A business owner spent one hour in late December auditing every technology tool her 12-person company used. What she discovered was staggering.

Her team used three different project management systems – none talking to each other. Two separate document storage solutions because half the team refused to switch.

Every January, tech publications release breathless predictions about revolutionary trends that will “change everything.” By February, most business owners are drowning in buzzwords – AI this, blockchain that, metaverse something-or-other – with no idea what actually matters for a company with 15 employees trying to increase revenue by 20%.

Here’s the truth: Most tech trends are hype designed to sell expensive consulting services.

You’re three hours into a five-hour drive to visit family for the holidays. Your daughter asks, “Can I play Roblox on your laptop?” Your work laptop. The one with client files, financial data and access to your entire business. You’re exhausted from packing, you’ve got three more hours to go and, honestly, keeping her entertained sounds pretty good right now.

You know that drawer in your office filled with old USB drives, tangled earbuds and tech gadgets from conferences you attended three years ago? That’s where most “tech gifts” end up – forgotten within a month, gathering dust alongside the branded stress balls and cheap power banks that never held a charge.

The holidays are stressful enough without technology tripping you up. Customers are trying to squeeze in last-minute errands, employees are juggling family schedules and everyone’s expectations are cranked up to 11. The last thing you want is to accidentally frustrate people with avoidable tech slip-ups.

Even in good times, scammers circle around generosity. But during the holidays, when giving increases and emotions run high, they truly pounce.

A few years ago, a massive telefunding fraud was shut down after authorities discovered that the perpetrators had made 1.3 billion deceptive donation calls and collected over $110 million from unsuspecting donors.

Every year, there’s a new flood of apps, gadgets and “game-changing” technology. Most of it feels more like a distraction than a breakthrough. But this year, a few simple tools actually lived up to the hype – saving small business owners time, money and the occasional headache.

Last December, an accounts payable clerk at a midsize company got an urgent text from her “CEO”: Buy $3,000 worth of Apple gift cards for clients, scratch the backs and e-mail the codes. It sounded odd, but the request came from the boss’s name, and it was peak holiday chaos.

You wouldn’t drive without a seat belt. You wouldn’t leave your office unlocked overnight. So why go online without multifactor authentication (MFA)?

MFA is like a second lock on your digital door. Instead of relying on just a password – which can be stolen, guessed or phished – it adds another layer of protection, such as a text code, authentication app or fingerprint scan.

In 2020, a family in Mississippi woke up to a nightmare. Their eight-year-old daughter heard a man’s voice coming from her bedroom, but it wasn’t her father. A hacker had gained access to their Ring camera and was speaking to her through the device, taunting her and playing music until the parents rushed in to unplug it.