One simple way to keep your business from slipping By Russ Levanway, President Have you ever tried to walk uphill on ice or loose gravel? Without the grip of a smooth surface, forward progress is nearly impossible, or, at best, inconsistent. In one of my favorite books, Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business, author Gino… Read more »
Am I Getting Through? By Russ Levanway, President At one year after CIO Solutions brought on TekTegrity, we have a lot to celebrate, and a lot more still to do when it comes to integrating. It’s sort of like a marriage after one year: the vows have been spoken, the cake has been cut, the honeymoon… Read more »
Interoperability: Can’t We All Just Get Along? By Russ Levanway, President I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the Samsung Galaxy Fold, the bleeding-edge new mobile phone that claims to defy categorization. If you haven’t seen it, the Galaxy Fold is a foldable smartphone with a barely discernible seam down the middle. The user literally unfolds… Read more »
By Russ Levanway, President Stoking ownership For many years, our company has had a mantra: I’ve got this. We even had water bottles for everyone made with that statement in big, bold letters printed on them. For us, this phrase conveys ownership and personal responsibility. For instance, let’s say a client calls the service desk in… Read more »
By Russ Levanway, President We recently held an annual planning meeting with the leadership team kicked things off by creating a new business plan for the year. Sound routine? It wasn’t. In light of our recent merger, we need the entire team, originating from both companies, to be on the same page. And the only way… Read more »
By Russ Levanway, President What keeps talented, smart individuals from working well together as a team? This is the question on the minds of our Culture Committee lately as we read The Culture Code, an excellent book by Daniel Coyle that claims to unlock the secrets of highly successful groups. In it, Coyle discusses the work… Read more »
By David Ashamalla, Director of Security Operations What is Phishing? Phishing (pronounced: “Fishing”) is the art of sending emails under a false name (misrepresenting the actual sender) in order to trick an end user into voluntarily giving up personal information, running a program, or granting access to funds. These attacks are frequent, and take advantage… Read more »
By Russ Levanway, President We recently held Food Truck Friday here at CIO Central (as we call our San Luis Obispo office), a tradition that began a while back when we identified the need for more face-time with our clients. Nearly always, our technicians communicate with clients over the phone rather than face-to-face, so putting a… Read more »
By David Ashamalla, Director of Security Operations Most everyone is familiar with using a username and password to sign in to services online. This typical sign in method is known as “single sign on”. The security with this is moderate since there is only one requirement you must satisfy to be given access. Two… Read more »
By Russ Levanway, President I recently read a story in the local newspaper in which a claim was filed for wrongful termination by someone who worked at my daughters’ school. The news sure did not look good for the school: bad press, bad publicity. My initial reaction, though, wasn’t to assume the claim was true;… Read more »