Janco Associates, Inc.

Mobile device policy focus is both security and productivity

Webmaster — Sat, 12 May 2012 17:42:48 -0600

The business operating environment is rapidly and drastically changing. There is an increasing demand for mobile solutions to streamline productivity and get data closer to the end user. In services and sales functions, employees are required to travel heavily or are frequently away from a fixed office gain significant productivity and levels of efficiency with the use of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

Data security concerns must be addressed and a mobile device policy clearly defined to minimize liability and loss.That is where the Mobile Device policy comes into play

Employment Picture for IT Professionals is Not Improving

Webmaster — Fri, 04 May 2012 09:43:53 -0600

A net gain of 6,600 seasonally adjusted IT jobs in April only 20,600 jobs added in the last 3 months more job seekers have stopped looking for jobs with the participation percentage being the lowest it has been since 1980 not a recipe for bright short term future

Janco has found that market for IT Professionals continues to struggle. IT reflects the malaise of the US economy and added only 6,600 jobs in April while the total job market increased by only 115,000 which is well below the number of new jobs needed to drive a strong recovery. In addition, the number of individuals leaving the job market continues to increase with a participation rate falling to 63.6% -- the lowest it has been since 1980. In California the overall unemployment number is 11% and Nevada tops state unemployment at 12%. Janco has found that national unemployment rates have a direct impact on the confidence and ability of CIOs to implement new initiatives and expand their staffs.

Salaries inch up while work increases

Webmaster — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 07:43:52 -0600

The bad news is that tech professionals are working hard for every penny they bring home -- so hard that in many cases the extra workload outweighs the small boost in pay.

For the second year in a row, salaries and total compensation for IT professionals have inched up. According to Janco's and Computerworld's Salary Survey 2012, average salaries increased modestly this year.

Hiring is also up, with 87 percent of hiring managers who responded to the survey saying that they expect IT staff head count to increase in the next 12 months or remain the same. Only 25 percent of the total respondents reported hiring freezes, compared with 39 percent last year. And other negative indicators, such as salary freezes, budget cuts and layoffs, are all in retreat.

IT, it seems, is finally on the road to recovery. Workers even seem to feel better about the economy: Only 19 percent listed it as a challenge in the latest survey, compared to 28 percent the prior year.

BYOD Policy meets CIO's compliance and security requirements

Webmaster — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 05:04:47 -0600

BYOD has taken off leaving many CIOs struggling to find the right technologies to cope with the radical changes to compliance and security models that BYOD entails. In the rush, many CIOs have not managed to update their policies to reflect BYOD issues, which may mean advising users of their new responsibilities and support limitations, as well as security and privacy measures.

The BYOD policy template does just that.

BYOD include consumer smartphones and tablets which are making their way into your organization. Going mobile makes employees happier and more productive, but its also risky. How can you say 'yes' to a BYOD choice and still safeguard your corporate data, shield your network from mobile threats, and maintain policy compliance?

Outsourcing to Strip More Job From IT and Finance

Webmaster — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:41:47 -0600

Corporations in the U.S. and Europe will move an additional 750,000 jobs in IT, finance and other business services to India and other low-cost countries by 2016, according to a new report.

The study notes that levels of additional offshoring in these areas will begin to decline by 2014, and in the next eight to 10 years, the flow of jobs offshore is likely to cease, as companies simply run out of business services jobs suitable for moving to low-cost countries.

By 2016, a total of 2.3 million jobs in finance, IT, procurement and human resources will have moved offshore. This represents about a third of all jobs in these areas. India is by far the most popular destination, with nearly 40 percent of the jobs that are sent offshore headed there.

The report also said that additional offshoring levels in business services, which are currently at around 150,000 new jobs each year, leveling off or declining after 2014. The research also found that of the 5.1 million business services jobs remaining onshore at U.S. and European companies in 2012, only about 1.8 million have the potential to be transferred offshore, with 750,000 of those moving by 2016. So by the end of the next eight to 10 years, the traditional model of lifting and shifting work out of Western economies into low-cost regions will cease to be a major factor behind business services job losses in the United States and Europe.

