We talked about the huge volumes of eWaste out there and the things you can do to help reduce it in an earlier post.   But the reality is that eWaste will still exist as we need to upgrade our computers, cell phones and copiers.  So what else do you need to think about when getting rid of this equipment.  How about the fact that your confidential company data may be on it for the taking?!?!

Most people consider deleting their files from the hard drive of a computer they replace, but did you know you how easily that information can be retrieved unless it is deleted with a special program that restricts recovery?  How about the emails that are on your cell phone when you turn it in that may include your customer’s credit card information on it from the last big sale you made?  And your fax/copier/network printer?!  This unit probably contains more confidential information than your kitchen sponge has bacteria after being used for several years.  Scared?  Good.

Several studies have been done recently that determined that confidential information is being recklessly discarded to the great peril of the companies that discarded it.  CBS news did a piece on copiers that revealed medical records, criminal records, and bank statements.  Kessler International did a study of hard drives purchased on eBay and found that over 40% of them had confidential data such as corporate financial data.  For some organizations, this is a breach of corporate conduct,  Sarbanes-Oxley regulations and other  state and federal privacy laws.

Don’t worry though, you don’t need to rent a storage shed for all of your old equipment or have a huge backyard bonfire.  There are ways to ensure that your data is safe and that you are protected.  To help, we have compiled this list of 5 things you should consider when disposing of old equipment.  While following these will not guarantee that your data will never fall into the wrong hands, you can at least be assured that you have made a good effort to protect it.

You probably have a handle on how much you rely on your email, internet connection, certainly the data about your clients and financials.  Maybe you even recognize how powerful a tool your website can be.  What else should you be thinking about?  Here are 5 key questions for reflection:

1. Do you rely on an individual person to support your technologies? Whether this is an internal staff member or outside consultant, this is a single point of failure that can hurt you if they become unavailable without warning, or simply don’t have the experience or expertise needed to solve a problem in your environment.
2. Does your idea of support mean calling someone AFTER something breaks? While not every issue can be prevented, many can.  Some basic preventative maintenance of your network and even your website is a best practices that can prevent embarrassing and costly downtime.
3. Are any upcoming projects or changes in the works? Are you planning to move, expand or downsize, replace a server, target a new market, put on a major fundraiser?  While some of these things may not be directly related to technology, change is a perfect time to review what’s in place and make sure it is effectively achieving your goals.
4. Are you leveraging social media marketing to increase traffic to your website and convert the traffic into leads?  Are your competitors? We recently posted a series of articles by guest blogger Thomas Clifford “Social Media Isn’t for Business.  Yeah, Right“.  If you think it can’t help your business, school or nonprofit, this is highly recommended reading.
5. Is there anything you wish you could change about your technology, be it your network, website support (or lack thereof)? Think of this as the old “magic wand” question.  If you could wave it over your technology, what would that look like?  What would the benefits be from these changes?  What is the status quo costing you?

It’s not unusual to realize that you aren’t thrilled with what you have in place, but you’re also not sure what to do about it.  Reputable technology firms offer basic reviews with recommendations that can make a big difference for little or no cost to you as an introduction to their expertise.  Take advantage of them, and this reflection will have been time well spent to help you achieve your goals.

This three part series is written by ForeSite Insight guest blogger, Thomas Clifford…

Thomas Clifford is a Fast Company “Expert Blogger,” speaker, three-time co-author for the “Age of Conversation” book series and an award-winning multimedia producer. Tom is passionate about speaking, writing and helping organizations use digital media to communicate with a personal touch.

In 2010 and 2009, Tom was awarded Hartford Business Journal’s Strateg-e Award for “Best Use of Blogs.” Many of Tom’s articles and his highly popular LinkedIn article can be found on his blog. You can follow Tom on Twitter at @ThomasClifford.

Social Media Isn’t for Business. Yeah, Right. Pt 2

Social media doesn’t work.
Yeah, right.
Don’t tell Gary Vaynerchuk.
Gary, the wine guy phenomenon, wrote a NY Times Bestselling book based on his social media success.

Social media doesn’t work.
Shhh.
Don’t tell David Meerman Scott.
David, a popular marketing strategist, wrote one of the most downloaded e-Books ever and now consults worldwide.

Social media doesn’t work.
Um.
Better not tell Steve Woodruff.
Steve, a distinguished marketing and training consultant, is wicked busy creating endless business opportunities with social media.

