Ghost In The Machine? Are you experiencing slow computer performance? Problems shutting down or restarting your computer? Weird system crashes? Missing files? Unexpected pop-up windows or apps? Or maybe your computer is just acting strange or even spooky... The good news is your computer isn’t likely haunted. Perhaps Windows needs a thorough cleaning or hackers have infected it with adware or malware. America One specializes in security and maintenance for your systems. Call us today at 781-356-3535 to clean your systems and eliminate the ghosts.
What Makes A Strong Password? And Why Do I Need One?
Think about some of your private accounts right now. Chances are that you have an e-mail, social media accounts, bank account and more that are all passwordSo… Who you gonna call? protected. Do you share passwords across different accounts, and are your passwords strong enough to October 2022 keep cybercriminals away from your private information? If not, it This monthly might be time to evaluate. publication Your provided courtesy Passwords offer the first line of Image of Ed Jones, MIT defense when someone tries to Here Engineer & access your sensitive information. President of Without passwords, anyone could America One gain access to your social media account, which could provide Our Mission: to provide “Swift Answers. Personal Attention.” them with personal information Through executing minimal that could harm you. Even worse, response times; building strong bank accounts would be easily relationships; providing personal accessible to cybercriminals who explanations; and engineering are hoping to rob you of your essential solutions. funds.
While many personal accounts are password-protected, your business accounts also need to be properly secured. But this doesn’t just exclusively apply to you – it needs to be understood on a company-wide level. Every employee needs to use passwords to keep sensitive business information secure. Think about the damage a cybercriminal could do to your business if they gained access. They would permanently damage your company’s reputation while also putting your employees’ and customers’ private information at risk. However, it’s not enough to simply put a password in place. The passwords you choose need to be complex. But what makes a password complex? A complex password will utilize a mix of
America One Technologies Specializes in IT Services for Healthcare Organizations Get More Free Tips And Tools At Our Website: www.americatech.com Or Call: (781) 356-3535
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The Tech Chronicle
October 2022
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uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation and special characters. Additionally, your password should not be related to any personal information, nor should you use dictionary words. Your password should be incredibly difficult for someone to guess, even if they know you well, but you also need to ensure that your password is something you can remember. In addition to that, even with a complex password, it’s likely still not enough protection. Each of your accounts and devices should have a unique password that hasn’t been used anywhere else. If you use the same password across all accounts and devices, you’re opening yourself up to a pretty extreme cyber-attack if one of your accounts is compromised. All a cybercriminal needs to do is hack your Facebook page, and they will have the password for your bank accounts and e-mail. You might think that it’d be impossible to remember so many different complex passwords, but software
“Each of your accounts and devices should have a unique password that hasn’t been used anywhere else.”
is available that can help. The best way to keep track of your passwords is to use a password manager. With a password manager, you only have to remember one master password, and the software keeps track of the rest. It will even help you create complex passwords for your different accounts to ensure that your information is as protected as possible. If you oversee a team of employees, then it’s vital that they understand why creating strong passwords is so important. Your team should have trainings on cyber security practices, including information on creating passwords. If just one employee fails to create a complex and unique password, it could open you up to a cyber -attack. Creating strong passwords does not have to be difficult. If you’re struggling to remember or create strong passwords, use a password manager. Strong passwords will help keep your sensitive information protected.
We Want To Give You $50 and a FREE Microsoft Surface Pro or an Apple iPad Pro! TO OUR CLIENTS: we love having you as a customer and, quite honestly, wish we had more like you! So, instead of just wishing, we’ve decided to hold a special “refer a friend” event during the month of October! Refer any company with 10 or more computers to our office and we’ll send you a $50 gift card just to say thanks once we’ve met with them! Plus, we’ll give your referral a Cyber Security assessment absolutely free (a $299 value). Best of all, if your referral signs up for our Professional or Premium Managed Service Plans, we will give you your choice of either a brand new Apple iPad Pro or a Microsoft Surface Pro (both a $950 value!). Simply call us at 781-356-3535 or e-mail us at info@americatech.com with your referral. America One Technologies Specializes in IT Services for Healthcare Organizations Get More Free Tips And Tools At Our Website: www.americatech.com Or Call: (781) 356-3535
The Tech Chronicle
Client Spotlight
Frank Clark is like many of us: his business had to adapt to the many changes brought on by the pandemic. When West Insurance selected America One for their IT support provider, it allowed Frank to navigate this challenging moment in history. Frank is quite satisfied working with America One and would recommend us to other companies.
