Get More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At: www.CMITDenver.com

“As a business owner, you don’t have time to waste on technical and operational issues. That’s where we shine! Call us and put an end to your IT problems finally and forever!” - Debi Bush, CMIT Solutions of Denver

Volume V, Issue X October 2012

Denver, Colorado

Inside This Issue…

What The Difference Is Between Disaster Recovery And Business Continuity And Why You Should Care……………………………..Page 1 Why Focus On Working With A Purpose?......................................Page 3 How Long Would It Really Take To Crack Your “Strong” Password?………………….......Page 4 The 3 Scariest Threats To Small Business Networks…...……….Page 5 Business Execution— Are You REALLY Getting Focused?.....................................Page 6 4 Invaluable Insights I’ve Just Learned From Stephen Covey…………....Page 7

Face it—downtime is depressing, difficult and downright dumb. You can’t afford to lose business, clients and your reputation because of failed computer systems. That’s why it’s so important to pay attention to Disaster Recovery (DR) and Business Continuity (BC). Almost every business depends on secure, reliable computer systems. It doesn’t matter if you’re a retail establishment, an online business or a service provider like us. You rely on technology in order to perform everyday functions.

The Costs of Downtime

The cost of downtime is significant. In this Internet-connected age, most companies lose money when systems are down. Customers cannot order products, so they go elsewhere for services. It’s also difficult to communicate with people when your e-mail and web sites are inaccessible. Downtime hurts your competitiveness. Eventually your company’s repu-tation can be damaged. This is why Business Continuity is so much more important than simple Disaster Recovery practices. You want to prevent downtime instead of recovering from it.

So, what’s the difference?

Disaster Recovery is simply one part of Business Continuity. The word “disaster” indicates a situation where continuity has been broken. If you are recovering from a disaster, your computer systems are down. Your business information systems essentially failed. Typical disruptions include planned, unplanned, intentional and unintentional events. A backhoe can snap a telecom line at a nearby construction site, for example. Malware or viruses might take down your local network. Business Continuity describes the way you eliminate disruptions. That’s the big difference between DR and BC. When hard drives, servers or networks fail, BC practices ensure that duplicate systems are in place. When downtime occurs, BC systems instantly switch to copies of the same data you have been using all along. Users don’t even notice the switch.

Continued on next page…

WhatTheDifferenceIsBetweenDisasterRecoveryAndBusinessContinuityAndWhy

YouShouldCare

Page 2

Phil’s In The Corner

My family and I are fortunate in that we get to celebrate the new year twice each and every year. The time leading up to the two holidays and the days themselves gives me the oppor-tunity to reflect upon, revisit and review the various sectors of my life — my family, my CMIT business and more — and what I want and need to do to make them better and stronger. As nice as it would be to have each of these areas in their own silo or container, it’s not realistic and just wouldn’t work for me. When you own a business, you can try all you want to just “STOP” and switch from work to family time. It’s not always so easy as I continue to be reminded by my engineers and my kids. There is the philosophy of projecting a laser beam focus (I have always liked that phrase) on a specific task and just getting it done. That has helped me a lot. My most productive time of day is between 5:00 and 7:00am. This increased productivity flows over into me being able to go with my daughter on her 5th grade field trip to the mountains and such. Isn’t that a great thing!

Get More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At: www.CMITDenver.com

Continued from Page 1…

Smart Business Continuity Solutions

These days you have several options to help keep your computers running and your information available 24/7. Storage solutions that contain backed-up, redundant hard drives, like Network Attached Storage (NAS) and Storage Area Networks (SAN) storage devices, help you recover in failure situations. Your users never see that a drive failed. Their data and applications are always available, even if hardware breaks. Similarly, modern networking technologies protect organizations from networking failures. Both these hardware solutions help you maintain business continuity when things break. Many companies don’t have the latest hardware and software installed, however. It’s important to upgrade your systems in order to take advantage of the new solutions. You need to have a plan for dealing with natural disasters, hackers, viruses, legal threats and new rules governing data protection.

