Nashville, famously known as Music City, is not just a haven for musicians but a burgeoning hub for businesses and technology. At the heart of this technological evolution are the unsung heroes – the IT support professionals.

For fun, I shadowed one of our IT support gurus to see what a typical day in the life looks like.

Morning Routine: Setting Up for Success

The day starts early for our Nashville IT Support specialists. After a cup of coffee (usually from Bongo Java), the first task is to check the overnight reports. This includes scanning for any system alerts or issues that might have occurred in the myriad of businesses we support, ranging from recording studios to corporate offices in downtown Nashville.

Mid-Morning: Proactive Measures and Client Communications

As the day progresses, proactive system checks are in full swing. Our IT expert ensures all systems are running smoothly, updating software where necessary, and conducting routine cybersecurity checks. Client communication is also key. We touch base with clients, offering updates and addressing any concerns.

Lunch Break: Networking and Community Engagement

Even lunch hours for Nashville IT Support professionals are an opportunity for learning and growth.  The entire helpdesk eats lunch at their desk (today it was tacos from SatCo) and watching a webinar on AI and cybersecurity.

Afternoon: Onsite Visits and Problem-Solving

The afternoons are typically reserved for onsite visits. Whether it’s a network setup at a new office or troubleshooting at a local startup, our IT expert is hands-on in resolving issues. This not only involves technical skills but also strong interpersonal communication to understand and address client needs effectively.  Half-geek-half human.

Evening: Continued Education and Personal Growth

In the ever-evolving field of IT, continuous learning is crucial. Our Nashville IT Support professional dedicates time in the evening to upskill – be it through online courses, webinars, or researching the latest tech advancements. This commitment to growth ensures they remain at the forefront of IT expertise.  To be good at tech you often have to live and breathe as both a job and a hobby.

Conclusion

From early morning checks to evening studies, a day in the life of a Nashville IT Support professional is diverse and demanding. It’s a role that requires a balance of technical prowess, proactive thinking, and excellent communication skills. They are the backbone of Nashville’s businesses, big and small, ensuring the city’s tech infrastructure is robust, secure, and cutting-edge.

Coming soon!  A Day in the Life of a Nashville Software Developer…stay tuned!

Welcome to the Half-Geek-Half-Human podcast where we discuss the intersections between technology, business, and life.”

A few weeks ago, our tech consulting firm decided it was time to jump on the bandwagon and start up our own podcast.

This is something we had been reticent to do in the past.  With over 3 million podcasts already out there, we asked ourselves, “What’s the point?” It seemed like the last thing the world needed was another podcast taking up space.  And with all that competition, why would anyone use their valuable time to listen to what we had to say?

Our thinking changed though about a year into the pandemic.

As many analysts predicted, the demand for podcasts dropped about 10% when the pandemic first hit. With everyone quarantined at home spending less time in their cars or at gyms, it made sense that the audience for podcasting would fade.

But then something interesting happened.  After the quick dip in podcast popularity, the trend reversed itself.  Overall, worldwide pandemic podcast listenership ultimately increased by more than 40%.  Apparently, we all love interesting content, and it’s not just a distraction to pass time on the morning commute.  Maybe we weren’t too late to jump in?

Still though, the question remained.  Despite the demand for podcasts being at an all-time high, how could we ever hope to compete with the 3 million other shows out there?

Like publishing a book or recording a song, in podcasting the odds of producing a best seller are against you.  But people still do it and often gain rewards beyond their original intent.

After some internal debate, we decided to dive in to the podcasting world not for fame and fortune (although that would be nice), but for other equally valuable reasons that we felt would help our company grow.

