SizeUp Gives Small Businesses Free Intelligence Resources

SizeUp, a tool created to help small businesses learn and grow, is now available free of charge through the Small Business Administration. The widget shows businesses how they stack up against the competition in their area, and is available both on the SBA's website, and the SizeUp website.

The tool can help businesses create a strategic plan for growth through by analyzing competition, seeing how their business currently stacks up in the market, and finding the right advertising markets to reach their target market.

Upon visiting the site, business owners can enter their type of business (e.g. beauty salons) and metropolitan area. You can then view the top three businesses listed in that category, along with how their own business competes in terms of revenue, years in business, and employee salary. You can also view zip codes with the highest combined business revenue in the selected industry, so that they can better choose which markets will be the best advertising match.

Many larger businesses have the resources and ability to do this kind of research in-house or by way of a market research firm. For small businesses with fewer resources, this type of service is not always within reach.

SizeUp, which launched in 2011, was created with the intention to level the playing field for small and medium sized businesses that are at competitive disadvantage because of the lack of free and affordable tools available. The site operates with the hope that the knowledge provided to small businesses can help them choose the best location, find the right customers and vendors, save money, find opportunities, prevent failure, and outperform the competition.

SizeUp donated the license to the SBA so that the widget could be used on the site free of charge. However the SBA has no control over the information provided by SizeUp.

Business Survival Tips From Charles Darwin

When Charles Darwin's “On the Origin of Species” was first published in 1889, it stirred up a not inconsiderable amount of furore and controversy. However, as divisive a treatise as it undoubtedly was, “On the Origin of Species” was a masterpiece of skilled observation, elegant reasoning and sound logic. Darwin's findings changed the world of biology and naturalism forever, and his arguments had a resonance that was felt around the world.

Darwin's discoveries and conclusions are as succinct and flawless today as they were at the end of the 19th century, and we can learn from them in ways you may not have expected:

Fight

Perhaps the most shocking element of Darwin's treatise was that, contrary to the teachings of orthodox religion, the natural world was not a harmonious world of order and beauty, but a chaotic one in which every individual plant and animal were locked in a constant fight to survive and propagate.

To a certain extent, the same will be true of your business. Don't expect any pity or mercy from your competitors.  It's a dog-eat-dog world and you will have to assert yourself if you're going to come out on top.

Just like in the natural world, you should use all the weapons at your disposal in order to survive. 

Specialize

Some of the most remarkable findings of Darwin's studies were to throw up concerned, the little finches of the isolated Galapagos Islands. Darwin noticed that these birds, originating from the same genus, had developed beaks that differed greatly from animal to animal as food sources on individual islands dictated.  These specialized tools allowed the finches to exploit natural resources that would otherwise have been cut off to them.

You should learn from them by exploiting gaps in the market that others have left unexplored. If you become unique and different, you will have less competition for customers and clients, thus helping your business to become successful.

If your strengths lie in your work, don't waste time by trying to chase customers for payment. Instead, build symbiotic and mutually beneficial relationships. 

Adapt

“On the Origin of Species” suggested that the species that were best suited for long-term survival and widespread propagation were those more likely than others to adapt. Animals whose behaviour and physiognomy were quick to adapt to changes in the environment, in food sources and in their predators were those with the characteristics necessary to go the distance.

The same is true of your business.  If your products, services and business practices are too rigid and prescribed, you're likely to go the way of the dodo. Instead, you need to be capable of reacting to changing trends in the market, to behavioural patterns in your audience and to shifts in the global economy.

Like the world's most successful creatures, successful businesses must be highly adaptable.

You can learn a lot from the natural world, and Darwin's observations are as good a place as any to start.

Galapagos Cactus Finch Photo via Shutterstock

Is Your Business ‘Stuck\'? Well Let\'s Get You ‘Unstuck\'!

