Mohit Tater's Blog, page 583
March 25, 2019
5 Advantages of Getting a General Contractors License

Becoming a licensed
contractor is a great way to expand your business and get the opportunity to
work on bigger construction projects. To become a licensed general contractor,
you must first pass an exam as well as complete several other requirements,
depending on your state.
Due to the
cumbersome nature of taking exams as well as paying fees, some contractors opt
to work without a license. This might be okay for some smaller handyman jobs, but
for anything bigger you could pay consequences. Working without a license can
lead to working in possibly dangerous and illegal scenarios that can compromise
your safety and ability to work.
Read on to learn 5
reasons why general contractors licenses and why getting one is worth it.
1. It’s the Law
Every state
requires general contractors to have a license. But each state is different as
to where the line is drawn between legally and illegally doing handyman work
without a license.
If you’re
considering contracting without a license, you’re going to be extremely limited
in what services you can actually provide. Be sure to read up on your state,
county, and city ordinances so you can make sure you are on the right side of
the law.
If you get caught
operating illegally, there can be some serious repercussions. For example, in
the state of Florida, contracting without a license can get you fined up to
$1,000, put on probation, or jail time for up to one year. And if you get
caught a second time, you can end up with a 5-year jail sentence.
These kinds of
punishments are hardly worth the risk when compared to the requirements for
getting a license.
2. It is Educational
When you pass the
exam to become a licensed contractor, you will not only be proficient in the
process of construction based on the Uniform Building Code, but also in law and
business.
Passing the exam
will ensure that you have a thorough understanding of the correct way to
perform construction on various projects. You’ll also walk away with proper
business practices.
3. It is Passable
There are companies such as Contractor Training Center that operate in multiple states and offer training and test prep for a variety of licenses. Their goal is to help people pass their contracting exams the first time. They do this by utilizing teaching practices such as live seminars, webinars, prerecorded lessons, and training quizzes.
Because each state
has its own requirements and qualifications, you are going to want to do your research
and see which exams and licenses are required for your location of business. The
best way to find the answers you need is to contact your local planning and
development board or contractors’ state license board.
Online research is
helpful, but speaking directly with people who are involved with the licensing process
is the best way to get the most up to date information on how to take exams.
4. It Will Bring You More Customers
Thanks to the
proliferation of online reviews and social media, customers are becoming more
dependent on their own online research to find businesses with good business
practices. Being licensed gives you a leg up as it proves your knowledge and
competence. It’s a great thing to brag about!
Another big bonus of
being licensed is that it means you are insured. This is extremely appealing to
customers. If an uninsured contractor falls or has an accident on a client’s
property, they can potentially sue the homeowner for damages. An insured
contractor doesn’t bring this risk.
5. It Makes You A Better Service
Getting a general contractors license may seem like an unnecessary expense at first. But after you consider its benefits, as well as the ramifications of not having a license, you should realize that it’s totally worth it. It makes you more professional and open to clients. Why shut yourself out from more business?
The post 5 Advantages of Getting a General Contractors License appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

March 24, 2019
How Clutter Impacts Your Work Productivity
Clutter prevents productivity and growth, which often makes one feel stagnant in the workplace. When you start to notice that your mess is decreasing your motivation, it’s time to declutter your office once and for all to maximize your creativity and efficiency.
At a time when
almost everything is digital, there is little reason to let mounds of papers,
files and notebooks clutter your office space. To be productive, you need to
keep things organized — a clear desk or workspace means a clear mind when
approaching work tasks.
According to CallDrip, a study by the National Association of Professional Organisers found that cluttered workspaces can lead to a company’s financial loss equivalent to 10% of a manager’s salary.
It’s essential for
your productivity — and your mental health — to keep your workspace clutter-free.
It may seem like a daunting task, but the incentive to start organizing is
undeniable.
After all, if you are an employer, imagine what message a desk full of clutter sends to your employees — and vice versa. A messy workspace doesn’t exactly instil confidence.