In our first season of producing our “Half-Geek-Half-Human” podcast we learned a lot:

• The technical part of recording, editing, and publishing a podcast is relatively easy to do.  The time and financial investments have been low compared to other marketing strategies.
• The content we feature in our podcast has upped our profile as “thought leaders” who are deeply interested in tech topics that can help businesses thrive.
• There’s been a boost to our company culture. Our show has supplied an opportunity to talk about internal topics like promoting “Women in Tech” and “Making Work Personal” that are part of our core values.
• It’s provided us with an easy way to network with interesting people as we have sought out guests to be on our shows.
• It’s given us a chance to give back to our clients by inviting them to tell their stories, which we then share on our social media outlets and website.
• It’s generated content for our website to boost our Google search rankings.
• Our podcasts have increased our social media audience.

The list goes on.

The benefits have been unexpected, but they have been real.

Putting out content to promote yourself or your business is nothing new.  Some write books, others write blogs, and some put videos on YouTube. But books are hard (and dated as soon as they’re published), blogs are a dime a dozen, and not everybody is ready for their YouTube closeup.

For all these reasons, we have gotten a great bang for the buck with our simple but targeted podcast that we can easily do every two weeks. If you haven’t already, there’s still time to join the podcast bandwagon.

J Rosen is the founder of Atiba, a Nashville custom software development firm and IT support company. Visit Atiba.com for more info.

Years ago, we decided it was time to remodel our kitchen.

We had what I called the 1970s “Brady Bunch” style kitchen that featured a mixture of faint yellow linoleum floors, puke green laminate countertops, and knotty pine brown cabinets.   We even had some cool flowery wallpaper and a fern—I loved it.

It wasn’t until the early 2000s that we finally realized that the ’70s style was no longer all that popular, and it was time to make a change.

We hired a very talented and honest carpenter named Gary to guide us from our ’70s décor and appliances into more modern times.  He presented us with a reasonable estimate and assured us that in three weeks’ time we would be enjoying a life of new hardwood floors, granite counter tops, an ultramodern fridge, and custom cabinets.

Well, as you may have guessed if you’ve ever remodeled your own kitchen—things didn’t go exactly as planned.

Gary did a great job on the work itself. The work he did was precise and beautiful.

But, instead of three weeks it took about three months.  And in the end, final cost was about double the estimate.  There were days at a time when Gary got delayed working on our project because he had other clients he was juggling.  The countertops came in late because of a supply issue with the vendor.  And, we ran into some issues with some old water damage to the floor that we only found out about midway through the project.

I was anxious for Gary to get it done and the budget overage was stressful.  But I knew my worries were just first-world problems and took it in stride, grateful to have a cool new room.  In the end, the kitchen was great, it just cost twice as much and took four times longer than we expected.

We’ve all had experiences like this—projects that went off the rails somewhere along the line.  Whether it’s budget, deadlines, features, or all three, complex jobs are hard to manage.

Watching Gary, who knew how to build complex things, struggle with project management wasn’t unfamiliar to me.

In my world of custom software development and IT services, missed deadlines and budgets are notoriously common.  Just like remodeling a kitchen, managing a tech project is complex.  In fact, in our technology services business, in many ways managing a technical project is often more complex than the tech itself.

Enter one of the most valuable yet misunderstood roles in all of business—the project manager.

In the old days, a project manager was simply someone with good organizational skills. But early in my career, I realized it’s much more. Project management, whether in the tech world or any other business endeavor, is half art and half science because it involves managing both people and deliverables in tandem.

On the people side, a skilled project manager must manage both the team doing the work and the client’s expectations.  They are charged with managing project scope, deadlines, budgets, and dependencies.  And they must always be one step ahead, identifying and mitigating any risks to a successful project outcome.

On the deliverable side, project managers have to know what is considered “done.”  They must coordinate timing and contingencies for bugs and mistakes.  They must ensure that the final product meets customers’ expectations.

So, project management is not easy, and often takes years of study and experience to become good at it.

Gary, with all his talent as a carpenter, ended up being the catalyst for me to commit to project management as a critical component of our business.  Right up there with sales, marketing, accounting, and HR, project management can make or break an entire company.

Great project managers are hard to come by.  But when you find one, they are worth their weight in gold.

