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Databranch Monthly Tech Talk
IT Solutions for the Workplace
April | 2021
Surge Protectors: Save Your Devices

Many people believe that as long as they have a surge protector, their electronics are forever protected by it. Unfortunately this is simply not true.

Surge protectors have a factory defined joule rating. Over time, as they do their job of protecting your devices from surges, the surge protector will begin losing that joule rating. Losing the rating is cumulative and will eventually deem the surge protector useless.

For example, a 1,000 Joule Rated protector will lose all of its protection if it protects from a 1,000 Joule Surge.

Some surge protectors have an LED light on them that indicates when it is no longer protecting the devices plugged into it. By the time you see this light, it could be too late and it is recommended to get a new surge protector ASAP.


If you would like to learn more about how to protect your devices or you would like to know if it is time to upgrade your surge protector, please reach out to Amanda at 716-373-4467 x 15 (alasky@databranch.com) or your dedicated Databranch Account Manager!
How Much of Your Business Can Be Automated?

Automation is transforming the way the world works

Businesses of all sizes are embracing huge advances in technology to help them get things done on autopilot.

Implemented well, automation will help reduce your staff's workload, increase efficiency, reduce costs, boost the quality of customer service, and help you use new data and insights to optimize performance.

The benefits will be felt by your customers, as well. As your competitors start to transform their businesses through automation, expectations can quickly change. If you don't adapt, you risk falling behind and losing customers.

Here are the main areas that are ripe for automation in many businesses.
1 - Marketing

Marketing automation can be broadly defined as software that lets the day-to-day execution of campaigns happen automatically. 

Businesses use it as a way to nurture leads and free up their marketing teams to focus more heavily on strategy. 

One of the most significant impacts of marketing automation is the way it allows small businesses to compete with even their biggest competitors on a level playing field. In many ways this was thought to be impossible only a few short years ago.
 
You can see marketing automation in many of the email campaigns you receive, the ads that fill your social media feeds, and the ways that businesses notice and respond to changes in customer behavior.

2 - Customer Service

Customer service automation gives businesses a way to provide support to customers 24/7 without the need to have staff involved in each interaction. 

Chatbots are a great example of this, and artificial intelligence can make them pretty smart at understanding what customers are asking. Therefore, they can quickly give the right support before a human needs to get involved.
3 - Employee Onboarding

When someone joins a company, the onboarding process can shape how they view their new employer and how quickly they can hit the ground running. 
 
Do it wrong and you risk facing problems with employee retention and staff morale. You could even end up with a bad reputation that makes you less attractive to potential new hires. 

There’s a lot of room for manual error with onboarding, even with the most rigid guidelines in place. 

With so many moving parts that involve so many different people, automating the onboarding process can help to make sure that all boxes are consistently ticked. Reducing the risk of human error and saving everyone an awful lot of time. 

4 - Work Closely With IT Experts to Identify Opportunity for Automation

Automation is not an all-or-nothing option. Most businesses see the best results by blending automation with more traditional ways of working. You have to find the right balance for you.

Far from threatening people's jobs, the right automation can help to reduce your team’s workload, and free them up to focus on the things that drive your business forwards. 

Time is precious. Giving your team some of it back can completely transform their productivity and enjoyment of their work.

Click here to get started or give us a call at 716-373-4467 x 15 to learn how Databranch can help you with automating your business!
Three Useful Features in Microsoft OneNote

OneNote is a brilliant tool for staying organized and on top of all of the bits of information you collect throughout each day.

But are you using the Microsoft 365 app to its full potential?

Here are three useful features you may not have tried yet:
1 - Integrate It With Other Apps

OneNote integrates very well with the rest of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Did you know there are also a load of third-party apps that integrate with it? 

From Zapier to Feedly, it’s worth exploring the ways that OneNote can work better with the rest of your technology. 

2 - Turn On Dark Mode When the Lights Go Down

If you’re burning the midnight oil and the bright light of a white screen gets a bit too much, OneNote has an excellent dark mode feature. It turns everything dark while still maintaining enough contrast to make it easy to keep working.

3 - Password Protect Private Sections of Your Notebook

If you’re using OneNote to write or organize information you want to keep private, you can password protect individual sections of your notebook. 

This can make it difficult for others to view things you’d rather they didn’t see.

Be careful though… adding a password doesn’t encrypt it. And if you lose your password you lose access to your notebook.

4 - Extract Texts From Images

OneNote supports Optical Character Recognition. 

This lets you throw a picture into OneNote and have the software automatically extract the text for you. 

This can save a lot of time if you need to get hold of text from an image and then paste it into other documents. It can make quick work of a stack of business cards, avoiding the need for you to type all of the phone numbers and email addresses into your computer.


Databranch is a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider and we have certified expertise and unique insight into the Microsoft cloud and your alternatives for the future. Give us a call at 716-373-4467 x 15 or email info@databranch.com for more information!


WE LOVE REFERRALS

The greatest gift anyone can give us is a referral to your friends. Referrals help us keep costs down so we can pass the savings to our clients.

If your friend ends up becoming a client - we’ll gift them their free first month of service (for being a friend of yours) AND we’ll gift you a $100 Amazon Gift Voucher.

Simply introduce me via email (dprince@databranch.com) and I’ll take it from there. I personally promise we’ll look after your friend’s business with a high level of care and attention (just like we do with all our clients).
Technology Trivia

What was the first game made by Nintendo?


The first person to email us at info@databranch.com and give a correct answer gets a $25 Visa Gift Card

NEED A LAUGH?

Autocorrect can go straight to he’ll.



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