The Deloitte CIO Journal Tech Trends 2012 and this Cloud Surveys article written by Ben Kepes actually recaps some of the discussion.

What Cloud Solutions Are Easy to Implement?

1. Cloud Backup & Archiving

The first item, if you haven’t already done it is backing up your data to the cloud. There are many choices but recently I found that small firms may be just fine with Backupify for your PC (recently Symantec invested) or for up to 5TB you could use Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3) which scales to the enterprise. There are many more enterprise solutions you may want to consider. Many are mentioned in this article: 10 Enterprise Cloud Storage Solutions

2. File sharing solutions. It seemed that the iPad users liked Dropbox but few were sharing files they felt needed to be highly secure. Every cloud solution must take into account a mix of security and risk management. While the panel was specifically directed to avoid mentioning products (as many panelists were competitors of each other) I found myself wanting to scream out a solution that I showcased during the CFMA Chapter Summit a day earlier, Box. [Just this past week I became a Box Referral partner as it has integrated with Bluebeam, my favorite PDF markup and collaboration solution for contractors.]

What makes Box a great fit? It’s already designed for mobility, it integrates with MS-Office and Google Docs, it truly is a Software as a Service and it has addressed security so your IT department doesn’t have another layer of headaches.

Cloud and Mobile go together so call me to get your construction business started down the path. Once you have these two tasks tackled, we can help you with more.

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The statistics were grim where 6 to 8 percent of all revenues are lost to fraud, 35% of all frauds involve collusion and the average scheme continues 18 months prior to detection.  Putting a Fraud Risk Management Program in place is paramount to avoiding fraud.  Just as important is hearing and seeing business  leadership’s words and actions, which can encourage or discourage ethical behavior.  Downsizing has also put stress into the mix with many firms combining two positions into one.  Have we unintentionally shot a hole in our checks and balances by doing so?  What should construction companies do?  Recognize where fraud happens, use tools and technology to minimize the risk and get started yesterday.  Here are a few tools gleened from this seminar and a few other sources…

• Most banks offer a service called Positive Pay, which verifys your check register against checks being processed. It’s a small fee to provide peace of mind.
• Outsourcing payroll services or using Electronic ACH for payroll is highly recommended.   According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners check tampering goes undetected for a median avarage of 30 months (page 17).
• Your insurance agent may suggest you have all your accounting staff bonded  to reduce the risk of hiring someone with past problems.
• Since the construction industry carries a high risk for inventory theft,  It’s time for IT to tackle surveillance systems, barcode scanning tools, and inventory management (perhaps future blog topics).
• And IT has to worrry about data theft, data files contain employee social security numbers etc., so we need Data Loss Protection  in place.  Don’t forget that when disposing of used equipment to seek out companies that specialize in green technology recycling like Green Tech Assets.  Firms like GTA can provide services including drive degaussing, drive shredding, and DOD 3 Pass erasure.  There are a plethora of places that address electronic waste from cell phones to old modems.  Check them out under the exchange heading of electronic waste on Wikipedia

If you have implemented IT solutions at your construction firm that address data loss or fraud prevention, let me know about your successes.

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