December 15, 2021
Ah, the holiday season! It’s the time for spending time with loved ones, reflecting on the past year, and gift-giving and acts of appreciation. It’s also time for radio stations and retail businesses to be taken over by everyone’s favorite Christmas songs (we’re looking at you, Mariah Carey). At BITS, we have a few favorite holiday tunes of our own…and to celebrate the season, let us tell you why!
December 15, 2021
New site launches, giving back to our community, and all the possibilities of 2022: discover what is bringing the holly and jolly to our December.
November 19, 2021
As the days grow shorter and families gather for holidays, we often take time to reflect on the past year’s events and accomplishments in our lives. Anniversaries. Graduations. Promotions. All those memorable moments you look back on and smile. We’ve had plenty of those moments here at Beacon IT Services (BITS) over this busy year, with plenty of notable events and advancements in our realm of managed IT services.
November 15, 2021
Your Thanksgiving meal is a lot like your institution's website. Really! Discover how and see what you can do to make your meal and website the best it can be.
October 20, 2021
Picture this: Years from now, you're sharing a holiday with your family. After overhearing you reminisce and discuss how unpredictable the beginning of the 2020s was–and hopefully how wonderful the rest of the decade was–a child in the family looks up from their tablet and asks you: "So, were you there for the great Facebook [...]
October 20, 2021
When your content feels fake, it can leave your audience screaming. Discover a few tips to creating authentic content that will engage prospective students.
September 24, 2021
It’s Hurricane Season. Unless you’re a Carolina hockey fan, those words are enough to send a shiver down your spine, especially given how frequent—if not constant—hurricanes and storm warnings have become in recent years. Beyond the very real threat hurricanes pose to people’s well-being and property, they also pose another challenge to small business owners. A natural disaster may not only severely damage your business’s facilities or stock, it can also destroy the data you rely on every day to get your work done.
September 24, 2021
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Discover how to use compelling imagery to elevate the content on your site—along with a few common pitfalls to avoid.
August 27, 2021
We’ve all gotten those emails. They’ll come from a company you’ve done business with, or from someone you know. A boss maybe. The wording is odd sometimes—there are always phrases that seem a little off, like “I’m stuck on a conference”—but the tone is usually urgent. Some action or information is needed. A cell phone number. Or credit card or social security data. Or maybe just clicking a quick link.
August 26, 2021
The pandemic continues to disproportionately impact students from underrepresented minorities, low-income families, non-traditional students, and students with disabilities. As members of a college or university team, you may feel helpless when it comes to stopping the pandemic itself, but you do have options for improving student retention.
July 27, 2021
We take a look at how, despite a challenging year, we managed to come through for one of our partners to deliver the awesome website redesign services that have made us an industry leader!
July 23, 2021
Bear with us here, because we’re going to take a moment to talk about a subject that isn’t particularly fun. Insurance. Ugggghhhh, right? Unless you are in the insurance business (in which case, sorry), there is nothing particularly enjoyable about insurance. It costs money, and if you ever use it, it means something bad has happened. Nope, no fun at all. Insurance IS important though, and it can provide some peace of mind that if the worst does occur, you won’t be financially ruined. Chances are you already have a lot of insurance in your personal and professional life: auto, health, life, liability, the list goes on. But now it’s getting increasingly important to add cyber insurance to that list. Here’s what you need to know about this new and evolving area of the insurance industry.
June 25, 2021
If you're not thinking about your brand voice on the web, students may find your warm welcome much chillier than you think. This month, we explore ways you can improve your institution's brand voice, making stronger and more meaningful connections with your students.
June 24, 2021
It’s never good news when cybersecurity is in the news. Unfortunately, that’s certainly been the case this year, as story after story has emerged of cyber attacks and hacks crippling major corporations and utilities. The ransomware attack that halted Colonial Pipeline, hiking prices and causing gas shortages on the East Coast, was one of the most well-known recent incidents, but certainly not the only one: hackers also targeted food suppliers, insurance companies, communication companies, and many more. Indeed, one prediction from Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that businesses will be attacked by ransomware every 11 seconds by the end of 2021.
June 1, 2021
Discover Beacon's new website with a tour of five key pages that highlight our modern design, streamlined content, and enhanced user experience.
May 25, 2021
We get it: when you’ve got a problem, the temptation to handle it yourself is strong. It’s why there’s a whole do-it-yourself (DIY) industry, devoted to giving you the tools you need to get the job done on your own. And it’s so satisfying and fulfilling, isn’t it? Fixing your house and putting together a new piece of furniture are great DIY projects. So it’s easy to say, “I can fix it”, when your computer, network, or something else in your information technology (IT) setup needs attention, right? Here’s the thing about IT DIYs though: Don’t.
May 25, 2021
Beacon Technologies discusses why now is the time to prioritize web accessibility and how you can do your part to create a fairer, more equitable web.
April 23, 2021
How’s that saying go? “Head in the clouds?” It’s a term that usually has negative connotations, but maybe not for much longer. That’s because nowadays, the term “cloud” has become synonymous with technology and cloud computing, a service that lets users store data and programs on a remote server—the cloud—and access it from anywhere they have an internet connection. It’s quickly becoming apparent that migrating their network to the cloud is an absolute must for businesses that aim to stay on the cutting edge: in fact, a Verizon study in 2017 found that 77% of businesses felt that the cloud gave them a competitive advantage (and that number has surely only gone up since then).
April 22, 2021
If you're tired of the chaos of an open-source CMS, we've put together some of the most important things to demand of your next content management system.
April 6, 2021
Discover how Beacon can keep your website at peak performance, even as new changes come to Google's algorithm this year.
March 24, 2021
“Are you working from home?” It’s become a common question this past year as the COVID-19 pandemic upended our lives. When it was suddenly unsafe to work in the offices we’d spent years commuting to every day, we adapted fast: spare rooms were transformed into makeshift offices, old chairs were drafted into service as desk chairs, and our home wireless routers were pushed to their limits handling the new wave of traffic from video calls, file transfers, and Slack conversations.
March 18, 2021
Over time, an ungoverned website grows wild and loses identity. Discover how establishing effective content governance can help your website blossom!
February 24, 2021
A special message to inspire change, from Mark Dirks, Beacon CEO.
February 16, 2021
Ah, February. The season of Valentine’s Day, of romance. What, you don’t find the gray skies and mushy, freezing rain common to the bleakest winter months romantic? Have some chocolates. Anyway, what is romance all about? Love, trust, support, and most of all, connections. Ok, we know what you’re thinking now: why is this IT services company blog going on about romance and connections? Because here at Beacon IT Services (BITS), connections are what we do: network connections, cloud connections, and connections with customers like you so that you can then connect with your customers.
February 16, 2021
Is your institution prepared to court a whole new generation of college students? Make your school an attractive match for the diverse students of today and tomorrow.
January 21, 2021
This year, your website may be the only way to tell students what your college or university is all about. Make the most of this opportunity and invest in your site!
January 15, 2021
When it comes to business, you never want there to be any downtime that can get in the way of delivering for your customers or getting the job done. And when your business is spread across the globe in multiple time zones, it’s absolutely essential that your network is reliable and working all hours of the day and night. “If somebody from one of our factories in Germany calls us at 3 AM, our computers and servers have to be running,” says David Most, Vice President of Sales with W. Schillig. Fortunately, David and his team don’t have to worry about service outages because they partner with Beacon IT Services (BITS).
