For reference, let?s examine the technology that you?re currently using in your office. You probably have plenty of workstations; one for each employee, and some spares just in case something happens. These workstations need to be connected to your business?s network so that users can access mission-critical software, crucial information systems, and other important resources. A cabling infrastructure can quickly grow uncontrollable, especially if you?re not practicing proper cabling procedures. Another problem that often comes up is the task of equipping your team with the right communications solutions. Setting up phone lines for each of your employees can be challenging, and you often need to consult both your budget and your organization?s floor plans in order to adjust for growth. There?s no better time to plan for the future and ensure that you can add or remove phone users as needed, than when you move to a new building. Then, there?s the topic that you might not even want to think about; moving your physical files. Lugging around heavy and unwieldy filing cabinets can be a pain in the neck. You should be asking yourself if you?re willing to forsake physical file storage in favor of a digital file storage format. You also need to consider which files you absolutely need to keep, and which ones you can do without. It?s imperative that you perform a full assessment of your business?s current assets, paper or otherwise, and ensure that you take only what you need. Doing so can lessen the burden of moving your office. Be certain to shred any outdated files that contain sensitive information before disposing of them. White Mountain IT Services can assist your business with solutions specifically designed to increase mobility and communications in the workplace; many of which can make your move easier and improve operations. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP): With VoIP, your business can take advantage of telephony communication from anywhere with an Internet connection. Since the only connection you need is your network, you can avoid the complex cabling required for landline telephone systems. You just need to keep a close eye on your network resources and ensure that your bandwidth is enough to handle the quantity of calls. White Mountain IT Services can assist you with both a network assessment and the implementation of your chosen VoIP system. The cloud and virtualization: Delegating information to your entire workforce can be challenging, but with cloud computing, it?s as simple as providing access to the Internet. Your employees can access software, data, and other important information through the cloud, all wirelessly without the need for intensive cabling. As long as your team has an Internet connection, they can use WiFi to connect to the cloud and access critical information. This allows for anytime, anywhere access. Electronic records storage: If your organization is having trouble with file storage, White Mountain IT Services can equip your business with a solution that?s designed to help you eliminate unnecessary physical file storage systems in the office. Instead, you can store your files in a digital, compliant space, that?s optimized for your file?s security. Since your files will be stored digitally and protected with data backup and such, you?ll be able to quickly get back up to speed without the frustration of digging through bulky filing cabinets. Moving your office is a great reason to start fresh […]
Consider, for a moment, these three ways that the Internet has changed our lives. Be sure to ask yourself (and be honest) if you truly think that we?re better off. Increased Productivity…One of the biggest advantages of the Internet is that people can be productive from anywhere they have access to it. This includes places that may have once been inaccessible, or even inhospitable: beaches while on vacation, hotels while away on business, or even the car. If you?re looking at the Internet from a purely business standpoint, the Internet is great. Your employees can be as productive as they want, whenever they want. They can always be connected to the office. However, is it wise for this mindset of ubiquity to be so predominant in the business world? What about the human experience? When you can?t go a few minutes without receiving a phone call, email, or text message on your smartphone, you can?t help but feel a longing for simpler times. ? Yet Productivity DecreasesThe Internet is a great tool that provides many opportunities to get work done, but it?s notorious for being a massive distraction for workers. With the advent of online distractions like memes, you might find your workers would rather have a good laugh than do their jobs properly. For example, at the end of your work day, how many tabs does your browser window have open? The average office worker?s screen is often full of relevant (or irrelevant) news articles, YouTube videos, instant messaging conversations, social media, and so much more. The main problem is that small distractions from the Internet become a major issue for productivity. It?s been proven that it can take anywhere from five minutes to fifteen minutes for a worker to refocus on a single task when they?ve been distracted by something, whether it be a meme on the Internet or an IM from a coworker. All of these distractions eventually lead to getting less work done. Instantaneous Access to InformationThanks to the