Datalyst Blog

When something goes wrong with your company’s technology, the last thing you want to do is be the one at fault. Unfortunately, that’s what comes with the territory in the world of business IT. If you’re sick of technicians who make excuses rather than own up to their mistakes and correct their course, read on. We’re going to showcase just what accountability in IT looks like and how we strive to embody it.

Let me ask you something… Do you know just how much IT downtime costs? For SMBs, it’s typically between $427 to over EIGHT GRAND an hour. Imagine your whole workforce just chillin' because the Internet's down, meanwhile deadlines are getting missed, customers are getting ticked off, and opportunities are disappearing. That's a nightmare, man. 

This is why you need to do what you need to do to keep your business up and running.

All around the world, fathers and father figures are celebrated this weekend for what they provide to those who call them “Dad.” One of their gifts is the advice they offer to help us all navigate life more safely and successfully—something we strive to provide to all the businesses we work with to support their essential technology.

In light of Father’s Day being this Sunday, we wanted to emulate fathers everywhere and present some IT best practices phrased as the kind of advice these role models so often provide.

Is your business data hard to get to, like it's locked away and only a few people have the key? That can really hold your business back. Imagine if everyone on your team could easily use all the data you create and collect to make better decisions, faster. That's what data democratization is all about, and it’s a powerful tool. In today’s blog we briefly discuss how it works. 

In any professional services firm—whether advising on law, managing finances, designing structures, or developing business strategies—the core value lies in specialized knowledge and trusted expertise. Delivering this value effectively for these types of organizations relies heavily on a powerful technology.

For years, Facebook was the undisputed king for businesses seeking online engagement. Its massive user base offered unparalleled reach, connecting companies with billions globally. Sophisticated tools allowed precise audience targeting based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. Businesses effectively built brands, fostered communities through direct interaction in comments and groups, drove website traffic, and even handled customer service, often benefiting from significant organic visibility.

However, as time has passed, the landscape has dramatically shifted.

Starting a new business is an exciting journey, but making the right technology choices is crucial for long-term success. A solid IT plan ensures smooth operations, security, and scalability. This month, we teach you some ways you can go about building one.

Your Point of Sale (POS) system does more than ring up sales, it’s the control center that keeps your entire operation running. From processing payments to managing inventory and generating reports, it plays a vital role in your daily business flow. Like any technology, a POS system can get old, glitchy, or just fall behind. If you’ve been questioning whether yours is still doing the job, here are five clear signs that it’s time to move on and upgrade to something better.

There are plenty of reasons why a business might lose some or all of its data, ranging from cyberattacks to hardware failure. Unfortunately, there isn’t any real reason your business won’t be one of the unlucky ones.

This makes it imperative that you prepare for this eventuality. Let’s discuss how to do so with the help of data redundancy.

Security should be at the top of any business owner’s list of priorities. While cybersecurity often gets the spotlight, physical security is just as critical; after all, if someone can walk in and steal your equipment, all the firewalls in the world won’t help you. Fortunately, technology has made it easier than ever to protect your business from physical threats. Here are some physical security technologies small businesses can use to keep their assets safe.

For businesses, one of the scariest threats out there is that of compliance fines for not holding up your end of the bargain with your customers’ data. But what goes into compliance, and what does it look like? We won’t be digging into the nitty-gritty of what these specific regulations require; rather, we’re performing a broad analysis of what businesses should be doing to ensure compliance, regardless of the protocol or the industry.

The modern business is more technologically driven than ever before, but there are some out there who haven’t embraced the benefits of technology and have alternatively chosen to stick with their more analog, tried and true methods. In today’s blog, we’ll discuss why technology is important and how to get started if your business is stuck in the 20th century.

Businesses run on collaboration, and thanks to technology, working together has never been easier. The right tools can make all the difference, helping teams communicate better, stay organized, and keep projects moving forward. Let’s go into the aspects that make some of the key collaboration tools businesses are using today work.

Imagine owning an elevator that you would only service if it broke down? Sounds ridiculous, right? Well, that’s exactly what businesses do when they rely on a break/fix IT strategy.

Break/fix IT means waiting until something goes wrong before calling in the experts. While this might seem like a cost-saving move, in reality, it’s a fast track to frustration, downtime, and lost revenue. Let’s break down why this approach makes no sense in today’s business world.

The entire purpose of modern IT is to improve the processes that work requires us to do. Today, we wanted to address a few business priorities—productivity, cybersecurity, and accessibility—that the right tech can help you accomplish, explicitly exploring how different tools can contribute to your success.

New technology is always a bit intriguing. It can also be scary for some. Business owners typically only see the cost, even if it presents solutions to their organizational problems and can err on the side of caution as to not too much strain on their budget. There are a couple of really cutting-edge technologies businesses can use today that can help them confront problems they have. Let’s take a look at them in today’s blog. 

With so many devices connecting to the Internet, it’s natural that a term would emerge for devices that don’t typically have Internet connection, but nowadays do anyway: the Internet of Things. Businesses can leverage the IoT to take advantage of incredible benefits, but these devices come with an inherent security risk. Why does the IoT matter for businesses, and what can you do to keep your organization secure?

Do you want superhuman productivity? Thankfully, it doesn’t take much to be more productive than the majority of workers out there, and a couple of small tweaks to your day can make a world of difference. Today, we’ll cover some strategies you can use for prioritization, time management, and focus, allowing you to get more work done.

Passwords are one of the best ways to protect your online accounts and information. Strong passwords are especially important for small businesses because weak ones can cause significant problems, like security breaches. Let’s break down how to create and manage passwords the right way.

Using AI is all the rage these days. Seemingly every opportunity software developers have to add some type of AI or machine learning technology into their offerings is being taken; not only for the benefits that it gives their customers, but also for the marketing clout it immediately provides. This month, we thought we’d go into some of the ways AI is helping create more dynamic software and if it really provides end user value or if it’s kind of a red herring used by developers to position their products better in a more competitive market.