We want to address the fact that you may have a system that does an effective job at capturing information, but there may be a component that you don’t even realize you’re missing. It’s called the “why” factor.

In the enterprise space, ERP packages like SAP and Oracle take over the function of recording the sales order, supporting processes needed for delivery, invoicing and accounting. However, they may be missing components that clue companies into the “why”, relating to missing commitments or lack of performance that shows up in a KPI (key performance indicator).

RSA Corp  has addressed this void for clients by developing software analysis tools and applications that tie into ERP systems. In one case, it involved a job shop manufacturing facility that used RSA’s app to utilize the information coming out of the ERP to grade the prior day’s job performance. In another case, it was to develop an analysis tool to determine why commitments were being missed and shipments weren’t meeting their schedule. you can find more information on this case by reading the blog “Mary Had a Custom App, Custom App, Custom App!“. Regardless of what app or ERP you’re using to support your core business operations, if you’re not measuring it, you could be missing out on a major “what” – MONEY!

Is this how you track your inventory? THERE IS A BETTER WAY! Give Fido a break and spend a little time investigating the benefits you’d receive from improving your inventory accuracy.

If you need to track inventory, whether stored in multiple locations or as it moves through your manufacturing process, immediate knowledge of the location of each unique piece reduces your costs. Not knowing where your inventory is detracts measurably from your bottom line by contributing to increased labor expenses because of inefficiencies in locating items and/or the need to overstock items to account for this or for manufacturing delays.

The good news is, your problem has most probably been seen before…and therefore there’s a known solution. The challenge is in bringing that solution to you in a manner that works with your existing ERP or operational systems. For that, the most expedient approach may be to engage a partner who can not only “see” your problem and its solution but also knows how to tie that solution into your existing applications.

For a really unique approach to one customer’s problem, read this RSA Case Study to see how customized inventory tracking allows inventory to be visible at all points in time.

If you’ve survived the last five years with the recession and business stagnation, chances are you’ve already implemented, completed, or attempted several improvements to your business processes and have come to realize that continuous improvement is crucial to surviving in the current business environment.

You might now be at the point of knowing what you’d like your new process to look like but be struggling with how to implement it. Improvements based solely on changes to manual processes are much easier to implement than those that require changes to automated systems. Yet in many cases, the big wins come from automating repetitive clerical tasks or augmenting knowledge worker tasks with automated support processes.

In many instances, “extending” the capabilities of your ERP or other operational system establishes the base of significantly reducing the clerical labor and providing the leverage you’d like to gain. The question is how to deal with the technology of your ERP.

What you might not have considered is combining outside eyes with in-house expertise to develop the tools you need to move to the next level. In teaming key members of your staff, who understand your current work flow and your business rules, with a partner, who has the analysis and development expertise to augment the capabilities of your existing system, you can often have the best of both worlds; the reliable backbone services provided by your ERP as well as custom capabilities for those few instances where your processes are not fully supported by your existing system.

Many of these extensions are lightweight, but have impactful results and allow you to recoup your cost within weeks. Here are a few differences we’ve made for our clients by extending their systems: ERP/Application Extension Successes.

Agile processes provide visibility, flexibility, and early results through adaptive planning, evolutionary development, iterative delivery, rapid and flexible response to change.

Are you curious how others are implementing this?   Are you looking to transform your team or process?  How can you leverage Agile to bring value to your business?

The first step in making this transition is to educate yourself and your teams (development teams, managers, and stakeholders) on the benefits and processes of Agile through Agile training.  Talk to others who have successfully made the transition, and learn how to avoid potential pit falls.

Here at RSA Corp, we have implemented Agile Scrum as our core software development methodology.  Starting in January, we will be kicking off a series of webinars focusing on Agile Scrum processes, implementation and benefits.

If you are interested in making this transition or learning more about Agile Scrum, RSA Corp can help.

We welcome you to attend the Houston Agile Conference on January 20 and21^st 2012, to meet and network with our very own Kim Payne, certified Scrum Master and ALN Houston board member, and other Houston area Agile leaders and businesses who are successfully making the transition.

For more information or to register, click the below link:

http://agileleadershipnetwork.org/page/houston-leadership

Technical support is typically divided into multiple tiers that can also often be referred to as levels.  Most IT departments have accepted the practice of dividing their support analysts into 3 tiers/levels of support.  Tier 1 Support Agents deal with the majority of incoming calls to the help desk and create the trouble ticket that is to be analyzed/resolved.  Higher level (more complex) issues will be escalated to a Tier 2 (and possibly Tier 3 if necessary) Support Analyst.  Let’s talk about each tier individually and breakdown the functions of each.

Tier 1 Support

This is the 1^st line of defense and typically these Tier 1 Support Agents are the technicians responsible for gathering the users’ information, documenting the issue, and creating the trouble ticket for tracking/quality assurance purposes.   The more experienced Tier 1 analyst will also handle instances related to basic troubleshooting, password resets, application/internet navigation, and they will go over the basic troubleshooting techniques in order to determine what department/group should be assigned the issue.  Tier 1 analysts are generally young in their career/entry-level with typically 1-3 years of experience in IT.

If after the initial troubleshooting done by the Tier 1 Agent the issue cannot be resolved, the ticket will be escalated to a Tier 2 Support Analyst for more detailed diagnostics.

Tier 2 Support

These more experienced Support Analysts will start by reviewing the information and preliminary steps taken by the Tier 1 Support Agent.  Tier 2 Support Analysts are more experienced and generally have 4-8 years of IT Support experience, and many will be pursuing advanced certifications to strengthen their abilities.  They can quickly assess the situation based on this information provided and move towards resolving the issue.  At this level, more in depth troubleshooting occurs. These Analysts will have a more complex understanding of your specific hardware/software, network connectivity, and software related issues.  Due to their multiple years of experience troubleshooting/resolving similar technical issues on a daily basis they have experienced a wide variety of technical issues making them more familiar with how to resolve complex problems.  The Tier 2 team will utilize multiple types of diagnostic tools in order to take appropriate actions to fix the problem quickly.  This may include diagnostic testing, software analysis, software repair, hardware repair/replacement, and utilizing remote control tools to take over your system for the purpose of finding the root cause (and therefore a solution) to the issues a customer is experiencing.  If the Tier 2 Analyst has exhausted all their resources and the problem still persists, or if they determine it is an issue that they do not have the necessary level of access to resolve…they will then escalate the problem to a Tier 3 Analyst.

Tier 3 Support

The Tier 3 team is typically made up of more senior engineers that are specialized and often times they serve as the department’s SME (subject matter expert) on a particular area of the corporate IT infrastructure/software product suite.  These engineers are often highly certified holding accreditations like the MCSE, CCNA, CCNP, CISSP, and many others giving them a much more in depth understanding of how to manipulate and troubleshoot certain hardware/software issues in order to determine a solution.  Tier 3 Engineers are often called on to troubleshoot new/unknown issues with a particular device or application.  The average experience level for a Tier 3 Engineer is usually 10+ years allowing them an extensive background working with the hardware/software that is causing the issue.

The life of a trouble ticket can be unpredictable and sometimes even a simple situation like a username/password issue can lead to uncovering complex root issues that caused the problem in the first place.  The end result is always to resolve the issue as quickly as possible with as little downtime for the customer.  Utilizing the 3 tier support system allows a team to determine the proper course of action through a proven approach.  It can be frustrating at times, but rest assured that your issue is important and the IT Support Team is actively troubleshooting/analyzing this event.  They are not only working to solve the immediate problem for you fast and efficiently, but to hopefully ensure it doesn’t happen again to you or anyone else within the organization.

As an IT Staffing professional, the questions often asked by my candidates are, “What certifications should I pursue” and “do I need certain certifications to be successful.”  There are certainly advantages to being certified, and many times employers will seek out particular certifications over a technical 4-year degree.  These are the top 5 hottest and most highly requested certifications that are the most beneficial in today’s IT market.

1. CompTIA A+

The A+ certification is an entry level certification that all aspiring IT Professionals should achieve.  It shows commitment to starting your career out with more than just book knowledge, and it demonstrates that you can apply your learned skills to real-world troubleshooting issues.  Later in your career this certification won’t carry as much impact, but if you are new in the industry and looking for an edge over the growing competition, I would suggest this as your starting point to add that extra piece to your resume the next guy decided to skip.

2. MCTS/MCITP

These are the newest IT Infrastructure related certifications from Microsoft.  They are quickly gaining popularity and will set you apart from the hundreds (thousands) of others with similar skills and experience.  Microsoft has led the way in corporate computing environments in most industries, so it is only fitting that they lead the way in industry-standard certifications.  These certifications give a hiring manager /recruiter a sense of confidence that you have the knowledge and dedication to be successful.  They are targeted certifications for your specific skill set.  Some of the more popular (and valuable) certifications in these categories would be: Windows Server, Exchange, Virtualization, SQL Server, Visual Studio, Windows Client, and Windows Mobil.  With a targeted certification like these, you don’t have a broad-range generalized certification of Microsoft products…you actually show value to your interviewing manager by having certified your expertise in the primary technology currently leading the industry, which is why these are highly sought after by IT Managers nationwide.

3. CCNA/CCNP/CCIE

Cisco networking products are by far the most widely used switching/routing technology and has been the industry standard for many years.  Other competing products have started to become more common in certain industries, but Cisco is still the standard by which all others are compared, so it only makes sense that this line of certifications be the standard by which all potential employees are compared as well.  For a career in corporate enterprise level networking, these certifications should be considered a “must have” to be successful.  The education they provide shows a premier example that you are one of “the best” in the business.  Hiring managers and recruiters looking for experienced networking professionals will often look to see if the person has achieved their Cisco certification level that is appropriate for the job, and begin to choose who they will interview from there.  CCNA (at a minimum) should be acquired by anyone with a career that involves routing/switching, and many employers will require it to be obtained before they will hire you…or within 90 days of starting the job.  The further certifications only prove your value as a senior associate and subsequent pay increases are certainly to follow as your certification level increases with experience and further education.  CCIE professionals are some of the most highly sought after (and highly paid) IT Professionals in the United States today.  I don’t expect this to change anytime soon, so if you’re making a career out of routing/switching and Cisco is your core experience (which it should be) then you should highly consider pursuing these certifications to help advance your career to the next level.

4. ITIL (Foundation/Practitioner/Manager)

ITIL standards are quickly becoming the foundation of operating an efficient IT Service Management department.  ITIL framework defines how the system and network management departments should be defined for peak efficiency.  As more and more IT departments strive to adhere to ITIL standards they are seeking out employees that are certified in the ITIL Foundations in order to continue to perform at peak efficiency.  I have hiring managers that will not consider adding to their staff if the individual has not previously worked in an ITIL shop or already has the ITIL Foundations certification.  I foresee this becoming more and more common as corporations embrace the advantages these principals add to their organization.

5. CISSP

The CISSP was the first credential in the field of information security accredited by the ANSI (American National Standards Institute) to ISO Standard 17021:2003.  Corporate security has always been a concern, but even more so in today’s cyber world of high tech computing and network/server hacking warfare.  There are several security related certifications and all of them will add value to your background and credibility to your skills, but none as much as the CISP.  This certification is probably the most requested certification from hiring managers looking for senior level IT security professionals.  If you have at least five years of IT Networking and IT Security experience, this should be one of you next career goals. I should also note that this certification ranked among the top 5 highest paid certified IT professionals in the industry.

By focusing strictly on technology related certifications in this list there are many that I have not mentioned, but are very highly sought after as well.  A PMP certification (for example) is almost always requested when I’m asked to find an experienced Project Manager.  Having a PMP is crucial to a successful career in Project Management.  There are other certifications in a variety of technical specialties, but those listed above are the ones that I am asked about most often.  Some of these certifications are important when beginning your career, and some of them are critical to achieving that next level of advancement (professionally and financially) as your career grows.  My advice is once you are on a career path, ask around from other industry professionals to see what‘s new and sought after.  Then decide if a related certification will help you pursue that career path.  More often than not I would imagine it certainly will.

Information is everywhere regarding what you should say/do in an interview.  But it can be just as important to realize what not to say/do.  It is also imperative to note that what you say can be communicated through both your words and actions.  Let’s talk about some of the more common ways that people have ruined their chances at getting an offer.

1. You arrive late to the interview.

What it means: “I really don’t care about getting this position.”

It is always recommended to arrive at least 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment time to give you time to collect your thoughts, review your notes and make a good first impression.

2. You’re rude to the receptionist.

What it means: “I’m difficult to work with…you’re a snob that thinks people are beneath you.”

Remember…receptionists are the gate keepers and it’s their job to be the eyes and ears of the company.  Also it’s important to note that, if hired, you may need their help with something one day.

3. You answer questions with trite or cliché responses.

What it means: “I’m just one of the crowd.”

Telling the interviewer you are a perfectionist and expect too much of yourself is sure to elicit a yawn.  These standard/canned answers are so over-used.  Be original and actually try to think about an answer that is personal to you.  Prepare potential responses ahead of time to avoid relying on the usual interview cliché answers.  Don’t try so hard to find some cute way of saying something.  Just be honest about yourself, direct answers with merit are always the best choice.

4. You don’t ask questions.

What it means: “I’m not that interested in your company or this job.”

The interview should be a two-way conversation to determine if you are the right fit for the company, and if the company is the right fit for you. Use the interview to gather as much information about your potential new position as possible, but don’t dominate the conversation.  You need to give the interviewer time to get to know you too.

5. You answer the standard “Tell us about yourself,” with “What would you like to know?”

What it means: “I have nothing special to offer this company.”

This is your opportunity to steer the conversation into areas where you truly shine. Don’t waste this chance by appearing to lack any outstanding qualities you want to share. And please don’t start with where you were born. Focus on your career unless your birthplace is relevant to the job. It is very (VERY) rare that an interviewer will ask you this question and expect a personal life story.  They want to know the relevant details of your experience/life that actually have something to do with the job/company where you are interviewing.

6. You use inappropriate language.

What it means: “I’m unprofessional and if it shows in the short span of an interview, imagine what I’ll be like in the office.”

Even if they’re only mild and using somewhat acceptable words, there still is no place for them in the interview.  Adhering to proper grammar (no slang) and definitely NEVER use offensive language at any time during the interview.

7. Bad-mouth your former boss or company.

What it means: “I have no discretion…I’ll blab any inside information.”

If you left your prior job on poor terms, you need to put this relationship in a positive light for the interview.  Even if your old boss really was to blame…you don’t’ want to say that in your interview.  You never want to bring negativity into the interview.  Keep it positive and upbeat.

8. You ask the interviewer not to contact your former employer.

What it means: “I have something to hide.”

Even if you do not get along with your boss, you can always name someone else in the organization as a reference.

9. You exaggerate your accomplishments or credentials.

What it means: “I need to lie to make myself look good.”

A skilled interviewer can easily identify fabrications in your background or experience.  State your qualifications with confidence.  Be proud of what you can do and how well you can do it.  You don’t have to be Superman to get hired; you just have to be right for the job.

10. You don’t thank the interviewer.

What it means: “I have no manners.”

Forgetting to thank your interviewers in writing for their time can take the luster from even the most stellar interviewee.  Always ask for a business card so you have the ability to send a follow-up “thank you” letter once you get home.

These are 10 of the most important things NOT to do as these have all proven in the past to be “deal killers”.  I have personally experienced people losing their job offer based on 1 of these items over the years.  These things will truly ruin your chances of being hired.

First of all, if you haven’t heard of SCRUM, it’s not soap residue.  It’s an agile process for developing software.  It’s totally different than the traditional waterfall development where all the business analysis is gathered up front, the prototypes are designed and the product is built to specifications that hopefully haven’t changed since the beginning of the project.

What makes SCRUM work for businesses?  To keep it simple, it cuts out the waste, speeds up development, testing and delivery.  It also improves the quality of the product with less rework needed because the client plays an integral role and is kept very close to the project.

Look familiar? It’s too bad there isn’t an electronic way to organize and manage your significant documents. Oh Wait!….There Is! Customized document management systems add value to your business by cutting costs, improving office efficiency and increasing overall productivity.

Beyond that, the installation of a separate full blown stand-alone document management system may be overkill if your problem is focused on the management of a specific document type such as material test reports or the product safety sheets associated with your inventory or manufactured goods. Many ERP systems provide the ability to link documents to operational records. What they lack are the mechanisms to scan, classify, and automatically establish the necessary links.

The field of document management can span solutions ranging from providing a simple electronic filing cabinet to the most sophisticated data extracting, workflow, record retention and automated disposition system. Thoughtful analysis of what brings value may very well reveal significant cost benefits and productivity improvements as a result of the implementation of simple and straight-forward process improvements such as the integration of a document management system with your ERP or other operational support system.

If integrating with your ERP, you should expect these benefits:

• Ensure the safe sharing of proprietary information among individuals and between collaborating departments by setting user permissions for each document

• Reduce costly administrative filing tasks by reducing paper piles and reclaim office space by eliminating filing cabinets

• Improve efficiency by providing access to important information from within your existing operational system

• Improve ability to search for documents and the associated items in your inventory

• Reduction in the time and labor spent tagging, categorizing and indexing your current documents and the reduction or elimination of the costs of time spent searching for misplaced folders

Alistair Cockburn, one of the initiators of the agile movement in software development, introduced this concept of learning in his book “Agile Software Development.”

The concept of “Shu Ha Ri”, is a Japanese martial arts concept that applies to the practice of learning, from beginner to the level of mastery. He wrote about three levels of practice: learn, detach, transcend and how we can apply them to our learning experiences.

Shu-Ha-Ri is a way to think about the levels of learning that we progress through as we gain knowledge about something.   The idea is that as in order for a person to master something they need to pass through three stages of growth.

• Shu: This is the beginning stage of learning where we follow and mimic the steps of others.    They focus on doing the task with knowing or worrying about the “why”.  This is a period of coping without adaption.

• Ha: The intermediate stage is the point the we begin to branch out. We gain knowledge of the “why” and start integrating what we have learned into our practice.

• Ri:  The mastery stage is a stage of continuation.   We aren’t  learning from other people anymore. We are learning from own experience and practice. We are able to adapt what we learn to their own experiences and circumstances.   This is also referred to as a state of flow, around some particular practice.

In my experience, I found this to be a true path when learning most anything.  First we start out by imitating and following, and then we move on to fluent mastery.

For example, a child learning to talk imitates the words other people in their lives are speaking not really fully knowing the meaning.   But then learning happens and the child begins to associate the word with real meaning, even though they only know how to use those words in a limited context.    Then more leaning happens (mastery) as the child begins to take the words they know and apply them to other contexts as they experience them.

However, I find myself at many different levels of learning for on a variety of differ things.    I can be a “Shu” on one practice, and “Ha” and “Ri” at others.   By the way, I feel like I have more “Ha” practices and very few “Ri” practices.

I am defiantly in the “Shu” stage on my golf game.  Just following the steps of my instructor, but still not really understanding the why’s of things like technique, club # , and such.  As compared to Roy Mcllroy’s performance at the U.S. Open, which undoubtedly classifies his practice as “Ri” (mastery).  (I don’t normally watch golf, but that was an exciting game!)

I will mostly likely never be a “Ri” at golf, so you might not want to pair up with me on the course if you’re looking to win.   But I am striving to get to “Ri” in my knowledge of other practices, such as team building, agile development, and intrinsic thinking.

So where do you find self in “Shu Ha Ri”?

You can find out more about this in Alistair’s book: Agile Software Development.

1. Keeping some information about your job/life a secret makes you look sneaky

There are times when keeping information discreet from a prospective employer is a good idea and then there are times when you need to put it all on the table.  When working with a recruiter for a job, it will benefit you to NOT hold these things back.  Talk about it with your recruiter and let them be your advisor to help strategize how to present the information and at what time.  Recruiters are highly beneficial in the job search process. They give you an advantage that other job applicants don’t have.  They KNOW the hiring manager who will be reviewing your resume. They know how they operate, their pet peeves, and what the manager really wants from an employee.  Trust your recruiter to help you, and they will trust you in return.  Hiding things about your professional or personal past will only make you look sneaky and hurt you in the end.

2. Being too vague about your skills and experience

You have worked at XYZ Company for 5 years, and yet your resume only has 2 or 3 bullet points describing your experience.  That doesn’t work.  Recruiters (and hiring managers) are not mind readers.  They aren’t going to be able to always know what tools and technology you used to accomplish your tasks at your job.  Being specific and describing not only what your accomplishments are in detail, but also the tools/technology you used to accomplish these tasks is highly important.  Name the software you used, what version, and how you utilized it will greatly increase your chances of being hired.  Not doing so will greatly increase your chances of being passed over for a job you might have been perfect for, but nobody knew it because you were too vague in your description.

3. The recruiter shouldn’t have to do ALL the work for you

Recruiters should not have to re-write your resume or hold your hand through the entire process.  Yes…a good recruiter will be sure to provide you with all the information at their disposal to be certain you are completely informed about the job skills, hiring manager’s personality, interviewing tips, and more, but do your research as well.  Look up the company and find out what they do.  Learn about the other skills the job is looking for but you might not have a lot of experience with.  There is a lot a headhunter will provide to ensure you have the tools you need to be successful, but you must be willing to take this information and tools and put them to effective use for your own success.

4. If you won’t modify your resume to fit the specific job better you look either lazy or you’re wrong candidate for the position

Your general resume was good enough for the recruiter to give you a call and learn more about you.  They know much more about the hiring manager’s needs/desires than what is on paper, and many times they will need you to spend a little time on your resume to “tweak” it a little in order to bring out the particular skills they know you have, but the hiring manager might have a hard time identifying them in the current version of your resume.  Unwillingness to put in the work here is a big “red flag” for headhunters.  This is an important benefit the recruiter is trying to share with you to help YOU.  Ignoring this part of the process will be a sign that they should just move on to the next person that is really serious about getting a new job.

5. If you don’t have the skills for the job don’t apply for the job

I can’t tell you how many times I receive resumes from candidates that have absolutely NOTHING to do with the job they are applying for.  It’s ridiculous.  Don’t send your resume to a job that you clearly do not have the required skills for.  Why waste your time and the time of a recruiter that could really help you if a job that matches your skills is available?  I’ve actually called a few of these people. Mainly to ask what their background and why they applied for this job.  Most common answer is, “I am a fast learner and can pick up any skills very quickly.”  That may be true, but recruiters are paid to find the skills the hiring manager needs now…not to find someone that could be trained.  Hiring managers can find someone to be trained on their own.  If you want to work with a particular recruiter or staffing company call them and ask to talk to the recruiting department.  They may have a job opening that matches your skills, but applying for one that clearly does not match your skills is just a waste of time.

6. Your online profiles and social media content DO matter and can cost you the job

This is becoming more and more of a problem.  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and various other social networking venues are being looked at by HR and hiring managers before an offer is made.  I have actually had candidates, who were technically great for the job, LOSE the offer because of their Facebook profile and the pictures they had out there online for public view.  I can’t stress this bit of advice enough…keep your personal life PRIVATE online and do NOT post pictures that a potential employer can view.  Create a private profile.  Lock out anyone you don’t know from viewing your pictures.  Good recruiters (and hiring managers) are looking up your online profiles to learn more about your personal life and it can cost you the job if there are things on there that can be considered “less than professional.”

7. Don’t wait until you are out of work to contact a recruiter – be proactive

Fact of life – hiring managers prefer to hire someone that is already gainfully employed.  It’s just the nature of the beast I guess.  Another reason to already be in contact with a trusted recruiter is to keep your resume and skills fresh on their minds.  When a job becomes available that your skills are a great match for, they can call you and tell you about it right away.  You might not be interested at that moment, but don’t wait until you are out of work to keep your options open. You must stay ahead of the competition.  Be pro-active with your resume and job search.  Not only will you be more marketable to a prospective hiring manager, but you won’t have to go through all the preliminary steps with the recruiter before the interview stage.  You’ll already have that out of the way and be that much closer to your new job.

8. Don’t make the headhunter guess what it is you are best at

This is similar to being thorough on your resume descriptions.  Talk with your recruiter about your skills and background to let them know where you excel.  There may be important things you are so used to being part of your daily life at work that you didn’t even think to put them on the resume.  These are things that hiring managers probably won’t assume you’re good at if they aren’t told.  If you don’t tell me what you can do…I don’t know you can.  Help me help you!!

9. Being secretive about your salary or being vague about your total compensation

This is another time waster almost as bad as submitting your resume for a job you clearly don’t have the skills for.  If you need $120,000 per year to consider a new job you need to tell the recruiter this information so they don’t call you for a job paying only $80,000 per year.  You know what your current compensation is and you know what you are really willing to consider.  The recruiter you’re working with needs to know this too in order to make sure you are the right person for the job.  There are a lot of considerations regarding compensation.  Location, benefits, bonuses, and corporate perks all play a part in the final decision to accept a job or not.  The recruiter knows the best ways to negotiate with their hiring managers.  They work with these managers constantly to match skills, compensation, and personality profiles to the job openings.  Hiding your compensation or not being willing to discuss this openly will cause problems in the hiring process and just complicate the situation.  Don’t wait until after weeks of interviewing to deal with an issue that could easily be out of the way before all that time was wasted for all people involved.

10. Constantly calling/harassing your headhunter about feedback

The recruiter is just as anxious to hear feedback on your resume from their hiring manager as you are.  Rest assured that as soon as the recruiter knows something, they are going to call you and talk about it.  Good or bad, they know you need to know.  Same goes for interviewing.  Your recruiter can hardly wait to hear back from the hiring manager about your interview and to talk about the next steps.  Calling them over and over again several times a day is not going to make them get the information any faster for you.  Yes it can be nerve-racking…we know.  Just know your recruiter is actively pursuing this information for you and will certainly call you the moment they know how things went and what next steps need to be taken.  If you are waiting on feedback, I would suggest that calling your recruiter every 48 hours just to “touch base” would be appropriate. Also, if you have had changes in your availability (got another interview or have an offer), then calling to let them know is also an expected professional courtesy.

These things will help you avoid common pitfalls that can ruin your chance of getting the offer and finding your next job.  Keeping your competitive edge in today’s market is crucial, and now that you are aware of many things people do to ruin their own chances you can avoid these things and be at the top of your game.

Here’s a great technique that helps in determining project feature priority.  Agile/Scrum manifesto is based on the premise of working on the high value items first.  These may be the features that bring the highest ROI, a matrix of complexity / risk vs. value, market value, etc.   Whatever the determining factor is, the prioritization of these value features is important in order to ensure that those value items are delivered first.

Story mapping is a process of defining the features/functions that you want your project to accomplish and organizing them in a way that makes the most sense (by process, menu option, user role, etc).  This provides the team, with a “big picture” view of the project as a whole.

We use this in conjunction with our “Product Backlog” (Agile/Scrum requirements list), prioritized list of user stories (requirements / features) for the team to implement.   This works well for our Sprint Planning, but doesn’t show a big picture view of the project.

This big picture view project helps in the definition, organization and prioritization of user stories (requirements / features).  It provokes communication and provides a clear path to the high value user stories.

How does it work?

Write down all the features you would like to have as a result of the project on to sticky notes (one on each).    With the help of a facilitator, classify each into groups (by process, menu option, user role, or etc.) that make the most sense.

Take different color sticky notes and write the group name for each   (one on each). Then arrange all of the features, underneath each group note, sticking them on the wall in rows/columns as the logical arrangement naturally occur.   Feature sticky notes can be moved around, as the team makes sense of the emerging flow.

Once complete, the Story Map gives a high-level view of all features and allows the team to make better decision about the high value feature sets.   The set of high value features becomes the “Minimum Marketable Feature Set”, the set of feature that most be implemented to make this project successful.   Now you know where to start!

The Story Map then becomes a boundary object, providing a mechanism where different points of view converge and enables a shared understanding to be formed. But most of all it helps in defining, reinforcing and communicating the project vision.

Happy mapping!

Since I am not proficient in all technology trends, the rising popularity of virtualization was not something I could quickly wrap my head around. When I hear the word “virtualization” I think of “virtual reality” games and training. Wikipedia’s definition of “virtual reality” is: “a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world”. So I then deducted that “virtualizing a server” was something along the lines of using a virtual server to do the job of a physical server when the physical one was not available. While I was happy with my conclusion, I had to know if I was right. I sat down with Doug Cottle, one of our Technical Analysts, and grilled him on the topic. It turns out, my assumption was fairly correct, and I got even more information on virtualization which I am glad to now share with you.

THE “INTERVIEW”

Christine:

Doug, there’s been a recent buzz in the business world about server virtualization. What does it mean to virtualize a server?

Doug:

Virtualizing a server is basically taking a physical server and creating an electronic version of it or a Virtual Machine.  A physical host server is setup that can run multiple Virtual Machines.

Christine:

Ok, so what are the major advantages of virtualization?

Doug:

Virtualization offers many advantages over running independent physical machines.  Many times software is spread across multiple servers not because of resource limitations but to avoid conflicts between the applications.  By virtualizing the servers you can run multiple servers from a single physical box.  For example: Instead of buying a physical server for Microsoft Exchange and another physical server for Blackberry Enterprise Server you can simply buy one server and set it up as a VM Host, then run the virtual instances of both the Exchange and BES from the single host.  Fewer physical boxes results in lower equipment and operation costs as well as conserving space through consolidation.  Virtualization also offers companies a way to implement redundancy without purchasing additional hardware.  Other benefits include: Simple backup and disaster recovery solutions, aid in testing and development, and to centralize server administration.

Christine:

Why do you think it is becoming such a hot topic now?

Doug:

Hardware resources (processing power/memory) have increased faster than software resource demand.  It makes sense economically to Virtualize.  Virtualization is a cost effective solution that has many great benefits and is easier to implement now than ever.

Christine:

Hmm, that is really interesting. Are there any disadvantages though that people should be aware of before virtualizing?

Doug:

Aside from requiring new skills that the current administrator may not have the biggest drawback to virtualization is a single hardware failure can bring down multiple servers.  If you have a VM host running four of you main production servers and the motherboard dies, your four production servers are now dead as well.  Of course with redundant systems in place it would not be an issue.  Having a single point of failure for multiple servers is probably one of the biggest items to be taken in to consideration when planning to virtualize.  Doing your homework during the planning phase will definitely pay off years down the road.

This “interview” with Doug really helped me fill in the gaps of my understanding of virtualization. I hope you feel better informed as well.

If you have any questions or would like further information about virtualization, please visit RSA Corp or email us at info@rsacorp.com.

More and more companies are considering working with a Managed Service Provider. Once they start doing the research and comparing all the different Managed Service Providers, they often get overwhelmed with all the different offerings. Loyal readers of our RSA Corp blogs have reached out and asked what they should be looking for in an MSP. To answer this question, I decided to pick the brain of Scott Gondesen, our Director of Client Services. After reading the following interview with Scott, you will have a much better understanding of what it takes to be a good MSP.

Christine:

What is your definition of a Managed Service Provider? What general tasks do MSPs perform?

Scott:

A Managed Services provider is an IT firm that engages to support your business using a mixture of technologies, people, and processes to keep your operations running as smoothly as possible for a predictable monthly fee.  An MSP assumes management of the day-to-day responsibilities for server and network administration as well as end-user workstation support.  Most MSP’s provide remote monitoring for proactively checking the health of the technology infrastructure on a 24x7x365 basis.  If a server or network threshold is exceeded, which could impact production, alerts are generated and fielded by the MSP’s Network Operations Center (NOC).  An engineer is then engaged to troubleshoot and resolve the issue.  A Managed Services Provider also provides a remote helpdesk for customers to call with IT-related issues.  The helpdesk will then initiate a remote control session to take over the user’s workstation for resolution of the issue.  Many MSP’s also include other value-added services as part of their fixed monthly fee, such as virus and spam filtering, web threat protection, managed backups, and other cloud-based services such as server hosting – all designed to shift the risk from the business owner to the service provider.

Christine:

I’ve noticed that some MSPs do not concentrate on disaster recovery and periodic testing. Is this something a company should want from their MSP?

Scott:

While some MSP’s include Backup and Disaster Recovery as part of their service, either through an onsite appliance, a cloud-based solution, or a combination of the two, others offer DR as an additional service fee and some do not address DR at all.  Disaster Recovery should be an essential component of your overall IT strategy, and it should be tested at least once a year or after significant changes to the technology infrastructure (such as deploying new servers or business applications).

Christine:

Should a company be interested in an MSP that offers vendor management?

