With Canada solidly in a "second wave" situation and Alberta's infection rates soaring, businesses have good reason to be concerned. Do you know how your business will survive if a key person on your team needs to quarantine for 2 weeks or worse? Does your business...
Work
Google Meet moving to compete with Zoom
Early in the pandemic, all the virtual meeting platforms: Google Meet, GoToMeeting, Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, and Zoom, found themselves in a gold rush. Zoom was the early leader--in part because of price: a freemium version allowed group meetings of up to 40...
Can Remote Work Reduce Your Business’ Operating Costs?
Remote work is a new reality for many businesses. Perhaps you feel it was forced upon you and is a challenge to manage and monitor. Like any change, remote work models are unsettling. But as a change, it can also be a disruption in a good way. Having workers show up...
Work from Home May Be Here to Stay
Out of 3.4 million Canadians were told to work from home early in the Corona virus lockdown. 3/4 of those were still working from home in August according to Statistics Canada's latest Labour Force Survey. Having hired back workers over the 5 months since April,...
Malware Email is on the Increase: Protect Your Business with Email Quarantines
Google is a security conscious company. I almost never get unfiltered spam or phishing attacks in my regular inbox.* By default, Google sends suspicious mail to the Junk E-mail folder (if it looks like spam but doesn't seem to contain anything harmful), or Google...
Google? No Thanks; We Use Microsoft (Part-1)
Someone recently said this to me and it got me thinking. Some people are loyal to a particular brand. Some families and even entire communities won't buy any truck if it isn't a GMC and no one can convince them otherwise. I get that some people don't like using...
QNAP NAS appliances at risk of malware
Does your business use a QNAP Network Attached Storage (NAS) device? If so, the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) urges you to update the firmware to the latest release level. Hackers released a malware known as QSnatch in 2019 targeting QNAP...
Copying Files from Home and Office
So you're spending your time between home and office these days (or if you're lucky the lake and the office). How do you get any work done when all your files are on the office server? In an ideal world, your business would support you by: Using a distributed...
Hate-hacking, Zoom Bombing and Working Remotely in the Era of BLM
Working remotely has become the preferred technique of many businesses as they pivot to serving clients and customers in the age of COVID-19. Moving to a hybrid work environment with some employees working from home while others continue working out of the office...
Paying for Dropbox AND Zoom?
A basic Zoom subscription is $14.99/month. Dropbox is $12.99 (with a yearly commitment). Together, storing your documents in the cloud so your entire team can access them, and video conferencing with clients and colleagues is $28/month/user plus taxes. Google has just...
Google Meet is Now Free for EVERYONE!
Looking for a Great, Secure, Affordable option to Zoom? Google just announced that it is making Google Meet FREE for EVERYONE! Why consider Meet? Meet is part of Google's Business Suite. It is reliable and easy to use. You don't need to install an app to use it on...
What’s this Buzz about Zoom? What Else is There?
In a time when we are starved for human connections in our personal lives and virtual meeting options in our business lives, Zoom came along. It was slick and well marketed. Sure the free version was limited to 40 minute calls if you had a party of 3 or more, but it...