admin, Author at FSA Consulting

Deliberate Screen Time: Email management

February 16, 2023

Be deliberate when you’re in front of your screens — Part 3 of 3

This is the final post in our series on improving your focus and productivity through tips to make your screen time more deliberate.

Does this resonate with you? You sit down at your desk in the morning and while your first cup of coffee cools down, you look at your calendar and your to-do list and determine what tasks you will do today. But before you start them, you open up your email client and check your email. You start responding to messages, people reply, and suddenly your coffee is cold, your task list is unchanged, and it’s now closer to lunch than breakfast.

Emails don’t have to take up all of your time. You can wrangle them so that they work for you. Now that we’ve established why email can steal your focus, let’s discuss email management.

Deliberate Screen Time: Notifications

January 18, 2023

Be deliberate when you’re in front of your screens — Part 2 of 3

This is the second post in our series on improving your focus and productivity through tips to make your screen time more deliberate.

We’re all Pavlov’s dogs now. Something dings and you reach to pick up your phone or open the notification that popped up on your computer screen. Alerts follow you all day long—emails, interoffice messaging systems, phone calls, texts, news alerts, “likes” on your latest Instagram posts, and even game notifications.

It starts with the best of intentions. “If I have my email notifications on, I will be able to respond to my boss or my client, at a moment’s notice. I will be seen as a dedicated employee. I will be providing great customer service.” The best of intentions.

But most calls, emails, and messages aren’t that time sensitive. Heck, a lot of them aren’t even important.

Deliberate Screen Time: RSS Feeds

December 19, 2022

Be Deliberate When You’re in Front of Your Screen — Part 1 of 3

This is the first post in our series on improving your focus and productivity through tips to make your screen time more deliberate.

Do you cringe every time your iPhone gives you your weekly screen time report? Where does all the time go? It may be scrolling through the news of the world, the latest in your industry, or everything you need to know for your fantasy football lineup. You sit down to look up information and soon you are distracted by a clickbait headline, fall down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, or forget entirely what you were looking for in the first place.

Misconceptions about Apple Products

December 19, 2022November 17, 2022

Many organizations don’t believe they can incorporate Apple products into their existing IT landscape or make their office an Apple office. Maybe it feels like too expensive an undertaking. Maybe there is concern about intermingling devices. In a modern hybrid work world, employees may be using their work laptop in the office, but checking email and Slack on their iPhone from the road.

Let’s look at some common misconceptions about Apple products to help you make an informed decision.

Preparing Your Technology Mise en Place

October 21, 2022

Historically, all you needed was a creative menu and a good chef in the restaurant or food service industry to be a community favorite. Prior to 2020, food service did not have to be the early adopter of new technology. In today’s connected world, we can’t deny the importance and customer expectation that you have the technology to improve the front and back of the house.

Today, 75% of restaurant customers expect digitally connected experiences online and in-store. But that doesn’t mean that their dining experience has to suffer because face time may be swapped with screen time.

If you are just starting or growing your IT infrastructure, here are the best places to invest your technology dollars.

Business Phone Etiquette

October 25, 2022September 22, 2022

In our daily life of scheduled zoom calls, slack messages, email, text, and chatbots, phone calls seem like a thing of the past. However, voice-to-voice communication is still a vital part of business and customer service. We may all feel a little out of practice. Approximately 30% of the workforce was born after caller ID (or don’t remember the days prior to caller ID and cell phones), we can all benefit from a brush-up on business phone etiquette.

Best Practices for Law Firm Files

August 16, 2022

What is your law firm’s filing setup? Is it still a big room full of meticulously organized and labeled physical files in the office? A high-tech digital solution? Maybe you’re in transition or decided on a hybrid option. Whether you’re considering a transition to a digital file system or work with digital files daily, here are some best practices to optimize your law firm files.

Why use an Apple Consultant?

July 27, 2022

Choosing who to trust with your IT solutions and equipment is a big decision. Whether it is the computers your staff use at their desks or the point-of-sale equipment you use with your customers, your technology solutions are the lifeblood of your business and you don’t want to put it in just anyone’s hands. If Apple products comprise all or some of your IT infrastructure, you need a Certified Apple Consultant. A member of the Apple Consultant Network, like FSA Consulting, can help you assess your current systems, install new solutions, and provide ongoing maintenance and upgrades.

Why Managed IT?

August 5, 2022June 22, 2022

What is managed IT? You may hear this term, but what does it truly mean and how do you know if your business needs it? Simply put, a managed service refers to any task that is handled by a 3rd party, so managed IT is outsourced to technology experts that will ensure your technology solutions and infrastructure help you support and grow your business rather than cause downtime and headaches.

Law firm technology solutions: stopgap or here to stay?

May 16, 2022

Let’s talk about law firm technology. Your firm’s partners and associates were probably accustomed to remote connections to the office before 2020, say while at lunch with a client or in the courtroom. Very few law firms, however, foresaw the technology solutions needed to conduct business throughout the pandemic.

Thrust into remote work, firms searched for software and app solutions to allow partners, associates, staff, and clients to communicate. Some potential solutions worked, some didn’t, and some were jerry-rigged to work in the interim until a better option came along.

Now, two years later, your workforce and client base have (hopefully) adapted to these technological changes and are comfortable working with robust remote solutions. In fact, they likely expect your firm to have robust remote solutions in place. It’s time to evaluate! Take a critical audit of the solutions your law firm put in place and review what you want to keep or replace.

FSA suggests following the three S’s to review and update remote technology solutions for your firm and clients.