Mobility Archives - NuTech Services LLC

Aug, 2022

Don’t Let Your Guard Down While You Travel

With so many workers constantly connected to screens and other technology, it is a good idea to disconnect every so often by taking a vacation somewhere. However, it’s not always this easy, especially for a business owner who is still minimally connected to the office even while technically on vacation. We’ve got a couple of tips for how you can make the most of your technology while on your vacation without putting your company at risk in the process.

Use Your Mobile Hotspot Over Public Wi-Fi

It is safer to use your smartphone as a mobile hotspot than using public wireless connections, and it is well worth paying a little bit extra. You’re not going anywhere without your phone, so it makes sense that you use your mobile hotspot to connect your laptop, tablet, or other device to it rather than use a potentially unsecured wireless network. As long as you have decent cell service, it’s guaranteed to work, unlike a public Wi-Fi connection.

Connect to Public Wi-Fi Only When Necessary

We think it’s safe enough to pull up directions or to look at your flight itinerary while using public Wi-Fi, but you should be a little more careful with checking your email, logging into your social media, or anything else involving sensitive information. The longer you remain on the network, the longer you are at risk of having your data stolen.

If you have a virtual private network, however, you can use that to create a secure connection for work-related information. Your business should be using one of these anyway, especially in the wake of a pandemic which forced countless employees to work remotely.

Be Careful of What You Share on Social Media

If people know you aren’t home, then who’s to say that they won’t try to break in? The automated outdoor lights are not going to be enough to stop someone who is intent on breaking and entering. It’s better to just not advertise online that your home will be empty for a week. We aren’t saying that you will be robbed while on your vacation, but it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility.

People could even come up with elaborate schemes to make your life more difficult, too. Imagine some hacker or scammer sees that you are on vacation for a couple of weeks, then uses your identity to get the help of a random Facebook friend with some nonsensical story about how you lost your wallet and need help getting home. When you consider how often accounts are hijacked, it’s not a stretch to think it could happen to you.

Make Sure Your Traveling Accounts are Secured

Traveling often means that you are creating new accounts, whether you are flying on an airline for the first time, using a ride-sharing service, staying at a hotel, or even something as simple as ordering food. Make sure that you aren’t getting too lax with your personal information, and ensure that you are always using complex, secure passwords for your accounts, stored in a password manager rather than your web browser. It can sometimes be easier to plan ahead so you don’t have to worry about it at the moment.

Let Us Take Care of Your Technology

If you are going on vacation, we hope you get as much rest and relaxation out of it as possible. The past couple of years have not been kind, and we could all use a break–especially now. Take some of the worrying out of your vacation by trusting your IT management to NuTech Services. We’ll make sure things run smoothly while you’re gone. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Jul, 2022

Are Tablets Still a Good Business Tool?

There were a few years there about a decade ago when everyone had to have the latest tablet and tech experts were predicting that most of the world’s productivity would be done using touchscreen devices. On one hand, they weren’t that far off. On the other hand, tablet sales fell off about as rapidly as they had spiked, leaving some question over the future of the form factor. Of course, tablets settled in as great personal computers, but their use in business has seemingly plateaued. Let’s take a look at how businesses use tablets and answer if they are right for your business.

Modern Tablets

Before we get into whether or not you should be using tablets for your business, we’d like to talk about the major differences between tablets of 2014 and tablets today. The form factor is the same. It is like a clipboard with a touch screen that is run by a mobile OS. Like many other types of computing, the component specifications have significantly improved over the years, but the biggest draw to the implementation of tablets to a business is the application ecosystems that they bring to your business. There are quite literally millions of applications that can be used to support all types of business processes.

As far as specifications go, any tablet used for business should have at least four gigabytes of RAM and 64 gigabytes of storage. The Apple iPad, which is widely renowned as the best tablet you can get for business, features the Apple M1 processor, while the best processor found on an Android-run tablet is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. Since these are touchscreen devices, choosing one with a 10-inch screen or larger is ideal, but there are seven and eight-inch tablets that are powerful enough to do most things you would need them to.