Is your business flat-lining or, even worse, spiraling into the red?  Are you simply ‘stuck' and not sure how to breath life back into your business?  The reality is you're not alone â€" most businesses get stuck from time to time.  The difference between failing and succeeding are the steps you take to get your business moving again!

Barry Moltz, Speaker, Consultant and Author, identifies six major areas where almost every business gets stuck and in ‘The Unstuck Training Series‘ he teaches you how to quickly, easily and once-and-for all become unstuck. In this series Barry shares his personal experiences and walks you through the exact steps you need to take right now to get your business moving again and onward to the next level.  These areas are:

• Sales: Breaking the Double Helix Trap
• Money: Breaking the Cash Crunch
• People: Building a Team That Lasts
• Customer Service: Deliver or Die!
• Social Media: Breaking Your Addiction
• Stop the Brain Damage: How to Get More Done in a Day

The ‘Unstuck Training Series' can be purchased for $197 and includes the six sessions above along with additional Free Added bonuses, including a 30 minute phone or skype consulting session with Barry. Barry offers a money back guarantee at any time, forever with his product.  How often do you find that?

We all want to succeed, but as small business owners and entrepreneurs, typically with limited resources, it can be extremely difficult.  Being able to learn from those who've walked before us and use them as a valuable resource can sometimes make the difference between failure and success.

NZ startups can thrive, says Ransom

Wildfire founder says entrepreneurs can make it here if we create the right culture

In the cut-throat world of Silicon Valley, Victoria Ransom says it's a blessing she came out on top.

"There's a lot of great success stories that come out of tech startups and those success stories tend to get a lot of publicity but the norm is that businesses don't succeed," she told the Business Herald.

"The majority of companies either don't succeed at all or have reasonably modest outcomes."

Six weeks after Google gobbled up her company Wildfire for hundreds of millions of dollars, the 36-year-old said the buzz of the sale hasn't worn off.

"We always had a big vision for Wildfire," said Ransom, who was born and raised in the central North Island.

"We can have an even bigger one now and the challenge and excitement is figuring out how to do that."

Despite being busier "than she even imagined" after moving to Google's head office in the heart of Silicon Valley, she does have a holiday on the horizon and will be returning home - to Scotts Ferry, near Bulls - for Christmas.

The Herald understands she will also be back for her wedding in March.

Ransom couldn't reveal what Google paid for Wildfire but at the time of the sale in August, the Wall St Journal reported the deal could have been worth US$250 million ($304 million).

And although she's "well off", Ransom has no plans to leave Wildfire and try something new.

"I'll continue to be involved for several more years and who knows it may turn into a long, long career with Google."

Ransom founded Wildfire in 2008 with her partner and former professional snowboarder, Alain Chuard.

The pair worked as investment bankers in New York, but after ditching the finance sector to start an adventure tourism company, they stumbled across the idea for Wildfire almost by accident - or as Ransom calls it "an unexpected opportunity".

"I've definitely been a risk taker and haven't tried to plan my career at all," she said.

"When you try to plan too much you miss out on unexpected opportunities."

Despite technology being a male-dominated industry, Ransom didn't feel she needed to break into a "kind of old-boys club". "If anything the fact I was a woman helped me because it was any interesting story in the media and there were other women who were really keen help."

Wildfire is not a pure New Zealand success story, the company having being formed and grown in the US, but Ransom believed it was perfectly possible for this country to build and keep technology startups here.

For that to happen she said New Zealand needs to encourage young people into the tech sector and create a culture where people are driven to start businesses.

"In Silicon Valley there is just kind of this mindset that this is what you do, you start companies," she said.

Victoria Ransom
* Age: 36
* Sold a social media marketing company, Wildfire, to Google for hundreds of millions of dollars.
* Born and raised in Scotts Ferry (population 64) near Bulls.

What Wildfire does:

Wildfire builds online tools to help companies with their marketing over social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

For example, if an online clothing retailer was setting up their Facebook page and wants to present picture galleries of their products to customers, Wildfire gives them templates to enter and update these effectively.

