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College has changed since many of us were students. Years ago, we’d be shuffling from class to class, holding a single notebook and a pencil for scribbling down notes. There wasn’t as big a risk of photos or data being stolen online. 

That’s no longer the case. Students today have at least one – usually two or three – devices readily available. The scary part is, most college-age students think of themselves as tech-savvy “digital natives”; however, a study by Atlas VPN showed that Gen-Zers and millennials are the age groups most likely to fall for phishing scams. 

In fact, according to the National Cybersecurity Alliance, 20% of Gen-Zers have had their identity stolen at least once. 

Here are just a few of the terrifying ways cybercriminals attack this young crowd: 

• Unpaid tuition notifications – scammers will send fake e-mails to students claiming they owe a certain amount of money or it’ll affect their enrollment.
   
• Fake financial aid, grant or scholarship websites that, when clicked, either steal their information or install malware on their computer.
   
• Fake Wi-Fi accounts set up by hackers in public places to steal passwords and private data when their device connects.
   
• Social media scams used to gather private information to either hack accounts or set up new ones.
  

• Hacking phones or social media accounts to steal photos and blackmail students into payment so they don’t release them publicly. 

Sadly, the list goes on and on! 

How can kids raised on technology fall for so many scams? Here are just a few of the big reasons why: 

• Hackers know most students aren’t properly educated on cyberthreats because they’ve always worked on computers that were secured by the school or their parents
• They grew up using social media and feel comfortable divulging private information about themselves (that thieves can harvest and later use to initiate an attack).
• This is a big one – they have no or very little credit, giving cyberscammers a smoother path to opening accounts in their name.
• They have multiple connected devices like phones, laptops, tablets and watches that give criminals more avenues to attack. 
  
• College kids are distracted. They’re focused on school and making friends, and NOT cyber security, making it easy to let a cybercriminal slip by undetected until it’s too late. 

What can you do? 

We have robust cyber security solutions and 24-hour monitoring to protect the businesses that we work with and can even recommend at-home security software, but what about when your kids go off to school, away from your watchful eye? 

You certainly can’t pack up and camp out at college to make sure they’re following cyber security best practices. But you can make sure they know what to look out for and give them the tools and resources to stay as safe as possible. 

Here are 14 actions your child can take to prevent being a victim of cybercrime when they’re off at college: 

1. Invest in strong, trusted virus and spyware protection and run scans once a week.
2. Never click “Remind Me Tomorrow” when a phone or computer wants to update. Turn on automatic updates when possible.
3. Keep all browsers, extensions and operating systems updated.
4. Back up the computer to the cloud regularly to avoid losing data if there is an attack.
5. Do not visit or enter credit card information on websites that aren’t secure (HTTPS:// only!).
6. Don’t connect to public Wi-Fi. Use a personal hotspot or VPN when on the go.
7. Beware of phishing scams. Do not click links or open attachments in e-mails, especially from unknown senders. Google websites and search instead of clicking links.
8. Use strong, unique passwords and use a password manager.
9. Regularly delete cookies. These can create “loopholes” for hackers to get into a network.
10. Only install software and apps from trusted sources.
11. Use multifactor authentication.
12. Lock all devices and don’t share passwords, even with your new best friend.
13. Cover all webcams – there are stickers for purchase online, but tape and paper will work.
14. Register devices with the school in the event they are stolen. 

Run through this list with your children! When students leave for college, cyber security is not a priority for them, but unfortunately, if they’re targeted it could negatively impact their lives at a time when they’re just getting started. 

Cyber security takes just a few minutes of conscious effort but is a critical lesson to learn in this age when nearly everything we do involves technology. The risks of cybercrime will only continue to grow. 

If your organization could benefit from cyber security training similar to this but more in-depth for employees, so they know the risks and best practices of cyber security, we can help. Start with a completely FREE Cybersecurity Risk Assessment by clicking here.

Cybercriminals know the easiest way to sneak under your radar is to pretend to be a brand you know and trust. These large companies have spent years on marketing, customer service, branding and consistency to build a trustworthy reputation, and hackers leverage this to go after you. 

