EMRs Must Work Together for ARRA to Succeed

Throughout their generations, medical records have promised us lowered costs, increased efficiency, and generally better healthcare. However, despite untold dollars and the efforts of some very smart people, we've yet to realize a fully electronic medical record.

Health information technology is far from a new concept. The first EKG machine, used by Alexander Muirhead in 1872, was designed to bring better medical solutions to ailing patients through technology. Today, technology and medicine are almost inseparable. Machines provide comprehensive data throughout the diagnostic path. Magnetic resonance imaging is an excellent example of the type of analysis that could not be completed without very powerful computers.

Yet most of this industry has yet to achieve full electronic sharing of data between patients, primary care physicians, referring physicians, pharmacists, and laboratories.

The Veterans Administration offers a shining example of what's possible. Its EMR systemreaches or exceeds the goals of digital patient record deployment on all levels. That's because the system's data -- each patient's record -- is usable and viewable by everyone within the patient care system. You have truly available data, from the patient's reporting of the chief complaint (at record origination) through the patient's discharge (or record close). All facets of care are encompassed within the same record and the same system.

In the open healthcare market, health information exchanges (HIEs) are supposed to handle this sharing of records across a common data structure. Regional extension centers were supposed to implement HIEs, which are an integral part of the ARRA/HITECH Act. But this plan has failed -- plain and simple. You can spread the blame widely, and many health IT players are doing just that.

Because of HIEs' lack of success, EMR implementations also are threatened, according to a December 2012 California Healthcare Foundation study. "Given the lack of tangible progress in expanding HIE capacity in California through federally funded programs... it is unclear how meaningful the widespread adoption" of electronic health records will be.

When looking at EMR adoption, ARRA/HITECH advocates cite a Medscape study from August (registration required) that found 74 percent of physicians are using these solutions. But there's a lot of disparity among systems, and a lack of leadership should concern IT professionals. According to the Medscape study, 22 percent of physicians said they use Epic systems, but an equal percentage chose the "other" option. Since no single package has a commanding marketshare, there's no common data structure across healthcare providers. Records are not necessarily accessible from system to system, meaning patients will find their information in silos across healthcare providers. Sound familiar?

No Front Runner in EMRs

Epic is the leader in the EMR market, an August 2012 report found, but there are many contenders.
(Source: Medscape)

To realize the promises of procedural efficiencies, reduced costs, and improved care, healthcare itself must recognize something that's true across computing, regardless of industry, type, or size: It has to be easy to share data across platforms. For many generations, documents and spreadsheets have been portable across platforms and between users, irrespective of the relationship between the sharing parties. Any user, from novice to expert, can share media of all types, including videos. However, billions of dollars later, the infrastructure for one set of highly trusted users -- our medical professionals -- is still stymied by this challenge. Healthcare professionals still cannot share digital information between systems.

Frankly, I do not see a cure in the near future. But some sort of exchange medium must be found. We must concoct a common ground for sharing medical data -- for the health of the industry and, more importantly, our citizens.

Sixth Sense Tech + Open-Source = Exciting Opportunities

Sixth Sense Technology is an open-source alternative to Microsoft Surface, Apple's multi-touch, and the Linux MPX Multi Touch. It's also inexpensive and, I believe, mind-blowing and industry-changing.

When Pranav Mistry previewed this technology during an enthralling TED Talk in November 2009, he promised that, one day in the near future, developers would have access to the tools they needed to build their own "Sixth Sense" devices, open-source-style.

Sixth Sense uses hand gestures to control interactions as opposed to a mouse, trackball, or screen. Mistry's goal: To seamlessly connect the virtual and physical worlds in order to make the computing experience more intuitive. As a result, he wanted to remove the digital world from the confines of the smartphone or tablet and bring that world to everyday objects such as paper, walls, and t-shirts. "Rather than getting your camera out of your pocket, you can just do the gesture of taking a photo and it takes a photo for you," he said in the video.

The Future Is Here

In his TED talk, Pranav Mistry demonstrated his open-source-based technology that eliminates the need for typical screens or hardware, and uses "screens" such as paper, wrists, or walls to display data.

Recently Mistry lived up to his promise of sharing his powerful technology. The code andhardware component list (HCL) for Sixth Sense are now available. Wearable technology, as defined by Apple, Samsung, Dell, HP, and Microsoft, looks much different than the world Mistry envisioned four years ago. By offering this technology for free and open-source-style, Sixth Sense is definitely not on the same roadmap that the big boys of high tech are traveling.

