January 2019

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. January 2019 Whether you’re sad to see 2018 end, or happy to put it behind you, 2019 is underway! The decorations are back in their boxes, the days are getting longer (slowly), and we’re focused on making that January 31st filing deadline! At our office, we’re in the processing of swapping out our older workstations and laptops as we upgrade to Windows 10. Watch for upcoming webinars where we’ll highlight some of the features and changes from the user’s perspective. At the end of January, Chris and I are headed to a two-day workshop in Nashville with Chris Voss. We’re re-reading his book and looking forward to the training!-Catherine Wendt The Top 3 Lessons From Shark Tank’s Robert Herjavec For Growing From Rags To Riches Today, Robert Herjavec is known as the beloved “nice judge” on ABC’s Shark Tank, but if you ask him, he thinks the descriptor “fair” is more appropriate. Whatever you call him, make no mistake: he’s one of the most shrewd and successful businesspeople of our time. Despite humble beginnings while growing up in former Yugoslavia, Herjavec managed to leverage his endless drive and acumen into a long list of multimillion-dollar business ventures, including Herjavec Group, now a global leader in IT security services. When someone gets officially dubbed a Shark and becomes one of the most visible faces in the business world, you might expect them to lose touch a little bit. But that’s just not the case with Robert Herjavec. At a recent conference, I had the pleasure of seeing him speak. It was clear that he wasn’t just there for a paycheck. He genuinely wanted to share his wealth of knowledge with all the attendees. Here are a few key lessons Herjavec schooled us on and how they can help your business. 1. YOU’VE GOT TO SHOW UP. Right as he took the stage, Herjavec delivered a simple but vital piece of encouragement to everyone in attendance. “I congratulate everyone for being here,” he said with a smile. “Because the key to success is you gotta show up.” Whether you’re making time for an event or just struggling to survive, “if you don’t show up, you can’t win.” The fact is that it’s easy to get caught up in the minute-to-minute chaos of running a business. It’s just as easy to get tired out, start slipping, or begin questioning why we’re trying at all. But, as Herjavec was so eager to point out, we need to bring ourselves fully to the task at hand if we hope to carve -- 1 of 4 - All Things Tech January 2019 (continued from page 1) out our chunk of success. Sure, we’ll have bad days, but the more we can be present, prepared ,and hungry to implement our vision, the better off we’ll be. 2. NOTHING HAPPENS WITHOUT SALES. Herjavec will be the first to tell you that, starting out, he knew absolutely nothing about the sales world. By his account, he was a “geeky, technical guy” who thought that as long as he offered a great service, customers would show up. Luckily, when he was 23, his friend Ross Marsden – then a global VP of sales – gave him a piece of advice that would change his life. “You’re a great guy, and you really know your stuff,” he told Herjavec. “[But] unless you learn sales, you will never be successful.” In response, Herjavec began to learn more about sales and marketing, until he realized, “You can have the best accounting system, the best CRM [and] the best tools, but nothing happens until you sell something.” The difference between those Fortune 500 companies dominating the market and the little guys who barely eke out a living? Sales. “Sales is not a foreign object that controls what you do,” he said. “Sales is an extension of what you do.” 3. “EVERY DAY, SOMEBODY WAKES UP WITH THE SOLE INTENTION OF KICKING YOUR @SS.” After hearing fellow Shark Mark Cuban say this during the first season of filming Shark Tank, Herjavec got it chiseled in granite above his desk. “One of the hardest things about becoming more successful is success,” he said. Because when you’re no longer that “hungry, young person looking to take on the world,” you get to a point where you’re content enough to let your life (and business) stagnate. Herjavec said, “The minute you want it to be like it is, don’t forget there’s somebody out there – like you were many years ago – who wants to take it away from you.” The antidote to this attitude, according to Herjavec, is to keep selling, keep growing and keep pushing. “If one of your top three tasks every day isn’t ‘Sell something,’ you’re going to fail,” he said. “It’s like a mantra in my mind: constant forward momentum.” If your company isn’t growing at least at the rate of the market, you’re losing ground. Customer service and excellent products are vital, but if you lose sight of the importance of sales, you’re bound to the path of mediocrity. In summary, it doesn’t matter how big or small your business is. Sell what you have, and stay hungry. Cathy and Larry Sightings Catherine directed the Christmas Cantata musical presentation at North Ridge Church. Larry and his friend Tim prepared a delicious gourmet dinner for the Scottsdale C12 group, then led Christmas Carols from the piano with Cathy. ‘There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.’ - Alain de Botton 630.850.9039 What an amazing book! I couldn’t put it down, and found myself going back to previous chapters and stories. I originally thought of this as a marketing book, and it is, but it’s much more. ‘Sticky Ideas’ are useful in marketing, but they’re also important when conveying company culture, training team members, engaging with our children, and conveying concepts and ideas to others. There are great stories of how the ‘sticky’ concept has been applied. Some key principles from the book include a definition of ‘Sticky = understandable, memorable, and effective in changing thought or behavior.’ There are 6 principles conveyed through the acronym SUCCESs—Simple Unexpected Concrete Credible Emotional Stories. There are wonderful examples, and no surprise, stories! This book is worthy of studying, not just reading for a few ideas. Strongly recommended! - CMW Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath “Whether you’re making time for an event or just struggling to survive, ‘if you don’t show up, you can’t win.’” -- 2 of 4 - Shiny New Gadget Of The Month: As more and more household devices go toward the Internet of Things’ (IoT) direction, General Electric is following suit with its new WiFi-enabled smart countertop microwave. With the capability to sync with Amazon’s Alexa, it aims to change the microwave game. While it can’t put the food you want to cook into the microwave by itself, it can do pretty much everything else in the process. All you need to do is scan the barcode of a specific food with a smartphone camera, and then the microwave will cook it perfectly using the exact correct time and power level. Over time, the microwave’s library of known foods will grow. Eventually, you can just tell Alexa what you’re cooking and have the dish heated to perfection. Now, you might be wondering why we’d use smart technology to make microwaving a hot pocket even easier. But hey – it’s the wave of the future. The extra features make it worth the relatively low price alone. 