The New CIO | Bellwether Winter 2017

Volume 8 | Winter 2017

SERVICE ORIENTED CIO p.20 The

New The

New COMPANY CHAMPION The

p.44

4 KEYS TO A

SUCCESSFUL

CFO-CIO RELATIONSHIP p.6

CIO MYTHS, MISCONCEPTIONS AND A MODERN APPROACH TO

CLOUD SECURITY

p.26

Warehouse Mobility

Sales

Manufacturing

Field Service

6

4 Keys to a Successful CFO-CIO Relationship

20

The Service Oriented CIO

26

Myths, Misconceptions and a Modern Approach to Cloud Security

SECTIONS

Winter 2017

Letter from the Editor

5

Leadership

6

Sales & Marketing

14

Cover Story

20

Technology

22

Human Resources

42

Corporate Finance

46

42 44

What you Need to Know about HR Data Security

The New Company Champion

bell•weth•er -noun:

one who takes initiative or leadership

16

Data Cleanup – Ensuring Success BellwetherMagazine.com

3

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Bellwether | Winter 2017

LETTERFROMTHEEDITOR

BELLWETHER Volume 8 Winter 2017 www.blytheco.com www.bellwethermagazine.com EDITOR Apryl Hanson COPY EDITOR Jessica Valenzuela ART DIRECTORS Gary Dahl Jennifer Vo ADVERTISING SALES Jessica Valenzuela SUBSCRIPTIONS www.bellwethermagazine.com Or contact Jessica Valenzuela (949) 583-9500, Extension 1192 jvalenzuela@blytheco.com Bellwether Magazine is published

by Blytheco with principal offices at: 23161 Mill Creek Dr., Suite 200 Laguna Hills, CA 92653 If you wish to be removed from the mailing list or to add names to the mailing list, send your request, including name, business name, and mailing address to the above address or to jvalenzuela@blytheco.com This is a copyrighted publication and all articles herein are covered by this copyright.

Any use of the content for commercial reasons or other form or reproduction of material herein is strictly prohibited without prior, written approval of Bellwether Magazine.

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5

Collaboration:

4 KEYS TO A SUCCESSFUL

CFO-CIO Relationship

by John Orlando

As

the role of the CFO has changed significantly over the past several years to become even more strategic to an organization’s success, so too has the role of CIO. The shift to more advanced, ‘smarter’ technology makes the relationship between the CIO and the CFO even more vital and highlights their dependence on one another. From risk management, cost management to keeping pace with smarter, more cost-effective technology – it’s critical for CFOs and CIOs to be flexible and collaborate with each other.

The role of a CFO will continue to become even more strategic in nature with an elephant-size shift toward needing access to data through data cubes, involvement with securing customer privacy-protected data, and of course, monitoring software investments and their subsequent results. Without these, the CFO cannot make the informed decisions they need to daily.

CIOs likewise have seen similar shifts in their roles and responsibilities. CIOs need to help CFOs understand how evolving technology can directly benefit their day-to-day tasks as well as the success of the organization, and CFOs must help CIOs by staying ahead of technology shifts, moving beyond the tried-and-true solutions to fund needed changes for more strategic use of smarter technology.

Network management of the cables and wires has given way, in many situations, to managing the integration points between data and software hosted in clouds, and meeting the demands of both internal and external users.

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Bellwether | Winter 2017

Mobile app development is now commonplace. Working remotely is routine. Data breaches happen continually and the CIO has the significant responsibility of preventing them.

The overlap and dependency on each other for the CFO and CIO roles is indisputable. Risk assessment, cost management, and staying on pace with technological advances is everyone’s job. But as Deloitte pointed out in this Wall Street Journal article “The Power of Business Chemistry: A Framework for CFOs”, personality types often differ between the CFO and CIO which should also be recognized and taken into consideration.

LEADERSHIP As a financial professional, what can you do to help manage the overlap between Finance and IT? These are some of my ideas:

Educate yourself.

You need to stay abreast of technology shifts and work to fund needed changes when its recommended and appropriate. Sticking with tried-and-true software and hardware may not serve your company’s business strategies any longer. Costs, security, meeting the advanced needs of today’s consumer are all points that we have to be cognizant about. Keeping ourselves up to date helps.

Educate the CIO. I don’t mean this in a condescending way, but rather, to recognize that what’s intuitive to you as a financially educated person, might not be something the CIO has had a great deal of exposure to. Doing a cost-benefit analysis on the back of a napkin is second nature to you. While highly educated, the CIO may not immediately consider the time-value-of-money for a long term contract, leasing options, or other projects that may be affected if money shifts to funding a technology initiative.

Leverage the strengths of both individuals.

Respect for each other’s area of expertise shouldn’t be underestimated. If you doubt that, drop in on a functional IT meeting where the team is troubleshooting a coding error or server failure. I’m sure you’ll hear things that you don’t understand or can’t relate to. The CIO has to speak the language of both his team and that of the C-suite.

Relationship building.

Baseball outings and league bowling aren’t required in order to have a good relationship with the CIO, although they can often help. Occasional lunches and finding non-work commonalities may be all that it takes.

Flexibility and collaboration go hand-in-hand in any relationship and they certainly help here as well. With a solid respect for each other and a focused desire on the needs of your organization, you’ll be able to work through the inevitable challenges that arise when competing priorities go head-to-head.

How can you work to better understand the challenges that your CIO faces?

About the Author John Orlando, the CFO of Centage Corporation, a technology company that develops automated, budgeting, and planning software solutions for mid-market organizations. Its flagship product, Budget Maestro® is an easy-to-use, scalable, cloud-based budgeting and forecasting solution that eliminates the time-consuming and error-prone activities associated with using spreadsheets. Learn more at www.centage.com.

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7

The Role of the

IT DEPARTMENT

within the Business

by Patrice Ruane

An Interview

with Don

Koel

Blytheco’s Network Administrator

8

LEADERSHIP

W

hen we think about the key strengths behind a successful IT department, we tend to think of technical skills like industry expertise, responsiveness, agility, troubleshooting and creative thinking.

One skill that might not make the list – communication – is in fact an essential contributor to the perceived success of any IT department. I sat down with Don Koel, Blytheco’s Network Administrator of 13 years, to talk about changing roles in the IT department, communication, and how our IT department fits in with our organization as a whole.

With Blytheco since 2004, Don has witnessed a tremendous amount of company growth, and as our internal IT resource, he has been there to support those changes. He says that his collaborative relationship with his executive team gives him the freedom to act as a trusted advisor and the confidence to know that his input is being understood and weighed. “With a smaller company, in my situation I report directly to Stephen [Blythe, Blytheco’s Founder and CEO]. I’ve had a lot of influence in the decisions, but he is ultimately the decision-maker. It helps that he is very technical and so he’s very involved in the decision-making process.

Anything I describe to him, he understands. It’s actually been a very fluid situation. I think we’ve been very successful here in making things flow efficiently at Blytheco; the direct involvement that Stephen has and his awareness is a big part of it.”

Technology is constantly changing, and I have always considered the ability to learn quickly and adapt to be my biggest strength.”

Don emphasized how important a lifelong learner mindset can be: “Continuing to educate myself and learn about new technologies is at the core of my profession.” He continued, ”Technology is constantly changing, and I have always considered the ability to learn quickly and adapt to be my biggest strength.”

Feedback is a hot topic in technology right now – automated surveys and the ability to rate interactions with virtually any kind of business or service provider have become part of our daily lives. I started to ask Don about how the experience working in IT might differ in a small company vs. a larger one, and he turned the tables on me and asked whether my experience working with his IT team has been different than with my previous employers.