The components you need to build a Sixth Sense device are both off-the-shelf andinexpensive. They include:

• Camera to capture the user’s hand movements and gestures, take pictures, and interpret users' “framing” gestures. Approximate cost: $50
• Projector for output (GUI), giving the ability to use virtually any surface as a “monitor,” as well as augmenting physical objects with real-time content. Approximate cost: $250
• Mirror measuring 1” x 1” as a physical relay for the projected image. Approximate cost: $5
• Microphone, used to enable paper as an interactive surface by capturing sound across the paper medium. With current camera tech, the microphone is usually part of the camera apparatus. Approximate cost: $0
• Mobile computing device -- smartphone or laptop. Approximate cost: Varies

That totals about $300 in hardware, all based on readily available, off-the-shelf components. That's not a huge investment, given the impact of the technology. Currently, no (or perhaps only a few) VARs are marketing Sixth Sense, although I predict this will change -- soon. Packaging the system with software to create a usable bundle of some wearable device at an inexpensive purchase price is inevitable.

Gaming platforms adopted gesture- and voice-based recognition, allowing for free-form game play and voice command for software manipulation. Microsoft, Apple, and BlackBerry accustomed users to control their devices via gesture and swipe commands. Now a new tier of tablet manufacturers can pull up a seat at the mobile table, given the low-cost barrier to entry and the potential market for vertical, specialized, inexpensive models, or diverse new wearable prototypes based on these open-source specs.

The table has been set for a truly intuitive platform to sweep the marketplace. I foresee the release of “Sixth Sense” as a free open-source alternative will have a big effect on an already explosive impact.

Wearable Tech Will Create BYOD Tsunami

The next big shift in IT's cycle will come strapped to our wrists.

We are already migrating into a landscape of people who are empowered with information-gathering and reporting devices. These portable devices, in order to be truly effective, require interaction with the cloud or the Internet. But today, these devices rely heavily on tethering, a trend that will not last given our insatiable demand for mobility and flexibility. Users, from top executives to students, will increasingly insist upon WiFi connectivity.

DIck Tracy Calling

Chester Gould set the bar high when he drew Dick Tracy and his high-tech wristwatch.
(Source: Wikipedia)

The vision of the future, as drawn by Chester Gould, included wearable tech not far beyond our current technological reach. Yes, we have the components necessary to make a Dick Tracy watch. For connoisseurs of the 1940’s comic strip, this is an exciting prospect.

Police Detective Dick Tracy, as drawn in the popular comic, sported a highly functional tool -- his watch. This device, which looked very similar to any other watch, featured capabilities far beyond the technology of the day, including videoconferencing, big-data search, and navigational guidance. In fact, it had components that exist, in larger form factors, in today's tech world.

Rumors that Apple will be releasing a device akin to the Dick Tracy Watch are surfacingacross the web, although Apple has not confirmed these stories.

Apple stores stock bands for its popular Nano iPod, which many users sport similarly to a wristwatch. Fossil released the Abacus AU5005, a wrist PDA running Palm OS, but it never gained any market traction. First released in 2004, it's possible Fossil could rerelease Abacus with the recent advent of BlackBerry 10. (See: BlackBerry 10 Faces Enterprise, BYOD Hurdles.)

Almost three years ago, another big tech player cited the comic strip in a widely reported blog post. Carl Taussig, director of IS at HP Labs in Palo Alto, referred to a watch in development in a one-line description: “We call it a Dick Tracy Watch." Since he posted this in May 2010, the HP product cannot be far off.

Handy, Dandy Device

People can customize Pebble's watch face, apps, and other features, according to the developer.
(Source: Pebble)

There are smart wristwatch options out there, if you want one sooner than later. For example, Pebble Watch expects to ship its customizable, wearable tech, which lists for $150, next quarter (it's taking pre-orders now). Born from a KickStarter campaign, this small manufacturer didn't wait for the big boys to get to market, and tried to carve its own niche early.

Sony, which is a big company, has the SmartWatch, which lets wearers access text messages, emails, and status updates, as well as apps on Google Play.

One reason these intelligent, connected wristwatches will succeed is our evolving connectivity.

MediaTek, an off-brand smartphone manufacturer, is mounting a plan to release a no contract, $100-range smartphone. In fact, I've seen some reports that the smartphone market will settle into a $50, no-contract price.

Smartphones and other mobile devices built on an operating system with advanced connectivity options are becoming the norm, not the exception. Phones that look for WiFi, rather than defaulting to 3G/4G connectivity, are storming the market. As the saturation percentage increases, and as devices ship at a lower price point, business environments of all sizes will be challenged with wireless informal device support, also known as BYOD.

Corporate offices, traditionally protected by a hard firewall-based network edge, are being forced to recognize this micro army of devices. Incorporating the ad hoc user via tethered Bluetooth device or 802.x enabled WiFi is IT's reality. As I wrote recently, there are tools out there used solely to compromise networks via WiFi radio, tools that are accessible and free.

Understanding the impact of these devices in relation to governance, security, and accessibility requires a current look at adoptable and available technology.

Too often, when I broach this topic with clients, they greet me with understanding nods and placating statements. They get that "this is the future." Acknowledging that the future is here is rare. A real threat exists, not tomorrow, but today.

In nature, a tsunami builds far off the coast, spurred by an underwater shift in the landscape, far below the visible surface. On the horizon, you can't see any real change. Only after the massive wave has had time to build and gain momentum does the destructive force strike a coastline. Plummeting hardware costs, market innovators, user demand, and established standards constitute the digital plate shift -- and these events have already happened in our industry.