Using Tablets for Business

In a recent poll, two-fifths of respondents say that they use some type of tablet in the course of their job. Interestingly enough, a lot of businesses that utilize tablets aren’t actually used in the two largest markets for tablets: The U.S. and China. Many businesses in Europe, Australia, and South America actually use tablets at a higher rate than in those places. They are used mainly for the following reasons:

Taking notes
Managing social media
Creating task lists
Point-of-sale
Scheduling

If you are thinking that these are the same things that many people in the U.S. use smartphones for, you aren’t mistaken. Tablets present businesses with a cost-effective solution to their mobility needs, even inside the office itself. One of the most innovative ways that businesses normally use tablets is as an easy-to-use point-of-sale device. Today, there are SaaS-fueled POS systems that are hosted in the cloud and run through mobile devices. In fact, with the robust application ecosystem that Apple and Android provide, many tablets can do any business-related task you need them to insofar as you get the more higher-end devices.

iOS vs. Android vs. Windows

As we mentioned earlier, the Apple iPad has long been the best tablet on the market as far as consumers are concerned. Apple has committed to the tablet as a personal productivity tool. As in the smartphone space, Samsung is Android’s top tablet developer. The Microsoft Surface tablet, which has been on the market for 10 years, presents a great option for businesses that are committed to utilizing Microsoft-related ecosystems, even though they come in at a higher price tag and are often looked on as more of a touchscreen PC than simply a tablet. Either way, any of these operating systems integrate well with other computing platforms and present businesses with the opportunity to enhance their operational mobility.

App Innovation and the Tablet’s Future

Today, tablets are only as good as the applications they run; and there are a lot of them. There are options for any type of activity that your business can undertake. Some include:

Managing money (Quickbooks, Wave)
Inventory management (Sortly, Delivrd)
Human resources (Namely, Bambee)
Point-of-sale (Square, PayPal Here)
Time tracking (Gusto, HotSchedules)
Communication & collaboration (Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Teams)
Customer relationship management (Spendgo, Salesforce, Nimble)
Project management (Trello, Basecamp)
Document management (eFileCabinet, Hightail)

What is Right for You?

If your business is looking to get a cost-effective solution for your mobile computing needs, looking in the tablet space may just be the right move for your business. Give NuTech Services a call today at 810.230.9455 to get the expert consultation and innovative technology your business needs.

Apr, 2022

Remote Collaboration is More than a 9-to-5 Gig

Businesses are different than ever before and that means that their employees have to do things differently. What do we mean by this? Well, as companies have been toying with the notion of removing the restraints of traditional work and allowing a larger percentage of their staff to work remotely, it changes the strategies somewhat. Today, we’ll identify a couple of ways remote teams need to lean on their technology and two steps you can take to get significant contributions from collaborative platforms.

The Role Technology Plays in Remote Collaboration

Nowadays, every business uses some sort of information technology to complete the basic tasks that running a business demands. Whether that be just for payroll or to manage inventory, or if you utilize IT to run your entire business, understanding the value it has to your endeavor and how to get what you need out of it is pretty important. For many businesses, this means rolling out a comprehensive collaboration suite and integrating tools that allow for additional collaboration.

Unfortunately, the days are long past where each person on your team is satisfied doing the same thing over and over and over again. In fact, most modern workers will be glad to allow computers to do a lot of the more mundane and repetitive work. This is exceedingly evident when you have a remote workforce. Remote workers tend to want to get right down to business, which is why reeling them in to ensure they are doing the things you need them to is important. Most businesses that follow this model need to rethink how they are deploying their technology dollars and ask if they are doing the right things for their business.

What a Business Needs to Do to Get Collaborative Results from Remote Workers

There are plenty of things a business can do to help their remote workers align with their goals. Let’s go through a few of them:

Provide equipment – Today computers are expensive and with no two people agreeing on the effectiveness of any individual collaboration tool, it can be problematic for a business to get remote workers on the same page. If you provide the equipment that a remote worker needs to do his/her job, it can standardize some things pretty quickly. Not only can you install the software you are using, you can also have an easier time managing these systems; even if they are being used far from the central office.
Improve communication – Another great tip for the business that is dependent on remote workers is to build your communications platform with the remote worker in mind. Sure you are going to use email and the integrated tools that the system presents, but you can also enhance remote worker collaboration by using communications tools designed specifically for remote collaboration. Collaboration apps do a good job of doing so, but the most valuable is a Voice over Internet Protocol telephone system. VoIP can help you save money and give your remote teams the tools they need to communicate effectively.
Be involved – This may have to be by proxy if you run a larger company, but it is important that remote teams understand that their managers and business leaders are committed to the program they have laid out and will do what needs to be done to reach a satisfactory outcome.

