Recent Blog Posts
To some business owners, the need for business continuity might not seem apparent. They might feel that nothing bad ever happens to them, so their business should be relatively safe in the future. They might not feel the need to invest their hard-earned revenue into something that they don?t foresee being necessary. The problem here is that if you don?t invest in protecting your hard-earned assets, they could be wiped away without a second thought. Take, for instance, the omnipresent threat of natural disasters. Regardless of where your business is located, your business is always at the mercy of nature. Areas that experience harsh winters should be wary of heavy snow and ice accumulation, which can topple power lines and lead to power surges. Some locations are at great risk of tornadoes, which can, quite literally, throw all of your profits into the air. Fires, electrical storms, and other more common natural disasters can all lead to data loss, and there?s often nothing you can do to stop it. Add in the constant threat of hackers, who are unpredictable and difficult to plan for, and you could have a full-blown data loss disaster on your hands when you least expect it. Unlike a natural disaster, which has telltale signs of impending doom, hackers will brutally assault your business with whatever means they deem necessary to steal or destroy your data. If they succeed, your budget could break under heavy compliance fines associated with sensitive or personal credentials, and your company?s reputation could suffer. Finally, your organization could fall to simple user error. If someone inexperienced or untrained on how to properly handle your data messes with settings or files that they shouldn?t be messing with, you could lose track of files, or even risk them to online attacks. This is one reason why it?s always important to both educate your employees on best practices, and to use a powerful backup and disaster recovery solution. What White Mountain IT Services suggests implementing is called a backup and disaster recovery (BDR) device, which is designed to minimize downtime when faced with a crippling disaster. BDR is capable of taking multiple backups per day, which can then be stored and recovered from a secure, off-site data center, and the cloud. The BDR can minimize downtime further by temporarily taking the place of your downed server. This provides an opportunity to carefully choose an adequate replacement. This is the reason your business needs to prepare with not just a comprehensive business continuity plan, but also proactive IT solutions designed to eliminate downtime and appropriately manage the risk of doing business online. This includes equipping your business with both a quality backup and disaster recovery solution, arming yourself with powerful security measures that can detect and eliminate potential threats, as well as preventative maintenance and management. It might sound overwhelming, but White Mountain IT Services can provide all of these services for you, plus many others. Our professional technicians are exceptionally knowledgeable about the technology needs of small and medium-sized businesses, as well as the pain points that they suffer from. For more information about business continuity and our BDR solution, give us a call today at (603) 889-0800.
Share Large Files That Can?t Be Sent Through EmailIf you?re using Google Drive as your cloud storage option and productivity suite, chances are you?re using Gmail for Business as your preferred email client. As you might know, Gmail has a size cap for its attachments: 25MB. Now, however, Gmail allows for much larger attachment sizes (up to 10GB worth) thanks to its integration with Google Drive. By uploading a file to Google Drive, you can easily share it with anyone via Gmail. Try These Keyboard ShortcutsWhile many standard keyboard shortcuts work with Google Drive, there are some that specific shortcuts that are exclusive to Drive. Here?s a handy list of some of the best keyboard shortcuts for Google Drive. Just remember that in order to use these, you have to be in Drive itself, and not one of the documents you have stored in it: Shift + t: Create a new Google Docs document. This is great if you need a quick way to open a new document, but don?t want to go through the process of doing it manually. The document will be made in the current folder you?re viewing in Drive. Shift + p: Create a new presentation with Google Slides. This works in exactly the same way as the above shortcut for Google Docs. Shift + s: Create a new spreadsheet in Google Sheets. Again, this works like the above two shortcuts. / (backslash): Search through your Drive folder. This is a good alternative to manually clicking on the Search form at the top of the page. i: Show or hide the activity panel. This will show you the most recent activity on all documents in your current folder. n: Rename your selected item. This can be handy for cutting out several clicks in the renaming process, or opening the file only to rename it. Monitor Your Revision HistoryGoogle Docs and other creations in your Drive have an option allowing you to view the revision history of your document. This helps to keep users accountable for edits that they perform on documents, but it also helps you to see what was changed from a previous version of that same document. To view your revision history, click on File > See Revision History. You?ll then see a color-coded rendition of your document that shows what has been changed, and by whom, on specific dates and times. In the right panel you?ll also see the different revisions, and by clicking on them individually, you can review them or restore them as you see fit. Were any of these tips helpful? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to White Mountain IT Services?s blog.
