The Decline of Workplace Productivity

June 1, 2016 by

business (1)Productivity is the quality, state, or fact of being able to generate, create, enhance, or bring forth goods and services- (dictionary.com).  And unfortunately, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics productivity in the workplace is declining and has been for many years, with no clear solution.   You can finger point and blame a group, a department, or even specific individuals, but the truth is productivity in the workplace is declining and management has very few solutions to the problem.

For more about this and other topics, follow the links below.

Workplace productivity declines: Blame millennials (employers agree)

A report by the Dallas Fed was released this morning, showing a significant decline in factory activity during the month of May. With this decline came serious concerns about an increase in labor costs coupled with a lack of productivity from workers.

Akin Oyedele of the Business Insider reported that “most other regional manufacturing indexes, including those from New York, Richmond and Chicago showed that the sector’s rebound is taking longer than anticipated.”

It is alarming to find that Dallas is not the only city to be facing manufacturing decline. “Like Dallas, there was also renewed slowdown in Chicago after a few months of recovery,” said Oyedele.People expressed concerns towards the Department of Labor’s recent changes in salary, with an overtime increase of $47,476 from $23,660 spiking business costs. The overtime salary complaint was heightened by frustrations that workers were not using their time productively, with specific complaints directed towards the younger employees.

Chika Uwazie: How to Increase Workplace Productivity

Wow, it’s another week and instead of seeing happy motivated employees eager to get back to work after the weekend; you see a zombie like crowd just shuffling their way through the doors and into their cubicles. They come to work emotionless, far from motivated and definitely not eager to get back to work. Some even go as far as wearing a T-Shirt that says “I Hate Mondays” (We get it!)

Now, many Nigerian employers do not see that these are the signs of an unmotivated workforce. In case you didn’t know, an unmotivated workforce is an unproductive workforce and an unproductive workforce is the number one killer of business success (we do not want that do we?).

Is Coffee Really Toxic to Workplace Productivity?

Coffee is the staple requirement for any good programmer, and it’s a great way to build your network. But the real cost of those coffees is higher than the price at the till.

In the Observer, writer Isaac Morehouse made a provocative proposition: the habit of grabbing coffee with colleagues or partners “just to chat” is killing our productivity.

“Let’s grab coffee and chat.”

According to Isaac Morehouse, those five words can be damning. Morehouse’s opinion is that when you become known for doing interesting things, like starting a business or writing intriguing articles, lots of people want to have coffee with you. Most of the time, he says, it’s a bad idea.

Morehouse continues:

“Face to face meetings can be valuable. There’s an energy that you don’t get any other way. But the cost is very high, and it’s rare to gain that energy with a stranger. Unless you know from interactions over email, social media, or phone that you and this person have mutual interests and will both be spurred to beneficial action by a coffee meeting, avoid it.”

 

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Busy and Productive Aren’t the Same Thing

June 1, 2016 by

business (11)It’s confusing.  There’s a big difference between being busy and being productive, but many people think they’re the same thing – especially small business owners.  They often mistake a busy employee for a productive one, usually to the business’s disadvantage.  Thousands of businesses have closed because, while they may have been busy, they weren’t productive.

This isn’t just playing with words; there’s a marked distinction between the concepts, and the actions which go with them.  A difference that’s important for owners to understand.  Many don’t have a good working knowledge of the process of or requirements for genuine productivity.

Usually, because they don’t “get it” they don’t make it a priority.  They aren’t good at managing it.  They don’t track it or, worse yet, even expect it out of their employees (or themselves, but that’s another article).  Therefore, let’s look at what it is and why it matters.

Simply put – productivity is the amount of value (money) produced divided by the amount of costs (i.e. time, supplies, personal) required to do so.  It’s calculated by dividing the output created during a specific time by the total cost used to produce it.  This formula can be used to measure the yield of many things: shifts, individuals, products, machines, crews, etc.

But, how does it actually work?  Let’s look at a composite example.

Sam had a successful machine shop with a 1st and 2nd shift.  He wanted to increase his volume, but didn’t know how to get to the next level.  He believed his employees were as productive as they could be, because when he was on the shop floor they always seemed busy.   

