Defining Normal The COVID-19 pandemic has been both a nightmare and a learning experience for many of us. If your business has been negatively affected by the pandemic, or if you are operating with a remote work staff, you would love to go back to normal. Unfortunately, you may find that what we have is the new normal and that the office will never look the same way again.  Things could be worse. Even as the situation still evolves, hundreds of thousands of businesses have closed and millions and millions of people are out of work, seven months into the pandemic. This has made it impossible to actually get a feel for what normal will look like after this whole thing is over. There have been some studies, but the only prevailing sentiment is that people are stressed out and tired and need to move off of the idea that the world is going to be just like it was in September of 2019 when no one had heard of COVID-19. Improved Productivity So where do we go from here? For the business owner it has to be about getting back to sustained productivity. For many businesses that are still plugging away, it?s as if their business has been hit by a tornado and they are figuring out how to move past that disaster.  For many of these businesses, technology has become the answer. Not only have a lot of businesses worked quickly to implement remote work contingencies, they also have become more cognizant of what IT means to their business. While most business owners know that they have to prioritize data security and invest in collaboration tools, they now understand that there has been an uptick in innovation due to the pandemic that is pushing advanced IT solutions onto the mid-market and small business market.  Technologies fueled by AI and other machine learning algorithms are now commonplace because the time is now for businesses to do more with less. The world?s economic strength isn?t going to get much better overnight, so smart businesses will use smart tools to get what needs to get done, done.  What?s more, the mobility that was growing pretty rapidly, is now ready to be a staple of business. Solutions that can be used from anywhere on multiple devices was once, not too long ago, looked on as a campy feature. Now businesses are forced into accepting mobility as normal, because of public health and because it has been proven that productivity can be maintained?and often improved?through the use of the remote workforce. Seamless Collaboration Things have been trending this way for around a decade, but with so many people working from home, cloud-based collaboration tools are now becoming more and more important to the productivity of businesses. The SaaS application is the new open office, with millions of people taking advantage of the growing capabilities of these platforms. Another thing you are seeing is, as businesses realize they can save half of their monthly telephone costs by switching to VoIP, more and more companies leaving their traditional telephone company for hosted VoIP providers. Not only can VoIP serve the needs of the traditional office, it can come in extraordinarily handy when a business? workforce is scattered. VoIP platforms also provide the ability for an […]

So, What is this VoIP? Despite sounding like a word used in a 1960s Batman TV show when the Caped Crusader and Robin were taking down Egghead or the Joker, 2020s VoIP just takes down the large communications costs that businesses have. VoIP is simply a telecommunications platform that uses your company?s existing broadband Internet connection to send and receive calls, texts, video and more. Popular applications such as Skype and Facetime are considered a VoIP connection. For a business that has to deal with larger than normal call volumes, mobility, and all the other things about doing business in the information age, consumer-grade solutions probably won?t do the trick. For this reason, companies have developed enterprise-level VoIP platforms with all the bells and whistles a business operating in 2020 needs.  What Makes Hosted VoIP Different?  You may think that telephone systems are all the same. They are going to cost your business an arm and a leg and will cause you to make some pretty tough decisions. Nothing could be further from the truth. Here are three features that make VoIP a better option for the growing business.  Overall Cost Dollar for dollar, VoIP systems are simply less expensive. Not only will you be using infrastructure you already have in place to fuel your phone system, you immediately reduce your recurring expenses. Apart from the platform set up and the purchase of some Internet-capable telephones, your upfront costs are minimal. What?s even more valuable is the softphone option that allows any smartphone to potentially be used as a business phone, all but eliminating the costs that your business would be looking at on the mobile side of things. In many ways, a VoIP platform pays for itself.  Simplicity The simplicity of adding and removing lines from your VoIP plan makes managing a VoIP plan for several users easier. No cables, no office renovations just to get people phone lines. Simply plug your VoIP-enabled phone into a workstation and it is ready to configure (which also takes just minutes). As mentioned earlier, the softphone option makes mobile calling much simpler and takes very little time to set up. Functionality VoIP stands out in so many ways that you never really hear about the superior functionality made possible by using an Internet-based phone. Not only are your calls clear and crisp, with VoIP your business can add from a whole list of features that include: Audio and video conferencing Call forwarding Personalized extensions Call routing Call recording Automated receptionist Call queues Instant messaging Text messaging Integrated voicemail …and much more. If you are looking to cut your monthly communications costs and get a valuable tool for your business that works both in and out of the workplace, call the IT professionals today to talk about our VoIP platform at (603) 889-0800.