If your business relies on remote workers, oversaturating their day-to-day tasks with more minutiae isn’t going to work. Having a successful remote team dictates that you find a balance between laissez-faire leadership and micromanagement.

A Two-Step Process You Can Use to Improve Remote Team Collaboration

When we write about collaboration, we typically do so by telling you about the tools and services that are available. These tools really do make a massive difference and save a whole lot of time and effort for project managers, decision makers, and other administrators. On the other end of this strategy are remote workers; most of which work from the confines of their home. Let’s not pretend that it’s simple to get the best work out of someone who is constantly dealing with personal distractions. This is why it is essential to get your team—the people who are responsible for the success or failure of your projects or service delivery—involved in said project or service delivery strategy early.

You can do this pretty easily if you follow this two-step process:

Collaborative Vision for Product or Service Delivery

In order to get a remote team invested the way an in-house team would be, you need to communicate and allow feedback. Part of the collaborative process is getting ideas from people who actually work on a job. One of the best ways to do this is to ask your staff the following three questions:

How would you describe what we are trying to accomplish?
What are some of the problems you see with the project as it currently stands?
How would your approach differ from the one laid out?

By engaging the worker before the project commences, you not only give them the confidence that their opinion matters, you will get them thinking critically about the project that is being undertaken. Sure, ultimately your staff is going to have to do it the way that is best for your company, but getting the perspective of the people responsible for a successful conclusion to your project could not be more valuable.

You may want to split your team into groups and ask them to collaborate on individual adjustments they would like to make. This saves time over going through the whole process individually and will get better answers to the questions above. If you bring them back and identify the common issues presented by each group, you will have a pretty good idea of what concerns your team has. This is collaboration at its best.

Focus on the Problems

Once you have a list of group answers, you can pretty easily identify what problems your production or service delivery staff are considering. Then you can start collaborating on how to fix the would-be problems. For remote teams, you can do all of this with technology. Collaboration apps have been developed that integrate necessary software with a message board and instant messaging applications, making it a great tool for end-to-end collaboration, even if your teams are working from across the country. Integrations for these collaboration apps can include video messaging, collaborative production applications, and more.

Obviously, without technology, managing remote collaboration can get frustrating quickly. This is where NuTech Services comes in. We can set your business up with collaboration tools that are secure, reliable, and dynamic. If you would like to talk to one of our IT professionals about the technology behind impressive collaboration, give us a call today at 810.230.9455.

Dec, 2018

Powerful Smartphones That are Currently On the Market

With the new innovations made to smartphones every year, you’d be hard-pressed to understand how the global smartphone has hit the skid. While Apple and Samsung sit pretty with large market shares, manufacturers that we’ve come to expect near the top of the smartphone market: Blackberry, HTC, and Nokia are but bit players. Their largest competition is now coming from Chinese companies Xiaomi, Huawei, and OnePlus.

Many of the largest-growing smartphone manufacturers set their eyes on untapped markets in Africa, the Middle East, and southeast Asia. Regardless, the smartphone market has now showed negative growth for four consecutive fiscal quarters and the manufacturers are feeling the heat. The new flagships show off how the world’s most successful smartphone manufactures plan on altering their market’s forces. The new flagships include:

Apple iPhone XS Max
The world’s most profitable company’s newest flagship smartphone looks a lot like last year’s, but there are some major upgrades made to this year’s version that you may not be able to miss out on. The iPhone XS Max features Apple’s new A12 Bionic chip that improves device performance by 15 percent and a vastly-improved neural engine that accelerates machine learning on the device.