He was skeptical when Tim, an outside professional, challenged his beliefs.  Tim was able to document, using the formula for productivity, that the 2nd shift was more productive, therefore more profitable, than the 1st shift.  He was also able to determine the reasons why. 

Even though they worked the same total hours the 2nd shift had higher output, used fewer materials, took less time to do a job and had a smaller amount of rework.  In addition, they had lower employee turnover, fewer call offs and not as much tardiness or early clock outs. 

However, neither shift had a productivity rating over 70%.  Sam admitted that both shift foremen had talked to him about making some changes to increase the efficiency of their crews, but he hadn’t listened.  He’d thought the employee’s busyness was equal to their effectiveness.

An owner should be able to recognize which work creates value.  Typically, this means thinking and behaving differently than he has in the past.  Replacing busy work with productive work can take time and diligence, but it usually results in happier employees, higher profit and increased happiness for the owner. 

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Small Business Social Media, Cybersecurity, And Social Networking

May 20, 2016 by

54642287Many people around the globe are willing to give a lot of private information about themselves if it means they will get something of value in return.  Researchers found that among these, millennial are the most willing demographic to give information about themselves.  And although the information is of value to these companies, millennials do not seem too concerned whether this information will be use ethically or not.

To read more about this and other topics follow the links below.

What Small Businesses Need to Know About the Future of Cybersecurity and Hackers

Q: What should small businesses know about for the future of cybersecurity?

A: The truest way to frame the future of cybersecurity is to expect constant change. With estimates ranging from 20 to 50 billion connected devices coming online between now and 2020, the attack surface is expanding at an exponential rate. This fact along with hyper-connectivity brought on by new technologies like 5G will amplify the appetite of bad actors as they try new techniques to attack and disrupt your business. Our industry will continue to take on these new challenges through continuous innovation and recasting how security solutions are built and deployed.

To help thwart the efforts of cybercriminals who target businesses like yours, make it a point to stay informed of what’s going on in cybersecurity and how it may impact your business. Part of staying informed would include how contemporary security solutions are addressing these cybersecurity challenges. I would suggest taking an hour or two each week to understand the cybersecurity trends that are impacting your specific industry (health, finance, manufacturing, retail, etc.) and along the lines of the size of our business.

Why Social Networking Matters For Small Business Owners

Getting the word out about your company is one of the biggest challenges for small business owners today. No matter how great your product is, it can be hard to get noticed when your marketing budget is a fraction of the size of your bigger competitors.

Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to even the score. With websites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Periscope, and more being developed each day, it has never been easier to get more bang for your buck and to use social networking to your advantage.

People Give Money to People

It’s an old fundraising adage that people give money to people. This is not to say that a great idea doesn’t help, but at the end of the day the thing that’s going to attract customers to your brand and keep them coming back is a personal connection.

Social networking helps you make a personal connection by allowing you to give your followers access to a behind-the-scenes look at your business. The swanky Providence-based restaurant North’s Twitter feed is a great example of this kind of approach—almost every post has an image of a new menu, fresh ingredients, or a delicious-looking new dish. Including images is a key strategy for increasing intimacy and creating more effective and shareable social media content.

3 signs your small business should forego social media, and what to do instead

Wait — you thought every business needs a social media presence? Columnist Jordan Kasteler explains why being on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube may not be the right answer for a small business.

If you’re a small business owner, the title of this article may not sit well with you. After all, there’s no shortage of online articles and blog posts insisting that it’s necessary for businesses of all sizes to maintain a social media presence.

Admittedly, having a professionally crafted social media presence does benefit many large companies worldwide. Social media, when done right, can give a brand or a public figure an effective “voice” and let their personality shine. (Even Bernie Sanders can attest to social media’s branding abilities.)

Effective social media practices also can make a company more visible, as well as build trust with its consumers.

However, all this being said, a huge problem exists for small businesses that spend time and effort on social media: The return on investment is often lacking.

Countless small businesses don’t have the ability to do social media right. Is yours one of them? Here are three signs that you need to be getting out of the social media arena:

 

 

 

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Small Business Lending – Are The Terms In Your Favor?

