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How Technical Debt Opens the Door to Cyber Attacks—and Steps to Protect Your Small Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article |Cyber Attacks|How Technical Debt Opens the Door to Cyber Attacks—and Steps to Protect Your Small BusinessThe virus pandemic of 2020 is severely disrupting the economy and the large and small businesses that drive it. Poor practices such as ignoring safe distancing, insufficient sanitation, and not mandating mask-wearing open the door to infection of customers and staff and threaten the viability of a business.

Similarly, poor practices that allow a business to incur technical debt open the door to cybersecurity exploits that can bankrupt a business financially or through loss of trust and reputation in the eyes of its customers. Leaders of small and medium size businesses (SMBs) often think their size lets them operate under the radar, as less attractive targets to bad guys. But, actually, their lack of robust security strategy and resources make them easier to penetrate. And, sadly, the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) reports that 60 percent of small companies are unable to sustain their business more than six months following a cyberattack.

Years of experience working and advising businesses domestically and internationally has shown that business leaders find it difficult to recognize tech debt and how it exposes cyber vulnerability. As technology has evolved over time from main frame to client server to the Internet and now the cloud, the impact of a new Tech Debt 2.0 has grown stealthier and more sinister. This is especially true for SMBs that lack the resources to apply to cybersecurity. CEOs and CFOs managing technology may not recognize tech debt building up in their SMBs—because it is not revealed in monthly variance reports or other accounting controls. Someone in their organization, without explicit or implicit authority or oversight, may be making decisions adding to the Tech Debt 2.0 load and increasing exposure to cyberattacks. Let’s look at how that might happen and how to prevent it.

Old and Obsolete Infrastructure:

Azeotrope, an aerospace firm in the Southeast, realized they were compromised when a number of clients complained of receiving invoices from Azeotrope that contained confidential information about their client’s orders and projects. Months of investigation by a cyber consulting firm finally determined the source of the vulnerability to Azotrope’s network: a combination printer/fax machine in their testing and QA area that engineers regularly used to fax lunch orders to a local Chinese restaurant. Because the device was connected to the company’s network for printing purposes, it provided network access using out-of-date insecure facsimile protocols. This gave the bad actors access to the company’s customer accounts and valuable data.

“Fax is an ancient technology; the protocols we use today haven’t been changed for the past 30 years,” notes Yaniv Balmas of Check Point Software, a leading provider of cyber threat intelligence. “Fax data is sent with no cryptographic protections; anyone who can tap a phone line can instantly intercept all data transmitted across it. Fax is always sent unauthenticated. There are absolutely no protections over fax.” Balmas advises: “If you can’t stop using fax, segregate the printers, put them on a separate network.”

The Tech-away: Identify and remove obsolete components from your network. Not just equipment with obvious vulnerabilities like fax, but all equipment no longer supported and updated by the manufacturer for cybersecurity risk.

A Stitch in Time . . .

Patches are often created after a software or hardware company has experienced a data breach or recognized a vulnerability that might allow one. The patch is issued to ensure other businesses’ data remains safe. Applying a patch as quickly as possible lessens the risk of your business becoming affected. But it is each business’s responsibility to know a patch has been issued and to apply it promptly. That is patch management—a relatively straightforward process, 10 or 20 years ago. Today, however, the vast proliferation of software and hardware components in our business environment have made patch management a complex, time- and resource- consuming necessity, critical to the cybersecurity of a business’s network. Failure to effectively manage patching is a main cause of accumulating excessive Tech Debt 2.0 and security penetration.

NETGEAR, a highly respected manufacturer of network equipment in data centers, offices, and the homes of hundreds of thousands of people working from home now, and, possibly, far into the future, recently sent an email alert to its customers. An excerpt is below. How would your CFO or CIO handle this?

Hello.

We have become aware of vulnerabilities involving certain NETGEAR products and have issued a security advisory.

We have released hotfixes addressing some of the vulnerabilities for certain impacted models and continue to work on hotfixes for the remaining vulnerabilities and models, which we will release on a rolling basis as they become available. We strongly recommend that you download the latest firmware containing the hotfixes as instructed in the security advisory. We plan to release firmware updates that fix all vulnerabilities for all affected products that are within the security support period.