Wildfire can also run an organisation's advertising campaign over social networks to direct traffic, for instance, towards their Facebook page.

Within this it has tools to allow a business to target different demographics and to test different combinations of pictures and words in ads to see which are the most effective.

When customers engage with a business on social networks, Wildfire has tools to track what people are saying about them online and manage how the company responds. It also has products to analyse which brand pages are performing the best over which social networks.

By Hamish Fletcher | Email Hamish

Microsoft to issue emergency Internet Explorer update Friday

Microsoft is addressing a dangerous Internet Explorer zero-day vulnerability, issuing a temporary workaround until it releases an emergency out-of-band update scheduled for Friday.

It will not affect your ability to browse the web, and it does not require a reboot of your computer.

Yunsun Wee, director of Trustworthy Computing, Microsoft

The software giant acknowledged that attackers are targeting a zero-day flaw in Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8 and 9.  It is urging users to apply an automated workaround or use the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit   to make it harder for attackers to target the zero-day flaw.

"It will not affect your ability to browse the web, and it does not require a reboot of your computer," Microsoft's Yunsun Wee, director of Trustworthy Computing, said in a blog entry updating users.

In its advance notification, Microsoft rated the Friday MS12-063 bulletin "critical," for users of Internet Explorer running on Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 and "moderate" for the browser running on its Windows Server software.

Microsoft said an error in the way the browser accesses an object in memory that has been deleted or has not been properly allocated can cause memory corruption, enabling an attacker to execute malicious code. "An attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit this vulnerability through Internet Explorer and then convince a user to view the website," Microsoft said in its advisory.  

The zero-day flaw surfaced on Monday after researcher Eric Romang described the error in a blog post. Romang connected the flaw to the Nitro gang -- the same group that apparently used the recent Java zero-day in targeted attacks. The flaw could be exploited by malicious code embedded in user content or website advertisements on legitimate websites, Microsoft warned.

Where Do Franchisors Make Their Money?

I have a challenge for you, if you're up to it. Are you ready?

I want you to ignore every pre-conceived notion you have about franchising for a few minutes. Pretend that it's your first time learning about the franchise model. Be at one with the newness of it. Deal?

Let's say that you're the owner of a dog-training business. Your business has been growing steadily since you started it, 4 years ago. You've hired more people every year, and you're thinking of expanding, especially since an ideal commercial space recently opened up in an industrial park two suburbs over.

In your mind, now's the time to do this, as small business loan rates are at historic lows.

You're Just Warming Up

What you'd really like to do is turn your dog-training business into a franchise business. That way, you can continue expanding your business by using other people's money. (OPM)

On the surface, it certainly sounds like a great plan. You'd invest the money needed to franchise your business, and once you started to sell franchises, you'd be able to recoup your money. This money would come from at least two places; franchise fees and ongoing royalties.

Developing A Franchise

If you're going to set-up your business as a franchise, your first moves need to be right. My late father taught me something very valuable about franchise development, and it has to do with money. He said that the biggest mistake people make who want to franchise their businesses is doing it on the cheap.

A perfect example of this is someone that only uses an attorney when developing their franchise concept. There is so much more to franchise development than the legal requirements needed to franchise.  But for some reason, most of the people I talk to are laser-focused on legalities.

Legal fees to setup a franchise run about $15,000 or so, and someone could get away with spending under $20,000 to get a franchise up and running. But, it won't be a very successful one. That's because there are so many more things involved in franchise development.

Things such as:

• Creating a business plan
• Writing an operations manual
• Developing a marketing plan
• Website development
• Technology implementation
• Training program development
• Franchisee recruitment
• Franchisee support system setup

The bottom line:  if you're planning on turning your business into a franchise, you really need to work with a franchise development firm that can help you do everything from A-Z. Otherwise, you'll be lucky to sell 1-2 franchises, if any at all.