Your messy desk
has more disadvantages than you are aware of. These are the main ways that
office clutter can impact your work productivity:
It’s Distracting
Clutter has a way of diverting our attention away from the task at hand. The Princeton Neuroscience Institute did a study that showed that the more things in your view (i.e. the more mess visible on your desk), the more things that are competing for your attention.
The more things
you see, your mind has a harder time deciding what to focus on. In other words,
the more things on your desk you can see, the more distracted you can get from
a work task.
It Hinders Creativity
There’s a reason why there is a national “clean off your
desk” day — keeping your desk neat is essential to
keeping you motivated and inspired at work. Some have suggested that clutter
helps creativity, but that only rings true for some individuals.
Others may say that when the stress of your desk occupies your mind, and you can’t even begin to start cleaning your space, there is no room left to really think creatively.
Clutter can be stifling, especially for organized
personalities who work best in a clean space — but
can’t seem to purge their desk of the mess that has accumulated over time.
It Slows You Down
According to Entrepreneur, a survey found that the average worker can waste up to $4,8000 just trying to find something. Keeping your workspace clean will help improve your efficiency and help increase your company’s productivity as a whole.
Another study done by the National Association of Professional Organizers showed that being organized will save you 60 minutes a day. Imagine how efficient you would be if you could find all the things that you were looking for, and didn’t get distracted?
Clutter isn’t only
physical, it creates a vicious mental cycle that makes it hard to work
efficiently and live a healthy active life.
It Causes Stress
There are many ways that clutter can cause
you stress at work. The presence of clutter is
inherently
stressful because you don’t know how to even approach starting to clear up your
workspace.
Clutter has a way
of stressing us out, causing anxiety, and hindering our ability to perform at
our full potential in a workspace — and this rings true for employees and
employers.
Be sure to start taking the steps to de-clutter your workspace — you won’t regret it.
The post How Clutter Impacts Your Work Productivity appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

Two Big Ways FinTech is Changing the Way You Manage Your Money
FinTech, short for financial technology,
represents a world of mostly automated services changing the way people access
common financial services. Even if you’ve never heard of it before, you’ve
probably used it in some shape or form. That’s because FinTech is sweeping
through the financial industry at an accelerated rate with the promise to
radically change the way we bank.
Here are two of the biggest ways it’s set to change the way you manage your money.

1.
Digital currency
Thanks to Elon Musk, Bitcoin made it back into headlines when he said, “crypto[currency] is a far better way to transfer value than pieces of paper, that’s for sure.”
“Paper money is going away,” Musk
claimed on an episode of the podcast “FYI — For Your Information”, before
saying he owns only 0.25 BTC.
It’s telling that one of the richest
futurists doesn’t invest in Bitcoin. Although it and other cryptocurrencies
receive the most press, they’re far from the most widespread application of
FinTech services.
The mobile wallet is much more popular.
Unlike crypto, you don’t need a fortune before you can use it, nor do you need
a degree in computer science to understand how it works. When the average
mobile wallet connects with any online bank account, the only thing you need is
a smartphone, and the willingness to try something new.
In 2019, mobile wallets have limited
application. Starbucks and Walmart join some of the biggest retailers that have
retrofitted their POS to accept digital payments, but most stores still rely on
traditional payment methods — cash and credit included.
Soon, however, experts forecast a growing
number of digital options and cash-free stores. Google, Apple, and other
multi-billion-dollar corporations have already rolled out apps to support this
future. They’re joined by smaller FinTech startups as well as some of the
biggest retail banks to create similar apps.
2.
Mobile banking
At the turn of the century, people who wanted to deposit a check or apply for a personal loan had to visit their local branch. The traditional banking model was the only way to complete day-to-day banking tasks.
Now nearly 20 years on, this old-fashioned
way doesn’t match modern sensibilities. We live in a time when people can see
or do almost everything instantly over the Internet. Who wants to take time out
of their day waiting for specific opening hours before they can visit a
physical location? Most people want banking to be as easy as anything else in
the Information Age.
Innovative FinTech services are tapping
into this need by digitizing the banking suite in ways that surpass digital
payments. In addition to facilitating cash-free transactions, FinTech brings a
greater range of banking tasks online.
There are mobile banks that make it possible to transfer funds, deposit checks, or set up automatic payments with a click of a button. There are also online lenders that increase your options for borrowing money quickly when you can’t borrow the traditional way. These apps make it easier to check your bank balance or status of your installment loan without needing to visit an ATM or your local bank branch.
The local branch: its days may be numbered. As more banks shutter their doors for good all over the world, the traditional banking model gives FinTech all the opportunity it needs to fill their place. With digital currencies and mobile banking, FinTech is already changing the way people manage their money. There’s no telling what will happen in the future.
The post Two Big Ways FinTech is Changing the Way You Manage Your Money appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

