Strategic Insights: Empathy and Employees at the Heart of the Digital Journey

Next Dimension curates the most practical and useful tools and strategic IT insights from the web.  This week we shared articles across our social media talking about Empathy and Employees at the heart of the Digital Journey.

Keeping the human element at the forefront will determine business success in 2021.

It’s no secret. Digital Transformation morphed into Digital Disruption seemingly overnight.  And, for most businesses, that was the “best” case scenario during the onset of the pandemic.  As we come up on one year since North America faced their first sets of “lockdowns”, Enterpriser’s Project takes a look at five key business terms presenting the perfect mix of Risk and Opportunity – as both need to be addressed.

1. Digital Acceleration.  Enterpriser’s Project cites a study that says companies accelerated their digital strategies by nearly six years!

2. Everything from Home.  Well, everything from anywhere – really. Not just work but schooling, shopping, essential communications and more.

3. High Risk is the New Normal. Moving data to the cloud, moving employees to anywhere there’s an internet connection – these are high risk actions that all businesses had to take and must continuously address.

4. Highly-Distributed Incident Response. Disbanding an antiquated service process has allowed more customers to reach more businesses for more customized incident response by way of chat boxes and 24×7 contact support.

5. Support Human Connections. The skills gap has been closed slightly – when organizations were encouraged to look inward to reskill and upskill their workforce.

Will this result in better employee Loyalty?  How are you managing each of these five key areas?

SOURCE: ENTERPRISERS PROJECT

Want to improve your ROI with Digital Transformation? Improve how your employees interact with technology.

Enterpriser’s Project believes Empathy must be built into processes for organizations to remain competitive.  How is this accomplished?  Businesses must carefully review, consider, and measure how customers and users interact with the products and services offered, and more importantly, the team you employ.  Here are four techniques to build Empathy into your business process:

1. Cultivate obsession with user-centricity

2. Over-index design skills

3. Make it easy

4. Measure adoption

Digital Adoption is the secret sauce – and defining ways to measure adoption will give you a clear indicator on how successful your organization is a building empathy not only into your process, but into your culture.

SOURCE: ENTERPRISERS PROJECT

Organizations with digital leadership outperform peers by 48% on revenue growth. Yet, only 1 in 4 CEO’s are considered digitally savvy. Where do you land?

“Businesses will become irrelevant if decision makers are unaware of how technology fits into their strategy”.

Read that again.

Organizations can no longer afford to adopt technology to assist them in “doing things the way they’ve always done them”.  The time for change is now.  Nimble, agile businesses and fresh startups alike are winning in business because they are carefully reviewing technology and using what they learn to define their business strategy – not the other way around.

The good news is, you don’t have to flip your leadership team in order to have digital savvy leaders in your boardroom.  All you need is a room full of open minds, willing to investigate the true needs of employees, suppliers, and customers. From there, if you’re willing to hear it, you’ll likely find out which true changes need to be addressed.  Then your organization can select from the many technology innovations to support the changes.

Beware: just because the notion is simple, doesn’t mean this will be easy!

SOURCE: CIO DIVE

CX demands swift service and customization, making service delivery complex. Do you use Analytics to solve complexity? 

How do you measure the success of your technology implementations?  How do you REALLY know if your employees, suppliers, and customers have truly adopted your innovations?

Analytics.

What are your key performance indicators with regards to customer satisfaction?  Revenue?  Supply chain management?  Employee adoption?  Define what you want to measure, and then look to industry experts to help you define exactly how to effectively measure and analyze.

SOURCE: FORBES

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter and never miss an update.  Prefer a weekly recap? Join our Community (on the right) and be notified when our Industry Wrap is published each week.

Looking for more great resources? Visit our Learning Academy.

Strategic Insights: Securing and Prioritizing Operational Technology

Next Dimension curates the most practical and useful tools and strategic IT insights from the web.  This week we shared articles across our social media talking about Securing and Prioritizing Operational Technology.

41% of ransomware attacks targeted Operational Technology last year. Visibility of internal traffic is crucial.

IT has always focused on “protecting the edge and protecting endpoints”.  Technology can be breached whether its in place to support Information or Operations. Do you have controls?  Sensors?  Robots?  These operational technologies are just as important to secure.  These welcome additions to operations have the same access and vulnerabilities as traditional servers, routers, and wifi access points.

