Three Give-Aways that Your Security Approach Needs a Change

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It only makes sense that you would want only the best security for your organization. It’s natural to want to eliminate risk entirely. However, this simply is not a realistic viewpoint to take where your security is concerned, and it can even contribute to greater security issues as a company holds out for the best solution.

This is no way to do business, but it can be hard to identify if you, yourself, are actually trying to bite off more than you can chew. To help, here are three signs that you are actually hurting your company and its security by trying too much and focusing on the wrong things.

1. Setting Standards Too High
Of course there needs to be organizational standards where security is concerned. However, it is important to recognize that ‘perfection’ simply isn’t going to be attainable. Many companies will be committed to their ideal vision of a solution to the point that, until that golden standard is found in reality, they won’t implement what is seen as an inferior option, leaving themselves completely vulnerable. What’s worse, some of these companies will actively find issues with an entirely workable solution, prolonging the process.

This can have the added ill effect of creating organizational paralysis among the workforce. Operational paralysis is simply the lack of movement toward change, improvement, and advancement in a business, due to an impression among the staff that any action will ultimately fail. This makes it particularly difficult to enact any change, whether it’s to your security or otherwise, as your staff will not be motivated to stick to it.

2. Waiting For The Perfect Storm
Many business owners have the tendency to find any reason to wait before starting a project of any kind, including a security initiative. They might want more data to support their proposed strategy, or want another project to be wrapped and put to bed, or want more money or time to commit to it. Any of these reasons may keep them from acting, or from even entertaining an idea.

The thing is, there will never be the perfect time to start a project, and something or other will always be there to get in the way and create friction. However, when it concerns something as important as security, you need to get something workable in place before the worst happens. After all, you can always continue to improve upon things.

3. Lack of Priorities
Again, it is only natural to want to be prepared for everything, but this too often translates into a company spreading themselves thin and not really being prepared for anything. Furthermore, there may just not be the resources available to reinforce a company against all threats at once. In cases like these, it is only too easy to overestimate the risk of some events. To counter this, there needs to be a frank and pragmatic look at your particular situation.

For example, a business located in a dry, arid area is far more likely to experience a fire than they are a flood. Therefore, it statistically makes more sense to prepare for a fire first, and wait until a little later to make the preparations for the flood. Weighing your security risks should follow the same process, which requires a resistance to the knee-jerk reaction to fix everything immediately.

While maintaining your IT security is obviously an important task, it is equally important to strategize your approach to this maintenance. NuTech Services can help you handle it. Call 810.230.9455 for more information today.

2
Mar, 2018
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Are the Apps on Your Device Safe?

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It’s difficult to judge whether or not an app can expose your business to risk without first downloading it. Despite their best efforts, Google Play and the iTunes store can’t possibly identify every single malicious application out there. Unfortunately, you’re charged with taking the security of your mobile devices into your own hands, but thanks to Google Play Protect, this responsibility is a bit more mild.

Google Play Protect is a new way to help users protect themselves from dangerous smartphone applications. It’s not necessarily an app on your device, but is instead a feature of the Google Play store itself. It’s found on Google Play Services v.11 or higher. Essentially, Google Play Protect scans your apps in the background and looks for anything sketchy going on behind your back. It can also manually scan your device for threats, as well as improve the detection of harmful apps that haven’t been installed through the Google Play store.

One of the major downfalls of Google Play Protect is that it can’t immediately scan an app that you install. Instead, you have to scan the app before you open it for the first time. We recommend that you always approach any new application with caution long before you download it from the Google Play store.

Even with Google Play Protect handling some of the dirty work behind the scenes to keep your devices safe, there are still measures that you can take to augment its approach. Here are just a few of them.

  • Only download apps from trustworthy sources: You might run into links that allow you to download an app to your device. By default, your device won’t let you download apps from external sources, and this is for a good reason. There is a greater chance that your organization could run into a malicious app while outside of the Google Play store. To be safe, only trust those that you find in the store itself.
  • Be wary of app permissions before downloading: Depending on the app you’re downloading, you might find that apps will require permissions to specific information on your device. An easy giveaway that an app isn’t the most secure is when it’s asking for too many permissions than you’re comfortable with. A great example is a flashlight app–why would it need access to your calls or text messages?
  • Consider Bring Your Own Device (BYOD): If each of your employees has a smartphone, a tablet, and a laptop, that’s three devices per user that are accessing important data. Therefore, it makes sense that in order to minimize risk, you implement some type of BYOD strategy that blacklists apps, remotely wipes compromised devices, and enhances mobile security.

Does your business need a way to ensure mobile security? NuTech Services can hook you up with a great mobile device strategy that can help your organization minimize risk. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

24
Nov, 2017
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Tip of the Week: How to Write a Better Email

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Writing an email is one of the most prevalent methods of communication in the business world, but it’s not as easy as you might think. There are considerable details and intricacies to mastering this art, and we’re here to help. By the end of this blog article, you’ll be armed with five tips to write the most effective email that you can.

Keep It Short
Nobody wants to read a long message in their email. After all, they likely have more pressing matters to attend to, and many more messages that they have to read. Therefore, it makes sense that you get right to the point when you have to send an email. Try to include only information that’s absolutely critical. Remember, concision is the friend of any businessperson, as they only have so much time in a day to read and respond to messages that aren’t mission-critical.

Present a Clear Subject Line
Similarly, you want to use only the most clear and concise subject lines, as anything less could mislead the recipient into thinking that the message either isn’t important or doesn’t warrant immediate attention. Basically, you want to provide enough information in the subject line to give the recipient a reason to open it.

Personalize the Email
You shouldn’t be copying and pasting a catch-all message into an email. You should take the time to personalize each message that you send so that it looks as authentic and genuine as possible. You should always use your full name, as well as the organization you belong to–especially if you are sending messages to vendors or clients.

Perform a Spelling and Grammar Check
Nothing is more embarrassing than making a major spelling or grammar error in an important email. Thankfully, this can be avoided by giving your message a quick proofreading before hitting the Send button. Try to avoid statements in all caps, as they can create a subtext that you don’t necessarily want to convey.

Keep it Business-Friendly
If you’re going to send a bunch of memes or other fun things to your employees, it’s best not to do it through email. It’s one thing if you have a dedicated email thread designed for sharing information unrelated to work, but when you have your employees sending things that have no place in a professional environment, you get clutter (and a general lack of focus), both of which can create an unproductive workplace environment.

For more information on how to make the most of your email, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.