Until a hotfix or firmware fix is available for your product, we strongly recommend turning off Remote Management in your product. Please follow the steps below to turn off Remote Management immediately. . .

The Tech-away: Take steps to reduce the burden and complexity of patch management. Adopt software and hardware that automatically detect and apply patches. Look for opportunities to shed responsibility for patch management through outsourcing cybersecurity responsibility or utilizing cloud services that provide monitoring and patch management services. Tech Debt accrued through failure to manage patching effectively can fatally compromise your network and business.

People, Policies and Processes

Of greater consequence than obsolescence and patch management to Tech Debt 2.0 and cybersecurity are the people, policies, and processes that make up the culture and collective mindset of a business organization. Properly patched, up-to-date infrastructure is not going to stand in the way of the accounts payable clerk or chief marketing officer who clicks on the attachment to an email from some bad actor posing as a trusted vendor or prospective customer. Equally dangerous is the computer operator who props open the data center door to make it easier to allow the guy who says he’s the A/C maintenance engineer get in and out. Or the CEO who shares her password with her husband and children so they can access her mail and messaging accounts.

Establishing a data security mindset from the bottom to the very top of an organization is a basic essential to safeguarding a business from cyberattacks. Policies and processes must instill in all the company’s people an always-on awareness of their responsibility to protect the physical and digital assets of the enterprise. That mindset needs to be reinforced frequently and backed up by actions that demonstrate commitment and consequence behind company policies and processes.

The Tech-away: Formulate and clearly communicate policies and processes governing any actions that involve cybersecurity. Visibly demonstrate across the organization the commitment to security.

Make cybersecurity awareness a visible priority for every person in the organization.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor |Michael C. FilliosMichael C. Fillios is the founder and CEO of the IT Ally Institute, a nonprofit organization providing small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) access to knowledge, research, and practical tools to improve their tech bottom line. A senior global business and technology executive with more than 25 years of experience in IT, finance, operations management, and change leadership, he lives in Mason, Ohio. His new book is Tech Debt 2.0™: How to Future Proof Your Small Business and Improve Your Tech Bottom Line. Learn more at www.itallyinstitute.org.

7 Professional Development Goals To Set Today

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Professional Development Goals|7 Professional Development Goals To Set TodayNo matter what career you set your mind to, you’ll have to create a set of professional development goals, so that you stay on top of your game. It’s also important to invest time and energy into your professional development, since they focus on your functional expertise, accomplish tasks in your current job, and prepare you for the next step in your career.

Here are 7 goals that you need to set for professional development today:

1. Start With An End Goal

You heard right! Start with the end!

“To start with an end goal means to think about the future,” says Joan Smith, a business coach at NextCoursework and Write My X. “In other words, work backwards. As you work backwards, you’ll find your answers easily. Figure out what it will take to get to each goal, the skills and experience needed, and any other required training or certification.”

Here are questions to consider when thinking about your end goal:

  • Where do you want to be in a few years?
  • What will your title be in a few years?
  • What kind of company do you wish to work for?
  • What new skills will you have, by the time you’re hired for a company?
  • What will your achievements be?

2. Remember Why You’re Here

Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed, to the point where you question how you’ve picked a profession to begin with? Don’t worry – we’ve all been there at some point.

In fact, part of your professional development goals should be to make sure that you don’t get burned out of what you’re doing. Instead, take some time for yourself to quietly reflect on why you’ve chosen your profession in the first place. Also, think about the people that you’re affecting with your profession. Once you reflect on these things, you’ll get a clear understanding of why you’re here, and then come to appreciate it more.

3. Be SMART

Try the acronym SMART to figure out your objectives, and learn to reach them:

  • Specific: Your goal must be clear and specific, and it’s what you want to accomplish. Also, think about why that goal is important, who is involved, where needs to be done to complete the task, and what resources you need for it.
  • Measurable: A goal should be trackable from beginning to end.
  • Achievable: The goal has to be realistic, to ensure success.
  • Relevant: Your goal must matter to you, and also align with your other goals and long-term plans.
  • Time-bound: Your goal needs a deadline to maintain accountability.