March 22, 2019
5 Reasons to Choose Birmingham as the Home for your New Business

Birmingham has a strong claim to be the
United Kingdom’s “second city”; it is, after all, the country’s
second-largest city, and this West Midlands hub has attracted a flurry of
ambitious businesses.
Should you follow their lead by
establishing your own company in Birmingham? There are doubtless strong reasons
to do so; here are just a few incentives to join the many start-ups there
already.
The
local economy has kept growing and growing
Brexit? What Brexit? While the UK’s looming
uncoupling from the European Union might have dampened the country’s economic
prospects, we would bet on Birmingham weathering the storm well in the years
ahead. That’s on account of the impressive economic growth the city has
achieved.
Since 2010, Birmingham’s economy has grown by £32.9bn, notes Real Business – and, in that time, 428,000 more people entered employment locally, hinting at a buoyant jobs market.
Birmingham
has a strong community spirit
In 2017, Catherine Warrilow, the then-head
of brand for the family attractions
website Day Out With The Kids, enthused to Real Business about many benefits of
working in Birmingham.
For example, she observed that, while
Birmingham “may be smaller in size than London, it … means that everyone
has the chance to be really connected to
all parts of the city.” She hailed the “real sense of pride in
Birmingham business” in comparison to the “more diluted” such
pride in London.
Birmingham
is well-connected by public transport
This can bode well for when you want to attract both workers and
customers from beyond the city’s borders. Warrilow has observed how her company
succeeded in recruiting “exceptional people in the area, all of which
commute from within a short radius.”
You might not have realised that, as Startups.co.uk points out, Birmingham is just an hour-and-a-half away by train from London Euston railway station. This allows you to easily arrange face-to-face meetings with London clients.
There
is an impressive wealth of educational resources
These don’t just include the city’s four
universities – the University of Birmingham, Birmingham City University, Ashton
University and Newman University – from which you could appreciate recruiting
new staff as your business grows.
Adam Gore, who launched his company Barberology in Birmingham, has pointed out that “Google recently opened a Digital Garage on the high street, offering free digital training for individuals and businesses looking to become more visible and effective online.”
You
shouldn’t struggle to find suitable office space
Finding the right office space for a new
business can be tricky. After all, that space often has to be sufficiently
stripped-down to fall within a tight budget, but also flexible enough to
account for potential growth in the business. Fortunately, Birmingham has a
plentiful supply of office space.
This includes serviced offices in Birmingham, allowing you to move your business straight into well-supplied premises without having to spend too much time setting up infrastructure before you and your staff can actually get to work. BE Offices is one example provider of such space in this flourishing cosmopolitan city.
The post 5 Reasons to Choose Birmingham as the Home for your New Business appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

How to Raise Startup Funds

So you’ve got a great idea for a business. You’ve thought it over, created a business plan, and are excited to put your plan into action. You’ve researched markets, done your due diligence in product and service development, and are ready to take the next step to grow your idea into a full-fledged business. Now, you need money to make it grow.
Raising funds for a startup is one of the most challenging first steps to building a successful business, and there are a few different ways to consider doing it.
Friends and Family
This will often be your first round of fundraising, reaching out to those closest to you who support your dream and have very likely heard all about it as you put your ideas together and developed them into a business plan. If you do draw in a number of investors from your social and familial circles, invest in solid legal representation. This isn’t the time to rely on a firm handshake and verbal agreement. Make sure you get legal advice and contracts drawn up, even if it costs. It will save you time, and hopefully good relationships, later.
Remember that even though they are friends and family, and are likely to be swayed by your passion, enthusiasm and general familiarity with what a driven, enthusiastic person you are, their help only extends as deep as their wallets. In order to fund a startup, you’ll likely need more than friends and family can provide. This is when you reach out to angel investors and venture capitalists.
Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists
This is where the big money is, but you’ll have to make an airtight case for the viability of your idea in order to make it in the big leagues of money acquisition. Check out tech-centric websites and publications such as Tech Crunch for directories of angel investors and venture capitalists, or sign up for events and conferences such as Collision, Dx3, TechCrunch Disrupt or CES for opportunities to meet investors that might be interested in your business. Consider bringing along some branded swag to give out to people you meet to make an impression. There is a lot of money for startups out there, but there are also countless entrepreneurs and startups vying alongside you for those funds. Perfect your elevator pitch, develop a thick skin, and get ready to network.
Keep an eye out for networking events, workshops or lectures on investing and finance that can put you in touch with people who may be interested in funding your startup. Like many things in life, this is a numbers game: the more potential investors you meet, the higher chance you have of finding one who will invest in your particular business.
Crowdfunding
Another option for sourcing money for your startup is crowdfunding, in which individuals and businesses ask potential investors for cash for projects. Popular websites for this include Kickstarter, iFundWomen, RocketHub, gofundme and CircleUp. Do some research on which website will work best for you, as each has a specific focus and will benefit some startups more than others. Kickstarter, for example, is known for its massive funder base and focus on creative projects, while Rocket Hub specializes in worldwide campaigns and an international funder base. CircleUp focuses on early-stage consumer products, and iFundWomen is self-explanatory with a portion of the fees reinvested back into businesses.
The Pitch Deck
Once you’ve established where you will be pitching your business, you’ll need to create a strong pitch deck to show them why they should invest in your business. Your pitch deck is your one chance to impress a potential investor, so make it worth it. If writing and design aren’t your strong suits, consider hiring professional writers and/or designers to help you with words, graphics and layout. The investment will be worth it to have a product that looks professional. Reach out to trusted friends or contacts that work in a variety of related industries, including investment, PR and media to get feedback on your deck and how you can improve it.
Sourcing money for your business can seem like a very tall mountain to climb. But like any challenge, take it one step at a time, and with incremental progress, you’ll achieve your goals.
Author: StickerYou Founder & President, Andrew Witkin

