Technology for MeetingsOrganizations use meetings to discuss important events, developments, and operations, so it?s important to keep in mind that you can augment these meetings to improve their quality through the use of technology. Conferencing software, video chat, and other options can make your meetings more efficient and effective, providing benefit for your organization. You can even use interactive whiteboards and cloud-based solutions to allow employees in disparate locations to collaborate with one another. Software Integration with APIs (Application Programming Interfaces)Integration has grown to be a key part of the workplace, a trend that seems to be setting the tone for the future. APIs have given software solutions more opportunities to connect and integrate with new and existing solutions than ever. The future will surely provide even more opportunities for your organization to leverage APIs and integration to the best of your ability, and with so many businesses relying on an assortment of software solutions (like time management, conferencing, productivity suite, and others), you can bet that any and all integration between these software solutions will be key to their continued success. Connecting with an IntranetAll of your organization?s assets should be centralized in a single location so they are easy to find, expediting productivity and making things convenient on the user?s end. An intranet can be the solution to any organization?s decentralization issues. You can place any important files, accounts, applications, or solutions in one location for ease of access. Think of it like a portal to all of the important information your business has, ready for your employees to utilize. Take Advantage of Cloud-Based ServicesThe cloud is an incredibly important part of many companies? business models, and it?s easy to see why. With access to data and applications in the cloud being so accessible, organizations can give their employees the option to free themselves from the desk, opening up opportunities to get work done out of the office. As long as the user has the right devices and permissions, productivity is not limited to the workplace. White Mountain IT Services has its fingers on the pulse of the latest innovations in modern office tech. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

No matter how early you got wise to this strategy, you still have notifications from at least one or two apps that don?t serve any practical use. Today we?ll pull out all the stops, literally. That is, we?ll help you limit your notifications so that you are faced with fewer distractions, and less worthless information. The Problem with Notifications Inherently, there isn?t a problem with having notifications. They are programmed into the software to help the user get the information they want when it happens. With today?s society so connected, and with business reacting by embracing this connectivity, some notifications are necessary. Collaborative work relies largely on cooperation in real time, which is why notifications can be viewed in a positive light–in some way other than as constant annoyances that aim to break your concentration and keep you on edge all day. Notifications in general have changed over the past several years. Initially the only notifications a user would receive are ones that had to deal with direct communications. These were easy enough to manage. Sometime in the last few years, more app developers have incorporated direct information about the ongoing development of the application and application promotion. By sending reminders from an app, even if it?s rarely used, developers are hoping that marketing the app to the user that already possesses it will get them to use that app more. These are the notifications that need to be turned off if you hope to co-exist in a workspace with a smartphone around. Here is how to manage notifications in the two most popular mobile operating systems. Android In Android, notifications are found many places and, in modern versions, they don?t stop when the phone is locked. Developers have made this system much more intuitive (which they had to with the increased number of notifications people receive) by allowing the user to set the priority of the notifications that they receive. Before Android 8.0 Oreo, this priority was set by the perceived usefulness of that notification to the user. Most high-end phones that run Android, use 8.0 Oreo. Some have been upgraded to 9.0 Pie. We?ll show you how to turn notifications off in each. 8.0 Oreo Before we get into the Settings menu, We should mention that in the notifications tray (the list of notifications you get when you swipe down from the top of any android device) you can swipe left to dismiss the apps, but if you swipe halfway, either right or left, you will reveal two icons, a gear and a clock. Pressing on the gear icon can open a setting that will allow you to block notifications for that app. To review and set notifications any way you want to go to Settings > Apps & Notifications > App notifications, then tap on the individual apps as they are listed and what notifications you want them to send. You can also turn off lock screen notifications by going to Settings > Apps & notifications > Notifications > lock screen and pressing on the Don?t show notifications at all option. 9.0 Pie In Android 9.0 Pie, stopping notifications is even simpler. All you need to do is long press on any notification and you?ll see an option to Stop notifications. You can also simply pull down […]