May 4, 2016 by

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Many small business owners try to keep cash in hand to cover payroll and any other contingencies they may have month in and month out.  If some small businesses have problems meeting payroll that month, they have to come with a solution right away.  Small business loans are a solution for them, but sometimes the terms of the loan are not worth the trouble. Small businesses are the most susceptible to scams, or poor loan rates that eventually are more harmful than not.  Before you signed on a loan that you really need, be careful what you are signing for, understand the terms, and borrow only what you need and not more.  Shop around first, and if a bank is not offering the best terms for you, there are many others that will want to work with you, and your business.

For more about this and other topics follow the links below.

SMALL BUSINESS ALTERNATIVE LENDING: Alternative roads to capital will add billions to the small business lending market.

Small businesses are the backbone of the US economy. Small businesses — businesses with less than 500 employees — represent 99% of US companies, 54% of total sales, and 55% of all jobs, according to the US Small Business Administration. And these businesses need capital in order to grow.

But small businesses are underfunded — only half of small businesses with $100,000 to $1 million of annual revenue received at least some of the financing they applied for from large banks in late 2015. This is partially because banks have retreated from this segment because issuing loans to small businesses using the traditional underwriting model is expensive. This leaves a massive amount of unfulfilled loans that we estimate reached $96.5 billion in Q4 2015.

Alternative lending companies have stepped in to capitalize on the opportunity available in helping meet more small business’ lending needs. Alternative small business lending platforms use machine learning and digital tools to extend credit to a wide array of small businesses quickly and efficiently, particularly to those that have been rejected by banks. Alternative small business lending companies provide digital platforms that connect small business borrowers to capital using nontraditional means.

Small Business Loan Approval Rates Surge

Big banks have long been accused of turning a blind eye to small businesses’ credit needs, but things are changing for the better now.

According to the Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index, March 2016, the monthly analysis of more than 1,000 small business loan applications on Biz2Credit.com, loan approval rates at big banks and institutional lenders has hit new highs.

By contrast, approval rates declined slightly for small banks, credit unions, and alternative lenders.

Key Highlights

Some of the top findings of the monthly study include the following:

  • Big banks approved 23 percent funding requests in March, up two-tenths of a percent from February 2016,
  • Institutional lenders improved their approval rates to 62.8 percent, up from 62.7 percent in February,

Chase Quietly Launches Its Online Small-Business Loan Platform

Following months of behind-the-scenes work with OnDeck Capital, JPMorgan Chase has quietly started offering online loans to its existing small-business customers.

The New York megabank launched its digital lending platform on a limited basis last week, spokeswoman MaryJane Rogers confirmed Monday.

Existing Chase small-business customers are being prescreened, and some of them are being invited to apply for loans of up to $250,000, according to Brian Geary, director of platform solutions at OnDeck.

JPMorgan has roughly 4 million small-business customers. The bank declined to say how many of those clients have received invitations to apply for a loan, or when its online lending platform will be opened to a broader group of prospective applicants.

 

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Non-traditional Small Business Loan Lenders – Be Very Careful

May 4, 2016 by

59948705Not too long ago there were only a few options when a small business (SMB) owner needed a loan.  There were banks, savings and loans or credit unions.  If you didn’t qualify for a traditional loan there was always your brother-in-law who knew a guy, who knew a guy.  But, as gangster movies have taught us, that never goes well.

But, now with internet banking the choices have grown.  There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of non-traditional lenders.  They operate entirely online and are offering loans to SMBs who are considered too risky by traditional banks.  They can be just what you need or ruin your company.  Remember the lessons of the Great Recession? 

It was fueled, in part, by the housing loan industry: greed, aggressive lending practices, bad underwriting, poor regulation, dishonesty and matching customers with unsuitable products.  They put people into houses they couldn’t possibly afford with loans they didn’t understand.

There’s limited regulation of online SMB lending companies and many are following in the housing loan industry’s footsteps.  The unscrupulous ones are giving money to owners who don’t understand the loan’s terms and will never be able to service the debt.  It’s up to you, the borrower, to protect yourself by knowing what you’re getting into.