A word of warning:  make sure that you thoroughly vet any franchise development company that you're thinking of hiring. Ask for lots of references. You may find that some of them are a little too eager to turn your independent business into a franchise business.

The Other Reason That You Want To Franchise Your Business

The picture that you have in your mind of what it would be like to be the CEO of a 250-unit franchise chain is a pretty compelling one. Your visual may even include a 5,000 square foot beachfront home in Maui.

Because as you see it, 250 franchise units paying you monthly royalties of approximately $2000 each = $500,000, which translates into $6 million a year in royalties alone. And, don't forget the upfront franchisee fees that you'll receive every time you sell a new franchise.

Of course, there are a lot of ongoing expenses that you'll have to cover as a franchisor, but you'd still do very well.

Every prospective franchisor that I've ever talked to wants to sell 100-200 franchises, so they can make a lot of money. The simple math that I just showed you proves that it is possible to do.

What a great business model; you come up with a concept, invest some money up-front to develop it into a franchise, use OPM to grow it, and then have the people that invested in it pay you royalties every month for the opportunity to use your business system. So, as a franchisor, you're making money from the franchisees.

No You're Not

According to Lonnie Helgerson, a franchise development executive who just wrote a book called, “Five Pennies, Ten Rules to Successfully Build a Franchise Mega-Brand And Maximize System Profits,” franchisors profits don't come from the franchisees.

From Helgerson's book:

“I often tell my staff members that as a franchisor, we do not make our money when a royalty check is received. We and our franchisees earn it when the point of sale system rings up a sale for a customer and our job is to help our franchisees ring up lots and lots of sales. Losing sight of this leads to fewer sales, frustrated franchisees, and over time will become a significant branding problem.”

At the beginning of this post, I asked you to pretend that you were just starting to learn about the franchise business model. I also encouraged you to give up any pre-conceived notions that you had about franchising. Can you see why?

Lonnie is 100% correct. If, (as a franchisor) you're not offering a great product or service that will enable your franchisees to ring their registers…a lot, you won't be successful. And, your franchisees won't be either.

So, before you even think about turning your business into a franchise, make sure that what you're offering is outstanding.

Or, your business could end up going to the dogs.

Question Photo via Shutterstock

NYC Event: New York Business Expo & Conference (NYXPO) – October 17, 2012

For more than seven years, the New York Business Expo and Conference (NYXPO) has been the Northeast's LARGEST business to business trade show, conference and networking event for budding entrepreneurs, business owners & executives. The NYXPO is the only one day event of its kind that provides small and mid-sized businesses with opportunities to grow. The conference brings together ‘c' level executives from all industries to enjoy face-to-face networking and high-level business education.

 

The NYXPO conference takes place on October 17th at the Javits Center in New York City from 9am â€" 5:30pm.  Highlights of this year's conference include:

• Exhibit Hall: With over 200 exhibits of business products and services, the exhibit floor is a virtual one-stop opportunity to demo the latest products and purchase essential business services, including top technologies and cost effective tools that will help you grow your business.
• Business Seminars: The conference offers over 40 business seminars designed to sharpen your skills in social media, sales, advertising, technology, accessing captial, healthcare, mobile, global trade and MORE!
• Business Resource Pavilion: Experts from over 20 leading city, state and federal agencies come together to provide useful information and business resources from around New York.
• Makeover Contest: One lucky small business owner will win a head-to-toe makeover, including free office products and consultations worth up to $30,000!

Registration for the NYXPO is $15 for the Expo Pass Only if purchased by October 16th online, or use code EXPO15 for a free ticket as our guest! Cost if purchased at the door is $30.  The Expo Pass includes access to the exhibit hall, guaranteed seating in 2 seminars and show floor features and networking.

Harness The Power Of Imperfection

The other day I read an email from Sally Hogshead of Fascinate, Inc. regarding the link between flaws and influence. According to her, it is your flaws that set you apart. This got me thinking about all of the people I know who worry about their imperfections. Could that worry be wasted time?

