As businesses of all sizes continue to adopt more apps and tools, the amount of available data grows exponentially. However, not all of that information is important or even useful. It’s critical that as you collect more data you keep it organized and relevant. The collection process is the best place to start.

Before we jump into our tips for data collection, we have to address the elephant in the room: customer privacy. Despite all the recent regulatory frameworks for protecting people’s private information, there are still a number of opportunities for you to collect data without running afoul of the law. However, honesty is the best business policy. Never ask for a customer’s personal information unless you are absolutely sure that they are aware of the exchange.

With that out of the way, let’s get to it!

1. Collect identifiers

Whether you’re creating an online survey or a signup form, collecting identifying information (i.e. names, date of birth, age, gender, address, etc.) is crucial. This information will form the foundation for future analysis and segmentation.

2. Track customer interactions

Next is to define important customer interactions. For example, if you own an online store, you need to know how your customers arrived at your site, the items they clicked on, items they added to their cart, and what they eventually purchased. Tracking each step of their journey — from learning about your business to becoming a customer — will give you insights into what your customers need and want.

3. Gather behavior-related data

Don't focus solely on customers who made a purchase. Think about what other indicators produce meaningful data. In our online store example, you might want to track how many receive your email newsletter, how many pages they visited on your site, or how much time they spent on each page. Analyzing this information will help you determine which aspects of your efforts are most effective.

4. Automate data collection

When gathering customer data, you must minimize the risk of human error. The most effective strategy is to automate as much of the collection process as possible. Apps and tools such as online forms and optical character recognition systems feed information directly into your database and eliminate paper-centric processes that often lead to mistakes.

5. Integrate your systems

Redundancies and errors are also common when there are multiple databases managing the same information. You can prevent these issues by working with an IT provider to integrate all your apps, databases, and software solutions. This way, data collected in one database will be synced and consistent across other platforms, reducing manual data entry.

6. Consider who will view the reports

Inevitably, you’ll need to turn data into business intelligence reports. It’s a good idea to identify who will read your reports and highlight the most relevant insights. For instance, sales managers want to see quarterly sales figures, and human resources teams want to see labor costs compared to revenue. Using the right tools to generate these reports will save your team several hours of work.

7. Update data in real-time

It’s difficult to imagine any company in operation today that doesn’t need up-to-the-minute data accuracy. Business intelligence dashboards collect, organize, and filter data at the click of a button. This way, you’ll never have to wait a day or more to receive information that’s critical for a company decision.

Looking for technologies that can help you optimize data collection? Call our IT consultants today. We’ll recommend best-of-breed technologies that track the information you need to grow your business.

The post How to improve data collection practices appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

If the primary focus of your healthcare practice is delivering high-quality patient care, then cloud computing is an essential tool for you. It is more reliable, convenient, and secure than offline solutions, which means it should be a top priority.

Easy information access

The increasing demand for doctors’ time means they have less time to review patient records. In the past, doctors had to either lug around reams of documents or spend hours at their desktop computer. But with cloud software for managing electronic medical records (EMR), doctors can conveniently access medical records from anywhere, at any time.

HIPAA Compliance

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is frustrating for medical practitioners who feel overburdened by rules and regulations. But without HIPAA, patient privacy is in jeopardy, so what can you do?

Regardless of whether you use a browser-based tool or a mobile app, cloud computing makes it easy to adapt to regulatory updates and changes. For example, if a vendor wanted to update its data encryption standards, it could do so in the cloud and the changes would automatically reflect on all accounts and devices — no new installs or configuration necessary!

Cost reduction

This type of IT also eliminates the need for on-site hardware, maintenance fees, and expensive one-time software licenses. In terms of less quantifiable cost reductions, the ability to access work from anywhere at any time boosts productivity and enables your IT department to be dramatically more efficient.

Scalability

Unlike in-office computer hardware, you can scale cloud storage solutions in a matter of minutes. Beyond the benefit of organizational simplicity, just imagine how much office space you need to store five years’ worth of healthcare records. Web-based EMR software gives you more storage than you can ever need and retrieves records in mere seconds.

