Recent Blog Posts

The New ?Buzz? Phrase is “Contextual Data? One dominant force in 2016 will be contextualized data analytics, as the spotlight is being shined on the need for more precise decisions made possible by bringing relevant data into important contexts. In a simpler sentence – the right source for the right analysis. Data points – device, social network, location, influencers, language – will help businesses develop improved customer insights, and, in turn, more personalized products or services. For instance, telematic data will help automobile manufacturers improve the durability of vehicle components and pinpoint potential problems ? they are then able to notify drivers well before trouble occurs. This technology will also provide insurers with better information for managing risk, thus enabling them to offer drivers a better product in the form of more usage-based, personalized policies. To take this a giant step further, this kind of data revolution could eliminate the concept of risk pooling as it would enable insurers to underwrite down to the individual level. There Will Be More Cybertargets More contextually-rich data is more valuable ? to businesses and, unfortunately, also to cybercriminals. Increasing risks of cyberattacks will push the development of next-generation technologies for risk and information management, network security, and identity access protection. Public clouds will become more and more involved in the integration of contextual data and will need to be included in security system architectures. APIs Will Continue to Gain in Importance Businesses of all kinds have already discovered the power of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) and will continue to utilize them. Through APIs, different systems can access and exchange information, and they often serve as ?wrappers? around legacy systems. APIs will increasingly play a key role in providing contextual information and will cause a move away from an in-house IT mentality. Instead, there will be an increasing embrace of off-site infrastructure, cloud computing, and ?as-a-service? options offered by IT services firms. The Role of the CIO Will Continue to Develop The Chief Information Officer will increasingly take on the task of enhancing the value of technology and information to their company. The CIO is uniquely positioned to head up the development of appropriate digital business innovations which will then lead to improved decisions and the introduction of competitive products quickly and at scale. Consolidation of Enterprise Platform Players Will Continue As the recent news of a Dell/EMC ?mega-merger? illustrates, there will continue to be convergence and consolidation of enterprise infrastructure competitors. This is being propelled by the demands of the market which wants more complete, standardized, and agile solutions. Because converged infrastructure is trending toward public cloud solutions, look for more specialization to create specific workload approaches in specific industries. For instance, new telematics platforms will arrive on the scene to collect and manage data from connected automobiles, financial services platforms will integrate to create core banking services, and social and mobile platforms will converge Conclusion The only thing you can say for certain about the future of IT, is that some previously unthought-of innovations will appear in 2016 or beyond. This makes IT an exciting and stimulating field to be a part of. To help you make sense of all these new developments and to stay ahead of your competition, please contact us.  

  Does your IT services department have an IT recovery plan in place? If the answer is yes, is it adequate? To create a solid plan these steps are recommended:Look at your current plan (if any) and assess what level of protection is needed.       Determine the length of time your business can afford to have its system(s) be non-operational. Determine how much data you can afford to lose. Identify all critical servers, applications, and related software. Document the process necessary to bring your server(s) back online in the event of a failure. Assess the availability of your IT personnel should an unpredictable disaster occur. If you have an outside consultant, how fast can this person get to your premises? Testing: It?s not enough to just have a plan in place, it must be tested to make sure it works, and it must be updated at least once a year. If your recovery plan has never been tested, how do you know that it will even work? You don?t want to wait until your first recovery attempt to discover its weaknesses. Be smart and test your current system as soon as possible. Find out how long it takes to recover, and what problems occur during the process. Recovery Plan Help: If the above sounds a little overwhelming, we can assist you to design a backup and recovery plan. Our expertise will minimize your downtime and have you back up and running in a very short time. Please contact us for more information.

