The Concept of a CRM Strategy With so many businesses relying on a CRM, it?s important to find a strategy that works to optimize your use of the software. Here are a few ways a CRM can work to help your business: It condenses data in context to help you be able to use it for reference.  As its name suggests, a CRM helps manage the company?s customer interactions. Eliminating redundancy, it helps promote an efficient sales process.  A CRM Strategy that works, starts with a plan. Here are some tips on how to go about planning out a solid strategy: Understand Your Goals and Strategize For ThemWhat are your business? goals? How can you use your CRM to make those goals possible? When you have considered what exactly you want and how you want to go about it, you should start setting up your CRM to reach these goals.  Analyze and Organize Your TeamYour staff may not always share your optimism when incorporating new software, but when rolling out your CRM, you need to make them understand how it will change their jobs, and how the software will change the business as a whole. To get the best results you will need to set expectations early, so that your team knows their specific roles in the use of the CRM. Additionally, you will want to set some easy-to-track key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help you measure the progress they are making. Implementing Your New Solution and StrategyYou will want to determine how the different accounts will be divided up within your CRM and concoct a policy of collecting all the information you need from a contact that is going to be included. You should also strongly consider mapping out your sales processes for each of your services so it is easier to manage your brewing business. It is also a good idea to keep your software requirements in mind when selecting your CRM, as you will want to select a title that plays nicely with your existing solutions. Is your chosen email platform Outlook? You?ll want to be sure to find one with a built-in integration. If you need help rolling out a new CRM, or setting up your CRM strategy, the knowledgeable experts at White Mountain IT Services can help. Call us today at (603) 889-0800 to talk to one of our consultants about CRM best practices and management tips.

Naturally, as an IT company ourselves, we have a horse in this race, but the point still stands: when selecting a provider of technology services, you need to go in with certain demands of your options so that you get the best services available. That?s why we?re going to provide you with some of the standards that you should expect from anyone you consider to attend to your IT needs. What You Should Expect of Your IT Provider One of the most important metrics for any business to consider is the return on investment for any investments made–and these returns might not always be financial. This is why it is crucial that you consider how well the provider you select measures up to the following standards: Minimizing Total Cost of Ownership The goal of IT services is now more than just fixing a malfunctioning computer. It now also encapsulates the more advisory side of technology, figuring out the right solutions for your needs, and preventing you from wasting money on more than you need. For instance, while sufficient storage is important to have, your provider should be able to estimate your needs and recommend the correct amount for you. Certain service models, like cloud solutions, even allow you to optimize how much you?re investing in your IT services based on how much you actually use, allowing you to invest precisely as much as you should be. Measurable Impact to Productivity and ROI It isn?t as though you invest in IT infrastructure and pay your employees for their time on a whim? each of these dollars is an investment into your business. Therefore, if your technology isn?t allowing your crucial processes to be completed efficiently and accurately, or if it is creating roadblocks for your users, you need to reconsider how your IT is being taken care of. Not only do certain providers recommend better solutions, they will work with you to ensure they are working as is needed to support your operations, while others will only install it before they make themselves scarce. By calculating how much more productive your staff and solutions are, you can ascertain if the investment into your provider was worth it. High Performance and Satisfaction Standards This one is pretty straightforward, and relies greatly on the other benchmarks you calculate: is your provider actually fulfilling the demands of your business and the industry, meeting the standards placed by you and the greater industry? Does their calculated ROI come out to more than 100 percent? Are you generally pleased with the results of their services? There you have it. At White Mountain IT Services, we prioritize meeting (and exceeding, whenever we can) these very benchmarks, in order to provide your business with support services of the highest quality. Learn how we can help you by exploring our website, or by calling us directly at (603) 889-0800.

Nowadays, a lot of the solutions that businesses rely on are hosted in the cloud. This is for good reason, as there is a laundry list of benefits that cloud-deployed solutions can provide. Assuming, of course, that you have access to the Internet at the moment. In addition to cloud-hosted solutions, the Internet proves its office utility in many other ways–all of which will have limited availability (if any) without a reliable internet connection. That?s why it is so important to keep your Internet speeds optimized. Here, we?ve put together a very brief list of the issues you could find yourself dealing with: Too Little Bandwidth Or in other words, you?re trying to use more bandwidth than you are allotted by your Internet service. As a company grows, its bandwidth requirements will also increase. This increase is exacerbated by the rise in Bring Your Own Device and the assortment of connected devices that people now bring into your business, as well as the increased use of cloud solutions. If you haven?t kept pace with your requirements, you could find that your Internet takes longer to process. Upping your plan will be necessary if this is the issue. Outdated Equipment If the router you are using in the office is on the older side (or was actually designed as a household model) it might just not be capable of supporting the bandwidth you should be getting. This is why it is important to consider all of your business technology when planning for upgrades and updates, as it only takes one component to cause a hang-up. Misconfigured Equipment and Environmental Factors If your networking equipment isn?t actually that old, there?s the chance that there is just a mistake somewhere in its configurations, and you may have to go digging to find it. Otherwise, your problem could actually be your office itself. Things like concrete and other electronics can make things difficult for a wireless signal to get through. If a select few are encountering problems, don?t rule out these considerations. Of course, this is just a select few reasons that your office may be suffering from slow Internet speeds. That?s why we have one final tip for you: give White Mountain IT Services a call. Our professionals are able to help you figure out your difficulties and mitigate them, all for the good of your business. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 to learn more.

