What You Should Know Before Entrusting Your Data to the Cloud

Cloud computing or Software as a Service (SaaS) is the process of using the internet to warehouse data and information rather than on on-site hardware and software. In what is becoming an ever increasingly popular choice for both individuals and businesses alike, we wanted to point out some of the risks involved with choosing to store your data in the cloud. While moving to SaaS reduces the amount of hardware and software you need to purchase and maintain, as well as provides a lower operational cost; you may end up paying in another way altogether.

The most common risks involved in cloud computing include difficult customization, loss of data, and most of all lack of proper security.

Customization Challenges
Most cloud vendors only provide one version of an application to multiple end-users. If your business requires something specific in the way of data input, reporting, or in-depth analysis to meet regulatory compliance, it may not be the best answer for your organization. Unlike on-site software which can be customized to work with your business, cloud servers take more of a one size fits all approach. With every company having its own processes and requirements it is impossible for the off-site application to cater to everyone. And unfortunately, unless many companies are asking for the same thing – it is unlikely that the vendor will implement a change to meet the need.

Data Loss
Once you move your data out of your own hands and into someone else’s you are encountering risks in two areas:

1. While some cloud application providers will tell you that you can get your data back out should you decide to move it back on-site at some point in the future – this may not be the case. Over time, many cloud subscribers find that the service provider has taken ownership of their data and processes and getting the information back out can be much more difficult than previously anticipated. This could stick your company with an application that isn’t working well, and that may not be the most efficient answer for your company – forcing you to allocate unexpected time and resources in order to continue to remain operational.
   


2. Doing business in the cloud also puts your organization at risk of the possible deletion or alteration of records without backups to restore the data. When you are not in physical control of the data you have no way to ensure its recoverability should something go wrong with the service provider.

Security
Lack of proper security is the biggest threat your company faces in the cloud. Four of the main areas where security is threatened include:

1. System Infrastructure. Due to the use of a multi-tenant architecture, users are at risk of guest operating systems gaining unwanted control or influence of their platform. Not all cloud applications maintain strong compartmentalization of accounts to ensure that individual customers are not impacting the operations of others.
   


2. Service provider employees. There is no rule that states a cloud service provider must share their hiring practices or employee access policies with subscribers. This opens you up to access into your system from unknown and unwanted intrusions from people you wouldn’t want in your system.
   


3. Spam, phishing and fraud. Unfortunately, any internet activity will put you in danger of being the victim of a spammer or malicious code writer. Unfortunately in the cloud this is increased. Passwords are not usually as secure as they could be and there are many ways for an attacker to determine the passwords of your company and its employees. This leaves you vulnerable to exploitation, data manipulation, and more. To make matters worse some cloud service providers offer an anonymous registration process allowing anyone with a credit card number to get up and running. This increases the threat from spammers and criminals to businesses on the same service.

Ultimately if you are looking for more efficient ways to run your business and cut costs, be sure to fully research any possible options before making a decision. Protecting your company’s data should be of the utmost importance, and doing business in the cloud may or may not be right for you.

IT Helps Manufacturing Companies Weather Economy

IT investments have given manufacturing companies the ability to respond quickly to the turbulent economic conditions over the last several years. Access to true data visibility allowed them to make quick decisions based on facts, rather than a ‘gut feel’. This has resulted in greater financial success for these companies and poised them for a smoother transition into a recovered economy.

A recent article by Emily-Sue Sloane on managingautomation.com details this success from a report from analyst firm IDC Manufacturing Insights. Vice President of Research, Bob Parker noted that, “Technology has changed the game for manufacturers in fundamental ways.” The article goes on to note that,

“In the past decade, technology trends such as virtualization, ERP consolidation, and business intelligence/analytics contributed to business’ agility and helped to bring down the cost of IT as a percentage of revenue, from 3.7% at the end of the last decade to 2.3% now, on revenue that doubled over those 10 years. IDC anticipates a progression to other economical technologies, such as cloud computing, virtual ERP, and something IDC calls “socialytic applications”, a combination of collaboration technologies and analytical tools.”

IDC expects to see new strategies gain momentum, including strategic outsourcing, shared capacity, and collaborative innovation. IDC also anticipates that manufacturers will turn to more sophisticated sales & operations planning processes to better balance supply and demand.

Below are the top 10 predictions for Global Manufacturing:

#10: Armed with metrics, manufacturers will move from sustainability reporting to intelligence.

#9: Smart services and the need for persistent assets will create the inflection point for RFID, sensors, and M2M.

#8: Firms will create intelligent fulfillment capabilities networks.

#7: Manufacturing companies will see factory assets as part of a fulfillment capabilities network.

