Directive Blogs

Mobile devices have a prevalent place in the modern office. In fact, a recent study by Gartner found that 80 percent of all employees bring their personal mobile device with them to work. This Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend comes with a host of benefits, like improved productivity and employee morale, but it increases the risk of a corporate data breach if not properly managed. How should a concerned business owner respond to this trend?

Today’s business environment is no longer just a drab gray office setting filled with workstations lining the wall. The office is the coffee shop across the street, or the airport lobby while you’re waiting for your plane to arrive. It’s the client’s office while you’re out on a business trip, or the venue for a business conference where you make valuable connections and exchange contact information. The office has gone mobile, and your business needs to adapt to this change.

Do you know how the countless devices entering the workplace will affect your business’s infrastructure and security? It’s important to remain future-minded about how the Internet of Things and connected devices will influence your business in the near future. According to HAX Hardware Trends, 2018 will see a multitude of changes in how we approach the Internet of Things, as well as how businesses manage it for their networks.

Would your business fall apart if communications halted? This is one of the major pitfalls that businesses have to deal with, as without proper teamwork and communication, operations can fall apart and productivity can be lost. What are some of the ways that your business manages the many modes of communication that it relies on?

Mobile technology is allowing businesses to make great strides in the way that they conduct their operations, but one of the key reasons why it has been so helpful is that it decreases their costs considerably. Thanks to developments in the way that mobile technology works, it can be fit into pretty much any business model, all the while improving your return on investment for your expensive technology solutions.

Do you remember the good old days when a simple magic trick was capable of bringing a smile to anyone’s face? Optical illusions, card tricks, or sleight of hand; all of these are basic tactics used by the average magician. However, Simon Pierro, a German magician, uses his iPad to come up with mind-bendingly spectacular tricks that take advantage of modern technology.

Years before Steve Jobs stood up on the stage in San Francisco and proclaimed Apple had brought you the future, the future he spoke of was already being developed, and in some cases utilized already by millions of people around the world. Cellular phone technology had been around for some time by 2007, but the iPhone, set in motion a mobile revolution.

The introduction of new and exciting technologies keeps changing the ways people interact. Innovations such as email, instant messaging, and the development of mobile devices are now turning out to be just fundamental steps to a more connected planet. The Internet of Things is set to turn human civilization on its head. What does this shift mean for the immediate future?

How many of your employees have a smartphone? The answer is probably most (if not all) of them. In the United States alone, nearly two-thirds of adults own a smartphone, and many of them depend on the device to do much of their personal computing. As a result, many workers, even if they are instructed not to, will use their devices while at your office. This is why many companies have put in place a comprehensive Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategy.

Mobile devices have taken the workplace environment by storm, and you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn’t use their smartphone, laptop, or other device for work purposes. This trend, called Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), helps employers spend less on new solutions, but it also presents a risk that needs to be managed: the Internet of Things (IoT).

How smart are smartphones really making us? If we’re honest with ourselves, most of us would admit that our mobile phones are more for entertainment and efficient communications, and less about actually being used to make ourselves smarter. Thanks to augmented reality technology becoming more accessible, perhaps smartphones will one day live up to their name.

When was the last time you let your phone’s battery die on you? Due to the takeover of mobile technology in the workplace, smartphones have basically become inseparable from their owners, particularly the ever-busy business owner. Despite the imperative role that smartphones have in the workplace, you should know that there are several battery myths that might be holding you back from achieving maximum efficiency with your device.

Your smartphone is, without a doubt, a valuable business asset. It keeps you connected to your business at all times, even when you’re home; but is this a good thing? Have you ever considered what your significant other might feel if you answer your phone while out to dinner? Thanks to the indisputable power of social science research, it’s been proven that smartphones are bad for our personal relationships. Gasp!

Mobile is all the rage nowadays. Industry giants such as Microsoft and Apple claim to have mobile devices that make the PC obsolete. It makes for great marketing, but do mobile devices have what it takes to keep employees productive inside and outside of the workplace? The statistics say no, but the gap is closing. Here are three mobile myths all CIOs should consider.

We’re all aware of how the proliferation of mobile devices is changing the workplace, but let’s take an objective look at this trend. Are mobile devices changing the workplace for the better? Are employees actually using their personal devices to get more work done? Or, is the BYOD trend a bunch of hype and nothing’s really changed? Let’s find out.

A lot of people have a car charger for their smartphone, and it’s easy to understand why. A smartphone can be the link between you and your business. But did you know that you have a lot of other, more obscure (and more interesting) choices for phone chargers?

Apple is back with another iPhone! The Silicon Valley-based hardware and software manufacturer has released the new versions of their extremely popular iPhone series of devices. The two-headed approach that Apple took with their second incantation of the iPhone 5 (the 5s and 5c), is replicated this time out as well. After being surpassed by Samsung over the past two years, does the iPhone 6 and its larger version, the iPhone 6+, have what it takes to get Apple back on top?

Thanks to the explosion of mobile phones, the world is connected like never before and most people seem to have a good grip on how to talk to each other using proper telephone etiquette. Therefore, when someone breaks socially accepted phone etiquette practices, they make themselves or the business they represent look bad.

As thousands of athletes descend upon Sochi, Russia for the Winter Olympics, they will not only be competing against each other for the gold, but they will also be competing against hackers for the security of their personal data. What can we learn about network security from the Winter Olympics?

Anybody who has been paying attention to the technology field has heard echoes of the looming decline of PC sales. Now, that prediction has not only come to fruition, but it is much worse than many have previously imagined. In 2012, both the IDC (International Data Corporation) and the Gartner Group reported that global PC shipments in the 3rd quarter had fallen 8% from the previous year. The latest numbers released on December 2nd, 2013 were not good news for the world of traditional desktop and laptop computers.