Despite the struggles we had getting our kitchen completed, over 20 years later I am happy we did it.  Not only did I get an updated kitchen, but I learned an important business lesson that helped our company improve.  I know that if the décor of the ’70s ever comes back in style, between the skills of someone like Gary and the experience of a great project manager, I will be ready.

When I saw the sign, I was confused,

“Welcome to Ray’s Liquor Store” was flickering in red neon lights above the door.  This didn’t seem right.

I remembered feeling this same sense of confusion years ago on a trip to Chicago when a friend told me about this new “Uber thing” that I could use to get from my hotel to the airport.

“It’s really cool,” he said.  “You just tell the app where you are and where you want to go, and a random stranger will pull up and tell you to get in his car.”  It was the early days of the “sharing economy” when the concept of ride-sharing apps and Airbnb were just getting off the ground and stranger-danger was embedded in our collective consciousness.

“No way,” I thought.  I decided to just call a cab.

Yet here I was, hundreds of Uber rides later, about to drop off my luggage at random old liquor store in California. The guy behind the corner seemed nice, but surely, I was at the wrong place.

I was in San Diego and needed a place to store my suitcase and laptop bag for a few hours between meetings.  I had come across an app called Bounce that partners with local businesses that will store your luggage for a few hours for a small fee.

The process is easy.  You simply search for a location, show up with the bags you need to store, drop them off, and be on your way.  “Why not?” I figured.  If I am OK with getting into a car with a total stranger, I should be fine leaving my suitcase at a retail store.

But as I stared at the sign, I began to get cold feet.

I had expected the app to lead to some form for a public locker or maybe a Target that had a secure storage area.  Ray’s Liquor had neither. For $10, they’d keep my suitcase behind the counter with the rum and vodka until I returned to pick it up.

Trust, or the lack thereof, is central to every transaction. It’s what our entire economy is based on.  Whether it’s buying a sandwich or dropping off your luggage at a corner store, if a buyer and seller don’t trust each other, the transaction is dead.

The growth of the sharing economy, where we buy and sell goods and services in a non-traditional way, has been remarkable because in a relatively short period of time, companies like Lyft, Uber, and Airbnb have been able to convince us to trust each other in a new way.

How have they done this?  How in the world could I possibly trust a small liquor store with my luggage?

It started with marketing and branding.  The fact that I found the Bounce luggage storage app on the first page of Google made me feel that it was legit.  And the branding on their website looked clean and professional.

From there, the technology took over.

GPS made it easy to find the closest storage location, and even though it led me to a place I wasn’t expecting, just like Uber and Lyft it was accurate.  And once I walked in the door the app allowed me to pay with PayPal (a service that I already trusted.)

And finally, the service was low cost, making it tempting even though it was new.

So, in the end, while my trust level wasn’t 100%, it was enough to prompt me to hand my bag over the counter and hope for the best.

A few hours later, when I returned, I was greeted by Ray himself. He happily handed me my luggage and offered me a discount on a bottle of wine.  I thanked him and suggested he change the name of his store to Ray’s Liquor and Luggage Storage.  He laughed as I left to call an Uber.

JJ Rosen is the founder of Atiba.  A Nashville IT support and custom software development company. Visit www.atiba.com or www.atibanetworkservices.com for more info.

Follow your passion?

It was halfway through my sophomore year in college when reality began to set in.

It seemed like it was just yesterday that my parents had dropped me off at my freshman dorm, but somehow time had moved too fast.

As a sophomore, I could no longer say I was “just starting college.”  I gulped when I realized that I was nearly halfway done and still had no idea what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.   I remember feeling like time was running out and the pressure was on.

I went to the Career Counseling Center one day and saw a poster on the wall that stuck with me: “Follow Your Passion.”

Yes!  This made sense.

This was the answer I’d been looking for as the countdown toward the work world was ticking away. I wasn’t quite sure what my passion was at the time. But I figured I’d eventually discover it, and then a clear path to success and happiness would open in front of me.

