Tag Archives: Challenges

Internet Policy Task Force Makes Recommendations to Deal with Cyber Security Challenges

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Information technology (IT) experts have been successful in leveraging Internet technology for diverse uses, revolutionizing the way businesses are run, governments function, and customers transact. However, Internet now stands at cross-roads, with increase in number of security threats. Cyber-attackers are using multifarious ways to infringe Internet infrastructure. According to some estimates quoted by U.S Commerce Secretary, over 45 new viruses, worms, spyware and other types of malicious threats were created every minute during the first quarter of the current year. The consistent and ever evolving threats pose challenge for governments to ensure security for consumers, businesses, military and government bodies. Cyber threats are now more sophisticated, frequent, indiscriminate and target-based.

The Internet Policy Task Force, of the Department of Commerce, United States, has recommended a new framework for addressing Internet security issues. The task force suggests creation of a nationally recognized approach to minimize threats for small businesses, brick and mortar companies, and large organizations that exist on Internet, that have provision for information services, facilitate transactional services over the Internet. The task force has referred to this group as Internet and Information Innovation Sector (I3S).The nationally recognized approach must include development of sector specific, and consensus based code of conduct to safeguard the I3S from varied cyber security threats. The government must encourage industry to develop innovative technology solutions, and promote use of emerging technologies such as cloud computing, and modernize security assurance policies.

The Internet Policy Task Force has advocated the need for creation of a national data breach notification law for appropriate disclosure of security incidents, and encouraging firms to improve security mechanisms. Sharing of information on cyber security incidents is crucial to improve defensive mechanisms. Government may use public policy tools such as liability protection, and insurance models to incentivize and promote best practices among I3S companies. Government must place emphasis on research, and work with industry to devise better cost-benefit analysis for I3S cyber security. Employee awareness is crucial to improve cyber security practices. Governments may asses the current cyber security education efforts, and encourage targeted and customized awareness programs in accordance with industry requirements. Employees may be encouraged to undertake Online computer degree programs to understand and implement best practices in cyber security. The task force emphasizes on encouraging research and development to meet the future demands for effective technological solutions. IT professionals may leverage online technology degree programs to update their technical know-how, and implement better security mechanisms.

Recent security incidents in major corporations have resulted in disclosure of sensitive information related to millions of individuals. Businesses face the challenge of strengthening information infrastructure, and ensuring security of customer and business databases. Vibrant threats have increased demand for cyber security professionals qualified in IT masters degree, computer science degree, computer forensics, network administration, penetration testing, and security threats.

Cybercriminals may conduct attacks from any part of the world. As such, government must coordinate with other countries to share threat information, best practices, and promote shared research and development goals. Government must encourage and develop cyber security standards, which converge with global practices.

Challenges With Dining Room Furniture

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Getting your dining room furniture can sometimes pose a great challenge. This is because it is increasingly difficult to gauge the right size, finish and style until it actually moves into the house. Quite unlike the sofa or side tables, it is a little difficult to fathom the kind of effect your dining table will have in your house until it has actually moved in.

To start with, it is quite easy to find the capacity it should have. Depending on the number of people in your house and the size of the room, this is the easiest to manage. The shape, style and finish are the greater challenges. However, being a little careful in your planning and thought will help you sift through the choices and come to the right selection fairly quickly.

Furniture for home is one of the most gratifying buys. Although it costs much more than regular purchases, it gives you a sense of fulfilment and satisfaction, especially when you see them all fitting neatly into your home and giving it a look of completeness. Therefore, it is best that you use the extra few pounds to bring in better styles and quality rather than compromise on a slightly cheaper design which you have to live with for several years.

Dining tables can be a little expensive, especially when you opt for a solid wood table with chairs to match. However, there is no denying the fact that it has a style and distinguished sophistication which no other material can give you. It is also something which can last you for several years without spoiling or breaking easily. You will quickly find the money spent is actually an investment.

Top 6 Challenges For Portfolio Managers

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Let’s look at the below fictitious conversation between a manager and his supervisor.

“Hi Mike, How was your weekend?” Bill asks

“Fine, how was your weekend?” Mike replies

“It was fine” Bill says.

“Mike, I wanted to remind you that the last minute scope changes for the project that I discussed with you last week need to be implemented as part of this weekend release. Can you please make sure that everything goes fine?” Bill says

“Bill, as you know already, we have few resources in my team and they are overloaded and few of my key resources won’t be available this week. Also, the scope of the proposed changes is not clear. I need to setup few calls with the stakeholders to get clarification. Can we finalize the timelines after getting clarifications from the stakeholders?” Mike replies.

