In the time of coronavirus, traditional hallmarks of the high school experience disappeared. No graduations for the Class of 2020. No proms and no sport activities to participate in or watch . Schools moved to remote learning.
Many teens I talked to feel robbed of memories they were supposed to make in these formative high school years. Prom and graduation are integral parts of what makes all of the work pay off. Now, that’s been taken away.
Adolescence is the time when young people start to piece together who they are, or at least who they’ll be right now. Many of the pieces lost to the virus. The effects of the pandemic have teens feeling angry, anxious and depressed.
It’s hard enough being a teenager on a good day. But the conditions that accompany social distancing may exacerbate the painful parts of adolescence to the point of crisis. Adolescents typically have a heightened reactivity to stress. This is the result of hormonal fluctuations and changes in brain development.
All this change is overwhelming. The autonomy and independence that teens crave is next to impossible to achieve when most places, besides their own homes, are or have been off limits.
This period of isolation has caused social reorientation for teens. Typically, teens spend a sizable chunk of their days at school. They tune into their peers on whom they rely to form their own feelings and opinions. Now they’re tuning in (or out) to the adults with whom they live with. Teens are considered digital natives and therefore are likely better at navigating virtual friendships. But, they’re still missing the vital, in-person benefits of relationships.
Traumatic national events, while rare, can move teens in subtle ways and gradually erase their sense of self.
Most teens today weren’t born at the time of the 9/11 attack. But they’ve already lived through personal traumas and collective ones, notably gun violence in schools.
The emotional turbulence of teen life makes them more susceptible to depression and anxiety. The National Alliance on Mental Illness says 50% of mental illnesses develop by age 14 and 75% develop by age 24.
Although it’s far too early to measure the impact of the pandemic on teens in terms of their mental health and academic achievement, the effects could last a long time. Many teenagers could emerge from this time more resilient than they knew they could be.
There are many effective treatments for depression such as psychological treatments. They include cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and medications, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibiters, also known as SSRIs. It may seem daunting to engage a new therapist or psychiatrist during this time. Many providers, including those at NYU Langone, have been able to adapt to the current climate by providing telemedicine appointments via video visits.
While teens hate being told what to do, this is likely one of those times when a little authoritative parenting is in order. The most compassionate thing we can offers teens is our insistence that they fulfill expectations and do things that are in their own best interest.
Dr. Katherine Williamson, a California pediatrician and media representative for the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends staying on a schedule to maintain a sense of normalcy, eating healthy and exercising regularly.
Communication with your teenager during this time is extremely important. Providing fact-based information about the virus will help you establish creditability and trust.
If your child asks if you are worried, be honest. Validating their feelings and concerns will open up conversations that will help you be a supportive parent.
Beyond the emotional impact of the virus, it has impacted the way adolescents learn. Globally, over 1.2 billion children are out of the classroom. There is a distinctive rise of e-learning, whereby teaching is undertaken remotely and on digital platforms.
Even before COVID-19, there was already high growth and adoption in education technology or edtech. Global edtech investments reaching US$18.66 billion in 2019. The overall market for online education projected to reach $350 Billion by 2025. Whether it is language apps, virtual tutoring, video conferencing tools, or online learning software, there has been a significant surge in usage since COVID-19.
Research suggests that online learning increases the retention of information. It takes less time. This means the changes coronavirus have caused might be here to stay.
Some believe that the unplanned and rapid move to online learning – with no training, insufficient bandwidth, and little preparation – will result in a poor user experience that is unconducive to sustained growth. While others believe that a new hybrid model of education will emerge, with significant benefits.
“I believe that the integration of information technology in education will be further accelerated and that online education will eventually become an integral component of school education,“ says Wang Tao, Vice President of Tencent Cloud and Vice President of Tencent Education.
Students of all ages will need to adjust to this new world of learning. Not only during the pandemic but for years to come.
Zunesis has partnered for many years with K-12 and higher education clients on many of their IT projects. We understand the needs of our education customers. We search for new innovative products and solutions to meet their needs. As edtech evolves in the this new world, we will continue to search for new ways to help. Contact Zunesis today to find out more.
