Technology plans are nothing new…in fact they have been around for decades …but few can define their main purpose. In a perfect world, technology plans would serve as the catalyst to make network improvements or significant changes. Technology plans would act as a roadmap for your business to be able to effectively budget, plan and execute purchases and initiatives. Technology plans also serve to substantiate your IT decisions to senior management, the Board or your town officials. They illustrate vision, forethought and careful planning. On a tactical level, technology plans act as a checklist for your IT department to carry out tasks and assist in resource planning.
Click here to request a copy of the full version of this whitepaper.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
The Importance Of A Security Strategy
I am always amazed at the number of folks that think of security in terms of firewalls or anti-spyware software – a Band-Aid on an ever-growing problem that is often an issue that lies dormant until no one is watching.
Security is an IT strategy – it is a multi-layered defense strategy that keeps you ahead of the curve – ahead of next generation threats – and out of the headlines.
In the last couple of weeks we heard about security breaches such as Hannaford’s supermarkets who is now being hit with countless class action lawsuits involving the compromise of over 4 million credit and debit cards; and Lasell College, who recently notified over 20,000 individuals (current students, alumni, existing and former faculty and staff) that their personal information, namely their social security numbers were exposed during a recent cyber intrusion.
I guess the primary reason for security still being an afterthought, or my perception that it is still an afterthought, is really an understanding of HOW these attacks are carried out. It is the opinion of most individuals that attacks are focused, and hackers know who they are targeting, when in fact they do not. Attacks are launched, and a small mom and pop is just as likely to become a target as any other company with a website. Attacks are most often random, and performed shotgun style. Another reason I believe security is an afterthought, and this is greatly substantiated from my years of research, is that folks just do not have the time to deal with it on a proactive basis, leaving the action items to be carried out when folks can get to it. But just “getting to it” isn’t enough – like many things it must be prioritized….you can see what happens when it isn’t.
I have many of my clients engage NetTeks to do this for them, because with the millions of technology-type decisions that need to be made, and the equally important tasks that need to be performed there just isn’t enough time in the day – so we do it for them. We tell them what to worry about and when, and most times perform the necessary tasks to get them back on track. We monitor their devices ‘round the clock, so they don’t have to, and can cross a very big to-do off their list…they love that!
So, the NetPerspective is to give Security the attention it requires or give it to someone who can do a diligent and consistent job for you. Ensure if you do outsource to a provider, they offer you consistent reporting metrics so that you know what you are paying for – and what intrusions you have avoided. Ensure that your provider has a consistently tested process in place, so that if something does go bump in the night, they are prepared to respond in a timely fashion. Timing, especially in the discipline of Security is everything.
Security is an IT strategy – it is a multi-layered defense strategy that keeps you ahead of the curve – ahead of next generation threats – and out of the headlines.
In the last couple of weeks we heard about security breaches such as Hannaford’s supermarkets who is now being hit with countless class action lawsuits involving the compromise of over 4 million credit and debit cards; and Lasell College, who recently notified over 20,000 individuals (current students, alumni, existing and former faculty and staff) that their personal information, namely their social security numbers were exposed during a recent cyber intrusion.
I guess the primary reason for security still being an afterthought, or my perception that it is still an afterthought, is really an understanding of HOW these attacks are carried out. It is the opinion of most individuals that attacks are focused, and hackers know who they are targeting, when in fact they do not. Attacks are launched, and a small mom and pop is just as likely to become a target as any other company with a website. Attacks are most often random, and performed shotgun style. Another reason I believe security is an afterthought, and this is greatly substantiated from my years of research, is that folks just do not have the time to deal with it on a proactive basis, leaving the action items to be carried out when folks can get to it. But just “getting to it” isn’t enough – like many things it must be prioritized….you can see what happens when it isn’t.
I have many of my clients engage NetTeks to do this for them, because with the millions of technology-type decisions that need to be made, and the equally important tasks that need to be performed there just isn’t enough time in the day – so we do it for them. We tell them what to worry about and when, and most times perform the necessary tasks to get them back on track. We monitor their devices ‘round the clock, so they don’t have to, and can cross a very big to-do off their list…they love that!
