Accessing Work Computers From A Mobile Device Could Reduce BYOD Burden

Smartphones have infiltrated the workplace and there’s practically nothing we can do about it but adapt. This presents an enormous security risk since data from your business can go into employees’ private hands. While you may not be worried about employee sabotage, you should be worried about unintended data breaches by employee phones that are infected with Malware.

Regardless of the operating system running on it, a smartphone is still a small computer. Anything can breach it and even the smartest people end up getting an infection once in awhile. This is one reason why mobile device management (MDM) crawled out of the woodwork. But some people are not satisfied with this because of the concerns involving employee privacy. Another alternative has appeared recently called company-owned employee-enabled (COPE), which seems to present a more laissez-faire approach.

But there’s an even easier way to cope with BYOD’s burden: allow employees to access their work computers from their smartphones. This way, data is kept at the workstation and the employee can still access necessary materials. Currently, the only solution targeting businesses is independenceIT’s Cloud Workspace platform. With this solution, your employees will be able to log in to their workstations much like they would at your establishment.

Not only does Cloud Workspace give them control over the data they work with, but it also smoothly integrates telecommuting into your IT ecosystem. Whether the employee is connecting through a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, an ultrabook, or a desktop computer, the user will be able to enjoy the full benefits of a work environment from any location he/she may be accessing it from, provided that there’s an Internet connection. This can greatly boost employee (and your own) productivity and add another choice to your decision in managing the impact that BYOD will have on your business.

The only surefire way to mitigate the possibly negative effect of BYOD is to make sure that work data doesn’t reach any device’s storage hardware. Cloud Workspace is a solution intended exactly for that purpose. Now, you know the three options you have. All you have to do is make a decision!

How To Avoid Death by E-Mail and Centralize Your Customer Communications

Services like Gmail provide more flexibility than ever for users. Contacts and calendars can be synced and shared and e-mails can be categorized into folders for easy organization. Everything from e-mails from co-workers to customer service requests can be funneled through Gmail, if a business chooses to provide that option on its website. But with so many tools available to help automate and organize issues in a business, complete reliance on

Freshdesk director of marketing Vikram Bhaskaran was surprised to find many small businesses were handling customer service through free e-mail services. These businesses were scribbling notes on Post-Its and relying on scrap paper to track issue requests. Business owners quickly realized that this scattered method of tracking customer requests led to embarrassing mistakes. Not only did this create more work for employees, but it can be dangerous to a company’s bottom line, potentially costing them valuable customers.

“Customer death by e-mail is the result of businesses deciding to make do with just their mailboxes,” Bhaskaran explains. “Even when conversations are hardly trickling in, customers are bombarded with unpredictable response times, multiple replies and dropped conversations. For the business, pretty soon it can be a struggle just to dig up what the customer was even talking about in the first place. The eventual result is always the same - frustrated customers and attrition.”

Freshdesk’s solution puts all customer e-mails in one inbox, allowing multiple team members to work together to resolve issues. The software automatically converts each customer support e-mail into a ticket, which can then be assigned to various team members, who can then add comments as they work on the issue. Freshdesk even works with social media, converting Tweets and Facebook mentions into tickets alongside e-mail communications. Customers can even create their own tickets, using Freshdesk’s self-service portal.

Through Freshdesk’s new Free Forever for Three plan, shops of three employees or less can have access to the company’s software for free. Once a business begins adding employees, that business can choose to either pay $15 for each additional employee or upgrade to one of Freshdesk’s small business plans, which start at $16 per agent per month. The paid plans include the ability to send customer satisfaction surveys at the resolution of a ticket, advanced reporting, and ticket time-tracking, among other features. But the free plan includes everything a small shop needs to automate its customer help desk, including ticketing and a separate knowledge base.

In recent years, Freshdesk has attracted the attention of some of the top businesses in the country. Clients include big names like Toshiba, Cheezburger, Rallybus, Indiamart, and many more. Companies have been able to automate and streamline their customer support desks, providing top-notch support to customers that helps them build a positive reputation in the industry. Clients have raved about Freshdesk’s own high level of customer support and the fact that the company is constantly evolving to provide new services.

All of Freshdesk’s plans are free for 30 days, so businesses are free to try Freshdesk out for a month with no obligation. For more information on Freshdesk, visit http://freshdesk.com/.

