Mentioned Resources:

blogtechguy.com
Yaro’s Twitter
wordpress.org

CLICK HERE & PRESS PLAY

CLICK HERE & PRESS PLAY

Seen those websites with cool striped background? Well, you can make your very own here: Stripemania – Striped background generator — here’s another one that’s not as capable: Striped Backgrounds, and a third one Stripe Generator – ajax diagonal stripes background designer

Four background makers to ensure that all the visitors to your website are impressed: Dotted Background Generator, Seamless Pattern Background Designs (the best), Tartan Designer – Tartan Maker – Tartan Background pattern generator (scottish kilts anyone?).

When you click on something and it loads slowly, you often see one of those spinning thingies that means it’s loading, be patient — well, you can design your own one here: Web Script Lab » Ajax Loading Gif Generator and here Ajaxload – Ajax loading gif generator

This one I use absolutely all the time — generate badges that you can put on a website to spiff it up and make it look cool Web 2.0 Badges – Useful collection of stylish web 2.0 badges and badge generator.. And when you need buttons that look just right, I use Buttonator to make them for myself,

Need a logo for the website? Here’s several online generators: web 2.0 Logo Creator Online. Design and Create Free Logos, Web2.0 – Logo Creatr (love this one), Logo Maker : Web 2.0 Stylr.

Not just for kids! When you need a graph, go here: Create A Graph. If you prefer to work on your desktop, you can download this XML/SWF Charts > Introduction

Need to color your website? Here’s several pallete generators: slayeroffice | tools | color palette creator v1.6.1 and Color Combinations Tester – Combo Tester – ColorCombos.com.

That’s it – if you have any that do a better job, or a different job, let me know in the comments.

Most people are not like me.

“Well duh!”

But what I didn’t fully realise was how unlike me people were. You’re all a bunch of wackos! Freaks!

I discovered this when I actually bit the bullet on a task I knew I was going to hate but had been told by so many respected webpreneurs I had to do. Testing.

‘Oh God! He’s going to talk about testing. Disengage brain‘

Hey – I know – it’s boring as hell. But you HAVE to do it. It’s the way I went from massive credit card debt to writing crap like this for a living. This stuff is golden.

I am not going to tell you how to do it, you can suffer that yourself, but I am a complete convert to it now after seeing the smallest changes take my various websites from loss to crazy profit with the change of a sentence or graphic.

The human brain is a very strange thing and instead of trying to guess what turns a surfer into a customer, won’t happen, you have to give your traffic various scenarios to click ‘buy’ and then go with the winning setup. And guess what? You then test that!

Take a look at google’s free website tester – website optimizer – great for testing one page against another, it’s all you need, but if you really want to start testing the smallest of changes I highly recommend Visual Website Optimizer – very easy to use and a breath of fresh air to anyone that usually inputs all that code manually.

When you start seeing your conversions go through the roof, trust me, testing will no longer be boring.

Related articles:

• A/B Testing With Visual Website Optimizer (appreaders.com)
• 7 A/B Testing Resources for Startups and Solo Developers (mashable.com)

CLICK HERE & PRESS PLAY

Q. So what’s the story behind The Amazing Widget?

A.  It’s no secret to my friends and family, and those that know me in Internet marketing circles (not to mention my accountant), that I’ve made millions of dollars online…

That’s not to brag of course. The income is great, but my real passion is helping others succeed online. Most people don’t know that my own father retired early, and with my help has gone on to make over 6 figures per year online.

Some of the biggest names in marketing have been members and mentors of mine.  Names you’d *immediately* recognize if mentioned.  People who’ve also gone on to make millions online.

I get major satisfaction out of helping others succeed online. I’ve always told people I could be happy living in a small apartment, and that’s absolutely true. But of course, I enjoy providing for my family. I live by the old Zig Ziglar quote, “You can get all you want in life, by helping others get what they want.”

And that’s exactly why I created the “Amazing Widget System” – to help others succeed online…

I wanted to develop a plug in SYSTEM based on my many years of online marketing expertise, able to help ANYBODY succeed online, regardless of experience level. And I mean, I’m talking anybody from kids to grandmas here.