Great news IT leaders and friends! HPE is conducting their annual Discover conference virtually and the content looks really good. Many of our clients are wrestling with decreased IT budgets and looking for ways to preserve capital and reduce costs. Often, the very first budgetary line item to get the ax is IT training. I remember clearly how IT training budgets saw reductions or eliminations in the wake of the credit crisis in 2008/2009.
Because HPE Discover is virtual this year, your IT team, managers and leaders can attend at no cost. Our Zunesis VP of Engineering & Consulting recently commented to me after attending HPE’s Aspire conference remotely, “I never had to wait in line for breakfast. I never was late for a session. And, I always had a great seat.” He found the virtual learning experience significantly better. He gained much more knowledge because of the efficiency of the delivery of the material. Some of us still prefer being in the room and the energy that comes from live in-person presentations and engagement, but there are clearly big benefits to providing valuable content virtually.
There is an impressive lineup of content, sessions, technical demonstrations, industry leaders and expert speakers. The current agenda shows 50+ technical training and certification courses; 100+ industry leaders and expert speakers; and, 150+ LIVE and on-demand sessions and demonstrations – AND, none of the sessions are limited by seating capacity. This also could be the most cost-effective way for members of your technical team to get a specific technical certification. Certifications are available at dramatically reduced pricing. The event provides an economical way for members of your team to gain experience and validation of the technologies they need to know to properly manage the HPE technology in your environment.
There are three very interesting leadership & learning tracks that caught my attention:
You will also find major content tracks on “top of mind” topics including:
We hope you can take advantage of this great opportunity to access valuable information and hear from leaders and experts. If you need any help or support getting registered for HPE Discover, please reach out to us at Zunesis. We would love to help.
It will take some time for things to get back to normal. The term, new normal has been popularized but is not far from the truth. The way we do business and approach activities of leisure will have to change for a while. How can we maintain some semblance of normalcy while engaging in the activities we once enjoyed? Activities like going to restaurants or the library have become seemingly dangerous propositions to undertake.
How can technology help to facilitate social distancing and encourage safer conditions for all of us?
The tools already exist to change the way we do business and approach the world. Technologies that would lessen the need for physical contact and allow for non-contact transactions are available. They are inside our cell phones and many of the wireless technologies currently deployed. The issue lies in the adoption of these technologies. We will explore a few technologies that can guide our return workplace.
Inside every Aruba access point since the 3xx series, there are Bluetooth beacons. The beacons triangulate the position of people by tracking the location of their personal devices. Some applications for this technology include way finding, location-based marketing and access control.
In the future, this technology would count the number of people in a specific place to understand if social distancing standards are being followed. Aruba networks has a product called ALE or analytics and location engine that can be used to track and aggregate data about the location of each person within a building while using Aruba wireless access points.
The graphic above is a generic topology for how the environment would look when leveraging the ALE. Utilizing the components in the graphic, a company identifies where in the building people are. Also, it can track possible issue areas. Using this tool as a guide to rearrange offices or cubicles, it assists support in the distancing measures when people return to their workplaces.
In a public venue where the connectivity to the wireless networks cannot be relied upon, the system utilizes passive scanning of any devices that has WIFI or Bluetooth turned on. This enables one to accurately triangulate the position of this person. Aruba describes this capability by saying that the system can; “Calculate location for associated and unassociated clients based on received signal-strength information or simply indicate the presence of a device in proximity to a specific AP.”
The ability to passively identify user devices is very important for a business to approximate the current occupancy of a space. Locations for this device include restaurants, department stores or any other building where occupancy requirements may be a concern.
The accuracy of this system is directly dependent on the density of deployment of the access points or standalone Bluetooth beacons. If more APs or beacons are deployed in a space, then the accuracy of the system is greatly improved. It takes three access points or Bluetooth beacons to detect a device for accurate triangulation of a device to occur.
Several businesses are trying to find a way to support retail transactions without the need for people to go inside the actual brick and mortar store. In some cases, restaurants and other food service-based businesses would like the ability to process a credit card on their patio without the employee physically interacting with the payment method.
