5 easy things you should do to protect your business now · 2014-09-04 · 5 easy things you should...

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“As a business owner, you don’t

have time to waste on technical and

operational issues. That’s where we

shine! Call us and put an end to your

IT problems finally and forever!”

- Debi Bush, CMIT Solutions of Denver

Volume VI, Issue IX September, 2012

Denver, Colorado

Inside This Issue…

5 Easy Things You Should Do To Protect Your Business Now…………………..…..... 3 Smart Apps You Should Be Using Now….………………..Page 2 What’s The Harm In Personal Web Surfing and E-mailing At Work?...................................Page 3 What You Need To Know About PCI Compliance...........Page 4

“M” Is For Mobility…...…..Page 5

Change Is Inevitable…...……Page 6

Are You Ready For Some

Football?…….…….………....Page 7

5 Easy Things You Should Do To Protect Your Business Now

Let’s face it; no one likes to think about bad things

happening to them, much less planning for them. But since

September is National Disaster Preparedness month, we

wanted to give you a quick “brush up” on some simple things

you can (and should!) be doing to protect your business.

1. Review Your Business Insurance Carefully. Most

businesses carry some type of general liability

insurance that would pay them if their building and the things in it were

damaged. However, many businesses do not have enough coverage to replace

all the computer equipment and devices, desks, art, supplies and other things

they’ve accumulated over the years that are housed in their office. Make sure

you review your policy every year and keep in mind new additions and assets

you’ve accumulated during that year.

2. Consider Cloud Computing. One of the biggest advantages of cloud

computing is that your data and assets are stored off-site in a highly secure,

high-availability data center, with failover and redundancy built in. That means

that if your building were destroyed and you had to evacuate or if your server

melted down due to an unexpected hardware failure, everything you’ve worked

so hard to create over the years is safe and not a sitting duck in your unsecured

closet or server room.

3. Secure Your Data. Making sure that your data is protected from theft is a

never-ending battle you don’t want to lose. Companies that get hacked and

expose sensitive client and employee data can face severe penalties, lawsuits

and massive loss of credibility in the marketplace. Make sure you never have

to send an e-mail to your customers explaining the bad news that a hacker

accessed their info through you. Further, if you keep any sensitive information

(even passwords to portals containing sensitive information) on portable

laptops, phones and other devices, make sure you have a way of controlling

and safeguarding that information.

4. Write A Simple Disaster Recovery Plan. The key word here is “simple.” If

your plan gets too complicated or difficult, you won’t do it. But, at a minimum,

think of the disaster that is most likely to happen and that would have a severe

and negative impact on your company’s survival.

5. Review Your Employee’s Internet Policy. With so many people “addicted”

to Facebook and Twitter, it’s important that your employees know where the

line is in what they can and can’t post online. We also recommend content

filtering software to block content and web sites you don’t want employees

visiting during work hours.

And remember, we can help you with all of the above items; just give us a call

and the consultation is FREE!

Phil’s In The Corner

Remember me writing that

Debi and I were in Illinois in

late July for a Pacesetters

mastermind meeting. Well,

before the meeting started Debi

and I met with a strategic

partner of ours to do a video

shoot. I wasn’t too crazy about

being interviewed in front of a

camera, but I agreed to Debi’s

request because she said it

could be a great marketing tool

for our business.

It was strange going through

the interview and pretty cool

at the same time. Bill, our

interviewer, asked each of us

about our childhoods and

transitioned to how what we

learned and experienced as

kids translated into how we

manage our CMIT business. I

have been known to tell the

story of how my father could

run a meeting comprised of

buyers and sellers of commer-

cial properties and everyone

would leave the room happy.

That is my belief system for

my CMIT business—I want all

parties to see the value in the

solution and have complete

buy-in. As someone who likes

to have full understanding in a

client relationship, I am so glad

that I had my Dad’s stellar

example to follow.

More to come on the video!


3 Smart Apps You Should Be Using Now

Since the launch of Apple's App Store in 2008, the number of smartphone apps

has proliferated to the point where the catch phrase, “There’s an app for that” has

been overheard in conversations everywhere as a joke answer to any question or

problem.