And that’s exactly what I’ve done with AWS.

Q. What exactly IS “The Amazing Widget” and how does it work?

A. The Amazing Widget is much more than it appears on the surface, so this is going to take some explaining… So listen close…

Though I should mention, even if you don’t quite “get it”, that’s ok!  You can totally succeed with The Amazing Widget and without any clue as to how it actually works technically speaking. This answer is more for those who want the technical description of the “inner workings” of The Amazing Widget – and precisely what makes it so amazing

On the very surface, The Amazing Widget is a simple “advertisement box” that can be instantly installed on dozens of popular sites, like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Google, etc. What’s really cool is that even if you don’t have an account with these sites, you can create one for FREE (such as a Facebook account) and get almost immediate exposure for your Amazing Widgets.

The Amazing Widget can also be installed quickly on your own blogs and websites (if you have them) by copying and pasting the small snippet of code provided.

The Amazing Widget contains TWO ads. A top and bottom ad.

The top ad is by default an extremely powerful and effective ad for TheAmazingWidget.com itself, since it’s an excellent quality, very high conversion product that pays big commissions. A perfect fit…

But of course, you certainly don’t have to promote AWS. You can easily switch ads on the fly, choosing from thousands of different ClicKBank affiliate products to promote for free.

In the marketing world, the approach we use is known as the “two step” method.  Amazing Widgets display powerful ads for the products of your choosing. These ads take people that click on them to the corresponding product web-sites and order pages where you make a commission each time somebody orders.

The bottom (text) ad is also customizable, and here again you can choose from thousands of different ClickBank affiliate products with high paying commissions. For example, if you have a golf blog, or say, a lot of friends on Facebook who like to golf, you could select a golf related product and enter some simple text in the bottom ad box to promote that product.

You can create as many widgets with our “Amazing Widget Generator” software as you want… Each within seconds, or max a few minutes each. You could easily create and post 100 different widgets online, each advertising a different product (or set of products).

So bottom line…

Every Amazing Widget you generate is like a little cash making ‘robot’ that works 24-7 to make YOU cash on complete autopilot, once placed.

The ability to quickly and easily generate and place unlimited money making widgets all over the web is *extremely* powerful… The sharing is done with our built in Instant Share Tool, simply enough for a child to use.

But that’s only the beginning. What I’m about to tell you next, is TRULY MIND BLOWING…

This is where the incredible scope and power of the Amazing Widget System is revealed:

You see, when somebody joins the TheAmazingWidget.com through any of your widgets (or through a special separate link we provide), your affiliate links *alternate* evenly with THEIR affiliate links, within any and all widgets THEY create and place online.

So you are receiving roughly HALF the exposure and sales with anybody and everybody you refer to us!

…This is true regardless of what ClickBank products they choose to promote within their Amazing Widgets.

…This is true regardless of where they place their widgets.

…This is true regardless of how many widgets they create and post online.

Q. Can you provide some ‘real life’ examples of how this system can benefit me?

A. Absolutely!…

Let’s say you become a member today. You log in and instantly create an Amazing Widget using our Amazing Widget Generator (this literally takes 10 seconds). You then post your new customized widget to your Facebook page (or Twitter, or MySpace, or hundreds of other free options listed) using our sharing tool.

…And then your friend Bob sees an ad for TheAmazingWidget.com inside your widget, and decides to become a member as well. It just so happens that like many people, Bob has multiple websites and social pages. He generates a few different Amazing Widgets himself, and quickly has ten widgets placed online.

Now get this: For every 100 people that visit or see Bob’s pages, your affiliate links are shown 50 times. Again, this is because your affiliate links alternate with Bob’s. Stated another way, when Person 1 comes to Bob’s web page, HIS links are embedded within his widget(s). When Person 2 comes to Bob’s page, your links are embedded within his widget(s). When Person 3 comes to Bob’s page, HIS links are again embedded within his widget(s), and so on…

This is all managed behind the scenes with AWS’s built in tracking system and database.