As the founder of a global e-commerce leader in custom-printed,
die-cut products, Andrew Witkin is widely recognized as a leading
authority on e-commerce, customization, startups, marketing and the tech
economy. Witkin has also served as VP North American Licensing for
Nelvana/Corus Entertainment and Director of Marketing for
MegaBrands/Mattel.
The post How to Raise Startup Funds appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

Skills You Need as Entrepreneur and How to Get Them

Excelling
as an entrepreneur is something that not everyone is able to do. However, it’s
also relative to your definition of success and what impact you hope to make by
starting a business, to begin with. If
you want to continue to grow, however, it’s necessary that you continue
updating your knowledge and looking for ways to get ahead. This could be by
getting work experience, learning from your mistakes or taking extra courses
amongst other things. In this article, you’re going to find a number of skills
you need as an entrepreneur and how to go about getting them.
Organization
You have probably heard more than once that being an entrepreneur often demands longer work hours than formal employment does. It can be hard to stay on top of things if you don’t learn to be organized and create a system that works well for you. Here are a few ways to keep your life sane as an entrepreneur.
Use Technology: One of the saving graces of the 21st century has to be technology. As a result of innovation, you’re able to do things like set reminders on your mobile device and use apps to keep track with your to-do-list. Whether you happen to be tech-friendly or not, explore different technologies you could use to stay organized and see which work best for you. Get into a Routine: Having a routine that you stick to every day may also help you stay on top of your schedule. Find a flexible routine that allows you to establish a healthy work-life balance. Delegate: Not everyone that has a personal assistant has done so because it’s fancy. Many do it because one of the only ways to stay organized is to delegate the things you don’t need to do and focus on pressing tasks instead. Keep Your Inbox in Check: Your email inbox is likely where a lot of important information is, but it can also be home to a lot of junk. Try keeping it organized by getting rid of emails you don’t need and archiving important ones.
Data Analysis
As
someone who owns a business, it is critical that you make data your best
friend. These days, data is becoming increasingly important as it’s one of the
only ways to get insight into your industry and even more important, your
customers. Understanding who they are and what they need is a faster way to
success, as you eliminate the need for guessing games. You can acquire data
analysis skill by learning the basics of applied statistics.
If you’re now wondering ‘What is applied statistics?’ then you should know that it has to do with analyzing data to help define as well as determine business needs. By learning more about statistics and how to use them, you could ultimately help take your business from one level to another.
Networking
As an entrepreneur, if you don’t have a vast network, there are no guarantees that you’ll get very far. Take the time out to work to your networking skills and develop them as you’re going to need to use them along your journey. Here are a few ways to improve your networking skills.
Attend Events: You can read about
improving your networking skills all you want, but if you don’t actually go out
and practice you probably won’t get better at it. Make a list of key events
you’d like to attend and make it a date to be there. Prepare: Another thing you
should do to improve your networking skills is adequate preparation. Do
research regarding the types of people that will be attending and find out who
they are, where they’re from and other information that could help you create a
basis for conversation. Remember to Give: Networking isn’t all
about what you can get from individuals,so
remember that when meeting people. Think about what you can give and how to
build a genuine professional relationship.
Finance
Although not absolutely necessary, knowing how to manage your finances as an entrepreneur is a great skill to have. You’re going to need to manage both your business and personal finances simultaneously, so knowing some of the basics of accounting would help tremendously. You can always hire an accountant to do the job but having knowledge of your own will give you an upper hand.
There are basics of finance that you should know which include inflation, liquidity, risk tolerance, and asset location. As mentioned earlier, this will not only help you in your business but with your personal finances as well.
Creativity
No matter what niche you happen to be in, creativity is always necessary. Without it, it’s hard to think outside of the box and innovate which is critical for any entrepreneur. To improve creativity, try meditating or listening to music. Doing any activity that makes you feel relaxed or inspired should help you get into a creative space. It also helps when you want to journal and write down your ideas no matter how silly they seem. Another idea is to find a few people that you can bounce your ideas off. This can sometimes give you the push that you need to start creating magic.
Leadership
Being an effective leader is a very important skill to have as an entrepreneur. You’ll be working with people on a daily basis, so knowing how to lead them will get you to your destination quicker. Leadership skills aren’t something you learn in a day, and no matter how bad you think you are at it, you can get better. Some core areas of leadership that you should focus on improving include trusting employees and needing to be liked at the risk of clouding business judgment. It is also crucial that you’re able to lead by example to avoid hypocrisy which could negatively affect employees.
Communication
As
an entrepreneur, there are many skills you need, and they may not all be used
at once. While some days you may need to be organized, on others it may be more
about being patient with staff. The ultimate goal should be continuous growth
and finding ways to be a better entrepreneur than you were yesterday.
The post Skills You Need as Entrepreneur and How to Get Them appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

Improving Productivity in the Packaging Line: 4 Steps to Consider
As an entrepreneur, it should be your constant task to look for ways that can boost productivity and lower costs, without sacrificing quality, which applies pretty much in every segment of the business. When you are trying to improve the performance and speed of your packaging line, here are four steps that you should consider taking to actually see those improvements you want.

