When Is A Business Continuity Plan Needed?

when is a business continuity plan needed
when is a business continuity plan needed

Human nature tends to want to avoid unpleasant thoughts concerning potentially catastrophic events, which unfortunately leads to poor planning in certain times of need. A good example of this for a residential home owner is when the power goes out due to a sever storm.

Whenever this happens, most people are left literally in the dark wondering if the power will be out so long that they will be forced to throw out an entire refrigerator worth of food. Meanwhile, the kids are driving everybody more than just a little crazy because there’s no television and of course, none of their many devices are charged.

While all this is going on, your mind is left wondering why you never put that money into the whole house generator you have wanted to put in for years now because of times like this.

A Relatively Small Investment of Your Time and Resources Could Have Saved All This Grief

The business owner’s analogy to the whole house generator is a business continuity plan (BCP). Most business owners are hesitant to dedicate their time and energy for a plan they may never need or just don’t even want to think about. The problem is that even though you think you may never need it, the odds are seriously against this. The following are three not so absurd scenarios that illustrate why you need a carefully constructed, easily executed BCP in place immediately.

IT Security – Perhaps nothing can bring an organization to its knees quite like a simple little email with ill intent. Viruses, data breaches, and various other forms of malware can interrupt business operations like nothing else. You can have the most skilled IT people in the world on staff and it won’t make a bit of difference if just one unwitting employee opens an email that contains a damaging attachment.

Fire! – What happens if fire ravages throughout your business? If the fire is particularly uncontrollable, you may not only have servers and key pieces of equipment that are rendered inoperable and need replacement, but your entire staff may also not be able to return to work until the area is deemed habitable. Include emergency operation plans in your BCP to know just what to do if a fire threatens your viability as a thriving business.

Non-Peaceful Demonstrations – Occasionally throughout history certain events take place that lead to revolution. Although these events may seem rare or unlikely during peaceful times, one needs to look no further than the recent events in Baltimore and Missouri that shut down various businesses for several days due to public safety reasons. Maintain awareness of the possibilities for these issues and ensure your employees know exactly what to do in the event of civil unrest. Be prepared to invoke your BCP in this situation before it is too late.

AE Technology Group is your IT company in New York and Long Island for managed services.

Please contact us today for more information about any of our services including disaster recovery, support, cloud computing, and much more.

Easy Ways to Be More Productive

easy ways to be more productive

how to be more productive

If you are looking to improve your business, an easy way to start is by asking the question: how to be more productive? It seems like being productive should be easy. Smart phones make it so you have access to taking calls, email, video chat, and the internet at all times.

So why does it seem like at the end of the day, you still have so many things left on your to-do list?

Productivity is tricky, because it takes self-control. Only you can be in charge of how productive you are. Here are some easy ways to be more productive. According to Forbes.com it’s important to understand how your body plays into your productivity.

The article suggests you tackle your most complicated tasks in the morning, when you have the most energy. Everyone can relate to that afternoon slump. Save some of your more mindless tasks for then. Carson Tate, the founder of Working Simply managing consultants, suggests you take time to make your priorities in the morning when you have the most energy. Then you can just follow your to-do list throughout the parts of day when you don’t have as much energy to think about it.

Another way to up your productivity is to reassess your work week. Further supporting listening to you body and being productive when your body is ready, are start-ups that are not enforcing a 9-5 work week. One start-up is having its employees work from 8-1, knowing a shorter work day will force them to be more productive and waste less time in the office. If you are in charge of you own work schedule, consider mixing up your hours and seeing if you can get more done.

These are just a few simple ideas to get you started on a more productive path. If IT assistance can help you be more productive, contact us at AE Technology Group.

How to Avoid a Power Outage in Your Business

how to avoid a power outage in your business

how to avoid a power outage

In the business world, there are plenty of reasons why you should have contingency plans. After all, you never know what could happen. For example, what if your network became exposed to hackers due to outdated security? Much more common, though, is the loss of data due to a power outage.

