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Posts for December 2013
Just before you head off for Christmas...
December 20, 2013
As far as technology is concerned, 2013 has been a pretty busy year. Barely a week has passed without a major tech story hitting the headlines, demonstrating how technology and the internet have become central to our lives.
Technology is key to business success too, of course, and so we’ve done our best to keep you updated with important stories and developments throughout the year.
Some of these have been pretty cutting-edge, like the launch of Google Glass and the emergence of a fingerprint reader on Apple’s latest iPhone.
But looking back through our visitor statistics, it’s plain to see that many companies are still grappling with more down-to-earth issues. Some of our most popular content this year has been on topics that might be seen as dull-but-necessary, like sorting out your intranet, dealing with computer health and safety and working out if your IT support contract is fair.
In 2014 we’ll keep covering both day-to-day tech issues and emerging trends. But before the year ends, here’s a quick round-up of five key issues from 2013.
1. The broadband divide continues
Almost a year ago, a report into the state of broadband revealed a dilemma: do we make basic broadband available to everyone, or prioritise providing higher-speed broadband in most areas?
12 months on and there’s still a divide between the broadband haves and have-nots. If you’re in an area where the latest fibre broadband connections are available then you’re probably very happy. And, overall, broadband in the UK compares pretty well with the rest of Europe.
2. ‘Bring your own device’ is here to stay
The experts told us that the number of employees using their own devices for work was going to increase, and they were right.
We’ve covered the ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) phenomenon at length, and it’s fair to say that if your company hasn’t yet been affected by it, it’s only a matter of time. Like anything, BYOD has benefits as well as drawbacks, so it’s not a bad idea to learn the basics.
3. Security is as important as ever
There has been no shortage of high-profile security incidents this year. Back in March the biggest ever distributed denial of service attack highlighted the internet’s vulnerability, causing connection dropouts and slowdowns for many people.
We’ve also discovered that plenty of people still don’t bother with backups, that security breaches can cost you thousands and that even your own staff can be on the take.
As a result, we recently updated and added to our security advice on the site. A good place to start is this expert advice on security software.
4. Cookie messages are a sign of things to come
In response to the EU cookie law, loads of websites now display messages about the cookies they use to track visitor behaviour and provide certain functions.
So far it’s debatable whether this plague of warnings has done anything other than simply clutter up websites with messages that are rarely read or understood.
However, it’s perhaps a sign of developments to come — for instance, the Do Not Track initiative makes it easier for people to opt out of website tracking, and could make it harder for your business to monitor how people use your website.
5. Windows XP is over
Microsoft is ending support for Windows XP, its venerable operating system that has served many businesses well for years. This means from April there will be no more updates to fix security issues, putting your business at risk if you keep on using it.
You need to act soon on this one and think about upgrading to a newer operating system — probably Windows 7 or 8, depending on your circumstances. Here’s some more information — and do speak an IT supplier if you need help.
And finally...
We’re signing off for Christmas, taking a break while we recharge with some mince pies, The Great Escape on the telly and — almost certainly — the occasional festive photo on Twitter.
But just before we go, don’t miss our favourite story from 2013, about the hackable Japanese toilet and the photocopier that changes your documents. Truly, technology is wonderful.
Have a great end to 2013 — we’ll be back as normal in January.
IT for donuts: how to organise websites you want to check regularly
December 20, 2013
IT for donuts is our regular Friday feature where we explain a tech term or answer a common question about business IT. This week: how to keep an eye on websites you want to check regularly.
When you're running a business, there are lots of websites to which you'll regularly turn for information, inspiration, news and updates. We explain how to organise them logically.
We've assumed you use Google Chrome, but have linked to instructions for other web browsers too.
Prioritise your regular websites
The first thing to do is to work out how often you want to check each website.
For the sake of this example, let's say there are three sites you use every day, six you visit once a fortnight, and 20 others that you know you'll want to revisit but are unsure how often.
Websites to check daily
To give you easy access to the three most-important websites, set up your web browser so it shows them when you open it.
To do this in Google Chrome, choose the menu button, then Settings. Find the On startup heading and then choose Select pages to set which pages should open when you start up Chrome.
(See full instructions for Chrome, Internet Explorer and Firefox.)