But the reality is there actually has been a flood of smartphone apps designed to

make our lives easier. Here are the top 2 apps we’ve found that we like the most:

Evernote: The purpose of this app is to

help you organize…well, everything!

Evernote lets you capture images, notes,

documents and more; but what makes this

app super-useful is its ability to scan images

and documents. If you’re looking for a way

to finally organize your crazy-busy life, this

may be it!

Cost: Free

Notability: Along the same lines as

Evernote, Notability is an app to help

keep your organized; but what makes

this app special is its ability to

integrate handwriting, voice

recording, PDF annotation, and

media into a single app.

You can even enhance your notes by

adding pictures from your photo

library or from other mobile devices’

camera. Insert web clips, figures, and

drawings to compliment your notes. Crop, resize, and draw on images to make

them perfect. Cost: $0.99

Robin For Android Phones: A

Driver Friendly Siri—In case

you’re not familiar, Siri is a very

popular application for iPhones that

is, essentially, an intelligent personal

assistant turned into a cool voice-

driven tool. But now Android users

have their own “Robin” which is

similar to Siri but built for drivers.

You can ask Robin for directions,

local places, real-time parking,

traffic info, gas prices, weather, your

Twitter news and much more. Best

of all, you can keep your eyes on the road and off your phone. Cost: Free


Shiny New Gadget

Of The Month

Disaster Supplies Kit

www.beprepared.com

Although this isn’t a

“gadget,” we wanted to give

you a resource for

preparing your home and

family for any emergency;

after all, it IS National

Disaster Preparedness

month.

The above web site,

beprepared.com, offers

ready-to-go “kits” you can

purchase that give you basic

survival essentials for food,

water, heat, sanitation,

basic shelter, light and

communication all packed

into a convenient, easy-to-

grab backpack. The site also

offers links to articles and

other web sites that would

provide useful in an

emergency situation.

Kits start for as little as

$16.95 and go up to a little

over $100; not a bad price

to pay for a little peace of

mind. And although it’s a

bit early to start thinking

about the holidays, these

may be the perfect gift for

the guy or gal who has

everything.

So What’s The Harm In A Little Personal Web Surfing And E-mailing Now And Again At Work?

Staggering When You Look At These Alarming Statistics:

Another Monday morning and you look over your office of busy employees hard at work on their computers.

What you may not realize is…

Angela from Sales is searching for another job. She surfs all of your competitor’s sites and uploads her resume to their HR department…

John in Production is reviewing this weekend’s game highlights play-by-play on his favorite sports site…

Jeff in Customer Support is making the entire network run slow by downloading huge MP3 files of Mega Death live in concert…

Mary, your secretary is accessing her personal Gmail account via your network and accidentally downloading a virus…

Dave from Shipping is on hotdate.com looking at questionable photos…

If you have employees with unmonitored access to e-mail and the Internet, there are a number of activities they can participate in that can harm your business:

1. Bandwidth Costs: Heavy graphics, video clips, and audio files are particularly notorious for clogging digital pipelines. If your staff is emailing photos of their family vacation to their friends, paying bills online, or downloading music, they are using up a huge amount of expensive bandwidth and slowing down your organization as a result.

2. Legal Liability: 70% of all Internet porn traffic occurs during the 9-to-5 workday (SexTracker) and 27% of Fortune 500 companies have been accused of sexual harassment stemming from inappropriate e-mail and Internet usage. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that companies can be held accountable for their employees forwarding offensive messages and viewing pornography.

3. A Damaged Reputation: A lawyer at a London firm forwarded an explicit email he received from a female acquaintance to several co-workers as a joke. Unfortu-nately, they sent it on to a few of their friends and within a short period of time, thousands of people from around the world, including the press, received it. Because of this e-mail, they ended up in a huge controversy that hurt their image and credibility.

4. Loss of Productivity: E-mail and the Internet offer a temptation that is hard to resist; that’s why 73% of employees who use the Internet are fully aware that they are consuming valuable bandwidth and hampering critical business activities with inappropriate Internet usage – but do it anyway.

