Automation Technology: Benefits and Concerns

Robotic hand pressing a keyboard on a laptop 3D rendering. automation technology

With the advent of more advanced technology, many workers are understandably concerned about automation and the impact it could have on their jobs. Computers systems grow more advanced each and every year. Thus, leading to improvements in artificial intelligence that have unskilled workers in certain industries where automation is king. Letā€™s explore some of these concerns, including why some have merit while others are still a long way off.

How Do We Define Automation Technology?

Simply put, anytime we use technology to fulfill tasks that humans would normally perform, we are practicing automation. The idea behind minimizing human input is to make workflows more predictable, repeatable, and efficient. Thus, reducing the risk of user error and other unforeseen issues getting in the way. Computing systems have been using automation for a long time. However, recent innovations in artificial intelligence and machine learning have opened up the floodgates to a whole new realm of possibilities. Due to this many workers are led to question whether technology will replace them in the near future.

Should Workers Be Worried?

The answer to this question is not as clear as you might think. Some worry when they really should not, while others have much more cause for concern. About a quarter of todayā€™s workforce feel that automation might come for their jobs within the next five years. In particular, young people worry about the future of their jobs (about 37%). This is because they are generally more aware of how technology can influence businesses to work toward automation. A trend shows that the older a worker is, the less likely they feel they can be replaced by an automated system.

Age disparity and the income difference associated with it also play a part in this equation. Of workers who make less than $50,000 annually, 34% fear that their job will be automated. From that point onward, the fear decreases exponentially as income increases. This trend is hardly surprising as automation is replacing most jobs filled by unskilled workers.

Looking at automation by industry, one can find that it has already caused the loss of many human jobs. In industries like automotive, business support and logistics, advertising and marketing, and retail, automation presents considerable risk to job holders.

Truck drivers are the perfect example of those who might be concerned about these developments in automation technology. Self-driving trucks are not just a developing technology; they are already here. With the signing of legislation and a bit of refinement, truck drivers could be at risk of losing their jobs. The biggest concern here is that these workers may not have other skill sets that could land them employment elsewhereā€”at least not with the same financial stability as with their current profession.

In conclusion, most workers are aware of the possibility of their jobs being replaced by automation. While they might not be ecstatic about switching careers, the truth of the matter is that automation takes away opportunities and replaces them with new ones.

Can Automation Technology Help Workers?

While many workers worry about their jobs due to automation, much more are using it to make their jobs easier and more manageable. People have specific skill sets that allow them to succeed in any given role, but it is a fact that much of managing a business involves small repetitive tasks. Technology can be used to make these tasks easier to accomplish, allowing employees to refocus their efforts and skillsets on larger tasks that would otherwise be mired underneath everyday operations. Allowing skilled employees to flourish and utilize their abilities to the fullest can lead to a significant increase in productivity. If automation is used to this end, businesses have much to gain from it.

Through automation, companies can save money, work smarter (not harder), and fully leverage their available resources. When businesses are operating as efficiently as possible, the quality of their products/services and demand for them can increase, leading to the creation of more jobs and opportunities for workers. Does this scenario sound likely to you? What are your thoughts on automation in the workplace? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments and check our blog regularly for technology-related content.

Protect Your Business by Updating Your Software

render of hardware with band aids on it. Computer Processor Bug Patch Concept

Software is a critical part of your business. Without it, you would have to do everything manually. In fact, most businesses couldnā€™t do what they do without their software. Thatā€™s why it is so surprising that many businesses donā€™t actively patch their software. Letā€™s take a look at our patch management service and why itā€™s such a huge benefit.

A decade or so ago, keeping your software updated wasnā€™t as important as it is today. You might get some new features every so often, but that was usually it. Today, things are so much different. It is now one of the most important services that we provide to our clients. This is because threats have become much more prevalent and dangerous to a business.

How Patch Management Works

Basically, your software gets a fair amount of updates. Developers are constantly adding features and patching would-be vulnerabilities. If you donā€™t have a process in place to patch your version of the software, you can be operating with holes in your network. These holes are exploited by opportunistic hackers and then you have much bigger problems. Companies like ours and in-house IT departments need to consistently patch software to ensure those holes are filled.

Using our remote monitoring and management software we can not only keep tabs on all of your hardware and all of your network resources, we can also use it to quickly update your software. This software needs to be patched as well. In fact, there have been stories of companies that manage other companies’ networks and patch management getting hacked because they didnā€™t actively patch their RMM tool. Not only is this just embarrassing, it illustrates just how critical the entire process is.

2021 Challenges

When dealing with technology, if you want it to work for your business, you need to realize itā€™s not simple. Consider for a second all the changes that had to be incorporated over the past year:

  • The need to support remote work
  • New and expanded cloud capabilities to facilitate this remote work
  • Software management needs
  • Frequent updates to these software solutions

Every line item there has a litany of tasks associated with it. It also comes with some downtime. Software patches often require system reboots, which can lead to interrupted productivity.

Easy Patch Management Tips

At 4Corner IT, our technicians can help keep the downtime associated with patches and updates from impacting your staffā€™s productivity by scheduling these patches to be applied when thereā€™s little-to-no traffic. Itā€™s an easy solution to what could be a major problem.