4. Strategize Each Goal

It’s important to have strategies for each of your goals – not just one of them. First, break down your goals into smaller tasks to give yourself achievable milestones as you progress.

Afterwards, ask your HR department if there’s a budget for learning and development. If so, sign up for a course, and learn as much as possible. Finally, when you take a certification exam, make sure you study prior to testing.

5. Establish Relationships

Relationships matter in many industries, including retail, real estate, customer service – the list goes on. No matter your profession, you have to cultivate relationships with your customers, so that you can be a shining star in your community, and positively affect people’s lives with what you have to offer.

6. Check In With Yourself Often

“It’s important to check in on yourself every so often, when developing your professional goals,” says Hayden Wilkinson, a writer at Britstudent and Australia2Write. “In other words, set up a time weekly or monthly to track your progress, and see how you’re doing. If necessary, you can have a friend or family member check in on you to see how you’re doing every week or month, so that you’re giving your best all the time, every time, in your profession.”

7. Make Time

When it comes to setting goals, you still need to make time for them. Regardless of your objective or profession, you have to be consistent with your goal-setting. Even if you have to substitute an activity (i.e. watching TV) for focusing on your goals, then do so.

Conclusion

Once you set up some of these professional development goals, you be certain that you’ll improve always, and that you’ve kept track of your accomplishments.
Don’t just wait for your company to offer you on-the-job training. You can start setting your professional development goals today!

About the Author

Vanessa Kearney is a writer and editor at Write my research proposal and Phdkingdom.com. She is also a contributing writer for Research Paper Help. As a professional writer, she is not only passionate about writing on various topics, she also strives to create something unique and exciting for her readers and subscribers.

3 Things You Should Know About Comprehensive Background Checks

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StrategyDriven Talent Management Article | 3 Things You Should Know About Comprehensive Background ChecksIf you’re an employer or you’ve recently been offered a contingent job, you may have heard about comprehensive background checks. While the name may sound intimidating, background checks are a useful tool that essentially provide accurate information about a potential applicant. They help businesses make informed decisions about who they hire while minimizing their risks. If you’re curious about how comprehensive background checks work and what they cover, there are a few key things you should know.

1. It Helps Verify Your Identity

One of the main components of a comprehensive background check is the verification of your identity. In other words, it helps a prospective employer check that you actually are who you say you are in your application. This is important in helping employers avoid cases of employment fraud or identity theft. These checks will usually verify your full name, date of birth and social security number. Some checks may also reveal any other names you’ve been known under and your address history for the last ten to fifteen years.

2. It Details Criminal History

Another important factor that background checks reveal is an applicant’s criminal history. Many reports will go beyond local records to check multi-state records and sometimes even global terrorism records. Registries like most-wanted lists or sex offender lists are typically included, and results are usually cross checked to ensure accuracy. This helps employers avoid potential harm to themselves, their customers and their business.

3. It May Include Credentials and Credit History

While not covered in all background checks, a truly comprehensive background check will often include a check on an applicant’s credentials and credit history. The credentials check covers things like state licenses, institutional degrees and certifications, diplomas and more. This helps employers ensure that you have the credentials you’ve stated and you’re eligible and qualified for the job. The credit history check isn’t done by all employers, but those employers that carry it out may see your history of handling finances as an indicator of your responsibility. However, there are some states in which employers are banned from including credit history in your background check, so your location may make a difference in this area.

In today’s increasingly competitive business world, comprehensive background checks are becoming a standard part of the hiring process. It allows employers to verify information about prospective employees to make truly informed hiring decisions. Whether you’re an employer or an employee, a comprehensive background check plays a key role in helping keep business operations accurate and honest.

6 Tips for Building High-Performance Teams

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |High Performance Team|6 Tips for Building High-Performance TeamsIf you’ve been to any management seminar in the last few years, you may have heard the term “high-performance team” thrown around. But what exactly IS a high-performance team and why do you need one in your office?

While there’s no formal mandate to say exactly what a high-performance team is, it’s clear when you’re in one because everyone works together better. And, it’s clear when you’re not in one because everything is a struggle.