5. Viruses and Spyware: Employees can accidentally (or intentionally!) download harmful viruses and spyware through music files, screen savers, and other online files.

So What Can You Do To

Protect Your Organization? Contact CMIT Denver at 303-

756-2648 To Discuss Protecting Your Data And

Business


AS SOON AS You Get Frustrated With a

Computer, Network Or Some Other Issue,

SAVE TIME, MONEY & MORE UPSET…..

Do you hesitate to call your IT support because you don’t want to bother them? Maybe you think it will cost your company more IF you were to call?

The Bush Kids, CMIT’s Cheerleaders, want to make sure that CMIT’s clients do not hesitate to call our support team. CMIT’s goal is to ensure that our clients are taken care of quickly and with focused attention. Daniel, Aaron and Isabella are natives of Denver. They love it here and enjoy going to see family in Florida, Texas, Missouri and Califor-nia. They are in 10th, 7th and 5th grade respectively. Favorite Sports: Football and Gymnastics Favorite Game To Play: Madden Football and Gin Favorite Restaurant: Kona Grill and Noodles Favorite Magazine: Sports Illustrated

Attention All Businesses Processing,

Storing Or Handling Credit Cards:

What You Need To Know About PCI Compliance

PCI Compliance is shorthand for Payment Card Industry

Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), and it is a set of legal

requirements for any business that processes, stores or

accepts credit card payments, even if they use a third-party

processor. PCI was designed with one goal in mind: to

prevent credit card fraud and identity theft. To that end,

there are 12 compliance requirements and all must be

implemented for a merchant to be certified as compliant.

Who’s Behind It?

The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) was

launched on September 7, 2006 to manage the ongoing evolution of the

Payment Card Industry (PCI) security standards. The PCI DSS is

administered and managed by the PCI SSC (www.pcisecuritystandards.org),

an independent body that was created by the major payment card brands

(Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and JCB).

What Are The Requirements To Comply? Most of the 12 requirements are just common sense. For example, you

never want to store your customers’ credit card numbers in an unsecured

media, like tape backups, and you want to use good, strong passwords for

important web portals and system access.

Other parts of the compliance regulations are IT security measures you

should have in place anyway, such as up-to-date firewalls, security patch

management, encrypting cardholder data transmission, developing an in-

house security policy and restricting access to your processing network. If IT

security is not your core focus, then you probably want to bring in a team of

pros (us!) to determine if you truly are meeting the compliance standards and

to manage your network to ensure security stays updated.

How Do You Know If You’re Compliant? A full list of the requirements, along with a self-assessment, can be found

on this web site: www.pcisecuritystandards.org. But if you want to be

certain, give us a call for a FREE Security Assessment so we can look at your

computer network and systems to see where your weaknesses lie. Even if the

PCI security requirements weren’t mandated by law, these are the kind of

guidelines you would want to adopt anyway to ensure the security of your

processing system and your customers’ data.


Football Quotes

for September

“Football is like life - it

requires perseverance, self-

denial, hard work, sacrifice,

dedication and respect for

authority.”

~ Vince Lombardi

“If a man watches three foot-

ball games in a row, he should

be declared legally dead.”

~ Erma Bombeck

“In life, as in football, you

won't go far unless you know

where the goalposts are.”

~Arnold H. Glasgow

“Truth is tough. It will not

break, like a bubble, at a

touch; nay, you may kick it

about all day like a football,

and it will be round and full

at evening.”

~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

“After all, is football a game

or a religion?”

~ Howard Cosell

“Football, that's just athletics.

But in the business world -

doing everything - people are

competing. So you need good

work ethics, and I think it

helped me to develop good

work ethics, being in a small

town.”

~ Herschel Walker

“M” Is For Mobility Our theme for September is “Mobility” within the context of

football and your business. An important element of our IT

playbook for our clients is to place their organization at a

competitive advantage. Having a healthy technology environ-

ment is the first step in the process of taking advantage of

Mobility. In football, there is a lot of training and readiness of

the mind and body that is necessary to just be ready to perform

at a high level for an extended period of time; not just for one

series of plays. For our CMIT Solutions of Denver’s clients, this

means that we assess, monitor and manage their IT systems and

networks so they can perform efficiently on a daily basis. With-

out a solid regimen in place and a healthy “body” the ability to

leverage the myriad of your technology devices (desktop, tablet,

smartphone) at any time and anywhere is all for naught.

