Major technology companies like Apple have delayed the return to the workplace, whereas others have completely removed the commute to the office, choosing instead to embrace fully remote operations for the foreseeable future. The traditional office environment, once a staple in the workplace, is slowly giving way to these more flexible operations. Employers may have vehemently opposed the idea of remote or hybrid working conditions, but they have since warmed up to the opportunities they represent. The shift in employer mindsets is showcased in the rates at which companies are paying their office leases. For example, ComputerWorld writes: ?In early May, just one in 20 office buildings in the US had occupancy levels above 10%, and as recently as last month occupancy rates averaged just 16%. Looking ahead to 2022, about one in five offices are expected to be empty, according to Moody?s Analytics, a consultancy.? This hesitancy to renew leases on office buildings likely stems from the fact that businesses are unsure of how much space they actually need to keep operations running. This doesn?t mean there is no demand for offices, just that the office layout is changing. Businesses are shifting more to a hybrid model, where employees spend some of their time working in the office and the rest of it working remotely. Some businesses are wary of implementing such a model, but it can cut costs for them if implemented correctly. Technology ensures that this new concept of hybrid operations is achievable for all types of businesses, allowing them to break down the boundaries that previously prevented them from making it happen. We understand that some businesses might not have thought hybrid operations were possible before the pandemic, but nowadays, with technology solutions more accessible and hyper-focused on communication than ever before, we think remote or hybrid operations are possible for all types of companies. If you think you lack the budget or knowledge to implement the necessary tools, we urge you to contact us at White Mountain IT Services to discuss your options. If nothing else, it pays to have a plan for remote or hybrid operations, even if temporary, as the pandemic has proven quite painfully. If you are one of the companies that originally struggled with the pandemic and your response to the new normal, we can help make sure that you have a more flexible response system for the next time something happens which forces your employees to work while out of the office. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.
What is a Business Backup? Let?s respond to this question with a few of our own: how reliant are you on your business? data, and what would happen to your business if you were to lose that data? The answer to the first question should be a very obvious ?very.? The answer to the second is equally obvious: ?nothing good.? Your backup is meant to prevent you from ever having to find out that second answer firsthand. The idea of a backup is simple: with an extra copy of your data squirreled away for safekeeping, you don?t need to panic if something happens to your original copy. What that something could be, we?ll touch on later. What Does a Proper Business Backup Look Like? We always recommend that a business? backup be considered redundant?in a good way. Rather than something being unnecessary due to its repetition, its repetition is its strength. In this context, having a redundant backup simply means that you have multiple copies of this backup. We always recommend that you have multiple copies of your data backup, stored in numerous different places, in different formats. This is commonly summed up as the 3-2-1 Rule: At least three copies of your data, stored on at least two types of storage media, with at least one copy stored in the cloud. This helps protect your backup from any event that might impact your local files. So, if your office experiences some kind of disastrous event, you won?t find all your backups destroyed or damaged as a result. To truly be redundant, it also helps to keep multiple versions of your data, just in case an attack of some sort manages to infiltrate your data and you want to restore your data from a clean version. These kinds of backups should be taken periodically?ideally, every 15 minutes or so. That way, you?ll lose a minimal amount of data should a disaster take place between backups. Why Might a Business Need a Backup? There are a great many reasons that a backup could prove useful. Naturally, your mind might go right to the largest disasters: fires, floods, and other such things that would completely wipe a business off the map. However, disasters large and (relatively) small can all result in data loss?data loss that your backup can help you avoid. Whether a device fails, ransomware encrypts your entire network infrastructure, or a disaster occurs, a proper data backup can do a lot to resolve your potential data loss issues. Whether It?s World Backup Day or Not, We?re Here to Help Backup practices are important all year round. That?s why White Mountain IT Services is here to help you prepare a data backup or review your existing strategy. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 to get started now.
