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415 IT has been serving the San Rafael area since 2005, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support, and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses

Why DIY IT is Costing Your Business More Than You Think

Why DIY IT is Costing Your Business More Than You Think

Running a business today without technology is pretty much impossible. Whether it’s email or messaging for communication or point-of-sale software for stores, every business depends on tech. Where there’s tech, there has to be someone to manage it.

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One Way to Protect Your Data: Hand It Out Less

One Way to Protect Your Data: Hand It Out Less

We all know companies collect a lot of data. After all, your business is no exception to this rule, and you likely collect significant consumer data to facilitate operations. But if you get the itch to protect your personal privacy (and you should), there are ways to limit how much advertisers, criminals, and other companies can gain access to. Here are just a couple of ways.

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Potential Legislation Could Require End-of-Life Disclosures for Consumer Tech

Potential Legislation Could Require End-of-Life Disclosures for Consumer Tech

An expiration date helps to make sure you aren’t buying fast-turning foods at the grocery store, and now, the technology industry is making strides to establish a similar standard. A new industry report recommends new legislation pushing for End-of-Life (EoL) disclosure, which would, in theory, allow businesses and consumers alike to make more informed purchasing decisions. What does this mean for your business?

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Celebrating World Backup Day!

Celebrating World Backup Day!

There you are, working on the most important project of your career. You’ve worked through the initial problems and are making progress, and then your computer crashes. Panic sets in. You reboot, hoping that will fix the problem. It doesn’t. This is the nightmare scenario that haunts businesses and individuals alike. If you don’t have a solid backup plan, you’re one spilled coffee or rogue virus away from disaster. 

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We’ll Help Give Your IT Team a Hand

We’ll Help Give Your IT Team a Hand

Technology is the cornerstone of most modern business operations, making supporting this technology more important than ever. That’s one reason we’re so proud to provide IT assistance to our fellow businesses.

As we’ve done so, however, we’ve noted that some assistance is required more often than other forms of support. Let’s go over what some of these usual suspects are, and why it is so helpful to have someone (ideally, us) assisting you in managing them.

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What Does Compliance Look Like? (It’s Not Easy)

What Does Compliance Look Like? (It’s Not Easy)

For businesses, one of the scariest threats out there is that of compliance fines for not holding up your end of the bargain with your customers’ data. But what goes into compliance, and what does it look like? We won’t be digging into the nitty-gritty of what these specific regulations require; rather, we’re performing a broad analysis of what businesses should be doing to ensure compliance, regardless of the protocol or the industry.

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Everything You Need to Know About Chatbots

Everything You Need to Know About Chatbots

One of the biggest things that businesses need to consider today, from an IT front, is how artificial intelligence fits in. One way many companies are integrating AI into their businesses is through chatbot technology. Today, we will tell you everything you need to know to get started with chatbot technology.

Running a small business comes with many challenges: managing customers, handling inquiries, scheduling appointments, and marketing your services, just to name a few. While these tasks are mandatory for the creation of a successful business, they can also be extraordinarily time-consuming. That’s where chatbots come in.

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Your Antivirus Crash Course (Implement Security Solutions Today)

Your Antivirus Crash Course (Implement Security Solutions Today)

Antivirus is a staple security solution for businesses and everyday PC users, but have you ever considered how it works? By thinking through some of the details, you might gain a greater understanding of how antivirus works, what it does, and why you need to keep it updated. Today, we’re going to discuss just that, starting from square one.

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Say Goodbye to Skype (It’s Been Fun)

Say Goodbye to Skype (It’s Been Fun)

Skype, once a popular and beloved video chat platform, has reached the end of its rope (in a manner of speaking). Microsoft is discontinuing the 20-year-old communication application, instead focusing its efforts on Microsoft Teams. The last update to Skype will be on May 5, but that doesn’t change the impact Skype had on the development of modern communication tools.

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Is Your Business Stuck in the 20th Century? Here’s How to Successfully Modernize

Is Your Business Stuck in the 20th Century? Here’s How to Successfully Modernize

The modern business is more technologically driven than ever before, but there are some out there who haven’t embraced the benefits of technology and have alternatively chosen to stick with their more analog, tried and true methods. In today’s blog, we’ll discuss why technology is important and how to get started if your business is stuck in the 20th century.

