First, we might need to explain the nature of break-fix IT services. This is what you normally get when you take your technology to traditional tech support. They?ll take a look at your technology, tell you what?s wrong, and provide their services for a hefty cost. They won?t take measures to help you mitigate your technology problems down the road. After all, their livelihood depends on your technology breaking down, so why should they have your budget?s best interests in mind? The other type of IT service seeks to do exactly that; managed IT wants to prevent issues from becoming major problems that cause downtime. This enables your business to save money and time by not having to deal with near-constant technology troubles. The idea is to use preventative maintenance in order to detect minor issues, and resolve the overarching cause, before they can escalate into costly problems that could derail your budget. Some examples of effective managed service offerings include: Server hosting: Your server units are used for the storage and transportation of critical data, so it makes sense to take proper care of them. However, the average small or medium-sized business might not have the staff or skillset necessary to care for or accommodate the physical server component. Businesses will often outsource this responsibility to guarantee the consistent uptime of crucial systems. Network security: Do you know the difference between viruses, malware, trojans, phishing scams, and other online threats? This is one of the many reasons why organizations would rather outsource their network security to cyber security professionals. Managing and maintaining a security solution that includes a firewall, antivirus, spam blocker, and content filter, can be tiring and knowledge-intensive. Remote maintenance and management: Often times, business professionals might be able to effectively use technology, but don?t notice telltale signs of degradation. Many of these signs can be spotted remotely, and the patches can swiftly be administered without a costly on-site appointment. Backup and disaster recovery: Small businesses need to preserve their data at all costs. It?s been proven that businesses that fail to restore their data following a loss incident are likely to go out of business within one year. This is why so many organizations turn to outsourced managed IT services to handle data backup. With Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR), backups can be taken as often as every fifteen minutes, and data can be rapidly deployed in the event of a data loss incident. Does your business have trouble managing and maintaining its critical technology assets? With White Mountain IT Services, we try to make it as easy for you as possible. To learn more about any of the above services, and more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.
How to Find Out Your Net WorthThankfully, your net worth takes more into consideration than just your paycheck. A good definition of net worth is the value of all assets, minus the total of all liabilities. Put another way, net worth is what you own minus what you owe. Generally speaking, this is why your net worth increases over time, due to the fact that you?ll owe less and less on the debts you pay. When determining your net worth, start by making a thorough list of what you own and what you owe. What You Own Home (its current value) Other real estate Automobiles and other vehicles like RVs and ATVs (leased vehicles don?t count) Jewelry and collectibles Household items, like furniture, appliances, etc. Retirement accounts, bonds, stocks, mutual funds Cash value of life insurance The balance of checking and savings accounts Cash What You Owe Home mortgage principal Other mortgage principal Auto loans Student loans Credit card debt Other loans Once you have all of these items in order, you?ll next plug this information into an online net worth calculator. http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/networth/networth.html http://www.creditcardfinder.com.au/net-worth How to Track Your Net WorthNow that you know your net worth, you can use a spreadsheet tool to keep track of its growth–in a similar way to how you keep track of your monthly budget. Here are four ways that tracking your net worth can benefit your financial situation. Financial Progress: We all want to evolve and progress in anything in life, it?s human nature. It’s even better when you grow your money and can look back to the month or year previous and see how far you’ve come. Confidence Builder: For example, if you saved an extra $1,000 in your emergency fund or watch your 401K increase due to a bigger contribution, it will make you feel proud of what you?ve been able to accomplish. Avoid focusing on just assets: If you have 200K in assets but 100K in debt, you?re just lying to yourself. It’s important to factor both into the calculation. Loans: Your net worth can be a factor if you plan on applying for a loan in the near future. In the same way that it?s beneficial to keep track of your personal net worth, there are benefits to keeping track of your company?s assets. The average SMB likely needs more than a calculator and a spreadsheet to do this, which is why there are so many enterprise-level accounting solutions on the market. To learn more about what?s available for your accounting department and how technology can further your company?s goals, give us a call at (603) 889-0800. P.S. Some businesses struggle to reliably budget out their IT, especially with surprise bills when technology goes down and unexpected updates need to take place. If you are frustrated with the unforeseen nature of your current IT, reach out to White Mountain IT Services to discuss a managed, proactive approach.