Drag websites to your toolbar
You can drag your six websites to check fornightly to your web browser's bookmarks bar. This is a row of links at the top of the window, like this:
To save a website here in Chrome, visit the site and then select the star button to the right of the website's address. Choose Bookmarks bar in the box that appears, then select Done.
You'll see the websites appear in the bookmarks bar, where you can view them in one click.
(See full instructions for Chrome, Internet Explorer and Firefox.)
File other sites in your bookmarks
The other 20 sites that you check now and again belong in your main bookmarks list. To add each, just visit the site and select the star button again. This time, choose Other bookmarks instead of the bookmarks bar.
You can also file these sites into folders within your bookmarks, to make it easier to keep track of them.
(Learn more about bookmarks in Chrome, Internet Explorer and Firefox.)
How do you keep track of your most important websites? Leave a comment and let us know.
Related articles:
- Handy web browser shortcuts
- How to reopen a website you closed by mistake
- Save a web page as an image
Previous IT for donuts posts:
The big 2014 tech predictions list: which experts have it right?
December 19, 2013
Predictions. They can be tricky to get right. We asked experts what they thought would be the big tech developments in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Their success at predicting the future was variable, to say the least.
Rob Collins was spot on early this year when he said Windows 8 adoption would be slow. On the flipside, 3D PowerPoint never gained any popularity, although frankly we’re baffled as to why anyone ever thought it would.
With the end of another December nearly upon us, this year we've asked more experts than ever what's ahead in 2014. How many of these predictions do you think will come true?
1. Advertisers pile into augmented reality
Jack Schofield writes The Guardian’s Ask Jack column. He told us that 2014 might be the year augmented reality gets a foothold:
“I think augmented reality might finally make a breakthrough on smartphones (rather than Google Glass), but mainly for advertising. If I'm right, you may hear about Aurasma, Metaio, Vuzix, Blippar, Wikitude or Qualcomm's Vuforia. One or two of these could be big.”
If you’re not familiar with the idea, augmented reality (AR) layers digital information on top of the real world. With AR, if you hold your smart phone up when you’re walking down the street, it’ll point you towards shops offering deals for you. An annoyance for consumers, or a marketing opportunity for your business?
2. More businesses use virtual teams to grow
Francesca Geens runs Digital Dragonfly, a firm that helps independent professionals get, maintain and improve the technology they need. She told us 2014 will be the year of virtual teams:
"Businesses are going to grow and collaborate more through virtual teams, which means products that allow for virtual collaboration will mature and grow.
"Watch out for the next versions of file-sharing services like Dropbox, Google Drive, SharePoint and so on — plus voice and face-time sharing tools like Skype, Lync, Google Hangouts and newbies like Sqwiggle.
"I’ll be looking for new features or services that make it easier for scattered teams to deliver projects, work as teams and develop their corporate cultures online."
If working remotely is going to get even easier, perhaps where your staff are physically located will become less important in 2014.
3. More people buy more stuff on mobile
Roy Blanga, UK MD of group-buying giant Groupon, thinks mobile tech will extend its influence too:
“Mobile commerce revenue is expected to reach €19.2bn in Europe by 2017 and in North America, nearly 50% of our subscribers’ transactions are on mobile devices.”
“I predict that real-time, location-based mobile targeting will be a major tech trend for SMEs in 2014, as physical and digital worlds continue to converge.
“Central to this will be the development of predictive apps that can detect consumers’ locations and reach them on the move ensuring they get the same level of service with digital.”
“For example, if customers immediately receive information, offers and deals to their mobile devices when they are in the vicinity, they will be encouraged to visit and buy from local businesses.”
4. The internet of things creates a data explosion
Karen Tegan Padir is chief technology officer at Progress, a company that helps organisations develop applications to manage data. She says that more devices means more data — and that makes things harder for businesses trying to make sense of that information:
“The Internet of Things — composed of wearable personal technology, smart consumer and medical devices, as well as connected machines and sensors located all around the planet — is about to make the challenge even greater.”
“These devices are going to ignite an explosion of new data that must be harnessed, meaning scalability and complexity will take on new meaning. Furthermore, ever improving ‘smarts’ will mean device-to-device 'conversations’ will start to become more important than user-to-user ‘conversations’.”
