Sitting at the kitchen table hunched over a laptop screen is not ideal, but it is the situation many are in after the shift to remote work. Based on our experience the four hardware investments below will increase your productivity and comfort while working remotely.

You have made a list and checked it twice, and figured out what apps are naughty and nice. Now it is time to actually make the move from Servers to Services. The key to this final step is a well thought out migration (and fallback) plan.

A clean install is best

Unless you cannot re-install server applications properly or there is no plan to use the server for more than six months, do a clean install.

What is the first thing that happens before you move homes? All of those old clothes, exercise equipment, and children's toys go off to the donation bin. This is also known as The Great Purge. The analog nature of all this stuff means that you are going to put it in boxes to haul it across the city.

Going from servers to services is a lot like playing a game of Jenga. You have to pull out all the various blocks (apps) without knocking over the tower (your business). You can go for the slow methodical method, or the "turn if off and see who complains" method.

The importance of industry expertise should not be overlooked when selecting a technology partner. Technology itself is standards-based, but the familiarity with HOW technology is used in a specific industry will accelerate your productivity gains with it.

The impact of technology in the professional contractor industry has changed drastically over the past ten years. The explosion of mobile devices, ubiquitous LTE connectivity, and cloud-based file storage has made a big difference. Running from job-site to job-site with file folders full of timesheets, bill of materials, and progress reports can be a thing of the past with the right use of technology.

The impact of technology in urgent and primary care clinics can make provider's patient encounters better, or a frustrating exercise in attempting to get everything put into the EHR correctly! Ideally the technology sits in the background and is seamlessly integrated with the clinic workflows.

The impact of technology in private and family-owned businesses can be the difference in scaling up, or sliding down. There are two key differences we have observed in how private and family-owned businesses approach technology change and investments.

People are the process

Most family businesses are built on people with whatever resources they had at the time.

The new Microsoft Edge browser has finally caught up to Google's Chrome browser, and the timing is great. The #wfh transition means that more personal devices are being utilized to access corporate resources. Often this is done via a web browser, which means your corporate security could depend on what browser they are using!

Microsoft transitioned to the Chromium-based engine for the new Edge browser which was released in January 2020. The move to the Chromium engine means that your favorite Chrome extensions will work in addition to the enhanced speed and page loads it provides.

Workforce collaboration has changed. We aren't going back to conference rooms full of people, and that's a good thing. When you are recalibrating your technology plan enabling cloud collaboration should be a part of it. This is more than video conferencing and screen sharing.