Tag: internet

Posted on

Contrary to What You Learned in Grade School… Sharing is Bad, Okay?

There is a place and time for sharing. Share your color crayons, share your toys… share your feelings with those you love. But when it comes to business technology and infrastructure, sharing isn’t always the best approach. Some things you should just keep for yourself… like the servers you use for hosting business desktops, desktop applications and business data.

When we first began the journey of bringing small business desktops and applications like QuickBooks to the Internet, the “cloud” was not yet a thing. Hosting providers put up servers in racks in data centers, installed software and stored data on behalf of customers, and did their best to find ways of making the service affordable. Elastic resources, massive scalability and built-in redundancy (which are benefits of a real cloud fabric) were not generally available nor were they even remotely affordable. Because the hardware, networking and other resources that make up the hosting infrastructure is costly, it is important for the hosting service provider to be able to spread those costs across the entire customer base.

In most cases, this meant creating shared servers where many customers run their applications and store their data. Even when a provider suggests that a customer has a “private” server, there is still a good chance the server is using shared storage and/or networking resources made accessible in the environment.

Sharing can be a good thing or a bad thing, and it often depends on the behavior of those involved. In shared application hosting environments, particularly desktop hosting environments, there is a lot of potential for intentionally and unintentionally causing problems that can and will impact other users and customers on the platform.

A simple provisioning error might allow a user to see data belonging to another company or have access to applications or services they should not.

With shared resources, bad actors and intruders can often escape permission boundaries, attaching to network shares and other computers on the platform.

Malware accidentally introduced by an innocent user from one company could easily penetrate the entire system, following paths to data storage locations and other servers, spreading the problem to many customers and systems and even data centers.

If you are operating on the compromised system you are at risk, even if the compromise wasn’t initiated by one of  your users or from within one of your applications.

In the realm of QuickBooks hosting providers, the issues around sharing infrastructure and resources have created some very difficult situations for hosts and for their customers alike – especially when it comes to dealing with computer viruses, malware and ransomware. A few high-profile events, as well as numerous incidents which have flown under the radar, have revealed just how damaging the shared approach can be.

With the IRS, AICPA and other agencies issuing increasingly strong guidance for tax and accounting professionals to protect client information, finance professionals should strongly consider the risk introduced through shared hosting service arrangements and evaluate if it is greater than the costs of having a more private system.

Cloud platforms available today are fully matured, delivering scalability and agility at price levels that are affordable even for very small businesses.  No longer solely for enterprise enjoyment, real cloud solutions and delivery models can be used by small businesses for desktop and application hosting without compromise. Every business deserves their own cloud, and we know how to make that affordable.

Cooper Mann works with teams deploying on the Microsoft Azure platform, offering an agility in design not previously available with legacy computing approaches. Because every delivery is absolutely private to each customer, the solution can be scaled up (or down!) on demand to suit the specific needs of the individual business. More important is the fact that each customer operates separately, so any bad behavior the system may suffer from is their own.

jmbunnyfeetMake Sense?

J

Posted on

QuickBooks Point of Sale and Hosting

QuickBooks Point of Sale in a Hosted Environment

Retail operators and multi-location store owners often face difficulties in attempting to bring cohesion to their accounting, financial, and operational data.  In so many situations, the retail location –  where inventory is sold and money is exchanged – is far-removed from the administrative location where the financial systems and business reporting exist.  It seems that the best case scenario is to create a means for the remote (retail) locations to operate with real-time access to centralized customer, inventory, and financial data from a primary source. Application hosting services can provide this centralization,  and a platform for standardization, of systems.  Further, the application hosting model can deliver security and managed service which ensures that the systems are available and performing as required.

Even though hosted applications and centralization of the systems and processes in a POS environment may appear to be the right answer, there are caveats and considerations that speak to the realities of today’s technologies.  These caveats should be strongly considered prior to undertaking any reformation of systems and processes relating to the retail locations.

The first fundamental reality which must be addressed is connectivity.

