If you are like me, life and work are inextricably linked.  Work has shaped my thinking, determined where I lived and has provided me with my means of support.  In turn, my family has provided me with emotional support and purpose in life.  Work and home, each motivates and nourishes the other.  Along the way, I have learned to balance the two.   Because the two are linked,  I will often blog about family events and how they relate to my job.  What I have related has varied from near death vehicular mishaps to father and son outings in the middle of winter.  I talk about these things because I see corollaries between day-to-day life and my work.

For example, I have told you about camping and how it teaches you to be prepared.  The ground is hard, the night is cold, and your clothes are wet… you had best learn what your environment is going to be like and do your best to be prepared.  I have found that the same is true in work.  Your contact center has SLA’s, costs and people and if your contact center solution cannot provide the services at the level needed, at a cost that you can afford and with a technology that your people can use, then you won’t be in business. Similarly, when I look at inContact, and I consider the design of its network, the architecture of its services, the skill of its staff, the scope of its products and the flexibility of its tools, in my mind I quickly draw comparisons to things like my 4x4 truck, my high tech fleece, my water proof gear, my GPS systems.  Each is instrumental in making my experience (work or play) successful and enjoyable.   Read more»

In February 2012, the White House issued A Framework for Protecting Privacy and Promoting Innovation in the Global Digital Economy.  This document appears to represent an effort on the part of the United States to catch up to the rest of the world as it relates to privacy matters. As a comparison, Europe has a stricter set of privacy laws than the United States. The European Union passed what is known as the European Data Protection Directive.  This Directive defines the relationship between Data Subjects (those whose data is being collected) and Data Controllers, (the entity collecting and using the data).  It also outlines seven principles governing the protection of personal data.   Read more»

Last week, I attended the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco. The RSA Security Conference was first held in 1991 and has become one of the largest gatherings of cryptographers and security experts in the nation. At this conference they discuss the latest trends in security and security threats.

Tuesday morning, Arthur Coviello Executive Vice President, EMC Corporation and Executive Chairman, RSA, delivered an excellent keynote address. I wanted to share a few items that impressed me. Mr. Coviello spoke about the need to change the way we secure our networks. He emphasized that perimeter defenses such as firewalls and passwords were not the only forms of protection that were necessary and that addressing security by simply adding more controls was no longer effective, i.e. twice as many controls will not make you twice as safe. Rather, the security model of the future would also need to incorporate a risk based approach, where risk is a function of the existing vulnerabilities, the likelihood of an attack and the value of the assets being protected. Threat analysis and detection must focus on patterns and trends and the context in which those patterns are exhibited. An example of this might be seen in how and when users access the billing system, it may be normal for me to access the billing system Monday through Friday, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm, but it's not normal for me to access it after midnight on a Saturday.    Read more»

Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore is an interesting marketing book on the study of how new technologies, in particular disruptive technologies or products, successfully make their way into a market.  It discusses how to move a technology from  the ‘Early Adopters’, those brave souls who are willing to take a risk with a new technology,  to the rest of us who want the benefits of the new technology without the risks.  A few years ago, one could say that the use of the cloud was largely the domain of the Early Adopters.  That is not so true today.  Not only are private and public companies moving to the cloud, (See the eWeek story about how SMBs are leading in the adoption of cloud services), but now even the federal government is looking at the cloud, as is evidenced by the recently released details on the government's new FedRAMP Program, aimed at developing a standardized approach to assessing the security of a cloud solution.   Read more»

The Internet is a fascinating environment. By design, it is a network that was created to aid in the distribution and collaboration of information. While this inherent attribute has created an environment of rich opportunities and worldwide benefits, it also creates conflicts, and a great number of legal conundrums. One major reason for this conflict is that the Internet is ubiquitous, able to reach out to people virtually anywhere in the world, but… we all don’t agree on what information should be shared, how it should be shared, and what you should be able to do with that information. 

Enter Facebook.   Read more»

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend this year's Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Congress, in Orlando Florida.  The CSA is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the use of best practices for providing security assurance within the Cloud.  inContact became a corporate sponsor of the CSA this year, and I have since been engaged at the CSA as co-chair for the Subject Matter Expert Working Group  (SME WG),  I have also been able to peer review CSA guidance version 3 and even participate in the speaker selection for this years’ CSA Congress.  

I believe that my experiences hiking and camping have provided my best lessons when it comes to learning how to assess, mitigate and manage risk.  Mother Nature also teaches you that sometimes you don’t get "Do Overs".  There are times when you have to do things right the first time.  I live in Utah, and one of my favorite activities is exploring slot canyons.  One excellent slot canyon is called Buckskin Gulch.  It is touted as one of the longest slot canyons in the world at over 21 miles.  I took my son and some friends there a few years back.  You can explore portions of the canyon, making a day hike out of it, or you can spend a couple of days and cover the entire thing.  We went out for the day.

Hiking a slot canyon is all about risk assessment and risk mitigation.  The first thing you will want to consider is the weather.  Slot canyons and rain do not mix.  Temperatures can also vary dramatically.  Walking through the desert to get to the slot canyon might be done in 80 or 90 degree heat (or hotter) while the slot canyon can be 30 degrees colder with pools of icy cold water.  Those little mud puddles can be ankle deep, or over your head.   This makes clothing selection important.  Your terrain can vary from sand to stone to ankle breaking rocks and boulders, so pick your shoes wisely, and remember, they will probably get wet as well.  Cliffs and drop offs are not uncommon, rope and expertise may be required.    Read more»

Geo-location information is data that is gathered through a variety of technologies that is able to accurately pin down the location of an individual, virtually any place in the world. This data is being collected by smart phones, our cars, our web surfing,  freeway toll paying systems, child monitor systems, etc.  Even Facebook  and other social networking systems are able to get in on the action. 

Last Christmas, I gave my son-in-law a pair of pipe wrenches!  I thought, 'What a great gift!'  My wife, my daughter and I suspect my son-in-law were nonplussed.  I assured them this was a truly great and thoughtful gift.  They were perplexed but they could tell I was obviously excited.  Well, the day did come, when a plumbing need arose – and on that day, my son-in-law learned just how wonderful pipe wrenches could be!  (Come on guys, back me up here,  don’t you get a thrill every time you have occasion  to use your pipe wrenches – and by the way – you always need two, never just one).   Read more»