Look for companies who are transparent.  The pricing and terms (i.e. one time charges, upfront costs, administrative and origination fees) should be easy to find and understand.  The annual percentage rate (APR), which shows the loan’s true and total cost, should be prominent. 

They should be willing to answer clearly (no jargon) and completely (go over it as many times as you need) any questions you have.  They’ll provide, in writing on the website, full disclosure of all their products and services, and won’t try to steer you to ones that aren’t in your best interest.  There should be no hard up-sell or dismissal of your concerns.

Many lenders use brokers and salespeople who earn commissions from making loans.  There’s a growing problem with unscrupulous people giving SMB owners loans they have no hope of paying back – which usually results bankruptcy or re-borrowing.   An honest, ethical salesperson will reveal their commission structure and the borrower’s cost. 

Good business people take out bad loans.  Most get one with the full intention of paying it back, but then are unable to do so.  Ethical alternative lenders know the consequences of doing business with riskier customers and they work with responsible third-party debt collectors.  Their disclosures should plainly spell out your rights to fair collection practices. 

Nontraditional business loans are complex and hard to understand.  It’s easy for someone to get confused and make a bad decision.  It’s the responsibility of the SMB owner to make sure he has a fair lending experience.  Don’t put yourself in a no-win situation because you didn’t take the time to do your due diligence.

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Apps And Tools To Make Your Small Business Run Efficiently

April 28, 2016 by

Customer Relationship Management business chart on a digital tab

According to the Small business administration (SBA) small businesses in the United States have increased by 49% since the 1980s. and provide more than half the jobs in this country. And although small business owners employ many workers, their personal loads at work have increased. They do more than one job at any specific time, and their long hours seem to never be enough to catch up with the many things they have to accomplish daily.  If you find yourself in a similar situation, then this article might benefit you tremendously.  Read more by following the links below.

Top 10 mobile apps for business executives

Anyone with a smartphone or tablet knows that a good app can make life easier — and business executives are no exception. These are the top 10 consumer apps that business people turn to for day-to-day productivity.

Mobile apps for business executives

Apps make your life easier. You can place an order for nearly anything with the touch of a button, you can call a cab to your door or schedule an appointment all without talking to a live person. It seems only natural that as apps make our personal lives more efficient, they’re also making our business lives more productive and functional.

“Over the last five to 10 years we have seen enterprises move away from in-house apps to off-the-shelf or SaaS models. Many of these are consumer-grade services that are retrofitted to specific enterprise needs,” says Dan Rowinski, editor in chief of the Application Resource Center (ARC), publishers of the report and the editorial and research arm of app quality and testing company Applause.

4 Tools That Make Your Small Business Look Big

Being a small company has its benefits: You’re agile, able to change directions at a moment’s notice. You’ve got autonomy, as your business is independent of a giant conglomerate. No, you’re not attracting the same number of consumers as a household name business, but that doesn’t mean  you can’t look every bit as professional to the consumers you do reach. You can make your small business look big.

Build/Update your Website:

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) estimated last year that 50 percent of all small businesses still didn’t have a website. Without a presence on the web, your small business can easily go unnoticed by potential customers. Now the good news: It’s easier than ever to create a website, especially one that your customers can access from their mobile devices. More than 75 percent of mobile phone users access the internet through them, and the number will rise to nearly 86 percent by 2018. Google now favors sites which work well on mobile in its search results: You definitely want to be one of the top results when people go looking.

KANSAS CITY — A little over a month ago, Tony Spagnoli, an aspiring coffee roaster in Philadelphia, discovered his fledgling business had received $3,500 from Mondelez International, Inc. Specifically, the money came from Triscuit Maker Fund, a project launched with crowdfunding web site Indiegogo to support artisanal food makers. On March 23, the cracker brand invested $250,000 to help fund 55 food makers’ campaigns on Indiegogo. Ranging from microbrewers to food trucks to small farms, the businesses represent a diverse scope of backgrounds, products, size of organization and geographic location across the United States and Canada.