Well, I submit that spending time concerned over your flaws is time lost. Let's face it, we are all flawed. No one is perfect.  We all make mistakes, fail to get things done, and let things slip. I believe it is all a part of life, especially in this fast paced world we are living in.

There are so many influences vying for our attention that the plate spinning can easily get out of control. Do you know why those plate spinners were on the Ed Sullivan show? Because it was a unique talent. If everyone could spin a lot of plates, there'd be no act.

If we could, for a moment, cut ourselves some slack we could focus not only on how to better manage our worlds but how we could harness our flaws to our advantage.

How can we use our imperfection to our advantage?

1. Own Your Uniqueness

We all need a differentiator. It's a competitive world and there are many businesses doing what we do. So, why would someone buy from us? Take a look at your unique being and then ask yourself that question. What is it about you that is of value?

2. Market Your Value

Once you've embraced the power of your flaws, craft a marketing message that highlights them. Remember, you want to point out your differentiator. What better differentiator than your uniqueness?

3. Forgive Your Imperfections

When it comes to the things that aren't getting done, you know where you fall down. Acknowledge what doesn't get done or what gets lost and cut yourself some slack.  Set up a system to prevent the loss. It's like using a safety net. You look realistically at your business and then put steps in place to change the landscape. Beating yourself up isn't going to get you anywhere, and can actually get in the way.

Dr. Phil says:

“You cannot change what you don't acknowledge.”

In the same vein you cannot embrace what you don't acknowledge. So, own your flaws, embrace and harness your flaws, and forgive yourself.

Flaws can actually benefit your business when you use them to your advantage.

Plate Spinning Photo via Shutterstock

Windows 8: 4 Reasons It May Be Perfect For The Traveling Entrepreneur

Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system is expected to be released on October 26th, but some techies, including our very own Ramon Ray, editor of Smallbiztechnology.com, are already evaluating the Windows 8 beta version to see what we can look forward to.  Putting aside the entirely new look and interface, which is custom made for today's tablet driven market, there is one new major feature being noticed: portability.

In a recent article on Dun & Bradstreet, How Windows 8 Can Help The Traveling Entrepreneur,  Ramon outlines some of the new features that make this operating system worth taking a look at (and possibly upgrading to).  Here are those four features:

• Tablet capability. For those business travelers who haven't yet made the leap to a tablet, Windows 8 is a powerful operating system designed specifically for tablet computing. It's touch screen environment lets your fingers nimbly and easily navigate.
• Better password protection. Windows 8 features an additional layer of security in its picture password. You simply swipe to unlock, then use a series of preset gestures to unlock the picture. (Touching the top of a mountain and swiping a flower in a landscape picture, for instance.)
• Cloud-syncing. Your SkyDrive can store all of your documents, allowing you to access them from anywhere. Leave your desktop or laptop at the office, and take just your smartphone or tablet on your business trip. If you need a file, you'll be able to get to it, as long as you have access to SkyDrive. Since your files are synced to the Cloud, you don't have to worry about manually moving files around so you'll have them. But even better than that, your profile will follow you from one computer to another. Your desktop settings, themes, and other preferences will appear anywhere you log in.
• Storable on a flash drive. This is perhaps one of the most appealing aspects of Windows 8. This feature is called Windows To Go, and it has caught the eye of businesses who are eager to adapt the “Bring Your Own Device” trend. Being able to store your operating system on a flash drive allows you to use any PC or laptop as your temporary PC, accessing all of your files, programs, and even your Internet favorites. Currently, flash drive manufacturers are working to develop flash drives that will support this technology properly.

It can't be denied that mobility and portability are quickly becoming main considerations when looking for new devices and programs for your business.  As we move our information into the cloud and require it to be available from wherever we are on whatever device we have, new technology, like that in Windows 8, will allow us the freedom and convenience we are looking for.