The tsunami of BYOD, in the form of inexpensive wearable tech, is about to hit the coastline of IT. Can your department swim?

Beware: This Is a Neighborhood Hack Community

When one of my team members recently responded to network-down call at a client's home office, he quickly established, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the edge device -- a customer premise equipment (CPE) router -- had been compromised. Regaining control of the edge router proved difficult. A neighbor who was within range of the 802.11n wireless radio was actively hacking the router, overpowering the field tech with password resets in real time. In order to regain control of the network, the tech had to remove the antennas, allowing for LAN access only to the routing edge, and effectively cutting off the hack by cutting off his basic access.

When the field engineer recounted this story, I was skeptical. Traditionally an active hack on an edge device is something found only in corporate networks that house a treasure trove of corporate information. You know: credit card numbers, medical records, all sorts of information that someone can exploit for monetary gain. Traditionally, the sophistication level required to overpower an edge device has been out of reach to the "script kiddies" or low-level code miscreants.

My engineering meeting soon dissolved into a heated discussion about the availability and sophistication level someone would need to compromise CPE. We decided to pull the packet logs from the routing edge and sleuth out the user type, based on traffic type. The compromised network did not have any saleable information, only client contact files. There were no credit card numbers -- just your basic contact information, such as email addresses and cellphone numbers. Not exactly the family jewels, digitally speaking.

We determined the leveraged network was used as an access device for a gaming console -- with access only being sought after school hours. Based on the traffic type, we figured our hacker was a school kid playing Gears of War. In other words, a middle-schooler had bypassed what has been thought of as a sophisticated security paradigm. This kid had changed basic access passwords, altered the default IP address scheme had, and enabled WPA2 security. None of the traditional security tactics worked; this kid defeated them all, in real time.

Our answer to the client was simple: Upgrade your edge device to a more current hardware version, hoping to outrun the digital truant. The teen has not gained any access since the upgrade. Time will tell.

The question bothered me. How could a middle-schooler with an Xbox defeat an encrypted password set? Apparently, there are videos out there that explain how to do this. A security consultant, Pedro Joaquin of Mexico City, said he has sent these exploits to CPE manufacturers and, he warned, none are immune.

As a security professional, my visit to one exploit site sent a chill down my spine. It showed a tool set that can be captured and used offline from a tablet, gaming console, or cellphone -- anything that runs Java. More than 115 exploits are available, free, anytime -- on or offline -- from virtually any device with an interface and a processor.

In the past, my greatest concern for small and midsized business users has centered around their adherence to good password management, about changing the shipping default user name and password for edge devices, for example. Too often, the CPE that the broadband service provider delivers is not accessible to the end user or contracted IT resource. This fact plays into the hands of the nefarious user or digital thief, given this highly available tool kit.

In a vast conglomerate or midsized organization, think about all those employees who telecommute part time, who answer business emails from their iPads, or revise spreadsheet figures at the breakfast table on Monday morning. These days, who doesn't work from home sometimes? Which colleague might be sending confidential or sensitive data from his flimsy household network? Who's living next door, down the road, or across the backyard?

Taking your data to the cloud, and getting your primary data storage out of the LAN and into a more secure enterprise-based solution, is becoming more urgent. For many generations of data access -- a cycle that runs in dog years -- the web has not been a nice neighborhood. Data thieves, traditionally looking for saleable data, are around every corner. With the advent of easy to use exploit tools, the cancer of hacking has spread to your front door.

Adopting 802.11ac Standard Saves Money, Adds Value

This year's opening keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) broke the mold: Dr. Paul Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm, delivered the first non-Microsoft presentation in a dozen years. Though Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer did make an appearance, the presentation was dominated by a core technology for release by Qualcomm this year.

In fact, 802.11ac-supported products are across the marketplace, available not only by Qualcomm, but also by Broadcom, Marvell, Mediatek, Quantenna, and Redpine. The product offerings by this wide array of chipset manufacturers ranges from routers and tablets to a selection of handsets, a.k.a. cellphones.

Though vendors are highlighting many technologies at CES, the most easily adoptable and (in my opinion) most impactful technology is the 802.11ac standard. This latest rev of wireless tech brings some real flash-bang delivery to a highly adopted mobile user base.

The new 802.11ac standard has some dizzying tech-speak surrounding why it's head and shoulders above previous iterations. The geeks reading this can follow the 802.11ac for more information. For the less geeky, the answer is simple: 802.11ac supports more users with faster delivery of content. When dealing with tech, faster is better -- every time.

Though the 802.11ac standard has been out for more than a year, the adoption curve is just hitting the marketplace. Market offerings for routers ranging in price from $137 to $230 are available from Asus, NetGear, D-Link, Belkin, and Buffalo, a variety that announces 802.11ac is here to stay.

