There are basic security essentials that Peninsular Business Services can help you to understand and implement.
Every organisation no matter how small, should make sure it’s data is protected – data at rest, data in motion and data at end point.
There are obligations to fulfil … not least a duty of care to your clients and customers. In a worst case scenario, you could be fined by the Information Commissioners Office for neglecting to protect data that you hold. You may need help to stay out of trouble …. continued.
Grown men quaking in their shoes; students screwing up their faces in indignation; pretty young secretaries deflated on seeing their ‘so-called’ perfect shorthand script crawling with red ink, I’ve seen it all!
No-one loves the Proofreader! If only I had a fiver for every script I’ve marked for examination bodies, letters I’ve corrected for bosses and homework I’ve sent back to be re-done … I’d be a millionaire.
Proofreading isn’t a horrible job, it’s a routine job performed to a professional standard. Here’s a perspective you will I hope, find interesting and entertaining ….. continued
It really doesn’t matter whether you sell computer hardware, fine handmade soaps, luxury fashion items, cars, bathrooms, garden gates, or dog collars, social media is going to help your business brand get traction in the market.
Why is it that some enterprises still don’t ‘GET IT’?
I liked this video - Chris Pirillo talks about a small business in Seattle called Pooper Trooper. The company has a very clear understanding of social media. They use the power of social media to pull consumers to their product … a product they know is of enormous value to their potential customers.
If you would actually like to view the Pooper Trooper’s YouTube Video, then click here.
It should be an issue but all too often it seems business owners are too busy or too scared of the technology to get a plan together for tackling data security.
I recently posted a question on a professional forum on LinkedIn:
“How do we get the message out to those who need it most”?
I’ve selected two of the respondents answers, two great responses by top-notch individuals within the IT industry in UK.
Oli Rhys, a Business ICT Advisor for one of the Welsh local councils and Tomasz Bergiel, business owner of a web design company The Mint Factory.
Sam Raincock is an IT security consultant specialising in providing expert witness services in IT and telecommunications as well as information security management implementation, assessments and auditing.
Sam has produced over 250 expert reports/statements in IT and telecommunications cases for courts in the UK and Ireland principally in serious crimes. She is instructed in the investigation of complex computer cases particularly involving elaborate defences and network/security issues. In the forensic telecommunications field, she provides opinions in cases involving the evaluation of information on mobile devices, connection patterns and cell site analysis.
So what is information security? Can anything be 100% secure?Security is about reducing the risks of something happening and managing the outcomes. Hence, information security is about minimising and managing the risks to information. This means that it doesn’t just include how you use your computer to store your files but also how your computer is stored. Information security management considers the security of your data from your USB memory stick to your building.
The remainder of this very thought-provoking article can be read here.
Within a few weeks of using Twitter it becomes clear how it works and more to the point how you can make it work for you. However if you are feeling uncomfortable using it and have thoughts in your mind like:
“Why on earth am I exposing myself to this nonsense“?
or
“ I really don’t have time for this, it isn’t working for me“.
Then you might be suffering from a mismatch scenario. The platform is mismatched to you. What you need to appreciate is that there are lots of other platforms available that might better suit your skills and personality.
Don’t give up, instead change platforms and give it another go!
Micro-blogging is fun for personal interaction and for business, it’s a very worthwhile addition to your marketing tools. Remember though it is not a broadcast medium, people do not want to get the business ‘hard sell’ all the time, they can after all simply unfollow you. They want to get to know what makes up the brand.
It’s called ‘pull marketing‘: when you like something well enough you gravitate towards it. So when people on Twitter like your message and begin to understand your ethos, they warm to you and will in all probability want to recommend you to others, at the very least, and may even choose to buy your product over another.
Here’s a super screencast production by one of my Twitter contacts Su Butcher who uses the Twitter ID @justprofs, she explains the issues very clearly.
She tells us Twitter isn’t the best interface for beginners and shows us how it lets us down. Sometimes the frustrations we feel with a piece of software can deter us from using it, right from the word go. Other times when we use something that we like from the word go, it often becomes a favourite of ours.