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“Security Guard” Needs to Be Part of Everyone’s Job Description

“Security Guard” Needs to Be Part of Everyone’s Job Description

We will always reinforce how critical it is for everyone in any workplace to have a grasp of cybersecurity best practices, regardless of their role or responsibilities. However, based on a survey conducted by UK-based cybersecurity firm Ramsac, this baseline is not being met by a long shot.

Why do we say this? Simple: this survey revealed that one in three adults failed a cybersecurity test designed for 11-year-olds.

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Technology That Can Help You Avoid Big Trouble

Technology That Can Help You Avoid Big Trouble

Running a business is basically a never-ending series of potential disasters just waiting to happen. Some are easy to fix, change a process here, tweak a strategy there—but others? They can completely derail your operations if you’re not prepared. That’s where smart technology steps in to save the day.

Let’s look at some nightmare scenarios that could spell disaster unless you have the right IT in place.

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3 Applications of Modern IT and How Today’s Businesses Can Benefit

3 Applications of Modern IT and How Today’s Businesses Can Benefit

The entire purpose of modern IT is to improve the processes that work requires us to do. Today, we wanted to address a few business priorities—productivity, cybersecurity, and accessibility—that the right tech can help you accomplish, explicitly exploring how different tools can contribute to your success.

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Understanding What You Can Get Out of Managed IT Services

Understanding What You Can Get Out of Managed IT Services

Tech can be a real pain for small businesses, especially if you don’t have a dedicated IT person handling everything. Most businesses have someone who sort of knows their way around tech, but for a small team, that’s a lot to put on one person. That’s where managed IT services come in. It’s used not just for its convenience but because it actually makes a business owner’s life easier in ways they might not even realize.

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Tip of the Week: How to Create QR Codes in Microsoft Excel

Tip of the Week: How to Create QR Codes in Microsoft Excel

QR codes are a handy way to direct someone to the right place online, like your business’ website, but did you know that they are also pretty easy to make? Let’s go over how you can whip up your own with the help of Microsoft Excel.

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Staying Safe on Social Media Boils Down to These Three Things

Staying Safe on Social Media Boils Down to These Three Things

You don’t want to get spammed; nobody does. Unfortunately, it happens to EVERYONE, and it’s just getting worse. All this unwelcome correspondence happens over the phone, through email, and especially on social media. In today’s blog, we’ll talk a little bit about how social media puts users at risk and what you can do to keep that risk from becoming a problem for you. 

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Three Innovative Technologies that Can Solve Some of Your Business Problems

Three Innovative Technologies that Can Solve Some of Your Business Problems

New technology is always a bit intriguing. It can also be scary for some. Business owners typically only see the cost, even if it presents solutions to their organizational problems and can err on the side of caution as to not too much strain on their budget. There are a couple of really cutting-edge technologies businesses can use today that can help them confront problems they have. Let’s take a look at them in today’s blog. 

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Don’t Forget These Three Non-Negotiable Remote Work Security Rules

Don’t Forget These Three Non-Negotiable Remote Work Security Rules

With remote work remaining popular, employees can benefit from flexibility and work-life balance, but at the cost of certain challenges on the business side. The big one is security, as your network ends up spread out across multiple locations rather than siloed in-house. Here are three rules you should consider when planning out how to approach remote work.

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Real Fake Controversies and How to Avoid Them

Real Fake Controversies and How to Avoid Them

All it takes is a couple minutes on social media to see all of the “outrage” over whatever is happening in the world at the moment. Before you know it, you’re invested in some issue that you’ve never heard of up until that moment, and you’re left wondering, “Why?” Today, we want to explore this phenomenon of how social media brings you to care so deeply about things that are rarely actually your problem (and why it can be so harmful).

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There are Plenty of Reasons the Cloud is So Popular Amongst Businesses

There are Plenty of Reasons the Cloud is So Popular Amongst Businesses

Think about the apps you use daily—Google Drive, Netflix, Spotify, even Instagram. All of these run on cloud-based services, which basically means they store and process everything online instead of relying on one physical device. Businesses, big and small, are making the same shift because, honestly, it just makes sense. Let’s take a look at why you should be looking to use cloud services in your business.

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We are proud to announce that 415 IT and our CEO, Daniel Stevens, were recently featured by CIO Applications. We discussed how and why we serve our clients, as well as some sneak peeks for our future. Read our interview by visiting:  https:...

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San Rafael, California 94901

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