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Most are familiar with the Office 365 suite in at least one of its iterations. Not so many are acquainted with the Microsoft 365 package. What is Microsoft 365? Microsoft 365 takes the business utility of the Office 365 solution suite and bundles it together with the Enterprise version of Windows 10, along with Microsoft?s Enterprise Mobility + Security and machine learning features. As a result, it offers businesses who need these solutions a simple and convenient means to consolidate their assorted services into one – which is much easier to manage. What Microsoft 365 Includes In no uncertain terms, quite a bit: Windows Enterprise OS Installed versions of Microsoft Office applications  Word PowerPoint Excel OneNote Access Mobile versions of these applications Office for the web Outlook Exchange Teams SharePoint Yammer OneDrive for Business Sway for Office 365 Stream Task management tools To-Do Planner PowerApps and Flow Device and Application Management Microsoft 365 Admin Center Intune Windows Autopilot and Device Health Analytics System Center Configuration Manager Identity and Access Management Azure Active Directory Premium 1 and 2 Windows Hello Direct Access Credential Guard Threat Protection Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics Windows Defender Antivirus and Device Guard Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection Azure Advanced Threat Protection Information Protection Office 365 data loss prevention Windows Information Protection and BitLocker Azure Information Protection 1 and 2 Cloud App Security Security Management Microsoft Secure Score Microsoft Security and Compliance Center Advanced Compliance Advanced eDiscovery Customer Lockbox Advanced Data Governance Service Encryption with Customer Key Privileged Access Management Advanced Analytics MyAnalytics Power BI Pro We realize that?s a lot, and there are a lot of complicated services and features that you may not know if you need or even want. Fortunately, our technicians are very familiar with Microsoft 365 and its massive set of tools and capabilities. That?s why New Hampshire businesses lean on White Mountain IT Services for assistance. Not only can we help you determine the best solution for your business, we?ll help you procure it, implement it, and manage it. Reach out to us at (603) 889-0800 to learn more.

Find Me/Follow Me Call Routing Most telephone platforms have a call forwarding service, but the find me/follow me call routing feature allows for additional customization to this service. You are able to set what phones you want to ring, in what order, at what time. This routing service ensures that you get all the important calls wherever you are, keeping you mobile, and not tethered to a specific phone when you?re expecting a call. Voicemail to Email Transcription VoIP has features that make tough situations better. One useful service is to have your voicemail transcribed to text and sent to your email address. This allows you to read your voicemail messages when you are unable to talk on the phone, ensuring you get the messages promptly.  Auto Attendant With a built-in auto attendant, VoIP provides thorough and fast call mapping, ensuring your callers can access the right caller without knowing the extension. Conference Calling Most phone systems offer some semblance of conference calling, but with VoIP, it features managed invitation, interaction, and muting controls to have more control over your audio conferencing solutions.  Do Not Disturb Need to buckle down and get some work done? The do not disturb setting will put everything to your voicemail without ringing any of the phones on your queue. If you would like to hear about more features, and information on how VoIP can benefit your business, talk to our experts at White Mountain IT Services by calling (603) 889-0800 today.

At one point, many companies provided each employee with a smartphone to benefit their ability to do work remotely. As technology advances, however, convenience and usability does as well. The burden of carrying two separate phones is not appealing to most users. In 2011, Pew Research Center surveyed U.S. adults to estimate how many adults owned a smartphone. Their research concluded that 35% of Americans owned one. Fast forward eight years later, and it is now estimated that 81% of U.S. adults own a smartphone of some kind. Another survey concluded that 70% of employees keep their phones ?within eye contact? at work. So why do only 59% of businesses allow their employees to use their smartphones for work purposes? There?s both pushback from the employee who doesn?t want to give up their liberties on their own device, and pushback from business owners who don?t want to risk data theft. Separating Personal Data from Work Data Some businesses simply do not understand–or have not deployed–the resources to enable work profiles. Android?s work profiles allow users to securely separate their own personal data from work data. These profiles not only store data in separate storage areas, but do not allow applications to simultaneously run which might compromise data security. Data is truly separated, and cannot be intertwined. While using work profiles is secure, some employees are hesitant to create a profile. Employee pushback is the main reason employees do not participate in BYOD programs. Most employees are not bothered if Mark Zuckerberg has access to the entirety of their contacts, browsing history, camera and microphone, and even photos; but, if their own personal boss has the same authorizations, some employees will not partake in any sort of BYOD. Setting up Work Profiles While skepticism is unavoidable in some employees, setting up work profiles still greatly benefits your business. Setting employees up with their own device can improve productivity, and security. Most work profiles are set up through Google Mobile Management for Android. There are few requirements in order to set up work profiles. Your device must use Android 5.1 or newer software, and users must have whitelisted apps in the managed Play store. Once these requirements are met, users are able to navigate to: Click on the Settings app go to Management > Devices > Search and select devices and then open a work profile installation wizard from Managed Google Play. Once there click on Create managed Google account/work profile. Click Create to confirm. If you have any questions on how to set up work profiles, or how it will benefit your business, reach out to our IT professionals at White Mountain IT Services by calling (603) 889-0800.