#6: Manufacturing companies will become more mature in their use of enterprise PLM applications.

#5: Manufacturers will look to better align innovation with business strategy.

#4: “Dynamic optimization” will dominate capability investment to support redefining the supply chain.

#3: Manufacturing companies will begin the process of fundamentally rethinking their supply chain structures, evolving from a fixed-cost-driven supply network to a variable-cost-driven value network.

#2: IT organizations will look for cost structures that are more variable as they assist in making technology a focal point of business strategies.

#1: Companies will transform business models to better meet the needs of increasingly demanding customers.

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The 'Paperless' Office - Document Management System Must-Haves

A recent study by Fujitsu Computer Products of America and the AIIM Board found that 46% of small to medium sized businesses have experienced a decrease in annual revenues, and 38% have seen their profitability fall flat. This trend has challenged businesses in this economy to come up with creative ways to give their company a competitive advantage. Two main options for success include; expanding your market and growing your business despite the downturn or cutting costs and streamlining operations in order to encourage profitability.

A document management solution is one of the most cost effective ways to take your office into the ‘paperless age’ and reduce expenses. Statistics show that the amount of discarded office paper each year is measured at 4 million tons. On average each office worker will go through about 150 pounds of paper a year… now consider how much that is unnecessarily costing your company. It can add up quick. Couple that with the costs of filing, storing and retrieving paper within your organization – especially if you are required to store records for any length of time.

Documents can be electronically captured in several different formats, and can then be easily retrieved. Storing documents on your hard drive greatly reduces costs in the areas of administrative support, print, mail and storage. You’ll help the environment by using less paper, and you will be better able to streamline your business by automating document distribution, and greatly reduce the need for duplicate data entry. Reducing paper usage makes sense all the way around and benefits everyone involved.

The right document management and workflow solution will do the following:

• Integrate with your ERP solution
• Reduce data entry steps
• Improve accuracy
• Strengthen accounting controls
• Keep track of your important documents in a secure location

More than just a document repository, document management solutions now have electronic workflow modules, the ability to automate to your specific business rules, and automatic distribution to the appropriate people within your organization. This provides you with faster invoice processing and smoother annual audits. Ultimately, this kind of solution can help you reduce overall operating costs, increase efficiencies so resources can be applied to other areas.

Remain Competitive by Leveraging Business Data

Challenging economic times can encourage businesses to take a serious look at their processes, products and services to determine how they can grow most effectively. These times also provide a unique opportunity for the innovation and development of competitive advantages. Tapping into those opportunities requires insight into your internal processes in order to make your organization stronger, faster and more resilient.

One of the biggest issues today is that companies have vast quantities of business data making it impossible to identify and act on the information in a timely manner. With these insufficient resources important information is often identified and acted upon only after it is too late. By automating data and information, companies can identify, deliver and act on critical business information in real-time.

In 2009 we published an article explaining how the concept of Business Intelligence (BI) is a broad category of applications and technologies each used for gathering, storing, analyzing, and providing access to data in order to help enterprise users make better business decisions. BI applications include the activities of decision support systems, query and reporting, online analytical processing, statistical analysis, forecasting, and data mining.

While the benefits of BI tools are numerous, we wanted to provide a summary of the ones we think will have the most significant impact on improving ROI.

Increased sales.

• BI Tools can automate new information as it is entered into the system, giving immediate enterprise-wide access to applicable data. When sales representatives have the right access to information, they are better equipped to serve prospects and clients quickly and professionally. For example, once a new order is placed, the BI application can send an email alert to the sales representative and automatically schedule follow-up. This furthers the sale in the process and ensures it does not fall through the cracks. The end-result is improved customer service and retention not to mention the opportunity for increased sales.

Improved inventory management.

• Business Intelligence applications can be customized to react when a particular situation occurs. For example, if inventory items near re-order levels, an automatic PO can be issued. This can help avoid an out of stock and/or back order situation resulting in more effective inventory management.

Efficient and effective collections.

• BI tools can assist companies in avoiding uncollected debt. For example, the system has the capability to note an invoice that is 90 days past due and subsequently send an email and/or a copy of the invoice to both the client as well as to the finance department, flagging the client to be put on hold for future purchases until payment has been received.

Reduced data entry.

• When a new order is placed, your BI application can automatically send order confirmations and update financial databases – streamlining operations, and reducing repetitive data entry and the potential for errors.

System reminders.

• As office machine leases near their expiration dates or when an order quantity is changed, alerts can be sent out to the appropriate people avoiding errors and downtime.

