Tag Archives: Tony Nestor

About 1325 days ago Telecom and Wireless

Is Your iPhone Backup Adequate?

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The rush is on. With more than 75,000 applications and counting, the iPhone serves as a new frontier for business development. Thousands of these apps promise to transform the way small and mid-sized businesses operate, allowing for convenience, streamlining operations, improving customer satisfaction, cutting costs, and much more. But the apps are developing so rapidly and the market is evolving so swiftly that businesses aren’t often taking proper security measures into consideration before they move operations to the iPhone. “I worry that more and more people are rushing off to use the wealth of applications that are out there,’’ says Mark Kadrich, CEO of The Security Consortium, which advises companies about security. “I just don’t think people have taken the time to ensure that those applications are secure, trustworthy and reliable.… Some of this stuff is two to three guys banging out code in a garage somewhere.” Evaluating your risk In general, says Kadrich, small businesses don’t take adequate security measures. “If you look at most large organizations, most have a business continuity plan or disaster plan in place to deal with something catastrophic happening,’’ he says.  “Small businesses don’t tend to have the IT depth they need to do those kinds of things.” Couple a lack of attention to security with what Kadrich sees as the risky nature of the iPhone platform, and some caution is in order when moving business functions to the iPhone. “It’s a constant balance. Is the benefit a business owner sees on a day-to-day basis, the financial returns, worth it to the point if something happens and the business is off line for several days?” asks Kadrich, author of Endpoint Security (Addison-Wesley Professional 2007). Understanding what’s at stake Consider what would happen if the data you’ve moved to iPhones is breached or lost. What sort of liability do you have if you compromise a client’s confidential information? What happens if you submit a legal bid, only to have the information altered somewhere in the process? Even the smallest business needs to understand the risk and build a continuity plan, says Kadrich. Like other hand-held devices, the iPhone can be easily lost, stolen or misplaced. “Small business owners with sensitive information on their iPhone, especially customer information, should be very cautious,’’ warns Alex Moazed, CEO  of Applico, which has developed Aurkon, a backup application for Blackberry smartphones. “If lost or stolen, it is relatively easy to hack into the iPhone and break security protocols.” Mitigating risk If you’re going to operate on the cutting edge of iPhone development, it makes sense to minimize your exposure.  Taking these precautions can help: Vet your vendor– Ask plenty of questions. Just because an app is available doesn’t mean it is secure. “Any developer should provide a detailed abstract of the project, outlining the exact functionality of the application, features, as well as a plan for ongoing development of new features and maintenance,’’ says Tony Nestor, CEO of Progress Technologies, Inc., and a software developer. A single fixed quote with a brief sketch of the proposed project is a sure warning sign, Nestor says. Understand contingencies — What happens to your data if the developer goes out of business or the business is acquired by another company? An app developer should have data retention and privacy policies. Make backup plans– Ask if your data is backed up on a daily basis or on a real-time basis. Test whether your data can be reconstructed from a backup. Ask developers how they back up their servers. “Missing the backup routine in a scope of work is a huge indicator that the project has not been fully put to concept,’’ Nestor warns. “This is the equivalent of building a house without any plans to refer to.” It’s also critical to sync and back up information such as contacts or documents. MobileMe’s iDisk, from Apple, lets you access, store, and share files online or through the iDisk app for iPhones. Data is synchronized daily using iTunes. “You can drop the phone in a swimming pool, get a new one and sync it with the computer,’’ says Michael Miora, founder of ContingenZ, which offers companies training and management for disaster recovery and security threats. The DataViz Documents to Go app offers two-way file synchronization, says Miora. Kadrich has found the MobileMe backup buggy, so he now resorts to syncing his contacts by returning his iPhone to the cradle each day. Get the patches– Stay current on security patches and software updates from Apple. Use the remote wipe — For iPhone 3.0 users with MobileMe accounts, Find My iPhone’s Remote Wipe lets you issue a remote command to erase the phone’s data if the phone is lost or stolen. This isn’t fool-proof. For instance, a data thief could keep the phone from connecting to the Internet, thus not allowing the data removal. Recognizing the potential of the iPhone as a business tool means acknowledging there can be downsides too, says Kadrich. “For whatever reason, people have gotten it into their heads that because the format of the device has changed, the underlying care you should take isn’t there.”

About 1325 days ago Data Security

Is Your iPhone Backup Adequate?