So, the NetPerspective is to give Security the attention it requires or give it to someone who can do a diligent and consistent job for you. Ensure if you do outsource to a provider, they offer you consistent reporting metrics so that you know what you are paying for – and what intrusions you have avoided. Ensure that your provider has a consistently tested process in place, so that if something does go bump in the night, they are prepared to respond in a timely fashion. Timing, especially in the discipline of Security is everything.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Customer Service, Customer Satisfaction, and Defining the Customer Experience
There are distinct differences between CUSTOMER SERVICE and CUSTOMER SATISFACTION and at the same time they meld together to form an EXPERIENCE, and it is this experience that can make or break any company.
There are varying statistics out there about how viral an experience can be – a happy customer tells 1 person, an unhappy customer tells 10– but I believe this to be magnified greatly by the thousands of new media out there today that has effectively given everyone a global voice. Unhappy customers whether for the right or wrong reasons, tell anyone and everyone who visits their blog or posts, is part of their LinkedIn or Facebook community, or if we are really lucky has created a YouTube video for millions to download. Business owners today cannot afford to mess up – one person can force you to close your doors forever.
Customer service is in some cases a forgotten term. I run into poor examples of customer service all of the time and I don’t know when it started. Nearly every time I am in a checkout line, the attendant fails to make eye contact, greet me or if can you imagine – hang up their cell phone.
Customer service is a series of interactions that leads to customer satisfaction. A customers’ satisfaction has a lasting effect in terms of their perception of you and your company…one poor interaction and it could be curtains.
I challenged my team this year to not only provide best in class customer service to yield high customer satisfaction for our clients, but to take it one step further. I want them to actually DEFINE THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE. Sometimes this can be compromised due to the nature of our business, technology – let’s face it – it is quirky at times, but the things we can control, our interactions and the ways we choose to deal with difficult situations.
Roger Staubuch once said “There are no traffic jams along the extra mile” and I agree wholeheartedly. Few decide to own their fate and go that extra mile – and I want my team to own theirs. On a monthly basis we survey our clients to determine if they would recommend NetTeks to others – and their responses are taken very seriously. We work tirelessly to do right by our clients, and define their experience, making it one that they are happy to blog, record or chat about.
So, the NetPerspective is, good companies, become great companies, when they take a leadership role in their clients, and their own, fate.
There are varying statistics out there about how viral an experience can be – a happy customer tells 1 person, an unhappy customer tells 10– but I believe this to be magnified greatly by the thousands of new media out there today that has effectively given everyone a global voice. Unhappy customers whether for the right or wrong reasons, tell anyone and everyone who visits their blog or posts, is part of their LinkedIn or Facebook community, or if we are really lucky has created a YouTube video for millions to download. Business owners today cannot afford to mess up – one person can force you to close your doors forever.
Customer service is in some cases a forgotten term. I run into poor examples of customer service all of the time and I don’t know when it started. Nearly every time I am in a checkout line, the attendant fails to make eye contact, greet me or if can you imagine – hang up their cell phone.
Customer service is a series of interactions that leads to customer satisfaction. A customers’ satisfaction has a lasting effect in terms of their perception of you and your company…one poor interaction and it could be curtains.
I challenged my team this year to not only provide best in class customer service to yield high customer satisfaction for our clients, but to take it one step further. I want them to actually DEFINE THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE. Sometimes this can be compromised due to the nature of our business, technology – let’s face it – it is quirky at times, but the things we can control, our interactions and the ways we choose to deal with difficult situations.
Roger Staubuch once said “There are no traffic jams along the extra mile” and I agree wholeheartedly. Few decide to own their fate and go that extra mile – and I want my team to own theirs. On a monthly basis we survey our clients to determine if they would recommend NetTeks to others – and their responses are taken very seriously. We work tirelessly to do right by our clients, and define their experience, making it one that they are happy to blog, record or chat about.
