Using Smartphones for More than Instagram

a group of people sitting around a table holding cell phones

On average, people spend 3 to 5 hours a day on their smartphones and mobile devices, and can we blame them? Today’s smartphones give users almost everything they could possibly need, technologically, in the palm of their hand. 

Many business owners are concerned with mobile device management because they don’t want employees wasting time at work, but is this truly what’s best for your business’s productivity? Today, we’ll establish what smartphones are most commonly used for and how to use mobile devices to your business’s advantage.

What Does the Average Smartphone Usage Look Like?

Everyone and their mother has a smartphone nowadays and, with all their capabilities, you may be surprised to discover that many people use their smartphones for the same basic functions, like texting and email. Let’s take a look at the top 10 most popular things people use their smartphones for and discuss what that could mean for your business.

  1. Texting – 88%
  2. Email – 70%
  3. Social Media – 68%
  4. Camera – 61%
  5. News – 58%
  6. Shopping – 56%
  7. Weather – 54%
  8. Banking – 45%
  9. Watching Video Content – 42%
  10. Gaming – 41%

Can you identify the one thing omitted from this list? 

That’s right: making phone calls. The study this data was taken from showed that only 35% of smartphone users actually make calls with their mobile devices. A quarter of respondents hadn’t made or received a call in a calendar week, and 33% of respondents said they would ignore a call that they weren’t expecting. 

How Can You Use this Information for your Business’s Mobile Productivity?

As we mentioned, smartphones can do so much nowadays that it’s easy to misuse them, or not use them in ways that benefit your business the most. Here are some points to take into consideration when implementing mobile device management policies.

Use Smartphone Usage to your Advantage in Sales and Marketing

If you’re having marketing or sales employees make hundreds of phone calls a day, you’re probably wasting their time and your money. Cold calling is an extremely outdated strategy as studies have shown, that most clients don’t answer unknown callers anyway. Try gearing your marketing and sales efforts towards smartphone features that your target audience actually uses like email, social media, and video content.

Increase Productivity by Implementing Employee Smartphones

According to several studies on work–smartphone correlation, nearly all businesses that allow employee devices, whether they are provided by the organization or through a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy, see a 20% increase in overall profitability. And, as we all know, increased profitability means there’s been an increase in productivity. 

Rethink your Mobile Device Management Plan for the Office

Since people are so tied to their phones nowadays, it can cause contention when they’re told not to use them. Removing mobile device privileges at work makes employees feel belittled. While it’s understandable that you don’t want an office full of people playing Candy Crush, it’s important to trust that your employees are adults and should be capable of balancing their work duties while sending a text to a friend every now and then.

Smartphones equal happy employees, and happy employees equal more dedication to your business and less employee turnover.

Improve Customer Experience with Mobile Devices

By having company mobile devices where employees can better communicate with customers, you can greatly increase your overall customer experience and satisfaction. As we viewed in the study above on smartphone usage, many customers may prefer texting or messaging on social media with employees over more traditional methods like phone calls and emails. By having these options available, you’ll be able to gain more returning customers by improving their experience with your business.

A smartphone is an exceptional tool for business, despite what more traditional authoritarian office structures might want you to think. If you would like to talk to one of our experts on how to structure a mobile device management policy in your office, give us a call at (516) 536-5006

Contact Us Today!

Have a Disaster Recovery Plan to Prevent Losing Your Company

a button that says stop i start disaster recovery plan

Even when everything is going well, running a business can be challenging—all of that is to say that things are especially difficult when everything starts to go wrong, particularly in the realm of business continuity and disaster recovery. While nobody likes to imagine the worst-case scenario, we always like to say that imaging the worst-case scenario can help you prepare for it, and it can take the sting away from dealing with it. 

Consider the Risks 

A disaster recovery plan means that you are considering all of the risks your business is likely to face, as well as those that may not be as likely. Some of them will have to do with your geographic location, like weather hazards or natural disasters, whereas others might involve operational downtime as a result of technology problems or loss of workforce. Regardless, you’ll need to have a plan in place to address the issues that surface in your business continuity plan. 

