Articles

The Hard Truths Facing CIOs About Outsourcing: Exposing 5 Pervasive Myths

Savvy chief information officers know a little something about disruption. In an era of accelerating innovation, it’s up to CIOs to keep a cool head and assess what new technologies can improve their businesses, and which ones are better left on the shelf. But while choosing and embracing the right disruptive technologies has always been part of the job, more…

2024 Cybersecurity To-Do List

With increased regulatory pressure and mounting cybersecurity risks, it’s more important than ever to make sure you’ve got a robust cybersecurity program. This checklist will help you shape your 2024 cybersecurity strategy. DOWNLOAD INFOGRAPHIC Get a Free Cyber Risk Assessment

Ready to Adopt AI? 5 Things Businesses Should Know

Here at Xantrion, we’ve been experimenting with different AI-powered tools and automation for the last three years. As a mid-size managed IT service provider, we’ve learned a lot about the potential and the limitations of AI tools, and what they mean for businesses like ours…and yours.

Digital Transformation vs. Using AI and Machine Learning for Your Business: What’s the Difference?

The concept of digital transformation actually predates AI and machine learning. As you update and evolve your business’s use of technology, it’s important to understand all three concepts.

The Crucial Role of Morale and Culture in Defending Against Cyber Criminals

There are two aspects of the battle against cyber criminals that organizations can’t afford to ignore: Employee morale and company culture. While strong morale and culture can help companies protect against cyberthreats, weak morale and culture can make them more vulnerable.

Even the Best Security Systems will Fail Without the Right Employee Training

When discussing the importance of adopting a strong cybersecurity strategy, too often the focus is on technology solutions designed to prevent and mitigate cyber-attacks. Certainly, the adoption of tools and solutions is integral to a strong security posture. Yet, as noted in Verizon’s 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report, a staggering 82 percent of data breaches involve some sort of human…

Cybersecurity By the Numbers

In recent years, cybersecurity has been a considerable concern for middle market companies. Threats are far more frequent, diverse, and severe than anyone could have anticipated. It’s crucial that all organizations implement cyber defense measures that better safeguard company and customer information to mitigate financial losses and brand damage. From lingering threats related to the COVID-19 pandemic, to geopolitical conflicts…

And the Top IT Priority for 2020 Was…

Nobody could have predicted in January that we’d spend most of the rest of the year working from home. By June, though, IT leaders had embraced reality and rethought their operational and spending priorities. Out went upgrading on-premises infrastructure, hardware refreshes, and hiring. In came improving cybersecurity and enabling remote work. We weren’t surprised to hear that the place most IT leaders opted to focus…

3 Characteristics that Define the Modern Workplace

Today’s diverse and intergenerational workforce is most productive when it has adequate channels to collaborate in a seamless and effective way. There’s a catch, however: teams are far more diverse and remote than ever before, and each organization requires its own distinct approach to digital collaboration. In other words, your workplace tools and applications must be customized based on your…

Update your Business Continuity Plan for an Extended Pandemic – Just in Case

As some workplaces reopen and others make plans to do so, we may start seeing business as usual. However, if the coronavirus re-emerges over the summer or fall due to a decrease in social distancing and other factors, organizations will need to be prepared for a return to remote work and other pandemic-induced workplace changes.

Does your Return-to-Work Strategy Work for Clients and Employees?

This past week, we turned our attention to refining our return-to-work strategy. In our opinion, our strategy not only needs to work for us as a business, it also needs to work for clients and employees. To make that happen, we reached out to both for input.

What to Consider as You Write your Return-to-Work Strategy

As we slowly attempt to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses are now facing yet another challenge: developing a return-to-work strategy. Regardless of how and when states and counties allow people to physically return to their workplaces, each company needs to decide what works best for them.

The Legal Do’s and Don’ts of Returning to Workplaces

As some jurisdictions around the country start gradually allowing businesses to reopen in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, many employers are wading into uncharted legal territory as they aim to keep the workplace and their employees safe, all while refocusing on achieving business goals.

7 Best Practices for Supporting Employees During COVID-19

During the hardest times, this quote is especially true—people always remember how you make them feel. In 10 or even 30 years, people will remember the coronavirus pandemic and how their companies made them feel during this unprecedented time.

Make Virtual Meetings a Place Where You Shine

Although virtual meetings are the new norm, we’ve all attended ones that have gone awry. By taking them as seriously and thoughtfully as physical, in-person meetings, you can use them as a way to be known as someone who’s digitally-savvy and professional—qualities your clients and colleagues will value.

Top 10 Tips for Securing your Work at Home

Even though you are no longer working within the protection of your office, you still need to safeguard the privacy of employee, client and business partner information. Follow our ten tips so you don’t let security slip now that you are working at home.

How to Secure Zoom Video Conferences

With all the security and privacy issues swirling around Zoom video calls, we wanted to let you know that Zoom has made a lot of changes to address these issues. In addition, for those discussing more sensitive information, we’ve pulled together the following tips to help make your Zoom calls more secure.

Microsoft Teams or Outlook?

Now that everyone is working from home, we can’t necessarily rely on communication methods we know and love. We need to branch out and start using new tools that can help us stay connected even though we are apart. One of those new tools is Microsoft Teams.

Handling Home Office Internet Issues

As we attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19 by working from home, it’s not surprising people are running into Internet issues. We are relying on and stressing our connectivity like never before. If the result of your issues are poor online meeting and video conferencing quality, the following are some recommendations to improve your situation.

Watch Out for These Common COVID-19 Scams

One of the less deadly effects of COVID- 19 is the explosion of online scams. COVID-related email phishing attacks have spiked 667 percent since March 1, according to Barracuda. Read this article to learn more about some of the most common scams exploiting coronavirus fears, and some measures you can take to avoid falling for them.

An Employee’s Guide for Full Remote Working

While some of you are veteran remote workers, working from home, especially on a regular basis, might be new for others. The following are some best practices to help guide you through it.

A Manager’s Guide for Full Remote Working

While you might have managed a couple of team members remotely to date, managing a fully remote team, while balancing the challenges of being remote yourself, might be a new experience for you. The following are some best practices to help guide you through it.