Now imagine if you were to refer 10 people like Bob… Each getting 200 visits per day… That’s 2000 “ad exposures” and 1,000 for you (since they are shared evenly by you and the widget/site owner)… All on complete autopilot.

And what if you were to refer 100 people like Bob? Each getting 200 visits a day?

That’s 20,000 ad exposures and 10,000 per day for you, all for doing nothing but using the power of leverage – ‘piggy backing’ off the traffic of others.

The more people that you refer to us through your Amazing Widget, the more you stand to benefit from THEIR efforts, since your “ad exposures” will be split evenly with them!

Now don’t get me wrong. This is not a “traffic exchange” of any kind. Rather, the people you refer are simply sharing their traffic with you, since your affiliate links are “displayed” evenly with theirs (within the widgets they place anywhere online).

Q. How much can I earn with The Amazing Widget?

A. Your income potential is literally unlimited…

Here’s one important reason why…

Ok so you’ve got a number of Amazing Widgets placed on your Facebook page, Twitter, a couple websites, and even a couple blogs… So people are seeing your widgets. That’s the first step. And if people AREN’T seeing your widgets, you can simply follow my “dummy proof” training to make sure that changes!  In a hurry.

Now…

Let’s say you were to able to refer 100 people to us.

And we’ll say you make an average of $10 monthly per sale generated through ‘any given widget’.  We’ll also say each person you’ve referred has placed 10 widgets online (some will have considerably more widgets placed, some less)…

That’s 1,000 widgets, with YOUR affiliate links shown 50% of the time. Now let’s say that every page with a widget was seen by 20 people a day on average. That’s 20,000 people opening a page displaying a widget, meaning 10,000 views (half for you)…

And lets say that just 1% of these 10,000 people clicked on a widget ad, and ordered. That’s 100 people / 100 sales. If this formula were to hold true for any given day, you’d make $1,000 per day.

…Based on this example, after 30 days you’d be making $30,000 per month assuming that the $10 sale amount is monthly / recurring (and there are plenty of ClickBank products that you can promote within your widgets, that offer monthly commissions).

Of course, you may only have 10 people referred. Even then, with all other numbers being the same, you’d still be up to $3,000 per month after 30 days.

And if you reduced that to even 1 person referred, with all other numbers being the same, that’s still $300 extra per month.

The potential is clearly AMAZING.

Again, what The Amazing Widget enables you to do is leverage the traffic and work of others. Think of it as a trade off. You tell them about a great service. They share their ad exposures with you…

And of course, they can take advantage of this exact same viral benefit as they refer others.

With all that said, you don’t have to refer anybody. Our Amazing Widget Generator, which you’ll have full 24-7 access to as an AWS member, is a powerful online tool to create and place endless, simple but effective “widget ads” all over the web, for the ClickBank products of your choice.

Q. What if I still don’t understand how the Amazing Widget System works?

A. It really is simple, but a little tricky to explain, so I understand.  And once you “get it” you will be amazed.

But remember, you really don’t have to worry about how the widget works (or even what a ‘widget’ is), technically speaking.  You could even have our programming code memorized, and it would not help you succeed one ounce more than the next person.

I can’t stress enough.  You do NOT have to know “how it works” in order to succeed.  All that’s required is to know how to create and place as many Amazing Widgets as you’d like online (which is stupid-simple), and the rest takes care of itself.

Q. Is this another SCAM?

A. That’s a good question to ask, because there are definitely scams online to watch out for, and it’s healthy to be a bit skeptical - just as long as that skepticism doesn’t keep you from realizing how much money can be made online.

The Amazing Widget System is a very powerful, useful, unique, legitimate product that will even turn the hardest skeptic into a believer.

First and foremost, our software makes it very quick and easy for you to create money making “viral widget ads” and further, share and place them on hundreds of FREE places online, quickly and easily.  Just a few clicks of your mouse per site.  Or a quick snippet of code if placed on your own sites.

