Remember, a data backup and disaster recovery solution still has value and returns on your investment, even if it?s not in use. You should focus down what your goals are for your recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO), which gives your business the greatest chances of successfully recovering from a disaster. Recovery Point Objective RPO is a reflection of how much data you want to recover to get operations back to an acceptable level. It?s important to keep in mind that not all data is the same. Some of it will be more important than others. It?s up to you to make this distinction so that you can restore an acceptable level of data without having it take too long. Recovery Time Objective On that note, RTO is how long it will take your organization to recover its data for operations to return to some semblance of normalcy, or at least to the point where you?re not operating at a loss. Using a cloud-based data backup system can cut down on the time your business is knocked out of action following a data loss incident, as you can effectively prevent downtime and limit loss in this way. Downtime is defined as any time your organization isn’t working as it?s supposed to, so it doesn?t even have to be the result of a disaster. How Do They Work Together? These numbers work together to make sure your business suffers the least amount of data loss and downtime, as a combination of the two can be fatal for businesses of all kinds. If you don?t have data, there?s no point in performing the restoration, so the two go hand-in-hand to make sure your organization continues to run smoothly with the least amount of damage done. White Mountain IT Services can equip your business with the best data backup and disaster recovery plan out there. To learn more about RPO, RTO, and how it all fits into place for your business, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

Connecting Solutions A business utilizes several different software solutions to connect your employees to each other. Some might utilize a video chat system that has built-in communication features to facilitate productivity. Others might use Dropbox or other file sharing services to ensure anyone who needs to can access files. Either way, communication between various services is needed if your business wants to innovate and make progress. Integrating solutions with APIs can give your organization the edge to get as much done as possible with your in-house and cloud-based solutions. These APIs are largely responsible for making sure that all of your technology plays nice with each other. Collaboration Suites More businesses than ever before are relying on software to get work done. Collaboration suites take a lot of common features and create a single access point for them. One great example of this is Slack. You can create channels for each of your different departments to collaborate and communicate with one another. Of course, this is barely scratching the surface of what?s capable of being done with collaboration suites, but it?s essentially what can be called a workplace intranet. It?s a single application that allows access to all of your most needed information, the communications your business used, and the other applications it needs to effectively complete all of its tasks and projects. Virtual Assistants While one could argue that interacting with a virtual assistant over real human people is less fruitful overall, virtual assistants do provide a certain level of innovation to the workplace. For example, imagine telling your phone to inform you of meeting times or events throughout the workday. Imagine setting reminders for important tasks that need to be done. Virtual assistants can allow your organization to scour emails for important information that must be addressed, set up a to-do list, and so much more, making them great for not just collaboration, but overall workplace productivity. Does your organization want to innovate through the use of technology? White Mountain IT Services can equip your business with all the tools it needs to succeed. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

What is File Versioning? File versioning is effectively storing multiple versions of the same file in an inventory that can later be restored. In essence, the current version of the file can exist alongside the older versions of the same file. Depending on the filing system, the specific number of older copies will vary, but the administrator generally has control over how long old copies are stored and how many of them there are. You may have already seen file versioning in action. For example, the most recent versions of Microsoft Office applications can showcase a limited number of versions of a document should the machine they are being worked on unexpectedly shut down for some reason or another. While it?s a limited showing of the power of file versioning, it?s a decent example of how it can help your organization take advantage of it. Why Would You Want This? It goes without saying that everybody makes mistakes, even the best employees. It?s reassuring to know that no matter what happens to your files, there will be older versions available on the off chance that the most current one is unavailable or unreadable for any reason. In a way, it?s just like having a data backup and disaster recovery solution, albeit slightly more limited in scope. It is quite similar to snapshot-based backup, in fact. Does your business need a way to implement file versioning for data preservation and preparing for a user error incident? White Mountain IT Services can help. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