You can find the real punch in the devices carrying chipsets that leverage the 802.11ac connectivity gains. There's a range of quad core processing chipsets in a variety of devices that truly make this nominal investment in new hardware well worth an upgrade. Cellphones, tablets, smart TVs, laptops, and gaming consoles -- you name it, the device will have this chipset. The range of 802.11ac-enabled devices will grow as the year progresses.

The routing edge is not the only place to see an increase in functionality with a small price upgrade. If your laptop, smart TV, or wirelessly linked PC is in need of a faster and richer connection to the content-filled web, you can use an add-on dongle or in-box card (PCI). Ranging in price from $17 to $35, this inexpensive add-on tech, paired with an upgrade at the routing edge, is a real bang for your IT buck.

For the IT pros who are adding an 802.11ac-enabled Wireless Access Point (WAP) to existing networks, it's not a bad idea. After all, you can support all those newly purchased tablets, smartphones, and current generation laptops with a richer experience, without upgrading the routing core, with an 802.11ac WAP or wireless repeater.

A major gain within the framework of the 802.11ac standard includes doubling the number of real users supported by any given access point, avoiding previously encountered bottlenecks at the users' edge. Now that's an argument you can use to free up those tightly held IT budget dollars.

Though the New Year will bring many flashy tech gains, including 802.11ac in your first quarter IT plan is a huge gain at the point of integration -- the user experience. Why not leverage this new tech with a low dollar buy? After all, supporting 802.11ac is the right move for your users, providing speed and depth of user experience -- whether it's for a residential network, small office environment, or a campus-wide implementation -- for a small outlay.

Get Back: Returning to Windows 7

Whether it's because they like the stability of Windows 7, their existing investment in earlier third-party applications, dislike of Microsoft's latest operating system, or another reason altogether, some IT professionals don't want to run the Windows 8 OS that comes preloaded on their companies' new desktop PCs. Or perhaps they plan to run Windows 8 -- but not yet.

I've found that about 10 percent of new desktops are still available with Windows 7. Market leading PC vendors' websites show about six to 10 of their 40 to 60 offerings ship with Windows 7 preinstalled. This percentage will only drop as we move forward. I expect by the end of March only specialty orders will allow for Windows 7 preinstalled.

Right out of the box, I have Windows 8: How do I get back to Windows 7 if I'm not ready and willing to make that commitment?

Microsoft's Replacement Department, the starting point in this licensing quest, is prepared to handle this issue. After providing the call center with your Windows 8 product key and part number, the company will ship out Windows 7 Media and you'll be charged $30 for the media and shipping. In return, you'll get a boxed retail copy of Windows 7 Pro with a license key. The associated computer will then have a shipping Windows 8 license for later use, and a current and fully-licensed Windows 7 Pro desktop -- the best of both worlds.

For, after all, eventually your company will most likely upgrade to Windows 8. By planning ahead, you can eliminate some obvious training issues that occur due to the great differences between versions 7 and 8.

Press start
When you finally do begin rolling out Windows 8 to your company's users, be prepared to deal with the Start button. Or, to be more accurate, the lack of one.

For $5 per desktop, you can buy Start8, third-party software by StarDock, that adds this button back to the Win8 desktop. It's a cheap way to deal with the first issue you'll probably find related to Windows 8 training.

After all, training is the key to successful software adoption. Any technology must have the confidence of the users. If your user base does not believe in its ability to use the tools at hand, the software will fail, not due to bad code or poor installation, but for lack of use. Employees will fall back on older and what's perceived as "more reliable" technology to complete their tasks. At the end of the day, they must get their jobs done, regardless of current IT initiatives.

IT must do their job as well. Throwing users to the interface sharks is not a good path to building confidence in your organization's support team. Empowering users with new tools is part of the path to success for the business world. The real work for the IT sector is simple: Teach your user base how to be more efficient with the new tools. In the end, they will need less support if you provide them with advance training in new software or operating systems.

There May Already Be an App for That

There are so many applications readily available today, often for free, that jumping into mobile application development is a decision no company should take lightly.

Though it's sometimes difficult to recognize it from the results, even bad apps were developed to accomplish one or several goals. Typically, apps are born from frustration by a group of potential users -- whether they're in IT, sales, marketing, human resources, or elsewhere. Yearning for a more efficient process or a better result, an energized individual or group embarks on a solution to a specific challenge: providing timely information, repeating a known calculation, integrating a big-data grab and translating the information into a pertinent interface, or some other task that demands a better solution.

A good litmus test for any application development team is to search for something that could already solve your problem. If nothing is available, there could very well be a reason. Be on the lookout for a hidden challenge that could present itself during the development process. You may encounter a missing piece of technology, or you may need an expensive testing process. There could be an immature standard or an interface that is broken beyond all recognition.

After finding something that is close but not quite close enough, I suggest you analyze the near-miss app. What keeps it from providing the functionality you need? You may want to contact the app's developer to see if it can add or subtract capabilities. Remember that the goal here is to satisfy your need for information, fix a broken process, or find an operational efficiency. Building an app just because you can or because it is cool is not a real reason. Refer to your frustrated user. What is that user's pain?

