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The reason why a network audit is helpful for reducing hardware costs is that it gives you an idea of what your current resources are, how they are being used, and how they could better be utilized. Once you have a solid understanding of all this, it becomes much easier to see where you can make adjustments that improve your operations and your budget. Hardware virtualization, in particular, affords businesses plenty of chances to reduce costs through the cloud. For example, with hardware virtualization, you can take something that is typically quite costly, like running a server unit, and host it in the cloud. This provides access to the server?s resources via the Internet and frees you from hosting the physical hardware component. Furthermore, it provides a flexibility that is simply not possible with a physical machine, like the ability to run multiple operating systems on the same device. For businesses that run legacy applications that have been around for a long time, hardware virtualization is a particularly helpful tool. Sometimes you might have a server that needs to run a specific instance of an operating system that is no longer supported, just so you can utilize an application built specifically for your business many years ago. It can become difficult to secure these unsupported devices, and running an additional server (electricity, cooling, and maintenance included) just for one particular solution is not ideal. Hosting this server in the cloud frees up those resources and makes it much easier to secure, as it will be partitioned away from the rest of your online infrastructure. The last bit we want to mention here is that the latest and greatest tools on the market might not be suitable for all positions within your business. For example, a video editor might benefit from a powerful rig, but your typical office worker will likely not need 32GB of RAM and an intensive graphics card. Instead of upgrading all of your devices immediately, consider what the purpose of the device is going to be and how it will be used. This will save you costs in the long run. If you are ready to slim down your hardware expenses, White Mountain IT Services can help. We work with only the best and brightest hardware vendors to get the best solutions for our clients. Furthermore, we can help you migrate to the cloud if that is the best course of action for your particular business. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.
Password Best Practices Here is a shortlist of what you should do to be in compliance with industry standards for password best practices: Don?t use the same password twice: This one should be a given, but you should never use the same password for multiple accounts. If one password is compromised, and you have used the same password for multiple sites, then that means all of those accounts are also compromised. It might be a pain, but it?s a best practice from a security standpoint to use different, complex passwords for each of your accounts. Make passwords easy to remember but hard to guess: This might seem like a catch-22, but it?s easier to do in practice than you might think. One way you can make a password easy to remember but hard to guess is to use a ?passphrase,? or a string of words or characters that spell out something that makes sense to you, but not to anyone else. For example, rather than using your dog?s name?let?s say he is named Fred here?you can use something like ?mydogsnameisfredandheisgreat,? which is obviously much more difficult for a hacker to guess. Prioritize length rather than complexity: While complexity is still extremely important for passwords, length is the biggest deciding factor when determining how easy it is for a password to be guessed. Simply put, the more characters are involved, the harder it is for a hacker to find the right combination. You should, of course, still use letters, numbers, and symbols when you can, though. Augment Your Best Practices with Security Solutions Of course, the best password practice out there is to rely not only on a complex password, but to augment it with powerful password management tools and multi-factor authentication. Password managers give you the ability to take advantage of multiple complex passwords without the need to remember each and every one of them. With an encrypted vault for storage, a password manager can keep your credentials secure, only calling them when they are needed to access an account. Furthermore, multi-factor authentication can play a major role in keeping your accounts even more secure. We recommend that your multi-factor authentication strategy rely on having at least two of the three factors used for authentication: something you have (an external device, like a smartphone), something you know (in this case, a password or PIN), and something you are (a biometric like an iris or fingerprint scanner). With all of these in mind, you will know your accounts are as secure as possible. To learn more about how you can keep your business safe, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.
Imagine this scenario; you run an automobile factory where vehicles are assembled, tested, and ultimately shipped to dealerships for purchasing by consumers. You can imagine how tricky managing such a factory might have been in the past, with countless parts being used for assembly, inventory tracking practices for keeping tabs on all of it, and shipping information for all of the finished products. Nowadays, with the Internet of Things, all of this could be made much more simple. Take, for example, inventory management. When items are pulled from the inventory, they could be scanned automatically through the use of connected sensors, removing them from the inventory when they are used for assembly. Doing so removes the burden of painstakingly tracking each individual piece one-by-one, and it frees up time and resources for other tasks or responsibilities. The Internet of Things can also be used for diagnostic purposes. With connected devices and sensors, important benchmarks on new products can be monitored for quality control and assurance. Connected devices in this sense can also be used to determine potential pitfalls and shortcomings in the production process, preventing issues from developing further down the line. Finally, Internet of Things devices can be used to track the shipping of products to their eventual destinations. Imagine that each of these devices passes through various checkpoints that automatically add or deduct them from the inventory management system, which is updated in real time. The IoT is perfect for making these kinds of changes to operations. Truth be told, the Internet of Things can be a bit dangerous and concerning, but it does offer some great opportunities for your business to step up its operations. Just like manufacturers and corporations use smart devices to keep track of inventory in their factories and warehouses, you too can use these same devices to keep tabs on your own inventory and practices. With the appropriate technology solutions in place, you can monitor various parts of your organization?s operations. Of course, the extent to which this is true depends on which industry your business falls into. To find out how your company can utilize the Internet of Things to its advantage, we recommend a comprehensive network audit performed by White Mountain IT Services. With our help, you can identify opportunities for improvement within your organization, including inventory management, supply chain management, and so on. To learn more about what we can do for your business, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.