The newest iPhone has a 6.5-inch edge-to-edge display built on an aluminum chassis. The back of the device is all glass and comes with two separate 12-megapixel (MP) cameras. There is a single 7 MP camera on the front. The iPhone XS Max’s Battery is a 3,174 mAh that has an endurance rating at 78 hours. With a hefty price tag of $1099.99, consumers are paying a premium price for a premium device. It is available on all major carriers in Pace Gray, Silver, and Gold.

Specifications
Build – Stainless Steel with Glass Front/Back
Display – 6.5” Super AMOLED with ~458 ppi
Chipset – Apple A12 Bionic
Memory – 4GB RAM
Storage – 64/256/512 GB
Software – iOS 12/iOS 12.1
Cameras – 12 MP (26mm); 12 MP (52mm) with 2x optical zoom and optical image stabilization; 7 MP front-facing
Battery – 3,174 mAh (78 hours)
Additional Features – Face ID

LG V40 ThinQ
The newest LG flagship, the V40 ThinQ builds on what was LG’s best-reviewed smartphone to date: the LG V30. The V40 ThinQ offers users a 6.4-inch display that is inline with the other devices on this list. Their OLED display sets the standard for any LG-manufactured device and the build quality, a problem LG has had over the years, is premium.

One of the major upgrades of the LG V40 ThinQ is its camera setup. The device comes with two 12-megapixel cameras (one wide angle and one telephoto), as well as a 16 MP ultra-wide-angle lens. The camera app features a ‘triple-preview” that does exactly that: provides an active look through all three lenses so the user can choose which one works best. At $900, it is at least a hundred dollars cheaper than the Samsung or Apple flagship. It is available on all major carriers and can be had in New Platinum Gray, Carmine Red, New Aurora Black, and New Moroccan Blue.

Specifications
Build – Aluminum with Glass Front/Back
Display – 6.4” P-OLED with ~537 ppi
Chipset – Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
Memory – 6 GB RAM
Storage – 64/128GB, microSD up to 512GB
Software – Android 8.1 Oreo
Cameras – 12 MP (27mm) optical image stabilization; 12 MP (52mm) with 2x optical zoom and optical image stabilization; 16 MP (16mm); 8 MP (26mm) and 5 MP (21mm) front-facing.
Battery – 3,300 mAh (64 hours)
Additional Features – Rear-mounted fingerprint scanner

Samsung Galaxy Note 9
Samsung has been making upper-crust mobile devices for much of the past decade, and the Galaxy Note 9 is no different. The Note 9 is made from aluminum and a whole lot of glass, Gorilla Glass 5 to be specific. On board it has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 and up to eight gigs of RAM and 512GB of storage space. There are many Ultrabooks that don’t have those specs.

Running on Android 8.1 Oreo, the Note 9 features two 12 MP camera lenses and an 8 MP front-facing camera. With a 4,000 mAh battery, the Note 9 seems to outpace the rest of this year’s devices in battery life and sustainability. With available colors including Metallic Copper, Lavender Purple, Midnight Black, Ocean Blue and Pure White; and, availability on all major carriers, the Note 9 can be found for $1000.

Specifications
Build – Aluminum with Glass Front/Back
Display – 6.4” Super AMOLED with ~516 ppi
Chipset – Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
Memory – 6 or 8 GB of RAM
Storage – 128 or 512 GB of onboard storage and microSD up to 512 GB
Software – Android 8.1 Oreo
Cameras – 12 MP (26mm); 12 MP (52mm) with 2x optical zoom; optical image stabilization; 8 MP front-facing
Battery – 4,000 mAh (97 hours)
Additional Features – Samsung S Pen, rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, iris scanner.

Huawei Mate 20 Pro
Huawei isn’t the type of manufacturer that is typically on a list like this. This is because the company has run into hot water with some in the west who believe that the stake that the Chinese government has in the company is a security threat to users. Whether you believe that or not, Huawei sure has made an impressive phone with the Mate 20 Pro.

