Category: Productivity

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Enhance Your Server Management with These 8 Tips

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February 21, 2022

1:41 pm

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You may have state-of-the-art servers, but their efficiency can diminish over time. Managing them is key to optimizing your business operations.

Numerous organizations rely on servers for various IT functions, such as applications, emails, hosting websites, and data storage.

Although many companies have turned to cloud-based services using remote data centers, many enterprises still depend on in-house servers. As such, they need to ensure their devices remain in tip-top condition

That’s where server management comes into play.

Managing your servers can streamline the performance of your team by allowing them to complete complex tasks faster. Plus, it can enable them to detect problems early on before they get out of hand and compromise your business. As a result, the risk of experiencing operational setbacks is drastically lower.

But the only way to make the most of your server management is to perform it correctly. And to help you do so, this article will share nine tips on improving your server management.

THE 8 TIPS

TIP #1 – MOUNT THE SERVERS PROPERLY

Small businesses often need to prioritize immediate concerns over long-term plans because they need to work on tight budgets. This is particularly evident in terms of server management.

When you first set up your servers, it might be tempting to connect them near your workstations. However, this can harm your hardware.

Mounting your servers in racks is a much better solution. It can shield them from accidents in high-traffic areas, tripping hazards, spills, and dirt.

Furthermore, server racks can help keep the hardware safe by organizing it in an accessible area that facilitates management and cleaning. They also limit the exposure to regular wear and tear in the office.

Another critical consideration is to plan for the future when installing your servers.

When selecting a rack mount, be sure there’s enough room to expand your hardware. Unless your office is tiny, having half-empty racks is preferred to tearing them down and redesigning them a few years down the line.

TIP #2 – SEPARATE YOUR SERVERS FROM YOUR MAIN AREA

Depending on the type of servers, they can get quite noisy when in operation. On top of that, they can comprise valuable hardware. So, you’ll want to separate them physically from the working premises.

If you can’t afford a designated server room, invest in secure rack mounts with integrated sound reduction.

TIP #3 – TAKE CARE OF YOUR HARDWARE

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Hardware maintenance plays a pivotal role in server management. Without dependable hardware, your productivity can plunge.

To avoid this scenario, you need to monitor the essential components of your server:

  • CPU (Central Processing Unit) – Your CPU is the core of your servers, performing all calculations for running programs. You need to constantly monitor it to prevent overuse. If it operates near 100% of its power, your team members can’t carry out additional tasks due to slowdowns. It may require chip upgrades or performance tuning to alleviate the stress.
  • RAM (Random Access Memory) – This is the working memory of your server, as it runs faster than hard disks. The more RAM you have, the higher the performance of your device. Closely monitor its usage and add more memory when it gets close to its full capacity.
  • Hard drive – The hard drive is the permanent storage of your servers. It saves your data and programs, but its performance can diminish with overuse. Proper hard disk management entails keeping track of the available space, deleting unnecessary files, installing new drives, or including cloud-based solutions.

TIP #4 – EMPLOY FREQUENT COOLING

You expect your servers to perform fast, but the only way to ensure this is to provide optimal conditions. That said, you should primarily focus on cooling the servers. Excess heat can dramatically decrease their lifespan.

The best practice here is to make sure your cooling device operates outside your building.

Additionally, if you experience a power outage or central air doesn’t work at night, you need a cooling solution that can run on backup power.

TIP #5 – MANAGE AND MAINTAIN YOUR SOFTWARE

Software used for your server requires regular maintenance, too. The key is to perform regular updates and delete old software to enhance performance. Your servers will operate better, and there will be fewer vulnerabilities cybercriminals can exploit to access your network.

TIP #6 – ARRANGE THE WIRING NEATLY

The amount of wiring in your server setup can be overwhelming, especially if you have no technical experience. Sorting out the mess doesn’t only improve cleanliness, but it can also help boost the performance of your server viability for future upgrades.

Keep in mind that whenever you’re removing, rearranging, or installing your cables, label and group them neatly. Doing so helps prevent clutter.