Hmmm. Machines talking to each other? That reminds us of an upcoming blog post explaining how you could soon be able to communicate directly with your online shopping. More on that in early January.
5. Google gets (even) smarter
Rand Fishkin is CEO of Moz, one of the biggest and best sources of search engine optimisation advice out there. He sees Google getting cleverer in 2014, employing new techniques to weed out poor websites from its search results:
“I believe in 2014, we're going to see Google continue to lean away from links and keywords as the core of its relevancy and ranking systems towards more complex signals that are harder to manipulate.
“As part of that, I see crackdowns coming for links in embeds (infographics in particular, but probably other kinds as well), for keyword-focused sites (exact match domains are an obvious example, but more broadly, sites that focus on hyper-keyword-targeted landing pages with lots of anchor text), and, possibly, for so-called ‘off-topic’ content that is clearly trying to game Google rather than provide relevant value for a site's audience.”
If he’s right, this means Google is going to further improve how it distinguishes between content people will find genuinely useful, and pages created simply to rank highly. If you publish content on your blog or website, best to keep it interesting and original. But then you’re doing that already, right?
6. The shine comes off the cloud
Alexander Gostev is chief security researcher at Kaspersky Lab. He reckons security concerns could start to slow the rush to the cloud:
“The cloud is facing tough times. Firstly, trust in cloud storage has been hit hard by Snowden’s leaks and the realisation that our data is being collected by various state-sponsored intelligence services. At the same time, the types of data being stored in these facilities are becoming ever more attractive to cyber-criminals.”
“Hackers are targeting cloud service employees, seeing them as the weakest link in the security chain. A successful attack here could hand cybercriminals the keys to huge volumes of data.”
Although many security experts still rate the cloud as safer than your own servers for storing data, are concerns putting you off the cloud?
7. Everyone ends up upgrading
Santiago Alviar-Baquero is head of SMB and distribution for northern Europe at Toshiba. His prediction that many companies will upgrade next year seems somewhat obvious — so it’s probably the most likely to come true:
“Although companies are slowly and steadily drifting towards more modern and mobile technologies, we expect 2014 to be the year of the upgrade. There’s a simple reason for this: in April, we’ll see the end of support for Windows XP.”
“Businesses are going to be looking to upgrade both their operating systems and hardware. For start-up firms and small companies, this means the incentive to move to more lightweight, portable and powerful devices, such as ultrabooks and tablets, will be greater than ever.”
(In case you missed it, here’s another reminder: if you’re using Windows XP, upgrade sooner rather than later.)
8. Jetpacks. We want jetpacks!
In amongst all these serious predictions, one stood out. You can keep your augmented reality and forget about keeping up with Google, if only you’ll give us this one exciting new piece of technology. As John Eccleston told us:
“Jetpacks, surely? We've been waiting ages, and despite all the promises I've still got to use public bloody transport.”
If 2014 turns out to brings us those, you can safely say it’ll be a year to remember.
Tech predictions from previous years:
Will wearable tech be big in 2014?
December 18, 2013
I met a bloke wearing Google Glass a couple of weeks ago. The opportunity for conversation was brief, as I was on the down escalator in a tube station, but I managed to ask how he was finding it.
“It’s switched off at the moment,” was his initial response, “but it’s really useful when it’s turned on.” He then veered off towards his platform, so I didn’t get the chance to ask him to expand on this insightful evaluation of Google’s headline-grabbing smart glasses.
It’s becoming normal
The encounter got me thinking though: a year ago, if I’d seen someone wearing glasses that can understand speech, give directions and record video, I would have been astounded. But 12 months later my reaction was simply mild surprise.
It just goes to show how quickly things change. It made me wonder what wearable technology holds for us in 2014 — and what opportunities this emerging sector will bring for business.
Wearable tech is on the way
Wearable technology is about much more than Google Glass. While these smart glasses have caused controversy and excitement, other wearable tech already available includes:
- Fitbit, a wireless tracking device that measures how active you are and encourages you to do more exercise.
- Jawbone UP, a similar device that tracks how you sleep, exercise and eat.
- Samsung’s Galaxy Gear, a ‘smart watch’ that lets you make phone calls and send texts.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Gadgets proposed or under development include clothing that connects to your Facebook account, a ring that acts as your bus pass and a nappy that monitors the health of your baby.
