What Tools Do SMBs Most Often Use to Communicate? Our experience in dealing with the needs that small and medium-sized businesses have concerning their technology has given us some pretty invaluable insights. We?ve noticed that the majority of these businesses?particularly those working in the office?tend to use the following tools: Email Businesses seeking reliable communications have generally defaulted to email, and for good reason. It?s relatively inexpensive to implement, highly personalizable, and cloud storage makes it far easier to keep these emails. It also doesn?t hurt that most?as in, more than two-thirds?of workers nowadays prefer email as their method of communication with teammates, clients, and vendors alike. This makes it extremely unlikely that email will be phased out anytime soon, barring some massive shift. Furthermore, today?s businesses are freed of needing to establish, manage, and maintain a dedicated server in-house for their email needs. If they so choose, they can instead utilize a hosted email option like Microsoft?s Outlook or Google?s Gmail, which is hosted and maintained by the cloud provider via Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. Telephone While people admittedly use the phone to place calls less often, that is simply because there are more options now that don?t call for as much active engagement as the other options available today. Having said that, the relative speed and reduced chance of misunderstanding or misinterpreting a call makes them a solid option for businesses. A telephone presence is a necessary element to any business, although its relatively high costs (particularly when mobility is involved) often make it less of a priority than other tools would be. For businesses that truly do require a phone system, however, a hosted VoIP platform is a great option. By hosting your telephone infrastructure in the cloud and paying on a per-user basis, your business can access reliable telephone services both in the office and while mobile. Video Conferencing As one of the countless innovations first appearing in science fiction only to be developed for practical use, video conferencing has swiftly taken its place among the more popular communication options. The rise of remote work practices made video conferencing all the more appealing, and it has now become ingrained in many businesses’ practices in either workplace. Many of today?s available options incorporate a combination of VoIP and collaboration tools and deliver them to mobile devices, provided these devices can maintain a 3G or better data connection. As such, businesses are apt to use them heavily both today and tomorrow. Unified Communications Businesses that need even more advanced capabilities can take advantage of unified communication platforms. These platforms more or less do what it says on the box, integrating various communication and collaboration tools into a single approach. Not only does this make properly communicating easier and more convenient, these platforms also serve to: Enhance your users? experience Improve your organizational productivity Provide a stronger performance through detailed analytics Reduce your long-term communications costs Looking for better communication within your business? Give White Mountain IT Services a call today at (603) 889-0800! Our IT professionals can assist you in improving all aspects of your business technology.

Before we get into the technology that will likely make up the swan song for the smartphone, let?s take a second to look at what came before. Before the smartphone, the cellular phone was exceedingly popular. The innovation of which only took a couple of decades. The first phones were no less than literal mobile telephones, but it only took a couple of years before the form factor shrank down enough for mobile phones to be basically handheld devices. The problem for over a decade was that the infrastructure that allowed the mobile phone to work wasn?t built. Once it was, the manufacturing and dissemination of the mobile phone was rapid.  Today?s Smartphones If you asked people what was the first smartphone, they would say the Apple iPhone. While this answer isn?t really accurate, in the coming decades when smartphones are a thing of the past, it will likely be remembered that the iPhone was first. It has been less than two decades since the advent of the first iPhone and it?s pretty incredible that we?ve come as far as we have.  But?what?s next? You don?t have to worry if you just spent $1,500 on your new smartphone, you will likely go through a half dozen or more of them before the next thing gets here. The smartphone is integral to people?s lives as it is effectively a high-powered computer in your pocket that has near-perpetual connectivity. This allows it to be so important in so many situations of the modern person?s life that when a user accidentally drops and breaks their phone (or mistakenly leaves it at home) it is viewed as a big deal.  This, some would say, extreme reliance on these devices makes you think that they are so important that people will never, ever move past them. They are a part of the culture and are crucial to the administration of people?s day-to-day lives. There have been applications developed for about anything you can think of, and the app stores that fuel the smartphone market continue to grow?Including augmented reality apps.  Augmented Reality The ironic part of the whole thing is that augmented reality (AR) is the technology that just may make the smartphone go the way of the Dodo. Some of the world?s most successful technology companies are actively working on introducing augmented reality-fueled devices that would make the modern smartphone obsolete.  AR is effectively data that augments the display you are seeing. You know the little scoreboard on the screen when you watch a football game? That is augmented reality. The thing is that should these companies be able to create devices that could use augmented reality to do all the things that you do on your phone, it would destroy the smartphone, which hasn?t seen all that much difference in the form factor in almost two decades.  Heads Up AR The future of consumer electronics are smart glasses (or contact lenses). Before you deride that idea, remember how you felt when you heard about the possibility of smart glasses coming out over a decade ago? You thought it was super cool and only a matter of time before it happened, right? Well this is the form factor that is going to likely come after the smartphone and will start a whole new generation […]

