Directive Analytics

Directive Blog

Directive Blogs

Directive has been serving the Oneonta area since 1993, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support, and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.

Discover Better Gifts with These 3 Google Search Tricks

With the holiday season just around the corner, you’ll be spending a lot of time on the Internet trying to find the perfect gifts for the loved ones in your life… but do you actually know how to find exactly what you’re looking for? Today, we want to give you a holiday gift in the form of a guide on how to make the most of Google’s search functionality.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Baking the Perfect 3-2-1 Data Backup

Building a gingerbread house is a perennial tradition in many, many households. Those with experience know that precise, careful preparation leads to a successful, long-lasting final product, while rushing and cutting corners usually leave you with a crumbling, fragile mess.

Much of the same can be said of your business’ data. This essential operational resource is terrifyingly susceptible to a litany of threats and issues that could easily bring your processes tumbling down… hence, why the 3-2-1 Backup Rule is a core element of successful business continuity.

Let’s take a moment to consider the recipe for a reliable, disaster-proof backup, and how it aligns with the process of making a gingerbread house.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Cyberattacks Are Real-Life Ghost Stories

What was the scariest Halloween costume you saw last week? Chances are we know something scarier—the cyberthreats that want to take your business down. Let’s go over some of the most common threats to your business’ future and what your business can do about them.

0 Comments
Continue reading

How AI is Depicted in Horror Says a Lot About Us

The horror genre has always been a means of shining a light on society's fears and concerns, often using metaphor to convey its message. In the spirit of the holiday, let’s consider some of the films over the years that have used artificial intelligence to teach us lessons through the ever-so-effective format of fear.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Are You Ready for the Things That Go Bump in the Night?

Happy Halloween! Tonight, ghosties and goblins will roam from door to door, collecting candies along the way. This is to be expected. Less expected are the cyberthreats and attacks that darken the doors of modern businesses of all shapes and sizes.

Let’s talk about the things you need to do to keep your business safe, inside and out, every night of the year.

0 Comments
Continue reading

You Can Make It Easier for Yourself to Take Time Off

As we try to eke out as much fun from the final months of summer as possible, many of us will find it increasingly challenging to disconnect from the office—even from miles away. We could be lounging on a quiet beach in Bora Bora, but instead of enjoying the tranquility, we’d still be itching to check our emails. Instead of being able to truly relax, many team members and business owners still feel the pressures of the office even when away, essentially undoing any benefits of the vacation.

Let’s discuss how this can be addressed for the mutual benefit of everyone, allowing you and your team members to step away from time to time without causing disruptions.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Celebrate World Productivity Day by Boosting Your Business’ Productivity

Productivity is one of the most common business goals today, with many doing everything they can to optimize it. In fact, today is officially World Productivity Day, highlighting the significant importance placed on this specific metric.

Despite this, productivity can often feel unattainable… regardless of how busy one is throughout the day. Let’s fix that and consider three habits that will greatly support your work and help make the most of your time.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Advice an IT Professional Would Give (If They Happened to Be Your Dad)

All around the world, fathers and father figures are celebrated this weekend for what they provide to those who call them “Dad.” One of their gifts is the advice they offer to help us all navigate life more safely and successfully—something we strive to provide to all the businesses we work with to support their essential technology.

In light of Father’s Day being this Sunday, we wanted to emulate fathers everywhere and present some IT best practices phrased as the kind of advice these role models so often provide.

0 Comments
Continue reading

It’s World Cloud Security Day! How Secure is Your Business’ Cloud?

The cloud is a cornerstone in modern business processes, repeatedly proving its worth. However, the cloud must be properly secured against threats like any aspect of your business' technology.

That’s the purpose of today, World Cloud Security Day: to remind you of how important this security is and to evaluate your use of the cloud to examine where your business could improve.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Planning Your Tech Spending for the New Year

A new year is a great chance to look at what your business is doing well and where it can get better. Your technology is one area where there’s usually room for improvement. If you’re thinking about adding new tech this year, here are four questions to help make it a success.

