The Perils of Private Email Accounts

Uh Oh, Spaghetti-o ...

A client approached me the other day with a concern.

He feared that an employee that recently left the company was poaching his client base. He needed me to make sure that his systems were secure. I confirmed that was the case, but then he asked, "What about her email?"

Prior to engaging me, the client just had his employees setup private Yahoo! accounts. Now, with the employee gone, he needed to take control of that data.

And Now ... The Bad News ...

"No-can-do," I had to tell him, and I needed to explain some rules of the road.

Yahoo! is a private email container. As an employer of the employee, he can't access it nor control it; the EULA (End User License Agreement) is between the provider and his employee. FCC rules say that's private property, and, attempting to monitor what goes on in those email accounts is tantamount to eavesdropping on your employees.

"But those are my clients," he argued, and I empathized, but I suggested there's little he can do. 

"You shouldn't have been relying on private email accounts for company business," I suggested.

And then I had to explain the really bad part.

Classified Data

You see, this guy is in the business of working with confidential, classified forms of Protected Health Information, or, PHI. Every now and again, PHI about his customers were probably emailed to this individual and fell outside of his control. Further, it was possible that customer's drivers license information was shared with the former employee.

"Technically, that's potentially a breach," I had to explain, "where you've lost control of classified forms of data under two sets of law: HIPAA - federal law managing PHI - and State of Washington Data Breach Law. You've lost control of the data and can't account for its whereabouts, access control, or destruction."

So What Do We Do Now?

At that point, he started looking at me pretty nervous-like, and I discussed his options going forward.

• The company should set up a secure email and storage system. It just so happens that I'm a reseller for Google Apps. Google Apps has sought and received FISMA, ISO 27001, and SSAE 16 certifications for information system security, and understands its Business Associate obligations for managing PHI. Google's server traffic is encrypted and the data stored on its cloud platform is encrypted; Google Apps Privacy and Security are some of the best practices in the industry. Google's a big proponent of responsible computing and that's why I work with them.
   
• Under the company's flag, they own this asset. They can control and audit and revoke access. They can determine who and what devices receive confidential forms of information that they're responsible for. And if a termination event happens again, we're in control.
   
• Implement an Administrative Control (a policy) that states employees can only use the corporate email system for company business. Violating that policy is grounds for dismissal. That sets up management's intention and clarifies the obligations of employees. That's called an Acceptable Use Policy, and it turns out that I've got a stock policy just hanging around that he could modify.
   
• Finally, we train the employees on handling classified forms of information, and advise them of their responsibilities and tips for best practices.

In this way, I helped him craft a more successful strategy going forward that would limit his liability, protect the interest of his customers, and bring him closer to a state of information compliance.

That's the kind of value I bring to every engagement with my customers. Want to know more? Give me a jingle - I'd be happy to talk about how I can help you.

R

Useless Technology Investments Yield No Value

This is a monitor mounted on the wall in an elevator lobby in Vancouver, Washington.

It's actually representative of nine other similar monitors installed across five floors and two buildings on the same property.

Each and every monitor displays just one word. Welcome. And it's displayed welcome for well over four months.

It's so freekin' awesome. Serious. The graphic never changes. They all just display welcome and the word is now pretty much burned into the monitors.

So, I'm trying to think of the costs associated with this overly-expensive welcome sign. The electrical wiring, the network wiring, the labor, the capital equipment charges, the logic/service that must tell the screen to display welcome. I mean, all told, we must be talking some tens of thousands of dollars spent on the project to permanently display welcome on every floor.

Lost. Wasted. Trashed. Flushed. Worthless.

Remember how I was just talking about how technology should provide value? How does this provide value? Better, let's use our imagination and think about how it could provide value:

• The monitor could display a building directory of tenants.
• It could display a cheerful video describing the benefits of becoming a tenant.
• It could be an interactive tool to help guide people to their desired tenant.
• The monitor could highlight a tenant every month, extending appreciation for tenants.
• Why, the monitor could even display a calendar of events important to the property manager.
• It could inform tenants of upcoming maintenance activities, like, for example, getting the electronic directory system working.
• It could display a blog from a snarky technology consultant criticizing the strategic value of an electronic welcome sign.

Just think of the possibilities! Meanwhile, this thing just sits there displaying the same graphic every day, extending no value than what couldn't have been provided by a 1 meter stick, cardboard paper, a thick Sharpie, and some glue. Essentially, this investment is worthless and yields no value. Why do it? Why invest in it? Why spend all that money and time and resources to just ... welcome people?

What's the value in technology spending if it just does stuff like this? What's the strategy? How does it reduce expenses, contain expenses, or generate revenue? How does it differentiate this property from other similar properties? How does it speak to the property management's values or express value or appreciation in every tenant relationship? What's its purpose?!

