November, 2016 Issue In This Issue Predictions are Out! Public Sector Focus About CDR-DATA The 2017 Predictions Are Out!     It's November, and the IT predictions for 2017 are rolling in! True, some are over the top, but there are others well worth noting. After checking out several sources, here are some of the predictions that stood out to us: The Internet of Things: What list would be complete without a "take" on what will happen in 2017 with IoT. What will happen? Growth, to put it mildly. Gartner predicted a 30% increase from 2015 to 4 billion connected devices in 2016. And it's expected to continue its climb up to 20.8 billion by 2020. There's no turning back on IoT. And who would want to?   Digital Migration: This continues to be a high priority for about 80% of businesses, according to research sited by voipinnovations.com. It will only continue to grow in importance as organizations realize the need to replace aging infrastructures to support the growing need for a digital framework.   5G Technology: Still years away from full deployment, but we will start to hear more about 5G from some of the big guys such as AT&T. They have already ironed out a plan for "Release-15", considered to be the first release that incorporates 5G specification  s.   Mobile Payment Technology: Right now, an estimated 20% of consumers are using mobile pay solutions. As security issues are addressed and trust grows, however, that number is expected to rise dramatically.   Value Chain Partnerships: Strategic collaborations and partnerships are expected to rise to meet the escalating demands of a more sophisticated user base. Competition will increase and organizations will "team up" to provide best of breed solutions.   Security: The issue that never grows old. Network security solutions will be on the rise to address the increased security risks that the growing number of connected devices bring with them. Hacking methods have become more sophisticated, such as DDoS, cyber extortion, etc. Security will remain one of the top issues for all organizations. What did we miss here? Let us know what your top IT initiatives are for 2017. The CDR-DATA team of IT/Telecom veterans loves the challenges associated with new technologies. We live and breathe what's "around the corner". Contact us to find out more about how we can help you address your IT/Telecom challenges, whatever they might be. Sincerely, Kevin Young, Founder and CEO  CDR-DATA    Emergency Management (COOP) for Local Officials (Part 2) by Salvador Marquez, Principle Consultant, CMG Assist In Part I we looked at making a list of potential hazards. Now, let's look at your emergency management plan. Every city/county should have an Emergency Operations Center (EOC). This is a central location that enables governments to coordinate policy decisions, manage resources, and respond to disasters and emergencies beyond the scope of an on-scene incident commander (Emergency Management plans should also include an alternative EOC should the primary facility be unavailable).   The emergency management plan should also consider the following tasks and delegations:   Notification and Warning of the Event Direction and Control (who is in charge) Emergency Public Information Search and Rescue Health/Medical Evacuation, Traffic Control and Security Damage Assessment Debris Clearance Utilities Restoration   *Each topic will take time to develop. Prepare to provide definition of support functions, systems that will be used, process and procedures, delegate responsibility and include all resources that will be needed.   I think lastly the local officials have a responsibility to the community.   Communication strategies should be in place to stay on top of, or even in front of, the disaster.   If you fail to have adequate preparation and organization surrounding your communication back to the public, rumors may be taken as truth and facts may be mispresented, resulting in a distorted public perception of the emergency and what steps are being taken to deal with it. Most local officials use the following three points and format to make it easy for them and easy to understand for the public.   What happened? Facts about the situation should be released as soon as possible and when information is confirmed. Updates should be frequent and numerous. What does it mean to me? Place yourself in the public's shoes. Provide them with information to enhance their safety and address potential concerns. Fear of the unknown is greater than fear of the facts. What are you doing about it? The public wants to get "back to normal" as soon as possible. Tell them what you are doing to control the situation and return it to order. Explain how the process will work, how long it could take, and what they can expect.   There is so much more detail and thought that will go into your overall plan. Make sure you involve everyone in the planning process. Test your plan regularly and take care of yourself. There are several free templates and checklists available to every organization. FEMA and Homeland Security also have a better list of available resources, up to date policies and requirements.   CMG Assist is also available to help with free consultations or advice depending on where you are at in your process. We are a disaster recovery organization focused on helping our clients find the best and lowest cost solutions available. We are the creators of CMG Access www.cmgaccess.com, an online planning tool that is offered as a free public service to all companies in the United States and Canada. We recently launched AAA Disaster Recovery Club www.AAAdrclub.com. This service helps our members with the physical resources they will need at the time of the disaster such as office space, generators, technology, internet and phone lines that are independent of the local infrastructure.   We encourage anyone building a plan, to make sure that plan is backed up with the physical resources to make that plan actionable. Otherwise it's like have a manual to tell you how to change your flat tire but with no jack or spare.   We hope this information was helpful and it is provided as a reference only, and does not in any way supersede or replace existing county or local emergency policies, plans or procedures. About CDR-DATA   CDR-Data applications are supported by products that, collectively, provide you with all the resources needed to  effectively manage your communications and personnel expenses without having to add resources.   eCDR®: All the reporting options and flexibility needed to effectively manage and allocate telecommunications expense. Easy to use and customizable.     eBill-Back®: Fast, accurate billing system for business centers, shared-tenant environments, and any business requiring bill back of end users. Call us or drop us an email:  cdrinfo@cdrdata.com . Visit us at www.cdrdata.com.   Stay Connected              CDR-DATA| | http://cdrdata.com PO Box 41141 Pasadena, CA 91114 www.cdrdata.com Copyright © 20XX. All Rights Reserved.

