First, we?ll talk about how managed IT can provide value for your organization?s project management efforts, and then we?ll tackle how project management software specifically can aid in this. Managed IT for Project Management You can?t make progress on a project if your technology solutions are constantly experiencing problems. For example, if an employee is trying to work with Microsoft Office, but the license runs out for the solution, they?ll be unable to get work done with that solution. The same thing could happen for just about any software your business relies on to get the job done, as well as just about any other asset that your project management team needs. White Mountain IT Services can help your business manage its IT so that your assets are always available when you need them most (like in the middle of a project implementation). This means that you won?t have to worry about your technology experiencing any inefficiencies while you?re focused on the project?s implementation. In essence, by effectively doing our job, we can help you get your job done as smoothly and efficiently as possible. This means that instead of focusing on keeping your technology solutions working as intended, you?re focused on getting the job done as quickly as possible, meaning you experience less downtime and save more money for other endeavors. Project Management Software Project managers have the responsibility of managing all of this information and connecting the implementation team with all the resources they need to get the job done. This is often easier said than done, but thanks to project management software, your organization can take advantage of a central hub-like interface to connect all resources to users in a centralized fashion. In essence, project management software helps your team communicate and access resources in the most convenient way possible. Project managers can take a look at progress, assign tasks to specific individuals, check the current state of the project?s budget, and so much more, all through a single software solution. This helps to make sure that projects are completed in a timely manner, keeping your business from having to redo the implementation process multiple times (because we all know that doing something twice wastes time and money better spent elsewhere). White Mountain IT Services can help your business get started with managed IT and project management. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

Adjust Your Startup Page in Google Chrome The startup page in Google Chrome will open up whenever you open a new tab, so it?s important to set it to whatever you think will get the best results for your productivity or convenience. To access these settings, use the three-dot icon in the top-right corner of the screen. Select the option for Settings. In the left column, you?ll see the On Startup option. Click this and select one of the three options which appear: Open the new tab page Continue where you left off Open a specific page or set of pages Now, your choice will largely depend on what you want your startup page to do. You can have it open a plain old tab, have it open up the last one you closed, or open a specific page (or pages, if you?d rather). It all depends on what functionality you want from your browser. For example, you might want your browser to open up to your email or maybe even your cloud storage. Now, you could always navigate to it yourself, but you can save some time by having your browser do the work for you. If you want more assistance with your technology, be sure to call us at (603) 889-0800.

Minimal Level Obviously, you can choose to invest minimally or not at all. A lot of businesses choose to avoid technology upgrades as much as possible because they don?t find them to have any major positive effects on their business. Today, technology is an extremely important part of the customer experience, so some investment is going to be necessary, but you can bare bones it pretty well if you find minimal technology and instituting break/fix strategies are worth it for your business.  Base Level The base level IT investment is basically spending enough every year to ensure that your business can use the technology you have effectively and that you have a minimum amount of technology in place to ensure that you deal with technology-related problems enough to keep things on the up and up. Many times, businesses that don?t have the capital to invest in a lot of technology-related upgrades find themselves investing enough in their IT by choosing services over purchasing IT outright. This means subscribing to managed IT services in lieu of hiring in-house IT administrators and choosing cloud computing over hardware that has to be constantly monitored and maintained. Moderate Level The moderate level of IT investment is where you will find a lot of technology-centric companies. They may not be overhauling their IT and implementing a quarterly IT project, but they do house their own hardware and keep it managed and maintained well. Typically, companies that adhere to a moderate IT investment schedule complete regular refreshes and keep their IT up and running effectively with comprehensive redundancy and have a plan for their IT should there be problems with it.   Superior Level A company that makes IT a priority tends to have significant capital to spend with a very specific plan of how that money will be spent. These companies have teams of IT administrators working diligently on implementing new projects, training their staff, and keeping their employees working on up-to-date technology. Companies that invest a lot of capital in their technology don?t just throw money at it and hope it sticks, but can get through a failed implementation and still commit to trying again without taking too big of a hit to the bottom line. What kind of business are you? At White Mountain IT Services, we can help any business stretch their technology investments from consultation and planning, to managing and maintaining crucial systems, and helping to cut down on the costs of your new IT projects. Give us a call today at (603) 889-0800 for more information.