If you cannot find a workaround, your next step is application development. Defining what platform to use -- the best piece of hardware for your application -- is a seminal step. You must understand the user's environment, mobility needs, and governance standards. Leveraging a platform like Facebook, Google, or YouTube speeds up your release date and cuts down on development costs.

The nuts and bolts of any application development rely on two major components: the application programming interface (API) and the software development kit (SDK). They allow your development team to interface with data and function on multiple platforms.

An SDK allows the front end to perform on multiple platforms -- iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows, or Linux. A good API takes all currently usable technologies into account.

SDKs give the data engines used by the front-end software the ability to share information safely and securely. All software projects consist of three components: backend data, middleware, and front end (or user interface).

Losing sight of the goal (the end user's pain) is often a byproduct of application development. When considering whether you really need to write an app for that, look carefully. You might find another frustrated user who has already met your need.

The Science of Selecting an IT Partner

Finding a good partner in today's world of bring-your-own-device, cloud computing, social network, rampant cyber insecurity, and governance concerns might seem a daunting task. That's because it is, plain and simple.

But selecting the best-suited solution provider is the best way to augment your (no doubt) over-burdened internal IT staff to work on deadline tasks, finding a team with complementary talents, or gaining access to skills you don't have in-house.

In many cases, IT departments took a big hit in early 2009 and have seen little growth since. Tightened budgets and limited IT purchasing dollars greatly reduced the need for internal technology resources.

Now funding is loosening and companies are hiring again, when they can find the right people for the jobs. As you begin your quest for well-qualified service providers, here are some guidelines for finding the right company to support your needs, now and in the future.

Vertical market expertise
Understanding the needs of your users, your company's governance issues, its known integration hurdles, and hardware requirements is as much about having already made crucial mistakes (hopefully at the test bench) as it is about general experience in integration. Different business models and units (sales, manufacturing, just-in-time, RFID, and cloud, for example) require different levels of partner and certification commitment. Having a partner that predicts your needs, wants, and requirements is much more likely if you locate and leverage an organization that understands your minimum working requirement because it knows your industry based on prior experience.

Understanding BYOD
BYOD is a current example of a technology path that is pressing and present in the support and integration market. A prospective partner that gives you the thousand-yard stare when you inquire as to referenceable BYOD adoption is not the right partner for your immediate and long-term needs. After all, BYOD is something most -- if not all -- midsized enterprises are considering today; no doubt it will be on your company's radar sooner rather than later.

Support team
At least 80 percent of all support calls are resolved with one of three questions: Is the failing device actually turned on; does your login give you rights to the resources you need to execute the program; and are you using the right password or does it need to be reset? It's only in the other 20 percent or so where you'll find challenges. Continuity of support relies on retained knowledge about very specific processes and architecture. If you're handing over employee support to a partner, make sure its best-practices and procedures match your own company's policies.

Knowledge sharing 
When interviewing prospective partners' current clients, ask: “Do they pass along needed information and user training as a regular course of support?” If your company adopts a new process or application, the end-user training should change each time. Users empowered with enough knowledge to use the tools at their disposal are easier to support and, in fact, need less tech support.

Innovation and successes
It's important to find a partner who has a track record of innovation, one who invests in learning and implementing the adoption of new processes and software. Ask the potential partner: “What is your most recent and greatest efficiency gain for the end users you support?” The answers can be most revealing.

Strategic partners 
No solution provider/integrator stands alone, and it's important that your partner demonstrates its technical prowess through vendor certifications, ongoing education, governance compliance certification, and other measurable forms. Select a partner that has an unbroken string of partner support resources. These vendor or industry partners should be relevant to your organization, and certifications should be verifiable.

Your integration partner should be a strong ally as you harness the power of technology to enhance business processes to become more competitive, more agile, and more profitable. Finding success and victory in digital efficiency is about working with a knowledgeable and professional IT partner every time.

Plug In to Mobile Employee Productivity & Savings

Empowering field-based employees is important to many midsized and enterprise organizations, and though many of the required productivity tools are available on devices such as smartphones and tablets, firing up a laptop and using a wider set of applications is still necessary at times.

In the past, this has been an expensive proposition. But companies have several communication options to help control costs if employees are working in areas with connectivity available to them.

With tethering, for example, field employees' phones or tablets broadcast a signal. These devices must have connectivity to the Web so they can pass along the gateway to another device, such as a laptop or non-3G or -4G phone. The number of devices that can simultaneously connect is limited based on the tethered hardware. And regardless of the number of consecutive attached devices, all those connected to this ad hoc network are limited by the total amount of bandwidth available to the host.

Many employees now have mobile hot spots, a boon for today's mobile users. I have been testing a 4G mobile hotspot by Clear. Speeds are nice, upwards of 10x1 at the peak, with 2x.5 near the slower end of the scale. I only carry four 802.x capable devices with me at any time; attaching all four simultaneously did not slow down the Clear box a bit.

