vCTO Secure Blog

vCTO Secure has been serving the Seattle area since 2011, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support, and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.

How Employee Burnout Contributes to Churn (Turnover)

How Employee Burnout Contributes to Churn (Turnover)

You must make difficult decisions in any walk of life, especially in running a business. The most critical decisions will focus on policies that help you keep employees and ensure they are motivated. Today, we want to discuss some of the problems associated with employee churn, or turnover, and what you can do to combat it in today’s modern business environment.

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Reducing Support Costs Can Help Your Tech Budget Work for You

Reducing Support Costs Can Help Your Tech Budget Work for You

Businesses are increasingly reliant on technology, and effectively managing IT support costs has become crucial. With approximately three to six percent of a company's revenue allocated to technology expenses, exceeding the monthly budget can have adverse repercussions on the ability to allocate funds elsewhere.

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Downtime Is a Predator. Is Your Business the Prey?

Downtime Is a Predator. Is Your Business the Prey?

Downtime in a business context can be considered a "business predator" because it can have detrimental effects on a company's operations, profitability, and overall success. Downtime refers to the period during which a business' critical systems, processes, or equipment are not functioning as intended. Here are some reasons why downtime is often seen as a threat to businesses.

Financial Impact

Downtime can result in significant financial losses. When key revenue-generating systems or production processes are unavailable, businesses may lose sales, incur extra expenses, or face penalties for failing to meet contractual obligations. Downtime can also prevent a business from pursuing new opportunities or responding to market changes. In a rapidly evolving market, missing out on opportunities can have long-term consequences, and can be the difference between business growth and stagnation.

Operational Impact

Downtime leads to decreased productivity as employees cannot perform their tasks efficiently. This results in wasted time, missed deadlines, and a drop in overall output. In cases where downtime is due to data loss or system failures, it can result in the loss of critical information, which can be difficult or impossible to recover. This can have severe consequences for businesses, especially when it comes to sensitive or irreplaceable data. Frequent downtime can demoralize employees who must deal with the frustration and stress of interrupted work. Low morale can lead to higher turnover rates and decreased employee engagement.

Customer Impact

Prolonged or frequent downtime can do significant damage to a company's reputation. Customers and partners may perceive the business as unreliable, which can be challenging to overcome. Also, these unfortunate companies may find it challenging to compete effectively in markets with companies that show better reliability.

If you struggle with downtime, you can do better. If you don’t, you need to ensure that continues. The IT professionals at vCTO Secure can help. We can introduce you to technologies and strategies that are designed specifically to reduce downtime and improve operational efficiency. Get a professional perspective by calling (206) 895-5595 today.

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Four Errors Small Businesses are Making and What to Do to Fix Them

Four Errors Small Businesses are Making and What to Do to Fix Them

Using the right technology can streamline operations, enhance customer engagement, and boost overall productivity. Despite its potential benefits, many small businesses often make significant mistakes when it comes to technology implementation. Let’s explore some of the biggest technology blunders small businesses make and how to avoid them.

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Do You Need Assistance with Your IT Strategy?

Do You Need Assistance with Your IT Strategy?

IT strategies play a pivotal role in helping companies navigate this complex terrain, but they often require a substantial amount of time to be effectively implemented. This week, we'll explore the reasons behind the seemingly sluggish pace of IT strategy implementation and why patience is indeed a virtue in the world of technology.

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Marketing Technology for Growing Businesses

Marketing Technology for Growing Businesses

Much of our blog content discusses the technology used by businesses as a part of their operations, but technology is extremely valuable for several other parts of running a business, including managing relationships with existing and potential customers. The technology of marketing can be remarkably effective for getting the word out about your goods and services, and you will want to ensure your IT is up to the task of managing it.

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What Makes Data So Invaluable to Businesses?

What Makes Data So Invaluable to Businesses?

Data is a critical asset for modern businesses, simply because it can be utilized to help improve an organization’s operations in a variety of ways. Let’s explore some of the various approaches you can take to leveraging the data you collect to add value to your business.

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Yes, Managed Services Really Pay for Themselves: Here’s Why

Yes, Managed Services Really Pay for Themselves: Here’s Why

Businesses make money by providing services to their customers that bring them value. This business model is at the core of managed IT services, where the offerings are widely considered to pay for themselves, so to speak. Individually, the services might not seem like they would impact your bottom line that much, but when combined, they are a force to be reckoned with.

