10D Tech

11/01/2026

If your employees are using AI at work, one question is worth asking.

Are they using the tools you approved…

…or the ones they found on their own?

New research suggests more than half of employees use AI tools their employer never signed off on 😬

Some admit they've put sensitive company information into them 😱

That's not rebellion. It's people trying to get the work done faster. If the approved tool is hard to reach, doesn't do the job, or doesn't exist, they'll find one that does.

That's shadow AI: tools in use without the business knowing.

The tool itself usually isn't the problem. The problem is you have no idea where company information is going or how it's stored 👀

Banning AI doesn't work. People route around it, and the business falls behind.

What works: clear guidance on which tools to use, what never goes into them, and why the rule exists. Then check whether the approved tools actually meet the need. If they don't, people will keep looking.

AI can make a business more productive. It needs the same governance as every other system you run. Otherwise you don't know where your information ends up.

Does your business have a written AI policy, or is every employee deciding for themselves?

10/31/2026

Most business owners can't tell you where their technology actually stands.

Not because they don't care. Because nobody ever gave them a straight number.

That's what the Technology Confidence Score is for. A 15-minute call, no pitch, and you walk away with a score out of 100 showing where your systems are solid and where they're exposed.

A few small fixes usually make the biggest difference to security, productivity, and how much of your team's week goes to problems that shouldn't exist…

Schedule your Score call at 10dtech.com/Tech_Confidence_Score?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic-social
Albany, Corvallis, Eugene, Bend: 541-243-4103. Portland, Salem: 971-915-9103.

AppointmentCore is uniquely designed to meet the needs of growth teams regardless of size and complexity, with features like Enhanced Disposition and Conversion Tracking to optimize your revenue flow.

10/31/2026

Just because it still works doesn't mean it's still working well.

That aging computer or server may seem fine today, but behind the scenes it could be missing security updates, slowing productivity and increasing the chances of an unexpected failure.

Technology has a lifespan. Waiting until something breaks is almost always the most expensive way to find the end of it.

Let's create a plan to replace aging technology before it becomes an emergency. Call us at (541) 250-3150.

10/30/2026

Every IT team has a list.

Not the one in the project tracker. The other one.

The ideas everyone agrees would improve things if there were time. Some become projects. Some sit for another year because something else took priority.

Those ideas are worth doing. But they compete with work that can't wait.

That's why deciding what not to do has become one of the most important parts of running IT, and one of the hardest for an owner to see from the outside.

Every project your IT lead says yes to means another one waits. Every new platform, migration, or improvement competes for the same people, time, and attention.

One thing we've noticed working alongside internal IT teams: extra capacity does more than get extra work done. It gives the team room to hold the priorities you agreed on, instead of watching them change every time something urgent shows up.

That's what co-managed support does for a lot of IT departments. It gives your priorities a better chance of staying your priorities.

💬 When did your business last take something off the IT roadmap instead of adding to it?

10/29/2026

Why IT directors are turning to co-managed support.

This is the reason more IT leaders are bringing in a co-managed partner. Not to replace their team. To give their team room to breathe.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/keeping-good-people-now-part-directors-job-10d-tech-ib0ve

10/29/2026

Phishing emails have changed.

Thanks to AI, cybercriminals can create messages that are polished, professional and convincing in seconds. That means obvious spelling mistakes and awkward wording are no longer reliable warning signs.

Here's what to look for instead:
- Requests that create urgency or pressure
- Instructions to click a link or download an attachment
- Payment or banking detail changes
- Anything that asks you to bypass a normal process

Want to help your team recognize today's phishing tactics? Give us a call at (541) 250-3150 to learn how security awareness training can strengthen your first line of defense.

10/29/2026

Worth knowing about 🤖

Google is rolling out a setting that lets some of what people submit through its services, like voice searches and images uploaded to Google Lens, be used to train its AI. For many accounts, it's on by default.

This isn't Google reading every file on your computer. It's what you actively upload or submit.

For plenty of businesses that's a non-issue 😮‍💨

But if your team uses Google tools for work, think about what gets shared without anyone meaning to.

A screenshot of an internal document…
A photo of the whiteboard after a planning meeting…
A voice search that includes a client's name…

None of that is unusual. All of it may be information you'd rather keep inside the business 🤐

So the rule: every time a vendor adds an AI feature, review the settings. The default is a decision Google made for you, not one you made.

It's also why a short AI policy is worth writing. One page. Which tools your people should use, and what never goes into them.

Have you reviewed your business's AI settings lately, or are you running on the defaults?

10/28/2026

Our team spends a surprising amount of each week reading about technology we may never recommend to a client.

Sounds inefficient. It isn't.

One of the less visible parts of senior IT is filtering. Every week brings new AI products, Microsoft updates, security developments, and vendor announcements. Some will matter to the businesses we support. Most won't.

Finding the information is easy. There's more than enough of it. The hard part is deciding what deserves attention, what needs watching, and what can safely wait.

That takes time, and enough headspace to think past whatever is demanding attention today.

We think that's becoming one of the hardest parts of running IT for a company. Your IT lead is expected to keep the current environment running well, understand what's coming next, and decide which of it is worth bringing in.

Co-managed support helps here in a way owners don't always expect. When part of the operational load is shared, your IT lead can evaluate new technology properly instead of reacting to it.

Very few businesses benefit from adopting everything new. They benefit from adopting the right things at the right time.

👉 Looking at the next 12 months, which technology deserves more of your team's attention than it's been getting?

10/28/2026

AI has become the answer to every business question.

Need to save time? AI.
Need more productivity? AI.
Need to work smarter? AI.

The question we don't hear often enough from clients: are you getting a return on it…?

10/27/2026

How confident are you that AI governance is keeping up with AI use across your business?

Adoption moves fast. Every new use hands your IT team something else to think about…