 The most common method is to use phishing attacks. These thieves set up URLs that look scarily similar to the real company’s website. To slip by your watchful eye, here are some of the simple switches hackers make that can go unnoticed: 

1. Switching out a zero for the letter “O” or a capital “i” for a lowercase “L.” If you’re quickly reading an e-mail, it might look legit.
2. Adding in a word that seems like it could be a subdomain of the real company, like “info@googleservice.com.”
3. Using a different domain extension, like “info@google.io.” 

Some criminals will take it a step further and set up a web page that looks identical to that of the real website. When you click the link – via e-mail, SMS or even through social media – several dangerous results can occur. 

The first is that malware can be installed on your computer. Clicking a bad link can set off an automatic malware download that contains malicious files with the ability to collect personally identifiable information from your device, like usernames, credit card or bank account numbers and more. 

The second is the fake website will have a form to harvest your information. This could be login credentials, passwords and, in some cases, your credit or bank information. 

The third most common issue is an open redirect. The link might look legit, but when you click on it, you’re redirected to a malicious website where the intent is to steal your information. 

What brand impersonations do you need to look out for? Well, all of them, but according to Check Point’s latest Brand Phishing Report, there are 10 companies that top the chart in overall appearance in brand phishing attempts. 

Here Are The Top 10 Most Frequently Impersonated Brands In Phishing Attempts In Q2 Of 2023: 

1. Microsoft (29%) 
2. Google (19.5%) 
3. Apple (5.2%) 
4. Wells Fargo (4.2%) 
5. Amazon (4%) 
6. Walmart (3.9%) 
7. Roblox (3.8%) 
8. LinkedIn (3%) 
9. Home Depot (2.5%) 
10. Facebook (2.1%) 

Take a minute and ask yourself how many of the companies on this list send you regular e-mail communications. Even just one puts you at risk. 

Cybercriminals go the full mile with these scams. They know what types of messages work best for each company to get your attention. 

Here are three common phishing attacks cybercriminals have used under these brands’ good names to gain access to your private information. 

1. Unusual Activity – These types of e-mails will suggest that someone gained access to your account and you need to change your password quickly. They leverage fear so people will click without thinking, hurrying to change their password before they’re a victim of the attack.They usually have buttons that say, “Review Recent Activity” or “Click Here To Change Your Password.”

   These e-mails can go as far as to show fake login information detailing the region, IP address, time of sign-in and more, like real messages from the companies do to convince you to click.
     

2. Fake Gift Cards – These e-mails suggest that someone sent you an e-gift card. When you open the e-mail, they either redirect you to a website to “claim your gift card” or have a button to “redeem now.”
    
3. Account Verification Required – These e-mails suggest that your account has been disconnected, and they need you to verify your information. As soon as you enter your login credentials, the hacker has access.

These scams are happening every single day. You’re a target, but so are the unsuspecting employees in your company. Without proper training, they might not know what to look for, panic and try to resolve these “issues” under the radar, ultimately causing the problem. 

There are multiple steps to making sure your network is secure. One would be getting e-mail monitoring to help reduce the likelihood of these phishing e-mails ending up in your inbox. It’s also important to make sure employees know what to look for so that if an e-mail does get by the phishing detection system, they can still keep your company safe. 

The best thing to do is to start here with your FREE Cybersecurity Risk Assessment. We’ll evaluate your network and provide a full report on areas where you are vulnerable and what to do to fix them. There’s no obligation, but you should know where you’re at risk. Click here to schedule your assessment now. 

Back in May, the company MOVEit, a file transfer platform made by Progress Software, was compromised by a Russian ransomware operation called Cl0p. They used a vulnerability in Progress’s software that was unknown to exist at the time. Shortly after the attack was noticed, a patch was issued. However, some users continued to be attacked because they didn’t install it.  

The software is used by thousands of governments and financial institutions and hundreds of other public and private companies from around the world, and it’s been estimated that at least 455 organizations and over 23 MILLION individuals who were customers of MOVEit have had their information stolen. 

