It doesn’t take much to make the case that modern technology has improved the way we do business. Consider just a few decades ago we were without cell phones, e-mail, and the Internet. Tasks today that take minutes used to take hours. That said, there can be many headaches that come with modern software solutions, but a good partnership with a strong technology support company can ensure that your business IT solutions are running smoothly.

If you’re a business that is due for an upgrade, don’t let lack of technical knowledge or the fear of the unknown deter you from capitalizing on all the ways these new innovations can improve your business. Check out just a few ways technology can advance your business position in the marketplace, and help give you a leg up on your competition.

Marketing

Marketing has changed more in the past 15 years than the previous 100 years combined. New innovations have created many new media options that have expanded our reach and ability to interact with our consumers. Whether you’re installing an upgraded customer relationship management (CRM) system, blasting out an e-mail campaign, managing all of your social media through a program aggregate, or hosting a webinar, new technology is the driving force behind the campaign. Remember, a technology support company will offer services to help you understand how your system can handle this load, and will work with you if you need assistance installing the software to launch some of these exciting campaigns in your business.

Communication

It is hard to imagine there is an entire generation of workers in place who have never had to do business without emails and cell phones. Modern advances give us access to unparalleled communication not only with our consumers, but internally within our own organizations as well. Modern businesses are expected to have comprehensive communications platforms, and a technology support company on call to manage all of the servers should anything go wrong. While a 24-hour turn around used to be acceptable in terms of customer service, those rules have changed; modern advances give us the tools we need to meet the expectations of our consumers.

Productivity

The right hardware running updated software solutions is the key to productivity in your business. In this era, our employees wear many hats and it’s incredibly important to give them the right tools to get the job done quickly and efficiently. Tools like voice to text, online chat, and teleconferencing, are just a few ways to improve productivity in the workplace. Whether it’s in your customer service department, giving customers an online chat option to get instant access to a service representative, to your internal communications and company meetings, working with a technology support company to have the right software solutions for your business is your key to having a productive, efficient workplace.

Modern IT solutions offer an abundance of opportunities for better ways to do business. These are just a few of the improvements you can look forward to when you utilize new solutions. Coupled with a good relationship with a technology support company, you can be sure that your business with survive and thrive for years to come.

The internet has transformed the way people live. It has changed everything from the way we learn to the way we shop. We use the internet to carry out a number of activities ranging from reading news, playing games and interacting with friends and family, besides a number of other things. We think that we only receive information from the internet; however, this is far from the truth. In the process of browsing the internet, we actually send out a lot of information such as our identity and location. We generally aren’t as safe on the internet as we may think we are.

For instance, when shopping online, our name, address, and credit card information are transmitted over the internet to the vendor. With such private information being channeled through the internet, it is vital that certain measures be taken to ensure privacy and confidentiality of the data. Latest information technology news tells us that the number of cyber crimes is on the rise.

This is where encryption comes in. Simply put, encryption scrambles the data which is to be transmitted over the internet in a way that can only be decrypted by someone who has the encryption key.

The concept of encryption is based on cryptography, and it is of two types:

1. Public Key Encryption
2. Symmetric Key Encryption

Public Key Encryption

With this type of encryption, two different keys are used. There’s a public key and there’s a private key. For example, if a person wants to send encrypted data over the internet, the public key is used to encrypt the data; however, the data can only be encrypted by the recipient using their private key.

This method can be used to send secure emails and to digitally sign the documents. Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and its newer method, the Transport Layer Security (TLS), are examples of public key encryption systems.

Symmetric Key Encryption

In this method of encryption, both the sender and the receiver use the same encryption key. This simplifies the process and makes it faster. Nonetheless, the key and the data can be compromised while in transit over the internet. Data Encryption Standard (DES) was a type of symmetric key encryption that is replaced by a more modern Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).

Encryption of Data

The advantages of encryption aren’t just limited to the internet; you can encrypt your data on your computer, your USB storage devices, hard drives, mobile devices and numerous other data storage devices in order to prevent misuse of data if your devices are lost or stolen.

Importance of Encryption

As learnt from the latest information technology news, the number of cyber crimes is on the rise and this makes it necessary for computer users to keep their data safe from hackers. Large corporations and governments require high levels of encryption in order to protect their sensitive plans such as business secrets and confidential data. It also gives us peace of mind that our data is not getting into the wrong hands.

Technology is constantly evolving and so is the disk drive. That small device you rely on so heavily on a daily basis as part of your computer system or server has evolved from a tape to a small device you can store mountains of information on daily.

When computers were first introduced, they couldn’t hold that much storage. In fact before computers, everything was done manually and once computers were introduced, all disk drives were external, providing companies with the ability to store all their data on external devices, which were carefully locked away in a safe and taken out each day to be used.

One of the first disk drives, which many people don’t even know existed, is the magnetic tape. The magnetic tape enables computer operators to store high volumes of data. The reel held a long string of tape which could accommodate up to ten thousands punch cards worth of data. In those days it was a lot, today it probably wouldn’t even cover you for a complete days’ worth of work.

Then came the floppy disk. The floppy disk was introduced in the 1970’s and could hold a high volume of data. It could hold in the region of four hundred and eighty kilobytes, which was much higher than the magnetic tapes in a smaller and more compact design. This enables computer operators to share information by swapping disk drives from computer to computer.

In the 1980’s a smaller floppy disk drive was introduced. These were made of hard plastic and were only 3.5 inches in size. Computers only just started being manufactured without this disk drive in place a few years back, these floppies remained in computers for three decades and are still used by some users today.

The next introduction to computers is the CD rom, or compact disc drive, an exciting introduction which improved data storage and speed. Operators were able to save a document to the CD within seconds, rather than waiting minutes on a magnetic tape or floppy disk. CD’s were also able to hold more data and was thin and much easier to carry around. They were used extensively in gaming, enabling game developers to sell their games to computer users with easy installation instructions.

Next came the DVD drive, which many people still use today. The DVD drive sped up the saving process and could save large volumes of information. Another benefit is that many DVD’s are rewritable, saving companies money by not having to replace the DVD’s every time they want to do a backup or save a file.

SD memory cards were introduced in 2000. These were small and encrypted cards available in thirty two and sixty four megabyte sizes all the way up to two terabytes. They are still used extensively today in smart phones, cameras and tablets.

Most companies rely on external disk drives these days, reducing how much they have to store on their computers. External disk drives also enable people to save data and then take the disk drive when them and plug it into another computer to access the information.

Internal disk drives are used extensively, especially in servers. Companies that rely on servers will keep a number of top disk drives, which are used to save all their important data and information. From here it is accessible to all the computers in the office, reducing how much is saved on each individual computer. This also makes backup easier and quicker, saving all the information from one point.