Our system (and powerful backend database) makes it possible to rotate ad views (also called “exposures”) within the widgets of the people you refer. This gives every Amazing Widget true *viral* potential, giving you added leverage and ‘marketing power’, exponentially more so than if you were trying to generate exposures and traffic solely on your own.

Bottom line, our software is a powerful ‘traffic and commission getting’ tool.

Q. Why should I trust you?

A. Quite honestly, you don’t even have to trust me.

There is a (very reasonable) fee to become a member of TheAmazingWidget.com.

That fee is processed by a well known company called ClickBank.com, which if you’re not familiar with them is the merchant provider for many thousands of products online – very similar to PayPal.

Well, ClickBank requires its merchants (like me) to offer a 60 day refund period. Meaning, if you’re not satisfied with your membership (or ANY product you order through ClickBank), you can (and should) go straight to them to have your money promptly refunded and membership cancelled.

It’s that easy. You don’t even have to notify me or involve me in the process.

Of course, I know this is the last thing you’d ever want to do from the moment you get started and see how easy and effective my system is, but the option is always there for your comfort and security. You can “go over my head” to cancel and refund at any time.

Q. What about competition and the possibility of this system becoming quickly saturated or outdated?

A.  This is where the Amazing Widget System SHINES.

Many people fail online because they’re buying into so-called systems and opportunities that have long since become saturated with competition, or just plain outdated.

The Amazing Widget System is WIDE OPEN for the simple fact that there are BILLIONS of web pages and blogs online, meaning *endless* places to place Amazing Widgets.   Tens of thousands of people could place hundreds of widgets a DAY, and the system would still never become saturated.

And as far as becoming outdated, that won’t happen either because this system can’t NOT work.  People see your widgets.  They click.  And if the product is appealing, they order!  If a product isn’t selling, you SWITCH to a different product…  And in doing so, you won’t even have to “replace” the widget on whatever page it was on.  You can edit *any* widget in your member control panel, and the changes you make will automatically appear within the widget you’ve edited wherever it’s placed!

…We use the same concept as newspaper and magazine display ads, which have obviously been around for a hundred years – and *always* will be.

So get on board and do not worry that this is a system being pitched by an “owner” who’s used it to its limit himself, and then decided to make his last dollar by selling his worn out system to others.  AWS is BRAND NEW.  And yet in 5 years, it will still carry the potential of a *brand new* opportunity, for the reasons just explained.

Q. Can I really only ‘work’ 15 minutes a day and succeed with this like your site mentions?

A. You could work LESS if you wanted. But the key is that the more Amazing Widgets you place online, the greater your income potential is.

For the sake of this example, think of each Amazing Widget as a “mini billboard”. Each widget houses two separate product ads that can be seen by others who visit whatever page or site the widget is displayed on.

So obviously, the more widgets you place, the more eyeballs you’ll attract. And eyeballs (views and hits) are what marketing is all about!  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that 100 widgets placed on 100 different sites and pages across the web, are generally going to make you more sales than 10.

Compare ‘widget marketing’ to ‘article marketing’, another very popular and effective advertising technique (but generally far more work).  With article marketing, you should try to write and submit 1 article per day. Well, with widget marketing, I recommend placing 5 or 10 widgets per day, minimum. By the end of the month you could have 300 widgets placed, and after a few months, 900.

…And that doesn’t even account for the many thousands more that could be placed by the people you refer to us.

Q. What kind of training is required?

A. There is virtually ZERO training required to get started, and even to start making sales.

But we have an INCREDIBLE resource called the “Amazing Widget Cash Blueprint” that will show you ways to easily place *endless* widgets online all across the web, using both free and low cost methods.

Q. If this works so well why don’t you do it yourself?

A. This is a VERY smart question, and one that I think everybody should ask when they consider any opportunity – online or off.

But in this case, the simple answer is, I *do* use it myself. When I refer or bring in others directly to TheAmazingWidget.com, I also benefit virally in the same way that you can as a member.  Meaning my affiliate links rotate within the widgets created and placed by the people I refer.  It’s awesome!  And you have the EXACT same benefit.

