One of the most well known benefits of the cloud is it boosts cost efficiency. By moving to the cloud, small- and medium-sized businesses no longer have to worry about purchasing high-end equipment or maintaining full-scale data centers. However, there are quite a few costs associated with the cloud, so it’s important you know how to keep them under control.

Don’t go for standalone services
Standalone services are the biggest price trap in the cloud. Spending on a standalone cloud software may seem harmless now, but if you decide to purchase similar services, the costs can quickly pile up. Then, there’s the issue of integrating these systems together, which costs even more time and money.

The best way around this is to find a service provider that offers a suite of products that work seamlessly together. Platforms like Office 365 or G Suite are great examples, and offer you differently priced packages based on the size and requirements of your business.

Team up with integration experts
If you do need to subscribe to a standalone service, you’ll want to integrate it with the rest of your cloud platform. But if you have limited experience with integrations, mistakes are likely to happen and cause downtime, which will inevitably cost you time and money.

The more economical option is to partner with a cloud integration expert, as they can quickly configure and deploy your systems with zero mistakes.

Understand cloud backup costs
While cloud backups are great for keeping your data secure, you must know how much you’re paying for them. If you plan on storing your data for a long time, you may be charged more. At the same time, if you store more versions of your data, it will cost you more.

One way you can keep costs down is to ask yourself whether certain files even need to be stored in the cloud. Mission-critical files like customer information, legal document, and business plans should be stored in the cloud so you can retrieve them right away after a disaster, but routine documents like timesheets can probably be stored in less expensive data centers.

Remove unnecessary accounts
Most cloud service providers charge you based on the number of users per month, so if you’re not diligent about removing accounts when employees have left your company, you could be throwing your money down the drain.

To avoid this, you need to have deprovisioning procedures in place for when an employee’s contract is terminated. Create a spreadsheet of each employee in your payroll and note down their cloud subscriptions. When an employee leaves your company, you must delete all their business accounts and give the relevant manager access to all their documents.

It’s also a good idea to schedule regular audits to make sure you’re not paying for people who’ve already left your company.

Work with a trustworthy provider
Last but not least, you’ll want to partner with a cloud services provider that not only gives you the best deals on cloud solutions, but also proactively monitors your account and warns you about any issues regarding the computing resources and storage space you’re using.

If you’re looking to keep cloud costs under control, talk to us today. We’re certified and experienced with all aspects of cloud technology, and we can show you how you can truly benefit from it.

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Google brought their “voice-activated insanity” as a feature of their Google Assistant Fun House at the South by Southwest (SXSW) expo in Austin this year. The limited product exhibit showcased the unique capabilities of their AI assistant platform, such as a sock-folding robot and a system to order beer from your sofa. Here are other new features you can expect from Assistant.

Voice-powered motive

You might think that the whole point of this spectacle is to show off their caliber as the world’s premier tech leader, but these geniuses actually have a plan brewing. They upgraded their Google Assistant primarily for developers and device makers who want to integrate voice commands onto their products.

Brad Abrams, group product manager for Google Assistant platform, says their mission with this particular technology is to help people get their tasks done with the help of third-party devices and services. They wanted to start by making the syntax commands easy, so you can say “Hey Google, make me an Espresso.” instead of “Hey Google, ask [coffee machine brand] to make me an Espresso.”

He explains that the digital world is advancing to a realm of ambient computing wherein your commands to Google are picked up by the nearest devices and executed by the most suitable one.

Nagging commands

Google Assistant already has the ability to notify users regarding daily news, traffic, and weather updates. This time around, the tech giant added more subscriptions, including daily fashion advice, horoscopes, factoids, and important events. Hearst Magazine is the first to offer the additional notifications, which they believe has increased user engagement.

Audio choices (besides music)

Google users who wanted to hear more natural sounds, like a crackling fireplace or heavy rain, could previously only listen to audio snippets with playback limits from third-party actions. Now, they can replay, resume, pause, and listen indefinitely. This is particularly beneficial for users who listen to news briefs, enjoy calming sounds, or meditate.

Out of these new upgrades, none will have a huge effect on their own, yet together they could make Google Assistant more responsive to hardware brands and partners.

These fun and unique Google Assistant features reflect the creativity this tech company always brings to the industry. Interested in spicing up your office space, too? Contact us today and we’ll discuss how you can take advantage of this feature-rich, voice-powered tech.

