Risk Management – Picking the Best Cloud Storage Provider
Dec. 13, 2011
There’s been quite a buzz about using the cloud. Personally, I’m still not sold on using cloud services for many businesses. There have been too many problems, and I prefer to maintain controls to alleviate uncertainty in business. Not to mention one of the lessons I learned very early — when there’s a lot of hype like there is with the cloud — go slow with due diligence.
But if you feel you must go the cloud route, remember choosing the right cloud storage provider is a must for risk management.
You have a vast array of options. Cost is important, of course, but so are your company’s risk-management needs – just like the federal government.
It’s taken two years, but now the government has launched FedRamp, the federal risk and authorization program (FedRAMP). It established security standards for providing cloud services to the government. FedRAMP also provides agencies with monitoring tools to insure continuous compliance with security standards.
Those are important considerations.
So what about cloud risk-management for your business?
Here are basic questions to ask of your potential cloud provider:
- If they’re a large provider, has the vendor been qualified by FedRAMP?
- What is the company’s financial situation? According to federal data, there were 1,467,221 bankruptcies last year. Of which, 49,895 were business bankruptcies. Have a frank discussion with the supplier. Find out if they expect to gain or lose business in the next year. And ask about their cash flow, and for references regarding the status of their banking relationships.
- What would be their total charges? Is it a flat fee? What are the additional costs for storing each gigabyte or for transferring data?
- What about the security of their services, and what does their service level agreement (SLA) provide? Keep in mind commitments for performance and reliability, and what happens if they fail to perform according to the SLA.
- What do they provide in the way of data availability each month? What will be the percentage of time you will be able to get into your data or add new data?
- What do they provide in data transfer rates? Data storage is important, but so is your ability to rapidly transfer your data.
- What level of data durability do they offer? That is the amount of potential data loss from data corruption.
- Does the vendor provide data shuffle or bare metal service? This service is a hard copy backup. Will you be able to present a hard-drive data copy to the cloud or will you be able to retrieve a copy of your data?
- What do they support in operating systems? Make certain they’re capable of working with all your operating systems.
- What are their backup services? You’ll have problems if they simply backup your data. You’ll also want assurances that they will back up all your computer applications and operating system, and will provide virtual servers for crashed systems.
From the Coach’s Corner, here’s How Small Businesses Can Capitalize on Cyber Strategies for Profit.
“It’s not a faith in technology. It’s faith in people.”
-Steve Jobs
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Terry Corbell is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
First Step in Fighting Lawsuit Abuse – Risk Management
Nov. 20, 2011 (corrects amount of compensatory damages in lawsuit)
Published reports on two southern California media Web sites illustrate the polarizing effects of laws affecting business.
The first article in Signon San Diego, Businesses fight ‘abusive’ lawsuits, explains the fears and concerns of many small businesses. Written by Tanya Mannes, it describes how a legal-reform organization is leading the fight against what it terms as lawsuit abuse in California.
A group calling itself California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA) has issued a report showing what it believes are large number of disingenuous lawsuits, and is lobbying the California Legislature for legal reforms.
Ms. Mannes quoted a CALA regional director, Maryann Maloney Marino:
“Anybody can be subject to a lawsuit in California…More than 1.4 million lawsuits were filed last year alone, but that does not take into account the hundreds or thousands of demand letters businesses get.”
As part of its marketing, the group launched a Facebook page.
Yes, as a biz coach, I’m empathetic for business having to cope with the litigious environment in California and across the nation.
On first glance, a second article would seem to support the group’s cause. The CBS headline reads: Jury Awards Woman $65M In Punitive Damages.
However, the article – one of many on the case – explains how and why jurors reacted to a healthcare company that employed a male nursing assistant who sexually abused a patient. Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center and its former owner Tenet Healthcare Corp. were ordered to pay the victim $2.36 million in compensatory damages.
The article also relates how the jurors in their deliberations were so deeply moved they arrived at the $65-million figure in punitive damages.
Little wonder. The article indicated the jurors weren’t convinced the company was doing its best as a healthcare organization – were they thinking this was an example of the term, oxymoron?
To exacerbate the situation, the employee-predator, a fugitive, was cited on Fox television’s “America’s Most Wanted” two years in a row.
Moreover, the case raises salient questions – for starters: What about the hospital’s recruitment policies, background checks, and management procedures?
And why was a male nursing assistant even allowed intimate access to a female patient? Other professions, like police agencies and physicians, have noteworthy safeguards in gender protections.
The lesson? To prevent being hit by a lawsuit, do your due diligence in risk management.
Conduct a SWOT analysis of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Then, take the necessary proactive steps for good stewardship. Document everything for a paper trail.
You’ll sleep better. More importantly, it’s the right thing to do.
From the Coach’s Corner, here are other employer tips:
21 Quick Tips to Avoid the Dark Side of Management
How to avoid EEOC Discrimination Suits
Lessons for Education via Penn State, the Need to Hire a Real Coach
Why Companies are Falling into the Management Lawsuit Trap
BP Crisis Management – How to Avoid PR Misfires
“The first step in the risk management process is to acknowledge the reality of risk. Denial is a common tactic that substitutes deliberate ignorance for thoughtful planning.”
-Charles Tremper
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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
How CIOs Can Get More Respect in the C-Suite
Despite the importance of their work, chief information officers have difficulty earning respect from senior executives. Ironically, information technology plays a vital role in an organization’s risk management and profits.
But CIOs are not alone. Like many advertising and marketing professionals, CIOs face a glass ceiling because they’re not seen as management peers at the conference-room decision-making table.
Why? Have you ever noticed that IT people do not take the lead in strategic initiatives?
They do not convey that they understand the big pictures facing their employers. They appear to be too task-oriented. They often project the image that they only follow what’s at the end of their nose and that they get immersed in details.
