Safety First! 6 Best Practices for Protecting Your Data In the Cloud

According to a 2019 estimate by Research & Markets, the global cloud computing market was projected to grow from USD 2.8 billion to USD 9.0 billion by 2024. It’s not hard to see why; cloud computing-public and private-offers the advantage of a lower cost of ownership of IT applications, super-fast time to market, and unmatched surges in employee productivity. But with this explosive growth, cloud computing brings extra risk to your organization; a security breach of your data can cause the loss of ultra-sensitive information and intellectual property, compliance violations, credential breaches and hijacking of accounts. Making sure the right security measures are in place, and utilizing common-sense best practices are key to protecting your data in the cloud. Here are a few of our suggestions:

1. Understand the Risks, and Ask your Cloud Provider the RIGHT questions. It’s critical to consider the areas of risk and vulnerability your company may be exposed to, so you can select a cloud partner who can address your unique security issues. Before making a significant investment in a cloud computing strategy and platform your organization should conduct a thorough risk analysis. Be sure to include risk management professionals in your cloud design and deployment project, and make sure that you seek counsel from the legal and compliance teams.
2. Once you and your company have decided to move to a cloud service platform your first step is to choose a provider that fits your needs. Some points to take into consideration on your search are:
   • Are their security standards appropriate? Do some research. Make sure that the company has a good reputation and solid security policies. Remember, you are trusting this company to store your sensitive business and personal information.
   • How much data will you be storing? Search with a realistic expectation of the size you need to store all your files.  Many companies charge by the amount of storage you are requesting.
   • Is your data encrypted when being uploaded to or downloaded from the cloud? Make sure that your browser or app requires an encrypted connection before you upload or download your data.  Look for the “https://” or the padlock beside the URL in your browser.
   • Is your data encrypted when stored in the cloud? You will have to read the terms of service to find this out, but often your data will be stored on the cloud server with no encryption, this means that anyone that has (or can get) high level access to that server will be able to read your files.  This may not be an issue for many files, but you should carefully consider what kind of information you are storing in the cloud and whether you are comfortable with some other person you don’t know accessing it.  At a minimum, no data that is protected by law (medical information, personal identifiers, financial data) should be stored in the cloud unless the storage solution is encrypted and you know who can decrypt it (it should only be you or your organization) and for what reason.
   • Understand how access is shared with your cloud folder. Several cloud storage providers allow you to share access to your online folders with other people. Be sure you know in details how this works.
   • Understand your options if the cloud provider should be hacked or should lose your data. Services like this require that you sign their terms and conditions before they allow you to use the service.  In the vast majority of cases, these conditions state that you have very little, if any, remedy if anything bad should happen.  Be aware of what you are signing away.
3. Remember: ultimately YOU are responsible for your data. See above. The first, most important thing you must understand about data security in the cloud: you can outsource the processing and storage of your data, but you can’t outsource responsibility for securing it.  Security takes a commitment from everyone in your organization not just the IT staff or security personnel. In fact, according to insurer Beazley’s Breach Insights report, as of July 2018 fully 30 percent of all security breaches were caused by employee error or fraud. Ever-changing malware and social engineering attacks are a constant threat, so educating employees to identify red flags found in fraudulent email sources and implementing strong, consistent password policies are critical in mitigating internal data security breaches.
4. Establish Strong Data Authentication and Access Policies. Now that you have addressed the general employee level of exposure what steps can you do to secure your data in the cloud? The idea here is to contain, mitigate and report any form of intrusion.   Limiting users to access only the necessary applications and data essential to their job function in essence limits the reach of a rogue employee; Role Based Access is a key step in securing your data and environment.
5. Always Backup your Data. One of the most overlooked aspects of cloud computing and one of the easiest way to increase the control of your data is to make sure that whatever happens, you have a secure backup of that data. This is more about securing your business than your actual data but provides the same type of peace of mind.
6. Be Proactive. Regularly test your data security with regularly scheduled penetration testing, vulnerability scanning and employee assessments. Make sure you have a well-defined process in place for regular patches and updates.

Achieving sufficient security assurances in the cloud is possible but it is not guaranteed. Just like any other IT project, you have to do your homework and in the case of security, it is better to be safe than sorry!

IT Security Tip- Don’t be so quick to respond!

What would you do if you received an email from your CEO or CFO asking you to make an immediate or urgent wire transfer of funds? If you are the person in your organization who is responsible for such tasks and receive requests like this regularly, you may not think twice. However, with the increased sophistication of hackers and cybercriminals, you must Stop, Look, and Think before deciding how to proceed.

Business Email Compromise is an advanced form of spear-phishing which targets employees of businesses that routinely perform wire transfer payments or work with foreign companies or suppliers. This form of cybercrime is steadily on the rise, and companies are losing thousands, even millions of dollars instantly because of a spoofed or compromised email address.

