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Automation Automating business processes can have a huge effect on the business? profitability. This has been a strategy for decades, but today, parts of your business can be automated like never before. Technology such as artificial intelligence allows businesses to automate several menial and repetitive tasks. This innovation, called Robotic Process Automation (RPA) allows businesses to reduce the number of human interactions in several key business performances. For years, the advancement of AI (and its sister technology machine learning) was actually looked on with fear, as people?s jobs were threatened; but, today, the rise of this technology actually frees up people to focus more on human-centric tasks. As a result, RPA-based technology should grow fairly rapidly and reach $4 billion annually by 2025. Internet of Things You may have been one of the millions of people that have purchased some sort of smart device. Some people walk around with smart watches, but when we talk about a business benefiting from the use of smart devices, we are mostly talking about security, utility measuring, supply chain monitoring, and other line-of-business IoT devices. The integration of these devices is being used to track business processes closely and to be able to ensure that every process, every relationship, and every interaction performs in the manner that works for the overall productivity and benefit of the business. Cloud Services It?s amazing to say, but cloud services are still emerging technology. These days, a majority of small and medium-sized businesses use cloud services, but there is still room for growth. As cloud services such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Security as a Service (SEaaS), and AI as a Service (AIaaS) begin to be more utilized in the SMB sector, these products will begin to be structured in a way where SMBs can better take advantage of them. Additionally, there are many new and emerging services being offered for businesses. Some of the largest cloud vendors have specific services they offer that span from simple storage to business intelligence and everything in-between. This provides SMBs the options to get enterprise level tools without the large capital outlay they would pay for these types of solutions. Cybersecurity Every business, regardless of their computing resources or budget should have some type of cybersecurity strategy in place. This is because businesses of all sizes have been virtually taken down by data breaches and other events that could be avoided if they were simply more vigilant about their cybersecurity. While some organizations simply don?t have the financial resources needed to implement enterprise-grade security solutions, reality makes the whole ?we can?t afford it? position problematic. In 2019, 66 percent of SMBs were victims of a cyberattack, meaning that if you were lucky enough to get through 2019 without being attacked, 2020 won?t be so kind. An SMB can really benefit by giving their IT issues the respect they deserve. There are several ways they can do this. They include: Staff training – The better equipped your staff is to deal with situations such as phishing, the more apt your organization is to avoid being the victim of a cyberattack. Since today?s IT systems feature nearly unbreakable encryption, the only way in is through deception. Training your staff to thwart deceptive efforts by hackers can go a long way toward protecting […]
Why Might You Have to Restore Your Applications? As we’ve established, there aren?t too many reasons that you could find yourself needing to restore your applications. Perhaps your old device was damaged unexpectedly, or it was simply time for you to upgrade to a new smartphone. Either way, successfully restoring your applications will become much simpler with a few proactive steps from your mobile device. Preparing Your Android Backup Your first step should be to activate your Android device?s native backup service, which can be found in your Settings, in the System section. From there, tap into Backup, then Back up to Google Drive. This saves a copy of your phone?s settings to your Google Drive, making it much simpler to either restore them or migrate them to a new device. Some launchers, like Google Now or Pixel Launcher, allow you to even save different backgrounds, folder structures, and icons. Migrating this data is simple. As you are setting up the device in question, a Let?s Go button will appear on the welcome screen. This will give you the opportunity to Copy your data, once you?ve connected to Wi-Fi with that device. You will have a few options to select from, but if you prepared as recommended, you should select A backup from the cloud. Doing so with lead you to your Google account so you may sign in, and agree to Google?s terms of service. You should then be presented with a list of available backup options, which will allow you to Restore once you?ve selected the appropriate option, and reinstall your desired applications via the Apps option. From there, you can continue to set up your device as your data is restored. This process makes the task of moving from one device to another far simpler for all involved. Looking for more useful technology tips? Subscribe to our blog, and feel free to reach out to us at (603) 889-0800 to learn more.