I mentioned that the biggest difference is the level of access – I don’t have to submit a request and wait for a call back; I just email or chat Don or one of our IT Technicians.

Don told me that our lack of a ticketing system is not only intentional, it’s integral to the communicative IT environment he’s trying to foster.

Don mentioned to me, “I’ve tried to stay away from a ticketing system; I like the feeling that personal interaction brings. My door is open, we’re all here and ready to help.

It would be a sad day for me if I had to implement a ticketing system.”

He went on to say, “I was pretty close to setting one up when I was managing the department by myself. I felt that a ticketing system would at least give them an automated response. Thankfully, I never reached that point because I personally do not like being on the other end of one.

I think that the key is, at the very least, responding to people and letting them know that we’ll get to their issue as soon as we can. I know that at this point in time, we are the most responsive we’ve ever been able to be.”

Throughout the interview, Don consistently kept the focus on the people, not the technology: “I’ve always had a good experience with the people working here, and it has been a pleasure for my team and I to help them.” They always seem to appreciate the personal communication and the feedback is always positive. It assures me that I have made the right decisions.

“I would like it to be as personal as possible, so that people feel that they can just reach us directly. It’s always been my favorite part of the job; that I can help them.

I love to see that that look of relief when they see that things are working.”

About the Author Patrice Ruane, MFA, has 10 years of experience in business writing and proposal development. As Blytheco’s Proposal Analyst, she manages client-facing documentation and deliverables for their outside sales team. Connect with her at www.linkedin.com/in/patrice-ruane-a0344425

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IS TODAY’S

CIO

TOMORROW’S

CMO?

by Antonio Carrion

12

LEADERSHIP

In

addition to infrastructure and systems, today’s CIO is focused on collecting data that has relevance across the entire organization. (In fact, CIOs have spent so much time collecting data that we’ve added a new C-level title, Chief Data Officer, an initialism Chief Demand Officers are trying to steal.) Data is the supposed fountain of youth for organizations where terabytes are sitting around waiting to be discovered, analyzed, and put to good use. But the challenge is daunting as irrelevant data is bottlenecking the effort, systems are being put to task, and promising but unproven applications are being promoted regularly to analyze “big data.”

One way CIOs think of data management is as foundational and growth-enabling. Both involve methods for collecting and analyzing vast amounts of data, then putting the findings into play to support or drive decision-making across multiple departments.

For foundational data, the CIO must focus on data integrity, including the systems that allow for access, analysis, and reporting. These efforts have foundational value around legal, finance, compliance and IT. Accurate financial data, for example, is critical to publicly-held companies that must report P&Ls on a quarterly basis and accurately reflect the financial health of the company to shareholders and potential investors. Clearly, the legal implications here are significant. Compliance is another area where data plays a key role, ranging from HR to manufacturing. Here, the system must allow for accurate data to be entered, captured, tracked and reported periodically and, at times, on demand.

For data that enables growth, the CIO must work with sales and marketing to support and potentially drive revenue generation. This is a growing field in which the newest term, Chief MarTech, has its roots.

It seems logical, given the power of digital marketing, that a symbiosis between technology and marketing grew; someone who knows the best of both can combine them to generate something powerful and scalable. The effort may begin with the systems CIOs are most well-known for utilizing, applying them to the digital realm to leverage existing tools and techniques like adwords, SEO, social media, display and native ads, retargeting, etc., then moving to the creative side of the house and thinking like a marketer to find new ways to appeal to and attract the audience. Here CIOs have an opportunity to take the old tools to new heights, using both the tech and creative skills to create something entirely new. Ultimately, developing new tools to help companies capture greater audiences, faster, and more efficiently, lies at the apex of this effort.

Given the rapid rise of digital marketing tools, the CIO role is already morphing. With machine learning and AI a focus of several major tech players, we can expect the CIO to be more important than ever over the next decade.

We predict they will receive a moniker more aligned with the possibilities or their role, beyond CDO and Chief MarTech, and perhaps the CIO will evolve into a Creative Information Officer.

About the Author Antonio Carrion, VP of Marketing, SWK Technologies, Inc. -- Antonio has over 25 years of marketing experience, primarily in the technology field, and has witnessed the evolution of the many digital tools and practices we have today. Much like the Chief MarTech or new CIO role described in this article, Antonio endeavors to find new and unique ways of combining technology with creative marketing to reach and delight audiences.

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13

Hyperloops, i4.0 AND THE FUTURE OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

by Tess Boros

M

anufacturers have felt both the constraints and the beauties of a lengthy global supply chain. When things have gone wrong–delayed orders, supplier shutdowns, or shipping strikes–you’ve also realized that one of the most important parts of your job as a manufacturer in i4.0 is to ensure that you have an effective, bulletproof method for supply chain management.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution These days in i4.0, also known as “The Fourth Industrial Revolution,” our modern businesses often require critical input from machines in order to produce goods quickly and efficiently so that we can keep up with competitors. If you haven’t heard of i4.0, the leading expert on the topic, Professor Klaus Schwab, defines it as: “A range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, impacting all disciplines, economies and industries, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human…connect[ing] billions more people to digital networks [and] dramatically improve[ing] the efficiency of organizations…”

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Bellwether | Winter 2017

However, he also has worries about the Brave New World that the emerging i4.0 technology brings: “Organizations might be unable to adapt; governments might fail to employ and regulate new technologies to capture their benefits; shifting power will create important new security concerns; inequality may grow; and societies fragment.”

To us, all of these problems sound like the current issues in the global supply chain.

SALES&MARKETING i4.0 and Supply Chain Management: A Few Blockades Let’s look at a deeper look at some of the troubles Professor Schwab outlines: Organizations that fail to adapt An ever-lengthening supply chain creates inequality between businesses. Either your business can or cannot manage the supply chain profitably by sourcing from other nations in an agile manner that supports as close to a JIT model as possible. Businesses that cannot do this may lose the pricing battle by running low on raw materials and having to rely on costlier, local sources.

Slow government regulations for technology New methods of goods transport are being created to help with the problem of managing a long supply chain, but Prof. Schwab is correct about governmental delays getting in the way. Not only are drone deliveries meeting with befuddling resistance in the United States, which slows shipments to your customers as well as materials sourcing for your own business, hyperloop development is also meeting with resistance as the U.S. government crawls along, compiling report after report on the new technology’s feasibility.

Haven’t heard of hyperloops? They’re the wave of the future for supply chains. Comprised of two steel tubes

welded together side-by-side to allow for bi-directional traffic, this goods-delivery method seeks to connect major supply hubs together with ultra-high-speed, solar-powered pods that could, conceivably, deliver orders direct from China to Central Europe within a speedy 10 hours instead of the current standard: two weeks.

Hyperloops are an attractive alternative to current shipping systems for more than just their speed. They also reduce emissions, are cheaper than air freight and require no fuel, and they’re impervious to weather delays. (We’re impressed too.)

Solutions that Help with i4.0 and an Improved Supply Chain Of course, hyperloops, drones, and other delivery technology only works, as we said, with the correct systems in place so that manufacturers can function with agility in i4.0. An easy way to get on top of supply chain management in your business is to implement manufacturing automation tools like scanning technology.

The best scanning solutions are wireless, mobile-based barcoding systems that integrate with your ERP system.

Real-time insight into your materials inventory will keep you in control of your supply chain at all times – no matter how long it gets.

About the Author Tess Boros is a Partner at ONE Software. Tess has been in the supply chain management space for over fifteen years and is the owner of the leading barcoding solution for Sage 100 and Sage 500.