In the end things worked out.  I discovered I had a passion for all things tech, and I’ve been happy working as an IT consultant ever since.  “Follow Your Passion” turned out to be great advice.

So, when my wife and I went to visit our college sophomore last weekend and he asked me for some career guidance I was surprised when I struggled to give him a solid answer.  (To be honest, I often struggle when trying to give my kids advice. I usually defer to my wife.)

But this was a layup.  “Should I follow my passion?”

In our kid’s case, as I suspect with many others, this answer was actually not so simple.

Unlike myself, where my passion happened to be directly tied to a practical career path, our kid’s passion is jazz music.  He’s a jazz drum major and for years now he’s been living and breathing music.  It’s not been easy, but with thousands of hours of practice and performing coupled with great teachers, he’s found something he both loves and excels at.

But, just like me, as his time in school flies by, his long-term career prospects are on his mind. Can he follow his passion and still make a living? If he turns his passion into a job, will he eventually burn out?  Will the investment of time and money in college pay off?

His questions had me re-thinking the “Follow Your Passion” poster that had influenced me all those years ago.

After some deep thought here’s what I told him:

• Consider yourself lucky that you discovered your passion at such a young age.  You have time for trial and error to help you choose your career path.
• Cast a wide net around the potentially adjacent vocations you could pursue that allow you to remain true to what you love doing.  A musician can work as a performer, a teacher, a writer, a producer—or all the above.
• Go into the “follow your passion versus follow the money” debate with your eyes wide open.  Accept that life has trade-offs that each of us must navigate and focus on what trade-offs you are willing to make for what rewards.
• Be aware that following your passion is not necessarily a straightforward path.  It’s possible to have more than one passion, and it’s also possible your passions will change over time.
• Following your passion is not always tied to your job.   In fact, often combining a passion with a job can take the fun out of doing what you love.

And finally, I told him that if his first love doesn’t work out, he’s always got a place in the family tech business and I’d be generous with time-off for jam sessions if he lets me sit in on tambourine.  And without replying, he hurried off to his next rehearsal.

JJ Rosen is the founder ofAtiba.  A Nashville IT support and custom software development company.  Visit www.atiba.com or www.atibanetworkservices.com for more info.

t’s college football season and my team’s on a losing streak.

This is nothing new for me.  No matter what team I have hitched my wagon to over the years, a national championship has never been in the cards.  Losing, whether by a lot or a little, has been a consistent theme.

I grew up a Vandy fan and experienced a profound sense of loss for years on end.  We had a few upsets and some moral victories, but even in our best seasons, suffering through a decent number of losses felt inevitable.  It was sometimes tough to be around friends whose teams seemed to always be winning—but I was happy for them (at least sort of) as they got to celebrate while I sulked.

Why couldn’t I experience the thrill of victory like they did?

It took me only a few decades to have an epiphany: I didn’t have to root for just one team.  Although I consider myself a very loyal person, celebrating a win is much more fun than suffering over a loss.  Why not find a winner to root for?

At the bequest of a friend who bribed me with a free team jersey and some hot wings at a watch party, I decided to become an Oklahoma Sooners fan.

At first my friends and family laughed at my sudden life-changing decision. Given the fact that I’d never actually set foot in Oklahoma, they all thought it was weird. But I theorized that the Sooners have had great teams for decades.  Following a team that had a history of winning more than losing seemed like a logical way to make Saturdays in the fall better. I was all in—Boomer Sooner!

But it was only a few games into the season when something shocking happened. They lost a game.  No matter who you root for, it seems that losing never completely goes away.

It’s the same way in business.  Over time, no business has ever gone undefeated. Just like the top football teams, even the most successful companies don’t win 100% of the time.  Whether you run a big corporation or a one person startup, the way you deal with setbacks and losses can determine your long-term success.

When I first got into the IT consulting and software development business 30 years ago, losing really hurt.  Whether it was losing a sale or losing an employee, I reacted by losing sleep.