Outdoor wireless would provide a greatly appreciated internet service to their patrons. It facilitates the ability to have a battery powered WIFI point of sale tablet negotiate the transaction. This would lessen the physical contact the patron and the employee would have in this setting.
With the newest Aruba 5xx series outdoor access points, a business could blanket their existing outdoor seating areas with secure wireless. The ability to deliver secure wireless for the patrons and the company assets is invaluable. It further supports the initiative to reduce physical contact.
Additionally, by leveraging outdoor WIFI, a company could extend their current outdoor seating space. This helps to maximize their ability to generate revenue. The possibilities for using secure outdoor access are limitless.
In this time of uncertainty, we need to continue to innovate and rethink the way we do business. Giving up on interaction isn’t good for any of us. We should continue to pursue ways to retool our businesses. Augment how we measure occupancy so that we can stay safe but productive. My hope is that by leveraging technology we can find some semblance of normalcy again.
Contact Zunesis for more information on outdoor access points and other solutions to keep your business moving.
Since 1949, the United States has recognized Mental Health Awareness Month in May. Over the last few months, I’m sure many of us have been concerned about our mental health just as much as our physical health. I can say personally that I have been feeling a bit anxious in this new world.
Depression and anxiety disorders left untreated can affect people’s education and livelihood. Together they’re estimated to cost the global economy $1 trillion each year in lost productivity. The CDC reports that 50% of us will experience some type of mental illness at some point in our lives.
A large percentage of IT workers already feel stressed on a regular basis. Now, IT professionals are under a new sense of pressure. They have had to move work forces to remote settings and handle an increase in tech support due to the is move. On top of that, there is an increase in security risks. Like the rest of America, they are under the new stresses that have come with this new normal.
The coronavirus is driving a mental health crisis for many, but tech can help tackle it. One technology gaining in availability is telehealth services. Not only used to check physical symptoms with your doctor, one can contact mental health professionals via phone, video conference or chat. Online platforms like TalkSpace and BetterHelp help those with depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other conditions remotely.
This is also beneficial for rural America. Many must travel hundreds of miles to get to a nearby hospital or clinic. Telehealth enables help for this segment of America. Many vets live in more rural areas and must travel an average 25 to 50 miles for healthcare. The US Department of Veterans Affairs has nearly 20,000 telehealth visits daily, an 800% increase since before the pandemic.
There are AI based applications available that serve as chat therapists.
Woebot is one example. It is an AI-based chatbot that provides cognitive behavioral therapy. It monitors daily, one-on-one interactions with users using natural language processing. Then, it delivers a personalized version of therapy to the user.
The University of Colorado recently used machine learning AI to develop changes in speech. Subtle differences in speech can suggest a mental health decline. Shifts in tone or pace can indicate mania or schizophrenia. Memory loss can also be a symptom of cognitive and/or mental health problems.
Even though we may be trying to limit screen time, video games can aid in elevating someone’s mood. They allow users to escape and immerse themselves into another world. Some video games main purpose is treating a mental health condition.
One example is Endeavor by Akili. This helps children who have ADHD. It brings together world-class neuroscience with the latest technology and video game entertainment. It’s a digital medicine not delivered through a pill or syringe but through a video game experience.
Virtual Reality or VR is another tool. Explore Deep is a meditative virtual reality controlled by breathing. It serves as an intervention for those with anxiety. Players navigate through a serene and poetic underwater world. Movement is controlled by slow, deep breathing. It uses a self-explorative, visually stunning underwater seascape and biofeedback mechanics.
Wearable technology helps to monitor sleep, physical activity and more. It is also a key tool to detect possible disorders in the first phase. The applications collect information and evaluate the activity of the user through biomarkers.
One device, TouchPoint is a neuroscientific wearable that is placed on each wrist in the morning or at night to induce the boy to calm before going to sleep. It’s uses include before, during or after a stressful situation. It reduces 70% of someone’s stress in thirty seconds.