What Disasters Are Likely? As we mentioned before, some regions are more prone to natural disasters than others. If you can take preventative measures to ensure they have a significantly less catastrophic effect on your business, you can recover more quickly and effectively. For example, if you are able to plan for evacuation and loss associated with specific disasters, like a hurricane or tropical storm, you can keep valuable assets (your employees) safe and sound. On the other hand, if you deal with winter storms and freezing rain conditions, there is a high chance that ice could bring down tree limbs, causing power surges and electrical damage. It?s all about knowing what you?re up against and planning accordingly. Which Parts Absolutely Need to Function? Depending on what kind of business you run, you?ll have to identify which parts will absolutely need to function properly in order to avoid a complete loss of operation. For example, you may have to keep client services functioning while your organization is experiencing a disaster. After all, it?s in their contract, and a breach of such a thing will result in loss of confidence in your business. Even if your business recovers, without your patrons or data, it won?t mean anything. Where Will Backups Be Stored? Not only do you want multiple copies of your data, you also want to make sure they are stored in different locations. Keeping one in the cloud is practically necessary, as it reduces time spent on recovery by a considerable amount, but you should generally follow the 3-2-1 rule. This is when you have three total copies of your data: two on-site (one on the network and one in physical copy) and one in the cloud for rapid recovery. How Much Data is Being Backed Up? Otherwise known as recovery point objective, or RPO, the amount of data you recover in the event of a disaster will be critical to the success of your data backup solution. It should be a number that?s enough to get back in action as soon as possible, but not an excessive amount that could complicate the restoration process. How Quickly Can You Restore Operations? The recovery time objective, or RTO, is defined as the amount of time it takes to get back into a pseudo-normal operational situation. By this we mean a situation where you?re not taking a loss by keeping operations running during a disaster scenario. Storing data in the cloud and using a rapid recovery device like a BDR (backup and disaster recovery) unit can make this much more efficient and less time-consuming as a whole. Does your business need help with implementing a data backup and disaster recovery scenario? White Mountain IT Services can help. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

To do so, we?ll discuss a few things that you have to make hard and fast policies for your employees to follow. Establish Roles and Responsibilities One of the most important features of successful collaborative efforts is the role that each person has in the greater process, and what they are responsible for as a result. While collaboration is a great way to help expedite the completion of tasks and projects, this is only the case so long as redundancy doesn?t enter into the mix. In essence, you need to establish a firm order of operations within your collaborative efforts, especially if that collaboration crosses between different departments of your team. Any of the benefits of collaboration can be eliminated if someone does the wrong thing at the wrong time – and this confusion most often erupts when someone in the process is unsure of their role, and what responsibilities they have as a result. Here?s a quick example to provide some hypothetical context: Let?s say someone in Department A begins a project. In their collaborative workspace, once that project is finished, it should be sent to a few resources in Department B to review and revise as needed before being enacted. This scenario only works if each person in the process understands what their role is, and what responsibilities that role has within the greater process. Returning to our example, any benefits that the collaboration may have had are negated if someone acts out of turn. In this case, once the project has been reviewed by the resources in Department B, Department A shouldn?t touch it again unless specifically asked to by Department B, who should then repeat their actions. Otherwise, mistakes that the review process would have caught can go unnoticed, and negatively affect the success of the project as a whole. Establish Firm, Yet Flexible, Goals On a related note, your goals need to be designed to help outline these responsibilities in a clear fashion, leaving little room for assumptions to be made. By providing your employees with goals that are based on definite outcomes, you are removing the ambiguity that leads to the complications described above and enabling your processes to move forward more effectively. However, this doesn?t mean that you can?t reexamine these processes and make adjustments to these goals to further improve them after you?ve seen how well (or not) they work. In fact, this is a crucial part of running a business successfully. As far as solutions go to enable collaboration, White Mountain IT Services has you covered. Reach out to us at (603) 889-0800 to find out how you can encourage clearer communications within your operations.