How can a CIO acquire all the necessary skills to fix the problem?
What CIOs need is a vision of how their IT department can best-serve their employer.
Earning C-suite respect calls for taking the initiative – being ahead of the pack in emerging technology and applications that benefit or complement a company’s strategic plans, assessing options, communicating strategies, developing strong relationships in and out of the company, and possessing self-marketing skills.
This really starts by being able to listen and asking relevant open-ended questions. Have you ever noticed the most-powerful people in a room often do the most listening?
A personal investment of time is required. Develop a strong familiarity with every business unit in the organization. That includes operations, marketing, sales, finance and human resources. This is accomplished by asking colleagues for information about issues, challenges and goals. One good method is to ask a different peer to go to lunch every week.
CIOs also need to read what CEOs read, learn how they think, and emulate their abilities to compartmentalize and synthesize events and information to develop objectives.
IT pros need to become known for effective teaching skills. A good educator becomes the go-to person in any organization.
This requires the ability to sell ideas and information – to be able to explain what data and what developments mean to the firm. This can lead to strong relationships, which are imperative for universal respect.
If all of this was so easy, everyone would be doing it. Chip away at learning these skills and you will be on your way to earning more respect in the C-Suite.
From the Coach’s Corner, for more reading, check out these two sections on this site:
- 10 Characteristics of a Successful CEO
- Various Biz Coach columns on management strategies in this Human Resources section
Risk Management – Lawyer Explains Basics in Protecting Intellectual Property
Each hour, it seems, news headlines are published about patents. Normally, patent headlines are a sign of business friction as the case with Xerox vs. Google and Yahoo, and Apple vs. Nokia.
So it’s extraordinary for adversaries such as Google and Yahoo to be on the same side. Xerox filed a patent lawsuit naming the two search giants alleging they are violating automatic query and information patents, according to InformationWeek.
It’s also rare when you can spot a positive news headline regarding patents. Note this PC World headline: “Microsoft, Amazon Strike Patent Licensing Deal.” This means Microsoft and Amazon.com will each tap into the other company’s technology. As part of the arrangement, Microsoft will receive payments from Amazon.com.
Entrepreneurs are well-advised to consider ways to avoid legal entanglements over their inventions and intellectual property.
Here’s an example: Apple vs. Nokia. In this case, the U.S. International Trade Commission is investigating.
Sounds serious, doesn’t it – it’s time to turn to a noted patent attorney for an explanation of this case.
“It looks like Apple and Nokia are using their patent portfolios to obtain some leverage from each other,” says Adam L.K. Philipp, founder of the Axios Law firm (www.axioslaw.com). “Generally, two firms of this size may posture, but then settle, especially as their respective patent portfolios are so large.”
He speaks from experience. He says his current clients include: “RealNetworks, Wetpaint, PhotoBucket (formerly Ontela), SEOmoz, Appature, Winshuttle, Kashless, HealthUnity, AirSplat.com, and many more.”
China makes a lot of intellectual property headlines. Is China getting a bad rap?
“China is becoming an intellectual property powerhouse; a bit like a very large high college football player. Young and inexperienced, but having a lot of potential and with the right seasoning has the ability to go to the NFL,” explains the Seattle attorney.
“Generally I tell my clients that it is not enough to have a business partner or intellectual property in China, you want to give your business partner the tools to use by filing for intellectual property protection in China,” adds Mr. Philipp.
He says entrepreneurs face five common problems in intellectual property (IP). They include:
- Waiting too long to seek IP protection
- Talking about their technology before securing protection
- Spending too little money on IP protection
- Spending too much money on IP protection
- Spending money on the wrong IP protection
“From a business perspective it is always important to think of intellectual property as providing a business with business tools,” he says. “By simply understanding IP better, businesses can make better decisions on a cost/benefit basis of how or if to proceed with IP protection.”
And he believes patents are needed for five reasons:
- To obtain exclusivity in their market (barriers to entry for others). Also to satisfy investors.
- To obtain licensing revenue
- For bragging rights (PR)
- For cross-licensing opportunities
- All of the above
How about trademarks?
“Securing the investment in a brand and the associated goodwill,” explains Mr. Philipp. “It is expensive and distracting to entrepreneurs and their customers to change a brand. Registering a trademark can help to avoid that.”
He warns about the importance of copyrights. “Registering copyrights allows a rights hold much easier and cheaper enforcement options. In particular access to statutory damages that can be quite effective in copyright litigation.”
He’s knowledgeable in the core issues in business-method patents, such as Bilski. Bilski was a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and later debated at the U.S. Supreme Court. But the high court’s decision still left questions about what can be patented.
What’s Bilski all about?
“The core issues revolve around the United States’ policy of protecting innovation; and deciding what types of innovations are worthy of patent protection,” Mr. Philipp says. “If is it merely a method of doing business, is that the kind of thing our Founding Fathers really wanted enshrined in the Constitution as protectable?”
Verbiage regarding patents, obviously, is technical, such as the machine or transformation test.
“That a process patent must either be tied to a particular machine or apparatus or must operate to change articles or materials to a ‘different state or thing’,” he explains. “Currently, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office merely requires a recitation of a particular computer performing the process for software inventions.”
OK, the bottom-line: When does he recommend inventors seek a patent attorney?
“As soon as they decide to build a business around their idea(s),” he concludes. “But that does not mean that they need to start filing for protection right away, rather that they should be informed and strategic about how they allocate their budget.”
Take it from me, pay heed to this information if you want to avoid unnecessary headaches.
From the Coach’s Corner, on a lighter note courtesy of Forbes, here are images of The Kookiest Inventions. (I haven’t verified whether they have made money. )