RFID is a form of communication in which radio waves transmit data from an RFID tag to a reader, which then is able to transmit data to RFID computer software. RFID tag usability has only just begun to be explored, meaning the future could hold a use which could greatly benefit your business.  Modern Usage RFID technology has multiple uses in the modern age. RFID tags are very frequently used with merchandise, but they also are used to track vehicles, pets, or even patients with Alzheimer?s. These tags are sometimes referred to as an RFID chip. Most of these tags, or chips, are known as passive. They required the reader to provide power before they are able to be identified.  These chips are so miniscule that they can be attached to even the smallest of objects. For example, Budweiser Brazil utilized the compact design of an RFID chip to install them into what they called a ?Buddy Cup?. Once the Buddy Cup was linked to a user?s Facebook account via a QR code, the user could instantaneously ?friend? anyone else who had a Buddy Cup – simply by ?clinking the cups against one another as a toast?. In reality, this close proximity enabled RFID tags to be read, and the reader to run its program.  Another more practical use, comes from St Vincent?s Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. RFID tags were used to check on patients as they returned from lab testing, x-rays, and other procedures. Their precise location is displayed to the nurse?s station, enhancing the quality of care patients receive.  These specific cases show the usability and function of RFID technology, when a little ingenuity is applied. Let us know in the comments how you would leverage RFID to assist in your operations!

What?s the Situation? What is often referred to as the ?Big Four? (Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google)–and sometimes referred to as the ?Big Five? (adding in Microsoft or Netflix, but somehow never both)–are some of the most lucrative and successful companies in world history. Their influence is pervasive in our society. As a result of their enormous reach, economists began to argue that Big Tech has gotten too big and needs to be reined in.  It?s only been in the past 18 months that politicians have started to listen. In an intriguing OPED in the New York Times Chris Hughes, one of the founders of Facebook–who has moved on to other things–suggested it was time to break up the social media giant because it gave Mark Zuckerburg and the other decision makers at Facebook far too much power. He is not the only voice suggesting something has to be done either. Harvard economist and former IMF chief, Kenneth Rogoff, who writes at length of Big Tech?s ability to stymie competition by buying out even indirect competitors, also believes that Big Tech needs oversight.  In the summer of 2019, it finally came to a head, and the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice began investigations to determine if these major companies are operating on an even playing field. In July, the U.S. House of Representatives held hearings to see if these tech companies were killing off smaller competition before there was a market. Facebook alone owns social media giants Instagram and WhatsApp, leaving regulators skeptical whether these organizations were playing the same game as their competitors.  Why They Do What They Do So how do these huge corporations use their data? The same way many businesses do, but since they have access to so much data, the applications it fuels is far and away larger and more in depth than anything most companies can accomplish. We are talking about literally billions of people accessing these interfaces every day. For the millions of people that search Google every hour, the millions on Facebook, the millions watching YouTube, all of their actions create a user profile. When used, it provides users a very personalized experience. How many times have you seen ads in the sidebar that meet something you just searched for recently? How many times have you been suggested to see some media that matches what you typically watch? What benefit would a business have from mining all this data? Why would there be a push from regulators and the public to break apart these entities; or, at the very least, give users more control over their own data? The answer is pretty easy to see. These organizations, despite a perceived lack of competition, and continual regulatory acts to stymie it, do present a great deal of value to consumers. I mean how much would you get done without Google Search? Would Google Search still be a viable product if Google didn?t mine and use all of a user?s data to make it so? These are interesting questions that won?t be answered any time soon. One thing that is certain, however, is that there are many people who are starting to question whether these organizations have grown too big to challenge, making a faceoff with regulators almost inevitable.  Who do you […]