TS3 Technologies Blog

In the movie Moneyball, Billy Beane and the Oakland A's changed baseball forever. Faced with a tiny budget in the early 2000s, Beane ignored traditional scouting and used data to find talented, undervalued players. This sabermetrics approach allowed a small-market team to consistently beat rivals with much bigger budgets, proving that data, not just money, can lead to success.

Today, those same principles apply to every business. In a competitive world, companies of all sizes and industries can use data to make smarter decisions, optimize resources, and build a stronger business for less.

It is remarkable how much more capacity our data storage tools have than they had upon their initial invention, and how much data we’ve amassed in that time. The first-ever commercial hard drive was the size of two refrigerators, and held a mere five megabytes of data. For context, that’s about five photographs. Today, hard drives hold exponentially more data, and it is critical that you are doing everything you can to protect this data from any circumstance, from fire, severe weather, or cyberattack.

So, are you? Too many business owners aren’t sure… but there’s a way you can be. 

How do you know when it’s time to fire one of your vendors? Better yet, how do you know when you’re better off firing your IT vendor to find a better option? These kinds of situations can be stressful, but they’re not impossible. We’re here to help you make the call, as well as to offer a better alternative that saves you time, energy, and money.

Do you have an internal IT department for your business? Small businesses often don’t have dedicated IT staff, and if they do, chances are they’re overwhelmed with tasks and constantly playing catch-up (IT is a big job, after all). In fact, they might feel like they can never take time off because they’re so busy. If you want to ensure your business always has the IT it needs, then you should consider outsourcing as an option.

Scams are everywhere, and it’s up to you and your team to identify them before you accidentally expose your business to something truly sinister. However, it’s often easier said than done, and scammers have gotten craftier in recent years. Today, we want to discuss three of the dead giveaways that you’re looking at a phishing scam, as well as how to address it.

If you want your devices to keep running smoothly, including utility and security, you need to ensure they are updated. Updates sometimes cause problems beyond what they solve, however. What looks like a routine patch or update could impact your important applications, and if you’re not careful, you could potentially cause a downtime scenario simply by being proactive with your updates.

Nowadays, we’re all busy—especially at work. Collectively, our days are filled with improving our products and services, cultivating client relationships, and putting out fires left and right. Do you really have the mental bandwidth to commit to quibbling over whether or not your data is secure?

The fact of the matter is that cyberattacks of all kinds are a constant threat to everyone, and could very well take your business out of commission unless you do something about it. Let’s review some steps that will help reinforce your business’ security posture and better defend your data.

The average email inbox can easily become packed with so many unwanted messages… not necessarily spam, per se, but threads and feeds you’re just no longer interested in. Fortunately, there are capabilities baked into Gmail and Microsoft Outlook alike that allow you to remove these messages from your concern.

Does your business really still use that old fax machine? Chances are, it’s just taking up space and costing your business valuable time, money, and resources that would be better spent elsewhere. Let’s look at how a fax machine can actively hold your business back, both in terms of operations and budget.

What would you do if your entire infrastructure were impacted by ransomware all at once? Do you have a contingency in place to address this risk, or are you going to “wing it” in the face of such a threat? The smart answer is that you’ll be prepared, and a data backup and disaster recovery solution (or BDR) plan will help you do just that.

The more you’ve invested in anything, the more critical it feels for you to get a return on that investment. So, what happens if you keep pouring money into these efforts in the hope that it will eventually work out in your favor?

These kinds of skewed choices come about thanks to the sunk cost fallacy—the tendency human beings have to be swayed toward illogical decisions based on what we’ve already spent. 

Let’s discuss how to avoid this in your business by working through the logic, free of the emotional context that the sunk cost fallacy introduces.

In a lot of ways, your business’ IT is just like a chair; you want it to feel stable, steady, and secure, not unbalanced and unsteady. In particular, a reliable security strategy depends on three legs: your people, your processes, and your technology. Let’s look at how you can use this “stool” approach to IT security to improve your company’s resiliency to potential threats.

Surprises can be exciting, but one part of your business where you don’t want them is in your IT. A server crash, a wireless connectivity outage, or a security threat can all create multiple surprise problems that you simply aren’t ready to handle—particularly in the realm of your wallet. Instead of spinning the wheel and gambling on your IT bill, you can instead treat your IT like a predictable utility cost, and it’s all thanks to proactive managed IT services.

We often publish articles about the cloud and how it’s impacting the world of business, but one thing you can never get away from is how important security is to this mission. Regardless of the use, the cloud is only helpful if it’s secure, and it can actively hold your business back if you neglect this important aspect of its operations.

Do you have your finger on the pulse of your business’ subscriptions? Not many business owners do, and it can negatively impact operations and budget lines. This tech sprawl can get out of control, which is why your business needs a plan to combat it. Thankfully, we’re here to help you get your subscriptions under control… both the known and the unknown.

A backup is mandatory for any business, but not all backups are the same. You’ll want to be prepared for more than just a simple server crash; you’ll need geographical redundancy that can protect your business even in the face of disasters that destroy your servers or physical location. Yes, local backups are helpful, but you’ll need the power of geographical redundancy to overcome the most horrific disasters that could strike your business.

Business owners like you are constantly worried about cybersecurity, and with attacks growing more persistent and sophisticated over time, it’s no wonder companies are taking it more seriously than ever before. Today, we want to highlight the four most common types of threats you’ll see and what you can do to protect yourself from them.

Acquiring a competitor can be a rewarding and profitable move, but it's crucial to inspect their technology to avoid any unwelcome surprises. A thorough IT audit helps you understand what you're getting and prevents a valuable investment from becoming a money pit. Let’s take a look at some of the things you need to assess before agreeing to take on growth through an acquisition.

No one likes the feeling of being plugged into work all the time. Not even the most diligent employees will appreciate receiving an email after hours. Yet despite this feeling, there’s an unspoken expectation that you are always on, so to speak, especially with the advent of mobile technology and remote work. How can you prevent these issues from escalating into burnout?

Synergy. Paradigm shift. Disruption. There are so many buzzwords saturating modern business jargon nowadays, including and especially “digital transformation.”

Unfortunately, “digital transformation” sounds big and, worse, expensive… especially for our small and medium-sized business neighbors. We wanted to step in and assure you that this is not the case and that any business can benefit from it, provided it is approached correctly and mindfully.