Some of the organizations compromised include: 

• The US Department of Energy 

• New York City Department of Education 
• UCLA 
• Shell 
• Ernst & Young 
• Northwest Mutual 

• Pacific Premier Bank 
• TransAmerica Life Insurance  
• Honeywell 
• Bristol Myers Squibb 
• Gen/Norton LifeLock 

• Radisson Hotel 
• BBC 
• British Airways 

The majority of those organizations (73%) are based in the US, while the rest are international, with the most heavily impacted sectors being finance, professional services and educational institutions. 

Cl0p is a type of ransomware that has been used in cyber-attacks since 2019. Data stolen is published to a site on the dark web – a section of the worldwide web where cybercriminals sell and trade information without having to reveal themselves. The ransomware and website have been linked to FIN11, a financially motivated cybercrime operation that has been connected to both Russia and Ukraine and is believed to be part of a larger umbrella operation known as TA505. 

What makes this attack so terrible is that many of the organizations compromised provide services to many other companies and government entities, which means it’s very likely their customers, patients, taxpayers and students were compromised by association. And yes, you’re probably one of them.  

The big question is, were you notified? 

For some reason, this breach didn’t make mainstream headlines, but when a company is compromised, they are obligated to tell you if your data was stolen. This can come in the form of an e-mail or snail mail letter. However, due to spam filters, e-mail delivery is clearly not a reliable way to ensure an important message is received, and organizing a letter for over 36 million people can take time. 

If you use the software, you need to ensure that all your passwords and PINs are changed ASAP and you must be on the lookout for any strange activity. Don’t use the same passwords and make sure they are at least 12 characters long, using uppercase and lowercase letters, as well as special characters and numbers.  

You should also ensure that MFA, or multi-factor authentication, is turned on for all critical software applications and websites you use, such as Microsoft Office, QuickBooks, banking and payroll software, your credit card processor, etc. 

Want to know if your company’s information is on the dark web? Click here to request a free Dark Web Vulnerability Scan for your organization (sorry, we don’t offer this for individuals). Simply let us know your domain name and we’ll conduct the search for free and contact you to discuss what was found via a confidential review (NOT via e-mail). Questions? Call us local at 480-464-0202 or toll-free 1-800 984-5204.

In June a popular file-sharing software amongst big-name companies likes Shell, Siemens Energy, Sony, several large law firms, a number of US federal agencies such as the Department of Health and more was hacked by Russia-linked cybercrime group Cl0p. Security Magazine reported that, to date, there are 138 known companies impacted by the breach, resulting in the personal information of more than 15 million people being compromised. More are expected to emerge as the investigation continues. 

If you’re reading that list of company names thinking, “I’m just a small business compared to these big guys – that won’t happen to me,” we’ve got news for you. Many of these companies have cyber security budgets in the millions, and it still happened to them, not because they were ignoring the importance of cyber security, but because of a piece of software they use to run their business.  

Progress Software’s MOVEit, ironically advertised as a tool you can use to “securely share files across the enterprise and globally,” “reduce the risk of data loss” and “assure regulatory compliance,” was exploited by a tactic called a zero-day attack. This occurs when there is a flaw in the application that creates a gap in security and has no available patch or defense because the software maker doesn’t know it exists. Cybercriminals quickly release malware to exploit the vulnerability before the software maker can patch it, essentially giving them “zero days” to respond.  

These attacks are dangerous because they are difficult to prevent and can quickly and easily ruin smaller businesses.  

Depending on the organization’s motives, the stolen data can be deleted, held for ransom or sold on the dark web. Or, if you are lucky enough to recover your data, you might still end up paying out thousands or more in fines and lawsuits, losing money from downtime and coming out on the other end with a damaged reputation that causes clients to leave anyway. In MOVEit’s case, the cybercrime agency Cl0p has claimed on their website that their motivation is purely financial and has allegedly deleted data obtained from government agencies as they were not the intended targets.  

What does this mean for small businesses?  