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Did You Know? Google Pays Billions to Maintain Default Search Rights on Apple Products

Did You Know? Google Pays Billions to Maintain Default Search Rights on Apple Products

Google is one of the world’s biggest technology companies, but have you ever wondered how exactly it manages to maintain its iron grip on the search engine market? It’s especially curious when you consider that there are other major technology companies out there that might want a piece of the pie, like Apple, yet choose not to. Well, it turns out there is a very good reason for that, and as you might suspect, large amounts of money are involved.

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In a Remote and Hybrid Work Environment, Encryption is Vital

In a Remote and Hybrid Work Environment, Encryption is Vital

Businesses have been utilizing flexible working conditions in increasing droves, due in no small part to the pandemic, but many continue to hold onto these policies in at least some capacity. Businesses, therefore, need to be very cognizant of data retrieval policies and security measures that can keep their organization safe.

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3 Actions You Can Take to Keep Rapid Growth From Ruining Your Business

3 Actions You Can Take to Keep Rapid Growth From Ruining Your Business

Make no mistake, you want your business to grow. There is no better sign that you are resonating with customers and providing the value you set out to deliver. Unfortunately, for a lot of companies, they simply aren’t prepared when their product or service takes off and it ends up ruining what could be a very good thing. Today, we’ll take a look at three actions you can take to keep your business humming along when it sees extraordinary growth. 

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IoT-Based Data Can Transform a Small Business

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When people talk about the growth of technology in business, no small part of that is what the Internet of Things makes possible. From cost control, to automated scheduling, to helping build operational efficiency, the IoT can present a lot of interesting benefits for a business if you strategically implement systems designed to use the data created by smart devices. Let’s take a look at some of the ways IoT works for small businesses.

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Patience Can Equal Productivity, Part 2

Patience Can Equal Productivity, Part 2

Last week, we wrote about how patience plays a big role in people’s ability to be productive and efficient. This week we want to explore a few ways to help the people in your organization to become more patient. We all know people in our lives that seem like they could definitely take a chill pill. If that is you, using these four suggestions can help you be more patient in situations that demand it. 

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Sometimes Business Makes You Leave Your Comfort Zone

Sometimes Business Makes You Leave Your Comfort Zone

Entrepreneurship is extremely frightening to a lot of people, and that’s probably why a lot of people make the choice to work for others. If you think about it, a lot can go wrong; a lot more than can go right. Today, we thought we’d highlight how business owners are able to get through all of the problems to forge ahead and create successful companies.

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Patience Can Equal Productivity

Patience Can Equal Productivity

People can be very productive. They can also be pretty terrible at being productive. The staff that can find consistency in their productivity typically results in a pretty successful business. Obviously, people have all types of suggestions on how to improve staff productivity, individual productivity, and a lot of it is just hitting on the same stuff. There is one variable, however, that is found in a lot of productive people: Patience. 

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3 Ways Your Business is Wasting Money on Technology

3 Ways Your Business is Wasting Money on Technology

Wasting money is a major problem regardless of the kind of business you run. Technology can do a lot to stretch your dollars, but it can also be the cause of waste. This week, we thought we’d identify three ways that your business could be wasting significant money on your IT. 

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What Do You Think About a Four-Day Workweek?

What Do You Think About a Four-Day Workweek?

There are many proponents of the four-day workweek, so many to the point where it is actively being implemented to determine if it is as successful of a strategy as it is in theory. You might be surprised to hear that it is, in fact, a successful business model, and there are studies to back it up.

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Are Your Workers Working Other Jobs?

Are Your Workers Working Other Jobs?

It’s not uncommon for an employee to hold a second job outside of your office, whether it’s a side gig that they are trying to turn into a passion project or a side hustle just to make ends meet or put away a little extra money every month. Workers holding multiple jobs is certainly not unheard of—if anything it’s more common than ever, thanks to the remote work surge. How does this phenomenon impact your organization?

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Don’t Let Your Business Be Put on Hold by an IT Issue

Don’t Let Your Business Be Put on Hold by an IT Issue

When trying to determine if a certain piece of technology should be replaced or just taken away entirely, you should first ask yourself if the technology affects your products or services in any discernible way. If the technology is something that helps with productivity and efficiency to aid in the production or delivery of said product or service, then it’s worth investing in.

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What Can You Do to Cut Down Friction in Your Workplace?

What Can You Do to Cut Down Friction in Your Workplace?

There are a few different types of stress that may be present in your business right now, either or both of which could be causing no small amount of distress to your team members and disruption to your processes. Let’s explore the sources of these stresses—digital/workplace friction and interpersonal friction—and what can be done to help resolve them.

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With human error causing over 92% of data breaches, we understand the importance of focusing on the weakest link by empowering employees through self-improvement, personal protection, and engaging training that is relate-able, not demeaning.

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