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15

DATA CLEANUP

–Ensuring Success

by Robert Newman

If

you have ever moved to a new home, you likely looked at everything you had collected over time and wondered how there could be so much stuff. At the time of purchase, everything made sense and had a purpose. Upon reflection during the move, you likely realized a lot of things should have been cleared out a long time ago. Some items may have seemed too valuable to get rid of despite having been replaced by newer versions. Some may have been duplicates because you couldn’t find the original. Some may have been kept “just in case.”

When looking at data, companies can find parallels to a moving home analogy. Without regular housekeeping, data tends to collect over time. The realization that a lot of data could, and perhaps should have been cleaned up only shows itself upon review.

How that review comes about is telling of a company’s appreciation of data management. The cry of “we’re out of space - we need more storage” or the reminder that “data can’t be trusted” are telltale indicators that a data cleanup is needed. But often these signs are overlooked: additional storage is added without delving into the “why,” and manual workarounds are implemented to accommodate data discrepancies.

It may be that a new system is coming on line and old system data must be transferred, requiring a data review. Or it may be that manual processes to ensure data integrity have become too costly.

In a worst-case scenario, it may be that systems or processes have ground to a halt.

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Bellwether | Winter 2017

SALES&MARKETING Regardless of the motive, a Data Cleanup project will seem daunting. Fortunately, there are some key steps that will help you succeed:

1. Gain Executive sponsorship Data is the life line of any business, and it should be treated as such. Nothing will sink a data cleanup faster than not having support from above. Executives must buy into the risk as well as the benefit of the project, and they must convey this across the organization.

2. Expect the unexpected Simple data moves are often the most problematic, and complex data cleanups are, well, complex. To get ahead of the unexpected questions and “gotchas,” build contingency into both your timeline and your budget. A good rule of thumb is 10 – 20% contingency. Delivering ahead of time and under budget is always good news, delivering late and overbudget is not.

3. Establish a forum of named decision makers that can represent each area in your organization No matter how knowledgeable your Data Guru is, they won’t know everything. What might seem trivial at first glance may be essential to a team’s process, and this in turn may have significant knock-on effects to the rest of the organization. Every part of the organization must be part of the project, however, every team member cannot be part of the project. Forum members can be team leaders or team members that represent each area of the organization, but they must be empowered to make decisions.

4. Start sooner rather than later Start with a kick-off meeting as soon as possible. It’s important to have as much information as possible from the start, but it’s also okay to start with what you have and let information evolve. Start the meeting with the project definition and the reasoning behind it.

Introduce a skeleton project plan, and look to forum members to fill in gaps. It cannot be understated that this is not a presentation-only meeting; this must be an interactive meeting with input from everyone. It’s likely one or more key stakeholders has been missed, and equally likely that someone earmarked for the project team is not a best fit. It’s crucial to recognize this and ensure the right attendees are on board going forward.

5. Be realistic about what will be cleaned up One of the biggest obstacles in a Data Cleanup project is agreeing what will be kept and what will not. While there are valid reasons to keep some data, everything should not be retained. Period. The best way to approach this is to develop a hierarchical chart: is data required for legal/regulatory purposes? Is data required for recent, current, or future financial purposes? Is data required for executive reporting? Is data required by teams for current reporting? Is data required for historical reporting? At each level, the question should be asked: what would the impact be if this data was not there? The point to remember is that, if data must be retained, robust justification will be available in bucket loads. It goes without saying that “just in case” is not robust justification.

Everything up to this point is in preparation for the real work: data cleanup.

In most cases a company’s IT team will be responsible for the actual cleanup of data. IT will likely not know, however, what is correct and what is not. For example, a single account may exist in the system with two different spellings. Data entry has likely taken place under both, so merely deleting one may also delete potentially important associated information. Similarly, data that looks perfectly fine to a casual observer may in fact be incorrect. IT’s role is thus to identify duplicate and incorrect data where possible.

To identify duplicates, any number of actions may be undertaken: SQL queries, use of RANK, Duplicate Values search, etc. Any duplicates captured must be documented for review by the Data Cleanup project team. Remember that associated data may need to be addressed as well.

Identifying incorrect data is trickier. IT can review process and report errors to help identify erroneous data, but incorrect data typically is identified by those closest to it.

As such, IT should establish a log that is accessible to users during and after the Data Cleanup project. Data anomalies should be noted in the log and actioned as part of regular housekeeping, and this should be established as Standard Operating Procedure. This is the best way to avoid another massive data cleanup down the road.

About the Author Robert Newman is Blytheco’s CRM Practice Leader. He has over 20 years’ experience leading high-performing technology teams in a myriad of industries around the world. Connect with Robert at https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-newman-099a8a19

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CIO THE SERVICE ORIENTED

by Peter Glenn

NAVIGATING THE EVOLVING CIO JOB REQUIREMENTS IN TODAY’S CLOUD-BASED MARKET The CIO’s job is stressful. You’re the backbone of the company. Your primary duty is to ensure that the technology and systems everyone else needs to do their jobs work – all the time. In the old days, this meant maintaining a high level of quality and control over your internal systems and applications.

In today’s fast-paced environment, that’s changing and a major source of this disruption is the cloud. More and more applications that are vital for daily operations are moving to the cloud. That’s good in a way; it often reduces cost, eases the burden on infrastructure and augments support, but also brings along a host of new challenges. How is a CIO supposed to oversee an application your organization doesn’t own, or in some cases, even install? The answer, of course, is to expand your repertoire. Here are a few skills that are essential for today’s modern CIO.

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Bellwether | Winter 2017

COVERSTORY VENDOR MANAGEMENT

CHAMPIONING ROI

Everyone knows it’s important to treat your IT Team with respect. But, as more and more of your infrastructure moves to the cloud, building and maintaining a good relationship with your vendors becomes just as important. Having a quality relationship with a vendor can help ensure not only that you get the best deals, but also advance news on upcoming releases. It can even help your voice be heard when it comes time to release new features, which will help make sure their product will continue to meet the needs of your growing organization in the future.

It’s simply not possible to implement anything these days without discussing ROI. And yet, at the same time it’s getting harder to define. It’s easy to forecast the costs of new hardware since you know these from the beginning, but the cost of a new SaaS application that you continue to pay for month after month is a little more ambiguous. Become good friends with your CFO and work together to define a metric that can gauge a return on your SaaS investment, help get your budgets approved and, ultimately, get your systems in place.

USER ADOPTION Say you need an app to help facilitate interdepartmental communication. You can implement the best app in the world but if no one uses it, it’s still a failure. It’s not enough to simply get buy-off on a new system, you have to make sure your users are engaged in it too. It’s hard to get people to make changes in their routine. When it’s time to implement the next upgrade, be sure to spend some time with your power users and show them the new features to help get them onboard and ensure a smooth rollout with a high adoption rate.

One of the exciting things about technology is that it’s always changing, often in unexpected ways. By focusing on building quality relationships and keeping up with new trends, you can ensure both you and your organization don’t get left behind.

About the Author Peter Glenn is a Senior Level Product Manager for eRequester Spend Management Software.

Peter has a long history in managing custom software development projects across multiple industries and over 15 years of experience. He is a key player in the recent growth and direction for the eRequester platform and has been an integral part of the eRequester team since 2009.

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21

When to Add

MODULES & When to Look for Another SOLUTION

by Apryl Hanson

22

Bellwether | Winter 2017

?

TECHNOLOGY

H

ave you had your business software systems for more than five years? Did you know the average business holds on to their software solutions for an average of six years? How do you know if your software solution is the right solution for you, or if you need some add-on products to complete it?

If you are reading this article you may have one of the following issues: • You are unhappy with your current solution.

• Your business is growing and you feel like your software isn’t keeping up with you.

• You find yourself with a lot of processes that run outside of your system (either manually or people-based) that you can’t track.