How it Happens:
First, the scammers target the email accounts of business executives or high-level employees. Either they will gain actual access to those individuals’ email accounts through a targeted phishing attack and wait for the perfect time to take over (such as when those employees go on vacation or leave for a business trip), or they will simply spoof the email address and change where the email is sent when it is replied to. This is called header manipulation. Then, they will email an employee within an organization who may be responsible for making wire transfers or handling funds, asking them to process a transaction.

When you receive any requests to transfer or wire funds:

• Look closely to verify the email address when you receive a wire transfer or monetary transaction request. Check for any spelling errors or missing letters.
• Call the person who is requesting the transfer directly to verify that the request is legitimate, or follow your corporate verification procedures carefully.
• If you think a request is suspicious in any way, trust your instincts and inform management or IT immediately.
• If you reply to the message, be sure to look at the real email address before replying.

To prevent YOUR email from being the one that is compromised:

• Never provide your security or account credentials to anyone.
• Do not click on any links or open attachments in emails you receive, unless you are absolutely positive they are safe and from a legitimate sender.

It is best to have a wire transfer process in place that requires more than just an email request. Either a phone call, face-to-face, or multi-person process is best.

Remember, you are the key to preventing cybercrime in your organization.

The Many Faces Of Corporate Leadership

Employees’ happiness at work is more important in the workforce than ever before, and that feeling of fulfillment and engagement often comes from the top. If you are aware of what type of leader you are and how your leadership affects employees and clients, you can mitigate your weaknesses and discover your strengths to ultimately lead more effectively. Let’s take a look at a few leadership personas I’ve witnessed while coaching and what works best for each.

In-The-Weeds Leaders

Leaders who are “in the weeds” tend to spend too much time in the day-to-day. They get bogged down with what’s in front of them and don’t think outside the box. Without innovation, the company runs the risk of coming to a grinding halt.

These leaders need to delegate current tasks to their team members. They can then focus on finding new ways to drive the business forward. In-the-weeds leaders may even need an outside party to hold them accountable for setting and reaching these new goals.

Frustrated Leaders

These leaders know their companies can be better, but they’re upset because they can’t scale at the rate they want. They bottle up their grievances and aren’t sure where the disconnect is with their teams.

These leaders could seek guidance from a third party, whether that’s a friend or colleague. An outside perspective can help identify problem areas. They also need to hear out their team members and get firsthand accounts on what’s not working. Both perspectives can help turn frustration into focus.

Mindful Leaders

These leaders recognize that rapid growth is positive as long as they scale appropriately with formal organization and efficient processes. They are careful to avoid pushing forward blindly and losing essential parts of their culture and values along the way. However, they may take too long to think things through and miss new opportunities that come along because they couldn’t act quickly enough.

These leaders should make sure they are sticking to the systems they have in place while remaining open to new opportunities and evaluating them in a timely manner. It’s important to constantly reevaluate and adapt as the company grows and changes shape.

Control Freaks

These leaders can’t seem to let go of the wheel. They micromanage and don’t trust their team to get the job done, which fosters an atmosphere of frustration and mistrust. In this atmosphere, they can no longer lead effectively.

They should work with their teams to identify why the company exists, what motivates team members and why their work is important. That will not only help the leader and the team establish a better dynamic, but it will also help them both understand where the company is now and where it’s going.

When evaluating your leadership style, be honest with yourself. If you can pinpoint where you are on the leadership spectrum, then you’ll better account for your challenges and capitalize on your assets. And that’s how you become more self-aware and, in turn, a much stronger leader.

Automation Will Be Key for Future Businesses

Many businesses have found it extremely hard to cope with restrictions levied by lawmakers because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has sent business owners and decision-makers looking for solutions to their revenue problems. The most popular solution is to automate some of the work that was typically done by human resources to try and slice some of the demands on their capital. Today, we will tell you how automation is here to stay in business.

The Current Situation

The novel Coronavirus that has economies all over the world shrinking came at a time when most of them were expanding rapidly. Businesses were suddenly faced with some very difficult decisions to make. Some businesses were deemed essential and could continue to operate, but most were forced to either move their employees out of their workplace or shut operations down completely.

To try and keep from losing money, some of these businesses started exploring the capabilities of the tools they already had in place, finding that many of them could offer more automation. In fact, in the face of the virus, and the uncertainty surrounding it at this juncture, it isn’t a surprise that companies are innovating quicker than they probably would have if they weren’t faced with the COVID-19 situation.

The Future

With the increased reliance on software-based automation, you are likely to see businesses begin to trust in technology more than they do today. At this point, if automation can offer alternatives to businesses struggling with their costs, it stands to reason that when the pandemic finally fades, that they won’t go back to spending money on parts of their business covered by this newfound automation. The truth is that some workers are going to be made expendable by this forced innovation. The shift was slowly inching along, but COVID-19 changed all that.

