The Best Ways to Use the Internet of Things in Business

Internet of things, IOT, Productivity, , ,
26
Jun 2018

The Internet of Things (IoT) has revolutionized the way we do business thanks to the accessibility on offer, but are you getting the best out of it?

More and more organizations are using IoT devices to help improve their business operations and it’s estimated that around 31 billion IoT devices will be in use by 2020. The aim of these IoT devices, in business, is to maximize productivity and help organizations deliver fantastic customer experiences. Understanding how they can achieve these objectives, however, isn’t as simple as just plugging the devices in and letting them get to work.

To help you appreciate which areas of your business they can improve, we’ve put together a list of the best ways to use the IoT in business.

Analytics

Due to the vast range of IoT devices now available, it’s possible for businesses to measure and analyze almost anything you can imagine. Say, for example, you want to understand the usage of forklift trucks in your warehouse. Sure, you could ask people in the warehouse for anecdotal evidence, but this would only be a rough estimate. If, however, you have an IoT sensor which measures movement, you can calculate some seriously precise data. And, with this data, you can then analyze it more closely and determine much more effective solutions for improving your forklift usage.

Understand Your Customers

Many IoT devices allow you to monitor the behavior of your customers and this gives you a significant edge in understanding their preferences. By collecting based on your customers’ usage of your products, you can begin to build a list of insights which detail their exact needs of your customers. This gives you the opportunity to enhance your products and make them much more beneficial to your customers in future. Accordingly, customers are more likely to stay loyal due to the enhanced experience.

Asset Management

Tracking and maintaining assets has always been a difficult task for businesses, but the IoT has opened up new opportunities that promise to make it easier than ever before. Temperature monitoring devices, for example, can be installed into refrigerators and data then transmitted to an online portal. This can provide immediate and instant reference data all in one place so, if you work in a store with numerous refrigerators, you can immediate see how they are performing without having to go and check each individual unit.

Enhance Your Supply Chain

A good supply chain is crucial for good business and the IoT can deliver some amazing benefits for your supply chain. The IoT allows constant updates to be logged regarding your supply chain and this ensures excellent visibility for stock and products. Delays on parts and other stock issues can be identified exceptionally quickly and this means that these problems can be solved and improved just as quickly. With a more efficient supply chain in place, you’ll also be able to deliver a much better customer experience.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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What are the Benefits of Upgrading Your Hardware?

hardware, Repairs and Upgrades, Security, upgrade hardware, , ,
05
Jun 2018

Upgrading hardware can be a costly affair, so it’s often easier to stick with your existing hardware. How many benefits, though, are you missing out on?

New hardware is constantly being released, but there are two main reasons that organizations shy away from investing:

  • The initial costs are deemed too high when the current hardware can meet a certain level of performance
  • The downtime involved in installing new software is a major turnoff due to the break in productivity it can cause

However, aside from these necessary evils, upgrading your hardware can bring a wide range of benefits that your organization cannot ignore. To help you understand why upgrading could make a real difference to your productivity, here’s a list of the benefits:

Enhanced Performance

New hardware will almost always be quicker and more productive than your existing hardware. Technology advances at such a rapid pace that external hard drives hold more storage space than ever, printers print more sheets per minute and servers can operate at much higher speeds. With this increase in productivity, your organization can achieve more and increase the time available to advance your operations even further.

Increased Security

Cyber security is becoming more and more important, so it’s no surprise to find that it’s become a major selling point of new hardware. Not only is new hardware protected from all existing threats, hackers are unfamiliar with these new systems. Therefore, there’s less chance of them becoming vulnerable to security threats for a significant period of time. Additionally, support will be available for new hardware for much longer than your existing technology.

Downtime is Reduced

While it’s true that installing new hardware results in a certain amount of downtime, new hardware will actually reduce your organization’s IT downtime in the long run. Older hardware becomes less reliable over time and this is why crashes on older systems can easily become commonplace. However, with hardware upgraded, you’ll soon discover how your downtime is reduced due to the increased reliability of your new hardware.

Better Communications

Upgrading hardware can seriously boost your organization’s ability to communicate. Video conferencing software, for example, has now expanded into 4K technology and this not only looks fantastic, but also allows your organization to communicate clearly and professionally. And when it comes to communication technology, you want to be using the very best to engage with your staff and your customers.

