[Continue reading for our top security app choices.]

Lookout

Lookout is an Android and iPhone app offering top antivirus protection, a ‘find my phone’ program, and backup and restore features all with the free version of the app. If you upgrade to premium, additional features including Safe Browsing, Remote Lock & Wipe, Privacy Advisor, and Advanced Backup are available.

Webroot

Webroot is another great app offering protection for Android and iOS devices. The Android version protects your device from malware, harmful websites, and personal information loss. The iOS version offers a feature rich web browser allowing you to confidently browse, shop and bank online.

SplashID

This is a secure password manager/vault that is compatible with iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, Palm OS, Windows Mobile, and Android. It will also sync with your Windows or Mac OS computer and has an automatic password generator feature. If you use passwords, this could be a good app for you.

Kryptos

If you discuss sensitive information over the phone, Kryptos is a necessity. Kryptos features Military Grade 256 bit encryption, 2048 bit RSA key exchange and 3G, 4G and WiFi compatibility. This is an end-to-end encryption solution and must be installed on both phones (both sides of the call.) Also check with your cellular carrier as additional fees may be imposed with this solution.

[Continue reading for important password tips.]

What’s a ‘strong’ password? Many people think it is okay to choose a word and add a number or two to the mix and call it a day. While this may keep your brother out of your stuff, it is not enough to keep hackers away. Hackers have programs designed to try significant words with every number combination. Any word or number that is significant to you (think birthday, anniversary, pet name, school, etc.) should be avoided. Many experts suggest that any word found in the dictionary should be avoided as well.

The best passwords include at least 8 characters, more than one special character (@#$%^), a combination of capitalization and small letters, and no common words or chains (such as 123, qwerty).

It’s best to use different passwords for each of your logins. If you use the same password for everything then all of your private data is compromised with only one password crack.

Microsoft’s Safety and Security Center has a password strength checker. Try using it to see how strong some of the password ideas you come up with are.

If you have a network router, there is a good chance you may already have a firewall. Most decent routers include at minimum basic firewall functionality. They also typically are secured with a very predictable password. If you haven’t yet changed your password, do it right now. If your password is ‘admin’ or ‘password’ or any other generic term, it is not doing you any more good than having no firewall at all.

It may take you a few minutes of flipping through a users manual or searching Google to figure out how to set up a username and password for your network firewall, but by doing so you are creating a first line of defense against hackers, attackers, and botnets. This is the single best thing you can do for your network.

Dropbox: http://www.dropbox.com/anywhere
(iOS, Android, BlackBerry)

Nearly all businesses rely on electronic documentation in some capacity. If your business does, you need Dropbox. This app is compatible across almost every platform. With Dropbox, you can bring your files with you anywhere, edit them with your phone (especially if you utilize the next app on our list- Quickoffice), and share freely with virtually anyone.

Quickoffice: http://www.quickoffice.com/
(iOS, Android, Symbian)

Quickoffice gives you the ability to instantly and easily create, edit, modify and save Microsoft Office files from any device. Not only will this app allow you to edit Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations, you can also use it to view PDF files. This app is continuously evolving and currently offers full cloud compatibility, simple file management, and extra options such as two-finger zoom and flick scrolling.

CamCard: http://www.intsig.com/us/2010-09-15-02-46-24
(iOS, Android, WinMo)

Do you receive business cards frequently? If so, this app is for you. The CamCard utilizes the camera on your phone to photograph a business card. It then is able to automatically recognize the data provided on the card, organize it, and save it as a contact in your phone address book. Bonus: CamCard supports several different languages!

Norton Snap QR Code Reader: http://labs.norton.com/2011/10/introducing-norton-snap-qr-code-reader/
(iOS and Android)

If you haven’t yet scanned a QR code, this app may not seem very important to you but we are here to tell you that it is a must-have. Sooner or later, you will be in a situation where scanning a QR code will be necessary. The problem is, you really cannot predict where a certain code will take you. QR codes are simply hyperlinks lacking words or characters, which makes them more vulnerable in terms of possible abuse. The Norton Snap QR Code Reader is similar to having a little phone bodyguard. It provides a barrier between your phone/data and wherever that link may take you by checking on the safety of the destination. Viruses are not just for computers anymore.

During these difficult economic conditions, business owners I talk with have made deep cuts in expenses. On the flip side, many I’ve talked with recently are struggling with how to grow revenue; they feel they’ve cut expenses as deeply as possible, and now must sell their way out of the situation.

A quick assessment of your technology can reveal good options for making changes in key areas that will drive sales productivity.

About twenty percent of the time, the assessment reveals opportunities to reallocate existing technology expense. In these cases, the business usually hasn’t made changes to their technology infrastructure in over three years. Because costs for technology goods and services have come down in the same period, reallocation of existing expense dollars is possible.

These “found monies” can then be used to offset costs for improving systems and tools targeted to help sales people. Contact management systems, sales training tools, pipeline management systems, and other technology can drive sales productivity.

In tough times in worst cases, technology can help companies gain an edge. And in best cases, you can leapfrog competition. The challenge is usually financing the effort with available cash flow. A quick, inexpensive assessment by the right firm can be a great first step.

Here’s a Tip – If you do an assessment, make sure your IT consultant’s findings are either going to show you options that reduce or reallocate expenses or drive sales. The bottom line is that if you’re going to spend money on IT in this economy, it must have viable return on investment and/or lower total cost of ownership.

Hopefully, you’re not worrying about “When did we last do a backup of our critical data?” or “I wonder if we have a working firewall on our network?”

When it comes to technology, business owners intuitively know it’s needed, but they’re typically not comfortable with it, and they believe it’s usually going to cost them money. What’s worse is that many business owners feel jaded by an experience with an IT consultant who recommended or sold them something that caused harm.

