Technology is all around us, and it is easy to forget what life was like without it. What technology, if taken away from you, would make your life the most difficult? In the spirit of the season, a few of our technology service providers have taken a moment to identify the technology they are most thankful for. How does your choice compare?

Let us know what technology you are most thankful for in the comments below, and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win one of two $25 gift cards to Target (our way of saying thanks for your opinion).

Dustin Artwohl

Dustin is a Video Collaboration Specialist for Marco. On a daily basis he assists our customers with video collaboration solutions.

In both business and his personal life, Dustin is most thankful for his technology ecosystem. Built on Apple products, all of his devices easily integrate with one another. He said, “I have an iMac, iPhone 6+, iPad Mini, MacBook Air, Apple TV and an Apple Time Capsule to back everything up wirelessly. If I need support on any of these devices, I can easily setup a remote meeting with an Apple representative to guide me through any technology challenges. While there may be some disadvantages to putting all of my eggs in one basket, juggling my personal and professional data and applications couldn’t be easier.”

For strictly personal technology, he is most thankful for his Roku 3 Streaming Player. With HD (1080p) access to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, Vudu and roughly 1,800 other “channels”, it is definitely the entertainment hub for him and his family when they choose to be couch potatoes!

Chris Kadoun

Chris is a Consulting Systems Engineer at Marco. He has been a part of the Marco family for more than six years and specializes in Mitel technologies. With that being said, the technology he is most thankful for will probably not surprise you!

Chris’ chosen technology is the mobile twinning of his work phone line to his mobile. It’s often referred to as mobility, dynamic extension or even unified communications in some circumstances. This technology allows Chris to give customers and other business acquaintances his office phone number, but he uses his mobile phone to answer the call. So when Chris is away from his desk, he can always receive and answer calls.

Britt Vander Eyk

Britt is Marco’s Communications/Marketing Associate. She crafts key messages and content for social media, internal and external email communication, case studies and everything in between. 

Inside Marco, Britt is most thankful for Wi-Fi connectivity. She said, “It’s so nice to be able to take my laptop with me where ever I go in the building to take notes and be able to hop on the Internet if needed.” The nature of her job takes her all over Marco’s headquarters as she meets with sales teams, tech engineers, management and more, and this technology allows her to remain effective even when she is away from her desk.

For personal use, Britt is most thankful for her cell phone. Not only does it let her keep in touch with friends, take photos and access the Internet, it also helps her navigate when she is on the road. Most recently she appreciated the navigation feature as she headed to one of Garth Brooks’ Minnesota concerts.  

Barry Opatz

Barry, Vice President of Marketing, is most thankful for his iPhone – for business and personal use. He is always on the go, so his iPhone allows him to stay connected to work, family and more. In his spare time, Barry dabbles in photography – but when he isn’t able to carry the fancy equipment, his iPhone steps in to capture the moment.  

Justin Field

Justin is a Pre-Sales and Senior Network Engineer at Marco. He specializes in system backup solutions, Cisco technologies, disaster recovery, networking, unified communications and virtualization. He is one of our newest blog authors, and will continue sharing his business technology insights and recommendations.

His iPhone 6+ is the technology he uses the most at work and in his personal life. “But, I’d have to choose high speed Internet as the technology I am most thankful for, as it allows me to use the cool technologies we sell remotely. My VoIP phone or virtual desktop would be useless from home or the coffee shop without it.”

Clay Ostlund

Clay is the Consulting Systems Engineer Lead at Marco and specializes in Cisco Unified Communications, Cisco Borderless Networks, Cisco/IMBD DataCenter, Enterprise Store and VMware vSphere.

Clay is most thankful for his iPhone, as most of us would agree. But in addition, Clay is also thankful for the Internet of Things, which Cisco defines as the following:

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of physical objects accessed through the Internet, as defined by technology analysts and visionaries. These objects contain embedded technology to interact with internal states or the external environment. In other words, when objects can sense and communicate, it changes how and where decisions are made, and who makes them.

To learn more from Clay, check out his quickly growing blog feed. He shares his technical expertise without the industry jargon.

Now that you’ve heard from a few of our technology service providers, share the technology you are most thankful for below. We’ll be selecting the winners this Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Until then, enjoy your Thanksgiving and your technology.