Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
Kim Albee,
Genoo LLC:
763.383.6081
ki*@***oo.com
www.genoo.com
Robert Duff,
Coherent Solutions:
612.279.6263
ro*****@***************ns.com
www.coherentsolutions.com
Greg Fliearman, VISI:
612.395.9000
gf********@**si.com
www.visi.com
Not long ago our lives were flooded with news stories about the effects of the 9.0-magnitude earthquake, resulting tsunami and Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown, writes Greg Fliearman, a solutions architect at VISI in Minneapolis.
Then in September we all paused to remember the 9/11 terrorist attacks 10 years ago, even while a fire in the Boundary Waters region reminded us that disasters happen close to home, too.
In any disaster, destroyed buildings, jammed cell phone lines, and diminished access to Internet and electricity cause important company documents and technology storage systems to be temporarily unavailable for many companies.
It is easy to quickly forget the pain that a catastrophe can cause a company, he writes. But each tragedy is a reminder for Minnesota business owners and information technology directors about the importance of disaster preparedness and business continuity. Below are five tips to consider in advance of a disaster in order to safeguard your most valuable electronic data assets, according to Fliearman.
“We advise our clients first to save critical data and computer applications in multiple locations,” Fliearman writes. The location should be a safe distance (“safe” is defined differently by industry) away from possible risk sources in case a disaster occurs.
For most Upsize readers, there are three main methods of duplicating data tape drives, local hard drives and cloud computing. A legacy technology, tape drives were once the most popular means of backing up business data. They are inexpensive and easy to use. Your company would use business capital to purchase these physical storage devices and then pay an outside firm to store them offsite. Tape drives are prone to mechanically failing or degrading, issues that can cause data loss or corruption.
External hard drives, also known as flash or USB drives, are another increasingly antiquated means of storing data. They are inexpensive and easy to use. External hard drives tend to be somewhat more reliable than tape drives. They still run the risk of failing or degrading, rendering your company data unavailable. Remember if a disaster happens at your office, it happens to your backup too; never keep your physical backup media drive in the same location as your primary storage device, advises Fliearman.
Storing your data locally and in a separate location “in the cloud” is the best safety net, Fliearman believes. Cloud computing allows employees to access information from a variety of devices-computers, servers and applications. Unlike tape and USB drives that are run on single-device hard drives, cloud computing spreads your data across a network of multiple locations each with multiple hard drives. Built to ensure high availability and data redundancy, cloud servers often reside in large complex data centers with elaborate fire- and disaster-safe systems. It is easier to budget for expenses with such a storage option; you pay only for what you use. Fliearman believes it is best to work with an IT expert to arrange your cloud computing backup protocol.
One third of adult computer users do not back up their data at all and 42 percent admit they only back up data once a year, according to a Maxtor/Harris Interactive Poll. Consider backing up files on a weekly basis, depending on your company’s needs. In the case of an accounting firm, for example, you might store and back up data based upon industry standards. As well, consider seasonal shifts. Again, for accountants, it might be best to save precious data every day during the busy tax season, writes Fliearman.
Considering where your critical technology will live is much like real estate-location, location, location is what matters. Do not put your primary computer systems in a room on the exterior wall of a building; put it into the middle with a locked door and limited controlled access. Do not have windows that can be easily broken to gain access into the room. If you are in a multi-tenant building, make sure no other tenants have access to the space.
Gather your executives and understand the negative effects that a disaster might have on your profits, company and employees. Look at a recovery plan as an insurance policy against losing revenue, reputation and employee output. An important part of this calculation involves understanding the value of the information to your company and customers.
The value of this information should be established, then find an insurance provider that specializes in corporate risk management policies that protect companies and organizations in these scenarios.
Many disaster recovery strategies include plans for the strategic return to “business as usual” after a disaster, Fliearman writes. Imagine the best-case scenario following a crisis. Questions to ask might be: How long could we manage before we were able to access backed up data? What would our employees do if they did not have access to computer files for several days, weeks or months? What would our customers do? At what point would we consider the situation recovered? Could we consider a manual contingency plan in which we take orders over the phone or on paper versus by e-mail?
The answers are unique to your specific business. An investment firm, for example, lives by the pulse of the market so minutes lost are not acceptable. Play what-if scenarios with your business processes to understand where your major dependencies are for information and in what form, Fliearman writes.