Coverage in Orlando was great, fast, and low latency (with ping between 42ms and 88ms). My test in the middle of the Courtney Campbell Causeway (basically in the middle of Tampa Bay) was not successful, nor was I able to keep a consistent connection travelling at highway speeds between Tampa and Orlando. But when I was in the city itself or in a office, hotel, or restaurant, the device worked great. The cost is low, at $49 for the device and $49 a month for “unlimited” bandwidth.

Speaking of cellular service, are you still paying for separate services, such as digital navigation tools, from your provider? Don't forget to review the ever-growing menu of free or inexpensive apps available to employees. Waze provides voice-based directions and verbal feedback with the user (allowing for hands-free use), as well as real-time updates on police actions, traffic, and congestion, based on other users in your area. Waze is a cross between a social networking platform, traffic management and navigation tool, and mobile app. The price is right, as well: free.

Regardless of the budget available for your mobile workforce, you'll find a mix of services and devices to support your connectivity needs. Returns in increased sales, improved customer satisfaction, and enhanced employee productivity should outweigh the paltry costs presented by the new breed of devices and apps.

Corporate IT leaders should audit carrier agreements, test new products, and challenge historical approaches to mobile and remote users. Adhering to last year's status quo for functionality, price, and contract service level agreements (SLAs) guarantees a net loss for your IT budget expenditures -- and your organization's field employees. Challenge your budget expenditures and explore new technologies.

It is, after all, our first and most important job as IT professionals.

The Birth of a New Deal

I've been in the technology business for more than 20 years, and in that time I've often faced the same challenge: explaining complex, technical processes to a non-technical decision maker. With virtualization and cloud now becoming the solution for many SMBs' business problems, I don't see anything changing soon.

One thing that has changed, however, is the sales process. It's similar to the last stages of birth.

The child -- let's call her Deal -- is overdue, holding up her mother, Commerce. The waiting room is filled with cigar wielding relatives. Fulfillment, Customer Service, Accessory, and Invoicing anxiously await the much anticipated arrival.

The proud parents have been fussing over Deal's new room for months. Excited relatives have thrown showers to prepare for the birth. The family has taken out loans to cover building costs for the extra space Deal will need. The birth is now long overdue.

Deal is a finicky child. She is often not on a traditional clock. In the past, newborns like Deal required regular feeding. They had a four-phase cycle: Feed, burp, play, and sleep. Just give them regular attention, and they will meet all the expected stages on schedule.

But today's Deal is different. She is sporadic, sometimes sleeping for days only to awaken with a voracious hunger, often depleting the supplies purchased for her keeping. It is hard to listen to her cries, so everyone scrambles to silence her grumbling. No one has ever seen a child like Deal. She is a new breed. Her care and feeding cycles are unique in all their years of experience with newborns.

This new Deal happens fast, lives in a new cycle, and learns quickly. This will not change; the old Deal is gone, the new Deal is here to stay.

Yet some remnants of the old Deal remain, I admit. After all, business still interacts with clients. Products and solutions still drive the sales process. Customers have not lost the need for more products. These components have not changed. What has changed has the way we do business.

Our new sales representative is a Facebook Business Page with a storefront. The marketing manager is a premium iPhone or Droid app. We drive fulfillment with an SQL-linked, HTTPS-integrated engine tied to an online shopping cart. As solution providers, we follow up what happens at the feet of a review-based scoring application. We can see market growth directly correlate to viral videos and social media news about a vendor's product.

The way we do business has changed. From procurement to delivery and invoicing, it will never be the same again. Your best new employee may be a Web-based server, the midwife and nursemaid to your new child named Deal.

Congratulations on your new child. I hope you picked the right color for the nursery -- Dollar Bill Green.

SMBs Poised to Revive Sales Momentum

When I was a young man, I often wondered about Bigfoot sightings. Pictures, always grainy and out of focus, bubbled to the surface of the news media, with the National Enquirer usually running the lead story. A common element surrounded the Bigfoot phenomenon: Hippies were often the closest point of interaction with this half-man, half-bear creature, who was much sought, hard to see, and impossible to verify. Who could trust the long-hairs who told their tale to a publication of dubious repute?

Now, as an older professional, I see similarities with the new sales model, which has much the same personality problem. The description of this new market interaction is grainy, out of focus, and hard to track down to a reliable first-person accounting. People of questionable character are most often tied to its tracking and origin. Yet I have seen this new Bigfoot. Let me bring it into sharper focus.

A little history first. For many years, the corner store was the backbone of our small retailer model. Shelves teemed with locally sourced or manufactured items. Items were not labeled "organic" or "Made in America." That's because shoppers knew the items' origin. The manufacturer was a known entity, often behind the counter or one step away in degrees of separation from the sales person.

The big-box retailer changed all this. Small town USA began losing its product-specific retailers. Hardware stores, car part stores, local grocers, and knickknack shops gave way to larger retailers like Kmart, Target, and Wal-Mart. These stores allowed for one-stop shopping. Lower costs per square foot and common warehouse and distribution models combined with more buying power and a deeper reach into the manufacturing space to knock out the small guy. The local specialty retailer went away. New generations of potential retailers refused to don the mantle of shop owner. Instead, they attended college and moved to the big city in pursuit of other dreams.

