February 2011
In this issue
►Letter from the President
►Ricky's Corner
►Good Work Habits
►Benefits of Office 365 Workspace
►Reasons to Go Wireless
►Master Your Thinking and Beat Bad Moods
►Business Continuity Tip
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Master Your Thinking and Beat Bad Moods
 by Marlene Chism
used with permission - stopworkplacedrama.org
Let's face it; a bad mood impacts your personal effectiveness. If your mood is not kept in check you can damage important relationships in the workplace and beyond. Moods are simply a manifestation of energy.
I like Eckhart Tolle's definition of emotion: "Emotions are the body's reaction to the mind." If you agree, then it makes sense that in order to beat a bad mood you must master your mindset, or your thinking.
What if you could reprogram your brain so that you don't experience bad moods as often?
Read more
Business Continuity Tip
Final destination(s)
Building a robust recovery plan is all about establishing redundancies (for your staff, technology, communications, etc). These redundancies need to extend to recovery sites as well. When considering a temporary office recovery site you must think of the worst case scenario. Fact is, your obvious first choice may not be available during a large-scale event (think New Orleans post-Katrina, and Manhattan following 9/11).
Take some time to brainstorm multiple location options. Think creatively about how isolated vs. local vs. regional disasters may impact where and how you recover. For example, do you have a good relationship with a vendor in your supply chain? Maybe they can help you out in a pinch. Do you have access to flexible office space? Can your employees work remotely? If so, how long before inefficiency creeps in?
The bottom-line is - don't hinge your entire plan on a single recovery site. Flexibility is key.
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Laugh a Little
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If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant.
- Anne Bradstreet
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Letter from the President
Tim Rettig
Motivation to Change Your Password
In my December newsletter article, I explained what a botnet is and how criminals use them to attack certain targets on the Internet. In that article, I equated those botnets to the battle droids used in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. In this article, I have an even more outlandish story to tell. The main character of this story is Aaron Barr, CEO of Security firm HBGary . He reminds me of the main character Tony Stark in the Iron Man movies. Sometimes you love him, sometimes you hate him, and sometimes you just feel sorry for him. While Tony Stark’s weakness was the shrapnel coursing through his veins, Aaron Barr’s weakness was his simple use of a single password between multiple online systems.
Aaron Barr thought he could track down the identity of hackers using social media. He thought if he did this, it would generate a lot of publicity for his company. In order to generate as much publicity as possible, he went after a hacker group called “Anonymous”. It is believed that this group orchestrated an attack on credit card companies in retaliation for blocking Wikileaks funding channels. The entire story can be read here, but suffice it to say, Aaron befriended some of the members of the group. He followed through with his plan by giving them reason to trust him, but then turned on them and threatened to expose what he believed to be their true identities.
Read more
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Ricky's Corner
Ricky Phipps
Managers of INTRUST GROUP: Introduction
I spend a lot of time with my nose stuck in business books. A few times along the way, I have read that great leaders surround themselves with people who are better at their jobs than the leader would be. If this is true, and if our Management Team is any indication, then Tim and I are right up there with Churchill and Kennedy. Or it could mean that we aren't qualified to be employed. I'm going with the former reasoning since this is my article.
We currently have six members on our Management Team, people with responsibility for staff and/or a functional area. Each one brings a unique set of talents. However, talent is only one part of what they bring. Each one also consistently demonstrates extraordinary commitment to the organization, our customers, each other and the staff. Talent and commitment are the basic ingredients of Great.
Read more
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7 Steps to Good Work Habits Away From The Office
by Jeff Wuorio
used with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Website
 Your laptop was built for doing work away from the office. Making sure your self-discipline comes along for the trip is something else.
Many business owners and executives associate an office environment with the will to work. As a result, they fret that they—or their employees—may be less than diligent when working from home or a hotel room.
But keeping up your self-discipline away from the office is just a matter of thoughtful planning. Here are seven strategies, culled from feedback from experts and my own experiences.
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The Benefits of an Office 365 Workspace
used with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Website
 Truth be told, no one wants to work 365 days a year. However, we do need our technology to be available around the clock because you never know when that hot sales prospect will want a product fact sheet or when you'll need to coordinate a last-minute cross-country meeting. In most workplace instances, having integrated, always available communication and collaboration solutions streamlines the way we work and can be just the ticket to greater productivity and cost savings.
Read more
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Five Reasons to Go Wireless
used with permission from Cisco
 Every minute counts in a small company and wireless networks are a powerful tool for boosting productivity and encouraging information sharing. With untethered access to documents, emails, applications and other network resources, employees can roam where they need to and have constant access to the tools required to do their jobs.
Here are some of the ways businesses are taking advantage of wireless LANs:
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