But somewhere along the line I came across a great quote that changed my attitude:

“When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.”  — Dalai Lama 

This sounded simple enough.  If a loss can teach you something that helps you improve, you will ultimately come out ahead.  Maybe this Dalai Lama guy was on to something?

Given the competitive nature of business, it took me years to fully embrace this.  Even with the silver lining of a lessoned learned, losses are hard to feel good about.  So it takes some practice and humility to follow the Dalai Lama’s advice.  But long term, it’s paid off.

Now, whenever we lose a big sale or lose money on a bad investment, I have found it helpful to literally write down the lesson learned.   We then use these lessons to proactively tinker and tweak to help us win the next time.

So, as of this writing, my Sooners have lost three in a row.  It’s not fun, but like every team and every business, the lessons learned from the losses will pay off.  If your team has had some losses this year, as the Dalai Lama says, “Choose to be optimistic, it feels better.”

In my last column I talked about the art of the “work apology.”

Whether you’re apologizing to a customer or colleague, those magic words “I’m sorry” delivered with sincerity and a commitment to making things right can quickly turn a negative situation into a positive one.

But apologizing is not a one-way street.

Just as there’s a right way to make a business apology, there’s also a right way to accept one.

Just like in our personal lives, letting someone else know that you’re in the wrong and they’re in the right comes with it the fear of being perceived as weak or even incompetent. We are conditioned, especially at work, to show strength so it takes some courage to not only admit an error, but to seek to make amends for it.

Most of us at one time or another have had a restaurant mess up our order or had to wait in line at the airport gate after a flight has been canceled.  And most people at some time in their work lives have been wronged by a colleague or boss.

And unfortunately, even in the most obvious situations where an apology is owed, it’s more common than not that we will not get one.

So, when a company or colleague does muster up the courage to make amends for a mistake, responding in a productive way is essential to turn a bad interaction into a win-win where everyone is happy—this is the goal.

At its core, just like in our personal lives, accepting an apology in a business setting comes down to three things: listening, empathizing, and letting go of any lingering resentments.

Listening, the first step is often easier said than done when emotion is involved.  But in a business setting, listening equates to respecting even in the midst of conflict.   Committing to hearing someone out will set the table for the next step.

Empathizing, or putting yourself in the apologizer’s shoes, can be a struggle.  But just as it takes empathy to offer an apology it takes some empathy to accept one as well.  It helps to remember that everyone makes mistakes, and that sometimes we are all at the mercy of circumstances out of our control.

And lastly, whether it’s the airline delaying your flight or a co-worker throwing you under the proverbial bus in front of your boss, holding a grudge isn’t good for anyone. As Nelson Mandela once said, “Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.”  So, if you truly are looking for a resolution of a business conflict, you must be willing to let go of any lingering resentments.

So, a successful apology is a two-way street.  It takes work on both ends, which ironically can put two people in a conflict on the same side, both working towards a resolution.  And in the end, it can make a relationship, whether it’s a customer or colleague, stronger.  If you do find yourself lucky enough to receive that rare apology, muster up your empathy, and answer with a sincere “thanks” and move ahead.

JJ Rosen is the founder of Atiba. A Nashville custom software development and IT support company.  Visit www.atiba.com or www.atibanetworkservices.com for more info.

It started as just an innocent oil change, the kind that’s supposed to take 30 minutes.  It had been a long day and like I always do whenever I’m due for an oil change, I debated whether to go ahead and pull in or promise myself to take care of it later and just drive home.

It looked like a short line, so I decided it was as good a time as any to just get it done. It was about 6:30 p.m. when I made it into the garage. The nice mechanic behind the counter told me they would be closing in about a half hour and said they would be done with my car in a jiffy.

About 15 minutes later, as I sat in the waiting area answering emails on my phone, I noticed some commotion and heard a faint “Oh no.”  As I looked up, I saw the three mechanics were huddled together much the same way football referees huddle when they are debating a controversial call.

