Customizing the Quick Access ToolbarIn the top-left corner of the window, you?ll see the Quick Access Toolbar. This houses options such as Save, Undo, and Redo. You can adjust your preferences to make these buttons even more helpful. To make these changes, you?ll first need to access the Quick Access Toolbar?s options. Follow this path: File > Options > Quick Access Toolbar. It will look like this: From this selection, you should notice Save, Undo, and Redo options in the Quick Access Toolbar. This is nice, but it?s generally easier to use keyboard shortcuts for these tools. You can keep various tools in the Quick Access Toolbar, changing them up as needed. You just need to select the items and click the appropriate button for Add>> or <<Remove. The list will default to Popular Commands, and so will we for this tutorial, but know that it can be customized to suit your needs. If you use Word to put data into context, including lists and tables, you can customize your Quick Access Toolbar to meet these preferences. Click OK and your changes will be saved. You can always revert to the default settings by using the Reset option if you?re not happy with your selections. Customize the RibbonThe ribbon is where you find your options for Home, Insert, and others. Depending on usage, you may have an increased or decreased need for certain options. Let?s say that you have no use for the Mailings or Draw tab, and you?d like to remove them. You can do this by accessing File > Options > Customize Ribbon. You can adjust what?s displayed in the ribbon by unchecking the box, thus removing them from the ribbon display. Customizing the Status BarAt the bottom of the window, you?ll see the Status Bar. This can be used to provide you with prioritized information. To set this up, right-click on the Status Bar and select or deselect the options. For more great tips and tricks, be sure to subscribe to our blog.

The Causes of Data Loss When approximately seven out of ten companies experience data loss, it pays to pay attention to the root causes. Before we get into the numbers, do you have any predictions? What percentage of data would you estimate is lost during a natural disaster, for example? How much would you expect human error to come into play? You might be surprised to learn how common it is for some data loss causes to impact companies, while others are far more rare than many would expect. For example, natural disasters only account for approximately one percent of lost data in total. Comparatively, hardware failure or other system malfunctions lead to 78 percent of data loss events. How Perception Influences Data Loss Surprised? Many company decision makers likely would be. The knee-jerk reaction might be to focus the majority of a business? efforts on preventing external causes of data loss in the first place. However, like we just went over, these are responsible for a minimal number of data loss events – it is far more common for hardware to fail or for a user to make a mistake than for a disaster event to strike your place of operations. Then we have to ask ourselves if it really matters. Other consequences of a given disaster (property damage and the like) notwithstanding, data loss is pretty much just data loss. You have your valuable data, and suddenly, you don?t. At that point, the end result overwhelms the factors that led to it. Make no mistake: before you lose your data, these factors are crucial to know. How else will you be able to avoid losing your data in the first place? The real value of a data backup lies in its being there when you need it, regardless of why that might be. Ensuring Your Backup Will Be There Of course, there?s backing up your data, and then there?s having a data backup. What?s the difference? In a word, reliability. There are plenty of means of backing up data. USB flash drives, for instance, can be used to save a copy of your data? but so can the cloud, and the cloud is a lot harder to lose. It should come as no surprise, then, to find out that we always recommend that your business? backups are kept in the cloud. Not only are they accessible there, they are also protected from any data-loss-inducing events that may strike your location. For more information about how to prepare a backup for your business, reach out to our professionals! Call (603) 889-0800 today.

Why is Monitoring Necessary?Simply put, there are too many reasons to list here why you need to keep an eye on employees. Not all the reasons are bad, there are certainly some positive behaviors that you will want to take note of. Some industries will need more monitoring than others, but that doesn?t mean that the benefits don’t apply to them. Employee Issues Are More VisibleMistakes can be caught and rectified earlier if there is constant monitoring for them. In some cases, the employees might not even know that they are making a mistake. On the other hand, if employees are failing to adhere to company policies, then you?ll be able to respond in kind. Monitoring can help you see if policies are being broken and allows you to keep your business interests safe. With high-quality notes regarding these transgressions, you can privately approach the individuals at a later date. Employee Accomplishments Are Also VisibleMonitoring for mistakes might make it more tempting to jump on someone for their issues, but this doesn?t mean that they don?t accomplish anything, either. You might see that their patterns are leading to success. This gives you the opportunity to congratulate your staff for their accomplishments and describe the processes that led to them. Your staff will have more ideas to use in their day-to-day responsibilities while also learning more about what it takes to stand out at your organization. White Mountain IT Services can give your organization the tools it needs to monitor your workforce and provide positive reinforcement or deal out consequences for the work done by your team. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

In the past, businesses had to tolerate unacceptable IT assistance just to say that they had it when it was needed. It was either this or invest considerable amounts of time and resources into hiring an in-house IT department, which isn?t always an option when budgeting and geographical location come into play. Simply put, your organization will always need IT support, whether you?re a small organization or a large corporation. You might think that it?s fine to just worry about your IT when issues present themselves, but preventing the issues in the first place is where the savings really start. The traditional method of handling IT maintenance for small businesses that don?t have the time or resources to do it themselves is the ?break-fix? model, which involves only maintaining technology when a problem has presented itself. While it might save you money in the short term, it will hamper your organization?s ability to function in the long run, as critical maintenance might be put off in order to save money. Furthermore, you often lose a lot of money in the short term, as issues that pop up will result in a considerable amount of downtime. Therefore, we recommend a preventative measure that addresses minor issues as they pop up so they don?t have the opportunity to evolve into larger, more costly problems. The alternative solution is to implement a comprehensive managed IT solution that can save your organization time and money on technology maintenance and management. Managed IT essentially turns the capital expense of maintaining technology and transforms it into an operational expense. This effectively replaces your company?s large up-front expenses with smaller, more affordable monthly payments. Even if you currently have an IT resource in the fold, having another to supplement it can be helpful for projects that need to be fulfilled. To learn more about how your company can take advantage of managed IT services, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

The traditional way a business utilizes telephone communications is through a local telephone provider. This is the way that many organizations have operated for years, relying on the services provided by their telephone company to stay in touch with clients and contacts alike. While this may have worked fine in the past, VoIP provides far too many benefits to pass up. Ease of AdditionsOne of the main issues that stems from relying on telephone companies for communication is that every time you have to add a new user to your network, you have to run new lines for new extensions and handsets in your office. This can be both time-consuming and expensive, as it might entail remodeling the office, knocking down walls, or moving things around to suit your needs. VoIP makes it easier to add new users and phone lines since it runs on a pre-existing infrastructure–the Internet. As long as you have enough bandwidth to support the devices on your network, then you?re golden. You Pay What You Want for What You GetHow many times do you find yourself paying for services that are either underutilized or unused at all? This happens more often than you think, as telephone providers often bundle together services that the average business doesn?t need, like cable television or satellite Internet. Instead of these businesses paying for services that aren?t needed, VoIP providers give you the option to pay for specific features that you know your organization needs, not ones that a telephone company thinks you need. Additional FeaturesGenerally speaking, telephone communications are limited to the standard features that your telephone provider offers. This might include features like call forwarding, conference calling, and others that you might have taken for granted over the years, but they aren?t as dynamic as you might come to expect from modern communications solutions. VoIP can provide your organization with tools like video chat, instant messaging, and other tools to take full advantage of the telephone system. VoIP can help your business push beyond its boundaries and improve the way it approaches communication. To learn more about what we can do for you, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.