7 Business Tech Tips for the New Year

Are you operating under a "New Year New Me" mentality? It's time you let your new found motivation carry over into the business and professional side of your life. Sometimes refreshing and resetting your mindset after the rush of the holiday's are all you need to put your best foot forward at work. Check out our top technology tips to get yourself in gear to take on the new year!

1.) Update your Passwords Frequently

What better way to start fresh with technology than by changing up your passwords? Updating your passwords will help you to be more secure in the new year and may even help you to remember to follow best practice tips and do it more often. If you're the type of person that struggles to remember all your passwords, it's time to check out using a password manager. This piece of tech does exactly as it says and it securely remembers all your login information and stores it until you need to use it again. Check out these password manager suggestions from our Tech Talk segment on The Big 550 KTRS.

2.) Organize your Digital Files

Is your desktop screen cluttered with documents that you'll never use again or you'd be devastated if you lost? Either way, the new year is a great time to get things organized on your computer. Take a few minutes out of your day to organize your digital files and make sure you're backing them up for safe keeping. If you're not already storing documents in the cloud, now is a good time to start. Getting your files and documents straight will help make it easy to find things in a pinch and give you some peace of mind that if a data disaster strikes.

3.) Plan to Educate your End Users About Security Awareness

Our best recommendation is to regularly update your employees on the latest information about security awareness. Kick off your year by arming your employees with the tools they need to protect themselves and your business when it comes to the internet. The biggest risk to your business' security is the employees. Check out our most popular blog of 2018: 11 Tips for Educating Your End Users About Security Awareness to learn more about what you can do in your office.

4.) Update your Computer and Software Applications

There are two types of people in the world: Those who update their computer when new software is available and those who wait until you're literally forced by your device to update. If you're the type of end user who's been pushing off your newest updates, take a few minutes and let it happen. Sometimes updates can take a while, but the good news is, you can schedule it to happen on your lunch break or even after you leave the office. Being proactive about updating your computer and software will help add life to your technology and make sure that you're running with prime efficiency and security.

5.) Check in on your Data Backups

Backing up your documents is important. Making sure your backups are properly backing themselves up is critical. Utilizing best practices of regularly testing your business' backup methods will help to mitigate the risk of a data disaster. Your business runs on the data that you create, could your business survive without it? This reminder is also an excellent opportunity to remind end users to check their backups at home. Backing up photos and personal documents on your home devices are important too. Whether you use cloud storage, an external hard drive or another backup method be sure to check that it's in working order.

6.) Keep your Work Area Clean

While this may not be a super tech-driven task to do, it's still good to declutter your desk. Keeping a clean work space can help with your overall productivity, kill germs, and protect your technology. Nobody likes the person with multiple old cups of coffee that are just waiting to be spilled all over some expensive computer. There are also the people who work at their desks while they eat lunch that can get their computer keyboard all gross with food particles. Cleaning up your desk will leave you feeling organized and help out your overall health along with your technology's too.

7.) Outsourcing your IT Services

Cyber security threats are only going to continue to rise in 2019. Take a proactive step and look into outsourcing your IT Services. When you choose to outsource with a reputable provider, you'll be getting a team of IT Experts who's primary job is to watch your network's back. Whether its help with simple IT questions or helping to thwart a company-wide phishing attack, your new outsourced IT provider will have you covered. Outsourcing your IT services helps to ensure that you can get back to running your business and leave your security in the hands of experts.

Achieving Efficiency with SumnerOne

At SumnerOne, we want to help your office to maximize efficiencies and work seamlessly with the latest technology. Kicking it into high gear and taking on a new year by embracing all that technology has to offer in 2019 is one way to make big moves for your business plans. SumnerOne wants to be part of helping to make your plans happen this year. Give us a call to learn more about our services, solutions, and how we can work together to make it a productive year.