TIP #7 – PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO SECURITY

As previously mentioned, servers can be susceptible to cyberattacks. That’s why it’s crucial to maintain a secure system. Here’s what you should do:

  • Install and update antivirus software.
  • Repel unauthorized traffic with firewalls.
  • Use robust access control software or sound password policies and instruct your users to change them regularly.
  • Encrypt external networks and data storage.
  • Incorporate SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) tools.
  • Analyze and implement security logging measures to understand potential threats.

TIP #8 – BACK UP YOUR DATA

The final part of robust server management is backing up your data regularly. After all, loss of information can be disastrous, harming your reputation and losing your customers.

Besides backing up server software and hardware, you should also have a backup for your power supply to prevent data losses during power outages. Moreover, you can integrate with various tools to expedite backups, recoveries, and status monitoring.

Look for software that covers both your IT architecture and operating system. It needs to work across systems and applications you currently have or plan on installing. Additionally, it should diagnose server issues efficiently with powerful analytic capabilities.

SERVER MANAGEMENT AT ITS FINEST

Managing effective server operation involves several key considerations, from monitoring system temperature to updates and data backups. Even though this can be an arduous process, it’s integral to optimizing your server performance and eliminating security concerns.

If you need help in optimum server management in your business, we’d love to help you out. Contact us and let’s have a quick, no-obligation chat about it.

 

Article used with permission from The Technology Press.

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Enhancing Office Productivity With Google Chrome: The 12 Best Extensions To Improve Your Workflow

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February 14, 2022

2:39 pm

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Working from your computer or smartphone is convenient, but it can also be distracting. To maintain productivity, you should install effective Google Chrome Extensions. 

Google Chrome is arguably the most popular browser on the planet. It’s best known for allowing faster loading of websites, optimized performance, and an intuitive interface. As a result, it can help your team complete their daily duties much faster.

However, it raises the same concern as other browsers – ample room for distractions.

Your team members can easily switch to YouTube videos or social media, lowering their productivity. And it can often get out of hand, preventing your staff from meeting deadlines and reducing customer satisfaction.

That said, you can help your employees get back on track and maintain productivity. All you need to do is incorporate practical extensions into your browser.

This article will list the 12 best Google Chrome extensions that can help increase office productivity in your business.

THE 12 EXTENSIONS

EXTENSION #1 – BLOCKSITE

BlockSite can enable your team to stay focused by blocking harmful or distracting websites. This extension is perfect for team members who tend to drift away due to all the online activities that seek their attention.

Some of the web pages you can block access to with BlockSite include social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. But if you don’t wish to block them completely, you can limit access to them during breaks.

EXTENSION #2 – ADBLOCK

AdBlock is one of the most widely used extensions for Google Chrome. More than 10 million users rely on it to remove most ads by preventing them from showing up on their screens.

It can also help your team avoid malware-ridden ads, improving their experience in turn by increasing browsing speed.

EXTENSION #3 – LASTPASS

Remembering your passwords can be extremely challenging. Thankfully, LastPass can provide an efficient solution.

LastPass is an effective alternative to your browser’s built-in password manager, generating new passphrases whenever you log into a web page.

In addition, the extension can synchronize passwords across various devices, providing easy access to accounts, credit cards, and form filling.

EXTENSION #4 – EVERNOTE WEB CLIPPER
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Although Chrome has a convenient bookmark feature, Evernote might be even more powerful. You can use Evernote Web Clipper to save your internet content for later viewing.

This extension enables you to easily save your web content and transfer it to your account. With just a few clicks, you can obtain images from any website, create summary links, save a distraction-free version of web pages, and make annotations.

EXTENSION #5 – POCKET

Another effective way to track your online content is through Pocket. This extension can also let you save articles, web pages, and videos for later use.

Whenever you come across interesting content, hit your Pocket extension and you’ll automatically save it on all your devices. You’ll then be able to access it whenever you want, even if you’re offline.

EXTENSION #6 – MOMENTUM

Momentum isn’t a standard extension. Rather, it’s a custom-made page to replace your default landing page.

It has a robust, personalized dashboard with a beautiful scenic background, inspirational quotes, weather reports, widgets to favorite sites, and to-do lists. Therefore, it doesn’t just help enhance productivity – it can also motivate your team members to keep grinding.