For starters, it underlines the harsh reality that cyber security isn’t just the concern of big businesses and government agencies. In fact, small businesses can be more vulnerable to cyber-attacks, as they often dedicate fewer resources to protection.  

It also means that even if your organization is secure, the third-party vendors you work with and the tools you choose to use in your business still pose potential risks. Most of MOVEit’s customers that were affected likely had strong cyber security measures in place. Even though it was no direct fault of their own, at the end of the day, those companies still must go back to their clients, disclose what happened and take the verbal, legal and financial beating that comes with a data breach.  

The MOVEit hack serves as a grim reminder of the critical importance of cyber security for businesses of all sizes. In the face of an increasingly sophisticated and fast-moving cyberthreat landscape, businesses cannot afford to ignore these risks. Cyber security must be an ongoing effort, involving regular assessments, updates, monitoring, training and more. As this terrible incident shows, a single vulnerability can lead to a catastrophic breach with severe implications for the business and its customers. 

In the digital age, cyber security isn’t just a technical issue – it’s a business imperative. 

If you have ANY concerns about your own business or simply want to have a second set of eyes examine your network for vulnerabilities, we offer a FREE Cyber Security Risk Assessment.  

Click here to schedule a quick consultation to discuss your current situation and get an assessment on the schedule.  

As a business owner, you know that continuous, steady growth is an essential part of success. When you’re ready to get serious about scaling your organization, several vital activities must happen. Documented workflows and processes, streamlined hiring, onboarding and training, well-oiled marketing systems and more top the list. One key but often overlooked element of scaling success that can make or break your efforts is leveraging technology to enhance operations quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively.  

One resource necessary for growth is the cloud. The cloud, which now integrates with numerous AI tools, giving it more capabilities than ever before, allows you to streamline and automate your operations without large, unnecessary investments. 

In this article we’ll cover what the cloud is, the major benefits you should take advantage of and how you can use it to grow your organization without overspending.  

The cloud is simply a global infrastructure of servers that gives you remote, on-demand access to computer system resources, including data storage, over the Internet instead of on your computer’s hard drive. With these capabilities, your business doesn’t need to invest in its own hardware or software licenses, allowing you to pay only for what you use when you use it. Software and hardware can be expensive, making this is a great solution for businesses in growth mode without unlimited budgets. 

How can the cloud help your organization? Here are 5 benefits to consider: 

1. Economies of Scale – As mentioned, with most cloud-based programs you can expand the services as your business grows. When revenue increases and you take on more clients, you can choose to upgrade your services or invest in new features or capabilities, so you never pay for more than you need at the time. It takes only a few clicks from an administrator.
2. Enhanced Collaboration – In a digital world, we need real-time access to tools for collaboration, no matter where our employees are. Cloud-based programs can typically be accessed anywhere in the world on any device by multiple members of the team simultaneously. This allows for colleagues to work on projects together even if they aren’t in a physical office or are in different time zones, increasing productivity all around.
3. Increased Automation – You can save money and your employees’ time by having cloud-based programs automate certain repeatable tasks such as regular backups, logging and monitoring networks, resource allocation and much more. Most business owners don’t know how many tasks they can automate or how much money and time they can save until they have an IT professional review their network.
4. Faster Access to Resources – With the cloud, your employees no longer have to wait for extensive downloads or installations. Most tools are readily available instantly, making it easier and faster to get work done.
5. Reduced Disaster Recovery Costs – Disasters rarely damage cloud-based data and assets that are hosted virtually on servers, not on hardware in the office. Your IT professional should have multiple backups of your data, so if something goes wrong, it will be easy to get it back up and running.  

Cloud-based programs are a great resource for business owners who want scale. They are easy to use, simple and flexible to expand, cost-effective, great for collaboration, more secure than other programs and much more.  

If you think you’re not harnessing all the power that cloud tools provide, you’re probably not. The best next step is to have an IT professional do an in-depth review of your current network to find the areas of opportunity in your business.  