3 Business Continuity Considerations

Here are some key areas to examine: 1. Consider how important computer systems are to your bottom line. Do you rely on an internet connection for payment? If you lost your customer database, would that immediately impact your business?

2. Pay attention to your storage habits. Make sure all critical data is backed up to a central server in your office AND in another physical location. Your best option for offsite storage usually is a “cloud” backup solution such as CMIT Guardian Secure and our more robust on-premise and cloud solutions (www.CMITDenver.com/databackup) as well as virtualization.

3. Think about installing a local NAS or SAN device that has several copies of your data on separate disks. Many of these devices now also have built-in cloud backup solutions. Ultimately, the data and applications you use to run your business need to be protected. Consider them vital organs to the health of your business.

If you are interested in having a Business Continuity and Security assessment, call CMIT Solutions of Denver at 303-756-2648,

extension 3210. We’ll come in at no charge and no obligation to conduct a high level assessment. Your firm may have everything in place and that’s great! If not, when we come in and discover that some adjustments need to happen to better protect your business that will make the time we invest all the more worthwhile.

Page 3

Get More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At: www.CMITDenver.com

Shiny New Gadget Of The Month

TimeTrade Online Appointment Scheduling

www.timetrade.com

Do you struggle with scheduling appointments with clients and vendors, trading e-mails back and forth to find the right time to meet?

With TimeTrade.com’s self-service scheduling solutions, you automate the scheduling process—accelerating your sales and customer service while completely eliminating e-mail tag with clients or prospects.

With products ranging from a free personal site to a Workgroup option that includes integration with Salesforce.com, mobile scheduling from iPhones, integration with Microsoft Exchange and even smart routing to your sales team, you’re fully covered.

Try it out today with a free 30-day trial. If you ever struggle setting appointments, you’ll be happy you did.

Why Focus on Working With Purpose? Christina was struggling to get her team to fully engage and cooperate. Even though she owned her business, she’d never had any real management, team building or motivational training. From her limited perspective, she tried everything that she thought would work, but things were going from bad to worse. The individual team members were doing their jobs adequately, but this was hardly enough. They weren’t cooperating with each other. And to get anything done felt like trying to push a boulder uphill. The final straw came when Christina saw that it was definitely affecting the bottom line of her business. She knew she had to turn things around, and quickly.

What does Working with purpose have to do with any of this? Most business owners and managers come at their team with what they want from them. Taking the opposite approach causes powerful transformation. When you, as the business owner, seek to serve the people who are in your team—to find ways to make their work lives better and easier—your team will feel completely supported and they will LOVE you! They will quickly adopt this culture of service, and will produce extraordinary results. And they will never leave!

As their fearless leader, Christina decided to start with herself. She looked at how she could serve her team much better than she’d been doing—and started to make changes. It was fascinating for Christina to behold how responsive they were! And the team couldn’t believe that she wanted to actually serve them. Then she invited each one of them, whether they were a team leader or a team member, to look at how they could serve each other.

Why focus on Working With Purpose? Because it’s the most effective and fulfilling way to work!

Here’s how can you bring the spirit of service to your team: Simply ask your team, “How can I be of service to you?” “How can I

serve you better?” Listen to the answers you get. Resist the impulse to react, explain or

defend. Just listen. Listening is a high form of service. As soon as possible, act on the answers that you receive. Invite your team to come up with ways that they can be of even greater

service – with other team members, clients, and vendors.

Working with Purpose means to be of service – to seek ways to make a difference with everyone you touch. Coming from this spirit of service is so simple, and yet it completely transforms the experience people have when they interact. Once you become practiced in this approach, you’ll naturally come from your heart. And you’ll touch, move and inspire people in amazing ways!

Christina was delighted to see her team align and actually enjoy working together. The office became a wonderful, happy place to work. And she was soon able to give generous bonuses to every team member because business was booming!

