Blogs

Your business relies on IT to deliver efficient services to customers. But because you’re so busy with day-to-day operations, you often forget to regularly install software updates or purchase new hardware. Technology is ever-changing and improving, and if you continue to hold off replacing outdated IT, you risk productivity loss, cybersecurity problems, lower quality of work, and wasted resources.

As 2018 winds down to a close, we look back at the state of cybersecurity in the healthcare industry. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 requires healthcare professionals to ensure that the data of their patients and consumers are kept private and protected.

Recent years have seen a massive shift in favor of proactive technology support as corporate IT requirements become even more demanding. No longer do small businesses have to be stuck with outdated, inefficient hardware and maintaining a costly in-house IT department.

Schools are rarely known for holding huge amounts of financially valuable information in their vaults, such as credit card details. However, that doesn’t make them less of a target to hackers than many other organizations. In fact, cybercriminals are stepping up their attacks against educational institutions, as demonstrated by September’s ransomware attack on a school in Florida Keys.

Many healthcare practitioners have already switched from paper to electronic health records (EHR). The upgrade is equal parts exciting and perilous, which is why the government imposed sanctions on how these records are protected. In 2015, Medicare started penalizing hospitals and doctors that didn’t use EHR, but with their heavy burdens, it's not surprising that most healthcare practitioners view them as more of a requirement than an opportunity.

As we inch closer to the end of 2018, we look forward to what lies ahead. Apparently, so do many technology pundits who have identified certain technologies as going by way of the dodo. Are these experts canny observers of technology trends? Or are their predictions the equivalent of your daily horoscope — so generic, it applies to most? Who should we believe?

Happily, we at Online Computers have the experience and expertise to compile their predictions and rank them according to how frequent these technologies were mentioned on the “endangered” lists.

Businesses these days depend a lot on technology, from office productivity to security systems, computer networks to phone systems, and so much more. Technology gives small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) a fighting chance to compete against big businesses.

Adopting new IT solutions is never easy. From voice over internet phones (VoIP) to systems integration, every technology migration involves a lot of moving parts: new software, hardware, subject matter expertise, even building wiring can become an obstacle.

Although the benefits of cloud computing for small businesses are indispensable, the technology has also introduced a raft of new security concerns and challenges. As more and more businesses move data between their local network and remote data centers, there’s now an entirely new avenue for hackers to exploit.

Amazon’s digital assistant, Alexa, just got a lesson in Civics… and just in time for Election Day in the U.S. (November 6th). New programming allows Alexa to provide actual answers and knowledge on election data such as where you can vote, real-time results, and even information on ballot measures and propositions.