Scott:

Vendor management is an important part of an MSP’s service offering, yet few engage to provide vendor management to the extent that it benefits the business.  When an application or support need extends beyond the MSP’s included service levels, a vendor must be engaged to provide support.  Some examples of this could be a failed PC that requires the manufacturer to repair, or a business application that requires specialized support.  In many cases, the MSP will tell the customer “it’s not my problem – you need to call X”.  The customer is then caught in the middle trying to determine which path to take.  A good Managed Services Provider will take the issue and run with it by contacting the vendor on behalf of the customer, and staying on top of the issue through to resolution.  This removes the burden from the customer and allows them to focus on generating revenue for the business.

Christine:

Is it sufficient for an MPS to handle all technology issues remotely only? Or is it preferred to get some onsite management and support as well?

Scott:

There have been great advances in remote support tools over the last few years, which is why the MSP market has shifted from predominantly onsite support to a remote support model.  Some MSP’s do not provide onsite support at all, unless required by a project.  However, most good MSP’s will provide a combination of remote and onsite support.  This allows the service provider to become familiar with the unique needs of the users, to better understand the physical layout of the customer’s facility, and most importantly allows for “face-time” with the customer.  The better MSP’s also layer in value-added consulting (virtual CIO) in addition to the back-end support, to ensure that the client’s business goals and IT strategy remain in alignment.

Christine:

What other factors should be considered before choosing to put all trust in a Managed   Service Provider?

Scott:

While the MSP market has become somewhat commoditized, selecting the right service provider is not a decision to be taken lightly.  Selecting the low-cost leader is often a recipe for disaster, as the old adage “You get what you pay for” holds true.  The most important factor in selecting a Managed Services Provider is to be an informed buyer.  Make sure that you understand the service levels being offered and how they measure up against the MSP’s who are trying to win your business.  Ask them to speak to relevant industry experience with your business type, and be sure to check references.  Some of the most common services should include:

1. Proactive monitoring and maintenance of servers and desktops – including application of patches, updates and hotfixes as well as scheduled maintenance such as disk defragmentation and cleanup of temporary files to improve performance.  Monthly reporting of monitoring data should be provided along with a summary of issues noted and recommendations to consider.
2. Daily backup monitoring and periodic testing to ensure that your data is secure and recoverable
3. Guaranteed response time – and monthly reporting metrics to quantify adherence to the service level agreement.
4. Network documentation – your service provider should provide you will all passwords to servers, routers, software license keys, and vendor contacts so that you are not “held hostage” by not having access to your server and network configurations.
5. Strategic planning – to help with budgeting for technology refreshes, and to ensure that IT initiatives remain in alignment with your overall business goals and objectives.

Christine:

Well Scott, thank you so much for your time. I’m sure your expert advice on what to look for in a Managed Service Provider clearly answered the questions of our loyal readers.

If you would like any further clarification, or have any other questions about Managed Service Providers, please leave a comment here or email us as info@rsacorp.com!

When talking “technology” among you colleagues and friends, who comes to mind as the man that started it all?  Would it be Bill Gates? Steve Jobs? Or maybe in your circle of friends it’s all about Linus Torvalds?  Well, in honor of Father’s Day, let’s think back even farther.  Back to the real “Father of Computers” and the man that in many ways really is the one that is truly responsible for kicking off this progression that has led to where we are today.  I’m talking (of course) about Charles Babbage.  He was given the title “Father of Computers” in 1970 by Daniel Halacy.

Charles’ life’s work was to create a machine (Difference Engine) that would replace the need for a person to perform the painstakingly tedious task of manual calculations.  At the time, it was a low-level mindless job function performed by a team of people referred to as “computers” because their sole job duty was to add and subtract (to compute) data.  It was terribly inefficient and there were many errors in the calculation.  Charles believed that a machine could be built to accomplish this task and replace the need for a large staff of unskilled workers performing basic addition and subtraction, and that the machine could be relied on to perform these computations more accurately at a much faster rate.  This (for all practical purposes) was the first time a machine would be referred to as a “computer”.  This was the mechanical offspring that earned Babbage the title “The Father of Computers”.

Charles Babbage gave birth to this idea.  He spent his life designing and redesigning this “Difference Engine” (mechanical computer) and it has gone on to develop quite a life of its own.  Did he know the impact this would have on the world?  Did he know that his mechanical offspring would go on to create the ideas and new offspring and one day there would be computers carried around in people’s pockets more powerful than anything ever imagined at the time?

As a father, I can’t imagine all the ways my babies will grow up and impact the lives around them.  I try to instill my values and ensure they are happy and healthy in childhood with (of course) the hopes that one day they grow up and realize all their dreams in life.  Every parent wants their child to succeed. We want them to grow and develop a great life in adulthood; but can we really imagine the impact our children will have on the world 20 or 30 years from now?  We would like to imagine we will still be around to see our babies grow to their full potential in adulthood and see the wonderful life we created making a positive impact on our world.  This unfortunately wasn’t the case for Mr. Babbage.  His Difference Engine would not be completed until 1991 (120 years after his death) and its first computation successfully returned a result with 31 digits, far more than the modern calculator.  He is quoted (referring to this Difference Engine) as saying, “Another age must be the judge” because he did not have the parts, nor the technology, to see his designs to completion.  The designs he created went on to form a life of their own and have, in turn, flourished and thrived to spawn advancements in technology far beyond his wildest dreams.  The basic architecture of Babbage’s machines is not much different than a modern computer.  The data and program memory are separated, operation was instruction based, the control unit could make conditional jumps and the machines had a separate I/O unit.  So in many ways, that he himself probably didn’t completely realize, he designed a machine that would become the basis for the modern computer and change the world forever.

Next time you’re talking “technology” with your friends and coworkers, see how many of them can actually recall who holds the title “The Father of Computers”.  Remind them that it was the designs and ideas of Charles Babbage that really started it all.

Happy Father’s Day to you, Charles  Babbage, and to all of you great dads out there!

Vice Presidents and HR directors of the one hundred largest corporations were asked to describe their most unusual experience interviewing prospective employees:

• Candidate announced she hadn’t had lunch and proceeded to eat a hamburger and french fries in the interviewers office.
• A job applicant challenged the interviewer to an arm wrestle.
• Interviewee wore a Walkman, explaining that she could listen to the interviewer and the music at the same time.
• Applicant interrupted interview to phone her therapist for advice on how to answer specific interview questions.

Watch this compilation of funny interview scenes from a variety of movies to get a better feel of how frustrating it is to waste your time interviewing horrible candidates.

What a hassle! What hiring manager wants to spend their days interviewing unusual and unqualified candidates? With business now picking up, you will probably be faced with new projects and many vacant positions that need to be filled. How will you hire the perfect employee without spending every waking minute posting job openings, sorting through stacks of resumes, scheduling numerous interviews, checking references and more difficult time-consuming hiring tasks? 

Spend your day concentrating on your business and let a reputable IT Staffing firm, like RSA Corp, handle your professional IT Staffing needs. RSA Corp specializes in staffing hard-to-find, highly skilled business technology professionals locally, nationally and internationally.  Our mission is to be a partner in your success and to help your business grow and prosper. There is no better time than the present to begin considering your need for more quality IT professionals.

“If you think hiring professionals is expensive, try hiring amateurs”

For more information, please email me at dewayne.addison@rsacorp.com or visit the RSA Corp website.

Hiring a new employee is stressful; it’s a gamble, and there is often times a lot of apprehension about making the right decision.  Is this REALLY the right person for your team?  Will you see the ROI on your time and money put into this new hire?  Maybe it feels like the right time to expand your team by adding another skilled person, or maybe you find yourself needing to add a specialized skill set to your department.  Bringing in a skilled contractor can alleviate much of this apprehension and concern because it isn’t quite as risky of a commitment as spending time and valuable resources on a permanent hiring decision.  Here are some of the best reasons to consider adding a contractor to your team.

Number 5:
Need to add an effective person temporarily

Let’s face it…there are times during the course of a project when things can get out of hand.  Milestones and deadlines are fast approaching and you aren’t sure your team is going to meet their goal.  The full-time staff is doing a great job, but an extra set of experienced hands could make the difference between making or breaking a deadline on many mission-critical projects.  Adding one or two contractors with direct experience on similar projects will save time, free up your full-time resources for daily business activities, and allow an expert to ensure successful delivery of the project. Contractors can save the DAY!!

Number 4:
Contractors are cheaper to have on staff than a permanent employee

With the cost of insurance, taxes, workman’s comp, etc…etc…constantly on the rise, the cost of having a full-time employee goes up every year.  Add to that the upfront cost and time invested in training a permanent employee to be sure he/she is up to speed and able to be effective and you can see how much the investment is in the first few months of employment.  What you need to ask yourself is, “would a contractor be just as effective in this role and available to make a difference from day one?”  Often times the answer is a resounding “YES”, and thousands of dollars could be saved every week allowing more budget to improve the department elsewhere.  It takes an experienced Staffing Partner to know the connections in your area with the right skills to really be effective immediately, but this is often times seen as a more cost-effective solution vs. hiring a full-time/permanent employee.

Number 3:
Faster Ramp-up Time

An experienced contractor will be at the top of their game in technology which allows them to be effective immediately.  Instead of weeks/months of training and acclimating to your environment, a contractor will be an effective team player (or leader) from day one and begin to solve mission critical problems; making your life easier.  Many of our hiring managers keep several contractors on-site working with their permanent employees several times a year in order to keep everyone’s skills sharp, expose them to the latest and greatest techniques/technologies, and to augment their staff at peak times of production when necessary.

Number 2:
The skills you need are more common in the Consulting/Contracting market

There are a wide variety of highly-specific and needed skill sets out there in the IT world that are predominately possessed by independent contractors.  IT Departments and Corporations needing these skills for specialized projects often benefit from employing the services of an outside (third party) firm or independent consultant.  Using a third party partner is also desired in many situations due to their inherent unbiased approach.  These skills may also be rare or hard to keep on staff due to the ever-changing nature of things in IT.  ERP professionals, Security audits/assessments, Infrastructure Architects, and systems implementation professionals are a few areas where there is often a much greater talent-pool in the contractor community, and an unbiased third party approach would prove very advantageous.

Number 1:
Contract-to-Hire (try before you buy)

You really do need a full-time/permanent employee, but you don’t have time to go through weeks of interviewing only to not really be 100% sure you have chosen the “right guy” for the job.  The contract-to-hire option allows you to bring someone on without the initial cost of a direct hire employee and provides 3-6 months of “contract time” to let this person really prove they ARE the right person you want as a permanent addition to your team.  It allows you to keep the production up by hiring a contractor and if they don’t prove to be the “right guy” for the job you can end the contract and bring in another contractor to try them out for the permanent position; all without any down-time.  In fact…bringing someone to work as a contractor, with the potential to become a permanent employee, will improve the team’s production and you will feel confident in your decision to hire (or not to hire) this individual when the time is right.

Lean production techniques, just-in-time delivery and reengineered corporations have forever changed the rules of logistics management. Having what’s needed, when needed, and in the appropriate quantities has become more difficult and complex. And for those companies providing logistics services, the competition to attract and keep customers has done everything but become simpler.

Logistics is about service. Competition is no longer restricted to delivering the best and most cost effective form of warehousing, packaging, shipping, local delivery or other contracted services. Providers are now judged on how well their business models and back-office systems conform to and support the needs oftheir customers.

LogicSmart’s analysis of their clients’ needs led them to venture beyond the services they traditionally had been providing. Their industry knowledge and deep insights into the needs of their clients allowed LogicSmart to recognize areas where they could engage to significantly improve their clients’ processes; and in turn, gain both a competitive advantage and bind their clients more tightly through the uniqueness of their new service offering.

Many of the shipments handled by LogicSmart originate in plants in mainland China resulting in the need to track the shipment from the initial trucking company to export packing to maritime transport to US customs to intermodal trucking and potentially through a US over the road trucking firm to the final receiving dock.

To allow their customers to track these shipments, LogicSmart developed a specialized data acquisition and display application. LogicSmart’s application allows their customers to provide information on shipments to be tracked and the carriers that are being used. LogicSmart’s application then logs onto the web sites of each carrier in the logistics pipeline and acquires information on the shipments being tracked. This information is aggregated and stored in a database. Another component of the application presents the customer with current status and location of their shipment.

LogicSmart’s application simplifies tracking shipments. Two shipments can leave the same manufacturing plant bound for the same destination at the same time but using entirely different carriers and yet LogicSmart’s application provides the same information on both shipments. LogicSmart’s application provides a straight forward approach to simplifying a very complex process and eliminates a large amount of manual effort in tracking goods from plant to final destination yielding more timely, accurate and usable information.

The benefit to LogicSmart is that they have been able to attract additional customers due to the value their customers assign to being able to more easily track their shipments as they cross the globe and pass from one transportation firm to another.

*We are using the name “LogicSmart”, as the actual company name is being omitted for the purpose of this story.

Let’s face it…everyone these days has a website.  It is estimated that over 75% of the worlds small to medium sized businesses currently have an active website.  These websites contain vital data to run the business, account numbers, client contact information, financial data, and an extensive amount of data that can be used for malicious reasons.  Even if your most sensitive data isn’t “out there” on the internet, these websites allow access to the systems on your network that DO house this data.

There was a time when hackers and identity thieves would prey on larger corporations going after a guaranteed target to find the information they needed, but today that is not the case. Small to medium sized businesses are a common target because more times than not these companies have the most accessible holes in their system for a hacker to exploit.  Even seemingly “secure data” can be accessed through other vulnerabilities in the system using wide variety of methods.  How secure are you?

If your company is connected to the internet you are exposed to some degree.  Security is so often overlooked, but with a recent increase in high profile cyber-attacks, companies are starting to realize how important their networks’ security really is.  The scary part is how vulnerable most companies are even when they think they have a fair amount of security already in place.  Unfortunately, security is often times one of the things we don’t realize how important it is until it is too late and how important it is to have frequent security audits/updates.

There are generally two scenarios to get targeted for an attack.

One is for an individual to decide they want to attack you.  There is not much you can do to stop this from happening, but there is definitely a lot you can do to prevent them from being successful.  With this type of attack, the attacker is more likely to take steps in order to minimize discovery.  The attacker could be an ex-employee, a competitor, or simply seeking revenge on your company.  Without an experienced administrator, this type of attack could easily go unnoticed.

The other scenario, and probably the most common, is to have a vulnerability in your network that is exposed by scanners.  Computers are constantly scanning the internet looking for machines that have unpatched vulnerabilities.  Basically…someone starts a program, when the program gives them results they use the information to exploit the system.  It takes no high level skill to perform this method which is what makes it so dangerous.  Often referred to as “script kiddies” in the industry, users can gain unauthorized access to a remote system without the high level of knowledge typically associated with hacking.  Once access is gained, damage is highly likely.  The attacker is doing it for fun. Their personal gain is the excitement, so there will be no regard for damage the company experiences as a result.  This is not only an issue for large corporations.  Many of these “script kiddies” aren’t hacking for any general purpose other than for bragging rights to their friends, so it doesn’t matter what size of organization or what damage they do.  Many small to medium sized businesses find themselves the victim of an attack such as this one because they don’t think they would be targeted.  That’s just the point though…everyone is a target and a potential victim and these cyber-attacks are becoming more and more frequent with small to medium sized businesses as the intended target.

Cyber-attacks cost companies, of all sizes, substantial amounts of money every day.  Unlike physical property, stolen digital data can be rapidly duplicated so the damage cannot be ‘undone’ by recovering the data.  The moment it is stolen there is NO getting it back, merely getting back one of the many copies of it.  The way in your system and to your data could be anything; a user account that was never disabled, common passwords, improperly configured wireless access point, a lost or stolen laptop, etc.

How are you handling your security?  Do you have a reputable partner with the proven experience finding (and correcting) these security holes in your network?  These attacks happen every day and if the proper measures aren’t in place along with the proper ongoing maintenance it is only a matter of time before your security has been breached.  There are many reputable firms that can perform the necessary security audits to find the holes before an unscrupulous hacker finds his or her way into your network to cause immeasurable mayhem.  RSA can provide security auditing services and the proper network management to ensure these vulnerabilities are exposed and corrected.  Even if you have an internal IT Team managing the network it is very advantageous to allow a 3^rd party to offer an unbiased opinion into how secure things really are.

Here are some of the basic guidelines.  Doing these things will help keep your information secure, but these are just the basics.

• Use strong passwords (alpha-numeric, 8 character minimum)
• Rotate passwords on a quarterly basis
• If a user doesn’t need specific access, don’t grant it
• Keep all security patches up to date
• Have a good firewall that is properly configured and keep it updated regularly
• NEVER use unsecured wireless
• Have Anti-Virus on ALL machines

Security is not just about the products in place, it is about the processes being followed and the attention to detail when auditing your network for vulnerabilities.  Having the proper processes in place will not only keep you ahead of the competition, but constantly monitoring your security keeps you one step ahead of the “bad guys” out there looking to wreak chaos for no other reason other than personal satisfaction.  So ask yourself…“ How secure are we, really?” Then call RSA Corp for a security audit and to ensure that your network is performing with the best security possible.  We can be your partner to keep you one step ahead of the competition.

Join RSA Corp, friends, and colleagues at this fabulous Agile Workshop by Mac Iver Group, LP on Monday, June 6th.

Duration: One Day

Class Size: 8 to 24 persons

Come Take An Agile Journey

Then this workshop is for you. Whether you are a project manager, business analyst, developer, tester, architect, product manager, team leader, business manager, quality control analyst, or simply “agile curious” this workshop is your chance to get some hands on experience with agile practices. Come roll up your sleeves and jump into a day of activities, exercises, and interactive discussions that will let you touch and feel agile practices and take them out for a spin.

The solution to Mary getting in trouble in the nursery rhyme, “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, is obvious and apparent; just don’t take that little lamb to school!  Sometimes problems in business seem as obvious and they are easy to fix.  Other times, not so much.  A manufacturing client of ours had an issue meeting commitment deadlines and getting their product shipped.  With RSA’s help, our client in the below, rewritten nursery rhyme was able to pinpoint the areas in the process that were causing the issue and utilize the custom app that we wrote for them to monitor production daily and meet their commitments.

Just as Mary got in trouble for taking her lamb to school in the nursery rhyme, “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, our client kept getting complaints from their customers because their shipments were not arriving on time. They turned to RSA to help them understand why they were missing their commitments and why their shipments were not meeting their schedule.

RSA Corp was glad to provide the solution to their problem. RSA developed a customized application for that examines each completed work order, analyzes promise verses completion dates, reviews the logic of how the product moves through the environment, and then determines why the commit date was not met. With our help, the client is able to identify WHY their business isn’t running smoothly and can take immediate action to correct it.

Mary Had a Custom App…

Client had a shipment date, 

Shipment date, shipment date,

Client had a shipment date,

They often couldn’t meet.

And every time they missed a date,

Missed a date, missed a date,

And every time they missed a date,

They had to face the heat.

They needed help from RSA,

RSA, RSA,

They needed help from RSA,

To get them back on time.

We made an app to show the way,

Show the way, show the way,

We made an app to show the way,

Their goods moved through the line.

And so they saw where they went wrong,

They went wrong, they went wrong,

And so they saw where they went wrong,

With timing on the floor.

Production now moves right along,

Right along, right along,

Production now moves right along,

And makes it out the door.

“Can a custom app help me too?”

Help me too? Help me too?

“Can a custom app help me too,”

Smart businesses do cry.

“Yes, they can help business improve.”

Business improve, business improve,

“Yes, they can help business improve,”

Is RSA’s reply.

When it comes to hiring new employees, the simple fact is that having a staffing firm locate candidates allows you to focus on other tasks besides hiring. However, working with a generic staffing firm may actually end up costing you more time/money. Such staffing firms are more generalists and try to place candidates in all kinds of industries.  Therefore, they tend to not have a solid understanding of ANY industry, including yours.

Many companies think that all staffing firms are fairly similar. Yes, they all find candidates to fill your open positions. HOWEVER, generic staffing firms typically have no working knowledge of specific vertical markets and are only recommending candidates whose resumes include the same words listed in the job description. Well that’s what you wanted, right? WRONG!

Sports Analogy

Let’s use the Pittsburg Steelers as an example. Let’s say that Head Coach, Mike Tomlin, needed to fill their Strong Safety position.  This is what Tomlin asks a generic staffing firm to find him:

• Position: Strong Safety
• Fast
• Strong
• At least 2 Super Bowl rings

To Tomlin, the youngest head coach in NFL history to coach in and win a Super Bowl, this list of qualifications would be enough to find him a Strong Safety. The generic staffing firm, on the other hand, will not know what is considered “fast” or “strong” as it pertains to the uniqueness of the Strong Safety position. They don’t know what a Strong Safety does for the team so they don’t know that their candidate needs to be really fast and agile to allow him to switch directions when chasing down receivers. The generic firm also wouldn’t know that, while the candidate needs to be strong enough to tackle a receiver once he catches up to him, he does not have to be the strongest player on the team. Therefore, the generic staffing firm submits a candidate who matches the qualifications listed…to the best of their knowledge.

Who do they submit? Ben Roethlisberger (the current quarterback for the Steelers).

“Big Ben” has average speed, is physically strong, and has 2 Super Bowl rings. Yet, at this point, Coach Tomlin switches from a generic staffing firm to a Specialized Staffing Firm. Why? The answer is relatively simple: a professional staffing firm that specializes in his industry, football, would see that “Big Ben” is specially trained to excel in strong accurate throws, defensive awareness, and leadership.  The Specialized Staffing Firm would submit “Big Ben” as a strong quarterback, but would realize he is too big and slow to be a Strong Safety.

Coach Tomlin will be much happier when the Specialized Staffing Firm submits Troy Polamalu (the current strong safety for the Steelers). Polamalu not only meets the written qualifications, but his incredible speed and sharp eyes helps him make interceptions which is a qualification that is simply understood when you are familiar with the sport.

This deep understanding of the industry allows Specialized Staffing Firms, like RSA Corp, to introduce companies to better qualified candidates in a shorter period of time. If you need to fill an important professional position within your company, beware of handing it off to a generic staffing firm as they might…. “drop the ball”!

Good luck to the Pittsburgh Steelers as they play the New York Jets this Sunday in their drive towards a 7th  Super Bowl Championship!

On the first day of Christmas,
My IT Partner gave to me
Business Support for IT.

On the second day of Christmas,
My IT Partner gave to me
Two security features (email and web)
And business support for IT.

On the third day of Christmas,
My IT Partner gave to me
Three Staffing options (contract, direct hire, contract-to-hire)
Two security features (email and web)
And business support for IT.

On the fourth day of Christmas,
My IT Partner gave to me
Four DR solutions
Three Staffing options (contract, direct hire, contract-to-hire)
Two security features (email and web)
And business support for IT.

On the fifth day of Christmas,

My IT Partner gave to me
Five custom apps
Four DR solutions
Three Staffing options (contract, direct hire, contract-to-hire)
Two security features (email and web)
And business support for IT.

On the sixth day of Christmas,
My IT Partner gave to me
Six SharePoint projects
Five custom apps
Four DR solutions
Three Staffing options (contract, direct hire, contract-to-hire)
Two security features (email and web)
And business support for IT.

On the seventh day of Christmas,
My IT Partner gave to me
Seven days a week of monitoring
Six SharePoint projects
Five custom apps
Four DR solutions
Three Staffing options (contract, direct hire, contract-to-hire)
Two security features (email and web)
And business support for IT.

On the eighth day of Christmas,
My IT Partner gave to me
Eight onsite visits
Seven days a week of monitoring
Six SharePoint projects
Five custom apps
Four DR solutions
Three Staffing options (contract, direct hire, contract-to-hire)
Two security features (email and web)
And business support for IT.

On the ninth day of Christmas,
My IT Partner gave to me
Nine tech employees
Eight onsite visits
Seven days a week of monitoring
Six SharePoint projects
Five custom apps
Four DR solutions
Three Staffing options (contract, direct hire, contract-to-hire)
Two security features (email and web)
And business support for IT.

On the tenth day of Christmas,
My IT Partner gave to me
Ten system integrations
Nine tech employees
Eight onsite visits
Seven days a week of monitoring
Six SharePoint projects
Five custom apps
Four DR solutions
Three Staffing options (contract, direct hire, contract-to-hire)
Two security features (email and web)
And business support for IT.

On the eleventh day of Christmas,
My IT Partner gave to me
Eleven blogs of info
Ten system integrations
Nine tech employees
Eight onsite visits
Seven days a week of monitoring
Six SharePoint projects
Five custom apps
Four DR solutions
Three Staffing options (contract, direct hire, contract-to-hire)
Two security features (email and web)
And business support for IT.

On the twelfth day of Christmas,
My IT Partner gave to me
Twelve IT services
Eleven blogs of info
Ten system integrations
Nine tech employees
Eight onsite visits
Seven days a week of monitoring
Six SharePoint projects
Five custom apps
Four DR solutions
Three Staffing options (contract, direct hire, contract-to-hire)
Two security features (email and web)
And business support for IT!

Happy Holidays from your IT Partner, RSACorp!

Kim Payne, Senior Project Manager at RSA Corp, discusses improvements on logistics and inventory tracking, especially for the Marine Industry and other similar industries.

You have the right resume, you have an interview with the hiring manager, and all looks great for this new job.  There are some commonly misunderstood actions/conversations that can (and do) occur if you’re not prepared.  Moments in (and after) the interview that you thought would be taken as a positive response/action are often times misunderstood.

Let’s go over some of the more common action pitfalls that can easily be avoided, and how you can still get your point across in a more productive way.  This way you won’t be left saying to yourself…WAIT…That’s not what I MEANT!!!

Action

Show up at a hiring manager’s office after you recently interviewed to reaffirm your interest in the position and your ability to do the job instead of waiting for their call as directed.

How You Meant It

“I am eager to be a proactive problem solver and really think I am the right person for the job.  I should be hired because I am the best man for the job.”

How They Interpreted It

He is not able to follow instructions and he’s too eager.

Recommended Action

During the interview be sure you request the business card of every person you interview with.  This allows you to send each interviewer (especially the hiring manager) an individual “Thank You” email as a follow-up.  Doing this will get your point across that you are interested and eager, without being overly pushy.

____________________________________________________________

Action

Talking to the hiring manager about the next steps in your career and how this position will certainly help you achieve your goals.

How You Meant It

“This job is in the field I really want to be in and I look forward to learning all that I can in this position to allow me growth potential in the future.”

How They Interpreted It

He is looking to acquire new skills in our training sessions for this position so he can then get a better job at a different company.

Recommended Action

Talking about future growth and learning new skills is a great idea, but be sure to keep the conversation focused on short-term growth goals related to this position, expanding responsibility for this position, and how you will expand your experience.  Try not to jump ahead 2-3 promotions during the interview process.

____________________________________________________________

Action

Talking about your personal life, hobbies, family, or other extracurricular activities.

How You Meant It

“I am an active and well rounded person. I love learning new things.”

How They Interpreted It

He has so much going on in his personal life that it must be hard for him to be 100% focused on work.  Some of these personal activities might also be a turn-off to the potential hiring manager if he does not approve of some of your personal choices outside of work.

Recommended Action

Avoid talking about your personal life unless directly asked about it. NEVER talk about politics or religion (obviously), and I would caution against talking too much about family, kids, and things of this nature; especially in your 1^st interview.  When an interviewer asks you to tell them about yourself be sure you tell them about your “Professional Self”.  Career highlights, major projects, and personal professional milestones should be the subject unless the interviewer asks you a direct question about your personal life.

____________________________________________________________

Action

Criticizing/talking negatively about a former employer or supervisor in an interview.

How You Meant It

“I would like a job with your company because you conduct your business much better than my last employer. This is a better personality match and so we won’t run into problems that I had working for my old boss.”

How They Interpreted It

He is a complainer and likes to blame other people for problems. If he will speak this way about his former employer, we know he will speak this way about us if we disagree about anything.  Better to avoid the potential problem and move on to the next resume.

Recommended Action

Always speak professionally about your former boss/employer.  Even if you have nothing “good” to say about them, it is always recommended to say that you find something positive to talk about.  It is acceptable to tell the interviewer that your previous company was not able to utilize your skills to their fullest potential and you look forward to becoming a valuable asset to this company.  This should get the point across that your last job wasn’t a perfect match, but does so without being directly negative or talking bad about your boss/employer.

____________________________________________________________

Action

Showing up to an interview WAY too early.

How You Meant It

“I am excited, confident, and prepared for this interview. I am not in the habit of being late.”

How They Interpreted It

You are eager…and desperate.

Recommended Action

Show up for your interview 15-20 minutes before the scheduled interview time.  That doesn’t mean you can’t get to the building earlier than that, but wait in your car, drive around the block a few times, kill some time somehow.  It is proper interviewing etiquette to check in for your interview 15 minutes early, but being there 30-45 minutes early will be looked at as desperation and could negatively affect your salary negotiation process in the future.

These are some of the most common misunderstood moments of interviewing.

So now, on your next interview, you can be more prepared to say what you mean and mean what you say.  I hope these tips help you be confident that the hiring manager will hear it the same way!

Kim Payne, Senior Project Manager at RSA Corp, explains how customer portals adds business value.

So…you’ve decided you want a new job. You’ve picked the field you want to be in. You’ve searched high and low for that perfect job opening. Your resume has been chosen as one of the best by the hiring manager because you took the advice in the blog “How to Write a Strong Resume“. You can’t celebrate yet though! You still have to survive the interview.

With this advice from professional recruiters, acing the interview should be as easy as the ABC’s!

A – Anticipate key questions and have answers ready

B – Bring the information you will need to fill out an application (references, dates, Social Security Number, etc.)

C – Connect your past work experience to the present position you are interviewing for

D – Don’t criticize your previous employer; it will leave a bad impression

E – Eye contact with the interviewer shows confidence

F – Fill in all blanks on the application (except the salary blank)

G – Get there 15-20 minutes early; NEVER be late!

H – Handshake should be firm

I – Incorporate specific examples of your successes

J – Job responsibilities that you excelled at in your past experience should be discussed and related to the position you are interviewing for whenever possible

K – Know the directions to the building (drive a practice run if you must)

L – Legs should not be crossed; maintain open/receptive body language

M – Mail them a thank you letter afterwards. Make this letter short, professional, and to the point. Thank them for their time and that you look forward to the opportunity to become part of their organization

N – NEVER LIE! Answer all questions truthfully and frankly, but don’t “over answer” either

O – Opportunity is the focus…not money.  Be prepared to discuss the opportunity and how you can make a positive impact in the company.  Never focus on how much money you can make or ask about financial compensation during the interview

P – Professional attire is a must – even if you know the environment is casual, the interview is formal

Q – Quality of work and a strong understanding of the core skills you are interviewing for are quintessentially important.

R – Research the company and have questions prepared about it

S – Sit upright, look alert and interested at all times

T – Take a portfolio to take notes in (blue or black ink only) – refer back tothese during the question and answer portion of the interview.

U – Update your resume and have 3 references before you go on the interview

V – Vacation days should not be discussed but the value you bring to the company is a great focal point

W – Wear a watch; even if it is broken, it will give you the illusion of being organized and prompt

X –Xerox multiple copies of your resume in case you meet with more interviewers than you had expected

Y – Yes or no answers to questions are not good enough; providing a short explanation of your answers proves your knowledge and experience

Z – Zero in on what benefits you bring to the company

Now you know your ABC’s, next time you’ll interview with ease!

The pilgrims came to America and it was a whole new world for them. They were unfamiliar with the environment. They did not know which plants were poisonous and which plants could be used for medicinal purposes. They had yet to figure out how to farm the local fruits and vegetables. They were not used to the new variety of animals that they had to hunt and cook in this new world. There was no way they would have survived the winter without help from a knowledgeable third party.

Thankfully, Squanto, a Native American from a tribe nearby, taught the pilgrims how to adjust to their new surroundings and make the most of it. With his help, the pilgrims were able to survive the cruel winter and continue their existence on North America. As Americans, we owe our current lifestyle to Squanto and his fellow Indians for helping our ancestors survive. We now show our appreciation for all that we have on the national holiday, Thanksgiving.

I think many would agree that the world of IT is just as overwhelming and exciting and complicated as America felt to the pilgrims. They made the voyage to America because they knew there awaited a better life for them, but once they arrived, it seemed to be a dreadful scary unfamiliar place. All they needed in order to prosper was some survival consulting. Similarly, your company can benefit immensely from the advice of an IT consultant.

A few ways IT Consultants are like Squanto:

Those are just a few similarities between the help Squanto provided and the help IT Consultants provide. Just as Americans should be thankful for Squanto and his tribe for helping them survive a new environment, businesses should be thankful for their IT Consultants who guide them through complicated IT environments.

