What's a tech company to do to create a bit of pizzazz in the midst of an otherwise numbing new product blitz? After all, even IT managers can have too much of a good thing.It could bring on some entertainment or strike a deal with...
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3 Things Small Businesses Can Learn From Google Product Failures
People tend to give Google a hard time for trying out so many different products - many of which eventually go to the chopping block. Google Reader is the latest product to be discontinued, leaving many marketers scrambling to find an alternative RSS reader.
We complain when a product we’ve grown attached to gets retired, and we’ve even laughed at some of Google’s previous attempts at social media. (Remember Google Buzz? There’s not much to remember.) But the truth is, failure is crucial to the success of all companies, big and small. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is famous for saying “We celebrate our failures.† Below are three reasons why your small business should celebrate them too.
1. Companies Should Focus on What They Do Best
You can’t please all of the people all of the time, and in business, you simply can’t try to do everything. Having too many products in your pipeline is a distraction from your core purpose.
If you can’t explain what your company does in one sentence, you may be trying to do too much. Customers tend to love companies that do one thing - extremely well. Once you’ve figured out what that one thing is, you should put all your focus on that single vision. Because it will probably take everything you’ve got to make it succeed.
When I founded WordStream, the company vision wasn’t clear. People weren’t sure exactly what my product did. That was a failure on my part; I wasn’t communicating the value. So we did an exercise to refine and define our core purpose and values as a company. This helped clarify what really makes us stand out in the market, which in turn helps the leadership team focus on what really matters.
2. Shutting Down Less Successful Efforts Frees Up Resources
A side effect of focusing your product stack or reining in your service offerings is that you free up resources to put back into your core product.
For a tech company, this means that development and engineering resources can focus their valuable time where it really counts. This is also true for any kind of small business you might run. You have limited staff and a finite number of hours in the day. So it’s imperative that everyone you hire is able to put their time and effort into projects that will contribute to your bottom line.
I used to actively market and sell a Keyword Research Suite - a set of keyword tools at a much lower price point than our main PPC management platform. Remember when I said you can’t please everybody? That’s exactly what I was trying to do. I wanted to have a product offering for businesses that either weren’t doing PPC or that couldn’t afford PPC software. But in the end, it was a distraction from our core purpose and it was eating up our valuable development resources. So today, it’s no longer our focus and it’s one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.
3. Failure Is a Learning Opportunity
It’s easy to lose perspective when you’re running a small business. Believe me, I know. Some days I feel like a million dollars and other days I feel I owe millions of dollars. But I think the beautiful thing about small, periodic failures is that they provide valuable learning opportunities which in turn is one of the most exciting aspect of running your own business and motivates me to do better next time.
Google tries and fails at many things and it’s helped them get where they are today. If they were afraid to try and fail, we wouldn’t have Gmail or Google Maps. But, of course, not every Google venture worked out that well. Below, I celebrate some of the many Google products and services that eventually had to die to make way for other technologies.
[Click for full size version]
3 Things Small Businesses Can Learn From Google Product Failures
People tend to give Google a hard time for trying out so many different products - many of which eventually go to the chopping block. Google Reader is the latest product to be discontinued, leaving many marketers scrambling to find an alternative RSS reader.
We complain when a product we’ve grown attached to gets retired, and we’ve even laughed at some of Google’s previous attempts at social media. (Remember Google Buzz? There’s not much to remember.) But the truth is, failure is crucial to the success of all companies, big and small. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is famous for saying “We celebrate our failures.† Below are three reasons why your small business should celebrate them too.
1. Companies Should Focus on What They Do Best
You can’t please all of the people all of the time, and in business, you simply can’t try to do everything. Having too many products in your pipeline is a distraction from your core purpose.
If you can’t explain what your company does in one sentence, you may be trying to do too much. Customers tend to love companies that do one thing - extremely well. Once you’ve figured out what that one thing is, you should put all your focus on that single vision. Because it will probably take everything you’ve got to make it succeed.
When I founded WordStream, the company vision wasn’t clear. People weren’t sure exactly what my product did. That was a failure on my part; I wasn’t communicating the value. So we did an exercise to refine and define our core purpose and values as a company. This helped clarify what really makes us stand out in the market, which in turn helps the leadership team focus on what really matters.
2. Shutting Down Less Successful Efforts Frees Up Resources
A side effect of focusing your product stack or reining in your service offerings is that you free up resources to put back into your core product.
For a tech company, this means that development and engineering resources can focus their valuable time where it really counts. This is also true for any kind of small business you might run. You have limited staff and a finite number of hours in the day. So it’s imperative that everyone you hire is able to put their time and effort into projects that will contribute to your bottom line.
I used to actively market and sell a Keyword Research Suite - a set of keyword tools at a much lower price point than our main PPC management platform. Remember when I said you can’t please everybody? That’s exactly what I was trying to do. I wanted to have a product offering for businesses that either weren’t doing PPC or that couldn’t afford PPC software. But in the end, it was a distraction from our core purpose and it was eating up our valuable development resources. So today, it’s no longer our focus and it’s one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.
3. Failure Is a Learning Opportunity
It’s easy to lose perspective when you’re running a small business. Believe me, I know. Some days I feel like a million dollars and other days I feel I owe millions of dollars. But I think the beautiful thing about small, periodic failures is that they provide valuable learning opportunities which in turn is one of the most exciting aspect of running your own business and motivates me to do better next time.
