Suffolk Computer Consultants, Inc. Blog

Collaboration is central to most business’ production strategies nowadays. It’s no secret that businesses are doing more with less and in order to coordinate resources that are stretched thin, companies are looking to collaborative software titles. Today, we will briefly go through three of the most popular collaboration apps to give you an idea of what they can bring to your business. 

Adobe Flash, once one of the most utilized pieces of software on the Internet is being retired by the software giant. Support will stop on December 31, 2020 and like any other piece of retired software, you should remove it from any systems you have that still run it. 

Spreadsheet-generation software is one of those tools that effectively offers all businesses some level of utility. Having said that, different business circumstances may lead to one title being a better option for your operations. Let’s compare Microsoft Excel to Google Sheets to see which one may work better for you, based on selected features and processes.

Many people know about Microsoft Word. In fact, it has become effectively synonymous with word processing nowadays. However, fewer likely know about the templates that Microsoft Word offers, and how they can be customized to your particular needs and preferences. This week, our tip is committed to fixing that.

There has been a lot made about business network security over the past couple of years. One variable you often hear about is the danger that businesses face from the prevalence of employee-downloaded software on their network. This is what we call Shadow IT, and it can be a real problem. Conversely, under the right circumstances it can be a clear benefit too. Today, we’ll take a look at Shadow IT.

Businesses deal in relationships. They have to create a relationship with their clients and customers to keep them coming in the door, whether they are serving other business needs or consumer ones. Of course, it can be hard enough to manage all of the relationships in one’s personal life… how can one possibly add business relationships into the mix?

Ever since it started to be looked on as a reliable computing option for businesses, cloud computing has been exceedingly popular. Businesses and individuals use cloud computing platforms for their infrastructure needs, their application deployment, their file sharing and storage, and for redundancy to protect their business, but have you ever wondered how the cloud platforms themselves are kept up to date? Today, we will look into it. 

Project management is key to the success of all businesses. Luckily, there are great software options that can do a lot for you, if used correctly. Today, we look at project management and share tips to help make sure you are using the software correctly, further organizing your business and success of projects. 

Any organization that is running unpatched versions of older Windows operating systems is playing with fire… period. Therefore, it’s your prerogative to make sure you’re adequately protecting your business’ data, and one of the most important ways you can do this is by ensuring your infrastructure is properly maintained.

Microsoft’s place as one of the forefathers of modern computing is solidified, and one reason is that most PCs in the world run Microsoft Windows OS. In fact, some figures have reported that the number of Windows run PCs compared with other OS’s to be about 9-to-1. With that many computers relying on Windows OS, the software giant has made a habit of updating their offerings with the capabilities of the hardware produced to run this OS. As a result, they can’t support older software titles forever. It just so happens that two of the most utilized operating systems Microsoft has ever created are approaching their end of life date. They are Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

It is not unusual for the business that has been in business for a while to have used a number of software titles that either are completely ineffective, or are known to be security risks. The use of cheap, or free, software is prevalent among individuals and organizations that don’t realize that it pays to have a software strategy in place. For this week’s tip, we’ll talk about software and how something so crucial to the success or failure of a business needs to be taken seriously.

Regardless of whether or not you handle this facet of your business for yourself, the knowledge of how to code is becoming increasingly useful - and there are more and more resources available to help you gain this knowledge. Below, we review some that you may consider leveraging to improve some of your skills.

Managing a business is difficult enough without technology issues getting in the way of operations. Therefore, when an issue does pop up in a company’s IT, it can be a very frustrating experience for everyone involved. Here are a few common issues that have been known to trip up businesses more than they should.

There are countless applications and programs available for your business’ workstations, but do you know which ones you absolutely shouldn’t be without? You’ll want to make sure that you have the following programs installed on your business’s workstations. Doing so can drastically improve productivity and efficiency.

Despite what some songs say, the best things in life aren’t always free. Take, for instance, your software. If you or one of your employees find and download a “free” version of some business-critical application instead of properly purchasing a license, you risk catching the eye of the BSA.

There’s a reason that Google Chrome is the most popular web browser in the world. First introduced to the market in 2008, Chrome’s global market share is nearly 60% and climbing. One of the factors that make Chrome so popular is the ability to add ‘extensions’ to the browser. Primarily developed to enhance user experience through improved functionality or additional features, extensions are small applications that can be added to the browser's tool bar. To continuously create extensions that keep up with the needs of users, Chrome is “free and open source” software. Open source means that Google releases the browser’s source code to developers who are free to use it to develop extensions.

Applications and software solutions can be difficult to manage for some businesses. If you don’t have a dedicated IT department that is responsible for deploying patches and security updates, it’s not out of the ordinary to have software that’s not running the latest versions or updates. This presents a major problem in the form of security issues.

The public cloud is a massive industry with around $150 billion in annual revenues. Nearly half of that revenue is tied up in software as a service which has grown by about 20 percent a year for the past five years, and now makes up for over a third of all applications used in the world. Today, we will take a look at software as a service (SaaS) and why you should consider it, if you don’t use it already.