While a retail or store location may enjoy Internet or network connectivity, there should be great consideration given to the wisdom of connecting these locations only and exclusively via remote access systems.

Retail is a dynamic business, and the sale is made when the customer is ready and willing to buy.  Any retail location must be able to process this sale in order to meet the immediacy of customer demand.

 

If the systems in use are exclusively accessed remotely, then the connectivity to those systems become of paramount importance in the ability to do business.  At the very minimum, any remotely-served retail location should have redundant connectivity options, with local personnel being familiar with the connection failover process.

A second strong consideration for a hosted or remotely-deployed POS or retail system is local device support.

Devices, such as card readers, scanners, cash drawers, receipt printers, etc. typically require local PC/computer drivers in order to function.  When served by a remote system, this connection between the host and the local devices may not function.  Limited device support for POS hardware can significantly impact the location’s accuracy and efficiency.

QuickBooks POS was designed for use on a single-user PC environment.  The application is not well-suited to a hosted deployment for multiple users, as the software only allows one instance of itself to run on each computer.  This alone eliminates the benefits of a server-based computing model for POS, whether onsite or hosted. The multi-lane option requires all stores to be connected via the same LAN, so remotely connecting multiple locations isn’t really do-able, either.  This is why there is a multi-store option, allowing the various stores to operate independently and send the daily data back to a master location via a store transfer or email process.

In many cases, the suitable answer is to keep the POS systems running on the local computers and network, and run the accounting applications on the host. The host system, whether it be an on-premises server or a location in the cloud, could also run the software which integrates the POS data with accounting.

integratedFor example, with an installation of QuickBooks accounting the point-of-sale “master location” on the host, the core financial data is able to be secured and protected in the virtual environment without risking lost productivity (and lost sales!) due to connectivity failures at the retail locations.  The end-of-day process at each location is to then copy the POS data to the host system where it is integrated with the accounting system. If the POS system is something other than QuickBooks POS, it simply means that there is another piece of software – the specific POS integration tool – required to transfer the POS data into the accounting software.  QuickBooks desktop accounting integrations are available for most popular POS systems including Micros, POSiTouch, Aloha and others. The integration software (often just a QuickBooks plug-in) would be installed on the computer running QuickBooks, enabling the entry of the POS data into the QuickBooks accounting system.

It makes a ton of sense to centrally manage the accounting and financial data for the business, in a secure location away from the retail storefront and frontline workers.  It’s just that the accounting is easier to host and makes more sense to run as a centrally-managed, hosted solution.  POS, on the other hand?  Not so much.

For a small market vendor or the largest of retail stores, point of sale needs to be up and running at all times, driving receipt printers and cash registers/drawers and barcode scanners. Run the POS system on-premises where the action happens, but keep accounting and finance safe and secure somewhere else.

jmbunnyfeetMake Sense?

J

Posted on

Confused about QuickBooks and the Cloud? Join the club

cloud-computingIn most regions around the country high-speed broadband is readily available, and using the Internet for working and playing online is a part of everyday life.  Facebook and Twitter and Instagram are household names and just about every conversation starts or ends with a reference to a meme.  It seems that everyone is connected and app-savvy, using high technology while doing business, doing homework, or doing just about anything.  Yet this move to online and cloud technologies has come with a high price tag for some businesses, especially small businesses trying to keep up with the pace of change and who are being encouraged to adopt just about every new thing that comes their way.  It’ll make them more efficient, more profitable, more attractive to customers, more interesting to prospects, and will allow them to do more in less time.  All of the “apps” for this and that have created a great deal of confusion for the average small business owner who may need a few tools to help get business done, and who is now facing the daunting task of figuring out which ones to use as the type and number of tools grows exponentially every day.  It used to be so simple, but now even the simple things are becoming difficult to understand – like QuickBooks, for example.