Created with a Kirin 980 octa-core processor that comes in at seven nanometers, Huawei has built the Mate 20 Pro with a 6.4-inch AMOLED display, 6/8 GB of RAM and 128/256 GB of storage space. The 4,200 battery provides some of the strongest high-usage results of any manufacturer, but like the LG V40 ThinkQ, it comes with three rear-facing cameras. One is a powerful 40 MP fixed wide-angle lens, another is a 20 MP ultra-wide-angle lens, and the other is an eight MP telephoto lens with a 5x optical zoom. It’s also the first device from a major manufacturer to have an in-display fingerprint reader. It may be difficult to find in the U.S., but for those who can, it comes in Emerald Green, Midnight Blue, Twilight, Pink Gold, and Black, and can be had for a hefty lot of $1,100.

Specifications
Build – Aluminum frame with Glass Front/Back
Display – 6.4” AMOLED with ~538 ppi
Chipset – HiSilicon Kirin 980
Memory – 6/8GB RAM
Storage – 128/256GB with Nano Memory slot up to 256GB
Software – Android 9.0 Pie, Huawei UI
Cameras – 40 MP (27mm); 20 MP (16mm); 8 MP (80mm) with 5x optical zoom and optical image stabilization. Front facing 24 MP.
Battery – 4,200 mAh (85 hours)
Additional Features – Face ID, In-display fingerprint scanner, Qi wireless charging broadcasting, 40-Watt fast charging

Google Pixel 3 XL
The Pixel 3 XL has a crystal clear, OLED display that comes in at 6.3-inches. Currently, the Pixel 3 XL runs Android’s newest OS, 9.0 Pie. The Pixel 3 XL picks up where the Pixel 2 XL left off in terms of camera functionality. Largely lauded as the best camera on any smartphone, the Pixel 3 XL is great for content creators and consumers, alike.

The Pixel 3 XL is available in White, Black, and Not Pink; and has a few neat features that aren’t found on many other phones. With a price tag that is at least $100 less than its direct competitors it will be a popular choice for the next year.

Specifications
Build – Aluminum with Glass Front/Back
Display – 6.3” P-OLED with ~523 ppi
Chipset – Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
Memory – 4GB RAM
Storage – 64/128GB
Software – Android 9.0 Pie
Cameras – 12.2 MP (28mm) with optical image stabilization
Battery – 3,430 mAh (69 hours)
Additional Features – Rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, squeeze to call Google Assistant, Call screen feature, Flip to quiet notifications

Smartphones continue to be a major part of people’s lives. As long as that continues, expect manufacturers to keep improving their best devices every year. What smartphone do you use? Would you consider getting one of these flagship devices? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Nov, 2016

Tip of the Week: 4 Tools that Provide Your Employees With Greater Flexibility

Flexibility is an important part of the modern work environment, especially as technology has made it much easier to work anytime, anywhere. Employees understand that this flexibility exists in many industries, and they want to reap the benefits of a flexible work environment. However, it’s not that easy; there are quite a few pitfalls that can easily take a stab at your business’s productivity.

On the plus side, flexible work hours allow your team to flourish as people, rather than employees. Your employees no-doubt have families and personal interests of their own that they would like to devote time to. However, the biggest argument for workplace flexibility comes in the form of mobile technology becoming practically omnipresent in today’s environment. In the context of society, mobility is, more or less, a primary concern. Everyone carries a smartphone with them in order to stay up-to-date on email, and to receive important phone calls or to dial into a conference call.

Then there’s the problem of achieving a work-life balance. If an employee is constantly tethered to the office, even while at home, it can feel somewhat invasive to that employee’s domestic life, which can lead to dissatisfaction, and in some cases, disruption. Nobody likes to receive a phone call in the middle of the night, or at the dinner table, about something that can easily be handled the following morning.

Whether or not you want to implement a flexible workplace environment is ultimately up to you, but if you do choose to go all-in on this investment, you’ll need the proper technology solutions to ensure maximum communication and productivity.