Data backup and disaster recovery are both important elements of preserving your business in the long run. Data backup makes copies of your organization?s data infrastructure and, depending on the solution, backs them up to several possible locations. On the other hand, disaster recovery focuses on restoring your data following a crippling disaster. Combined, they make up what?s called a Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) solution, which is capable of taking regular backups throughout the workday and rapidly restoring data in the face of disaster. Here are three types of disasters that a good BDR solution can protect your business?s data from. Natural DisastersIt doesn?t matter where your office is located–the truth is that you?re bound to encounter a natural disaster in at least some capacity. Organizations on the coast might experience flooding or rain storms that damage their physical infrastructure. Locations prone to tornadoes or earthquakes could see their operations plummet (or soar–literally) in the face of nature?s awesome destructive power. Power outages and fires are two of the most common natural disasters, and they?re so dangerous because they can happen to any business. BDR can, at the very least, safeguard your data until the disaster has passed. Hardware FailureA notorious cause of data loss is an unexpected hardware failure. This can happen if you ignore the telltale signs of hardware degradation for too long, or if you?re using an old or outdated workstation or server. Thankfully, hardware failure is easy enough to avoid? that is, assuming you know what to look for. An outsourced IT company like White Mountain IT Services can remotely monitor your technology solutions to ensure that any hardware failure symptoms are quickly (and quietly) addressed. The idea is to keep an eye out for problems that hint toward an imminent failure, and to take action before it happens to smooth over the process of replacing the failed piece of hardware. User ErrorArguably one of the most common causes of data loss is user error. This occurs when a user makes a mistake that leads to either compromised data or the destruction of important information. Believe it or not, this happens more often than you?d think, particularly with employees who have access to information that they shouldn?t have access to. You can mitigate this issue by cutting employee permissions to data they have no business seeing, like human resources information or accounting files. If you want to protect your organization?s digital assets in the most convenient way possible, consider implementing a BDR solution from White Mountain IT Services. Our BDR can back up your data as often as every fifteen minutes and restore it in a matter of moments. BDR even allows you to restore data directly to the BDR device following a disaster, which minimizes downtime and lets you get back in action as soon as possible following a major data loss incident.

More specifically, the survey (run by data management firm Liaison Technologies) delivered results demonstrating that, of the 479 executives of medium-to-large-sized United States organizations surveyed, 47 percent of them were uncertain of which standards would even apply to their particular industry. This uncertainty could cause enormous problems for an organization of any size. If an issue were to arise that complying with industry regulations could have prevented, the company in question would have a lot of very difficult answers to provide. What?s more, the issue could very well cause the company to fail; either directly, by hindering its activities to the point of bankruptcy, or indirectly, if client and customer faith in the company were shaken enough by its lack of preparation. Look at it this way, if you had entrusted sensitive personal information to a company only to find out that their noncompliance with basic security standards had put you at risk, would you continue doing business with that company? It?s probably a safe bet that the answer is a resounding ?no.? However, the State of Compliance survey revealed that this very scenario could be happening all the time. For example, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) was only reported to be ?applicable? in 3 percent of client responses, a number shockingly small when one considers that the PCI DSS applies to any and all entities that interact with cardholder data storage, processing, or transmission. Making an already alarming situation even worse, a full quarter of survey respondents admitted that they were ?unsure? of who in their operation held primary responsibility over information security and privacy. As a result, this full quarter of surveyed businesses could very easily have serious information security and privacy issues that have gone (or could later go) unnoticed. Perhaps most disconcerting was the fact that a full 85 percent of respondents still felt secure in their job, whether or not their company exhibited any compliance issues. We here at White Mountain IT Services think this is an unacceptable situation, and we would hope that you feel the same way. Moreover, we can help ensure that you are, in fact, fully compliant with any information-based regulations for your industry. For more information, give us a call at (603) 889-0800.

The study, performed by Digital Strategy Consulting, found that mobile technology, like mobile devices and apps, boost worker productivity by a whopping 34 percent! This is a huge number that any growth-minded business can?t afford to ignore. Consider for a moment the math behind a 34 percent increase in worker productivity. For the average office worker, this translates to a gain of 240 hours of work per year. If you switch just a few employees from desktops to mobile devices, then it?s essentially like you?re adding a new full-time staff member–and at significantly lower cost than what it would take to hire and onboard new talent. For business owners who are only clinging to desktops due to the perceived cost savings of not having to upgrade just yet, it should be painfully obvious that this money-saving strategy no longer applies. In fact, thinking along these lines, it stands to reason that a business owner is actually losing money by not switching to mobile devices right now. Essentially, any time that a worker spends chained to their desk by their PC equates to them being 34 percent less productive than they could be. Therefore, even if you?re holding on to a fleet of desktops simply because they?re already paid for and they seem to be in good working order, the productivity you?re missing out on by using them will quickly add up and make these machines more costly to keep around than what they?re worth. To take this hard look at the advantages of mobile technology even further, consider the fact that younger workers, namely Millennials, prefer using mobile technologies, and they?re skilled at it. Next, consider the fact that by 2025, Millennials are set to make up three quarters of the workforce. This means two things: 1) that if you have an affinity for desktops, it?s a preference that soon won?t be shared by the vast majority of the workforce, and 2) going mobile now, will reap major productivity dividends in the future. If you?re now convinced that switching from desktops to mobile technologies is the way to go, then call White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800 for assistance. Due to the complexities and security concerns of ?going mobile,? you?re going to want to have a secure plan in place to help ease the transition–one that covers your needs and protects your business from mobile threats. Helping your business in this way is a task that White Mountain IT Services is well equipped for. Call us today and don?t lose another day of productivity due to desktops!