Category Archives: News

Tax Deductions: Writing Off Major Purchases for 2020

| November 10, 2020

Managing a business this year has had its unique challenges, to say the least. But some things remain a constant. And that includes the IRS Section 179 tax deduction for the cost of tangible equipment. As a disclaimer, we are not tax advisors. Any planning or decisions should be reviewed or undertaken by your company’s CFO or accounting professionals. If you and your staff are still working from home, even just part of the time, you should seriously consider improvements to your technology infrastructure. Look at this as an overview to motivate you to take advantage of this law. What Are Section 179 Tax Deductions? When we talk about 179 deductions, these are the classic “write-offs,” but with an extra benefit. With many write-offs, youRead Full Article

A Work From Home Policy Can Help Your Business

| July 15, 2020

In the last several years, the concept of creating a work from home policy has become increasingly more popular. Though some still remain skeptical, it has been gaining in popularity and become more widely accepted among management circles. That said, the current pandemic essentially set the debate entirely aside, at least for the time being, because work from home (WFH) became the only choice between working and shutting down. Aside from mandatory quarantines, why have organizations been adopting WFH policies? There are several factors that are motivating companies to select WFH. Employee satisfaction: Many, but not all, employees like the freedom to work from home at least part of the time. Offering WFH opportunities can increase levels of employee satisfaction. This ties in to theRead Full Article

No Business As Usual

| May 21, 2020

Currently, there is no such thing as Business as Usual. Every day, small and medium businesses are re-inventing how they function. The most unfortunate side-effect of this COVID-19 crisis is that many small businesses have closed, and many of those will not re-open. The economic repercussions from this event will ripple throughout the landscape for decades. Only the strong will survive. For those who will survive this paradigm shift, now is the time to re-structure your business model and build a new foundation for the future. With many employees working off-site, businesses are noticing that they may be spending too much on their overhead, and they are also looking closely at the size of their staff. In this blog, we will look toward the futureRead Full Article

Ransomware emails: How to identify

| May 2, 2019

  Ransomware emails: How to identify and steer clear of them Ransomware attacks have suddenly become more prevalent. Each year sees more of them. Hospitals, law firms, shipping giants, etc., have all been victims of ransomware attacks. Your business could be too! Did you know that emails are one of the most common gateways for ransomware to get into your systems? In this blog, we tell you how you can stay safe by following a few tips. If you think something is amiss, it probably is Does that email seem unfamiliar? As though you weren’t meant to get it, or it doesn’t quite sound like your colleague wrote it? Perhaps it’s not. Malicious email senders often try to mask actual email IDs with something similar.Read Full Article

4 Essential Pieces to Any Small Business BYOD Strategy

| November 15, 2018

It’s hard to remember a time that  kids at the bus stop didn’t have cell phones and the mobile device strategy of many businesses was typically “you’ll take what you’re given, refrain from using it for any personal use, and the data may be scrubbed clean whenever we please.”   We’ve come a long way.  Today, businesses really have no choice but to let employees use personal devices for work purposes.  Blurred lines now make it difficult to differentiate between what is professional and what is personal.  A company or organization may partially pay for an employee’s tablet computer or smartphone, but that same device is used to upload photos to Facebook or download torrents of this season of Game of Thrones.   Naturally, securityRead Full Article

Business Continuity: What Every Business Owner Should Know

| September 13, 2018

Technology is full of difficult jargon. To further complicate things, certain terms are often used in a different context between one publication or service provider and the next. An example of this is the usage of backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity. These terms are commonly used interchangeably, often resulting in confusion. In an effort to alleviate some of this confusion, let’s describe each physical process. You will see an overlay among all three, although they are each different processes. Backup  In IT lingo, the most basic description of backup is the process by which your data, as in files or programs, is copied from its original location to another. The purpose of this is to ensure that the original files or programs are retrievableRead Full Article

The Benefits of an IT Managed Service Provider

| August 9, 2018

Managed Service Providers (MSPs)  are often recommended as a cost effective IT solution for small and mid-sized businesses. For a minimal monthly fee, MSPs provide a reasonably priced solution to the complex technology pains needs of businesses. Here’s a look at the various benefits an MSP can offer your business: Freed-Up Resources and a Renewed Emphasis on Core Business – Both business owners and internal IT staff would much rather focus on revenue enhancing tasks like product development or the creation of cutting-edge applications/services. This is one reason routine monitoring and maintenance tasks are often neglected by an internal IT person or team, which always proves to be detrimental much later. Often perceived as a “threat” to an internal IT person or staff, MSPs can insteadRead Full Article

Is That Email a Phishing Scheme?

| July 5, 2018

Research has revealed that over half of all users end up opening fraudulent emails and often even fall for them. Phishing is done with the aim of gathering personal information about you, generally related to your finances (or your business and its finances). The most common reason for the large number of people falling for fraudulent emails is that the phishing attempts are often so well-disguised that they escape the eyes of a busy email reader. Here are a few tips that help you identify whether that email really came from your bank or is another attempt at defrauding you via a phishing email. 1. They are asking for personal information – Remember, no bank or financial institution asks you to share your key personalRead Full Article

The Cost of IT Downtime on Your Business

| June 28, 2018

Many small and mid-sized business owners think IT downtime only cost them a few productive hours, but there’s a lot more at stake when your systems go down. Customer satisfaction and loss of brand integrity are just two of the key losses apart from more evident costs, such as lost productivity and what often adds up to a high tally of lost profits from sales, billable hours, and/or however else your business earns an income.  Here’s a few other ways downtime can hurt your business: 1. Customer Loss – Today’s buyer lacks patience; they are used to getting everything at the click of a mouse, at the tap of a finger. Suppose they are looking for the kind of products/services that you offer and your siteRead Full Article

Rent-A-Nerd, Inc. Ribbon Cutting

| September 1, 2016

Rent-A-Nerd, Inc. is pleased to announce its upcoming ribbon cutting event to be held on Wednesday, October 5th at 10:00 a.m. at our new office, located at 2200 Tulane Avenue, Suite 302. We welcome local dignitaries, clients, media, friends, and the general public to attend, though ask that you R.s.v.p. to charlotte@rent-a-nerd.net. We are absolutely thrilled to have moved close to downtown, although that comes with mixed emotions, since Rent-A-Nerd, Inc. was founded and located in Old Metairie since its inception in 1997. Click here to read Darrin’s brief story of founding Rent-A-Nerd, Inc. Following the brief ceremony, guests will enjoy light refreshments and tours of our office and the rooftop garden of our new home in the high-tech and environmentally-friendly Campus Federal building. TheRead Full Article