Microsoft to release emergency Internet Explorer patch tomorrow

Microsoft is to release an emergency patch for the zero-day flaw in Internet Explorer tomorrow.

Scheduled to be released at 6pm BST tomorrow, the critical patch will cover the remote code execution flaw in Windows and versions 7, 8 and 9 of the browser.

Yunsun Wee, director of Microsoft Trustworthy Computing, said that the update will be released through Windows Update and its other standard distribution channels and recommended that users install this update as soon as it is available.

“If you have automatic updates enabled on your PC, you won't need to take any action â€" it will automatically be updated on your machine. This will not only reinforce the issue that the Fix It addressed, but cover other issues as well,” Wee said.

Andrew Storms, director of security operations for nCircle, said: “In contrast with every other major software vendor, Microsoft has been communicating with users all week. Even if you think there are a lot of things Microsoft can improve, they are light years ahead of other vendors in providing clear, consistent, valuable communication to their users on security issues.”

Wolfgang Kandek, CTO of Qualys, said: “The decision on whether to deploy the Fix It or whether to wait for the final patch should take into account that attacks are not widespread yet; currently attacks using the vulnerability continue to be of the targeted type with low infection rates reported.”

The bug was discovered by security researcher Eric Romang last week and led Microsoft to release Security Advisory 2757760 to address the issue. According to Reuters, hackers are using the bug to launch attacks, specifically against defence contractors, while the German government encouraged users not to use the browser.

Gartner Security Summit: \"Cyber insurance is like insuring a dancer\'s legs\"

The confusing and treacherous world of cyber insurance has been investigated at the Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit in London.

Asking for a show of hands from the audience of around 20-30 delegates, Gartner research vice president Paul Proctor asked how many had cyber insurance (one hand raised), how many were considering taking out cyber insurance in the next 12 months (two hands raised) and how many were simply interested in it (most hands raised).

Proctor said that rather than a new concept, this has been around for 20 years but it has exploded in the last 18 months. However the problem is that there is not enough evidence to make it a good business model and little in the way of examples of cases.

Listing the top ten talking points around cyber insurance, Proctor said that there is a danger of "buying into the sales pitch", as the biggest factor is insurance companies investing in marketing meaning that you rarely see something written by someone who has a background in cyber insurance.

He also said to be wary of brokers and find one with experience in claims settlement and also understand the different categories of loss in the policy, as often people do not read or understand the small-print.

Regarding a pre-insurance survey, he said: “You need to do a pre-insurance survey so you need to look at your security policy. The insurer may say see it and often it is textbook perfect but you do none of it. If you go after it, look at policy first. Think that if you make a claim, survey what they use to check box to protect yourself.”

He also said that in the case of a claim, an insurer will want to see all of your network data and evidence of a malware infection and will want to do a forensic process, so make sure you have locked down the way you say you have and prove it to have a better chance of a settlement.

This was also the case with users, as if you have a policy where employees are not allowed to put programmes on machine but download applications and install Java code, it is important to understand exclusions.

One of the key areas in the rise in cyber insurance is the cloud. Proctor said: “Is a cloud insurance model unsustainable? If you read agreements you will find you have paid for a service, but the cloud is uninsurable as it limits your liabilities and your provider works with 100 other companies. If there is a breach the cloud provider will cover your expenses, but the chances of being 100 per cent whole are minimal.”

Finally, Proctor said that in its investigations, Gartner has had "extraordinary difficulty in finding claims". He said that the reality is that there is nothing public on this, and finding someone on this has been impossible. It was forced to come to the conclusion that the reason is because claims often end in negotiated settlements so no one will talk about it.

“We cannot find information and we are speculating as to why that is. Ask your brokers on claims process even if anonymised,” he said.

“The healthier you are the better the premiums, but you have to make sure you are adhering to everything in there.”

Proctor also said that there are 20 major insurance carriers doing cyber insurance but only four specialising in it and premiums are often $10-35,000 per $1 million.

