Finding an Outlet - Making Tech Work for Everyone

4 Ways B2B Companies Can Use Mobile Apps

14 hours ago

Two things might surprise you about mobile apps. The first is how variably useful they can be. The second is how many companies — even major companies — haven’t built a mobile app yet or haven’t added basic functionality or customer-requested features.

The truth is, it’s probably time to stop thinking about mobile apps as things we have to “deal with” and think of them instead as blank creative canvases. For the B2B company, mobile apps can be an especially appealing way to put your best foot forward and offer a set of tools useful in the real world for the people you’re trying to reach, retain, entertain, upsell to, convert or just stay in touch with.

How to Train Your Employees on New Technology

1 week ago

Nathan P. Sykes

Advice, Tech & Business

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Today, technology is everywhere. Society’s growing reliance on modern tech has become, well, unprecedented. For example, everyone has a mobile device or smartphone in their possession, and they also carry it with them wherever they go.

As a business, it’s important that you incorporate such technologies in your operations if only to accommodate your customers. But this also makes it vital that your workforce understands the systems and technologies in use and can leverage them. Sometimes, further training is necessary for select systems, software, and devices.

The Future of Analytics: The Cloud, Big Data and AI

2 weeks ago

Nathan P. Sykes

Systems & Data

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Cybersecurity experts are in higher demand than ever — and is it any wonder? The vast connectivity of technology these days comes with undeniable opportunities, but also a host of security and privacy concerns that increasingly attract the attention of governments.

Now that our computers are powerful enough and can be networked well enough, we can take the lid off much of this data that industry has always relied on but didn’t always have the means to access or study meaningfully. Now, analytics is a booming industry all its own. It’s made up of connected tools and equipment that gather and organize data, smart algorithms that plot customer demand to help make production decisions and autonomous factories that function on their own and oversee their own maintenance.

With the right strategy and protections in place, analytics can help make everything about doing business smoother, more accurate and less wasteful. It adds up to a powerful, technology-driven competitive advantage.

Cloud Computing’s Impact on Healthcare

3 weeks ago

Nathan P. Sykes

Cloud

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If you’ve been visiting the doctor regularly, good for you! Some parts of the digital-first healthcare experience will already be familiar to you. But for those of us who might’ve let a few years go by without a routine checkup, some of technology’s impact on health care might take you by surprise.

Cloud technology has been especially consequential and helpful when it comes to providing health services and observing the related administrative requirements. Let’s take a quick look at why and how.

Real-Time Data’s Impact on IT

4 weeks ago

Nathan P. Sykes

IT, Systems & Data

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In today’s world, data is one of the most valuable resources of any business or operation, which is why it’s being harvested and monitoring about everything. Retailers collect data about their customers, purchase histories, market performance, and even competing brands. In construction, data is used to monitor workers, manage duties and complete projects. In marketing, its used to understand various campaigns and identify valid, successful strategies for advertising and promotions. Honestly, this list could go on forever.

This has been brought about by the widespread digitization of modern industry. Every field from manufacturing to healthcare is growing increasingly reliant on modern and mobile technologies. Of course, at the heart of this change is the IT and development world.

How to Handle a B2B Data Breach

1 month ago

Nathan P. Sykes

B2B

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Unfortunately, cyber-attacks and data breaches are an inevitable part of doing business in today’s data-driven world. With the right protections and preventative measures, you can both mitigate the likelihood of it happening and the damage that stems from a potential attack.

The first thing to understand is that most put emphasis on preventing attacks, which is necessary, but it’s not the only protective measures you should take. You should also have tools and processes in place to stop an ongoing attack, protect stolen or lifted data, block access to unauthorized parties and a veritable kill switch — something that takes your system offline during a major event.

How to Keep Your Best IT Workers

1 month ago

Nathan P. Sykes

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In every industry, maintaining high or positive levels of employee satisfaction are incredibly important to building loyalty. But in IT, it is even more crucial to do this especially if you want to secure highly-skilled and experienced individuals. The reason being, the market is competitive.

There are so many IT and development opportunities available, that IT managers, engineers, and workers really have the upper hand. At any given time, someone on your team could leave their current position for an opening that is more appealing or enjoyable, regardless of monetary benefits and pay. It is important to stress that while, yes, salary and wages do play a considerable role it’s not the only contributing factor to a satisfied workforce.

You can’t keep everyone happy, all the time, but you certainly can strive to provide a more engaging, healthy work environment and culture for your employees. In that vein, here some methods you can use to keep your best IT workers under your wing:

Should Experiential Marketing Be Part of Your B2B Marketing Strategy?

2 months ago

Nathan P. Sykes

B2B

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Why give your potential customers information alone when you can create an experience for them? That’s the idea behind experiential marketing, which creates encounters that encourage people to interact with brands in real-world situations in participatory, hands-on ways. This strategy, also called engagement marketing, is popular with B2C companies, but it can also work for B2B companies.

What iOS 12 Offers Businesses

2 months ago

Nathan P. Sykes

News, Tech & Business

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The new iOS 12 update rolled out to Apple devices on September 17th, finally leaving the beta period behind. If you haven’t installed the update already, you can do so by going to Settings > General > Software Update on compatible devices. If you willing decided to not install the update, here are some reasons why you should consider iOS 12.

Many people don’t like change. Getting something new over something you already know works well enough might be a little intimidating. The fear of messing something up grows only larger when the device in question is for work and. However, the iOS 12 has a lot of updates for businesses and their employees. Checking them out and making the decision from there certainly won’t hurt and could, in fact, lead to increased productivity.

It’s Time to Talk About U.S. Data Laws

2 months ago

Nathan P. Sykes

Systems & Data

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A survey conducted by Pew Research, as if we really needed one, indicates at least half of all Americans perceive their online data to be less secure today than it was a few years ago.

America, despite relentless progress on other fronts, and despite being one of the most technology- and data-driven countries on Earth, is a patchwork of privacy and data laws right now. Even net neutrality has failed at the federal level, opening the door for states like California to lead the way.

It’s time to have a serious conversation about the current state, and ideal future, of U.S. data protection and access laws.