Another example is Spire. It is a wearable device that works with a smartphone application that tracks one’s breathing. This helps to reduce stress. The device measures your breath via the expansion and contraction of your torso. Then, it analyzes and categorizes your breathing as calm, tense, or focused. It sends an alert to you if you need to reset your breath.
These are strange times that we are all in right now. What can you do to help your mental state? First, create reasonable expectations for yourself, your managers and your coworkers.
Understand that your productivity won’t necessarily be the same. Don’t beat yourself up and remember to be kind to yourself and others. Maintain social work connections by doing things like check-in phone calls or virtual happy hours.
Try some stress-reducing techniques such as yoga, meditation or other mindfulness practices. Start a new hobby or learn a new skill that may fulfill your life in new ways. Make sure you take breaks during the day. Staring at a screen for eight plus hours is not a recommended practice. Make sure to take regular breaks to stretch, walk around the block or get a healthy snack.
As a company, communication is key. Businesses should share resources on mental health assistance that is available for employees. At the same time, don’t overwhelm employees with information. Provide regular concise communication and address concerns weighing on employees.
Zunesis wants to help ease some of the stress felt by IT Professionals at this time. We have a wide variety of assessments to look over your current infrastructure. We also offer a Customer Connect program to allow for a free look into an IT issue at your company.
As we approach day [xyz] of the plague, I was ready to write another blog post about COVID-19 and technology. It seems that all we can think about lately is the virus. Working from home with three kids under 10 years old certainly has been “fun” for me. I’ll definitely be glad once this thing is gone.
Instead, I’d like to take some time to talk about ransomware. Another currently rampant plague of the digital variety. Among malware, ransomware is some of the absolute worst of the worst. It certainly has it’s own place in H-E double hockey sticks.
At a time where people and businesses are already suffering, we are seeing an uptick in ransomware attacks. Encryption of your files occurs, and cyber criminals demand a ransom in order to decrypt them. Often times, organizations use military grade encryption. So, the only way to decrypt the files is to pay the ransom.
Since only the criminals have the required decryption keys, it would be nearly impossible to decrypt even with your handy dandy cereal box decoder ring. Unfortunately, paying the ransom is a risky proposition. There is no guarantee that your files will be decrypted. This also validates the cyber criminal business model and encourages bad actors.
Ransomware spreads like fire, and burns the building to the ground if you don’t prepare.
First of all, you REALLY should have good backups. This doesn’t prevent the ransomware attack, but it certainly prevents you from needing to either a)open up your wallet or b)lose important data.
You might be surprised how many of us don’t follow rule #1 for data. Backups should be available locally, as well as off-site/cloud. You should also make sure that you can restore multiple points in time. This is in case your more recent backups contain ransomware. This isn’t just best practice for ransomware, it is just good practice in general.
Whether it comes in the form of ransomware, hard drive failure, data corruption, or space aliens shooting lasers at your PC, you really should have a plan for your data. How much is your data worth to you? For the ransomware event, skip the heartburn and restore from backup prior to an attack.
Prevent ransomware with good personal cyber hygiene
Be proactive with cyber security. Here are some suggestions:
Hopefully this will always be theoretical, and you never get hit. First of all, you definitely want to isolate the machine. This stuff will scan your ARP tables, your registry, and a variety of other sources to look for other hosts to infect. I’d say immediately power off, enter the nuclear codes, and kill it with fire. In other words, wipe/erase the machine. You can then move forward with rebuilding the OS and restoring your data once you’ve got a blank canvas. Just because your security scan came up clean does not 100% guarantee a malware free result.
Next, if there are other machines on the network, quarantine and examine them. Ransomware will proactively work to infect everything else it can on the network. If other machines are impacted, they should also be nuked and rebuilt. This includes your business critical servers. Actually, this is especially critical for business critical systems. These systems house critical data, and are often a central point of access(points of infection) by many users. YES, THIS IS PAINFUL. However, if you have good backups to restore from, it isn’t nearly as big of a deal.
Much like the human pandemic that we are all too familiar with, hopefully you are “distancing” yourself from the digital pandemic. The best way to beat a ransomware attack is prevention, not reaction after the fact when it’s too late. If you need help preparing, or even just a second set of eyes to review your existing strategy, please contact us for an assessment. We are here to help.
