PCSOFT Blog

Social media has an interesting place in the business world, sitting somewhere between incredibly helpful and downright dangerous for your organization. It’s important that you consider how your business is affected by social media so that you can both leverage it to your advantage and minimize the risks associated with it.

Many of the popular social media platforms are being used in the world of business, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and even other apps like Snapchat and Instagram--all of which have their own distinct uses. However, they all have considerable benefits and risks that extend beyond the individual platforms. Here are some of the benefits that social media can pose for your organization.

The Benefits
The primary benefit associated with social media is right in the name--it’s social. You provide your business with exposure across the Internet, meaning that your organization is being seen by prospective clients. On the other hand, you’re also being seen by competitors, who might choose to use the information that they see as a blueprint toward one-upping your organization’s outreach efforts. Either way, the point stands that you’re connecting with potential buyers or customers, which is a valuable way to make your organization known.

The Risks
Despite the benefits, there are many risks associated with social media networks. Among the most important are security and productivity, both of which could derail operations as you know them.

• Security: When you sign your organization up for a social media network, you’re providing another outlet for a hacking attack. If your business has a website, you’re aware of the online threats that could pose a threat for your business. Many of the same threats, including password and username theft, can become a problem for organizations that aren’t careful. Even spam can be an issue, as you might be dealing with suspicious messages from “interested buyers.” The best way to stay safe while using social media for business purposes is to understand best practices. Don’t accept connections to suspicious individuals or organizations, and ensure that any passwords or usernames are as complex as can be.
• Productivity: In regards to employee productivity, your organization could face down a considerable loss of work quality or quantity as a result of personal social media use during work hours. What this means is that your employees might be too busy browsing cat videos or sharing memes with each other to focus on their work. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily apply to all of your hard-working employees, but all it takes is a few to ruin a good thing for everyone. Therefore, you need to take measures to keep employees from wasting time on social media when they are supposed to be working.

A content filtering solution as part of a Unified Threat Management (UTM) solution can keep employees from wasting time on social media or potentially dangerous websites on a per-user basis. This can keep problem employees from visiting these sites while also maintaining access for your marketing team and employees who can manage the access properly. To learn more, reach out to PCSOFT at 02 98730080.

Technology, like it or not, is critical to the success of any business. However, the constant growth and trends of technology can be alarming, and make it difficult to plan for the future. Innovation has always been an important player in business technology, but more often than not, the IT budget doesn’t have the flexibility to evolve with the times. In this situation, what can you do?

Businesses are usually stuck in one of two situations. The first assumes that you have time to invest in and implement new IT solutions that are capable of innovating and pushing your business forward. The second, however, consists of organizations that are so caught up in daily maintenance that they can’t possibly imagine implementing new solutions. This presents an interesting conundrum. Either you have time to manage your own IT and no time to innovate, or you have no time to manage your IT, and all the time in the world to innovate.

Do either of these sound familiar? They’re common troubles for the average small or medium-sized business owner. While it’s beneficial to be using the latest and greatest technology, doesn’t it make sense to implement new solutions only when you can manage to take care of them? Even more pressing is the challenge of performing maintenance on your in-house technology, as your systems could experience downtime if neglected for too long. Therefore, it’s important to create a balance between the two, which is often impossible for SMBs on a budget.

One common way to take advantage of innovation without compromising your budget is by implementing outsourced IT solutions from PCSOFT. Regardless of whether you need a workstation or server unit replaced, or you need to implement major network configurations and add new hardware components, our trusted technicians have the skills to help. We can perform basic preventative IT maintenance, or implement new solutions on a large scale, all for a flat rate.

Additionally, you’ll have the reassurance that your business’s technology is being managed and maintained by qualified, skilled professionals, rather than your in-house workers, who undoubtedly have better things to do than struggle with your IT. You’ll find that you’re no longer cutting corners to meet important deadlines, and your budget won’t be strapped in the event of a major hardware failure. Remember, inexperienced end-users shouldn’t be performing maintenance on your workstations, as they could inadvertently make the problem worse.

Basically, outsourcing your IT to a team of technology professionals provides your business with an edge that’s difficult to beat. You can invest in your company’s future, without compromising on your current systems. You can rest easy at night knowing that your technology systems are in the hands of experts who are invested in your success.

If your business wants to organize and implement its own IT, we can work with you to ensure that your technology solutions receive the care and attention they need to run properly.

Every business wants to be equipped with the latest and greatest IT equipment and software. Yet, due to realities like budget shortcomings, time constraints, and the lack of knowledge about IT trends, it can be difficult for the average SMB to attain that dream technological setup on their own. However, by being smart about how you approach IT, your company can still have a network that exceeds your expectations.