Password reset process - best practices

Webmaster — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 05:44:00 -0600

A survey showed that one-third of support centers reported that more than 30% of their tickets were related to password resets -- despite the fact that 69% of survey respondents allow customers to reset at least some of their passwords without help from the help desk.

That one firm that says one of his clients had 25% of its calls related to password resets -- even though the firm had a self-service option available.

The problem, as it is in many places, was getting users to actually help themselves. Help desks often don't do enough to educate users that self-help options are available or don't make them easy to use.

People always look for the path of least resistance. If a phone call to the help desk is the easiest, quickest way to resolve the problem, that's what they'll do.

To cut down on the volume of password-reset calls help desk managers should do better marketing on their password reset function.

Other help desk supervisors who have successfully cut down these kinds of calls say automated voice systems, which walk callers through the self-service option, can also be effective.

Safety Program Electronic Forms Added to DR/BC

Webmaster — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 17:11:54 -0600

Janco Associates has just released version 7.2 of its popular Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Template. Included with this update are eight electronic forms which are needed by any organization that is going through a recovery process who want to maximize the safety of those involved in the process. The CEO of Janco Victor Janulaitis said, "We have found that it is much easier and less costly to use electronic forms which can be emailed, filled out on a computer or tablet, and filed electronically than using traditional paper forms." In addition, "This also paves the way to a very green solution which utilizes technology to reduce the overhead of keeping DR/BC plans current." He added, "This is the fourth update of the template in the last year. We continue to update all of our products to meet both management requests and mandated requirements."

Safety Program Forms

Area Safety Inspection
Employee Job Hazard Analysis
First Report of Injury
Inspection Checklist - Alternative Locations
Inspection Checklist - Office Locations
New Employee Safety Checklist
Safety Program Contact List
Training Record

Using the Cloud in a Disaster Business Continuity Plan

Webmaster — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:08:26 -0600

Disaster recovery in the cloud is a current topic of discussion among many CIOs and CEOs. There are risks and issues that need to be clearly understood before a workable disaster recovery and business continuity plan can be successfully implemented.

Compliance with mandate requirements and security are paramount. Questions that need to be addressed are:

How securely is data transferred and stored in the cloud?
What are the processes used to authenticate users?
What controls are in place to prevent, detect, and correct security breaches?
Are complex passwords used and what type of secondary authorization is used for authentication?
How will these be impacted in various levels of severity of an event?
Does the cloud provider meet regulatory requirements?
How does the cloud provider guarantee the security of your data?

Then there is the issue of how you get to the cloud before the event to execute the necessary backup followed by how the cloud is accessed during the recovery process.

Is there sufficient quality bandwidth in place to complete the necessary backups?
How long will the restore take from the cloud to the recovery or business continuity facility?
How do you implement a tiered approach to restore critical data and applications with the cloud solution?

BYOD Policy Released by Janco

Webmaster — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 02:18:05 -0600

Bring Your Own Device Policy Released with Electronic Form

Includes an electronic form for employee agreement to the terms of access and use of enterprise data with a device that is owned by the user

With the advent of user owned device and the ever increasing mandated requirements for record retention and security CIO are challenged to manage in an ever more complex and changing environment.

Janco, in concert with a number of world class enterprises had created a policy address these issues and provides solutions for the following questions:

What are the legal implication - What is the impact of the Stored Communication Act - Record Retention and Destruction?
What happens to the data and audit trail when an employee leaves the company?
What about lost or stolen devices?
How is a device configured to receive and transmit corporate data?
What kind of passwords are acceptable to use?
What kind of encryption standards are acceptable?
What types of devices are allowed and what types are not?
What about jail broken, rooted or compromised devices?

Are CIOs going to increase hiring?

Webmaster — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 01:22:25 -0600

CIOs plan increased hiring in the second quarter, though not at the pace of the first quarter, according to the results of a new survey.

One national recruiting firm that conducts quarterly surveys of CIOs, said Wednesday that 8 percent of the 1,400 CIOs it interviewed by telephone this quarter plan to expand their IT departments in the second quarter, while 5 percent expect cutbacks.