Google tries and fails at many things and it’s helped them get where they are today. If they were afraid to try and fail, we wouldn’t have Gmail or Google Maps. But, of course, not every Google venture worked out that well. Below, I celebrate some of the many Google products and services that eventually had to die to make way for other technologies.
[Click for full size version]
Latest articles from SC Magazine UK News
SC Magazine has various news articles and information for IT security professionals.
Latest articles from SC Magazine UK News
SC Magazine has various news articles and information for IT security professionals.
App Security Can Not Be Ignored:12 Survival Tips For The Small Business Using and Creating Apps
Brought to you by AVG Technologies, the provider of Internet and mobile security, privacy and optimization to 150 million active users. There’s nothing small about small business in our eyes. Get more information how AVG can help your small business stay protected - go to http://www.avg.com/eu-en/internet-security-business. Â
App Security Can Not Be Ignored: 12 Survival Tips for The Small Business Using and Creating Apps
Â
The mobile app world is full of forks in the roads. The decisions that you take when using or developing apps for mobile devices determine the difference between a smooth ride and a possible data compromise. It’s been that way ever since manufacturers came up with the splendid idea of putting an entire computer system, which stores all your business’ personal data, into a compact device that you can carry as easily as you can lose.
Smartphone operating systems are getting more complex with each new version. As complexity increases, so does the necessity for responsibility within the user and developer communities. Users must learn how to tread carefully along a thin line that lies between complete vulnerability and some measure of safety, while developers have to learn to make apps that can protect their users’ private data.
As the owner of a small business, your job is to make sure that all the apps that handle your sensitive data protect your privacy and ensure that the possibility of a data breach is minimized. This applies to applications you get from other sources and those that you develop yourself.
First, let’s have a look at what you and your employees should do as an app user:
- Make sure you and your employees have an adequate antivirus software installed on your phones. In a small business environment, viruses and worms can creep in and infect other systems connected to a network.
- Use default channels for app downloads. If someone is using an iPhone, that person should be using the App Store to install apps. Android uses Google Play. As long as you and your employees stick to this, the possibility of malware infiltrating a phone becomes a bit lower. You can still get bad apps from default channels, though!
- Before putting an app into mainstream use in your business, make sure that you’re absolutely certain of what kind of data that app will have access to. If you don’t know this information, and you let the app loose around your business, it will eventually bite you back at some point in time.
- Make sure that your employees don’t send any data related to work through apps and to people that you didn’t authorize.
- Minimize the number of apps you run on your phone. Encourage employees to do the same. Running a smaller amount of apps gives you more control of your data and makes the phone run more smoothly.
When developing apps, the story changes. You have to take into account many factors to ensure that you produce an icon-clad app:
- Rather than using cloud providers, use internal storage as much as possible. The most sensitive data should be stored either on the phone or on a cloud server that your business owns and operates. Do not store data in third-party clouds. Write the app in such a way that it would prioritize internal memory for this kind of data.
- Don’t rely on write permissions. Just because an attacker cannot read something doesn’t mean he won’t be able to see if a particular entry in a database exists. This is how SQL injections happen. When developing Android apps, remember to use “android:exported=false†in the app manifest to make it impossible for other apps in the phone to use your app’s content provider. To prevent injections, it’s important to encrypt important SQL data you store (such as passwords and internal memos). Also, make the structure unpredictable (name “phone numbers†something like “phnnrâ€).
- Avoid developing an app that requires permissions in the host operating system. A phone becomes vulnerable when it gives permissions to apps, allowing unauthorized persons to exploit those permissions.
- To avoid possible sniffing, develop your business’ app with a preference for HTTPS transactions, rather than HTTP. Also, avoid sending data through “localhost,†since other apps might be sniffing the data that comes through here.
- Avoid sending SMS messages through the app unless absolutely necessary. In the case of any potentially sensitive data, avoid the SMS protocol at all costs.
- If you need a GUID, create a unique number rather than using the phone’s IMEI number.
- Never leak user info to any logs shared with other apps.
This is a lot to take in, but it guarantees that your business will develop the safest possible app for any phone operating system. Don’t forget to guide your employees through the process of ensuring safety on their phones, preventing a disaster from ever happening.
App Security Can Not Be Ignored:12 Survival Tips For The Small Business Using and Creating Apps
Brought to you by AVG Technologies, the provider of Internet and mobile security, privacy and optimization to 150 million active users. There’s nothing small about small business in our eyes. Get more information how AVG can help your small business stay protected - go to http://www.avg.com/eu-en/internet-security-business. Â
App Security Can Not Be Ignored: 12 Survival Tips for The Small Business Using and Creating Apps
Â
The mobile app world is full of forks in the roads. The decisions that you take when using or developing apps for mobile devices determine the difference between a smooth ride and a possible data compromise. It’s been that way ever since manufacturers came up with the splendid idea of putting an entire computer system, which stores all your business’ personal data, into a compact device that you can carry as easily as you can lose.
Smartphone operating systems are getting more complex with each new version. As complexity increases, so does the necessity for responsibility within the user and developer communities. Users must learn how to tread carefully along a thin line that lies between complete vulnerability and some measure of safety, while developers have to learn to make apps that can protect their users’ private data.