Upgrade Your Packers
The most comprehensive solution to improving the performance of your packaging line is to upgrade your packing machines to better ones. The Axiom IM from Douglas is a horizontal loading case packer that can easily handle 45 cases/trays each and every minute, but that’s not even your best option. The Axiom ARC from the same company can handle 100 cases/trays every minute in continuous motion. If your current packaging machines are not performing to these standards, invest in your business’s productivity and get one of the latest models from Douglas to see an immediate and marked improvement in the efficiency and speed of your packaging lines. Of course, a business needs to match the packer to its budget and needs as well, so they also have a range of top loading and bottom loading packers for companies to choose from, in various budgets and capacities.
Utilize Pre-Printed
Branding on the Materials
The pre-printed material will negate the time required for individual branding, and the processes of bundling and branding will become a single process instead of being separate ones, therefore, eliminating an entire step in the packaging process. it will also allow you to multi-pack, which saves money by reducing the amount of packaging materials required.
Let Automated Processes
Run During Off-Hours
Thanks to advanced robotics and automation software, some packaging lines can now be run with little or no human supervision. Take advantage of this and let your automated machines run even during off hours to maximize your packaging line’s output. This won’t, of course, apply in every situation, but use this little trick everywhere you can. However, it is highly advised that you keep those machines of yours in top shape with proper maintenance because if they go down due to overworking, your packaging line will quite literally come to a stop and you will lose productivity instantly.
Self-Erecting Boxes Help
with faster Assembly Times
There are
handy little tricks that you can use to speed up the assembly, such as using
self-erecting boxes to reduce the time required for your employees to set up
the boxes and cases up, or you can invest in an automated case erector, of
course.
Consumer demands pushed the boundaries of the manufacturing and packaging industry once upon a time, but after an initial performance dip in relation to the market’s demands, manufacturers have managed to successfully cater to the increasing needs of their consumers once again. As one may imagine, the advancements in industrial technology are the main reason why that even became possible, and we are looking towards a future in manufacturing where automation will play even more significant roles.
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Understanding Risk in the Oil & Gas Industry
Oil and gas operations run across
multiple countries at any given time. This industry typically involves many
different nation states, and information technology has provided a convenient
platform for data and operational sharing in real time.
However, with the increased
connectivity of oil and gas operations- comes the risk of cyber security
attacks. Oil and gas companies rely on Operational Technologies (OT) to keep
track of performance, identify maintenance issues, and interact with customers
or suppliers. Therefore, the threats that can occur against OT systems are
widespread. Not only are they capable of affecting oil and gas companies, but
they can also affect the public as well.
Understanding and mitigating these
risks will help the oil and gas industries maintain safe and effective
operations moving forward.
Operating
Technologies and IT: Where The Risks Arise
Oil and gas companies rely on
Operating Technologies to power their daily operations. However, OT systems
tend to become outdated when compared to the current state of IT
infrastructure. Cybersecurity threats can evolve in an instant, and OT systems
are not always capable of keeping up. The most recent Ponemon report (2017)
revealed that 68% of companies in the oil and gas industry had experienced at
least one cybersecurity breach, while 46% of threats tend to remain undetected.
These surprising numbers show that while IT systems may be monitored to protect data, oil and gas companies are still susceptible to risk from their operational systems. Furthermore, the fact that many threats remain undetected shows that the actual number of sophisticated threats could be much more than 68%.
The Unique
Challenges That OT Systems Face
Because OT systems are both hardware