Jerry, the guy who I met earlier behind the counter walked in and said, “We have a slight problem.”

Apparently, one of the crew had broken a bolt off of one of my brakes while inspecting it and unfortunately, they didn’t have a spare one in stock to fix it.  The only nearby auto parts store that had the broken part in stock was an hour away.  He explained that it was too dangerous to drive until they got it fixed.

I’m generally pretty easy going, but this really stunk.  I had a work trip planned the next day and suddenly being car-less was going to mess everything up. My 30 minute oil change had turned into a major inconvenience that was going to throw off my entire week.

Jerry must have sensed my stress when he said, “Listen, I’m sorry about this.”

And that’s all it took.  With those two magic words, “I’m sorry,” spoken with a tone of sincerity and compassion, Jerry had made me feel much better.   He said that it was their fault, that he felt bad for messing up my day, and that he would drive the two hours round trip to get the part. If I could wait, he’d be back by 9 p.m.

On top of that, he ordered a pizza for me and his two employees and offered me his desk to use if I wanted to work on my computer while I waited.

We’re all taught from a young age to say, “I’m sorry” when we do something wrong.  But in a business context, apologies are rare. Whether it’s apologizing to a customer or co-worker, standing up and admitting a mistake somehow feels risky, especially at work.

Taking a risk takes courage.  So, it’s ironic that many of us avoid apologies as they are often perceived as a sign of weakness. But when done well, an apology can turn a negative experience into a positive one.

When it comes to the “business apology” I have found that following a few rules always helps:

1. Make sure your apology is sincere. You should only apologize when you know you’ve made a mistake and you are committed to owning it.
2. Back up “I’m sorry” with specific actions to remedy the mistake.
3. Be humble.  Accept that no one is perfect, and mistakes are part of life.

Whether it’s Coca-Cola apologizing for changing their formula back in the ’80s, Apple making amends to Taylor Swift when they reduced artist royalties, or Jerry driving two hours after closing time to fix my brakes, the end result of a good apology can actually enhance the loyalty of the customer you have wronged.

I now go to Jerry’s shop whenever I need an oil change and refer my friends to do the same.  I never told him he already had me at “I’m sorry,” but the pizza sure tasted good.

I never thought I could fix a broken vacuum cleaner.

Before the days of the internet and YouTube, when any household item broke, the choice was either to take it to a repair shop or replace it. And as a young college graduate just getting into the workforce, neither option was something I could easily afford. Vacuuming, I decided, was something I would simply have to do without.

For a few months everything was fine. But when I eventually began to see my footprints in the dust covering the carpet in my small dumpy apartment, I figured it was time to do something.

Despite being lucky enough to have received a great education, my human and organizational development degree from Vanderbilt did me little good when it came to fixing anything that involved electricity or more than one moving part. I had learned a lot about psychology and management, but nothing about doing household repairs.

So, being more frugal than efficient, I decided that instead of spending money on replacing and repairing it, I was better off signing up for a class to learn how to fix it myself. I figured many things would break over my life, and it would be a better investment to just learn once and for all how to fix them.

That’s when everything changed for me.

Walking into my first Electrical Engineering 101 night class at Nashville State Technical College (also known as “Nashville Tech”) the vibe was different than the lectures I’d experienced before.  There was a group of about 10 students ranging in age from 17 to 70 sitting around a table.  A guy walked in with a tool belt and name tag sewn on to his uniform shirt who looked like he was on his way home from work.

And as it turned it he was. Our teacher Herb was a licensed electrician who by day made repairs in people’s homes and by night taught a class at Nashville Tech. When someone asked if they should address him as “professor” he said, “Nah. Just call me Herb.”

Herb explained that we would learn by doing. He said he didn’t believe in textbooks, papers, final exams, or even grades.  He asked us to bring in any broken electrical appliances that we had at home and that we would work together as a group to troubleshoot and fix them.  And in the process, we would learn all we needed to know about how electricity works.