The flexibility of switching things up in your everyday life keeps

you more mobile. Utilizing synchronized calendars with all of

your devices is a stark and prime example of the beauty of

Mobility. It can also be a curse because you can be connected all

the time so beware of the downside of mobility. There is wear

and tear on your mind and body and you need to take a break to

regain your strength.

Check with your IT staff to ensure that your system is set up

correctly to support your mobility needs including security of

your data.

CMIT Solutions of Denver is

your Technology Quarterback,

Coach and Team that will help

guide your business past the

goal line time and time again.


A Little Back To School Humor

Knock Knock!

Who’s there?

Dewey.

Dewey who?

Dewey have to go to school

today?

Have you heard about the

teacher who was cross-eyed?

She couldn’t control her pupils!

What school supply is always

tired?

A knapsack!

Teacher: Why is your

homework in your father’s

handwriting?

Pupil: I used his pen!

Teacher: You’ve got your shoes

on the wrong feet.

Pupil: But these are the only

feet I’ve got!

What is white when it’s dirty

and black when its clean?

A blackboard!

Teacher: How many seconds in

a year?

Student: 12, January 2nd,

February 2nd, March 2nd…

Mother: George, why does your

geography exam have a big zero

over it?

George: It is not a zero. The

teacher ran out of stars, so she

gave me a moon instead!

Change Is Inevitable

If a company is going to stay in business, it has to change, and that can be scary. A Navy aviator once told me that many pilots have died because they stayed with their disabled aircraft too long. They preferred the familiarity of the cockpit to the unfamiliarity of the parachute, even though the cockpit had become a death trap and the parachute had become a ticket to life.

Many businesses have died because their people preferred the familiar but deadly old ways to the risky but rewarding new ways. The secret to successful change is to make it controlled change. If the change is well-planned and under control, the people affected will have a sense of stability amid change, and that can be reassur-ing.

One of the most important things you can do is to explain the rea-sons for the change. Change is easier to take when people can see a rationale behind it. Another way of easing anxiety is to show how advance planning minimizes risks. Let people know what to expect, step by step. No surprises, no alarm.

Planned changes usually move through three stages: softening, reshaping and restabilizing. During the softening stage, employees have to unlearn old habits. During the reshaping phase, new ways must be implanted. During restabilization, these new ways must become new habits.

You can smooth the way toward change through pilot projects that enable employees to go through trial runs before “going live.” You can also find people who are familiar with the new ways and let them model them for the rest of your people.

I’ve learned, through consulting with companies implementing change, that the job is never finished. Successful companies look for ways to institutionalize change. When a company’s people are oriented to change and educated in effective ways to bring it about, it’s geared up for the future.

Guest article provided by: Dr. Nido Qubein is president of High Point University, an undergraduate and graduate institution with 4,500 students from over 51 countries. He has authored two dozen books and audio programs distributed worldwide. His foundation provides scholarships to 48 deserving young people each year. As a business leader, he is chairman of Great Harvest Bread Company with 220 stores in 43 states. He serves on the boards of several national organizations including BB&T (a Fortune 500 company with $164 billion-dollars in assets), the La-Z-Boy Corporation (one of the largest and most recognized furniture brands worldwide) and Dots Stores (a chain of fashion boutiques with more than 400 locations across the country.) Learn more about Dr. Qubein at www.nidoqubein.com.


CMIT QuickTip On Demand

We’ve received more than a few user complaints about odd behaviors in Adobe Reader X, the PDF viewer from Adobe, Inc. Problems range from the program crashing while attempting to print, to inordinately slow load times. If you’re experiencing problems with Reader X, make sure you have upgraded to the latest version (currently 10.1.3). If you’re still experiencing problems, try disabling the program’s “protected mode,” which is enabled by default. To disable Protected Mode, go to Adobe Reader’s Edit menu and select “Preferences” (or CTRL+K). Select “General” in the left-hand column, then uncheck the box towards the bottom of the right-hand pane that says “Enable Protected Mode at startup.”