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September 2016 Issue In This Issue It's Your Weakest Link Public Sector Focus About CDR-DATA It's Your Weakest Security Link   Your people. More specifically, your employees.  Amazingly enough (or maybe not), these are your biggest security risks. But before you start ringing necks, you should know that much of the fraud committed by employees is unintentional. So they may not even realize that they are delivering your organization into the arms of hackers.  Here are the three of the most common ways a hacker can get into your network: Phishing: Remains one of the most common ways employees inadvertently invite hackers into their personal systems and into those of their employers. An employee responds to an urgent email that appears to be authentic, and follows a link to provide them with passwords and PINs. Voila! They're in. Only after hours and hours (and possibly thousands of dollars) can you begin to untangle the mess. And you have one pretty embarrassed employee on your hands as well.    Social media: Today there is so much cross over between what is "personal" and what is job related that it's no wonder companies are reluctant to use social media, let alone allow employees to post. It is an incubator for hackers as personal information flows, is captured and combined with other personal data, all used to mount a successful (and devastating) personal attack within an organization.   Fraud: And, yes, there are plenty of reported incidents of employee involvement in crime rings, assisting cybercriminals in hacking into their employers' systems and getting out again, often so ingeniously that tracing the activity can be challenging. Catching the employee can be equally challenging. What to do? Here are some ideas to help reduce the threat of hackers:  Education:   You may be surprised at what even your most astute employees do not know. Educating your employees about phishing and other "points of entry" hackers use, can go a long way towards avoiding it. Make sure each employee has access to your technical team in the event he or she comes across a suspicious email, asking them to share personal or corporate information.     Training:     What experts, such as Rik Ferguson, VP of security research at Trend Micro, suggest is to tailor the training to the job function of your employees, and even to try to make it interesting.     In a ZDnet interview, Rik stressed the importance of this. "You need the right mediums for the right people. You can't have a one-size-fits-all training program; if you're training your developers, you're going to need different content to what you're using to train your sales people, finance or HR people." Give them a "sandbox":     One great way to get employees serious about doing their part in protecting against cyber fraud is to let them experience what it can do, first hand. Well, almost. Experts recommend giving them their own sandboxes. As Trend Micro suggests "Let them mess up in a safe environment because then they realize they can mess up, nobody's perfect. Dare to fail, learn from your mistakes, analyze and improve."   Awareness:     Not only awareness between you and your employees, but between employees as well. Keep your eyes and ears open and encourage them to do the same.   Remember...    Remember, all a hacker needs is one vulnerable point of entry. Just one. So, considering the growing list of devices we all use, that point of entry will become easier to find, not harder. More connections, more devices, more points of entry for hackers. And more headaches for IT.  Thankfully there are companies that know how to untangle and help mitigate security risks. At CDR-DATA we've been collecting data and uncovering fraudulent data and voice activities for over 20 years. There are few things we haven't seen and helped protect against.  As your list of potential security breaches continues to grow, don't wait until it becomes a mountain of confusion. Contact us now, so we can help you protect your tomorrow.  Sincerely,  Kevin Young, Founder and CEO  CDR-DATA   Emergency Management (COOP) for Local Officials  (Part I)   by Salvador Marquez, Principle Consultant, CMG Assist  In a disaster, your community will look to you as a source of advice and guidance, and you need to be there to provide it for them.   Local officials, whether elected, appointed or hired have many vital roles to play in their communities. They have a unique opportunity to help shape policy and affect change for the citizens within their community. One of the most vital roles, and sometimes overlooked is the responsibility for "Emergency Management". However, ensuring that a community or county is ready to face both natural and man-made disasters is one of the most important jobs that a local official has.   One of the foundations of the emergency management plan is the analysis of hazards and risks in the community.   Create a list of recognized potential hazards in your county or state. Once you have that list consider the following:   Historical Occurrence - How many times has the hazard occurred in the jurisdiction in the past? Probability - How likely is it that hazard will happen in the future? Geographic Extent of Impact - If the hazard does happen, how much of the area could be affected? Speed of Impact - How much warning time would your jurisdiction have before the hazard occurs (if any)? Cascading Affects - Could this hazard cause any other hazards or loss to occur? Prioritize Risk - What can most likely happen? What could cause the most damage or loss? Prevention/Mitigation - What can you do to avoid, eliminate or reduce the probability of the occurrence or lessen the effects of an emergency or disaster? Response - Include warning, evacuation, rescue and other similar operations and emergency support functions. Helping reduce casualties and damage by having a response to every situation. Recovery - Consider both short-term and long-term recovery efforts.   