If you insist on handling this issue yourself, however, here are a couple tips:

  • Know What Youā€™re Using – You need to keep track of the software solutions that you use, just so you can be sure that all of them are maintained appropriately.
  • Respect The Need For Updates – While an individual can maybe get away with missing a software update for a little while, a business doesnā€™t have that luxury.
  • Maintenance Needs To Be Prompt – Once official software updates are released, they should be tested on a sample group and implemented across your network.

If you would like to get some professional perspective about your businessā€™ software and how to manage and maintain systems that run it, give our experts a call at (954) 474-2204 today.

5 Reasons Remote Monitoring and Maintenance is Essential

Smart Home Security System concept background. Protection software of IOT or internet of things. Cyber security of house devices. 3D isometric home of lights digits protected shield

While reliable technology support has always been important, the sudden and widespread adoption of remote work by so many businesses has made it an essential component for an organizationā€™s success. However, for your team members to have technology that continues to serve them as they do so, it is important that they are able to receive the same support as they would in the office. To accomplish this, remote monitoring and maintenance has proven to be a critical resource, providing a litany of benefits. Letā€™s go into what these benefits are, and how they take shape through the implementation of this method of receiving support.

What is Remote Monitoring and Maintenance (RMM)?

As a managed service provider, a considerable portion of our responsibility is to be sure that our clientsā€™ technology is operating as it should. To do so, a methodology known as remote monitoring and maintenance is employed.

RMM solutions give our team the capability to keep track of our clientsā€™ technology solutions from a distance, thereby enabling us to diagnose, mitigate, and resolve many IT issues that would otherwise cause operational headaches (or worse). As such, we can deliver considerable value to those we serve. With our real-time monitoring tools, many issues can be detected before their impacts become noticeable.

This, in turn, translates to considerable benefits. Letā€™s go over these benefits now, to demonstrate how RMM supplements a businessā€™ operations:

Proactive Maintenance, and All That Comes With It

Our services as an MSP are all about embracing proactivity whenever the opportunity arises, and remote monitoring and maintenance is the perfect vehicle to this very outcome. Our solutions will keep an eye on your infrastructure, alerting our team at the first sign of an issue and enabling us to solve itā€”often before you or your team members realize that an issue is present.

In addition to active issue resolution, this proactive maintenance means that weā€™ll also keep track of any updates that are available for your solutions and apply them appropriately.

Minimized Downtime

As any business owner knows, ā€œdowntimeā€ is technically a four-letter word in the workplace. Depending on the severity of the event, even a brief instance can incur significant financial costs. Thanks to the inherent proactivity of RMM, most downtime events can be avoided (and their financial repercussions sidestepped) so that your business processes are effectively untouched by any issues.

Improved Security

RMM can also help you to keep your business better protected against threats. One of the primary reasons that cyberattacks can get to be so severe is that many are not detected until long after the fact.

However, with remote monitoring in place, our team of professionals can be alerted of even the smallest sign of a potential breach. This puts us in place to resolve the underlying problem and keep your business safe.

Ensured Productivity

Letā€™s jump back to the impacts of minimizing downtime for a moment. One of the most important, and most prioritized, aspects in any business is the level of productivity that can be maintained. Eliminating your downtime is one of the few ways to do so that can have a 100 percent impact on your productivity. The fewer issues your employees encounter, the more they will be able to accomplishā€”something that our proactive maintenance facilitates.

Streamlined Cost of Ownership

Everyone likes to save money, right? Unfortunately, a lot of the technology that a business relies on can swiftly cause costs to rise expeditiously. A lot of this is due to the combination of maintenance needs after the fact, and the downtime that is incurred in the meantime.

However, by avoiding this by means of proactive maintenance through a predictable and budgeted service, these costs can be reduced significantly, helping your business that much more.

If youā€™re interested in finding out more about the benefits that remote monitoring and maintenance provideā€”or youā€™d like to experience them for yourselfā€”give 4Corner IT a call at (954) 474-2204.

Why Your Business Should Undergo a Digital Transformation

it service management

While most companies recognize they should at least have a web presence online, there is so much more technology available to help them become more efficient and provide improved customer service, as well as offering something they may not have even realized, this being better decision-making. With companies getting more and more competitive, it’s becoming more important than ever to go through a digital transformation and take advantage of any and all opportunities to remain in the forefront of the pack.

Why a Digital Transformation?Ā 

In order to determine why a company would want to undergo a digital transformation, it must be defined. A digital transformation involves the integration of technology into all aspects of running a business, developing a new digital foundation that influences every facet of operation, as well as how a business delivers value to their customers. The reason why many companies decide to take on this type of transformation is because the results typically show measurable and impressive improvements in key areas of business operations.

Improved Employee Efficiency

Digitizing manual processes and tasks that employees routinely perform make take some time up front to develop but once manual tasks become automated, it frees up employees to focus their time and effort elsewhere. Traditional functions involving payroll, accounting, and finance often center around repetitive tasks that are fairly easily automated. Once employees can break away from manual processing, they can focus on other projects that require a more hands-on focus.

