AZCOMP Technologies IT November 2018

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NOVEMBER 2018

Empowering Small Practices to Deliver the Best Care

IT

When you sit down to Thanksgiving dinner this month, you probably won’t bring up your gratitude for the safety of your business data and network — but maybe you should. According to research from the National Cybersecurity Alliance, 60 percent of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) who are hacked go out of business within six months. Considering that more than half of all small businesses experience a hack or breach of some sort in a given year, those are some pretty alarming figures. Even more alarming is the fact that most business owners regard cybersecurity as a luxury, or worse, an afterthought. Why they do so, exactly, is a bit of a mystery, but it’s indisputable that many business owners are flippant about their online security. A 2016 survey conducted by the National Center for Middle Market revealed that less than half of all SMBs have an up-to-date security strategy protecting their files and data. Nearly a full third have no protection at all. Here’s the truth: No matter how big or small your business is, you can assume that cybercriminals will attempt to compromise it. The question becomes whether you have the systems and practices in place to scupper their attempts. Robust barriers will deter all but the most sophisticated hackers. A lack of protection is basically a huge target on your back asking criminals to come in and bring your company to its knees. So, I ask you, which group are you in? Are you invested in protecting your company? Or are you keeping your fingers crossed and hoping you beat the odds? Hopefully you’re a member of the first group, but that’s still not enough to protect your business. More than half of all breaches aren’t the result of poor security; they are caused by negligence from employees. To that end, training your staff on smart practices is just as crucial as putting the right systems in place. Assuming that your employees are savvy enough to spot a phishing email HACKERS DON’T TAKE THE HOLIDAYS OFF Can Your Cybersecurity Deter Them?

is a recipe for disaster. You need to train your employees on safe practices, like creating strong passwords and spotting nefarious emails. Further, you need to make sure that education is acted upon. It only takes one person on your team to decide their password should be “password” to leave you exposed to career- threatening risk. It’s important that these two pieces work in concert with each other. A properly trained staff matched with a bargain-bin antivirus won’t cut it. Neither will the most sophisticated systems prop up a team whose members think that Nigerian prince is actually legitimate. The final piece of the puzzle is a team of dedicated experts who will monitor the health of your system before an attack occurs. If your IT provider doesn’t offer fully managed services, as opposed to cheap break-fix alternatives, you’ll be scrambling if and when an attack comes. Managed IT services, like those provided by AZCOMP, proactively check your entire network to ensure that everything is running smoothly. When a little problem arises, we can remedy it before it becomes a major headache. We’ll also make sure that all of your systems are up-to-date and ready to protect you from the latest threats. In the event that something does go sideways — not all attacks are preventable, after all — we’ll help you minimize downtime and data loss. As you carve into your turkey this year, take a moment to give thanks that you haven’t been hacked this year. If you’re reading this and thinking that you’ve avoided a scare, call us today to get your system dressed to perfection. –Byron Adams

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which will put a surefire dent in your ability to accomplish tasks. If you must check your phone at work, try to schedule time to do so. It’s much better to take one 10-minute chunk of phone time than many 30-second ones. TACKLE ONE TASK AT A TIME Multitasking is tempting, but odds are it will only result in each task taking longer and being completed at a lesser quality. Knock out one assignment, and then move on to the next. There’s no need to divide your attention. MEDITATE No kidding. Setting aside just 15 minutes to sit and meditate can strengthen your focus, alleviate stress, and give you a renewed sense of energy. Try following these five tips for a week and see how your productivity improves. You’d be surprised what a massive difference these little optimizations can make. Before you know it, you’ll perform at a level you never thought possible. STRUGGLING TO ACHIEVE MAXIMUM PRODUCTIVITY? These 5 Hacks Will Help NEED NETWORKING OR COMPUTER HELP?