He likened it to medical insurance where you only want to make a claim for a major injury but at the same time, not to look for blanket coverage. “If you are sick when you apply, they will not insure you as you cannot say you were not sick when the claim is not paid. Also don't let executives push you into it, it comes into getting claims paid,” Proctor said.

Sophos flags its own update as malware

Sophos has admitted that it suffered a false positive incident last night when its own anti-virus software began detecting an update as malware.

According to its support page, numerous binaries have been falsely detected as 'ssh/updater-B'. It said: “An identity released by SophosLabs for use with our Live Protection system is causing false positives against many binaries that have updating functionality.”

It moved to confirm that these were false positives and not a malware outbreak.

It said: “If you have Live Protection enabled, you should stop seeing these detections eventually as the files are now marked ‘clean' in the Live Protection cloud. If you do not have Live Protection enabled you will stop seeing the new detections once javab-jd.ide has been downloaded by your endpoints (released at 9.32pm on Wednesday 19th September).”

Sophos said that there is no clean-up for this detection and users will see it quarantined unless they have their on-access policy set to move or delete detections if clean-up is not possible.

“Please double check your SAV policy under clean-up; You want to ensure your secondary option (when clean-up is not available or does not work) is set to ‘deny access' and not delete or move. Once the detections have stopped, you can acknowledge the alerts in the console, this way you can see who is still reporting it, and confirm it is trending down,” it said.

However this has led to the Sophos Support Twitter page dealing with complaints and frustrated users. It also posted several messages informing that its "call centres are bottlenecked".

One comment on the Internet Storm Centre (ISC) website said that the issue also affected other 'updater services' including Adobe Flash, Oracle Java, Fujitsu AutoUpdater and Dell AutoUpdate Utilities. “All of the auto-updaters mentioned above were deleted off hundreds of PCs. Now none of these applications will auto-update moving forward,” the comment said.

“Even though Sophos may have fixed the problem and fixed their own software, there is a monumental amount of work we have to do to clean up after this mess. I've worked in IT for 16 years and have never had a virus/Trojan/spyware/malware cause problems and disrupt our systems the way this did. Who can I trust anymore when even my security anti-virus vendor can wreak more havoc on our systems than a virus infection outbreak can?”

Migration leads to concerns about security of data

Despite 95 per cent of organisations moving data at least once per year, two-thirds have admitted that they were not confident sensitive data was protected during a migration.

The survey by Varonis of 200 IT professionals found that while migrations and consolidations affect virtually everyone, 96 per cent of respondents reported concerns when performing data migrations, with many leaving their data overexposed and vulnerable. Also, 65 per cent were not confident that sensitive data was protected and was only accessible to the right people during a migration.

When asked which features they would like in a technology to help automate migration activities, most respondents said they wanted a solution that could provide easy selection criteria for choosing what data to be moved, automate incremental copies (allowing users to use source data during the migration) and automate permissions optimisation.

David Gibson, VP of strategy at Varonis, said: “The survey underscores that maintaining who has access to what is an on-going problem for organisations. The scale of the problem that organisations face when moving terabytes of data may be surprising, as a typical terabyte contains about 50,000 folders and of those folders, about five per cent, or 2,500 folders, have unique permissions.”

Gartner Security Summit: Too many guidelines are hurting business

Too much regulation and too many guidelines are causing issues for businesses, specifically SMEs.

Speaking at the Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit in London, former government and GCHQ IT engineer Mike St John-Green said that while we need standards for organisations and the services they deliver, there is often too many.

In his talk titled 'Sufficient cyber security - how much is good enough?' he claimed that there needs to be an evolution of standards.

He said: “We don't know what is good enough in cyber security, but the current world of standards is complex and the world could do with a consolidation of standards. We need to form an industry model on where we need standards, what they need to look like and what to do with a simplified model.”