“If a control or sensor is manipulated through a cyber attack, the product OT helps to create is at best useless, and at worse, dangerous.”

Many OT devices are connected through legacy systems, and only run on the very infrastructure that has been deemed ‘end of life’ and extremely vulnerable.  This wasn’t an issue until these devices began connecting to the rest of the network; the same network responsible for:

• Keeping your business up and running
• Keeping employee and customer data safe
• Providing an information conduit straight through your supply chain

It’s time to close the gaps between IT and OT once and for all.

SOURCE: CYBERSECURITY DIVE

Struggling to prioritize Digital Transformation goals? Use these 3 Tips:

So you’ve decided to move ahead with your Digital Strategy.  You know where you want the business go, and you are prepared to make the organizational changes needed to transform.  The next – and most important question – is, WHERE DO YOU START?

Enterprisers Project offers these three tips to help you prioritize not only your projects, but also your goals.

1. Start with the overarching digital transformation goal
2. Prioritize your mid-size projects
3. Find the quick wins

Once you’ve established the above three, break each down to bite-size chunks so as to not overwhelm the team, and start knocking things off the to-do list!

SOURCE: ENTERPRISERS PROJECT

Four new hacking groups targeting industrial systems. How safe are you? 

According to research conducted by Dragos, four new hacking groups targeting OT and industrial systems have been detected and identified over the past year.  There continues to be an abundant growth of cyber criminals attacking OT environments and industrial control systems.

The reasons?

• Easier access. Because of vulnerabilities in legacy systems
• Conduit to other networks. Because these controls often have streamlined access to supplier and customer networks
• Less protection. Because security tools have historically been deployed to protect the information network as opposed to Operations

OT Network security requires a different approach than traditional IT security; and visibility is the number one priority for COOs looking to improve their OT security approach.

SOURCE: ZDNET

Is your industry at high risk for cyber crime? 

The value of your digital assets may have played a role in your industry’s relevance in the early days of cyber crime.  Industries like finance and healthcare have always had to take extra precaution to protect their data.  Cyber crime has evolved, and it’s not about the market value of the data as much as it’s “how much is the data worth to you as an organization?”

Ransomware in rampant for just this reason.  Criminals have become savvy in knowing exactly what amount to demand in return for (hopefully most of) your company data.

The small and mid size business market is a definite target.  Criminals know these organizations don’t have the budget to invest in the same level of security as “the big guys”.

And of course, the expanded and disbanded workforce has added numerous layers of vulnerability to organizations across the spectrum.  SO WHAT CAN YOU DO? Cybersecurity Dive says its simple: Determine what needs protecting and define all the ways you can protect that asset, and roll out a plan to do so.

SOURCE: CYBERSECURITY DIVE

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter and never miss an update.  Prefer a weekly recap? Join our Community (on the right) and be notified when our Industry Wrap is published each week.

Looking for more great resources? Visit our Learning Academy.

Strategic Insights: Securing Processes in Your Digital Journey

Next Dimension curates the most practical and useful tools and strategic IT insights from the web.  This week we shared articles across our social media talking about Securing Processes in Your Digital Journey.

Are you an SMB? Here are three questions to ask when initiating your Digital Transformation Strategy:

Digital Transformation is an ambiguous term.  It encapsulates so much of what’s happening in business today.  As a business leader, how do you wrangle it? Qrius asks these three questions when initiating your Digital Transformation Strategy.  Unsure of the answers? click the source link below.

What exactly is Digital Transformation?
Why adapt to Digital Transformation?
How to adapt to Digital Transformation for SMBs?

Reality check: digital transformation will happen whether you plan for it or not. Best to be in front of it so you can better control the situation; and mitigate challenges and capitalize on opportunities as they arise.

SOURCE: QRIUS

What does it mean to “underinvest” in cybersecurity? HINT: It’s not just about the purse strings

Inevitably, the total cost of cyber crime topped $1 Trillion in 2020, according to McAffee.  The breakdown of these losses is alarming: 90% is attributed to monetary losses while the final 10% are the financial costs of cyber crime prevention.  Cybersecurity budgets are expected to see a big jump, but investments can’t simply be made in creating a bigger, better, castle wall.  The way organizations approach investing must change.  With a disbanded workforce leveraging cloud solutions, cloud security must also ramp up.  Increased data access means greater control must be placed on who, and how sensitive data is accessed and interacted with.