Working for a tech company, we at Zunesis have a drive for finding the best and most innovative products on the market. Growing concern regarding the spread of COVID-19 has prompted business owners to start taking temperatures of individuals entering their doors. With the whole country starting to open back up, perhaps the most helpful product we have found is the Personnel Management Kiosk.
Measuring body temperature is an important activity. A number of diseases are characterized by a change in body temperature. With other illnesses, the course of the disease is followed by measuring body temperature.
A fever is typically the reaction to a disease-specific stimuli. The body changes its normal temperature to support the body’s own defense mechanisms. Fever is the most common form of disease-related (pathological) increase in body temperature.
The Meridian Personnel Management kiosk aids in effectively detecting temperatures of individuals prior to allowing them to enter office buildings, retail spaces or other organizational spaces. The technology in this system is capable of detecting individual faces and temperatures. It reads the temperature in 2 seconds with +/- .9 degree Fahrenheit accuracy. The system then compiles these temperatures into a database of up to 30,000 people.
The device strives to help protect the health and safety of both employees and guests. It prevents anyone with a temperature from entering a facility. An alarm can be enabled to go off when temperatures of the guest or employee are above the recommended threshold.
Through the use of this device, companies can help to slow the spread of viruses. Not only is the technology of the device revolutionary, but the device itself is also antimicrobial, flexible and secure. An antimicrobial powder coat finish is available for the base of the unit. It ensures durability and prevent the spread of germs. The kiosk is available in freestanding and countertop configurations.
Demand is high for this product so reach out to Zunesis today to get a quote. We continue to look for other products to help keep your business moving during these unique times.
What is relationship-based selling and why is building healthy working relationships with your clients vital to the success of your business? The word “relationship” may lead one to believe that you spend hours upon hours small talking with your clients. Not true. Just as in personal relationships, it takes time to get to know others.
You may have clients that prefer a “transactional” approach when conducting business. Get in, get what they need, and get out. But taking the time to learn that about your client, how they like to handle their day to day business interactions that is, is a huge part of relationship selling. Not all target audiences are created equal; some like small talk, some are all business. Some want to talk about their families, some don’t. Some will only communicate via email. Others prefer the phone or in person interactions.
The below statistics tell us how most buyers feel about the people they are conducting business with:
How do we work outside of these stats and ensure we are building healthy working relationships with clients? Ultimately, to guarantee our place in business, we must show value, create comfort and reason to trust. Of course, we must deliver on expectations.
Now, more than ever, we have seen a shift in the “socialization” (or lack thereof) with clients. The Pandemic has put a stop to taking someone out to lunch or dinner. There is no playing a round of golf. There is no grabbing a drink after work. There is no getting together at all. The act of socializing with our buyers can aid tremendously in the building of a relationship.
Golf provides an opportunity to learn about your buyer. Because a typical round of golf requires 4 to 5 hours to complete, there is ample opportunity to discuss a number of topics. IT specifically, is a brainstorm industry. So much to learn, digest, debate, and consider when discussing options and ways in which we use IT to better the lives of our end-users.
What does your client want to know about? What keeps them up at night? What is causing problems at work? What do we know about the topic that may be helpful? Is there something stopping them from making certain changes? Is there something bothering them about their relationship with you or your company? Plenty of time to learn everything you need to know.
Golf provides an outlet for stress: While golf can be the most frustrating thing that you’ll ever learn to love, it can become a terrific outlet for everyone to handle work-related stress. In order to become proficient, tremendous focus is required. You can’t be rehashing an unfavorable meeting while you’re trying to sink a 10-foot putt. IT professionals specifically, spend an unbelievable amount of time behind computers, in data centers, isolated from others and working on fixing problems. It’s important to give these hard-working individuals an escape from the stress of their every-day lives.
It provides a chance to bond: Golf can give the player an opportunity to build friendships that last a lifetime. It’s something that people can form a common interest in, while providing a platform to share time and enjoy a common experience-all of which bonds people.
