TechJournal, February 2019
Get rid of PCs
Cloud computing and its advantages are vast. It’s helped enterprises control costs, increase user productivity and provide better protection to intellectual property.
Companies have implemented cloud technology to get rid of recurring cost of purchasing new PCs every few years and break the vicious cycle of upgrading hardware for each user.
Let us show you how we’ve been doing the same for small business in Texas for years.
February 2019
This monthly publication provided courtesy of Nadeem Azhar, Owner of PC.Solutions.Net
Our Mission: To build a community of successful-minded entrepreneurs that inspires excellence, encourages collaboration and expands the capacity of all members to achieve great things.
Why Your Business Is The PERFECT Target For Hackers Is Your Protection Up To Date?
People never think it’ll happen to them. Sure, they see the reports – 50 million-plus bundles of user data compromised by a Facebook breach; the billing information of more than 2 million T-Mobile users hacked by a mysterious malicious entity – but companies like those are massive, monolithic entities in American commerce. They’re decidedly big fish, not like you and your small business. According to a recent JLT-Harvard Business Analytic Services survey, more than half of small business owners remain locked into this line of magical thinking, blissfully unaware of the threat cyber crime poses to the health of their organization.
We hate to burst the bubble of the happy-go-lucky majority, but the reality is that this optimistic attitude just does not square with the statistics.
The incidents may not make the news, but small businesses are being targeted – and breached – by hackers at an astounding rate. In fact, the National Cyber Security Alliance reports that close to half of small businesses have experienced a cyber-attack and that 60 percent of the companies that succumb to one of these attacks folds completely within six months. They state that instead of zeroing in on Fortune 500 corporations, hackers actually prefer to swoop in on the little guy, with 70 percent of cybercriminals specifically targeting small businesses.
Yet according to a Paychex survey, 68 percent of small business leaders aren’t worried about cyber security despite data from Hiscox indicating that more than seven out of ten small businesses are woefully unprepared for a breach.
Of course, it’s understandable that the average small business owner shirks their cyber security responsibilities. It’s the kind of problem that’s so complicated that it’s tempting to sweep it under the rug. As breach tactics become more sophisticated, so do the softwares and methodologies designed to keep out criminals. In a world far removed from the days when buying a product and installing it into your network was enough, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the complexity and breakneck pace of advancing cyber security best practices. Our biases make the possibility of a hack seem remote, while our limited resources make the cost of protection appear too high to even consider.
The first step to getting savvy in 2019 is to accept that cyber-attack isn’t some unlikely crisis, but a virtual inevitability. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but leaving it to chance is like flipping a coin where a “tails” outcome results in your business shuttering for good.
Luckily, though an attempted hack is almost guaranteed, there are dozens of steps you can take to prevent it from doing any damage. Chief among these should be to find a managed service provider (MSP) with a long background in protecting against hacker threats to take the reins on your cyber security as quickly as you can. It’s important when auditing your internal security measures that you
“The first step to getting savvy in 2019 is to accept that a cyber-attack isn’t some unlikely crisis, but a virtual inevitability.”
regularly get an outside opinion from a trusted source, in order to cover all your bases. Your internal IT departments assurances that “they’ve got it covered” are certainly reassuring, but to truly patch all the holes in your security barriers, you’ll need more eyes on the problem. You might imagine that such a partnership must be prohibitively expensive, but they’re typically more reasonable than you might think. Not to mention that when the very survival of your business is on the line, it just makes sense to budget accordingly.
The statistics paint a picture of small business owners as underprepared, unaware, and disturbingly vulnerable to the whims of cybercriminals hiding just out of view. Don’t be another one of the millions of small business owners forced to shell out thousands as a consequence of wishful thinking. Wake up to the dangers of 2019, arm yourself against them, and secure the future of the business you’ve worked so hard to build.
Help Us Out And We’ll Give You A Brand-New Kindle Fire For Your Trouble
We love having you as a customer and, quite honestly, wish we had more like you! So instead of just wishing, we’ve decided to hold a special “refer a friend” event during the month of February.
Simply refer any company with 10 or more computers to our office to receive a FREE computer network assessment (a $397 value). Once we’ve completed our initial appointment with your referral, we’ll rush YOU a free Kindle Fire of your choice as a thank-you (or donate $100 to your favorite charity … your choice!).
Simply call us at 281-402-2620 or e-mail us at sales@pcsn.net with your referral’s name and contact information today!
Client Spotlight
Select Insurance Markets, provider of quality insurance markets to agents in Texas made the decision to move infrastructure to the cloud about five years ago.