As the owner of a small business, your job is to make sure that all the apps that handle your sensitive data protect your privacy and ensure that the possibility of a data breach is minimized. This applies to applications you get from other sources and those that you develop yourself.
First, let’s have a look at what you and your employees should do as an app user:
- Make sure you and your employees have an adequate antivirus software installed on your phones. In a small business environment, viruses and worms can creep in and infect other systems connected to a network.
- Use default channels for app downloads. If someone is using an iPhone, that person should be using the App Store to install apps. Android uses Google Play. As long as you and your employees stick to this, the possibility of malware infiltrating a phone becomes a bit lower. You can still get bad apps from default channels, though!
- Before putting an app into mainstream use in your business, make sure that you’re absolutely certain of what kind of data that app will have access to. If you don’t know this information, and you let the app loose around your business, it will eventually bite you back at some point in time.
- Make sure that your employees don’t send any data related to work through apps and to people that you didn’t authorize.
- Minimize the number of apps you run on your phone. Encourage employees to do the same. Running a smaller amount of apps gives you more control of your data and makes the phone run more smoothly.
When developing apps, the story changes. You have to take into account many factors to ensure that you produce an icon-clad app:
- Rather than using cloud providers, use internal storage as much as possible. The most sensitive data should be stored either on the phone or on a cloud server that your business owns and operates. Do not store data in third-party clouds. Write the app in such a way that it would prioritize internal memory for this kind of data.
- Don’t rely on write permissions. Just because an attacker cannot read something doesn’t mean he won’t be able to see if a particular entry in a database exists. This is how SQL injections happen. When developing Android apps, remember to use “android:exported=false†in the app manifest to make it impossible for other apps in the phone to use your app’s content provider. To prevent injections, it’s important to encrypt important SQL data you store (such as passwords and internal memos). Also, make the structure unpredictable (name “phone numbers†something like “phnnrâ€).
- Avoid developing an app that requires permissions in the host operating system. A phone becomes vulnerable when it gives permissions to apps, allowing unauthorized persons to exploit those permissions.
- To avoid possible sniffing, develop your business’ app with a preference for HTTPS transactions, rather than HTTP. Also, avoid sending data through “localhost,†since other apps might be sniffing the data that comes through here.
- Avoid sending SMS messages through the app unless absolutely necessary. In the case of any potentially sensitive data, avoid the SMS protocol at all costs.
- If you need a GUID, create a unique number rather than using the phone’s IMEI number.
- Never leak user info to any logs shared with other apps.
This is a lot to take in, but it guarantees that your business will develop the safest possible app for any phone operating system. Don’t forget to guide your employees through the process of ensuring safety on their phones, preventing a disaster from ever happening.
Seagate Business Storage 2-Bay NAS 8TB Device (Video Review)
Here is what I found really great about the device:
- Storage: There is a LOT of it! 8TB, which was the size of the device I looked at, is an amazing amount of space and probably more than most small businesses would need.
- NAS. Because this is a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device, you don’t connect it to your PC, but access it through an IP address. This means that you can access all of your information, from any device, through the cloud. Talk about convenient!
- RAID. The 2-Bay system uses a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) configuration, which means that each bay essentially ‘copies’ and backs up the other - dual redundancy. This means that you should one bay inaccessible, you can still retrieve your information through the other bay.
Check out my full video interview below, or watch here.
The 8TB device that I test drove retails for about $700 and the 6TB comes in at $500 and the 4TB at $400.
Are you using a device like this in your small business? If so, share how it works for you and how it’s helped your small business!
The Ugly Truth About Small Business
People who know me know that I love being an entrepreneur. There is absolutely nothing like the thrill of taking something that you created out to market. It’s a ton of fun, it’s challenging and it’s so rewarding to know that your future is entirely in your own hands. I really don’t know that anything helps you develop your own sense of self in quite the same way as creating your vision and then working hard to ensure its success.
That said, if my nearly-grown son were to come to me and say he wanted to start his own business, I’d have to balance my passion for entrepreneurship with some harsh realities that I think every small business owner needs to know before getting started. I think that the challenges of starting and successfully growing a small business fall into three categories.
Two Years and No Pay
We all know that starting a business is often about bootstrapping cash. What most people won’t tell you is that for a long time you will make more money an hour flipping burgers than you will selling your product or service. You are in for a rude awakening if you are expecting to make any money in the early days - meaning the first two to three years. This is the time frame when you live off of your savings, so to get started, you have to:
- Have a savings to live off of.
- Be very comfortable tapping into it for general living expenses.
Why so lean? Because you can’t get to selling or marketing your product until you wade through a huge number of administrative tasks that must be completed. Plan to spend a lot of time on things like creating your website, finding office space, balancing your lean budget and doing strategy planning.
To drive home this message, I’ll share a personal story. When I started my business my family went from living comfortably to barely scraping by on $2,000 a month. We had four kids, our credit cards were maxed and we literally had nothing in the fridge. My mother saw how bare the cupboards were and made an emergency Costco run to ensure we’d eat. I had the delusional belief that our company would be a success, but hadn’t planned for just how lean it would be in those early days.