 

Specifically, you’ll need to consider risks that would hinder your business’ ability to function. They might include things like fires, floods, or weather disasters, or they could include hardware failure and utility failure. One example that we are sure no one considered is the case for a pandemic as a business risk. Most companies were not prepared for something like the COVID-19 pandemic, and it forced organizations to make drastic operational changes on short notice. 

 

You might think it’s possible to have a response to every single problem, but there will likely be something unaccounted for, no matter how well-prepared you think you are. Still, it’s best to think about these situations whenever possible and to do your best regardless, and one great catch-all solution for this is with a data backup and disaster recovery tool. 

Data Backup and Disaster Recovery 

If a business cannot recover data in the event of a disaster, chances are they will lose customers. Whether it’s the result of a malware attack, a component failure, or a natural disaster, losing data of any kind can be problematic. You’ll want to take steps to implement data backup that can keep your business operational even under the worst circumstances. This includes having a reliable and redundant data backup solution for all files and applications. You should keep an on-site backup, but you also must keep some that are available off-site in the event a disaster wipes out your office. A cloud-hosted backup can be extremely valuable in this regard. 

 

A data backup solution is the insurance policy that can keep your organization safe in the event of a disaster of just about any kind. Here are some of the scenarios a data backup solution can help you navigate: 

 

  • Ransomware attacks: If your business becomes a victim of a ransomware attack, you could have hackers locking down files. Sometimes it is more beneficial to just restore a backup rather than entertain hackers with the idea that you will pay a ransom. After all, there is no guarantee that paying the ransom will even help you get your files back, and you don’t want to risk your organization’s continuity in that regard, either. 
  • Natural disasters: Some disasters will always take shape for a business, but depending on your location, you might be more prone to experience them than others. If you know that your infrastructure is backed up, you can rest assured knowing that even these unpredictable events won’t impact your operations. 
  • Human error or sabotage: did you know that end users are the cause for 88 percent of all data breaches? You should be ready to protect your data from all kinds of mistakes your employees could make, as well as sabotage from an internal data breach. 

 

These are just three examples of how your organization could suffer without a disaster recovery solution in place. To learn more about how you can safeguard your business from countless threats and possibilities, reach out to us at (516) 536-5006. 

Contact Us Today!

Positive Redundancy Protects Your Business

a man in a business suit touching a backup button

You may have seen us use the term “redundancy” on this blog often, and if you are not necessarily familiar with how it might be used in the context of business technology, we understand how you could misconstrue the word in a negative light. However, redundancy is one of the most important concepts to understand in business technology, and it’s key to your business’ continued success. 

The term “redundancy” has two separate meanings. In some cases, it might mean that your organization has something that is simply not needed. It could be interpreted as “bloat,” in a sense, where you have too much on your infrastructure that is bogging it down or making it overly complicated. However, this is not the true definition that we want to highlight today; it’s the other one that is so important for businesses to understand. 

The other definition–and one that we are focusing our efforts on today–is to include extra technology, solutions, data, or otherwise in your computing infrastructure on the off chance that your systems fail. This effectively gives you a safety net in the event of a disaster or similar scenario. When your systems are redundant, they are secure, and when your operations are redundant, it means they can be carried out no matter what unfortunate circumstances your company encounters. 

One service that is often described as “redundant” is data backup and disaster recovery. You know you need to have data backup in place, but not all solutions are equal. Some are much more redundant than others and prevent more downtime, leading to fewer costs associated with the disaster scenario in both the short and long term. Your data is essentially considered redundant if it is stored in multiple locations, and if you are using BDR, then it should be. 

We recommend the three-two-one rule for your data backup needs: three copies of your data total, in at least two separate physical locations, one of those locations being the cloud. 

You can apply this same concept to other areas of technology management, too. Storing information in the cloud makes it more accessible, but you could also apply this concept to hardware procurement. Having additional components and devices on-site in the event your old ones break is just a good precaution to take, and it can help you to achieve redundancy in your practices. 

AE Technology Group can help your business achieve true redundancy with its technology management practices. To learn more about what we can do for your business, reach out to us at (516) 536-5006. 

Contact Us Today!