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If you want to be truly productive, you need to work smarter and more economically. Don?t burn yourself out by working too hard. Instead, do things the right way, and you?ll never feel like you?re working again. Start a RoutineIf you are just haphazardly completing tasks one after another, you probably won?t be able to notice the difference between ?completing tasks? and establishing a routine. The difference is that a routine is optimized for efficiency and maximum production, where completing tasks is likely frantic and disorganized. Wake up at a certain time every morning. Spend a set amount of time checking your email. Try to keep your routine as consistent as possible. Create a To-Do ListOn a similar note, you should outline your days, weeks, and even months ahead of time, if you can. Assign large projects to particular days, and you won?t have any trouble remembering that they must be done. Having a solid schedule will also let you stay busy without overburdening one particular day to finish a project on a tight deadline. Prioritize TasksGoing along with the first few tips, look at what needs to be done and what is most important. You?re busy, and you know what tasks should be completed and prioritized. Hand off lesser work to others who are capable. This also promotes more teamwork and collaboration between departments, which can be beneficial in the long run. Set a Deadline, and Stick to ItThis is an absolute necessity for large projects, and even smaller projects. If you don?t tell yourself that you need to get something done, you won?t get it done. It?ll just sit there and collect dust until you finally set a deadline for it, and then you?ll scramble to get it done on time with subpar results. Instead, work on it a little bit every day with an overall deadline in mind. Set this deadline a few days before it is due to ensure that you come up with the best quality work that you can. Keep Your Work at WorkCentral to any successful smart working scheme is to separate your work life from your home life. While at the workplace, avoid distractions such as social media, text messaging, phone calls, and Internet browsing. You?ll find yourself accomplishing more in the workplace and relaxing more at home, away from the stress that the workplace causes. By sticking to these five rules, you?ll be able to drastically improve your productivity in the workplace, and cut down on stress. You?ll find yourself enjoying work and your free time more, all because you changed up the way you do things a little bit. For more tips and tricks on how to boost your workplace performance, contact White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800.

According to ComputerWorld, two-thirds of all PCs in the world ran Windows 7 as of last month. They based this knowledge off of the statistics provided by Net Applications? monthly user share tracking. Here are the operating system?s statistics taken for the month of March 2015: 64 percent of users use Windows 7. 2 percent of users use Windows Vista. 18 percent of users are still clinging to Windows XP. 15 percent of users are using Windows 8 or 8.1. To be sure, Windows 7 is an excellent operating system that deserves some merit. Even though it was released in 2009, there?s still a massive user-base. Upon its release, it began to steal market share from the popular Windows XP operating system. In fact, its familiar user interface made many would-be Windows 8 users forsake upgrading just for the sake of efficiency. Surprisingly, Windows 7?s popularity is still climbing. It?s grown vastly more popular since the October 2012 launch of Windows 8, and since this February, it?s seen an increase of 2.6 percent. Similarly, Windows 8 and 8.1 haven?t grown significantly at all over the past four months. While Windows 7 users have little to fear for the next few years, support for the operating system will still expire come 2020; and considering the current trend, if Windows 10 fails to entice users to upgrade, the Windows 7 end-of-life event could be a repeat of the Windows XP end-of-life. If this happens, users around the world will be left without a supported operating system, and will be vulnerable to hacking attacks. This is why it?s always important to keep your operating system up to date and healthy with the latest patches and security updates. These patches fix major vulnerabilities that are revealed in operating systems and software as developers uncover them. Businesses utilizing Windows Server 2003, the next operating system on Microsoft?s chopping block, will be in a similar position, albeit for a different reason. For those who utilize Windows Server 2003 (which reaches its end of life this July), the idea of whether legacy hardware and software will be compatible with other, newer hardware is the primary concern. What?s your office?s current operating system situation looking like? Will you be able to keep up with the changes, or will you fall behind and run unsupported software? The answer should be clear; you can?t afford to fall behind. White Mountain IT Services can help your business keep up with the latest updates and patches, as well as consult you on how to move forward with upgrading both your hardware and your software to more recent (and more importantly, supported) versions. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 to learn more.

According to ComputerWorld, two-thirds of all PCs in the world ran Windows 7 as of last month. They based this knowledge off of the statistics provided by Net Applications? monthly user share tracking. Here are the operating system?s statistics taken for the month of March 2015: 64 percent of users use Windows 7. 2 percent of users use Windows Vista. 18 percent of users are still clinging to Windows XP. 15 percent of users are using Windows 8 or 8.1. To be sure, Windows 7 is an excellent operating system that deserves some merit. Even though it was released in 2009, there?s still a massive user-base. Upon its release, it began to steal market share from the popular Windows XP operating system. In fact, its familiar user interface made many would-be Windows 8 users forsake upgrading just for the sake of efficiency. Surprisingly, Windows 7?s popularity is still climbing. It?s grown vastly more popular since the October 2012 launch of Windows 8, and since this February, it?s seen an increase of 2.6 percent. Similarly, Windows 8 and 8.1 haven?t grown significantly at all over the past four months. While Windows 7 users have little to fear for the next few years, support for the operating system will still expire come 2020; and considering the current trend, if Windows 10 fails to entice users to upgrade, the Windows 7 end-of-life event could be a repeat of the Windows XP end-of-life. If this happens, users around the world will be left without a supported operating system, and will be vulnerable to hacking attacks. This is why it?s always important to keep your operating system up to date and healthy with the latest patches and security updates. These patches fix major vulnerabilities that are revealed in operating systems and software as developers uncover them. Businesses utilizing Windows Server 2003, the next operating system on Microsoft?s chopping block, will be in a similar position, albeit for a different reason. For those who utilize Windows Server 2003 (which reaches its end of life this July), the idea of whether legacy hardware and software will be compatible with other, newer hardware is the primary concern. What?s your office?s current operating system situation looking like? Will you be able to keep up with the changes, or will you fall behind and run unsupported software? The answer should be clear; you can?t afford to fall behind. White Mountain IT Services can help your business keep up with the latest updates and patches, as well as consult you on how to move forward with upgrading both your hardware and your software to more recent (and more importantly, supported) versions. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 to learn more.