You have to decide whether or not you are going to jump at the opportunity that this situation has given you. Automation isn’t going to replace your workers, it will just change their jobs. If they don’t adapt, they don’t fit. The future of your business is tied to how efficient and streamlined it can be, and automation looks like it will give it the best opportunity to accomplish that.

Big changes are happening in business. Some sources say that automation will replace almost 60 percent of jobs in the next five years. It’s your choice. Call the IT consultants at Net Activity at 216-503-5150 for more information about automation and where it fits in your business.

The 4 Top Reasons to Consider Recording your business calls

The call recording feature has been around with VoIP (and Microsoft Teams) phones for a while now. However, small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that don’t prioritize customer interaction are underutilizing it. When used properly, call recording can strengthen your company’s reputation and boost customer satisfaction.

#1. Improve customer service

One of the most important reasons why businesses should always record their calls, no matter its significance, is to ensure high-quality customer service. By reviewing calls, managers can understand how their agents have been dealing with customers, find out whether or not they’ve followed company protocol, and pinpoint any aspects that can be improved on.

Without call recording, managers would have to listen to each call in real time, which is a time-consuming process. By recording each call, not only will your managers save time, but your employees will also be motivated to perform at their best every time they’re on the phone because they know their calls can always be reviewed.

#2. Upgrade employee performance

According to Edgar Dale’s Cone of Learning, people only remember 10% of what they’ve read, 50% of what they’ve seen and heard, and 90% of what they’ve done. By providing your agents with actual recordings of good and bad calling examples during training sessions, and have them simulate calls afterwards, they’ll be able to learn better and provide high-quality customer service faster.

#3. Retrieve missed details and prevent litigation

With hundreds of phone calls daily, it’s understandable if your employees don’t catch every single detail. And for companies that require their agents to manually input information during calls, there’s always a possibility that they’ll forget or miss certain information. Needless to say, this could lead to disgruntled customers. If not properly handled, this can harm your reputation, reduce work opportunities, and if things escalate, proceed to litigation.

VoIP’s call recording feature lets you replay saved audio files to make sure you haven’t missed any details, ensuring that all customer demands are met. And if you ever get into a dispute with your clients regarding who said what, you can always retrieve the exact audio file and have both sides listen to it, saving you thousands of dollars in legal fees.

#4. Understand customer preferences

Have you ever received an inquiry about a product or service that’s not included in your offerings? While your agents usually jot these requests down and pass them on to the relevant personnel, they may end up forgetting some if numerous calls are being made that day. Tiny issues like this can lead to potentially huge losses.

With call recording, you can review all your calls at the end of the day. You’ll have a better picture of what certain customers are looking for so you can address them better.

VoIP allows businesses to make on-demand calls affordably, and its call recording feature helps companies improve their customer service and prevent litigation. If you think business VoIP is right for you, or if you have any questions, give us a call today.

On-premise to Remote and Back Again; How to Manage Workspace Shifts

While it is a definite possibility that some businesses will be working remotely for the near future (at least!), it still makes sense to begin planning for an eventual return to on-premise operations.  What better way to hit the ground running when the floodgates begin opening?  We’ve got a few tips here for returning to the office after remote work, and a quick review of remote work best practices…that you might need for a longer haul:

On-Premise to Remote

In order to effectively adopt remote operations (voluntarily or in response to some disaster), you need to be sure that your team is prepared to do so. To help ease the transition, there are a few preparations that are wise to see to beforehand.

1. Change as little as possible – In order to make the shift to remote operations minimally jarring, try to keep as much of your typical workday routine the same as it would ever be. Working for the same time as you would normally, establishing a set place for doing work in your home, and even dressing as though you’re going to the office are all excellent ways to normalize the unusual environment and preserve productivity.
2. Give them the tools they need – In order to collaborate in an effective way, your team members need the tools to do so. While email is generally thought of first when it comes to company communications, there are other options that should be implemented in tandem with it. These other options, like video conferencing and instant messaging, can serve your team’s needs better in certain situations.
3. Keep in contact – Unfortunately, collaboration will not be as easy as it was when your team members could turn to the people next to them and ask a question. Therefore, you not only need to provide them with the solutions to communicate with one another, you need to actively encourage them to do so until it is standard practice for everyone. This will benefit both your operations and company morale.

Remote to In-House

One the all-clear has been given to return to the workplace, your team will need to be ready to transition back to their workplace norms. Of course, this may be easier said than done, so you should assist them in doing so just as you did when they shifted to remote operations. We have a few suggestions to make this easier as well.