What is Automation? As stated above, automation is the act of having machines do jobs that were once done by humans. Following this strategy presents some pretty attractive benefits for a business. For one, there are all types of menial tasks that nobody wants to take the time to do, but really need to be done. Technology is continuously being developed that can be more effective and reliable than human resources. As this technology continues to innovate, more and more tasks can be automated. This helps businesses cut costs as well as allows them to focus their human resources on revenue boosting initiatives rather than menial tasks that ultimately waste their human talents.  Automation has received a bit of a bad reputation as a job killer, but in many cases, the type of tasks being automated are mundane, rote tasks that need to be done, but are a waste of capital if human resources are forced to toil over them. Some automation will actually free human resources to focus on other, more productive tasks and concerns. When used in this way, business process automation can help boost your employees? job satisfaction, the consistency of your company?s output, and enhance organizational efficiency. Not sure how you would go about automating some tasks? Here are some suggestions: Customer SupportNowadays, many organizations are dispatching artificial intelligence to handle their front-facing correspondence. Chatbots and other machine learning products can go a long way toward removing humans from customer support. All those frustrating, and time-consuming chats and calls can now be handled by AI-fueled systems. ComplianceStaying in compliance with local, state, federal, and overseas regulations can be costly and time-consuming. By leveraging automation, situations are limited to compliant ones, giving your organization the clean bill of health it needs to be effective. CommunicationEvery business has a lot of moving parts. Automation doesn?t change that, but it alters the way that these parts move. One place where automation is seen regularly is in communication. Not only do email solutions come with built-in AI quick responses, enterprise VoIP systems can use AI to help an organization find the right phone extension.  In the future, automation will become commonplace for many human-completed tasks, opening up fears that jobs will be lost rapidly if the technology continues to improve. Those fears haven?t come to fruition yet. If you want to learn how to leverage automation into your everyday tasks and processes, give White Mountain IT Services a call today at (603) 889-0800. 

1. Use Technological Tools to Listen to Your Team One of the most important rules, when you are a manager, is to spend time listening to your sales team. Make a point to regularly check in with your team members to ask them what they need to do their job. You can use a chat app, email or Allworx phone systems to find out more about the different tools or resources they say they need to better do their job.  Are they complaining about a high-pressure environment? Although it’s tempting to try to micromanage a remote team since you aren’t in the office with them every day, try to create an environment that fosters autonomy. Your sales team will be able to work better in a company that measures its results instead of trying to micromanage their activities. You can also incorporate an open vacation policy so they can take time off whenever they need it to avoid burnout. A flexible vacation policy and more control over their work schedule can help keep your salespeople motivated.  2. Hold Team Meetings Online  Next, make sure to schedule consistent team meetings with videos or conference calls to discuss pertinent company information. Your sales team should understand the objective of the meeting and what topics will be covered.  You can also promote a healthy corporate atmosphere by encouraging them to collaborate with other team members. Allow them to contribute and voice their opinion during the team meetings or give feedback. An online team meeting is one of the few opportunities to bring everyone together and make them feel unified. You can also have online team meetings to celebrate employee work anniversaries, accomplishments and other major career milestones.  3. Use Technology to Measure Your Sales Team Performance Another way technology can help you manage a remote team is by providing tools that will measure their overall performance. Many companies decide to use an existing sales performance platform, however, you can also work with a managed IT services firm to discuss how to develop your own. Your sales team should be able to see how they are performing at all times. You should also look into software that has an app or is mobile-friendly.  4. Use Technology to Communicate in Real-Time One of the best things about the internet is that you can communicate with almost anyone in the world almost instantaneously. Strong communication is a necessity to successfully manage a remote sales team. Effective communication can also strengthen your sales team and give them the opportunity to always know what is going on with the company.  We suggest you take advantage of certain tools like Slack, Skype, Google Hangouts or Google Drive and other resources so your team can communicate and collaborate during the workday. Create dedicated groups for certain team members so they can log online and immediately get help and collaborate together. They should also be able to access files and other important documents in one centralized location.  Contact White Mountain IT White Mountain is the leading technical service provider in New England. Please contact us online or call (603) 889-0800 to speak with one of our team members to learn more about our services. We specialize in providing outsourced computer support, Virtual CIO Services, IT consulting and expert network support to businesses around the country.