• You don’t feel that you have the visibility into the things you want to track to make business decisions.

• You often export data out to other tools, like Excel, or aggregate data to pull several sources of data together to understand your business metrics.

• You don’t trust the information in your systems.

• You have software solutions that don’t integrate with each other and you need manual entry or human intervention to pass data between two sources.

• You want to update your website and have it integrated into your various software solutions to gain visibility.

• You can’t service your customers as well as you would like to because you don’t have information at your fingertips.

• And the list goes on….

These are just some of the top reasons why people come to us and start talking about adding solutions onto their current system. It is hard to determine the right path unless you take the time to look at the return on investment (ROI) associated with your options and weigh them side by side. The challenge is that most companies look for a problem to solve XYZ, but don’t consider that there may be significant gains from purchasing new solutions.

One of our customers was having trouble with inventory management, scanning and tax solutions, and were considering adding solutions to address those needs onto their current software. When they added up the total cost of those three solutions, then added the required equipment, their investment would have totaled between $125,000 and $200,000. When we started mapping out their business needs, one of the greatest challenges they were experiencing wasn’t even addressed by these three solutions. We encouraged them to go through the process of weighing potential offerings that solved their business needs side-by-side.

We helped them evaluate the add-on solutions in addition to three other solutions they could utilize for their business. We conducted a full day, onsite, investigation of business needs to uncover all of the gaps in their current system, as well as the areas in which their current system was successful.

Once done, we had over 90 requirements to consider. We mapped those requirements against the various options to highlight which would net them the highest ROI. This process gave the client a great deal of clarity. With many needs not being met by the current solution, and a lot of features being native (or included) with newer solutions, they decided to switch.

Continued on next page

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23

Another client was looking at eCommerce add-ons to their current back office accounting solutions to gain better visibility. When we weighed the expense of adding on an eCommerce solution for them against changing to a new solution, it turned out that the majority of their business needs were being met and they truly only needed the add-on solution for eCommerce.

When you evaluate solutions in a non-emotional way by weighing the needs of the entire business, understanding ROI, and the available solution options, you can make a thoughtful selection. When you only look at one solution to a problem, you may be opening yourself up to risk and missing opportunity.

The Process to Guide You: • Start by making a list of all of the things your business currently needs.

• Rank those items in order of priority.

• Document how the issue/need shows up in your business today. Ask yourself, “if this issue were fixed, what would happen?” o TIP – These are the questions that help you figure out the ROI. Is it a $2,000 problem, a $10,000 problem or a $100,000 problem?

You will notice that getting demonstrations of solutions isn’t that the beginning of the process.

Why are demonstrations positioned so far down?

With years of guiding companies through product selection, we have learned that demonstrations can make for emotional software decisions. We see that people like the way a solution looks, but it may not have all of the features they need. They may also like a really cool feature that is demonstrated but that doesn’t relate to the top priorities of the business. This means demonstrations early in the process can introduce the risk of selecting the wrong solution. We coach our prospects to have their list of requirements in front of them as they are watching demonstrations, so they can check off and rank how well they think that particular solution will solve their need.

We know that evaluating new solutions can be a daunting task, but we also know that companies that are successful in implementing the right solution at the right time can reap significant rewards. If this seems overwhelming and you would like help guiding your company through this process, Blytheco provides a no-cost to you service to help you determine the right solution.

• After you have the ROI estimated, check your prioritization again and see if anything has changed.

• Circulate the list among all of your department heads to get agreement around the issues.

• Rank these issues across all of your possible solutions to determine ifeach solution solves the issues, and how well they solve them.

• Determine the cost of the solutions that solve the business pain.

• Get demonstrations of the solution.

• Select the path to move forward.

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Bellwether | Winter 2017

About the Author Apryl Hanson is Blytheco’s Senior Director of Customer and Partner Strategy. She has more than 15 years of management experience within the software industry, including having served as Director of Partner Programs and Development, and Director of Sales at Sage. Connect with her on Twitter @AprylHanson.

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MYTHS, MISCONCEPTIONS AND A MODERN APPROACH TO

CLOUD SECURITY

by Patrice Ruane

If you’re friends with anyone in IT or data management on social media, you’ve seen this meme: “There is no cloud.

It’s just someone else’s computer.”

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And while that may be marginally true if we’re talking about simple file storage services like Dropbox or Google Drive, for the most part it’s a wild oversimplification that can cause real confusion and mistrust when we’re talking about robust Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms like NetSuite, Acumatica or Ascentis. How can informed buyers see through the myths surrounding cloud security and feel confident that they are choosing to partner with a solid cloud solution?

Providers of cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM) and human capital management (HCM) applications develop complex, multi-layered security controls to protect their customers’ data from unauthorized access. As you evaluate SaaS applications, you should evaluate both the application and the provider to make sure your data is secure and protected.

TECHNOLOGY From the Application

From the Provider

• Encryption: The application should encrypt

• Continuous Monitoring: Your provider

all user-unique IDs and passwords, along with data in the resulting connection, with industry-standard protocols and ciphers.

Look for token-based and two-factor authentication.

• Application Access: User data should be separated from application data. End-users should not be able to access the database or other infrastructure components that underlie the application.

• IP Address Restrictions: Systems that enable restrictions on IP addresses can help you gain control over who accesses your data, and from where.

• Robust Password Policies: At minimum, your system should give you the ability to control your password policies, including length and character requirements, expiration timeframes, variability from prior passwords, etc., as well as provide account lock-out after a number of unsuccessful attempts. Companies that want more access control can look at systems that enable multi-factor authentication using a physical token.

• Flexible User Roles and Idle Disconnect: Modern cloud systems enable customizable permission configurations, allowing you to control access to data at the individual role level. Audit trails track user ID and timestamps for all changes, providing visibility and traceability. Finally, idle connection detection and browser locking prevents unauthorized access from unattended computers.

should utilize Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) to identify malicious access attempts, including logging and investigating unauthorized connection attempts. Tools like enterprise-grade anti-virus software is also essential.

• Physical Access and Separation of Duties: You should feel confident with the employees tasked to work in/around the data centers that house your essential data.

Contemporary cloud providers separate job responsibilities to ensure that employees have access to only the data they need (similar to the concept of access restriction by role that they recommend for their users).

Their data centers should include multi-layered physical security, including ID cards, biometrics and single-person portals, as well as robust door alarms and on-premise physical security measures.

• Performance Audits and Security Certifications: Regular audits, both performed in-house and with third-party firms, not only provide an objective way to gauge risk, but also contribute to a company culture that values adherence to security processes and protocols.

When it comes to data security, there are certainly challenges posed by cloud-based solutions. However, that doesn’t mean that SaaS solutions are inherently riskier than more traditional on-premise solutions. As you evaluate potential cloud-based ERP, CRM or HCM tools, investigate the security features inherent in the application as well as the processes implemented by the provider.

Robust cloud solutions include security features that are natively woven into the application, and modern cloud system providers consider their commitment to security to be a cornerstone of their business.

About the Author Patrice Ruane, MFA, has 10 years of experience in business writing and proposal development. As Blytheco’s Proposal Analyst, she manages client-facing documentation and deliverables for their outside sales team.

Connect with her at www.linkedin.com/in/patrice-ruane-a0344425

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New BI Begets THE

NEW CIO

by Joni Girardi

How do you tell the difference between an old-style CIO and a new-style CIO? Here’s my answer: The old-style CIO’s world orbited around hardware, software, and in-house expertise. The new CIO’s world has a wider orbit: all of the old concerns plus business users, vendors, and fast-changing technology.