Better Experience for your Employees

Your employees want to be using the best technology as it makes their jobs easier and more productive. Say, for example, your network is prone to lags in speed, this is going to seriously frustrate your employees who are unable to connect to certain applications. However, with upgraded hardware you’re enhancing your employees’ experience. No longer is there any delay in completing tasks and, as a result, they can achieve more than ever in a timely manner.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

 

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5 Ways to Keep Your PC Running Cooler and Faster

Office IT,
24
Jan 2017

pc-running-faster
Modern PCs and processors are capable of great performance, but did you know that they can run even faster and achieve more if you keep them cool?

Now, I’m not suggesting that you move your PC into the refrigerator, but reducing the temperature of your PC by just a few degrees can really optimize its performance. And, whilst some of the methods require a little bit of investment, many are cost free.

I’m sure you want to get started optimizing your PC, so here’s 5 ways to keep your PC running cooler and faster.

  1. Good Air Flow is Crucialdeep-blue-project8

One of the most common causes for a PC to start underperforming is a lack of adequate air flow; this lack of airflow is usually caused by restricted space issues e.g. pushing the PC into a tight corner or cramming it in between shelves.

Now, whilst this may save you valuable real estate, it’s also going to prevent the free flowing movement of air. And this leads to high ambient temperatures around and in your PC, so it’s essential that you make sure there’s enough breathing room around it to work in a comfortable temperature.

  1. Upgrade to a Better Cooler

All PCs come installed with parts such as heatsinks and fans to help reduce the internal temperature of your PC. However, these are only ever good enough to do the bare minimum and this means you can never push your PC to its full potential.

For the cost of just $40 – $50, though, you’ll find that you can invest in highly effective replacements than the standard specs already cooling your PC. And, once these are installed, you’ll find that you get a faster performance from your PC and an increased lifespan.

  1. Check Your Power Supply

If your PC has started to run slowly then it’s a good idea to check your power supply. Not many people know this, but there’s a fan built into your PCs power supply to help remove hot air. And, if this has failed, the internal temperature is going to rise very quickly.

If you put your hand behind your PC and can’t feel air being blown out of the case then there’s a good chance you’ll need to replace the power supply.

  1. Keep Your PC Clean

Dust may seem like nothing more than irritating specks that make your desk look untidy, but dust can soon accumulate within a PC and leave your heatsinks and fans struggling to work. This leads to an increase in temperature and a decline in performance.

That’s why you need to remove the casing from your PC once a month to blow it through with air in a can to remove dust from all components. You may be tempted to use a vacuum cleaner as it will appear to be more effective, but it’s more likely that you’ll cause damage trying to get into all the tight spaces in your PC.

  1. Water Coolingmagnetic-cooling-header

Water and computers aren’t two things that usually work well together, but the option of water cooling may be the solution to your temperature problems, particularly if you’re running a high end PC with a busy processor.

By pumping a stream of cool (and enclosed) water down to your processor, a water cooling system can remove the heat from this area and transfer the heat out of your computer. And the good news is that it’s a relatively cheap option with kits costing around $60 – $70 more than capable of making a temperature difference.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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Diagnosing 3 Simple PC Problems

hardware
03
Jan 2017

image2

There are many problems you can experience with a PC, but you may be surprised to learn that many of these can be diagnosed by yourself.

It’s always useful if you can diagnose the problem that your PC is having as it allows you to start working on a solution. And that means you can get back to doing the important things on your PC.

That’s why I’ve decided to gather together some of the simplest tests you can do to get to the bottom of three of the most common PC issues, so let’s take a look.

1. An Application Is Running Slowly or Not Responding

It’s always frustrating when that application you desperately need isn’t working correctly, so it’s essential for your stress levels that you know what to do in this situation.

When an application is running slowly then it’s possible that it’s not loaded correctly, so the simplest solution here is to close the application and restart it. However, if this doesn’t correct the problem then there’s a good chance that one of the files has become corrupted. Therefore, in this instance, it’s best to head to the developer’s website to check for any available updates that can be downloaded and installed.

If, however, you’re unable to even close your troublesome application down, then you need to do something a little different first. By holding down the control, alt and delete keys at the same time, you can bring up the Task Manager window which lists all the applications which are currently running; all you have to do here is click the application in question and click ‘End Task’ to exit the application.

2. PC Is Not Turning On

Sometimes you’ll go to turn on your PC, but that power button just isn’t responding. It’s a common fault, but many PC users fail to grasp the fact that the actual problem may be ridiculously simple.

First off, always check the power cord as this can easily become disconnected from your PC. Even if it’s just worked its way out slightly, then your PC will not turn on.

Another good thing to investigate is the plug socket that the PC is plugged into as these can sometimes develop faults. Try plugging a different device into the plug socket to see if this springs into life. If there’s no response then it indicates an issue with the plug socket, so may require the intervention of an electrical engineer.