Improving the Customer Experience

Customers always appreciate streamlined, thoughtful improvements in their experience with a business. Automating customer interaction processes reduces wait times, and providing a 24/7 customer outreach mechanism allows customers to reach out with questions or comments when it’s most convenient for them. By using a CRM (customer relationship management) application, employees can view a customer’s question, find out all the necessary information, and provide an immediate full response, as well as additional information they think is helpful. By going the extra mile, customers feel appreciated and customer representatives have an opportunity to expand a sale and/or provide extra goodwill.

Improved Security

Digitizing corporate data is one of the foundational ways in which a company can protect such a vital asset. Manually stored data is vulnerable to theft, loss, and natural disasters such as a flood or fire. By automating all data including pertinent information such as customer and vendor contacts, payroll information, employee profile data, sales orders, etc., companies have protected their most vital resource — corporate data that allows them to function on a daily basis. By developing a comprehensive backup and restoration plan, companies can easily restore their data in the event they experience a catastrophic failure.

Better Decision-Making

Not only is it a good idea to digitally transform corporate data for security reasons, it is also helpful to have detailed information in order to facilitate better decision-making. By digitizing corporate data, companies can capture, store, and analyze large volumes of data that can almost effortlessly be pulled together by specific applications. A variety of software applications are available that can incorporate and formulate large amounts of complex data, giving business owners key insights into how well their business is functioning (or not), and suggestions on where to focus their efforts in order to make improvements.

It Takes Some Time

As with any other project, digitally transforming a company’s operations does take some initial time and effort. However, once transformed most businesses begin to reap the benefits of their transformation right away. Improved data security, an improved customer experience, and greater insight into the overall functions of the business, even down to a very fine level, are all typical gains that business owners enjoy after undergoing their transformation.

If you would like more information on how to digitally transform your business, pleaseĀ contact us!

Also, check out our cabling services!

What Is WiFi 6?

what is wifi 6

Devices with the “Wi-Fi 6” label are coming on to the market. What does this mean? Was there ever a Wi-Fi 5?

The Wi-Fi Alliance has come up with a numbering scheme which will be easier to understand than the old terminology. Wi-Fi 6 isn’t just a new number but a significant advance over the previous standard. Here’s a summary of what it means and what to expect.

Renumbering Wi-Fi

The collection of protocols and standards called Wi-Fi is based on the IEEE 802.11 standards for wireless networking. Each version has a letter suffix. They don’t come in a logical sequence, so it’s hard to remember them or tell which one is the newest.

The latest version of the standard is 802.11ax. It will also be known as Wi-Fi 6. From a consumer standpoint, the two are the same.

At the same time, the names Wi-Fi 4 and 5 have been retroactively applied. Wi-Fi 5 is 802.11ac, which has been around since 2014. It’s been the state of the art up till now. Wi-Fi 4 is 802.11n, which came out in 2009. As you can see, they follow a fairly regular five-year cycle.

Wi-Fi 6 will be finalized by the end of 2019. Devices currently on the market are based on a pre-release version of the standard.

The Wi-Fi Alliance has created a certification program to go with the standard. Devices can be labelled “Wi-Fi 6” without being certified, but they may not completely support the standard.

New Features

With a new number, Wi-Fi 6 offers many improvements.

  • WPA3. The current standard for Wi-Fi encryption is WPA2. It has some security issues, including the KRACK vulnerability. WPA3 provides a higher level of security. One of its best features is that it makes encrypted public hotspots possible. With WPA2, there’s no way to set up an encrypted access point that doesn’t require a password. Public hotspots are completely vulnerable to snooping. When both user devices and access points have WPA3, they’ll give secure connections to anonymous users.
  • Faster speeds. The theoretical maximum speed of Wi-Fi 6 is 10 Gbps, which leaves its predecessor in the dust. Real-world considerations such as interference and protocol overhead reduce the actual transfer speed, but Wi-Fi 6 improves performance in other ways as well. It deals better with network congestion when multiple devices are competing on the same frequency.
  • Lower latency. In many cases, turnaround time is more important than raw speed. Wi-Fi 6 reduces communication latency, improving the performance of real-time applications.
  • Longer battery life. A new feature called Target Wake Time, or TWT, lets devices optimize the time that their Wi-Fi connections “sleep” while waiting to receive data. This is valuable for phones, battery-powered access points, and low-power IoT devices.

What Can You Expect?

To get the benefits of Wi-Fi 6, you need support for it at both ends of the connection. Some routers are available that support the pre-release version. The Samsung Galaxy S10 and the iPhone 11 are among the phones with support. A lot more devices will be appearing soon. You may want to delay your upgrades until a device that you like with Wi-Fi 6 is available.

To check for whether it supports the new standard, look for the “Wi-Fi 6” designation. Some devices may stick with “802.11ax.” Remember that if it doesn’t say “Wi-Fi 6 certified,” it could be missing important features such as WPA3.

The devices which are now available haven’t been tested against the final version of the standard. If you get one from a reputable company, though, you can be confident an upgrade will be issued if it proves necessary.

Are you looking for guidance and assistance in managing and upgrading your network? We’re here to help.