Voice over Internet Protocol: A VoIP phone system uses your Internet connection to send your voice to the call’s recipient. It’s basically like a traditional phone system without the complex wiring. VoIP systems also come equipped with your standard phone line functions, like transferring, conference calling, etc, and some even have video conferencing technology.
Virtual Private Network: A VPN encrypts data that’s sent to and from your business’s infrastructure. They’re great for keeping sensitive data secure from hackers who would steal information while it’s in transit. The reason you’ll want this is because hackers may be lurking on public Wi-Fi connections, just waiting for someone like you to access the network.
Cloud Computing: Your business’s data and applications are available to those who are hooked up to your on-site network, but what about those who choose to work remotely? Cloud computing lets you host information and applications in an online environment, where anyone who has access to an Internet connection can utilize it.
Mobile Device Management: If your team is using their own devices to access your company’s sensitive information, you need to make sure that they comply with your BYOD policy. A mobile device management solution can be used to limit access to data on a per user and per device basis, as well as allowing you to remotely wipe devices that are potentially compromised.

If your business is ready and willing to invest in a flexible, modern workforce and workplace, NuTech Services can help. Our solutions are designed to give you maximum control over your data, while allowing your team to work anytime, anywhere. To learn more, give us a call at 810.230.9455.

Jul, 2016

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How Your Business Can Take Advantage of These 4 Mobility Trends

In a world where mobility is king, it can be challenging at best to implement new solutions without first taking into account how they can affect your business’s mobility. Especially with the cloud gaining ground, companies have their eyes on mobility and the requisite security, hoping to achieve greater flexibility and profitability by doing so.

The following are mobility trends that have made themselves prevalent throughout the enterprise world. By analyzing them and comparing them to your own organization, you might be able to save yourself some trouble in the future by keeping them in mind when implementing new solutions.

Security is a priority: It doesn’t matter what type of devices your business uses, or how you access data. Security is always going to be a top concern, especially for mobile devices that are often connecting to unsecured Wi-Fi networks. Using what’s known as a virtual private network, as well as monitoring access to critical data, can be great ways to limit your company’s exposure to threats while mobile.
More focus on the cloud: The cloud allows data and applications to be available from anywhere with an Internet connection via a web browser, improving business mobility and agility. The cloud can allow your business to collaborate and communicate no matter where you or your team are, allowing for unprecedented convenience.
The convergence of desktop and mobile: We see more of this every day with Windows 10, an operating system that Microsoft is attempting to implement for all devices in some way, shape, or form. The idea is to make apps and operating systems that work across devices, so as to increase user productivity and flexibility. Think about it; are you more likely to get work done with a watered-down version of an app on a mobile device, or with a full version that contains all of the features you would find on the desktop application?
Regulation and oversight are needed: Data control is a must for any organization that wants to use mobile devices to their benefit. You need to make sure that your team can be held accountable for not just their actions, but also for what they do with your data. You should be able to see when files are accessed, and by whom. It’s important that you implement measures that restrict the flow of data as much as possible, so as not to expose sensitive information to those who have no business viewing it.

With so much to think about, how does your business implement mobile technology? If you’re ever concerned with adding new devices or setting up security policies for smartphones, tablets, laptops, or other mobile technology, reach out to NuTech Services at 810.230.9455. We offer several solutions, such as mobile device management, which can help your team best leverage their mobile devices, without putting your organization’s sensitive data at risk.

Jun, 2015

7 Signs of Smartphone Addiction and 4 Things You Can Do About It

There’s no doubt that smartphones are one of the greatest achievements in modern technology. Compared to computers from several years ago, the average smartphone is vastly more powerful. Coupled with mobility, the smartphone is a productivity machine that helps you get more done in your day. Despite these advantages, you might be a little too attached to your device.

Telltale Signs of an Addiction
If you truly can’t tell if you’re addicted to your smartphone, try asking yourself these questions:

