For employers, what?s the best way to approach monitoring? There Should Be an Understanding of Company PolicyAs the business owner, you have complete legal authority to go through your employees? internal emails and instant messages. After all, you own the network. While acting on this right opens up a ton of insight into who might be wasting away their workday, it doesn?t necessarily mean that you should read every message that?s been written. If you do, you might find a couple of messages that will get you hot and bothered. Furthermore, if your employees are unaware that you?re reading their every message, they may find it unfair when you judge them based on opinions which they thought were expressed in private. If you foresee a future where you?ll need to dig through company messages, then it?s your responsibility to communicate to your employees that their messages are being monitored. This is best for everybody and will help keep the peace in the workplace. Objectivity is a NecessityFor example, one issue that you, as an employer, might encounter when investigating employee messages is the office trash-talker. For the purpose of ascertaining the extent of the damage done to the company culture, you may decide to go through their messages. In the worst case scenario, this rogue employee might have messaged everyone in the office (even your most loyal workers), spreading their negativity. When you review internal messages like this, it?s important to remember that there are two sides to every conversation. In the aforementioned scenario, a loyal worker might find themselves hesitant to respond to their fellow employee?s trash talking messages; yet, they might feel it rude to not respond at all. From your perspective, it?s important to identify when an employee is participating in an attack, versus when they?re responding with neutral language for the sake of being polite. Take for example this hypothetical IM conversation between two employees; a loyal employee (LE), and a disgruntled employee (DE). DE: I?m so sick of this policy, it?s unfair and the boss is a tyrant with a bad hairpiece!LE: There are some policies here that can be improved upon.DE: This isn?t the first time the boss has messed with me like this, he?s a jerk and I?m sick of everything.LE: The boss can be strict. After reading this exchange, the employer (who may be offended and biased prior to the investigation) is now in a difficult position. Without a proper understanding of context, it would be easy to come down on both employees for this conversation. However, a more careful and objective reading of this hypothetical conversation shows that LE didn?t say anything wrong; rather, LE responded to DE in a way which appeased his/her feelings while preventing the problem from spreading. This subtle peacekeeping strategy might be overlooked by an employer who?s on a witch hunt. Everyone Needs an OutletEveryone needs a monitor-free place where they can vent about their day-to-day frustrations. Venting can be therapeutic, and it?s important that workers dealing with stress have a way to express their thoughts and opinions without worrying about losing their jobs for being too vocal. Sound familiar? This used to be the role of the office water cooler; but now, since today?s society is comfortable expressing itself through digital mediums, people have no […]

This is what we call a turnkey solution. These types of solutions are prepared to be handled by any organization at any given moment. This means that they can be integrated almost immediately, with minimal preparation. In essence, they?re akin to ?off the shelf? products, but at the same time, they?re vastly different. One of the biggest benefits you receive from integrating a turnkey solution is that you know it?s been thoroughly tested and that it works right off the bat. At White Mountain IT Services, we?re all about providing our clients with turnkey business solutions that are designed to work right out of the box, so you can immediately concentrate on using it to help your organization get ahead of the competition. Here are some of the turnkey technology solutions we offer. Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR): With our BDR device, you get the best of data backup with the reliability you expect from a disaster recovery solution. We understand that you don?t have time to sit around when your business?s future is at stake, so we make it easy for you to get back in the game as quickly as possible following an infrastructure-destroying disaster. Your business?s data is backed up incrementally throughout the day to our secure data center, allowing you to proceed to restore it once you have the hardware capabilities of doing so. Furthermore, our BDR can act as your server if it fails to continue functioning properly, meaning you?ll experience minimal downtime. Unified Threat Management (UTM): Just like the BDR, a UTM solution offers several benefits in one convenient package. This is what we call the ultimate security solution for your business?s network. You receive firewall protection, antivirus, spam-blocking, and content-filtering solutions, all designed to limit your network?s exposure to potential threats. It?s a tried and true solution that can mitigate your business?s online risk factors, if implemented properly. It?s often used side-by-side with our remote monitoring and maintenance solution, which is capable of monitoring your network for suspicious activity, and deploying mission-critical patches to your software and operating systems, should they become outdated. Cloud Storage and Management Solutions: Cloud storage solutions are designed with the end user in mind, and can be customized to suit the needs of any business. Your employees can easily store and access information from any approved device, making working remotely easier than ever. These solutions can be implemented to augment your existing infrastructure, so they can easily be integrated into any network with ease. What it comes down to is getting quality solutions quickly and easily implemented into your corporate technology infrastructure. If you?re ready to start using turnkey solutions to your advantage, give White Mountain IT Services a call at (603) 889-0800. We have a variety of services that can help you jumpstart operations.