The point: Know you’ll be strapped - for a while - and plan for it.
Relationships on the Back Burner
It probably won’t surprise anyone, but having no food in the house or disposable income can put a strain on your most cherished relationships.
What might surprise you is how consuming starting a new business is - it occupies everything you have, which means there’s not much left over for the people you care for and love. So, not only is your spouse dealing with the fact that you don’t have enough money to pay the bills, they have to also cope with the fact that you are spending all your time developing the business.  And you have to spend this time…the business cannot survive without you pouring all of yourself into it. Don’t underestimate how much of a strain that can take on your loved ones and friends.
You have to understand, I have a great, super supportive wife. But I remember very clearly the day when she reached her limit and asked me to use my MBA and law degree to get a ‘real job’ and take care of my family. I didn’t want to, but I saw the strain my passion for entrepreneurship was putting on my family and I agreed to quit. In truth, I went to work that day intending to spend my time searching for a new job but was sucked into work and forgot to look at job sites.
Luckily, my wife had a change of heart and I didn’t quit - but it was rough.
Drained Emotional Reserves
Like I said, entrepreneurship is thrilling, especially when you see yourself create something from nothing. There is, however, a dark side to being so engaged in your work - you can become totally consumed by it. I mean, I was so caught up in it that I forgot to look for a new job when my wife asked me to.
The “all-in†nature of starting up your own business has you thinking about it all the time. It isn’t just the time and energy spent thinking about your business. It’s the mental and emotional strain you endure. You have to know going into it that every insecurity you have will eventually surface. Whether you bring them there, or someone you care about who has reached their max does, you are going to have to face some ugly thoughts about yourself. When you take the fear, uncertainty and doubt and combine those with a negative customer experience or a spouse who is questioning your delusional perseverance, you’ll get a recipe for wanting to quit.
Don’t quit. I believe the psychological battle we face as entrepreneurs is one of the saddest and most inspiring things to study. Sad when the entrepreneur succumbs to the psychological warfare; inspiring when the entrepreneur triumphs over it.
My dad taught me something as a teenager that I didn’t pay attention to until I was buffeted by the challenges of starting a business:
- Thoughts become words.
- Words become beliefs.
- Beliefs become actions.
- Actions become habits.
- Habits determine our outcomes.
I’ve found this lesson to be true. As entrepreneurs, we have to master our thoughts. When we do, we create amazing outcomes. It’s not the formula for solving every emotional challenge you have, but it goes a long way toward getting you on the right path.
Keep Focused, Plan and Improve Your Odds
Most small businesses don’t make it. I’m lucky that ours did. Even though it took a toll on my relationships, almost wiped me out financially and practically crushed me mentally and emotionally, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Don’t be afraid of the challenges as you start and grow your small business. Instead, plan, anticipate and prepare. Make sure to remember that every day you make it increases the likelihood that you’ll survive.
Thoughts Become Beliefs Photo via Shutterstock
The Ugly Truth About Small Business
People who know me know that I love being an entrepreneur. There is absolutely nothing like the thrill of taking something that you created out to market. It’s a ton of fun, it’s challenging and it’s so rewarding to know that your future is entirely in your own hands. I really don’t know that anything helps you develop your own sense of self in quite the same way as creating your vision and then working hard to ensure its success.
That said, if my nearly-grown son were to come to me and say he wanted to start his own business, I’d have to balance my passion for entrepreneurship with some harsh realities that I think every small business owner needs to know before getting started. I think that the challenges of starting and successfully growing a small business fall into three categories.
Two Years and No Pay
We all know that starting a business is often about bootstrapping cash. What most people won’t tell you is that for a long time you will make more money an hour flipping burgers than you will selling your product or service. You are in for a rude awakening if you are expecting to make any money in the early days - meaning the first two to three years. This is the time frame when you live off of your savings, so to get started, you have to:
- Have a savings to live off of.
- Be very comfortable tapping into it for general living expenses.
Why so lean? Because you can’t get to selling or marketing your product until you wade through a huge number of administrative tasks that must be completed. Plan to spend a lot of time on things like creating your website, finding office space, balancing your lean budget and doing strategy planning.
To drive home this message, I’ll share a personal story. When I started my business my family went from living comfortably to barely scraping by on $2,000 a month. We had four kids, our credit cards were maxed and we literally had nothing in the fridge. My mother saw how bare the cupboards were and made an emergency Costco run to ensure we’d eat. I had the delusional belief that our company would be a success, but hadn’t planned for just how lean it would be in those early days.
The point: Know you’ll be strapped - for a while - and plan for it.
Relationships on the Back Burner
It probably won’t surprise anyone, but having no food in the house or disposable income can put a strain on your most cherished relationships.
What might surprise you is how consuming starting a new business is - it occupies everything you have, which means there’s not much left over for the people you care for and love. So, not only is your spouse dealing with the fact that you don’t have enough money to pay the bills, they have to also cope with the fact that you are spending all your time developing the business.  And you have to spend this time…the business cannot survive without you pouring all of yourself into it. Don’t underestimate how much of a strain that can take on your loved ones and friends.