The IT orbit spins faster and faster, wider and wider. Software and services evolve at an ever more rapid rate. In-house expertise and maximum-security data protection just don’t fit today’s IT requirements. The new-style CIO is the result.

The new-style CIOs I see have three key strategies.

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TECHNOLOGY Subscribe and borrow, don’t buy The old-style CIO tries to do it all: set up and maintain all hardware and software, employ all staff, and provide all training. The new CIO relies more on helpful vendors, who arrive on the scene with up-to-date expertise and state-of-the-art data-source connectors.

A services company came to me recently with a problem: they had several pieces of their BI system, all on the cloud, that had to be brought into one view. The IT team was already swamped with existing work. They couldn’t imagine taking on more. The CIO didn’t know where to start. Hire more people? Partner with a vendor for more expertise? Or postpone the project?

A CIO told me about a challenge when he joined a mid-sized manufacturer. IT-generated reports came out so slowly that his fellow executives had to wait endlessly for reports. The CIO’s predecessor had tried handing reports off to business users with a clunky tool, which they wouldn’t use. The new CIO had the solution: a user-friendly tool, one that let business users create and modify reports quickly and intuitively. They love it, and they use it. Executives never wait anymore.

IT workers love it, too. Now they can now do the high value work they had no time for. ROI has actually risen across the board.

Eyes on the horizon: the new visionary

I suggested taking it in two steps: first, start with a quick integration of their systems in a series of data marts.

Later, consolidate that data into their data warehouse, which would provide a complete, 360-degree view of the organization. They took my advices, and the total time for these two steps was a fraction of the time they would have spent doing it themselves.

No matter what’s going on today or this quarter, the new CIO keeps eyes on the road ahead. Today’s road is far from the straight, smooth road we used to know.

Training presents a similar own-or-borrow choice, and it often makes more sense to see what the software vendor has. Many times, the vendor-supplied training is more purposeful and efficient. Users get what they need and they don’t fill up with knowledge they won’t use.

Today we hear all about the cloud. It has already found a foothold, but should you make the leap yet? The smart CIO knows when it’s time.

The best vendors provide end-to-end service, all the way from planning to deployment to training. The effective size of the IT team grows at a disproportionately low cost. Most of all, it takes a load off the CIO’s plate. Old-style is a lot of work, but new-style is easy.

Free the decision makers, free IT Remember when IT tried to manage all the data and prepare all reports? The new CIO values the new independence of business users. They have the domain knowledge, and they want to design their own dashboards and visualizations, determine what data to use, and even prepare their own data. Let them!

But beware: business users are impatient. They have no tolerance for badly-designed tools or tools that they can’t understand intuitively. What seem like unnecessary obstacles may even spark revolts — either passive resistance, such as a retreat to Excel, or loud and painful open revolts.

A few years ago, a CIO at a manufacturer was sure that a certain BI tool, new and exciting at the time, was a winner. No way it couldn’t be, he said. But it turned out to be a loser.

A CIO at a distribution company told me she has heard a peer talk about a disastrous deployment of a cloud-only platform. The regional retail chain wasn’t ready; they realized some of its data had to stay on-premise. Oops, they were already very invested in cloud only!

Just like the smart CIO she worked for in her early career, she keeps a five-year outlook. One of the best strategies, she’s found, is to stick with the mature products and established vendors for the foundations and try out the hotshots on the side. No matter how sexy any product may be, it’ll age just like all the rest and some don’t age well. Technology is like movie stars; all age, but some age poorly, and some age well.

The new CIO considers innovations but never jumps for the shiny new thing — and the new shiny things show up in rapid succession. There’s always a new one. In this way, the new CIO behaves a lot like the old CIO: happy to stick with old tech until the organization is ready for the new tech, and vice versa.

About the Author Joni Girardi is founder and CEO of DataSelf, provider of DataSelf Analytics. He launched his venture 17 years ago to help small- and medium-sized businesses to get value from their data using data warehousing and analytics platforms such as Tableau and Power BI. For more than 17 years, his team has built a great deal of expertise helping SMBs with their source systems, MS SQL data warehousing, and Tableau.

How to explain

CLOUD to the

NON-BELIEVERS – A Business Case for the Cloud

by Greg Went

H

ow do you convince someone who does not believe in something to, well, believe in something? Especially something as cloudy as ‘cloud computing’? The label ‘non-believer’ could be due to a lack of exposure to the concept of the cloud or to concerns about it in their organization. Either way, I think it leads to the same thing: getting educated about the cloud. In this article, I am going to briefly define ‘cloud computing,’ outline the benefits, touch on the concerns about ‘cloud computing,’ and wrap it up with a quick ‘rain’ forecast.

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TECHNOLOGY

I don’t think I have my head in one of the fluffy white puffs when I say that there isn’t one computer user out there who hasn’t been touched by ‘the cloud’ in some form or fashion. For instance, who doesn’t have a Google Drive or Evernote account at the very least? (Ok, maybe my mom, but you get the point.) In fact, I am typing this article using Grammarly, you guessed it, in the cloud! Maybe a simple definition of what ‘the cloud’ is will help. The concept behind it is basic: it lets you run computer applications over the Internet, without having to buy, install or manage your own servers. For you old-schoolers out there, it is kind of like going back to the mainframe days with dumb-terminals, only loads more powerful!

Most all of us are aware of the cloud, in one way or another. Some of us will choose to embrace it, and some of us will choose to try and ignore it. However, cloud computing is not something that one can ignore. (That would be like buggy whip manufacturers ignoring the slow but steady progress of the early automobiles back in the day.) The cloud is real, big and barreling down the information super-highway at break-neck speed. Stats from a recent Forbes article prove it: Hybrid (both public and private) cloud adoption grew 3X in the last year, increasing from to of organizations surveyed.

19% 57%

80%

In 15 months, of all IT budgets will be committed to cloud solutions. of companies are planning 73% to move to a fully software-defined

Why the growth? Should my company move to the cloud? Is it safe? Why the delay in the last bullet-point?

These are maybe just a few of the questions you have right now. To try and answer them, let’s look at some of the benefits and concerns:

Benefits of Cloud Computing • Low overhead: Upgrades, maintenance and system administration take place in the cloud and are managed by the vendor, not you.

• Ease of access at any time, and from anywhere: Cloud computing is ‘always on.’

• High availability: Cloud software architectures are designed from the ground up for maximum network performance.

• Security: For many companies, the level of security and availability, disaster recovery and back-up provided by a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider far exceeds that which can be provided themselves.

• Subscription-based pricing: You pay as you go, often annually, instead of major upfront investment in hardware, software and licenses.

• Energy savings: By eliminating the need for on-premise hardware, cloud computing reduces overall server room electric consumption. This could save a mid-size business more than $10,000 per year.

data center within two years. of businesses are delaying 49% cloud deployment due to a cyber

Continued on next page

security skills gap.

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Concerns of Cloud Computing Instead of bullet points, I am going to expound on the two biggest concerns: security and lack of expertise.

Security Yes, this was in the ‘benefits’ list, but it tends to be the number one reason for lack of adoption. However, the truth of the matter is, as with any digital environment, the level of security is what you make of it. The data center can have the world’s best security (and most cloud services do), but if you don’t have robust security policies in place for your employees and clients, you will have a data breach at some point. Jay Heisner, research vice president at Gartner said in a recent webinar, “Gartner predicts through 2020, 95% of cloud security failures will be the customer’s fault.” Also, according to Gartner, “only a very small percentage of the security incidents that have affected enterprises using the cloud have been due to vulnerabilities on the part of the provider.” What does this mean? Don’t get too hung up on how secure the SaaS or infrastructure as a service (IaaS) provider’s infrastructure is without looking at your own security protocols first. Who are you going to let access your fluffy cloud, and how?