Though golf is a great example of how we can build long-lasting working relationships, let’s face it, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Lunch, dinner, drinks, or anything in social setting for that matter is just as beneficial. Maybe your client has a significant other and/or kids. Maybe they want to spend spare time with family. Great! Sporting event with both families? Hike and lunch? There are endless ways in which you can spend time with your clients, build solid relationships, and do it in ways that make the most sense for each individual person.
The important thing to remember is that if you can find ways to truly get to know your clients, the more likely everyone’s success is in a two-way partnership.
As social connection is important, we will be getting creative with ways we can connect with our clients during this unique time. Our hope is to visit our clients while following social distancing guidelines. Virtual events and activities will be available for education, certification training and more.
How are you managing your partnerships during this pandemic?
Welcome to April 30, 2020. The NFL Draft kicks off in Las Vegas tonight. Can you believe they are building a stage in the Bellagio fountains? The Vegas Golden Knights are entering the second round of the NHL Playoffs on there way to Stanley Cup. The Cleveland Indians have started the season on a tear, projecting a club record 110 wins. LeBron and Anthony Davis win another championship for the Lakers.
Oh wait! Those are some of thing things which did not happen in this version of 2020. For this IT guy, I feel like I am in an episode of my life but Bizzaro World. Its stolen from the likes of Superman Bizzaro World, or one of my favorite Seinfeld episodes, The Bizzaro Jerry.
In my Bizzaro world, I do not wander outside of my makeshift office, a.k.a. dining room table. My kids have taken ownership of the office at various times of the day for their online learning activities. I am loving my commute of walking down the stairs. There is usually never any traffic at that time of the morning. Sometimes, my health care working wife (thank you for your service) is leaving at the same time. And I can’t forget to mention, the 15 steps to the kitchen for snacks and meals.
One thing that is not from this Bizzaro World is Microsoft making changes to licensing again. This time its changes to Office 365. Welcome Microsoft 365.
The recent changes were released April 21. They represent Microsoft’s vision for the future. Microsoft integrates the Microsoft Office apps with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other cutting-edge innovations to work for small and medium sized businesses.
The new name also indicates that Office is more than Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It includes new apps like Teams, Stream, Forms, and Planner. Even the core apps now include features that often require cloud connectivity and make use of AI.
At this time when we are facing health and economic challenges, there are new capabilities in Microsoft Teams. These include hosting rich meetings and events online, cloud file storage and sharing capabilities. This enables businesses to collaborate from anywhere.
“This new approach to naming our products and the use of the Microsoft 365 brand is designed to help customers quickly find the plan they need – whether an enterprise, SMB or consumer plan,” a spokesperson said.
Many Office 365 subscriptions automatically become Microsoft 365 subscriptions:
There are no changes to the following Office 365 plans:
If you already have existing Office 365 plans, you don’t need to do anything. Your Office 365 subscription will automatically be renamed to Microsoft 365. You will see the name of your subscription updated across your Admin Portal and monthly billing statements.
Since 2017, Microsoft 365 has been offered as a licensing bundle for enterprise customers. It provides a combination of Windows 10, Office Pro, and Enterprise Mobility and Security (EMS). These were the first SAAS offerings to include Windows 10 licensing with the subscription. It also offered EMS. This included features such as Azure Active Directory, Azure Information Protection, Microsoft Cloud App Security, Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics, Microsoft Secure Score, and Microsoft Endpoint Manager (including Microsoft Intune and Configuration Manager).
In addition, Microsoft released Microsoft 365 plans for both home and personal use. These come with the core applications as well as online storage and cloud-connected features that let users collaborate on files in real time. These subscriptions, like all of Microsoft cloud offerings, allow users to have the latest features, fixes, and security updates along with ongoing tech support at no cost. Subscriptions can be paid for on a monthly or yearly basis. The Microsoft 365 Family plan lets users share their subscription with family members up to 6 people. They can use the apps on multiple PCs, Macs, tablets, and phones.
Want to get more information on Microsoft 365 for your organization? Contact Zunesis today.
