As the first quarter of 2008 draws to a close, we offer a short list of key considerations business leaders should have on their radar.

1. Malware Protection
The days when virus protection was the only concern and protection meant scanning floppy discs and being cautious of Word, WordPerfect, or Excel Macros are consigned to the history books.

Today the threat from Malware – malicious software which includes viruses, Trojans, spyware, worms etc. – is increasing daily, along with the costs of remedial action. However, not only are the threats and costs of malware increasing, but so is the level of sophistication of developers of such software. Now, as well as  exposure to potential infection from e-mails, music and other file downloads, “legitimate” or regular web sites are increasingly being infected or hijacked. A few years ago, the official Super Bowl web site was hijacked, taking visitors to a fake web site and infecting their PC’s.

Not only does one have to be careful when surfing the net, but you should also take a moment of pause when you are using your pen drive! How many of you give it a second thought when you want a file from a colleague and push your pen drive into their PC or vice versa? How do you know if their PC or pen drive is free from viruses or malware? Protect yourself; use a good anti-virus program and keep it up to date, run scans frequently, and check removable media such as CD/DVD-ROM’s and Pen Drives.

2. Business Continuity - Disaster Planning
Many people in the Caribbean don’t consider disaster planning until some time in June, as the hurricane season approaches. The truth is that you should be developing and reviewing your plan continually, but the good news is, hopefully its not too late! The challenge is also that most people erroneously consider earthquakes, fire, and hurricanes as the only disasters that can occur. Now imagine you arrive at your business or home to find that you’ve been burgled, a burst pipe has damaged the computer or, far more likely, you press your PC’s power button and are presented with a black screen saying “Missing Operating System or Disk Failure.” As the commercial says – “Now is not the time to be thinking about ..:”

• When was my PC backed
• When last did I try to restore/recover data from the backup?
• Where am I going to work from?

These are just some of the issues one should consider before a disaster occurs; including details of your account balances with your bankers, suppliers, and customers, and how to contact them.

3. Contact Management/Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Business owners invariably are also customers/clients and recognize and appreciate good customer service; things like follow-up and follow through from their suppliers or account manager. Additionally, they value the importance of converting prospects into the most important asset of any business, paying customers. They also appreciate the importance of managing, pursuing, and converting every lead and opportunity into a sale or client.

How many times have you been in a situation where a prospective client may call you back because their original information had been mislaid or was never recorded? Some might consider that you were fortunate or have a monopoly position, as many prospective clients may have gone elsewhere! 

This is where Contact/Customer Management systems come into their own. Using such systems you are able to keep track of opportunities and schedule a follow-up call based on the discussion held with the contact. Perhaps a prospect’s budget is committed and they ask you to contact them again in six months, or perhaps the opportunity was lost to a competitor. You can record the reminder and schedule either a follow-up call or correspondence in six months, stating: “When I spoke to you six months ago on the 10th March, you asked me to contact you now . . .” 

Equally important, with a CRM system, you can run a report to see how many opportunities are being lost to competitors! With a CRM system you can even record birthdays, anniversaries, etc. and schedule calls for those occasions or have the details available to mention in conversation when calling. Customers notice these things and it gives you the opportunity to remind them that you’re still there to serve and address their needs.

If you need any further information on any of the systems mentioned or an assessment of your business’ needs, do not hesitate to contact The IT Facility, on +1-869-466-7025 or e-mail: solutions@theitfacility.com.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 20th, 2008 at 9:48 pm and is filed under business & tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.