We offer a FREE Network Assessment, where we’ll extensively review your network and sit down with you to review what should be done differently to save you money and enhance your business operations. If you’re serious about scaling and want to do it the right way, click here to book a Network Assessment with our team or call our office (local) 480-464-0202  (toll-free) 1-(800) 984-5204 to get a meeting on the schedule.  

You’ve all heard the stats – small businesses are the #1 target for cybercriminals because they’re easy targets, with a recent article in Security Magazine reporting that nearly two-thirds (63%) of small businesses have experienced a cyber-attack and 58% an actual breach. But what many still don’t understand (or simply don’t appreciate) is how much a cyber-attack can cost you. 

That’s why one of the fastest-growing categories in insurance is cyber liability. Cyber liability covers the massive costs associated with a breach, which may include the following, depending on your policy: 

• Legal fees to handle any number of lawsuits, including class action litigation against your organization, as well as fines and penalties incurred by a regulatory investigation by government and law enforcement agencies.
• Negotiation and payment of a ransomware demand.
• Data restoration and emergency IT fees to recover your network and get it operational again.
• Customer notifications and credit and identity theft monitoring for clients and employees.
• Public relations expertise and call center costs for taking inbound calls and questions.
• Loss of revenue related to being unable to transact; if your operations and data are frozen, you might not be able to process sales and deliver goods and services for days or weeks.
• Errors and omissions to cover liability related to a failure to perform and deliver services to customers, as well as allegations of negligence in protecting your customers’ data.

If you want to make sure you don’t lose everything you worked so hard for to a cyber scumbag, cyber liability is a very important part of protecting your assets.  

But here’s what you need to know: In order to get coverage, businesses are required by insurance companies to implement much more robust and comprehensive cyberprotections. Obviously, the insurers want the companies they are underwriting to reduce the chances and the overall financial impact of a devastating cyber-attack so they don’t have to pay out – and this is where you need to pay attention. 

MANY business owners are signing (verifying) that they DO have such policies and protections in place, such as 2FA, a strength of password requirement, employee awareness training and data recovery and backups, but aren’t actually implementing them, because they assume their IT company or person knows this and is doing what is outlined in the policy. Not so in many cases. 

Unless cyber security is your area of expertise, it’s very easy for you to misrepresent and make false statements in the application for insurance, which can lead to your being denied coverage in the event of an attack and having your policy rescinded.  

If you have cyber liability or similar insurance policies in place, I urge you to revisit the application you completed with your IT person or company to make absolutely certain they are doing everything you represented and affirmed you are doing. Your insurance agent or broker should be willing to assist you with this process since your IT company or person cannot be expected to be insurance professionals who know how to interpret the legal requirements outlined.  

What’s critical here is that you work with your IT company or person to ensure 100% compliance with the security standards, protocols and protections you agreed to and verified having in place when you applied for coverage. IF A BREACH HAPPENS, your insurance provider will NOT just cut you a check. They will conduct an investigation to determine what happened and what caused the breach. They will want to see tangible evidence and documentation that proves the preventative measures you had in place to ward off cyberthreats. If it’s discovered that you failed to put in place the adequate preventative measures that you affirmed you had in place and would continue to maintain on your insurance application, your insurance company has every reason to deny your claim and coverage.  

If you have ANY concerns over this – including whether or not you need coverage, whether your coverage is sufficient and whether you are doing what you need to do to avoid an insurance denial, click here to schedule a quick consultation to discuss your current situation and to receive a referral to a cyber insurance expert we recommend. 

Further, if you would like us to conduct a FREE cyber security risk assessment to show just how secure and prepared you are for ransomware or a cyber-attack, we can discuss that too! Just click here to schedule a phone consultation.  

On a recent interview about the Titan sub catastrophe, director of the movie Titanic James Cameron, who has made 33 successful dives to the Titanic wreckage site, pointed out that this tragedy is eerily similar to the 1912 Titanic disaster: the captain of the 1912 RMS Titanic was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship, yet he plowed ahead at full speed into an ice field on a moonless night, resulting in the deaths of over 1,500 innocent souls.  