Do you always keep your smartphone on your person? This isn’t always a bad thing, but when it’s always in your pocket, you feel compelled to pull it out and respond to texts, emails, or even phone calls while in the office. This can be distracting, and detrimental to your productivity.
Do you find yourself placing your smartphone on the table when eating a meal? Besides being rude and inconsiderate to your company or waiter, this shows that you can’t go a simple half-hour session without checking your phone once.
How many times a day do you check your phone? We realize that there might be a reason you check your phone, but if it’s simply to “check the time,” that’s what watches are for. Continuously checking your phone when you aren’t expecting a call is either a result of boredom, or a smartphone addiction.
Where do you place your smartphone when you sleep? If it’s on the nightstand or under your pillow, you might be in trouble. This might be because you use your phone as an alarm clock. If your phone goes off in the middle of the night and wakes you up, it can cut into your sleep cycle and reduce the quality of rest you receive. This, in turn, can be bad for both your health and concentration in the workplace.
Do you bring your smartphone into the bathroom with you? Plenty of people bring their phones into the bathroom with them and take the opportunity to catch up on emails, reply to text messages, or check social media. Besides clearly being a sign of addiction, this can be a primary reason for the spread of germs in the office. You might wash your hands, but we doubt you wash your smartphone.
Do you get angry at your smartphone when it goes off? The average smartphone user has a ton of different applications on their device, each with notifications that go off periodically throughout the day, or signal the arrival of a new message. If you feel compelled to check these constantly, you might (understandably) get angry or flustered.
Do texts, emails, and other messages seem to take the place of real-life conversation? That’s because they are. The beauty of a smartphone is that you can communicate with people across the world in the blink of an eye, but when you use it as a substitute for real-world interaction, you can say with confidence that something needs to change.

What Can You Do?
One of the better life choices you can make is to cut down on your smartphone use, especially if you feel like it’s taking the place of your social life and familial relationships. Here are some solutions that might help you get over your mobile dependency:

Don’t buy the latest smartphone. The latest technology is sure to have the most features, and as such, you’re sure to waste more time on one of them, than another, slightly older model.
Limit your application consumption. When your phone is filled with applications, they can be bothersome. Most people only take advantage of somewhere between 5-10 apps every day, so why use more than that when you don’t need to?
Separate yourself from the phone. Instead of leaving it in your pocket, keep it in another room, a bag, or a purse. Use other devices for purposes that can accomplish the same thing, like an alarm clock or a watch.
Just ignore it. While ignoring your phone might seem difficult, it’s the best choice in most cases, so long as it’s not an urgent call that you’re expecting. Always take real human interaction over a text or phone call.

Of these seven questions, how many do identify with? Let us know in the comments just how addicted you are to your smartphone.

Apr, 2015

What Cloud Matches Your Needs: Public, Private, or Hybrid Cloud Solution?

The cloud is an innovation which is changing the way organizations handle the storage of their data and application management; yet, some businesses can’t tell the difference between public, private, or hybrid clouds.

NuTech Services will attempt to explain cloud computing to you in a way which is simple and easy to follow, including the key benefits and disadvantages offered by particular types of cloud-based computing.

One of the biggest misconceptions surrounding the cloud, according to Steven Vaughaun-Nichols of CSC, is that cloud computing is “a bunch of servers.” The clouds themselves aren’t virtual servers, in-and-of themselves. These clouds consist of data stored on virtual machines within secure data centers. He emphasizes that clouds deliver a “user-controlled utility.” Therefore, these cloud solutions are designed to provide users with a certain service that’s treated like any other utility. He cites Appcore, which defines cloud orchestration as “the combination of tools, processes, and architecture that enable virtualized resources to be delivered as a service.”

Just like those fluffy formations in the sky, clouds take on many different forms, depending on what kind of hosting your business prefers.

Public clouds: When a business takes advantage of a public cloud, they’re using services provided over a publicly-accessible network, usually by an external third-party vendor. Public clouds are particularly useful for start-ups or smaller business ventures, as they are often affordable and readily accessible. This also means that the responsibility of a self-hosted cloud isn’t placed on your business’s shoulders; however, there’s a notable lack of security and control provided by the public cloud.
Private clouds: In direct contrast to the public cloud, the private cloud is generally hosted in-house on a private network. This allows for greater data security through the use of security-augmenting devices and applications.
Hybrid clouds: A hybrid cloud solution is like the middle ground between both public and private clouds. An example of a hybrid cloud is one which allows your business to host confidential corporate data on-premises in a private cloud, while taking advantage of a public cloud for the roll out of mission-critical applications (i.e. software as a service).

Hopefully, we’ve helped clear up any confusion you might have as a business owner. If you haven’t yet considered integrating the cloud into your computing infrastructure, we at NuTech Services can be of service. We’ll bring our decades of experience in IT consultation to the table and help you decide which cloud solution is right for your business. Give us a call at 810.230.9455 to learn more.