Normally when we talk about hacks in this newsletter, we’re providing tips on how to keep your network from being hacked by criminals. In this case, we’re actually going to encourage you to perform some hacks. We’re not talking about system hacks, though. Instead, these tips are designed to hack your workflow for maximum productivity. Our friends at SmallBizTrends.com suggest five behaviors to unlock your best work-self. KNOW YOUR ROUTINE Everyone has productivity peaks and valleys throughout the day. Try to set up your schedule so that you’re working on the most important tasks when you’re at your best. STAY OFF FACEBOOK Logging in to check your news feed may seem like no big deal, but it’s easy to end up falling down the social media rabbit hole. Personal Facebook time can derail your entire work day, so it’s best to avoid the temptation altogether. PUT THE PHONE AWAY Did you know that the average smartphone user checks their phone approximately 200 times per day? That’s a lot of starting and stopping, SPOTLIGHT ON DOUGLAS G. BAILES, D.O. Normally we use this space to highlight a member of our team, but this month we wanted to share the story of one of our wonderful customers. We’ve been working with Douglas G. Bailes, who is a doctor of osteopathic medicine, since 2000. During this time, we’ve supported his practice’s Medisoft needs. We have also recently added him to our fully managed IT plan. “The EMR system has really improved the efficiency of our practice, and we’ve increased our revenue by over 20 percent while seeing fewer patients! So many of my colleagues are selling their practices because they just can’t afford the overhead, but I think I should be able to keep doing this for at least another 20 years. The IT services that AZCOMP provides have been so helpful to us. We rarely go down. We never have ransomware or anything bad on our system. We know and trust that AZCOMP has given us the best technology solutions to keep our system running smoothly and our data safe. The entire company and all the personnel have been awesome to work with. We really enjoy how well everything is working all the time.” If you’re looking for a great family provider in the Phoenix area or a role model for your own practice, then look no further than Douglas G. Bailes, D.O. Here, in Dr. Bailes’ own words, is how he would describe his experience with AZCOMP.

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Protect Your Data What every small business owner must know about protecting & preserving their

“What Every Small Business Owner Must Know About Protecting and Preserving Their Company’s Critical Data and Computer Systems” covers the essential information you need to know to keep your network safe. If you aren’t up- to-date on the latest in security, your network will be at risk.

company’s critical data & computer systems!

If you depend on your computer network to run your business, this is one report you DON’T want to skip!

This report is available for free at azcompit.com/protect. Download it today to ensure that your computer systems are as secure as possible. With this report, you can have peace of mind knowing that you can enjoy the fall without worrying about the safety of your network and data.

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TILE FINDERS The Perfect Gift for Absent-Minded Techies The holiday shopping season is underway. Odds are you’ve already crossed off a few big-ticket items. Once those are out of the way, it’s time to start looking for

fun, creative stocking stuffers and other little gifts. A tech company named Tile produces a product that may just do the trick for the tech- lover on your list. When you misplace your phone, you probably have somebody call it for you. Unfortunately, you can’t call your keys or wallet when you lose them … until now. Tile makes tiny squares that you can attach easily to anything you like. Once affixed, you can use the accompanying app to make your items beep just like a phone would. With Tile, those panicked mornings spent looking for your keys will be a thing of the past. Tile offers their products in various sizes, bundles, and design styles. They also sell custom adhesives that will allow you to stick your Tiles to anything without fear of damage. The battery life on a single Tile is over a year, and Tiles can be recycled through the company, so you’ll never need to worry about charging it.

