INFORMATION


Middle market businesses fail ethical hacking test


A recent ethical hacking exercise targeting middle market companies has found serious deficiencies in the cyber defences of all the companies tested. The hacking simulation, carried


out by consulting firm RSM with the permission of the organisations involved, revealed significant weaknesses in the strength of the businesses’ internal controls. In one instance, RSM sent more than 200 spoof emails asking employees to validate their staff login. Within minutes, 16% of employees had followed the instructions and clicked the link and by the end of the day this had climbed to 35%. The findings are backed up by


the results of a new RSM survey which has revealed that 40% of organisations admit they have been a victim of cybercrime, with over a quarter having been hit in the past 12 months. Despite the high level of incidents, one-in-five firms that have suffered breaches have since done nothing to protect themselves against future attacks. Steve Snaith, Technology Risk


Assurance Partner at RSM, said: “Recent events have shown how disruptive a cyber-attack can be. However, our recent ethical hacking exercise has revealed some startling weaknesses in the defences of sizeable middle market companies that you would expect to be better prepared to withstand an attack. If we had been carrying out a genuine hacking attempt with malicious content, the business ramifications could have been catastrophic.”


Seeing the


Humans have an innate ability to detect visual patterns, absorbing this information rapidly and generating rich insights. Business leaders can harness this power, using


visual stories to build a shared purpose and using visual feedback for adaptive learning. By making our beliefs and evidence more visible, our


decisions can be better informed and we can see whether strategies are working or not. Yet our capacity for visual sense-making is often strangled in business by documents full of words, tables of numbers, bad pie charts and ever-smaller screens. By chopping a glut of data into smaller chunks we can lose sight of the complex systems we’re trying to change. With business applications creating an endless


stream of data, it’s easy to be seduced by low value metrics of operational activity. Measuring the easy stuff can create an illusion of control when we really need hard evidence that our strategies are working. One big measurement challenge is killing off vague


business language to find a clear statement of the result we want to change. This can be used to design a small, focused set of measures which detect how that change is shifting over time. Robust statistical techniques can then be applied to detect true performance signals among the noise. As business people, we’re used to hearing about


how data, analytics and dashboards offer utopian answers. But without clarity about the decisions that audiences are trying to make, hasty technology investments can be wasted; this is one of the reasons we suggest low-cost prototyping – even using Excel – before spending cash on shiny new analytics tools. Perhaps the most powerful forces in a business are


Steve Snaith


the beliefs of the people in it. We use causal thinking workshops to draw a picture of the mindset of a team.


bigger picture


Rich Torr (pictured), Director at Measureology, looks at how visual tools and analysis can offer businesses added and valuable insight.


This reveals which causal


paths and decisions the team believes are most likely to lead to a shared purpose. The team can then design the decision and performance evidence they need to validate and update their beliefs. This builds buy-in to improvement or transformation strategies as well as saving management consultancy fees. Performance measurement provides feedback about whether strategies are working. But this isn’t the same as imposing targets. We can all think of examples where measuring the wrong things and using these for reward or punishment produced unintended effects.


THREE WAYS TO SEE YOUR BUSINESS DIFFERENTLY


• Take existing sources of data and explore them visually for new insights – either setting out with specific questions in mind, or seeing what patterns emerge.


• Revamp your management and board reporting. Turn pages of text and tables of numbers into a single picture of the performance of the business, only measuring what matters and applying a consistent visual style and statistical interpretation.


• Paint a picture of the beliefs your team shares about how to drive business improvement. Visualising in a causal flow model reveals where to focus strategic decisions and performance measurement.


Workshop your way to running a business


Derbyshire residents are taking advantage of a new scheme aimed to help them start a business. Comprising a series of


workshops and one-to-one enterprise and IT support, the new D2 Business Starter Programme, funded by Derby City Council and Derbyshire County Council, has already propelled a number of inspirational individuals into self- employment.


48 business network July/August 2017


Anna Kelynack-Boddy, a former engineer and senior programme manager with over 20 years’ corporate experience, was one of the first to graduate through the programme. Since graduating, she has


successfully launched her business, Yogic Frog, and spoken at many business events, giving her audience insight into the benefits of wellbeing in their life.


She said: “The D2 Business


Starter Programme is fantastic, it gives you a grounding in what you will need when you are starting a new business.” The D2 Business Starter


Programme is running two idea- generating workshops for individuals inspired to join the programme but without a concrete business idea to work with. These will take place at the Chamber’s


Derby office on Monday 24 July from 1-5pm and at the Chesterfield office on Monday 21 August from 9am-1pm.


Anyone based in Derbyshire and interested in taking part in the idea-generating workshops, or the course in general, should get in touch with the team on 01332 851289 or visit www.pushthebuttontoday.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64