Wearable tech and your business
Quite simply, we’re going to see a wave of wearable devices hit the market in 2014. Some will succeed. Many won’t.
But it seems obvious that wearable technology will bring advantages and opportunities for businesses. For instance, it’s not hard to see how something like Google Glass could be useful in a warehouse or factory environment.
Some firms will be keen to develop wearable tech themselves. Others will rush to release apps that work with gadgets produced by other companies.
It’s early days, but if you’re interested in learning more about wearable technology then you could do worse than head to the Olympia Conference Centre in London next March. That’s when the UK’s first wearable technology show will take place — and a great chance for you to see what’s coming in this new sector.
- ‘Ok Glass, let’s revitalised the High Street’
- Are we using technology, or is it using us?
- What’s next after tablet computers?
Image of Google Glass via Flickr user Ted Eytan, under Creative Commons.
If your customers don’t know what SSL is, do you need it?
December 17, 2013
The average internet shopper doesn’t have a clue what an SSL certificate. Come to think of it, do you know what an SSL certificate is?
If not, here’s a brief explanation: an SSL certificate allows your website to display the secure padlock when people visit it. It also encrypts data transferred between your website and its visitors (like their credit card details), so it can’t be accessed by online criminals.
If you sell online, it is important to have an SSL certificate — and not just because it protects your customer’s card details. Here’s why:
1. Your customers do care about security
Just because your customers don’t know what an SSL certificate is doesn’t mean they don’t want reassurance when they’re shopping online.
Many factors help determine whether online shoppers feel safe enough to make a purchase from you, and you don’t control all of them. For instance, you can’t invent a trusted brand that’s been around for a hundred years.
However, you can make your customers feel more at ease by displaying an SSL certificate. One study found 94% of consumers were more likely to proceed with an online purchase when they saw the Norton Secured Seal during checkout.
2. It’s a legal requirement
Every website owner has a responsibility to make sure the data their website collects or uses is kept safe.
This responsibility may be a legal obligation, depending on what type of data you collect or use. If you process credit card details, for example, it’s essential that this data is securely encrypted.
3. Your reputation could be at risk
Barely a week goes by without news of data being stolen or hacked. Just one such incident can damage your company’s reputation.
Don’t think this will ever happen to your business? The numbers don’t look great: according to government figures, 76% of small companies suffered a security breach in 2012. What’s more, experts have warned that smaller companies are increasingly being targeted by online criminals.
- SSL encryption for your website explained
- Hackers: they’re everywhere, every day
- Protect your business from a cyber attack
This post was written by John Philips from SSLs.com, a reseller of SSL certificates.
IT for Donuts: great tech gadgets and stocking fillers for Christmas
December 13, 2013
Christmas is a time for giving and for receiving. But no matter whether you're looking for the ideal tech present for someone or need to put together your own gift list, it's tricky to know what to choose.
Looking for a tablet under £200? At the time of writing, Amazon will give you 325 different options. You're going to need some help finding the best, so for this week's IT for Donuts we give you our pick of tech gadgets and gifts this Christmas.
Seasonal smart phones
If you're looking for a safe bet smart phone that won't need replacing for a couple of years and has a wow-factor, there are a couple of obvious choices. Apple's iPhone 5S is a stunning piece of design that still feels fresh and capable, and the Samsung Galaxy S4 is a great Android handset.
With both priced at around £549 when bought outright, they're not exactly cheap. More wallet-friendly options include the Sony Xperia SP, a capable handset that clocks in at £329.
Tip-top tablets
Tablet computers will be top of many Christmas lists this year. If budget isn't an issue, you won't go far wrong with an iPad. The latest model is the iPad Air, with its crisp 9.7" screen (from £399). However, if you're buying for someone who already has a laptop, they might prefer the 7.9" iPad Mini instead (from £319).
If that's too much to spend, there are loads of cheaper options available, like Google's Nexus 7 or Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX (both from £199). Tesco also offes the Hudl. At just £119 it's a total bargain, if you can find a store with stock.
Original stocking fillers
Ok, if tablets and smart phones are off the menu then there are loads of cheaper tech gifts and stocking fillers to choose from. Here are some ideas:
- You'd be amazed at what a difference a new mouse can make to comfort levels at work. Try Microsoft's Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 or the Logitech MX Performance Mouse.