Did watching the video change your mind? Will you give Twitter another go? Do let me know if you found more satisfaction using something else – may be Tweetdeck or Hootsuite?
You might like to follow my Twitter account @LadyBizBiz
Slightly longer version of this blog appears here.
These lines appear on an old clock in Chester Catherdral.
I think all of us can relate to these words. I’m advocating immediate action by sole proprietors and business owners everywherewho would like to make a difference to the success of their business enterprise in 2010.
There is no time like the present to become involved in the world of social media in order to promote your business and yourself. I am going to cogitate here on just one platform for social media interaction: the one that seems to have taken the whole world by the scruff of the neck … Twitter.
Tweeting isn’t for everyone, or is it? I didn’t think it was for me, really I didn’t until I experienced a sudden intuitive leap of understanding.
If you would like to read about that epiphany here’s the link.
I think we will all agree that your brand whether personal, professional or commercial, is definitely something that should be protected. Why would you allow it to be tarnished when you have endured blood, sweat and tears in establishing it over the years? You may have sacrificed a huge amount of family life in the making of your business, so protection for your brand is probably top of your list.
Using the Twittersphere to your advantage is proactive.
Have you considered how Social Media and in particular Twitter can affect your brand? People have the notion that if they aren’t interested in engaging in social media, and stay well away from it, then their brand is protected. So, it’s a nasty wake-up call when they discover that actually whether they are registered on social media platforms or not, their brand, be it personal, professional or commercial, is probably being talked about in their absence.
You simply cannot prevent people from talking about things on Twitter, or even complaining, so let’s hope they aren’t complaining about your products or services? This isn’t all bad because it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that if you are being talked about it’s better than NOT being talked about.
Here’s why it’s GOOD ….. you can make sure that the moment someone does complain publicly on Twitter that you are brand monitoring and you then nip the problem in the bud. You can turn it to your advantage and walk away feeling proud. You can help someone who in the first instance expressed a negative opinion of your brand, to change that opinion. Following your efficient response in engaging with them, you can leave them with a glowing impression instead!
This is precisely why you would want to respond efficiently and effectively to that Twitter comment:
Sue is a Broadband customer of Company A and she’s been attempting to query the low download speed through customer service. She’s angry and frustrated and she tweets that “Company A has dreadful customer service – I can’t get anyone to appreciate my problem, they just ignore the fact that I’m paying good money for an appalling service.”
Now you are Company A’s person monitoring the brand on Twitter. And you use various search functions to make sure that whenever anyone tweets about Company A you know about the tweet within a reasonable amount of time.
When you see this tweet by Sue, you immediately tweet her publicly: “@username I can help you. Call me at xxxxx and I assure you I will personally attend to your problem.”
You have the opportunity to stop the complaint escalating.
Sue calls you, you take care of the problem, and she’s so delighted she then tweets: “Company A just took care of my problem. That’s good customer service!”
Now imagine if you hadn’t been brand monitoring and Sue’s tweet went unanswered. Then her complaint escalates.
For example, someone could reply to Sue: “@username I also had crappy customer service from Company A.”
Sue could then reply: “I wish I could switch to another Broadband provider. I really dislike Company A.”
Before you know what’s happening because of the viral nature of Twitter, and the fact that it is real-time, a whole load of people – people who perhaps don’t even have a complaint with your company, but want to offer their ‘opinion’ – have jumped on the bandwagon.
It might, or it might not be, too late at this stage to undo the damage. Without a doubt though, this is the way that a brand can suffer damage. It could probably have been prevented if you had caught it early, taken care of the problem promptly and efficiently, and then you and the satisfied customer, could have tweeted about the successful resolution.
Brand monitoring can take advantage of positive comments, here’s how:
Track your brand on Twitter so that you can also pick up the positive comments. Until someone can convince me otherwise I will continue to use Tweetdeck for this purpose because it meets all my needs. If, for example, someone tweets a compliment for your brand, you can re-tweet that compliment and potentially send it farther into the ether.
By tweeting worthwhile information in connection to your brand, there is also the added advantage that the perception of your brand can be emboldened in the public mind. This will enable you to cultivate goodwill so that, should a problem arise your customers or clients will be magnanimous and likely to forgive you.
