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In light of the holiday, let?s go over some best practices to keep in mind year-round. Data Management Practices for Business Success There are various ways that you can optimize the data that your business stores, such as: Being Smart About Your Storage You?re going to need someplace to keep your data. Rather than keeping data on individual workstations and devices, we always recommend that you keep it in a shared network location, stored on a centralized server. This allows you to not only maintain greater control over your data, it also enables greater collaborative potential. Using Multiple Forms of Data Storage It?s important that you also keep multiple copies of your data, in various formats. We?ve already mentioned keeping your data on a centralized server. Don?t stop there?lean on cloud resources to maintain additional copies. This not only can make remote work and collaboration more attainable, it can also assist with your business continuity by better ensuring you have access to your data should something keep you out of the office?or worse, something has happened to your in-office infrastructure. We frequently espouse the benefits of something called the 3-2-1 Backup methodology, which is effectively shorthand for proper business continuity data management?you want to maintain (at least) three copies of your data, in (at least) two storage mediums, (at least) one of which being cloud-based. Establishing Standards Keeping your data is one thing. Using it is another thing entirely, and one that relies on your ability to find the data that you?re seeking out. This is precisely why it is important that you create and commit to naming conventions that explain what the data in question is so it is easy to locate it later. To do so, you need to create a format that all files will follow, involving details like dates, project names, and other useful tidbits that will help identify your data and make it easier to organize and seek out when needed. We Can Help You Keep Track of One of Your Business? Most Essential Resources Reach out to White Mountain IT Services today at (603) 889-0800 to learn how we can help you manage your data, and the rest of your essential IT.
The Claustrophobic Feeling of Technology There is no question that technology has broadened a whole society?s knowledge base, connected millions of people together, and given people more options to get their opinion known than at any other time in human history. What isn?t as well documented is that for people who don?t spend most of their waking hours on social media or even on the Internet, the use of technology can sometimes become a major frustration. The fact is that most businesses are asking their employees to be on the cutting edge of technology integration. They want them to accept that technology is how business gets done and how decision-makers measure their ability to function inside of the business. This doesn?t sit well with everyone. It?s undeniable that our economy, our language, and indeed our culture is all being directly affected by technology; so much so, that our lives are segmented into our existential and our online lives. This is even more evident in the way we do business. Today, we get emails, status updates, and calls at all hours of the day, making it difficult to find time to sit down to dinner with our families, focus on our relationships, and actually enjoy ourselves. With this technology permeating nearly every waking moment of our lives, there is so much that we have to learn. It?s in this radical transformation where technology fatigue lies. What is Technology Fatigue? Essentially, technology fatigue is that feeling of claustrophobia that we outlined above. With so much going on all the time, it is hard for people to separate the priorities in their home and work lives and it leads to unfocused, unproductive, and desperate actions. It?s as if we are all being asked to learn several new languages. In this case, people who have been speaking one language for decades, and are suddenly forced to learn a new language are going to run into more frustrating situations than people whose first language is the language of technology. Large swaths of the workforce grew up without the Internet, or at the very most, dial-up. These people are analog people working in a digital world and it may be difficult for them to get comfortable with the seemingly unending integration and deployment of new technologies. Think about it, how many new applications, devices, and practices have you had to learn over the past five years that weren?t even a consideration until technology made them so? What Can You Do? For those people who do feel some pressure from all the technology that they are surrounded by, there are some steps you can take to make the whole situation easier on you. Unfortunately, business is going to be using technology for nearly every aspect of their operations from this day out, but here are some tips to help those people who have come down with some technology fatigue, to get through their malaise. Take regular breaks – If you give yourself periodic breaks away from your technology, you may not feel the overwhelming need to smash the devices that keep incessantly dinging over and over again. Take a day off – If you are really feeling burnt out about how technology is affecting your life, take a day away from it. Either take a day off […]
Keep Your Software Up to Date When you have dozens of applications in use at your organization, there?s a greater chance that you?re forgetting to update or patch at least one of them in a timely manner. The truth of the matter is that staying on top of patches and updates is challenging on its own without all the other challenges that come with the territory of IT management and maintenance. In particular, mobile apps and lightly-used programs can be overlooked, so be sure to update all of your solutions regularly so you aren?t accidentally exposing your business to potential threats. Use Secure Passwords and Multi-Factor Authentication Even security-minded people might use the same password for various accounts simply because it?s convenient, but this is poor password hygiene. Focusing less on convenience and more on security goes a long way toward improving password practices. Try out the following: Use different passwords for different accounts: Never use the same password for multiple accounts, as it increases the chances of one security breach turning into several as more and more accounts are compromised. Use different, complex passwords for each of your accounts. Use complex, easy-to-remember passwords: Your passwords should not be simple. They should be complex, using upper and lower-case letters, numbers, and symbols, and difficult to guess. That doesn?t mean you can?t make them easy to remember, though. You can use passphrases?strings of unrelated words?to great effect. Pick three words, then make the requisite adjustments for the complexity requirement. Length is better than complexity: Obviously complexity shouldn?t be overlooked, but length is also important for password security. Simply put, the more characters that are in a password, the more characters have to be correct and in the right order to crack an account. Multi-factor authentication and password management tools are great ways to augment your security measures, as well, and should be implemented wherever possible. Think Twice About Your Wireless Connections Working remotely is a pretty common practice nowadays, and security becomes more of an issue when work is being conducted out of the office and off the security of the in-house network. Remind your employees that wireless connections in public places, and even in their homes, can be considered risky, particularly if those connections are unsecured. We recommend that all businesses implement a virtual private network to give their employees the ability to encrypt data while it?s being transferred from one network to the next. If any of the above sounds like something you could be doing a better job of, we recommend you contact us at (603) 889-0800. Our technicians can work with your team to optimize security for your business today.