1. Continue their remote work habits – As your team was working from home, there is a good chance that they discovered the way that they work best as an individual. Don’t make them switch back just because they are in the office, and instead allow them to work the way that they found to be most effective (if it doesn’t interfere with others’ workflows).
2. Be responsibly social – One of the biggest drawbacks to working remotely is that there is effectively no social aspect to it any longer. Once your team returns to the office, cut them a little bit of slack if they’re talkative (again, if the work isn’t impacted negatively). In fact, consider starting some new, socially motivated company events for the purpose of team building. One caveat: don’t do this last part before the current health crisis is confirmed to have been resolved.
3. Encourage a comfortable work environment – The hard truth of the matter is that not everyone is going to get dressed up for work every day that they are working remotely, so it may not be best to insist upon a dress code once they return. Of course, you should draw the line somewhere before mud masks and that comfortable pair of old, ragged sweatpants that everyone has someplace, but blankets and small plants can make the workplace seem more inviting.

Unfortunately, no in-house to remote and back to in-house transition will go off without any hiccups at all, but accommodating your team to the best of your ability should make it better for everyone. As far as your technology is concerned in these shifts, you can leave that to Net Activity. Reach out to us today to learn how we can help with your business collaboration and remote work capabilities by calling 216-503-5150.

How To Deal With Increasing Customer Expectations

The more you do for customers, the more they expect. That is the nature of customer service.

Excellent service providers scramble to meet the expectations of customers who have become accustomed to great service. Aggressive competitors continue to bump up their offerings in an attempt to take your customers from you. This has resulted in a perpetual desire by customers for more, better, different and/or improved.

In most cases, “good enough” isn’t enough. The great art and science of business is to improve product and/or service offerings without giving up margins or increasing prices beyond what customers are willing to pay. It really is about adding value without spending too much to do it.

Any business that can’t do this will be relegated to competing at the low end of the market on price alone, and that is a difficult place to be.

Rally your team, from engineering and manufacturing to sales and support, to regularly brainstorm how you can profitably grow your value proposition. Customers will increasingly demand it.

Here are eight things you can do about them.

1. Find out what is important to customers: what they require and what they desire. You’re not clairvoyant, so routinely ask customers for input.
2. Explain your value proposition when you must say no. If you can’t do something the customer wants, explain why. But see if there is something acceptable you can do instead.
3. Educate customers about the value you create for them. If they don’t know about it or appreciate it, it isn’t valuable.
4. Hold quarterly sessions with your team to brainstorm how to add value to the customer experience.
5. Evaluate the entire customer experience. Look for failure points and irritations that can be eliminated and improvements that can be made.
6. Pay more attention to your customers than to your competition. Know what your competitor is doing, but put your customer at the center of your focus.
7. Pleasantly surprise customers whenever you can. Work with your team to brainstorm ideas on how to do that.
8. Treat better customers better. Treat all customers well, but those who spend more should get preferential treatment.

Business goes to the bold and innovative. Creativity and imagination are the best tools for continually rethinking your value proposition. Good execution delivers and makes customers glad they keep coming back to you for more.

Major WiFi Updates Came To Windows 10 Recently

Great news for the legions of Windows 10 users around the world. Version 2004 comes with a significant WiFi update that includes Wi-Fi6 and WPA3 support, which will give users better wireless performance and increased security.

That’s great news, but of course, there’s a catch. In order to make use of WiFi 6, you’ll need a router with support for both WiFi6 and WPA3.

Although those do currently exist and are available for sale today, they are new, and therefore a bit on the expensive side. Even so, the new Windows 10 update gives you a compelling reason to upgrade your equipment.

If you recently purchased a new router, it may already support the latest standard. If so, that fact will be indicated either in the router’s documentation or on the manufacturer’s website.

You can check to see if you’re currently connected to a WiFi6 network by following these steps:

• Connect to your network
• Select the WiFi network icon on the right side of the taskbar.
• Click on “Properties,” which you’ll find beneath the name of your network.
• When the properties screen loads, click the “Properties” tab and look at the information displayed next to “Protocol.”

If you’re connected to a WiFi 6 network, you’ll see “Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) in the Protocol box.

To see if you’re connected using WPA3 security, follow these steps:

• Once you connect to your WiFi network, click the icon on the right side of the taskbar, then select Properties, located under your network’s name.
• Once the screen loads, click the “Properties” tab and look at the information displayed next to “Security Type.” If it says WPA3, you’re all set.

To be sure you’re using the latest Windows 10 update, just click your Start button, go to Settings, then Update & Security, and then Windows Update. Once there, you’ll see a button labeled “Check for Updates.” Click that, and if a new update is available, it will start downloading.

This is great news, and if you’re looking for a simple way to boost your performance and productivity, this is it. Kudos to Microsoft for the inclusion.