“Mike, I can understand your concerns. But you know, I have promised the timelines to the clients. So we should meet the deadlines” Bill says.

I’m sure Project Managers face many challenges like the manager Mike in work place. Several factors including globalization, recent technology developments, and recent recession brought several challenges to project management. Project Managers are under tremendous pressure to show results with very limited resources. Similar to Project Managers, Project Portfolio managers and Program Managers also face several challenges now. Few might think that both Portfolio project management and program management are all about gathering project status from project manager and reporting it to the management is their job and few even think it is kind of an overhead job. But in reality that is not true. They are not only directing the individual projects correctly, but are also directing all the projects to ensure that the projects add business value. Like Project Managers, they also face many challenges. ESI International conducted an e-mail survey of 28 close-end questions to project and program management professionals in the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia and the results revealed the following challenges that they face in today organizations:

· The funding approval process has become more complicated and time consuming.

· Strategic projects obtain significantly less funding than tactical projects, compared to previous years.

· The Project Portfolio directions and strategy change more frequently.

· Resourcing projects is increasingly difficult and less predictable.

· They are under more pressure to manage many processes including funding, project outcomes, project resourcing, and portfolio direction and strategy

· The gap between available funds and the demand for project deliverables is increasing.

To view the complete survey report, please visit ESI’s International official website. Comparing the survey results with the organization where you work and sharing your view would definitely help the Project Management Community.

Challenges Posed by Strong Chains to Small Retailers

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The retailers are the people who are at the front desk to deal with the customers and sell the products. They are the one to face the greater risk and that is why there profit margin is usually more than anyone else in the supply chain. Due to the attractiveness in the profit margin a lot of people want to open their own retail stores on small scale. Though the retail business is quite attractive but every single person who wants to become a small retailer must know the challenges posed to his small retail business by the strong chains. Following are the challenges posed by strong chains to small retailers:

  1. Product Sourcing

Product sourcing sometimes becomes a real major problem for the small retailers. They generally source their product from the wholesale suppliers, distributors or manufacturers but sometimes they are unable to get the wholesale supplies from them due to the stronger retail chains. Why is it so? It is because the wholesalers, manufacturers and distributors prefer the strong retail chains over the smaller ones because the strong retail chains have greater customer attraction, they have a developed brand name, they buy in larger quantities and they sell the retail products to the customers quickly. Therefore, the very first challenge that the small retailers face due to the strong chains is that they need to maintain good relationship with the wholesale suppliers and manufacturers and get the supplies from them timely.

  1. Attracting the customers

After product sourcing, attracting the customers is the biggest challenge for the small retailers. It is a general behaviour of people that they love to shop from those retail outlets which are well known and established. The reason behind it is that people feel that they will get the best price for the product they want to buy and that the product will be of high quality as well.

  1. Offering attractive prices

Offering attractive prices is the next challenge posed by the strong chains to the small retailers because for the small retailer it is an important technique to attract customers. It is a challenge for them to offer prices lower than the giant and strong retailers in order to run their small retail business.

  1. Excellent services

For small retailers it is a challenge to provide excellent services to their customers so that they could stand out against the strong retailers. If they are unable to provide better services than the strong retailers, they are sure to lose their potential customers. Other than that they also need to satisfy their wholesale suppliers or distributors by facilitating them to maximum. They need to clear the account payables as quickly as possible so that their relation with the wholesale supplier or the distributor remains healthy.

Dropshipper Challenges And Issues in The Dropshipping Business

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Dropshippers have infamous issues sustaining an error-free trade association with their customers, clientele, wholesale suppliers, manufacturers, and second hand outlet administrators. Here are some of the problems of dropshippers outlined briefly to your benefit.

Dropshippers usually see an issue whenever a customer makes a request while the wholesaler doesn’t apparently have it in stock. Because client purchase goods which were bought from the dropshipper and then later ordered from the manufacturer, at times the maker does not possess the item in store so this results in bad relations with the purchaser and dropshipper. At times, customers may need to wait numerous days, weeks, or months to obtain their product from the dropshipper, when in reality it might only take a couple of days. This lag with time is often the cause of dropshipper’s poor status.

Many people aren’t familiar with using dropshippers so they are not unsurprised if they experience difficulties from dropshippers.

Dropshippers also face solid competition because anyone can be a would be dropshipper and any dropshipper can jump on board and begin purchasing the same products with the same manufacturer. Almost always there is a possible chance of one’s position being taken from you by a different entrepreneur who’s much eager than you.