St John-Green said that the business model in security is one that incorporates products and services, and also organisations and people. He said that products should be bought as an enduring service and be seen as a commodity. Also with people, he said that organisations "need to know when people are good enough" and it "should be our goal to get market to report so good behaviour is rewarded and bad behaviour is penalised".

“A standard needs to be interpreted so that we end up with interoperability testing. For organisations, audit, but are we doing them? We've got questions on how we operate. Where do we need security standards? For products, services, organisations and people,” he said.

St John-Green later said that we are not in a place where there are too few standards, but that we have too many. He said: “The perspective I've gained is that the subject is baffling; there are too many models and this increases costs for organisations to abide by, so the last thing they need is a different framework. Small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) also see this as a barrier for entry and they are not in a position to bring convergence either.

“What is desirable is converged headings. Risk management has a special place but I believe that an organisation can demonstrate that it is competent with risk management, but for SMEs it is a real problem and it is very expensive. We need to develop a different approach with prescriptive practise. If one goes down this path, there is a high jump with minimum gap.”

He concluded his talk by saying that he had an issue with 'one size fits all', as the industry could do well to have profiles and a risk profile to which parts of controls apply to a particular sector.

“I believe better understanding will improve our hygiene and in absence of demand, the security market has not developed as it should have. We know what good enough looks like but we don't know how to determine good enough, there is an argument for being told what to do though,” he said.

Entrepreneurs Give Up Equity for Shark Tank

Entrepreneurs give up 5% of their companies to appear on the ABC reality show Shark Tank. Some might wonder whether such a sacrifice is worth the opportunity to pitch your idea to “rock stars” like Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and a panel of other wealthy investors.

“There is a myth in our culture that being successful in business involves raising money from well known individuals. That's partially why Shark Tank has taken off. But its not always the case,” says Ami Kassar, founder of MultiFunding, a Philadelphia-area firm dedicated to helping small businesses find money.

In a recent post for The New York Times entrepreneur blog, Kassar talks to some small business owners who had turned down their chance to do the show because they considered opportunity cost too high. In this post, Kassar also looks at other options out there for gaining the funding a small business needs.

Investment Opportunities

Swimming with the sharks. Sean Tice and Kristy Hadeka had a tough choice to make. This pair of entrepreneurs runs a business that makes cheese boards out of slate. But when they received an invitation to pitch their company to a group of super star investors on national TV, they found there was a price attached. You're the Boss

Practicing your pitch. If you do decide to pitch your idea to deep-pocketed investors, there are some things to realize first. Even when they don't have their own national television show, these people are busy. Even grabbing their attention with your presentation will require plenty of work and research. Corporation Centre.ca

Adding up the numbers. Before you do any pitching to investors, however, you have to know how much money you really need. Don't ask for too much, since you will be required to explain exactly why you want it.  Conversely, avoid understating the amount of money you're going to need. You will lose credibility if you can't operate your business with the funds requested. Startup Professionals Musings

Other Funding

Checking other options. Sometimes venture capital firms and other deep-pocket investors are not a good fit for your small business idea. Get creative with your financing options and tap some sources less talked about but just as available. Using these funding options ensures you won't be giving up equity in your company. Lonely Brand Blog

Banking for small business. It turns out that one of the best places to go for small businesses in need of capital is a familiar source indeed. A recent survey found small banks increased their lending in August, while big banks offered fewer loans over the same period. Alternative lenders also increased the amount of money offered to businesses last month making them another viable option for small businesses. Small Business Trends

Starting with Nothing

Bootstrapping for beginners. Still another option for business startups could be to begin with no money, or at least no outside funding at all. In this podcast, bootstrapping expert and entrepreneur Bijoy Goswami talks about another option for starting a new business. Small Business Elevator

Suggesting bootstrapping principles. Here are some suggestions for an entrepreneur who's decided to take the bootstrapping approach. Tom Ewer calls these suggestions “principles”, however bootstrappers may use a variety of approaches. It's important to find a solution that works for you, but Ewer's post is a great place to start. MyWifeQuitHerJob.com