This is why any managed IT provider worth their salt offers remote IT maintenance and support services. Naturally, it?s more cost-effective to provide remote assistance than traveling for an on-site visit, and you get the benefit of immediate service. Small and medium-sized businesses will find that remote IT services are one of the many benefits of working with White Mountain IT Services. Here are four reasons why remote IT service is crucial. Many Problems Can Be Resolved RemotelyLet?s face it; sometimes it?s more convenient to have us fix any problems you might have with your technology remotely. This coincides with the fact that most problems related to IT can be resolved without an on-site visit from our professional technicians. With our remote monitoring and maintenance tool, we can diagnose and resolve problems easily. Of course, there are some hardware problems that require a physical touch, but for those pesky, lesser issues, remote service will get the job done. Fast, Efficient IT ServiceMany of the problems you might face with your IT infrastructure are minor and can be resolved very quickly, but other times you might have a serious problem on your hands. Remote maintenance lets us immediately look into the problem without a lengthy trip to your office. Since you aren?t waiting for us to arrive on-site to fix the issue, you?re saving valuable time that can be better used for other aspects of the work day. Remote IT is Cost-EffectiveMany tech support businesses will charge by the hour for any on-site technology maintenance. This often includes the time spent traveling to and from your office. Instead of letting your budget eat these charges, it?s better to get a remote diagnosis of the problem before committing to an on-site visit. This way, you don?t shell out more than you need to when the problem can easily be fixed remotely. Minimal Distractions in Your WorkplaceIs your entire office distracted when there?s a visitor? If so, you know that anything out of the ordinary is enough to send productivity packing. We don?t want to be in your hair when you?re going for maximum productivity, so the ideal choice for getting the most work done is to have us remotely access your systems and perform maintenance that way. Keep in mind that White Mountain IT Services isn?t opposed to making on-site visits. We?re happy to do what?s necessary to help your office achieve maximum efficiency, but when you can achieve the same level of service remotely, why not do what?s most convenient? For more information about remote IT services, give us a call at (603) 889-0800.

Some businesses go about their day-to-day duties without a solid business continuity plan. As explained in the above scenario, an external backup is paramount to the survival of your organization, should you face circumstances that threaten to uproot your operations. This generally entails taking snapshots of your business?s data using some sort of backup method. One of the most common methods of doing so is using tape to store data. The problem with tape is that, in physical form, it can easily be destroyed if accidentally left on-site during a flood, fire, earthquake, or another equally devastating disaster. Furthermore, tape backups can be time-consuming, so they?re generally performed after hours; even then, they?re usually only performed once every 24 hours or so, which means that you run the risk of losing that much data in the face of a disaster. Since tape backups often need to be run manually, they?re also more prone to user error than other automated systems. These are just a few reasons why it?s important that you consider your backup and disaster recovery solution carefully. There?s nothing wrong with using tape, but it?s an outdated system that pales in comparison to other, more modern solutions. You want a solution that stores your data in a secure, off-site data center. Unlike data backup, data recovery is the act of restoring from the backups stored in a data center in order to offset data loss caused by any number of variables, like the destruction of hardware, or even user error. The quality of data recovery is generally based on how quickly it can restore your data; therefore, the faster a solution can get you back in action following a major loss of data, the better an asset it is to your business. Of course, data backup and disaster recovery are two very different things that often go hand-in-hand. Take, for instance, our Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) solution. It?s a backup solution that takes multiple snapshots of your business?s data, which is then stored off-site and in the cloud for later access, combined with rapid data recovery that helps your business get back in action in a moment?s notice. Unlike our BDR, tape backups can be time-consuming, and when time is of the essence, it can be difficult. BDR ensures that your data is always backed up and readily available when you need it most. It should also be mentioned that our BDR solution has the ability to temporarily take the place of your server in the event of a hardware failure. This adds to the value of your investment, and can help you get the ball rolling again while you decide how to replace your hardware. If you?re ready to start taking proactive measures to ensure the continuity of your business and its data, give us a call at (603) 889-0800.

Of course, this doesn?t help you at all if you?re still asking the million-dollar question, ?What exactly is virtualization, anyway?? The Gartner IT glossary defines virtualization as such: Virtualization is the abstraction of IT resources that masks the physical nature and boundaries of those resources from resource users. An IT resource can be a server, a client, storage, networks, applications or OSs. Essentially, any IT building block can potentially be abstracted from resource users. Basically, virtualization is splitting the resource from any hardware or software constraints it might have. A good example is the use of multiple operating systems on a virtual server. Without the limitations of hardware, you can run multiple instances of operating systems on the same machine. Another example would be separating a desktop?s operating system from the machine itself and running it through a virtual environment, effectively allowing you to run the instance of the operating system through any workstation connected to the network. Virtualizing your applications can provide your business with a number of benefits, including: Application Isolation: As we mentioned in the previous example, virtualization can allow multiple applications that need specific server operating systems to coexist on the same server. This can help businesses that might rely on older applications that aren?t compatible with more recent server operating systems. Application Availability and Independence: When you virtualize an application, you?re essentially extending its life cycle. By doing this, you?re keeping it available until you?ve had adequate time to find a better, more recent solution to your application dilemma. If you were to lose access to a mission-critical application, it could be difficult to keep operations running. It can also make it easier to call applications from one server to another to improve accessibility should one server become unavailable for some reason. Reduced Costs: One of the biggest benefits of application virtualization is that you?re cutting them free of the restrictive nature of hardware. Let?s say you have four applications that all run on different server operating systems. Without virtualization, you would need dedicated server units for each of them, and all four of these will likely be underutilized. Meanwhile, they?re still racking up the electricity bill. Virtualized applications allow you to minimize the amount of hardware you need, and offers a unique return on investment. Application virtualization is a great way to start cutting down on your operation costs and streamlining the way you access applications. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 to get started.