Attacks will happen no matter how much you spend.

So its important to invest in insurance, and invest in disaster recovery planning and execution to minimize the production loss in a breach.

SOURCE: CYBERSECURITY DIVE

The pandemic has opened the door for more flexible work patterns in the future. Are you currently facing work challenges? 

For the majority of companies, we’ve adapted – on some level – to the “new” normal of working remotely.  2021 is the year to capitalize by investing in improving process and culture.  Here are some tips:

• To be successful in a hybrid world, the business must operate on a ‘Digital First’ strategy. Remote workers can no longer be seen as ‘second class citizens’.
• A key component in building trust is building camaraderie. It can’t be all business all the time – the virtual collaboration also needs a ‘water cooler’.
• Shift the role of the “office”. while the office used to be place to monitor productivity, it should now be used as a space for collaboration – leaving productivity to be the focus in an independent workspace regardless of location.
• Leverage the remote workforce as a means to build cross functional teams. Those who would normally not collaborate in the traditional office space can do so easily in a remote environment.

Focusing on the above objectives, rather than focusing on the technology solutions available in the market, will help you design workplace strategies that work for your organization in 2021 and beyond.

SOURCE: ENTERPRISE PROJECT

Digital ambitions and investments need to have greater alignment to process objectives as industry moves forward with IOT, AI, M2M, and more. 

The need for digital investment is glaring in most organizations. According to KPMG, only 23% of industrial organizations are actively adopting IoT technology, while 43% are still in the planning or discussion stage.

Terms like “Blockchain” and “Digital Twinning” have appeared to take a back seat to cloud security and cybersecurity investments.

Where are you investing in 2021?

SOURCE: CONSULTING.CA

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter and never miss an update.  Prefer a weekly recap? Join our Community (on the right) and be notified when our Industry Wrap is published each week.

Looking for more great resources? Visit our Learning Academy.

Strategic Insights: Digital Challenges & Security Gaps

Next Dimension curates the most practical and useful tools and strategic IT insights from the web.  This week we shared articles across our social media talking about Digital Challenges & Security Gaps.

Is your bigger challenge Legacy Vulnerabilities or Security Skills Shortage?

Security Patching is a full time, around-the-clock, skillset that must be mastered.  Gone are the days of occasional patches.  Now, there are updates protecting vulnerabilities at the edge, on the servers, on endpoints, and at access points.  Patch scheduling must be prioritized to ensure the most vulnerable are completed first.  The most used devices are not likely your biggest vulnerability.  Consider the legacy infrastructure that has had long-known vulnerabilities that are sitting within your network.

Cyber criminals only need an entry point – and these remain the biggest gaps and ultimately the biggest threats.

Prioritizing your patch management schedule by not only importance of device, but also length of known vulnerabilities should assist in taking a balanced approach.

SOURCE: CYBERSECURITY DIVE

As the Digital Leader, do you lead while building trust?

Forbes asked a great question: Would you like to be a Trustworthy Leader or a Strong one?

They asked the question testing whether or not each could even be mutually exclusive.  The article then dove into the notion of the “Trust Quotient”.  According to Charles Green, in his book “The Trusted Advisor”, the trust quotient is comprised of four elements:

Credibility
Reliability
Intimacy
Self-Orientation

As the first three go up, so does the TQ of the leader.  However, the TQ goes down if and when the Leader focuses solely on self.

Another interesting question posed was: Does the leader need to provide more transparency to be more of a trusted leader?  Forbes says no. If a leader has a high TQ, full transparency isn’t required.

SOURCE: FORBES

Here’s how to figure out the weakest link in your cybersecurity defense strategy: 

CEOs are responsible for the overall success and wellbeing of the organization.  CEOs lead by adding quality depth of talent to manage critical aspects of the business, and cybersecurity is not different.  In fact, Cybersecurity may be the most critical component in the business.  Even still, CEOs should keep an eye on these five areas and ask their Security Officers about these elements often:

Risk Management – What is our current risk tolerance? What is our RPO/RTO?
Privacy Regulations – Are we operating under the latest privacy regulations? Which new regulations are coming into effect?
Compliance – are we in compliance of security standards? Can we prove that we are operating as securely as required?
Treating the Reputation Damage – When we do get compromised, do we have a reputation plan? Is it current?
Protecting the Supply Chain – Can we confidently tell suppliers and customers that we’re doing all we can to protect sensitive data and communication tunnels?