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The rush is on. With more than 75,000 applications and counting, the iPhone serves as a new frontier for business development. Thousands of these apps promise to transform the way small and mid-sized businesses operate, allowing for convenience, streamlining operations, improving customer satisfaction, cutting costs, and much more. But the apps are developing so rapidly and the market is evolving so swiftly that businesses aren’t often taking proper security measures into consideration before they move operations to the iPhone. “I worry that more and more people are rushing off to use the wealth of applications that are out there,’’ says Mark Kadrich, CEO of The Security Consortium, which advises companies about security. “I just don’t think people have taken the time to ensure that those applications are secure, trustworthy and reliable.… Some of this stuff is two to three guys banging out code in a garage somewhere.” Evaluating your risk In general, says Kadrich, small businesses don’t take adequate security measures. “If you look at most large organizations, most have a business continuity plan or disaster plan in place to deal with something catastrophic happening,’’ he says.  “Small businesses don’t tend to have the IT depth they need to do those kinds of things.” Couple a lack of attention to security with what Kadrich sees as the risky nature of the iPhone platform, and some caution is in order when moving business functions to the iPhone. “It’s a constant balance. Is the benefit a business owner sees on a day-to-day basis, the financial returns, worth it to the point if something happens and the business is off line for several days?” asks Kadrich, author of Endpoint Security (Addison-Wesley Professional 2007). Understanding what’s at stake Consider what would happen if the data you’ve moved to iPhones is breached or lost. What sort of liability do you have if you compromise a client’s confidential information? What happens if you submit a legal bid, only to have the information altered somewhere in the process? Even the smallest business needs to understand the risk and build a continuity plan, says Kadrich. Like other hand-held devices, the iPhone can be easily lost, stolen or misplaced. “Small business owners with sensitive information on their iPhone, especially customer information, should be very cautious,’’ warns Alex Moazed, CEO  of Applico, which has developed Aurkon, a backup application for Blackberry smartphones. “If lost or stolen, it is relatively easy to hack into the iPhone and break security protocols.” Mitigating risk If you’re going to operate on the cutting edge of iPhone development, it makes sense to minimize your exposure.  Taking these precautions can help: Vet your vendor– Ask plenty of questions. Just because an app is available doesn’t mean it is secure. “Any developer should provide a detailed abstract of the project, outlining the exact functionality of the application, features, as well as a plan for ongoing development of new features and maintenance,’’ says Tony Nestor, CEO of Progress Technologies, Inc., and a software developer. A single fixed quote with a brief sketch of the proposed project is a sure warning sign, Nestor says. Understand contingencies — What happens to your data if the developer goes out of business or the business is acquired by another company? An app developer should have data retention and privacy policies. Make backup plans– Ask if your data is backed up on a daily basis or on a real-time basis. Test whether your data can be reconstructed from a backup. Ask developers how they back up their servers. “Missing the backup routine in a scope of work is a huge indicator that the project has not been fully put to concept,’’ Nestor warns. “This is the equivalent of building a house without any plans to refer to.” It’s also critical to sync and back up information such as contacts or documents. MobileMe’s iDisk, from Apple, lets you access, store, and share files online or through the iDisk app for iPhones. Data is synchronized daily using iTunes. “You can drop the phone in a swimming pool, get a new one and sync it with the computer,’’ says Michael Miora, founder of ContingenZ, which offers companies training and management for disaster recovery and security threats. The DataViz Documents to Go app offers two-way file synchronization, says Miora. Kadrich has found the MobileMe backup buggy, so he now resorts to syncing his contacts by returning his iPhone to the cradle each day. Get the patches– Stay current on security patches and software updates from Apple. Use the remote wipe — For iPhone 3.0 users with MobileMe accounts, Find My iPhone’s Remote Wipe lets you issue a remote command to erase the phone’s data if the phone is lost or stolen. This isn’t fool-proof. For instance, a data thief could keep the phone from connecting to the Internet, thus not allowing the data removal. Recognizing the potential of the iPhone as a business tool means acknowledging there can be downsides too, says Kadrich. “For whatever reason, people have gotten it into their heads that because the format of the device has changed, the underlying care you should take isn’t there.”

About 1355 days ago Mobility Tips and Tricks

Can You Run Your Business from an iPhone?

