3 tech trends to look out for in 2023
It’s not easy knowing which new technology to adopt in your business so we’ve got a new video giving you 3 top trends to look out for in 2023.
8 tech trends that you need to be ready for
December is a month when many of us take time to plan for the year ahead.
But instead of looking at your forecasts for the next 12 months, we’d like you to think about what’s coming up over the next decade.
Will you keep up?
Will you choose the right tech?
Here’s our guide to the 8 tech trends that your business needs to be ready for.
Are your people Christmas shopping from work?
Almost half of people with social media accounts have admitted to falling for shopping scams. So if members of your team are doing a little last minute Christmas shopping from work, how can you be sure your business is protected?
New research shows that a massive 47% of people have clicked on links hoping to get a great deal, and instead ended up giving financial and personal details to cyber criminals.
That could mean they’re not only putting their own data and money at risk, but your device – and even your network – could be exposed, too.
It’s not just shopping scams that are fooling people online. Phishing links have tricked 36% of people into revealing personal data. Phishing is where you get an email that seems to be from a person or brand you trust, but it’s not.
Zoom wants to be the new Teams
You think Zoom, you think video calls. For millions around the world, it’s a tool they rely on at work every day.
But for productivity, collaboration and workplace integration (as well as video calls), it’s Microsoft Teams that’s leading the way. Its tight integration with other Microsoft 365 services makes it so easy.
Now Zoom is looking for a piece of that action with the launch of a whole suite of features and services. They’re clearly designed to take on Teams and Slack head-to-head.
These will include email, a calendar app, and a virtual co-working space called Zoom Spots. Meanwhile a bunch of upgrades to the Zoom One platform are aiming to improve collaboration, keep chats flowing, and keep projects moving.
While it feels like a logical step for the video conferencing giant, it remains to be seen how widely adopted the new services will be. And before we recommend it to our clients, we’ll want to know that the levels of support, reliability and security are all bulletproof.
Many businesses are already committed to Microsoft Teams, which releases its own improvements almost on a weekly basis. But this is an interesting new development and we’ll be watching what happens carefully.
If you want to know more about the best tools to keep your team working smoothly together, just get in touch.
Published with permission from Your Tech Updates.
Why you will not be fine on this Cloud9
We go to a lot of effort working to protect our clients from online security threats. These could come in the form of key loggers that record you as you enter your login information, or DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks, which overwhelm a service with fake traffic, causing it to crash.
As part of our service, we always advise our clients to install software updates as soon as they become available, and support them through the process where they need help.
But if you visit a website that asks you to install an Adobe Flash update… STOP!
Flash itself was actually discontinued in 2020 and is no longer supported, so you should assume that any Flash update messages will be a security threat.
Currently, fake Flash messages are being used as a cover for a new ‘botnet’ campaign that installs a malicious browser extension, called Cloud9. If you use Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge you could be a target.
Are you losing hours each week setting up video calls?
You could be losing a full-time working week for every member of your team, thanks to the hassle of setting up video calls.
Video conferencing has revolutionised team meetings, and saves a huge amount of travel time. But we’re still not getting the full benefit from the new technology, according to new research.
Employees aged between 18 and 24 take up to 10 minutes to get set up for each remote meeting.
Times that by a typical five meetings a week, and it’s suddenly lost you 40 hours every year. That’s a whole working week of wasted time – a figure that gets even higher when you look at older age brackets.
How to get faster Wi-Fi in your office and for remote workers
How to get faster wifi in your business. watch out video and read our free downloadable guide
Don’t walk the plank with pirated software
A huge number of small and medium-sized businesses would consider using pirated software to try and save money. A new study has revealed a surprising number of businesses willing to break the law to save costs. Our advice? Think twice before you walk the plank.
Right now, the most popular types of pirated software are project management tools, and marketing and sales software. But a huge 56% of business owners said they’d even think about using illegal cyber security software in an effort to cut costs.
Don’t do it.
Could avatars make your Teams meetings more fun?
Do you inwardly (or outwardly) groan at the thought of yet another video call?
They’re now a normal part of our working lives, but it doesn’t make them any more exciting.
Good news: Microsoft is introducing Metaverse-style avatars, called Mesh avatars, to Teams.
You’ll be able to design your own avatar, personalising its appearance, accessories, and even choosing its reaction gestures.
According to Microsoft, it’s common for us to feel stressed and exhausted after spending a long time on camera. So using a virtual representation of yourself to reduce that stress is just one application for these new avatars.
Better still, you won’t need an expensive virtual reality headset. It’s all done using the Avatars app that’s available in the Microsoft Teams app store.
Windows 12 is coming… here’s what we know so far
While Windows 11 is only just celebrating its first birthday, we’re already hearing our first rumours about what Windows 12 will have in store.
There’s no rush for the time being – we won’t see this new operating system until the back end of 2024 – but we love to be ready for what’s coming next, so here’s what we know so far…
Details are sketchy and as usual, Microsoft is being coy about what it’s planning. But we’ve been digging into how it could look. And it’s… different!