How to Approach Your IT Spending It might seem like IT is simply another cost of doing business, but we urge you to resist the temptation to lump it in with resources like electricity and air conditioning. Instead, you should consider how your technology (and its current state of being) affect your organization in the grand scheme of things. If your technology doesn?t work properly, your employee morale could suffer, as well as productivity slowing to a halt. Your income could be affected as well, creating a major issue for your business. An IT budget needs to take a lot of information into account. There are countless costs that can be associated with information technology, and that?s without mentioning what it takes to train your staff to actually take advantage of these solutions. The right IT budget will also include even minor inconveniences that come from setbacks you could potentially increase. For example, are you paying too much for a multifaceted solution when in reality you only need one of its features? Are you throwing away money on unused solutions that could be better spent elsewhere within your organization? Even if you have technology solutions for your business, they are only as effective as the way you?re using them. Overall, you should consider your IT budget an investment. Some of it might be seen as a business expense, but overall, much of the spending will be dedicated to eliminating waste and unnecessary expenses. No matter how you see it, your IT should be used to put your business in a positive financial situation. Encouraging Financial Wellbeing with an IT Budget If you don?t know how to proceed with developing an IT budget, we?ve put together a list of topics to consider: Have a set budget for your IT: If you?re going to implement solutions, you should have a set budget for your IT that cannot be exceeded so as to preserve funds for other endeavors. Invest in business-enhancing solutions: Whether it?s boosting productivity or protecting against threats, you?re trying to improve your organization. Your IT budget should be dedicated to preserving this status-quo. Don?t shoot from the hip: If you?re not investing in IT properly, you could wind up in a nasty situation where your IT spending is actually holding you back. You should invest funds to where they need to go, but most importantly where they can make you more money. Does your business need help with managing an IT budget? White Mountain IT Services can help. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

The first cameras offered for mobile phones were handheld cameras that had a wire to connect the phone and the camera. When the SCH-V200 was first made available, it changed the way people thought about their phones. Even though the photo quality left a lot to be desired, and you needed to hook the phone up to a computer to get the photos off your phone, it started a trend that has changed the way people express themselves. It was also one of the first signals that the information age was in full swing. Today, we?ll take a look at the history of the phone-based camera and how it has facilitated many of the major shifts in mobile computing. Early Smartphones As was already mentioned the first phone that offered an onboard camera was the Samsung SCH-V200, but it didn?t take long before the innovation of the phone that allowed users to access and send pictures from their phone. That technology was improving for a couple of years when in the mid-2000s the first smartphones were released. The original iPhone, and HTC?s first smartphone, the T-Mobile G1 both sported rear-facing cameras; and, even though none of the reviews made reference to this particular feature, it became evident pretty fast that the applications that could be presented on a computer (with a camera) that fit in someone?s pocket would be one to move the needle. Newer Smartphones A few years later, the first front-facing camera was introduced, making it simpler to take your own picture. Called ?selfies?, they introduced a capability to share experiences like never before. With the expansion of Internet connectivity and with the introduction of the social media website the smartphone camera became a major feature. As the smartphone continued its development the options that helped the camera to be more a feature than just an option started becoming evident. The LED flash, now standard on most mobile devices became a big hit as snapping photos in low light was often difficult without proper lighting. The software that ran the camera hardware got much better with autofocus, video capture, and optical image stabilization. Options like these were made possible by the uptick in processing power of the chipsets on these devices. Social Media and Application Development The importance of the smartphone camera was limited for much of the first few generations of smartphones. Even the addition of the front-facing camera wasn?t enough to make a device?s camera a major selling point. This all changed seemingly overnight with the ability to capture high definition video. This feature, combined with the development and innovation of the social network (specifically YouTube), made having a camera on you at all times a selling point for the phone consumer. Nowadays, there are dozens of social networks and social media apps that require the use of powerful front and rear-facing cameras. There are 300 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute. As a result, some pretty spectacular (and bizarre) things have been captured using smartphones over the past 10 or so years. In fact, an award-winning, feature-length film called Tangerine was shot using only an iPhone. Camera Saving Stagnating Mobile Market For the past several years, the processing power and application development that once drove the smartphone market has stagnated somewhat. In fact, […]

We?re going to take a look at the current state of email security, and what the future holds for perhaps the most important method of business communication solutions. Email Security is on the Rise For a long time, businesses were focused on keeping threats out of their infrastructure through the use of solutions like firewalls that were controlled centrally. Once email servers entered the picture, these types of solutions became less valuable. Nowadays, many of the services offered by security companies are largely the same at the root level. Ultimately, the differences in email security that you?ll see between companies aren?t in the actual antivirus and spam protection features, but in the additional options and features that they come with. It?s practically necessary in order for any solution to actually stand out from others out there. To an extent, this is a good thing, as organizations are forced to innovate rather than remain stagnant in their service offerings. This is why we always express the importance of enterprise security solutions rather than just spam protection on its own. Centralization is absolutely critical to the success of these solutions. If you have multiple solutions located all across the network, it?s not nearly as effective or efficient as it can be, and you certainly don?t get the comprehensive network security–email included–that you need to keep your organization as secure as possible. What You Can Do To keep your business as secure as possible for the future, you?ll need to think about how email plays a part within your business. Chances are you use it for both internal and external communications, which makes it the ideal target for scammers and spammers to infiltrate your organization. Your business needs to secure its email solution through the use of encryption and firewalls, but it should also be prepared to handle advanced attacks such as denial-of-service and directory harvesting. If you fail to secure your business from these types of threats, they could create bigger problems for your organization down the road. White Mountain IT Services offers a comprehensive, centralized security solution in our Unified Threat Management (UTM) tool. It combines several solutions into one convenient package, including spam protection, antivirus, a firewall, and a content filter, all to mitigate and eliminate potential issues for your network security.