Creating a High-Performance Team

Creating a high-performance team doesn’t happen by chance; it involves hard work and picking the right people, even when you can’t always know that you’ve selected the right ones. It means looking at the leadership structure of the team with open eyes and being honest with your team about the style you want to work with.

Inspirational speaker and author of Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek, is famous for saying “people don’t wake up in the morning wanting to be managed”, and that couldn’t be more true for high-performance teams. Getting the top-down leadership right to begin with makes a huge difference.

What else can we do to encourage high performance out of our teams and turn a mediocre team into an incredible one? We have six tips that every potential high-performance team should follow.

Building Your High-Performance Team

1 Work With Personalities and Personal Strengths

The very first thing you must make sure of when building your high-performance team — or if you’re looking to turn around an under-performing team — is that you work with the personalities and the personal strengths of the people you have, not against them.

Personalities are a funny thing. Many of us have done the Myers-Briggs 16 personalities tests, which give an interesting insight into our personalities, but there are many more. Psychologists mostly agree that there are five personality traits, known as ‘the big five’. These are conscientiousness, openness, neuroticism, extroversion and agreeableness. Understanding how your team scores individually will allow you to see who will work properly together, as well as who won’t, and what tasks they will perform well on.

For example, someone who is high in openness is generally high in creativity, and someone who is low in agreeableness will probably be very detail orientated, but less creative. Knowing who scores highly and in what area will allow you to make sure the tasks are divided properly between the team members.

2. Collaboration and Communication

Good collaboration and communication for your team are vital, especially when it comes to project management and remote teams.

Remote teams, perhaps more so than those in an office setting, need to have open lines of communication. Whether that means you use a tool for keeping track of tasks, like Trello for example, or a tool for managing feedback from clients, or even a tool for managing your day-to-day collaborative calendars, getting the communication right is absolutely vital.

Open communication allows everyone to know where they are, what they are doing and who is doing what. It removes that “what is she doing?” or “why has he done this in that way?” line of questioning and speeds things up.

3. Rewards

Great teams need great rewards, whether that’s pizza on a Friday, a team building day every 12 weeks, or even just a congratulations where it’s required.

Building team morale helps when things are tough. For example, if teams know they are appreciated, they are likely to be higher in morale and happier to work harder. Be warned though, if a team feels like their reward is just a gimmick, like free pizza on a Friday, then it will backfire on you.

Your team is human, after all, and needs real responses to real-world problems, not fake gimmicks to trick them into working.

4. Risks

Risk-taking comes easier to some than to others. It’s usually easier for creative types to take risks than those who may be more logical, but taking risks as a team can pay off in the long run.

If you give your team the room to take calculated risks and to grow in confidence, it will pay back in dividends.

5. Personal Development

Personal development comes in all forms, but studies have shown that life-long learners make for happier employees and, as we all know, happier employees make for better team members.

There are not many people in high-performance roles who will be happy to plod along year after year without the investment they are due. It’s time to take this commitment further and really invest in your team.

Workplace coaching is great for this, and getting in an accredited coach to work with your team and instill a coaching culture in your workforce can make a huge difference to your whole team’s attitude.

6. Weed Out the Rot

This last tip is possibly one of the most important of all: it’s time to weed out the rot.

Everyone knows what this means, and everyone has worked with that colleague who just brings nothing to the table. They’re that colleague who is sullen and angry about everything; they are cynical and they can bring everyone’s mood down. Essentially, they are the rot that will set in and destroy a team.

Before you work on trying to find a way to get rid of this team member, try to figure out why they are like that. Of course, many people will be cynical and angry just because they are in the building, and it can’t be disregarded that some people just hate their jobs. But for some people, it is because they aren’t being challenged or supported enough.

If your company has a strong hierarchical structure, doesn’t support employees particularly well, has a lot of gossip and office politics, and doesn’t push people to better themselves, this can create resentment and low mood in employees, leading them to become angry and cynical and not productive.

High-performance teams are made up of all sorts of people and need a diverse range of thinkers to really achieve their goals. What kind of team will you build?

How to Increase Restaurant Sales: The Complete Guide

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Increase Restaurant Sales|How to Increase Restaurant Sales: The Complete GuideIf you run a restaurant, you’ll know exactly how competitive the industry is. There are over one million restaurants in the United States, and the projected sales for 2020 are expected to be $899 billion.

