One experience that almost everyone has been involved in is the clashing of personalities. This is only natural, as different people are born with different predispositions and are raised in differing environments. However, in the business world, one should do their best to keep personal differences from affecting the professional relationships they form. In their recent publication Networking Like a Pro, Dr. Ivan Misner and Brian Hilliard explore the effect that a person?s innate behavioral style has on how they act as they rub elbows with other professionals. While these behaviors are present to some degree in everyone, the book posits that one or two of them make up the lion?s share of each individual?s behavior. How well you network, or generally interact, with someone is based on how well each of your behavioral types meshes with the other. Does that mean that there are just some people who you will not be able to network with successfully? Not exactly. Misner and Hilliard offer a cheat sheet, of sorts, to inform how to interact and cooperate with the four behavioral types: Go-Getters, Promoters, Examiners and Nurturers. Go-GettersThere is a definite need for speed when dealing with a Go-Getter. The Go-Getter wants to see results now, if not sooner, and have no problem with bending the rules a little in order to achieve their goal. In order to effectively communicate with a Go-Getter, they need to see the value that you offer as being relevant to their goals. In other words, they need to grasp how you can make business move faster for them while still delivering the results that they demand. Go-Getters will also want options, but won?t respond well to a planned-out script in lieu of a pitch. A Go-Getter wants to hear the highlights, and most importantly, needs to see that you deliver results as promised. PromotersA Promoter is someone who is always ready and willing to find a good idea and spread it, often based more on their gut feeling than on knowledge acquired through research. A true people-person, a Promoter will often attend industry events to meet new people and socialize. They tend to be non-confrontational, and will often have many different plans in the works at once. In order to communicate with a Promoter, you need to match their tempo and focus on their priorities. Since a Promoter is often concerned with their image, you should demonstrate how your offer could boost their recognition in their industry. When making a deal with a Promoter, make sure that the small details and minutiae are all in writing, and that you quickly provide them with plenty of assistance to confirm that they made the best choice. ExaminersAn Examiner is a born skeptic, and will do everything they can to evaluate the person they are considering working with. They are very thorough, and will often be a perfectionist. Unsurprisingly, an Examiner is fond of information, and can use their knowledge to carry on conversations quite well. They also value efficiency, so they will not hesitate to leave an event once their goal has been reached. When networking with an Examiner, concision is key, as is support for your position. You will want get straight to the point, providing facts and evidence that establish you as the best choice […]

When taking notes that relate to a business? operations, these notes need to meet certain standards of clarity, cohesiveness, and comprehension. To accomplish this, you will need the right tools at your disposal. Today?s tip will evaluate two of the industry?s best note-taking applications to help you identify which is best for your needs. The applications: Microsoft OneNote, and EverNote. OneNoteThis application is available on multiple platforms, allowing its user to access a mostly comprehensive set of note-taking tools and features. While it naturally offers the traditional text-based note format, some platforms also permit a user to add quick drawings, incorporate recorded audio and video, and paste images and spreadsheets into their notes. OneNote also allows notes to be shared between users. OneNote keeps a user?s notes organized in a simple hierarchy, with each notebook they create being divisible into sections, subsections, and individual pages. Creating notes will be simple for anyone familiar with Microsoft Office applications, as OneNote?s functions and tools are organized in the same tab setup that the other Office applications utilize. Using the Windows version of OneNote offers the most features within this setup, with fewer features offered in its versions for Apple products, its web version, and Android applications. However, OneNote?s Achilles heel in this comparison is definitely its web clipping functionality–or its lack thereof. If a user clips content from a webpage and adds it to OneNote, it is only added as an image. This has two ill effects on the comprehensiveness of the application. First, any video content or links are rendered unusable, and second, a user is unable to copy and paste content from the clipping. Furthermore, only users with a Microsoft account are able to use the web-clipping function. In order to synchronize itself across all of a user?s devices where it is installed, OneNote leans on OneDrive. Your version of Office will have an impact on how much storage space you have on OneDrive. If you should find that you need more storage, there are plans available that enable you to access more, for an additional fee. EverNoteWhile the basic functions are effectively the same as OneNote?s, Evernote has strengths in different enough areas that comparing the two isn?t exactly a one-to-one consideration. Most notably, while Evernote offers similar note-creation capabilities as OneNote, it has its strengths in how well it can be used to clip web content. Through the use of a toolbar application, Evernote permits a user to pull content from the web in a variety of ways. In addition to taking a simple screenshot of a page, Evernote can pull a single article, removing ads, extra content, or even the original formatting. A user can also use Evernote to grab the entire web page, ads and all, along with a working bookmark that directs to that page. You can tag content you capture with the clipper, and edit it by adding text, highlighting certain elements, drawing notes and arrows, and various other functions. The only portions of a captured page that you can?t edit are elements like videos, but these act like links to the original page that the content was pulled from. Evernote proves to be set up much differently between Windows and Apple versions. As a result, the application is a little harder to navigate […]

