Perhaps it?s the idea of keeping the home environment and the workplace separate (which makes sense), or maybe it?s because office phones are actually used more often than we might give them credit for. A survey from RingCentral, which was performed in May 2015, studied the ways in which 505 United States workers communicate within the office. The results were somewhat surprising: 65 percent of the workers would rather use their office phone to conduct business, while only 30 percent claimed that they preferred to use mobile devices for calls. When you consider how often you see workers on their smartphones, this number might feel almost unbelievable. It seems that workers are always calling someone, sending text messages, or responding to inquiries with their mobile devices. With the millennial generation becoming a prominent part of today?s workforce, it?s suspected by Curtis Peterson, the senior vice president of RingCentral, that it?s primarily the younger generation that?s not comfortable working with the office telephone. In fact, according to another survey from TollFreeForwarding.com, only 6.5 percent of people between the ages of 25 and 34 are comfortable using a telephone, and would rather resort to other methods of communication, like messaging or email. Either way, the telephone isn?t going anywhere, even if it is a somewhat archaic solution in the face of new technologies like VoIP. Thus, it?s important to embrace the necessity of voice communication, even if it isn?t with the traditional telephone solution that we?re all so used to using. You might find that many communications solutions, including instant messaging, email, and VoIP, are all necessities in a modern office filled with a diverse workforce. It?s been proven that the office telephone is a great place to start cutting unnecessary costs out of your business?s operational budget. More often than not, big cable companies are known to package together services that aren?t necessarily useful for your organization. Add the fact that it?s difficult at best to make changes to your telephony infrastructure on a whim, and you have yourself a massive inconvenience that could be costing your organization in the long run. This is why it?s much more efficient to integrate a VoIP phone system that?s designed specifically for use by your business. With VoIP, you avoid all of the costly extra features that come along with your typical phone solution. You can add new features to your VoIP solution as you see fit, and with VoIP, you won?t be blindsided by unexpected costs every month. This provides the scalable solution that a small business needs in order to effectively manage its communications strategy. If your business is ready to get a real communications solution, look no further than White Mountain IT Services?s VoIP solution. We keep the ?phony? out of ?telephony? solutions. To learn more, give us a call at (603) 889-0800.

Proper Grammar and Spelling Are a MustEmail applications are equipped with spell check, and it?s super easy to use a word processor to check one?s grammar. Too often than not, though, these tools are taken for granted and an email is sent without being checked for spelling and grammar errors. The consequences of sending a poorly-written email can cause dire consequences for your company. Your professional reputation and even your intelligence will be questioned, especially if this is a consistent problem. Solution: Taking time to check for spelling and grammar errors will go a long way toward safeguarding your company?s reputation. Don?t rush your emails; instead, set aside time to check for errors. In fact, it may even be worth it to rope in another set of eyes to look for errors that you might have missed. Think about it, at the end of the day, would you want to do business with a company that can?t spell? Don?t CC the Wrong PeopleGroup emails are useful for getting important information out to your entire team. However, things can get messy when team members go to reply, especially if they only want some people to see their response and not the entire group. And then there?s the classic email scenario where a person will accidentally select ?reply all? instead of ?reply,? or vice versa. CCing the wrong person on an email can even be downright embarrassing if it causes them to see information they shouldn?t. An email blunder like this can easily be avoided by simply taking the time to review who exactly is going to see your message after hitting send. Do this by looking at the email?s ?To? form. It?s also a good idea to never say anything negative about someone in an email that you wouldn?t want them to see. Remember, it?s easy to accidently CC them on a message, or for someone to forward them something negative that you?ve said. For workplace emails, it?s in your best interest to keep all of your messages professional and by the book. Complete Your Message Before Sending ItAs obvious as this sounds, it?s fairly easy to rush yourself and click ?Send? before you?re even finished with writing your message. After this, you then have to write an embarrassing follow-up message, explaining your mistake and finishing what you were trying to say in the original message. The best way to prevent this major email blunder is to slow down and think twice before hitting send. Another preventive measure is to not multitask while working on an email. Writing an error-free email is an important enough task that it should get your full attention. Know Exactly Who You?re EmailingIt?s easier to email the wrong person than you may realize. For example, this can happen if you let the ?To? form autofill an email address from your contacts, and you happen to have hundreds (or even thousands) of contacts, many of whom have similar names and addresses. If the wrong address populates the “To” form, it can lead to some embarrassing consequences–or even dangerous consequences if it causes a leak of sensitive corporate information to an outside party. Notice a theme here? All of these classic email blunders can easily be prevented by simply taking the time to review the content and the forms […]