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While the economy limps along, Chris Cunningham’s heating and air conditioning business in suburban Indianapolis is enjoying unprecedented success. Business at Service Plus Heating and Air Conditioning is up 40 percent since Cunningham passed out a new tool to his technicians earlier this year. Moving much of his business to iPhones has transformed his operation, says Cunningham. “It has really set us apart locally, set us light years ahead of my competition,’’ Cunningham says. “It has changed everything. I’ve been able to hire two extra technicians.” Business applications for iPhones are expanding at a mind-boggling pace. You can manage your payroll, bank accounts, transactions, appointments, communications, and more from an appliance small enough to slip in a pocket. But does it make sense to move almost all of your business operations to an iPhone? Is it possible to be too reliant on the iPhone and its many apps? The answers, say the experts, depend much on what type of business you’re running and what sort of functionalities you require. Putting mobility in new hands The ability to conduct business via the iPhone or a smartphone is bringing connectivity to the blue collar workforce — or at least the blue collar workers who toil from location to location, notes Luc Vezina, director of product marketing for Protus, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) business communications company. “I’m always amazed at how often it’s the people who aren’t in the office setting who are using this stuff,’’ says Vezina. “Now you can give a smartphone to an employee where it didn’t make sense to give them a computer. You have people who were before doing paper-based tasks and giving them a smartphone isn’t costing you as much as providing a computer and an Internet connection.” For businesses that move functions such as service orders and credit card processing to an iPhone at work sites, the benefits are readily apparent, says Cunningham. He notes these improvements: More efficient customer service.  With the flick of a thumb, his technicians can show manufacturers’ websites with furnace specifications. On a standard proposal, each model number links back to the manufacturer’s site. Bills, pricing forms, and estimates are loaded and ready to go. Cunningham, who says wryly, “I’m not a computer programmer,” spent a weekend creating the forms using FormSpring’s Web form builders. He spends just $30 a month for the FormSpring service. “My guys can produce three or four estimates effortlessly,” Cunningham says. Quicker turnaround.  Businesses that rely on writing orders in the field can particularly benefit from using iPhone apps. “We used to have to do a paper carbonless copy, and it would take a 24-hour turnaround,’’ says Cunningham. “Now, when a technician hits send, I know instantly what he’s done, what he’s charged. Mitigating human error.  Handwriting can be difficult to read. Workers without any great love for completing forms can be sloppy or forgetful. “We had a great office staff before, but the road block was always my technicians,’’ Cunningham says. Cost savings.  Cunningham spent $1,200 on six iPhones and pays about $700 a month for AT&T service, less than his phone bill was before. He saves the money he spent printing orders, and he figures the expense is a far cry from the $10,000 to $15,000 he would have spent on other automation systems he considered. Performing so many business apps on iPhones and smartphones clearly works well if you’re not tethered to an office. Vezina sees real estate agents, truck drivers, and construction supervisors taking advantage of the apps. Marc Cantell and his Chinook Materials team use Egnyte, a virtual file server, to pull up architectural drawings or contracts at construction sites in suburban Portland, Ore. The best business apps are single purpose and easy to use without much of a learning curve, Vezina advises. When using an iPhone doesn’t make sense Still, there are times when an iPhone won’t suffice. An iPhone or a smartphone work well when you’re not trying to enter a significant amount of information, points out Vezina. Trying to write a lengthy e-mail? Working on multiple files at once? Manipulate a complicated website? You don’t want to abandon your laptop or PC just yet. For folks who work extensively with spreadsheets, the trend is actually toward bigger monitors, Vezina says. Cunningham still uses an office PC to run Quickbooks. And while some business apps are a revelation and are transforming the way we do business, others are downright buggy, says Mark Kadrich, CEO of The Security Consortium, a business security consulting company. He particularly dislikes the inability to effectively edit documents. “Yes, there are apps that allow you to edit documents, but give me a break!” he says. “They’re buggy and difficult to use. There’s no way for you to see how a doc looks, not to mention being able to print something.” Kadrich and others also caution that they still have security concerns about vulnerabilities in the iPhone platform. Reliability is an issue as well for Tony Nestor, CEO of Progress Technologies, Inc., and a software developer. Enjoy the benefits of connectivity, but remain a bit cautious, he advises. Back up data elsewhere and have an alternative appliance readily available. “As a small business owner, I have found our iPhones and Blackberry devices to be crucial to staying connected while on the move,’’ Nestor says. “Er, that is until they stop working. I would say moving everything over to mobile is a lot like the old saying, ‘Putting all your eggs in one basket.’’’