Dropshippers often have large existence on online auction websites, but you will find excessive charges for listing a lot of goods known as insertion fees. So, if the dropshipper does not make enough money on almost all of the bids, he will be losing cash with every auction in supplement fees. He can offset this by using web services that don’t require insertion fees to sell all his merchandise and services and thereby build up pure profits for his business without trade involvement. People must be cautious about dropshippers that do not have any permanent physical address or way to get in touch with them.
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Indian Security Market Scenario And Challenges

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Security Market in India is showing healthy growth over last few years with little to no impact due to recession, in general security products namely CCTV and access control have the “Pull Effect” from the markets, consumers and business are look out of the security products.

Security market pie is getting larger and larger which has attracted even bigger companies like Godrej and Eureka Forbes. The most of common product lines CCTV, Access Control, and Video Door Phones. Fire Security is considered as extended or secondary product lines due to inherent complexity and business volume.

CCTV solution is most sought after by business not for security purpose alone but also to improve the productivity of employees. This will be 3 part article covering the Electronic Security Industry opportunities and challenges for the players in bottom level-mid level and top level of the pyramid.

Bottom of the Pyramid

Over crowded — too many small companies ready to offer services not barring Electrical Contractors, Computer Technicians, Network Companies, etc, generally these companies buy the products at whole-sale prices from companies listed on SecurityIndia which also offers technical consultation and training to System Integrators.

The challenges are not limited to service providers, it is equally challenging for business /consumers to identify right partner to implement security solutions from this segment, as there are too many companies ready to offer services at very competitive prices.

The service providers in this segment most of them 1 – 5 person teams are increasingly focusing on CCTV Products catering mostly to business through know contacts. The most common CCTV Products that sells in high volume includes Dome Cameras and 4 channel H.264 DVR CCTV package with 500GB Hard disk.

There is huge untapped micro/small business that has immediate need of CCTV security products which offers good opportunity for service providers in this segment. Since their overheads are less and they can offer competitive priced solutions.

In next part of the article will look in to the customer perspective and the expectations from security solutions……to be continued

Obama Advised to Seem at Asian Us Residents For Solutions to Economic Challenges

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Cassie – At age nineteen, Cassandra Ventura created a splash debut as a product, represented by Wilhelmina Models. At age 20, she has captured various prime positions in the musical hit charts for the reason that of her tune, “Me &amp U.” Clean out of large college, this Asian-American singer/product still has a extensive way to go. But seeking at her credentials, it really is easy to see the uncooked possibilities of greatness. She is at this time functioning on her sophomore album, to be released February this yr.

Do not be amazed that in the around future, these Asian-American celebrities will be the talk of the Entertainment marketplace.

We are in a time period where by a great deal of Asian-Us residents developing up, particularly if they are immigrant, even now have a lot of affect from the previous generation. Perhaps our mom and dad or grandparents are from the “aged school” believed. So when we increase up in a Western lifestyle, we have internal conflicts with ourselves regardless of whether we ought to abide by the previous college way or the new way.

I know that from practical knowledge, one particular thing that is nonetheless left over from the older generation is the notion of guilt. “Oh, you Should do this! You Cannot NOT do it. Do it for the loved ones, for our title!” Increasing up in Western culture in which a ton of imagined is dependent on the man or women, it is really challenging to understand why our elders from time to time want us to sacrifice so substantially for the sake of the family members, for the community. Now, if you are younger plenty of to have grown up in an individualistic tradition and have a flavor of shopping out primarily for all by yourself, it is incredibly tricky to harmony the obligations arranged by your elders. You are surrounded by all of these person thoughts and way of undertaking things outdoors of house, but the moment you are with your relatives it really is all about the group – the household.

Sometimes, it just drives me insane! It is really really hard to stability out, and if you do a thing that goes from your family’s needs, then you have the total guilt matter to fear about. Did I make the appropriate decision? Am I a poor individual for executing this? This is the pretty essence of expanding up in a home where the values are so unique from the place wherever you live. The Asian-American young children who I know and whose mom and dad have been immigrants to the US, battle with this internal conflict in one way or a different. It is pretty difficult sometimes expanding up in an previous era home while becoming uncovered to new approaches of Western thought. Hats off to those of us who are dwelling it!

New music videos are defined as quick videos or movies that are accompanied by a finish musical piece, commonly by a tune. A new music video clip (MV) these days is utilised principally for marketing functions. It normally encourages songs recordings – the additional powerful the music video clip, the greater the product sales of these new music recordings. The origins of this distinct media dates way back but they bought really regarded in the 1980s.

