Goodbye 2010...Hello 2011!
Are you breathing a sigh of relief as 2010 comes to an end? We are all looking forward to 2011 and when I read Carmine Gallo's words of wisdom at Businessweek.com for the upcoming year, I knew I wanted to share it with our readers.
"As small businesses around the country plan for 2011, many are focused on simply surviving. What's lost is the big idea. Your business needs a moon shot goal that will fuel its journey for the next decade and inspire your employees, your partners, and you."
We're determined to adopt the three key ingredients of a big idea outlined by Carmine Gallo :
1) Boldness
2) Specificity
3) Consistency
As we write about developing a moon-shot goal, the term BHAG (pronounced Bee-Hag) comes to mind. In their article, Building your Company's Vision, James Collins and Jerry Porras explain their term BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals).
"A true BHAG is clear and compelling, serves as a unifying focal point of effort, and acts as a clear catalyst for team spirit. It has a clear finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the goal; people like to shoot for finish lines." - Collins and Porras, 1996.
Just yesterday we received a Christmas card from an old client, informing us that they were still in business, and hoped that we were too! If your business has made it through the last two tumultuous years, congratulations are in order to you and your management team.
Let's embark on our journey together in 2011 with Bold, Specific, Hairy and Audacious goals for the future! What's your moon-shot goal or BHAG going to be for 2011?
Happy Holidays!
WAC Consulting Group Marketing Team
We're republishing the top three articles of 2010 and we're also including links to all the white papers and guides developed during this year. We hope you'll find these resources valuable.
Protect your Business and Customers with PCI-DSS Compliance. What is PCI-DSS Compliance?
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard established a set of requirements for enhancing the data security of payment accounts. The far-reaching requirements include standards for security management, policies, procedures, network architecture, software design, and other measures created to protect customer account data.
The developers of the PCI-DSS (American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB, MasterCard Worldwide, and Visa International) collaborated on the standards in order to facilitate global adoption of consistent data security measures.
There are twelve requirements that fall into six categories:
-
Build and Maintain a Secure Network: Install and maintain a firewall and use unique, high-security, passwords with special care to replace default passwords.
-
Protect Cardholder Data: Whenever possible, cardholder data must not be stored. You must also encrypt any data passed across public networks, including your shopping cart and web-hosting providers.
-
Maintain a Vulnerability Management Program: Use anti-virus and keep it up date. Develop and maintain secure operating systems and payment applications.
-
Ensure the applications you use are compliant (see www.visa.com/pabp): Implement Strong Access Control Measures: Access to cardholder data – both electronic and physical – should be on a "need-to-know" basis. Ensure those people with access have a unique ID and password. Do not share logon information.
-
Regularly Monitor and Test Networks: Track and monitor all access to networks and cardholder data. Ensure you have a regular testing schedule for security systems and processes including firewalls, patches and anti-virus.
-
Maintain an Information Security Policy: It's critical that your organization has a resource for governing your company’s data security. Ensure you have a policy and that it's disseminated and updated regularly.
We've created an online resource center to document PCI-DSS, and to assist you to achieve compliance now that the deadline has passed... Visit the PCI-DSS Resource Center.
Social Media Resource Center - How to Engage in Social Media
Check out our social media resource center where you will find some great resources to help you identify the following:
-
Why social media matters today
-
How social media communities are moving into "real business"
-
What part social media plays in search for products and services
-
How to get everyone on board with social media marketing
-
When to take advantage of mobile social media
-
A plan to get started in 5 key social media communities
-
How to prioritize your activities based on the type of your business
-
A mini-SEO tutorial to get the most important elements right on your site
-
How to identify the best person to put in charge of social media
-
How to create content, and different types of content
-
Organizational and audience questions you should ask
-
The art of blogging
-
11 easy steps with LinkedIn
-
Surveying the social media landscape
Get access to a lot of practical suggestions, how-to-guides and get-started materials at the resource center. Get started today!
Five Guidelines to Adopt Basic Elements of Quality Control
The ISO 9001:2008 quality standard is the base standard used around the world to qualify a company’s quality system.
The ISO body has established a set of guidelines to make sure the basic elements of quality control in any company are in place, and no matter where the company resides these principles are adhered to.
Requirement One: Create a quality policy and develop measurable objectives
Each company seeking ISO registration must first come up with a quality policy, and a set of objectives that are measureable and can be approved upon. When evaluating quality management systems, select software that will allow you to setup benchmarks on built-in metrics, in the software.
Since this software will be used on a day to day basis, you want to be able to have real time access to the data needed to compile the metrics.
Download the quality control whitepaper and find out how you can adopt the basic elements of quality control, starting today.
Welcome to Our New Clients
We are pleased to welcome our newest customers into our group, and want to extend a sincere "thanks" for the trust and confidence these clients have shown in us:
The Brandt Company, IL; Partner: Michael Ericksen PC
|