WARBY PARKER SAW THE FUTURE OF EYEGLASSES David Gilboa, one of the co-founders of eyewear company Warby Parker, realized something was broken with the industry when he lost a pair of designer sunglasses. “The iPhone 3G had just come out, so I went to the Apple store and I paid $200 for one,” he recalls. “It did all these magical things that people couldn’t have even contemplated a few years earlier. That made me start thinking about why I was being asked to pay $700 for a new pair of glasses. Something just didn’t compute.” In a classic “there’s got to be a better way” moment, Gilboa and his three co-founders set out to provide inexpensive, stylish glasses to consumers around the world. To do that, they knew they would need to both produce and retail their wares. “It was really about bypassing retailers, bypassing the middlemen who would mark up lenses 3–5 times what they cost, so we could just transfer all of that cost directly to consumers and save them money,” explains Neil Blumenthal, another co-founder. To cut costs even further, they focused on e-commerce rather than traditional brick-and-mortar retail. Investors were incredibly skeptical of this idea. They thought that nobody would buy glasses online, because it’s so hard to tell if you’ll like them when you actually put them on. To quell these fears, Warby Parker created a home try-on program that allows customers to have five sets of frames shipped to their home for free. The customer can keep whichever they like and return whichever they don’t. Just as integral to Warby Parker’s success is their design sensibility. Their selection of frames, which has grown steadily over the years, leans toward classic, elegant style. Materials are top-notch and the quality is what you’d expect from designer glasses. While their focus wasn’t on storefronts at the outset, they now have dozens of outposts throughout the country. Warby Parker’s rise from a derided idea to a billion-dollar company proves that if you provide a quality product at a reasonable price, customers will seek you out. LONG BEFORE ANYONE ELSE

Surely there’s somebody on your list who can never find their wallet. Grab them some Tiles and they’ll thank you for years to come.

JOHN DOERR’S MEASURE WHAT MATTERS Will Revolutionize Your Goal Setting

Every business sets goals, but very few go about it in the most effective way. John Doerr, a venture capitalist who’s worked with the likes of Google and Amazon, has helped dozens of companies kick their goal-setting into high gear. In his new book, “Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World With OKRs,” he reveals his tried-and- true method for creating goals that stick.

The key, Doerr argues, is a system of objectives and key results (OKRs). “Objectives and key results are the yin and yang of goal setting,” he writes. Objectives provide an organization with clear targets, while key results offer a specific, measurable path to attaining them. There should be different OKRs for every level and department of your organization, and they should all be shared with the entire company. As Doerr puts it, “Transparency seeds collaboration.” Doerr doesn’t just describe this system in abstract; he brings it to life with stories from his own experience. Chapters focus on companies Doerr has worked with and how they used OKRs to help grow their businesses. If your company could use a better way of setting and achieving goals, put “Measure What Matters” on your holiday reading list.

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Hackers Are Coming. Are You Ready? PAGE 1 Hack Your Productivity PAGE 2 Meet Dr. Douglas G. Bailes PAGE 2 How Warby Parker Disrupted Eyewear PAGE 3 The Best Tech Stocking Stuffer of 2018 PAGE 3 AZCOMP Leadership Library: ‘Measure What Matters’ PAGE 3 How a Pizza Parlor Cares About the One PAGE 4

A SLICE OF CARING BY STACEY

I recently came across a story that embodies two of our company’s core values: We Surf Jaws, and We Care About the One. Surfing Jaws is all about innovating and finding ways to serve people. Caring about the one involves devoting your energy and attention to helping the person in front of you. Here’s how one pizza place in Philadelphia managed to do both to great effect. When Mason Warman opened Rosa’s Fresh Pizza in Philadelphia, he wanted to bring the New York slice-joint experience to the City of Brotherly Love. What he didn’t expect was to create a revolution in paying it forward that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of slices feeding the city’s homeless population. As a result of their $1 slices, Rosa’s always catered to those in need of a cheap, hot, and delicious meal. “One day, a customer came in after reading that we naturally serve a lot of homeless people because it’s affordable food,” Wartman recalls. “He tried our pizza and liked it. He asked us if homeless people ever came in short

and didn’t have a full dollar. They did, and I told him as much. He offered to prepurchase a slice for the next homeless person.”

The customer left a Post-it note along with his donation, which has become a tradition at the pizzeria. If you walk into Rosa’s, you’ll see the walls adorned with countless messages from people who’ve decided to purchase a slice — or 100 — for those in need. The donation program is now a central part of Rosa’s identity. “It’s a concept that a lot of people understand very quickly. They appreciate the simplicity of participating and the transparency of the program. It encourages more involvement. It’s great to see,” Wartman says.

As we approach the holiday season, I hope you’ll take the time to think about how you can care about the one in a way that’s meaningful to you.

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