Short-term recovery efforts seek to restore critical services and provide basic needs for the public. Long-term recovery efforts focus on restoring the community to an improved state of affairs.   Other recovery actions may include, but are not limited to, temporary housing, food, and restoration of vital and non-vital services and reconstruction of damaged areas. Stay tuned for Part II in the October CDR-DATA Newsletter...  About CDR-DATA   CDR-Data applications are supported by products that, collectively, provide you with all the resources needed to  effectively manage your communications and personnel expenses without having to add resources.   eCDR®: All the reporting options and flexibility needed to effectively manage and allocate telecommunications expense. Easy to use and customizable.     eBill-Back®: Fast, accurate billing system  for business centers, shared-tenant environments, and any business requiring bill back of end users.  Call us or drop us an email:   cdrinfo@cdrdata.com . Visit us at www.cdrdata.com.   Stay Connected                CDR-DATA| | mchin@cdrdata.com | http://cdrdata.com  PO Box 41141  Pasadena, CA 91114  www.cdrdata.com  Copyright © 20XX. All Rights Reserved.

July 2016 Issue

IT and Millennials: Oil and Water? or Spark and Ignite?  Okay, we'll state the obvious: millennials, or Gen Y, is now the largest generation in America. And they are pushing the technology envelope in ways we couldn't imagine even a decade ago. If you run an IT department, you are no doubt painfully aware of this. So the question is: Are you paving the way with an infrastructure that can support this new tech savvy generation of workers? Or are you trying to hang onto the status quo as long as possible? An interesting article in CIO.com discusses the millennial "shake-up" in workplaces throughout the U.S. as management struggles to get their arms around the new communications styles, the mobilized ways of working and the technology that enables it all. Here are three key elements that stand out as consistently creating challenges for IT/Telecom when it comes to building a millennial communications model. If you can embrace the following on the front end, the back end processes should fall more evenly into place. 1. Legacy systems are out. A joint survey, conducted by Microsoft and SurveyMonkey, targeted 1,000 millennials in the U.S. in an effort to learn what would help them to "thrive in the workplace". Ninety-three percent of those polled identified having up-to-date modern technology as one of the most critical aspects in the workplace. 2. Variety and choice are essential.    Today there are plenty of tools and apps; many of which accomplish basically the same goals. But try to force a single corporate solution on younger employees and you may quickly come to wish you had taken the time to offer more options. Taking a one size fits all approach doesn't work for digital communications. Ironically, in this case, a single uniform communications method tends to isolate people, rather than facilitating integrated communications, like it did a couple decades ago. 3. Listening really will pay off.   Before you invest in what you think is the next great platform, take the time up front to listen to your employees. Ask them what they need to improve their own job performance, and how they can be more productive. True, you may spend more on the front end to give people more choices, but you will avoid the hassle and waste of trying to please everyone with a set of watered down tools that no one, regardless of their age, will want to use.   The bottom line is that millennials, like any group of employees, want access to the best technology to do their jobs. And they will continue to push until they get it. But that's something IT folks have grown used to over the years. As soon as one piece of technology kicks in and runs smoothly, chances are it's already out of date. Use the input of your millennials to keep pace. You may find that they are the spark that ignites innovation! Kevin Young, Founder, CEO/CDR-DATA  Stay Connected

Big Data or Small Data?   We hear about Big Data all the time now; transactional data, behavioral data, data from devices and applications, and the list goes on. But what about the data that is sitting right in front of you? What are we talking about? Find out here.    About CDR-DATA CDR-Data applications are supported by products that, collectively, provide  you with all the resources needed to  effectively manage your communications and personnel expenses without having to add resources. eCDR®: All the reporting options and flexibility needed to effectively manage and allocate telecommunications expense. Easy to use and customizable.     eBill-Back®: Fast, accurate telecommunications billing system for business centers, shared-tenant environments and any business requiring bill back of end users. Call us or drop us an email: cdrinfo@cdrdata.com . Visit us at www.cdrdata.com.

