Happy New Year! This time is usually dedicated to making plans and commitments to improve oneself over the coming months in the interest of the future. In the spirit of the holiday, let’s talk about how the right resolutions can help your career or your business’ use of technology.

Let’s begin with some career-focused goals to strive for.

4 Career-Focused Resolutions for the New Year 

1. Network with other professionals in your field. Whether you reach out to a coworker, people you meet at an industry conference, or someone you’ve entered into a mentor/mentee relationship with, building connections can help open up lucrative opportunities for you and teach you new things about your industry. Social platforms like LinkedIn can be valuable tools for reaching this goal as they extend your reach to a broader community.
2. Establish career goals. Regardless of whether you want to increase your workplace responsibilities or expand on your professional skill set, setting these goals helps you generate some accountability for reaching them in a timely manner. Online courses are readily available for effectively any field as a means of gaining a certification.
3. Expand your expertise. Alternatively, committing to learning about new skills or exploring other areas of interest to you is often worthwhile. As you do so, seek out feedback from those more experienced than you are. Volunteering for additional workplace responsibilities requiring training, attending webinars and seminars, or taking online courses are other effective ways to boost your career prospects.
4. Update your credentials. Whether or not you seek alternative employment, keeping your proof of expertise up-to-date never hurts. Keep your resume updated, and consider building a professional website to refer people to when they want to learn more about you and your accomplishments. This is another situation where LinkedIn is particularly handy, so long as you keep it current.

4 IT-Based Resolutions for Your Business

1. Improve password standards. If you have been lax in your password hygiene, the new year is an excellent time to revisit and improve them. Consider utilizing a password manager to save your passwords in a secure vault for simplified management and increased security. It is essential that your passwords don’t repeat across accounts and that they are designed to be memorable, not guessable.
2. Cleanse your inbox. Various potential problems can be solved by keeping your business email tidy and uncongested, from a decreased risk of falling for spam emails to being able to work within your inbox more efficiently. In addition to deleting old messages and archiving ones you may need again later, consider unsubscribing from newsletters or advertisements you get that generally clutter up your inbox.
3. Keep your files organized. File systems exist for a reason: to help you stay organized and efficient while seeking out the documents you need. Resist the temptation to throw everything into a single folder or store everything on your desktop. The same applies whether you utilize cloud storage or on-premise infrastructure.
4. Back up your data. This resolution is among the most important listed here, as a good and maintained data backup could easily be the difference between an inconvenient obstacle and total business failure. Ensure you follow the 3-2-1 Backup Rule by maintaining at least three copies of your data in at least two separate storage mediums, at least one of which is stored offsite, ideally in the cloud.

If you need help keeping these resolutions, Apex Technology is here for the businesses of Carolinas. Call us at (704) 895-0010 to discuss what we can help you accomplish.