Accessing Work Computers From A Mobile Device Could Reduce BYOD Burden

Smartphones have infiltrated the workplace and there’s practically nothing we can do about it but adapt. This presents an enormous security risk since data from your business can go into employees’ private hands. While you may not be worried about employee sabotage, you should be worried about unintended data breaches by employee phones that are infected with Malware.

Regardless of the operating system running on it, a smartphone is still a small computer. Anything can breach it and even the smartest people end up getting an infection once in awhile. This is one reason why mobile device management (MDM) crawled out of the woodwork. But some people are not satisfied with this because of the concerns involving employee privacy. Another alternative has appeared recently called company-owned employee-enabled (COPE), which seems to present a more laissez-faire approach.

But there’s an even easier way to cope with BYOD’s burden: allow employees to access their work computers from their smartphones. This way, data is kept at the workstation and the employee can still access necessary materials. Currently, the only solution targeting businesses is independenceIT’s Cloud Workspace platform. With this solution, your employees will be able to log in to their workstations much like they would at your establishment.

Not only does Cloud Workspace give them control over the data they work with, but it also smoothly integrates telecommuting into your IT ecosystem. Whether the employee is connecting through a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, an ultrabook, or a desktop computer, the user will be able to enjoy the full benefits of a work environment from any location he/she may be accessing it from, provided that there’s an Internet connection. This can greatly boost employee (and your own) productivity and add another choice to your decision in managing the impact that BYOD will have on your business.

The only surefire way to mitigate the possibly negative effect of BYOD is to make sure that work data doesn’t reach any device’s storage hardware. Cloud Workspace is a solution intended exactly for that purpose. Now, you know the three options you have. All you have to do is make a decision!

Keep Yourself Informed and Your Employees Happy With 15Five

For business owners and managers, running a successful company depends on a lot of factors: productivity, organization, marketing, quality products, and customer service, just to name a few. But one factor important to company success that can often be overlooked is team communication and happy employees.

SaaS provider 15Five aims to solve that problem with its constant employee feedback and communication system. The system gives business owners a snapshot of the inner-workings of their company from their employees’ perspective within a cloud-based platform, while helping employees feel happy and engaged with their company.

CEO of 15Five, David Hassell, said:

“No employee is going to care about their work if they don’t first feel that the company cares about them and values their contribution. Putting a system like 15Five in place immediately sends a message to employees that their input is valued, that the company wants to hear their ideas, support them with their challenges, and make sure they’re happy and engaged.”

The company, which just completed a $1 million seed-funding round to improve its product development and marketing, is so named because it takes employees about 15 minutes to fill out the feedback form and just 5 minutes for supervisors or business owners to review their responses.

Each week, employees fill out a short feedback form that includes updates on success, issues, morale and ideas for improvement. Then managers or supervisors review the short reports and round up the important points into their own reports, engaging in conversations with employees if necessary. Those supervisors can then pass along the highlights of these reports to the business owner or CEO. The photo above shows a small snapshot of employee feedback and updates.

The company says that the benefits to this program include informed CEOs, improved communication throughout the entire company, minimal time commitment from supervisors, and employees that feel valued and happy with their workplace.

Said Hassell:

“We’re now inundated with more and more communication and information these days, but quality of that information is declining.  Gathering continuous feedback like this in an efficient manner that doesn’t take much time or effort makes sure that everyone always stays focused on what’s most important.”

Hassell said that what sets 15Five apart from other systems for employee feedback is its simplistic approach. Many other systems require managers to create surveys or other forms that allow for limited responses, while 15Five gives employees the freedom to offer unique ideas or other feedback. It also opens up constant communication channels so that supervisors can get regular updates instead of only getting answers to questions when they are asked.

The system costs $49 per month for the first 10 people and $5 per month for each additional person, with volume discounting available for larger companies. The company also offers a 4-week free trial.

15Five was originally founded in May 2011 and the system launched in March 2012. This latest round of funding comes from Richmond Global and several additional investors including 500 Startups.

How To Avoid Death by E-Mail and Centralize Your Customer Communications

Services like Gmail provide more flexibility than ever for users. Contacts and calendars can be synced and shared and e-mails can be categorized into folders for easy organization. Everything from e-mails from co-workers to customer service requests can be funneled through Gmail, if a business chooses to provide that option on its website. But with so many tools available to help automate and organize issues in a business, complete reliance on

Freshdesk director of marketing Vikram Bhaskaran was surprised to find many small businesses were handling customer service through free e-mail services. These businesses were scribbling notes on Post-Its and relying on scrap paper to track issue requests. Business owners quickly realized that this scattered method of tracking customer requests led to embarrassing mistakes. Not only did this create more work for employees, but it can be dangerous to a company’s bottom line, potentially costing them valuable customers.

