ACT Business Machines Inc.

Digital Storage or Paper?

admin — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 13:25:31 +0000

Years ago, we had several file cabinets, and a room full of file boxes, and invoices were produced in seven, yes seven, parts. We wrote letters and waited for days a written response. We had a box of carbon paper in the desk drawer and drove to the bank every day for a deposit. Things have changed. They continue to change. But a large common denominator of the era I have been describing is paper. Pretty much all information was stored and transmitted on paper. We developed systems for creating, distributing, managing and storing it. I still have a few boxes of paper that we cannot seem to get rid of for various reasons. Today, most of this information is conveyed in some digital manner. We now have to develop systems for creating, distributing, managing, and storing digital files.

There are many considerations of a system to keep digital files. I think that today this is becoming a necessity, and not a luxury. Several years ago, the push to convert our paper files to digital cause the start of ‘document imaging systems.’ Today that has changed fairly dramatically to Digital Document Management. Sounds like a relatively small change, but the impact is tremendous. Document Imaging Systems were designed to manage scans of paper documents much like a file cabinet handles the paper itself, but with several advantages. A Digital Document Management is a system designed to manage the information regardless of what form it is in when you receive it. As with paper files, one basic factor is that all of the information has to be in a digital format. It works much more efficiently to keep everything in the same media, digital, or paper. Trying to maintain two systems is cumbersome and will inevitably result in duplication and/or loss.

I do believe that for some small businesses paper may be a better way to manage information. I have one that for the first year of it’s life, paper was the best way. It wasn’t overwhelming to manage and it had little enough daily activity that paper made sense. It has now gone to digital management because of the volume it processes each day, and the volume that history creates.

A few pointers in considering your information management systems:

Make a conscious decision of how you will manage and archive data and stick to it.
Look for software that ‘thinks’ the way you do.
Be willing to change the way you ‘think’ to automate your process more efficiently.
Check capabilities of software you currently own before adding yet another software.
Make sure your hardware meets much more than the minimum requirements.
Learn the system you choose to use. Both you and your staff.
Be careful not to become a digital hoarder
Make sure you don’t ‘work around’ the system you have set in place.
Set realistic goals for implementation and make sure they are met.
Be more focused on the future than the past.

The preceding list is the top 10 list of where we see digital document management fall short for clients. No single point is that difficult to overcome, but combine two or three, and throw trying to do business as usual on top with a dose of ‘we have always done it this way’ and you have an excellent system that not utilized or grossly underutilized, and an inefficient process that can inhibit your ability to advance.

We would be happy to help you evaluate how to manage your information more efficiently. Give us a call @ 423-266-3774

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Control

admin — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 13:13:39 +0000

If we don’t control our business, someone will. Maybe they will do a better job than we can, maybe they won’t, but my goal is to be able to control my business and still empower my employees to contribute in a meaningful way. This goal has driven me to evaluate many ways to monitor areas of my business while allowing others to do the day to day control. Monitoring is the first step to being able to evaluate and control our businesses.

I spent many years without the proper information to properly manage my businesses. Partly because I did not understand the value of the information, and partly because I really didn’t know how to gather it. I know we have alluded to these functions before, but we still see it on a daily basis. People who want control of portions of their business, but have no idea how to get it, or people with areas of their business that are out of control, that have no real idea of the actual impact to profitability and competitiveness. I don’t think that any business is exempt from these issues, and even if you just evaluated it, chances are that there is room for great improvement.

We continually find that two areas that are uncontrolled in many of our clients. Print costs and IT costs. Both printed material and IT support are necessary for all of us to continue in business, but we often see that they approached in a manner that does not monitor effectiveness, value, or overhead requirements. Both are fairly easy to monitor, but you have to be willing to not only monitor them, but evaluate and consider if they are actually propelling your business or holding it back.

Are you over or under achieving when it comes to IT implementation and print cost? Do you know how much you have spent in the last year? What does it actually cost to print a page in your organization? When do you need to call the geek? Do you have some plans for how these costs are managed, or are they viewed as necessary evils?

You monitor and evaluate insurance costs, travel expenses, gas consumption, payroll, and a host of other expenses. You evaluate whether or not the return on investment is adequate to keep investing at the current levels or if change is due. Taking a look at these two cost areas could add a sizable chunk to your bottom line.

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Supply Chain Woes

admin — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 13:11:09 +0000

I think we all have had some experience with some sort of supply chain issues as of late. Maybe it was an extreme shortage of toilet paper, or you couldn’t find your favorite soup, or buy a new car. I think we have all been directly affected by this phenomenon that is new in my life experience.

I know my grandparents, and even my parents suffered in the post depression era with supply issues, But it isn’t something I a have really had to deal with either personally or in business… but here we are. For the last two years the equipment we sell and support has been increasingly difficult to source and I am not sure that there is a reasonable end in sight. I don’t believe that it will just start flowing like it was one day in the near future, but more likely will slowly get better over time.

