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Knowledge management is the efficient handling of information within an organization, and the most proficient companies in each industry do this well. In the days before every worker had a computer connected to a network of shared information, businesses would keep their information in metal file cabinets, and knowledge management systems would get fairly elaborate–sometimes involving ladders and brightly colored file folders. Then computers came along and digitized all of those file cabinets, effectively improving knowledge management. For many organizations, an unfortunate side effect of relying on computers is that the art of knowledge management is lost. Instead, many modern businesses simply rely on the basic folder structures that could be more than a decade old. By not actively seeking out better ways for your employees to access mission-critical information, you?re overlooking one of the easiest ways to improve operational efficiency. Here are two tips on how your business can improve its current knowledge management system. Assemble Your FAQs in One Easily Accessible FileThe whole idea behind FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) is to save everybody time. If you don?t yet have a FAQ document for your staff, then you’re overdue to have a meeting that creates one. Believe us when we say that the time spent creating a FAQ document will more than be offset if people actually use it. Although, herein lies the key; in order for a FAQ document to be of value, members of your team must actually be able to find, access, and share it. Therefore, the location of this document needs to be clearly communicated to everyone in your organization. Also, keep in mind that a helpful document like this can only be accessed if your company?s network is operational. Nothing has the power to derail the knowledge management process quite like an inaccessible network, so the proper management of your IT is critical to prevent downtime. Implement a Knowledge BaseIf your employees can?t quickly and easily find the information they need in order to do their jobs, they?re going to waste a lot of time tracking it down (and this lost time will really add up and cost you a lot of money). By implementing a knowledge base, your staff will gain a single point of reference to find the knowledge they?re looking for. A knowledge base like this can be achieved with software that indexes your document?s keywords and topics, making your company?s information searchable. Prime Knowledge Base Features to Look For: It?s intuitive to use and easy to search. Employees can access it from all locations, and off site if needed. It needs to be scalable to your needs. The knowledge base needs to be secure and properly locked down. To find the right knowledge-base software that?s right for your company, and to make sure that your company?s network is operating at maximum efficiency so that employees can easily access a knowledge base thats customized to meet their needs, have a conversation with White Mountain IT Services today at (603) 889-0800.
How the Cloud Can Benefit Your BusinessIt?s clear that the cloud is changing the way businesses communicate and access information, but what does this mean for your business? Some of the benefits of cloud computing include, but are not limited to: Greater access to data and applications: Your organization often needs to go through your network in order to obtain information and access mission-critical applications. What if all of this information could be distributed and deployed via the cloud? This is the primary benefit that businesses who desire a cloud solution typically take advantage of. A more mobile workforce: The cloud takes your data and makes it easily accessible from any approved device across a secure connection. This means that your employees are no longer tied to their desks if they want to be productive. They have the option of working from home rather than burning the midnight oil at the office, or remotely from their hotel room while on a business trip. How Does the Cloud Affect IT Management?Despite these great benefits, they usually include the added responsibility that comes along with maintaining a new cloud solution. These responsibilities are largely dependent on which cloud solution you opt for: Public cloud: The public cloud is often considered to be the easiest way to implement cloud solutions for a small business, considering it?s hosted and maintained by an external party. The only issue with this is that your organization won?t have complete control over your data (for instance, you can?t integrate secondary security features yourself – you have to go through the provider), making this choice seem unattractive to those who absolutely need as much control as possible. Private cloud: The big difference between the public and private cloud is that you?re hosting the data on your own cloud server, meaning you?re responsible for its upkeep and management. On the other hand, you have as much freedom as you want for all of the security solutions you need to integrate, and you have complete control over how the cloud is configured. Hybrid cloud: A hybrid cloud solution combines the added security and control of the private cloud, with the efficiency and ease-of-use of the public cloud; perfect for a business that needs the control, but isn?t willing to sacrifice efficiency. Regardless of which cloud solution you implement, it will undoubtedly be a challenge to integrate and assimilate into your new workflow. Rather than take the time to train or hire new personnel, it can be most beneficial to outsource the upkeep and maintenance of your new cloud solution. White Mountain IT Services has trained professionals at the ready to help your organization implement and maintain a secure and dynamic cloud solution. All you have to do to get started is call us at (603) 889-0800.
When you?ve gone quite a while without a hacking incident, it?s easy to feel that the waters of the Internet are pristine and free of corruption; however, this isn?t necessarily the case. Deep down, in the murky depths of the Internet, there?s questionable activity at every turn, and some hackers might even have their sights set on your organization. You might think that your company is small-time compared to the large businesses that have been hacked in recent times, but in all actuality, your organization holds a wealth of information that hackers want to take advantage of. For example, you probably have the credit card numbers of your clients stored away somewhere on your infrastructure for when they make purchases. Your human resources department holds the Social Security numbers of all your employees in their files. Despite the fact that you?re a small business, hackers will see this as more than enough of a reason to hack you. Of course, they might just be taking a chance and hoping to find something good; but either way, you should be prepared to fend them off. Hackers will often try to attack your organization through cracks in your defenses. If you use older hardware or software that?s prone to experiencing breaches of security, you will be in for a rude awakening when a hacker breaches your network. You always want your organization?s systems to be in tip-top shape, be it through purchasing reliable new hardware or applying updates to your infrastructure. The best way to ensure that your organization is secure from hackers is to keep track of these weaknesses and resolve them as quickly as possible. The problem with this is that it?s difficult to keep track of multiple systems, especially if you?re not an IT expert by trade. This is why small and medium-sized organizations often outsource this responsibility to White Mountain IT Services to make sure that it?s performed properly. One way to make sure that you?ve got all of your bases covered is with a comprehensive network consultation. By indiscriminately analyzing every part of your technology infrastructure, you can find out a lot about your current security situation. Or, better yet, have an external party perform the consultation. By doing so, you get an unbiased assessment that?s sure to give you hints on how you can prepare your network for the worst. All you have to do to take advantage of this offering is call White Mountain IT Services. We offer a network consultation that?s designed to identify weak points in your security, as well as components that might be on their way toward a hardware failure. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 to learn more.