EXTENSION #7 – GOOGLE KEEP

Google Keep is a powerful extension that can allow your team to organize their data neatly. Its primary purpose is to help users create to-do lists and take notes. It also works great for saving pages, images and adding notes to them. Plus, it can make voice memos to simplify notetaking.

To further improve note organization, users can market them with colors and labels. This way, there’s no time wasted when looking for crucial notes.

EXTENSION #8 – CLOCKIFY TIME TRACKER

Monitoring workplace performance is critical, and Clockify Time Tracker is the ideal extension for this.

As the name suggests, it tracks time spent on specific activities. Your staff can later use the results to analyze their productivity levels and determine their weaknesses.

The extension lets users schedule break intervals, operate in pre-set work periods, detect idle time, set reminders, and integrate with more than 50 business apps.

EXTENSION #9 – STAYFOCUSED

If you want your team to stay away from distracting websites but don’t want to remove them altogether, StayFocused may be the answer.

This extension can help your employees avoid distractions by limiting the time they can spend on them.

What’s more, StayFocusd comes with a handy Nuclear Option. It sets the time during which your team can’t access certain websites. Once you activate this option, there’s no way to deactivate it until the time expires.

EXTENSION #10 – NOISLI

The main purpose of Noisli is to enhance your team’s productivity. It allows you to select the sound combination your staff finds most inspiring. This can include falling rain, storms, wood noises, wind, crickets, fire crackling, and coffee shop chatter.

Noisli can be particularly useful if your team works in open offices where background noises often cause distractions.

EXTENSION #11 – HYPERCONTEXT

Hypercontext is an extension that can help teams maintain high performance by combining engagement measures, quarterly priorities, and weekly meetings.

The platform enables you to create collaborative, one-on-one meetings, access conversations starters, and elicit feedback from each team member. You also get a feature that can help limit social media distractions and encourage your staff to prepare for their meeting.

EXTENSION #12 – TODOIST

Todoist is a straightforward yet helpful task manager. It can help users monitor their projects and tasks by delegating or organizing them from your browser.

This extension is a terrific option for tracking multiple deadlines. After all, it can set due dates and help you prioritize specific tasks accordingly.

TAKE YOUR PRODUCTIVITY TO NEW HEIGHTS WITH GOOGLE CHROME

Streamlining office productivity isn’t just about providing your team with cutting-edge computers and advanced software. It also has to do with installing appropriate extensions on your web browser.

We’ve given you many options for Google Chrome with this article. It’s now up to you to decide which ones work best for your company. Remember that by incorporating them into your business, your workforce should become more efficient.

Give us a call if you want to find out other tips to help boost employee productivity. We can have a non-salesy chat about it.

Article used with permission from The Technology Press.

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Increasing Your Office Productivity With Streamlined Android Apps – The 3 Best Solutions

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February 6, 2022

4:49 pm

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Is your team also using their Android mobile devices to do their tasks? Incorporating an Android suite of apps into your workplace can dramatically improve productivity.  

Many organizations opt for Android to take their office productivity to the next level. After all, they can provide higher flexibility, better workflows, and efficient communication.

All sectors in your business can even benefit from a high-quality suite of Android apps.

For instance, your account representative can use an app to update client information while on sales calls instead of making notes and submitting the information later. This can save a lot of time and can reduce errors that can occur due to extra steps.

Another great thing about these apps is that they help reduce paperwork. Your team won’t have to wait until they go back to the office to fax, print documents, and maintain hard-copy files. They can perform these tasks on the go with less effort, all while also lowering ink, power, and paper consumption.

Numerous companies have gained a lot from using Android apps on their team’s devices, and you can reap the benefits, too. You just need to integrate a powerful yet intuitive suite of apps.

To help you do so, this article will detail the three best Android app suites for boosting office productivity.

THE THREE APPS

APP #1 – MICROSOFT 365

Unlike Microsoft Office (a one-time purchase), Microsoft 365 is a subscription service. With Microsoft 365, you don’t have to worry about paying full price when a new update rolls out.

