Cloud Solutions: The Silver Lining for Today’s Business

What Cloud solutions are available for my business? What benefits do they offer? Is my business too small to employ a Cloud solution? Is the Cloud secure? Whenever a new and exciting innovation comes along which promises to revolutionise business as we know it, we can expect a little scepticism and a lot of questions. The Cloud, as it is affectionately known, is not necessarily new technology but is certainly a fluid and growing phenomenon. Antonio Regalato says, in his article in Technology...

Data Security – How Well Are You Protecting Your Company’s Greatest Asset?

It used to be said that people were a company’s greatest assets, but that may no longer be true. In today’s world, where more and more connected things are transmitting data, and larger and larger parts of the world are covered by 3, 4 and 5G, data is the new people. At least as far as business profitability is concerned. Understanding data is the only way companies gain a competitive edge over each other. As their digital footprint increases, it becomes...

Don’t Let Theft Shrink Your Business! Here’s How Technology Can Help Reduce Shrinkage

Theft is not something from which businesses can afford to, well, shrink away. Shrinkage – particularly in the retail industry – costs companies heavily every year. In the US alone, retailers lost over $42 billion in 2017 – half of all the money lost to shrinkage worldwide that year. Defined simply as “a loss of physical inventory,” shrinkage affects the bottom line of every single business. Essentially, it’s the difference between what your accounting records say you should have – usually...

Why Your Business Needs A SMART Technology Consultant

We’re living in an era of SMART products. We use capital letters there because the term stems originally from the acronym for Self-Monitoring And Reporting Technology. However, we now tend to just say “smart” because the word has come to mean any object that was previously inanimate – anything from domestic appliances to clothes – that now leverages smart technology to guide our behaviour and even talk back to us. SMART devices are those which connect to the Internet of Things...

Biometrics For Your Business – Security And Access Control In The Big Brother Era

If you’re wondering how biometrics can benefit your business, try this: take a walk through your offices. How many brightly coloured sticky notes do you see affixed to computer screens with login, Wi-Fi and other passwords written on them? And how many keys are left dangling in filing cabinet locks? Are you now at all concerned about how easily someone could access untold amounts of highly sensitive or classified information? Here's the thing: We’re human. We have a lot of stuff going...

Lights, Camera, Action! Is The Retail Sector Ready For Its Close Up?

2017 was not a great year for the brick and mortar retail sector. In fact, it was the worst year on record, with almost 7 000 stores closing their doors in the US alone. Why? Consumers have more shopping options than ever before, and online buying – thanks to giants like Amazon – are taking their toll on high street retailers. Fortunately, however, technology is a double-edged sword. While shopping online may have sounded the death knell for some physical stores,...

Video Surveillance Systems – What To Look For?

When it comes to ensuring the safety and security of your business premises, assets and staff, alarm systems and other, physical security barriers are good places to start. But what happens if you experience a break-in, and valuable stock is stolen? Having the entire burglary captured on video by strategically positioned security cameras gives you a huge head start when it comes to identifying the culprits. In addition, surveillance video systems help boost employee productivity and are also very useful...

Objectives Of A Smart Building

They say it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission. The premise being: it’s better to go ahead and do what you think is best and worry about the consequences later. This philosophy might be OK when it comes to borrowing your friend’s car, but it’s not a great idea when it comes to designing smart office buildings. Smart buildings combine the latest architectural thinking in corporate and commercial design with the most cutting-edge technology available. It’s essential that everyone...

Why Risk Management Is So Important For Your Business

Risk management. It’s not sexy. However, as with many un-sexy things, it’s very, very necessary. Running a business is, by its very nature, risky. Most businesses are, in fact, founded on a certain degree of risk. These types of risks are, however, usually calculated. Others, though, have the potential to either completely destroy a business, or cause significant damage that is both time-consuming and expensive to repair. It’s not always possible to eliminate these risks, but it is possible to...