So what do we do in the meantime? I think that is actually pretty easy to answer, but harder to live with. We have to be proactive in replacing our business technology. We can’t wait until it is an emergency to replace something that is aged or outdated, as it could be months before the replacement is available.

One thing that we have done lately is help some clients prioritize and schedule technology replacement, so that the don’t have down time of critical resources and therefore can keep their clients and business competitive.

Give us a call to look at a replacement schedule for your business, before you have an emergency.

423-266-3774

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HIPAA

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 21:04:19 +0000

Several of our clients are in the medical space. HIPAA compliance can be a a challenge and when you add in remote working and a pandemic, it gets even more challenging.

And, unfortunately, they are getting more aggressive at enforcing it and fining even the smaller practices.

It can be a daunting task to to bring your organization into compliance and then keep it there, but the overall process is achievable. Here are the basic steps:

Remember that the process is all about protecting client information. Although it sometimes seems it is about making life difficult, it is about protecting client information and having a proper response when there is an issue.
Know where client information comes from, and is stored. (Whether it is digital or some other form)
Have a uniform process of how it is handled so that you know if there is an issue, and what went wrong if there is. Document your processes.
Train your staff to use the processes appropriately. This means new training on any changes and training of all new employees. And documentation of the training.
Make sure you have appropriate security on your network and components. (This includes and device that accesses your data. Phones, personal laptops, tablets, etc.) This should be monitored intrusion protection, password management, security update schedules, etc.
Document processes to be followed when there is a breach, and follow those processes.

Remember that getting compliant, and even remaining compliant, is a process, not an event. It wont happen tomorrow but you can start today.

We are here to help you through every step of that process and to help maintain compliance, so that you can do what you do best.

Give us a call if you would like to discuss your compliance concerns, we will be happy to help. 423-255-3774 Kent Davis

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Ransomware 101

admin — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:00:39 +0000

So we have all heard the term, some have even experienced the agony, of a ransomware attack.

All of a sudden you cannot access your data, or your computer, or your network and there is a message that says pay a fee and they will release your data. It has hit large organizations, hospitals, the government, and mostly small businesses.

How does it happen? Most of the time, attacks are initiated from some download or email. you download a file and there is some trojan embedded and boom. You are stuck.

You have only two choices, pay the ransom or start from scratch. I haven’t seen anyone be successful at hacking the hacker’s infection. And if you pay, you had better hope they actually unlock it for you. I have seen some that paid and they didn’t get the code to unlock things.

Can they be avoided? Good employee education of what a threat looks like is great tool in avoiding attacks. A good firewall and good intrusion prevention system on ALL your network devices helps also. Unfortunately, even both of these only minimize the threat, so you have to be sure and prepare for recovery from one.

How to prepare? Do the education, have the intrusion prevention in place (this is more than just a virus scan tool,) and by all means have an offsite, current backup. Please don’t confuse synced files in Office365, Google Docs, drop box, etc. with a backup. They most often get infected also.

Unlike hackers that are after personal data, ransomware writers do not care who you are, how big your company is, or anything else. they just want to exploit money from you.

Don’t hesitate to call if you would like to discuss your vulnerability to ransomware or other threats. 423-266-3774 Kent Davis

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Will they need my business in 20 years?

admin — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 20:58:40 +0000

I remember when I first started in business with my father in 1988. One day, after hearing about the fancy new office stores coming to town, I asked him, “Do you think they will need office equipment dealers 20 years from now?”

I was concerned. The market was changing dramatically, not only in the products and services businesses needed/wanted, but also in the way people accessed and consumed them.

Typewriters had been replaced by word processors and personal computers were beginning to be more commonplace. Calculators were becoming a disposable commodity. Some of the things we had done over the years had already vanished.

So we did what we have done for decades before I asked that question. We helped our clients procure and implement the modern technologies that allowed their businesses to do what they do. We didn’t really change. The technology we offered and supported for our clients changed.

I learned that we have to stay on top of what is happening in business to help our clients in the best way possible. I became a student of business technology. What is helping small business be successful? How should they procure and consume it?

I believe that anytime you see a business that has been consistently successful for decades, you are looking at an organization that is striving to help its clients in the most effective ways available. Presenting quality solutions, assisting in successful implementation and then supporting them. It doesn’t just happen. It is an intentional effort.

Be intentional about your business model. There you will find your future.

Dad did answer my question in his stoic, cryptic way that often took me years to decipher. “Well, son, if it makes you feel any better, 20 years ago I was sitting here asking myself the same question.” I think I am still working on interpreting his answer 32 years later.

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Throwback

admin — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 20:56:39 +0000

The only thing constant is change -Heraclitus

Feeling a little nostalgic today and thought I tell you about the history of our written communication…starting with the typewriter.

In 1962, when we started, the typewriter, like the one pictured, was the tech of the day. Imagine that! A few years later, the electric typewriter became commonplace and was refined into the popular “ball” typewriter, which became commonplace in the 70’s.

