Tag: microsoft 2023

  • Microsoft layoffs and how the economy is affecting the tech sector

    Microsoft layoffs and how the economy is affecting the tech sector

    It was announced this week that Microsoft will be laying off 10,000 employees in a bid to cut costs in response to “macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities”.

    They join the likes of Amazon who also recently laid off 18,000 employees and Meta who cut 11,000 jobs last November. With increasing costs and decreasing sales across many industries amid economic uncertainty, we expect more layoffs to occur both in the tech sector and beyond.

    Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, commented in a recent interview that Microsoft is not “immune to the global changes” and that he expects two years of challenges ahead for the tech sector.

    We’re still seeing hardware shortages stemming from the pandemic and the chip shortages we’ve written about recently. Suffice to say it’s been even more difficult for businesses to navigate maintaining the technology in their office or making needed tech related purchases.

    The worst thing that you can do is hold still and put off making needed upgrades or addressing technology challenges in your business. There are risks associated with outdated technology, they are:

    1. Lack of security compliance: It’s been shown that are on the rise, even faster than before due to malware being more accessible for even those who are not particularly “net savvy”. Even if you thought your business was too small to be a target before, with increased desperation any target might do – including you.
    2. More crashes and downtime: Time is money, especially in this economy. Old devices are more prone to crashing or just giving out completely, at which point you’ll still have to pay to replace them but you’ll have the added cost of the waiting you have to do until the replacement comes in.
    3. Decreased productivity: Your employees are probably your biggest payroll item, do you really want to hinder their productivity by making them use a device that’s sluggish or not working properly? The cost of a new laptop or desktop is a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of wasted time they may spend navigating around issues.
    4. It could put you at a disadvantage to your competitors: The increase of reliance on digital solutions has not been stymied by the current economic landscape, the extra reliance that was exacerbated by the pandemic conditions is there and continues to grow. If your competitors are keeping up with it and you’re not, that will give them an edge you may not want them to have.
    5. Lack of data and transparency: We’ve mostly focused on hardware here but there are significant risks to not making needed software upgrades as well. Modern software is often leaps and bounds ahead in giving you needed data and reports, and we believe knowledge is power. You can’t be sure you’re making the best choices for your business if you’re doing them blindly.

    Now more than ever you need a partner in navigating the technology landscape, and Valley Techlogic can be that partner. We can help you address your technology challenges in a way that still keeps budgetary constraints in mind. We have been in business since 2004 and have experience weathering challenging times. We can even reduce your technology spending in the following ways:

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    We’re offering your first service call with us free, because we know you need to be certain when making choices for your business. We know after you try us out you will have the confidence to proceed, you can schedule your first service call here.

    Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.

    This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.

  • New Year’s resolutions for business tech in 2023

    New Year’s resolutions for business tech in 2023

    The new year is upon us and with that comes the opportunity to make needed changes to outdated technology within your business.

    Our clients are usually split on when they want to make changes – for some it’s that mad dash towards the end of the year and for others it’s the fresh mindset that comes after the 1st of January. There really is no wrong answer when it comes to a tech refresh and any move you make will have lasting benefits that increased security protection and less chance of an outage bringing your office to a standstill.

    This can mean hardware or software upgrades but usually means both, and with Windows Server 2012’s end-of-life date occurring in October of this year we anticipate there will be many trying to replace their primary office server before that time. If you have a server current running Windows Server 2012 it probably will also need to be replaced (keep in mind the 2012 reflects the year it came out, so even if you bought your server a few years later it will still be older than the 5 year recommended lifespan for most servers).

    We don’t want to only focus on servers though, here are a few other New Years technology resolutions you can make for 2023:

    1. Move away from software that has reached end-of-life or is no longer supported. Windows Server 2012 Isn’t the only operating system that has recently reached end-of-life, Windows 7 is also no longer supported by Microsoft. Even peripherals such as switches or networking gear such as routers can have end-of-life events and will no longer be updated by the manufacturers.
    2. On the same token, consider moving more to the cloud. More and more of our clients are moving away from traditional in office servers by switching to online storage. There can be an upfront cost to doing this but it’s still often less than purchasing a brand new server if your existing one is on the outs. As a bonus all future maintenance will then fall to your cloud provider.
    3. Increase your security measures in the New Year. There’s no better time than the beginning of the year to begin tackling cyber security measures you wanted to put in place last Year over year the risks continue to increase so why not begin 2023 knowing your business is safe from a cybersecurity attack?
    4. Again in the same realm, begin or strengthen employee training on technology topics. As your employees come back from the holidays why not implement short training measures (our tool takes just 15-20 minutes a week) that could drastically reduce your risk?
    5. Finally, don’t let fear of a recession slow your growth. You may be shying away from making hardware purchases due to fear of a recession, but if existing outdated hardware is already slowing your business down from the productivity level you hope to have not replacing it soon could do more harm than good.

    If you’re not sure where to start with any of these topics, we can help. We’re currently offering a 2-hour service call absolutely free.

    Here are a few ways we suggest using this service call to put your business in a better position in 2023:

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    If you would like to learn more about our free service call offer, or would like a consultation on our services you can book one here today.

    Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.

    This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.