What’s their secret?
There is no secret. They just didn’t have any misconceptions about using social media.

Not having any misconceptions about using social media lets these people do two things:
1. Make time to use social media; and
2. Learn to use social media.

That’s it. See? There is no secret.

We learned in the first article that while everyone is running around saying there’s no time for social media, we do, in fact, have time for social media.

Now it’s time to tackle the second misconception. What’s the second misconception?

Misconception #2: “Social media doesn’t work”
Why do we think social media doesn’t work? We think social media doesn’t work because we don’t understand it.

We don’t’ understand social media because of a thing called the “law of first knowledge.” The “law of first knowledge” states: we believe what we first learn.

Well, if we first learned that social media is a fad and has no long-term value, guess what? We’ll continue to believe that social media is a fad and has no long-term value. That becomes our truth.

How do we change our “truth” about social media?
To change our “truth” about social media, we have to begin asking ourselves, “What do we mean by “it doesn’t work?”

How are you measuring “work?”
• In dollars?
• In meeting new people?
• In creating a community that spreads our message?
• In generating new ideas for future projects?
• In creating referrals?
• In creating value for your customers by answering their questions?

Which one is best for you? Every business is different. If you know someone using social media for business purposes, you can begin by asking them. If not, define it yourself. Once you define what “works” means, you begin realizing that social media does work.

How can we tell if our social media efforts are working?
You can tell if your efforts are working because you can measure them against your goals. Easy, huh?

Don’t know what to measure?
If you don’t know what to measure, especially if you’re new to social media, there’s nothing better than a real life example.

Take a look at Impactiviti
Impactiviti is owned by Steve Woodruff. One of Steve’s main business goals is to increase the size of his network. How does he do that? He does it by increasing his networking opportunities. Enter: social media.

Steve uses multiple social media channels (industry blog, LinkedIn communities, Twitter, e-newsletters) to create a network of clients and vendor and partners.

This network is used to gather and make recommendations on “best fit” vendors for various training and marketing needs, dramatically reducing the inefficiencies of new business development (on the vendor side) and vetting potential suppliers (on the client side).

Steve’s entire business model is founded on a trusted network approach. While his current business is focused on pharmaceuticals, Steve’s approach is spreading into other areas of his business. Social media tools have been instrumental in creating and growing this network.

Oh, yeah. Steve’s business went from zero at start-up to self-sustaining with a six-figure income in 2 years.

Social media works
It just takes an open mind to see possibilities you didn’t see before. Start by setting a small goal. Gradually increase the size of your goal. Hey, you never know. You, too, just might be sitting on a best selling book, e-Book or a huge network opportunity.

The last article will address the third social media misconception: Who cares what I have to say?

To read part one of this three part series is written by ForeSite Insight guest blogger, Thomas Clifford, click here.

This three part series is written by ForeSite Insight guest blogger, Thomas Clifford…

Thomas Clifford is a Fast Company “Expert Blogger,” speaker, three-time co-author for the “Age of Conversation” book series and an award-winning multimedia producer. Tom is passionate about speaking, writing and helping organizations use digital media to communicate with a personal touch.

In 2010 and 2009, Tom was awarded Hartford Business Journal’s Strateg-e Award for “Best Use of Blogs.” Many of Tom’s articles and his highly popular LinkedIn article can be found on his blog. You can follow Tom on Twitter at @ThomasClifford.

Social Media Isn’t for Business. Yeah, Right. Pt 1

Ever feel totally out of it?
Like when everyone sees the latest blockbuster- except you?
You figure, hey, it’s not for you.

Is that how you’re feeling about this social media thing, too?
That it’s not for you? Or your business?
You figure, hey, it’s just a fad.

Um, your competition doesn’t think it’s a fad.

There are three misconceptions about social media:
1) You don’t have the time for it;
2) It doesn’t work; and
3) You think you have nothing to say.

Um, guess what?
1) You do have time for it.
2) Social media does work.
3) You have an audience eagerly waiting to hear from you.

Think I’m crazy?
Hang on. In this article we’ll cover #1: you think you have no time for social media. The next two articles will cover #2 and #3. I’m going to show you why these are misconceptions. Not only that, you’re going to see how you can get started with social media in just a few minutes a day.

OK, ready? Let’s start crushing these pesky misconceptions.

But first…

Why is holding on to misconceptions a problem?
Holding on to misconceptions is a problem because they can prevent us from growing and reaching our personal and professional goals. Perceptions give us direction. Perceptions are like our personal GPS system.