It is April of 2020 and we are in the middle of a Pandemic. The impact of this Pandemic has changed our personal and business lives in ways we could never have imagined just weeks ago. It is far from business as usual. While we know the Pandemic will pass, we don’t know when. Moreover, we don’t have a clear picture of what the economic fallout is going to be once we start getting back to a more familiar personal and business routine.
Our Crystal Ball has rolled off the table and shattered on the floor. Still, we must plan. We can’t stay in crisis mode forever. While dealing with the challenges presented today, we need to think about the post-pandemic period. Coincident to the Pandemic, I had been researching methodologies for developing strategy, and making decisions in a complex, uncertain world. I’m still in learning and research mode but thought I’d share some of my preliminary thoughts and findings.
If we are honest with ourselves, even in a normal year our strategic plans are not free from disruption. After all, we can only plan based on our personal frame-of-reference and on what we think will happen after research and interpretation of Industry Expert predictions. None of us can know what the future holds. Even with detailed strategic plans in place, we receive new information all the time that might cause them to change. What recent events have underscored for us is that we live in a world with uncertainties. It is critical to prepare to manage our planning alongside the unknowns.
When it comes to making decisions, there are multiple options. Most of us are familiar with the use of decision-making tools like Multi-attribute Utility Theory, Grid Analysis, Decision Tree, and the Pugh Method. These variations of decision matrices have been used for many years. However, these tools all assume you already have a list of options defined. You simply need to decide between them.
Decision matrices are useful, but they don’t replace strategic planning. Their design is not for responding to sudden change. To get to a point where we have well-defined options and the ability to handle change, we need frameworks in place to help us plan during normal uncertainty as well as processes for dealing with disruptive new information.
There is a lot of research on this topic. I’d like to highlight two approaches I find interesting. My goal here is not to delve deeply into either of them. I’m not qualified, and this isn’t the forum. However, I want to present these ideas as a way of sparking a conversation in your Organization. Maybe the Pandemic has caused you to think about ways you could have been better prepared for that next, “I never saw that coming” event.
Both the approaches I’m highlighting here are in the online version of the Harvard Business Review (HBR). The first approach I’ll discuss was published in two separate issues and is referred to by the authors as the Simple-Rules approach. The first of these articles was published in the January 2001 Issue of HBR and was titled, “Strategy as Simple Rules”. The follow-up article was published in the September 2012 Issue and was titled, “Simple Rules for a Complex World”. In these articles, Donald N. Sull and Kathleen M. Eisenhardt summarize their research and resulting approach. Subsequent to reading the articles I found the book they co-authored on this topic as well as hours of YouTube content where each of them lectures on the Simple-Rules concept.
The Simple-Rules approach is one that is used for developing strategy or defining initiatives to meet Objectives. While not specifically intended for IT, the Simple-Rules approach can be adapted for any type of Organization. One of my takeaways from the research is that the implementation of this approach is best when using a cross-functional Team. By building a team of individuals from across Divisions and Departments in your Organization, you foster coordination, improve creativity, capture concerns and priorities that might otherwise be missed, and mitigate distrust. With the Team in place, an Organization can start crafting their Simple-Rules strategy.
At a high level, the Simple-Rules approach requires the Team to identify their Objective. The authors also refer to these as Processes. Examples could include; improve profitability by X%, increase availability of Business-Critical Applications to achieve 100% uptime, develop critical IT initiatives to be executed over the next three years. It is important the Objective(s) are as specific as possible and that they be critical to the Organization.
With the Objective identified, the Teams’ next task is to Identify bottlenecks that would keep them from being able to achieve their Objective. Bottlenecks could be lack of trained personnel, no funding, corporate red tape, etc. Once one defines the bottlenecks, the Team develops a few simple rules for how they will overcome the bottlenecks. The authors suggest there should be no more than seven (7) rules.
The idea behind the Simple-Rules approach is to reduce complexity in the decision-making process by making the Objectives and the rules for achieving them clear, concise, and few. In a world where things happen quickly and are often unexpected, having a distilled set of objectives, and rules for meeting them, will make the decision process faster.