Just like a mighty octopus, the Internet?s tendrils wrap around the Earth, connecting countries and infrastructures in unprecedented ways. Almost all of the transoceanic digital communication, including phone calls, emails, and pretty much any Internet communication, relies on these cables. According to WIRED magazine, the first telegraph wire was laid across the Atlantic Ocean in 1866, which set the precedent for using wired technology for overseas communication. The cables which followed were typically laid along trade routes, with more modern cables following suit. Later on in the 1950s, the standard shifted to coaxial cables which could carry telephone conversations. Today, the standard consists of fiber-optic cables that can transfer huge amounts of data at an incredible rate. Here?s a video of how these cables are laid: And a map of where they?re all located: These cables have become an absolutely imperative part of how society communicates. Yet, these cables are at much greater risk than you might think, and most people don?t really worry about them until a potential problem presents itself. In fact, they?re often forgotten about until something goes wrong, though it?s not unheard of for submarines and other entities to take interest in these wires. According to WIRED, the following situations are generally threats to the Internet wires: seismic activity, the various undersea creatures (primarily sharks), and even international intervention. However, by far, the most common issue is the last one you might think of: ship anchors and fishing nets, which account for about 60 percent of any cable destruction activity. This is why maps will now mark the location of these wires, as severing them can lead to serious consequences. When you think about it, wouldn?t it be really easy to completely sabotage communications? Messing with undersea cables happened in previous World Wars, but such deplorable actions haven?t taken place in recent times. Still, it never hurts to be cautious and consider worst-case scenarios for catastrophic events like these. Now that we?ve renewed your curiosity in these cables, what are your thoughts on them? Do you think they are an antiquated method of deploying data throughout the world? Let us know in the comments.

What Constitutes Wearable Technology?Most forms of wearable technology consist of devices that can easily be worn by fitness enthusiasts, who use the technology to track their progress and monitor their body?s physical well-being. However, the wearable technology industry has been gaining traction in recent years, with devices that are designed to improve productivity and efficiency for the average office worker. As explained by CyberTrend: A 2014 Parks Associates study projected that smart watch sales will reach 121 million units worldwide by 2018. Similar to a smartphone or smart TV, a smart watch can connect a user to the Internet for access to real-time data. Generally, smart watches will offer users some basic features (current weather, music, access to email and texts, etc.), which are also available on smartphones. Depending on the model, some folks can use their smart watches to control their smart TVs, capture pictures, video chat, and run scaled-down versions of common smartphone apps, in addition to using the device as an activity tracker. While wearable technologies have varied uses, not all is well for these devices. Despite their increasing popularity, how practical are they when compared to the devices they?re mimicking? For example, the smartwatch gives its user a lot of information that could just as easily be obtained by using a smartphone. Furthermore, it would be much easier to use a smartphone to find this information, rather than on the miniscule screen of a smart watch. When it comes to smart glasses, like Google?s failed Google Glass, the question of privacy has crippled the progress of the industry. The main concern with Google Glass was the idea that confidential information could be shared much more easily than if the data was found on a laptop or a workstation. How Do Wearables Affect Your Workplace?If you have workers taking advantage of wearable technology while in the office, you should be aware that any Internet-connected device presents risks that can be taken advantage of by hackers. The trends known as BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and the Internet of Things (IoT) present a significant issue for security-minded businesses. With more devices connected to your organization?s network, there?s more chance that data could slip through the cracks and be stolen by the odd hacker. This is why it?s important to keep a close watch on the devices that your employees are bringing to work with them. You want any devices that have access to corporate information to be outfitted with a mobile device management solution that?s designed to limit what types of information can be accessed by certain applications, remotely wipe any compromised devices, and so much more. You don?t want your business to wear its data on its sleeve. Contact White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800 today to find out how you can achieve greater data security from mobile devices.

Turn On ?Airplane Mode? The best way to eliminate distractions from your mobile device is to turn it off or get rid of it entirely. Of course, this is easier said than done, and you may not be able to do this if you still need to access important data on your device, like your contacts, calendar, and clock. Instead, try switching your phone to airplane mode. This will cut off your device from the Internet, along with the phone?s wireless network, all while leaving you with access to apps and data stored locally on the device. With no more phone notifications to bother you, you?ll be able to focus like never before. When you?ve completed the task at hand, simply turn off airplane mode and your phone will display all missed notifications, phone calls, and voicemails. Bonus tip: Most of us use our phones as our alarm clock. You can use airplane mode to make sure that you?re not awakened by a notification or a phone call, while still having your alarm to wake you. Use Headphones to Ward Off PeopleA person with headphones on is basically communicating to the world around them, ?please don?t bother me.? Some people are respectful of this boundary and will only interrupt a sweet jam if it?s absolutely necessary. Yet, be warned, every office seems to have a dullard who can?t take the hint and they?ll still interrupt you with yet another hilarious cat video. You can even locate music that?s created for the sole purpose of helping people focus, like Spotify?s ?Focus playlist.? Remember, just because you have your headphones on, doesn?t mean that you have to listen to music. For example, if you?re not wired to work while listening to music, then you can just have your headphones on for the sake of telling people to bug off. Schedule Times For Email Checking Having your email inbox open all day so that you will notice every incoming message will derail your productivity. Instead, try keeping your email app closed throughout the work day, except for the times you have scheduled to check your email. By only checking your email a few designated times each day (and perhaps your social media too), you?ll be able to easily focus on the message at hand, instead of having to glance at every new message that comes across the wire. In fact, you can even use an email autoresponder tool to notify people of the times that you check your email so they won?t expect an instant response. And if a person happens to really need to get a hold of you at that very instant, they could always just give you a call (that is, unless your phone is on airplane mode). Following these three productivity tips will go a long way in weaning you off your device and turning out workplace distractions. Do you have any additional tips that help you focus better at work? Let us know in the comments!