Resolve Your Tax Challenges And See Great Tax Results – Get Your Irs Questions Answered Now

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It can be challenging to tell what’s genuine and what’s not with the amount of Internal Revenue Service gossip out there about Tax Situations. In case you want proper Tax Results, you it’s significant that you ask the best IRS Questions and get away from the Tax Complications that can cost you money. This guide addresses all of the typical IRS Questions and helps you discover the perfect responses for Tax Issues. Quickly correct Tax Difficulties and see much better Tax Outcomes with the correct solutions to your IRS Queries.

Tax Filing IRS Questions: Get the Right Tax Results

When Filing Jointly What exactly will be the legal requirements
The couple must be lawfully together as of December 31 of the year being filed for. That is the only prerequisite.

Are any special return notations necessary while you are filing together, but your companion is deceased?

There’s one particular area of the documents you need to take note of. Write in “Filing as Surviving Spouse” in the signature area. The word “Deceased,” the deceased’s name, and the date of death must all be written across the top of your final return.

Which write offs am I ok to use?

This is totally your decision. But think about the following: Are you okay with taking risks that might land you a jail sentance? Do you like taking risks that would make you pay hundreds or even 1000′s of dollars in fees? Those consequences I listed are are what you could face if you get too confident with your Tax Filing. It’s best to seek a tax debt specialist on this issue.

I did not filed my taxes for a couple of years, and the IRS is now communicating with me for repayment. Is it necessary to submit my missing years before the Internal Revenue Service will work with me?

Yes, you must file any absent Tax Returns before the IRS will work with you. The good side is that you primarily need to file past returns up to 7 yrs. Plus, if you file your returns, you may see your Tax Debt reduced.

Tax Results: Serious Information for Your Tax Problems

  1. Patiently waiting for the Statute of Limitations to Run Out: Bad idea! The statute of limitations on your debt is not going to run out for 10 years. And occasionally, the time limits are expanded (like if you apply for an “Offer in Compromise”). Furthermore, the Internal Revenue Service can collect on your liability regardless with Tax Liens, Bank Levies, and Wage Garnishments although you’re hanging around for the time limit to expire. Don’t hand them over the window to take your properties and assets. Ignoring your liability won’t fix your Tax Troubles.
  2. Pay in Full: If you have any strategy to pay your liability completely, do it! You will not be considered an “Offer in Compromise” in case you have funds in the bank to fund your IRS Debt. Your IRS RO can instantly access your money. If they see you have the dollars to pay, they will tell you to cover it entirely.
  3. Settle It: You have the opportunity to submit an “Offer in Compromise.” You are basically settling your debt for a reduced sum. Just a few men and women in fact be eligible for this settlement. And barely everyone has their offer for “Pennies on the Dollar” okayed. But you may desire to check out if an “Offer in Compromise(OIC)” is a good selection for you if you’re in a genuinely frantic issue.
  4. Put a Non permanent Halt to Collections: If you’re encountering a real Financial Hardship, show it. The Internal Revenue Service may halt the collections actions for a reduced amount of time so you can get your financial situation back in order. They will decide how long based on your circumstances, and check up on you from time to time to determine if there are any changes to your scenario.

Find the Specifics: There are a lot of ridiculous ideas out there about Tax Debt. And that means you need to arm yourself with the cold hard information. Do not let unreliable folks tell you that negotiating IRS liability is “Simple” or that you have “plenty” of techniques to pay off the Internal Revenue Service. It’s simply incorrect.

BYOC Bring Your Own Computer Challenges

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It is the computer user’s ultimate dream: the ability to access his/her personal desktop with their own files and settings and store and use office applications from anywhere in the world via any internet browser! The ability to achieve just that through desktop virtualization has spawned a new movement in these recessionary times in which enterprises have begun to push their employees to use their own devices. This is how the concept of bring-you-own-computer or buy-your-own-computer (BYOC) got its start. Typically in these cases end users get some perks or benefits in exchange. But this also means that the onus of licensing and usage rests with the employee. Seen as a trend that empowers the end user/employee, BYOC will help reduce IT infrastructural costs.

The BYOC concept has its own set of issues and challenges which need to be sorted out in order to fully incorporate this concept across an enterprise. Therefore, before they take up the BYOC concept, every enterprise needs to determine if this concept would be useful or profitable for them. Secondly they need to ascertain if there are enough ways and means to work on both enterprise owned devices as well as those owned by employees. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, they need to know if adopting a BYOC concept will actually result in much needed reductions in costs.