The real issue here is sales footprint. The last hurdle from marketing to sales has been luring the buyer through the store's doors for an opportunity to exchange hard-earned, after-tax dollars for needed products and services. Until recently, the retailer's ability to make a sale was dictated by the visible sales footprint. This footprint is defined by market visibility -- marketing and word of mouth.

Small retailers that have survived the last round of economic woes and big-box competitors are specific and very good at what they do. It is time for these little guys to punch back, leveraging their competitiveness and true product base: knowledge and excellence in product/service delivery. This is possible through digital retail sales and service delivery, which allows the customer experience to be accessed through all current tools.

These tools are common and often free or freemium. Think Facebook Business Pages, Pinterest, and a properly implemented static business URL. As a small, specific retailer, the key is to enable your client base to spread the good news about your products and services. Excellence to market in a specific vertical must be lauded and showcased.

The footprint of the small retailer can grow beyond its region's physical limitations. Engaging prospects and marketing to new clients can be a smooth transition. Molding these technologies to traditional sales paths is the key to success.

Or you could grab your phone and hide away in the wilds of the marketplace. Bigfoot is near!

I will be on the lookout for your Facbook Business posting with a sharp, clear picture of yournew market entry -- your traditional win in your vertical market.

The Customer Is Always Right

Recently, I had the pleasure of spending part of a day on site with one of my favorite customers. John is in the gun business, a market currently experiencing a definite boom -- pun intended.

We were tackling a specific challenge: how to leverage his company’s greatest physical asset, its sales and service department, in today’s digital marketplace. John’s been in firearms a long time: his family's business has been in the same location for 62 years.

During the past few months we have made strides forward with John’s business. We’ve refreshed the network, worked with an integrated point-of-sale (PoS) system, created a Facebook business page, updated two Websites, upgraded to existing vendors’ latest online tools, and so forth.

As a professional integrator and consultant, I counted all these steps as significant gains. But John corrected me that day. You see, my client does business the old-fashioned way, face to face. He takes every customer’s needs to heart, leaning on years of experience to satisfy his clients.

The path to sale has not changed, but the landscape has. You still must serve clients, first and foremost. And that’s the end of the story.

How, then, will we help John and his team meet this challenge? How can we help him meet customers’ face-to-face needs while simultaneously reaching out to other clients virtually?

Our plan is simple and straightforward. The gunsmith will stock his online store with low-cost, high-need items such as cleaning kits, ammunition, and targets -- goods with a short returning sales cycle. The store will post pictures of new, big-ticket sales to the Facebook page, allowing for a social networking win. Events such as gun safety courses will be organized online, allowing for a younger generation to use their tools to book slots in the available courseware.

Despite all the technical hurdles we needed to meet, my team still had to do business the old-fashioned way: listen to the client, craft a solution, and implement the next phase of the project. I guess business does not change, and the client should always be right -- the first time.

When dealing with all of today’s new technical tools, do not lose sight of the win/win that always exists in the SMB. Treat your customer right, provide quality service and products, and then scream about it online! Not the other way around.

Ask the Right Questions to Find Data's Organic Roots

As a lifetime geek, I have been asked many times what I actually do. A turn of phrase I use to help enlighten many a Luddite is "I cure business cancer with technology." The question that invariably follows is "How do you do that?"

My response is philosophical. You'll never find the correct answer if the question itself is not correct. Attempting to find an answer without the right question is akin to trying to find unobtainium, a mystical mineral that lies at the heart of the perpetual motion machine and the first enlightened chipset.

From a business perspective, finding the right question is all about analyzing the right data. But you never find the right data without getting to the organic roots of the data itself. A bit lost? Let me explain.

There is a question parents often ask their teenagers on Saturday morning: "So, what did you do last night?" Any savvy parent can smell the working teenage brain sifting through the actual events of the prior night and deciding in real-time what the parent needs to know to satisfy the answer without a grounding.

Business data is much the same. All information is filtered through normal channels. Financial data comes from accounting. Employee data comes from human resources. Manufacturing data comes from line foremen and subcontractors. All these channels are inherently corrupt in the nature of their reporting structure and verbiage. That is, the data is spoken in their respective business dialect.

Business decision makers ask different questions than specific team leaders. Getting this information into the right format -- a shape that allows business leaders to make informed decisions -- is always a test for truly adept administrative assistants, who are yet another filter.

On the other side of the discussion lies data overload. Business leaders rarely have the vernacular to decipher raw data from the field in its native format. Department heads decode data with an expectation of fulfilling leadership's informational needs, often with a poor result. How do we fix this?

Professional geeks worldwide work in information technology. One would think, then, that geeks had this information filtering problem handled. Alas, this is not the case. Many IT workers do not have the business experience to understand the problem. Geeks are armed with a bevy of tools to provide reporting structure, but a translation gap still exists among IT workers, IT leadership, business workers, and C-level executives.