Defining A/B Testing An A/B test is basically comparing two options to find out which one is better or more efficient for your purposes. A/B testing is meant to be kept simple so that there are as few variables involved as possible. A/B tests are used to make choices based on the variables, such as finding out which call-to-action is most efficient or which page layout is most effective. Option A is the way things currently are, or the control, whereas Option B should include the change, or the variables. You then expose an audience to each option in the same capacity to determine which is more effective. Setting Up an A/B Test While A/B testing can be used to make many different kinds of decisions, these are best handled one at a time. If multiple variables are addressed in a single test, chances are that the test won?t be anywhere near specific enough to make any well-supported decisions. A/B testing is best used when it is addressing small changes rather than large ones. You first need to identify the variable you want to test, as well as a metric that you want to measure it against. How can the change improve engagement? Can it increase the time that a user spends on the page? Can it provide a higher click-through rate? Like we mentioned before, it?s all about what you?re trying to measure or improve. Once you?ve determined this, you want to determine what the control option is, as well as what change you want to make after that. Your control group will be what you are currently using, so keep in mind that you?ll have to judge the results of the change against this to determine if there is a significant improvement. You also need to determine the sample size, or the number of recipients who will be a part of the test. Of course, not all changes will be accurately measured by just your sample size. You might find that the study benefits a constantly running project that can collect an adequate amount of data. Before making any changes to your testing, you?ll have to figure out what your threshold for making changes should be so you don?t pull the plug on a test prematurely. Running an A/B Test As far as actually administering the test, you should keep the following in mind; be sure to give it enough time to collect data for your conclusion, and make sure options are tested at the same time to keep other variables from mucking up the data. What are some ways A/B testing can help your business? Let us know in the comments.

The Threats Many devices on the Internet of Things have security problems. You?d think that they wouldn?t be much of a problem since they often have limited functionality. For example, a connected thermostat has a limited number of options (on/off, temperature adjustment). In fact, whether it is a CCTV camera, a smart refrigerator, a connected toy–anything that comes with Internet connectivity–is a potential threat to your home or business? network. There are a myriad of reasons for this. They include: Insecure web interface – Every connected device has an integrated web interface that allows users to interact with the device. If not properly secured, these portals can allow unauthorized users to gain access to the device. Insufficient authentication procedures – Connected devices may have ineffective control mechanisms built in that could, if leveraged by hackers, provide unauthorized parties more access than they should be allowed if it were properly secured. Insufficient encryption – If the data that the IoT device gives off isn?t properly encrypted, it can be intercepted and compromised. Insecure network services – Vulnerabilities of where the network connects to the device can offer unwanted entities a pathway to infiltrate the network or the device. Lack of cloud or mobile security – Some devices come with cloud-based functionality, while others run off a mobile device. If these constructs aren?t properly secured, an IoT connection could present a pretty potent vulnerability. Insecure software or firmware – Often IoT devices lack the ability to be updated. Unfortunately threats don?t stop being developed and it can be a matter of time before a once secure device has a glaring vulnerability. Lacking Physical Security – If a hacker can alter the physical makeup of an IoT device he/she can gain access to the device?s settings, creating an avenue for major security problems. Fixing Threats For every threat there is a remedy, but really the best thing you can do is to be conscientious about the device you are connecting to your network. Every connected device could be the device to cause major problems for you. The industry is split about how exactly to secure crucial computing networks from the threats the IoT presents. The generally accepted strategy to manage the IoT is one where the more things can be controlled from a central hub, the more secure the system will be. While it does make management easier, this strategy doesn?t completely provide the kind of comprehensive risk-based solutions needed to mitigate any IoT-fueled corruption. By not first doing a full risk assessment, especially these days, there is a decent chance of catastrophe. After all, security is about dealing with real threats. The main problems are that most IoT-connected devices don?t come with comprehensive security and they can be altered by a network-attached user pretty easily. Take the driverless car. There is going to have to be a major enhancement in the way that these systems are protected if we hope to utilize automated systems to drive actual people around. Since the driverless car is effectively on a public network–and is not behind a firewall–it will need to have its own encrypted system in order to keep it from getting hijacked. This brings us to one of the best ways to secure an IoT device on any network: ensure it is placed behind […]