Let?s consider some of the costs that neglecting to invest into your data privacy measures can force your business to pay. Issues Concerning Your Data Privacy Get Expensive, Fast? ?and for a variety of reasons. Any given company?s data handling practices are now given a lot more scrutiny from regulatory bodies and security-minded customers and clients alike. News headlines and the lower-thirds of broadcast news have announced ?CYBERSECURITY BREACH? far too often as of late for cybersecurity to not be a priority?and yet, many businesses still shortchange their defenses, assuming that their business? size?or relative lack thereof?shields them from being a target. Guess what? It doesn?t. On top of that, not only could you suffer your data being breached, you?d also have to deal with the consequences that such a breach brings about?the loss of reputation, the regulatory fines and backlash, and the damage done to the trust your clients feel for you. In short, the breach of privacy is just the start of your troubles?and the rest of these troubles carry a significant price tag with them. How Breaches of Privacy Get So, So Very Expensive? Let?s say, for the sake of example, that you were running a medical clinic just as sexy as the ones on TV. In between dramatically complicated and emotional cases and the decidedly not HR-approved relationships amongst your staff, your facility suffers a data breach that exposes the considerable amount of data you’ve collected from your patients?medical histories, personally identifiable information, and financial details all made available to whomever wanted them. That?s pretty bad. Can?t imagine many patients (new or existing) are going to be excited to receive treatment at a facility that allowed all of that personal data to be breached. Chances are, your clinic is going to lose most of its patients. However, while all your patients may want little to do with you, you?ll certainly get plenty of attention from regulatory bodies and authorities looking to collect fines for your likely non-compliance. You?ll also need to provide some form of recompense to all those impacted by the breach, which often takes the form of extended monitoring services on your dime for everyone involved. On top of all this, you?ll also need to resolve whatever problem led to the breach, which can easily rack up costs, as can any downtime that these events will cause. But Isn?t It Just as Expensive to Implement All The Requisite Security Tools? In a way, yes?but when implementing these tools, it becomes a question of capital costs versus operational costs. Let?s say your hypothetical melodramatic medical clinic was hacked. Without the security that may have stopped the hack, you have all of the above costs to deal with, all hitting your budget at the same time. Forgive me for assuming, but this kind of event will ruin your budgetary planning, unless you had both the foresight and sufficient funds set aside to cover this kind of event. However, today?s IT?from productivity to security?is delivered differently than it once was. Rather than investing a large lump sum and having to completely replace your software every few years (including another large lump sum paid out), White Mountain IT Services can help you by offering a scalable, sized-to-fit implementation of the necessary resources. Due to this approach, you?ll be able to predict […]

Let?s begin by examining what kind of messages we?re referring to. ?Hey, I Need You to Look at This Right Now.? Be honest with me?is this something you?ve sent to one of your team members, at the end of the day or even in the later hours of the night? If so, this is something you should strongly consider putting a stop to for a few reasons. First, how often do you give instructions that, if you were to receive them, you would find vague and nebulous? Secondly, how often do you give these instructions in the last moments of the day, with the unspoken suggestion that the task is to be done before your employee leaves? If you answered ?frequently? to either of these questions?heck, if you answered anything other than ?never? to either of these questions?you need to pause for a moment and consider whether or not you?re being fair to your team members. Spoiler Alert: You Aren?t Put yourself in the shoes of one of your employees. You?re diligently working on your scheduled responsibilities, when you suddenly receive the link to a document you?d just finished work on, with the briefest of notes attached: ?please fix.? Please fix what, though? How stressed would you be if you were suddenly sent something with the expectation that you would fix it, with no context as to what about it needed to be fixed? How long would you expect it would take you to figure out the issue, never mind actually solve it? How stressed would you be if this was only to be expected in your workplace, that the status quo was one of uncertainty and pressure? If this is the precedent that you are creating in your business, how stressed do you think your employees likely are? You Need to Set the Precedent that Work Time is for Work, and Personal Time Isn?t If your employees have gotten into the habit of keeping their work devices within reach at all hours, you need to shift the paradigm and fix that issue. How can you do that? A good start is to stop sending messages at the end of the day with no context. Not only do you need to ensure that the task you are assigning to your employee is clearly outlined?not ?please fix,? but ?Widget A is experiencing XYZ issue, due to reasons Q, R, and S. Please prioritize correcting this tomorrow morning.? If the task really needs to be done, ask your employee if they are willing to work overtime (with pay) in order to complete the task?and yes, really ask.  Your team is there to help you accomplish your organizational goals within the hours you agreed upon when they were hired. Honoring that agreement, or making it worth their while if you absolutely must deviate from it, will help to keep your employees working diligently while they are within operational hours. The remote capabilities that modern technology gives us as businesses make it even easier?arguably, too easy?to blur these lines, so you need to be diligent with yourself. After all, your team doesn?t live to work for you?they work for you so that they can live. However, we can help you make sure that your team accomplishes as much as they can during their regularly […]