You have to understand, I have a great, super supportive wife. But I remember very clearly the day when she reached her limit and asked me to use my MBA and law degree to get a ‘real job’ and take care of my family. I didn’t want to, but I saw the strain my passion for entrepreneurship was putting on my family and I agreed to quit. In truth, I went to work that day intending to spend my time searching for a new job but was sucked into work and forgot to look at job sites.
Luckily, my wife had a change of heart and I didn’t quit - but it was rough.
Drained Emotional Reserves
Like I said, entrepreneurship is thrilling, especially when you see yourself create something from nothing. There is, however, a dark side to being so engaged in your work - you can become totally consumed by it. I mean, I was so caught up in it that I forgot to look for a new job when my wife asked me to.
The “all-in†nature of starting up your own business has you thinking about it all the time. It isn’t just the time and energy spent thinking about your business. It’s the mental and emotional strain you endure. You have to know going into it that every insecurity you have will eventually surface. Whether you bring them there, or someone you care about who has reached their max does, you are going to have to face some ugly thoughts about yourself. When you take the fear, uncertainty and doubt and combine those with a negative customer experience or a spouse who is questioning your delusional perseverance, you’ll get a recipe for wanting to quit.
Don’t quit. I believe the psychological battle we face as entrepreneurs is one of the saddest and most inspiring things to study. Sad when the entrepreneur succumbs to the psychological warfare; inspiring when the entrepreneur triumphs over it.
My dad taught me something as a teenager that I didn’t pay attention to until I was buffeted by the challenges of starting a business:
- Thoughts become words.
- Words become beliefs.
- Beliefs become actions.
- Actions become habits.
- Habits determine our outcomes.
I’ve found this lesson to be true. As entrepreneurs, we have to master our thoughts. When we do, we create amazing outcomes. It’s not the formula for solving every emotional challenge you have, but it goes a long way toward getting you on the right path.
Keep Focused, Plan and Improve Your Odds
Most small businesses don’t make it. I’m lucky that ours did. Even though it took a toll on my relationships, almost wiped me out financially and practically crushed me mentally and emotionally, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Don’t be afraid of the challenges as you start and grow your small business. Instead, plan, anticipate and prepare. Make sure to remember that every day you make it increases the likelihood that you’ll survive.
Thoughts Become Beliefs Photo via Shutterstock
Will A New Immigration Bureau Affect Your Business?
If you operate a U.S. business hiring foreign labor, particularly as a participant in the nonimmigrant visa program, beware. A proposed new federal bureau could be creating new headaches and new costs for you.
Advocates for small business are raising concerns again over a proposed immigration reform bill moving through the U.S. Senate. One of the red flags raised by the National Federation of Independent Business is over the bill’s creation of a new Bureau of Immigration and Labor Market Read More
The post Will A New Immigration Bureau Affect Your Business? appeared first on Small Business Trends.
A New Startup Aims to Change the Way Cars Are Sold
AimsÂ
Customers want to cut down on the number of hours they spend in the showroom. Dealerships want to differentiate themselves from competitors and turn more test drives into sales. The answer may be a new online startup called Tred launched in the Seattle area last week. The service is slated to eventually be offered in other cities too.
Online businesses often eat into brick and mortar business profits. Amazon’s impact on brick and mortar retailers comes to mind. But Read More
The post A New Startup Aims to Change the Way Cars Are Sold appeared first on Small Business Trends.
Seagate Business Storage 2-Bay NAS 8TB Device (Video Review)
Here is what I found really great about the device:
- Storage: There is a LOT of it! 8TB, which was the size of the device I looked at, is an amazing amount of space and probably more than most small businesses would need.
- NAS. Because this is a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device, you don’t connect it to your PC, but access it through an IP address. This means that you can access all of your information, from any device, through the cloud. Talk about convenient!
- RAID. The 2-Bay system uses a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) configuration, which means that each bay essentially ‘copies’ and backs up the other - dual redundancy. This means that you should one bay inaccessible, you can still retrieve your information through the other bay.
Check out my full video interview below, or watch here.
The 8TB device that I test drove retails for about $700 and the 6TB comes in at $500 and the 4TB at $400.
Are you using a device like this in your small business? If so, share how it works for you and how it’s helped your small business!
New York State: Still the Worst For Small Business
Politicians like to profess their support for business, especially small business. But their claims don’t always stand up to careful scrutiny.
Take Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s recent claim that his administration is doing everything it can to reverse the “perception and reality†of New York as an anti-business state.
In an op-ed at Syracuse.com earlier this month, Cuomo wrote:
We’ve begun to reverse that trend with a fiscally responsible financial plan, which includes the Property Tax Cap, the largest middle-class tax cut in 60 years, and limiting state spending to 2 percent.
Among other accomplishments, Cuomo mentioned:
More Spending Instead of Tax Cuts
This year, Cuomo also says the state will create a $50 million venture capital fund to invest in commercialization of technologies developed in the state’s research institutions. The governor also recently signed into law a new Tax Free NY initiative.
No, this doesn’t mean there aren’t any more taxes in New York state. The new law creates special zones around state university campuses where businesses will pay no taxes for the next 10 years.
The problem, observed the New York Post recently, is that the governor and the state legislature still haven’t cut the state’s bloated $143 billion budget. And they say they can’t lower personal income tax by even 1 percent. In fact, as the Post reports, Cuomo actually raised the top income tax rate almost two percent.