So, the NetPerspective is, good companies, become great companies, when they take a leadership role in their clients, and their own, fate.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Greater Flexibility, Better Control with a Managed Secure Voice Solution
Secure Voice – I think we should start there. What does secure voice mean? I suppose it depends on who you ask. I think we all agree that voice is data, and thus requires protection – just like any form of electronic communication. In fact, with the world we live in today, and with the dependence on multiple forms of communication, be it, mobile phones, soft phones, IP phones, IM/chat, video, etc…we are struggling with how to keep that data secure.
Encryption is an option, and over-exploited due to the intense media focus associated with e-commerce and email in general. If you can encrypt transactions, and mail messages, then why wouldn’t you encrypt your voice data, in order to protect it.
Denial of Service (DoS) is the real culprit and the focus of what will secure your voice data. NetTeks systematically prevents DoS, eavesdropping or spoofing attack by enabling advanced features such as port hardening, IP source guard, and DHCP snooping - to name a few that exist within your network devices. In most cases the only additional cost is engineering time to configure the features.
So now you get secure voice, or at least a high level conceptual view of secure voice – tune into future blogs – we’ll talk more.
But why would you want this solution managed for you? Most IT directors although incredibly talented, are forced because of shrinking budgets, expanding and ever-changing technology, to become generalists. Being a generalist is by no means a bad thing – but it opens up some issues that directors are forced to deal with. Security technology is complex as much as it makes our lives easier and more productive, it requires a vast amount of experience and expertise. For this, IT directors have found business partners such as NetTeks. It is our job to know that particular technology inside and out. It is our job to know the issues this technology can encounter, and it is our job to maintain this technology, long after the implementation of these solutions are done.
A managed secure voice solution gifts IT directors with peace of mind to return to the core of their jobs – enabling technology to assist their companies in achieving their strategic goals. At NetTeks we partner with our clients to remove the technology intensive tasks from their proverbial plate and place it on ours – seasoned with equal parts of the necessary certifications, experience and knowledge to keep clients secure and available. So the NetPerspective is to do your homework. Determine exactly what your security strategy is and question if the solutions you are seeking really achieve what you are trying to accomplish. In addition, for extra credit, consider out-tasking the management of the solution to folks that concentrate solely on that solution. In the long run, senior management will give you a “A” for saving the company money, loads of time, and ultimately keeping them secure and equally as important, available.
Encryption is an option, and over-exploited due to the intense media focus associated with e-commerce and email in general. If you can encrypt transactions, and mail messages, then why wouldn’t you encrypt your voice data, in order to protect it.
Denial of Service (DoS) is the real culprit and the focus of what will secure your voice data. NetTeks systematically prevents DoS, eavesdropping or spoofing attack by enabling advanced features such as port hardening, IP source guard, and DHCP snooping - to name a few that exist within your network devices. In most cases the only additional cost is engineering time to configure the features.
So now you get secure voice, or at least a high level conceptual view of secure voice – tune into future blogs – we’ll talk more.
But why would you want this solution managed for you? Most IT directors although incredibly talented, are forced because of shrinking budgets, expanding and ever-changing technology, to become generalists. Being a generalist is by no means a bad thing – but it opens up some issues that directors are forced to deal with. Security technology is complex as much as it makes our lives easier and more productive, it requires a vast amount of experience and expertise. For this, IT directors have found business partners such as NetTeks. It is our job to know that particular technology inside and out. It is our job to know the issues this technology can encounter, and it is our job to maintain this technology, long after the implementation of these solutions are done.
A managed secure voice solution gifts IT directors with peace of mind to return to the core of their jobs – enabling technology to assist their companies in achieving their strategic goals. At NetTeks we partner with our clients to remove the technology intensive tasks from their proverbial plate and place it on ours – seasoned with equal parts of the necessary certifications, experience and knowledge to keep clients secure and available. So the NetPerspective is to do your homework. Determine exactly what your security strategy is and question if the solutions you are seeking really achieve what you are trying to accomplish. In addition, for extra credit, consider out-tasking the management of the solution to folks that concentrate solely on that solution. In the long run, senior management will give you a “A” for saving the company money, loads of time, and ultimately keeping them secure and equally as important, available.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Much more than just a low monthly fee
Managed Services is an offering that has been out in the industry for over a decade, but few can accurately describe it or deliver it. Service providers tout a low monthly fee, but really, what do you get for that fee? Depending on the provider, a lot.
