SMART Blog

Smart Services has been providing independent agents with proactive, fast, and expert technology services since 1991.

Tip of the Week: How to Manage People Better by Using Technology

Tip of the Week: How to Manage People Better by Using Technology

When all is said and done, being a manager is a far different experience than being an employee. So, when you promote one of your team members to this position—or perhaps you’ve recently been promoted to management yourself—it is important that a few practices are incorporated into their new workflow. Let’s go over these practices, and how the right IT can help.

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Outlining the Immense Value of Managed IT Services

Outlining the Immense Value of Managed IT Services

Every expense that your business takes on needs consideration. When you are looking to keep your business productive, you need to focus on keeping downtime to a minimum. In order to do that you need to have tools that don’t take a lot of work-time maintenance and have professional perspectives available that can help keep operations running when issues with your business’ technology do happen.

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When Everything is Powered by IT, You Need a Reliable IT Resource

When Everything is Powered by IT, You Need a Reliable IT Resource

Let me ask you a question: is there anything in your office that doesn’t rely on technology in some way, shape, or form (and no, the old coffeepot that makes the perfect cup doesn’t count)? Increasingly, the answer to that question is “no.” Let’s review how much the average business nowadays relies on IT to really reinforce how ubiquitous technology has become.

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Which Industries are Most Likely to Be Targeted by Ransomware?

Which Industries are Most Likely to Be Targeted by Ransomware?

Let’s begin by making one thing abundantly clear—all businesses and industries could potentially be targeted by ransomware, regardless of their size or target audience. However, as of late, some industries have been targeted more and more. Let’s examine some of the commonly targeted industries that ransomware is frequently waged against.

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IT Costs are Rising on a Global Scale…Here’s Why

IT Costs are Rising on a Global Scale…Here’s Why

No matter how big your business is, you’ll always have technology expenses. It’s just a fact of the current workplace, and your profits will be inexorably tied to how well your IT works for you. Furthermore, the more IT costs rise, the more impact small and medium-sized businesses will feel from them. Today, we wanted to address this issue and how you can minimize the frustrations that stem from seemingly uncontrollable technology costs.

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Are You Sharing Your Employees with Another Employer?

Are You Sharing Your Employees with Another Employer?

How many of your employees do you think hold a second job? This isn’t a particularly outlandish concept, but one thing that has come about as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its surge of remote work is that some employees hold two jobs at the same time, and not in the way that you might expect.

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Could You Soon Have a Four-Day Workweek?

Could You Soon Have a Four-Day Workweek?

The idea of a four-day workweek has been popular for some time now, to the point where it is actively being tested in practical settings. Let’s discuss how successful this approach has been (spoiler alert: it’s been quite successful indeed).

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Make Work Simpler Through Automation

Make Work Simpler Through Automation

All jobs have aspects of them that are simply dull or unengaging. After all, nothing can be exciting all the time. This week we wanted to focus on these rote tasks and what you can do to make them less of an impact on your time and job fulfillment. Turns out, the key to solving this issue stems from technology, specifically the ability to automate said tasks.

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Patience is a Virtue…Especially Amongst Your Team, Part 2

Patience is a Virtue…Especially Amongst Your Team, Part 2

Our blog last week covered how patience is an important part of the most successful and productive employees’ arsenal. This week, we want to cover how you can help your employees be more patient. If you know someone in your office who could take things down a notch, this is just the blog for you with four suggestions that might do the trick.

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Why Your IT Team Should Have Its Own Mission Statement

Why Your IT Team Should Have Its Own Mission Statement

You’re probably familiar with the concept of a mission statement, particularly in terms of your business as a whole. Did you know, however, that you don’t need to stop there? You can—and we’d argue, should—establish more specific organizational missions for your different departments. Let’s consider how you can benefit from creating a mission for your IT team to uphold throughout its operations, and how you might go about doing so.

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It’s Important to Be Selective With Your Business’ VPN…Here’s Why

It’s Important to Be Selective With Your Business’ VPN…Here’s Why

“I just wanted to take a second to thank the sponsor of this video, [insert VPN provider here], for supporting the channel!”

If you’ve been on YouTube in the past few years, this message likely sounds pretty familiar. Virtual private network providers have been taking advantage of the trend of influencer marketing to spread awareness of their largely obscure product—often, offering an enticing deal. While we have and will continue to promote the use of a VPN for business purposes, we wanted to clarify something here: these are not the VPNs we’re saying you should use.

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Does Managed IT Really Pay for Itself?

Does Managed IT Really Pay for Itself?

Businesses use all types of sayings to try to draw in customers. One of the core selling points of managed IT services is that “it pays for itself”. This is more than just marketing. The multiple services that make up managed IT services all help a business save time and money, but when added together, it can really help the bottom line of a business more than most services they can use. In this week’s blog we thought we would go through the core elements of a managed IT services agreement to show how it really does pay for itself. 

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Looking to Make More Sales? Consider Using These Technologies

Looking to Make More Sales? Consider Using These Technologies

Today’s technology can be used to help optimize and elevate just about any of your business’ processes, including your sales processes. Let’s run through a few examples of how your sales team could (and really should) be using tech to their advantage.

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eSignature Tools Provide Value for Small Businesses

eSignature Tools Provide Value for Small Businesses

When a business strikes a deal, there is usually some sort of paper trail or contract involved to hold both parties involved accountable. However, the traditional method of managing paper documents is both time-consuming and wasteful. With eSignature tools, businesses can change the way they handle signing documents for the better.

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Modern Technology Can Boost Sales Efforts

Modern Technology Can Boost Sales Efforts

In many ways, a business is only as capable as its sales team allows it to be… and nowadays, a sales team is only as capable as their tech allows them to be. Let’s take a few minutes to discuss how you can turn this to your advantage by providing your sales team with the technology that supports their goals.

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Five Ethical Decisions Innovative Businesses Need to Wrestle With

Five Ethical Decisions Innovative Businesses Need to Wrestle With

Nowadays, companies grapple with a myriad of ethical challenges, necessitating responsible decision-making to keep the data they store secure. Some decisions that are made straddle the ethical line of right and wrong. Let’s take a look at five uses of technology that are controversial.

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How to Transition to or Establish a New Office Location

How to Transition to or Establish a New Office Location

It’s always exciting when you can expand your business’ influence with a new location, but this excitement brings with it all kinds of complications. There’s always something, whether it’s the technology for the new location or the logistics surrounding the opening. Let’s look at how you can make sure that technology is not the thing that holds your business back from opening a new location.

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Did You Know? Big Tech Companies Don’t Care About Your Data Privacy

Did You Know? Big Tech Companies Don’t Care About Your Data Privacy

How important do you consider security for your personal and private data on your web-connected accounts? If you don’t think about it often, you should be; countless entities out there—including major enterprises and providers you trust—do not respect your data privacy and security. Let’s discuss how some large companies take advantage of your data and some of the questions you should consider when trusting these companies with your data.

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How to Scale a Growing Business (Using Technology to Your Advantage)

How to Scale a Growing Business (Using Technology to Your Advantage)

If you could generate more revenue without spending more, wouldn’t you?

If you share most people's goals and aspirations, the answer is a resounding and enthusiastic “yes.” Scaling a business is an important element of continued success—provided it is carried out correctly. Let’s discuss how you can help ensure your success, partly by implementing the right technology.

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The Problem With Devaluing Employees

The Problem With Devaluing Employees

Running a business can be tough and result in a lot of frustration from staff, management, and customers. Sometimes that frustration can boil over and cause consternation among the core elements that need to function for a business to be successful. This week, let’s look at an issue that can really hurt your business.

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