And I can comfortably offer this system to others for the viral benefit, AND because there is virtually no competition as I explained earlier.

And did I mention this system works in virtually ANY niche?  I don’t care whether you’re into golf products, or real estate, or investing, or dating, or marketing…  The Amazing Widget System works for ‘em all.

Q. Is there a guarantee?

A.  Absolutely!  As mentioned earlier, we have a 60 day, 100% money back guarantee backed by ClickBank.com, meaning you wouldn’t even have to “bother” contacting us, or “worrying” whether we would stick to our guarantee or not, in the (very) unlikely event you’d request one.

Because ClickBank processes our orders, you could go straight to them for a refund at any time within 60 days of your initial order. That means you have plenty of time to profit first, meaning a refund is the last thing you’ll want.

Q. Is there any risk in this for me, whatsoever?

A. There’s no risk at all, other than what you’ll be missing out on if you don’t join and get started right away.

If you’ve tried everything else online and failed, that’s one of the BEST reasons to join TheAmazingWidget.com right away.

Q. I’m still skeptical, what should I do?

A. Well, you can either leave and never know what “could have been”, despite that there’s absolutely no risk to begin with. But obviously that’s not a good option, so why not join and get started immediately?

Q. How do I join?

Click here to watch the video presentation.

Recently

This is a particularly contentious issue with the UK economy in recession and the SME sector, the engine of the economy, struggling to cope. Over the last decade business has argued they have been burdened with increased costs and bureaucracy that stifles their competitiveness especially globally where companies in other countries do not have the same legislative overheads. Understandably, the main objection from business to this, albeit well meaning, legislation is it could further increase businesses costs, resulting in increased business failures at the worst economic time in the last 60 years!

So should SMEs be concerned about this legislation? Predictably the answer is not necessarily and solutions exist to assist businesses to adapt and improve the effectiveness of their key assets: employees. The working environment is more matrixed and objectives driven and the need to monitor every working hour is less relevant. The ones who look further will be pleasantly surprised at the business advantages that are readily available by embracing flexible working. Businesses can make significant gains if they take an open-minded approach to this change and use the technology available to provide transparency to managers, the right work-life balance to employees and continuity to customers. The UK economy succeeds with innovation and the creative ability of its employees to create new opportunities and provide better skills than other markets. A stressed employee who is struggling to meet strenuous work like balance is less productive and creative. It is in all company’s benefit to ensure the creative abilities are exploited through better support.

With the correct service partner, implementing a flexible working policy is painless and the financial case is very strong. Where flexible working has been implemented the benefits to businesses have been strong in terms of reduced costs, increased business flexibility, greater motivated and productive employees who are loyal to an employer who understands the demands of the modern work-life balance.

Robust and reliable technology exists that now enable businesses of any size to implement flexible working without requiring expensive in-house skills or capital equipment expenditure. High speed, ubiquitous broadband networks now make critical business services easily and reliably accessible from anywhere and allow any company to leverage the benefits easily, quickly and cost-effectively. The concerns raised by some companies on employee transparency, productivity and control are readily addressed without incremental increases in existing budgets.

The gains are large in terms of reduction in required office space, cost of travel to and from work, staff loyalty and greater productivity. For the companies that see the opportunity this may be the catalyst to realise that the solutions are there to create a more competitive business. With the right combination of robust, tested telecommunications services, targeted HR policies and training for employees and management, any organisation can transform this perceived headache into a competitive advantage.

In conclusion, yes the SME sector can cope. The key barrier to embracing flexible working is no longer technological or financial but cultural. Businesses who embrace the change will realise significant benefits, not only in the short-term but will be ideally placed for rapid grow as the economy recovers.

Natasha Davies writes for ellesys – provider of hosted and CPE telephony applications, conferencing and collaboration focused on the needs of a business.

