Ferrum Technology Services Blog

Hardware procurement is a challenging part of running any business. When you consider that the hardware is often what keeps your business running–--your servers, workstations, networking components, and so on–--the idea of finding the right hardware at a reasonable price becomes of paramount importance. How can you make sure that your business isn’t throwing away money on unnecessary hardware procurement? It all starts with a network audit.

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve taken a look at some flagship smartphones and some devices that present a lot of value. To wrap up our annual smartphone series, we are going to look at some of the most innovative—and expensive—devices on the market today. 

With so many people working remotely, it’s no surprise that folks are used to having headsets on or earbuds in. With increased use, these devices naturally get dirtier than they would otherwise. Let’s take a look at how you might go about cleaning them.

IT is far from the most simple aspect of your business, but it only becomes a problem when you let it become one. If you can get a couple of things just right, then your work will be made much more manageable and far less stressful. Let’s discuss three of the most important parts of your internal IT infrastructure and what you need to know during the implementation process.

In terms of the sheer amount of technology your company utilizes, we’re willing to bet that a sizable chunk of it is made up of hardware. This includes devices like your workstations, routers, switches, and servers. Most of us understand that this technology does not last forever, so you should not only expect your hardware to fail, but anticipate it. In other words, you need to be prepared.

We talk a lot about how the cloud is growing in utilization, and considering the circumstances of the past 18 or so months, it’s not surprising. However, what might be surprising to you is that this movement to the cloud is not necessarily to the detriment of the on-site data center. In fact, there are several reasons why businesses still consider in-house data centers to be the ideal solution. But why is this?

As a business owner in a sector that is not necessarily dedicated to technology, chances are that you do not need to know everything there is to know about computer hardware. That being said, it helps to have a passable knowledge of the various hardware terms you might use on a daily basis. This will especially make it easier for you to talk to your technician or your service provider—whoever handles your technology.

The pandemic placed a heavy emphasis on the capabilities for organizations to shift to remote operations, and if you were one of the many companies to seek additional equipment and hardware to make this happen, you might have noticed a lack of product out there. The global chip shortage has made it difficult for companies to procure new equipment, but there is another darker side to this story, particularly in regards to issues in the supply chain.

Technology supply chains have been world-renowned for being some of the most dynamic and strongest for over a decade. Currently, companies are having problems procuring computers and networking equipment because of a global shortage of computer chips. Let’s take a look at the issue in today’s blog. 

When you work from home for any length of time, you’ll come to understand that there are certain things that you need in order to get your job done. Depending on the type of work you do, you could need different tools. Today, let’s take a look at some of the most important tools your business can use to find success with a remote workforce. 

When you are looking to buy a new computer, you need to consider the options available for data storage. This is especially true if you are looking to replace a computer used by several users. The more people that use a computer the more files will likely be stored, after all. Today, however, there is another determination to be made: how fast is your storage device?

Laptops are pretty great. They’re powerful, yet portable computers that can be brought effectively anywhere work needs to be done. That being said, there are a few drawbacks that can irritate many users to some extent. For instance: trying to click-and-drag your cursor as you are using the trackpad. For this week’s tip, let’s go into a feature that you can use to make this process a lot simpler.

When reviewing their inventory, many businesses forget to consider one of their most used, most important resources: their technology. Let’s go over a few reasons that your business’ technology inventory needs to be tracked—and what goes into properly doing so.

Five months into the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses have resolved to shift their operations and replace a lot of their onsite computing hardware with cloud solutions. While the cloud has proven to be a great method for businesses to obtain the resources they need without investing in the associated costs of a hardware refresh, its other costs could prove problematic. Let’s examine your options briefly and try to establish a sense of value.

While stocking up ahead of time may be a sound strategy for things like breakfast cereal and toilet paper, the same cannot often be said in your business. In fact, excess inventory can sometimes cost your business a lot of money. That’s why we figured that we would discuss how an inventory strategy can help prevent redundant spending in your business.

We all store data on our computers. Whether you have family photos and text documents on your home computer, or databases and on-premises applications running your entire business, data is typically stored in exactly the same way. If you knew how delicate your data actually was, you’d never let a single file exist in one place ever again. Let’s explore that.

Most smartphone users like to get a new phone every year or two. This isn’t just because the hardware or software on newer devices are better, but because after two years, many people have dropped their devices a half dozen times and there are cracks and dings in the device. After two years most device’s batteries start to degrade. Some newer software isn’t compatible or won’t run on older devices. Whatever your reason is for getting a new smartphone, you should know that your old smartphone still has some value. For this week’s tip, we’ll outline some ways you can use your old mobile device:

A business’ data is one of its biggest assets. For the smaller business, large portions of an IT budget can be spent storing data. One way to keep costs down and maintain control over all this data is by utilizing Network Attached Storage (NAS). 

Your business is always looking for ways to improve its operations. The more efficiently you do business, the more productive your company will be. To accelerate this growth many businesses look to information technology to build that added efficiency. Today, we will go over when you should consider upgrading your systems, and what benefits you can see from doing so. 

While we don’t mean to gross you out, your computer can be a pretty dirty place - and considering that we have our hands all over it (and who knows what else) all day, it seems a little obvious. What is also obvious is the idea that perhaps it should be cleaned once in a while. Here, we’re giving you a few tips to help you to do so safely.