What is Quality Control Automation? As the name suggests, quality control automation is technology that uses AI, machine learning, or some other predefined specification to help a business weed out substandard products from their production line before they have a chance to get to customers. The obvious reason for this technology strategy is to curtail costs of quality assurance while also maintaining a positive organizational reputation from vendors and customers. Let?s take at how automated tools can help the quality of your business? products and services in three different parts of your business. Sales Getting your business to the place where you can return solid sales leads, put together customized sales pitches fast, and close down more sales is the goal for every business. With automated tools, your sales team can be in a better position to see better-quality prospects, and therefore, close more sales opportunities. The number one benefit of automating anything is that you save time (and ultimately money). Your employees can focus on revenue-generating jobs rather than the redundant (albeit important) tasks that impede most employees’ work experiences. Sales automation can improve the efficiency and performance of a sales team, provide data consistency, allow for fewer costs by saving a bunch of time, and overall make the sales process better. Salesmen that are able to sell products and services better are typically happier salespeople. Sales is a difficult job, but if you have the technology in place that can support your sales team, you will get more out of their efforts and build better revenue streams. Production For quality assurance, human checks and balances are essential, but today, you can do a lot with automation. First of all, it not only allows you to set standards of criteria for every aspect of your business? offering, it also allows you to track the progress of your production in real time. So while most people would consider automation on the production side of your business to boost production, it?s just as valuable for the data capture. In fact, automated systems can produce and report up to an average of 10 times the amount that a human workforce can in an office setting; think about how that translates into manufacturing. Automation is traditionally considered as a cost-cutting strategy?and of course it does?but in quality control, it is as important to detect production errors as it is to boost overall production. Customers expect quality and if your business is producing a lot of goods and a large portion of them don?t meet specifications until after they are produced, they are no good. With information system automation, you will get that information early and often, ensuring that the products your business produces meet spec and therefore are viable for the market. Support No matter how smart your business is, you are going to have products and services that cause customers to need support. The problems with support teams are that they cost a lot of money and there is very little they can do to generate more revenue. This puts pressure on the sales and production sides of the business. Today, technology exists that allows businesses to give their customers the comprehensive support they demand at a fraction of the cost using artificial intelligence-run support programs. Chatbots and other interfaces have been […]
COVID-19 Supply Chains The COVID pandemic has impacted everyone, but it has also influenced businesses. Since it is a worldwide problem, the supply chain is naturally affected in a profound way. The computing chip industry, with a value of over $500 billion per year, has seen an increase in pricing as chip manufacturers have failed to keep up with demand. As a result of prices increasing and a slower manufacturing process, new technology is harder to obtain and often delayed when shipping. The irony of the situation is not lost on us, though; with COVID increasing the number of remote workers, PC sales jumped by around 11 percent, a number which flies in the face of the steadily decreasing sales previously seen. Remote workers need new PCs, smartphones, and Internet of Things devices to keep themselves connected to the workplace, all of which are impacted by the chip shortage. The Chip Shortage Explained Semiconductors are one of the most important components in computing, and the increase in demand for computer chips has created a major shortage in semiconductors. This has impacted global supply chains and, as a result, has created a considerable problem for those looking to purchase new computers, monitors, peripherals, or other computing platforms. This also means that we are experiencing longer waits for any new computing investments or procurements, and we acknowledge that this puts a strain on your company and our own. Hopefully, if the trends are to be believed, this slowing shouldn?t last too far into 2022. What You Can Do The first step toward doing anything about this issue is becoming aware of it. We recommend that any company hoping to refresh their computing infrastructure this year plan things out as far ahead as possible, taking all variables into account?including the current shortages. If you can plan purchases well in advance, you can ensure that your computing needs are addressed as quickly as possible with minimal acquisition challenges. These issues with the supply chain won?t persist forever, and eventually things will return to normal?whatever that looks like?so rest assured that your computing problems will eventually stabilize. However, in the meantime, know that our team of IT professionals is hard at work determining the best options for your computing acquisitions so that you can continue to push your business forward. If you have any concerns about potential delays or questions for us, we would be happy to answer them. To get in touch with us, call us at (603) 889-0800.