“Customer death by e-mail is the result of businesses deciding to make do with just their mailboxes,” Bhaskaran explains. “Even when conversations are hardly trickling in, customers are bombarded with unpredictable response times, multiple replies and dropped conversations. For the business, pretty soon it can be a struggle just to dig up what the customer was even talking about in the first place. The eventual result is always the same - frustrated customers and attrition.”

Freshdesk’s solution puts all customer e-mails in one inbox, allowing multiple team members to work together to resolve issues. The software automatically converts each customer support e-mail into a ticket, which can then be assigned to various team members, who can then add comments as they work on the issue. Freshdesk even works with social media, converting Tweets and Facebook mentions into tickets alongside e-mail communications. Customers can even create their own tickets, using Freshdesk’s self-service portal.

Through Freshdesk’s new Free Forever for Three plan, shops of three employees or less can have access to the company’s software for free. Once a business begins adding employees, that business can choose to either pay $15 for each additional employee or upgrade to one of Freshdesk’s small business plans, which start at $16 per agent per month. The paid plans include the ability to send customer satisfaction surveys at the resolution of a ticket, advanced reporting, and ticket time-tracking, among other features. But the free plan includes everything a small shop needs to automate its customer help desk, including ticketing and a separate knowledge base.

In recent years, Freshdesk has attracted the attention of some of the top businesses in the country. Clients include big names like Toshiba, Cheezburger, Rallybus, Indiamart, and many more. Companies have been able to automate and streamline their customer support desks, providing top-notch support to customers that helps them build a positive reputation in the industry. Clients have raved about Freshdesk’s own high level of customer support and the fact that the company is constantly evolving to provide new services.

All of Freshdesk’s plans are free for 30 days, so businesses are free to try Freshdesk out for a month with no obligation. For more information on Freshdesk, visit http://freshdesk.com/.

5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Take in Investors

So I was brainstorming with a couple of my partners for a start up venture we’re about to launch. They seemed genuinely shocked when I said I didn’t want to take in any investors.

I know the trendy thing today is creating a pitch that attracts VC firms. But as a rule, I usually don’t want them. Their job is to find investments they can grow and cash out. And that sometimes clashes with the best long-term objectives for a business.

Read INC, Entrepreneur or Fast Company magazines and everyone is proud of how many rounds of financing they’ve scored and how much money they’ve raised. This can get pretty intoxicating. You start to dream of making your pitch, and how much one of the Silicon Valley firms will come in on your deal for.

But That May Not Be The Best Thing For You

There is a very big difference between raising money and actually earning money. The first one is an obligation that needs to be repaid and creates additional pressure. Which is usually the last thing you need more of when you’re starting a new business.

Obviously a lot of start up entrepreneurs are looking at investors, because banks aren’t really doing much lending in their space. And outside of VC’s, people are looking at angel investors and crowdfunding is gaining steam right now. But it may not be in your best interest to take in investors in any capacity.

Borrowing money is very seldom the path to prosperity. I do believe in leverage and definitely recommend it. (Real estate, for example.) However, if a venture capitalist wants to invest in your business, they need to leverage their money, which often means to grow the business and cash it out. Investors sometimes mean conflicting goals for the business - more pressure for quicker returns or even losing control of your business.

So think hard before you blindly jump at the idea of raising cash through investors.

Ask Yourself These 5 Very Important Investor Questions First:

• Are you looking for loans or investors to cover up sloppy money management Investments won’t fix this and only waste other people’s money like your own. You’d be much better off to fix the problem at the source.
• Could you bring in a strategic partner - someone who buys into the objectives of the business and would add expertise that can help grow it Someone who does this isn’t looking to flip their money quick and is invested in growing a long-term business.
• Would your customers finance you It sounds crazy, but I have often seen customers advance money to a vendor they trust to ensure uninterrupted supply.
• Do you play well with others Most entrepreneurs are lone wolves. Most investors want a say in how their money is being used. Sometimes that is a very volatile mix.
• What will the slower time it would take to build without investment mean for your business Most companies would be much better off if they lived within their cash flow and grew their business from that. This forces them to manage cash flow, do the fundamentals right and only add overhead when it sustainable. Other times, if you don’t get a quick infusion of capital you lose first mover advantage or market share to a better-financed competitor.