Happy Thanksgiving from the RSA Corp family to your family!

RSA Corp, a Managed IT Support and IT Staffing firm, recently held a company “play date” to encourage mingling among departments.

The “play date” was held at the park across the street from the RSA building in Webster, Texas. A few hours at the end of a Friday was set aside for all employees to enjoy a washer tournament, a horse shoe tournament, and a free throw shooting contest. The winners even won prizes!

In between games, employees got to know each other over snacks like hot dogs, chili dogs, chips and dip. Such simple activities resulted in a huge morale booster!

We spend an average of 2,080 hours at work every year. Company bonding, comfortable open communication, and morale boosting are important to companies like RSA Corp so that each and every hour is productive and more enjoyable. Getting to know your fellow coworkers and managers in company bonding or team building activities not only improves personal relationships, but it improves syngery between groups or departments. Companies that focus on company bonding and morale boosting not only see better teamwork and higher productivity among employees, but they experience a lower turnover rate because their employees are more satisfied with their job.

Mutual Trust

The economic downturn forced companies and their employees to take a hard look at their loyalty and trust in one another. Many companies made budget cuts and decreased salaries. Their employees had to trust that the company would restore their salaries when the economy allows them to, and employers had to trust that their employees would continue working for them so that they could survive the recession and then indeed restore their salaries. During such a stressful time, the businesses that are still holding on are those that kept a positive attitude in the workplace and worked on keeping a high morale among their loyal employees.

The RSA “play date” really showed employees that they are appreciated for their loyalty and hard work. It also helped employees get to know each other on a personal/social level so that they will no longer be “just another face in a cubicle down the hall”. The personal relationships that formed, or were strengthened, that day will not only make the workplace more enjoyable, but it will lead to easier communication in the future. It was great having all levels of employees, from the president/CEO (George Black, pictured below) and all the way down, enjoy the day of games and snacks together.

Visit the RSA Corp Facebook fan page to see more pictures from our “play date” and to see what else we are up to. RSA Corp is proof that a company that plays together, stays together!

In the basketball movie classic “Hoosiers”, down one point with one shot left to win the game, the Hickory team’s assistant coach tells them to run the picket-fence play.  As they are about to take the floor, he says, “Boys, don’t get caught watching that paint dry!”

How many businesses have the best game plans that are well thought out, budgeted, best of breed yet fail due to just that notion?  Having a plan is merely the first step.  Execution is the key.  In these economic times, companies are looking all around at how they can do things better, faster, more efficient while looking at the bottom line ($$).

Hiring consulting firms to come in and do analysis of where you are and how to get where you want to go is very prevalent.  Amazingly, many organizations will spend much time and effort, using financial resources to pay for their game plan and then sit status quo.  Some will cry “foul” and blame the partner or firm that helped them put together said plan.  It is solely up to the individuals in the company to take what they invested in and implement and execute.

Technology is a driving force behind business everywhere you look.  Finding the right partner to enhance your organization’s presence in the marketplace is a valuable investment.  Having technology without a proper plan and a solid, measurable return on investment is in vain.  Utilize your technology partner to not only develop a plan but how best to utilize it and gain the most benefit from it.  Remember: “Don’t get caught watching that paint dry!”

You already know that you can get your e-mail by logging into a website on the Internet. What if you could also get word processing, spreadsheet or presentation software as well? Instead of installing Quickbooks and maintaining the database on a server located at your office, why not login to ClarityAccounting or Quickbooks Online and have access to your data from anywhere, anytime, within minutes? The ability to run a business with your entire server structure online is the embodiment of cloud computing. No more servers to install, manage, update or upgrade.

Leave behind the expensive software for which you purchase a license for each of your computers and instead pay for only what you need. One employee could work using the same software from any computer they choose without having to purchase and install the software on any of the computers. This saves potentially thousands of dollars in software licensing alone.

Server functions will become a thing of the past. File servers and backup systems are being replaced by companies like SugarSync, OpenDrive and Mozy. These services allow you to save to their server online as if it were a server in your office. If you need strictly backup services for your company, you could employ services from companies like CloudReplica. If your onsite server goes toes up, the operation will failover to the CloudReplica service. Once you have your server back up and running, you can replicate the entire system from CloudReplica to your new box.

Cloud computing is the future of IT. The technological advances in networking have closed the gap in long distance communications and makes real-time, offsite processing a reality.

RSA Corp, a member/owner of NPA Worldwide, is proud to announce therecent implementation of an International Contract Staffing model utilizing trusted NPA Worldwide affiliates in foreign countries.  The model offers a seamless, single point of contact for one of  RSA Corp’s  multinational chemical manufacturing  client.  After many years as a preferred partner, RSA Corp was tasked by the client to enhance the relationship on a global scale.

RSA receives the order for personnel and then engages the trusted member/owner partners of NPA Worldwide to do the search locally in the foreign location.  The NPA Worldwide member/owners are independent, locally owned and operated, successful staffing firms who possess intimate knowledge of the cultures, hiring practices, compensation requirements and common processes in their local market.  The member/owners have a mature database of local IT talent unmatched by international providers who depend upon branches and branch managers who may not be from the regions.

The local member/owner provides payroll services in local currencies, thereby alleviating the difficulties in currency exchange.  The local member/owner pays the consultant in accordance  with local country guidelines, and  then invoices RSA Corp who in turn consolidates all billing to the domestic client.  In so doing, the client experiences a reduction in administrative costs and avoids the hassles of currency exchange differences.

“We are very excited about the implementation of RSA Corp’s international model,” says the client’s IT&S International Director, “because the single point of contact for a search, and for invoicing and payments reduces our costs and streamlines our hiring of international consultants.  RSA Corp has been a trusted staffing partner for over seven years and this expanded capability will prove to be a valuable addition to their service for our company.”

For more than fifty years, NPA, The Worldwide Recruiting Network has been connecting independent global recruiting firms to facilitate split placements. NPA Worldwide is the oldest recruiting network of its kind, with an international membership of recruiting firms located throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Americas.  The code of ethics and the best practices of partnership shared by member/owners provide a trust basis that is unparalleled in the staffing industry.

There are many ways to find a new job.  Today we have all kinds of new technologically advanced tools to help us in our search for a new career home or consulting gig.  Online job boards, niche networking groups, LinkedIn, Facebook, and various blog sites can often prove to be very useful tools in marketing your skills and resume.  These are all great tools to utilize when searching for a job, but there is something very powerful about the relationship of a professional recruiter and their hiring managers.  Working with a specialized recruiter can give you a strong competitive edge over the competition; especially a recruiter with a strong relationship with a hiring manager that they have worked with for several years.

Hiring managers that have worked with a reliable recruiting/staffing partner for many years will often put a lot of trust that recruiter’s professional opinion.  They trust the proven fact that the well-known recruiter will only provide them with the right person for the job, for their team, and someone that really will add value to their overall hiring goals.  When your resume comes from a trusted partner (specialized recruiter) it can be much more attractive to many hiring managers when compared to random strangers sending in their resumes through an online web portal in a generic fashion.

When working with a recruiter, you need to understand that certain things are necessary to really have an open, productive relationship.  Basically, it all boils down to a simple phrase… “Help me…help you.”  Many times you must speak much more openly with a recruiter than you will with the hiring manager.  The recruiters job is to assist you in ensuring you put your best foot forward, assist you in how to talk with the hiring manager, ensure that you are properly prepared for what to expect in the interview, prepared for the type of people you will work with, and any good recruiter will be able to honestly let you know if he thinks you will fit into the environment technically and personally.  Here are 5 key things that you must be direct/honest with your recruiter about in order to allow him to help you properly.

1. What are your career goals?
Recruiters will know if a particular company offers career advancement, the expected timeline for growth potential, and how to best express your goals to the hiring manager in the interview.

2. Are you really ready to leave your current job and start a new one?
Sometimes people would like to interview to see if they can really get that “deal of a lifetime” offer they can’t refuse, and other times people really do need to find a new position that better fits with their career goals.  Your motivation for looking at a new position are very important and the multitude of factors related to your ability to start a new job are equally important.  Some things to keep in mind and talk with your recruiter about include: Do you have a vacation planned soon? Do you receive an annual bonus? How much vacation time to you have now? Can you start a new position in 2 weeks? How will you handle a counter-offer from your current employer?  These are all things that you need to discuss with your recruiter to work through how they will be handled when a new job is offered.

3. What salary/compensation package are you prepared to accept?
This information is just as critical as what you are currently making for many reasons.  Many times, the recruiter will be negotiating on your behalf with the hiring manager/company.   If you tell me you MUST have a $120,000 base salary to accept the position then that is what I will do for you.  I will negotiate your compensation to the level you tell me you must have.  But if in reality you WOULD have accepted $100,000 as a base salary, but I didn’t know that…you could miss out on your dream job simply because you weren’t honest with your Recruiter.  We will work as a team on the best way to present your salary needs to the hiring manager if it comes up during your interview to ensure we are able to meet your goals.  This goes for your current compensation level as well.  This information will be critical at offer stage with the company and will provide your recruiter with the vital information to negotiate as best as he can on your behalf.  It benefits you and the recruiter to get you the best compensation package possible, so be sure you are open and honest about what you need, want, and will accept.

4. Will you consider working outside of the city or relocating to a new state?
When you tell your recruiter you must find a local position, only that is what they will do…focus only on telling you about local opportunities.  Really think this through though because if there is a chance you would consider moving back to your home-state, or really have always thought about trying a different city, it would benefit you to tell your recruiter this.  There could be a job opportunity with a company willing to offer a relocation package to move you there.  If your recruiter doesn’t know it would interest you…why would they tell you about it?

5. Do you have other interviews going on and how far into the process are you?
This is very important for many reasons.  If you have had three interviews with XYZ Company and are expecting an offer by the end of the week, you really need to tell your recruiter this.  The main reason is so that they can tell their hiring manager if you are “the one” they want to hire they better make it happen FAST or they will lose you to the competing company.  This could be the difference between a hiring manager emailing a document to HR to get signed (taking a couple days) or walking it down there personally and getting it done THAT day.

Obviously these are things that you will only want to share with a trusted recruiter that you feel confident has your career interests as his first priority.  Being open and honest with your recruiter really can make or break the deal for you…and in the end, you are the one that is the most important player here as it is your career on the line.  If you help us, help you…the experience can really enhance your career search and ultimately provide a smooth career transition to your new position.

Scenario 1

• Good Idea – Calling us when your computer is down
• Bad Idea – Calling a shrink when your computer is down

Scenario 2

Scenario 3

Scenario 4

Scenario 5

All businesses use a core set of technologies to support their business operations.  Larger businesses generally support several functional areas ranging from operational functions to accounting. Businesses rely on these technologies to increase their efficiency and improve their ability to scale and grow the business.  Many smaller and mid-size businesses rely on a core application, such as Quickbooks or Peachtree, to initially support their accounting, billing, and invoicing functions. However, the areas of the business which give rise to the need to create an invoice are often handled manually using spreadsheets and word documents.

So, what are the options when businesses reach the threshold and recognize that what is being used today won’t support the processes required for the business volume they hope to be achieving in the near future?  There isn’t a single clear cut answer for every organization, but there are several common considerations that should be examined in order to determine what is right for your company.

1. One very good option is to purchase off-the-shelf software built for your type of business.  When buying off the shelf, you should plan on implementing new processes that fit the software you are purchasing in order to obtain the maximum benefit.  Be aware that one size does not often fit all, so in more cases than not, you will need some level of customization to fill any gaps in the functionality you need to support your business operations.  It is important to go through a software selection process before making major investments in technology for your business. We recommend using a vendor who does not resell any off-the-shelf software. Instead, use a vendor who is familiar with the industry in which your business is engaged, who has an understanding of businesses processes and who is familiar with multiple types of software used to service your industry.  This allows your business to gain an unbiased opinion of multiple packages, the functionality within those packages, and how well they may suit your business.  It also allows for a gap analysis of each software and what customizations and integrations may be needed in order for it to be most effective for your company.
2. Another possible course is to augment your current software to provide better support for key processes.  Changing processes in any business is hard, so if you are pleased with your core software and there are few or no limitations to its supporting your future growth, it makes sense to investigate having software extensions designed and integrated with your core software to support your other key processes.  These areas can include mobile technology, integration of one or more of your current packages with a custom application designed to fill in the gaps, and web applications that further support your external employees and/or clients.
3. When it’s your processes that make your business unique and valuable to your clients, you don’t want to change your business processes to align with software. Or, if your business processes include multiple specialty industry segments, a custom application should be considered.  Custom applications capture unique processes across organizations, create a way for the company to work together to increase operational efficiencies on every level, and provide real-time visibility to clients via reporting tools.  If you are outgrowing your current system and are considering a custom application, make sure to use vendors who understand your industry, can analyze processes, and who have a track record of providing solid custom tailored software solutions.

Regardless of whether you decide to build or buy, make sure key stakeholders are involved in the entire process and engage a steering committee in your company to assist in making key decisions throughout the process.  Your level of commitment to providing information and working with vendors determines the success of your project.

Ken Uston was a famous blackjack player, strategist, and author, credited with popularizing the concept of team play at blackjack.  During the early to mid 1970s he gained widespread notoriety for perfecting techniques to do team card counting in numerous casinos worldwide, earning millions of dollars from the casinos, with some bets as high as $12,000 on a single hand. He then became famous for being banned from casinos around the world, and thus became a master of disguise as he would adopt various costumes in order to conceal his true identity and still be able to play.  He is also known for filing a high-profile lawsuit against these casinos, and successfully received a ruling from the New Jersey courts that casinos could not ban someone simply for counting cards at the Blackjack Table. In response, many casinos changed their systems, increasing the number of decks in games, or changing rules to increase the house edge.

In the widespread world of technology there are many players.  Most players are always seeking an edge, some by any means necessary.  You will find the occasional rogue who, fair or unfair, comes to market with the latest and greatest.  It may be the latest but is it the greatest as in great for the market and its consumers?  Competition seems to be the constant driver for all technology-based companies because technology changes so rapidly even faster than consumers’ needs at times.

What defines “The Edge”?  An edge could be a variety of options to the client.  Cost is always a variable in any economy.  No matter what model you follow, R.O.I.  (return on investment) should be a foundation.  We’ve all heard the phrase, “You get what you pay for.”  That usually rings true ONLY based on the expectations set before said purchase.  In selecting a technology-services provider, a company may go with the most cost-effective vendor. Disappointment may follow in that the vendor is just a body-shop who provides no further intrinsic value.  Therefore, you get what you pay for.  By reviewing several vendors with defined metrics, a company may not find that the cheapest or the vendor with all the “bells-n-whistles” is the best return on investment.  They may just find that the most costly option, while higher monetarily, has The Edge because they are the best fit for their needs.

The rules in business are definitely changing.  Vendors and clients alike need to be on the watch for The Edge.  Competition is healthy.  Always be on your guard.

• Bad Idea – Hiring just ANY recruiter to quickly fill your IT openings
  

Scenario 2

Scenario 3

Scenario 4

Scenario 6

• Good Idea – Keeping the manual that helped you install your software
• Bad Idea – Keeping tech guy Emanuel who helped you install your software

Scenario 7

• Good Idea – Choosing RSA Corp for all your Managed IT Services and IT Staffing needs

• Bad Idea – Choosing anyone else!!!!

So if you’ve kept up so far, you can see that virtualization is a major project, but extremely powerful and worthwhile.  You can realize some great benefits, and open up some additional functionalities that you would never have under the traditional “add another box” model.  The desktop versions give you a great starting point to learn about virtualization, and maybe test some new functions that are available in a safe, non-intrusive way, without the expense of building and maintaining a separate sandbox environment.

So now you’re at the next level.  You’ve decided that virtualization is a great fit, you’ve done the math proving the ROI, and you are ready to take your network to the next level.  What’s next?

The first question is, when is the best time to do a virtualization?  Here are some great guidelines:

• Find a time that your business is in a natural “lull” – not much is going on in the field or the office.  For construction companies, wintertime may be the best fit; for schools or education companies, summertime is better.  Christmastime is a great fit for many companies (or, for retail companies, the lull after the Christmas rush around the end of January).  The key point is to make sure that if things do go wrong (always plan on the worst case), you can reduce the financial impact on your business.

• Find a time that coincides with the natural rotation of your equipment. Typically this is around the three- to four-year mark.
• Make sure that your users can be without services for a while – during the migration process, it is preferable to keep users off the server.  From a business perspective, this usually means a weekend migration; if you choose this route, be prepared for overtime costs (time and a half or more for hourly employees or contractors, pizza and other “incentives” (bribes) for your team.  Some implementations will minimize downtime, but it’s always a good idea to plan for the worst.
• PLAN, PLAN, PLAN!!!! Planning is key in any major project.  Be sure to identify milestones to minimize the impact on the business, and give yourself some wiggle room – as with any major implementation, things can (and do) happen that will slow you down.  In a recent deployment, we found out when installing the new servers that the electrical system was old and underpowered, and not able to handle the load of the new equipment, requiring the services of a trained electrician.  The extra work delayed us, but because of proper planning, we were still on schedule, and met our client’s completion date.

The second question is, what should I virtualize?  The easy answer is, “Virtualize everything!” – that is not necessarily the correct one.  Here are some pointers on what servers you should (or should not) virtualize:

• File servers, print servers, and other non-critical servers – This is a no-brainer.  These servers are easy to virtualize, and don’t do much other than send out files or services to users.  Virtualization has a big win with this server type; a couple key strokes can add storage space to the server, and an errant file/system (or an infected file/system) can easily be restored.
• Domain controllers / Directory servers – Not as much of a “no-brainer” as you would think.  It’s always a good idea to virtualize a domain controller, as long as you have a domain controller on a standard server as well.  This practice makes sure that your users can still log into your computer, even if the VM server needs to be restarted for whatever reason.  The external server can be any old server (provided that the server still works and can run the OS), and generally only used as a domain controller and centralized management console, if applicable (VMWare’s vSphere console or Microsoft’s Virtual Machine Manager, for example).
• Application or database servers – It is highly recommended to virtualize application servers – the increased processing power alone makes the endeavor worthwhile.  However, check with your application’s vendor before virtualizing.  Some applications, especially those that rely on older technology, have issues with virtualization, and the vendor may not have approved the application for virtualization.
• Network services – Ask ten techs this question, and you will get eleven answers.   My opinion is to place critical network services (such as DHCP) on the external DC mentioned earlier; if the VM crashes, you will have easy access to the management tools of the host server without having to statically set your IP.  However, either configuration is fine.
• VoIP servers – Many business are exploring the wonderful world of Voice over IP, the next generation of telephony.  In a nutshell, VoIP uses the same network as your computer to make phone calls, using a VoIP server (instead of the traditional PBX system) to process calls.  I would heavily advise against virtualizing a VoIP server in a production environment:
  • Most VoIP servers use a telephony card to contact the outside world (read:  a modem card to plug the phone lines in).  It is technically possible to place this card in the host server, but if that card fails, you will need to bring down
  • If you have a pure VoIP provider (Vonage, for example), you don’t need a telephony card.  However, if your host server fails, you will not be able to call your customers and tell them you are having computer problems – ironically, because you’re having computer problems.
  • Having said that, I would recommend setting up a backup VM – if your phone server fails, you can easily move to the virtual server while the main server is being fixed.
  • Web servers – You can safely virtualize web servers, but you will need some additional configuration steps to ensure your Web server is safely in your network’s DMZ, rather than on the internal servers.

Stay tuned for the next entry, where I’ll go over the infrastructure that will be the best fit.

Are you the right candidate for the job…and if you are…does your resume clearly show that?

What makes a person stand out on paper as having all the right skills and look like they have all that it takes to be “the one”?  Starting your job search with a great resume can definitely make or break your chances of being invited for an interview.  Without the interview, there’s no chance of getting the job offer, so it all really starts with the resume you are using to represent your skills and background.

There are several key things to remember when organizing and preparing a new resume that will increase your rate of success. These key things have changed over the years.

The days of a 1 page resume are over.  Too much technology and too many multi-functional job titles make it nearly impossible for a technology professional to keep his/her resume to 1 page.  Trying to do so will ultimately hurt your chances when looking for a job.  At the same time though, the long 10+ page resumes that tell your whole life story have also started being tossed in the trash without a second glance.  I’ve actually had a hiring manager tell me if I send him a resume over 4 pages long that he is going to delete it and move on to the next person.  There is definitely a fine line between a good resume and a great one.

Let’s go over the outline of a standard professional resume by today’s standards:

1. Name and contact info – this should include your full legal name, 2 contact phone numbers, and your email address.  If a hiring manager can’t get a hold of you when they need to talk with you, they will just move on to the next person.

2. Summary – Brief (1 to 2 paragraphs) intro that offers an overview of your professional experience and skills. Don’t include every single thing you have EVER done in this summary.  Try to focus this section on your most recent technical skills you’ve achieved in the last couple years as they relate to the job you are seeking.

3. Skills – This section is (in my opinion) optional.  If you clearly and properly explain your skills, as they relate to each job title, in your “Experience Details” section as I recommend below, then you really don’t need this extra skills list. Some people like to have it and I don’t really think it matters either way, so I’ll leave that decision up to you.  Just be aware that you NEVER want to include skills anywhere in your resume that you can’t actually discuss in a professional interview setting.

4. Experience Details – This is where you need to list your truly detailed experience chronologically by company beginning with your most recent position.  It is important to include the dates of employment, company name, and your actual job title.  If you prefer to keep your current employer confidential, it is typically acceptable to list the industry you work in and disclose your current employer later in the process.

Write a detailed description of your experience under each company.  You must include what technology you worked with and in what way you worked with it specifically.  I can’t stress this enough.  So many people list their skills in a “Skills Summary” section and then never mention them again in their detailed experience section under the company where they worked with these skills.  You will greatly improve your chances of an interview if the hiring manager or recruiter can clearly see where you used your technical skills and to what depth you used them.  Expect to have 8-10 bullet points under each company, or each job title if you have been with a company many years and grew through the ranks in that company to higher level positions.

Do not lie, exaggerate, or make up things on your resume.  Expect an interviewing manager to ask you about all the skills you have and projects you detailed on your resume.  If you can’t speak to the experience/skills you listed then you should reconsider having that skill listed in your resume at all.  Providing 8-10 bullet points per job title should be sufficient to accurately describe your job function and skills/technology used.

5. Education – This is pretty self explanatory.  College you attended, degree you earned, and any specialized industry relevant certifications you have obtained.  If you do not have a college degree it is still recommended to list any college you have attended and what you were pursuing.  It is recommended that you list any social/academic organizations under your Education section such as: fraternities, sororities, clubs, sports, etc…  These things may not be a direct link to your technical skills, but they could influence a hiring decision if the manager happens to be a member of the same organization.

6. References – This section is also optional but my suggestion is you either provide references on your resume or don’t list the section at all.  It is pointless to write “upon request” under a References section.  Any manager will assume you can provide references, so either list them on the resume or leave this section off all together.

Some people have few sections that are not necessary or not properly utilized.  I would leave out any section related to Personal Hobbies or Lifestyle Choices.  It is not useful to know you like horseback riding at sunset, or enjoy hiking in the Himalayas.  It is not appropriate to list things about your personal life on your resume including marital status, kids, dogs, birds, religion, ethnicity, etc…  I have seen ALL these things listed on resumes before (seriously…not kidding), and it baffles me every time.

This can hopefully serve as a guideline to what a resume should/should not be.  It doesn’t take a resume writing service to develop a professional resume, and it shouldn’t take a literary scholar to properly write down your core skills/experience.  Just take the time to think through what you want your resume to say about you, follow these guidelines, and you will be able to develop a concise professional resume that will position you for success in your search for a new career home.

Starting a new job is going to be something that many IT professionals are going to be doing over the next two years.  Either you have been laid off and are going to finally land that new job, or you are going to be changing jobs to get a raise that has been delayed during this terribly bad recession.  Some of you are just tired of working harder due to the diminished work force in your current environment.

So, when you start that new job, how do you guarantee that you make a great impression on management?  It doesn’t matter whether you are the hardware roll out technician at the receiving center or the CEO, someone is going to be watching your activities in that first three months.  The perceptions of your management are going to be set in those first three months on the job.

Here are seven activities that will guarantee that you will make a great first impression.

1. Ask for documentation or job task descriptions prior to your start day. Asking for something to review so that you can hit the ground running on day 1 will make a very positive statement about your willingness to get involved quickly in the company and the job.

2. Arrive at least 30 minutes early on the first day and every day after that for a minimum of three months. If you are on a time clock, don’t punch in early, but start working early.  Be at your desk, or at your workstation preparing for the day or beginning the unfinished tasks from the day before.  When the time to clock in arrives, do so, but not before.  Showing a willingness to do a little more than you are paid for says volumes about you and your commitment to the company.  When it is time to clock out for the day, do so.  Any tasks that can be completed with fifteen to thirty minutes more work, do it after you have clocked out.  If you are not punching a clock, do these same things anyway, and the extra time and effort will be noticed.

3. Never, ever, be underemployed. When you finish a task, go ask for another one.  Don’t waste even 15 minutes with nothing to do.

4. Forget social media sites during business hours. Facebook and LinkedIn and MySpace and YouTube should be reserved for lunch time and home.  If you choose to follow one of the sites at lunch time, do it away from the office and on your own smart phone or PDA.  Forget game playing, even if you regularly work at home and feel that you are giving more than your 8 hours to the job because you work afterhours.

5. Never spend time at your desk on your cell phone unless you are working on company business. If the cell phone is part of your job, make sure it is only used for that during business hours.  If there is the possibility of an emergency call coming in during a day, be sure to tell your management about it as soon as you know of the possibility, and inform your peers also.

6. Take advantage of at least one training opportunity in the first three months that will enhance the skills necessary to do your job better. Make sure that you do the training on your own time, even if the company will allow you the time during regular hours.

7. And finally, take responsibility for all of your actions, and never place the blame on a peer or a customer. Always say, “I recognize the problem and I will do everything in my power to make sure that I learn from this instance.”  There are times when you might be falsely charged with an error or problem.  Defensiveness is not the path for you.  Remember, you are in that important “first impression” period.

Following these guidelines in the first three months will solidify your reputation as a hard worker and a committed employee.  First impressions last a long time, and these actions will guarantee a great one for you on that new job.

My previous post reviewed the basics of virtualization and a brief history lesson.  I also included the basics of the cost benefits of incorporating a virtual environment at your business.

To briefly recap, make sure you look through your expenses to see if it’s the right fit, before taking on any project of this level.  I would highly recommend getting a professional (like RSA Corp) involved who has the experience to make sure your implementation goes smoothly.

So let’s start with some of my recommendations.  I’ll start with the desktop level, so you can have some experience under your belt before moving to the server level.

First, let’s take a look at some of the things you will need:

• A working computer with a lot of RAM.  On a desktop, a virtual machine will share the memory with the operating system.

• Extra disk space to use with your new VMs.  On-board hard drive space is ideal, but a USB drive will work in a pinch.

• ISO files of the operating systems you wish to install.  ISO files are digital copies of the operating system, which historically were used to burn a copy of the OS directly to a DVD/CD for installation in another computer.  In the virtual world, ISOs can sit in a centralized store, so you don’t have to find them later.  Linux distros are commonly delivered in this format.  Windows ISOs can be downloaded from Microsoft (be sure you have the license key), or you can use a tool like MagicISO Maker to create your own (many of these tools charge a nominal fee for the program).
  • If you are not comfortable creating an ISO (or can’t find them), but have the original Windows CD/DVD, you can use that as well – just be sure you don’t lose it.
  • A bit of patience – this is a new way of doing things.

Here are some great programs to start on your path to virtualization:

Next up:  Taking the dive into server virtualization… bring a wetsuit….

One of the most exciting developments in recent years is the concept of virtualization.  Once thought of as a tool for the large enterprise, recent developments have made the possibility of running multiple computers on one physical host affordable and attractive to the SMB market.

First, a history lesson…..

The concept of virtualization began back in the 1960s, when IBM started working with the concept of running multiple processes on the same equipment.  Powerhouse machines easily cost hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars, and an idle computer could be extremely costly to maintain with no benefit.  To get the biggest bang for their buck, IBM engineers found a way for a computer to do multiple jobs at once; a mainframe computer could calculate a budget and collate a customer list at the same time, and the processor would have a much shorter downtime.  Many of these concepts were incorporated into new chip designs, but largely the concept changed into the concept of “multitasking”, which we use to this day.  (AT+T advertises that on the iPhone, you can surf the Internet and talk on the phone at the same time, but I haven’t found much of a use for it yet.)  The concept of virtualizing a computer largely faded in the 1980s and 1990s, as computers became more affordable, and we didn’t worry as much about system idle time (not downtime, where your IT guy runs around like his hair is on fire).

Fast forward to today – the year 2010 (or is    that the temperature here inTexas?), when we are  once again trying to maximize our computer  investment.  Computers are still a cheaper    resource compared to their distant IBM  ancestors, but they are more critical than ever.    In 1965, if your computer crashed, you called the  repair team, and your employees moved on with  their work – it was mostly manual anyway.  In  2010, if your computer crashes, that team member comes to a screeching halt – if the server crashes, your whole business comes to a screeching halt, and the costs start adding up.

In addition (and I’ve seen this with more clients than I’d care to admit), growing business got into the issue of “server creep” – they outgrew a server, or needed one for a new initiative, and simply bought another one.  Before they realize it, they are supporting six or seven individual servers, on different hardware, all draining the same amount of power, and slowly increasing the power demands on the business.  The electric bill goes up, the heat from the additional servers go up, and before you know it, money is being thrown at electrical upgrade, air conditioning, and space.  A short-term decision suddenly became a costly maintenance item.  Take a large company like HP, Coca Cola, or even the US government, and the costs start increasing into the millions.

Then came virtualization, a way for one powerful machine to act as many smaller machines.  Large companies could shrink down their farm of servers to a few boxes, and run faster, using every last bit of processing power available to them.  In large environments, the cost savings was immediate, and easily justified the big dollars paid to the virtualization companies to take advantage of this new technology.

However, the smaller companies didn’t have as big of a benefit, and many wrote it off altogether.

Until VMWare came along, and turned the industry on its head.  Again.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let’s look at the benefits and risks of a VM environment, in general:

• Maintenance cost – Maintaining a server is a costly exercise.  Taking out the usual maintenance (updates, service packs, log reviews, etc.), the cost of electric for a typical server is about $520/year, and puts off about 1700 BTU/hr in heat.  In an environment with six servers, for instance, the cost is $3120/year, and averages about 10,200 BTU/hr in heat, which you need to keep chilled.  Take that same environment, put in a highly reliable and beefy server, and you can reduce the costs to $2180/year for electric, and only 7,160 BTU/hr to keep chilled – your AC isn’t working as hard, and you will get more life out of it.  These are very rough numbers for examples; every situation is different, and they are actually on the low side of the potential savings.

• Management cost – Servers need to be maintained.  Routine servers can be accessed through an SSL, RDP, VNC, or other connection for maintenance, but what if you need to restart the server?  Before I got involved in virtualization, if we had a server crash, I would need to drive two hours to our colocation facility, research and fix the issue, and drive two hours back – I lost four hours each time the server crashed.  In a virtual world, that 4-hour round-trip affair is gone – as long as I can get into the physical host (the beefy server running my virtual machines), I can restart the servers easily, and usually faster than the old-fashioned hardware reset.

• Decreased downtime – I addressed the major issue with downtime above, but here’s another example – let’s say my server got a virus (happens to the best of us, sorry), and crashed my system.  On a traditional system, I would need to pull backups and restore from the tape archives, a dicey and time-intensive process; if it doesn’t work, I need to reinstall the server from scratch.  In the virtual world, I can fall back to a previous “snapshot” of my server, and have it up and running in minutes.  If, for some reason, the snapshot fails, I can reinstall prepared images of the server to cut down on the rebuild time – instead of staring at a computer for an hour waiting for the software to reload, I can have my server back up and functional with a few clicks.

• Conservation of resources – When virtualization was first introduced, the concept was to maximize the use of the processors.  As I gained more servers, I had more servers with idle time – some servers would be at full load, and some would be at 10% load if I was lucky (especially with Web servers).  With a beefy server, my processer will be utilized more, and if Server A uses more than I planned, a few button clicks can give that server another processor, more memory, or whatever it needs.

• N-level flexibility – Higher-end servers get better parts, just like an Infiniti will have better parts than a Hyundai (was thinking Yugo, but I didn’t want to date myself).  More parts means more options.  Need a dedicated Ethernet port for a server?  No problem, the big server has four, and only one of them is being used right now.  Need more memory/processors?  Just click here.  Need to configure three machines on a VLAN, and the fourth in a DMZ?  Use this wizard.  The possibilities are only bound by the server, but this is a much better server than you’ve used in the past.