Later the mag card and mag tape technology was melded with the ball technology to make the first repetitive typewriters or really the beginning of word processors. You would type a document and it would magnetically record the keystrokes onto a magnetic card or tape. You could later put the tape or card in to reproduce another original of the same document. These were of tremendous value in a world where all of our data distribution had to be done via paper or voice!

Those machines fairly quickly evolved into units with a screen, which made it easier to input variable data such as names, addresses, or other data to personalize the document. They were used extensively when USPS mail marketing was one of the few advertising avenues available to people trying to attract new business.

Once again, fairly quickly, the screens grew and the capacity changed into what was known as a word processor. These were basically personal computers that were built for one purpose, typing documents. that had built in printers and had a similar look and feel to a typewriter at first. They morphed into something that looked more like a computer, and were finally displaced by the PC.

And it continues on, as the software has matured and changed and even how we consume software has changed. We now offer Office 365 Subscriptions and Google Enterprise subscriptions in lieu of typewriters, or software on a floppy disk. But, If you still need (or want) a typewriter, we still sell them. about 1 per year.

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What is a firewall?

admin — Thu, 03 Oct 2019 20:53:05 +0000

With all of the Malware, viruses, hacking and network intrusions going around, a firewall is becoming a necessary network component. So what is one and what does it do?

All networks have some sort of routing device. It is the door between the local network and the Internet. It routes the traffic to minimize collisions and make sure things continue to flow. Think of it as the school crossing guard. It just directs traffic to where it wants to go. Some of them have some capability to block ports (certain IP destinations) or give priority to certain types of traffic (VOIP,) but essentially, they just move packets in an orderly fashion.

A firewall does the same thing that a router does, and much more. It is a network security appliance. It has the capability to inspect packets as they come through and allow or disallow passage based on the potential security threat. Think of it more as a military base guard. It checks out each packet as it comes through the door and makes sure it has a legitimate reason to come in, and isn’t carrying any threat in the trunk. In order to do this it requires constant updating of known threats and therefore requires a subscription to a service that sends updates as potential threats are uncovered. Firewalls also have the ability to manage outgoing traffic similarly. You may choose minimizing or excluding access to certain internet assets, or even, only allowing access to certain assets. Again, this is also often subscription based to dynamically update. For instance, if you decided to disallow access to adult themed sites, they change all the time, and the service is constantly updating the firewall to know when to stop the traffic.

This a REALLY simplified explanation of the differences, but we have seen that many people are confusing a router with a firewall. They are very different, have different price points, and are worth the difference. If you are using a router for your internet connection, I recommend changing to a firewall today. In today’s world, routers might be used behind a firewall to segregate portions of a network, but should not be used as your connection to the internet.

If you wonder which you have, feel free to call and ask for a consult. 423-266-3774

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Phones are a changing!

admin — Sat, 10 Aug 2019 20:51:00 +0000

Phones aren’t what they used to be. When I started in business, there were rotary dial with push buttons for lines and all the lines were analog copper. (Just saying we were behind, not that I am old…:) Voicemail was a luxury only the big guys could afford and the carbonized phone log my receptionist used was the staple of the day.

It has changed. No more carbon phone log. Voicemail is expected. No more push buttons for the lines, you just dial. No more copper pairs for the individual lies, they are all VOIP. We expect even more with the things we have. Notification of voicemail, remote extensions, text to line, remote message management, and the list goes on.

As phones and how we use them change, we as businesses need to stay on top of those changes. It is still one of the primary (I still say the primary) ways we communicate and are accessible with our clients. If they can reach us or us them, how can we be of service? Not only are there potential ways that our phone system can make it easier for our clients to reach us, the new technology can also potentially save us money and/or give us more capacity.

It is worth a call if you have not evaluated your phone system and usage in the last couple of years. This industry has changed dramatically!!

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Too Small to Matter…

admin — Sat, 01 Jun 2019 20:48:53 +0000

I love baby feet. They are so cute and perfect. They are really small – especially compared to my size 11 feet. But they still matter…

I have found that a lot of small business people have an inferiority complex about their business. They think that the fact that they are small makes them insignificant – off the hacker or malware thief’s radar. This could not be farther from the truth.

Actually small business is exactly where the hacker or malware person wants to strike. Why? Because they often don’t invest in the security they need to thwart and attack. The complacency of small business operators makes them a prime target for intrusion.

So what do you need to do to avoid this? Just make it difficult. There are many who won’t listen to my warning and so they will be the ones to suffer the attacks. If being chased by a lion, the waterbuffalo does not need to be the fastest in the herd, only the second slowest. That principal applies here as much here as anywhere.

Three basic things you can do.

1. Train your employees to recognize Phishing emails and suspicious sites.

2. Have quality anti malware/virus protection in place on EVERY device on your network.

3. Have a quality firewall with current malware/virus protection subscriptions active.

Pretty simple, but you would be surprised at the number of people who do not pay attention to these things because they are “too small for a hacker to target.”

There are two issues with not paying attention to this. First, your lack of security makes you an easy target. Second. Often a data loss for a small business is deathly. You may not actually recover from an attack. (see blogs on backups)

Let us know if we can help!

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