Related Flexible Working Articles…

Fathers unsure of flexible working rights

The poll found that a fifth (20%) of dads with kids aged 16 or under – who, by law, are entitled to request flexible working from their employer – did not know if their company offered flexible working to fathers; 34% of parents with …

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Just discov ered this website and organisation totally devoted to flexible working. Now not all portfolio workers work flexibly and not all flexible workers want to have portfolio careers but we have much in common in terms of what we …

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Modern economies are increasingly introducing flexible working conditions as a way of retaining skilled and competent employees, while simultaneously meeting their personal and family needs, ensuring good health. …

Related articles…

• Small businesses still averse to “work from home” option for employees (newstatesman.com)
• Harriet Harman accused of ‘breathtaking hypocrisy’ in row over hiring part-time workers (telegraph.co.uk)

Here are the things you need to know about how iPhone and Android have changed mobile advertising and why you, as a job seeker or marketer, need to make the call now.

Your customers are on more than one carrier – A complete mobile marketing strategy must consider reaching audiences subscribed with all the various mobile carriers (e.g., Verizon, O2, Orange, Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile).

Marketing begins and ends with numbers – The mobile marketing platform has lagged behind the web in terms of the ability to provide advertisers with critical metrics and control to measure and optimize their ad campaigns. Expect Google’s acquisition of AdMob to have tremendous implications for mobile advertising. AdMob serves ads for more than 15,000 mobile sites and applications worldwide and openly shares the mountain of actionable data they are collecting. AdMob has announced that it is supporting the Palm Pre/Web OS phones, demonstrating their cross-platform capabilities.

You don’t necessarily need to have an app – A recent WhitePages and MediaVest study showed that advertising performance is just as strong on the mobile web as it is on an app. The downside of apps is that consumers need to upgrade to get new versions of the apps, while a mobile site can simply be updated. A mobile site does not necessitate the consumers to do anything for it to update, all the burden is on you, the marketer, and that is good. As long as mobile carriers can scale their 3G networks to meet demands, the future of wireless is very likely to go back to the mobile web.

Location demands persistence and endurance – While location will be a key driver in the future of mobile advertising, the mobile industry will need to overcome a few challenges in order for location-based marketing to truly take off. One, the popularity of applications requires persistence and the ability to run more than one application at a time (Apple needs to wake up on this one). And two, battery drain from frequent GPS/location requests and poor cell tower coverage.

A different call to action – The key to the success of any marketing campaign is to make it easy for the consumer to react. For one, easy click-to-call actions have been seen to have contributed to +5% conversion results for advertisers.

If you want to learn more about how to reach your audience via mobile marketing I highly recommend Mobile Marketing Leadership. Only for those with a bit of cash to spend I’m afraid but definitely the No1 resource out there for this growing market.

Related Mobile Advertising Articles…

Mobile Advertising, Apple and SDK’s …

Second, how about those that have the ability to “turn on” the advertising revenue stream for the developer? Well, mobile advertising networks such as AdMob, Quattro Wireless, 4INFO and Millennial Media are the poster children here. …

Apple Staffing Up For Mobile Advertising Blitz

Apple now hiring an “iPhone advertising SDK manager.”

Mobile advertising research shows WinMo performs better than …

Smaato (a mobile ad optimizer and mobile advertising company) has revealed its…

These videos are pretty bad, I admit it, but they’re only there as a ‘how to’, simply to inform, they don’t need to look good.

However, if you’re trying to sell a product or service via online video Andy Jenkins just released a new “Video Series” TODAY – and it’s going to melt your brain and ignite your imagination – and tickle other unmentionable areas…

Here’s something Andy’s shown over and over:  Online Video Marketing GETS MORE MONEY than ANYTHING out there. Period.  And in these videos, you’ll see the simple little techniques that have literally  raised the bar of how people do Video Marketing.

Part 1 of Andy Jenkins’ new “Video Boss” series got OVER 800 comments from folks who AGREE we NEED video to continue to thrive online.

VideoBoss

Andy obviously listens because today he released a Five-Step Formula he calls “Little Boss”… for FREE!

No script, no problem.

Face “made for radio”?