Lack of Expertise Switching your entire organization to cloud computing is a daunting task and one that would send shivers up any C-level executive’s spine. As Andrew McAfee from the Harvard Business Review article ‘What Every CEO Needs to Know About the Cloud’ wrote, “Most organizations that have been around awhile have a hodgepodge of hardware, operating systems, and applications, often described as ‘legacy spaghetti’.” Every department has a unique way of doing things, including IT departments.

The IT staff at a typical organization is in a conundrum of sorts. In the same article McAfee points out that most technology professionals have a deep expertise with, or attachment to, on-premise computing.

Giving them influence over plans to move to the cloud would be like putting the crew that ran the boiler and steam turbine in charge of electrifying a factory. The lack of expertise in cloud computing among IT professionals is a huge contributor to ‘non-belief’ in it. You need expertise in order to have the confidence to make the change.

Cloudy with a Chance of Rain (in a Good Way!) The potential to make the cloud a ‘rainmaker’ for your organization is high. Cloud technologies today are mature, and I think it is safe to report that they are here to stay. Just look at tools like NetSuite, Salesforce, and Ascentis. All are SaaS offerings with rock-solid security and deliver on their promise of low overhead and availability on most any electronic device. Are they easy to implement? As with any high-end business level software, proper training, tight processes and experience are keys to success.

You should look for a team of experts who are not only trained in cloud computing, but also invested in learning your business processes and needs. Over time, I forecast that most non-believers will learn to enjoy the shade.

About the Author Greg Went is Blytheco’s HCM Marketing Specialist and Project Manager. He has been on the Blytheco marketing team for over 16 years and written numerous blog and magazine articles in the ERP, CRM and HCM industries. You can connect with Greg at www.linkedin.com/in/gwent.

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Bellwether | Winter 2017

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Your Strateg y for

BYOD

by Jimmy Thomas

As a CIO, you already know that “bring your own device� (BYOD) is the practice of permitting your team members to use their personal devices (laptops, tablets, and smart phones) to access privileged company information and applications. You also know that the cost savings and convenience of BYOD have helped to make it a common practice, with research company Gartner predicting more than 50% acceptance by the end of 2017 and 85% acceptance by the end of 2020.

34

TECHNOLOGY

But you still have concerns about the security of BYOD. You know that according to the 2016 Crowd Research BYOD & Mobile Security Report, survey respondents cited data leakage/loss as their number one concern when deploying a BYOD policy.

How can you ensure that BYOD practices at your firm deliver on its promises of cost savings and productivity without compromising security and data integrity? Let the following considerations help you craft the perfect BYOD strategy for your users and your organization.

Create your BYOD policy: Your policy affects more than just IT; it has implications for HR, legal, and security–any part of your organization that uses mobile devices in the name of productivity. There is no one right BYOD policy. But there are questions to consider in your policy:

• What mobile devices will you support?

• Will you pay for, stipend or reimburse for data plans?

• What regulations govern the data you need to protect?

• What security measures do you need (passcode protection, jailbroken/rooted devices, anti-malware apps, encryption, device restrictions, iCloud backup)?

• Which apps are permitted and which are forbidden?

• Do you have an Acceptable Usage Agreement (AUA) for user devices holding corporate data?

• What resources can your users access (email, wireless networks, VPNs, CRM)?

• What device data do you collect and what device data do you never collect?

Your dialog must be frank and honest. No questions are off limits when it comes to BYOD.

Find and track the devices: Before you set your strategy in stone, understand your landscape. Get a mobile device management (MDM) solution to track and manage the devices you are supporting. This tool must communicate continuously with your email environment and detect all devices connected to your network. Those who assume an MDM solution isn’t necessary often learn they are supporting twice as many devices as they thought. Don’t live in denial. What you don’t know CAN hurt you.

Make your enrollment simple: Complexity tends to breed non-compliance. Make sure that once you identify a device, your BYOD program enrollment (including acceptance of the AUA) is simple, protected, and configures the device at the same time.

Configure devices over-the-air: Your BYOD policy and MDM solution should not increase the activity at your help desk. Configure devices over-the-air to optimize efficiency for both IT and users alike. Following AUA acceptance, your platform should deliver profiles, credentials and settings your users may need to access, including:

• Email, contact and calendar • VPN and Wi-Fi • Corporate documents and content • Internal and public apps You must also create policies to restrict access to certain applications and generate warnings when a user goes over their data usage or stipend limit for the month.

Help your users help themselves: A robust self-service platform lets a user directly perform:

• PIN and password resets • Geo-locate a lost device • Wipe a device remotely

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Such functionality reminds the user that security, corporate data protection, and compliance are shared responsibilities.

Continually monitor devices for noncompliance:

Keep personal information private:

Devices should be continuously monitored for certain scenarios, and automated policies should be in place. From there, you can start understanding additional policies or rules to create. A few common issues include:

A well-crafted BYOD program keeps personal user data away from others, including IT. Personally Identifiable Information (PII) can be used to identify, contact, or locate a person. Some privacy laws prevent corporations from even viewing this data.

Communicate the privacy policy to users and make it clear what data you cannot collect from their mobile devices. For example, an MDM solution should be able to parse what information it can access and what it cannot, such as:

• Personal emails, contacts, and calendars • Application data and text messages • Call history and voicemails Let users know what you collect, how it will be used, and why it benefits them. Transparency and clarity are important. Resistance to BYOD policies is reduced when each person knows the rules.

Keep personal information separate from corporate data: Corporate apps, documents, and other materials must be protected by IT if the user decides to leave the organization, but personal email, apps, and photos should be untouched by corporate IT.

Manage data usage: If you pay for the user’s data plan, you may want a way to track this data. If you are not paying, you may want to help the user track their current data usage. You should be able to track in-network and roaming data usage on devices and generate alerts if a user crosses a threshold of data usage.

• Identifying and dealing with devices that are rooted or jailbroken

• Tailoring policy enforcement to the severity of the offense

• Alerting and assisting the user with installation when a new OS is available

Enjoy your return on investment (ROI) from BYOD: As you write your policy, consider how your approach will impact your ROI. For example:

• In a corporate-owned model, you must consider the cost of each device, the cost of fully subsidized data plans, the cost of recycling devices periodically, warranty plans, and IT time and labor for managing the program.

• In a BYOD model, you may only have to consider the cost of partially subsidized data plans and the cost of your MDM platform.

One size doesn’t fit all. But a carefully crafted BYOD strategy can equip you to manage mobile devices effectively and efficiently while increasing user productivity.

About the Author Jimmy Thomas has been a member of the Blytheco development team since 2003. He is a software engineer with over 30 years of experience. Jimmy is also a lifelong learner with many interests. Connect with Jimmy at www.linkedin.com/in/jimmythomas26.

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Bellwether | Winter 2017

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Things to Consider When Looking at

CUSTOM DEVELOPMENT FOR YOUR BUSINESS

by Apryl Hanson

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Bellwether | Winter 2017

TECHNOLOGY

H

ave you ever been faced with an issue in your business and one of the solutions you are contemplating is if you should use custom development to solve your business issue? How do you know if you are making the right decision? Ten years ago, the idea of custom developing seemed like the only way to get something that was perfectly tuned to your business needs and processes. Is it still the same today?

In this article, we will explore when you might want to consider custom development and when you may want to use other solutions to get to where you are going.

How Important is Technology to Your Companies Success?

Are you a technology company? Is being ahead of where everyone else is important to the success of your company? If so, you may want to look at ways that you can use custom development to keep yourself ahead. Keep in mind that custom development is never the less expensive option. Not only is there the expense of first-time development, there is ongoing maintenance and changes that you will be continually making to keep that software ahead of its time.