Reason #1: You Will Receive an Objective Point of View It’s hard to brainstorm innovative ideas when you are close to the problem or have been working on it for a very long time. And outside IT consulting firms like White Mountain can examine your company with a fresh set of eyes and provide an objective viewpoint that you might not have otherwise considered. Another firm can also provide unbiased recommendations and solutions since they have a clear view of your company. Reason #2. They Already Understand Your Industry Another benefit of partnering with an IT consulting firm is that they most likely already understand your industry. This means you can save valuable time since you won’t have to explain jargon, processes, and other unique aspects of your company’s industry. They can immediately get to work and develop potential solutions. Reason #3. You Can Leverage Their Business Relationships Chances are your IT consulting firm has developed several partnerships with other businesses. You can leverage their business relationships to gain more insight and resources that can help solve your problems much faster and easier than if you were on your own. Reason #4. They Will Develop a Custom Solution for Your Business Another reason you should consider hiring an outside IT management firm is they can develop a customized solution to help with your company’s strategic and technical decisions. We know every client is different. We will sit down with you and learn more about specific goals and objectives you may have for the business and other important information before we make a recommendation on a certain solution or roadmap to help you get there. Reason #5. Their Years of Experience and Talent Can Benefit Your Company Is your company just starting out? Or maybe your employees don’t have extensive IT experience? If so, you can simply hire another IT consulting firm and use their staff’s years of experience in the field to benefit your company. They can bring valuable insight that may help take your company to the next level. Our team has specialized skills that can help your business implement certain processes and methods to make your company even more successful. Reason #6. Your Company Will Save Money by Hiring an IT Consulting Firm Lastly, your company can save a considerable amount of money by outsourcing your company’s technical and strategic decisions to an outside IT consulting firm like White Mountain IT. It would be very expensive to hire a talented executive with extensive IT skills. Your company would have to pay them a competitive salary and benefits to attract someone with talent. You would also have to take time out of your schedule to train them and get them up to speed. Many small and medium-sized businesses don’t have the resources or capital to hire a new executive. It makes much more sense to outsource it to an experienced firm at a fraction of the cost. Please contact us to find out more about our IT consulting and Virtual Chief Information Officer services. White Mountain IT can help your company with strategic planning, budgeting and other important topics.
Let?s discuss how these devices can be manipulated to the detriment of the user. First, let?s start where the majority of these devices are now found: in the home. Is a Smart Home a Dumb Idea? The entire concept of a smart home is based on a singular premise: to simplify life for the homeowner by automating many of the things that they would ordinarily worry about. Running late to work in the morning? Your smart coffee maker has already prepared your cup of joe, and you can run out the front door without having to worry about turning off any lights or even locking up behind you, as both can be scheduled to happen automatically, or be triggered with a brief command to a smart speaker. This all seems pretty useful, and that?s just a very small example of the devices that now come in smart options. However, no amount of utility can outweigh the pretty serious security risks that these devices are notoriously prone to. Think about the havoc that a cybercriminal could raise if they got access to the devices that we?ve discussed in this blog. Even if they were only motivated to torment you, it would be simple enough to do — commanding your coffee maker to continuously brew more java, waking you in the middle of the night by lighting up your home, or locking you out of the house when you only meant to step outside for a moment. Those with more malicious intent could use your devices in other ways – spying on you, learning the layout of your home, and as a means to many other nefarious ends. Problems in the Workplace Of course, these problems aren?t content with being left at home. You and your employees may unwittingly bring them (and their associated threats) into the workplace. This actually makes sense, when you consider how many devices today are now created to be ?smart.? You may have decided that the break room should have a smart refrigerator or a smart coffee maker, or that smart lights make sense in your workspace. You and your employees probably have some smart devices up your sleeves (literally, if you wear a smartwatch), as many of them do offer a legitimately useful utility. However, just as they can in the home, these devices can foster threats in the workplace–perhaps even introducing them, as they move in and out of the office environment and potentially pick up malware. The IoT, or the Tiger? The 1882 short story ?The Lady, or the Tiger?? describes the kind of paradox that the IoT can create for businesses and personal users alike. In the story, the king of some land puts people through a public trial of ordeal based on chance. An accused man is put into an arena and is given the choice of two soundproof doors. One hides a woman chosen by the king to be the accused?s new wife, while the other contains a hungry tiger. The door with the woman means innocence and immediate marriage, and the door with the tiger? I?ll let you come to your own conclusion. As it happens, the king?s daughter is in love with a man of lower social status, so (as you would expect in a story like this) the […]
Custom onboarding plans We create a custom onboarding project for each new client. This provides the foundation for all of the systems and documentation needed to adequately support your business. We lock down your network, gather information, and roll out tools and software. During this process, our team gets to know your staff and creates standard operating procedures to define and standardize critical functions like employee onboarding and separation. In addition to the standard technical work, our client onboarding process includes steps to help ensure that we are always considering your business needs, such as: Conduct initial security audit and lock-down procedure Implement and test a comprehensive data backup system Secure critical data in a secure offsite backup location Setup monitoring and alerting for all key systems Notification to all 3rd party vendors about the change Discuss and plan password changes for all users (if applicable) Obtain user census for the network Implement and customize ticketing system, documentation platform, and user portal Implement management and monitoring tools Complete network support and workflow documentation Inventory and document all hardware, software, and hosted apps Identify and document all key third party vendors Identify all single points of failure for key business processes Remove unnecessary complexity Establish employee onboarding and separation procedures Conduct basic end-user orientation and training Consider a Virtual CIO plan