How Does the Cloud Enable Cybercrime? The cloud has seen its usage rise greatly in recent years, even before the pandemic sent so much of the workforce home into isolation. While this has given great utility to businesses, it has also given cybercriminals a lot of opportunities, simply based on the cloud and how it works. Let?s go over a few ways that the cloud can provide an opportunity for cybercriminals. Complicated Configurations Depending on the cloud you?re using and what you?re using it for, your cloud service or solution may need to be configured in certain ways?and, if not done correctly, these configurations could easily leave a business and its data vulnerable. This makes it crucial that you have a professional involved in the setup to ensure that all goes according to plan. Inherent Insecurity Whether it’s the interface that a user interacts with or the application itself, any insecure system present in the cloud could render your entire business vulnerable. This makes it all the more important that you protect your data in other ways?for example, encrypting any data you store in the cloud. Denial-of-Service (DoS) Attacks A DoS attack?or an attack where numerous computing resources are leveraged against a target to overwhelm it with traffic?is an effective strategy that cybercriminals have used time and time again. Cloud computing now enables cybercriminals to effectively rent these resources for use in their botnet, allowing them more flexibility and capability? a bad combination where cybercrime is concerned. How to Secure Your Cloud Solutions There are a few ways that you can make your use of the cloud more resistant to attacks. Adopt Appropriate Authentication and Access Management Care to take a guess at the way many cybercriminals make it into the cloud in the first place? Insufficiently secure passwords. In light of this, adding more authentication requirements to your cloud access and restricting what a user is able to access based on their role can help to minimize the damage that any individual user?s account can do. Secure Your Endpoints Your network endpoints?the computers, peripherals, and other hardware that connects back to your larger infrastructure?are essential to your business? processes. However, this interconnectivity can easily lend itself to a threat infiltrating your network through one of these endpoints. Securing them with the requisite protections is essential, particularly if your team members are to work remotely at any time. Leverage Encryption Encryption allows you to secure your data by?and this is a vast simplification of the process?scrambling it and shuffling it to be unrecognizable without the proper decryption keys. Adopting this safeguard and encrypting all data that is to be stored in the cloud can help protect the data you are relying on the cloud to store. Backup Your Data We cannot emphasize enough how important it is for you to always back up your data? and while we?re talking about potential cloud security issues, the cloud is still the best place to do so. Fortunately, most cloud providers have their own security safeguards and protections in place to ensure that the data entrusted to them remains safe. Teach Your Team to Be a Security Asset Finally, we come to a practice that is good for your security in general: turning your employees into an asset, rather than allowing them to […]
What is a Carbon Footprint? A carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that a business? activities generate?including carbon dioxide and methane?over the course of a year. Naturally, this can be a complicated number to calculate independently, as it factors in a variety of energy expenditures that a business would be involved in, such as: Utilities, like electricity and heat Transportation, including vehicle costs, air travel, and rail travel How much their shipments cost The emissions associated with business events, including travel and the venue The emissions generated by the supply chains associated with business procurement This can make it fairly challenging to calculate your business? total carbon footprint, although there are a variety of calculators available online to assist you. Regardless of what your carbon footprint ultimately tallies up to, it helps to reduce it however you can. How to Reduce Your Business? Carbon Footprint There are many ways to help decrease your business? carbon footprint. Let?s go over just a few: Check Up on Your Suppliers? Processes With all the supplies that an average business relies on, the carbon footprint of the various supply chains involved can lead to quite a bit of emissions. In addition to trying to eliminate inefficiency in your supply chains by consolidating as much as possible, your (or any climate-conscious) business can and should inquire with your suppliers about any measures they have taken to eliminate emissions. This may help guide you towards alternative suppliers who have done more to offset their impact. Introduce Change in the Workplace Internally, there is a lot that a business can do to optimize its carbon waste output. Reducing the business? energy use is a very accessible option through the numerous ?green? options now available in terms of appliances and lighting. Removing single-use plastics and packaging materials from the company?s break room can also make a large difference, as these materials are commonly made from fossil fuels through an energy-intensive process. Incorporating these kinds of habits into your company culture can help influence your team members to adopt these processes into their own life. Adopt Remote Work Policies and Capabilities Travel is a major segment of a business? carbon footprint, so if there?s a way to reduce or even eliminate the commute that you and your employees need to take to get to and from work, it can make a big difference. Remote work and telecommuting?even if just a few days per week?can take a sizable chunk out of the emissions that you and your team generate. The Environment is Important, and It’s Relatively Easy to Help Preserve It There are plenty of ways to optimize your use of natural resources, even in your business. Reach out to us for the kinds of technology that help both your operations and your use of energy. Call (603) 889-0800 today!
Why Are We So Resistant to Change? There are multiple reasons that people will avoid?if not openly challenge?change in the workplace. Lack of Confidence or Trust Let me ask you a straightforward question: how enthusiastic are you to make any change to something new, with little-to-no experience in it? If your answer was anything better than ?lukewarm,? you?re a special breed of human. People tend to be hesitant to embrace anything unfamiliar to them, so adding a new piece of technology to your processes will almost certainly receive the resistance we?re discussing. They might resist the change itself, or start to doubt or resent the person responsible for the change. Failure Aversion On a related note, if people aren?t confident in their ability to adapt to the new technology, their instinct is to shield themselves from their anticipated failure by rejecting the unwanted change. Basically, whether a person doesn?t know about a solution or they simply don?t feel as prepared to use it, they?ll be less accepting of the shift over. This kind of resistance is best addressed through exposure to the unwanted change so that the needed comfort is built up. Communication Issues I?ll ask you another question: when was the last time someone talked at you about a change, expecting you to jump right on board with it without discussing how it would benefit you or make your responsibilities easier, and you jumped right on board? That?s what I thought. In order for your team to embrace change, you need to show and/or tell them why they will want to do so for their benefit. We?ll touch on this some more in a moment. How to Create a Better Response to Changes Change is ultimately unavoidable, so it is important that you find ways to minimize the pushback that you receive from your employees. We recommend that you approach it with a few different strategies in mind: Keep Communication Open A good way to minimize your team?s resistance to your suggested changes is to, as we said, communicate with them. Explain the benefits that this change will bring, and be open to their feedback as the changes are being enacted. This will both cut back on the speculation that your team participates in, while also keeping your team engaged in the business? greater operations. Show Your Team the Benefits Education will be key to minimizing employee resistance, as a greater understanding of the tool or process you?re trying to implement will help your team members embrace it faster and with less pushback. In fact, you may even be able to encourage your team to accept the change more quickly by showing them how it will benefit them. Time It Correctly Consider how your team might respond to having a few major shifts pushed on them all at once. It likely wouldn?t be very good. Pacing your changes and allowing your team to adjust to each one appropriately before proceeding will help ease them through the process. Support Team Members Through the Transition Process On a similar note, you need to be there to hear your team out and give them the opportunity to get used to whatever new technology or process you?ve enacted. There are going to be hiccups, so make sure they know that these hiccups are […]