Meetings Do, In Fact, Waste Valuable Time In a report by Asana titled The Anatomy of Work Global Index 2023, which examined ways to improve collaboration in the workplace, meetings were a notable topic of discussion. The report suggests that meetings are a primary culprit of wasted time in business, and they should be reexamined to improve operations. Does This Sound Familiar? The Anatomy of Work found that unnecessary meetings consume 2.8 hours of work each week for the average knowledge worker, and those in leadership roles spend an average of 3.6 per week in unnecessary meetings. Furthermore, those in leadership roles are 30% more likely to miss deadlines because they simply have too many meetings and calls on their schedules. Clearly unnecessary meetings are a problem?an idea supported throughout the report. Other information in the report suggests similar numbers. For example, ?work about work? consumes 58% of the workday. When you compare this to time dedicated to skilled work (33%) and the time dedicated to strategic work (9%), you have a real problem on your hands. What Does the Report Suggest? Asana does provide some guidance on how to resolve this issue: ?Focus on smart collaboration. Look for ways to streamline processes, not add more meetings.? Basically, you get more intentional work done when you?re not wasting time in unneeded meetings. How Your Business Can Collaborate More Effectively Asana has outlined some ways for ?how leaders can turn data into action,? including the bit above about collaboration. They also provide other important tips that you can use to get more done, including the following: Providing Shared Goals and Objectives The biggest misconception about collaboration is that it has to be something that is accomplished with others in tandem. Two people can collaborate and communicate without being in the same physical or virtual space, though. The synchronous methods of communication and collaboration are well and good for when it is needed, but asynchronous methods are just as helpful, if not more so. Let Us Help With Your Collaboration Efforts White Mountain IT Services can help your business implement collaboration tools to aid both in and out of the conference room. You?ll find your meetings are much more efficient. To learn more, call us today at (603) 889-0800.
Why am I so confident in saying so? Simple: everything we have today in the modern world was once an earth-shaking discovery?in many cases, first conceived in fiction. For Instance, You Wouldn?t Be Reading This If Writing Wasn?t Invented There?s a lot that we have the ancient Mesopotamians to thank for, which are in many ways the foundations of our modern world. Every time we go to the office or the store or a friend?s house or even order delivery, we?re feeling their influence literally carry us. Who do you think actually invented the wheel? Or, in the case of ordering delivery or zipping to the store, agriculture, and transportation? The modern economy pretty significantly depends on math to function?which the Mesopotamians also significantly helped develop. Again, if the Mesopotamians had never invented written language, you might not be reading this blog?and if the number of love letters exchanged through history are any indication, a lot of people might not be here at all. Even the content of this ancient civilization?s written works show evidence of technologies that once were seen as incredible enhancements. The Epic of Gilgamesh, the first example of a transcribed epic story, shows numerous technologies being used by the titular hero in his quest as he pursues immortality?all of which are relatively commonplace, if not antiquated by today?s standards, but at the time, were seen as miraculous. AI is Just the Latest in a Line of Literary Inventions That Will Likely Be Just as Commonplace Artificial intelligence was yet another invention of past minds creating a story?specifically, in writer Samuel Butler?s 1872 addition to his creation Erewhon, titled The Book of the Machines. In this work, Butler touches on a variety of topics that we see today, including Moore?s Law (beating Moore by just shy of a century) by describing the rapid development of technology as well as artificial intelligence, with machines achieving some level of consciousness over time. So, it seems that at least two things are true: There really isn?t any such thing as an original idea. Technology will continue to advance, making the marvels of yesteryear seem modest in comparison. Just consider how quickly the technology that people use for work (a lot of which was predicted/inspired by the popular culture of the past) has advanced. Frankly, it can be hard to keep up, even with the technology we have at our disposal today. As Bob Dylan sang, ?For the times they are a-changin.? While we still can?t promise a lot of what is seen in fiction from years past, there is plenty we can provide to assist your business in its endeavors. Give White Mountain IT Services a call at (603) 889-0800 to see what we can do for you as a part of our managed services.