Where Things Stand
In 2011, the Tax Foundation, a non-partisan Washington D.C.-based research group, found New York state to have the worst tax climate for small business in the U.S. And the foundation’s latest index in 2013 shows nothing has changed.
Politicians seem to think that added state funding grows businesses. But small business owners know only cutting taxes and spending can do that. Below is an ad from the state’s New York Open for Business campaign. Knowing what you know about New York state’s tax laws, would you open a business there?
Gov. Andrew Cuomo Photo via Shutterstock
Man on the street competition designed by GCHQ and Cyber Security Challenge
GCHQ and the Cyber Security Challenge have developed a new competition for people not working in security.
The contest, called ‘Network security in the protection of intellectual property' will allow any UK citizen to take on the role of a security manager at a small electronics company, which has recently won a bid to supply components to the Ministry of Defence.
Once registered, the short online assessment will task them with ensuring that the company's IP and valuable data are not stolen by cyber criminals and sold on the online black market. Registration is open until this Friday and the game will run for two weeks until 19th July.
The top 15 players from the game will be invited to a face-to-face semi-final contest, joining winning candidates from a second competition who will compete in a play-off to secure a place at next year's Challenge Masterclass grand finale.
A spokesperson for GCHQ said: “We see threats to cyber security of an unprecedented scale and the theft of companies' intellectual property is one of those threats. It is vital for the future of our economy and national security that we develop the pool of bright and talented people equipped to face the full range of challenges within the cyber security industry.
“The Cyber Security Challenge UK is a real asset in helping the UK meet this growing demand and is an excellent way of discovering new talent. We hope that this challenging new competition is enjoyable and encourages people to find out more about the exciting opportunities in this fast growing industry.â€
Good Technology adds app-to-app file sharing in new mobility solution
Good Technology has added secure file sharing and ‘app wrapping' capabilities to its latest mobility solution.
Speaking to SC Magazine, Peter Barker, senior vice president of engineering at Good Technology, explained the company has launched the Good Secure Mobility Solution to deliver the productivity that mobile workers want, with the security and protection of corporate data that IT needs, without compromising user experience or privacy.
This compromises the Good Dynamics Secure Mobility Platform, the Good Collaboration Suite and an ecosystem of ISV and custom-developed enterprise apps.
Barker said: “This enables moving data so you get more end-user and enterprises with visibility on what they are trying to accomplish. This also offers the ability to create secure multiple application workflows and with the secure containers, it enables you to move data in a secure way.
“Good Dynamics allows apps to share data between them and companies can exchange a piece of data securely.â€
Barker explained that following the launch of Good Dynamics two years ago, the new functions include app wrapping to containerise custom applications, as well as an app store for managed and unmanaged devices. “You cannot expect to manage all devices and businesses are working on the impact,†he said.
Christy Wyatt, chief executive officer of Good Technology, said: “Mobile productivity applications can transform business by speeding processes and improving communication with the extended enterprise when deployed and managed properly.
“Good offers a comprehensive solution to secure and manage enterprise-built applications, and extends its innovative technology to a large ecosystem of industry-leading third-party apps. This is the first secure mobility platform to provide such broad developer support, no matter whether native or hybrid development is used.â€
ISACA head: Retrain military personnel to work in information security
Ex-military intelligence officers should be trained to work in IT security to serve their needs and fill the skills shortage.
Amar Singh, chair of the London Chapter security group of ISACA and CISO of News International, told SC Magazine that finding a way to help former soldiers and army intelligence officers take up a new career in information security was one of his key aims.
He said: “I want to give them the assurance so that when they leave [the armed forces], it is not the end of the world and offer them a route into the corporate world. I don't think they are getting that help.â€
As well as working with teenagers and school children on developing ‘cyber education', he said that he envisions events offering advice and opportunities to make these people aware of the opportunities and training on offer.
“I believe that soldiers are actually very good information assurance and security and audit people,†he said.
“The whole IT arena is a great place for soldiers to be in, in my opinion, and in information security they have a lot of discipline, but they are not being given guidance on that.
“I don't know why this is, just because they don't have commercial skills and do not have any certifications, they do not know what is available once they leave the army.â€
Singh later said that this was something that he was very passionate about, especially as ISACA has certifications and he wanted to see what could be done to help these people get into the corporate world.
He also said that there are opportunities for a former soldier with five to ten years' service experience, but asked what support there is for them to get into information assurance and security.
Sarb Sembhi, chair of the ISACA government and regulatory advisory sub-committee for Europe and Africa, and a former president of the London chapter, said training was about taking good people with good skills, ‘de-risking it' and retraining them.
He said: “There are two sides to things: on one hand we have more data breaches than we have ever had, we have hackers succeeding where they had not before and reports of malware that doesn't get detected for years, so [it is] worse than it's ever been.
“Then on the other a bunch of people who have been in security a while and are trying to lead the way with thought leadership and be the best they can, while others have been around for a few years and have a couple of certifications and sometimes lack the leadership and technical abilities together and want to provide what is needed. That is missing in some respects. Although there is a general skills gap in information security, there is still a skills gap within those already there.â€
Terry Neal, CEO of training firm Infosec Skills, agreed that more work should be done with former military intelligence officers as they have transferable skills that are relevant, for example dealing with obstacles and crises, attention to visual detail, research and written/oral presentation skills.
