Disaster planning and recovery tools and resources
PaySimple is located in beautiful Colorado where we’re expecting a mild uneventful fall week, but our thoughts are with everyone on the East Coast hunkering down to ride out Hurricane Sandy. Of course everyone’s first priority is to ensure personal safety and the safety of family, friends, pets and other loved ones. But for small business owners, thinking about how the storm and its aftermath will impact your company is likely of great concern as well.
If you have a disaster recovery plan for your business, you already have a plan of attack for how to recover from the storm. If you don’t, now is the time to start thinking about it, whether or not you’re in Sandy’s path. While it’s never too late, the best time to prepare for a disaster is well before it happens.
The following resources from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) can help.
FCC Small Biz Cyber Planner tool helps small businesses create customized cyber security plans
Information security used to be largely a big-business problem. It was commonly thought that small businesses, by virtue of their comparatively tiny customer base, didn’t provide an attractive enough target to warrant expending extensive resources on security. Unfortunately those days are over, and small businesses have become attractive targets for hackers and intruders precisely because they are perceived to have more vulnerable systems. In fact, according to Symantec, small businesses were subject to hundreds of millions of cyber threats in just the first few months of 2012, and a typical cyber-attack can cost the business close to $200,000 as well as risk the future of the company as a whole.
If your small business processes credit card transactions, you are probably already aware of the requirement to be PCI Compliant, and to process transactions via PCI-compliant equipment and service providers. However, there is more to protecting your business from cyber security threats than just PCI compliance.
To help small businesses create security plans that address their specific business practices, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has launched the Small Biz Cyber Planner 2.0 in conjunction with National Cyber Security Awareness Month.
Cookies, Culture and Craft Beer. Join PaySimple for Denver Startup Week. Come by Wednesday, 10/24 from 2:30 – 6pm.
What do startups and craft beer have in common? They both call Denver home, and you can take in a little of each at PaySimple headquarters next week.
This Monday kicks off Denver Startup Week, a celebration of our innovative community in the areas of tech, design, business and social entrepreneurship. The week is comprised of a series of events, mostly free to the public, that showcase our entrepreneurial community.
PaySimple is sponsoring this year’s celebration and participating in three areas.
Federal forms directory designed to help you organize your small business
Understanding all the government requirements for running your small business can be complicated—from tax filings, to business licenses, to labor requirements, to postal service permits, and more—and the amount of time you need to spend on legal and regulatory paperwork is staggering.
If you’re lucky you can hire someone to take care of the government filings for you. But, if you’re like many small-business owners, the task falls to you. And while the government hasn’t made filling out the forms any easier, it has made them easier to find by creating a Government Forms directory.
A new driver update tool for Windows optimizes your business computer
Computer systems play a large part in any business—large or small. Big companies have whole departments devoted to nothing but managing them. As a small business owner you likely don’t have that luxury, and probably spend more time on computer issues than you’d like (or ever imagined you would when you started the business).
So, it’s always nice when a bit of software comes along that can make your life just a little easier, and it’s even nicer when that software is free. DriverMax is just that type of tool.
7 Ways to Stay Busy During the (real or contrived) Holiday Lull
I’ll spare you the passage-of-time clichés and get to the point: October is here, and that means the holidays are not far behind. Depending on your industry, you’ll probably hear one of two comments in the coming weeks:
- “Get ready for the holiday rush!” (certain retailers and service providers)
- “October is the last REAL month of the year, so we have to make the most of it.” (everyone else)
This particular post is for businesses more likely to hear the latter. While I don’t subscribe to the idea that October is the “last real month,” there are noticeable lulls during the holiday season that can seem unproductive. Consumers and businesses alike are often less engaged in November and December, so if your business depends on the typical M-F schedule, you have to be creative to stay busy. Here are some tips for navigating through slower weeks while, at the same time, positioning your business for a strong start to 2013:
Spear-Phishing: The Battle of Enterprise Security
Here at PaySimple, we take security of all forms very seriously. Not only because we work in the world of online payments, but also because of the rapidly changing methods in which online attacks can be executed. Earlier this week, our Director of Information Security and Compliance Mike Trofi sent out an email updating us with some great facts and tips to stay safe, and we though it would be valuable to pass along. Enjoy!
Laugh! Laugh! Laugh!
We’ve all likely experienced a tense situation that was diffused by humor. We’ve all probably also experienced an inept attempt at humor that caused a tense situation. So, what is the proper place for humor in the workplace? Many HR professionals would say workplace humor can be dangerous, because of its potential to offend or fall flat and cause awkwardness. However, a new study published in the journal Human Relations, posits that humor may be the unsung hero in the workplace.
