Washington Works Blog

Picture this: you or a team member encounters a technology issue in the middle of the workday. Simple, you might think… just call your in-house IT department. However, the members of your IT team are visibly overworked, scurrying around the office, trying to get some of the tasks off their to-do lists. They’re visibly running out of time, patience, or, most likely, both. It isn’t a good time to bother someone for help; that’s obvious, but what option is there?

Having your team connected through mobile, especially with access to collaboration and communication tools, is the new normal in business. Many organizations take advantage of the ubiquity of smartphones and either provide mobile devices to their staff or utilize the built-in options on many of today’s newest mobile OSs that allow them to put an encrypted work profile on; effectively adding mobility to your business without a huge capital investment. Regardless of what option you choose, you need to have management software in place if you are going to trust your employees to have access to company information outside of the office. 

Subscriptions are nothing new in the business world, but they can be tough to track and, more importantly, cancel. Now, a new ruling from the Federal Trade Commission makes it easier than ever to cancel a subscription. Today, we want to discuss how this impacts you, your business, and your users.

The smartphone market used to be a hallmark of innovation, but nowadays, aside from the folding form factor, smartphone manufacturers have decided that the technology works, more or less, the same. What does this decline in innovation mean for you and your business? It might actually not be all that bad.

The blockchain is a technology that many people know about, but cannot explain. They know it has something to do with Bitcoin, but can’t tell you exactly what. Well, whether you know next to nothing about blockchain, or you’re a seasoned crypto investor, you will be.

With the many issues that arise day by day, it’s no small feat to stay productive. Still, a team must be able to manage its various tasks and projects in an efficient way, and it can make all the difference in efficiently completing these tasks. Today, we want to examine why productivity is important and how you can keep it high for your team.

A business email compromise attack is a phishing scam in which a scammer uses email to take possession of capital—either in the form of data or actual finances—from the organization they choose to target. Lately, these scams have been observed to focus on schools.

Let’s review the situation at hand and what is at stake.

Chances are that your business’ technology has gotten more complex in the past few years. This complexity has likely created some confusion on how best to manage your technology. Couple this with the more sophisticated threats that have been developed over that time, and there is a real risk to the welfare of your business coming from the technology you depend on daily. Today’s blog will discuss how increased complexity can be managed competently.

Cloud computing has become a really useful tool for businesses, allowing them to grow, be more flexible, and save money. But even with all its benefits, businesses face some challenges when using cloud services. One big issue is keeping data safe and private.

Sitting at a desk all day, five or more days a week can be hard on a person's body (and often their mind). Even though there isn’t much that can be done about the type of work people in these positions have, there are some things you can do to prioritize their physical and mental health. This month, we give you four tips that will help.

Windows 11 introduces a new look by centering the taskbar, similar to the style used in macOS. While some users may appreciate this fresh design, others might prefer the traditional left-aligned taskbar found in older versions of Windows.

Keeping track of your business’ technology is very important for smooth operations and long-term success. You need to monitor every piece of your technology to avoid wasting money and facing security issues. A good inventory system helps you know what technology you have, where it's being used, and when it needs maintenance or replacement. This ensures your team has the right tools when they need them, which helps boost productivity and growth.

Have you ever had things not go according to plan? It can be an incredibly frustrating experience, especially when assets and business resources are involved. This is also true in the realm of business technology, so today, we want to cover how you can invest in the future of your business without getting too far ahead—including with your IT resources.

Business cybersecurity is increasingly important for every organization in operation today, to the point where it could very well be the difference between your business’ survival or failure. While extensive things must be accomplished to ensure your overall business continuity, you have to start somewhere.

Let’s review some of the most essential things you can—and need to—do to keep your business secure.

Computer problems aren’t just annoying, they are a major impediment to a business’ overall productivity. There are several common problems that can slow down your computer, each with its own signs, causes, and fixes. This month we’re going to look at some of these problems and what the solutions are for them.

Most businesses these days utilize cloud computing in some way (about 90 percent, as a matter of fact). How is your business utilizing this technology? Regardless, you want to have security locked in for your cloud computing resources, which is what we want to focus on for today’s blog article.

Being a green business is a great thing. It not only helps your company become more environmentally friendly, but it can also attract customers who care about the environment. What’s less talked about is how being green can actually give your business a competitive edge in certain situations.

If you are a subscriber and frequent reader of this newsletter, you’re probably familiar with our campaign to educate business owners, managers, and even your average worker on the importance of backing up data. In this month’s newsletter we’ll describe incremental backup and how it works as the best scenario for small business data redundancy.

Relationships in business are just like relationships elsewhere in life: messy and sometimes chaotic, but generally good to foster. This goes for relationships with customers, vendors, and even your employees. Today, we want to look at how you can build better and stronger relationships for your business.

The Android operating system offers a litany of additional features and shortcuts in most applications… all you have to do is long-press an application’s icon to pull up a contextual menu of shortcuts. Naturally, Google’s applications are no exception.

Let’s review some of Google’s application capabilities as they appear in these shortcut menus.