Washington Works Blog

Have you ever used Google to look up something, played a game that remembers your high scores, or checked your messages on Instagram? All these apps work smoothly because they have something called a Database Management System, or DBMS, working behind the scenes. In this month’s newsletter, we take a look at the DBMS and how it works to improve user experiences. 

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.

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.

Downtime is easily one of the most prolific reasons small businesses take in less money than they otherwise could, making it an existential threat to many if a certain threshold is met. Making a bad situation worse, there is no shortage of reasons a business may experience downtime. Let’s examine some of these causes to better understand how to minimize this universal issue.

Data fuels business, but we also share a large amount of data even in our personal lives. Even the most benign communications, like chats, requests to stop by the store on your way home, and even memes or pet pictures, are considered data—and where there’s data, there’s a place where it’s stored.

Today’s question: do you know where your data is being stored? And do you know the impact of that storage?

For modern businesses, staying as efficient as possible is mandatory for optimal productivity. By eliminating inefficiencies, small businesses can stay competitive. One effective strategy is to streamline processes through implementing tools that fuel automation.

Making decisions is a big part of running a business, but relying solely on gut feelings can sometimes backfire. Back-end analysis allows business owners to gain insights they might not have considered. This can lead to more money through better sales, customer relationships, and efficiency. In today’s blog, we’ll discuss how AI enhances business intelligence.

"Quit." The q-word is often seen as one of the worst four-letter words in business. However, there are times when quitting can actually benefit your operations.

Imagine you have a project consuming all your resources with no real returns. What should you do?

With remote and hybrid work models becoming prominent parts of the business world, it’s time to start considering the challenges and benefits that such work can bring about for your own organization. Specifically, you want to examine how engagement is affected by these workplace models. How can you ensure employee satisfaction, productivity, and retention even while utilizing a remote or hybrid workplace model?

In 1987, the United Nations defined sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Today, almost 40 years later, businesses have various options to help promote their own sustainability. Let’s discuss just a few options and how we can help you enact them. 

One of the most important considerations that a business that relies on technology needs to make is how efficiently its technology works. Let’s discuss some ways to measure this benchmark and ensure that it is optimized to meet your business needs.

Information technology—IT—is a necessity for the vast majority of modern businesses to function. For the sake of these businesses and their operations, it pays to optimize this IT by any means available.

Let’s go over the benefits that a relationship with a managed service provider gives businesses, particularly regarding the overall efficiency these businesses see as a result.

Collaboration is the key to many businesses' success and through the use of technology, your collaborative success could improve exponentially. The problem becomes how to determine what kind of collaboration tools work right for your situation. Today, we’ll go through two different types of software that can help improve your organizational collaboration.

As much as we try to structure our productivity throughout the day, there are always those moments that seem to slip by—both at work and in our personal lives. It can be tough to find time to commit to projects whether your goal is personal or professional.

So, let’s go over some tips that help make this time easier to find. 

Running a business may never be totally smooth sailing, but it doesn’t have to be a complete grind all the time either. Managing complexities with your business’ technology is a good way to ensure that things move ahead with some efficiency. Today, we look at four ways to effectively handle complexities in the realm of business technology.

In mobile operating systems, each fresh iteration tends to bring forth marginal improvements and refinements to enhance the user experience. Apple's newest mobile operating system, iOS 17, follows suit in this tradition. Let's take a brief look at some of its noteworthy additions.

Operational problems can not only stymie growth, they can trigger a lot of other issues that can be detrimental to the long term success and sustainability of a business. Unfortunately, it’s often a little difficult to see while you are in the heat of battle. Let’s take a look at some of the solutions that can solve some of the common operational problems that small businesses run into.

When it comes to your business’ continuity, you should know that even small issues pose a great threat—especially when they involve your business’ data. Let’s examine two situations where even small mistakes could lead to a cascade of problems that could leave your organization strapped for cash and struggling to stay alive.

Your business only has so many resources, from its budget to its time to its employees’ capabilities. This is what makes it so crucial to properly manage all of them.

Let’s run through some basic practices that can help you make the most of what your business has at its disposal.

Ask anyone that runs a business and they’ll tell you that it’s not one thing, it’s dozens of interconnected tasks that make up an efficiently functioning business. The smaller a business is, the more that the people that work in it need to do. This month, we wanted to discuss how even small investments in technology can make a massive difference in the way a business operates.