Andrea Woolf is a seasoned trainer, motivational speaker, author, and coach. She loves to inspire people to ‘have it all’. With her heartfelt style, she has helped over 2500 organizations and indi-viduals alike to clarify, simplify, and achieve extraordinary results while bringing purpose and meaning to every aspect of their lives. She is the author of Ignite Your Life! - How To Get From Where You Are To Where You Want To Be .

Page 4

Get More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At: www.CMITDenver.com

Business Insights From Our Past

To Apply To The Present & Future

Just as it was time to fill in this space, I received this content from a CMIT col-league. It rang so true that it caused me to create this new section in the newslet-ter!

“You Get What You Pay For”… thoughts

from the Victorian era on this truth:

“It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money—that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common-law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot—it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.”

John Ruskin 1819-1900

Britain

How Long Would It Really Take To Crack Your “Strong” Password?

How many @’s, %’s and other crazy symbols are in your password right now? Are they really all that necessary? According to a recent Carnegie Mellon study, the answer is “no.” The only thing that really influences your password strength is its length! Not whether it has X minimum characters or Y maximum characters. And not whether it has a kazillion combinations of numbers, letters and other doodads that are bound to confuse most of your employees.

RegularPasswordChangesDecreaseSecurity In the recent past, regularly scheduled password changes were a common friend of network security. However, with most computer users now requiring upwards of 20-30 passwords between work and home, this whole password security game has gotten a bit out of control. When pressed to change their password regularly, your poor employees start to use “sucky” passwords pretty quickly because they need something that is easy to remember. Or just as bad, they create a good password and then write it on a sticky note to put on their computer monitor so they don’t forget!

HowToChooseAStrongPassword You want to choose a password that is hard for anyone to guess. Ideally you would want to use a lengthy string of letters, numbers and odd characters AND still be able to remember it easily. One way to do this is by creating a random phrase and using the first letter of every word, substituting +’s or &’s for the word “and” or numbers like 4 for the word “for” (or any similar tricks that are easy for you to remember). As an example, the phrase “I love my computer guys and they are the best company for me!” would translate to a password of “ilmcg+trtbc4m.” That’s easy to remember and almost impossible to crack. In fact, you can test out your password at http://passfault.appspot. com/password_strength.html to see just how strong it really is. The password we created above would take 1,306,628,104 centuries to crack…. Now that’s a strong password!

UsingAPasswordManagementSolution Even if you have a strong password, you should never use the same password on different websites. Your online banking password should be different than Facebook which should be different than Gmail which should be different than your network password at work. A quick and easy way to remember all of these unique strong passwords is to use a “Password Management Solution.” A few of the most popular tools you can test out are KeePass, RoboForm and AnyPassword. These tools allow you to securely keep track of all of your passwords while remembering only one.

Page 5

Get More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At: www.CMITDenver.com

Quotes

for October

“On Halloween, the parents sent their kids out looking like me.” ~ Rodney Dangerfield “Charlie Brown is the one person I identify with. C.B. is such a loser. He wasn’t even the star of his own Halloween special.” ~ Chris Rock “The first rule of any technol-ogy used in a business is that automation applied to an ef-ficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” ~ Bill Gates “Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.” ~ Gertrude Stein “Men have become the tools of their tools.” ~ Henry David Thoreau “The typewriting machine, when played with expression, is no more annoying than the piano when played by a sis-ter or near relation.” ~ Oscar Wilde “People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.” ~ Alan Kay

The 3 Scariest Threats To Small Business Networks

While spam, pop-ups, and hackers are a real threat to any small business network, there are 3 security measures that you should be focusing on FIRST before you do anything else...

Worry About E-mail Attachments, Not Spam

Sure, spam is annoying and wastes your time, but the REAL danger with spam is in the attachments. Viruses and worms are malicious programs that are spread primarily through cleverly disguised attachments to messages that trick you (or your employees) into opening them.

Another huge threat is phishing e-mails that trick the user by appearing to be legitimate e-mails from your bank, eBay, or another password-protected entity. Here are 3 things you must have in place to avoid this nightmare:

1. Keep your anti-virus up to date and enabled. Okay, this sounds like a no-brainer, but it’s not uncommon for an employee to disable their anti-virus software unbeknownst to you. Which brings us to #2...