and software based, they tend to have a longer lifecycle in oil and gas
operations. For example, systems such as programmable logic controllers (PLC)
and distributed control systems (DCS) can last for between 15-20 years, while
enterprise IT systems tend to evolve every 3-5 years.
This disparity in lifecycles is what poses a unique challenge to OT systems as compared to IT infrastructure. Also, the cost and complicated installation process of OT systems make it almost impractical to update these systems regularly.
Risks Caused
By The Internet Of Things
The internet of things has made it
possible for devices to communicate with each other via the IT environment.
Nowadays, many different sensors and cameras are used in the oil and gas
industry to collect and transmit data in real time. This data is then used to
adjust variables such as temperature, pressure, operational efficiency, and
much more.
However, as data oscillates between
OT and IT systems, there are many vulnerable points where threats can occur.
Securing the IoT environment is a complicated task that affects many different
industries- including oil and gas.
What About
Your Workforce?
Employees are often used as a
vulnerable target for cybersecurity attacks. From phishing scams to ransomware
attacks, the credentials of your workers can cause damage when they end up in
the wrong hands. In the oil and gas industry, attacks arising from employee
mistakes can affect your business financially, legally, and reputation wise.
Critical operational infrastructure
may also become affected due to cybersecurity threats. And because oil and gas
operations apply across borders, the extent of liability you may end up facing
can be quite high.
How Can
Risks In The Oil And Gas Industry Be Mitigated?
Now that you’re aware of the main
risks affecting oil and gas operations, how can you ensure that you don’t fall
victim to cybersecurity threats? Here are four essential steps that can help
you secure both your OT and IT systems from attack.
Start with assessing potential risks
Even
before you dive deeply into the specifics of securing your operational systems,
start by evaluating the risks your company faces. Have conversations across
departments to identify all physical and data assets that may be at risk of
external threats.
Establish a mitigation plan
Once
top threats have been identified, the next step is to develop a risk mitigation
plan. Most risks affect IT systems such as software, networks, and devices.
However, the oil and gas industry also need to pay attention to infrastructure
that supports the OT environment. In other words, all potential weak spots that
can be used to access the OT network also need to be identified and secured.
Monitor the OT environment continuously
After
all potential risks are mitigated; you also need a plan for continuously
monitoring your OT environment. This will ensure that OT and IT systems don’t
intersect within an uncontrolled data environment.
As previously mentioned, OT systems
tend to evolve at a slower pace than IT infrastructure and keeping a fully
shared network may expose both systems to risk. In other words, your
company should keep IT infrastructure from easily migrating to OT systems.
The
Importance Of Management In Implementing Cybersecurity Oversight
Many oil and gas companies tend to
focus on other types of risk highlighted in the media- such as environmental
and energy consumption risks. This often results in management teams having
people with engineering and finance backgrounds, usually at the expense of IT
professionals. Having management personnel with an understanding of
cybersecurity threats can help in many ways. For example, oil and gas
businesses can better understand how data breaches may cause chemical,
engineering, and environmental risks.
The fact that many Boards (of
Directors) lack IT professionals is another cybersecurity risk. Simply put, the
oil and gas industry should work towards hiring more cybersecurity
professionals. Because IT and OT systems now work hand in hand to facilitate
industry growth, companies can no longer afford to push data security to the
side.
Having someone who’s dedicated responsibility is to monitor and respond to data risks can be of significant benefit to your oil and gas operations. And because coming across experienced and qualified cybersecurity professionals is becoming increasingly difficult; the oil and gas industry should create open communication channels between industry specialists and data security experts.
Author
Bio