• Ease of transfer – Congratulations, you’ve used your server for three years, and Bob Johnson just got the biggest account of his life, so your business just doubled overnight.  Under the old system, you would have to add more servers (more cost, more heat, etc).  Under virtualization, you can over-spec your VMs (not really recommended, but a short-term band-aid), and when your new server comes in, just move the files from one server to the next.  Nothing has to change except when you want it to change.

• Sandbox – My kids have spent hours in the sandbox, or on the beach, playing with new ideas on castle construction and sand-shovel irrigation projects.  When they’re done, Mother Nature erases their projects, and makes it ready for the next little dreamer.  VM sandboxes are the same – you can test out the new server, toy, etc., in an isolated mode, and do virtually anything you want – when you’re done, click Delete, and the VM is gone.  Much better than hoping the old desktop in the back of the broom closet can run Exchange 2010 before you have to install it live for the entire company.

And now, the risks:

• Costs – High-end servers are pricey.  Just be sure to figure the ROI over the length of the usable life (no more than four years – I prefer three).

• Single point of failure – If a virtual server dies, a few clicks restarts it.  If your physical host dies, you’re dead in the water.  Large companies have failover configurations to prevent this.  We recommend a failover configuration, but realize sometimes it’s just not feasible.  Just be sure to get the warranty coverage – Dell offers some great coverage on their servers (for the record, I’m not a Dell fan, but I have to recognize excellence when I see it).

• UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) – Maybe you held off on getting the backup battery.  Don’t even think about it with a virtual server.  While the system is very resilient, the VMs themselves are nothing more than files, and you want to be sure they are shut down properly.

• Management tools – Do a search on the Internet, and you will find a virtual cornucopia (I bet a friend of mine I could use that word in conversation) of information and trialware of programs to manage your network; some are free, most cost money.  Be careful when looking at these programs – many of them are bloatware that you will never use, and mimic some of the tasks you can do for free.

There are some tools to get you started on your way to the world of virtualization, but I would recommend discussing your needs with a computer professional before signing that big check.  You can also start on your way with virtualization now with some of your old equipment, to get you familiar with the benefits and caveats of a virtual environment.

Next time – a couple of my VM recommendations, and things to consider on your new path.

As we all start to raise our head from the mud of the depression, opportunity to topgrade our organizations will present itself.  The stress of the past two years has many talented folks ready to change and get a fresh start at a new company.  And, like other times in history after big downturns, many talented folks have found themselves unemployed or underemployed by no fault of their own.

Jeff Schwartz offers great insight into these opportunities in his post to Knowledge@Wharton in the last few days. http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2557

Excerpts follow, or you can read the full posting at the link above.

Although many business leaders are not convinced

that the worst of the global economic crisis is over, there is no better time than the present  for top executives to ramp up their recruiting of top talent, launch new in-house programs  for training future leaders, and map out a formal succession plan covering the CEO or other top officials. These are among the key findings of a massive, year-long study of approximately 1,800 global executives by professional services giant Deloitte titled, “Managing Talent in a Turbulent Economy: Where Are You on the Recovery Curve?”,  which seeks to answer some of the questions about how leadership training and development fits into economic recovery efforts.

The project, which surveyed senior executives from a cross-section of large companies around the globe, found that the firms that posted stronger performances and were more optimistic about the future were those that refused to put retaining top employees — or even hiring some of their rivals’ future stars — on the back burner.

Over time, these industry leaders began to display a measure of confidence that the world economy was turning around, although slowly. In December 2009 — when the final part of the study was released — the surveys found that 35% of executives thought the worst of the economic crisis had passed. It was the highest figure since the meltdown occurred. Despite a growing sense of optimism, however, a majority of managers continued to maintain that their top priority was managing costs and making cutbacks.

In fact, the number of executives who cited “reducing employee headcount” as their highest talent priority jumped up in the final tally. At 31%, it still ranked as a higher priority than “training and development” (29%) or “retention” (27%).

Perhaps most importantly, executives at firms that placed a greater emphasis on leadership, with ongoing programs in place and clearly identifiable procedures, also reported higher morale and greater confidence in management from the rank-and-file. Nearly 60% of the respondents that described their leadership development programs as “world-class” reported increasing employee morale, while 53% reported greater trust and confidence in corporate training.

Investments in people and leadership were missing in companies who never changed tactics and were members of that 31% concerned with reducing headcount.  Talent that survived has lost a lot of confidence in their organizations.  Now is the time to strike to find new blood and ideas for your company.

Have you called your favorite recruiting firm yet to begin tapping that vein of great talent?

Hurricane season is here and we are seeing more and more hurricane preparedness information; from updating home insurance, collecting materials and supplies, to planning for evacuation. There is so much available information on how to protect your family and home, that if a hurricane does tear through your area, knock on wood, you have no excuse not to be prepared. But what happens to your business? Information on how to protect your business during the hurricane season is not as easily accessible, but it is just as important.

Disaster Recovery planning can be vital to companies, especially here in Houston, during the hurricane seasons. It may be too late to protect your data and other assets if you wait until the “rain drops [start] falling on your head”, as B.J. Thomas would say. Are you part of the 65% of small to medium businesses that does not have a disaster recovery plan in place? If you are, are you also aware that according to research by the University of Texas, only six percent of companies survive a catastrophic data loss, while 43% never reopen and 51% close within two years? Those odds are not very reassuring.

Most companies are still recovering from budget cuts and do not see the value in investing in disaster recovery. We can understand their point of view. Nobody wants to pay for something they won’t use. But how can you be sure you won’t need it? Like insurance, a solid disaster recovery plan is a good value even if you never need it. But it’s priceless if you do!

So what is the next excuse that we’ve come across as to why companies do not invest in proper disaster recovery planning? Our favorite excuses include:

• “My IT guy says our data is backed up, so I don’t worry.”
• “Our IT department is doing the best they can and we do not have time to learn and implement a new process.”
• “I know we should, but we can’t afford what our IT guy says we need to do.”
• “I’ve talked to the “experts” and it all seems so complicated.”

George Black, President and CEO here at RSA Corp, treats the company like a family member. There is no way he would just take somebody’s word for something this important. Running a business is a lot of work, and it would be devastating to watch it all get washed away because a short cut was taken. RSA Corp, a Managed IT Service provider, has witnessed many companies turning to us once they get themselves in the middle of a sticky situation. Of course we help them get back on track, but that takes more time and money than a preemptive strike!

We recommend that you, as a business owner, do your homework or partner with an IT company that has. RSA Corp offers our clients a range of Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery planning and implementation services so they have one less thing to worry about. Wouldn’t it help you to have experts handle the difficult stuff?

During this hurricane season, RSA Corp’s clients will be singing…

“Raindrops keep fallin’ on my head
But that doesn’t mean my eyes will soon be turnin’ red
Cryin’s not for me
‘Cause I’m never gonna stop the rain by complainin’
Because I’m free
Nothin’s worryin’ me”

Hear the entire song so you can sing along when you have your disaster recovery plan in place: “Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head“

That phone is going to ring any moment now and the voice at the other end of the line is going to hold my future in his or her hands. What can I say or do to make sure that I get the option to take the next step in my search for the perfect job?

We all have faced the challenge of the telephone interview. Some are one on one, some have a team of people sitting around a conference call listening for the knocking of my knees or the stutter in my voice. It is sheer torment, and I know that there must be a way to prepare myself for this challenge.

How about this? I call it 20 Questions. I put myself into the role of “interviewer “, rather than “interviewee” and write down 20 questions that I might ask if I were interviewing me for this job. After writing those questions down, I then go back and write the answers to those 20 questions.

Two things happen. I have the time, with no pressure, to organize my thoughts and get the answers down in a complete manner, that I want to share with my interviewer or interviewers. And secondly, and most importantly, I get the opportunity to walk away from the list for a while and allow the dynamic of, “wow, I wish I had said that” to occur. In having time for that familiar dynamic, I can then get the list out and add that thought to my answer.

Experience tells me that over 60% of these questions will be asked during the interview. After all, I know what the job entails and I know the skills necessary to win such a position. In knowing that, I know what I would want to know about a prospective candidate. The key is writing these down.

And you know what? Because I did something proactive to prepare, I can take the call in a much more relaxed and confident manner. I sound better, I respond better, and I am going to win this interview.

What other techniques do you use to prepare for a telephone interview?

As a Consulting CIO, I’m called on by clients to assess the fit of their technology to the business. Quite often this follows a change in company management, a significant change in the business model, or both. At this point, the relationship between the technology staff and business management can be under strain. Typically, business management believes they have worked to align their technology staff with the business’ needs to little or no avail. That’s when company management reaches out for help.

As you might expect, these assignments begin with discussions where company management expresses their dissatisfaction, confusion, and frustration with the performance of their staff. They then ask me to render an opinion on how the technology staff engages with the business, on the staff’s workload, and on the fit of the staff’s skills to business needs.

The good news is that we’ve typically found the staff to be conscientious and focused on providing support for the business to the best of their ability. Our disconcerting finding is that those responsible for managing the technology are disconnected from what business management wants from the department.

An important step in our process is to interview the staff to determine what they think their responsibilities are, what management expects from them, and how they are evaluated. The same questions are asked of management and the business function owners.  The answers quite frequently paint pictures so far apart that you could legitimately ask if both groups came from the same company.

How can this happen? Both business and technical management speak English, so why is it so tough? In some respects, it seems that those responsible for managing technology just don’t believe the business side is serious about evolving the business. This is the challenge: just when is management truly pursuing change? It’s a bet-your-job question.

When we’re invited to consult, business management is actively seeking an open and informed dialog. But the discussion is not about technology; it’s about management, processes, and user needs. Not servers, databases, Agile, or any specific technology. Business management seems to be willing to trust the technical decisions to the technology staff. Is it unreasonable for company management to want a conversation with technology management and staff that gives them the confidence that their business needs and direction are understood, accepted, and being addressed? I don’t think so.

It’s once again time to review your IT Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plan. Actually, since Hurricane season officially started June 1st, it is well past time. You do have a plan, don’t you? There is an adage from a wise but unknown sage that goes something like this: “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. Lofty words and a bold assertion, but they are based in fact.

Business continuity vendors like to toss out widely quoted statistics that 80% of businesses that experience system outages longer than 10 days, fail within 18 months. Searching the web for “business continuity statistics” yields widely varying and possibly even questionable results. Even so, it is clear that, based on data post Ike, Rita, and Katrina, a significant number of businesses failed to recover. Once we clear the hurricane season, there are always hardware failure, fires, theft, sabotage, even the possibility of a pandemic that could result in a partial or total loss of systems and data or availability to them.

Even if your business survives, what are you at risk to lose? eCommerce, phone, or even email sales losses can be easily computed by taking average daily sales and dividing it by 24. Chances are that if a significant portion of your revenue is generated this way, it won’t take many hours before the cost justification for protecting these systems becomes apparent.

Disaster Recovery refers to your ability to recover key systems from a catastrophic event. Business continuity refers to the ability for your business to continue to functions during that recovery. Two different concepts, but they intermesh at many points in your IT infrastructure.

Key Questions to Ask Yourself

As a decision maker for your company, how do you determine your risk? How do you balance recoverability with cost? How much protection is enough? What technologies are available for protecting critical systems and which ones are right for my needs and budget?

There are many “DR in a box” offerings (we have one ourselves) some of which only address rudimentary DR/BC needs (not ours, of course), but consideration should be made for the unique needs of your company. There are a dizzying array of products and services available that range from backup to tape or disk and storage offsite to complete duplication of systems, replication of data, and automatic failover capabilities to a secure location. Cloud services are featured prominently in many offerings. What is right for your business and your budget? A start to answering these questions would be to consider the following:

• What systems does my company need to operate on a day to day basis? (Phones and voicemail, email, data, applications)

• How long can my company do without access to those systems? You may be indefinitely without phones by using cell phones and forwarding your main number to an alternate phone, but access to data or email may be required within a single business day or even within a few hours. If your company relies on a web presence for ordering you may not be able to tolerate any downtime.

Once you identify what you need to operate and determine the maximum acceptable downtime for each system, you have determined the minimum standards for the products and processes needed to recover those systems.

Case in Point

I’ll use my company, RSA Corp, as an example of this process. As a services-based business, RSA Corp does not manufacture or distribute products, and as such we are not dependent on a specific physical location as much as we depend on access to data. When we underwent our DR/BC exercise initially, we identified that because our revenue was based on services billing that our AR, AP, Payroll, and timekeeping systems were essential.

RSA Corp essentially has two core services offerings; IT staffing and IT services. Staffing essentially needs access to their CRM and phones to continue to function. Services needs access to our monitoring, ticketing, client data systems, and application development environments. Everyone needs access to email. Because we use telecommunications extensively in the course of business, it was also decided that maintaining our main and helpdesk phone numbers was a priority. That’s it really – no dependencies on a physical office per se. Consequently, our plan was to configure our systems in such a way that as long as a user had access to a Microsoft OS based PC with Windows XP or newer or a Laptop, and internet connectivity, they could perform any essential functions.

Because we contract to provide services to clients on a round the clock basis, we had already collocated a significant portion of our IT infrastructure to a secure hosting facility away from proximity to the Gulf. We placed our IP phone system, data storage, email, app servers, and monitoring systems in the facility which reasonably insured access to them in the event our business office should become unavailable. Our ticketing and payroll systems are web based SaaS and hosted by the provider. Our IP phone system allows users to take their phones anywhere there is a working internet connection and reconnect to our phone controller. Access to applications and email was provided by using Microsoft Terminal Server, and email was also available via Microsoft Exchange webmail for desktop users and either webmail or Outlook Anywhere for laptop users. VPN capability was established to allow transparent access to the infrastructure for laptop users as well.

Own and Host or Lease from the Cloud

One additional consideration would be whether it is financially desirable to own the equipment to be used for DR/BC, if any. And would you benefit more from accounting for the cost as a Capital Expense or as an Operating Expense? The technology you choose may impact one or the other, or even both.

Clearly, there are many considerations in producing a Disaster Recovery or Business Continuity plan that is right for your business. Why not schedule an appointment with one of RSA’s DR/BC specialists to begin working on your plan before the next major storm or thief pays you a visit?

Daily Scrums

A lot of time can be wasted in meetings that add little value to the overallresults of the project. Daily Scrums eliminate long elaborate meetings in favor of shorter productive ones.  The objective is to provide laser focus to indentify issues quickly and productively.

The Daily Scrum is a simple daily routine meeting, which helps the team self-organize, focus, identify and eliminate impediments to progress. The primary goal is to allow team members to get to the point by telling what they are working on and what they are having issues with. The meeting lasts a maximum of 15 minutes. All team members are required to attend personally, by phone or by proxy.

During this time, team member discuss progress, obstacles and daily plans.

Successful scrum meetings demonstrate the following features:

• Meeting should be 15 minutes or less
• Standing rather than sitting – this helps to keep the meeting short and everyone focused
• All project stakeholders should attend the daily scrum – to eliminate that need to repeat information
• Team members should only focus on: what was done yesterday, what will be done today, what issues may cause problems for progress
• The meeting should be held in the same place and at the same time every day
• Burndown charts and Status boards are updated during the meeting – which visibly records progress being made.

By adhering to the above practices, you can increase the efficiency of your team and improve the quality of your project by avoiding tedious and time-wasting meetings.

Conclusion

Over the past several weeks we have highlighted for you five ways that Agile works to eliminate waste. My hope is that you now have a better understanding about the advantages that Agile offers and its primary focus to eliminate waste and streamline the application development process.  There are many other advantages to using the Agile methodology, of which there are too many to highlight in this segment.

If you are interested in learning more about this topic, “Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit for Software Development Managers” by Mary and Tom Poppendieck, is an excellent book that defines how lean manufacturing processes can be applied to software development.

We are in another state of transition where we are hopefully looking in our rearview mirrors (for now) at the recession of 2008.  Everything is cyclical, and in staffing nothing rings more true.  So, how does a staffing company move forward in providing excellent service and benefit to prospects and clients?  There is more than one answer and always two sides to a coin……..

Businesses are regrouping and retooling internally to best position themselves in the economic upswing.  All companies have clients for their product and utilize many ways to market and sell, but people are a key cog in the wheel.  For example, you have a sales force to push your services but you had to cut back on the number of your team by half last year due to the recession.  You need to get back to meeting the numbers required for your company to be profitable.  Thus, a problem (I like to call it a challenge) arises.

How do you meet these numbers with half the resources? Quite simply, the old adage of “you have to spend money to make money” should be on your radar.  You invest in people and people will bring revenue to your company’s bottom line.  Going in the woods to fight a bear with a wooden pencil is not a recipe for success.  Invest in your sales force and get that revenue stream rolling while landing new clients and satisfying existing ones.

“But I don’t have the budget for additional headcount.”

Your organization began a 2 year implementation of a global ERP system that cost several million dollars.  The project budgeted for X amount of consultants but had to be reduced in headcount, and the timeline to completion has been pushed back 12-18 months.  Along I come, from a staffing company, with the ability to get you the talent and expertise to get your ERP project back on time.  You tell me that you cannot afford to replace the 3 consultants that you scaled back on last year.  Hmmm…..the problem (remember, I like to call it a challenge) is not that you don’t have budget for additional headcount. It’s that the VALUE of the ERP project is not being considered.  Taking an additional 12-18 months to complete will probably cost a lot more than the additional headcount.  If I provide you with the right candidates, and you see that they will bring immediate value to getting the project back on track, THAT is something that can be measured.

Not every situation is the same.  My job is to find new opportunities.  I define opportunity as a situation to be a measurable resource.  If I help a client fill their jobs, that is success.  If I market a candidate to a company, open job/project or not, and the client can utilize this person within their organization, that is success.  Remember, everything is cyclical…….just like life, enjoy the ride!

Mike Molenda, Senior Technical Consultant at RSA Corp, lists ways to check if you are indeed addicted to the internet.

I’ve been asked this question a lot recently – what is the value of working with an IT managed services company? I’ve heard several business owners, clients, and end users ask about the benefits and risks of having a company of IT geeks come in and manage their computers, network, software, and anything else that runs on electricity.

First, a disclaimer: Yes, I work for an IT managed services firm. No, I have not always worked for an IT managed services firm. Yes, I have contracted an IT managed services firm before. No, it wasn’t a pleasant experience. Remember this as you read on.

I used to be an IT manager for a geographically disperse, highly profitable company in the Midwest, focusing on retail, wholesale, and commercial services and distribution, as well as manufacturing. In practice, that meant I was the Level 1, 2, and 3 support person for an entire company of 250 users, across five Midwestern states, with only one other associate working with me. Trust me, I was busy. I spent quite a bit of my time traveling to distant sites, working on end user issues, and supporting our infrastructure, frequently from the road or from another location.

An associate of mine recommended an IT Managed Services company. I agreed, and brought them onto a 20-hour retainer for the next calendar year. The firm was friendly, but had a dreadful follow-up – I asked them for help on only two issues, and to date, only one was ever answered. I didn’t renew, and continued for the next few years running around trying to keep up.

I made a mistake. However, the mistake wasn’t necessarily the IT company I selected. Those lessons are what I would like to share with you, so you can make an educated decision on whether IT managed services is right for you.

Here are my top considerations:

• Be realistic about who is supporting your infrastructure. Some companies have Bob or Alice, who is the office resource in case anything breaks. Bob (or Alice) will come and take care of you – never mind that Bob is the CFO, and Alice owns the company, and have more critical issues than printing. If your entire network consists of three PCs and a printer, that may be fine; others may need to pass it off to someone else. Whether Bob is the CEO or receptionist is irrelevant; how much of his time is being devoted to IT issues is what’s important.

• Be realistic about your personnel needs, and what you can afford. Good system administrators are hard to come by these days, and they are not cheap. If you have a smaller, brand-new infrastructure, a system admin fresh out of school may be a great fit. If you have had your network for a while, or if you have unique setups in your network, a more seasoned veteran may be a better fit. If you already have an IT staff, and he is typically working 60+ hours a week, a newbie system admin may be a good fit to alleviate the load.

• Be realistic about your security. Any new hire into your organization will be entrusted with your most sensitive data. Be sure anyone you bring in has a reputation for excellence and ethical behavior with your infrastructure.

• Know what to expect (and what not to expect). Any system administrator needs to have a clearly defined role. I’ve seen admins brought into companies, where the role wasn’t defined, or the restrictions made the position a failure before the first day of work.

Based on these considerations, here are the top reasons why an IT managed services firm like RSA Corp (yes, I am biased) are a great fit for so many clients:

• Be realistic about who is supporting your infrastructure. RSA Corp’s Technical Assistance Center is a phone call away, and anyone can call (or only one person can call, it’s your choice). Our ENCOMPASS agreements allow for complete support of your infrastructure, from the most complex servers to the simplest desktops, including provisions for on-site support as needed.

• Be realistic about your personnel needs, and what you can afford. Most companies cannot afford their own IT staff, or have an IT person that is not prepared for the tasks ahead. RSA Corp’s TAC team is fully trained on a wide variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac OSX, and Sun Solaris; our training is open-ended, and always in development. Further, the average RSA Corp technician has 10 years’ experience in supporting diverse environments. Most importantly, RSA Corp’s clients are backed by a team of technologists with direct access to all the major manufacturers, not just “the IT guy”.

• Be realistic about your security. RSA Corp’s interview process for the TAC team is handled by RSA Corp’s Staffing division, which includes careful screening of potential clients to ensure that any environment we go into will remain safe. RSA Corp knows that anyone on the TAC team will be RSA Corp’s representative in the field, and we will ensure that the face is always pleasant, and working in the best interests of our clients.

• Know what to expect (and what not to expect). Any new client of RSA Corp has a detailed proposal and contract which shows exactly what our expectations will be – no surprises. If surprises do come up (something is not covered due to virus infection, accidental erasure, etc.), we have options for prepaid hours to make sure your business doesn’t suffer.

I think RSA Corp is a great firm, and a great fit for many clients, if you make them your partner, and a true extension of your business model. Don’t make the mistakes I made – talk to people and learn more about IT managed service firms that are out there. Discuss with other business partners, with team members from other IT firms, and your own team members.

I would love for you to come to RSA Corp, but that’s just me….

Stephen Sweeney, Chief Operating Officer at RSA Corp, points out the current business trend of switching to managed IT support and explains why this option is becoming increasingly popular.

Kim Payne, Senior Project Manager at RSA Corp, shares how custom applications can help a business with their branding in addition to its various other benefits.

Jason Kuhn, CIO at RSA Corp, explains how the benefits of a Disaster Recovery Plan and a Business Continuity Plan vary depending on the individual organization. Can there be value to one without the other?

Mike Molenda, Senior Technical Consultant at RSA Corp, shares some tips on what basic, but high-level, aspects to consider when trying to keep your computer safe.

In today’s business world, where overhead and costs must be controlled in order to remain competitive, Human Resources professionals find themselves constantly short on the resources required to fulfill the broad range of tasks in their job descriptions.

Benefits administration, employment processes, training, college campus recruiting, job analysis and classification, compensation support and analysis, company policies and procedures development, operational analysis, employee assistance and welfare, employee relations and labor relations, EEO and affirmative action policies and procedures are a few of the tasks incumbent in the Human Resources Professionals’ day.

Oh, did I forget one? Recruiting experienced talent to drive profits and performance of the company should be high on the list, but how does one prioritize when the list is long and the hours are short?

The pressures from within, to be an effective recruiter or recruiting organization, are crushing. Operational and strategic managers and officers  must have good, talented folks in order to satisfy   the needs of the business.

HR Pros must make a decision. “Do I concentrate on recruiting and let the other tasks fall where they may, or do I find a way to make my recruiting time efficient? I know how to go to Monster or Dice or Career Builder or LinkedIn or Facebook and find a lot of folks who might fill my needs! But is that the best use of my limited hours? What if I only had to consider the best three candidates from all of those sources? Would that free up more time to take care of the other important tasks in front of me?”

Choosing a Pro Contingent Fee Recruiter provides a partner who spends 100% of his time recruiting for you. That is his only job. He is one who provides those three truly qualified candidates, makes the recruiting process the most efficient that it can be. And I do mean a Pro. Recruiters who fill your inbox with resumes clipped from the job boards are not what the HR Pro needs. Embracing the recruiter as a partner will provide expert consultation on market conditions, salary requirements, and best hiring practices that will guarantee that the company hires the best candidate for the job. All of this for a fee that is not due until the talent is on board and happily working. What a deal! And what efficiency! The partnership cannot be beat.

Next, in our series on how Agile eliminates waste in the custom application development process, we focus on Backlogs and how they are used to make projects more efficient and ultimately more successful; meaning more likely to be on-time, on-budget, and exceeding client expectations.

Backlogs are logs that contain lists of User Stories (see part 3 of 5).   There are two types of Backlogs, Product Backlog and Sprint Backlog. Both have a specific purpose directed toward eliminating waste and maximizing value.

Product Backlog

The Product Backlog is a list of User Stories, generated and prioritized by the Product Owner in order of value and business importance.  At this stage, the User Stories are defined at a high level and lack the details needed to turn them into functions. This is intentional; why waste time defining or documenting functions that may never be used or are not sufficient in value?

The Product Backlog is dynamic; it is constantly changing based on the measurement of business value and business priorities.

We select User Stories with the highest priority, as described on the Product Backlog, as candidates to be included in the next development iteration, also known as a “Sprint”. Next, we estimate how many of those User Stories can be completed within the iteration (see part 1 of 5).

Sprint Backlog

Which brings us to the Sprint Backlog … the selected User Stories are further defined into development tasks that will comprise the Sprint Backlog for the next Sprint or iteration.  The Sprint Backlog includes the Stories and tasks that become the planned work for the upcoming Sprint.

A Sprint is a two or three week cycle of planned development work, that will deliver one or more fully functioning features, based on the User Stories in the Sprint Backlog.

After each Sprint is completed, this cycle is repeated.  Users Stories are reprioritized on the Product Backlog by the Product Owner, refined into tasks on the Sprint Backlog, and delivered upon completion of the Sprint.

Tying it all together

The process of User Stories moving from the Product Backlog to the Sprint Backlog, ensures that only those Stories or functions with the highest value make it into the Sprint.  It eliminates any wasted effort spent on User Stories or functions that brings little or no value to the business, freeing up resources for more valuable work.

And most importantly, your company benefits from more ROI for its IT dollars.

Stay tuned for the final segment on how Agile eliminates waste in the application development process.

How are you using Backlogs to refine your businesses return on ROI?

Stephen Sweeney, Chief Operating Officer at RSA Corp, defines managed IT support and explains what a business should expect from an IT service provider.

Kim Payne, Senior Project Manager at RSA Corp, explains how using custom applications gives businesses a competitive advantage over those businesses that still use “off-the-shelf” software packages.

Episode #21 – Stephen Sweeney, COO at RSA Corp, lists and explains the three points that a business should focus on because they, if done well and consistently over time, will make your business grow.

Episode #20 – Jason Kuhn, CIO of RSA Corp, discusses how a business can improve their processes using the technology they already own right there at their fingertips.

Jason Kuhn, CIO at RSA Corp, addresses the common misconception regarding business continuity and disaster recovery by clarifying the different aspects of a business that each plan pertains to.

Episode #19 – Stephen Sweeney, COO at RSA Corp, discusses the five areas that RSA Corp focuses on when using technology as a tool to build a better business.

Episode #18 – Joan Kreidle, Project Manager at RSA Corp, explains how Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) helps to cut costs by streamlining business processes through the management of internal and external resources.

Here’s number 3 of the 5 top wasters that Agile addresses.  In the previous segment, we discussed iteration cycles and how that they can be used to eliminate waste in the software development process.

Standish reports that 64% of software functionality is never or rarely used.  By eliminating wasted functionality we can spend 64% more time and money on functionality that adds value and creates ROI.  Why waste money and time on functionality that will never be used?

Agile provides a way to eliminate wasted functionality by the use of User Stories and Product Backlog

Software projects often times involve requirements that are roughly defined; we rarely get the opportunity to have fully defined requirements at project start-up.  Requirements normally start out at a high level and become clearer, as you move through the project.  Why waste time developing coding and design documentation before the requirements become clear?  Often information is created so early in the process that it becomes inaccurate and obsolete, even before the functionality is delivered.  Why waste time developing documentation for requirements that will change or may never even get implemented?

Agile focuses on the just in time concept of refining and documenting requirement details, as the information is needed.  This is done through the simple use of User Stories.

User Stories

Project requirements are created as User Stories, story cards that describe the expected outcome from the deliverable from Stakeholder/Product Owners point of view.  User Stories are used to defined requirement functionality at a level that the Project Owner can describe and understand.  Project Owners are directly involved with the creation of the User Stories and in many cases become the owners of the Stories.

Each User Story describes only one function.  It should describe the role, the desired function, the reason for the function and the acceptance criteria for that function.

Example:
Role: External Customer
Function: View account information
Reason: External Customer is interested in knowing what they have ordered and payment balances
Acceptance: External Customer will be able to view account activity and transactions, both history and current.

We then estimate each story using a points system.  Each story is estimated in points, given the expected effort, complexity and clarity.  The points will be used later to measure the velocity (productivity levels) of the team.

The User Story needs to be brief taking only a few minutes to define.  It is recommended that each be written out on a 3×5 card to consciously enforce the idea of smallness.  User stories reduce waste by eliminating wasted hours spent on elaborate documentation that will never be read by the project team.

We focus on the high-priority, well formed requirements leaving the less formed requirements for future iterations where they will become more defined or eliminated.  This reduces time wasted on ill formed requirements that have no described value or acceptance criteria.

Product Backlog

These stories are then prioritized and placed on the Product Backlog by the Product Owner.  The prioritization of the User Stories becomes the iteration plan for the next release.

User Stories are refined and redefined as they more through the iteration process.  Stay tuned to find out about how to manage User Stories using the Product Backlog.

Questions

Are your teams using Scrum?
Are your teams using User Stories?
How would User Stories help define better requirements?

Episode # 17- George Black, CEO at RSA Corp, explains the steps to take when searching for a new job, tips to ace an interview, and how to ensure success at a new company.

We have been talking about how Agile eliminates waste and adds value to the project process.  Remember the 7W’s (wasters) of lean manufacturing practices: defects, over-production, wait, transportation, movement, inappropriate processing, and excessive stored inventory.

In the previous segment, “How Agile Eliminates Waste (Part 1 of 5)”, we learned how collocated Team Environments eliminates wait time, transportation and movement.  This week, I would like to share with you how Iteration Cycles work to eliminate inappropriate processing, over-production, and inventory.

Iteration Cycles

Agile methodology is organized in such a way that it delivers project functionality in workable iterative cycles; usually in two or three week cycles.

Well-planned iterative delivery of functionality allows us to present fully functional features earlier.   Consequently, stakeholders are then able to provide earlier feedback on completed work.    The early feedback cycle allows us to identify changes early in the process, which eliminates inappropriate processing and over production of features.

Each iteration, also referred to as a production cycle, is organized to deliver one or more fully functional features. This allows stakeholders to realize the return on investment (ROI) for the functionality delivered without waiting for the entire project to be completed.  This is powerful!  This gives more value to the deliverable (inventory) and allows the team to provide JIT inventory processing.

Generating early feedback is the first step toward eliminating rework and unnecessary processing, which, in the long run, also saves time and money.

Each piece of functionality is delivered with an iteration cycle planned and scheduled, based on the reprioritization of the Product Backlog.   Stay tuned for next week’s waste eliminator, the Product Backlog.

Episode #16 – Holly Gunn, Marketing Manager at RSA Corp, reminds businesses of the importance of social media, not just for finding prospects, but for building your brand, driving website traffic, and establishing and nurturing business relationships.

Episode #15 – Jeremy Ross, Services Manager at RSA Corp, discusses how successful businesses are properly supported by technology. He explains how to reduce support and hardware costs, what the benefits are from leveraging software as a service, and how businesses can utilize technology to increase productivity.

Episode #14 – Stephen Sweeney, COO at RSA Corp, explains how Green IT, the recent major technology trend, saves businesses money by conserving their resources and making them more efficient.

Episode #13 – Stephen Sweeney, COO at RSA Corp, breaks down the risk analysis process into five key areas of business risk and explains how to reduce these risks. Find out what the five areas are and how to avoid these unnecessary business risks.

Episode #12 – George Black, CEO at RSA Corp, explains what hiring the right “athlete” means and how they can benefit your company more than just another skilled player.