In SIM’s case, the driver wasn’t so much as to reduce cost but to make the enterprise more nimble, by being able to update and deploy apps easily and instantly to all users, guarantee uptime to end users and provide users ability to work from anywhere.
SIM has gone from private cloud to public cloud and has enjoyed additional benefits with every iteration of the transition.
IT Costs have been reduced, data breaches are a thing of the past and since users can now work from anywhere, anytime, we actually see users working late into the night which would not be practical if the users had to come into the office.
This has not only allowed the company to grow but also to increase profitability and branch into more markets than it would have been possible with a traditional infrastructure.
When Service
Becomes A Disservice
Today is a tough time to be a bookseller. Whether you’re a local, independent bookstore or a chain mega-giant, the online market is putting the squeeze on your bread and butter. Personally, I want bookstores to succeed despite the new digital world. I always prefer brick-and-mortar to digital.
For that reason, I’m a longtime fan of Barnes & Noble. There’s one near my office that I visit frequently to check out new arrivals and figure out what to read next. But lately, something’s changed. In the past, it could be difficult to find someone to help me around the store. Today, it is difficult to avoid someone trying to help – whether I want them to or not.
Today’s Barnes & Noble stores usually have an employee waiting for you at the front of the store. They ask what you’re looking for, and if you’re like me, you reply, “Oh, nothing, just looking.” This spurs them to belt out a spiel about specials and book recommendations. It can be off-putting, to say the least, and it’s the perfect example of when service feels less like help and more like a hustle.
Successful businesses always guide and sell to their prospects, but customers don’t want to feel pressured and pushed. How can you tell when you’ve crossed the line? It’s a vital question for anyone who wants to provide exemplary customer service.
I believe there are four tiers of poor service:
1. Avoidance. Employees aren’t visible or easily identified, and you have to hunt them down.
2. Apathy. You can find employees, but they seem at worst annoyed by your questions and
indifferent at best. They’re just going through the motions.
3. Assertiveness. Employees initiate contact both by greeting customers and offering to help. “How may I help you?” is the classic phrase. If the customer responds with, “Just looking,” all that’s needed in response is, “Please let me know if I can be of any assistance.” No pressure.
4. Aggressiveness. Employees engage with everyone who comes in, regardless of the customer’s receptivity or lack thereof. They assume you know what you want and ask what it is. When you try to get them off your back, they launch into a sales pitch.
We all like employees who are knowledgeable, friendly and eager to help. But too much enthusiasm turns service into a disservice. Skip the canned sales pitches and only guide customers who are looking for your help.
Mark Sanborn, CSP, CPAE, is the president of Sanborn & Associates, Inc., an “idea studio” that seeks to motivate and develop leaders in and outside of business. He’s the bestselling author of books like Fred Factor and The Potential Principle and a noted expert on leadership, team building, customer service and company change. He holds the Certified Speaking Professional designation from the National Speakers Association and is a member of the Speaker Hall of Fame. Check out any of his excellent books, his video series, “Team Building: How to Motivate and Manage People,” or his website, marksanborn.com, to learn more.
3 Ways To Protect Your Business From Cyber-Attacks
1. Plan for the worst.
The sad truth is that, no matter how much most businesses prepare their defenses for a cyber-attack, a breach will often occur anyway. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t invest in protection, but you should always have a plan in place if and when crisis strikes. Include actions to contain the breach, patch the affected systems, and coordinate teams (not just IT) to stay on top of the problem.
2. Keep your team in the know. The vast majority of breaches are instigated through minor errors by everyday employees. These
noncompliant security behaviors aren’t just bad for your business; they’re bad for PR. That’s why cyber security should be everyone’s priority, not just the techies in your business. That means educating everyone on what to watch out for and what to do when hackers come knocking at your door.
3. Budget for robust cyber security.
Of course, all of these measures won’t mean a thing if you don’t actually invest in cyber security. Instead of a one-and-done task to check off, cyber security actions should be a regular component of your day-today. Include the costs of training, employee time, documentation, consulting
and the latest security innovations.
Smallbiztrends.com, 11/20/2018
5 Mistakes Leaders Make That Keep Their Companies From Growing
1. Becoming complacent. No matter how comfortable the status quo is, stagnation only leads to failure down the road.
2. Pouring money into a failing project. When a venture fails, it’s best to learn from it and move on rather than dump more resources into a clunker.
3. Entering a new market without the requisite knowledge. Don’t overreach – only expand your business’s focus when you really know what you’re getting into, inside and out.
4. Focusing on the short-term. Never take an immediate win that will jeopardize long-term success.
5. Succumbing to analysis paralysis. Overthinking is fatal. Stay nimble and informed, but don’t let it stop you from actually acting.
Inc.com, 11/8/2018
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