XFER Blog

Running a business is like juggling flaming torches while riding a unicycle, blindfolded. You’ve got employees, customers, operations, and, of course, vendors. Vendors keep the gears turning, but if you’re not careful, those relationships can turn into a never-ending headache that eats up your time, money, and possibly your sanity. So how do you make sure your vendors work for you, rather than the other way around? Here’s how to get the most out of them without losing your mind.

Technology drives today’s businesses; if you haven’t embraced modern technology, you’re missing out. So much of what used to make business frustrating can now be done conveniently through technology, including many old analog tasks. Today, we want to highlight some ways you can use technology to seriously upgrade your company’s operations.

Imagine owning an elevator and only fixing it when it completely breaks down. Sounds ridiculous, right? Well, that’s basically what businesses do when they rely on a break/fix IT strategy.

Break/fix IT is exactly what it sounds like, you don’t call in the experts until something goes wrong. On the surface, it might seem like a way to save money, but in reality, it’s a recipe for stress, lost revenue, and major headaches. Let’s talk about why this approach just doesn’t make sense anymore.

A lot of businesses feel the pressure to jump on the latest and greatest tech out there. On the surface, that sounds like a smart move, who wouldn’t want cutting-edge tools? Just because something is new and shiny doesn’t mean it’s the right fit for your business, however. So, let’s take a step back and talk about how you can make smart tech decisions that actually give you a return on your investment.

People leave their jobs for all types of reasons. Sometimes they move on to different opportunities, sometimes they retire, and sometimes, the change is initiated by you. Regardless of the reason for their departure, they’re gone, and you have some loose ends to tie up before you can begin the process of finding their replacement. Let’s look at five things you need to do immediately when someone leaves your organization.

In business, you generally know better than to make promises to your clients or customers. After all, what happens when you can’t keep them? Well, today, we want to highlight a couple of promises that managed IT can make—with confidence—for your business.

Water cooling is a common method of keeping computing hardware at reasonable temperatures, particularly for gaming PCs, data centers, and similar high-demand applications. What if, however, a business used a similar method to keep their entire building climate-controlled?

Microsoft intends to do so in some new data centers, as many residences have begun implementing a version of this system.

Imagine this: a factory floor is silent, machines are turned off, and workers stand around with nothing to do. Or think of an office where employees sit idle because the computer system is down. This is downtime—a period when a business’ operations drag to a halt. While it might not seem like a big deal initially, downtime is one of the most significant drains on a company’s resources. In this month’s newsletter, let’s take a look at why this is.

With new tariffs on imports looming and Microsoft ending support for Windows 10 in the near future, now is the time to reconsider your organization’s hardware needs. 

While it might feel convenient to wait until the last possible moment, there are compelling reasons to act sooner—both for cost savings and to avoid future system vulnerabilities. We break down why these changes matter and how you can protect your business by upgrading now.

Look around and you’ll see that almost everyone is scrolling through social media. Whether it’s checking out funny memes, following the latest trends, or staying updated with friends, platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and X have become part of everyday life. It has also become a very important part of small business marketing efforts. This month, we take a look at how social media is a great and useful tool for small businesses. 

With the many issues that arise day by day, it’s no small feat to stay productive. Still, a team must be able to manage its various tasks and projects in an efficient way, and it can make all the difference in efficiently completing these tasks. Today, we want to examine why productivity is important and how you can keep it high for your team.

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.

Relationships in business are just like relationships elsewhere in life: messy and sometimes chaotic, but generally good to foster. This goes for relationships with customers, vendors, and even your employees. Today, we want to look at how you can build better and stronger relationships for your business.

When you run a small business, there is a tendency to dream big. You think of expanding rapidly and finding success instantly. Unfortunately, this is probably not the reality. By keeping your expectations realistic, you can find that you will find consistency. In today’s blog, let’s take a look at how any manager or entrepreneur can keep their expectations realistic. 

We live in an era of constant upgrades. How often do you upgrade your smartphone? Do you give the same attention to your business’ technology? Many users ignore clear signs that it’s time for an upgrade, telling themselves, “I’ll manage just fine.” This mindset can be a problem. Knowing when old devices are slowing you down and upgrading to newer, stronger ones is very important.

How many vendors are you managing? Probably quite a few. Now, think about how much time you spend on each one. What if you could reduce that time to almost nothing? We have some great news for you.

Many organizations have become reliant on cloud computing, which provides many benefits like cost savings and access to computing resources. However, they do run into complications with data security. One way to gain control and maintain accessibility is to use a private cloud. We’ll discuss why a business would consider using the private cloud over the more affordable public cloud platforms available today.

Businesses are constantly seeking the best ways to utilize their data. Whether developing a business intelligence strategy, integrating artificial intelligence, or conducting simple analytics, having accurate and reliable data is crucial. Without it, insights can be misleading and costly. Therefore, understanding how to scrub or clean your data is essential. Clean data is vital for anyone involved in business intelligence or AI. Today, we will explore this topic and provide a simple guide to get you started.

Adversity is pervasive throughout business. Every administrator, manager, and employee deals with some form of adversity during the course of business. Overcoming these problematic scenarios is key to keeping operations running efficiently and creating the environment to keep adversity at bay. Let’s look at some of the strategies it takes to rise up against the adversity you may (and probably will) encounter in business.