2. Train employees on what they are (and aren’t) permitted to do with the company’s computer, e-mail, Internet access, etc. One thing that should be on the list is that they should NEVER open suspicious attachments or respond to phishing e-mails. We highly recommend creating an AUP (acceptable use policy) to teach your staff what NOT to do.

3. Put monitoring software in place to not only maintain the health of employees’ desktops, but also to automatically “police” employees from accidentally (or intentionally) visiting a phishing web site, downloading a virus, or visiting questionable web sites and content online.

Fear Downloads Before Pop-Ups

Did you know that most computers and networks get infected with viruses because the user actually invited the threat in by downloading a file (screen saver, music file, PDF document, pictures, etc.)?

Again, this comes down to training the staff on what they can and cannot do with your computer network. But the best way to avoid this from happening is to remove the temptation by installing monitoring software that will prevent employees from downloading unsavory items to YOUR network. We also recommend installing and maintaining a good firewall, which will block Internet traffic to and from dangerous sites.

Lose Sleep Over Backups Before Hackers

You are more likely to lose data from hardware failure, accidental deletion (human error), flood, fire, natural disaster or software corruption than a hacker. Sure, you should do everything to keep hackers out of your network, but not backing up your data to a remote location is crazy. At a minimum, you should have an onsite AND offsite copy of your data, and you should be testing your data backups regularly to make sure your data CAN be restored in the event of an emergency.

Page 6

Get More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At: www.CMITDenver.com

New Video Reveals “How You Can Gain A Fast,

Secure And Up-To-Date Computer Network Without Having To Write A Big Cash

Draining Check For An Upgrade Ever Again”

Watch this short video at www.CMITDenver.com/cloudvideo

If you have heard all the hype around “the cloud,” Office 365 and Google Apps but still don’t know what cloud computing is and how it can help your company, read on. We just posted a short, new video that will answer these questions and let you know more about cloud and if it makes sense for your business. I’ve also posted a report you’ll find useful titled “5 Critical Facts Every Business Owner Must Know Before Moving Their Network To The Cloud” on the same page as this video. Even if you’re not ready to “go to the cloud” yet, this report will give you some good information and options you should know before your next big network upgrade or expansion. You can also request a FREE Cloud Readiness Assessment. Watch it today! www.CMITDenver.com/CloudVideo

Business Execution—Are You REALLY Getting Focused?

Here we are, the last quarter of the year. Have you stayed focused on your goals and achieved those things you set out to do before the year’s end? It takes discipline to focus. Many of us might fool our-selves into thinking we are focused. Here are some signs that you may not be as focused as you would like to believe:

At the end of the week, you are asked what you did this week and nothing great comes to mind. “Yup, it was a good work week. I worked hard, really hard. And I did the usual stuff, you know, meetings to drive my team forward, etc…”

You finish each day tired, without a deep sense of accomplishment. When asked, “What is your number one priority?”

you think: "Well… I have 5 number ones…”

Try an age old formula to get more focused:

Make a list of 3-5 priorities, in order. Start your day and think about what you need to get done in order of priority.

Decide to remain focused on #1 and get it done be-fore moving on to #2.

When you complete all the items on your list, your day is done. Celebrate your victories and enjoy the rest of your day. This makes you stronger for tomor-row.

Guest Article Provided By: Patrick Thean is the author of Execute without Drama and an award-winning serial entrepreneur who has started and exited multiple companies. Patrick is the CEO of Gazelles Systems and the co-chair of the MIT Enterprise Forum and EO’s world-renowned Entrepreneur’s Masters Program—a highly exclusive three-year program that provides successful entrepreneurs with practical education to grow their businesses.