Episode #11 – Stephen Sweeney, COO at RSA Corp, predicts which four business technology innovations will affect business this decade. Find out what they are and why they are predicted to have such a positive impact on business.

Specialty healthcare management service companies, such as imaging, hospice, and surgicare clinics, aim to reduce the cost of health care while improving the quality of care.  However, garnering referral relationships with physicians is highly competitive.  Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems serve an increasingly important function to these emerging healthcare businesses.

How can they best leverage the benefits of CRM?

The healthcare industry is currently shifting toward this more patient-centric delivery model. While large hospitals and medical centers are trying to follow this trend, these new specialty clinics have certain advantages over the hospitals that appear to be quite attractive to patients. Specialty clinics often provide high quality of care for less overall cost because of efficiencies and economy of scale.

Specialty healthcare management service companies, which also include emergicare, endoscopy, oncology, sleep centers, and other laboratory services, operate from smaller clinics that are in close proximity to their patients’ homes and offices. Not only do these clinics reduce patients’ travel time, but they offer the same high quality care of a large hospital by combining physicians, business administration, diagnostic services and medical billing with the latest technologies.

Furthermore, these specialty healthcare businesses allow physicians greater access to the data generated from these services, and thus improves the quality of care for the patients.  The specialty healthcare management service companies strive to help physicians diagnose and treat patients’ conditions faster while providing a higher standard of care with a more direct hands-on approach.  Offering these services at nearby clinics decreases confusion, minimizes wait time and frustration for both the patient and the physician and can significantly improve the patient’s attitude toward their treatment.  Moreover, through competition, they are able to offer these services at lower costs, benefiting both insurance carriers and patients.

As specialty clinics grow, they add sales and marketing staff who reach out to more and more physicians. This growth, and the challenges associated with growth, is generally what leads companies to need a CRM system.  CRM systems’ functionality includes sales lead management, customer interaction management and customer data management.

CRM systems, once integrated, typically provide a quick return on investment (ROI) and help this new breed of healthcare service company, whether they have a small or large sales force, to effectively develop, manage and measure their sales force and marketing strategies in order to increase sales.  CRM systems quickly generate customer and lead lists, qualify leads, and manage marketing campaigns, marketing information and direct mail and email.  Additionally, CRM systems provide the capability to integrate into the company’s financials and provide an excellent platform for business analytics, executive decision management and business intelligence.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM™ and Microsoft Outlook with Business Contact Manager™ provide an excellent platform to meet the challenges associated with a growing Healthcare Management Services Company.  Its easy integration, with Microsoft Exchange™, Microsoft Outlook™ and Internet ready PDAs such as the iPhone™ or Blackberry™, makes it an excellent product for these companies to effectively manage and grow their businesses.  Microsoft has designed the Dynamics CRM™ products to be easy to use, easy to customize and very price competitive.  The Microsoft Dynamics CRM™ solution can be delivered in a variety of ways such as a hosted solution, direct ownership or Software as a Service (SaaS).

If you are highly qualified for specific jobs, a recruiter can help you find the best opportunity. For them to do this, however, both you and your recruiter must really trust each other. Working with a recruiter is a two-way street, and if you feel your recruiter is not being up front with you, it might be time to find a new one.

Episode #9 – Stephen Sweeney, COO at RSA Corp, differentiates broad based marketing from direct marketing and points out that most companies, including RSA Corp, would benefit the most by marketing directly to target individuals or niche.

There is no fool-proof way to find new clients. Any business development resource or salesperson will tell you that. There are, however, some approaches that work better than others. We at RSA Corp believe that referrals, which come in different forms, are the best way to find new customers for most B2B businesses.

There are three kinds of business referrals: customer referrals, personal referrals, and professional referrals. Let’s focus on customer referrals.

Customer referrals come from customers who are willing and able to make introductions to other potential buyers of your service. In order for a customer to refer you business, you must have earned the privilege.

WHAT Must You Deliver?

First and foremost, you must be delivering a quality product or service. If you are not, then most likely you know that you can’t ask for referrals and if you did, you wouldn’t receive any.

• Quality is the focus of many books and methodologies. Let it not be forgotten that quality has ramifications on business growth, and that business growth is limited by poor or substandard quality.

• You should be collecting customer satisfaction metrics and feedback on your service. You will stub your toe and catch an earful if you ask for referrals from a customer who is less than satisfied. Ideally, your customers should be raving fans. This is where you set the bar.

WHO Must You Ask?

Second, you must consider who you will ask. Will you ask the decision makers, or will you expand the referral program to end users? Will you offer something in return? Discounts towards future business? Referral fees?

• Different individuals within the customer’s organization have different motivations and can provide referrals at different levels. Not better … just different. The owner may know other owners. The procurement team may know procurement resources at other companies. End users may be able to provide leads that have to be pursued over a longer period of time.

HOW Must You Ask?

Third, you must consider how to ask for customer referrals. Like most things, you need to be specific about your request.

• Do not leave it open-ended or ambiguous. Provide examples of how customer referrals have worked in the past. Explain how the referral would benefit both the customer and the vendor. Base the request on their satisfaction, not your needs.

WHEN Must You Ask?

Fourth, consider the timeframe. While asking for referrals should be a standard practice, what is the schedule? Quarterly? Annually? At specific milestones in the relationship, such as delivery milestones or product shipment? Every business is different.

• I would caution you not ask for referrals at the same time as when you gather customer satisfaction feedback. This will make your quality assurance (QA) process seem disingenuous.

Most importantly, your approach should be soft and gracious.   Show how appreciative you would be for a referral, and that you will not be disappointed if they cannot provide a good referral.   No pressure!

• You do not want to turn a happy customer into a customer that avoids you because you pressure them for referrals.

In sum, asking for customer referral is not simple and should not be addressed haphazardly. Do not leave customer referrals up to chance and variation.

See the complexity and nuance? As such, business owners and managers should develop a well-thought-out customer referral program for their sales teams. Be sure to address product and/or service quality and customer satisfaction at the outset.

Over the next coming weeks I will be discussing five ways that the Agile methodology can be applied to the software development process to eliminate waste. We use Agile here at RSA Corp as part of our custom application development methodology.

Waste is defined as anything that does not add value to the final product or service, not from your perspective but from the perspective of your customer.  The opposite of waste would be something that adds value to the desired result, for example more functionality, faster delivery, and higher quality.

The whole idea of eliminating waste originated from lean manufacturing practices which are based on the elimination of the 7W’s (Defects, Over-production, Wait Time, Transportation, Movement, Inappropriate Processing and Inventory).  Agile is a lean process that works to eliminate waste by removing unnecessary steps from the project process. It removes steps, reduces risk and removes the potential blockages that might normally prevent the project team from reaching its goal.

Team Environment

Collocated teams help us to eliminate three of the 7W’s (wait time, transportation, and movement). The close proximity of the team reduces communication issues and the time it takes to resolve issues.  Questions are answered quickly.  This eliminates the waiting game; reducing the time it takes for us to get a response to questions or clarifications of User Stories. Issues can be discussed and addressed quickly.

• We eliminate the transportation or movement of knowledge information, reducing the risk of miscommunication. Paired programming allows for collaborative solutions and faster switching of resources, should that be required during the project life-cycle.
• The team works as whole toward the common goal of completing the iteration.  Everyone’s input is valued and the team decides how the work will be done in order to complete each planned iteration.
• Everyone is jointly responsible for the functionality that will be included in each iteration. Each team member takes responsibility for the deliverable process and works together to formulate how to best turn the Product Backlog into the functionality needed for each iteration.
• Eliminating waste reduces frustrations and enables greater productivity and creativity. Overtime, the team will also increase its speed and at the same time reduce defects.

Interested in learning more about Agile teams? “Agile Coaching”, by Rachel Davies and Liz Sedley, is an excellent book that covers how to coach your team to become more Agile.  Trust me … implemented correctly Agile works!

Episode #8 – Jason Kuhn, CIO of RSA Corp, explains possible difficulties in purchasing technology and what companies can do to avoid these problems and get the most out of their new technology.

Episode #6 – Stephen Sweeney, COO at RSA Corp, discusses how referrals are the most effective way to find potential clients and build new business relationships.

Episode #5 – Stephen Sweeney, COO at RSA Corp, explains ways to obtain new leads through client referrals and networking approaches. Never underestimate the value of happy clients.

Never underestimate the connections that your contacts may have. Whether you are currently unemployed or considering a job change, the best place to look when starting your job search is with the people you already know.

Episode #4 – Holly Gunn, Marketing Manager at RSA Corp, discusses the importance of showing existing clients that they are valued and appreciated. She also shares how RSA Corp shows their client appreciation through direct mail, social media and free giveaways.

Understanding the benefits of each staffing model  can make the difference between boosting operational efficiencies and driving competitive advantage OR stalling necessary growth and improvement. Let’s compare typical models to determine which is best for which industry and how each model affects immediate technology needs, turnover, cost and employee lifestyle.

The current economic situation, layoffs and downsizing in 2008/2009 has created a huge surplus of job seekers. For companies with positions to fill and technology projects to complete, sifting through candidates can be a daunting process.

Both contract and permanent staffing models play a role in a down economy. Learn more about them in this complimentary mini eBook: IT Hiring Outlook 2010: Contract Staffing vs. Permanent Hire.

Read comments from hiring managers who are using different types of employees to control budgets and improve efficiencies.

Organizations are beginning to hire to accomplish the value-add projects necessary to get ready for recovery. With major cost-cutting in the past, now is the time to rebuild. Focus on projects that promise to bring real value, restore cuts that need to be restored and eliminate projects that failed to add value.

The hiring outlook for 2010 is cautiously optimistic. Budget cuts and layoffs have been the norm for the past two years. The IT industry and businesses of all sizes have been reeling from the impact. In 2009, unemployment rose substantially across all sectors of the economy, with the unemployment rate easing only in the fourth quarter.

“As one IT executive explained: We have been flat for the last two years with little capital expenditure, and we have to make it up this next year as our infrastructure is falling to pieces. We cut too much, too long.” (Computer Economics quarterly report)

We understand that everyone is shorthanded. Everyone has cut deeply. Everyone must begin to catch up with the technological advances that bring revenue and value to the organization. The gold rush for talent will begin and accelerate at a rate like we haven’t seen since the late 90s.

Some organizations are growing, even in this environment, and can no longer afford to restrain hiring. At the 75th percentile, companies plan to increase IT staff by 5% in the coming year. As one executive put it: “Our firm is continuing to grow despite recent economic problems, which has stretched resources; we are now having to hire.”

Is it now time for technology executives and managers to start hiring?

I believe it is, and the ones who start now will get the opportunity to mine for great talent. Once everyone starts hiring, the price for great talent will escalate, and the golden talent in the mine will quickly become depleted.

Cautious yet determined managers will begin to at least mine for talent now, utilizing the proven contractor method as a way of identifying good talent that can be then enticed to become regular members of the team. Contract-to-hire models will again be used to “try before buying.”

How are you preparing for the Gold Rush?

Episode #2 – Stephen Sweeney, COO at RSA Corp, discusses how small businesses can get more value out of their technology investments and how managed services can help small and mid-market companies reduce technology costs and restore peace of mind in the business.

Episode #1 – Holly Gunn, marketing manager at RSA Corp, introduces the history of the company and talks about what makes it different from other staffing firms and IT service providers. She also discuss future trends for the technology, small business and staffing industries.

Business continuity is the investment made by a business to be proactive in avoiding the risks associated with a disaster. Typically, this investment is an operating expense that serves as an insurance policy on an ongoing basis.

Disaster recovery is the plan associated with the reaction that follows a catastrophic event that disrupts the productivity of a business. This type of investment is more difficult to manage because it’s a “in the event of” plan that can easily fall through the cracks if not kept up with.

The two most important aspects of a DR plan involve sound, comprehensive planning and regular testing intervals that ensure the overall effectiveness of the plan. The most effective strategy is to give ample attention to both – mitigate risks as much as possible and have a solid plan to address the unforeseen.

Why is it so important to prepare for disaster now when Hurricane season is months away?

Given the geographic area that we live in, hurricanes stay top-of-mind when businesses think of a “disaster.” The truth of the matter is, several events occur each year within the walls of a business that could potentially serve as a disaster:

o Loss of mission critical data

o Power or hardware failures

o Disgruntled employees

o The list goes on…

The most important question to ask is whether or not your business can survive in the event of the unknown – and not knowing the answer to that question is just as dangerous.

Business continuity is too expensive for SMBs. What options do I have?

This is a common misperception among small to mid-sized businesses for a variety of reasons. The first is the lack of knowledge in terms of what options are available. The second is the possible impact on the business by failing to implement a proper plan.

Technology has evolved over the years to the point that what was once extremely expensive to purchase and manage is now far more simplified and cost-effective. In addition, several of the products and services associated with BC and DR have become commoditized, which drives down cost and creates a more affordable solution set for business owners.

Learn more about these cost-effective solutions in other blog articles.

Colocation – Disaster Recovery Toolkit: Business Must Go On…DR & Colocation

Online backup solutions – Disaster Recovery Toolkit: Knock, Knock. Who’s There? Your Data

Email Continuity – Disaster Recovery Toolkit: Can your Email Server Weather the Storm?

Sometimes purchasing new technology for your business can be like embarking into alien territory. A copy machine doesn’t just make copies anymore. What happens when the bells and whistles you bought don’t work right?

Here are some things to think about to make buying small business technology a little easier.

What makes technology purchases different from other business purchases?

Typically the types of items purchased aren’t a component of a company’s revenue generation model – printers, copiers, phones. Consequently, there’s little internal knowledge about all of the issues and decision points. Many of these items involve multiple decisions on how they will be installed and configured, and their purchase is often treated as an afterthought.

The office manager or employee designated to investigate these purchases will usually rely more heavily on the salesperson to help them make the best decision. The ROI on these types of technology purchases doesn’t often justify bringing in a consultant to conduct an investigation into what would work best for the company.

Getting what you want requires thinking through how the new technology will fit into or impact your business processes.

What technology might a growing business purchase?

Examples of these items would include copiers, software applications, PCs and telephone systems. Using a copier as an example, decisions concerning whether to include faxing, scanning or network printing must be made. Then, more decisions must be made concerning user configuration.

What kinds of problems are encountered with new technology?

Problems can occur with configuring these technologies to fit within your business processes or understanding the opportunity for improving existing processes.

• Using the fax capability of a new copier – Find the proper method for handling inbound faxes, given how you currently do work. Options include whether to deliver the fax to an e-mail, paper, a network share, or some combination. All employees need to be trained to use the new copier and its process.

• Software applications – Make sure the implementation will support existing business processes. If changes to business processes are necessary, work them out in advance or find out after-the-fact that there’s a problem and then manage the solution under pressure.

• Telephone system – Make sure the quotes from the phone vendors include the capabilities they demonstrated to you. Phone systems include a multitude of capabilities and associated options, resulting in significant variations in cost. It can be problematic if the vendor does not engage to understand how you do business and how you need to use the new system to communicate.

How do you avoid these problems?

The best way to avoid problems is simply to understand your needs and the impact specific technologies can have on your business. Ask for help if you’re not getting straightforward, easy-to-understand answers. It helps to visualize what you want your world to look like after the technology is installed. Communicate that clearly to your vendors.

When dealing with vendors, it is important to understand that they are in it to close the sale, not to spend a lot of time on the installation/implementation.

Too often, projects start without clearly knowing the work required. Even high-level requirements are not enough to gauge the depth and complexities of most projects. Low-level requirements bring more clarity, but experience has shown that it is often not enough. Also, the longer the project, the more likely requirements will change to match changing business needs. So, how do you ensure projects are completed on time and within budget?

According to Project Management Body of Knowledge, scope management includes the processes to ensure projects include all the work required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully.

Traditional project methodology forces the definition of the project scope to determine cost and schedule. With so many unknowns, this becomes a challenge and is based on experience and rough-guess estimates. As the project progresses, new requirements arise and existing requirements become clearer.

Agile methodology eliminates unknowns by starting with a fixed cost and schedule, allowing for flexibility of scope based on the client priorities. Clients (internal or external) re- evaluate requirements and priorities with every incrementally delivery.

Requirements can be changed, removed and added as long as the work remains within the mutually agreed cost and schedule. This becomes a win-win for both the client and the project team. The project team gets early feedback on deliverables, and wasted time on unwanted features is eliminated. This client involvement ensures project deliverables contain requirements that provide the most value.

Agile is able to provide customer-driven scope and value-driven deliverables, resulting in positive ROI in a constantly changing environment.

How is Agile changing your projects?

Networking plays a crucial role in business development and job search. Establishing a group that you regularly meet with to share leads and job opportunities gives you a competitive edge. You never know where your next connection will lead you!

You want more, the company wants to pay less. How do you come to an agreement where both sides feel confident in the hire? George Black, CEO of RSA Corp, gives suggestions on how to facilitate salary negotiations in a panel from the Houston Business Expo 2009.

Remember…I’m very interested in this position, and I will seriously consider any fair offer you make. Please don’t fail to make an offer.

Effective interviewing requires you to act as a salesperson, and sell yourself. All good business development professionals know to ask for the sell – just as you should ask for the job.

Here’s how…

How many of you have thought this?…The copy machine is supposed to copy, print, fax AND scan? How do I set THAT up?

We are so accustomed to hearing discussions and presentations on how technology is an enabler. It seems no matter what you need, someone is there to enthusiastically explain how this or that technology can assist with your need or make the problem go away. In many instances, the judicious usage of technology can significantly improve the situation.

But what happens next? By that I mean, you bought…and implemented…the whiz-bang solution that was supposed to bring you residence in Shangri-La.

Now…how do you keep it running?

How does it morph to support you as your needs grow?

How do you train new staff on how to use it?

The true report card on success comes once the consultants leave, and you’re on your own. Only then can you clearly assess the quality of the implementation, whether all necessary processes and procedures have been implemented or modified, whether your staff has been adequately trained, and how well your new processes have been adopted.

Less than adequate in any area will result in workarounds. What an oxymoron…workarounds as the “solution” to your problem!

Think Through the ENTIRE Process

In many instances, the group selling the solution has a specified test that signals successful implementation. Does the proposed test reflect what you consider successful?

Technology isn’t the point. Success comes from the processes and procedures you establish and implement for using technology, which address your problem.

I’ve been subjected to more than my share of the latest and greatest, all enthusiastically touted and sold as solutions to real business issues. I’ve had some pleasant surprises, avoided some quicksand, and, in most cases, bought with my eyes open.

The real challenge to getting my money’s worth has been performing the tough due diligence to assess how the solution will actually be operating in my world six to twelve months after the vendor has handed me the keys.

There are some great solutions being sold. Just remember, the person talking to you is selling…or drinking the Kool-Aid. It’s up to you to determine how to assess what needs to happen for you to achieve the promised nirvana.

For another thoughtful and interesting view on this topic, check out Someone Else’s Problem, by Bob Lewis – a consultant and industry pundit who’s been studying and writing about the problems in managing technology and its practitioners since the mid 1990s.

Most companies lack good visibility into their spending.  Visibility into your spending gives your company a competitive edge by providing insight on how to manage and maximize cash flow, manage and forecast business costs, and monitor supplier performance. Studies show that only 4% of companies have a real-time look into their spending, and 69% have limited to no visibility.

Best-in-class companies utilize sound invoices and payment principles to define…

· Invoice handling and payment process
· The automation levels and integration of systems
· The costs and cycle time to process invoices
· The visibility or access to the invoice and payment data

The primary culprit is the intensive paperwork and labor invoice processing companies face to ensure an invoice is recorded accurately, approved and paid in a timely manner.  Take an in-depth look at invoice processing to reduce the manual processing of handling the paper invoice.  Whether the company is small or large, significant improvement within the invoice process is evident through an electronic paperless solution.

Implementing an electronic paperless solution provides significant process improvements and monetary savings.

Several benefits include:

· Reduced time to post to the general ledger
· More timely recognition of costs
· A lower internal cost to process and approve invoices
· Recorded audit trail to identify billing errors, fraud and abuse

The more the invoice cycle time is minimized, the quicker the company can respond to understanding spending trends and managing the cash flow of the business.  Knowing and having real-time spending visibility is one attribute to sound money management of the business.  It is a must have in a 24/7 business world to gain the upper edge with competitors.

From project initiation to delivery, expectations should be monitored and managed to ensure success. What are expectations, and who owns them? Expectations are a two-way street between the client and project team, brought together through clear and constant communication. Project expectations are the client’s vision of the results of the service or action provided. This can be stated or unstated. Either way, expectations are critical to project success.

A path to better managing project expectations

· Set clearly defined expectations
· Educate expectations
· Communicate and monitor expectations
· Execute processes for early feedback

1. Set Clear Expectations
Initial expectations can be (and should be) defined as part of the project initiation process. This is the time when the expected scope, high-level requirements and success factors are defined. The overall objective of the project is outlined in such a way that it is understandable to all involved.

Initiation documents define processes used throughout the project, including change processes, communication/project reporting processes, quality management, issue/risk management, development process and work plan. It establishes and defines a basis for understanding that can be used to communicate expectations.

During this phase, strong attention should be given to ensure that objectives follow the SMART rule of goal setting (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound.) While these will most likely change over the course of the project, the purpose is to define common processes, understandings and expectations.

2. Educate Expectations
Educate the client and the team on the agreed upon expectations and development processes as defined in the initiation documents. This way, each will know what is expected at the start of the project.

The conversions that happen as a result of the initiation process should lead both parties to a better understanding of expectations surrounding the project deliverable, process and overall results. Listening, empathizing with client’s business needs and indentifying the drivers behind the project will provide a better understanding of their expectations. Understanding and acknowledging client expectations communicates a commitment to the overall project.

3. Communicate and Monitor Expectations
Communication is key to monitoring expectations. Reporting on project accomplishments, issues and metrics will keep clients updated and involved in the project process. This will build client confidence and help ward off any unnecessary surprises.

Monitoring not only involves reporting on project status, but also engaging in constant listening and looking for feedback. Monitoring expectations requires listening, hearing and understanding the client’s business needs even if those needs are not apparent.

Communication paths between the client and the project team should be constant, as both parties need to be knowledgeable of the other’s expectations. Even the smallest decision needs can impact or refine expectations.

Expectations don’t stand still.

Periodically step out and check to make sure expectations are still lining up with the objectives. This involves communicating with both the client and team to ensure expectations are well aligned. When expectations do change, then a shift is needed to regain an understanding of the change and make the appropriate adjustments to ensure a successful project.

4. Execute Processes for Early Feedback
Several means can bring early feedback to the project. Early feedback can aid in clarifying and realigning project expectations. Building prototypes and/or pilot review sessions into the development process will bring to light issues and conversions at a time when changes are less costly and project impact is low.

Agile project process works to present and deliver project milestones in an incremental fashion. Clients get an early view of deliverables as they are completed, which allows them to review and input future concerns as needed.

Scrum methodology involves the client in defining which requirements will be worked and when, and lets clients reevaluate future requirements at the beginning of each Scrum cycle. Involving the client in this way helps set the expectation of the deliverable and creates excitement at being involved with developing something new. Instead of users being disappointed at the end of a project when the system doesn’t do what they expected, they have ownership in the process and become reassured that the project will meet the need.

What tips do you have for managing expectations? Are you doing anything different?

Security in small and mid-size businesses is more than just preventing viruses and blocking spam. Protecting your assets is the key to the long-term success of your business and the foundation of a strong IT infrastructure. What are the basic building blocks of a secure infrastructure?

In 2009, cyber crime is expected to increase as criminals attempt to exploit weaknesses in systems and in the people that use them. An overwhelming volume of malware can hit organizations. Viruses may spread through e-mail, Web sites, USB sticks, social and business networking sites, etc.

If an organization does not have a solid security policy and plan in place, the safety of the desktops, servers and all network devices (and all your data on them) will be at the mercy of the end user. Relying on the end user is not advisable or worth the risk.

The Small Business Administration estimates that 90 percent of companies that fail to recover data after a major loss are out of business within two years. Also, 54% of all business will find themselves the victim of data loss or cyber crime over the next three years.

The basic building blocks for a secure IT environment

• Model the threats to your business and have a third party perform a security risk assessment
• Develop an information security policy and educate your users
• Design a secure network, implement packet filtering in the router, implement a firewall and use a DMZ network for servers requiring Internet access
• Know your network. Harden your systems by removing unnecessary applications and maintain an aggressive program of patching operating systems and applications
• Offsite data backups with restoration plan
• Keep your systems patched
• Minimize exposure

In the SMB space, where you do not have the benefit of a dedicated team or individual whose sole responsibility is to keep your environment locked down, another option is managed IT services. For small business, this is a low cost, high reward solution. Services are provided on a monthly subscription, a recurring operational expense and include things like security.

As a business you must maintain best practices when it comes to securing your data and your infrastructure, the longevity of your business could depend on it.

Insider theft is on the rise. Displaced workers are abusing their corporate data access to steal, exploit and damage information networks. In a survey of 800 worldwide CIOs, more than 40% agreed that displaced employees were the biggest threat to vital information. International companies are estimated to have lost more than $1 trillion in intellectual property last year. What steps are taking to ensure your most precious asset – your data – is protected?

“This is a wake-up call because the current economic crisis is poised to create a global meltdown in vital information. Increased pressures on firms to reduce spending and cut staffing have led to more porous defenses and increased opportunity for crime. Companies need to stop looking at security as a cost center but as a business enabler,” said Dave DeWalt, president and chief executive officer of McAfee.

Many cases of businesses theft and data loss go unreported due to embarrassment, public relations nightmares and the possibility of losing customers. This practice may soon be coming to a halt. States are beginning to regulate data breach reports. California is paving the way for regulations in data theft incidences by requiring businesses to report a breach within 24 hours. We expect other states to follow suit with reporting requirements.

In a recent study by CERT and the Army Research Office, multiple cases of insider theft were studied for patterns of behavior. These cases all included prosecution where public information was readily available. The study suggested that dissatisfaction played a major role in 39% of the cases with denied raises, benefits, applications for promotion, requests for relocation and the threat of layoff from within the organization.

Most businesses believe in protecting the perimeter of the network. Little focus has been given to the inside. Insider threats include not only misconfigurations of access controls, which allow access into applications or data that should be restricted, but also snooping employees, corporate espionage and disgruntled employee theft.

Although most companies don’t regard inside security as critical as external security, the approach to both types of threats should be the same.

1. Security Assessment – ensure your devices are configured correctly and your policies and procedure back up your security stance
2. Penetration Testing – check your systems just like and outside hacker would
3. Security Enforcement – knowing your vulnerabilities is half the battle, fixing them is the other half
4. Perimeter Monitoring – round-the-clock monitoring to ensure speedy response to an attack
5. Internal Monitoring – protect your business from attacks against trusted users

Since insider attacks are specifically targeted attacks, it’s risky business not to proactively protect your organization.

What is the hardest thing we do in business…want to hazard a guess?

Hiring someone to do a critical task for us is one of the hardest things we do, yet we face this challenge over and over again. We all hate it. It always happens at the worst time. Whether it’s because business is growing or because we lost an employee, we find ourselves faced with the daunting task of kissing a lot of frogs to find a charming prince.

Why is it the hardest thing we do? Why do we hate it? What is the risk to each of us?

A hire reflects on us directly. It says so much about us. It effects our every waking moment because the person we hire is expected to do the tasks that need doing. If we hire the wrong person, our life is turned upside down. In many cases, we end up doing the work that the wrong hire was supposed to do. If we fire the person as quickly as we find them, we must fill the gap and kiss a few more frogs.

Is there a solution to this?

Engage, interview, get to know and give open access to a recruiter or two. Find someone who knows your industry, knows the technologies you use and how the components fit together. Until proven otherwise, expect that person to be totally trustworthy.

Good recruiters are professionals and have spent many years honing their skills in finding the best talent. They can spot red flags quicker than you. They make your interview process efficient. But most importantly, they help you hire that chosen prince or princess when you find them. Why risk failure in the hiring process when you can greatly increase the chances of success by working with an effective recruiter?

Why you should love us. Recruiters tell all…

• ”Business managers should love working with recruiters because we make their job easier. Only qualified candidates are suggested, which saves hiring managers tons of valuable time reviewing hundreds of worthless resumes.” ~Kevin Hughes, Senior Technical Recruiter

• ”Recruiters are the external eyes and ears of talent on the streets. A good recruiter recognizes that there are two sales involved, candidate to hiring manager and hiring manager to candidate. Thinking in this manner incorporates more of the WHY a company has a need for an employee and WHY a certain professional would be a good hire.” DeWayne Addison, Business Development Manager – Staffing

• ”The best hiring managers view recruiters as their agent, working in the best interest of the company. Hiring managers are not trained as HR professionals. They are hired to accomplish a task in a timely, cost-effective manner. Their “real job” doesn’t leave them much time to effectively source, qualify, interview, negotiate and present an offer.” ~Mike Brahn, Business Development Manager – Staffing

• ”Recruiters have the ability to find information about a candidate that isn’t typically disclosed in an interview, as well as details that may influence their decision to accept an offer. This leads to good selling features that could close a candidate – shorter commute, better benefits, bonus potential, details of other offers.” ~Jeremy Tyler, Business Development Manager – Staffing

• ”From the candidate perspective, there’s a true competitive advantage gained from working with good recruiters. Recruiting firms generally provide direct access to hiring managers versus applying online or through job sites. Good recruiters also provide resume formatting, interviewing tips and coordination, salary and benefit negotiations.” ~Kevin Hughes, Senior Technical Recruiter

• ”Candidates should love working with recruiters, because we are their counsel. If they’re looking, we can get them in touch with the companies that need their skills, guide them on what to say, prepare them for a successful interview. We are their buffer zone when getting an offer. We can also help make the transition into a new company much easier by educating them on culture, what’s acceptable and what will help them advance.” ~Jani Clemons, Vice President

What are your experiences with recruiters? The good, bad and the ugly.

The Standish group reported in 2009 that only 32% of IT projects were considered successful, leaving 24% to be cancelled before completion and 44% considered challenged. For many troubled projects, the source of the problems can be directly linked to a failure in implementing basic project management processes. Let’s get back to the basics. Here are the five basic processes for project management.

Based on the PMI standards, as defined in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), these five high-level processes are a framework for managing projects and are scalable to any type or size of project. Each process builds on and interacts with the previous one.

Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, Closing

Initiating
This is the process by which the project gets started or initiated. This might be through a business case, statement of work or other document that contains the project scope, expected budget and acceptance criteria. The information contained in the initiation documents becomes the defining elements of the project planning process.

Planning
The plan is derived from the information included in the initiation documents. Planning for the project includes things like the Work Breakdown Structure (task list), Resource/Schedule Plan, Change Management Plan, Quality Plan and Communication Plan.
• The task list or WBS should describe the tasks needed to create the work
• Resource/schedule plan should plan the necessary resources and time frames to complete the tasks
• Change management plan defines the process of handling change to the WBS and subsequent initiation documents (scope, schedule and cost)
• Quality plan defines the process for ensuring quality work
• Communication plan defines how the project will be reported on and to whom.

Executing
Executing process is working the plan(s) that were created in the planning process. The plans are put into actions and the work begins. The execution of the plan may exist as one or more iterations of planned cycles.

Monitoring and Controlling
Monitoring and controlling plan(s) involves monitoring of work progress and budget spend, as well as controlling any changes involved in the Execution process of the project being executed.

Controlling of changes should follow the process that was outlined in the Change Management Plan.
Monitoring includes any status reports, matrix, or communication artifacts that were defined in the communications plan.

Quality monitoring/controlling, should follow the process that was outlined in the quality plan.
This also involves the updating and monitoring of any risks and issues that may result from the project execution process

Closing
Project closing process works to ensuring that all the work is complete, as defined by the deliverables, the initiation documentation and any resulting change requests.

This include getting customer sign-off for the deliverables, closing out the budget, defining any follow on actions and reviewing lessons learned.

While these processes may be familiar and simplistic in nature, they are often not fully implemented or practiced to a level that can be documented or repeated. This leaves the project to be managed without the basic elements that will help make it successful.

Most troubled projects can be brought back on track, by simply assessing the basics and defining the missing or lacking processes. Let’s get back to the basics.

How are these basic processes affecting your projects?

While we’ve seen recent indications of economic recovery, some are skeptical that IT spending will follow the trend. For the past year, CIOs have been strapped with tighter-than-ever IT budgets.  This week, Microsoft’s CEO offered his thoughts on why we will see growth in IT spending, but we will not see recovery. Here’s what you ought to know.