And, if it’s a laptop, it may be that the battery is not charged or it can no longer take a charge and needs replacing – usually there should be an indicator light to show that the battery is charging.

3. Entire System Is Running Slowlyslow-computer

PCs are capable of running many different tasks at work thanks to their memory capabilities, but sometimes you’ll find your PC slowly grinding to a halt and barely able to get a drop down menu to work. Often, this will be down to one or more applications hogging the memory, so you need to identify which applications are causing this and then start rectifying this issue.

Again, you need to go through the control, alt and delete key hold to bring up the Task Manager window. Once there, click on the performance tab to view your CPU usage – if this is rising above 60% then there’s a good chance that your PC is going to start struggling.

And to identify which application is causing your issue you then need to head to the Processes tab of Task Manager. This will list all the applications currently running and if you click on the Memory tab you can sort by the most memory hungry applications. If, for example, it shows that Firefox is using 400,000K of memory, but you’re not using it then it indicates a pointless memory drain, so click End Process to free up some valuable memory.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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Windows 10 Performance Summary

Software,
16
Sep 2015

mini_magick20150826-1286-laczp5

Windows 10 has been released and promises to improve your PC experience like never before, but how does Windows 10 performance compare against 7 and 8.1?

Now, Windows 8.1 certainly scored highly when it came to outperforming Windows 7, but the flat design aesthetics certainly riled a few consumers in terms of looks an usability.

Windows 10, therefore, presents the perfect opportunity for Microsoft to push the performance of Windows that little bit further and improve on its aesthetic appeal.

To get a better understanding of what Windows 10 can offer consumers, we’re going to compare it against its two predecessors.

Powering Up

Windows-8-vs-Windows-7-Speed-Performance-Testing-1

Waiting for a PC to boot up used to be an agonizingly long affair where you had enough time to go and make a coffee! Boot up speeds, thankfully, have improved, but still aren’t perfect and consumers are willing to invest in anything which speeds up this process.

The speed in which a PC can boot up is always going to depend – to some degree – on the hardware involved, but operating systems also contribute towards this result.

And whilst it’s no surprise that Windows 8.1 boots up in 4 seconds compared to Windows 7’s 5 seconds, you may be surprised to find that Windows 10 is the slowest of all three with 6 seconds. It may be a barely noticeable difference, but it doesn’t indicate progress.

Due to the energy conscious world we live in, the sleep option for PCs has been widely celebrated. It’s here that Windows 10 really starts performing by taking just 10 seconds to wake up compared to 12 and 17 seconds for Windows 8.1 and 7 respectively.

Finally, waking up from hibernation tells a similar story with Windows 10 taking 21 seconds as opposed to 23 and 27 seconds Windows 8.1 and 7 respectively.

Application Responsiveness

The digital world is an incredibly busy place these days, so any time saving benefits are welcomed with open arms by all PC users.

Windows 10, therefore, you would expect to take note of this modern ire and build on its predecessors’ performances.

Somewhat bafflingly, though, Windows 10 does not take the initiative of improving the application experience with a significant increase in speed. In fact, the majority of applications appear to run slightly faster on Windows 8.1 and 7

Storage Performance

7299_02_microsoft-windows-10-vs-8-1-storage-performance-analysis

Everyone wants to have their hard drive working as quickly as possible be it either reading or writing data, so how does Windows 10 perform in this arena?

Depending on the hard drive being tested, Windows 10 does outperform Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 (where applicable) in terms of faster read/write speeds, but this success certainly varies between models.

The World of Entertainment

In terms of synthetic performance such as CPU and graphics card performance, Windows 10 performs very strongly against Windows 8.1 and Windows 7.

What this means for the average user is that leisure activities such as gaming, watching movies and ripping/burning movies becomes that little bit quicker when you’ve got Windows 10 at your disposal.

Again, though, Windows 10 doesn’t always outperform Windows 8.1 and Windows 7, but certainly matches and holds its own in comparison tests.

Is Windows 10 Worth the Upgrade?

Whilst we can’t state that Windows 10 bursts out of the starting blocks into an unassailable lead, we can tell you that it’s quicker than its predecessors in some key areas such as waking up, storage and entertainment options.

Sure, it’s not perfect by any means, but it’s a very new release and previous versions of Windows have always gone on to improve and optimize their performance with the latest updates.

If you’re running Windows 7 or 8.1, though, it’s fine to carry on running with these systems for now as they will deliver solid performance, but the more bleeding edge user will be looking to upgrade to Windows 10.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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