Microsoft?s Certification Options Microsoft offers an assortment of IT certifications, differentiated by the aspect of information technology that an IT professional may focus on?all of which, of course, are framed around the tools that Microsoft offers to businesses. These options replace the relatively more fragmented and outdated Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer Program, including options like: Azure Administrator Associate – This certification serves as evidence that someone is proficient with Microsoft Azure and managing the resources that the platform makes available. Azure Solutions Architect Expert – Likewise, this certification signifies that someone is able to create Azure tools, as well as setting up an Azure environment and implementing the tools to secure and manage it appropriately. Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals – This certification shows that someone is familiar with how Microsoft technologies operate in terms of protecting your business? data. Modern Desktop Administrator Associate –  With this certification, one has demonstrated their proficiency in managing devices and applications in an enterprise environment, from deployment to ongoing security and everything in between. Certified Information System Security Professional The International Information System Security Certification Consortium created this prized certification to establish one?s expertise in planning and managing a security program for a business. This certification has some pretty stringent requirements, including an extensive certification pathway that involves training and evaluation. However, obtaining a certified membership to (ISC)? gives you access to a network of your fellow IT professionals and a library of continued educational opportunities. CompTIA A+ Technician As an entry-level certification, CompTIA A+ is a good certification for someone who is just starting off in their IT career as a help desk or support technician to secure, and can largely be seen as a good starting point for someone considering a career in IT. Covering the maintenance needs of various aspects of business computing, this certification requires a technician to pass two tests. Cisco Certified Network Associate As another entry-level certification, the CCNA certification covers how to manage enterprise-level networking equipment, like routers and switches, with specializations available in security, wireless, and voice networking. Obtaining this certification involves a written exam, and works well for a system or network administrator or a network engineer. Network+ This certification signifies a person?s familiarity with wireless and wired networks and their capability to manage them effectively. Requiring a passed exam evaluating how well a candidate can configure these networks and the devices that connect to them, this certification is another one that IT and help desk technicians should strongly consider obtaining. Turn to Us for Assistance from Fully Credentialed IT Professionals While we recommend that your in-house IT team members actively work to remain as credentialed as possible, you can always lean on the assistance of our team of IT professionals and resources. Find out more about our managed services and how they could benefit your business? operations by giving us a call at (603) 889-0800.

Let?s go through a few of these mistakes so that you?re in a better position to avoid them in your business? cybersecurity. Assuming You Are Secure Consider for a moment how confident you are that, if your business was to be targeted by a cyberattack, you could weather the storm unscathed. It is important that you don?t overestimate how secure you are. Never assume that you have done everything you can to protect your business from threats. There is always the risk that something crucial malfunctions or one of your team members makes a mistake. There are countless ways that your data can be stolen, undermined, damaged, or otherwise lost, so making the assumption that your business is inherently secure is a serious error in judgment. Overlooking Security Issues On a related note, it can be too simple to also assume that you don?t have to worry about being targeted, on account of your size as a small or medium-sized organization. This assumption leads to an increased likelihood of successful attacks due to lax precautions and lacking training, as well as no real security strategy in place to help protect your business? data. This is a systemic issue for many businesses, putting them in a seriously precarious position. Missing or Neglected Best Practices There are dozens of ways that you and your team can either help or hurt your organizational security preparedness. Failing to keep your software promptly updated, utilizing insecure passwords, and connecting to unsecured Wi-Fi networks are all bad habits you?ll want to avoid. Educating your team members (and yourself) about the importance of adhering to the standards that your best practices establish is a critical step to avoid a lot of avoidable issues. White Mountain IT Services is here to help. We offer a variety of helpful security precautions as a part of our comprehensive managed services, allowing us to not only assist your business in recovering from a security breach but avoid them altogether. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 to learn more.