Proactive Management The best way to notice when things go wrong is to keep a keen eye out. That?s why proactive management starts with end-to-end monitoring. By monitoring your entire IT infrastructure you can find and fix issues before they become problems, effectively reducing profit-sapping downtime.   Some outsourced IT firms will only fix problems. Typically, this means that the business is already suffering. By being proactive, you eliminate the downtime, which is usually the costliest part of any technology problem. By having a strategy to mitigate issues before they can interrupt your operations, you effectively reduce your support costs.  Backup and Disaster Recovery Without IT support to speak of, it is on the organization to come up with a backup and recovery system to protect the digital assets a company holds. This can get pretty confusing for people who don?t typically handle this type of thing, and if it isn?t done properly, it can leave your business exposed to data loss.  As a part of a service agreement, a managed IT services provider (MSP) will ensure that your organization?s data is incrementally (and completely) backed up onsite and in the cloud, giving you a working set of data that you can restore from for any reason, including malware, natural disaster, or simple user error. Security Consulting The outsourced break/fix vendor isn?t in the business of undermining their business model. That is, they fix what needs fixing and depend on technology failing and faltering so that they can come in and handle the problem. That means you are left alone to figure out what steps your organization needs to take to protect its digital assets.   An MSP, on the other hand, has a significantly different business model. It requires your business to prosper in order for them to be profitable, as the more time spent fixing and dealing with your IT cuts into their profitability. That?s why consulting is such a big part of an MSP?s tool kit. They want you to have solutions in place that work to protect your network and infrastructure. The IT technicians that work in managed IT services are some of the most proficient IT professionals in New Hampshire. With their experience and their willingness to understand industry best practices in compliance and network and data security, an MSP provides your business with the end-to-end security you need. They can also help with data privacy, cloud security, mobile security and more.  Patch Management It is crucial for every business to consistently patch their software. For businesses that use a lot of software, that is very time consuming. For the MSP, however, it is included. Not only will a competent MSP take inventory and actively monitor and manage your organization?s software, it will ensure that software is patched and updated routinely so that any vulnerabilities that are covered by developer updates are up to date. This allows you to use managed software without having to worry that there is a hole in your network by an unsupported or unpatched software title.  Vendor Management Another useful feature of managed IT services is vendor management. Essentially, a business has no idea how much time is spent dealing with their vendors. With a vendor management service, it takes the responsibility of meetings, sales calls, and other interactions off of a business […]

With Any Luck, It Won?t Flash Player and other software based on Flash have been largely phased out over the past decade or so, so ultimately it was just a matter of time before Flash Player was officially retired. Furthermore, Flash has also experienced some security issues, leading to the major players?Google, Microsoft, and Apple?basically leaving it behind as well. So, while this news isn?t unexpected, it does still warrant saying that Flash was a big part of what shaped the Internet that we know today. However, nostalgia aside, the retired software needs to be removed from all systems to prevent it from becoming a vulnerability in your network. Just as is the case with any software that will no longer be supported, Flash Player will not be reinforced against any future threats. This will effectively turn it into an exploit that a cybercriminal could use to introduce a larger threat into your business? infrastructure. Fortunately, all it takes to avoid this outcome is to properly update your IT away from any Flash-based software. White Mountain IT Services can help with this, as well as so much more. For assistance with your IT management, maintenance, and security, give us a call at (603) 889-0800.

Identify Purpose There are pros and cons to utilizing a wireless network. If you are considering enhancing mobility and bringing more flexibility to your workforce, setting up a WLAN is the easiest and most cost effective way to do so. Sharing network attached resources with users inside your network is an absolute must for most businesses, so in that case, having a wireless strategy is mandatory. Wireless is very customizable as well, so you can do a lot more things, more simply with Wi-Fi than if you choose to wire everything up. Plan Coverage Area Your Wi-Fi has to do what you need it for, it?s that simple. If you are looking for a way to connect your users to your business network and don?t want the signal available outside the building, you can absolutely do that, but one would suggest that you?d by-in-large see faster transmission speeds if you used a wired network approach, but that can be costly. You will want to plan the space you need your Wi-Fi to go and then start planning where you will place your hardware. Bandwidth  You need to know how much bandwidth your business will need at the time of implementation and an estimate of how much it will need in the years to come. By estimating your organization’s bandwidth needs you will be able to know a couple crucial details: How much you will pay for the bandwidth and how your bandwidth will be spent. Once you know all the particulars, you can successfully calculate your business? networking costs.  Procure Hardware Getting the hardware you need is a pretty simple job, but you will want to consider what standard you plan on using. The most prevalent for high speed wireless transmission are 802.11a and 802.11g. 802.11b delivers slower Internet speeds, but also reduces the prices of the hardware substantially. For your business you will want something that meets the wireless needs of your business.  Deployment The placement of the hardware is the biggest and most important consideration. If you need more than one network to fill your business? needs then you will need to work that out with your ISP. Most businesses build their wireless network to include guest use, so you will also want to consider how available your wireless signal is in order to fulfill the next task.  Plan and Implement Security Just like you work to secure your user accounts with password protection and other forms of security, you will want to ensure that all of your security steps are taken care of. Most times, this is a little more complex so your business would really benefit from a professional perspective. While you may understand that you need to update firewall permissions, assign user access, and much more, a professional will understand the specifics of it and can really work to keep your Wi-Fi network much more secure than it would otherwise be. Here are a few suggestions, should you want to undertake this procedure yourself: Change your router?s admin password – The first step in most security practices is changing the password. It is the same for setting up your router(s). Turn off Service Set Identifier (SSID) broadcasting – This doesn?t allow passersby to see that your wireless network is up and available.  Change default SSID […]