Losing sight of innovation is common for organizations. Innovation seems to be related to inspiration and it comes and goes in cycles–at the apparent mercy of some muse-like character. As businesses grow, their focus shifts toward keeping things consistent and going with what works rather than trying new things. Eventually, it gets to the point where nothing new is happening and everyone in the office is too focused on preservation and preventing disruptions to the current operations. You have to be intentional about breaking this cycle if you want your business to be innovative. Innovation via Acquisition One of the more common ways to fix your company?s innovation problem is acquisition. Unfortunately, this is costly and it takes time to fully acclimate two different companies. If you think about it for a moment, you?ll realize that buying a company and forcing it to comply with the same standards that you currently have will eventually do the same innovation-killing thing to the acquired company that has happened to yours. The innovation will be short-lived or even nonexistent, and you?ll be stuck with the same problem you had in the first place, only with a lot less coin in your pocket. The proper way to acquire a company can be seen with Dell?s acquisition of certain aspects of IBM servers. It?s all about finding the thing that you value in the bought company and protecting it. You can further increase the acquired company?s strong points by providing them with resources which will bolster their ability to meet your expectations. Skunk Works: Gather Your Most Innovative Team MembersSkunk works might sound like a smelly idea, but it sure can help you get the innovation flowing. Skunk works is when you create a separate firm filled with innovative thinkers whose sole purpose is to come up with new ideas for your firm. This removes any restrictions you might have on your infrastructure which could prevent new ideas and innovations. The idea behind skunk works is that, by removing anything that can prevent innovative thinking, the separate entity can operate more like a startup. EMC?s Pivotal Labs is a perfect example of how skunk works functions. Innovation via Friendly CompetitionUnfortunately, for a large company, the problem still remains the same – its strict policies can block innovation. To help with this, Dell managed to put together an Innovation Day, which is a reality show-like program where multiple companies compete for a fully-funded innovation trial. The winning company gets the prize of springboarding into a full-sized company which includes further funding. An incentive like this is sure to motivate your team. Sometimes, innovation comes from just getting an outside perspective on your situation. White Mountain IT Services can be your muse and help you develop many of your ideas, especially when it comes to bringing new and helpful technology into the mix. Call us today at (603) 889-0800 to see how the latest technology can help your business become more innovative.

Knowledge management is the efficient handling of information within an organization, and the most proficient companies in each industry do this well. In the days before every worker had a computer connected to a network of shared information, businesses would keep their information in metal file cabinets, and knowledge management systems would get fairly elaborate–sometimes involving ladders and brightly colored file folders. Then computers came along and digitized all of those file cabinets, effectively improving knowledge management. For many organizations, an unfortunate side effect of relying on computers is that the art of knowledge management is lost. Instead, many modern businesses simply rely on the basic folder structures that could be more than a decade old. By not actively seeking out better ways for your employees to access mission-critical information, you?re overlooking one of the easiest ways to improve operational efficiency. Here are two tips on how your business can improve its current knowledge management system. Assemble Your FAQs in One Easily Accessible FileThe whole idea behind FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) is to save everybody time. If you don?t yet have a FAQ document for your staff, then you’re overdue to have a meeting that creates one. Believe us when we say that the time spent creating a FAQ document will more than be offset if people actually use it. Although, herein lies the key; in order for a FAQ document to be of value, members of your team must actually be able to find, access, and share it. Therefore, the location of this document needs to be clearly communicated to everyone in your organization. Also, keep in mind that a helpful document like this can only be accessed if your company?s network is operational. Nothing has the power to derail the knowledge management process quite like an inaccessible network, so the proper management of your IT is critical to prevent downtime. Implement a Knowledge BaseIf your employees can?t quickly and easily find the information they need in order to do their jobs, they?re going to waste a lot of time tracking it down (and this lost time will really add up and cost you a lot of money). By implementing a knowledge base, your staff will gain a single point of reference to find the knowledge they?re looking for. A knowledge base like this can be achieved with software that indexes your document?s keywords and topics, making your company?s information searchable. Prime Knowledge Base Features to Look For: It?s intuitive to use and easy to search. Employees can access it from all locations, and off site if needed. It needs to be scalable to your needs. The knowledge base needs to be secure and properly locked down. To find the right knowledge-base software that?s right for your company, and to make sure that your company?s network is operating at maximum efficiency so that employees can easily access a knowledge base thats customized to meet their needs, have a conversation with White Mountain IT Services today at (603) 889-0800.

