With a little know-how, some common sense, and White Mountain IT Services by your side, the next time you upgrade your technology, you?ll know for sure whether or not it will benefit your organization before you implement it. Here?s a handy checklist that can help you understand when it?s time to go all-in on new technology solutions. SoftwareWhen considering changing your business?s software solution strategy, you should make sure to ask yourself the following questions about your organization?s infrastructure: Is your current operating system supported? In other words, are you currently receiving patches and security updates from Microsoft for your servers and workstations? If not, your business could be exposing itself to malware, viruses, and other nasty online threats. Do you have any legacy software that?s dependent on specific operating systems? One major reason that organizations don?t upgrade their technology consistently is because they just can?t do so without sacrificing legacy software. This happens when a piece of software isn?t compatible with more recent operating systems. Therefore, you need to ensure that you aren?t using legacy software that will be complicated by a switch to a new operating system. Is this software supported? What?s preventing you from getting on the most recent version? HardwareIf you?re considering upgrading your business?s hardware solutions, consider the following before taking any drastic measures: How old is your hardware? Have you upgraded your workstations and servers over the past two or three years? If not, you might be in need of a hardware upgrade. The older the hardware, the more chance there is to fall victim to expensive hardware failure and crippling data loss. Are any of your workstations or servers operating below specifications? If there’s something wrong with your business?s technology, you might think that upgrading to a more recent model can resolve the issue. However, if you?re experiencing slow network speeds or other technical difficulties, you could be dealing with other problems that don?t necessarily require a hardware upgrade to fix. Has your business been experiencing growth? If your business is growing at a fast pace, your network might have difficulty keeping up with the demand. Therefore, you may need to upgrade your network?s hardware in order to facilitate the amount of traffic it experiences. Otherwise, you could be dealing with a slow network and decreased productivity. If your organization is having difficulty ensuring that your technology systems are consistently updated, White Mountain IT Services can help. Our trusted professionals have the skills necessary to provide clear consultation that can help your business approach your next upgrade round with ease. For more information about updating your technology systems, give White Mountain IT Services a call at (603) 889-0800; and be sure to subscribe to our blog for more great tech tips.

The fact remains that fully outsourced IT management is the ideal way for small and medium-sized businesses to handle their technology solutions. Unlike large businesses that have a generous IT budget, your SMB has limited assets and resources to work with, which can restrict your freedom to implement quality new technology solutions. When you outsource IT to a managed service provider, that’s work that no longer has to be performed, providing you with more time and capital to invest in other parts of your business. Some of the most common managed IT services include remote management and maintenance, network security, data backup and disaster recovery, email and server hosting, and so much more. All of these services require some sort of technical expertise, and outsourcing them to a qualified managed service provider is often the best choice for SMBs. Here are three great reasons you should consider outsourcing your IT maintenance: Decreased capital expenses: Managed IT is like transforming all of your technology maintenance and management into operating expenses. Instead of large, up-front capital costs for new technology solutions, your business can benefit from the economic freedom of only spending a fraction of these costs every month, providing more flexibility with your budget.Increased IT flexibility: It?s one thing to not have an internal IT team and outsource these responsibilities directly, but it?s another altogether to provide assistance to your dedicated internal IT department. If you do have an internal IT department, chances are that they?re up to their ears in day-to-day work and are too busy to perform maintenance or implement new solutions. This is why it?s so valuable to have managed IT services– if your team is too busy, White Mountain IT Services can relieve some of the burden so your staff can work on company initiatives that improve the business.Proactive and preventative solutions: When your business?s technology fails, it can have disastrous effects on your business?s budget. Managed IT services are designed to detect and prevent issues with your infrastructure, rather than respond to major problems as they come up. The best part of outsourcing your IT to professional technicians is that your business will have more time to focus on what matters most; improving operations and coming up with new and profitable initiatives. You?ll be surprised by how much time and money you can save by having professional IT technicians on hand to resolve problems and consult with. White Mountain IT Services fully understands the plight of New Hampshire small businesses and their technology solutions. For more information on how we can improve your operations and increase your bottom line, give us a call at (603) 889-0800.

The reason we say ?tested? and not ?used? is because IT departments want a chance to test the operating system for use with mission-critical applications and software before deploying the operating system to their entire infrastructure. According to Spiceworks, 18 percent of businesses are testing Windows 10 for use with their organization, while only 9.3 percent of businesses were testing Windows 8 when it was released. Considering the fact that 94 percent of IT executives are interested in Windows 10, this makes sense. It?s only a matter of time until it?s adopted by businesses all over the world, and these organizations are doing the smart thing by making sure that Windows 10 doesn?t break their operations. According to Spiceworks, there are several combined conveniences that can be attributed to the increased interest in Windows 10. Here are just a few of them: Windows 10 is a free upgrade: Microsoft has been pushing Windows 10 hard, citing the fact that it?s a free upgrade for users of Windows 7 and 8.1. This gives businesses the opportunity to test it on a single computer without putting the entire infrastructure on the line. Familiar features have returned: Windows 8 had a slick Metro-filed user interface that removed the Start menu, confusing many longtime Windows users. The Start menu makes its triumphant return in Windows 10. This might seem like a trivial thing to be excited about, but it?s great nonetheless. Windows 10 requires less training: Windows 8, while not that fundamentally different from previous Windows operating systems, felt a bit strange for some users, and required some training with the new tiled Start menu and the Search app. Windows 10 is more of a traditional operating system interface, which means less time that your organization has to spend on training. If you?re not yet using Windows 10, you should consider doing so. It might have features that can help your business be more productive. However, you don?t want to make the jump to Windows 10 without first assessing your business?s needs. If you upgrade without checking your compatibility with your legacy applications and software, you can potentially fall victim to unnecessary downtime. By first assessing your business?s needs, you can avoid wasting time and resources. Our trusted professionals have the skills necessary for helping you upgrade to Windows 10 with minimal consequence. For more information, give White Mountain IT Services a call at (603) 889-0800.