Sometimes our personal GPS system goes “ka-put!”
And a GPS system that goes “ka-put” won’t lead you to your destination.
Holding onto your “misconceptions” won’t lead you to your destination, either.

How can we begin correcting these misconceptions, especially with social media?
We begin by educating ourselves.

How do we educate ourselves about social media without buying books and spending gobs of time on-line? Simple. Begin by watching what others do. Learn by observation.

Let’s talk about the first misconception.

Misconception #1: “I don’t have time”
I know what you’re thinking: “If I’m going to do this social media thing, it’ll take me hours a day. It’s just not worth it.” With everyone talking about LinkedIn , Twitter, blogging, Facebook and yada, yada, yada, it’s no wonder we think we don’t have the time!

Fact: All you need is nine minutes a day (um, getting an egg-timer helps).
You read that right. Nine minutes a day.

Assuming you’re registered on at least one social media site, set your timer for nine minutes and just begin exploring. You don’t have to participate and get all crazy posting things here and there- just look. Observe what others are doing. Spend a few minutes studying how things are happening. Don’t judge– just observe.

We can learn to use social media just by watching how others use social media
When you’re on LinkedIn, Twitter or looking at professional blogs, ask yourself:

• What do you see that resonates with you?
• What works?
• What doesn’t?
• Can you strike up a conversation with someone by leaving comments?
• How are people in your industry using these tools?
• Can you see any patterns?
• How would you do it differently?

You’ll learn what you need to become an active participant in social media just by spending nine minutes a day and observing how things work. After a few weeks of just observing, you’ll have more confidence when you’re ready to dive in the pool.

It’s easy to spend all day with social media
Of course, that’s not really practical, is it? If you’re really interested in learning how social media works in general and for your business, the best way to start learning is by watching.

Nine minutes a day. That’s it.

So it’s time to find that egg timer. You do have an egg timer, right?

Next up? Misconception #2: Social Media Doesn’t Work

Let me start by saying that we strive to go beyond being “vendors” for our clients by combining our expertise and experience in technology with their expertise and experience in their industry and their organization.  That combined approach allows us to be a “technology partner”.  Be careful of the “technology vendor” who is more focused on their quotas and sales spiffs than they are on listening to your needs.  I don’t mean to get off topic here, but this is an important distinction to us!

As far as the relationship goes, there are some keys to it being successful and they all start with trust.  You need to trust that we are truly working on your behalf without some hidden agenda and we need to trust that you have given us all of the information necessary to make our engagement a successful one.  Nothing is worse than getting halfway through a project to find out that there were requirements that we hadn’t considered.  All we really want is to have the project go flawlessly so we can call it a success and you can go on improving your business.

Unfortunately, a flawless technology project really only exists in a utopia so I have written this short 5 point download about ways to mitigate those things that will go wrong.  I hope this helps you manage your future relationships with your technology partner.  If they don’t want to work in this framework, maybe they should be called a vendor.

Most of you tech savvy business people out there have had a LinkedIn account for years, but have you been truly using it to increase your business opportunities? If you want to reap the benefits of a LinkedIn account, you need to commit to actively using it on a consistent basis. At the very least you should look at your profile every day to see to see who your contacts are networking with, and if there are more “People You May Know” listed in your profile. Remember, your contacts’ new contacts are now in your network, and the groups they have joined may be of interest to you.

If you’re interested in learning about some good LinkedIn practices that help you make the most of your profile and find great contacts quickly, download part one and two of our three part series.

I started my business in 1997 with the same basic mantra we use today; provide technology solutions to support business goals.  While the technology has changed, the attitude hasn’t.  Do what we need to do to satisfy the customer and bill them for an honest amount of time to do it.  Well as we have grown that has become more difficult.  More staff, more clients and more personalities has caused us to have to put more procedures in place to make sure that everyone is treated fairly and we still have the possibility of making a (small) profit in the end.

Now in comes the Massachusetts data security law and we have another entire set of issues for not only us but all of our clients.  We have checklists for them to follow so they are not liable for potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.  Plus we need to have an acceptable use policy (AUP) , a written information security policy (WISP) and now they are talking about PCI compliance because we come in the vicinity of credit cards numbers!  What ever happened to “my word is my bond”?  I would so rather spend time helping people figure out what makes an effective website, how to handle their technology planning and budgeting, or how to determine the ROI of installing a network server.