Think of it from a macro level. As an IT executive, you want people you can count on, trust. You engage a service provider to install a particular solution, let’s consider a Unified Communications solution. You engage the provider to procure and install the solution, and post-implementation, you engage them to train your staff on how to properly use, and train the rest of the organization. What if this provider could also manage the solution, 24x7x365, for a low monthly fee to constantly monitor, evaluate and remediate the solution? Would that be of value? Consider minimal to no quality of services issues, no downtime, no massive backlogging of calls, no “bluescreens”….would that be of value? Consider a predictable support cost, month in and month out that you can count on, budget for and plan on that allows you to check the box, that yes, your UC solution is always on, always protected, patched and available….would that be of value? NetTeks is an expert at deploying, monitoring and managing Unified Communications solutions from Cisco and continually makes an investment to stay ahead of our competition through consistent training and testing these solutions. Through our time-tested processes, we can quickly adapt to both changes in technology and client needs while consistently achieving our primary objective of delivering superior quality to our clients.
So the NetPerspective is that NetTeks’ clients engage in managed services solutions for three reasons – predictable monthly costs, peace of mind, and unlimited access to best of breed engineers that can, and will, solve their business problems. That, is value.
Think of it from a macro level. As an IT executive, you want people you can count on, trust. You engage a service provider to install a particular solution, let’s consider a Unified Communications solution. You engage the provider to procure and install the solution, and post-implementation, you engage them to train your staff on how to properly use, and train the rest of the organization. What if this provider could also manage the solution, 24x7x365, for a low monthly fee to constantly monitor, evaluate and remediate the solution? Would that be of value? Consider minimal to no quality of services issues, no downtime, no massive backlogging of calls, no “bluescreens”….would that be of value? Consider a predictable support cost, month in and month out that you can count on, budget for and plan on that allows you to check the box, that yes, your UC solution is always on, always protected, patched and available….would that be of value? NetTeks is an expert at deploying, monitoring and managing Unified Communications solutions from Cisco and continually makes an investment to stay ahead of our competition through consistent training and testing these solutions. Through our time-tested processes, we can quickly adapt to both changes in technology and client needs while consistently achieving our primary objective of delivering superior quality to our clients.
So the NetPerspective is that NetTeks’ clients engage in managed services solutions for three reasons – predictable monthly costs, peace of mind, and unlimited access to best of breed engineers that can, and will, solve their business problems. That, is value.
Monday, December 10, 2007
The desktop or the network?
After attending Microsoft’s (NSDQ: MSFT) Unified Communications launch last Thursday, I can clearly see why there has been so much buzz about Microsoft's entry into the UC market. The application is slick, and rightly so, no-one can integrate as tightly to the desktop as Microsoft can – after all it is their code. The question becomes is Unified Communications about the desktop (Microsoft’s view) or about the network (Cisco’s view) and really isn’t it all about the applications? The UC solutions that are going to gain market acceptance are the ones that enable users to be more productive by extending the workplace so that people can work when and how they want to work. Productivity enhanced by true anytime, anywhere computing is the holy grail of Unified Communications.
Microsoft has drawn a clear line in the sand in terms of their long standing partnership with Cisco (NSDQ: CSCO), saying publicly how much they value the Cisco relationship, but ultimately, their goal is to dominate the UC market. This makes me wonder if the lack of early adoption to Windows Vista is making them rethink their presence in the OS space. At NetTeks, our early review of Windows Vista, has caused many users to switch other computing platforms over the past six months.