Subscribers automatically gain access to new features, security updates, and tech support (at no additional cost). These can all be accessed through multiple PCs, tablets, smartphones, and Mac devices.

How many devices exactly? This depends on which Microsoft 365 plan you subscribe to. There are currently 4 business plans and 4 enterprise plans, so you can always tailor your subscription to optimize your return on investment.

Microsoft 365 is probably best described as a productivity hub. It provides much more than convenient access to the Office desktop apps that most people are familiar with: Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint.

Subscribers also gain access to a holistic suite of productivity-boosting features:

  • Inbuilt professional email and calendaring
  • Store and share files from multiple devices, with 1 TB of online storage per user.
  • Collaboration tools: Microsoft 365 Groups, Yammer, and Microsoft Teams
  • Advanced security and device management: Microsoft 365 Defender

You can also consider pairing Microsoft 365 with other productivity tools like Windows 365 (aka “Cloud PC”) and Windows Analytics.

There is also the option of integrating third-party apps with Microsoft 365 In September 2021, Microsoft unveiled third-party integration options for Salesforce and Atlassian’s Confluence Cloud. They join other popular third-party apps like Slack, Mailchimp, Trello, and Evernote.

APP #2 – GOOGLE WORKSPACE

Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) is probably Microsoft 365’s main competitor. Subscribers gain access to a suite of communication and collaboration apps.

These include worldwide favorites like Gmail, Gdrive, Google Meet, and Calendar, as well as Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, and more.

Google offers three business plans (Business Starter, Standard, and Plus) and one Enterprise plan (with custom pricing). Since you subscribe to Google Workspace on a monthly basis, there is more flexibility here. You can easily change from one plan to another each month if your business changes considerably over time. Furthermore, all Google Workspace plans feature a free 14-day trial. This is probably the best way to discover if a particular plan is worth the monthly price tag.

It is worth noting, however, that Google Workspace’s entry-level plan (Business Basic) only comes with a measly 30GB of storage per user. (Microsoft 365’s equivalent offers 1TB). Google Workspace’s Business Standard and Business Plus plans are nevertheless very competitive as far as storage is concerned. And both Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace allow you to buy more storage on a per-user basis if you exceed your current quota.

If your business needs specific apps that go beyond Google Workspace’s core and supporting apps, you can head over to The Google Workspace Marketplace. This directory of third-party apps contains hundreds of additional apps that are compatible with Google Workspace. For example, Dropbox, Trello, HelloSign, and MindMeister.

APP #3 – WPS OFFICE

WPS Office can be a huge boon in your workplace, supporting nearly 50 languages. It’s free to install and consists of Spreadsheet, Presentation, and Writer. You can also purchase more features.

Unlike the other apps, WPS Office can even convert PDF to WPS and read Adobe files. This app supports several file types, including HTML, TXT, PPTX, DOT, RTF, and DOC. All documents are compatible with Google Docs and Microsoft Office.

Furthermore, WPS Writer lets you securely store your documents with passwords. You can also edit your files without the risk of data loss due to the auto-save feature. Additionally, the app comes with a spell checker, comments, and it can track changes.

That said, WPS Writer might be the strongest app for boosting office productivity on the Android platform.

OPTIMIZE YOUR WORKPLACE WITH CUTTING-EDGE ANDROID APPS

While all three suites are an excellent choice for Android users, Microsoft 365 might be your best bet.

It delivers the tools necessary for fruitful collaboration, including Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint. The ongoing customer support is admirable, too, meaning you can overcome setbacks quickly. With that said, it is always best to carefully consider all your options before committing to a productivity suite for the long run.

Whichever app suite you choose, it is evident that addressing workplace productivity is pivotal. The trend towards digitization has influenced even the most skeptical and change-resistant.

Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of remote and hybrid working across multiple industries and countries. While everyone is undoubtedly looking forward to a post-pandemic future where the virus has finally been vanquished, it is evident that a new paradigm of work, management, and productivity will also be at hand.

If you wish to increase your business’s productivity and profitability, give us a call today. We can have a non-salesy chat to work out how we can be of help.

Article used with permission from The Technology Press.