A VPN may not be for everyone, but here are a couple of scenarios where having a secure portal to access information can be of great benefit to your business: Scenario 1: Your business has two or more locations, and it?s time to consolidate your infrastructure, data, and other IT efforts. You want staff from all locations to access everything in real time, in one single system that you control. Scenario 2: Things are moving and shaking, and certain parts of your team are starting to travel to work closer with new clients, attend trade shows, and broaden your organization?s reach. However, you immediately identify an issue where your data is getting spread all over, with versions of files on someone?s laptop, someone else?s email, and another on a third person?s cell phone. Plus, your road warriors are requesting extra licenses for the software they need for their laptops and mobile devices. A VPN is basically a secure portal to access your company?s network from any Internet-connected device. Your data, applications, and user policies are all accessed securely, leaving them in tact on your network, even when employees aren?t on the network. With just a couple of clicks, a user can log in to the network from home, a coffee shop, or while on site for a customer and access everything they need as if they were in the office. If your organization doesn?t properly secure its information, you?ll lose out on the security necessary to keep your data as safe as possible from prying eyes. Often times, data is at its most vulnerable when it?s traveling from one location to another. A VPN works by encrypting the data that?s sent and received to and from the network, which helps your business keep hackers from stealing your data while it?s in transit. Here are some of the best reasons to be using a VPN for your business?s network: Secure connections to sensitive data: We mentioned that a VPN helps to keep your data secure when you?re accessing it. The way that a VPN works is that of a secure connection between your device (the endpoint), and your organization?s network. Providing such a direct connection and encrypting the data while it?s in transit helps to keep attackers from stealing your data while it?s moving, rendering it useless to them if they do manage to steal anything. Role-based data access: One of the most valuable features of a VPN solution is that you can restrict the flow of data so that only authorized personnel can access specific information. For example, an HR department should be the only employees privy to the sensitive information of employees, like Social Security numbers, while Account of Finance should be the only department allowed to access credit card numbers and client payment information. Restricting the flow of important information in this manner is an important part of minimizing risk. Remote access to critical data: The great thing about VPNs is that they?re virtual networks, and can be accessed from any approved device. This helps you ensure that your employees always have access to mission-critical applications and data, even if they?re out of the office or on a business trip. If your business wants to take full advantage of VPNs, White Mountain IT Services can help. We can assist you with […]
A VoIP system works by transferring your voice over your Internet connection, rather than through telephone cables. In particular, VoIP helps small businesses that need to grow fast, but even large companies can enjoy the many benefits that VoIP has to offer. VoIP Enhances MobilityDo you remember the struggle associated with corded phones? You couldn?t walk three feet from the phone without getting tangled up in something or another. Even with cordless phones, you still could only move so far from the receptacle before you lost signal or dropped the call. VoIP resolves these inconveniences, making it easier than ever communicate using your company-wide phone system. Using a wireless headset, you can communicate from any Internet-connected device that has the VoIP application installed on it. This includes mobile devices, like your smartphone or laptop, which means that you can even take your VoIP device on the road with you and use it wherever you can find an Internet connection. With a little bit of configuration, you can even use it like an ordinary phone on your mobile device. This means that you can have both your personal phone number and your office phone number to communicate from. How?s that for convenient? VoIP is FlexibleThe last time your business hired new employees, did you have to expand your office and install new cables so they could have a phone at their desk? If so, you know how much work goes into installing new telephone lines. Cables need to be carefully laid out, and depending on the limits of your existing phone system, you may need to perform a major upgrade just to get new staff plugged in. With VoIP, adding new users is as simple as can be. All you have to do is set up a new user account, and as long as your Internet connection has enough bandwidth to handle the traffic, it?s as simple as downloading an application. Integrated Features: IM, Video Chat, Conference CallingThe greatest benefit that your business can get out of VoIP is the immense number of additional features that you can take advantage of. These features are generally designed to augment your current system so as to improve collaboration in the workplace. For example, VoIP can provide an instant messaging medium through which you can communicate with other members of your team. This is great for instantaneous communication that require a quicker answer than what email can provide. Another key part of a good VoIP solution is video conferencing software, which allows your users to add a more personal touch to incoming and outbound communications. It can also be used to communicate with your remote workers. With your team being only a phone call away, it will feel like they?re just a couple of rooms away. With so many great features and benefits that VoIP provides, what are you waiting for? Your organization can save on capital expenses while improving operations. All you have to do is pick up that traditional phone for one last time, and give White Mountain IT Services a call at (603) 889-0800.
Your Data is Backed Up Multiple Times a DayOther backup tools, like tape, can be a drag for modern businesses. It does everything it can to keep your data as up-to-date as possible, but you can only stay so recent when your data is only backed up once a day. Tape backups occur after-hours due to the strain they put on your infrastructure and the time it takes to run the backup, so in the worst-case scenario, you could be looking at data losses equivalent to an entire day?s worth of work. BDR takes this concept and applies a more logical approach. Since many of your files are likely left unchanged throughout the workday, what if you could get by while backing up only files that have been changed since the last backup was taken? By using this approach, BDR is capable of taking backups as often as every fifteen minutes, which significantly decreases the potential data loss risk if an issue were to occur. Your Data Can Survive Most AnythingNatural disasters, user error, hacking attacks, and hardware failure are all threats to your business?s continuity. All it takes is one or the other to completely derail operations. With tape backup, you also run the risk of having your backups wiped out along with the rest of your technology. If you have your tapes stored somewhere that can be damaged by natural disasters, all of your efforts will be for naught. Of course, you can plan on taking yesterday?s tape home with you every night, and hoping for the best. While this is practiced when it?s the only option, you are traveling with all of your company?s data on a small, lightweight, magnetic tape, which introduces more risk. On top of that, you would need to commit to it religiously for it to be effective. One of the best parts of using BDR is that your data can survive just about any adverse condition, provided it?s backed up properly. A fire that scorches your office can?t destroy your data if it?s stored in the cloud or in an off-site data center. A flood can wash away your technology, but if it?s stored in an off-site data center, your data will stay afloat. Your Business Can Function as UsualNormally, when a business loses access to mission-critical data, downtime can break your budget and render your operations obsolete. Businesses incapable of recovering this data and pushing forward are generally known to go out of business within a year following the incident. This is why it?s so important to have a fully functional backup and disaster recovery plan. Consider the time it takes to get back up and running after experiencing a disaster. Tape backup takes significantly longer to restore than BDR, sometimes requiring several days before your data is available. With a BDR, if the device is still intact, the BDR can take over for your downed server temporarily, while a repair takes place. In more catastrophic events where the BDR is destroyed, there are options to spin up the data in the cloud or overnight ship a BDR to a temporary location. This means that even in the worst case, you can set up a temporary office space and be up and running quickly to sustain your business. With BDR, you […]