“If they also have IT skills, all they need is the right training and they could be valuable members of the information assurance community,†he said.
“If they have no existing IT skills then an academic qualification should be sought first so that they have a foundation upon which information assurance skills can be taught.â€
69 Percent of U.S. Entrepreneurs Start Their Businesses at Home
If you operate your business from home, you’re not alone. A recent survey of U.S. businesses indicates the majority of entrepreneurs do the same.
And that’s not just in the startup phase either. According to the 2012 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report (PDF), more than half of U.S. entrepreneurs continue to operate their businesses from home long after those businesses are up and running. The study examined Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) across industry sectors in the U.S.
It’s also a mistake to think of the majority of these owners as so-called solopreneurs who never grow their businesses beyond a staff of one. Study authors observed:
Home-based businesses may evoke an image of the sole entrepreneur working out of a spare bedroom or garage, perhaps with one or several cofounders. Somewhat surprisingly, though, only one-fourth of the entrepreneurs surveyed stated they had no employees working for their businesses. Given the high prevalence of entrepreneurs operating at home (two-thirds of TEA), this finding suggests that many actually had employees in their home-based businesses.
The sense of awe in that statement â€" that home based businesses “actually†have employees â€" is interesting. It shouldn’t be surprising that so many businesses are being run out of entrepreneurs’ homes. Today in many businesses, work is done “virtually.†Workers’ technology (computers, mobile devices and Internet connections) is much more important than their physical workspace, especially in knowledge businesses.
Stats on Home-Based Businesses and Entrepreneurship
Here are some additional factoids of interest from this fascinating study:
It costs less than you might think to get a business off the ground - According to the study, entrepreneurs required a median of $15,000 to start a business. On the one hand, that’s a lot.  But on the other hand, it’s an amount that many people in the United States can save up or raise from family.
Most startups are self-funded or family/friends funded -Â The vast majority of startup funds (82%) came from the entrepreneur himself or herself, or family and friends.
Venture capital is rare - Only one in 1,000 entrepreneurs in the United States receive venture capital  funding, according to a finding cited from an earlier study in 2009.  In other words, forget about venture capital. You’re better off spending your time growing your business than searching for VCs.
Entrepreneurship is not limited to a certain age group - Roughly 15% to 20% of adults across all age groups are entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurship does follow age patterns, however - Young entrepreneurs have the highest intentions to start a business, with 30.5% saying they intend to start one. Â The intention to start a business drops during mid-career, and then starts rising again at age 65 and up.
Women entrepreneurs are more likely to have home-based businesses â€" Among startup businesses that operate out of the owner’s home, 72% are operated by women â€" versus 61% of men.  Among established businesses more than 3 and a half years old, 68% of women still operate the business from home, versus 53% of men.
Senior citizens who continue to work tend to be entrepreneurs -Â Many seniors, of course, are retired. Â But of those still working, more than 42% run established businesses (i.e., businesses more than 3 and a half years old). Â About 10% are starting or running new businesses of less than a few years old. And over 25% intend to start a business. Â So if you want to stay actively working in your senior years, consider your own business.
Outsourcing, family help, volunteers and part-time workers are sources of labor - Over 20% of business owners say they employed family members, had unpaid help (often family members), or part time employees. Â And 30% outsource some activities.
Business not only are started from home, but tend to be run from them - The 2012 survey says 69% of businesses now start in the home. And 59% of established businesses more than 3 and a half years old continue to operate from there.
More businesses are consumer businesses than any other type â€"  We all know home businesses can include services like freelancing, independent contracting, consulting and virtual assistance.  But the 2012 study shows only 33% of all businesses surveyed fall into this category.
Another 41% of businesses include companies in the consumer sector. This could include hotels, restaurants or real estate. But it could also include Internet businesses based from home like eCommerce.
Other businesses covered in the survey are “extraction†businesses concerned mainly with natural resources like farming, mining and forestry and “transforming†businesses like manufacturing. These are usually capital intensive and so unlikely to include many businesses started in or operated from the home.
The study did not break down how many of each industry sector specifically are home based, however.
Why This Study is Important
The U.S. study was completed by researchers at Babson College and Baruch College who interviewed about 6,000 respondents.
Work was sponsored by the Global Entrepreneurship Research Association including Babson College, London Business School and representatives of the Association of GEM national teams. The Global Entrepreneurship Research program aims to describe and analyze entrepreneurial processes within a wide range of countries including the U.S.
This study tends to look broadly on the economic contributions of entrepreneurs who otherwise get short shrift in standard government statistics. For instance, recognizing the prevalence of home-based businesses is important, and recognizing that they employ people and outsource services is also important. Â Recognizing that outsourcing helps grow employment in other companies is another positive point.
The way entrepreneurs run businesses in this country is very different from the government’s rigid (and limited) ways of measuring employment and economic impact.  It’s good to see a stellar source like the GEM Report and Babson calling attention to some of these structural changes.
69 Percent of U.S. Entrepreneurs Start Their Businesses at Home
If you operate your business from home, you’re not alone. A recent survey of U.S. businesses indicates the majority of entrepreneurs do the same.