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO,  stated that IT spending will not fully recover to levels seen in recent years in the short term.  Cited reasons:

• Capital less available
• Drop in server and PC purchases
• Tighter IT budgets

Well, I’m not convinced that capital is scarce.  It would seem that with increased corporate earnings from cost-savings measures, and with money on the sidelines for lending, that capital is not as scarce as some would like to believe.  Either way, spending has been scarce.

Regardless, Ballmer must have read last month’s Garter Group statement, which indicated that we won’t see 2008 IT spending levels again until 2012!

Doesn’t that sound horrible?

Not so fast.

If Garter is correct, 2010 will feel like an enormous improvement.  The 2009 forecast for IT spending is horrendous.  Hardware down 16.5% year over year.  (Side note, declines in new hardware purchases put a serious pinch on Microsoft, which bundles OS licenses with new servers and PCs.)  Enterprise IT purchasing down 6.9%.  Overall global technology spending down 5.2%.

Gartner forecasts a modest but respectable 3.3% increase in 2010 global IT spending, equal to $3.3 trillion.

While Ballmer and Gartner predict 0% change in IT budgets from 2009 to 2010, we at RSA Corp are seeing a modest increase in IT department budgets in 2010.  Plans are being made to replace headcount lost in the past twelve months and resume some projects that were put on hold.  On the other hand, we are also seeing companies work to extend the life of servers and PCs, which will continue to hurt hardware vendors and Microsoft.  However, everyone in IT knows that hardware will need to be refreshed eventually.  This bodes well for 2011.

In addition, we have reason to believe that while most enterprise organizations have implemented virtualization to some degree, many mid-market and SMBs are at the outset and plans are queued for 2010.

Personally, I’m optimistic for 2010 (especially relative to 2009) and will be even more so for 2011 … so long as the global economy continues to cooperate as it has in recent months.

But hey, I’d love to be even more confident.  Please comment on what your company is doing in the way of IT budgets in 2010.  Up, down, flat.

A reactive approach to IT support can be costly and time-consuming. This is especially true for SMBs, which don’t usually have the resources to employ a full-time IT resource or spend a lot of money outsourcing IT. When there is a problem, the costs associated with solving IT issues can spiral out of control.

So…what are the actual costs of managing and maintaining your IT?

Think about…
• The salary of a full-time IT professional
• Capital investment in network monitoring tools
• Valuable time wasted when hassling with IT issues
• Paying overpriced break-fix support costs
• Lost productivity due to network downtime (Basic formula: Net income / 250 yearly productive days = Cost of downtime per day)

What if you had more time to focus on your business with peace of mind that your technology is working…for less than it costs to do it yourself? Managed IT support helps companies maintain predictable IT costs by offering fixed pricing for ongoing support of the systems that businesses need to remain productive – desktops, servers, email.

How Managed IT Support Reduces IT Costs, and How to Restore Peace of Mind

1.Rather than employ a full-time IT employee to provide the skills and resources of just one person, businesses can leverage managed IT support and gain access to a team of professionals certified in many different technologies. Also, the hidden costs of hiring someone full-time can equate to almost double the employee’s salary.

2.Network monitoring tools minimize downtime by recognizing issues before they become problems. When issues escalate without proper attention is when they become costly. With managed IT support, you benefit from the tools as part of the service and eliminate the capital investment.

3.A fully functional help desk allows end users to report problems and have them resolved as they happen. This eliminates valuable time spent troubleshooting issues and allows you to focus your efforts on what matters most…your business.

4.Calling an IT technician when problems arise results in paying high premiums for service. Managed services are available for a fixed, monthly price, which helps SMBs maintain predictable IT spend.

5.When your network goes down, revenue-generating activities come to a halt. Many studies illustrate the effects of downtime on small business. For long-term downtime, The University of Texas has found that only 6% of companies survive a catastrophic data loss, and Gartner estimates that only 35% of SMBs have a comprehensive disaster recovery plan. With someone managing and monitoring your technology, your infrastructure is inherently stronger. Also, your provider should offer affordable disaster recovery options.

In the past year, most businesses have taken steps to “hunker down” and be a survivor.  Many businesses are taking the opportunity to strengthen themselves to emerge stronger when the economy fully recovers.

De-risking your business is a simple framework that can be used to analyze your business and adjust your execution plan.

Five Areas to De-risk

1. Operational Risk – Reduce fixed costs, which is also known as operational leverage.  Identify efficiencies, work flow automation and other ways to boost productivity.  Put processes in place so your business is not dependent on individuals.  Ensure that operational controls and approvals are in place for spending.

2.  Market Strategy Risk – Focus on your core business, which is presumably the most profitable and stable.  What can you do to improve service and value without increasing costs?  Be active in your business.  Sit down with your customers to understand their needs and how you can do a better job of serving them.

3. Business Interruption Risk – When times are good, you might be able to absorb losses from a business interruption due to catastrophic event,  system failure or even malicious employees.  Now is the time to make sure that your operation is tolerant.

4. Data Security & Compliance Risk – Now is not the time to experience data loss or compromised data security.  Reduce the risk of loss of critical business information and the risk of violating privacy regulations such as PCI and HIPAA by ensuring that audit, governance, backup and recovery, and security policies are in place.

5. Financial risk – What amount of debt can your business support?  Reduce debt load if possible. Refinance short term lines of credit to longer term notes.  Know the cash flow requirements of your business in both the best case and worst case scenarios.

Notice that I mention financial risk last.  That’s because you cannot understand the financial needs unless the strategic and operational plans are in place.

And remember, if you can’t transfer, reduce or eliminate your risk…then by default you accept the risk.

Recruiters tend to focus on how to examine a candidate to find the perfect match for the job. After all, that’s how they’re paid. When it’s your future and you are the candidate, how should you examine a company to determine whether it will be a perfect fit?

Let’s look at the other side of the coin and talk about finding the right company, the right culture and the right job. We might want to include finding the right manager, too.

Most interviews offer a chance for the interviewee to ask questions, and it usually comes at the end of the interview. “So, do you have any questions?” A candidate should never, ever say “No.”

A series of questions should be top of mind, and at least one of them will go unanswered during the interview. Here are five questions that will surely tell you a lot about your prospective new company.

Five Questions to Help You Determine Culture Fit and Company Environment

• Describe a typical work week here at Acme Widgets and what someone in this position might be doing?

This is a question that should be asked to multiple interviewers. Contrasting the opinions of two or three folks will give a clear impression of the job. Major variances in opinions would be a big red flag. It could mean the division is disorganized and, most assuredly, signal that communication within the group is suspect.

• How long have you been here, and what keeps you here?

Again, this question should be posed to multiple interviewers. This puts the interviewer into a mode of feeling good about the situation. Because you’re asking for his opinion, you’re creating a value proposition that comes from your interest in him. Look for variances in opinions and statements that can be informative about the environment.

• Tell me how Acme recognizes performance, especially top performance.

After the basic needs are satisfied, a professional finds happiness in the esoteric qualities of a job and a company. A culture that strives to give recognition to its people is one that realizes that in the hierarchy of needs, money and benefits fall to the bottom and things such as recognition and the opportunity to contribute rise to the top. If the company has a well-defined recognition plan, it has probably considered the environmental issues that make for a happy place to work.

• What is your idea of a great boss? Is your boss one of them?

This is a very telling question to ask the person who would be your immediate supervisor. It is most likely that this person will give you the definition of the way he or she manages. The second question will tell you how happy he or she is, and will alert you as to whether he or she might be gone shortly. If that is the case, you might find that the replacement is not the kind of person to whom you would enjoy reporting.

• Some folks like to work long hours and around-the-clock to finish a task. Some like a more structured day, starting in the morning and going home at quitting time. Which person fits best in this environment?

Obviously, this one will tell you about the flexibility of the company. If the second example fits best and you represent the first example, this might not be the place for you. Most importantly, if the interviewer indicates that the company is flexible enough to support both kinds of people, you know it will be flexible to your needs. Be prepared to have the table turned and be asked, “Which one are you?”

Remember, there is some risk in asking these questions. Some managers may take them as signs that you are too inquisitive for their group. If so, you probably don’t want to work there anyway.

The key is to never fail to ask questions. If you aren’t given the opportunity, then ask for it. This is the best chance you have to really find out what it will be like to work for a company and whether you really want to work there!

I’d like to hear any other great questions that might be used by some of you out there. Got any?

Some companies rely heavily on contractors to staff projects and even entire departments within IT. Others exclusively prefer full-time employees. Understanding the total cost of an employee is crucial in the decision-making process. However, the ultimate decision should be based on your company or department’s business strategy. Learn more about this at Part 1 of this series: To Hire Contract or Full Time: 8 Questions to Help You Decide.

Businesses often underestimate the total cost of a full-time employee. It’s true that hourly rates are usually higher for contractors and consultants than full-time employees, but we must consider all hard and soft costs.  Some are not so apparent.

Hard costs

Hourly rate – This one is easy. For this example, let’s use $75,000 per year as a pay rate, which equates to slightly more than $36 per hour for 2,080 hours per year.  One key difference with contractors is you only pay for productive hours.  Full-time employees are paid during non-productive hours, such as vacation, holidays and sick time.

Statutory costs – Social Security and Medicare cost employers 7.65% of a base salary plus federal and state unemployment insurance. For a $75,000 employee, this equates to more than $3 per productive hour worked.

Employee benefits – Full-family benefits such as health care costs, which rise each year, and 401k matching can equate to $8 per productive hour worked.

Training costs – The actual amount per employee depends on the type of job and varies from company to company. It is estimated that the cost per hour worked ranges from $0.50 to $2.50. Using contractors or consultants allows you to avoid paying for training courses, conferences, subscriptions and certifications.

Training time – Contractors and consultants are paid for hours worked. Companies pay only for the value created and not when a contractor is focused on non-productive tasks.  Five days of training per year equates to nearly $2,000 in lost productivity for an employee making $75,000. As such, use of a contractor abates approximately $1 per hour of training expense.

Vacation time – Like training, vacation cost is abated by using contractors. Depending on your time-off policy, you can avoid two to three weeks of cost. Two weeks of vacation equates to $4,000 per year for an employee making $75,000 or approximately $2 per productive hour. In addition, paid breaks can amount to an additional two to four hours per week.

Paid holidays – Most companies offer approximately ten days of paid holiday time, equating to $4,000 per year or $2 per hour.

Sick time – Depending on your policy, you may avoid the cost of between 5 and 10 sick and/or personal days. This equates to $2,000 to $4,000 per year or $1 to $2 dollars per productive hour worked.

Bad hire costs - Bad hires are expensive.  Studies indicate that the cost of a bad hire is two and a half to three times the employee’s salary.  This cost is avoided with contractors, who can be terminated with little headache if things don’t work out.  If one in thirty hires is a bad one, then we should increase the hourly rate by 10% per productive hour work.

Hiring costs – Hiring is an expensive process. Significant management time is invested in gathering resumes, screening resumes, making calls to candidates, testing, scheduling interviews, conducting interviews, evaluating and choosing a candidate, negotiating the offer, and repeating the process if the candidate does not accept. These costs can be reduced by using contractors. This management and human resources time can be focused in areas of greater value to the business. For the purposes of this example, I’ve included no allocation for hiring costs.

Separation costs – The unfortunate situation where you choose to terminate an employee creates costs for the company.  If the employee is laid off, severance costs are avoided. If the termination is performance-based, all of the time invested by HR and management on counseling, deliberations and termination are avoided. While incurring these costs are not certain, by using contractors you avoid this risk.  For the purposes of this example, I’ve included no allocation for separation costs.

For a $75,000 resource, hard costs equate to approximately $22 per productive hour worked or nearly $40,000 per year!

Soft Costs

Soft costs are more difficult to quantify.  The opportunity cost of time spent managing employees from a human resources perspective is the most often overlooked and underestimated employee cost. Contractors and consultants do not require a career path, training plans, performance appraisals or counseling sessions. It is estimated that up to 15% of a manager’s time is spent in these areas.

By using contractors and consultants, management time can be focused in areas of greater potential value to the business. One industry benchmark shows that day-to-day management and other soft costs equate to an additional 25% of an employee’s total cost.

Of note, decision makers correctly consider management costs as fixed…they are not avoided when using contractors instead of full-time employees.  Unfortunately that misses the point.  I’m specifically calling out the opportunity cost of management time, which can be focused in higher ROI areas.

Totaling it up

The total cost of an employee making $75,000 per year is approximately double – nearly $150,000 per year.

While using a contractor is definitely not appropriate for every situation, it’s not as expensive as it sometimes seems.  As such, our recommendation is to base your decision to use full-time or contract resources on business strategy, not hourly pay rates.

When deciding whether to use a technology contractor or hire a full-time IT employee, businesses must consider a wide range of factors. The choice must be rooted in the company or department’s business strategy, followed by consideration of cost.

Ask Yourself These 8 Questions…

• Is the function strategic to the business or tactical in nature?

If the function is tactical – tasks are repetitive and support operational business processes or support functions – then the function could be a candidate for using contract resources.  Another idea, if the function could be outsourced entirely, then a contractor may be an alternative.  Using contractors is a form of outsourcing … contracting out the skills while maintaining management responsibility.

• Is it important to retain the functional knowledge long-term, or is the position process-oriented?

Let’s focus on knowledge, using application developers as an example.  In an enterprise IT environment, using contractors for application development might make sense. Once the project is completed, you need application maintenance skills, not development.

For an independent software vendor (ISV),  development never ceases and retaining knowledge of product architecture, road map and underlying code is critical.  For ISV’s, using full-time employees to retain knowledge and intellectual property is pretty important.

• Are the skills scarce, difficult to attract and difficult to maintain? Or, are they commodity skills that are widely available?

It’s common for businesses to use contract employees for commodity skills, especially when those skills can be obtained for the same or less as permanent employees.  For scarce skills, your business strategy may dictate that you need to keep these skills in-house, else they be taken by your competitors.

Another consideration, people with rare skills typically are aware of this and consequently may not be attracted to contract work.  The exception to this generalization are “hired-gun” skills for projects.  See the bullet, below.

• Is it a position that merits the management and human resources attention and investment of a career path within the organization?

This is quite common.  Many organizations don’t provide a career path for every function.  Worried about losing talent?  Don’t.  Just because a person starts as a contractor, doesn’t mean no opportunity exists to convert the person to full-time.

Consider yourself fortunate when you find an extremely talented contractor who you’d like to bring on board.  You were able to ascertain the individual’s talent and culture fit with low risk and even lower hiring costs.  Contract-to-Hire approaches allow companies to try-before-they-buy. Partnering with staffing provider can prevent expensive bad hires and mitigate risks associated with misclassifying contractors as permanent employees.

• Are the skills required short-term, such as for a project that has a defined beginning and end, or long-term?
– Are the required short-term skills the same as the long-term skills?
– Will person who would be attracted to the short-term assignment (application development) be content with the long-term requirements (application maintenance)?

It is not uncommon that the skills for short-term objectives are different than those for the long-term.  Consider contract employees for the former and permanent employees for the latter.  Or, a different model is to use your full-time resources to implement the short-term project while backfilling their maintenance duties with contractors.  This is more challenging to execute because your existing team may not have the skills necessary, which increases the risk of project failure and cost overruns.  However, if you can pull it off you will end up with the best of both worlds.

• Is using contractors culturally compatible with the business or department?

This is important.  Business leaders and managers should take a moment to reflect on this.  Shifting to a contractor-based staffing model for certain functions should be carefully considered.  How will you maintain your company or department’s culture?  How will you ensure that you do not create a second-class employment category?  How will you communicate these business decisions to your employees?

No issue is insurmountable.  However, we recommend a thoughtful approach that prevents issues.

Again, the decision on whether and where to use contractors should be primarily based on the business strategy for your business or department.  Answer these questions first, then move to the analysis of whether the benefits outweigh any difference in cost, which may not be what you think.

Later this week I’ll answer that question here on PartnerIT.com.

Thanks for reading!

Technology executives are key business strategy players in today’s mid-market companies. In recent years, we’ve raised the bar for the qualifications for the ideal CIO. But, are our expectations realistic? Are we looking for a superman or superwoman?

I had to chuckle while reading Chris Curran’s analysis, “CIO Background Check: IT Experience Mandatory?” He makes excellent points and concludes that IT experience is a prerequisite for a CIO to be successful. He goes further to say that a dual background, one with both IT and business operational experience, is the best combination. I agree completely that this is ideal.

In addition to successful IT management experience, Curran lists broader skills and experiences that should be considered in search of the ideal CIO:

• Leadership abilities
• Hands-on technology background
• Experience in leading large change programs
• Experience in running successful IT infrastructure operations
• Management experience in a non-IT function
• Innovative thinking that can solve relevant industry and business issues
• The ability to understand how projects and operations impact corporate financials.

These comprise the ideal characteristics of a successful CIO candidate in today’s dynamic business environment. But what a tall order!?

I am struck that companies are looking for a CIO superman (or superwoman), who is difficult to find and even more difficult to keep.

Deloitte recently published the results of its global executive survey on IT talent, titled “Mind the Talent Gap.” (Author note: I recommend this study to any business where technology is critical to the execution of its business strategy) Survey results validate that technology leadership will be in short supply, if it isn’t already, in coming years.

Deloitte’s prescription for closing the talent gap is both challenging and expensive, but definitely high ROI for large companies. At RSA Corp, we are mindful of the mid-market and believe variations on the Deloitte recommendations will be required for mid-market companies to obtain the full value of technology leadership in an increasingly competitive labor market for those high-demand, low-supply skills and experiences.

Last week CIO.com reported that “IT Jobs May Get Left Behind in Recovery.” To sum it up, author Patrick Thibodeau deduced that companies will be less likely to hire permanent employees and more likely to hire contractors or use outsourcing providers to meet increased demand for IT workers and functions.

The evidence? Increased revenue and earnings from outsourcing providers such as Cognizant and ACS.  Further support arrived in Forrester Research’s report citing that outsourcing is the only IT spending category that will finish “in the black” in 2009.  The good news is Forrester’s prediction of an strong recovery next year with overall 7.7% growth, and led by IT consulting services expected to increase by 11.4%. [Author's note: This is according to CIO.com.  I was unable validate this.  If you find other citations, please comment below with the link.]

Also quoted is Peter Bendor-Samuel, CEO of Everest Group, an outsourcing research group, who believes that IT service providers will benefit from companies that are hesitant to hire or rehire and are otherwise inclined to rely on outsourcing companies.  The implication is that more dollars will end up offshore.

Our take? Here at RSA Corp, we’ve experienced every recession since 1980, and history shows that contract labor and outsourcing will rebound first.  The predicted contract labor cycle is consistent with economic cycles in the past.  Comparing recession to recession, only the amplitude and period have varied.

Other factors indicating IT services and outsourcing firm growth…

• Advances in technology and connectivity make outsourced IT services, such as outsourced level 1 support, more affordable and effective now than in the past.
• Outsourced IT support has become more widely accepted and available, with established service levels and delivery models.  There is far less risk in moving forward with an managed IT support service.

Does that mean that jobs will shift offshore, diluting the recovery?

Of that, I’m less certain.  Strong arguments exist that offshore outsourcing providers will greatly benefit.  However, many highly competitive, domestic managed IT support providers will benefit as well.

Does that mean that U.S. IT workers will suffer?

Not necessarily.  We’re seeing reduced labor supply of domestic IT workers.  The current recession makes this less apparent, as today there is abundant supply of unemployed IT workers.  We expect this excess supply to be absorbed quickly as the United States emerges from recession.  Consequently, domestic IT managed service vendors will use economies of scale and new technologies to deliver shared services across many clients.

Domestic companies and organizations will be more productive overall, generating more with less … which is a very good thing.

The decision whether or not (or when) to upgrade is complex and dependent on many factors. Upgrading operating systems can create a competitive advantage, increase productivity and reduce administrative overhead. Alternatively, upgrading can cause compatibility issues with core applications, reduce productivity and significantly impact budgets and the bottom line. Due to mixed reviews of Vista, many businesses have chosen to delay upgrading to the controversial operating system and are waiting for Microsoft to either fix it or produce something better. The immediate positive reviews of the recently released Windows 7 beta are encouraging, but should you bet your business on it?

Windows 7 is looming on the horizon. It’s hard to believe, but Windows XP first arrived in 2001. XP is a good OS and a significant improvement over Windows 2000 in many business-relevant ways. This was especially evident with the release of service pack 2 and its improved networking and security capabilities.

Businesses have been riding the XP train for eight years, despite Vista being available for some time now. Hesitation exists because upgrading can be a headache, and there’s the often-stated mindset that you should never opt for the first release of a Microsoft OS. Whatever the reason, many businesses wait until Microsoft has “worked the bugs out.” I‘ve often heard the belief that the best way to adopt new OS releases from Microsoft is to let someone else do its beta testing.

Like it or not, the XP train is reaching the end of the track. Support officially ended for XP in April 2009, with extended support until 2014. That means no more updates and no more free support from Microsoft duration. It also means you cannot buy a new PC installed with XP, and the legal ability to downgrade from Vista to XP will no longer be an option. So one way or another, decision makers are going to face a choice of operating systems that will not include XP.

It is not all bad news though.

I’ve been using Windows 7 both in beta and release candidate for several months on both my home PC and my corporate laptop. I use my laptop as both a desktop replacement at the office and as a mobile workstation for multiple client-site use.

How 7 Works and Plays in the Enterprise and in Multi-Client and Remote Use

1. Simpler and faster networking – Network browsing is fast and efficient, unlike Vista where long lags can occur when clicking on a network drive. Wireless configuration and reconnecting to existing networks is more streamlined and easier to achieve.

2. User account control – In Vista, UAC was unmanageable, whereas 7 is unobtrusive. I eventually ended up turning it off in Vista, which did nothing for security.

3. Faster boot times – In all but a few cases where a user was using a stripped-down version of XP on a fast computer, 7 still boots faster. Unlike XP, which seems to get slower over time, my laptop still boots as fast as it did the day I installed 7. I’ve experienced this on platforms ranging from an older Pentium M 1.6 and a more current Centrino Dual Core.

4. Faster and easier install – I’ve smoothly installed 7 on eight different devices. No muss, no fuss, no drama. My greatest fear of driver availability on my production laptop has been laid to rest. When Microsoft released Vista, it introduced new driver architecture primarily for the graphics and sound subsystems. The difficulty of finding drivers early in an OS release is legendary. With 7, I’ve only encountered a handful of devices, mostly older printers, for which I have failed or had to search to find drivers. Where 7 drivers were not available, typically Vista drivers worked. Only one device has failed to work properly – an older Tektronix Phaser printer. Windows 7 included drivers are extensive. What’s more impressive about the availability of drivers is that I installed the 64-bit version instead of the more common 32-bit.

5. Blue Screens – Lots of blues with Vista, not one in 7. Your results may vary, but consider I currently have three different VPN clients and a host of diagnostic applications on my machine that do interesting things to the IP stack of my laptop.

Points in Favor of Windows 7 for the Enterprise

• Ability to remove Internet Explorer 8 and use other browsers exclusively
• Improved network browsing and searching speed and capabilities
• Improved troubleshooting and remote support capabilities
• Improved file browser over both XP and especially over Vista

Included apps (Paint, Notepad, Calculator) are greatly improved in both function and look and feel. Windows 7 is vastly better than Vista and has proven itself robust and usable for both home and business. If you have the opportunity thru purchasing new equipment or reloading an existing machine, pick up a copy of 7 when it hits the market (October 22, 2009) and give it a try.

If you’ve had a chance to work with Windows 7 beta..what are your thoughts?

Scrum has been around for nearly 20 years but has recently gained ground as a front-runner in the agile methodology practice group. Due to its approach to project requirements and fast iterative development cycles, Scrum will gain even more popularity as businesses are adopting lean processes, streamlining controls and cutting out waste. It brings a faster, more complete development modules and project owner involvement to ensure that current and future business goals are met.

Scrum is a value-driven management agile methodology that focuses on delivering small incremental batches of requirements within some given time frame and budget. One goal is to realize business value (ROI) on deliverables as soon as possible so businesses can make more informed decisions for future Scrums.

Scrum vs. Traditional Development Methods

Scrum methodology concentrates on incremental release cycles of useable deliverables. Requirements are placed on a product backlog list, which are then detailed into the Scrum backlog and pulled into a release for work. Project owners have full control over the backlog list and the priority of the work that is schedule to be done in each release. The release dates and budget for each Scrum iteration or sprint remain fixed, while the requirement (scope) remains flexible.

“Flexible scope” is a scary phrase for any project manager. In reality, when a project begins with high-level requirements and scope, the result is often different from the start. Throughout the project, the requirements are revised, changed and sometimes even removed.

With the Scrum methodology, both the cost and time for each iteration are fixed, ensuring budget and schedule control, while the project owner controls requirements (scope).

The process starts out with a backlog of requirements that the project owner prioritizes. Then, the project team decides how many requirements can be placed in a Scrum sprint. Requirements are further detailed and placed on the Scrum backlog. This is a just-in-time process for feeding into the Scrum sprint. It’s recommended that sprints run 1-3 weeks, depending on the needs of the project. The point is to keep them small, delivering working product frequently.

This allows for ROI to be recognized sooner than with traditional methods. Waterfall methods do not make ROI apparent until closer to the project end, which in some cases can be years. This makes Scrum a fiscally advantageous methodology for long-term projects.

Waterfall methods often result in systems that no longer provide the expected value because they’re out of date by the time of delivery or are in a never-ending mode of change. Scrum value-driven management helps to avoid these issues by quickly delivering high-priority requirements (as denoted by the product owner), which allows the product owner to revaluate the benefits of each requirement and adjust as needed.

Would faster delivery and ROI be factors in making a decision on a project methodology?

The type of security threats on our networks is escalating. While tools exist to detect security leaks, they have no chance against skilled professionals with a reason to take something from your network. Knowing where you stand in terms of network security is no longer an option, but a necessity. The numbers associated with network security will shock you.

Studies show more security threats come from outside an organization, but an increasing concern relating to several types of internal threats persists. CSO Magazine’s E-Crime Watch Survey found that overconfidence is pervasive amongst security professionals and organizations in thinking they have things handled. This kind of thinking is concerning given the recent rise in targeted, financially motivated attacks.

• May 2009 – Heartland Payment Systems reported a security breach that cost the company about $12.6 million, including legal costs and fines from MasterCard and Visa, which directly contributed to a $2.5 million loss for the affected quarter
• December 23, 2008 – RBS Worldpay, a subsidiary of Citizens Financial Group Inc., said a breach of its payment systems may have affected more than 1.5 million people
• March 2008 – Hannaford Brothers Co. disclosed that a breach of its payment systems, also aided by malicious software, compromised at least 4.2 million credit and debit card accounts

Social Engineering and Password Crackers

The E-Crime Watch Survey revealed that the use of social engineering techniques jumped to the number one method of committing e-crimes. This includes manipulation of a person or persons who can permit or facilitate access to a system or data.

Another change revealed that organizations with insiders using sophisticated technologies like password crackers or sniffers jumped from 17 percent to 31 percent. The evidence shows that while 57 percent of participants said they are increasingly concerned about the potential effects, a large number have trimmed IT spending by 5 percent and corporate security by 15 percent.

How You Can Protect Your Business

With the average cost of a security breach estimated at $6.6 million (ranging from $613,000 to $32 million), it pays to have a baseline of the environment, utilize IT security policies and stay up-to-date on trends. Focus on areas that pose the highest threat to your environment.

A recent article by CompTIA (Computing Technology Industry Association) says, “To address evolving threats, support mechanisms such as disaster recovery plans, dedicated security teams, security trainings and formal policies for responding to incidents have been adopted by many firms. These are supplemented by preventive technologies, such as firewalls and antivirus software used in combination. A growing number of U.S. firms are using other technologies, including intrusion detection systems, physical access control and multi-factor authentication.”

CompTIA’s survey of 1,000 IT professionals revealed their top security threats.  Which of these threats are relevant to your organization? What initiatives are you planning to address network security?

Have you ever heard the song, “If you’re gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band?” For some reason, this theme plays in my head but the lyrics are, “If you’re gonna do an upgrade, you’re gonna wanna do it now.”

I know the song could use some work, but the content couldn’t be more true. If you are thinking about or need to do a network refresh, this is the time to do it. Network hardware and software are no different than everything else on the market these days. If you have the capital, it’s a buyer’s market.

Hardware vendors and software vendors are offering extremely aggressive pricing to potential buyers and are willing to negotiate. We have seen technology upgrade and projects range anywhere from 10% – 40% in reduced cost for projects of similar size and scope from the year prior.

Over the last few months, we have been able to offer some nice upgrades within the virtualization world for clients that would not have been able to afford high availability or redundant solutions in the past. For the same expense this year, we are able to drastically harden their environments and make leaps in disaster recovery planning.

These savings can bring tremendous added value to a business or simply help save money. Either way, if you are kicking tires or in dire straits…now is the time to drop that coin.

With the flood of people flocking to Twitter these days, it can be daunting to try and figure out who’s worth following and who isn’t. Here is my list of 25 Houston business tweeple that inspire, bring laughter, have influence and are just plain cool (in no particular order).

1. @astro_mike – Mike Massimino
NASA astronaut, mission specialist for STS-125

2. @drrbradley – Dr. Richard Bradley
Emergency physician with the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

3. @BillWhiteforTX – Mayor Bill White
Son of San Antonio schoolteachers. Husband, father. Successful businessman. Mayor of Houston, winner in Profile in Courage Award. Candidate for U.S. Senate.

4. @baldheretic – Jay Lee
Helpline columnist for the Houston Chronicle, creator and host of Technology Bytes. Folk musician and shameless shutterbug.

5. @marc1919 – Marc Nathan
Web 2.0 Angel Investor & Technology Startup Incubator. Houston Technology Center.

6. @waterdesign – Heather Loftiss
Branding Goddess, designer lady, mom, wife/business partner, incoming AAF-H Branding Czar, gardener and photographer. Isn’t that enough?

7. @growth_coach – Jared Polak
I’m passionate about helping my community achieve success and balance in their lives

8. @Bukowsky – Jeff Flowers
To Build a Better World, You Must Start in Your Own Community.Web Developer. Graphic Designer. Social Media Guru.

9. @TheMoleskin – Kelsey Ruger
Senior-level software architect, web and UI designer. Passionate about creative thinking, training and employee development. VP at Pop Labs

10. @Jaseone – Jason Bainbridge
Geek, wanna be photographer, cyclist, beer & coffee lover! IT guy.

11.@JennTex – Jennifer Texada
Communications Program Manager at M. D. Anderson focusing on Social Media and stuff like that.

12. @she_eats – Katharine Shilcutt
Web editor for the Houston Press. Lover of food and beer. Probably of you, too.

13. @ericaogrady – Erica O’Grady
CXO Peanut Butter Media

14. @CoffeeGroundz – JR Cohen
I am a strong cup of coffee and by night I am a Belgium beer. We are your local cheers! #SupportLocal #GrowTogether

15. @lmayes – Laura Mayes
Who doesn’t want to write in 140 characters? Also wrote the upcoming book Kirtsy Takes a Bow (October 2009) And I helped found Kirtsy.com. Hooray! Etc.

16. @gracerodriguez – Grace Rodriguez
Ayn brand | social media consultant . community builder . creative . writer . speaker . activist . advocate | into : art . film . music . design . strategery

17. @imelda – Imelda
Wife, mom, computer geek from houston, texas who loves to take photos!

18. @TheBloggess – Jenny
Good Mom/Bad Mom blogger for Houston Chronicle

19. @Freebies4Mom – Heather
I blog at Freebies4Mom.com to help everyone save money with freebies, coupons, giveaways, sweepstakes, and money-saving tips

20. @Cosmopolitician – Monica Danna
Event planner + PR gal + social media maniac + houston fanatic + design lover + dance freak

21. @dsilverman – Dwight Silverman
Techblogger, computer columnist, blog editor @ Houston Chronicle | chron.com. Co-host of Technology Bytes radio show. Computer book author.

22. @MistyKhan – Misty Khan
Mommy, wife, family girl. Outlook, sales, & marketing consultant. entrepreneur, runner, wine lover, dog lover. Jewish Conservative #TCOT

23. @eschipul – Ed Schipul
Some guy from Houston who does web stuff with a bunch of other web people. Schipul Web Marketing.

24. @EstherSteinfeld – Blinds.com PR
PR gal, NotAllCEOsAreJerks.com Founder, Correspondent for The Business Makers Show, lover of Interior Design, buttermilk biscuits, cockapoos, & dance

25. @alangham – Arthur Langham
Programmer, Ironman finisher, Desert Storm veteran, font snob, and grammar nazi.