How the Cloud Can Benefit Your BusinessIt?s clear that the cloud is changing the way businesses communicate and access information, but what does this mean for your business? Some of the benefits of cloud computing include, but are not limited to: Greater access to data and applications: Your organization often needs to go through your network in order to obtain information and access mission-critical applications. What if all of this information could be distributed and deployed via the cloud? This is the primary benefit that businesses who desire a cloud solution typically take advantage of. A more mobile workforce: The cloud takes your data and makes it easily accessible from any approved device across a secure connection. This means that your employees are no longer tied to their desks if they want to be productive. They have the option of working from home rather than burning the midnight oil at the office, or remotely from their hotel room while on a business trip. How Does the Cloud Affect IT Management?Despite these great benefits, they usually include the added responsibility that comes along with maintaining a new cloud solution. These responsibilities are largely dependent on which cloud solution you opt for: Public cloud: The public cloud is often considered to be the easiest way to implement cloud solutions for a small business, considering it?s hosted and maintained by an external party. The only issue with this is that your organization won?t have complete control over your data (for instance, you can?t integrate secondary security features yourself – you have to go through the provider), making this choice seem unattractive to those who absolutely need as much control as possible. Private cloud: The big difference between the public and private cloud is that you?re hosting the data on your own cloud server, meaning you?re responsible for its upkeep and management. On the other hand, you have as much freedom as you want for all of the security solutions you need to integrate, and you have complete control over how the cloud is configured. Hybrid cloud: A hybrid cloud solution combines the added security and control of the private cloud, with the efficiency and ease-of-use of the public cloud; perfect for a business that needs the control, but isn?t willing to sacrifice efficiency. Regardless of which cloud solution you implement, it will undoubtedly be a challenge to integrate and assimilate into your new workflow. Rather than take the time to train or hire new personnel, it can be most beneficial to outsource the upkeep and maintenance of your new cloud solution. White Mountain IT Services has trained professionals at the ready to help your organization implement and maintain a secure and dynamic cloud solution. All you have to do to get started is call us at (603) 889-0800.

When you?ve gone quite a while without a hacking incident, it?s easy to feel that the waters of the Internet are pristine and free of corruption; however, this isn?t necessarily the case. Deep down, in the murky depths of the Internet, there?s questionable activity at every turn, and some hackers might even have their sights set on your organization. You might think that your company is small-time compared to the large businesses that have been hacked in recent times, but in all actuality, your organization holds a wealth of information that hackers want to take advantage of. For example, you probably have the credit card numbers of your clients stored away somewhere on your infrastructure for when they make purchases. Your human resources department holds the Social Security numbers of all your employees in their files. Despite the fact that you?re a small business, hackers will see this as more than enough of a reason to hack you. Of course, they might just be taking a chance and hoping to find something good; but either way, you should be prepared to fend them off. Hackers will often try to attack your organization through cracks in your defenses. If you use older hardware or software that?s prone to experiencing breaches of security, you will be in for a rude awakening when a hacker breaches your network. You always want your organization?s systems to be in tip-top shape, be it through purchasing reliable new hardware or applying updates to your infrastructure. The best way to ensure that your organization is secure from hackers is to keep track of these weaknesses and resolve them as quickly as possible. The problem with this is that it?s difficult to keep track of multiple systems, especially if you?re not an IT expert by trade. This is why small and medium-sized organizations often outsource this responsibility to White Mountain IT Services to make sure that it?s performed properly. One way to make sure that you?ve got all of your bases covered is with a comprehensive network consultation. By indiscriminately analyzing every part of your technology infrastructure, you can find out a lot about your current security situation. Or, better yet, have an external party perform the consultation. By doing so, you get an unbiased assessment that?s sure to give you hints on how you can prepare your network for the worst. All you have to do to take advantage of this offering is call White Mountain IT Services. We offer a network consultation that?s designed to identify weak points in your security, as well as components that might be on their way toward a hardware failure. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 to learn more.