The Bitglass experimentRecently, Bitglass came out with a report showing what happens when your login is stolen. Their research team made-up a digital profile, including a Google Drive account and a bank portal, for a fictional bank employee. They then leaked the login data into the Dark Web; a watermark on each file allowed Bitglass to track what happened to these pieces of information. Within a relatively short amount of time, hundreds of people from around the world viewed the login credentials. Most of the hackers who accessed the Google Drive account and bank portal were savvy enough to mask their IP addresses. The vast majority of hackers tried the login credentials on other accounts, counting on the fact that the fictional bank employee would use the same information across sites. Many also downloaded various files – sometimes indiscriminately, other times targeting files that seemed to contain sensitive information. Another alarming development showed how the login credentials lingered, with people revisiting them. Months after the initial leak, hackers appeared to take interest in the data once more, and there was another flurry of activity. Once your sensitive data is out there, cyber criminals can find all kinds of ways to exploit it. You, and the people in your professional and social network, remain exposed and vulnerable.How can your login credentials get stolen? There are a number of ways hackers and scammers can obtain your username and password, including the following:?    Your password is easy to guess or you have shared it with people.?    Hackers correctly guess the answers to password recovery questions.?    Malware has gotten on your computing device and has tracked keystrokes, including what you enter into web forms.?    You fell victim to a phishing scam, providing your credentials to an impersonator or entering them into a fraudulent website (for example, a site that closely resembles the one for your bank).?    Cyber criminals have gained access to your unattended computing device. Strong login protectionAs mentioned in the Bitglass Report, there are a number of strategies for keeping your login credentials safe. These include choosing strong passwords, using multi-factor authentication, and not using the same login credentials for all of your accounts.You should set up ways to monitor your accounts and receive alerts for suspicious activities – for example, if your account gets hit with multiple login attempts from different countries. Furthermore, if you suspect that one of your accounts is compromised, you should act immediately, notifying people, tracking account-related activities and changing your login credentials. It’s also important to keep an eye on your computing devices and not leave them unattended. In addition to guarding against physical theft, you should protect each device as best as possible with anti-malware programs and firewalls. To further discuss the security of your login credentials, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re fully aware of what can happen to your login information once it’s stolen. We’ll help you consistently protect your sensitive data and remain vigilant against data theft.

Here are four ways that cloud computing is changing the way that businesses function. Data StorageThe cloud?s primary function for many organizations is that of data storage and deployment. Businesses like the ability to store their information in secure, off-site locations, and the cloud?s added ability to access information via the Internet makes it a great alternative to storing data in remote data centers. Storing data in the cloud allows any employee who?s using an approved device to access mission-critical information, which gives them more flexibility than simply working in the office. Application DeploymentYour team needs access to various applications and software solutions on a daily basis. If they lose access to these programs, their productivity can suffer and so too will your bottom line. By using the cloud as a deployment option for your mission-critical applications, your team can access the software they need to perform their daily duties anywhere with an Internet connection. This opens up all sorts of opportunities for cost savings, including providing them with the ability to work from anywhere. VirtualizationBusinesses that take advantage of the cloud can leverage virtualization benefits to their advantage. When we say virtualization, we?re talking about the abstraction of IT resources, like servers and desktops, and storing them in the cloud for deployment. Virtualizing IT resources removes the physical cost of operating this equipment, allowing you to save on operational costs and dodge hardware failure. This is a pretty broad capability with a lot of uses. For example, you can deploy all of your users? desktops virtually from the cloud so you don?t need to rely on the hardware the user is using. Simply dial into your company cloud and access all of your applications and data on virtually any Internet connected device. Backup and Disaster RecoveryThe cloud is a critical part of a proper backup and disaster recovery solution. The BDR device takes multiple snapshots of your business?s data, and then sends the copies to both a secure, off-site data center, and to the cloud for easy deployment and access. The BDR device can then take the place of your server temporarily while you find a more permanent solution. The cloud is what allows BDR to work, as the restored data is deployed to the BDR device via the cloud. As you can see, the cloud has a myriad of great uses for the SMB market. Depending on your business?s specific needs for data control, you?ll want to implement either a public, private, or hybrid cloud solution. White Mountain IT Services can help your business get the most out of your cloud solution. For more information about the options that are available to, give us a call at (603) 889-0800.