So where does a business owner start and end with technology? And what’s the best way to ensure you have the technology that will make you money, and not cost your business in lost time or adding dysfunction to your organization?

Here’s a tip – Before engaging with an IT provider, make sure you have a firm grasp on the processes and metrics that you need to run your company. Are key processes and metrics documented and understood by those that use them?

That may seem counterintuitive – after all, many businesses rely on IT systems to get reports and supply metrics. My point is this – IT shouldn’t be considered a fix. It only enables good business ideas and well thought-out business methodology. If the process is broken, enabling it with IT will only make the situation worse.

Here’s another tip – If your IT provider isn’t asking questions about your business methodology and the metrics that are driving the business, you should be looking elsewhere. Good IT people understand their role is to identify and enable the leverage points to improve business process.

We were in a discussion at the time, about cloud computing.  The business owner understood that cloud computing made them more mobile, and allowed their company productivity benefits.  They were concerned about the stories they’d heard of hackers getting at critical or sensitive data.

The risk in cloud computing is what could happen by completely letting go of your data and putting it with a service provider.  Obviously, the (typically 3-year) contract you’d be under could alleviate risk.  It’s a good news bad news scenario.  The good news is that cloud computing allows you to operate virtually, assuming you have an Internet connection and machine to get to it.  The better news is that your data is centralized.  The bad news is that you’re data is centralized, and with a service provider.

So how to cope?  I’d recommend figuring out quickly what’s really “proprietary” or “sensitive” data and then ensuring data security, by safeguarding it  with additional means, i.e. offsite storage.  First though, I’d use service level agreements in the cloud service provider’s contract to address risk appropriately.

Make no mistake about it, cloud computing represents both benefit and risk.  A recent study shows cloud adoption by commercial users will double in the next year.  Why?  Smart business owners are figuring out how to utilize the benefits of cloud computing and effectively and appropriately manage the risk.  Not-so-smart business owners are pulling the trigger on using cloud-based applications without considering security and data protection issues.

“The server needs to be upgraded, we can’t easily control document versions for pricing and proposal templates, we think some of our employees are using pirated software, and some of our PC users have slow machines or machines that lock up and need to be restarted. Our IT support person helps us on an hourly basis, but we’re not confident they have a strategic perspective and they seem intent on selling us more hardware and software.”

This unfortunate scenario occurred recently at a small company in the Twin Cities. Sadly, it’s all-too-common in many small businesses.

Because of IT problems, among their 18 employees, this company’s low-ball guess was that they were losing 10-20 hours of productivity each week. They were studying two options to fix the problems, each of which required capital outlay of thousands of dollars to add hardware and software. Rightly so, they were also concerned that more IT infrastructure would lead to higher administration costs going forward.

The NT Group showed them another option, using a cloud computing architecture. The cloud-based model allowed them to:

- upgrade their server and data storage network

- upgrade their MS Office applications

- implement global calendaring and other efficiency tools

- access applications and documents securely from any computer and the Internet

- implement a disaster recovery and business continuity plan

- get access to 24×7x365 local support

- implement the solution with no capital expenditure

It took less than 30 days to implement. Almost immediately the client was avoiding lost productivity, but they also realized a benefit they hadn’t anticipated; because their employees have 24-hour secure access to applications and data, they’re working after hours, from home and other remote locations on a regular basis.

In the final analysis, the client grew sales revenue in a tough economy, improved overall productivity, and improved overall morale by giving their people useful tools and a flexible schedule. The owners can focus on other issues, knowing that their data is backed up and secure, and that their IT expenses are predictable and fixed.

Who do you know that could benefit from understanding if/how cloud computing solutions could work for them?

The article defines cloud computing as “A model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.”; in other words, easy access to applications and IT infrastructure, without a lot of hardware, software, or service provider overhead.

For those with concerns about security within the cloud, the article goes on to say that author Peter Mell, who hails from the NIST, and who recently spoke at the IT On A Budget Forum, called cloud security “a doable thing”.

Because it can eliminate capital expense while providing improvements to business operations (read sales and profitability growth), the use of cloud computing is growing.  A business owner’s challenge will be to find the providers who can correctly implement cloud computing solutions that complement their business strategy.

Before taking steps to explore cloud computing solutions, I caution business owners to first have a defined and viable IT strategy that parallels their overall business strategy.  While cloud computing offers many benefits, such as lower capital costs, faster implementation, easier application management, etc., without a defined IT strategy, cloud computing can wind up like many other failed IT initiatives – a costly project that ends with the business owner scratching their head and wondering “what went wrong?”.

For more information, please contact www.thentgroup.com

So what is UC and how can it help business owners?  Essentially, UC incorporates or “unifies” elements of phone systems, video conferencing, instant messaging, mobile telephones, data communications networks, and IT systems.  But that’s technical jargon.

For a business owner, UC is all about building in productivity to the business operation.  For example, UC allows my clients to utilize employees in disparate locations to seamlessly work together on customer problems.  UC allows a company to fully leverage available employee resources, including the IT resources that manage their infrastructure.  UC centralizes management of what are typically disparate systems and applications.  And it provides an easy-to-use toolset for my clients to get better results with lower cost.

But beware, like any IT “solution” unified communications is all about aligning the available technology with the current infrastructure.  Before beginning a UC rollout, it’s important to understand how the solution will work with existing infrastructure.  To spread out costs, and make UC quickly pay for itself, it’s usually possible to step the migration in phases.  It’s also important to understand how one will centrally manage the final solution, as that is one of the biggest benefits of unified communications.

For more information please contact www.thentgroup.com