When there is a change in IT Support staff that has access to your IT management systems and passwords it is important to quickly revoke access, change passwords review your security systems. We suggest having a lock-down procedure in place to guide you through the process and ensure that nothing is missed. In addition to the obvious things like keys to building and passwords, here are a few other items to be sure you consider; Firewall administrator access Domain name registration accounts Email and web hosting accounts All remote access and VPN software Change the Point of Contact records for all vendors like the phone company, internet provider, etc. All online, cloud, or hosted services Let all employees know about the change, even the branch offices! Encryption keys and passwords for backups Remove them from all internal email distribution lists Access control and security systems Of course, this is all much easier if you have professional IT management systems in place so that everything is fully documented before you need to change it. When the only person who knows what to change, and how to change it is the one who just left, it can be a daunting task. If you want help getting in front of this, before it becomes an emergency, or if you are currently in need of an emergency lock-down, give us a call. At White Mountain, we make changing IT Service vendors EASY! Thanks for visiting, we look forward to hearing from you. Frequently Asked Questions Here are some common questions that we hear from companies your size. What is involved with a lock-down procedure? What types of things should be documented? What is a comprehensive data backup system? What should be included in an Acceptable Use Policy? What are employee onboarding and separation procedures? My IT person is the only one that knows my systems, won’t it be painful to switch? I have a dispute with my current IT provider, can you help me lock them out? OK, I want to know more, what’s the next step?
One of the keys to being able to efficiently manage, support and use your IT systems is standardized documentation. At White Mountain, we utilize a secure, state of the art database for documentation and client SOP’s (Standard Operating Procedures). As we implement, manage and support your systems we are continuously referencing and updating the documentation that outlines what we did and how we did it. The goal is to empower the support team to be as efficient as possible and to avoid depending on a single individual for critical information or knowledge. Ensuring a high level of efficiency and responsiveness on our end, allows us to keep your costs down, and productivity up. Having a professional Managed Service Provider supporting your business provides exponentially more value than a single employee or very small IT provider. Here are a few of the things that should be included in your IT documentation: Network diagram and floor-plan ISP and circuit info Inventory of all software and hardware Complete documentation of servers Security profile of data, share and user group access Data backup requirements and system configuration User census and profile Firewall configuration and security profile Remote access configuration Third-party vendor information and much, much more! At White Mountain, we make changing IT vendors EASY! Thanks for visiting, we look forward to hearing from you. Frequently Asked Questions Here are some common questions that we hear from companies your size. What is involved with a lock-down procedure? What types of things should be documented? What is a comprehensive data backup system? What should be included in an Acceptable Use Policy? What are employee onboarding and separation procedures? My IT person is the only one that knows my systems, won’t it be painful to switch? I have a dispute with my current IT provider, can you help me lock them out? OK, I want to know more, what’s the next step?
We believe that there should be multiple levels of backup for all company data. When using modern backup, synchronization and virtualization tools, there is really no excuse for data loss, even small businesses can afford to have a robust backup platform. Having said that, we understand that every situation is different and all budgets are certainly not equal, but here are a few guidelines that we like to consider. All servers should be backed up at a minimum of once per day with a copy of everything streaming to a secure off-site location. Servers should be completely imaged, or better yet virtualized, to allow for easy restores or live fail-over to different hardware or even to a different location. Desktop computers and laptops should also be imaged to minimize downtime when a hard drive fails, this way all updates, installed software, and drivers are preserved and ready to go with a simple restore. There is no reason to have to rebuild a computer and reload everything from scratch just because a hard drive failed. Laptops should also have a live file-backup running that will allow changed files to stream to the cloud while you are on the road, or out of the office. At White Mountain, we make changing IT vendors EASY! Thanks for visiting, we look forward to hearing from you. Frequently Asked Questions Here are some common questions that we hear from companies your size. What is involved with a lock-down procedure? What types of things should be documented? What is a comprehensive data backup system? What should be included in an Acceptable Use Policy? What are employee onboarding and separation procedures? My IT person is the only one that knows my systems, won’t it be painful to switch? I have a dispute with my current IT provider, can you help me lock them out? OK, I want to know more, what’s the next step?