Protected Mode prevents malicious PDFs from executing JavaScript

commands that could damage your system. However, as long as you’re running an anti-virus program with Active Scan, you should be okay. Nonetheless, only disable Protected Mode if you’re experiencing problems.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

My family and I went to the Broncos-49ers game last weekend. What a great start to the game from both our offensive and defensive teams! It was interesting to watch the game pro-gress after Peyton Manning left the field and the 2nd and 3rd stringers got their time to shine (or not). I was thinking to myself—”what would happen if the Starters got injured or sick? What

would happen to the Broncos’ ability to win and support each other for the remainder of the game and perhaps even the season if there were major injuries to the Starting Team?”

One answer to this potentially disturbing query is that a deep

bench is needed. We can’t and shouldn’t depend solely on the Mannings, Deckers, McGahees, Baileys and Praters of this world. The Broncos, as well as your company and my CMIT Denver business, must have a solid team that can support each other whenever needed. For our business, we facilitate the handing off of the ball by having solid documentation on our clients’ networks and the client as a whole. Then, if one of the primary engineers on the account were sick or on vacation, another team member can easily step up and take over without a hiccup.

Another preventative strategy is to have colleagues/team play-ers be aware of the plays. This can be likened to an under-study in the theater world. That person knows their role or char-

acter and is an understudy for the first string or lead performer and knows all of their lines. This is not to say that there won’t be any difficulties in carrying out the “play” (we are back to football terminology); however, the team will be ready to block and tackle to achieve the ultimate goal—taking care of each other where you will succeed and win with integrity.

The Broncos are in the midst of cutting their roster from 90 to 53 players. What kind of performances must be executed on game day, daily training practices and in the locker room to win at the end of the day? What is the culture of the organiza-tion that inspires individuals to succeed and for their team to succeed? This is just a “little” something to ponder. Who will stay and who will leave?

(Continued on back page)

Bush Boys at Broncos-49ers game


Are you and your colleagues at your business, volunteer organization or even your family truly Ready For Some Football? Do you have a playbook for how you want to run your business or home? Let’s bring back a message from last month’s newsletter about being Intentional and Pur-poseful. Are you running your business, volunteer group or home with an overarching strategy that is furthered by hav-ing smart tactics? My new friend, Mike, from my industry owns a top notch IT company. From what I have seen and heard from him in two months time, he has a winning team which means the outcomes for his company and ultimately for his clients are fantastic. He is using some of the same guidelines and prin-ciples that any size company or team can use. Like most successful entrepreneurs and business leaders, he borrows

concepts and ideas (e.g. plays) from others. Mike sent me a copy of Verne Harnish’s Mastering the Rockefeller Habits and it reminds me that I need to embrace the Rock Habits teachings and execute like Mike does. [OK, I am also a bit biased towards Mike because he is a fellow Rotarian]. I heard Verne Harnish share how he has even tweaked his One Page Strategy plan and reduced the number of goals from 3 to 1 and the results have been phenomenal. My new Rock Habits book is inscribed with the following: “JFK said, ‘Things don’t happen. Things are made to happen.’ ”

925 S. Niagara St., Suite 220

Denver, CO 80224

Phone: 303-756-2648

Fax: 303-484-7314

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.CMITDenver.com

Blog: cmitdenver.wordpress.com

E-Newsletter Articles:

cmitdenvernews.wordpress.com

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/

cmitdenver

LinkedIn: www.LinkedIn.com/in/

cmitdenver

Call us now at

303-756-2648

to request your copy

of our book!

Debi’s To Do Reading List

The Energy Bus For Kids: A Story About Staying Positive And Overcoming Challenges by Jon Gordon

Warm Regards,

P.S. If you’re not receiving my monthly e-newsletter or CMIT

QuickTip, please email me at [email protected] to request

that your name be added.

5 easy things you should do to protect your business now · 2014-09-04 · 5 easy things you should...

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