Consider this: If your servers were to crash tomorrow, any data and applications on those servers will be inaccessible and possibly lost for good. This includes employee information, client contact information, financial records, and more. This is all imperative data that is difficult, if not impossible to replace quickly. By the time you?ve recovered from such a loss, will you be able to turn the tides on your misfortune and help your business get back up to speed? Most businesses that experience a major data loss like this, that don?t use some sort of data backup solution, will file for bankruptcy within a year of the incident. The primary reason your business needs to consider data backup and disaster recovery is because there are too many factors at play that are unpredictable. Some of these include: Natural Disasters: Fires, earthquakes, storms, power outages, and more can all lead to the destruction of your business?s in-house data storage infrastructure. Hacking Attacks: If a hacker or threat (like Cryptolocker and Cryptowall) gets into your network, they can steal information, corrupt it, or lock it down. This can jeopardize your organization?s access to vital data that?s necessary for everyday operations. User Error: Let?s say that a new user accesses the network and messes with settings they know they shouldn?t. If an inexperienced user were to misplace files, or delete them entirely, it could be disastrous for your organization if you don?t have a plan to recover them. Hardware Failure: Old or damaged hardware is known to break down more than brand-new machines, making it more important than ever to either upgrade to more recent models, or take proactive steps to prevent hardware failure and prepare for the worst. A quality data backup and disaster recovery solution should be able to protect your business?s data from all of the above, plus some. It needs to make copies of your data incrementally throughout the workday and send them to someplace safe for later access. It needs to ensure that your organization experiences maximum uptime to avoid the brutal and expensive costs of experiencing downtime. White Mountain IT Services?s Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) solution is a convenient and cost-effective way to handle all of the aforementioned threats. The BDR takes several backups of your data throughout the workday and sends the backups to our secure off-site data center. We can also arrange for your data to be stored in the cloud so you can access it at any time. From these locations, you can easily start the data recovery process in the event you need to restore your organization?s data. Better yet, the BDR can take the place of your server in the event a disaster renders it inoperable, giving you plenty of time to replace the server hardware while experiencing minimal downtime. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 to learn more.
As a result, manufacturers look to take advantage of this trend by releasing devices cyclically. One problem many of these manufacturers are having is that devices that were built two years ago aren?t that much different than the ones that are being offered at a premium price today. While this hasn?t halted demand for these devices, manufacturers will need to find other options to outfit their newest offerings with. Here are three devices that will be available in the coming months, each with a different operating system. Each is designed to be the OS? flagship device, and while there?s plenty of competition from other manufacturers, these three present users the options and functionality they are looking for in a high-end smartphone purchase. Samsung Galaxy Note 5Samsung is the talk of the industry today. With their line of s-model phones and Note phablets, they have sold more smartphones over the past two years than any other manufacturer; cornering nearly a quarter of the market in 2014 (24.6%). In projecting the demand, all variables point to the Galaxy Note 5 being a popular item when it is released this summer. As with their flagship device, the Galaxy s6 and last year?s Note 4, this year?s iteration will come with an available Edge option. Samsung has integrated a useful design where the display wraps around the side of the phone to produce a small bar where users can get notifications, control application deployment, even quick-start useful in-phone applications that run in the sidebar interface. Specifications of the Galaxy Note 5Display: 5.66-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with 1440 x 2560 resolution made from Gorilla Glass 4Operating System: Google Android v5.1.1 (Lollipop)Processor: Samsung octa-core Exynos 7420Memory: 32 GB, 64 GB, and 128 GB models available; 4 GB RAMCameras: 16 MP camera with optical image stabilization, 5 MP front-facing cameraBattery: 4,100 mAhCommunication: NFC, Bluetooth v4.1, Wi-Fi, Infrared, microUSBOther features: Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, gesture, UV, heart rate, Sp02, integrated s-pen Apple iPhone 6sApple has been producing world-class smartphones for almost a decade now, and the iPhone 6s is seemingly no different. With users expecting greatness out of every Apple device, it?s becoming harder for the world?s most profitable company to continue wowing their fans. That doesn?t stop them from rolling out a new version of the device every year. This year?s version will feature the brand-spanken-new A9 processor, which aims to exceed Samsung?s Exynos 7420 processor for computing power. There are also rumors that the newest iPhone will get a body upgrade, after the bendgate snafu reared its ugly head last September. As with the iPhone 6, there will be a 6s plus model that features a larger display. Specifications of the iPhone 6sDisplay: 4.7-inch Retina display with 750 x 1334 resolution with ion-strengthened glass and an oleophobic coatingOperating System: iOS 9Processor: Apple A9Memory: 32 GB, 64 GB, and 128 GB models available; 2 GB RAMCameras: 12 MP camera with phase detection focus, 5 MP front-facing cameraBattery: Li-Po 1,810 mAhCommunication: Bluetooth v4.1, Wi-Fi, v 2.0, reversible connectorOther features: Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer Microsoft Lumia 940Windows Phone hasn?t made a big splash in the market since before the first iPhone was released, despite the overwhelmingly positive reviews of the (formerly Nokia) Lumia line of phones. Microsoft may just have something now with their recent release […]
