Appalachia Technologies Blog

Solving Real Problems, Not Creating New Ones

I need to tell you about Marty the Robot.

Marty is my grocery store's $35,000 "innovation"—a six-foot-tall robot with googly eyes that supposedly detects spills. In reality, he's a mobile obstacle that terrifies children, blocks aisles, and makes shopping worse for everyone involved.

Marty is the perfect symbol of purposeless AI: technology deployed because it's possible, not because it's needed. He solves no problem customers have. He creates several they didn't. He represents everything wrong with how organizations approach AI.

This week, let's talk about purposeful implementation—how to ensure your AI solves real problems instead of becoming your own version of Marty.

Are you feeling like you’re falling behind in today’s digital race? You’re not alone.

The cutthroat business world no longer tolerates “good enough” or subpar technology.

Therefore, it’s high time to turn technology into your growth engine, but hasty tech adoption won’t cut it. This is where smart tech acceleration comes in.

In today's business landscape, data isn't just power -- it's the very lifeline that fuels business decisions, drives innovations and shapes strategies. However, businesses often find it difficult to effectively manage the vast amounts of data they hold, and that's where data management comes into play.

Simply put, data management is all about collecting, storing and analyzing data in the most efficient way possible to help businesses like yours make informed decisions, optimize operations and unlock invaluable insights.

In the world of business, your data holds the key to understanding customers, market trends and internal operations. Making the most of this information is crucial for improving customer experience, driving innovation and enhancing overall productivity.

You can unlock the full potential of your digital data with efficient data management and data governance.

Your network is your business’s lifeline.

A healthy and secure network is critical for seamless communication and operational efficiency. That’s why it’s crucial to proactively identify issues and optimize performance through continuous network security monitoring.

However, as you keep a close watch, you’ll discover many issues lurking beneath the surface. In this blog, we’ll take a look at these hidden challenges and how to tackle them to ensure robust network security.

In today’s fast-paced and digitally driven world, the demands placed on the IT infrastructure of businesses like yours are ever-increasing. To meet these challenges head-on, embracing outsourced IT services and entrusting your technological needs to an expert third-party provider is the best option. By partnering with these specialists, you can tap into a wealth of knowledge, experience and cutting-edge technologies that might otherwise be challenging to obtain in-house.

Your software is only as good as its last patch. Reaching End of Life (EoL) or End of Service (EoS) means critical patches and updates are no longer available, leaving you vulnerable to various problems.

Some make the mistake of not rushing to upgrade the software because it is still functional. However, outdated software can lead to security risks, data loss, compliance issues, and more.

In this blog, we will discuss the primary implications of running outdated software and explain why it’s crucial to take action when your software reaches EoL or EoS.

When a software or hardware product reaches its End of Life (EoL) or End of Service (EoS), it's no longer supported by the manufacturer. This can be a cause of concern for organizations like yours because unsupported technologies have no routine internal security measures or support from the manufacturer.

The good news is that there are steps you can take to mitigate the risks that come with EoL software/hardware and protect your business. Read on further to learn about them.

We are all aware of the term “use by date.” It is regularly used when talking about food and medications and refers to the date after which the product is no longer safe to consume. However, did you know that your software and hardware can expire too?

I’m going to throw some names out at you: Target, Uber, Colonial Pipeline, Equifax, Twitter. I’m sure most, if not all of you know these household names… maybe with the exception of Colonial Pipeline. I myself had never heard of them until I was sitting in my car in line to get gas while vacationing in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. On the radio was playing the news of how Colonial Pipeline had suffered a severe network breach that allowed an attacker to launch ransomware on their systems, shutting down their fuel transmission operations to the Southeastern United States. Which by sheer luck, I happened to be in that neck of the woods and got to experience my first-ever gas shortage. All I knew was I needed gas, or I wasn’t going to be able to leave the beach! Wait… how is that a bad thing? I digress.

Not a single day goes by that we don’t either hear the word security or read the word security.  See?  You’ve already read it twice!  The internet is full of so much noise that it sometimes can be hard to filter out information that pertains to you and your organization, as well as what is credible.  Today I thought I’d take a moment to give you some great sources for security news.  These are sources that are very accurate and trustworthy.

Humans are the smartest beings on earth.  So why is it that they are the number one cause for breaches that cost millions of dollars?  It’s because they are kind.

Because of the kindness of human beings, they are easily manipulated by bad actors to give up private information or even hold a door.  This is the foundation of Social Engineering.

This month’s release of the much-anticipated CMMC 2.0 left many of us in the world of cybersecurity shaking our heads.  We have been working diligently with the defense industrial base for several years now, even before the CMMC was created, to stop the bleeding of our defense secrets to our adversaries.  As a veteran and a Patriot, I, along with many other Americans, take this very serious problem personally. 

The Technology Behind Cryptocurrency Will Do Much More In Time.

There are enough new technologies today that it can be hard to keep up with all of them. One technology that is leaving a lasting mark is blockchain. The technology behind the ever-popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin (and every other cryptocurrency), is quickly becoming a household name. Here is a brief look into blockchain technology, how it works, and what kind of innovations businesses can use to make it work for them