BI tools are useful in connecting team members to key business information and simplifying the process of collaboration and information sharing. In addition, they can help managers and executives gain better insight into the overall health of their business by analyzing the fundamental operations and improving the alignment of organizational goals with individual activities. Ultimately, companies are able to increase profitability based on revenue enhancements, expense reductions or both while improving customer and employee satisfaction. Not to mention, organizational risk is reduced as a result of stronger internal control structures caused by increased monitoring of data and results.

Sage Online Educational Symposium

On March 18^th Sage will be holding their Online Educational Symposium. This is a virtual conference that you can attend from the comfort of your own office, and it’s free! This is a great opportunity to network with fellow software users and product experts, attend breakout sessions to learn more about your Sage product, and learn about business topics from keynote speakers.

The agenda for the Online Educational Symposium is as follows:

11am Eastern - Tradeshow / Networking

11:30 am - Welcome / General Session: “Momma Told Me There’d Be Days Like This: Finding Stability in Stressful Times.”

12:30 pm – Product-Specific Educational Sessions –

• DacEasy: “Getting the Most from the DacEasy Business Center.
• Sage BusinessVision: “Increasing Profitability with CustomPack.”
• Sage BusinessWorks: “Put Your Personal Touch on Your Business Forms.”
• Sage PFW ERP: “Best Practices for Reconciling your General Ledger.”
• Sage Pro ERP: “Creating Great Reports with the Report Customization Wizard.”

1:30 pm – Tradeshow / Networking

2:00 pm – Product Specific Educational Sessions

• DacEasy: “Customizing DacEasy Business Forms.”
• Sage BusinessVision: “Enhanced Analysis Using Microsoft® Excel ®.”
• Sage BusinessWorks: “Quick Answers to Everyday Questions.”
• Sage PFW ERP: “Quick Answers to Everyday Questions.”
• Sage Pro ERP: “Maximizing your Data for Better Reporting.”

3 pm – General Session 2 / Closing Remarks: “Can I have a Side Order of Bad Service with That? Creating Dazzling Customer Service.”

4 pm – Tradeshow / Networking

For more information or to register visit: http://www.sagespecialized.com/20637/index.html

The Truth About PCI Compliance

If you are using software to process credit card charges, you are processing someone's personal financial information, and you need to ensure that this information is safe from any attempt at compromising it, internal attempts as well as external attempts. Fines of up to $10M have been levied against fairly small businesses.

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a mandatory global standard established by the major card associations to ensure the protection of cardholder data. Based on twelve guidelines, the PCI DSS requires merchants to make their physical and virtual environments secure to ensure protection of cardholder data. As a merchant accepting credit cards as a form of payment, you are required by the card associations to adhere to the PCI DSS. The PCI DSS encompasses the security programs from Visa and MasterCard, Cardholder Information Security Program (CISP) and Site Data Protection (SDP), respectively.

The PCI DSS sets technology requirements such as the use of data encryption, end-user access control, and activity monitoring and logging. It also includes procedural mandates, such as the need to implement formal and documented security policies and vulnerability-management programs. They were developed to ensure that cardholder data is protected throughout the transaction process. Compliance with the standard applies to all types of merchants, retail, Mail Order/Telephone Order, and Internet. All merchants need to follow best practices for storage and destruction of all paper or electronic records containing account numbers or cardholder data. Additionally, merchant service providers processing credit cards need to be PCI compliant.

The more credit card transactions a merchant processes, the more stringent the compliance procedure. For most merchants, compliance consists of passing quarterly or annual network scans and completing an annual self-assessment questionnaire. If you process more than 20,000 e-commerce or 6 million total V/MC transactions per DBA (doing business as) annually, you will need to provide evidence of certification from a V/MC certified vendor. Penalties for failure to comply with the PCI requirements, failure to rectify a security issue, or failure to report a compromise are severe:

• Possible restrictions on the merchant
• Permanent prohibition of the merchant’s participation in card association programs
• A fine of up to $500,000 per incident
• Violation of applicable federal or state laws
• Fraud losses perpetrated using the account numbers associated with the compromise (from date of compromise forward)

To read more on this topic, click here.

Small Business Loan Amounts Increase

A new senate bill has been introduced to aid Small Businesses by increasing the guaranteed loan limit, and extend fee eliminations due to expire under the Recovery Act, for one year. With 64% of all new jobs in the past 15 years created by small businesses, and 85% of those lost belonging to the same sector, Senators Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine introduced a new legislation to provide more capital for small businesses.

Senate Bill S.2869, the “Small Business Job Creation and Access to Capital Act of 2009 would increase the small business loan limit to as high as $5.5 million. Both President Obama and SBA Administrator Karen Mills have come out in support of the concepts of the bill, and there is hope of it passing in early 2010.

To read more about this topic, click here.