Do You Have the Time and Energy for Maintenance?

When it comes to custom development, you must be ready to support this solution beyond version one.

According to Google, right now technology is changing at the pace of 13% a year. That means just to stay current (not ahead) you must change your software on average of about 13% per year to just keep up with other technological advances. If you are using technology to stay ahead of others, then you may need to change at the rate of 25% to 50% a year, or more, depending on the pace you want to grow and how you may want to grow your company. Consider the expense of maintenance at 13% and another 10-35% for the advancement of features per year and it starts to get expensive.

Have you Considered Other Options?

Are there solutions out there that have 85% of the features and functionality that you are looking for?

Starting with a base solution and building onto that

technology will take a considerable amount of the heavy lifting off your shoulders. When you are adding on to a solution that already exists, consider the 13% change in technology a year will be taken on by that solutions provider (if it is a modern solution that is advancing) that will help keep your costs down. There is also the option for configuration vs. customization when it comes to many modern solutions.

The Difference Between Configuration and Customization The difference between configuration and customization can be significant for a company when it comes to ongoing maintenance costs. Configuration of a solution is when you modify fields, names, look and feel, flow and processes to fit your business from within a software solutions framework that has already been developed.

When you do this in modern software solutions that are out today, means the majority of the time spent won’t be on reconfiguration of these options. When you customize, you are making changes to that solution in a different way – that isn’t from within the framework. Customized changes, outside a software’s framework, means that it could need updating when upgrades come out.

Why does this matter?

If you are looking to continue to stay ahead of technology – you don’t want to be weighed down by waiting for features and functionality that other users can receive while you are spending money waiting for just your extra features to be brought up to the capability of working in your solution. Your business will not receive a return on the investment of upgrades to customizations that only bring the code current.

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When Customization Is Good Customization can be very good if the return on investment is high, and there are no other ways to get these advantages. It is especially good if you can make these add-on customizations to a framework or software solution that will allow you to develop in a way that is in line with their guidelines and won’t impact upgrades. This is the best scenario you can be in. We often caution that, at best, 85% of what you are looking for can be found in a software solution that is readily available and on the market today. You can configure another 10% to match your business leaving only the last 5% for needed customizations. This is the ideal situation to be in from a software perspective and the least risky to be in from a business perspective.

Client Story I visited one of our clients that is in the technology space selling various product solutions to both businesses and consumers. They had 100% developed their customer relationship management and order management system to integrate with their back-end accounting solution. They developed this solution seven years prior and have a development team in-house comprised of four to five developers that continued to develop the solution to integrate with other solutions. The return on investment of having the team internally continued to decline as more of the time spent, from a development perspective, went into maintaining the solution vs. adding the needed features and functionality. By three years into their investment, it started to become a strain on the organization to not be advancing fast enough to keep up with the demands of their sales staff and customers. By year four, other technologies out in the marketplace had more features than the solution they had developed in-house. After seven years into this investment they finally got rid of the customized solution and replaced it with a modern customer relationship management product that had all the features they were looking for with no customization needed.

About the Author Apryl Hanson is Blytheco’s Senior Director of Customer and Partner Strategy. She has more than 15 years of management experience within the software industry, including having served as Director of Partner Programs and Development, and Director of Sales at Sage.

Connect with her on Twitter @AprylHanson.

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Bellwether | Winter 2017

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What you Need to Know about

HR DATA SECURITY to Protect Your Organization from Outside Threats

by Jeff Cronin

Did you know?

75%

of attacks perpetrated by outsiders Source: Verizon

companies have 62% ofexperienced social

engineering attacks

Source: Nudata Security

Around

1 billion accounts and records were compromised worldwide in 2016.

Source: Tech Republic

42

W

hen it comes to data security, many businesses tend to think of things like firewalls and email spam blocking software to protect their sensitive data. But they often overlook their biggest vulnerability -- the human error of their own employees.

Pronounced as one of the worst publically announced data breaches to ever impact the U.S., last spring hackers stole the sensitive data of more than 143 million U.S. consumers by exploiting a flaw in the commonly used Apache Struts framework. This flaw had been patched

by Apache over two months prior to the Equifax incident. Equifax failed to deploy this patch, allowing hackers to remotely obtain the private data.

While no organization deliberately sets out to become another data breach statistic, some organizations still may not understand the critical need for cybersecurity protection as it relates to employee data. HR data regularly contains sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (PII) that makes it a key target for criminals. In order to best protect an organization from attacks, and keep HR data secure, it’s critical to understand these three essential questions around HR data security.

HUMANRESOURCES 1. Where can an HR data breach come from?

The greatest threat to HR data security is not remote hackers but social engineering, an attack that relies heavily on human interaction and often involves deceiving individuals into breaking normal security procedures.

Whether it be via individuals falsely representing themselves as IT staff, or through finding a loophole in poorly maintained password hygiene. The first thing HR teams must do to ensure data security is to provide ongoing training for their organization around data security best practices – no matter if data is kept on premise, or offsite.

Employee error is to blame for most data security breaches. According to Egress Software Technologies, human error accounted for nearly 67% of security compromises. Another study from information security company PhishMe exposed a 789% increase in email phishing attacks containing malicious code, including ransomware, in the first quarter of 2016 over the final quarter of 2015.

The results of these and other studies should serve as a call-to-arms for businesses that training is the greatest possible weapon against cyber security threats.

Businesses should regulate password updates, and establish policies surrounding email etiquette. HR can also establish a strategy to automate employee termination which would automatically shut off employee access to their network and business applications when the employee leaves an organization.

2. Is it safer to store HR data offsite or on premise?

Recent years have seen a trend toward more advanced technological solutions for managing employee data.

Although saving HR data on local servers was a successful business strategy in its time, it is no longer the most secure option.

Information Services Group (ISG), a global technology research and advisory firm, predicts that more than half of all enterprises will move all or some of their HR systems to the cloud by 2020. In their annual report, ISG advises that when “looking at specific factors that impact the selection of new HR technologies, data security ranks the highest.”

3. What should an organization do when they experience a data breach?

In the event of a data breach, the first thing an organization should do is hire a third-party IT team that specializes in incident response and data forensics to analyze traffic and determine the root cause of a breach. Using an unbiased third-party specialist will allow you to learn exactly what has been accessed and compromised, detect what liabilities created the breach, and recommend best practices to ensure the breach doesn’t occur again.

Once you understand the forensics and have a solution in place, you need to communicate the facts to affected employees. It is crucial that you communicate what happened, who is affected, what solution you are putting in place, and how you are helping those affected by the breach.

Lastly, research state law regarding whom to notify in case of a breach and determine whether your breach type is covered by legislation. Forty-seven states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico have all enacted data breach notification statutes, with Massachusetts and California having the most rigorous standards; leaving only Alabama, New Mexico, and South Dakota without legislation.

If your organization, or your HCM vendor, haven’t suffered a data breach, you’re either very fortunate or are already prepared. Do you know which you are? Whether it’s employee’s social security numbers, insurance information, or bank account information — at some point a hacker will see your businesses vulnerable data as their next big paycheck. That’s why everyone in your company — not just IT — needs to understand the threats and how to mitigate them.

About the Author Jeff Cronin, Chief Product Officer, Ascentis Jeff joined Ascentis with more than 25 years’ experience in delivering innovative product solutions to solve unique business challenges.

Prior to joining Ascentis, Jeff was previously general manager of U.S. products at Sovos Compliance, and as vice president of product marketing at Gelco, acquired by Concur.

