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Determining if Local IT Service Matters As a business owner or manager, every thing you do is about making decisions. And every decision affects your bottom line. Not every choice is monumental but they all add up. You weigh them out: the pros and cons. Will they fit into your...

Getting the Technology You Need (and Avoiding Killer Robots, etc.) Science fiction has an entire (arguably dominant) subgenre of stories about technology that has gone too far.  Think Terminator, Blade Runner and most recently, Severance. Severance follows the story of employees at a fictional corporation who have had their work...

Passwords – can’t live without them, can’t remember them. But you can make cybersecurity easy, or at least easier. The video below is a great routine by British comedian Michael McIntyre on passwords from his Netflex stand-up special. You should check it out but I’ll sum it up non-funnily for...

What Are the Benefits of Local IT Services? IT services are notoriously varied in both scope and quality. That’s why everyone from your “tech savvy cousin” to national corporations offer their own take on IT. And because IT is so varied in its variety and definition, it can be difficult...

What will be the effect of the metaverse for business?   It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future. - Yogi Berra   So let’s start by saying this is not going to be a very useful blog. I’m writing here about the metaverse the meaning of the metaverse...

Does your business enroll in preventative maintenance for IT solutions? If you’re like most businesses, the answer is probably no. But why? You get a physical once a year. You go to the dentist every 6 months. You get your oil changed every three to ten thousand models (depending on...

Automation for small business is often regarded as something to be feared. Prognosticators suggest that in the not-too-distant future, soldiers, doctors, and customer service reps will largely be replaced by robots and automation. Now that sounds like bad news, but it doesn’t have to be. There are a lot of...

  I once knew a handyman who when asked whether something could be done would always respond, “Well we can do anything, it just depends on what you want to spend.”   The same is true of pretty much every IT solution this side of the Rosie the Robot. (though...

  When it comes to reflecting on the year, Tech Trends of 2021 are about as pleasant of a subject as you can find. When thinking about our collective life in general, 2021 feels a lot like an extension of the end of 2020, which for a lot of us, is...

Saving Money with Modern Wireless Technology There was a time when if you wanted to add telephones to a building, along with a quote for the telephone system, you’d need an extensive labor quote for recabling. Any office or location that didn’t previously have a telephone would need a cable...

What’s the 411 on the 540? You may have heard the news that Roanoke is on track to get a new area code. You may have found yourself wondering what it means to you…or whether it matters. Well, area codes have a storied history but while they do matter, they...

  As you may or may not know, RCI began as a company that primarily engineered equipment for telephone systems. This was back in the 70s. Since then, RCI has evolved into a full business technology company that offers all kinds of IT solutions. Today that can include installing a...

  Halloween is mere days away and we've already touched on scary technology problems for small business. This time of year, business owners tend to also worry about vandalism and general mischief. And with this concern, comes requests for surveillance and crime prevention. While your business likely won't suffer from...

Happy Halloween! Look Out! (for These Scary Small Business Tech Problems) It's that time of year again. Even if the chill isn't quite yet in the air, we still feel it up our spines as jack-o-lanterns make their first appearances on neighborhood doorsteps and scary movies play on television and...

The Leaves Are Falling and It's That Time... for Changing the Outgoing Message Autumn is here! Winter is coming… What does that have to do with technology? Fall is a time of change. And as the seasons are changing, along comes cold and flu season, weather related closures and the...

Telephone System GUI - User Experience is Key When you think about telephone systems, what do you think about? Most people think about calling, answering, and transferring – your most basic functions of telephone system. They’re important but standard. Voicemail and auto attendant probably come up the next most frequently....

Should You Hire an IT Professional? As a business owner or manager, you can’t do it all…but sometimes you feel like you have to. Budgets need to stretch after all. However, your time is valuable too so hiring out for specialists in certain areas is important. Some choices are obvious....

Buy Local (is Good for Service Too!)   Most of us like the concept. Buy American has been popular for years but in the last decade “Buy local” gained a lot of traction. Towns exhibit this trend with Buy Local bumper stickers with the name of the town, farmers' markets,...

Many SPAM Calls Start with A Roundabout Meandering Introduction But I don't want any SPAM!   At the height of lockdown, Americans were streaming a lot of television. Although much new content was produced, viewer hunger tended to gravitate toward comfort food comedy nostalgia. And the number one program people...

More Business is Great! If You Can Handle it...   Across Virginia, pandemic restrictions have been winding down. Crowds have increased. We’re seeing fewer masks. Capacity limitations have been removed. And with the restriction wind down has come a pick-up in business. Having additional customers is always a positive development!...