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Just because virtualization is an incredibly advanced and complicated technology doesn’t mean small businesses can’t get in on the action. As experts debate the merits of virtual desktops versus containers, all SMBs need are an elementary understanding of how virtualization works and an IT provider. We can give you both!

What are virtual desktops?

Imagine all you have is a computer monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Virtual desktop technology allows you to connect those devices to a server across either the internet or your office network. Once connected to the server, your monitor will display a fully functional operating system, and your keyboard and mouse will interact with that desktop with zero lag.

The server you connect to could host dozens of virtual desktops that other users access simultaneously, each with their own storage space, files, and applications.

This explanation is a bit of an oversimplification. You still need computer hardware (motherboard, CPU, RAM, etc.) to connect to a virtual desktop server, but the cheapest components available will do the trick. Everything you see on your monitor is really happening on the server, the computer at your desk is just an access point.

What are containers?

Let’s start with an example. Envision a business that provides video production services. All of its employees spend 20% of their time editing videos in one application. That application requires a lot of computing power, but this company can’t afford to buy everyone a high-end computer for a task they spend so little time on. Other production tasks are simple and don’t require expensive hardware, so virtual desktops aren’t necessary.

With containers, employees could connect to the server from their mid-range desktops and use its hardware to run the resource-hogging application. As long as your server is fast enough, employees can connect, run the application, and go back to other programs on their local computer.

Aside from using server resources more efficiently, containers are also exempt from operating system limitations. If a container is stored on a Windows-based server, there’s nothing stopping a Mac computer from working with the application stored inside the container.

Are virtual desktops or containers better for my business?

The biggest factor when choosing between these two technologies is the nature of your work. If employees are regularly switching between half a dozen applications, it’s probably smarter to go with virtual desktops since they are more flexible and open-ended. If most of your challenges are centered around one or two programs, containers are likely the smarter choice.

Every business is different, and we’ll be the first ones to admit there are cases when it makes more sense to invest in high-end employee desktops, or create a virtual desktop for that one obnoxious application. Whatever the right answer is for you, we promise to give it to you straight!

Give us a call today to hear our two cents on how you could be saving money with virtualization.

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With so many affordable IT tools on the market, it's a great time to be a small-business owner. Most of them are basic and won’t require much training, too, so you don’t have to be tech-savvy to use them effectively. All you have to do is find the right one for your particular goals and needs.

To take advantage of Cortana, you should enable it on your desktop first. The process is easy: Just press the Windows Key, type "cortana" and click on "Cortana settings.” From there, you can change whether it responds to your voice or get activated by a keyboard shortcut, and you can set other personal preferences.

Voice Reminders, Notes and Alarms

As soon as you enable “Hey, Cortana” on all your gadgets, you can begin using it to dictate notes, set alarms, and create reminders. Thanks to advancements in AI, Cortana should be able to recognize most natural-language requests, like "Wake me up at 9am tomorrow," or "Remind me to pick up my dry cleaning tomorrow."

Meanwhile, you can use it as a voice recorder during meetings instead of writing down notes. Just say, "Hey Cortana, make a new note in OneNote," and whatever is recorded will automatically be saved to OneNote!

AI-Scheduled Meetings

With Microsoft's new Calendar.help feature, you can issue commands to a group email chain by saying things like, "Hey Cortana, can you help us book a 30-minute call next week?"

Calendar.help will work with Cortana to contact each attendee individually, find out what times they are available, and pick the best option for the group. You would only need to email the details, including duration, agenda and location, before you cc Cortana and forward it to the people involved. At that point, Cortana will send invites and handle all email exchanges. For now the project is still in preview/beta, so you will need to sign up.

Quick Conversions and Calculations

There are times when you need to make some calculations, but Googling or using your phone's calculator just takes too much time. Cortana can answer complicated math problems, even if they are stated in plain language. What's more, Cortana is able to convert temperature, time zone, weight, and volume.

Cortana will not only improve your business processes, but also help create a more relaxed workplace. And when employees are less stressed, everyone experiences more rewarding workdays.

We’re experts in traditional office IT, but we're also pretty savvy with exciting new tools like Cortana. Send us a message today to learn more tips on improving productivity in your workplace.

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