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Ferrum Technology Services has been serving the Elgin area since 2007, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support, and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.

Net Neutrality: Everything Business Owners Need to Know [VIDEO]

Net Neutrality: Everything Business Owners Need to Know [VIDEO]

There has been a lot of buzz about the term net neutrality in the news, on social media, and around the water cooler lately. The FCC is preparing to end net neutrality on December 14th, 2017, and it’s causing a major stir. From activist groups encouraging people to call congress with their concerns, to headlines exclaiming that the Internet as we know it is dying, there is a lot to sift through to really understand what the stakes are. Our goal is to make sense of net neutrality without the sensationalism, and explain how it can affect small business owners.

How Much of 2016’s $825 Billion in Unpaid Invoices Were Owed to You?

How Much of 2016’s $825 Billion in Unpaid Invoices Were Owed to You?

The primary reason that businesses are opened is to make money. Whether it’s to sustain a lifestyle, provide funds for a cause, or some other goal, a business needs an incoming cash flow in order to stay open. However, this is a fairly large problem for many small businesses, as their invoices often don’t return in a timely manner.

Take Advantage of Big Data to One-Up the Competition

Take Advantage of Big Data to One-Up the Competition

Your business’s IT strategy is of incredible importance, especially when you consider how much your operations stand to benefit from a functional infrastructure. More than anything, though, IT can ensure that your business remains competitive in a world where the slightest advantage can mean all the difference.

Cross-Train Your Staff to Keep Workers Engaged and Improve Collaboration

Cross-Train Your Staff to Keep Workers Engaged and Improve Collaboration

As a business owner, how do you handle employee complacency? A feeling of complacency among your employees can come from many sources, including an apparent inability of advancement. People want to develop professionally, so they’ll look elsewhere if they feel like their current job doesn’t allow for growth. How can you eliminate employee turnover due to a complacent and unchallenged workforce?

Tip of the Week: 3 Tips to Keep Your Email Inbox Under Control

Tip of the Week: 3 Tips to Keep Your Email Inbox Under Control

Email may be crucial to the functionality of your business, but at times it can seem like your inbox is far beyond your control. You might find yourself throwing away hours on end just to clean up the pile of unread messages in your inbox. Thankfully, with a bit of effort, you too can free yourself from an overburdened inbox.

Big Data is Only Beneficial if You Know What to Do With It

Big Data is Only Beneficial if You Know What to Do With It

Big data continues to be a big topic for businesses, as organizations stand to gain much from analyzing data and identifying trends. This can help you understand how your business will function in the future, but there are two topics of concern that you need to consider before using the data: how exactly do you want to use the data, and will the data that you’ve collected help you in achieving that goal?

The Surprising Benefits of Having a Well-Read Workforce

The Surprising Benefits of Having a Well-Read Workforce

As a business owner, we understand that you’re an exceptionally busy individual. Even when you’re not keeping operations moving forward, you have other important matters to attend to, like your real life. However, science has (almost) proven that there’s one activity that you may (or may not) do that can inadvertently improve the way you do business: read literary fiction.

Research Shows Why it May Be Time to Rethink the 8-Hour Workday

Research Shows Why it May Be Time to Rethink the 8-Hour Workday

If we asked you to tell us how many hours a day you actually work, what would the figure look like? Chances are that you as a business owner put in a little more than the average worker, but would it total over the requisite eight hours? A recent study shows that while eight hours of work 200 years ago was considered revolutionary, it might be a bit on the long side to expect good work from good employees.

Tip of the Week: Grow Your Business 4x Faster By Giving Employees Choices

Tip of the Week: Grow Your Business 4x Faster By Giving Employees Choices

Tracking metrics is a major part of today’s business world. Many organizations use time-tracking software and other KPIs to ensure that their team is working at maximum efficiency, all day every day. Yet, some organizations are so bent on doing so that they’ve forgotten to ask the question of whether they should be doing all of this.

Tip of the Week: 4 Ways to Stop Being Such a Workaholic

Tip of the Week: 4 Ways to Stop Being Such a Workaholic

Even though taking a break from work seems like something that everybody would want to do, many cogs in the corporate machine choose to forgo breaks in the name of productivity. Oddly enough, this is a counterproductive move, seeing as taking breaks actually makes you more productive by improving your job performance.