As part of this approach, it is important to incorporate new information on a regular basis in order to make determinations about whether your objective is still relevant, your bottlenecks still exist, or your rules still apply.
The second approach I’ve been researching was published in the November 2007 Issue of HBR and was titled, “A Leader’s Framework for Decision Making”. The article and the approach were authored by David S. Snowden and Mary E. Boone. The authors refer to this approach as the Cynefin (kuh-NEV-in) Framework. This framework is specifically designed as a decision-making tool. And, like the Simple-Rules approach, there is a book and several YouTube resources to get a better understanding for how to apply this approach.
The basic premise of the Cynefin Framework is that every issue will fall within a certain context. It is determined by the relationship between cause and effect. Knowing the context will shape the perspective from which you make decisions about the issue. The Cynefin Framework defines the contexts within five domains that include: Obvious, Complicated, Complex, Chaotic, and Disorder. In the article, the authors define how you determine the domain that applies to your issue and, consequently, how that domain will guide your approach for resolving your issue and making decisions.
Cynefin is a tool to help organize thinking during times of change. The instinct for many of us is to act a certain way for every problem. Or worse, we panic instead of taking time to understand that the situation may require an approach we haven’t considered. At the very least, applying this approach may help you to slow down, take a breath, analyze, and keep your mind open to an ordered, thoughtful response.
Without question, we are in uncharted waters with this Pandemic. But this isn’t the first time we’ve been faced with disruptive events, nor will it be our last. Maybe you already had a reliable process in place for handling the current situation. But if you find yourself wondering if there might be a different approach for dealing with drastic change, look at the approaches described here.
I am a firm believer that preparation can be one of the biggest contributors to positive outcomes. Having a process in place for dealing with a complex, uncertain environment won’t make an organization immune to disruption. An organization that prepares could make dealing with the disruption a little easier. So, get out your broom and dustpan, sweep up the glass, and go in search of a more stable stand for your next Crystal Ball.
Anyone else feel like we’re living the movie version of Groundhog Day. Only, there’s really nothing comical about our reality right now. This is a surreal time, but there are opportunities to take advantage of the downtime.
So that we ‘don’t let the cure be worse than the problem,’ it’s time to prep your organization’s infrastructure. When the time comes (and it will) to put that proverbial, “We’re Open” sign in the window, you will want to be prepared. We’re all hopeful this tragedy will take the shape of a ‘V’ in economic recovery. Regardless, an organization needs to be fully operational immediately.
There are several options / assessments that should be considered depending on the size of the organization:
In a normal world, many organizations don’t have the time or resources to tend to the above-mentioned assessments. It’s quite possible some organizations aren’t very familiar with their environment and take it for granted. It’s very possible an organization is about to face something catastrophic with their IT environment and not even know it.
Therefore, an organization needs to be ready when that bell rings in the rematch fight against the economy. Not being prepared is like showing up to a gunfight with a knife. It’s going to be hard enough already but putting in the time now to prepare for the Nation’s comeback will provide dividends.
Our Engineers will do everything possible so that an organization can be a recipient of those forthcoming dividends. In fact, they will go the extra mile every single time. Just a few days ago, I was on a call with a client and our Engineers. They were troubleshooting several issues (REMOTELY) with the client’s Backup and their Exchange. Over three hours later and well past 6PM, they found the needle in the haystack.
After checking with the client, the next day, it was really awesome to see the following reply,
These guys are good!
While I painted the picture of rainbows and butterflies, we do realize budget is a concern. If an organization does decide to conduct one or more of the listed assessments, there are costs involved. Believe it or not, the cost to conduct some of these assessments can be significantly lower than NOT doing an assessment which could result in a complete rebuild of the organization’s infrastructure.
In some cases, this service could be provided to the client at no cost to them. That’s the tease for this blog. We currently have four or five clients who are taking advantage of this opportunity. Now is the time to prepare for the future. Downtime equals prep-time. We’re one tough country and practice the belief of:
Until next time, stay safe and healthy. We’re all in this together and together is the only way we will win!