This conclusion has been around for quite a while, as the North Korean hacking group Lazarus was first associated with WannaCry in June, a mere month after the attacks took place. As Bossert said in an opinion-editorial piece for the Wall Street Journal: ?We do not make this allegation lightly. It is based on evidence. We are not alone with our findings, either. Other governments and private companies agree. The United Kingdom attributes the attack to North Korea, and Microsoft traced the attack to cyber affiliates of the North Korean government.? WannaCry was so effective because it leveraged a flaw in the Windows Server Message Block that was the foundation of the National Security Agency exploit EternalBlue. EternalBlue had been stolen from the NSA and released by another hacking group, the Shadow Brokers, in April. This combination managed to infect thousands of businesses around the world, and wound up shutting down healthcare organizations. These events also spurred Microsoft to partner with Facebook to help take a stand against future attacks like WannaCry. This is a very good thing, as North Korea has–according to Bossert–shifted its focus from nuclear threats to cyber initiatives as a means of funding their other projects and creating discord around the world. So, what does this have to do with your business? More than anything, activities like these being leveraged by governments only reinforces the importance of ensuring that your business has a comprehensive security plan of action. While some attacks like these can?t be avoided, the damage can be mitigated with the proper preparations. White Mountain IT Services can assist you in making those preparations effectively. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 for more information.

Compared to the more traditional break-fix IT model, you?ll find that there are substantial differences (and benefits) to using managed IT as your preferred method of technology maintenance. Here are five of them. Minimized CostWith break-fix IT, your business is reacting to technology problems rather than preventing them. This costs you a considerable amount of cash in the long run, as it?s easier to keep issues from happening in the first place than dealing with them. We like to use the example of a hardware failure to illustrate this point. If your server fails, you?re already in a pretty bad situation since no work can be done. It makes sense to ensure that this server failure doesn?t happen in the first place, as the cost of recovering data and all of that downtime can be crippling at best. Basically, it costs less overall to keep issues from happening. It?s finding the help that is the real challenge for small businesses–and outsourcing work is easier and more cost-efficient than hiring an entire in-house team to handle the responsibilities. More EfficiencySoftware solutions need regular updates and patches in order to stay secure. However, you don?t necessarily have the time to make sure this happens. If you have an internal IT department, they might be able to handle it, but they?re probably busy enough on their own. Outsourcing at least some aspects of your IT can lighten the load a little bit for your other staff members so that they can focus on completing their work on time and on budget. In fact, most issues can be resolved remotely anyway, so you save even more time by not waiting for an on-site worker. Quicker ImplementationHow does your business handle the implementation of new technology solutions? Is it a painful experience that takes far too long? Chances are that you will encounter at least a couple of roadblocks for your implementation process, be it in the form of providing support for the rest of your team members, or just not having enough time in the day to get everything done properly. Working with a managed IT provider ensures that a new project can be implemented while maintaining proper in-house maintenance scheduling. Experienced TechniciansIf you?re planning to hire an entire team of technicians on your in-house budget, you might want to reconsider, as it?s a huge burden on your budget. We don?t want you to skimp on the service that you deserve, so make sure that you only hire the best. You don?t have to worry about individual qualifications when working with an IT provider as you?ll be hiring established professionals. One Phone NumberWhen you have troubles with your technology, do you have to reach out to multiple vendors? Do you have to sit on the phone for hours on end just to resolve basic problems? This is frustrating, and you don?t have time to work with your vendors when you should be running your business. White Mountain IT Services can be the single point of contact your organization needs to ensure that your business never has to struggle with vendors again. If you have a problem with your technology, just give us a call and we?ll sort it out from there. To learn more, reach out to White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800.

Here are some of the most important predictions for where the Internet of Things is heading, as per a HAX Hardware Trends Report. Consumer Devices Are ChangingHardware providers are always competing with each other over the next best solutions for businesses and other environments. With the data collected by the Internet of Things, companies can innovate and create new ways of reinventing older technologies for new purposes. The smart home (and smart technology on a greater scale) is a perfect example of this, providing functionality on devices that didn?t necessarily have it before. With this new type of usage, connected devices can change many infrastructures in the near future. Health Technology Makes ProgressForbes describes the incoming healthcare technology as P4 Medicine, standing for predictive, preventive, personalized, and participatory. The IoT devices of the future will be able to predict future health conditions, diagnose issues, and proactively treat them before health problems reach a peak. It?s kind of like monitoring your business?s network for future hardware failure symptoms before they actually become issues. By looking at data collected by healthcare devices, conditions can be proactively treated. Enterprises and Industries Will See Greater GrowthSmall businesses can use the Internet of Things to make progress, but enterprises and industries will stand to gain a considerable amount of ground through its implementation. Some examples of industries that could be affected by the Internet of Things include infrastructure, logistics, agriculture, and retail–all of which benefit greatly from data. IoT technologies can help your business put together better workflows and streamline operations. Some technologies used include automated technologies, maintenance robots, agricultural sensors, and so on. Is your business ready for the Internet of Things? White Mountain IT Services can help. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.