Numbers are still coming in as far as how widespread this issue is. As of Monday, cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab said potentially thousands of Asus computers were infected, but on Tuesday that number has potentially broken a million. How Could My Asus Laptop Get Hacked? This type of attack is called a Supply-Chain Compromise and is one of the most frightening kinds of cybersecurity threats out there. Asus?s software update system was compromised by hackers, putting a backdoor into consumer devices. The scariest part is that this backdoor was distributed last year and it?s just being noticed now. The good news is this has given Asus plenty of time to plug up the security holes on their end, but if you own an Asus device there is still a chance that it is infected with malware from the initial attack. What Do I Do Now? First and foremost, no matter what brand of computer or laptop you have, you need to make sure you have antivirus, and that antivirus needs to be licensed and kept up-to-date. If you have an Asus device, Asus has released an update in the latest version of their Live Update Software. They?ve also patched their internal systems to help prevent similar attacks from happening in the future. You?ll want to make sure you have Live Update 3.6.9 installed. Asus has also released a security diagnostic tool that will check your system to see if it has been affected. Click here to download the tool. We HIGHLY encourage you to reach out to White Mountain IT Services if you are running any Asus hardware. It?s better to be safe than sorry.

The modern work environment is a scary place, and you never know when someone is looking. Hackers have used spyware for ages to lurk on a device and collect data for various purposes, but the threat needs to be directly installed on the device in order for this to work. It doesn?t work when the data is most vulnerable–while it?s in transit. This is the issue that created the need for a virtual private network. A virtual private network is an encrypted network that gives you a secure way of connecting to your organization?s in-house infrastructure. In this case, the encryption protects your data by scrambling it into an undecipherable mess of characters while it?s in transit. The only way that anyone can unscramble the data is by having the decryption key that goes with the encrypted message. In essence, only those authorized by your organization can make heads or tails of the data. Otherwise, it?s just a jumble of something useless to hackers. This is why a virtual private network is so important to the security of your business. Often times data can be intercepted while it?s in transit to or from a device, placing it at risk. With the VPN, the tunnel between your infrastructure and the receiving device is a bit more opaque, meaning that it?s not as easy to see the true data, as it will be obscured and unreadable should it be stolen by anyone who doesn?t have the encryption key. VPNs are useful for any business correspondence where sensitive or proprietary information is sent over an unsecured Internet connection. This provides the security needed to send files and data when being asked to connect to wireless or other Internet connections that may be risky. White Mountain IT Services can help you implement the right VPN for your business. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

Defining Disasters Any business, particularly those that are reliant on their technology solutions, are susceptible to a variety of disasters. These disasters can be split into three categories: natural disasters, technological disasters, and human disasters. Natural Disasters – With effectively every environment on the planet having one form of extreme weather or another, these events are always a risk for a business. Whether a business needs to contend with flooding, severe storms, earthquakes, or any other extreme environmental event, these kinds of disasters can have very real business ramifications if not mitigated. Technological Disasters – While there are some ways to reduce the risk of a technological disaster striking your business, like maintaining your hardware to ensure it doesn?t fail or keeping your critical applications up to date, others are unfortunately out of your control. For instance, if your power goes out, it?s unlikely that operations can continue, and any unsaved data from before your systems died will be lost. What if your suppliers make a mistake, and leave you without a critical component to your processes? These kinds of events can easily suspend operations. Human Disaster – Unfortunately, one of the key components of your company is also the thing that can cause the widest variety of issues in your operations. From workplace accidents to human error to issues with former employees, your business is arguably most vulnerable from the inside. Of course, there are some disasters that can arise from typical events going awry? What happens when one of your key employees needs to go on an extended leave of absence? Which Risks Concern You? Each of these can have serious consequences to your business, its processes, and ultimately, its success. However, your level of risk for each will vary. This means that the first consideration you make is which events will have the greatest impact on your operations. Once you?ve established this, you are ready to tackle the rest of your plan with your priorities more effectively planned out. What Your Strategy Should Cover As you prepare your business for a potential disaster in the future, you need to focus your efforts toward accomplishing three benchmark goals: Protecting your employees and infrastructure Preserving your data and proprietary information Permitting operations to be resumed quickly (if not maintaining business continuity through the disaster) With these goals in mind, you need to take everything in your business into account before you run into an issue, putting measures into effect proactively. This means your backup plan needs to address how your data backups are to be managed and maintained, that your backup will remain operational throughout the disaster, and any processes that your business will need to replace resources after the disaster has ended. Preparing the Business as a Whole You should also be sure to keep the entire team in the loop as far as backup procedures are concerned, as well as what to do in case of disaster. Not only is there a chance that one of them may have to enact it, new employees are going to need someone to introduce them to your business? processes. Furthermore, as your business continues to develop over time, you should regularly return to your backups and reevaluate the data you?re protecting, and how it ties into your greater business continuity […]