- Mouse too boring? How about this Wi-Fi detecting t-shirt? It lights up whenever you're in range of a wireless network — and it's a bargain £14.99.
- The Pebble Smartstick charger (£18.99) is good for anyone you know who's always letting their phone run flat, because it gives you a boost on the go.
- If you're buying for someone with an inner geek, check out the Raspberry Pi. This cheap computer (from £25) is designed to help people learn code and get creative.
What gadgets are you buying this Christmas? Leave a comment and let us know the bargains you've picked up.
Previous IT for Donuts advice:
Watch out for spear phishing
December 11, 2013
Every day, it seems there’s a new online scam ready to catch up the unwary. Recently it was cyber-criminals posing as a dating agency on LinkedIn in order to harvest data from unsuspecting users of the professonal networking site.
This was a so-called ‘spear phishing’ attack, where online criminals target specific people rather than sending out messages at random. Top corporations and media outlets are increasingly becoming victims of these scams — but that doesn’t mean smaller companies aren’t at risk too.
Spear phishing is an example of social engineering, which sees online scammers manipulate people into sharing sensitive information about themselves or others.
It’s easy to fall victim and there’s no shame in it. These criminals are good at what they do, using flattery, confidence tricks and deception to get the information they want.
Social networks and email are two of the most common routes through which scammers will try and contact you or people in your business. To help you stay safe, here are five ways to avoid falling victim to a spear phishing attack:
- Always use your common sense. The most important thing to remember is not to automatically trust any email. Don’t let the presence of familiar personal information in a message lull you into a false sense of security.
- Post minimal personal information on social media. Yes, it’s tempting to tell everyone when it’s your birthday on Twitter, or that your son is called Oli, but it’s really better not to reveal information like birthdays, anniversaries or the names and ages of your children. You can always use single letters or initials in place of full names, if you have to tweet about little Johnny’s every move.
- If an email requests immediate action, do a little research. Scammers will try and stop you thinking for too long by creating a sense of urgency — like requesting you reply immediately to secure a special offer. Google the company name and get a contact number to ensure the email is valid.
- Be careful with emails that relate to current events. For example, emails about the royal baby or the scandal of the moment could well contain links to malicious web sites. Back in 2012, photos of Emma Watson could have been a threat to your company.
- Don’t assume emails from people you know are safe. Cyber criminals can collect a colleague’s email address from social networks or the internet and send email to you that looks like it is from them.
The bottom line is that vigilance is key to staying safe from a spear phishing attack.
It may seem like an inconvenience to do extra research when you receive a message you’re unsure about, but in the end it’s worth the time to know who you’re dealing with.
- Three ways to stay safe from the phisher-men
- Avoid this IT support telephone scam
- Three ways to avoid online scams
This post is from Espion, a firm specialising in IT security.
How to organise your email archive
December 09, 2013
Companies are creating and keeping more data than ever — and some businesses are getting excited about what they can use all this ‘big data’ for.
Yet the reality for many companies is that the data explosion actually equals data frustration. For all but the most disturbingly-organised individuals, essential documents are hard to locate. Files get saved in the wrong folder — and email is often the most-disorganised data of all.
Organising 12,000 emails a year
If you work in a typical office, there’s a good chance you use Microsoft Outlook to send and receive email. If you receive 50 emails a day, that’s over 12,000 emails hitting your inbox in a year.
If you decide to archive them all (after all, who knows when you might need a particular email in the future?) then finding a specific email soon becomes hard work.
In this sort of situation, the only option is to undertake an email search. And then wait. With email folders — especially the sent folder — extending into the tens or hundreds of thousands of emails, the standard Outlook search process is inadequate.
Outlook search is broken
In addition to being incredibly slow, the way Outlook works makes it difficult to find any email if you can’t remember the entire recipient list — which is hardly helpful.
It’s not uncommon for it to take over 15 minutes to find an email. Sometimes you’ll fail completely and give the whole thing up as a bad job. What a ridiculous waste of what should be highly productive time.
The problem is that even if you have a proper email archive system in place, most of these solutions are about storage, not retrieval.
Yet in a world of exploding data, effective information retrieval is an essential business tool. Most email users would bite your hand off for fast, guaranteed access to email, like a Google-style keyword search that rapidly locates the right information.