That?s right. The open office actually decreased the overall performance of the employees. It was reported that these workers felt worse about their work environment, their performance, their attitude, and their co-worker relations; all from simply moving to the open office. This was due to a variety of reasons. Architectural Privacy vs Psychological PrivacyWhen you don?t feel like you can shut the rest of the world out, your ability to work can suffer because of it. This is called architectural privacy. It could be something as simple as shutting the door to your own personal office. Perhaps even the walls of a cubicle could be beneficial to you. But, the fact remains that without architectural privacy, one cannot reach psychological privacy, which can lead to higher performance and satisfaction in the workplace. Psychological privacy is the ability to control whether other employees have access to you. Even if they can just knock on the door to your office, the separation is still there, and can lead to a better work performance. By removing yourself from the group, you are also removing yourself from the constant feed of background noise that can disrupt your workflow. These factors can lead to impaired memory, aggravated migraines, and ulcers; stress-related symptoms that are common amongst those who work in open offices. Introverts Work Their WorstYour company likely has many different types of workers, and some of them are probably introverts; people who work best when they are isolated from the group, or are generally not very sociable. Solitude generally leads to more creative behavior, so closed offices are ideal for the introverts, who can really allow their unique abilities to shine without the distractions of the open office. In the open office, an introvert?s abilities are severely limited by background noise and disruptive conversation. Too Much MultitaskingCollaboration might have been the goal of the open office, but moving from one task to another has been proven to reduce overall work performance. It takes a lot of mental effort to help one person after another, all while trying to do your own work. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, it takes about 27 minutes to regain focus on a particular task after being dragged away by a meeting, a phone call, or helping a coworker with something. This can easily add up to hours of lost time, depending on how much multitasking and distraction occurs in your workplace. Can Technology Save the Open Office?For virtually every challenge faced in the office, there exists a business technology to alleviate it. However, given that the productivity problems of the open office go into human psychology and worker personality traits, it?s difficult to find a technological solution to offset such deep-seated problems as these. Solutions like apps that play ambient noise and giving workers mobile technology along with a reliable WiFi network will give them the ability to move to a quieter part of the room if they need to, but ultimately, these are just band-aid solutions and can?t totally offset 100 percent of the distractions found in the open office. These problems, amidst others such an atmosphere that?s conducive to spreading germs and illness, are some of the biggest reasons why private offices may be the most beneficial option for your employees. What?s your office […]

That?s right. The open office actually decreased the overall performance of the employees. It was reported that these workers felt worse about their work environment, their performance, their attitude, and their co-worker relations; all from simply moving to the open office. This was due to a variety of reasons. Architectural Privacy vs Psychological PrivacyWhen you don?t feel like you can shut the rest of the world out, your ability to work can suffer because of it. This is called architectural privacy. It could be something as simple as shutting the door to your own personal office. Perhaps even the walls of a cubicle could be beneficial to you. But, the fact remains that without architectural privacy, one cannot reach psychological privacy, which can lead to higher performance and satisfaction in the workplace. Psychological privacy is the ability to control whether other employees have access to you. Even if they can just knock on the door to your office, the separation is still there, and can lead to a better work performance. By removing yourself from the group, you are also removing yourself from the constant feed of background noise that can disrupt your workflow. These factors can lead to impaired memory, aggravated migraines, and ulcers; stress-related symptoms that are common amongst those who work in open offices. Introverts Work Their WorstYour company likely has many different types of workers, and some of them are probably introverts; people who work best when they are isolated from the group, or are generally not very sociable. Solitude generally leads to more creative behavior, so closed offices are ideal for the introverts, who can really allow their unique abilities to shine without the distractions of the open office. In the open office, an introvert?s abilities are severely limited by background noise and disruptive conversation. Too Much MultitaskingCollaboration might have been the goal of the open office, but moving from one task to another has been proven to reduce overall work performance. It takes a lot of mental effort to help one person after another, all while trying to do your own work. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, it takes about 27 minutes to regain focus on a particular task after being dragged away by a meeting, a phone call, or helping a coworker with something. This can easily add up to hours of lost time, depending on how much multitasking and distraction occurs in your workplace. Can Technology Save the Open Office?For virtually every challenge faced in the office, there exists a business technology to alleviate it. However, given that the productivity problems of the open office go into human psychology and worker personality traits, it?s difficult to find a technological solution to offset such deep-seated problems as these. Solutions like apps that play ambient noise and giving workers mobile technology along with a reliable WiFi network will give them the ability to move to a quieter part of the room if they need to, but ultimately, these are just band-aid solutions and can?t totally offset 100 percent of the distractions found in the open office. These problems, amidst others such an atmosphere that?s conducive to spreading germs and illness, are some of the biggest reasons why private offices may be the most beneficial option for your employees. What?s your office […]