Washington Works Blog

Collaboration is super important for all kinds of businesses today, especially because so much work is done online. With so many people working from home, it's clear that businesses need a safe way to work together successfully.

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?

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.

Over a quarter of all data breaches target small businesses, and the cost of a breach can be devastating. To protect your business’ data and infrastructure, small businesses need a combination of effective technology tools and well-planned strategies. Here are some key steps your business can take to safeguard itself against digital theft.

Human resources is not an easy game, as I’m sure your HR representatives would be happy to tell you if asked. Therefore, it is important that they have the tools needed for success today.

By this, we mean information technology that supports the everyday responsibilities and processes that an HR department is charged with completing. Let’s discuss some tools that you should incorporate into your processes.

Common knowledge states that the more you put into something, the more you get out of it. Therefore, it stands to reason that you should put as much funding as possible into your most essential resources—such as your IT.

This, however, can be a hard sell to yourself or anyone invested in your company… partners and staff included. 

There’s no question that modern businesses—-businesses just like yours—-cannot and should not function without cybersecurity protections. We will shout this from the mountaintops at every opportunity… so let’s go over why security is so important and what needs to be done to ensure yours.

The work landscape has changed quite a bit in a short period of time. Nearly 13% of American workers work from home full-time, while over 27% more work remotely part-time. With nearly two-fifths of workers working from home at least part-time, understanding what technology is behind this new normal and how to meet your business needs is critical. 

The four-day workweek is gaining traction among small businesses. It promises improved efficiency and increased employee satisfaction... but how can technology enhance this model? How can it help businesses reap the full benefits of a shorter workweek?

No two leaders will have the exact same approach to the considerable task at hand, but it can be remarkably helpful to see what others do so you can make better decisions regarding your own management style. Let’s take a look at some specific leadership styles and whether they work well (or don’t).

Happy New Year! It’s officially that time when we all make resolutions meant to help improve ourselves, so why not include your business? Better yet, why not make business resolutions that you’re more likely to keep?

Let’s explore some of the ways that you can design your business’ resolutions to maximize the likelihood that you’ll keep them and benefit from them in the long term.

Across the board, modern businesses rely on no small amount of technology to support their operations, making it key that you, one, have the technology your operations require, and two, have the means to keep this technology operational. Fortunately, managed services help you by providing both. Let’s review what managed services are, and how they work.

As we’re in the midst of Q3 of 2023, common wisdom says that now is about the time that small businesses should be planning their budgets for the next fiscal year. As such, if you haven’t already done so, it’s time to give managed IT services some serious consideration.

If your time is anything like mine, you often find it taken up by task after task, with all these responsibilities fighting for your attention. You’ve probably found yourself staring at your to-do list, trying to figure out what to tackle next, more times than you’d care to admit.

One of the biggest arguments for remote work is that it poses environmental benefits, but how much truth is there to this statement? Today, we want to dive into the details and see if there is actually a solid benefit to working remotely—for the environment, at least. The answer might surprise you.

Your decisions with capital will bleed into every part of your organization, so it’s crucial that you are able to determine the difference between capital expenses and operational expenses. When you know what each of these accomplish, you can do more with the same amount of capital.

Remote work has seen unprecedented adoption in the past few years. While we’re all for the benefits that this trend brings, it is critical that any business that embraces remote or hybrid work does so securely.

Let’s discuss a few measures that your business can and should implement to achieve this security.

For all the benefits that remote work offers, it does come with some challenges. Fortunately, there are different strategies that can be applied to help overcome them. Let’s break down something called structured problem solving, and how equipping your team members appropriately can help you with it.

When times get tough, businesses are pretty quick to start cutting costs wherever they can…and frequently, the business’ IT is the first thing to hit the chopping block.

While we contend that IT is the last thing you want to cut back on when times are tough, you may not have a choice. Therefore, we wanted to take a few moments to explore how you can resist some of these cuts—and if not, what you need to prioritize.

The telephone, as a technology, has been around for quite a while, more or less serving businesses for that entire time. Of course, we’ve seen quite a few advancements in telephony over the years, which has helped it to remain a cornerstone of modern business communications to this day in the form of Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.