What it’s Like to Have Your IT Company Go the Extra Mile

b2ap3_thumbnail_more_vendor_agreements_400.jpgThe appeal of a do-it-yourself project is that you’re the one doing the work. With the Do It Yourself (DIY) approach, whatever it is you're working on, you know for sure that it’s getting the attention it deserves. This is why it can be rather unnerving to have someone who you don’t fully know or trust work on your stuff. This is especially the case when it comes to your company’s technology.

Here’s What Cloud Computing for Business is All About

b2ap3_thumbnail_cloud_benefits_400.jpgWe talk about the cloud and how it changes the way that businesses approach their technology solutions a lot, and for a good reason. It’s become so commonplace in the business environment that you’d be hard-pressed to find any organization that doesn’t take advantage of cloud computing in some form or another. In a competitive industry, the small business needs all of the help it can get, and the cloud delivers.

4 Growth Scenarios Your Network Needs to Be Prepared For

b2ap3_thumbnail_growth_strategy_400.jpgNaturally, businesses put a lot of time, energy, and resources into growing their sales figures and bottom line. All of that is great, but if business owners don’t also plan for how success is going to add new pressures and challenges to their IT infrastructure, then a lot of time will be wasted reacting to growth-related network issues. Scenarios like this can be easily avoided by planning your network to grow alongside your company.

Beyond Jargon: What Does “Enterprise-Level” Mean?

b2ap3_thumbnail_what_is_enterprise_400.jpgWhen you’re shopping around for new technology for your business, you’ll encounter all kinds of solutions that are designed for different business models. As a small business owner, you probably wonder why some vendors label their solutions as “enterprise-level.” Well, we’re here to explain that.

Gamification: Make Business Fun for Everyone

b2ap3_thumbnail_office_gamification_400.jpgFun is often misconstrued in the workplace and identified as being unproductive, or even lazy at times. However, more businesses than ever before are embracing the power of fun and letting the creative juices flow. Using game-like elements to achieve your business’s goals, or to improve operations, is called gamification, and you can take advantage of it.

Tip of the Week: Grow Your Business By Improving Customer Service [VIDEO]

b2ap3_thumbnail_customer_service_tips_400.jpgThe Internet has given modern businesses the ability to grow like never before. On the flip side of the coin, the Internet can quickly bring down a business if a dissatisfied customer chooses to broadcast their negative experience and opinions. Therefore, it’s essential to take customer service seriously.

Tip of the Week: How to Knock the Socks Off Your Audience with Your Speech, Part 1

b2ap3_thumbnail_public_speaking_400.jpgWhether you’re presenting at a trade show, webinar, conference, or giving a sales demonstration, giving a solid presentation is a crucial skill to master and add to your strategies. However, if you are part of the 74 percent of people who suffer from speech anxiety (glossophobia), these opportunities may seem incredibly daunting. With some solid preparation before your presentation and a few tricks to master while giving one, any professional can master the art of public speaking.

3 out of 4 Professionals Plan on Upgrading to Windows 10

b2ap3_thumbnail_windows_10_logo_onefive_400.jpgNot all new operating systems released are popular. A few examples from Microsoft’s past include Windows Vista and Windows 8. The reasons why they don’t take off vary, but the end result is the same; less users overall than other Windows operating systems. With Windows 10 on the horizon, one has to wonder if it will have a profound effect on the business world.

We Salute You, Mr. Do-It-Yourself Entrepreneur!

b2ap3_thumbnail_real_entrepreneur_400.jpgFerrum Technology Services presents to you, “Real Men of Brilliance.” Today, we salute you, Mr. Do-It-Yourself Entrepreneur.

Operate Your Network on a “Need-to-Know Basis”

b2ap3_thumbnail_user_permission_400.jpgIf a company neglects network security, they’ll quickly find their network inundated with threats. However, if you fail to protect your business from internal problems as well, you might have a whole other monster on your hands. Some businesses have encountered this problem when employees access certain documents and then accidentally misplace or delete them, causing damage that your organization was not particularly prepared for.

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