QuickBooks desktop editions, born from Quicken personal finance management software, continues to be the most popular small business bookkeeping solution available.  Yet QuickBooks is now offered as either desktop application (software you install on your PC), as a hosted solution (software installed and run on service provider systems and which you access via the Internet), or as an online application (QuickBooks online edition).  Initially, the lines were fairly clearly drawn – the desktop software gets installed on the local machine and the online edition runs from Intuit’s servers.  Then things got a bit more complicated as hosted services rolled out, and users were able to have their desktop QuickBooks managed with a service provider and accessible via an Internet connection.  Now, just to add to the confusion, Intuit delivers a new desktop app to access the online version of QuickBooks.   What?!  Yeah, you heard me.  There’s a desktop app to install to the PC (97MB!) that accesses the QuickBooks online system.

When Intuit, like to many other software companies, began pushing the online-only version of their solution, the messaging was all about making life easier with “no software” to install or manage.  Customers could simply sign up and have all the features and capability they need using only the browser on an Internet-connected machine.  Failing to consider that computing devices (PCs, tablets, phones, et al) continue to get smarter and more powerful each day, the software companies firmly believed that everything would eventually be on the Web, and the “access device” wouldn’t matter any more.  However, things haven’t turned out quite as planned, and users continue to not only demand desktop and device-based apps, they will often forgo the browser-only approach until a better app and interface comes along.  The truth is that the market wants apps and software running on their devices because the user experience and performance is almost always better than with a purely browser-based approach.  Browsers are great for visiting websites, but not so much when it comes to running business applications.  Sure, there are a lot of browser-based solutions out there, but not too many of them are as trusted or as heavily used as their desktop-based counterparts or competitors.

There is little argument to be made regarding the fact that many software developers are working towards entirely online application models, where little or no software would exist on the device and all data is managed and stored online.  What is arguable is whether or not the “fully online” model will ultimately win, or whether software will continue to be installed and maintained on the device.  Performance, functionality, integration with other applications, and usability will all influence the buyer’s decision regardless of the marketing hype.  It may simply be that users will have to try each model before they decide which one works best for them.  It seems that, with the introduction of the desktop app for QuickBooks Online, the QuickBooks-users club has voiced an opinion which sounds a lot like they liked the desktop software approach best.

Joanie Mann Bunny FeetMake Sense?

J

 

Posted on

Angry Customers, Angry Tweets | Social Media Gives Customers A (Loud) Voice

twitter-dump-on-airlines

Social Media is the new form of communication, and appears to be having more impact on business behavior than an email or letter to the company president ever did. Whether it is through personal interaction or on a public forum, social computing has given a voice to consumers around the world – and that voice is often an angry one.  In previous years, consumers would fight their customer service battles directly with the vendor – quiet battles that, more frequently than not, left the participant feeling like they were the only ones experiencing problems.  But not any more.  Social brings the conversation to the masses, and the masses are more than willing to speak up.

from Entrepreneur.com:

‘ British Airways is getting a sharp reminder that social media is a bully pulpit that welcomes big companies and little guys alike, after one disgruntled customer used promoted tweets to complain that the airline had lost his father’s luggage.

Promoted tweets are typically used by brands to gain visibility for their products and promotions. But Hasan Syed, whose Twitter handle is @HVSVN, used them to call out the airline for allegedly ruining his European business trip and failing to address the issue.

Syed reportedly bought his tweets in the New York City and United Kingdom markets, aiming to reach other British Airways customers on both sides of the Atlantic. As the hours went by and the airline did not respond, his one-man campaign attracted attention, much of it admiring and supportive.

According to The Guardian and other news outlets, the airline finally woke up to the problem and made haste to address it, saying in a statement Tuesday: “We would like to apologize to the customer for the inconvenience caused. We have been in contact with the customer, and the bag is due to be delivered today.” ‘

Read More: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228175#ixzz2drcRCj8k

via Angry Customer Used Promoted Tweets to Chastise British Airways | Entrepreneur.com.

Social media is a sword that cuts both ways, offering a platform for both positive, and not so positive, discussions and conversations.