No need to get on EITHER side of a camera!

That’s right, if you’re on a computer that can read this post, chances are that is all you need to FINISH your first attention-arresting, sale-getting, cash-collecting Video.

Ready to revolutionize and future-proof the way you market you products and services?

Learn how, right now, right here.

VideoBoss

Related Online Video Marketing Articles…

Video Marketing Tips A 5 Step Video Marketing Strategy …

If you want to discover video marketing tips, then read this now. You will find tips on how to make money online with a proven video marketing strategy. So, let.

Online Video Views are Not Lost on ABC.com : How to Make Money …

Online Video Views are Not Lost on ABC.com. February 9, 2010 · Print this article, Visited 24 times, 24 so far today. Last Tuesday, the season premiere of the hit television show “Lost” aired, and not only was it watched by over 12 …

Related articles…

• Context is King: How Videos Are Found And Consumed Online (techcrunch.com)
• Steve Garfield Shares His Secrets To Creating Online Video In His New Book “Get Seen” (laughingsquid.com)
• Create a Video for Business or Fun at animoto.com (techtalkformoms.com)

However, despite the benefits, telecommuting ranks high on the list of data protection threats for organizations, particularly if there is no formal policy in place. The most common missteps include using unsecured networks, sharing company laptops or equipment with family members and friends, and failing to update software and install security patches, among others.

Below, I’ve included some important advice that every institution should know about telecommuting from ID theft expert Brian Lapidus, chief operating officer of Kroll’s Fraud Solutions, who has unique frontline experience helping today’s businesses safeguard against and respond to data breaches

• Establish a baseline by assessing all current telecommuting activities. Even if no employees are formally authorized to work remotely, chances are it happens anyway – think sick children, inclement weather and other unexpected events. The technology afforded to most office workers allows them to do a substantial amount of work from a remote location. Many employees take advantage of this fact to ‘work from home’ during an emergency or to ‘catch up at home’ when work starts to pile up. Regardless of the reason, the threat of data breach is very real, and must be assessed.
• Develop a comprehensive telecommuting security policy. A clear and concise security policy that establishes the roles and requirements of employees is absolutely essential to ensuring a successful telecommuting program. The policy should specifically outline security measures and procedures for handling sensitive data, including storage and disposal. While the focus will undoubtedly be on cyber security, organizations should make sure to address the proper handling of paper files. Consider providing employees with shredders or secure storage containers to meet this requirement.
• Make decisions on equipment usage. An organization’s policy on equipment usage is an important component to an organization’s telecommuting security policy (see #2). Organizations should decide up front whether telecommuting employees will use personal computers or company-issued equipment, as this will be a major factor in what cyber security measures can and cannot be implemented. Providing equipment gives the company more control over security issues, but employees must be provided with explicit instructions for the care and usage of the devices (i.e., never leave laptops unattended in public, never download and install programs without company approval). Even if the organization allows employees to use their own PCs, certain minimum security measures must be in place, such as firewalls, anti-virus and spyware programs, and encryption software.
• Provide adequate technical support and training. Before sending employees home with sensitive company information whether via laptop or hardcopy file, they should be trained on the requirements set forth in the organizations telecommuting security policy. In the case of laptop and network use, ensure that employees fully understand how to access data securely. Remote workers should be trained periodically in techniques to spot suspicious activity, including signs that a computer has been infected with malware. Access to technical support is also an important factor without support, an employee might be tempted to do whatever it takes to get the system up and running when something goes wrong, including disabling security features.
• Conduct periodic audits. Even if the company’s IT department has remote management capability, it’s important to verify firsthand that all equipment is in good condition and working properly. Have employees bring in equipment periodically for a checkup, and review logs to determine what information has been accessed.
• Don’t assume that restricting access to applications and systems is a fix for the program. Productivity will be negatively impacted if remote workers don’t have access to the tools and information necessary to perform. Don’t let the cons outweigh the pros. Face the problem head on with a comprehensive security policy and sound cyber security measures and organizations will be free to reap the rewards that telecommuting can provide.