One lady brought in her old TV that wouldn’t turn on. Someone else brought in a broken light fixture.  And yes, I brought in my dead vacuum cleaner to contribute to our makeshift lab.

Three weeks later Herb had the entire class using our multimeters, pliers, and screwdrivers to fix everything from toaster ovens to clock radios. Although there were some minor shocks and a few puffs of smoke that appeared along the way, the more things we fixed the more we learned.

By the end of the semester, not only had I learned a lot about how electronics work, but I discovered that learning by doing was much more effective than learning in the more traditional ways I’d been exposed to before.  With no textbooks and no lectures, Herb’s style of experiential learning was eye opening for me. It gave me the confidence to see that despite not studying tech or business in college, I could learn simply by doing.

In business, just as with electronics, learning by doing is not without risk. Lessons that are learned through trial and error can sometimes come with some hard knocks (or minor shocks.)  But looking back, it’s an approach that can give you access to a life-long education.

So, as it turns out, I now know how to fix a vacuum cleaner. Now I just have to get my kids to use it.

JJ Rosen is the founder of Atiba. A Nashville custom software development and IT support company.  Visit www.atiba.com or www.atibanetworkservices.com for more info.

My freshman year of college was rough.

It wasn’t anything about the school itself. The classes I took were all interesting, and the people I met became fast friends.

My roommate was a very nice guy from Ohio. We immediately hit it off with shared interests around music, going to the gym, and watching sports on our tiny TV.

But there was one issue that we were never able to resolve.

Every night at about 3 a.m., my roommate would print all the class notes he had transcribed from paper to his computer. In today’s modern world with very quiet laser printers this wouldn’t be an issue. But in 1988, the only technology most people could afford was a “dot matrix” printer that sounded like an old-school typewriter as it grinded away pulling a roll of paper through it.

The loud screeching noises that my roommate’s dot matrix printer made in the middle of every night were impossible to sleep through.  With my classes starting at 8 a.m., I was perpetually exhausted. I became resentful—not toward my roommate, but toward his printer.

And thus, it began—my lifelong grudge against printers.

I know it sounds funny, but as a computer consultant and tech enthusiast, the printer is the one piece of technology that I have never liked.

Paper jams, pricey replacement cartridges, bugs in printer drivers—this list goes on.  Printers are the least reliable piece of tech that still sits in most people’s homes and offices.

It used to be that printing was a mission-critical task. Businesses relied on their printers to print everything from paychecks to legal documents to proposals. If a printer was down it was often an emergency, and our IT support firm would scramble.

But today, this is no longer the case. With constant connectivity, powerful search software, digital signatures, and unlimited low-cost cloud storage, many businesses have become 90% paperless.  Expensive printers now spend the majority of their time sitting idle waiting for the few print jobs that come their way.

So, will the printer become obsolete?

Despite a decade-long push toward the paperless office and our decreasing volume of printed paperwork, it seems likely that printers may still be around for quite some time, much to my chagrin.

Some of the printer’s resilience is owed to industries that see paper as an integral part of their business. Healthcare, legal, and financial companies continue to use printers because paper copies are deeply entrenched as part of their operations.

And some of the printer’s staying power can be attributed to its cost dropping over time. For many people and businesses, the few times a year they need to print is worth the cost of having a printer at the ready.

So while it’s likely that printer sales will continue to slowly decline, it seems unlikely that printers will completely disappear. And the large printer manufacturers like Hewlett-Packard, Canon, and Brother have done a nice job of integrating scanning into their printers to keep them relevant in a more digital society.

It’s been over 30 years since those days of being jolted out of a deep sleep by my roommate’s nightly note-printing binges. I suppose I should be grateful that today I don’t have to share a tiny room with a printer, I only have to fight the occasional paper jam, and the only thing that wakes me up at 3 a.m. is my wife’s snoring.

JJ Rosen is the founder of Atiba, a Nashville custom software development and IT support company. Visit www.atiba.com or www.atibanetworkservices.com for more info.