The captain of the sub Titan and CEO of the company OceanGate, Stockton Rush, was also repeatedly warned about his vessel’s safety, lack of certification for the vessel’s integrity, lack of a tracking device (think airplane black box), their experimental approach to deep dives (despite the fact that this is a very mature and well-understood practice) and lack of a backup sub. He also proceeded to plow ahead at full speed, taking people in an extremely unsafe vehicle, also killing innocent people. If there was ever a case for willful negligence, this is it. 

When it comes to IT security and compliance for small business, this kind of willful negligence is rampant. Sometimes it ends with an abrupt, catastrophic “implosion,” as with the Titan, where a company is destroyed by a ransomware attack, operations shut down, unable to transact, employees and clients harmed and their reputation tarnished.  

In other cases, the risk is there but hasn’t been addressed because nothing bad has happened – yet. Willful negligence in IT security and regulatory compliance to data privacy and protection comes in three forms. 

The first is willful ignorance. Some people running a business are young and inexperienced, too new to the business world to understand the risks they are incurring by failing to protect their clients and themselves. Often, they are being advised by the wrong people – an IT firm that knows how to make their tech work but lacks the expertise to implement good security protections. You kind of can’t blame them for getting it wrong initially, but at some point they’ll get smacked with a cyber-attack and learn the error of their ways the hard way. 

The second type of willful negligence is willfully stupid.  

This group CANNOT claim “ignorance” as their defense. They KNOW they should be protecting their business and their clients’ data from cyber-attacks. They’ve heard the stories, they know the laws and may have been warned by their IT company or person, but foolishly believe “that can’t happen to us,” or choose to assume they’re “fine” because they are using a cloud application that promises compliance (which is correct for THEM, not necessarily for YOU). They trust but don’t verify that their IT person or company is actually doing what they’re supposed to, and often lack cyber liability insurance, choosing to take the risk because they’re cheap or can’t be bothered.  

The third type of willful negligence is, in my opinion, the TRUE meaning of willful negligence and the most immoral and unforgivable. Determined negligence. These people stubbornly insist on continuing to operate without proper security protocols in place, without a disaster recovery plan, without any insurance, without assessing and inspecting their environment, refusing to acknowledge ALL facts, history and evidence to the contrary. They know they are acting irresponsibly but don’t care.  

After the tragedy of the sub, multiple experts came forward to point out all the risky behaviors Rush was allowing. The hull had not gone through any type of cyclical pressure testing or thermal expansion and contraction testing. The hatch could only be opened from the outside and not the inside, which wouldn’t allow them to escape if needed in the event of an emergency – one small fire inside would have been catastrophic. No atmospheric system to monitor interior gases such as oxygen, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. No emergency air breathing system. The viewing window was only certified to 4,000 feet, not the 12,500 feet of the Titanic wreck. But the most egregious of all was an egotistical assumption by the CEO that he knew better than everyone else around him. 

I wonder if he put all of this in the brochure and explained that philosophy to the people in the sub who lost their lives that day. 

Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone has a moment in their lives when they place trust in someone they shouldn’t. Everyone has blind spots, and we’re all ignorant and misinformed about something. The question is do you STAY willfully ignorant or stupid to the point of being determined to hold steady to your course of action to the point where you not only do harm to yourself, but to others as well? 

If you do, it’s only a matter of time before you have your own ship sunk, your own personal Titanic-size wreck. Sadly, if you’re the CEO of a company that holds financial data, credit cards, medical records, tax returns, Social Security numbers, birthdays or even the contact details of your clients OR employees, YOUR willful negligence in cyber protection will absolutely harm others.   

Growing your business involves learning how to make money and hang on to it responsibly. When you’re in the weeds, it’s easy to think that a fancy piece of well-marketed software could help dig your way out. That’s usually not the case, and you’ll likely end up paying for software that you don’t need and barely use, and that burns through your bank account. 

On the other end, a few pieces of technology benefit most growing organizations. When set up and implemented correctly, these pieces of software can improve operations, increase efficiency and lend a hand to revenue-generating efforts. Investing in the right technology is not a wasted expense. However, with so many options, especially with the new wave of AI-powered digital tools, it can be challenging to decide which ones you need and which ones are distractions.