Page 7

Get More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At: www.CMITDenver.com

Spooky Silliness

What's a ghost's favorite dessert? I Scream Sandwitch Cookies Knock knock. Who's there? Phillip. Phillip who? Phillip my bag with candy, please! Why didn't the skeleton go trick or treating? Because he had no guts! Do zombies eat popcorn with their fingers? No, they eat the fingers separately (gross) What's a mummy's favorite kind of music? wRAP How do monsters tell their future? They read their horrorscope... What is a vampire's favorite sport? Casketball... Why do mummies have trouble keeping friends? They're too wrapped up in themselves... What kind of streets do zombies like the best?

4 Invaluable Insights I’ve Just Learned From Stephen Covey

First of all, I hope that you enjoyed the article on page 6 by Patrick Thean, co-owner of Gazelles, Inc. Check out the company’s website and blog posts at www.gazelles.com for great content, including the Execution Rhythm using the Red-Yellow-Green system that I have writ-ten about in previous articles.

Ok, let’s get back to topic. At least ten years ago (that may be generous), I purchased Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People book while strolling the aisles at Sam’s Club. Back then it had sold more than 10 million copies. According to the San Jose Mercury News on 9/24/12, this book has now sold more than 29 million copies and has been translated into 38 languages. So, what’s the attraction to readers worldwide that continues to give it such longevity and unwavering success? Perhaps this book that instructs its readers on “powerful les-sons in personal change” only needs to affect its readers with one or two golden nuggets that make it all worth reading all 350 pages. Right now I am less than 1/3 of the way through (I am making forward progress) and already I have learned or been reminded of 4 great concepts to apply to my work and personal life: 1. The Use Of Language:

How does it sound when you say or hear “I get to do it” versus “I have to do it?” Too often I have fallen back on a habit (a bad one at that) of using the “have to” phrase and it injects a negative energy into one’s mindset and getting something accomplished. How about using “I prefer” over “I can’t?” How does that make you feel? Do you communi-cate in a reactive or proactive manner and are the results more positive or negative?

2. Proactive Focus: At CMIT we live and breathe the concept and practice of being proactive with technology in order to take great care of our clients’ technology and their business. That’s what our flat rate preventative management solution, CMIT Mar-athon, is all about — being proactive. In #1 above I touched on Proactive and Reactive language. “Proactive people focus their efforts...on the things they can do something about.” (Continued on back page)

Get More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At: www.CMITDenver.com

3. Direct Control: An individual is in Direct Control of problems when he takes ownership of his own personal behavior. These are problems involving the individual’s behavior. This con-trasts with Indirect Control which involves a problem arising due to someone else’s behavior. Just the other day I endured a conversation with my 5th grade daugh-ter where I explained Direct v. Indirect Control, her behavior and how she chose to respond to a specific cir-cumstance. It’s really about taking ownership of one’s own behavior and not playing the blame game. We make sure that our CMIT team takes ownership of all aspects of client care which includes managing vendor issues and delays.

4. The Have’s and Be’s: This is not derived from Hamlet’s “To Be Or Not To Be.” It does involve using proactive language (see #1). Covey’s Circle of Concern goes hand in hand with reactive lan-guage and is the “Have.” Whereas his Circle of Influence is all about the “Be” and choosing how to respond. “It’s the character focus.”

An excerpt from Covey’s book in the Proactive chapter reads “Between stimulus and response is our greatest power— the freedom to choose.”

925 S. Niagara St., Suite 220 Denver, CO 80224 Phone: 303-756-2648 Fax: 303-484-7314 Email: dbush@cmitsolutions.com Web: www.CMITDenver.com Blog: cmitdenver.wordpress.com E-Newsletter Articles: cmitdenvernews.wordpress.com Facebook: www.Facebook.com/cmitdenver LinkedIn: www.LinkedIn.com/in/cmitdenver

Call us now at 303-756-2648

to request your copy of our book!

Debi’s To Do Reading List

The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons In Personal Change by Stephen Covey No Regrets Parenting by Dr. Harley Rotbart

Page 8

Warm Regards,

P.S. If you’re not receiving my monthly e-newsletter or CMIT QuickTip, please email me at dbush@cmitsolutions.com to request that your name be added.