0 Comments
Continue reading

How to Get Santa (and His Elves) the Letters They Need

While we all know how much magic the workshops up at the North Pole rely on to produce presents for the good children of the world, we have it on good authority that they also rely on quite a bit of technology. For instance, there are a lot of letters that need to be sorted and read before Santa’s big ride. Let’s read up on what our partners up north frequently deal with in their critical operations.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Don’t Believe Everything You Hear About Krampus…

Most people are familiar with Santa Claus, the jolly gift-giver who delivers presents to all the children who have kept the Christmas spirit in their hearts all year. Lately, many people have also become aware of Krampus, Santa’s dark shadow who—as the legend goes—takes a similar trip to visit the naughty children and turn the worst into a midnight snack.

However, one has to wonder: what about all the adults who might also be naughty?

0 Comments
Continue reading

Three Great Last-Minute Gifts for the Technology Lover in Your Life

With Christmas a couple of days away, most of us are either wrapping up our shopping or wrapping up the presents we’ve already purchased. If you are looking for a last-minute gift to give the tech lover in your life, here are three that we found really cool.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Password Management Matters Everywhere… Even the North Pole

We have the pleasure of working with many businesses, some of whom take more advantage of our remote services than others. We wanted to take a few moments to discuss one of our more discreet client organizations and a challenge we helped them resolve. Hopefully, sharing this won’t land us on the naughty list.

0 Comments
Continue reading

A Kidnapped Santa Claus Isn’t a Huge Deal with the Right Help

While most of us know that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole, fewer know that he’s specifically built his big, rambling castle in the Laughing Valley. It is there that he and his workforce, the elves, sprites, pixies, and fairies that help him make his toys all live, all working hard to give the children of the world their presents each year.

Of course, as magical as Santa and his team may be, it isn’t unheard of for them to need a little help every once in a while.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Tomorrow is World Password Day (But Passwords Are Just Half the Battle)

Did you know that tomorrow is World Password Day, 2023? As the result of a campaign to spread awareness of the importance of sufficiently secure passwords, it has become an annual reminder of how critical sufficient passwords are to proper cybersecurity…despite passwords not being sufficient protection on their own. In light of tomorrow’s observance, let’s take some time to review why passwords are important to get right, and what else you need to have in place.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Tomorrow is Earth Day, But Here’s What Your Business Can Do Every Day

Sustainability is a hot topic nowadays, from how we conduct ourselves in our personal lives to how businesses go about their respective business. If this is something that you want to promote in your business, we figured that the day before Earth Day was as good a day as any to share some of the ways you can do so.

0 Comments
Continue reading

4 Holiday Tech Gifts for 2014

b2ap3_thumbnail_2014_gifts_400.jpgThe holidays are again upon us and if you are looking for the perfect gift for your favorite business professional, you don’t have to look too far. There are more consumer electronics available today than ever before, and most of them have some sort of novelty attached to them. We have made a list of four gifts that are not only cool, they serve a practical purpose and will probably avoid being re-gifted or recycled.

 

 

0 Comments
Continue reading

3 Last-Minute Gifts For the Technology Lover in Your Life

The holiday season is getting busier and busier every year and with less and less time afforded to shopping and getting ready for the holiday, you may have overlooked that special someone on your holiday shopping list. This week, we give you three gadgets that would be really nice last minute gifts for that technology lover in your life

0 Comments
Continue reading

It’s Global Recycling Day… Do You Know Your Business’ Carbon Footprint?

Today is Global Recycling Day and is intended to remind us of all the materials that can be reused in everyday life, in part as a way to decrease our individual carbon footprint. However, it's valuable to know how much your business contributes in terms of its carbon footprint… and, once you know that figure, how you can reduce it.

0 Comments
Continue reading

Recent News

Our business began its journey with the purchase of a personal computer back in 1992. This purchase ignited a passion with Chris Chase, our CEO, and there was no stopping its momentum. Less than one year later, he had his first IT support client (and...

Understanding IT

Get the Knowledge You Need to Make IT Decisions

Technology is constantly evolving, and keeping up can feel overwhelming. Whether you want to understand cybersecurity threats, explore automation, or learn how regulations like PCI DSS impact your business, we’ve made it easy to access clear, straightforward insights on key IT topics.

Insights to Understanding IT

Contact Us

330 Pony Farm Road Suite #2
Oneonta, New York 13820

Mon to Fri 9:00am to 6:00pm

support@directive.com

(607) 433-2200