His teams have launched new and innovative solutions ranging from financial technology software for large organizations to cloud services targeting small and mid-sized businesses. Jeff holds a BA in physics from the University of Colorado.

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Sci-Fi loving techies and socially awkward individuals are no longer the stereotypes associated with the typical “company IT guy (or girl)�. The reality is, today’s IT professionals are no longer a concealed, ancillary team member. There now exists a growing trend among businesses; that is, moving IT departments away from their conventional roles as technology enablers into more crucial positions as revenue generators.

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HUMANRESOURCES

In

modern-day business, IT now plays an ever-growing and integral role across many departments, from finance and operations to marketing and human resources. Today’s typical IT personnel has far more to oversee than menial tasks, but rather contributing to their company’s top line revenue, customer acquisition and loyalty efforts.

The pace of change in IT has always been quick, but technology advances such as virtualization, the cloud, service management, information management and collaboration have made businesses compete in a sprint to keep up with each other. Mobile, BYOD and cloud-based computing has also created new challenges for IT departments and will continue to do so. As security issues have also amplified, so too has the function of the CIO in defining the best course of action to safeguard the company’s customers and employees.

Back to the cloud. With the adoption of cloud computing on the rise, IT is preparing themselves for the changes to come. The cloud has the potential to expand their roles and reverse the “cost center” perception that IT often wears. With more time and less busy work, IT now has the opportunity to become agents of innovation for their organization and really capitalize on their incipient role as an enabler.

Collaboration is key and IT is much more aligned with a company’s business than they were a decade ago.

Since today’s work spaces are often run by a mixture of legacy systems and modern technologies which are all suppose to work symphonically. This means IT departments are continuously straddling the line of maintaining the old and innovating with the new.

Sounds simple - but doing this successfully requires incredible technical aptitudes, but more significantly, it means that IT personnel must have a solid grasp of the goals the various departments’ support. With this understanding, they can proactively suggest and effortlessly execute technologies that will allow these goals to be accomplished. Gaining this knowledge requires IT professionals to build deeper relationships with departments that until now they would have only intermingled with when a helpdesk ticket was brought to their attention.

We have established that collaboration among departments is key but we cannot forget the emergence of new job titles- from chief IoT officer to automation architect, new IT roles are rising to fill emerging needs.

Some may fizzle, but others have a long future ahead thanks to fundamental IT trends. Odd job titles are not new in the IT world. Firms want to boost innovation, cut costs, improve security and new IT job titles have been created to snag attentiveness and gesticulate a conceivable way forward. Peruse job- listing sites like Indeed, LinkedIn or Glassdoor, you will see no shortage of bizarre IT positions. Everything from chief story - teller and chief futurist to less ambiguous titles such as innovation manager - it all exists and it’s all driving IT towards becoming revenue generators within their sphere of business.

As technology continues to change, so do the skills, knowledge and roles needed to design, build, implement and manage these cutting-edge technologies. So, say goodbye to traditional IT employees and say hello to the generation of company superheroes.

Works Cited The Role of IT: How the Shift to the Cloud is Creating Agents of Innovation https://www.bettercloud.com/monitor/changing-role-of-it IT’s Changing Role: From Technology Facilitator to Company Hero http://insights.wired.com/profiles/blogs/the-changing-role-of-the-it-department-from-cost-center-and#axzz4v6xZMmqy How the CIO Role is Changing As Business Needs Evolve https://www.cio.com/article/2691752/cio-role/how-the-cio-role-is-changing-as-business-needs-evolve.html

About the Author Alana Bellinger, Campaign Manager at HEEDGroup located in New York City.

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High Technology on a

Small Business Budget

by Ruth Richter

How to Succeed in eCommerce Without a CIO Small businesses don’t usually have the luxury of a dedicated CIO. In these organizations, people often wear many hats even when they don’t have the background and training for the roles. In our experience, in the majority of cases, the small business President also makes the strategic technology decisions.

Technology has become a business enabler and having a strategic technology plan is needed for growth.

Technology can improve business processes, lower costs and improve the customer experience. As technology innovation accelerates, small businesses need to move quickly to embrace new software and devices and prepare for the next change. Lagging behind the technology cycle may mean losing out on business altogether.

At the same time, small businesses don’t usually have the deep pockets needed to survive an unsuccessful technology project. Failure isn’t an option.

If technology is so critical to business success, can a small company succeed without a dedicated CIO? Yes, and as we’ve seen in our business, they can thrive.

The Role of the CIO in a Small Business Even if a small business is not able to staff a full-time CIO, the tasks of CIO must be completed. The CIO position has moved to being a strategic one—ensuring that company technology supports business plans and growth. This responsibility is closely tied to business strategy which is why we often see it being performed by the owner or President of the company. In fact, support from the top of the organization is often why these companies’ projects succeed. Take Palmetto Parts Co. for an example. “I end up wearing many hats to run a smooth operation, says Bill Meany, an owner whose title is V.P. of Sales. “In the past five years, I’ve personally been working to implement technologies that make it much easier to sell our products and likewise, much easier for customers to purchase from us.”

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CORPORATEFINANCE Here are common tasks of the CIO from most strategic to more operational:

• • • • • •

Plan for future technology Enable business growth Data and system security Manage projects Manage vendors Manage technology

Creating a strategic technology plan provides a framework and budget for technology operations. The small company CIO must have knowledge of both business and technology trends. However, there are many options for implementing the plan using outside resources.

Small Business Technology Options Whether small or large, businesses need to provide more value with fewer resources. Often, small businesses may believe that the costs of technology are too high.

However, the latest advancements in technology are what makes it possible for small businesses to compete effectively even in competitive markets. Tyler Young, Director of Ecommerce & Digital Strategy at Allied Materials recently selected an integrated e-commerce aggregator solution that will enable them to sell on all the major marketplaces. “The investment is a hurdle for any small business, but investments like these are a must to be effective in the today’s marketplaces. Rolling out these integrations early, before manual processes break down, is essential to building a successful marketplace business that can scale.”

Every small business can take the following steps to affordably implement technology to enable strategic growth.

1. Use pre-existing solutions. Many accounting software solutions are flexible enough to meet small business requirements without custom programming. Today, it is possible to quickly create a website with on-line tools and set up eCommerce with a fully functional shopping cart.

Integration tools exist to move data from eCommerce systems to accounting software and back again.

2. Utilize the cloud. Using the cloud for software and hosting helps to remove costs from the organization and keeps the technology management in the hands of the experts. This not only keeps start-up costs low, but also keeps ongoing costs steady. The small company only pays for what is used and can quickly add resources to meet growth requirements. These benefits are why the majority of small businesses use at least one cloud solution.

3. Outsource. While the strategic technology function may be best performed in-house, there are many options for outsourcing technology management, data security, and more. Many custom software projects can be affordable even for small companies.

4. Integrate. Integration is one of the key things that a small business should do to enable rapid growth. Relying on manual file uploads, duplicate data entry, or multiple databases will keep costs high and limit business growth.

Integrated applications provide a unified, consistent view of the business, lower the cost of operations and create a better customer experience.

Embrace Technology for Growth Embracing technology can provide a distinct competitive advantage. In many cases, technology is enabling small businesses to expand into new markets and grow rapidly.

Performing CIO functions in a small business is an important role to support this growth.

ROI Consulting is the market’s leading eCommerce solution and Sage 100 integration specialist, maximizing Sage 100 customer’s technology investment through integration and customization since 1997. Learn more about ROI’s integration solutions for Sage 100 at www.roi-consulting.com or by calling Ruth Richter at 402-934-2223x1.

About the Author Ruth Richter is the Customer Experience Director for ROI Consulting, Inc, a Sage 100 integration company.

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