In today’s blog, we’re outlining five tech tools you should use to grow your business and a few that will only take up space.  

Tools To Use: 

• Direct Messaging Platforms – Whether everyone is in-office, remote or hybrid, a communication tool is a must. These tools allow for targeted communication that can be one-on-one, small, select groups, entire departments, channels within the organization or the entire organization. This feature helps to keep messages relevant instead of consuming everyone’s time. Tools like Microsoft Teams or Slack are popular options that offer video call capabilities, integrate with other tech tools, can leverage AI and more. Other critical factors to consider when choosing which software you’ll use are whether it’s high-speed, easy to use and scalable, and whether the company provides great support.  
  

• Project Management Software – This is essential for internal and external projects to keep you on track, on budget and organized. Using this tool, you can work with others on your team to set deadlines, assign tasks, monitor deliverables, track issues, connect with clients for feedback or approval and more. However, there are many options available that have more features than you need. When choosing project management software, first see if there are any industry favorites. For example, JobNimbus is specialized software for roofers in the contracting industry. Others exist specifically for health care. Finding these unique options can help you get the project solutions you need. If you’re looking for a general tool, software like Monday, Asana and ClickUp all continue to top the popularity chart. 
  

• Customer Relationship Management Software (CRM) – If you’ve been tracking leads and customers via pencil and paper or with a simple spreadsheet, this tool will change the game for you. CRMs allow you to store your customer information in one place, which can help streamline your sales process, strengthen customer relationships, increase sales and run a smoother operation. Again, look for industry-specific options first. After that, tools like Keap or Salesforce come highly recommended.
  

• Cloud Computing Solutions – These are vital for all organizations that share data or collaborate on projects. The cloud is a web-based hub that holds all your data virtually and can be manipulated by anyone with access at any time, even at the same time. It syncs to all connected devices to share changes in real time, allowing for better collaboration and scale-up as your company grows. Cloud platforms to consider are Microsoft Azure, Google Drive, Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Dropbox. 
  

• Cyber Security Solutions – Digital tools make running your company easier, but they invite new threats into your business. Cyber security is a serious issue for business owners. You handle sensitive data, financial information and more for you and your clients, so safeguarding it against cybercriminals is necessary. Computers, USBs, mobile devices, servers and networks must all be secured.  

 While there are antivirus and firewall solutions available for you to set up on your own, having an IT company with a cyber security expert on the team monitoring your network is recommended. Hackers break through the standard firewalls regularly, which leaves people who think they are protected unknowingly exposed. With 24/7 monitoring, an IT team can patch those holes before cybercriminals can find them. 

 Those are five tools all business owners would benefit from. But what about items you don’t need? Here are two you can avoid wasting money on. 

• Ineffective AI Tools – With the launch of ChatGPT, a wave of new AI-powered programs has popped up. It seems like there is an AI tool for everything. The problem is, can these tools be used effectively? Many programs were rushed to market and are still in the early stages of development. They have frustrating bugs and limitations and don’t produce quality results. 
  

Be selective about which AI tools you use. Do you need it? Does it work? Remember, whenever you sign up for another free trial or create an account, you’re giving your private information to a company that could experience a data breach. Choose carefully!  

• Duplicates – Are you paying twice for the same tool? As software companies merge and develop new features, you might find that you can consolidate your tools in one place. For example, if you’re using Canva to design images for social media and something else like Hootsuite to schedule them, you could reduce the number of tools you use from two to one because Canva can schedule the posts for you! There are likely other areas in your business where this can happen. Spend some time evaluating what you invest in to see if you can eliminate anything. 

 When it comes to running an efficient business, choosing the right tech tools is critical to your success. Instead of spending your limited time researching the best options, let our tech experts help. Using our FREE Network Assessment, we can help you identify bottlenecks and areas of opportunity in your business to help you save money, improve productivity and grow. Click here to book your free assessment now or call our team at 480-464-0202 to get started.