Reciprocal Technologies Blog

One of the biggest questions that was routinely asked to IT administrators before the COVID-19 pandemic shifted everything was, “How can we use the Internet of Things to Improve Your Business?” The answer isn’t as simple as you might think. Today, we will look at what benefits the Internet of Things can present to you and whether or not they can make a difference for the average small business.

Many business’ supply chains have had a tough year. One positive outcome of this is that the innovation that was happening in that area has accelerated. Today, there are several technologies that are improving the way businesses can track all the goods that makes their business possible. Let’s take a brief look at four of them.

Lots of things have been scaled back in 2020, but one thing that hasn’t is the presence of the remote worker. Outside of the normal amount of people that work from home, the COVID-19 pandemic has created opportunities for people who typically didn’t get the chance to do so to work from the comfort of their own homes. Let’s take a look at a few gadgets that have to be a part of every remote worker’s home office.

With the technology you use being increasingly important to the success of your business, it becomes crucial that your employees have access to workstations that effectively run the software your business depends on. This month, we thought we’d take a look at the myriad of computing options that the modern business has when it’s looking to buy computers for its staff.

The good old days, the timeless oldies, there’s no school like the old school… A lot of us fondly look back on the simpler times, but technology typically pushes forward. In fact, if we look back at what we were collectively doing with computers back in the 80’s and 90’s, it’s practically embarrassing. Sure, the music and television shows of our formative years will never be topped, but less can be said for the technology. Unless you are a Boeing 747...

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major effect on business. Despite this fact, we’re starting to get to the point where most businesses are at least being allowed to attempt to conduct business in a somewhat normal fashion, but it’s definitely a new world out there. Business owners in all lines of business are looking for that tool that can improve productivity, make their operations more efficient, and spit out the metrics they need to tweak them. 

The impact of COVID-19 to businesses has been such that we will not likely return to the way business was run before all of this happened. A major factor to this is how businesses once made use of their technology. The shifts that have occurred in the last few months will not likely go away, even after the pandemic ends.

As people have increasingly shifted to working remotely, the importance of accessible support for their devices has risen substantially. This has led many businesses to use managed IT service providers, or MSPs, like us to provide this kind of support. To do so, we’ve invested in a series of tools collectively called remote monitoring and management software (RMM). Let’s share some of the reasons that you want an IT support provider that uses RMM to their advantage.

A lot is being made about running smarter businesses. Two terms you typically hear during this conversation are business intelligence and business analysis. This month, we will take a look at the two terms, decipher their meaning, how they are different from one another, and how they can help you determine the resources a business needs to improve itself. 

The small business owner has to commit to changing the way that you look at his/her business. It’s not always easy. When demand makes you think bigger, your technology spend becomes a major priority. Let’s take a look at some of the changes a growing business has to make. 

A lot of people didn’t take the novel Coronavirus seriously when it was first discovered outside of China in late February. Now four months later, as the pandemic rages on, people continue to work from home, have their hours cut, or be completely out of a job. For the business owner, this period has been filled with difficult decisions, including halting all major IT projects. If your business is looking for a solution to help them add the technology they need at a price that works for this period, here are three useful options.

With months and months of bad news, many businesses are trying to find the right recipe to keep from having to make the hard decisions. Problem is that these hard decisions are looking as if they are going to be inevitable. With costs rising and revenues shrinking, there needs to be a strategic urgency that will allow your business to sustain operations when other companies are laying off their workers and folding into obscurity. Today, we take a look at some of the technology investments that you can make to keep your business afloat during the economic downturn. 

Could you tell me when the last time your routers were updated? How about when your servers were last maintained? How old is the hardware in your office? Where would someone go to get a new keyboard? If you don’t know the answers to these questions it is possible that your IT is not properly inventoried. This month, we’ll discuss the importance of keeping a technology inventory.

As workplaces and offices everywhere have struggled to cope with the restrictions brought on by social distancing mandates, the adoption of automated solutions has surged ahead. Of course, this does open a few important questions to consider. For instance, what this could mean for employment post-pandemic, and how automation may be used in the future to mitigate the impacts we’re currently experiencing.

There is a saying that you hear a lot in business: Plan for the worst, hope for the best. This is typically related to data redundancy, cybersecurity, or one of any other proactive steps a business should take to control the continuity of their business. What happens when you plan for the worst, but the best comes to fruition? What happens when your business consistently meets demand, prospers without issue, and grows quickly? Today, we will take a look at some issues the small business owner has to deal with when his/her business isn’t so small anymore. 

All a business’ technology is important to its operations, but based on its industry, certain priorities are bound to arise. A recent survey cast a light on some of these priorities, giving us a view of what small to medium-sized businesses are concerning themselves with. Let’s review some of the trends this survey revealed to see how well your priorities match up.

As restrictions have started to ease and business returns to some semblance of normal, organizations are left picking up the pieces of a disaster that almost none of them planned for. Let’s look at some of the statistics that explain where small businesses are at this time, and some tips on how to get your business back being the productive company you remember.

The Coronavirus outbreak is one of the most remarkable events in our lives, but it is not the first time that people have had to deal with these seemingly mystical forces. Today, we have been able to stem the tide a little bit with our access to information technology, but for past pandemic victims, some good did come out of tragedy. This month we thought we’d talk about the importance of innovation in dark times. 

Millions of businesses are being affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. As a result, it may not surprise you that you will have to adjust your budget to accommodate the massive amount of changes that we will see when the outbreak is handled and everyday life begins to normalize. Today, we thought we’d take you through some of the financial challenges your business is sure to have to deal with when the stay-at-home orders lift.

If you are a subscriber of this blog, you know that each week we create content that aims to educate people about the value of managed services and the growing importance of information technology. Today, we thought it would be useful to put together a glossary of some terms that we regularly use to ensure our readers understand what we are referencing.