Ken Lynch is an enterprise software startup veteran, who has always been fascinated about what drives workers to work and how to make work more engaging. Ken founded Reciprocity to pursue just that. He has propelled Reciprocity’s success with this mission-based goal of engaging employees with the governance, risk, and compliance goals of their company in order to create more socially minded corporate citizens. Ken earned his BS in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from MIT. Learn more at ReciprocityLabs.com.
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What does “Supply Chain Risk” mean?

Many entities are positioned at the
center of a supply chain. You offer not only a product or service to your
customers but also leverage third-parties in facilitating the operations of
your business. For data security, you must carry out rigorous due diligence in
an effort of mitigating risk in a given supply chain.
What does
Supply Chain Compliance Entail & How can it be Achieved?
Conventional supply chain risk
management looks at the plan, market, execution, and performance risks, for
instance, a procurement entity may focus on working conditions and labor laws,
especially when deciding which performance and strategy risks are essential
when it comes to selecting a manufacturing entity.
Nonetheless, with the growing use of
Platform-as-a-service, Infrastructure-as-a-service, and Software-as-a-Service,
the risk management plans currently focus on both data breach risk mitigation
and cybersecurity controls.
Therefore, developing an effective
vendor risk management strategy transforms into a technique of mitigating
supply chain risk, particularly in an integrated information technology (IT)
setting.
What is the
Role of Supply Chain Compliance in Compliance Risk?
Compliance risk entails the possible
loss of finances as a result of financial forfeiture, legal penalties, or
material loss due to noncompliance with internal policies, industry standards,
or regulatory requirements.
Supply chain risk rests where
organizational compliance risks intersect mainly due to the following reasons:
Industry standards and regulations mostly hold entities responsible for all data breaches caused by the existing vulnerabilities in vendor security.Organizations mainly incorporate third-party technologies into their vital enterprise activities.
Therefore, your organization’s
vendor risk management supervision is associated with your own compliance risk
and your cybersecurity stance.
Which
Regulations and Standards Govern Supply Chain Management?
Whereas many regulations and
standards integrate supply chain management either indirectly or directly, it
is safe to conclude that some are more important than others. Several
regulations that incorporate supply management into their compliance management
efforts include the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
and the Healthcare Portability and Availability Act (HIPAA).
Healthcare Portability and Availability Act (HIPAA)
Failing
to participate in an enterprise associate agreement that governs how
third-parties administer electronic PHI or Personal Health Information can
result in penalties for the involved entities.
European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
The
European Union General Data Protection Regulation includes a 72-hour breach
alert requirement that is intended for data controllers, even if the malicious
act comes from any of their data processors. As far as GDPR is concerned,
you are responsible for alerting all your clients, especially when any of your
vendors experiences a data breach. What’s more, make sure that you collaborate
with vendors who are compliant with GDPR in a bid to avoid fines.
What are the
Obstacles Surrounding Supplier Management?
Supplier management or otherwise
known as vendor management can be difficult since you have no control over your
third-party enterprise partners. Even if you conduct due diligence, you may
lack the ability to supervise them frequently. The list of impediments matches
that of the obstacles you encounter in your company. Nevertheless, several
supply chain risks are predominantly invisible.
Monitoring
of Cybersecurity Perpetrator
Irrespective of the outcomes of an
audit, that review can be invalidated any given time. Perpetrators of
cybercrimes frequently upgrade their threat techniques. What this means is that
useful controls of today may not be effective tomorrow.
Patch
Management
In case one vendor device does not
have the necessary security upgrade, it can pose a threat to everyone. Hence,
if your vendors fail to maintain a stringent patch management plan, then a
single device on their respective network, which has access to your data, can
result in a data breach that can severely affect the financial status of your
organization.
Password
Hygiene
Even though your supplier might have
implemented password policies, one worker using a password like “123456” may
give malicious people unpermitted access to data, software, networks, and
systems. Similarly, one vendor utilizing the same password to access their
social media accounts or even gaining access to their social media accounts by
using their work password and email can affect your systems and data
considerably.
The
Effectiveness of Employee Training
You can assess your supplier’s
training documents. Nevertheless, the qualifications may have little or no
significance. Phishing is still a significant threat factor, which means that
aspects of training may not always be useful.
How do you
Come up with a Useful Supply Chain Risk Management Plan?
As your company includes additional
suppliers of technology, ensure that you incorporate vendor management into
your compliance program. Quality management systems or QMS help in documenting
the responsibilities, procedures, and processes over control and quality
objectives, including the management of vendor relationships, by shifting your
focus to the vendors that are most important to your business enables you to
not only protect your clients but also maintain the continuity of your
enterprise.
Set up
Control Prerequisites in Service Level Agreements
Your organization’s service level agreements legally bind your suppliers to comply with your security posture. By describing all the controls that you expect, you can start managing your vendor’s compliance with your organization’s risk tolerance effectively. By leveraging such requirements, you can decide whether you want to do away with or maintain your relationships with vendors. For instance, you might need to include a level of in-transit or at-rest data encryption in a bid to ensure that your data is secure.
Creating
Vital Performance Indicators
While monitoring the information
security controls put in place by your supplier, you have to establish vital
performance pointers, especially within the service level agreements. For
instance, you might require including a baseline to help in reinstating the
critical operations of your business in case a service outage occurs. As
such, you can gauge not only the resiliency of a given vendor but also their
incident and monitoring response program.
Establishing
Communications
Supplier relations ought to involve
continuous interaction between all the involved stakeholders. Therefore, you
must make sure that you assign someone within your organization or business the
role of overseeing the relationship. The yearly SOC audit, for instance, only
focuses on a given duration of time. Hence, this means that quarterly or even
monthly communication might allow you to maintain a better level of oversight.
Benefits of
Supply Chain Risk Management Automation
By leveraging some of the governance, risk, and compliance management solutions available on the market, you can streamline your company’s workflow. You can get rid of emails while keeping track of outstanding activities. Some software solutions come with a combined control management tool that helps companies in mapping controls across various regulations, standards, and frameworks in a bid to establish whether there are any existing compliance gaps. This mapping feature assists you in managing mundane activities, especially those that are related to vendor risk management.
Furthermore, their streamlined workflow can show task managers the exact date that a given vendor gave a response. What such details mean is that compliance managers might not have to spend much of their time monitoring a company’s countless vendors. Instead, they can devote such time to other important tasks.
Author
Bio

Ken Lynch is an enterprise software startup veteran, who has always been fascinated about what drives workers to work and how to make work more engaging. Ken founded Reciprocity to pursue just that. He has propelled Reciprocity’s success with this mission-based goal of engaging employees with the governance, risk, and compliance goals of their company in order to create more socially minded corporate citizens. Ken earned his BS in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from MIT. Learn more at ReciprocityLabs.com.
The post What does “Supply Chain Risk” mean? appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