“The timing of the Triscuit Maker Fund was just impeccable,” Mr. Spagnoli told Food Business News. “I had reached the point where I needed new capital to do some training and buy additional equipment, and I was also in the process of changing the brand name, so I had to redo a lot of collateral and the web site.”

 

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Ohio Small Business News

April 20, 2016 by

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Last Oct. 2015 the Unemployment rate for the state of Ohio was a 4.7%, and since then it has been increasing slowly, but surely to a 5.1% as of last month. A small increase to be sure, but it does make you wonder whether there are better times to come for the state, or things are going to progressively get worse.  Small businesses in Ohio are not as optimistic as they were last year, and some are still wondering wether the minimum wage increase will have other ramifications for their businesses.  For more news bout Ohio, follow the links below.

The State of Small Business: Ohio

As part of our yearlong project “The State of Small Business,” Business News Daily plans to report on the small business environment in every state in America. In this installment, we asked a few of Ohio’s roughly 1 million small business owners about the challenges and opportunities of operating in their state. Here’s what they had to say.

Ohio’s economy has had its ups and downs over the years, experiencing decline long before the rest of the nation felt the effects of the financial crisis. In the years preceding the recession, Ohio’s manufacturing sector was hollowed out, contributing to a drop in per capita income and a drastic slowdown in growth. And while the unemployment rate has plummeted, the labor force has shed nearly 300,000 workers since its peak in late 2007, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And as employment rises, so does the demand for skilled or experienced labor, and business owners find it progressively harder to hire the employees they need at the cost they want.

However, in 2008 — amid the recession — Ohio’s per capita income started to gain compared to the national average, and the U.S.’ seventh-largest economy has seen some bright spots. Despite a difficult decade — between 2004 and 2014, the compound annual growth rate of Ohio’s GDP was an anemic 0.3 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) — entrepreneurs in Ohio are seeing promise again. For small business owners in the Buckeye State, the sentiment is tepid optimism that a fledgling startup community and the return of manufacturing in the form of tech-focused companies will propel the economy forward in the years to come.

While small business owners acknowledge that there are some downsides to increasing wages for their entry-level workers, many of these business owners also find positives in doing so, new research finds.

Nearly 60 percent of small business owners said they favor raising the minimum wage, and the same percentage said they would likely vote for a state or national candidate who supports a minimum-wage increase, according to a study from Manta, a provider of products, services and educational resources for small businesses.

The results were released as both California and New York recently approved measures to gradually increase their minimum wages to $15 per hour.

The majority of small businesses surveyed are already paying their employees above what’s required. The research revealed that 40 percent of small business owners pay entry-level employees “far above” the required minimum wages in their areas of operation, while 38 percent pay “slightly above” the minimum wage. Just 14 percent are paying the state or local minimums, and only 9 percent are paying the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

Small Business Confidence Hits New Two-Year Low

Small business confidence fell to a fresh two-year low in March amid persistent worries about sales and profits, the latest indication that economic growth braked sharply in the first quarter.

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) said on Tuesday its small business optimism index dipped 0.3 point to a reading of 92.6 last month, the lowest since February 2014.

It has declined from a reading of 100 in December 2014 and has pushed further off its 42-year average of 98.

“A ‘chartist’ looking at the data historically might conclude that the index has clearly hit a top and is flashing a recession signal. The April survey will decide whether or not the alarm should be rung,” the NFIB said in statement.

The soft reading fits in with recent economic data on consumer and business spending as well as wholesale inventory investment that have suggested economic growth slowed sharply from the fourth quarter’s 1.4 percent annualized rate.

 

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The State of Small Businesses Today

April 13, 2016 by

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The small business outlook has declined this past March, and some believe that the 7.7 decline over the last year is an indication of a possible recession. Although some small businesses are blaming the increase in minimum wage the culprit for this less than bright outlook, the United States Department of Labor disagrees.

To read more about this topic follow the links below.

As Minimum Wage Marches Toward $15, Small Businesses Adapt

In the aftermath of California and New York becoming the first states to raise the statewide minimum wage to $15, some small businesses with hourly workers are rethinking how they can absorb the increase.