As a dedicated Cisco Silver partner, NetTeks has made a significant investment in learning, understanding and teaching others about Cisco’s Unified Communications offering. Microsoft has done a great job of promoting their products, creating industry buzz about their features but has been very quiet about the backend functionality of Microsoft UC: the call control requires another manufacturers’ PBX to be in place. That’s right – Legacy TDM technology from Nortel and other PBX vendors is being front-ended by Microsoft's UC to create a hybrid approach to this so-called solution. In my mind this just a stall tactic by Microsoft to delay the adoption of UC in order to develop their own call control or potentially acquire a certain Indiana based Windows based PBX developer.
In my opinion, if Microsoft cannot own the space, they won’t play in it, probably the underlying reason why they chose NOT to partner with the clear market leader in the UC space – Cisco.
Now for the local news….
Two of our biggest competitors, and well known Cisco partners were actually sponsors of Microsoft's Boston UC launch event – what does that say about their commitment to Cisco? Not much if you ask me. Spending thousands to support an initiative that so clearly goes against their #1 partner, Cisco, makes me question their dedication.
At the end of the day, none of this really matters. Once the dust settles in the desktop/network war, the name of the game is doing what is in the best interest of the customer. The goal is to create a seamless, pain-free user experience, while at the same time providing a valuable service. The user doesn’t care about who wins – desktop or network, the user doesn’t care about the logo that sits on the device or application, the user doesn’t care about the manufacturers partnerships – what the user cares about is the ability to create greater efficiencies and productivity among their workers, most notably their mobile workers. The user cares about enabling people to work smarter, not harder and finally the user cares about creating a seamless user experience in order to deliver on that promise.
So the Net Perspective is whether you choose a Unified Communications solution from Cisco or Microsoft, I encourage you to clearly articulate your goals, determine what businesses issues you need solved, and decide how to best go about solving them. Sometimes slick technology doesn’t always translate into a positive user experience.
Microsoft has drawn a clear line in the sand in terms of their long standing partnership with Cisco (NSDQ: CSCO), saying publicly how much they value the Cisco relationship, but ultimately, their goal is to dominate the UC market. This makes me wonder if the lack of early adoption to Windows Vista is making them rethink their presence in the OS space. At NetTeks, our early review of Windows Vista, has caused many users to switch other computing platforms over the past six months.
As a dedicated Cisco Silver partner, NetTeks has made a significant investment in learning, understanding and teaching others about Cisco’s Unified Communications offering. Microsoft has done a great job of promoting their products, creating industry buzz about their features but has been very quiet about the backend functionality of Microsoft UC: the call control requires another manufacturers’ PBX to be in place. That’s right – Legacy TDM technology from Nortel and other PBX vendors is being front-ended by Microsoft's UC to create a hybrid approach to this so-called solution. In my mind this just a stall tactic by Microsoft to delay the adoption of UC in order to develop their own call control or potentially acquire a certain Indiana based Windows based PBX developer.
In my opinion, if Microsoft cannot own the space, they won’t play in it, probably the underlying reason why they chose NOT to partner with the clear market leader in the UC space – Cisco.
Now for the local news….
Two of our biggest competitors, and well known Cisco partners were actually sponsors of Microsoft's Boston UC launch event – what does that say about their commitment to Cisco? Not much if you ask me. Spending thousands to support an initiative that so clearly goes against their #1 partner, Cisco, makes me question their dedication.
At the end of the day, none of this really matters. Once the dust settles in the desktop/network war, the name of the game is doing what is in the best interest of the customer. The goal is to create a seamless, pain-free user experience, while at the same time providing a valuable service. The user doesn’t care about who wins – desktop or network, the user doesn’t care about the logo that sits on the device or application, the user doesn’t care about the manufacturers partnerships – what the user cares about is the ability to create greater efficiencies and productivity among their workers, most notably their mobile workers. The user cares about enabling people to work smarter, not harder and finally the user cares about creating a seamless user experience in order to deliver on that promise.
So the Net Perspective is whether you choose a Unified Communications solution from Cisco or Microsoft, I encourage you to clearly articulate your goals, determine what businesses issues you need solved, and decide how to best go about solving them. Sometimes slick technology doesn’t always translate into a positive user experience.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