Internet, the world?s information and media coverage is at your fingertips. This is a great step forward, but what are the real benefits of this? Perhaps all of this information isn?t good for our brains, and it?s making us too lazy to work hard for our information. Here are two sobering statistics from List25:50 percent of Internet users quit waiting for a video to load after 10 seconds.The average shot length in an English-language film has decreased from 12 seconds in 1930 to only about 2 seconds in 2015. Even if the Internet is capable of satisfying our constant thirst for something to do, it?s making patience a rare trait to find. We don?t think that it?s out of bounds to say that this is a bad thing. Now that you understand the scope of these issues, how big of a problem are they in your office? Is your staff being productive, or are they too distracted to get good work done? Is their work cutting into leisure time? Would your team rather perform a Google search for the answer to a question than ask their direct supervisor about it? These are all questions that you should be asking. If you contact White Mountain IT Services, we can help you mitigate online distractions and keep the Internet a productive place […]
If you?ve never checked on your company?s online reputation, you may be in for a surprise. Just because everything is hunky dory around the office, doesn?t mean that these feelings translate to the online realm. The Internet gives a dissatisfied customer or a former employee with an ax to grind a platform to express their views, and if you?re unaware that such a platform even exists, then your reputation may be taking a hit without you even knowing it. By properly managing your company?s online reputation, you?ll be able to effectively perform damage control in such scenarios, or better yet, capitalize on the good things that are said about your company. Begin With GoogleTo get started managing your company?s online reputation, try searching for your organization?s name in Google Search. If you?ve never done this before, you may have a surprise or two awaiting you. Although, unless a user review has generated a lot of Internet traffic, you probably won?t come across it on the first or second page of Google. Instead, you?ll likely find search results for your company?s website, your information on a listing service (like Yellow Pages), your location on Google Maps, your Google Plus account, and perhaps your company?s social media accounts. Therefore, in order to get to the parts of the Internet where people are talking about you, you?ll more than likely have to dig deeper. You can get more specific with your Google search by including the name of your city or whatever product or service it is that your business specializes in. This will take you to some different web pages, and perhaps introduce you to websites that you never even knew existed (which you?re mentioned on), like review websites such as Yelp. To go even deeper with Google, you can look for search results that took place within a specific timeframe. Do this in Google Search by going to Search Tools > Any time. From here, you can narrow down your search to include results from the past hour, or all the way up to the past year. You can even go to Custom range… to narrow down your search to specific dates. One way that this can be helpful is by searching for dates that your business gave people reason to talk about you, like your company?s busy season, a major promotion, getting covered by the local news, or even after parting ways with a problem employee. And while it?s one thing to search for what?s been said about you online, it?s completely another thing to stay on top of what is being said about you. To manage your online reputation in real time, Google offers a helpful tool known as Google Alerts, which can be found here: https://www.google.com/alerts To use Google Alerts to manage your company?s online reputation, simply add your company?s name or product in the form and sign up to be notified via email every time Google indexes something new about what you specified. This is a great way to nip reputation problems in the bud by being the first to see what?s been said about you as soon as it?s posted. Don?t Forget About Your Company?s Social Media Accounts Too many businesses make the mistake of setting up a social media account just for the sake of having […]
Not Having a CaseFor too many users, purchasing a case for their mobile device is an afterthought. After all, one doesn?t daydream about protective cases in the same way they do about a smartphone?s latest features. By skipping out on a case, your phone will have zero protection for the next time it?s dropped, which, let?s face it, is a matter of ?when,? not ?if.? Mobile device cases are inexpensive, and even having a cheap case is better than having no case. You have no excuse not to have a case for your smartphone… unless you?re this poor chap. Pro tip: For maximum protection of your smartphone, look into purchasing a military-grade case. Exposing Your Device to Extreme TemperaturesMobile devices aren?t designed to handle extreme temperatures. A smartphone will overheat at 113 degrees Fahrenheit, which can easily be reached inside of a car on a hot summer day. When temperatures dip down to -40 degrees, a smartphone could cease working. Keep this in mind the next time you venture into extreme weather conditions, or even leave your phone in direct