Here’s My Experience

One hundred percent of entrepreneurs fervently believe they’re in the latter category and need more cash now to compete. In reality, only about five percent really fit into that category. The other 95 percent would be better doing a slow build through the cash flow.

At the end of the day, it all depends on what outcome you are looking for. If you’re looking to start a business and flip it for a profit - investors may be a good fit for you. If your business is your dream and your life’s mission, you might be better to go it alone.

So whatever your objectives are - be mindful of them and approach investors with discernment.

Questions Photo via Shutterstock

Things Are Gaining Traction

“It’s an idea that’s really gaining traction.” A standard phrase you’ve probably read or heard once a week without paying any attention to it.

Unless you’re in the ice skating business or oil business or, in this case, the banana peel business. Then gaining that traction is newsworthy, indeed.

Twitter deploys DMARC technology to cut down on credential thefts

Twitter has deployed technology in an effort to cut down on phishing emails which capture users credentials.

According to a blog post by Twitter's Josh Aberant, it has begun using Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC). According to the Register, this has already been deployed by the likes of Facebook, Google and PayPal and at its heart are DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIF) and Sender Policy Framework (SPF) mechanisms, which can be used to attach digital signatures to emails and validate their authenticity.

It said that using this mechanism will ‘make it extremely unlikely that most of our users will see any email pretending to be from a Twitter.com address' as it solves long-standing operational, deployment and reporting issues related to email authentication protocols.

Aberant said that building on DKIF and SPF gives email providers a way to block email from forged domains popping up in inboxes. “That in turn lessens the risk users face of mistakenly giving away personal information.

“While this protocol is young, it has already gained significant traction in the email community with all four major email providers - AOL, Gmail, Hotmail/Outlook, and Yahoo! Mail - already on board, rejecting forged emails. We hope to see it gain more coverage for our users as even more email providers adopt it, and that it gives you more peace of mind when you get an email from us.”

DMARC said that its goal is to build on a system of senders and receivers collaborating to improve mail authentication practices of senders and enable receivers to reject unauthenticated message. It said that among its intentions are to minimise false positives and provide robust authentication reporting.

It said: “DMARC is designed to fit into an organisation's existing inbound email authentication process. The way it works is to help email receives determine if the purported message ‘aligns' with what the receiver knows about the sender. If not, DMARC includes guidance on how to handle the ‘non-aligned' messages.”

Public sector more concerned about reputational damage than accidental data loss

The main concern for a third of public sector companies is reputational damage to their organisation.

A survey of 277 people across 247 unique UK public sector organisations by Clearswift identified the top three concerns of public sector workers to be fears of reputational damage, financial consequences and compliance failure.

The respondents said that reputational damage was a concern for 31 per cent, financial consequences for 20 per cent and compliance issues for 18 per cent. Only two per cent of those surveyed consider accidental data loss to be a threat to national security.

Dr Guy Bunker, senior vice president of products at Clearswift, said: “It is no longer an option to assume that someone else is looking after your data. IT security policies must be created, shared and enforced by collaborative organisations to ensure not only better protection against data loss, but also a clearer understanding of responsibility and culpability.

“This research brings home the fact that now, more than ever, public sector organisations need to think about their information security on a strategic as well as a tactical level. Educating PSOs and raising awareness as to how to identify and protect their critical information must today be a real focus.”

The survey also found that 90 per cent of respondents rated information security as important when selecting business partners and third parties. When it comes to the managing of information exchange with external partners, 63 per cent of respondents regard this as a joint responsibility, yet only three per cent of organisations are worried about data loss via business partners. 

Although 85 per cent of respondents surveyed felt that their organisation managed security threats well, 38 per cent claimed that they did not have a strategy in relation to their outbound communication technologies.

Last year, Jonathan Armstrong, lawyer at Duane Morris LLP, said that the impact of monetary fines from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) should be passed on to those directly responsible for the breaches.

In response, the ICO said that the Data Protection Act states that it is the data controller that must ensure that any processing of personal data for which they are responsible complies with the act and that data controllers remain responsible for ensuring their processing complies with the act, whether they use the data in-house or employ a separate contractor as a data processor.