5 Ways To Protect Your Company From Cybercriminals A recent survey by Vistage revealed that a full 62% of CEOs do not have an active cyber security strategy in place, while 27% have no plan at all. Frankly, this is insane. Follow these five quick steps to bolster your security right now. There’s no time like the present. 1. Use a tool like the Cybersecurity Framework from the National Institute of Standards and Technology to perform a thorough assessment. You can’t fix something until you know what’s broken. 2. Train your employees on cyber security risks. Forewarned is forearmed, and most data breaches occur as a result of employee neglect. 3. Implement cyber security policies. Put procedures in writing, and make sure they’re followed to the letter. 4. Get tools that work. It needs to go far beyond a simple antivirus, encompassing everything from endpoint security systems to firewalls and backup solutions and everything in between. 5. When in doubt, consult an expert. Inc.com, 9/25/18 MarriottStarwood Breach According to an article by Zack Whittaker on TechCrunch.com, over 300 million records with guests names, address, phone, date of birth, gender, email address, password number, and Starwood rewards information were part of a file that Marriott learned about during an investigation of ‘unauthorized access’ to the Starwood guest database. Marriott says this goes back to September 2018, but may date back to 2014, which was before Marriott purchased the Starwood chain. Marriott also reported that the Marriott hotels were not impacted by this unauthorized access since that data is on a ‘different network.’ Since this breach crosses countries, it falls under the new GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) rules. This is a fairly new European regulation targeted at increasing security in the marketplace, and handing out stiff financial penalties for breaches—something that may be in Marriott’s future. If you’re a Starwood customer, you may want to contact them and find out more about the breach and who it impacted. At the very least, change your log on password for your rewards program! - CMW All Things Tech January 2019 630.850.9039 GE’s New Smart Microwave From the Techs Do you get our weekly email blasts? These are short, 2-minute video updates on tech-related topics. There’s often a short blog if you want to read more on the topic. If you don’t get these, please call Jonathan at our office and we’ll make sure you’re on the list. You might have to ‘white list’ us, and we can tell you how to do that, too! -- 3 of 4 - All Things Tech January 2019 Construction Corner How Do I Kick People Out of S100C? There are a few tasks in Sage 100 Contractor that require Exclusive Access. For some of us, every month when we want to roll the posting period forward, we send out a nice reminder for everyone to log off. At the appointed time, we check the box and hope that we’ll be pleasantly surprised— but it doesn’t usually work that way. In the past, this is when I call one of the techs and ask them to kick people out. Last year when I was testing some new features, I stumbled on something that I realized I could use to take back control! There’s a new process called the Tune Up; it’s similar to the old Reindex feature, and even more important now that the software has a SQL back end. This process runs each evening, but it requires that everyone be out of the software. For those of you who hoard licenses and never log off (release your license), you’re inviting new problems—buy more licenses and log off at the end of the day so this process runs; but I digress... Turns out you can manually initiate a Tune Up. This is done from the new Database Admin tool. And when you use this feature, and there are users logged in, it gives you a great list of who is in the software, AND it allows you to terminate their sessions! When you click ‘Terminate Connections,’ the user(s) will receive a message that their session will end and they have 60 seconds to save their work before the session is disconnected. Voila! Within one minute you have Exclusive Access! Now, I recommend you go ahead and run the Tune Up as long as you’re there, then quickly launch Sage 100 Contractor, click Administrator Rights, and click Exclusive Access, then go ahead and move the default posting period forward. A couple of things:  You need to be an Administrator in the company dataset you’re working on. If you can see the ‘Open company with Administrator rights’ message, you’re all set.  This feature is launched from the Database Admin tool. If this tool is installed locally, just doubleclick on the icon. You can also launch this from the main menu where you choose your dataset and Administrator rights. It will either say ’Start Database Administration’ or ’Open Remote Desktop for...’ and finish with the name of the server it’s installed on. I don’t think forcing a Tune Up to terminate connections was the intent, but I’m happy I stumbled on it. You may be too. —CMW Collecting Time From the Field Just Got Exciting! We collect time, cost code information, work order numbers, phases, client signatures, and a whole lot more. Your field can use iPhones, Androids, or Tablets. All the info is sent straight to Sage 100 Contractor, no copy-paste! Interested? Join us on Thursday, January 24th at 11:30am Central Time. 630.850.9039 This month’s trivia question: In 1998, software engineer Steve Gibson discovered a cookie in some e‐ commerce websites that tracked user browsing habits and sent them back to a server. What is the generic name for this wicked practice (not restricted to cookies)? a) Social Network b) Third‐Party Cookie c) Spyware d) Data Manipulation There were no entries for last month’s Trivia Contest, so we are send‐ ing the $25 to the Phoenix Rescue Mission! Which of the following types of attacks do hackers use to gain information from you without the use of specialized computer programs? d) Social Engineering 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 ran‐ domly draw the winner. The Winner will be contacted shortly after the deadline and will be announced in next month’s newsletter. Deadline: January 20, 2019 -- 4 of 4 -