CDR-DATA| | mchin@cdrdata.com | http://cdrdata.com PO Box 41141 Pasadena, CA 91114

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June 2016 Issue What Will Productivity Look Like in 2020?   Most managers will tell you that one of the things that drives them nuts is when an employee says "That's not my job." Or, "That's not in my job description". It is a mentality that, thankfully, is becoming less prevalent; especially as technology continues to blur the lines between job functions, even rendering some obsolete. And, if you are still using old methods of measuring productivity, you may soon be changing those as well. The Boston Consulting Group holds an annual breakfast, at which they bring together an assortment of thought leaders to discuss major issues, such as productivity, in the face of today's digital transformation; in other words, how technology and automation are changing the way we measure productivity. What is amazing, of course, is the fact that we are now talking seriously about self-driving cars and robots, not as futuristic phenomena, but as deliverables! Of course, those technologies still lie on the outskirts of our day-to-day management lives. But things are changing. And, regardless of what business you are in, these changes are set to rock your world, in terms of your goals, your business plans and, most importantly, the kind of employees you hire. Below is graphic created by the Future of Jobs Report, from the World Economic Forum. It's interesting in that it spotlights the shift in importance of the key employee attributes, known to link to higher productivity. Note how "creativity" has moved from last place to third place. And, there are a few new ones added, such as "emotional intelligence". As for the demise of "quality control"; well maybe technology will have that covered by 2020. You can look up what all these terms mean, but the point is that the business world is changing to one where creativity is highly valued and negotiation skills; well, maybe not so much. The bottom line is that technology is rapidly changing the characteristics of what we deem an ideal employee. But the good news is that if employers can begin to hire people who, instead of moaning "That's not my job" can deploy technology to handle more rote tasks and use their creativity and emotional intelligence to help reach new business heights, then the old jobs of the past are really "Not anyone's job" anymore. Are you ready to hire a new generation of young, tech-savvy workers to help you find creative new ways to solve a new generation of challenges? Let us know what you think. After all, we're all in this "brave new world" together! -Kevin Young, CEO/Founder, CDR-Data It's that time again! The WANY / BC@50 Serviced Workspace Industry Golden Anniversary Educational Conference & Celebration Set For June 16-17. Click here for details. Stay Connected           CDR-DATA  Introduces Apogee at CCISDA!   This year's CCISDA was fantastic! We were excited to launch our newest telemanagement product, Apogee. For those who missed the conference, or just want more information on Apogee, you can read more about it here.    Congrats  to Winner of CDR-DATA Drawing at CCISDA!   We are happy to announce that Paul Porter, Technology Manager for County of San Luis Obispo in California, is the winner of CDR-DATA's drawing at this year's CCISDA conference. Congratulations, Paul! What We Learned at GCUC Coworking Conference  Whether or not you went to (or are familiar with) the annual GCUC conference, there was a lot of great insight and knowledge gained. Read all about it here. About CDR-DATA CDR-Data applications are supported by products that, collectively, provide  you with all the resources needed to  effectively manage your communications and personnel expenses without having to add resources. eCDR®: All the reporting options and flexibility needed to effectively manage and allocate telecommunications expense. Easy to use and customizable.     eBill-Back®: Fast, accurate telecommunications billing system for business centers, shared-tenant environments and any business requiring bill back of end users. Call us or drop us an email: cdrinfo@cdrdata.com. Visit us at www.cdrdata.com.         CDR-DATA| | mchin@cdrdata.com | http://cdrdata.com PO Box 41141 Pasadena, CA 91114 www.cdrdata.com Copyright © 20XX. All Rights Reserved.