Email archive + keyword search
By combining an archive of every email sent and received with keyword search, you get a faster way to locate messages and documents that have been misfiled.
With the right approach, there is no need for big data to constrain your productivity. You can keep all your emails and find the one you’re looking for, when you need it — enabling you to be more productive.
Blog by Andrew Millington of Exclaimer
Can Microsoft Research predict your passwords?
December 06, 2013
Here's a nice little tool that can keep you occupied this Friday afternoon and help you understand how hackers go about guessing passwords.
It's called Telepathwords, and it's been created by a team at Microsoft Research. It tells you how bad your passwords are by trying to guess the next letter as you type.
It uses real-world data — including passwords that have been made public by security breaches, and phrases commonly used online — to provide three 'best guesses' each time you enter a letter.
This reflects the kind of technique hackers might use when trying to guess passwords with brute force (basically, trying loads of passwords until they find one that works).
Once you've typed your whole password, you can see how many characters Telepathwords was able to guess. Five or more ticks above your password shows that it's reasonably strong.
More advice about passwords:
IT for donuts: can you use home broadband for business?
December 06, 2013
IT for donuts is our regular Friday feature where we explain a tech term or answer a question about business IT.
This week: can you use home broadband for business?
Home broadband for business
Most broadband suppliers offer a range of packages for home and business users. You’ll usually pay more for a business package which, on the face of it, might look very similar to the equivalent home option.
Home and business packages usually use the same technology and infrastructure. Your data travels on the same wires no matter which you plump for.
And for that reason, sole traders and the smallest businesses should find a home connection more than adequate — as long as it has no download limit.
However, if losing your internet connection — even briefly — would cause you to lose money, then it’s probably worth paying extra for a business package.
What’s different about business broadband?
Business broadband packages tend to be a little more reliable and provide a better level of service. Every provider is different, but a business broadband package will typically offer:
- Better peak-time speeds. Internet service providers sometimes restrict connection speeds when lots of their customers are online at once. Often, business packages receive priority, meaning you won’t suffer the same restrictions.
- Faster uploads. Home packages are for people who download (receive) lots of data but upload (send) little. If your business uploads lots of data (for instance, to a cloud backup service), this can be limiting.
- Unlimited downloads. Many home packages restrict the amount of data you can download each month. Some business packages do, too — but the limits are usually more generous and unlimited services are more common.
- Better support. It’s when things go wrong that having business broadband should really pay off. You’ll often receive priority support and have a service level agreement, guaranteeing that problems will be fixed within a certain amount of time.
- Easier remote access. Many business packages include a static IP address, which identifies your systems on the internet and makes it easier for employees to connect remotely. Home broadband packages typically charge extra for this, or don’t offer it at all.
Choosing a broadband connection is about more than deciding whether to go for a home or business package. But as a general rule, home broadband packages are really only suitable for smaller businesses that could cope ok if their connection went down for a significant period of time.
Related information:
- How to cope without broadband
- Get the right broadband for your business
- Broadband supplier checklist
Previous IT for donuts posts:
Are security fears holding you back?
December 04, 2013
Here’s some good news for you: more businesses are taking IT and security risks seriously.
Security is no longer a topic that’s relegated to IT departments or individual staff members. A survey of UK organisations by risk management specialists NTT Com Security found that 56% of respondents discuss security and risk either routinely or frequently at board level.
The IT fear factor
However, as businesses become more aware of potential security risks, it seems a fear factor may be kicking in. The same survey found that concerns over information security and risk have stopped a project or business idea progressing in nearly half (49%) of organisations surveyed.
So, how do you monitor and manage the risks your company faces, without becoming paralysed? After all, if you paid attention to every online horror story then you’d probably shut up shop and find a nice, non-internet business to run, instead.
Get to grips with your security
There’s a strong argument to say that companies with the best handle on their security are the ones that see it as an opportunity.
Being proactive, identifying and managing risks and taking steps early can actually give you an advantage in the market. For instance, clients and customers like it when they know they can trust you to keep them safe.
But proactive security isn’t something many businesses do well. Only 1 in 5 organisations surveyed said they base their security spending on risks they’ve actually assessed.