Using social media for customer service has become just as, if not more beneficial than, having an army of agents in the contact center. This is especially true when a crisis hits a company. Gone are the days when a customer service issue was aired solely between a consumer and the company’s contact center (and maybe a few friends within earshot). When things go wrong, consumers take to a brand’s social media channels for several reasons. Forbes.com

Particularly when you factor in the viral nature of social media interactions, and the amazing speed with which ANY message can gain broad visibility, businesses should understand that all those “friends” can turn into an ugly mob pretty quickly if an effective communications strategy isn’t in place.

read more at https://coopermann.com/2012/08/16/getting-results-social-media-for-customer-service-is-a-sword-that-cuts-both-ways/

via CooperMann.com | Getting Results: Social Media for Customer Service is a Sword that Cuts Both Ways

technorati-top-100-small-business-blog

Posted on

How low-paid workers at ‘click farms’ create appearance of online popularity | Technology | The Guardian

How much do you like courgettes? According to one Facebook page devoted to them, hundreds of people find them delightful enough to click the “like” button – even with dozens of other pages about courgettes to choose from.

There’s just one problem: the liking was fake, done by a team of low-paid workers in Dhaka, Bangladesh, whose boss demanded just $15 per thousand “likes” at his “click farm”. Workers punching the keys might be on a three-shift system, and be paid as little as $120 a year.

The ease with which a humble vegetable could win approval calls into question the basis on which many modern companies measure success online – through Facebook likes, YouTube video views and Twitter followers.

How low-paid workers at ‘click farms’ create appearance of online popularity | Technology | The Guardian

I’ve seen a lot of this type of activity on blog articles, as well… folks hoping that the additional traffic improves their search rankings.  The thing is, when we see these comments, are we more likely to actually read the article?

blogcommentfunny

Posted on

Many Companies Are Negligent About SAP Security, Researchers Say – CIO.com

Is your hosting service provider helping to keep your critical business applications secure?  It is not enough to simply harden machine images and develop policy-driven access; application hosting providers need to understand the vulnerabilities introduced by each and every application in the environment.  Otherwise, the system could be exposed to threats directed specifically at the application environment and opportunities it presents.

Many hosting providers will offer customers service for any business application they have, and often provide those services with no significant experience or expertise in dealing with configuration or security issues specific to those applications or environments.  Consider the following report from IDC which indicates that numerous SAP deployments remain vulnerable to attack or intrusion, even though SAP has improved security of the products. The problem rests not exclusively with the SAP applications, but also with the approach to implementation of systems and security around those applications.  Understanding the various vulnerabilities introduced with SAP products is the first step to securing them.  Certainly a skilled IT solution provider is likely to offer a high level of service and capability, but there may be issues presented by various products (like SAP) which introduce additional or unique considerations, and it is important for the service provider to be aware of and address them.

Joanie Mann Bunny FeetMake Sense?

J

IDG News Service — SAP has significantly improved the security of its products over the past few years but many of its customers are negligent with their deployments, which exposes them to potential attacks that could cripple their businesses, according to security researchers.

The biggest issue is that companies expose insecure SAP services to the Internet — not only HTTP services, but also critical administrative interfaces, Alexander Polyakov, chief technology officer at ERPScan, a developer of security monitoring products for SAP systems, said Tuesday.

Between 5 percent and 10 percent of companies that use SAP products expose critical services to the Internet that shouldn’t be publicly accessible, Polyakov said. This happens because they want to enable remote management or because of improper configurations, he said.

Most of the services have vulnerabilities that can be easily attacked, Polyakov said.

Publicly available exploits exist for many SAP vulnerabilities, including some that are part of Metasploit, a popular security testing tool.

The percentage of companies with exposed SAP services differs from country to country. The situation is better in North America and Europe and worse in the Asia-Pacific region, Africa and Latin America, Polyakov said. However, even 5 percent translates to a very large number of companies, he said.

via Many Companies Are Negligent About SAP Security, Researchers Say – CIO.com.