The owners of Dog Haus, a chain of about 20 franchise restaurants in the West, may have customers pick up their meals at the counters in two company-owned stores instead of using servers to carry food to tables. The Pasadena, California-based company is also looking at hiring more experienced workers who can shoulder more responsibilities than entry-level staffers who earn minimum wage. For example, a cashier might now take on some administrative tasks. That way, Dog Haus could hire fewer people.

“We’ve known this has been coming for a while, and we’ve been preparing for it,” co-owner Andre Vener says.

State minimum wages have been rising the past few years as pro-labor groups including unions call for higher pay for workers, especially those at fast-food restaurants. That’s forcing small businesses that are more vulnerable to labor cost increases than large companies to reassess their operations. Some are thinking of cutting staff, and others are raising prices.

NFIB: Small-Business Gauge Is Flashing Recession Warning

Optimism among small-business owners slipped 0.3 point in March to a two-year low of 92.6, and the 7.7-point decline in the index over the last 15 months is a flashing warning signal of a possible recession, the National Federation of Independent Business said.

April’s Index of Small Business Optimism could determine whether a recession alarm should be rung, according to William Dunkelberg, NFIB chief economist.

Regulations were small firms’ top concern, with 21% listing it as their primary worry, followed by 20% of respondents who cited taxes as their main worry.

New York and California are two states that have passed gradual raises of their minimum wage to $15 per hour — moves hailed by unions but criticized by small businesses.

Supporters of the wage hikes have targeted blue-chip companies such as McDonald’s (MCD) andWal-Mart (WMT), but opponents argue that the pay raises will hurt small firms and their workers more.

Small Business Owners In Ohio Cautious On Economy

Ohio’s small- and mid-sized business owners are turning more cautious about the economy, both locally and nationally, as they fret about the presidential campaign and the stock market, according to a PNC Bank survey.

The survey found that 41 percent of business owners are pessimistic about the U.S. economy, about the same as in the fall survey, but up from 31 percent last spring. When it comes to their local economy, 35 percent are pessimistic, up from 26 percent in the fall.

“There was definitely more pessimism about economic conditions,” said Mekael Teshome, a PNC economist. “But Ohio business owners’ sentiment about their own business is remarkably quite stable.”

Pittsburgh-based PNC conducted the survey from Jan. 21 through March 8. At the time, there were worries about the economy slowing or even slipping into a recession and the stock market was tumbling. Also, 61 percent said they were not satisfied that the presidential candidates were addressing the key issues for business.

 

 

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CyberSecurity And Your Business

April 5, 2016 by

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Billions of dollars are spend yearly in cyber security globally, and according to the most recent surveys, that amount is likely to reach $101 billion by the year 2018.

But, although billions of dollars are spend trying to secure the amount of information hackers or other people have access to, many cyber analysts believe that spending more in cyber security does not necessarily mean better security.

For more about this topic, follow the links below.

Mobile Messaging Apps: 8 Tips For Keeping Your Workplace Secure

The old struggles over BYOD have been replaced with application struggles, as employees use favorite mobile messaging apps for enterprise purposes. As with BYOD, pushing back isn’t the answer. Innovating forward is.

Using popular third-party messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Snapchat for business communication can introduce a level of discomfort for IT, as well as for your legal, corporate, and governance and compliance teams. In many ways, it’s like the early days of the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) movement; these days it’s all about Bring Your Own Apps.

“The issue of employees using personal social media accounts/networks, and their non-work personas, for business purposes is very real and it does impact IT, especially when considering that electronic communications should be retained for legal and regulatory purposes,” Mike Pagani, the chief evangelist at Smarsh, told InformationWeek in an interview.

Smarsh offers an archiving platform that supports social media, text messages, email, and other platforms so that they’re indexed, policy-checked, able to be supervised, and easily retrievable if they’re needed for auditing or litigation.

A reality check for security leaders on insider risk

Mike Tierny shares his insights on successfully implementing processes to combat insider risk by engaging the right people at the right time in the program.

“I trust the people in my company. I still monitor everyone.”