Better data backup and recovery

Data loss is a real problem for healthcare practices. Will your business continuity be safe if your office suddenly becomes inaccessible? Even a couple of days of downtime can have serious repercussions for your reputation. Practices that store their files in the cloud don’t have to worry about this because nearly every solution stores files in more than one location so backups can be restored quickly if anything goes wrong.

Want to learn more about which cloud computing solutions will be best for your practice? Get in touch with one of our tech experts today for personalized recommendations.

The post Why healthcare needs cloud computing appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Android tablets are one of the more popular mobile devices because of the large variety of apps available to users. Unfortunately, as of 2019, there are reportedly over 2,000 fake apps on Google Play Store. These apps impersonate popular apps to trick users to install it. Once installed, these apps usually steal personal data or infect tablets with malware.

So, how can people protect themselves and make sure that their tablet is running only safe applications?

Downloading from a trusted source

Downloading an app from well-known and legitimate sources like Google Play Store, Samsung, or Amazon used to be a good security measure since these sites are routinely monitored and scanned for fraudulent apps. But reports of fake apps plaguing these sites have led users to reevaluate their downloading habits. Recently, Android fans were warned about six malware-filled apps on Google Play Store that have been downloaded 90 million times. One of those apps is “Followkade,” a fake Instagram likes-and-followers-boosting app, which had over 50,000 installs and a 4.0 rating from almost 7,000 reviewers.

Taking more vigilant measures

There are several effective ways you can take to make sure your tablet is not vulnerable to fake applications:

• Before downloading from a trusted source, read the small print and reviews about the application. This will help protect yourself from security risks.
• Enable or disable the security settings of your tablet as you see fit. The Android operating system (OS) comes with built-in features that will help detect or prevent any threats. If activated or configured properly, the OS will alert users when there is abnormal behavior from the apps installed on the device.
• Update your software. Some users may find this an inconvenience and forego updates when they come in. But patches from these updates can fix bugs or vulnerabilities, which can thwart cyberattacks.

Use third-party antivirus software

Because the market for tablets is growing, more and more companies are offering antivirus solutions. Although there are free but effective legitimate antivirus software programs, the better option is to purchase from well-established companies to get maximum protection.

Third-party antivirus software may come with monthly or yearly subscriptions, as well as different premium rates for different types of security measures. But do consider the benefits versus the cost before you make any purchase.

If you are looking to learn more about protecting your Android tablet, contact us today to see how we can help.

The post Android app verifications appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Knowing about the perks of virtualization is cool, but setting this up and implementing it properly will require you to tackle a few things. Handle these three items well to enjoy nothing but virtualization benefits.

Backup

Incorporating a robust backup system in a virtualized setting can become a huge challenge. You’d have to determine which data you want to store and how often it should be backed up. You would then have to decide whether you should back up all your virtual machines or just some vital ones that have important apps and data.

In any case, you’ll be caught in a grueling battle because of the overwhelming amount of data that needs to be backed up. The only way to overcome this is to integrate a powerful backup-to-disk solution offered by a reputable managed IT services provider (MSP).

Security

Security concerns are more complicated in a virtualized setting since you have to monitor security on two tiers, namely virtual machine security and physical host security.

Compromised physical host security will affect every virtual machine running on that particular host server. Meanwhile, a compromised virtual machine will disrupt the physical server and affect every virtual machine residing on the same host. To address this problem, you need to set up strong network defenses — including firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, antivirus software, and virtual machine security tools — and a hardened physical security system in the form of surveillance cameras, locks, biometric scans, and security guards. Of course, if you don’t have the funds to set these up, it may make more sense to leave it to a security-conscious MSP.

Monitoring

Since your team has to oversee both virtual machines and physical servers to ensure that you have a fully operational environment, it does have a few pain points.

First, running a monitoring software on the physical host server will likely impact the virtual machines’ performance since it takes up valuable processing power and memory. That means you’ll need to compute the resources used by your monitoring software and make sure they’re not consuming too much from your physical host server.

Second, keeping tabs on your virtual machines and making sure they’re secure and running at all times comprise a full-time job. So unless you have a team of professionals in-house, you’ll definitely need some help from the outside.

Without a doubt, virtualization brings a lot of benefits to the table, but you have to know how it affects every aspect of your business — particularly issues involved in management. Let us show you how you can use it to its full potential. Just give us a call today!

The post Virtualization management: 3 Areas to look into appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..