#1 – Urgency When you get an email and the verbiage is such that it immediately makes you panic a little, you are probably dealing with a phishing attempt. Email is a really useful tool for businesses and individuals alike, but it typically isn?t the medium where someone is going to give you news that will make your anxiety spike. The message can come from many different directions, but if its tone is one where it makes you think you have to act immediately, you should calm down and verify the message with a call or text.  #2 – Attachments Again, email is useful for interpersonal communication, but unless you are expecting an email, or you know exactly who is sending you a message, you should never click on an attachment. This goes double if it is from a financial institution. No reputable bank is going to send you a downloadable attachment unless you are in direct communication with them. Even then, these organizations have secure apps for these types of transactions. Do yourself a favor and don?t download attachments from emails unless you know exactly what the attachment is. #3 – Spelling and Grammar Errors Let me ask you this: In the course of doing business, when corresponding with people outside your organization, do you send emails with gratuitous spelling and error problems? No? That?s because you don?t want the recipient to be put off by your handle of the language. Phishing emails tend to be written by people whose first language isn?t English and they tend to make terrible spelling and grammar mistakes. If you are getting an email from your bank, but the content of the message is riddled with typos, you are dealing with a phishing email. #4 – Your Personal Information Any email that is sent to you that asks for personal information should be met with caution. Even if it looks authentic, when the email directs you to provide information that you don?t feel comfortable giving out?like a credit card number or your social security number?you?re almost always dealing with a scammer. If an organization needs your personal information, it will create an interface that will allow you to securely provide that information. They can?t afford not to. #5 – Addresses Aren?t Legitimate Finally, one of the telltale signs that you are being phished is the legitimacy of the links and addresses in the message itself. Firstly, you should be suspect of links in unsolicited emails anyway, but to be sure, you can mouse-over any links. If you don?t immediately recognize the web address, don?t click on the link. As far as email addresses go, it can often be difficult to tell if an email address is legitimate or not. One rule of thumb, if there is more than one period in the address, don?t click on it. It may be legitimate, but investigating it takes seconds and can help you avoid a lot of headaches.  Here?s a quick, short guide to help you and your staff: Everyone handles their domains a little differently, but use this as a general rule of thumb: a. paypal.com – Safe b. paypal.com/activatecard – Safe c. business.paypal.com – Safe d. business.paypal.com/retail – Safe e. paypal.com.activatecard.net – Suspicious! (notice the dot immediately after Paypal?s domain name) f. paypal.com.activatecard.net/secure – […]

As IT technicians that work with businesses every day, we understand that business owners and managers don?t have a lot of time to concern themselves with data backup. Despite the fact that the data is used every day, in the context of a business? operations, backup isn?t always top of mind, until something terrible happens. The issues that can lead to losing data are numerous, and these situations can put a major strain on your business. Something as seemingly benign as a power outage can set off a series of events that could put your whole endeavor in jeopardy. Why then continue operating your business with that amount of risk, when the solution to that problem is not only simple to set up, but relatively affordable? To answer that, first you?ll need to understand why any business owner or manager responsible for the well-being of others wouldn?t consider the facts surrounding data loss. Namely, 60 percent of businesses that experience major data loss close within six months, and 94 percent close within two years.  Those figures are in normal times. Imagine the risk you are taking today, during a global pandemic, by not backing up your company?s data. Somewhere between six-to-eight percent of computers just up and fail every year. Can your business afford to lose data from a workstation or server failure? How about a natural disaster, a malware attack, or simple mistake gone way wrong? The answer is no. Regardless of what your business? IT profile is, you have important data that you need to protect. There are several backup strategies that work, but we believe that the BDR (Backup and Disaster Recovery) system is the best for the modern small business. Essentially, the BDR is a device that connects to your business? network and backs up your data incrementally. That means that after the first full backup, the BDR will only back up the changes you and your team make to the assigned data. This provides two major benefits: The backup can run more often The backup process can run while your team works These benefits ensure that more data is protected. What?s more, the BDR also uploads a copy of that data to an offsite data center. The benefit of doing this is that if something should happen to your onsite BDR device (as can happen in a disaster), your organization?s data is backed up and available for recovery. With your business? data protected, your business is protected. It?s as simple as that. If you would like to get started protecting your data and want to talk to one of our IT experts about White Mountain IT Services?s BDR offering, call us today at (603) 889-0800.

The Problem As we said, email is super helpful, but having said that, it is also true that the user can make their email more challenging to navigate. This challenge only elevates over time as more and more messages build up in the inbox? but what can be done to avoid this? The options you have may seem clear (you either answer them immediately or save them to take care of later) but either also has some significant drawbacks.  On the one hand, answering all incoming emails can take too long, but on the other, saving them for later then leaves you open to losing them in your inbox?especially if you?ve forgotten you have an email to tend to. Let?s go over the tools that each of the two major platforms offer to help eliminate this challenge. Gmail?s Labels and Filters While this will require a bit of time to set up initially and will also require a bit of upkeep as more contacts and email topics come in, Gmail?s capabilities can be of great assistance when you need to organize your inbox in perpetuity. Labels are pretty much what they sound like: indicators that can help to identify what an email pertains to at a glance, whether it?s one you?ve sent or one you?ve received. Even better, more than one label can be applied to an email, giving you context without sacrificing detail. All you have to do is add a label to your Gmail. To do so, you can select Create new label in your sidebar (hidden under the More button), or by selecting the Tag icon box that appears when an email is selected. Selecting it will cause the option to create a new label to appear in a drop-down, along with any other labels you may have created already. Once applied to an email, these labels show up as colorful tags, making them easy to differentiate between. You can also create filters to automatically apply these labels as messages come in. Once you?ve created your labels, go to your Settings, and enter the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab. Once there, click Create a new filter. You will then be prompted to set your filter?s criteria from an assortment of options. Depending on your needs, you should select the options that will suit them the best. Easy! Microsoft Outlook?s Rules and Folders Microsoft Outlook offers a very similar process, with their sorting methods, called Rules, organizing messages into different folders and categories. Creating these Rules based on an existing message is a pretty simple process: Right-click the message and select Rules, then, select Create Rule. Then you need to select the conditions that activate the rule, and what that means.  Let?s say you want to separate messages from different clients. A Rule would allow you to automate that process. You could therefore create a folder (more on that momentarily) and dictate that any incoming messages from a specific address?in this case, the client?s?should automatically be filed there. Make sure you select Run this new rule now on messages already in the current folder (if you wish) and click OK to finalize your rule. Of course, this also means that you will need to have a folder to file these messages in. While the option will be presented […]