by Mitch Cottrell | Aug 13, 2026 | Business Technology
A manufacturer here in Dallas-Fort Worth had a problem nobody knew was a problem. Their design team opened large CAD files all day, and every file took about four minutes to load. Four minutes, every time, on every file. They had lived with it so long that nobody...
by Mitch Cottrell | Aug 13, 2026 | Business Technology
The first time a business owner sees an IT salary, the reaction is usually relief. Sixty-five thousand dollars, maybe seventy. That feels doable. Then I walk them through what that number turns into by the time the person is actually sitting at a desk doing work, and...
by Mitch Cottrell | Aug 13, 2026 | Business Technology
A friend of mine runs a 25-person insurance office up in Plano. Last year he called me, half joking, and asked whether he should hire an IT guy or just pay someone like me. He had a spreadsheet. He had columns. What he did not actually have was a clear picture of what...
by Mitch Cottrell | Jun 30, 2026 | Uncategorized
I changed my own oil exactly once in my life. I ended up with a driveway that looked like a crime scene, a stripped drain plug, and a quart of oil still sitting on the workbench because I could not figure out where it was supposed to go. My neighbor watched the whole...
by Mitch Cottrell | Jun 30, 2026 | IT Security, Security
You know how storm chasers work? They track severe weather, predict where it’s heading, and warn everyone in its path to take cover. Right now, cybersecurity experts are doing the same thing – except the storm isn’t made of wind and rain. It’s...
by Mitch Cottrell | Jun 30, 2026 | IT Security
Picture this: you’re watching a Cowboys game at AT&T Stadium. Individual players can only see what’s directly in front of them – the defender they’re blocking, the route they’re running, the tackle they’re making. But the...
by Mitch Cottrell | Apr 24, 2026 | IT Security, Security
Picture this: You’re at your favorite Dallas restaurant, and the waiter brings you the check. You hand over your credit card, but instead of processing it normally, they walk to another table and ask a complete stranger to approve your payment. Sounds crazy,...
by Mitch Cottrell | Apr 21, 2026 | IT Security, Security
Remember when you’d lend your house key to a neighbor to feed your cat while you were away? You trusted them with access to your home, but what if they accidentally left your key on the front porch for anyone to find? That’s essentially what happened with...
by Mitch Cottrell | Apr 18, 2026 | IT Security, Security
Remember playing hot potato as a kid? You’d frantically pass around that spud, hoping you weren’t holding it when the music stopped. Today’s ransomware attacks work similarly – except the ‘potato’ is your business data, and if...
by Mitch Cottrell | Apr 14, 2026 | IT Security, Security
There’s a saying in the security world: “You don’t have to outrun the bear. You just have to outrun the person next to you.” That’s exactly how cybersecurity for small business works right now. With the Iran conflict driving a massive...