**Those of us tweeting from RSA Corp
@RSABoss – CEO
@scsweeney – COO
@Jrockross – Managed Services Manager
@scottgondesen – Client Relations Director
@HollystarPR – Marketing Manager

I couldn’t possibly include everyone that’s wonderful, so…who are your favs?

Small and medium businesses face challenges with evaluating, implementing and supporting the technologies required by their growing companies. They often turn to an IT partner to address these challenges. Just like an author tells a story, so should an IT partner translate technology into business value. However, many partners try to sell a solution composed of features and presumed benefits without really understanding the needs and culture of the business prospect.

I see this issue at every level, whether it’s network/server administration or application development. Over the years, I’ve developed an analogy to explain the disconnect.

All of us have learned to read and write, to one degree or another. However, this doesn’t mean we can write exceptional novels or short stories. The skills required in writing novels, short stories and technical documents are over and above the writing skills many of us possess. Simply put, while command of language and writing is a prerequisite for being an author, it doesn’t make you an author. The addition of talent and storytelling skills make you an author.

This is exactly the problem business owners and operators encounter in dealing with technologists. They need someone who can understand their business needs and translate those needs into the mix of required technologies. Just because someone specializes in technology, doesn’t mean they can translate it into terms that a business owner understands.

It requires a discovery process to uncover the business pains and areas where technology can make a difference in efficiency, workflow and process. Someone has to bridge the communication gap between that which exists in the world-view of the business operator and the minutely detailed, technical world of the technologist.

I’ve found that technical people who grasp this difference are better able to adapt to the needs of the business and develop the ability to communicate more effectively. Those who don’t grasp or engage with this difference seem to continue to struggle with delivering the results the business needs. It’s almost as though in developing tools such as EXCEL, WORD, ERP and the Internet, we’ve lost the ability to understand what the business needed those tools to do.

Most businesses rely on 5-10 core technology vendors to keep business running smoothly. Any miscues in communication or coordination between vendors can result in downtime, wasted efforts and loss of productivity. This is a common occurrence among SMBs because the person managing vendors is usually juggling day-to-day operations and lacks the necessary time to proactively respond to changes and updates.

One of the greatest challenges associated with maintaining a smooth-running business network is organizing and managing the various vendors involved. The office manager, operations director or IT manager must have:
•A complex understanding regarding from the top-down of the business network to effectively manage this process
•Proper coordination of the inner-workings of your network as it pertains to your vendors
•Time to stay up-to-date with upcoming expirations and/or investigate cost-effective alternatives

Without these key elements in place, the results can prove to be problematic. The player in the process that truly stands to lose anything substantial in the short-term is your business. The ideal situation is to have a single point of contact or “one neck to choke.”

With one point of contact, the decision makers in your company can work more efficiently and not spend time putting out fires in areas they are not equipped to handle. Your point of contact must have specific knowledge pertaining to your business and how it leverages each vendor to make money. Whether the vendor is a website hosting company, Internet service provider (ISP), telecommunications supplier or software application vendor, the person managing your vendor relationships must fully understand how each of these pieces of the puzzle work together to create the proper working environment for your business.

The best candidate for this role is the IT Manager or your IT services provider. For the small to medium-sized businesses, having a full-time IT Manager is sometimes not a viable option. If you partner with an IT service provider for your day-to-day technology support, your service levels should include a true vendor management system as a core component. Rather than another vendor for you to manage, your service provider should take ownership of this responsibility and manage the vendors on your behalf.

Proper vendor management minimizes downtime, reduces accelerated costs and ensures proper service level agreements. Your employees can have more time to focus on the core business functions geared towards generating revenue. They will also avoid crises associated with attempting to support something they are underqualified to work on and that distracts them from their primary responsibilities within your business.

The bigger question: Can you really afford to not have vendor management in place?

Do you want a perfect performer or a perfect interviewer?

Professionals that change jobs frequently are the best at interviewing. They have more practice. Those who are constantly on the job market have honed their interview skills, which tend to cover up their skill set deficiencies or personality defects.

Ask yourself this question…when times get tough in an economy or on a project and people have to be cut, whom do managers choose to be the first or second to go? The top performers? Those who can get the job done? I think not.

How do you ferret out the good performers from underperformers who find themselves frequently on the market? What skills must an interviewer have to uncover the gems that exist under the surface of discomfort with the interview process?

Other than having a good recruiter doing the initial screening so you’re only looking at potential “princes,” a good interviewer must find a way to get the interviewee to relax and open up. An open and warm style of questioning is probably the best and easiest way to put a candidate at ease.

• Relax the environment by beginning with some light chatter, showing some concern for the comfort of the individual and then opening with conversation about the area a person seems to call home.

• Many interviewees are counseled, and rightly so, to always go to an interview in a suit. For the men, asking the candidate to relax and remove their coat is a good softener. For the woman, if she has a jacket that can be removed, this too might relax the atmosphere.

• Most candidates will not accept drink during the interview for fear of needing a bio break, so don’t be put off when they turn down the offer. However, should the candidate accept the water or coffee, make sure that the opportunity to take a break after an hour is presented.

Brusque, stern or challenging styles and argumentative responses to answers will most certainly cause the uncomfortable interviewer to further withdraw, preventing the manager from really knowing the skills and personality of the candidate.

I must admit that I am guilty of a little oversimplification and generalization in this opinion, as there are always special circumstances or special people who do find themselves changing jobs more frequently than others. Some of them are grand performers, and a manager would do well to snag them. It is usually easy to get the information from these people because they have developed good skills at interviewing.

However, many great performers are poor interviewees. They find discomfort in the interview process. I think this is especially true amongst the ranks of the technical professions such as IT or engineering. Developing the skill to help those top performers come out of their cover and expose their knowledge is a challenge to all hiring managers.

Have you developed any opinion on this topic? What techniques do you use to find the charming prince amongst so many frogs?

Midmarket companies should consider a remote monitoring service for their networks and servers, especially in a down economy.  Viewed holistically, remote monitoring not only serves as an insurance policy for business operations but also creates real business value.  Unfortunately, the incremental spend often causes businesses to overlook the tangible returns on investment, or doing it yourself seems like the cheaper option.

Here are the seven most frequently overlooked areas of business value versus doing it yourself or not at all:

1. No additional software and hardware expense…plus avoid hidden costs – A managed remote monitoring service requires no additional software and hardware but delivers the same value.  Often lost in the buy vs. outsource equation are the hidden costs of server and software selection, training, configuration, maintenance, physical and storage space, and power.  These soft costs add up and do not disappear over time. You may not need additional hardware now, but you will now need hardware sooner! If budgets are tight, the upfront cash or financing required might make the investment impossible altogether.

2. Prevent costly downtime – Your business productivity matters now more than ever.  You cannot afford to be disconnected from customers and suppliers, to have your billing process interrupted, or to be flying blind about your business operation.  Many remote monitoring service providers provide not only alerting of critical errors, but also valuable reports, analysis and recommendations that can help your business reduce downtime by preventing problems before they happen.

3.  Less on-call time – Implementing an internal monitoring solution does not guarantee service levels.  Service levels require technical staff to be on-call after hours, on weekends, and during holidays.  Today, many companies are asking more from their staffs and requiring more work hours and greater flexibility.  Using a remote monitoring provider means your employees can sleep easy unless the problem is truly critical.  This improves both employee morale and retention.

4. Avoid configuration errors – Many businesses miss critical alerts when the in-house monitoring package is misconfigured, meaning that alert thresholds are set too low or disabled.  Often, this is overcompensation for an initial configuration that was too sensitive and generated too many alerts.  Managed service providers have experience configuring monitoring and alerting thresholds and escalation rules that make sense for each business.

5. Reduce risk associated with doing it in-house – By using a third party service provider, you insulate yourself from risks specific to your business. Those risks include hardware failure on the monitoring server, service interruption by your Internet or power providers, and poor employee performance or worse.  Using a service provider can give you peace of mind, which otherwise would only come by having a large staff and redundant providers – luxuries few can afford right now.

6. Holiday, vacation, illness coverage – Avoid paying overtime or taxing your already lean staff with on-call coverage during holidays, vacations or when staff is out sick.  Ensure continuity when you experience staff transitions, such as resignation, terminations and/or layoffs.  Network monitoring service providers provide coverage 24/7/365.

7. Proactive business planning -  Wouldn’t you like to know about future technology needs, such as when to purchase new hardware, memory, disk space or  virtualization software such as VMWare?  Third-party server and network monitoring providers can supply you with information and analysis to better prioritize and plan your cash flows.

Remote monitoring services are both affordable and prudent.  During this challenging business cycle, every hour of productivity is critical. Midmarket businesses should consider remote server and network monitoring as a service they can’t afford to be without.

“Tomorrow’s CIO” is the subject of an opinion piece on sandhill.com. The author, Ashwin Rangan of MarketShare Partners, contrasts the characteristics of Tomorrow’s CIO and Yesterday’s CIO. He identifies three key areas of difference:

1. Goal orientation toward business values and objectives (read, measurable return on investment) instead of a check-the-box approach that leads to a company implementing one of each key software solution.
2. Business background, which means a deep understanding of the business operation, drivers and strategic direction instead of the tech savvy CIO with a technology mindset.
3. Open-mindedness toward innovative solutions instead of conservatives that channel technology investments only into the most sound, and often most expensive, enterprise software solutions.

I agree with Rangan, especially in the context of new technology approaches such as cloud computing, Software As a Service (SAAS), open source and Web application hybrids (aka mash-ups). Each of these four innovations (The Big Four) provide opportunities to your business. However, without the leadership of a technology innovator, your business is unlikely to embark down these paths, much less embrace them as ways to drive business value – reducing costs, expanding market share, entering new markets and building lasting relationships with customers.

Each of these innovations is or will be disruptive to your business, much like the Internet itself. However unlike the Internet, which was relative easy to understand and to envision its role in the future of your business, The Big Four are more arcane conceptually, more complicated technically and more difficult to envision. Consequently, businesses with the new brand of technology leadership are pursuing these approaches, whereas those that don’t are not.

Implications for Small and Midmarket Businesses (SMBs)

For many years, I’ve maintained that SMBs were disadvantaged in the area of using technology to support business strategy. Leveraging technology for the business is neither inexpensive nor without risk. In addition, the business strategies of SMBs are more focused and conservative by nature. This does not lend itself to diving head first into The Big Four.

Regardless, business leaders should view cloud computing, SAAS, open source, and mash-ups as the certain future and not the “latest buzzwords”. Much like the Internet, businesses will face increasing pressure from competitors using these technologies against them.

This leaves three choices and only two are good ones:

1. Invest in a business technology leader (regardless of what you call them: CIO, CTO, IT Director) with the characteristics above who can work as a part of your management team to influence business strategy and create real business value with technology.

2. Identify a business technology services partner that can help your management team navigate the technology alternatives with your business goals in mind.

3. Do nothing and pay more later in the form of market share and profitability.

In light of current economic challenges, I hope that your business has the ability to pursue one of the first two.

I’ve had more than one conversation with a client that started like this…“Oh, by the way, we’ll be moving our office in two to three months.” This should be music to my ears since we’re in the business of supporting our client’s technology needs. However, office relocation can easily become a painful experience. We often encounter issues with the availability and variety of data communication providers at the client’s new location. In spite of the perceived availability of high-speed data communications, it isn’t always that easy.

Case in Point

Hurricane Ike convinced one of our clients that a proper disaster recovery plan required moving all servers and the PBX to a colocation facility, so as to not disrupt the company’s worldwide operations and other processes. To support both immediate needs and future plans, it turned out that the required bandwidth was more than could economically be provided by bonding a couple of T-1 circuits.

The problem we encountered was provisioning the appropriate high-speed circuits between the company’s new office location and its colocation facility. In spite of the fact that the new location is an office building more than twenty years old, it was never provisioned with anything other than copper circuits.

We researched and located multiple carriers who offered the necessary bandwidth at attractive rates.

The problem?

Right of Entry.

It seems the building owner was reluctant to provide authorization to any new carriers to install the necessary fiber circuits. Five months into the negotiations between the carrier and the building owner, it now looks like a deal is imminent.

Why is it taking so long? I’m sure some of it is on the carrier’s end, but it appears that far more of it can be attributed to the building owner.

The Lesson Learned

Data communications availability is every bit as important as the included allowances for electricity and air conditioning. In spite of the seeming ubiquitous nature of cable and fiber, not every building has been provisioned or “on net,” as the various providers call it.

Knowing the vendors already in the building and the types of services they have provisioned goes a long way towards avoiding considerable pain later. Particularly since this information allows right of access to be negotiated with building management and the building owner along with the underlying office space.

Consider all aspects of a move while in the planning process to avoid being left disconnected.

What are some of your war stories from office relocation?

Some companies might attempt to cut employee costs by using long-term independent contractors without considering the potential ramifications related to the misclassification of an employee. Misclassification has serious implications and penalties from the IRS and will ultimately cost your bottom line. Consider payrolling your contractors through a third-party payroll service to eliminate these risks and ensure compliance.

The IRS can reclassify professionals claimed as, or claiming to be, independent contractors as W-2 employees. This reclassification can result in the imposition of fines, penalties and back taxes for which the employer is generally liable, and could cost a company large amounts of money.

Former contract employees are usually the ones who trigger an IRS review. When it is time for a contractor to pay taxes and they can’t pay, it sends up a red flag. Other triggers include a contractor filing for unemployment when unemployment insurance was not paid.

More than a few firms have come under the scrutiny of the IRS in recent times following this risky practice. The most notable was Microsoft in 1997, which got hit for back benefits as well.

A more recent case involves Blackwater USA in 2006. This private security firm engaged workers in Iraq as independent contractors rather than employees. Its policies have created a situation for which Blackwater might ultimately pay millions of dollars in employment taxes, as well as penalties from the IRS.

Texas does not have a payroll tax. Companies should expect that local government will be more aggressive as the pressure for revenues increases in the current market. Companies might try to avoid paying unemployment insurance taxes and workers’ compensation premiums by illegally classifying employees as independent contractors. In 2008, New York found $19 million in unreported wages and $3 million in underpayments to workers.

Here is a high level overview of the misclassification risk and information from the IRS on employee vs. contractor.

There is no magic formula…the IRS would make a judgment based on what your business does and three factors that indicate “degree of control and independence.”

• Behavioral: Does the company control or have the right to control what the worker does and how the worker does his or her job?
• Financial: Are the business aspects of the worker’s job controlled by the payer? (how worker is paid, whether expenses are reimbursed, who provides tools/supplies, etc.)
• Type of Relationship: Are there written contracts or employee type benefits (i.e. pension plan, insurance, vacation pay, etc.)? Will the relationship continue and is the work performed a key aspect of the business?

Payroll services are an easy and affordable way to mitigate these risks and reduce administrative costs. The payroll company takes on the tax and legal liabilities while funding and administering payroll.

The existence of an underperforming ERP system is often recognized by certain elements within operations. The existing ERP system adequately supports the processes for which it was initially implemented. However, expanded processes are addressed through often manual means.

Underperforming implementations result from at least two different scenarios:

1. An ERP system is implemented for one purpose (i.e. accounting), but business needs outgrew the single-issue implementation.

2. Additional applications or modules are needed to address business growth. Growing companies often increase their usage of information contained in an ERP system, but sometimes fail to address necessary process changes.

For example, an ERP system implemented to provide accounting support is missing the module that provides source transactions, such as inventory issues and receipts. For accounting purposes, the recording of inventory transactions needs only to occur on a monthly basis. If the company subsequently attempts to use the inventory balances to support production needs, balances will not reflect what’s actually available at any point in time. The timing differences between accounting needs and real-time accuracy required by production and material planning cause serious process problems.

Addressing underperforming implementations requires company recognition that it has additional processes that would benefit from ERP system support. Like a broken implementation, addressing an underperforming system requires staffing what is often a smaller project than the initial implementation, but still requires many of the same specialized functional and technical skills.

What really matters is understanding the state of your ERP implementation to identify where you are in comparison to where you wanted to be, and consequently defining a path forward.

Defining a path forward requires that you:

• Investigate and evaluate your experienced business pains as reflected in your operations and processes.
• Determine whether addressing these issues was one of the reasons you implemented an ERP system. This may reveal additional issues in your organizational governance processes that need to be addressed.
• Investigate and determine what would have to change in order for your ERP system to address and resolve the problems.
• Generate support and commitment from management to proceed with remediation.
• Assess your in-house technology expertise and project management capabilities to determine whether an ERP partner is necessary.
• If internal resources are unavailable or you’re missing critical expertise…decide whether to partner with an ERP systems integrator OR individually staff a project manager, functional consultants and technical consultants to finish the project.

Hiring decisions are fraught with risks and can impact the decision maker’s world in major ways.  Each hire brings costly and time-consuming tasks of orientation, training and indoctrination.  The reason for a hire is most certainly to perform a set of productive tasks, and if the hire is unable to perform, then those tasks become the responsibility of the hiring manager. A bad hire can interrupt smooth-running operations and cost your business in more ways than one.

According to The Right Management Group, the world’s largest career transition, outsourcing and organizational consulting firm, “Lower employee morale and decreased productivity are the biggest consequences of bad hiring and promotion decisions.”

Poor hires can cost a company its customers, profits and good people.

Engaging with a staffing partner can reduce the risks associated with hiring, especially a partner with industry-specific expertise. Thorough inspection of a candidate’s technical skills, background, references and personality traits greatly increases the chances of making a more successful hiring decision. Hiring managers paying a fee for recruiting services should demand this value from their staffing partner.

It costs an average of two and a half times an individual’s salary to replace an employee who doesn’t work out, including recruitment, training, severance costs and lost productivity. More than 4 out of 10 organizations (42%) say it costs at least three times an employee’s salary.

When engaging a staffing partner, hiring managers should expect the firm to have a proven process for recruiting, prescreening and researching potential candidates. It should have a model for completely understanding the positions you need, not only technical skills but company culture and personality fit.

The firm’s recruiting team should be capable of identifying passive candidates who are gainfully employed and happy in their work, but who will consider a better opportunity. They should engender trust in their staffing process and share that with the hiring manager.  Most importantly, they should be able to assure that the manager will be able to hire the chosen candidate when the time comes.

The prospects of hiring the right person the first time are greatly increased by leveraging the expertise of a staffing partner.

Eliminate the risk of a bad hire by making sure your staffing partner has:

1. Procedures for completely understanding the technical skills and personality fit of each position

2. Proven processes for communicating, sourcing, screening, presenting and following up with candidates and hiring managers

3. An experienced recruiting team with industry-specific experience, as well as passive AND active recruiting strategies

4. Flexible hiring options for contract and permanent placement, including a contract-to-hire approach

If you were unfortunate enough to experience Hurricane Ike, how did your email server fare? Not everyone can afford to keep their servers in a nice, safe datacenter or colocation facility. Does that mean your business is subject to your building’s physical power or Internet connection? The answer to that question is absolutely not. There are two ways small businesses can increase email uptime without breaking the bank.

Hosted Email Solution
Option one would be a hosted email solution. Hosted Microsoft Exchange providers are all over the Net, helping keep the cost of full-featured email hosting affordable. You can even add mobile devices to these plans for a nominal fee, further bolstering disaster recovery strategies and giving you and your employees corporate email at your fingertips at all times.

Need to convey when the office will be back up and operational? You can send out updates and keep everyone looped in. Emailing evacuated employees becomes a great way to keep lines of communication going without having to call everyone individually.

As far as day to day operations, with the improvements to Outlook 2007 and Outlook Anywhere feature, using a hosted provider looks more attractive to small businesses every day. With these technologies, you won’t even know the Exchange server is not on your local area network (LAN). You will also reap the savings by not having to deal with the backups and administration of an email server. Almost all hosted email solutions come with service level agreements. I don’t know about you, but getting 99.999% uptime sounds good to everyone.

Managed Filtering Service
If you already have an email server and don’t feel like making the switch to a hosted solution, your second option could be a filtering service, like MX Logic Email Defense with the disaster recovery feature enabled. With this service, not only do you get top notch hosted spam filtering that prevents spam from hitting your server, in the event of an outage, your emails are spooled and held by MX Logic for 60 rolling days. While spooling, users are able to log into the MX Logic page and check emails. When connectivity resumes, the messages are then delivered to your email server.

Both solutions have benefits and negatives. I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have or give you more information about either of these two options.

Business continuity and disaster recovery planning are all about a company’s ability to survive and continue operations in the face of physical and environmental events, such as natural disasters (fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc), network outages, disgruntled employees and computer viruses. Critical business technologies – telephone, email, Internet, corporate applications, databases – must be included in the planning process to ensure corporate survival and continued operation.

The straightforward method for reducing the impact of these events is to position your critical technologies in a more secure and resilient environment. You can either invest in constructing your own environment or utilize a commercial facility. For small and medium-size businesses, the former is often costly, as it includes:
• Installing electrical generators
• Using uninterruptible power supplies (UPS)
• Improving cooling and fire protection
• Increasing physical security
• Maintaining redundant communication lines for voice, Internet and data traffic

Colocation refers to hosting your equipment at a commercial facility, specifically designed to provide the redundant services required to guarantee uptime. Properly designed colocation facilities provide redundancy in all environmental systems such as generators, UPS, HVAC and communications, along with greatly improved physical security.

Taking advantage of the benefits provided by a colocation facility requires rethinking how technology is deployed within your organization. Usage of a colocation facility can range from providing a secure “mirroring” location for corporate data and server “images” to housing all servers and PBXs.

In determining the value of colocation, design decisions focus on assessing the value versus the cost of having all technology components available and operational regardless of what happens to your company’s facilities. This assessment is then used to determine what should be moved to colocation.

Some companies, such as a manufacturer with a single facility housing all company operations, may benefit most by mirroring data and server images. Companies with multiple locations or whose revenue generation models are less tied to a single location, such as financial or sales-based organizations, will benefit more by moving all critical technology to a colocation facility.

The benefits of colocation were once available only to large corporations due to costs. Today, colocation, virtual servers (virtualization), data replication, remote computing, and large bandwidth communication pipes provide smaller organizations powerful new tools to address business continuity and disaster recovery needs.

Hurricane Ike convincingly demonstrated that available technology means little unless coordinated planning and preparation have preceded the need. Colocation and other tools should be considered when developing a plan, but the most critical component is having a plan.

Hurricane season is officially here. Businesses are now planning and refining their disaster recovery and business continuity plans to prepare for potential disruptions. Companies need to make sure and investigate a few specific areas – offsite backup, colocation, email continuity and data recovery. A voice-over IP (VoIP) telephone network and SMS text messaging are other smart continuity tools.

VoIP allows users to connect to a phone system from anywhere in the world, through the Internet. This becomes vitally important in disaster recovery as response teams head to pre-determined disaster response locations. At that point, team members can easily plug in the VoIP phone and instantly become an extension of the core system. To the outside world – clients, vendors, etc – this is transparent, as business transactions and internal communications continue.

Business communications act like any other IP-based application. Take email as an example. The user doesn’t worry about the actual location of the email server. Users plugs into an Internet connection and, through a Web portal or VPN, email works. The same thing goes for telephony, if IP is being used. Corporate telephony can be anywhere with an Internet connection. This flexibility and adaptability is ideal for any emergency or disaster situation where other networks may be inoperable.

Another ingredient to investigate when preparing for hurricane season is an SMS server. Ask anyone that endured Hurricane Ike, and they will tell you that cell phones were paper weights for 4 to 5 days, except for SMS text messages. The first day or two after the storm, users would notice as much as a 12 to 24-hour delay on the message, but it would eventually get through the network to the intended recipient.

Companies can leverage this easy and affordable medium for disaster recovery by utilizing an SMS server for communications to clients, vendors and internal employees. As long as administrators can reach the network, company officials can send messages to one or multiple groups, individuals and numerous distribution lists for a secondary line of communications.

How are you preparing for hurricane season? Has your DR/BCP plan been tested within the last 12 months?

Without access to your business’s mission critical data, productivity as a whole could come to a screeching halt.

For years, businesses have relied on tape backups to secure their primary data repository. While the technology associated with these types of solutions continues to become more refined, one aspect of this process still leaves a business vulnerable – human error.

We can invest tons of money to secure the latest and greatest hardware and software to protect our data. However, without the commitment of one or more key employees to mange the process of changing tapes, reviewing logs and initiating support as needed, one mistake will render this effort useless.

To counter these measures, IT solution providers have introduced advancements in how data is encrypted, compressed and secured. With the presence of cost-effective and increased bandwidth capabilities, the industry has evolved and offsite backup solutions are now more viable then ever.

Offsite backup technology has made great strides to effectively secure your data online (offsite) at a price that is easy to justify.

If you haven’t considered an offsite backup solution within the last 12 months, it is probably time to revisit the subject. At RSA Corp, we bundle disaster recovery (including offsite backup) into our managed IT support service. However, there are backup solution providers worth checking out.

Here are some key factors to consider when looking at what an offsite backup can bring to the table:

• Government-sanctioned AES encryption
• Automated, unattended backups with status updates via email notification
• Real-time file restoration capabilities
• Remote restoration capabilities for both single file and “bare bones” restores
• Back up multiple platforms on one network, i.e. Windows, Linux,

When you add up the value associated with these key features and combine it with the fact that this type of solution costs pennies per gigabyte, it truly builds the case for incorporating some form of an offsite backup solution in to your disaster recovery planning. The cost is negligible, and the reward far outweighs the risk. It’s a no-brainer.

I would love to hear your story about how offsite backup saved your business.

It’s that time of year again…hurricane season is upon us. With the effects of Hurricane Ike still fresh in Houston’s memory, what are the lessons learned when it comes to securing the integrity of your business?

While history continues to repeat itself, a disaster’s long-term effects on a business can be substantial. Consider the following business downtime statistics:
• Only 6% of companies survive a catastrophic data loss, while 43% never reopen, and 51% close within two years
• Only 35% of small and medium businesses have a comprehensive disaster recovery plan in place
• International Data Corp estimates that companies lose an average of $84,000 for every hour of downtime.
• According to Strategic Research, the cost of downtime is estimated at close to $90,000 per hour
• The survival rate for companies without a disaster recovery plan is less than 10%

The cold, hard facts associated with these statistics are difficult to believe.

FACT: Today, most businesses do not have a comprehensive DR plan
FACT: The costs associated with downtime are substantial
FACT: The survival rate for businesses hit by a disaster is slim-to-none

While these statistics are real, the implications behind them are even more sobering. Businesses are left vulnerable due to poor planning, lackluster follow up, and a genuine lack of understanding in terms of how to overcome these challenges. How does this continue to be the case?

1. Many businesses are not aware of the options
2. If a DR plan is in place, it has not been tested or kept up-to-date
3. The planning associated with the DR plan is not comprehensive

In the coming weeks we will examine several aspects of a well thought-out disaster recovery (DR) plan, featuring an in-depth look at what processes to consider and what options are available.

Smart companies along the U.S. southern coasts are testing their business continuity and disaster recovery plans in preparation for the upcoming storm season. For those who have outgrown their plans or struggle with outdated procedures, refining the plan is a top priority.

Companies invest time, money and resources to create solid business continuity plans in order to ensure speedy disaster recovery and enhanced information security. The planning process is a significant project requiring risk assessment, in-depth interviews with key employees, evaluation of business processes and technologies, backup and recovery strategies, and testing of the plan.

What happens when the plan is solid and ready to go?  Don’t just put in on a shelf. Make the information gathered in the continuity planning process readily available, as a business guide. This information provides insights into the inner workings of day-to-day processes, which gives you a magnifying glass over each business function.

Three Ways to Leverage Your Business Continuity Plan

STRENGTHEN INFORMATION SECURTIY

During the continuity planning process, executives become aware of which employees hold the keys to certain information. Some discover that too many people have access to restricted data and proactively initiate steps to tighten information security.

Conversely, some realize that only one person manages payroll, contracts or authorization of banking procedures, which prompts them to take actions to ensure these financial capabilities are backed-up. The plan provides you with a high-level view of your infrastructure, allowing you to recognize potential technology risks, track incidents more effectively, monitor assets and enhance control of vendors.

PREPARE FOR MORE THAN NATURAL DISASTERS

Don’t limit your continuity plan to addressing only natural disasters or terrorist attacks. Data breach, power failures, network outages, disgruntled employees, computer viruses and software bugs should all be accounted for in the plan.

Data breach is the first concern regarding information security. According to a study by the Ponemon Institute, the total average cost of a data breach is $6.3 million, but can range from $225,000 to $35 million. Lost business due to interruptions in productivity accounts for more than 65% of the cost.

REDUCE BUSINESS RISK

Review the risk assessment performed at the onset of continuity planning. It gives you information about significant circumstances that could impact your company’s ability to meet strategic business goals. This knowledge allows you to evaluate the significance of such an event, and then prioritize based on the likelihood of its occurrence.

Consider issues regarding environmental compliance, safety regulations, business interruptions, financial inconsistencies and lacking IT infrastructure.

For seven more ways to leverage your BCP plan, download our white paper “Ten Opportunities to Capitalize on Your Business Continuity Plan.“

No matter what the ads say, using a print shop’s resume service is not the fastest path to the next best job. With resume fraud running rampant, employers are becoming more savvy about the most frequent fraudulent claims on resumes. Most companies perform background and substance abuse checks, and sometimes credit checks.

Going to a resume service has a major downside. All of the resumes look the same, and anyone who frequently reviews resumes can spot the formats immediately. Being recognized as using one of those services says something negative about you, your creativity and your writing skills.

So, how do you prepare a winning resume?

Tip # 1

A resume should be no more than one to two pages. Unless you’re applying for a professorship at a noted university, avoid a lengthy resume that puts the reviewer to sleep or takes too much time to wade through. Remember, we live in the age of sound bites. State the facts and only the facts.

Tip # 2

A resume should answer only one question. “Do I want to know more about this person?” Remember, when a manager is plowing through an insurmountable stack of resumes, the first task is to eliminate as many as possible to get to the ones that need to be reviewed more thoroughly. Don’t be one that gets shifted into the “no” stack, which will be much larger than the “yes” stack.

Tip # 3:

State the tasks required and the outcomes delivered in each position. Don’t waste superlatives in a resume. Those are for the in-person interview. Here are some sample resume statements that simply state the facts:

“Responsible for the design, development, testing and implementation of a web-based .NET customer service application for the accounting product. The project was completed and implemented on time and under budget.”

“Developed a new formula for acid-based treatment of industrial metals. Utilized a new technique to bind amino acids to environmentally friendly compounds.”

“Created a complete workflow process for accounts payable processing utilizing the Microsoft Dynamics ERP system.”

Tip # 4

Provide complete details on tenure showing start-month and year and end-month and year. For a break in service, explain the break in a short phrase that eliminates the immediate concern and allows for further discussion and clarification during the face-to-face interview.

June 2007 – Present
Galaxy Management Consulting, NY, NY.
Sr. Consulting Analyst

September 2006 – June 2007
Involved in settling family estate after death of father

March 2000 – September 2006
Accenture
Sr. Security Analyst

Note, the period from September 2006 to June 2007 is a long enough break to give someone pause for concern and cause the resume to be put in the “no” stack. If the break was for a job search, indicate so. In bad times, it is not unheard of for senior folks to spend up to six months searching for a position. Show the truth, which is better than letting the reviewer decide that you were in a rehab unit due to a drug problem. Think that is ludicrous? Spend a little time in the staffing business and you’ll learn how crazy some reviewers can be.

Tip # 5

Never stretch the job tenure or stretch the truth. Doing so will always catch up with you sooner or later.

Tip # 6

If you are going to list certifications or licenses, always indicate whether they are current or in force. If not, that is OK, as long as you declare the fact.

Tip # 7

This is perhaps the most important of all. Someone in your life is good at writing and knows how to properly use the English language. Get that person to review and edit your resume. Typos, misspellings, poor grammar and poor phrasing is the kiss of death in a resume. These will get it put in the “no” stack as fast as you can say, “I want a job.”

Contact your former English teacher, your pastor/priest or the next door neighbor who teaches at a community college. Get someone to help clean up your writing, even if you feel competent in your skills. No matter how many times you read your own product, you will miss things that another will see. You only get one chance when a manager is reviewing your resume.

What are your ideas on writing winning resumes?

Remediating a failed ERP implementation may be the answer to salvaging a broken, stalled or underperforming enterprise system. Each type of implementation failure and subsequent remediation project is approached with a different strategy. The goal is to economically get business operations and technology back in sync, quickly and effectively.