Guide on the Best PDF Software for Small Businesses

PDF editor can save you from a lot of
hassles in editing a business document even if you have the source document and
is ready to rescan it at any time. There may come a time when it is
inconvenient to scan a document, for example, your client requires you to make
a quick update on the file and you just don’t have time to find the document
and turn on your scanner to scan it. You have a lot of options to choose from
when looking for a PDF editor software to edit your business documents.
Able2Extract Professional 14
Able2Extract Professional 14 is cross platform, which means it can work on all major platforms like Windows, Mac and Linux. It has a ribbon interface that looks similar to Microsoft Word. When you click on the Edit button, a sidebar will appear with annotations tool like highlighter, hyperlink, add notes, enter text, strike through, and attachment. There is the option to add signature image or digitally signing the document into the software.
Movavi PDF Editor
Movavi PDF Editor has the easiest interface compared to other PDF editor with ribbon style interface. You can right click on a document and select the tool you need from the right click menu. In the Pages view, you will find the tools such as copy, paste, add blank page, append image as new page, and extract tool. There are 2 methods if you wonder how to add pages to a pdf in the software. The first method is to select a page that you want the new page to intercept after it and click on add blank page button in Pages mode. The second method is to merge multiple documents together. First, you click on the Merge Files button to add the PDF documents. After that, press the Merge button to merge them.
LibreOffice Draw
LibreOffice Draw can open PDF document without making any modification to the formatting and layout. You can use the built-in draw feature to make simple edits to the PDF. The PDF is converted into an image when you open it in the software. When you are done editing it, you must save it back in the PDF format. The feature is available no matter which OS platform you install the software. You must download Libre Office Suite in order to have access to LibreOffice Draw.
Nitro Pro 12
Nitro Pro 12 is a PDF editor that features
a Microsoft style interface. The tools
are organized into tabs like view, forms, protect, and cloud. When you select a
tab, you can see all the tools. It is equipped with all the basic tools such as
editing the content, filling and signing forms, adding password and setting
permissions to document, and add e-signature. It can convert from over 300 file
formats into PDF. You can also convert your PDF into formats like Word, Excel,
and Powerpoint.
PDF Architect 6
PDF Architect 6 is available as a free
version but it also offer the options to customize it with 3 different
packages. It has an office style ribbon interface that organize tools into 12
tabs. The thirteenth tab is reserved for the custom module. In the Review tab,
you will find the tools you need when you are reviewing a PDF for example
highlight/underline/strikethrough specific words, adding annotations, freehand
drawing on the document, and e-sign feature. The Quick send feature allows you
to add a signature field and send to person to put a signature. The Advanced
Send feature is suitable for preparing a document that require multiple
signature.
PDF Complete Office Edition
PDF Complete Office Edition features a
toolbar that run on top with an up and down scroll for viewing the document.
The PDF document will open in separate tabs. It supports functions like
add/delete page, text formatting, document annotation, rearrange documents,
integrate comment box in PDF, encrypt sensitive document with passwords, and
draw your own signature with a mouse. It can export PDF into all e-book formats
like EPUB, ALTO, and FBW. It can also
export to open Office XML, and Microsoft Word.
Nuance Power PDF Advanced
Nuance Power PDF Advanced has no nested
menu, rather, it has organized all tools on the ribbon interface on top. It has
OCR capability that allows you to scan document and convert it into editable
text. You can create a PDF from scratch by directly entering the text, and drag
and drop images. You can dictate annotations into the document instead of
typing them. It only takes about 1 – 2 minutes for the software to convert your
spoken comment into an editable text. It can also convert all Microsoft Office
files into PDF. The software allows you to a document management system like
SharePoint for sharing business PDF documents.
Sejda
Sejda is an easy to use PDF editor that
provides basic features like split/merge, rotate, crop, and compress documents.
It is available as a standalone software and can also be accessed in the web
browser. Even though it does not have many functions, it does provide bates
numbering for use in business documents.
The free version only allow up to 3 tasks per day. The software lets you
first select the task you want to do before letting you choosing the file. You
can export the documents into Microsoft Office and HTML formats. The software
is available on all platforms including Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Soda PDF Anywhere
Soda PDF Anywhere allows you to work on your PDF on your desktop and online. It features a page flipping technology that allows you to read a PDF like a 3D e-book. You can sign document, and track the document that you send to the recipient in the software. It also has OCR feature that can automatically convert scanned images into editable text. You can create digital forms that are fillable such as invoices and surveys. It also allows you to encrypt a document with 256-bit AES password. It supports PDF conversion to more than 300 formats.
The post Guide on the Best PDF Software for Small Businesses appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.