sunlight. Never Turning Off Your DeviceWith PCs, it?s perfectly fine to rarely shut them down (and some would argue that it?s for the best). However, this rule doesn?t apply to smartphones. Instead, smartphones should be periodically turned off and on. TechRepublic explains: ?At least once a week, reboot that device or (even better) shut it down for 30 minutes or so. Doing this will ensure that caches are cleared and subsystems are properly restarted. Shutting down the device once a week will aid with the longevity of the RAM on the device and allow certain diagnostics to be run at boot.? Transporting Your Phone in Your PocketsSliding your phone into the pockets of your pants certainly is convenient, but keep in mind that doing so comes with a risk. For example, placing your device in your back pocket will put it at risk of being broken if you forget to take it out before sitting down, and the phone can easily fall out of the side pockets if you bend your legs in just the right way. Also, on very rare occasions, smartphones have spontaneously combusted inside the pockets of pants. Even shirt pockets are a bad place to keep your phone, they can fall out way too easily. A better way to transport your device is in a purse, messenger bag, or belt clip. Forgetting About MalwareWhile it?s true that mobile devices aren?t targeted by hackers the same way they attack PCs, that doesn?t mean your smartphone is exempt from attacks. Too often, mobile device users will completely ignore the threat of malware, despite the fact that threats for mobile devices are growing rapidly. To protect your smartphone from such threats, you should at least have a mobile security solution installed and run regular scans. Also, make sure to only install apps from reputable developers. By avoiding these common smartphone mistakes, you?ll be sure to keep your mobile device in tip-top shape for years to come. For more tips and best practices, contact White Mountain IT Services and subscribe to our blog.
Important issues to consider The QuickTime vulnerability on Windows highlights a few important issues regarding cyber security and older software. Are security updates available? Uninstalling QuickTime isn’t merely a temporary measure that will protect you until a new security update gets released. Although Apple contains to provide support and updates for QuickTime run on Mac OS X, they’re no longer coming out with security updates for QuickTime on Windows. The program for Windows is essentially abandoned; there’s no reason to keep it on your computer. Whatever software you run on your computer, make sure it’s still supported. Without software updates, which often include patches for security vulnerabilities, you’re stuck running older versions of a program. Older software is usually riddled with security holes, leaving you vulnerable to all kinds of attacks. With malicious code, hackers can shut down your system, wipe out your hard drive, and steal or tamper with data. How much time does it take you to respond to security alerts? Whenever you hear about a new vulnerability, you must respond as soon as possible. Hackers operate quickly to exploit known weaknesses in a software program. Along with attending to news of known vulnerabilities, you should also stay alert to any decisions companies make to discontinue software support. Even if the company doesn’t make an official announcement, check when they’ve last updated a program and confirm its status. Apple, for instance, didn’t issue this latest warning; a federal agency did. You can’t always wait for a software company to inform you about a problem. To stay on top of cyber security alerts, it’s best to rely on dedicated IT support. IT professionals will review the software you’ve installed on your devices and ensure that it’s protected and up-to-date. People who use Windows may not even realize they still have QuickTime installed on their device. Furthermore, a program may work safely and effectively on one kind of device or system, but not on another. It’s important to make these distinctions when deciding how to react to a cyber security threat. Within hours of receiving this alert, we were able to send a command to uninstall QuickTime AND block it from ever running again, on over 4,000 windows computers that are currently under our White Mountain Managed IT service agreements. So even if a user manages to unintentionally resinstall QuickTime, our system will prevent it from runining and will send an alert to let us know. Are you taking a layered approach to cyber security? These recent QuickTime vulnerabilities involve malicious code that can execute once people visit a certain website or opened an infected file. Although hackers can sometimes attack a system without the need for user interaction, in many cases, they rely on people to perform a specific action in order to launch a malware attack. Remain cautious about files and links sent via email, and take care when you’re browsing the Internet to avoid unfamiliar sites. Other defenses include an ongoing security awareness training program, updated anti-malware programs, firewalls, and Internet browsers that can detect and warn you about potentially corrupted sites. Your cyber security defenses should involve layers of protection, combining state-of-the-art software and safe computing habits. Want to see if your IT provider has really protected you from this threat?Try this simlple test; Check to see […]