A stalled implementation represents an ERP system that never quite reached a state of production readiness. Various modules may be in production, but other critical components remain to be implemented or were never quite finished. In the latter case, the business processes defined for modules in production are relying on information from the unfinished modules.

The result is a variety of manual workarounds required to provide the missing information. Companies suffering from stalled ERP implementations fail to reap the benefits that initially justified implementing the system. They’re potentially saddled with processes that take longer than before.

This type of ERP implementation failure creates not only process problems but can increase tension between various departments. Those departments saddled with additional workarounds are forced to make up for the missing and/or non-implemented components.

Stalled implementations can result from:

• Staffing changes
• Lack of management commitment
• Obstinacy on the part of the non-production user departments

Challenges

Stalled implementations are often the most difficult to detect, in that the underlying issue is political in-fighting between various departments. ERP systems often redistribute work amongst departments requiring one department to capture information to be used later by another. This addition  of work to benefit another department raises the question of “why us?”

This is particularly true if workloads are high and pressures to maintain previously established performance metrics are unrelenting. If company and management are not attuned and aggressive in addressing this question, the resistance of one group can create problems for all.

Requirements & Commitments

Remediation of a stalled implementation requires a skilled consulting partner or contract team and a serious commitment by company management.

The company and its consulting partner must:

• Analyze the source of reasons for the delayed production status
• Make realistic determinations concerning the validity of those reasons
• Establish and agree upon a plan to address the reasons for the delay
• Complete the implementation of stalled modules

It’s the potential political nature underlying the stalled implementation that makes it amongst the most difficult to remediate. The challenge is rooted in addressing issues during remediation that the company and management weren’t able to resolve during initial implementation.

Companies continually seek new ways to go green with efficiencies, recycling and building improvements. How can IT help make business more eco-friendly? For companies with applications running on multiple servers, virtualization is a great way to maximize computing resources, reduce power consumption and eliminate server room expansion.

Virtualizing your server environment allows you to consolidate multiple server instances onto one piece of hardware, allowing for better utilization of computing resources and reduced energy for cooling and power.

In a business climate where IT is forced to do more with less, virtualization reduces maintenance and administration of hardware while increasing flexibility in continuity and disaster recovery. A virtualized server environment allows IT to work on issues without interrupting key operations. With more and more telecommuters and employees working on weekends, IT has less time to fix issues without affecting productivity.

After consolidating resources, donate or resell hardware to learning and training facilities in your area.

Remediating a failed ERP implementation may be the answer to salvaging a broken, stalled or underperforming enterprise system. Each type of implementation failure and subsequent remediation project is approached with a different strategy. The goal is to economically get business operations and technology back in sync, quickly and effectively.

Broken implementations are ERP systems in production but, for whatever reason, don’t work well enough. An ERP system is implemented and running, but business processes seem to be worse than before. For example, processes take longer and/or the system doesn’t provide the intended information.

Broken implementations can result from failure to:

• Adapt business processes to those required by the ERP system
• Capture all information within the system required to support the implemented processes
• Test the system for malfunctions
• Tune the system to appropriate performance levels, which are required by the users to effectively complete tasks

This type of implementation may not be the result of a single cause or exhibit a single problem. It’s for these reasons that remediation is often best structured as a phased or incremental process, addressing the more severe problems first and iterating through a succession of improvement steps.

Requirements & Commitments
It’s important to improve the value of the ERP implementation as quickly as possible. Remediation requires defining the experienced “pain” and outlining the desired results.

With this knowledge, value can be assigned to addressing each pain point to prioritize resulting benefits. This approach provides clear objectives, agreement on the process and measures for success.

Addressing broken implementations can be more difficult than an original implementation. Too often, failed implementations are caused by lack of project management and specific technical and functional expertise. The challenge for remediating broken implementations is staffing what are often smaller projects with the expert functional and technical skills required to investigate and then remediate problems.

Leverage project management to deliver the required results on time and within budget. Consult with an experienced integration partner to:

• Diagnose the problem
• Define the necessary remediation steps
• Assemble the appropriate functional and technical team

Despite those that spend high dollars on personality tests and a battery of aptitude tests, most hires still come down to a gut feeling. Chip McCreary, president of Austin-McGregor International, promotes a “lucky seven” set of questions to gather insight into the personality of the person he is interviewing.

Interviewers should develop similar benchmark questions with a set of expected responses to assist in determining the personality quotient (PQ) of a candidate. Combining the PQ and the old gut feeling should give you a good idea of whether the candidate will fit with your corporate culture.

McCreary’s “Lucky Seven”

1. If there is a better candidate for this position than you, what qualities does the person possess that make them better?

Like the old beauty pageant stumper “If you were a tree, what kind would you be?” this question intends to check bandwidth, not generate a specific answer. Few people have the mental quickness to deal with this question. In fact, most candidates are thrown off by it. The issue is how deeply the candidate believes he or she is the right person for the job. When all is said and done, candidates affirm that, Superman or Wonder Woman aside, they believe they are the best person for the position.

2. What is your current compensation? (pause for response) May I see your W-2 or 1099 form?

This is two-part question designed to test a candidate’s honesty. If the candidate back-peddles after part two of the question, it’s a fairly safe bet that they lied on part one. For executive level candidates, the W-2 question might turn them off, so ask them to describe their bonus plan in detail. If that runs smoothly off their lips, then you can pretty much assume the answer to the first question was honest. If they can’t do anything else, most execs can calculate their bonus and explain it quickly.

3. What is it people don’t like about you?

Again, there is no specific right or wrong answer to this question. It’s simply designed to determine how well candidates handle being put on the spot. However, you can usually eliminate those candidates who claim to be universally well liked and not because nice people finish last. It’s not a question of toughness, but honesty. Good executives and managers are honest about their assessment of people, and sooner or later, they have to be frank about someone’s shortcomings. If that gets you disliked, so be it.

4. What books have you read lately that you enjoyed?

The right answer to this question will depend on the corporate culture of your company. If a candidate loved “Anna Karenina,” that’s not going to fly with a company who’s running a testosterone-charged boy’s club. It could be perfect, however, for a company that’s selling passion and romance – whether they make automobiles or movies. Be cautious of those that are reading Robert Fulghum’s “All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” a good executive’s thirst for ideas should go deeper than books of this nature.

5. What types of causes or community service are you involved in?

Answers to this question tell a candidate’s political philosophy and social agenda. This evaluation should be based on your corporate culture, not on any liberal, conservative or other bias. In addition, you must evaluate the degree to which the candidate is involved in outside causes. If a candidate is on half a dozen boards or committees, he or she has no time for a career. Though they may be physically at the job, some professionals have their heart in a cause rather than their work. You can admire them, but you don’t want to hire them.

6. Do you have any hobbies or pets?

The real issue here is pets. The part about hobbies is a smoke screen. Dog lovers are generally loyal, have a group or pack mentality and can be trained. Cat fanciers are aloof, resist direction but have a great knack for survival. There is no right or wrong answer to this question because some positions require cats and some require dogs.

7. What mistakes have you made?

If candidates don’t admit to mistakes, they either aren’t being honest or they have stopped learning. Good forms of failure exist. For example, if a candidate initiates a project, lines up the research, has all the right analysis in place and then sees the idea backfire, they now know they are not infallible. They don’t have to learn that lesson at your company’s expense.

What other interview questions have you found successful in determing personality and culture fit?

Companies with complex business processes have come to rely on technology to automate, digitize and streamline operations. In many instances, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system – SAP, Oracle, JD Edwards, Microsoft Dynamics – has been implemented to provide this support. ERP systems were designed to automate and integrate disparate business processes.

When companies feel pain within internal processes or suffer operational interruptions, it’s often a direct result of a disconnect between the needs of operational processes and the technology systems that support them.

A key component in implementing an ERP system is a clearly defined set of objectives defining the desired outcome and project success. These objectives likely focus on addressing business pains and/or making processes more efficient.

If this is true for you, to what extent have you achieved those objectives?

Evaluating the original objectives for your ERP implementation, the current state of your process needs and the state of your implementation allows you to determine whether your implementation was successful and achieved the desired business results.

If success was not achieved, evaluation will allow you to identify problems arising from the implementation and demonstrate whether:
• Corporate processes are functioning as desired
• All intended components are operating as desired
• Process needs have grown beyond those originally defined and whether they’re supported by the current implementation

If problems exist, do you repair your ERP system and achieve return on investment, abandon it for an alternative system or live with the current situation?

For companies committed to following through with the initial investment, ERP remediation may be the answer. How do you know if remediation is right for you? Some business pains commonly afflicting companies with stalled, broken or underperforming ERP implementations are:
Business Process Issues
o Frustration acquiring data from departments outside general users
o Unnecessary workarounds
o Reliance on manual processes
o No process automation
o Broken process automation
o Process taking longer than usual
o Unable to perform some critical operation

Data Quality Issues
o Lacking data for important business decisions
o Data integration nonexistent
o Desired information is not available
o ERP processes and business operations misaligned

If your business is afflicted by any of those pains, your next step should be to discover which type of remediation is right for you. Whether it’s a stalled, broken or underperforming ERP implementation, each project is approached with a different strategy. The overall goal is to economically get business operations and technology back in sync quickly and effectively.

It’s interesting that candidates most receptive to interviewing tips are usually those that have no trouble receiving job offers. Recruiters…have you heard this before?

“I really don’t need any interviewing tips. I’ve had plenty of interviews, and I know all there is to know.”

Candidates that make comments like this are most likely not going to get a job offer.

The Smart Candidate

Smart candidates are intelligent enough to realize that interviewing tips — whether old or new — will simply improve interview performance. Interviewing is a job, a sales job. I remind candidates that looking for a job is a full-time effort, and the more adept at it they become, the easier it will be.

What an interview is…and is not

When I represent a candidate scheduled for a client interview, one of the first things I say is, “There’s only one reason to go to an interview…to get an offer. Until then, you don’t even own the right to decide whether or not you want to work there.”

Essentially, an interview is a sales presentation to sell oneself. Don’t ask about how many vacation days you’re allowed. The answer is zero at that point. You haven’t gotten the job yet.

Also, most interviews for full-time positions are 85% – 90% personality. The rest is technical skills. You can train a likeable employee. However, if a candidate doesn’t fit in with the rest of the group, no amount of training will change that.

Although there are many important interviewing tips, one ranks highest on the list. It’s usually the start of any interview and also sets the precedence.

The client asks: “So, tell me a little bit about yourself.”

The candidate thinks: “Great! I can really sell myself with this question.”

The candidate proceeds to go on and on (and on) about their personal achievements and technical background. Just one problem: the hiring manager is only interested in hearing a small percentage of that. Therefore, the candidate’s job is to discover what portion of their background in which the manager is interested. The way to do that is to ASK QUESTIONS!

I advise candidates to prepare and memorize a 15 to 30-second summary of their entire background (including education, etc.). Then begin asking questions about the job and continue to ask questions. For example…

Candidate asks: “Manager, what will be my initial duties on this job?”

Manager answers: “Well, Candidate, you’ll be responsible for X, Y and Z.”

Candidate responds: “That’s great, Mr. Manager! Because when I worked at ABC Company, I was responsible for X, Y and Z (and cite the example).”

Candidate is relaying information that applies to this company’s environment. Useful information in which the manager will be interested and help him determine whether or not this candidate is technically competent (without having to ask).

I tell candidates to continue asking job-related questions and plugging in their background with related job experience. Of course, it’s also important to respond in a positive manner, whether they have experience with a particular technology or not. For example…“That’s interesting, Mr. Manager. How does your company utilize (insert specific piece of technology)?”

There are numerous questions to consider when preparing for an interview …

• Appearance
• 5 and 10-Year Goals
• Strengths and Weaknesses
• Why Should I Hire You?
• Why Do You Want to Work Here
• Salary Expectations

But I make it a point to rehearse the “So, tell me about yourself?” question first. It’s amazing how many candidates admit that they never know how to respond to that one.

On Tuesday Apple held the iPhone 3.0 event. The event announced the roadmap for the 3.0 firmware for the iPhone, iPod touch and whatever comes next (maybe a netbook or tablet?) With more than 100 new features, this release is definitely the biggest yet. That’s right; it’s bigger than the 2.0 release, which announced Exchange ActiveSync.

Even with the release of more than 100 new features, the focus of the event was really for the developers. Apple finally launched the push notification service, which coders have been clamoring for since they hinted at it a year ago. Apparently, there were some scaling issues, but the service is ready to go.

Apple decided the push service was the path to pursue because the phone doesn’t allow apps to run in the background. The idea behind that thought is…background apps affect battery life and phone performance. Push notifications allow you to close a chat program mid-conversation but still receive updates. Then, it allows you to reply when ready even though the app is not running.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a beta copy of the iPhone 3.0 firmware update the day it was released. Early adoption rules! After doing some breathing exercises and removing the grin on my face that went from one ear to the other, I got a chance to play with the new firmware Apple will release in June to bring the iPhone back to the forefront of mobile technology.

It’s strange to run an Apple beta release. It feels sort of the way an out of body experience might feel. It’s very alien to run Apple hardware that has glaring issues. Nonetheless, Apple was able to add hundreds of new features without compromising the useability of the device.

Highlights

Cut, Copy and Paste
Finally! You can now cut, copy and paste between applications. If you want to text someone a URL from Safari, now you can.

Spotlight
Like OS X, the entire phone is indexed so you can search across almost everything. If you enter a search term, such as “Jack,” your phone searches the iPod and returns your My Morning Jacket tunes, Jack Black’s contact info, emails, notes…anything with Jack in it.

Landscape
Finally, you can type emails on a big, touchscreen keyboard. The way the Lord intended! SMS and notes too.

MMS
Not really a big deal to me, but apparently MMS matters to someone…

It’s kind of funny that a handful of times I’ve thought to myself, “You know this phone is great, but I wish it did [insert feature here].” It seems like everything I’ve thought of, so did they.

This definitely puts the iPhone back out in front in the smartphone race. This includes the Palm Pre, especially with rumors of possible Palm Pre production issues and the patent suit pending by Apple over multi-touch. It was seen as the iPhone’s only real threat (even though it may seal Palm’s fate Palm Pre: Chronicle of a Death Foretold).

It’s only a matter of time before you’ll be able to edit Word and Excel documents, making it a real corporate contender.

For a complete feature list and more than everything you wanted to know about the 3.0 release, check the excellent coverage at Gizmodo: iPhone 3.0 OS Guide: Everything You Need to Know.

During these down times, companies are looking within to find cost-cutting measures to survive the rollercoaster of economic recession.  Many will experience such a negative impact on their business that rebound may be too difficult.  Staying lean across the board – through reduction in people, technology, bonuses, etc. – is what every company seems to be doing.

But…what about your business? How lean is too lean? Organizations in a crisis tend to slash and cut with a short-term mentality.  Wouldn’t you rather thrive, than merely survive?

“It is well documented that brands that increase during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times.”

Harvard Business Review

People

The downside to reducing staff is the inevitable pause of projects due to lack of resources. Consider using contractors to finish projects and keep goals on track. Many times, contract resource costs can be applied to project and/or expense budgets.

Technology

Fiscal downtime is no reason to cut back on technology or hold projects in queue, waiting for the upswing. Improving efficiencies and streamlining operations is a crucial component to staying lean, and preparing for long-term success. Investing in technology (or remediating underperforming technology) supports this goal.

Bonuses

Employee reward programs are often the first to go during economic downtime. Remember, employees must work together during these times to achieve business goals. Pulling extra weight deserves recognition and appreciation. Consider small tokens of reward for employees that go above and beyond. Sometimes just knowing you’re appreciated is enough to satisfy until bonus programs resume.

Are you working on a Zombie computer? If you are, you might not know it. Today, so many variants of malicious software (malware) are present on the Web, one can hardly keep up.

Trojans, viruses, spyware, hijackers, rootkits, backdoors, worms, crimeware…..have you had enough yet? I wouldn’t be surprised if a new variant of each of these was just created in the amount of time that it took to read this. Many of them are extremely difficult to detect once they infect a computer.

Most of us are familiar with what can happen to a personal computer once a virus infects it. However, we often don’t stop and think about the far-reaching implications that malware can have on your business and its ability to make money, or more importantly, the subsequent cost associated with removing it.

Businesses rely heavily on the speed and efficiency of the Internet, whether as a core function of their delivery model or to accomplish daily processes. Businesses can no longer turn a blind eye to the advancements that have come as a result of the Internet, which is becoming bigger, faster and stronger.

Typically, a business will dive right into the use of the Internet to drive processes, but often doesn’t fully consider the risks associated with leveraging it within the workplace. As you open your business to the vast World Wide Web, you increase your risk and responsibility.

How are you handling these ever-present threats against your network security?

Web-based threats and email viruses are evolving as quickly as the counter-intuitive measures used to prevent them. Most are surprised to find out that 36% of all Internet-related intrusions exist in the form of Web advertisements, news & media and search engines/portals. It’s no longer just email, adult and gambling sites that serve as hosts to these forms of malware.

What ultimately comes of this is a dynamic form of risk that serves as a moving target for your business. The amount of time and consideration required to properly safeguard an organization from such risk must be every bit as dynamic.

Traditional means of email and Web security typically involve an investment in a piece of hardware and the employment of a vendor or staff member to manage the hardware. Yet, a business could still experience email spam, virus disruptions or the loss of pertinant email mistaken as a possible threat.

Today’s level of prevention has evolved beyond this approach. Service providers can manage the process of detecting, preventing and securing a business from email and Web threats. In fact, managed services offer a more robust level of prevention, attacking disruptions outside the network perimeter without the need for hardware or software installation. This level of service is more complex than any one organization would be willing or able to invest in.

Web and email security as a service deploys several layers of prevention above and beyond the standards associated with industry best practices (see figure below). Threats are neutralized at the network perimeter before they can pass through the enterprise firewall and compromise users. Traditional hardware security measures operate within the firewall and are unable to provide the same protection. Read about RSA Corp TOTAL DEFENSE powered by MX Logic™.

In addition to the enhanced level of security, managed security services allow you to:
• Reduce overall costs associated hardware maintenance and personnel time
• Eliminate hardware or software integration
• Eliminate out-of-pocket maintenance fees
• Reduce liability
• Increase productivity
• Realize more efficient bandwidth utilization and lower storage costs
• Reduce data management responsibilities
• Protect your business at the perimeter level

All things considered, the Internet has emerged as an essential part of how business gets done. Along with the good comes the bad. The presence of malware continues to plague the efforts of many. Recognizing that, organizations should regularly review what measures are being used to prevent such disruptions in their business and compare those measures to the pace at which the threats are continuously evolving. The threats that exist are very real and the damage that they cause is substantial.

What experiences have you had with email or web-based threats that affected your business?

Another entry from the why didn’t we think of that before? department is Microsoft’s quiet addition of the “Fix it” button to a handful of Knowledge Base (KB) articles.

According to Microsoft, this is the first step in improving Windows Error Reporting, which is the annoying box that pops up either after an application crashes or Windows itself implodes.

The vision is…when you send the error report to Microsoft, you may get a suggestion for a one-click fix it. So far, Microsoft says that more than 75,000 customers have tried it out since December 2008, and 95 percent said it solved their problem.

I have two thoughts about Fix it.

I love the idea, in principle, but where was this when I was running Windows 98?

On the other hand, Microsoft KB articles can be difficult to understand. Often an article can describe an issue extremely similar to yours, but meant for a different operating system or software version. In desperation, inexperienced users might run the fix and end up causing more problems in the end.

Also, some KB articles involve editing the registry. If the Fix it button changes my registry and my PC becomes a paper weight, how can I fix that? Hopefully there has been some type of discussion at Microsoft regarding this subject.

Maybe that’s why it’s been a quiet deployment, sort of a live beta. Use with caution!

Now if they could just click a button and fix Vista, oh wait Windows 7 is coming….

Database management continues to be a challenge for most organizations. The drivers associated with this challenge can be contributed to many factors:
 Mergers & acquisitions
 Compliance regulations
 Exponential growth
 Increasing challenges associated with forecasting market behavior as business builds a strategy to remain competitive

Whatever the motivational factors, having the ability to read and react at a moment’s notice is driving the pace of business. As such, businesses are faced with an important question:

Do I have end-to-end visibility into critical business functions?

If your business is like the majority of organizations within the current market, my guess is that there’s substantial room for improvement. A Business Intelligence (BI) application module bolts on to an existing application stack and expands horizontally across the enterprise. It integrates otherwise limited data silos to maximize the analysis, interpretation and presentation of business information.

BI is the solution set designed to address this key obstacle, which is limiting the full potential of business growth.

Two key factors to consider
From an executive perspective, the value of a BI solution is significant when you consider the end-to-end visibility and manageability gained from access to important business data for decision-making and multi-dimensional analysis.

Having the ability to capture information about how activities in various business units affect one another is key to developing a strategy that establishes value. In addition, bypassing data conversion results in faster answers and more efficient business activity.

BI allows organizations to strategically leverage data warehouses at a level that provides key decision makers with the necessary information needed to drive business processes.

Cost reduction is another valuable benefit associated with business intelligence. Having the ability to consolidate otherwise redundant infrastructure resources can have a clear impact on a company’s financial resources.

Consider the costs associated with infrastructure management and other IT-related overhead expenditures, as well as the benefits of data reuse. All things considered, through the proper use of BI applications, there is a clear opportunity to:
 Significantly reduce current and future operating costs
 Avoid complexities associated with data quality
 Bring value to the bottom line

Start managing data rather than it managing you
As you look to bridge the gap between where you are today and where you would like to be in terms of visibility into critical business functions, much time and consideration must be given to the development of a strategy that makes sense for your organization.

As you develop your strategy, it’s critical to involve owners, managers and users of each type of data and application in regularly-scheduled discussions. With their input and approvals, your organization will be in a better position to properly leverage your data warehouse, instead of it managing you.

If you haven’t seen the pictures yet, you’re missing out. Unless you work for the Department of Transportation, they’re really quite humorous. Hackers have taken it upon themselves to warn motorists of zombie attacks.

Several hacker sites listed instructions on how to change the text in common construction signs around the country. One of the first cities affected was Austin, Texas. Signs touted “Zombies ahead!” or “Zombies in Area! Run.”

This has spawned a rash of sign tampering across the United States. In Indiana, “Raptors Ahead” appeared on one sign warning motorists about the dangers of a possible encounter with the calculating pre-historic killing machine.

According to one of the hacker sites, the ADDCO machines are easily editable. The default passwords are rarely changed by crews. If they are, you can reset them to defaults with a simple key combination.

After I stopped laughing, this made me think of the importance of physical security and implementing security best practices. If you have default passwords left on any of your network gear, you could be vulnerable to zombie attacks as well.

If all you have is a padlock protecting your servers, how much would it really take for someone to break in and change your marquee?

As we push through into 2009, businesses will be forced to run lean and mean. During uncertain economic times like these, competitive advantage stems from the ability to anticipate and respond to change quickly and intelligently. This level of response requires organizations to have implemented metrics that allow for decision makers to have access to accurate and dependable data from their enterprise-wide operations.

However, some companies may be in a precarious situation if their business processes have become more complex over time and are misaligned with their enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. Companies may find themselves in a situation that warrants the question, “Is it time to optimize our current ERP to align with our current processes?”

Alternatively, some companies may find their ERP system is the cause of some misalignment in operations or is not utilizing its full capabilities. In this case, remediation is necessary to get things back on track.

Ask anyone who has been through an extensive ERP implementation, and they will hands-down agree that it’s an exhausting, financially intensive and disrupting exercise to avoid repeating at all costs. This level of disruption and financial commitment leaves companies an easy choice to make when it comes to optimizing or remediating their current ERP system over implementing a new system.

Remediation: Determining Root Causes of Current Failures
For remediation to be successful, businesses need to look deeper into operations than just information technology. IT is still sometimes viewed as a stand-alone activity used to support business processes. In fact, IT is a service used as any other tool, process or program to enable business.

Businesses should not proceed with a go-forward plan to remediate their ERP until the reasons and root causes for the current failures and breakdowns are fully understood. Determining root cause will be crucial for the remediation plan. The root effects depicted by asset vulnerabilities will have a many-to-one relationship to root cause. If the effects have a one-to-one relationship to the alleged root cause, this indicates that you have not determined the true root cause.

Generally, finding a one-to-one relationship exists when silo-structured organizations only look at the vulnerabilities in their silo. This can also occur when IT attempts to remediate without the input or assistance of the other business units. All businesses today, in both the public and private sectors, are interdependent with the other areas of that business.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Businesses engaged in ERP remediation must be cognizant to avoid failures. Necessary steps to dodge possible pitfalls include:

• Behavioral change. The management team must hold everyone, including themselves, accountable and compliant to the necessary behavioral changes that stem from the assessments. For example, if the remediation effort determines that executives must change passwords every quarter, then the executive team must abide by this and change passwords every quarter.
• Assignment of a truly cross-functional, expert team from both the technology and business areas. All team members must be fully committed to the activity without pressures from other areas, as this resolution is highly complex. The team will have a different set of ERP subject matter experts (SME) members, and a few members will be required to participate from the beginning of the remediation to the end.

o It’s also a good idea to comprise the functional and technical team of experts from outside the company with experience remediating ERP systems. This allows for a true, unbiased assessment and reporting of the actual scope of vulnerabilities to senior management.
o Failure to assign a dedicated team to accurately address the amount of time necessary to develop, gain approval, train and roll out policy, standards, practices and procedures will ultimately lead to a great waste of time, energy and money.

Once a company has assessed both the business drivers and the technical drivers for a remediation, it can calculate the ROI surrounding a variety of benefits from the remediation. These benefits can include:

• Reduction in server outages
• Reduction in bandwidth use
• Reduction in database management table repairs
• Higher staff productivity working on production-type activities
• Ability to handle additional applications without increasing bandwidth or server capacity
• Compliancy - SOX, HIPAA and COSO are just a few of the standard-based compliancy drivers that businesses must address moving forward.

Finally, remember you cannot do it alone. A successful remediation requires the full support of all stakeholders and constituencies working together for a shared goal. The time needed to conduct a remediation project of the size and scope indicated by the initial assessment is usually estimated at 30 to 48 months. Compare this to the 18+ months it takes to implement a new ERP system.

The time, money and effort spent will result in more integrated business processes and cleaner data for more informed decision making. Ultimately, optimized business technology allows companies to win market share while competitors struggle to keep heads above water.

Just when you thought Palm was out of the smartphone battle, it comes back firing with a touchscreen salvo, which appears to have its crosshairs directly on Apple’s iPhone.

It’s the Palm Pre…

The talk of CES 2009, the Pre is poised to bring Palm back towards the front of the pack. It sports a new operating system, dubbed WebOS. Like the iPhone and Android, the Pre is easy to develop for because most of the apps can be written in Java, HTML or CSS. From the demos I’ve seen, the screen redraws are extremely smooth.

In the screenshots below, you get an idea of WebOS. Check out the home screen; the phone screen; and call screen with reminders, a missed call, a text message and a song playing.

Palm offers immediate alerts without having to close a screen. The above image displays what Palm calls “cards.” You can move through applications quickly with cards. For instance, flipping from calendar to maps to photos to emails is easy as turning a card.

An interesting concept about the browser is that it displays the actual Web page and not just a screen capture like the iPhone. Mobile Safari has to reload the page when selected, whereas the Palm browser brings up the actual page already loaded.

One of the coolest new features of the Pre is an accessory. Palm is offering touchstone as an optional accessory. Touchstone is an inductive charger/cradle that allows you to charge the phone by placing it on the “puck.”

Another great feature from the why hasn’t someone done this before department is something Palm calls Synergy, which is essentially a contact aggregator. It pools your contacts from all your accounts and social networking sites like Gmail, Outlook, Facebook, Twitter, AIM, etc. and combines them into database or “stacks.” It also does its best to reduce duplicates in these stacks, keeping your contacts organized.

Palm’s Pre is set for release in mid-2009, with exclusive sales through Sprint. For all you ever wanted to know about the Pre, check out Palm’s “Pre view” press release.

Businesses are always looking for alternative ways to cut costs, increase value and streamline operations without disrupting output of future growth. Traditional cost-cutting strategies such as canceling or postponing projects and reducing headcount can offer immediate relief of financial obligations associated with budget. However, these methods often fail to ultimately generate quantifiable value.

Here’s a list of five business technology trends designed to extend cost-cutting solutions, as well as true business value:

1. Consolidate and Virtualize Your Server Environment

The technology associated with virtualization has been around for many years. Only recently has it emerged as a viable option designed to improve information security, business continuity and hardware utilization.

Benefits associated with implementing a virtual server environment are…
•Reduce the need to purchase additional hardware (servers)
•Eliminate the hassle of building and provisioning new servers
•Reduce the amount (and costs!) of power, cooling and space
•Improve recovery time for unplanned network outages

Virtualizing your server environment presents a number of opportunities for driving capital and operational efficiencies for any organization.

2.Repurpose or Retire Old or Underutilized Hardware

Revisit your list of paused IT initiatives and consider how excess hardware might be provisioned to implement some of these projects.

3.Audit Software Licenses

Keeping with industry best practices, it’s always a good idea to keep an accurate inventory of all hardware and software being utilized on a network. While hardware is generally easier to manage, it’s software that often gets overlooked.

By going through the audit process, you’ll often reveal software that is seldom or no longer used. Once you have identified and eliminated redundancy in your software portfolio, you can then consolidate your software applications to dramatically reduce development, support and maintenance expenditures.

4.Consider Managed Service Providers and Infrastructure Hosting to Manage Day-to-Day IT

Many technology solutions can be supported more efficiently, and less expensively, if handled by an IT managed services provider. This includes remote monitoring and help desk support, infrastructure hosting, hardware/software leasing and email/Web security.

A service provider allows you to…
•Do more with less, by outsourcing day-to-day technology tasks
•Focus internal IT resources on more core competencies
•Realize more predictable IT expenses
•Benefit from additional skills and niche expertise

For IT infrastructure hosting, consider…
•Hosting the equipment at a co-location facility
•Leasing the hardware and/or software from a preferred vendor
•Supporting the solutions at your place of business

Partnering with a managed service provider will arm you with a trusted IT advisor, who focuses on educating your business on available options best suited to your business needs.

5.Align Your IT Infrastructure with Business Processes and Goals

Whether you choose to support an internal IT staff or partner with a provider to support your technology initiatives, it’s critical that short-term and long-term business goals are factored into the decision-making process associated with technology acquisitions.

Your support staff can greatly benefit from meeting with business executives and gaining an understanding of the overall needs of the organization. They can better predict future demands and requirements based on technology and best align future purchases with mission critical goals and objectives.

Substantial cost savings can be realized as both core business and IT initiatives will be aligned as future purchases are made.

It’s important to be aware that as technology continues to evolve, so do available options. Being informed on all solutions leads to valuable benefits such as increased competitive advantages, streamlined operational efficiencies and being able to do more with less.

While it might sound too good to be true, the benefits are real. The solutions exist. The opportunities are out there.

What is your organization currently doing to ensure that your IT budget is stretching as far as it can go?

When times are tough…the tough focus on streamlining operations through effective use of technology. For distribution & logistics companies, this means reducing lead times and inventory levels and improving the order-to-cash process. With time as a factor, efficiency of operations plays an important role in maximizing revenue and cash flow.

One Houston-based intermodal transportation services company decided to refine its dispatching process to reduce inefficiencies and minimize the load on busy dispatchers. Initially, the company reduced dependency on two-way radios by replacing them with BlackBerry smartphones equipped with GPS technology and the Comet Tracker application by Actsoft.

The application reduced dispatching call volume and improved fleet management and labor tracking by pinpointing the exact location of each driver. Comet Tracker also integrated with the company’s intermodal software system, Compcare, which was installed on dispatcher desktops. Integration meant dispatchers could find, track and dispatch drivers from one central location.

However, drivers had the burden of returning to dispatch between each run to retrieve work orders and security clearances. This inefficiency meant loss of time and money.

To streamline dispatch functions, the company partnered with a strategic advisor to engineer a plan and identify the necessary technology. RSA Corp engineered a solution to minimize travel time and save money. A process was designed to work with the capabilities of the BlackBerry using existing applications.

Bluetooth technology was incorporated with BlackBerry technology and a mobile printer to remove the need for the driver to visit the dispatch office to retrieve paperwork. A printer in the cab of each truck allows drivers to print paperwork without returning to dispatch. From the cab, drivers open work orders as e-mail attachments from the phone, print them from the mobile printer and use the hard copy to authorize release of shipments.

Process re-engineering resulted in improved efficiencies, which saved fuel costs, increased number of runs and ultimately maximized revenue generation.

How is your technology driving operational efficiency?