There is a truism in the application development space: Every great application is written by a frustrated user.

Application development is a labor of love. Only a truly frustrated user will scope and implement a real solution using current tools, of which there are many to choose from. In the new IT paradigm, all interfaces are being retooled to account for a new user interface: the touch screen. As developers rework these apps with a fresh interface perspective, they are overcoming many legacy challenges as the technology becomes appliance enabled. (Those who read my posts know of my technology appliance rant.)

The holy grail here is finding the necessary data at its organic roots. A perfect example of this is fleet management. Any business owner/leader with a fleet of vehicles (always a prevailing cost) has questioned the impact of vehicle costs on the bottom line. The company generates a sales-per-mile-per-dollar report. This data is inherently squishy. Sales guys report miles (always fudged), service reps take vehicles home, and executives bump rental car classes. The story goes on and on.

The organic root of this data is simple. How many business miles were driven, and what sales were generated with those driven miles? A bevy of inexpensive fleet management solutions are available in the marketplace. They allow for real-time tracking, maintenance tracking, miles driven reporting, hot zone updates (is my employee at a bar?), and so forth. The ROI on these solutions is sometimes immediate, perhaps received through reduced insurance overhead.

This is a perfect example of an old technology that has been made new with lower hardware costs, touchscreen applications, and SaaS (software-as-a-service) implementations. Small and midsized businesses can use this type of solution with cellphone tracking, rather than costlier car-mounted hardware.

Here is my challenge to fellow geeks: What vexing business problems have always seemed so fixable? Follow these steps, and you'll be on the road to digital and business nirvana.

1. What is the right question?
2. Where does the organic root of the data lie?
3. What new interface development lends itself to providing the bridge needed between leadership and workers.

Happy hunting!

With Untangle, SMBs Unlock Online Efficiency & Security

Anti-virus, firewall, and user tracking/filtering -- all for $12 a month? Say it ain’t so!

Traditionally, edge security (firewall), secure remote access (virtual private network or VPN), user filtering (white- or blacklisting), and user tracking (logging and filtering) have been independent services that cost a lot to implement, support, and maintain. Heavyweights such as Microsoft (with SBS) and Cisco (with PIX/AIS) have sought to combine these services in a single box -- the Holy Grail, as it were.

Licensing and hardware (always a consideration) proved costly and hard to maintain with Microsoft and Cisco’s products. I can say this with confidence, having sold both solutions in the enterprise market and the high end of the midsized business market. When correctly implemented, these solutions would work well, providing management with user tracking to ensure productivity and/or compliance (with things like HIPAA or FDIC rules). However, to make these products work correctly and seamlessly, the company needed a lead IT guy, if not a highly certified Microsoft or Cisco person.

Over the past year, as I’ve worked with not-for-profits, I have been searching for a low-cost, low-maintenance user tracking/filtering solution that will help church and community center members surf the Web safely and securely. This solution must also filter Web content for safety and content. After months of testing and implementing, I have finally found a solution.

The Linux-based Untangle meets all my requirements and exceeds my expectations. All you need is a low-cost or repurposed computer with two network interface cards (NICs) and some basic networking skills. The installation is quick and easy. The software is accessible; an easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI) replaces the command line interface (CLI) usually associated with Linux. And it’s easy to purchase and maintain with little or possibly no monthly costs. Best of all, the solution scales to an environment of less than 10 users -- an ideal size for the smallest SMBs.

In the implementations I am supporting, we are running the Lite version, with two licensing add-ons. Each environment fits the fewer-than-10-concurrent-users model quite nicely. Policy Manager (which costs $5 a month) and Directory Connector (for $7 a month) provide the needed functionality to track and report on specific users and set up multiple policies or classes of users.

What does this do for the small business or, in this case, not-for-profit? Simply stated, it enables user tracking and reporting, as well as filtering of specific services, at the discretion of management. Want to limit Facebook use to lunchtime only? Untangle handles this with a few mouse clicks. Want to deny viewing of specific types of Web content (gambling, violence, or pornography, for example)? No problem. Want to add wireless access for office visitors without giving them access to sensitive files or resources? Again, no problem. Untangle does it.

Perhaps the software’s most impressive capability is its antivirus wall. In the community center environment, users often are not too careful when it comes to pressing “OK” to an ad or popup query. I have seen one infection during the four months of testing Untangle. In that case, the virus was presented on a dongle hidden in a picture file and did not come from the Web. A combination of Microsoft Security Essentials (MSSEC) and Untangle effectively locked out all the viral problems in this traditionally volatile environment with a varied user base averaging 100 logins a day across four computers.

After four months of testing, I can say confidently that this solution is the greatest thing since sliced bread. It scales to a much larger user base, but unlike most competitive solutions, Untangle works in the small-business sector -- and it works well.

Have you used Untangle? Are you interested in learning more? If so, please leave a comment or email me at michael.starnes@gmail.com.