To get started, ask your knowledgeable IT staff person or an outside IT adviser to help you navigate the finer points of disaster planning. They can help you determine the amount of time and money you should spend and on what.
Disasters can be isolated to a single facility or city and can grow to affect an entire region. Results can even spread internationally, as was witnessed in Japan. A 2005 Hurricane Impact Atlas report shows that Hurricane Katrina affected more than 71,000 Louisiana businesses.
It is hard to calculate how long it took for them to have their essential business systems up and running again, if at all. Do not let your company be caught unprepared, Fliearman urges.
Sending an important IT project overseas can be scary for a small business that cannot waste time and money, writes Robert Duff, chief operating officer for Coherent Solutions in Minneapolis. He offers the checklist below as a starting point to evaluate whether it might be right for your firm.
» Rates. In general, offshore billing rates are directly related to productivity and inversely related to oversight costs. If you are quoted a very low billing rate, the project will probably take more hours to complete, as well as more oversight from you. Ask about total project hours.
» Consultancy experience. Small businesses cannot afford to be anyone’s guinea pig. Look for consultancies with a minimum of five to six years of experience.
» Consultant experience. Likewise, you want to ask about the level of consulting experience on your team. Senior people are more expensive, but junior people may take longer. You want at least some senior involvement to mitigate risk as well.
» Attrition. Look for an offshore supplier with an attrition rate roughly equal to your own. You want your team to stay cohesive for the length of your project, so those who start on it are invested in a successful ending.
» Communication. Ask about language skills across your entire team, not just a liaison. Everyone should be at least minimally conversant in English so they can be accessible. Beware of suppliers who want to impose a rigid model in which all communication must filter through a single person. This can lead to unaccountability of team members.
» Local project management. Look for an IT supplier who provides a local project manager to work closely with your in-house team. This person should facilitate, not funnel or block, communication between the onshore and offshore teams.
» Contracts. Run, do not walk, from suppliers who want you to commit to a long-term agreement with a hefty cancellation fee. You should be able to terminate your project with reasonable notice.
» Legal considerations. You may want to work with a company that is incorporated in the United States and has a wholly owned offshore subsidiary. This will give you legal recourse in the U.S. court system if you are dissatisfied. Since going to court is your last resort and won’t improve a project gone wrong, pay special attention to the last two items.
» Cultural fit. Small businesses, by their nature, tend to have small IT staffs and minimal process controls. Relationships matter more than controls when you can walk over and talk to whomever is working on your project. But the fewer internal controls you have, the more you need a supplier who shares your company’s world view. Cultural similarity and a workday overlap of 3-4 hours help. Daily stand-up and occasional Skype meetings all help to create a cohesive, multinational team.
» Do a test project. Find an IT supplier who will work with you on a small test project before you each commit to a riskier, larger one. There is nothing like first-hand knowledge to tell you whether the relationship is a good fit.
“The vast majority of your prospects need five or more contacts and if you’re like most businesses, you’re quitting well before that,” writes Kim Albee, Genoo LLC. She offers this advice for turning the Internet into your top salesperson:
1. Without tackling your content, nothing else you do online will matter. “I know that’s not sexy to hear. It’s not that silver bullet that’s going to be no effort at all but still get results,” Albee writes. It is, by far and away, the single most important thing you can pay attention to. All effective marketing starts with content that engages your target audience.
2. Think of your website and lead-nurturing e-mails as a conversation between you and your potential customer. Too many people make their website a blowhorn: “Hi! This is who we are. Isn’t it cool? You want to find out more? You want to sign up for a free trial? Well, we can help you, so contact us.” Who cares, right? We already get so much of that in our daily lives.
3. Who is your target market? What do they want? What’s their pain? How can you help them solve their issues? Do you have content on your website that talks about more than just your company and your products or services?
4. If the only way a visitor can actually engage with your website is to complete a “contact us” form, then nine out of 10 visitors will leave your site and never return. Interestingly, providing a “sign up for our newsletter” option is getting less effective as a way to generate leads. You need to show that you understand the predicament that your target audience is facing, and can help.
5. Map the questions that arise during the buying cycle and create content that answers those questions. This allows you to enter into the conversation going on in your prospect’s mind. Like a great salesperson, you want your website and lead-nurturing content to address the core issues they face, their pain, and the solutions to that pain.
