June 2020

630.850.9039 Continued pg.2 We love this stuff! We are committed to helping businesses use technology to run their organization successfully and profitably. Your Image Here What’s New This monthly publication provided courtesy of Catherine Wendt, President of Syscon Inc. June 2020 If April showers bring May flowers, what do Mayflowers bring? Pilgrims! What an odd time. The flowers are waking up all around us; as usual. The days are getting longer and warmer; as usual. Our day-to-day routines? They’re anything but usual! In addition to keeping our hosting environment up and running for all the remote workers, we’ve been testing the Azure hosting platform and now have our programming servers and resources in this new environment! It’s truly a new world and we’re enjoying the process. As things open up in your state, be cautious as well as optimistic. - Catherine Wendt A lot of businesses wait until something breaks before they fix it. And even then, they may take a “patchwork” approach to fixing the problem. They are reactive rather than proactive. Sometimes taking a reactive approach is fine, but other times, and depending on the circumstances, it can lead to even bigger problems. When it comes to network security, for example, being reactive to problems can be downright dangerous. It’s not just hackers you have to worry about. There are power outages, data loss, equipment failure, and more. In IT, a lot can go wrong. But if you’re proactive about cyber security, you can avoid many of those pitfalls. Reactive IT support used to be the norm. Most network security specialists went to work after something went wrong. Unfortunately, some businesses still have this reactive mindset when it comes to their IT and network security. They have an “it won’t happen to me” attitude. The truth is that these are the people most at risk. It’s not a matter of if, but when. Hackers and cybercriminals are more active than ever. Thankfully, proactive support is now the norm. More and more IT services and security firms have the tools and resources to protect you BEFORE the worst happens. So, why partner with an IT services company? There are many reasons why it’s a good idea. One great reason that doesn’t often get talked about is that working with an IT services company is an added value for your customers. When they know you’re taking IT security seriously – and when they know their data is safe – their trust in you is boosted. Making This One Mistake With Your Network Can DESTROY Your Business -- 1 of 4 - (continued from page 1) When you build trust, you build loyalty, and customer loyalty is getting harder to come by these days. Plus, happy, loyal customers are much more likely to refer you to others who may be in need of your services. That alone makes investing in proactive IT security worth it. Here’s another reason why working with a proactive IT services firm makes sense: it’s MUCH easier than trying to do it yourself. Many small businesses simply don’t have the resources to hire an internal IT specialist or a team. Not only can that be very costly, but it’s also rarely practical. Think of it this way: if you hire an internal IT specialist to handle your network security, manage cloud backups, and provide general IT support, then what happens when they take a day off or take a vacation? Having a dedicated IT specialist on your team isn’t a bad thing, but they can be stretched thin very easily. You could be left with gaps in your support should anything go wrong. Suddenly, you don’t have anyone you can call. Working with a dedicated IT services firm solves these problems. To take that a step further, good IT services companies are also great at catching problems before they become problems. They can catch things that might not have even been on your radar. For example, if your cloud backup service isn’t backing up your data correctly or is backing up the wrong data, they’ll catch that. Maybe you’re saving data that’s not properly encrypted. They’ll catch that. Maybe you have an employee using software that’s months out-of-date. Again, they’ll catch that. When you call up an IT services company and say you want to take a proactive approach to your network security, they should be willing and able to provide just that. An experienced firm will have a team with the training, certification, and experience required to tackle today’s cyberthreats while managing your network’s day-to-day needs. They know IT because they live IT. They help with data recovery should anything go wrong; they are your help desk when you have questions or concerns and they keep your onsite malware protection up-to-date. They are tailored to your business’s specific needs. And as you grow, they adapt to your changing needs. Put an end to the outdated way of thinking about IT security. It’s time to be proactive and to recognize your company’s vulnerabilities before they become vulnerabilities. You just have to make the call— we’re ready to help—630-850-9039. All Things Tech June 2020 630.850.9039 The opening quote from Bill Walsh sets the tone for this book— “Running a football franchise is not unlike running any other business: You start first with a structural format and basic philosophy and then find the people who can implement it.” If you’re not familiar with the story, Bill Walsh took over the worst team in the NFL, the San Francisco 49ers, and built them into a powerhouse, winning three Super Bowls under his leadership. This was not an ‘overnight success’ story; Bill Walsh talks about his many years of hard work under various mentors, his hours of preparation and strategy as he honed his skills in recognizing talent, focused on football. He is proud of his record with this organization, but more importantly, he’s proud of the number of coaches under his leadership who went on to successful careers as head coaches with other teams. Teaching, teaching, and teaching were his focus. He had a high, strict standard for all aspects of the organization, not just the players, and he lived it with them. The book’s focus is football; the many business examples are excellent including the title! - CMW The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh Cathy and Larry Sightings Catherine participated in a virtual industry event; very interesting format. We’ll probably see more of it. Larry spent some time catching up on various home projects; turns out Lowes was open and busy! ‘The breakthrough you are longing for might come without any indication along the way that what you are doing is working.’ - Levi Lusko Unfortunately, some businesses still have this reactive mindset when it comes to their IT and network security. -- 2 of 4 - Shiny New Gadget “Welcome to the future of screen-cleaning.” Our lives are full of screens: phones, tablets, computers, TVs, and even watches. These screens can be a pain to clean, especially if they are touchscreen. It seems like you look away for a second and they’re covered in dust and fingerprints. It gets aggravating. ScreenKlean solves this problem. This device removes fingerprints, smudges, dust, and other particles in seconds. ScreenKlean uses electrically charged carbon molecules to clean just about any screen you have. It even works on mirrors! ScreenKlean doesn’t scratch or smudge, making it safe to use on your expensive devices. It’s nontoxic and chemical-free, as it only uses special carbon pads, which last for hundreds of uses. You don’t have to worry about dirty screens anymore! See GetScreenKlean.io for complete details! Use These Steps To Protect Your Smartphone From Hackers Update Your Phone and Apps Just like you update your computer, you need to update your phone. Developers constantly update security patches. Like you, they want to stay ahead of threats. Lock Your Phone Every smartphone comes with a bevy of security options to keep people out—except for you. Whether you use a passcode (the more complicated the password or PIN, the better) or biometrics (fingerprint or face recognition), you need to use something. Avoid Public WiFi Just as you wouldn’t connect your laptop or tablet to unsecured public WiFi, you shouldn’t connect your phone. If given the chance, hackers can and will try to access your phone and sensitive data. Consider using a VPN if you need to access public networks. Digital Trends, Nov. 23, 2019 Data Breaches—Take Note According to Enterprise Talk, a news article posted by ET Bureau on May 5, 2020, Management and Network Services, LLC, notified patients of a data security incident. Last July/ August, five (5) email accounts were accessed without authorization. These accounts ’were believed to contain’ personal or protected health information. The company analyzed the accounts to determine what information was exposed. They do not believe there was any misuse, but have notified patients that their names, medical treatment info, medication info, insurance providers, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and other information may have been involved in the incident. GoDaddy reports a data breach involving SSH access (a way to gain secure access to a computer over an unsecured network) on hosting accounts, according to a ZDNet article by Chris Duckett on May 5th. This actually goes back to October 2019. Apparently an unauthorized individual gained access to some customers’ login information. The notice went on to say that there is no evidence of files being added or modified, and that the unauthorized individual has been blocked from the system. GoDaddy has ‘proactively’ reset hosting credentials for these customers and provided the necessary steps for the customer to regain access. They also recommended the customer conduct an audit of their hosting accounts. Ambry Genetics, according to ID Agent, had an employee who took the bait on a phishing scam, giving hackers access to patient data between January 22nd and 24th this year. But, the incident wasn’t reported until March 22nd, since the company was struggling to dedicate cyber security resources while transitioning to a remote work force. ID Agent indicates this breach is the second largest healthcare breach this year. On their ‘risk’ meter, they have this one pegged right into the top red Extreme risk category. All Things Tech June 2020 630.850.9039 From the Techs ScreenKlean -- 3 of 4 - All Things Tech June 2020 Construction Corner Job Reports by Date or by Posting Period Job cost reports are amazing. There are dozens and dozens of reports, and each one has various criteria to further dial-in the information you want to see and follow. In general, the Project Managers and Field Supers have a few ‘favorite’ reports to track their jobs. Most often, these are printed by job, by cost code, sometimes filtering for materials only, or to compare budget to actual. Most PM’s don’t really care about accounting posting periods, so they usually pull these reports by date. They may need to know who was on a job on a specific day or week; the date of material invoices; weekly invoices for roll off containers; when specific equipment was on a job. So if I pull a report for March 1st through 31st, I’ll see all the items that were dated March. But if I pull the same report for Period 3, I’ll get a different total—why? If you pull up a calendar for March, you’ll see that March 30th and 31st, a Monday and Tuesday, were on a payroll check that had April work dates and an April check date. If you follow our recommendations for payroll entry, and you use Certified Payroll reports, you would have entered each of these day in the grid of the payroll record. When the March job cost is pulled for March dates, Monday and Tuesday will be included. When you pull by the posting period for March, the costs for those two days will NOT be included because they were posted to April. When you pull your Work In Progress (WIP)/OverUnder billing, it will be by posting period. Your billing on the job will have been based on your estimated completion by the end of the month including labor, materials, and equipment. The work week was a split month; the invoice from the subcontractor didn’t come in on time; one material supplier sends invoices mid -month and the other sends at monthend; your credit card statement is the 10th of the month; and on it goes. When addressing the field work, pull the reports by date. When addressing your accounting and financial reporting, pull reports by Posting Period. —CMW My Vendor Is My Client There are times when you may have a client who owes you money, and at the same time, you may owe them money. How do you clear these against each other and still hit the expenses and revenue accounts for the right amounts? Enter the billing as usual. Enter the accounts payable as usual, charging the correct expense account. For our example, we billed $1,000 on our client’s job. We then have a $200 AP invoice to the same client (who is setup as a vendor). Go to the 3-3-1 cash receipts screen and choose the Cash Clearing account instead of your regular checking account. Enter the invoice and apply the $200 to the open receivable along with the rest of the steps. This puts $200 in your clearing account. Then select the $200 AP to pay and move to the 4-3-2 screen. Cut the ‘check’ to the same Cash Clearing account which will take the $200 out of that account. Double check that the net balance in the Cash Clearing account is zero and you’re all set.—CMW Learn to Love Your Mondays Interested? Want to enjoy Mondays again? Join us Thursday, June 25 th at 11:30am Central Time to hear all about it! Register at www.syscon-inc.com/ events. 630.850.9039 This month’s trivia question: Your computer has gradually slowed down. What’s the most likely cause? a) Overheating b) Your processor chip is old c) Adware/spyware is infecting your PC d) You dropped a sandwich on your computer Congratulations to last month’s Trivia Contest winner, Julie Brenner with Harling in IL! Julie’s name was drawn from the ϐishbowl for last month’s correctly answered question: By 2021, this much of the global workload will be processed via the cloud: d) 94% Visit www.syscon-inc.com/Trivia for contest rules. Who Wants To Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card? To enter: Go to www.Syscon‐inc.com/Trivia and type in your answer. All correct answers will be put into a ϐishbowl and we’ll randomly draw the winner. The Winner will be contacted shortly after the deadline and will be announced in next month’s newsletter. Deadline: June 19, 2020 R I P -- 4 of 4 -