NetWorthy Systems Blog

Granted, growing up we were made to believe that by now we'd have flying cars and robot butlers, but technologically speaking we're in a pretty great era of gadgets and conveniences that aren't just giving us cool toys to play with, but are changing the way we communicate, learn, and work. Let's look at what's in store for the world in 2012.

It's January, it's 2012, and you know what that means! It's the time of year everyone tries to start fresh and make big changes in their lives to hopefully improve themselves. Does your Golden Triangle business have goals and resolutions to work out for 2012?

Tablets are definitely becoming a staple in the consumer electronics world. For the longest time, the tablet PC was an expensive, clunky device that just didn't wow consumers. Some businesses had adopted tablets back in the day, but they were difficult to use, hard to support, and they simply didn't perform for the price tag. However, like many consumer electronics, Apple reinvigorated the tablet market with the original iPad, and now it would seem tablets are here to stay. The question is, are they right for businesses?

Voice Over IP phone systems add a lot of great features that businesses can take advantage of, and are improving the way companies are using their voice communication. Besides the fact that supporting older analogue phone systems is becoming increasingly harder as technology carries us forward, here are 7 reasons why Golden Triangle businesses should switch over to voice over IP.

You are an expert in your field, right? Whether you sell a product or commit to a batch of service offerings, you know your job and you know it well. We're guessing you have some great employees who know their job well too, right? You hired them because of their drive, interest, and possibly knowledge in the field (or you spend plenty of time teaching and training them). So when someone's computer goes down, why should they waste their time trying to fix it?

Businesses these days depend on having reliable, fast desktop computers. The trouble is, these high-end desktops offer plenty of resources that never get touched, making them underutilized. Huge hard drives and extremely fast CPUs mean each desktop has more capabilities than most users will ever tap into.

Ever notice how much faster a brand new computer is compared to an older one? Think back... was your computer as slow as it is today as it was a few years ago when you first got it? How did you tolerate that back then? It turns out your computer actually gets slower over time, but to contrast that new computers are getting faster, cheaper, and more energy efficient. Computers aren't designed to last forever, and this isn't on purpose; general day-to-day usage and time give computer components a good thrashing. So why is your computer slow? Here are some NetWorthy Systems secrets about why your old computer struggles to keep up with you.

The mobile smart phone market is certainly a healthy one, and powerful devices are getting into more hands (for both consumers and businesses). There are a few great selections to choose from; RIM's BlackBerry, Microsoft's Windows 7, Google's Android OS, and Apple's iPhone. The latest incarnation of the Apple iPhone hits store shelves today, although from first glance it looks the same as the previous iPhone 4. Let's take a look at some of the differences.

As technology gets more advanced, more of it can get crammed into tinier spaces. Mobile devices used to be heavy, clunky items that could just barely get the job done; they just didn't have the oomph that your desktop workstation had. Today business owners are adopting portable powerhouses like tablets and high-end smart phones to stay connected, but for those on the go often, a laptop or netbook is often a good way to go as well. The Laptop/Netbook debate has gone on since Netbooks first emerged on the market, so let's take a look at the benefits of both.

Netflix unexpectedly announced a split between their two offerings, DVD-by-Mail and their streaming service into two separate services. This is surprising as Netflix has continued to grow in popularity and profits every quarter. Why fix what isn't broke? After all, the streaming portion of Netflix claims about 20% of North America's bandwidth during peak hours, which is certainly saying something. Is there something for small businesses to learn from Netflix?

In today's IT industry, downtime can have a huge impact on your company's bottom line. When system downtime occurs, whether it affects an individual employee or the entire company, it means lost money. The definition of the term "downtime" is very ambiguous, although at NetWorthy Systems we consider any issue where an employee can't do their job properly due to technology not being available to be downtime. Even though an application may be up and running, it is essentially "down" to a user if the application can't be used no matter the reason.

In a 2012 Wrike.com surveyed 1,074 workers, 83% of respondents reported working at home for at least part of the workday. Chances are, you have employees working at home, and they are loving it! In fact, employees enjoy working at home so much 78% would forgo free meals, and 25% would accept a reduction in salary, just for the opportunity to work at home!

We think this is something everybody can relate to. That computer or laptop that you bought a few years ago seemed very fast and capable when it was first set up, but these days it doesn't seem to have the same get-up-and-go. Why does performance degrade as time goes by?

Businesses are inundated with information, programs and quick solutions on making companies green. Some of these suggestions can be implemented today, others my take more time. However, going green, can save your organization significant amounts of money. Wasted paper, plastic cups and wasted electricity are all money literally thrown away.  Here a few suggestions to get you off on the right foot:

Technology is changing quickly and businesses are seeing a wide variety of options replacing traditional IT methodology that is driving change and productivity to businesses of all sizes. It's getting easier to take work with you with mobile devices and hosted services, but are these just expensive new toys or do they provide serious benefits to businesses?

The words Productivity and Internet have been fit together in many different sentences, and usually in the sense that the Internet is a Productivity-killer. Take Facebook, for example; there are many arguments stating that Facebook is costing companies billions of dollars because employees are spending too much time on the social network while at work. Of course, Facebook (and the other social networks) are practically mandatory for businesses who want to market themselves. Other companies are clamoring that personal social media use greatly improves productivity and employee moral.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has resigned from the consumer electronic company. Leaving behind a legacy that has made Apple considered ahead of the curve technology-wise several times, and has changed the game in the industries that he's touched. While Microsoft still rules the personal computer market globally towering over OSX's 8.3% market share, Apple has certainly played a major roll in paving a path to high-end electronics and devices over the past decade that has raised the bar for companies, and has even created a few new industries to boot.

For some small businesses around Golden Triangle, administrative IT tasks and computer support are done the old fashioned way; either over the phone or on-premise. These traditional methods are a major waste of time and money, and can lead to plenty of unproductive behavior very quickly.  Today we're going to examine how remote technical support can benefit businesses.

RAID, you hear it everywhere. From the techs in the server room talking about it to computer manufacturers asking if you want a RAID formation for your computer's hard drive. Not all RAID configurations are considered equal. Here's an explanation of RAID formats in plain English.

Small business owners are discovering they don't need to be chained to their desk to use their computer, and are finding it much easier to be productive with the ability to take their workstation with them where ever they go. The concept isn't new, but the trend hasn't caught on for a lot of small businesses. Business owners who have ditched their desktop for a laptop have a whole world of benefits. Let's take a look at what some of those benefits are.