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Did you know that 95% of successful cyberattacks begin with a phishing scam?   “Phishing” is an umbrella term used to describe an email scam where the sender tries to trick you into handing over valuable information such as account credentials, banking information, social security numbers, or other sensitive data.   The email will appear…

When it comes to rolling out a new technology solution at your organization, there are a lot of boxes to check from both a tactical and a strategic perspective.   Time and time again we hear from organizations who had identified what they believed to be a perfect solution for their organization ‑ a new…

Are you considering Slack at your organization?   It’s a smart question to ask. Slack, an incredibly popular communication platform, now boasts: 500,000 organizations on board (70,000 paying) 8 million daily active users (3 million paid) 10 hours of average use per day   We’ve been using Slack at Optimal for about a year and…

If you’ve been reading any sort of industry publications these days, you have heard about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the supposed threat it’s posing to the legal profession as a whole.   First, let us say this: we don’t expect lawyers to become completely obsolete in the face of AI. But we do anticipate some…

Between 2014 and 2015, investors poured over $800 million into blockchain startups. The market for blockchain is expected to reach $7.7 billion globally by the year 2022, up from $411.5 million in 2017.   And in 2018, no one can seem to stop talking about it.   What, in plain English, is blockchain, and how…

According to RightScale’s 2017 State of the Cloud Survey, companies now run 79% of workloads in the cloud on average.   After nearly three decades serving the IT needs of law firms, associations, and small businesses in the DC Metro area and beyond, we’ve seen (and, in many cases, initiated) this shift across our client…

Over the past 25 years our company has seen cyber threats evolve in a nasty way. Last year a startling 4,000 ransomware attacks occurred every day. One out of every 131 emails sent was malicious. Businesses with fewer than 1,000 employees now have a 90% likelihood of a breach costing them over $216,000. Needless to…

As we make our way into 2018, one of the questions we’re hearing from our clients is this: how can we expect the cybersecurity landscape to change, and what will this mean for our business?   Unfortunately, recent data indicates that cyberattacks will continue to rise in quantity and severity as time goes on, and…

The pace of technology is dizzying.   If you’re like most executives, you don’t have the time to navigate this ever-changing landscape, and to anticipate what it all means for your business. Fortunately, we do!   To help you stay ahead of the curve, we’ll work through our top tech predictions for 2018 below.  …

On the fence about whether or not you want to embrace telecommuting in your business? After nearly three decades in the IT industry, our conclusion is this: remote work isn’t right for everyone, but for some, it can unleash some truly powerful, tangible business results. Here are the top 5 benefits that our clients have…