October 2022
Holding Your Team Accountable
Leaders often fail to hold their team accountable. During research for our book, Powerscore, we found that only 8% of leaders are good at holding people accountable. One of the main reasons that leaders fail in this area is that when it’s done wrong, it makes things more difficult for everyone. Here’s an example: I was giving a keynote speech at a Fortune conference a few years back and asked the audience, “How many of you have goals for your teams that are written down?” Only 10% raised their hands. Failure to write down goals opens up the door to confusion. It becomes nearly impossible to hold someone accountable for delivering a result when you have failed to articulate what you’re looking for. In order to hold your team accountable, you need to be specific with goals and use numbers that others provide to measure performance. When I was still a young CEO with ghSMART, I struggled to hold a consultant accountable. She was brilliant and had great technical skills but failed to call clients proactively and didn’t follow up with them. Many clients did not ask for her to come back as their trusted advisor. I called her into my office and told her that she needed to work on her client relationships. She
Frank Clark Principal West Insurance Agency
disagreed and stated that her clients loved her work. I said, “Well, one client told me that although he values your work, he feels you treat him like ‘processed cheese’ and that you rush to finish projects with him and then you move on to your next client project.” She said that her work spoke for itself, and the meeting abruptly ended. This was a huge failure on my part as I failed to set specific, mutually agreed upon goals and used vague wording. I talked about this with a mentor, and he said, “Make sure you have clear goals, in writing, so your consultants know what ‘great’ looks like. Then have somebody other than you collect data on their performance. Then you can sit down as a coach to review their results vs. their goals.” It was great advice that I immediately put into practice. When you properly hold people accountable, high performers will know they are performing, and they will keep doing what they are doing. And lower performers will know they are not performing well, long before anybody has to sit them down to have a conversation.
Dr. Geoff Smart is chairman & founder of ghSMART, a leadership consulting firm that exists to help leaders amplify their positive impact on the world. Dr. Smart and his firm have published multiple New York Times bestsellers. He stays active in his community and has advised many government officials.
America One Technologies Specializes in IT Services for Healthcare Organizations Get More Free Tips And Tools At Our Website: www.americatech.com Or Call: (781) 356-3535
The Tech Chronicle
October 2022
Leave An Impression On Your Employees And Customers With The Proper Gratitude
gratitude is well received. ensure they are as productive You can do three things when as possible: thanking someone to make sure your appreciation leaves Invite only the an impression: always use necessary individuals How many times do you their name so that they feel and teams to the meeting. thank people every day? personally acknowledged, There’s no point in having When a customer buys a include what you are every employee attend product or service from you, specifically thanking someone every meeting. you probably say, “Thanks for and thank people as soon for shopping with us. Please as possible. When your thanks Create an agenda to keep come again!” When a team are personalized, specific, and your meeting from coming member completes a task or prompt, they mean much off the rails. Send the helps out in any way, you more to the person receiving agenda to the relevant probably also thank them. them. people before the meeting But are your thanks to and make it conversational customers and coworkers with a step-by-step plan. Make Your Meetings being received as well as you More Productive hope? In a time when Set a start and end time to competitors are right down keep your day on track. You’re probably in meetings the street and employees are This will tell your every day if you’re a business looking for a company culture employees that you believe owner. They can quickly that suits their needs, their time is valuable. become time-consuming if gratitude becomes ever more there is not a solid plan critical. Set the time for the beforehand. If you are always meeting when everyone It’s essential that you work on leading meetings, here are a will be alert and ready to few things you can do to your thanking skills so your discuss the topic at hand. Also, utilize a note keeper so your team can reflect later on what was discussed in case they miss something. Set deadlines and create an action plan for your team during the meeting. This sets up accountability so you can ensure everyone will pay attention and play their part. America One Technologies Specializes in IT Services for Healthcare Organizations Get More Free Tips And Tools At Our Website: www.americatech.com Or Call: (781) 356-3535