One of the greatest concerns of a business is retaining their top talent. Changing economic conditions mean that employees are seeking opportunities that will pay them more or present them with more opportunities. Many times, the top talent at small businesses use their current position as a steppingstone to move to a larger company.

Big Data became big news in 2014. Thanks to the ever-expanding Internet of Objects, companies are finding it increasingly easy to collect massive amounts of data on everything from customer web surfing habits to the average tire pressure in the global automobile fleet, and pretty much everything in-between.

In today’s age of social media, it is naïve of business professionals to think that their employees or contractors will refrain from posting on their personal pages information about their employers or complaints about their jobs. The question is, when does an employee go too far in not only prejudicing the employer from, say, being able to attract good candidates for employment, but also divulging sensitive information about the company, or even a customer? How does the company manage these postings without interfering with the employees’ right to freely post whatever they choose on their social networks?

Many companies have come up with social media guidelines, which provide practical advice and help on how and what to post on social media; in other words, how to behave on social media.

Email is being used more than it ever has before, but that does not mean you can skimp on a good phone system. Communication is important, and without it, you simply cannot do business. When the time comes for you to upgrade your existing communication system in your business, you want to make the best choice for your company.

The global marketplace continues to place demands on companies to turn out new and improved products ever faster, while at the same time, meeting the never-ending expectations of consumers. Many companies start with an innovative product, only to see its popularity fade and the competition outperform them by simply standing pat with their existing product line.

Malware has become one of the largest threats to businesses with the number of attacks on both Windows and Mac machines increasing every single day. Linux is not even immune these days as many are hackers creating and exploiting flaws in that operating system as well.

While it may be beneficial to some companies to use in-house IT infrastructure, most business owners will find it is much more effective to outsource their IT needs. IT outsourcing includes hardware, software, database administration, cloud computing, inventory management software, website management, etc.

Today, more users are storing their data on the Internet than ever before. Instead of housing their pictures, movies and other important documents on data drives in their homes, they are shifting that storage online to one or more of the many cloud storage options available.

The new year is in full swing, and it is expected to be a big year for technology. The Internet of Things is moving to the forefront of technology, offering the ability for consumers and businesses to connect and control a wide variety of machines, and even buildings, right from a smart phone or computer.

Microsoft has announced that it has ended the free support for Windows 7 beginning in January. This free support allowed many users to get the help they needed with problems on Windows 7. Now, this service will not be available, although you can still get help as long as you are willing to pay for it.