To succeed and thrive in your business, you’ll need to be savvy and innovative. You’ll need to find novel solutions to all of your marketing problems.

But exactly how do you go about building restaurant sales?

In this article, we’ll take a look at how to increase restaurant sales.

Increase Table Turnover Time

Is everyone who wants to come to your restaurant able to get a table when they want one? Having a full restaurant is great, but if there isn’t a high turnover of diners at the tables, then there’s room for improvement.

Often, the ability of a restaurant to increase sales lies in the speed of the service. If diners are coming in and it’s taking a long time to get them served, you’ve got a space in your restaurant that isn’t meeting its potential in terms of sales.

This doesn’t mean that you should rush your diners and ruin their customer experience. What it does mean is that you should be focused on taking their orders and expediting your service.

As soon as a table is free, it needs to be cleaned and reset for the next customers immediately.

Up-sell

Getting more customers into your restaurant is always going to be something that you’d like to do, but a great solution to increasing restaurant sales is to build on the size of your current customer order.

Asking your customers if they’d like to increase the size of their portion or suggesting different additional items that will compliment their meals are both great ways of up-selling and building the size of the order.

To make sure that your employees are up-selling to the best of their ability, carry out training so that they know the menu inside out. You should also teach them how to build rapport with the people that they’re serving.

Another great way of up-selling is by offering combos. If your customers are coming in and are just buying a main, get them to take a side too by creating special deals that build on their order.

Getting the Price Right

Your menu needs to be set at the right price. When you decide on the pricing, remember how much it costs to buy in the ingredients, to make the food, and serve it. In addition to factoring cost, you need to think about where your business is located and what the competition is doing.

Think about your target customers. How much do they expect to pay for a meal? If your prices are too high, you’ll miss the mark. If your prices are too low, you’ll sell yourself short and miss out on valuable profits.

Get the Decor Right

The look and ambiance of your restaurant are essential to its success. Your diners need to feel comfortable and at ease whenever they visit. If the decor and atmosphere don’t meet their expectations, it can end up ruining their meal.

Everything needs to be considered. Think about how brightly lit the dining areas are, consider whether the temperature of the room is okay, how comfortable the chairs are, etc.

Check out this restaurant furniture guide to find out more about selecting the right restaurant furniture.

Deliver the Very Best Service Possible

Things can go wrong in any dining experience, however, there is always going to be one way that you can overcome any shortcomings in your restaurant, and that is by delivering the very best service that you possibly can.

Great customer service provides a memorable experience and will leave a lasting impression on your diners.

Make your diners feel at ease. The more welcome they feel, the more they’ll relax. Impress them with the confidence that you can take their order. Suggest things that they might like from the menu and compliment them on their great choices.

When it comes to serving up the food, provide complimentary items. Bread or olives for the table or a free aperitif after the meal will make your guests feel special.

Help Your Customers Find You With Local SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a great way of improving where your restaurant’s website rankings on the search engine results pages (SERPs). But if you want people to find your business online and visit you in the real world, then you need to harness the power of local SEO.

Local SEO entails getting your business listed on as many online listing sites as possible. These include Google My Business, Trip Advisor, Yelp, Foursquare, and many more.

By getting your restaurant listed on Google My Business, you’ll appear above the organic search results in the SERPs.

When you create your listing, make sure that your name, address, phone number and opening hours are all consistent with your website and with other listing sites.

Once you’re on these sites, do encourage your customers to leave reviews of your restaurant as this will enhance your listing.

Providing Offers and Happy Hours

Promotions and offers are a great way of enticing new customers into your restaurant.

Identify the times of the day or the week when your sales are slowest and run a promo. Happy hour offers where drinks or food are reduced in price work exceptionally well for many businesses.

Think about up-selling additional items from your menu during these happy hour promos.

Now You Know How to Increase Restaurant Sales

Improving sales in your restaurant needn’t take an entire menu revamp. Often, you can achieve this goal through great customer service, the right promotions, up-selling, and making your surroundings comfortable.

Now that you know how to increase restaurant sales, you can put all of these tricks and tips to good use.
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