AdvaTech Solutions

Smishing attacks are getting more realistic. 

If you don’t know what smishing is, it’s basically phishing, but through text messages. The goal is to get your login info or credit card numbers. 

It used to be easy to spot these, but scammers have upgraded their tactics: 

• They use your real name so the message feels personal. 
• The links look real. They often use HTTPS, so the little padlock icon doesn’t guarantee a site is safe anymore. 
• They time the texts to match real events like tax season or holiday deliveries. 
• Some even try to get you to download a fake app or call a bogus support number.

The best thing to do is never click a link in a text message, even if it looks urgent. 

If you are worried about an account, just open your official bank app or type the website in yourself. If there is an actual problem, the alert will be there.

Season’s greetings from AdvaTech Solutions! 🎄

As 2025 wraps up, we’re grateful for our clients, partners, and community. Here’s to powering into 2026 with innovation, security, and success.

A lot of businesses have a calendar packed with meetings that just waste time.

You have a Monday check-in, a Wednesday status update, and a Friday wrap-up, and they're all just people talking with no real outcome.

There's are many alternatives to that. Alternatives that are less time consuming.

One of those comes from EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System).

It's a weekly meeting called “the Level 10."

The idea is that you have just one 90-minute meeting a week.

You start with a quick review of your key numbers and progress on your quarterly goals.

Then, for most of the time, the only thing you're allowed to do is identify and solve your biggest problems as a team.

Because it's so focused on fixing what's broken or moving projects along, you find you don't need all those other check-in meetings anymore.

You end up replacing a handful of pointless meetings with one that works.

Have you tried this before? If yes, how is it? If not, how do you structure meetings in your company?

If you use OneNote on Windows, you’re probably familiar with the annoying process of adding a picture only to realize it needs to be cropped.

You used to have to leave OneNote, open the image in a separate app, crop it, save
it, and then put it back into your notes.

People have complained about this for years…

And a recent update from Microsoft finally fixed this.

You can now crop pictures directly inside OneNote.

Just click on the picture you've inserted, and you'll find the crop tool in the "Picture" tab.

It's a small change, but it's one of those things that saves a lot of time and makes the app much easier to use.

We use QR codes for almost everything now, from restaurant menus to paying for parking.

The problem is that we've started to trust them, and scammers are using that trust against us.

A common scam is to put a sticker with a fake QR code on top of a legitimate one.

When you scan the fake code, it takes you to a website that might look real but is designed to steal your password or credit card info.

Since you can't see the website address hidden inside the code, it's hard to spot the fake. This is sometimes called "Quishing."

It's a good idea to get into the habit of checking a few things first:

▶️Check the code itself. Does it look like a sticker that's been placed over the original one? If anything seems off, don't scan it.

▶️Preview the website address. After scanning, your phone shows you the link before it opens. Read it. If the address doesn't look right, don't open the site.

▶️Don't enter passwords. If a QR code takes you straight to a login page, it's almost always a scam. Just close the window.

It all comes down to taking an extra second to look before you open the link.

Too many people fall for this scam, so stay vigilant and stay safe!

Here's a simple way to use AI that can make a real difference for your customer
support team.

It's hard to train someone for a conversation with a genuinely angry or frustrated
customer.

Usually, your team only gets to practice when a real customer is on the line.

And you don't want that to be the testing ground for how your support team reacts.

Instead, have them use an AI tool as a role-playing partner.

For example, they can give the AI a prompt like this:

“Let's role-play. I am a customer support agent for a company that does X. We offer [SAY WHAT SERVICES/PRODUCTS YOU OFFER] to a target audience of [ADD YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE]. You are a very frustrated and angry customer, because your product [CHOOSE A PRODUCT] arrived broken. Start the conversation."

Your employee can then have a realistic back-and-forth, practice de-escalating the
situation, and find a solution, all in a completely safe environment.

Afterward, they can even ask the AI for feedback on how they could have handled it
better.

It's a free and effective way for your team to build confidence before they talk to a
real customer.

Have you tried this before?

Offboarding an employee is just as important (if not more important) as onboarding.

You need to have a solid plan for when someone leaves.

Your first step is probably to shut down their email, which is exactly right. But that's usually not enough.

You also have to think about every other tool that person used.

Did they have access to the accounting software? The company's social media accounts? Project management apps?

If that access isn't removed, you've left a security hole.

It doesn't matter how much you trusted the person or if they left on good terms. An active, unused account is just a target for hackers and a risk you don't need.

That's why I recommend making a simple checklist for this.

▶️Keep a running list of every single software, app, and service your company uses.

▶️When an employee leaves, just go down that list and remove their access from
each one.

▶️Recover all company property, like their laptop and phone, on their last day. If they work remotely, you should have a remote device management system in place.

▶️Use it to remotely lock, disable, and wipe all data from the laptop to protect sensitive information.

▶️If the person knew any shared passwords, like for a social media account, make sure you change them.

▶️Forward their old email address to a manager to make sure no client messages or inquiries get lost.

What does your offboarding process look like? Let us know in the comments.