No question that running a business in today’s high tech/high risk environment is different than pre-Y2K but I never thought I’d spend more time reviewing internal policies than getting out and helping clients with their businesses.  At least we get the opportunity to help our clients create some of these policies too!

Most of you tech savvy business people out there have had a LinkedIn account for years, but have you been truly using it to increase your business opportunities?

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional online network with more than 45 million users representing 150 industries, and in case you’re wondering, the company itself is valued around $1 billion. Since September 2008, when the economic crisis hit, it has seen a 25% increase in the rate of sign-ups as concerned professionals look to keep their contacts up to date. That equates to approximately 1 million new users every two weeks. In terms of activity by those users, in the last two months there has been a 15% increase in the issuing of invitations to get people to join business networking circles and there has also been a 14% increase in the amount of recommendations made by users endorsing another member of LinkedIn.

The explosion of LinkedIn usage brings to mind the age old question of Quantity versus Quality.   Would you prefer to have 500 good contacts, or would you rather have 50 great contacts? The former may inflate your network statistics, but the latter may inflate your sales statistics. We can’t all be like Ron Bates, but do we want to be?

Who is Ron Bates you ask? With 44,000 direct contacts on LinkedIn, Ron has been referred to as “the most connected man on Earth.” In fact, I just tried to connect with Ron last night. I haven’t been accepted yet, but I did it for fun and I don’t expect any business to come from it. To effectively use LinkedIn to promote and grow your business you don’t need a ton of contacts, you just need a handful of great contacts that are in need of the services that your company offers and are interested in working with you or know others who would be.

If you’re hoping to reap the benefits of a LinkedIn account, you need to commit to actively using it on a consistent basis. At the very least you should look at your profile every day to see to see who your contacts are networking with, and if there are more “People You May Know” listed in your profile. Remember, your contacts’ new contacts are now in your network, and the groups they have joined may be of interest to you.

The bottom-line with LinkedIn is that people would much rather work with people who their friends and colleagues know and trust. To truly realize a return on the investment of time required by LinkedIn you need to increase your number of viable connections and thus increase your chances of getting more business. In order to make your profile more appealing you need to nurture it by being committed to completing at least one or two LinkedIn tasks every single day. Make a connection, join a group, or just enhance your profile. Be sure to track the traffic to your website and what percentage of it comes from LinkedIn.

There are many ways to establish sustainable relationships through LinkedIn.  Find out how to put the power of LinkedIn to work for your business by downloading part one of our three part series.

Without a doubt, the answer to the above question is THE BUSINESS!  But it’s amazing how often we forget this when looking at new technology to implement in a business.  Far too often, a cool new technology noticed by a business owner or the desire of their IT company to play with a new technology drives the decision for an implementation.  While there may be merits of the technology, the decision to affect a business’s production environment should be driven by a business need.  For example, we have clients come to us all the time saying something like, “Shouldn’t we be upgrading to Windows 7?”.  Our reply is usually, “Why?  Do you feel that one of the new features can help with a business problem you are having?”  While the answer is sometimes yes, most often it is because they have a friend who got it or saw a good ad on TV.

As a technology partner for our clients, we use the mantra that business needs should always drive technology implementations, not vice versa.  To help our clients make the best use of their technology investments we will work to understand their business so we can help them make informed decisions.  Some of the things we want to determine are:

• Is there a business problem you are having that is driving this?
• Have you considered all of the costs of this implementation?
• How will this affect your interactions with your clients?

By working in this fashion, we believe it build good long term relationships as we are not simply looking to book every billable project we can get our hands on.  In the long run it is a win/win.

We have compiled a more thorough list of the things we evaluate when helping a client determine if a new technology is right for them.  Download our “10 Reality Check Items to Consider in any Technology Implementation“.

5 signs that it’s time for a web site redesign:

1.  Your site isn’t effective in helping you achieve your goals (more sales, brand recognition, community awareness, etc)

2.  Your site is no longer an accurate representative of who you are and what you offer.

3.  The site looks very dated.  Not sure about this?  Check out your competitor’s sites to see what you are up against.

4.  You don’t have a scalable web site that you can update with new content, add a blog or integrate easily with social media.

5.  Users have asked for features or made other suggestions for changes that cannot be accomplished with your current site.

Looking for specific recommendations for your web site?  Let our team of experts evaluate it!