That statement came during the MISTI CISO Leadership Summit I lead on Sunday at InfoSecWorld. One of the security leaders made that comment during our session on trust. It got a lot of nods and even more discussion.

Just the week prior, I talked with Mike Tierney (LinkedIn, @mikejtierney) the COO of Veriato Inc. about the reality of insider threat and our need to engage others in the process. As COO, Mike is ultimately responsible for organizational security.  His insight on insider risk is forged by experience and his success implementing processes across the organization.

During our conversation, he talked about the leadership approach of engaging others in the process – before we have problems. He shared some things I hadn’t seen implemented before. Approaches that made sense.

Cybersecurity spending: more does not necessarily mean better

Cybersecurity is not something you can just buy, but something you should thoroughly build.

Last week, I had a great opportunity to explore the APAC cybersecurity market and meet many brilliant people during Black Hat Asia 2016. Singapore’s economic miracle made its cybersecurity market as attractive as the North American one, attracting the largest security vendors to the region.

Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) protection, Threat Intelligence, Enterprise Immune Systems, Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB), User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) – these are just a few of the offerings currently available on the cybersecurity market. I bet that many security industry professionals (including myself) hardly understand the real meaning of some of these terms, or to be more precise – the real difference between them and the generic terms existing for years. But this is a topic for a dedicated article, and in this piece we would rather concentrate on cybersecurity budgets and related challenges.

 

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Financial Cyber Attacks – A Growing Management Problem (Part 2)

April 5, 2016 by

Customer Relationship Management business chart on a digital tabAs we discussed last month, criminals are increasingly targeting small businesses for financial cyber attacks.  These attacks have included: stealing customer and company data to sell, high-jacking and holding the information system for ransom, and taking money.  Small companies are under fire because they’re low hanging fruit.

Owners who would never leave the doors unlocked on their building or office are leaving their cyber doors wide open.  They have installed locks, security systems and gates against the local “physical” criminals, yet all but put out a Welcome mat for the cyber ones anywhere else in the world.

But, it doesn’t have to be that way – with a little discipline and some common sense procedures you can prevent or minimize the possibility of a successful attack.  Here are some suggestions.

Scrutinize emails

Create an awareness program about phony emails, which you and your employees follow.  Fake emails are used to plant malware and spyware, which allows thieves access to the system (i.e. account numbers and amounts, passwords, transaction history, credit card numbers). Don’t open links or attachments unless you’re very sure you know who they’re from. 

Another popular ruse is to use realistic emails to initiate money transfers to outside accounts.  The thief, via email, poses as a manager and asks an employee to transfer money from a company account to an outside one.  An employee, properly trained, will make sure the request is legitimate before sending the money.

Avoid Wi-Fi

Smartphones and tablets have made it easy to do work anywhere.  But, it’s also made it easy for hackers to easily access your information.  Wi-Fi connections are notorious for having weak security – no matter what the sign on the door says. 

Would you trust a stranger to lock up your office every night?  Then why would you trust the owner (or a major corporation) of the local coffee shop to protect your important data, especially when the chances are very good that they aren’t protecting their own.

Use your bank as a partner

Your bank wants you to succeed – it’s good for you, it’s good for them and it’s good for the community.  Sit down with someone and find out what options they have for safeguarding your accounts.  They probably have some you don’t know about.

Do they have two-factor authentication?  It requires unfamiliar account users/devices to supply additional information.  Do they have software that flags attempted logins from unfamiliar sources?  If the bank doesn’t recognize a login they will send a one-time access code to a separate device of your choosing.  Can they provide text messages for each withdrawal?

Many small business owners don’t know that companies don’t have the same fraud protection consumers have.  Depending on the bank’s policies and the agreement you signed with them they may not be liable for stolen money.  Some banks provide fraud protection only when specific security measures are in place. 

Financial cyber attacks aren’t going to decrease, nor will they ever be “fixed”.  They’ll increase in frequency and sophistication, while having moving target solutions.  The cost of doing business in the internet age is realizing the problem isn’t going away, and it’s time to start dealing with it now, rather than later when all your money has disappeared.

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