The rest, presumably, take a range of basic security precautions and then react to other problems as they occur.
Proactive security is best
Neal Lillywhite, SVP Northern Europe at NTT, says that although businesses are aware they should take a proactive approach to managing risks, most don’t yet put this into practice:
“While the majority see a benefit to having a proactive approach when assessing the risk of information assets, the fact that still only a fifth base their spending on assessed risk shows there is plenty of room for improvement.”
If your business is one of the 4 in 5 that doesn’t do a good job of assessing the risks it faces, it’s probably time to start. And as there’s no time like the present, why not find out how to perform an IT security risk assessment right now?
Why it's harder than ever to switch off from work
December 03, 2013
Finding it hard to switch off is not a new phenomenon for business owners.
When you put your heart and soul (not to mention your savings) into something, it’s understandably hard to stop thinking about it — even if it’s the weekend, your holiday or an important family event.
To some extent, that’s just the way it is, and the way it’s always been. Most people know the score when they start their company.
But a new report from Lloyds, Big issues for small businesses (PDF link), has found half the UK’s microbusinesses and sole-traders believe they now work harder than ever. And they think technology is at least partly to blame.
Keeping up in an instant world
The spread of laptops, tablets and smart phones into nearly every aspect of our lives has enabled us to stay connected with our businesses, even outside of working hours.
But as connectivity has improved, it seems customer expectations have sharpened too. Around nine in ten (87%) of business owners surveyed believe that providing a quick response to enquiries is critical to securing new business.
30% feel under pressure to stay constantly connected, just in case they miss out on a lead. And 70% worry that neglecting their online presence puts them at risk of being left behind.
Totally dependent on technology?
If you hadn’t realised it already, the report confirms that many microbusinesses rely on technology completely in order to stay afloat. With all its advantages and drawbacks, technology is here to stay.
However, that doesn’t mean it’s not a source of anxiety. 46% of respondents worry about knowing how to use the latest communication channels. For 28%, just trying to keep up with the latest devices is a worry.
The consequences of all this are predictable. Nearly half (47%) of the business owners surveyed said they’re unable to ever switch off from work completely. Two in five are working longer hours to keep up.
Wasn’t new technology meant to give us more spare time, not less?
How to handle Cyber Monday
December 02, 2013
In what can only be a carefully-timed PR move, Amazon has this morning secured impressive coverage by announcing that it's testing the use of drones for deliveries.
Why so carefully-timed? Well, today just so happens to be Cyber Monday, the day when online sales peak in the run-up to Christmas. Experts are predicting that internet spending today could hit £500m, making it the biggest online shopping day in history.
Self-fulfilling?
Never mind that drone deliveries are likely still years off — what matters to Amazon is that it has got its brand into the BBC website's top 'most read' slot on the busiest digital retail day of the year.
While it's true that Cyber Monday has become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy, there is no doubt that the first Monday in December is a key online shopping day. So, if you sell online, it could pay to be prepared.
Last-minute Cyber Monday preparations
Ok, so without the PR budget of Amazon you're unlikely to secure similar levels of brand coverage. However, if you sell online, there are still things you can do to make sure you handle Cyber Monday well.
It's a little late now to do anything more than last-minute preparations, of course. But you can certainly make sure that your website's working properly and you're ready to handle orders that arrive:
- Check your website is functioning ok. At any time of year, website downtime means lost revenue. But on the busiest day of the year, the impact will obviously be higher. Have you checked it today yet? Go on, do a test order right now.
- Postpone non-essential maintenance. There is absolutely no point in doing anything that could hit your website sales on the busiest day of the year. Updating your website's software? Just wait till tomorrow.
- Consider upping your online advertising. It depends on your budget and your market, of course. But in general, more consumers will be online today hunting for gifts. You could reach more of them by increasing your online advertising spend.
- Be ready to pack and ship orders. One of the most effective ways to keep your customers happy is to pack and send orders quickly. Now's the time to nip out for bubblewrap and sticky tape, if you're running low.
- Think about staying late. Retailers including Amazon and John Lewis expect sales to peak this evening, from 6pm — 9pm. It might be worth hanging on in the office, just to make sure your website keeps running smoothly.
How have you found Cyber Monday in previous years? Does it deliver a boost to your bottom line, or is it nothing more than a load of hype?
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