And that’s not just in the startup phase either. According to the 2012 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report (PDF), more than half of U.S. entrepreneurs continue to operate their businesses from home long after those businesses are up and running. The study examined Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) across industry sectors in the U.S.
It’s also a mistake to think of the majority of these owners as so-called solopreneurs who never grow their businesses beyond a staff of one. Study authors observed:
Home-based businesses may evoke an image of the sole entrepreneur working out of a spare bedroom or garage, perhaps with one or several cofounders. Somewhat surprisingly, though, only one-fourth of the entrepreneurs surveyed stated they had no employees working for their businesses. Given the high prevalence of entrepreneurs operating at home (two-thirds of TEA), this finding suggests that many actually had employees in their home-based businesses.
The sense of awe in that statement â€" that home based businesses “actually†have employees â€" is interesting. It shouldn’t be surprising that so many businesses are being run out of entrepreneurs’ homes. Today in many businesses, work is done “virtually.†Workers’ technology (computers, mobile devices and Internet connections) is much more important than their physical workspace, especially in knowledge businesses.
Stats on Home-Based Businesses and Entrepreneurship
Here are some additional factoids of interest from this fascinating study:
It costs less than you might think to get a business off the ground - According to the study, entrepreneurs required a median of $15,000 to start a business. On the one hand, that’s a lot.  But on the other hand, it’s an amount that many people in the United States can save up or raise from family.
Most startups are self-funded or family/friends funded -Â The vast majority of startup funds (82%) came from the entrepreneur himself or herself, or family and friends.
Venture capital is rare - Only one in 1,000 entrepreneurs in the United States receive venture capital  funding, according to a finding cited from an earlier study in 2009.  In other words, forget about venture capital. You’re better off spending your time growing your business than searching for VCs.
Entrepreneurship is not limited to a certain age group - Roughly 15% to 20% of adults across all age groups are entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurship does follow age patterns, however - Young entrepreneurs have the highest intentions to start a business, with 30.5% saying they intend to start one. Â The intention to start a business drops during mid-career, and then starts rising again at age 65 and up.
Women entrepreneurs are more likely to have home-based businesses â€" Among startup businesses that operate out of the owner’s home, 72% are operated by women â€" versus 61% of men.  Among established businesses more than 3 and a half years old, 68% of women still operate the business from home, versus 53% of men.
Senior citizens who continue to work tend to be entrepreneurs -Â Many seniors, of course, are retired. Â But of those still working, more than 42% run established businesses (i.e., businesses more than 3 and a half years old). Â About 10% are starting or running new businesses of less than a few years old. And over 25% intend to start a business. Â So if you want to stay actively working in your senior years, consider your own business.
Outsourcing, family help, volunteers and part-time workers are sources of labor - Over 20% of business owners say they employed family members, had unpaid help (often family members), or part time employees. Â And 30% outsource some activities.
Business not only are started from home, but tend to be run from them - The 2012 survey says 69% of businesses now start in the home. And 59% of established businesses more than 3 and a half years old continue to operate from there.
More businesses are consumer businesses than any other type â€"  We all know home businesses can include services like freelancing, independent contracting, consulting and virtual assistance.  But the 2012 study shows only 33% of all businesses surveyed fall into this category.
Another 41% of businesses include companies in the consumer sector. This could include hotels, restaurants or real estate. But it could also include Internet businesses based from home like eCommerce.
Other businesses covered in the survey are “extraction†businesses concerned mainly with natural resources like farming, mining and forestry and “transforming†businesses like manufacturing. These are usually capital intensive and so unlikely to include many businesses started in or operated from the home.
The study did not break down how many of each industry sector specifically are home based, however.
Why This Study is Important
The U.S. study was completed by researchers at Babson College and Baruch College who interviewed about 6,000 respondents.
Work was sponsored by the Global Entrepreneurship Research Association including Babson College, London Business School and representatives of the Association of GEM national teams. The Global Entrepreneurship Research program aims to describe and analyze entrepreneurial processes within a wide range of countries including the U.S.
This study tends to look broadly on the economic contributions of entrepreneurs who otherwise get short shrift in standard government statistics. For instance, recognizing the prevalence of home-based businesses is important, and recognizing that they employ people and outsource services is also important. Â Recognizing that outsourcing helps grow employment in other companies is another positive point.
The way entrepreneurs run businesses in this country is very different from the government’s rigid (and limited) ways of measuring employment and economic impact.  It’s good to see a stellar source like the GEM Report and Babson calling attention to some of these structural changes.
Incapsula add two-factor capability for all applications
Incapsula has announced the launch of Login Protect to enable activation of two-factor authentication to websites and web applications.
Without the requirement of additional coding, application changes or third-party authentication service integrations, the company said that the addition allows easy and instant activation of two-factor authentication with centralised user management and built-in provisioning.
Incapsula said that this will allow users to manage security and access control of all of their web applications through its single dashboard, without the need for integration or installation of any additional hardware or software.
Gur Shatz, co-founder and CEO of Incapsula, said: “Many website and applications that use Incapsula rely solely on passwords for authentication, but passwords alone have become ridiculously easy to circumvent.
“Recognising this, we set out to make this feature accessible to everyone, from website owners and administrators to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers. With Login Protect, it's easy to add a second factor of authentication to restricted website areas, internal applications and development environments.â€
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