Ferrum Technology Services Blog

The agility of a business to adjust to ebbs and flows in the market is extremely important. One way businesses are making this happen is by integrating their operational software with their management software. This tactic allows data to move faster, providing businesses with some very specific benefits. Let’s take a look at how integration works.

The cloud has allowed businesses access to an astounding amount of resources. One of these resources that has proven exceptionally beneficial to businesses is Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS. Here, we’ll examine SaaS and go over how it can benefit your operations.

Getting a new computer or smartphone is always exciting for the individual. For the growing business, however, getting new computers can be a giant pain in the neck. That’s not to say that a hardware refresh isn’t an exciting time for a business, it’s just that to get the new hardware to a point where it can be usable takes some doing. Today, we’ll talk a little bit about bloatware, why manufacturers install it, and how to get rid of it quickly. 

Properly managing and maintaining a relationship with clients, customers, and contacts is a critical part of any business, especially if the business in question is actively working to grow. This is what makes a customer relationship management system, or CRM, so useful. Let’s review a few of the signs that your business needs a CRM to stay organized.

Google’s offering is much greater than that of a simple search engine. It is hard to even imagine a time when the extent of the services offered by Alphabet, Inc. were just the search functionality that introduced a new verb into the public lexicon. Now, the applications that make up what is known as the G Suite are used by businesses everywhere. Here, we’ll go over some of the included features, and how your business can benefit from them.

Patching your software is one of the most important, yet ignored, tasks in computing. Keeping all of your software up to date with the latest threat definitions can help your business’ IT stay secure. Recently, in a somewhat atypical move, Microsoft has announced that they have released an emergency out-of-band security update to fix two critical security issues. 

Information technology has a critical role in any business. The key part of an outstanding IT system, is the technology itself. Businesses greatly benefit from IT support that procures the latest and greatest technological developments. So, is your IT provider delivering the best value possible?

When you talk about line of business software, you are typically talking about the unique applications that your business uses to manage their business. In the retail space, line of business software would typically refer to your Point of Sale (POS), or Point of Purchase (POP) software. This month we will talk about how businesses implement their POS software and how it works to manage different aspects of a retail business.

Patches are one of the most important aspects of your technology. As with anything, technology is constantly changing, so shouldn’t your software? Today we will discuss three tips, sharing advice on optimizing your patch management process. 

When you own a vehicle, you get a little document called a vehicle title. This certificate establishes the legal owner of the vehicle. When you own software, you are given a software license. Like any contract, things can go south if you violate the terms.

Businesses rely on a lot of different software solutions to complete their processes. Many are based on a given business’ industry, but there are a few types that every business should involve in their operations. Let’s review what they are, and how they can be beneficial to you.

The story of Microsoft 365 unofficially starts with millions of individuals that still use workstations that run Windows 7. Microsoft had to come up with a plan to get the millions of people that didn’t upgrade to Windows 10 onto the platform before they retired Windows 7. What better way to accomplish that than making it easier than ever to upgrade?

What kind of hardware and software solutions make up your technology infrastructure? You should know that all businesses have different needs, and not everyone will manage and acquire the same tools. Some businesses don’t even know what their needs are, prompting many to turn to technology professionals for assistance. We want to be the ones you turn to for your hardware and software needs.

Productivity. Your company needs it. Your employees are measured largely by their ability to effectively turn their effort into a tangible product or service that creates revenue. In short, it means everything to your business. Why then, if it is so necessary, is it so hard to get the people you depend on to realize just how important their productivity is to the success of the business? This month we will talk about what makes a business productive, and what technology will mitigate the major barriers to productivity.

The modern workforce depends on collaboration, which is one reason why solutions like Slack have taken off in recent years. Another reason for this is that it’s very user-friendly with many shortcuts built right into the interface. Here are just a few of these shortcuts that can save your business time during the workday.

The expectations set forth by businesses might seem impossible until you consider that collaboration has enabled more productivity than ever seen before. Modern collaboration tools have the capability to completely change the way your organization approaches certain tasks. With the right collaboration tools, you can overcome just about any obstacle, including geographic distance and many others.

Have you ever considered how much technology has made the world smaller? For example, think about how much easier technology has made it to access goods and services via the Internet. Entire industries have developed thanks to this technology. One notable example: app-based food delivery.

Virtual assistants have seen an increased usage in the workplace, improving general productivity, but not without placing organizations at considerable risk if left unchecked. Depending on how much you rely on virtual assistants, you might want to take a closer look at what data is being accessed by them, and the role they play in your organization.

Managing and maintaining the plethora of solutions your business depends on can be challenging, to say the least. For some businesses, however, the most difficult part of using multiple solutions can often be not just managing them, but paying for them. Thankfully, there is a great service out there that uses the cloud to make all of this easier for small businesses.

Hardware, software, malware, ransomware. These are all terms that share two things in common - you probably have heard them fairly often, and they all end the same way. This is no accident. To better understand what these programs are, let’s dig into the basics of what we mean when we’re talking about “-ware.”