Anyway, this stuff yanks my chain. If you've got any example of totally worthless tech, I'd love to hear about it. Snap a picture and send it to me on Facebook. Thanks!

R

Providing Value

What's Your Value Proposition?

When it comes to differentiating your small business from other competitors, t's all about value. Some might call it your value proposition. Value is what is intrinsic to your customer relationship. It's what you promise, what you'll deliver and what the consumer will receive, by doing business with you. What do they get with your business that they can't get any place else?

You've got to be a little smug here. This isn't the time for thinking about conformity, mediocrity, getting along, fitting in; you're not like everyone else! If you are, your value proposition is ambiguous and unclear - all you're competing on is price, and that's a one-way trip to the bottom of the opportunity barrel. So you've got to think differently. There's nothing wrong with accentuating and articulating the differences you provide over your competitors. The more you clearly understand that, the more you can leverage it. Know thyself, right?

Thinking Differently in a World of Change

Don't be shy. Be bold! Be critical! As a business owner, you must constantly think about what value you bring over somebody else, and how you're leveraging your core competencies, values, and differentiation strategies to extend something really different to the consumer. Your competitors are always changing; you've got to be on your toes and changing, too.  Nothing is stagnant. Products change. Consumer expectations change. Competitors change. Business models change. Delivery models change. And they're changing more rapidly than ever.

The other day, I was visiting a supermarket with a small satellite bank branch within it. I was standing in line and met with a teller who used to work at a full branch up the road until it closed. I explained that I endured the line today only because I'd reached my electronic deposit limitations on my cell phone; I had to deposit the checks physically because I'd exceeded a daily electronic limit. She lamented, "Yeah, soon, we won't have a job," recognizing - rightly - that change has rapidly altered the value proposition for her company:

• Even the satellite bank branch in the supermarket was inconvenient to the consumer as compared to doing electronic banking across their mobile device;
  
  
• Inconvenience translates into customer frustration, changing the value proposition for the bank - they don't want their brand to be known for lines and frustration;
  
  
• Eventually it will become too expensive to staff, lease space, and compete in the physical world as compared to offering electronic banking;
  
  
• Consumers increasingly deal with numbers on a screen - not physical checks or currency. Technology has transformed the banking experience and thus the value proposition offered by the bank and its competitors. Among other things, that means the future for a bank teller - let alone physical bank branches - is probably quite bleak.

Applying the Lens of Technology Strategy

So how does your small business create value?

• Experience. How does the experience differ from your competitors. How is technology enabling or disabling that experience?
  
  
• Access to Expertise. How can technology quickly connect the right expert from your organization to the customer every time?
  
  
• Quality of Products and Services. How can the use of technology assure the customer of a consistent, painless, quality product/service?
  
  
• Attention to Detail. Can technology be used in your organization to cross every "T" and dot every "I"? How can it be used to avoid mistakes?
  
  
• Customer Appreciation. Technology can be employed to extend gratitude towards the customer and thank them for their continued patronage?
  
  
• Personal Connection. Can technology help extend personal, intimate value to your customers? Even in the absence of a person make the experience more personable, customized, targeted?
  
  
• Time in Response / Time to Deliver. Is there a way that technology can improve the amount of time it takes your company to respond to clients, or, deliver your products or services? Can can immediacy become as much a part of your value proposition as quality service?

How does your small business capture value?

• Feedback. Can technology be used to capture the customer experience in the forms of electronic surveys? Can the customer experience be always measured - like a heartbeat - and managed?
  
  
• Participation in Social Media. How is your company listening to what your customers want, and, asking them for more input on what you're doing well, or, need to improve on? How is your firm sharing knowledge, expertise, and quality experiences with others?
  
  
• Experience Capture. How are internal systems engineered to routinely capture customer experiences so they can be measured?
  
  
• Systems Analysis and Corrective Action. How does your business incorporate what it's learned from listening (social media), from feedback (surveys), and empirical data captured by its business processes to change their value proposition? To alter their business practices to meet consumer expectation?

How does your small business deliver value? 

• Ease of Use. Does technology make it easy to do business with your company? Is it easier to do business with you or your competitors?
  
  
• Extended Value. Does every transaction yield more information? Zoomcare is a great example. Your electronic medical profile is available at all Zoomcare locations, and when you want it, you can have a copy of your electronic medical record (even pictures and x-rays) burned to a CD ROM right there in just a few minutes. Every time you go to Zoomcare, you're getting extra and extended value out of the engagement.
  
  
• Speed and Rapidity. How quickly can you get your work done? How quickly can you meet the customer need? How quickly can you meet or exceed expectations?
  
  
• Personalization. Is every experience tailored to meet or exceed the customer's preferences?

Now's the time to start thinking about the value your firm provides.

R