By Northeastern State University | The Northeastern
Whether your business is growing or needs a computer upgrade, you may feel overwhelmed by the choices in today’s marketplace. Because many small businesses are budget-conscious, you might think you’re saving money by opting for the least expensive PCs on the market – designed for the general consumer – and/or by waiting to upgrade as long as possible.
Here's why both those approaches could end up costing more.

Time Is Money
Most people agree that the longer it takes to accomplish something, the more expensive it is for your business. For this reason, both newer computers and PCs designed for business can save you and your employees time, especially when completing complex tasks or using several applications at once.
Small business owners surveyed in one study estimated that computers older than five years made their employees 29% less productive.
Small business owners surveyed in one study estimated that computers older than five years made their employees 29% less productive. Businesses need a newer PC with the ability to use several open applications simultaneously, hour after hour, every day. Depending on your business, you and your employees may need to handle complex tasks, from graphics and video editing to data-heavy spreadsheets and advanced analytics.
For the power and speed to manage complicated tasks, computers built for business will work more efficiently, because they often have more random-access memory and more powerful processors. Business PCs offering a range of powerful CPUs plus capacity for more RAM are better equipped to handle a wide range of business tasks than consumer models.

Cybersecurity Is Essential
Now more than ever, it’s crucial to keep your data secure, especially sensitive customer information that they rely on you to safeguard. To keep data secure, businesses need the latest security features designed specifically for business purposes. Today’s business-class laptops often come with built-in security features, such as fingerprint readers. Many PCs built for business also ship with Windows Information Protection, which helps protect PCs against potential data leaks.

Versatility Is Key
While consumer PCs may offer cost savings, business PCs are far more varied and adaptable. There are many more configurations and forms within each model line to choose from, so you can select what works best for your business needs, employees and space limitations.
Your business may prefer a full-sized tower with easy access to add or swap out components like more memory or storage, or upgraded graphics cards or additional ports, as necessary. Or you might need mini PCs that can hide behind your monitor. For mobility and ease of use, your business might prefer traditional laptops, or a 2-in-1 option that combines qualities of a laptop and a tablet.

Business Pcs Are More Reliable
From the materials they're made from to how they're built, business PCs are designed and tested to handle sustained operation and constant use. Modern PCs with Windows 10 Pro are designed to be reliable for business uses and will likely last longer and handle more consistent usage than the average consumer market PC. Because PCs built for business are durable, they also typically offer longer warranties than their consumer counterparts, along with prioritized service.
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Business PCs Are Designed and Tested To Handle Sustained Operation And Constant Use.
While your initial outlay may be more for business PCs, it's likely that their better reliability and higher performance could result in a greater return on investment over their lifetime than a PC designed for the general consumer.

Try to find someone who has not “replied all” when meaning to send to only one individual. It’s embarrassing and can aggravate those people with more emails flooding their box. Another common email gaffe is misusing the CC and BCC fields in outgoing messages. This mistake can prove costly for business. You’ll have noticed those extra fields below the “To” field in your email client. CC stands for carbon copy, and BCC for blind carbon copy.

When you use CC, it’s like you’ve imprinted your message on an old blue sheet of carbon paper. The email copy sends to your To recipients as well as anyone you have CC’d. All recipients can see who else you sent your message to. This is a great way to encourage collaboration and accountability.
When you use BCC, your To recipient and anyone else you BCC’d gets the email, but you're not showing where you sent the message. This is for when you’re addressing a large group of contacts that may not know each other, or when you are sending a group message, but you want to respect the privacy of all your recipients.

The Blind Carbon Copy Nightmare
A big problem is using To or CC when meaning to use BCC. You inadvertently expose all your contacts’ email addresses. Personal contact information needs protection, and people’s privacy demands respect. You don’t want to make this mistake with a single or a few emails, or worse still hundreds or thousands of emails.
There are many examples of BCC blunders. West Ham United Football Club faces the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office fines for confirming all season ticket holders with email addresses in the CC field. In another example, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse was fined US$260,000 for exposing possible victims of child abuse in the same way.
Scotland's National Health Service messaged transgender patients with their addresses in the To field. Instead of using BCC, the sender used an open distribution list. This shared 86 Glasgow patient email addresses and, perhaps, patient names and dates of birth when the addresses incorporated those details. You can bet there were some heated replies to that message, although the reports didn’t share whether they were “reply all” or not.
Also, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on a real estate company employee mistakenly CC'ing 300 customer emails. A customer complained. The error resulted in a six-figure aftermath. Lawyers, a consulting firm, and eight full-time employees worked on a data breach response plan for weeks.

What’s Better Than BCC
Any CC or BCC blunder could be a data breach. Take care. Don’t risk the loss of customer trust and possible compliance issues.
When you need to send out an email to a large group of people when you’re not necessarily expecting a response, use mailing software such as Mailchimp. Email marketing platforms send an individual copy of your message to every person on your mailing list, so there’s no risk of your contact list being exposed.

Need help setting up your email client or getting up to speed on an email marketing platform? We can help. Contact us today at 715-255-0325!
 

Banks and credit card companies are making it easier for us to get money on the go. We can check account balances, pay bills, and transfer funds online. We no longer even have to go into a bank or visit an ATM to deposit checks. But are you banking online safely?

In the past, all we had to do was protect our PIN number (and remember it). Now, we need a mobile account password, too. The first precaution you can take is to have a strong, unique password. Can you believe that “password,” “123456,” and “letmein” remain common access credentials? Don’t do it! Also, avoid using things that a cybercriminal might guess or be able to learn from your social media. This eliminates anniversaries and birth dates, pets, and children’s names.

Don’t reuse your banking password anywhere else. Sure, if you duplicate the password, it’s easier for you to remember, but, a bad actor could access your credentials for another site. Then, they have that same email and password combo to use to try on your banking or credit card site, too.
It’s also not a good idea to write down your passwords or keep track of them on a note in your phone. If you’re worried about remembering all your passwords, consider a password manager. A high-quality password manager can be a safe way to keep your passwords secret yet available. Top password managers use secure encryption for your access credentials.

Make sure you’re only banking using your own, secured devices. This means don't check your balance or whether a payment cleared while in line at the coffee shop or in the airport. Don’t risk banking using a public Wi-Fi network that a hacker could be accessing to steal sensitive data. You also want to avoid using shared computers to login to your financial data. A cybercafe or library computer could have a keylogger that tracks your login details for criminal use.

Watch out for phishing emails that look like they come from your bank, credit card company, or a tax agency. Criminals send urgent emails warning of strange activity or that you’re being audited to get you to react. Don’t click on any link or download any attachments in an email that appears to be from a financial institution – they don’t send private data directly in emails these days. They will send you to a secure inbox on their site. Always type the institutions’ Web address into the address bar. Otherwise, you might go to a fake, mirrored site that looks legitimate but will rip you off.

Added security for online banking
Two-factor authentication can help protect your financial accounts. Various banks will set it up differently, but you should definitely take the time to set this up. You might have to identify an image you selected besides using your password. Or you might need to enter a code sent to another device (such as a text message to your phone).
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The second level of authentication can be an annoyance in our convenience-first society. Still, it keeps your accounts secure, even if cybercriminals access your password.
You work hard for your money, and you don’t want a cybercriminal taking control of or emptying out your financial accounts.