10 Online Dangers Your Business Faces

The Internet is full of possibilities, but it is also filled with dangers.  A recent report suggests the Chinese military is behind alleged hacking into the systems of American corporations, organizations and government agencies, draining data from potentially critical operations.

According to another report, Apple Inc., Facebook and Twitter were targeted by malware attacks originating from an eastern European gang of hackers intent on stealing company secrets from all three firms.

Whether your company simply maintains an online presence for marketing and communications or actually has data residing on or accessible to the Web, you are likely vulnerable in ways you don’t even realize.

Here are 10 dangers your company faces online right now and suggestions for addressing them.

Online Dangers to Your Data

Viruses and other malware are a constant threat. Computer viruses, worms, spyware and other malicious software inhabit the Web. These viruses can damage your system’s data or performance. To protect your most valuable technology, it’s important to stay updated on the latest antivirus software. Here Darien Graham-Smith gives his picks for the best free antivirus software of 2013 with a link to a review of paid software options you can also consider. PCPro

Cloud sharing also comes with concerns. The appeal of cloud computing with its easy data sharing and almost limitless storage space at low cost is obvious, especially to small businesses with limited resources. However, companies using the cloud for collaboration or data storage must also understand the risks of having that data accessed by an unauthorized third party, says Charles Costa. Here are some tips to keep your business safe while using the cloud. Smallbiz Technology

Your social media accounts are not secure. Both Twitter and LinkedIn have already suffered security breaches, and in this post, Josh Constine suggests it is only a matter of time until the same thing happens to Facebook. The key to remember, whether you use social media for marketing, networking, or just communication, is that all the data you upload, even under privacy settings, might someday be compromised. Be careful you share via social media and never share anything that must remain private. TechCrunch

Even your lawyer’s office can be hacked. Security experts now suggest hackers may target smaller firms to get at the data of bigger companies with which they do business. This means hackers might attempt to get at your customers, vendors and suppliers through you or vice versa. In this post, Michael Holmes suggests that law firms are often targeted to gain access to the client data. Be sure to practice security when exchanging data with customers and business partners too. Small Business Trends

It’s hard to know who to trust. Doing business online requires a certain amount of trust. However, many of the traditional methods of establishing that trust are made more challenging thanks to the distances involved and the ease with which cyber criminals can mislead businesses about their true identities. The key is to follow authentication procedures when doing business with others you don’t know. Here attorney and security specialist Marc Weber Tobias explores some possible solutions for establishing trust online. Forbes

Mobile devices may pose a threat, too. A recent security advisory released by BlackBerry suggests that vulnerabilities could allow hackers to access your company’s servers through malicious code on a single smartphone or even through an e-mail or instant message. There have also been concerns that company data shared over mobile devices might somehow be accessed by a third party, especially if a phone is lost or stolen. An important step toward better security is to pay close attention to vulnerabilities when announced and update with improved software as soon as possible. Naked Security

Online Dangers to Your Reputation

Being hacked can damage your credibility. Whether it’s a hacker taking control of your company’s Twitter account, or getting a hold of sensitive data, being hacked can cause credibility problems for your business. At a time like this, it’s imperative to act quickly to contain the attack, repair the damage, and reassure your customers. Here are some suggestions from security experts about how to recover when the worst has happened. Fox Small Business Center

A rogue domain name could ruin your business. Look what happened when celebrity TV chef Guy Fieri failed to secure the domain name for his New York eatery Guy’s American Kitchen and Bar. The domain name fell into the hands of a New York-based programmer and Internet trickster, and soon joke menus were appearing online, making this online prankster a star. In this Internet age, securing the domain name of your brand is critical. The alternative may not be very funny to you at all. Fast Company

A default admin account could be your undoing. Having a hacker gain access to your blog may not necessarily compromise sensitive business data, but it could be a PR disaster to have someone hijack or disable your brand’s principle online voice. You may not have considered how easy it is for someone to hack into your blog, but Stephen Duckworth suggests that something as simple as failing to delete your default admin account on WordPress could be an open invitation to attack. Here are Duckworth’s suggestions for a more secure blog. Digital Internet

Protecting your brand is a full-time job. A big part of building a personal or business brand has to do with managing your online image and reputation. To do that, you must take control of the way your brand comes up in search, what conversations are taking place about you or your business online, and even how your brand and reputation are depicted by others. Blogger Daniel Sharkov suggests a number of techniques including constantly monitoring what is being said about you online and on the social web. Reviewz ‘N Tips

Danger Photo via Shutterstock