Challenges of BYOC

The challenges with the BYOC concept are quite diverse, yet they need to be answered effectively to ensure success. The concerns surrounding BYOC include:

  • Security breeches: The extent to which employees can and should access corporate information is key in making the BYOC concept a secure practice. Financial services enterprises would be extremely wary of giving this security control over to their employees. Therefore BYOC can be successful only if the issue of security can be handled successfully.

  • Software and hardware management: Employees may have certain personal applications that bring in viruses, etc. This means exposure to even more risks.

The key to solving BYOC challenges lies in virtualization. BYOC issues can perhaps find answers in virtual desktop solutions. So from issues surrounding the speed of DaaS (Desktops as a Service) deployments to efficient management and availability of technology platforms for the end user, most desktops as a service providers are still trying to sort out these hurdles to provide better value added services for their end users, including catering to BYOC compliant enterprises.

8 Top Challenges To Achieving Presentation Success

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Do you give presentations? If you are in business, leadership or sales, you most definitely are answering a big, emphatic, “Yes!”

What are the top challenges that you must overcome if you want to guarantee success? Read this short article to discover the challenges…so you can win at presenting.

Challenge 1: Information Overwhelm

Let’s face the facts. Your audience is overloaded, overwhelmed and overworked. If you load a ton of information on your already maxed out audience, what do you think will happen?

Not a whole lot!

It’s up to you to pierce the glazed looks and already full brains of your audience. Hint: keep your message simple and easy to understand.

Challenge 2: Unfocused Attention

What’s your audience thinking about? Everything but your presentation. They are preoccupied with unfinished work, urgent problems, and perhaps, their own presentation.

If you want to grab attention, you have to act fast. Share compelling stories, alarming statistics and fascinating news. This is the fastest way to flip the ‘trip switch’ and win attention for what you have to share.

Challenge 3: More Unfocused Attention

Just because you overcame Challenge 2, doesn’t mean you can rest on your laurels. You have to win it — and sustain it. Otherwise, your audience will resume to texting, checking email, having side conversations and reading the handouts.

‘Fess up. You’ve done it when you’ve been in the audience. If the presenter is boring, the audience will look elsewhere.

This is why it’s incredibly helpful to plan your presentation with a storyboard. On a single page you can organize your story for maximum impact, specific connection, and focused flow.

Challenge 4: In Love with Instant

Fast. Faster. Fastest.

Your audience is looking for instant solutions. And most likely, they want them yesterday. This is a huge challenge if you are proposing long-term solutions, sharing detailed research findings, or recommending slow strategies.

Whether you are speaking at an industry conference, in a video, or at client presentations, you must embrace the desire for immediate relief.

Share your information and highlight specific ideas, strategies and actions your audience can use immediately. Even in the context of a long-term solution, this will help prospects and clients accept the short and long-term benefits.

Challenge 5: Lost in a Crowd

In many business settings, audiences sit through entire days of presenting. How will you stand out?

The big challenge of not getting lost occurs in conferences, investor pitches, and brand presentations. And here’s the truth: often it’s not the best content but the best presentation that wins.

If you want to win at presenting, you have to turn up your passion. Present with passion and deliver your message with confidence. Be the shining presentation that stands out in a crowd.

Challenge 6: Lost in Tactics

No doubt you’ve read a book, taken a course, and maybe even worked with a presentation coach. Then, you understand this challenge. It’s easy to get lost in presentation tactics.

Make eye contact. Stand and deliver. Project your voice. Refine your body language. It all starts to blur after a while.

Instead of getting lost in the woods of presentation delivery tactics, find your own ‘home zone.’ Get comfortable with speaking with confidence and credibility. Practice in a safe and secure environment. Then, apply this confidence to ever-increasing challenges.

In a short time, you’ll find that you are using all the delivery tactics without having to focus on each one specifically. This is because you’re being yourself and telling your authentic story.

Challenge 7: Mushy Next Steps

This is a huge challenge to success. Vague and mushy next steps spell disaster for any presentation. Even if your audience is listening and interested, they won’t know what to do next.

The best way to avoid this challenge is to identify one next step. Don’t fall in the trap of offering two or three or four next steps. You’ll just confuse your audience. Pick one next step. Make sure it is clear and specific. Use this and you’ll steer clear of this challenge.

Challenge 8: Connecting Across Distance

In today’s cost-conscious marketplace, more and more presentations are held virtually. This is great for keeping costs down, reducing time out of the office, and increasing the number of presentations you can make in a day.

However, it’s not so great if you don’t overcome the distance challenge. Presenting virtually, it’s even more important to build rapport and grow trust. Don’t leave this up to chance or luck.

If you want to guarantee success, learn how to be effective in facilitating conversations at a distance.