Asking these questions will help CEOs ensure their Security Officers are continuously delivering on new information and trends.

SOURCE: SECURITY BOULEVARD

The clash of IoT and WFH on your Infrastructure

Many companies have continued to forge ahead with IoT initiatives, even with WFH thrust upon them.  How is your network and infrastructure managing simultaneous transitions?  Have you considered the added security vulnerabilities?  Have you completed the security-threat-trifecta of also migrating data to the cloud for the first time?  These are the top areas of cybersecurity concern heading into 2021.

With all these high profile issues, don’t forget about something as simple as the work-issued laptop on the same network as a personal Ring* Doorbell.

SOURCE: INFOSECURITY MAGAZINE

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter and never miss an update.  Prefer a weekly recap? Join our Community (on the right) and be notified when our Industry Wrap is published each week.

Looking for more great resources? Visit our Learning Academy.

Strategic Insights: Digital & Security Pitfalls [2021]

Next Dimension curates the most practical and useful tools and strategic IT insights from the web.  This week we shared articles across our social media talking about Digital & Security Pitfalls to watch out for in 2021.

Of these 7 Digital Leadership mistakes, #5 may as well be called the Cardinal Sin.

Enterprise project lists the seven most critical mistakes that could be made when developing your Digital Strategy.  The seven sins are listed below, and the article itself gives tips on “what to do instead”.

1. Assuming financial support for transformation initiatives
2. Focusing on output
3. Underestimating and under-communicating requirements
4. Top-down leadership
5. Treating digital transformation as an IT project
6. Infrequent or inaccurate updates
7. Lack of formal ownership

In our view, #5 is the Cardinal Sin. Digital Transformation must be an organizational initiative – not a “project” for IT to deliver.

SOURCE: ENTERPRISE PROJECT

Time to button up those loose security policies from the WFH disruption!

Almost every company on the planet had to loosen and suspend security policies to allow remote access like never before.  As companies plan for the long term “Hybrid Work Plan”, it’s time to button up those loose ends before a cyber attack.

Operational Security must review these key areas:

Tightening up the loose security policies to allow WFH connectivity
Standardizing and monitoring of access to the many connected devices
Protecting the data that is moving in and out of the core network
Streamlining devices and operating systems that have access to critical data

Bottom line? Zero Trust policies will become the norm before the end of 2021.

SOURCE: CYBERSECURITY DIVE

53% of Executives said “improving business continuity and resiliency” is their top priority. Here’s how to make it yours, too:

Information Week shared a number of insights, including some telling statistics from a recent Harvard Business Review.  Executives are ready, now more than ever, to invest in business technology.  Business are turning to so-called “Digital Leaders” to head the transformation, but how do you know a qualified Digital Leader when you see one?  Here are three attributes to be on the lookout for:

1. They create and empower a culture that is primed for change
2. They embrace a digital-first mindset that prioritizes automation, data analytics, and real-time customer demands
3. They employ rapid-cycle innovation to achieve quick wins for the business that also materialize as long term transformation efforts

BONUS TIP: Look for the candidate that is passionate about transforming SAFELY; governance, policy, and security should be their top priority.

SOURCE: INFORMATION WEEK

2021 will see a rise of security threats targeting employees working from home.  Are yours safe?

ThreatPost says the WFH employee will be remain the biggest target, and mobile endpoints will likely be the attack vector of choice.  This means, cyber strategies (and budgets!) need to be reviewed.  Few experts can actually agree on where the threats will originate in 2021, so ThreatPost did their best round-up to give you a few areas to keep a watchful eye:

Insider Threats
Inbox Bullseye
Cybersecurity Cloud Burst
AI and Machine Learning Vulnerabilities
Mobile Menace

To the surprise of no one, remote workers will remain the most vulnerable, while added AI/ML could create the most new vulnerabilities.

SOURCE: THREATPOST

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter and never miss an update.  Prefer a weekly recap? Join our Community (on the right) and be notified when our Industry Wrap is published each week.

Looking for more great resources? Visit our Learning Academy.