Not only can these data losses be prevented, though, but they can also be avoided altogether. Here’s how to how to avoid a power outage and keep your information safe as well.

Backing up Your Data

First of all, it’s important to remember that not all power outages can be avoided. That’s not to say you shouldn’t do your best to avoid them, but on the other hand, it’s sometimes better to be more concerned with what needs to be done, in case an outage does occur in your business.

With that said, it’s important to back up your data on a regular basis. That way, if something were to happen, you wouldn’t lose any important information, putting your business at risk. However, don’t just keep the data backed up, but storing it on a portable USB flash drive is another effective contingency plan. After all, once said information is on the device, it’s portable and can be uploaded from any computer.

Having a Backup Generator

While backing up data will keep your information safe during a power outage, having an electrical backup generator will prevent any outages altogether. If your business has the money to invest in one, it should definitely be considered.

While it certainly isn’t required, especially if you have a contingency plan for your data loss, having a generator will make things much less of an inconvenience, and you’ll be able to work even if there’s an outage in the area.

For more information, and to get the support you need, contact us at AE Technology Group.

Computer Tip of the Week – Let AutoCorrects Make You a Much Faster Typist

computer tip of the week let autocorrects make you a much faster typist

Computer Tip

This week’s computer tip will help save you time, and therefore money. We’re going to talk about MS Word’s AutoCorrect feature and how to use it.

AutoCorrect has long been a feature of Word. Essentially, Autocorrect automatically corrects frequently misspelled words. Give it a try. Type ADN and a space in Word and see what happens. This can be a problem when you want to add ADN (Associate Degree Nursing) to the end of a name, but I would rather have that inconvenience than to send out a letter featuring the word adn.

So, how do you use AutoCorrect to your advantage?

What if you work for a neurosurgeon and frequently have to type neurosurgeon, neurosurgery, neurology, neurologist. What if, instead, you merely typed nsg, nsy, nry and nrgt, respectively. Instead of typing 10 or 11 characters, you typed three. That’s a big time saver.

Be careful that you don’t use a combination of letters that you might want to use in normal text. For example, if you use “usa” for “understanding systems administration”, each time you type USA, the corrected phrase will appear. So, instead of using usa, try usa1.

Creating an AutoCorrect is fairly straightforward.

  • Open Word
  • Select File, Options, Proofing, AutoCorrect Options
  • This is where you will record your new AutoCorrect
  • Press the AutoCorrect tab (you may have been brought there automatically)
  • In the open field that says “Replace”, enter your abbreviated phrase, WIG
  • In the open field that says “With”, enter “When I go”.
  • Now, each time you type “WIG”, “When I go” will appear in its place.

Think about how much time this can save. Come up with a list of common industry phrases in your office. How many of those could become AutoCorrects?

Here at AE Tech Group, we believe in working smarter. To find other ways we can help you work smarter, please contact us.

Find the Right Tech Support for Small Businesses

find the right tech support for small businesses

tech support for small businesses

If you operate your own small to medium business, you have an area of expertise you sell. Whether it is your goods or your services, consumers come to you to meet a need or a want.

Your area of expertise may not include an understanding of technology that can overcome any glitches or technology needs your business has. That is why it is beneficial to hire tech support for small businesses.

AE Technology Group can provide for all of your small business’ IT needs.

Your business needs the latest technology to stay competitive. Your point of sale software, billing software, appointment book, printers, computers, tablets; they all need attention at one point or another.

You don’t want to be stressing about the IT details, especially when you may have no idea how to fix it. Let professionals, who excel at fixing the small things that just irritate you, take over your IT needs so you can focus on what you do best.

  • AE Technology Group offers one, low monthly cost. That way you don’t have to worry about paying for IT services hourly.
  • We provide 24/7 oversight of your critical systems, so you can rest at ease when you leave your business at the end of the day.
  • We also will help you with preventative maintenance, so you will have fewer technological problems interrupting you during the day.

IT problems are bound to happen, so be prepared to take care of them, not be stressed out about them, by having support. Contact us at AE Technology Group to get IT support for your small to medium business.