Finally I urge you to recognise that brand monitoring is a very important marketing activity in the social networking Twittersphere.
In the words of the minstrel in the light-hearted video that follows
” You might as well not have existed”.
THE BALLARD OF TWITTER
Would you kindly leave a comment and tell me how Twitter has been successful in endorsing your brand, be it personal, professional or commercial?
What type of personality is suited to home-based working? This question is directly related to Virtual Assistants. This discussion does not touch in any way on the experiences of Virtual Assistants working out of a regular office space; it deals solely with those experiences in working out of a home office or study.
It is not as straightforward as one might first imagine. There are always complicated subtleties to take stock of because the scope for variance is immense. However, in generalising, because I am not aware of any research in this new field, I would suggest the following:
People driven by a rock solid work ethic.
The work ethic when it is strong and durable is more important than top rate skills. Skills will develop with time, and that’s the crux of the matter, it is only those people who are driven by a strong work ethic who will devote the time. If someone is motivated to work solidly within the recognised work zone viz. 9 to 5 pm, they will strive to complete the task in hand, no matter how long it takes. They will acquire the skills along the way and in acquiring those skills will feel a huge sense of satisfaction, and that satisfaction in their achievement will spur them on to work longer and harder to complete the task. They are in fact not bound by the recognised working time zone.
So, these people often exceed the expectation of their clients by working faster and delivering work of a much higher standard.
People who do not have to consider other demands on their time.
When there are family members to consider there will be less time available for home-based working despite all efforts to achieve a balance, the needs of the family will always come first.
I hear all you working mothers out there disagreeing saying “but we set ourselves targets just like any other individuals”. Yes, I’m sure this is the case, however families have a knack of diverting the attention of the main carer, who is usually female.
With all the will in the world if the carer is attempting to ‘get on with some work’, but the family member wants their attention, then I believe the child, partner, spouse, parent or pet is going to get that attention, by hook or by crook. Be honest with yourselves, if your child is complaining of feeling unwell, or if you can hear sibling fisti-cuffs occurring in the background, if your hubby is pressing you, or your dog is throwing up on the carpet, you will be distracted, and you will leave your desk to attempt to deal with the domestic problems. Thus the work-flow is disturbed.
If the Virtual Assistant has none of those distractions she works like a demon.
People who value the benefits of social media as a primary means of communicating win ‘hands down’.
Using the tools available via social media we can work smarter in the home. If using these tools is second nature to us we will engage more effectively with our clients and colleagues. Skype video conferencing, chat and calls; MSN chat; Facebook; LinkedIn and Twitter – in no particular order – help us to keep our finger on the pulse of the current issues and allow us to deal with things in an instant. Nothing has to be delayed till later, we have all we need at our finger tips. Not forgetting if we are using cloud computing techniques, like Huddle workspace, the client can actually witness the progress in real time.
In building up solid and extensive networks of connections through social media we build an arsenal of resources to make our tasks easier to complete. If you are not a natural communicator you are disadvantaged, however you can learn how to network effectively without being Miss Exuberance 24/7. There are, after all, hundreds of ‘gurus’ and ‘experts’ in social media out there offering to help us become more proficient.
When we are home-based we are not working in a vacuum we are immersed in a virtual world that is vibrant and dynamic. There is never the opportunity to feel unsupported or under-valued with such a solid network in place. Feeling empowered by our network we work more effectively and efficiently. With social media at hand we become ‘wonder-women’: super-charged super-VA’s.
Superlative Jaco-influenced electric bass virtuoso – possibly the best the UK has ever produced – leads his barnstorming big band. The 17 piece band is made up of the cream of London’s brass section talent. Nigel Hitchcock and Simon Allen will be in the saxophone section and Mark Nightingale and Martin Shaw are part of the brass team, plus Claire Martin on vocals. The band will be playing powerful funk classics and sumptuous jazz ballads and standards all arranged by Laurence.
Below Laurence Cottle at The Institute ‘Masterclass – Master of the Bass’.
Laurence Cottle is one of the world’s greatest bassists and the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance was delighted to recently host a masterclass with this ‘Master of the Bass’.
