Hackers Allegedly Steal 160 Million Credit Card Numbers

Hackers Allegedly Steal 160 Million Credit Card Numbers
A Look at Dos and Don’ts for Mompreneurs
Simon Berg: Using Collaborative Tools to Build a Storytelling Platform in the Cloud
That’s the Best You’ve Got?
VerticalResponse Email Marketing Company Acquired by Deluxe

Posted: 26 Jul 2013 01:30 PM PDT

hackers steal

It is another reminder of how vulnerable our digitally connected world has become. Five men were charged Thursday in what has been called the largest data breach conspiracy known. It is certainly the largest ever prosecuted in the United States.

In an official announcement released by the Department of Justice, officials claimed four Russians and one Ukranian citizen were involved in the global conspiracy.

How They Did It

Hackers allegedly identified vulnerabilities in databases and installed malware allowing them to obtain access to sensitive user data. That data included names, passwords, means of identification and more than 160 million credit card numbers.

Cyber criminals targeted major retailers, payment processors and financial institutions worldwide. Damages are estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Three corporate victims alone reported a combined loss of $300 million.

A Cautionary Tale

Unfortunately, small businesses are not immune to cyber attacks and the damage to finances and reputation they bring.

Internet security provider Symantec reports that businesses with fewer than 250 employees were the targets of 31 percent of cyber attacks last year, up from 18 percent the year before.

That could be due to the fact that many small business owners believe their companies are not large enough to interest cyber criminals, an earlier Symantec survey found.

Hacker Photo via Shutterstock

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A Look at Dos and Don’ts for Mompreneurs

Posted: 26 Jul 2013 11:00 AM PDT

mompreneurs

Is it easier for a woman to create her own business after she has kids? No. Like all entrepreneurs, mompreneurs also face numerous challenges when they begin their new ventures. But it can be a rewarding experience if you plan it well.

Every individual embarking on a new business needs to pay attention to various aspects. The same applies to moms who want to create new businesses. However, a mom also has to balance family with their new venture.

Let's take a look at the aspects that matter most for mompreneurs.

What Prompts a New Mom to Become an Entrepreneur?

The chief reason that prompts new moms to take up the challenge of a new business is the flexibility it offers. But it is important that you don't misunderstand it. Being your own boss doesn't mean that you don’t have much to do. In most cases, it’s the opposite.

It is true that when you are the owner of a home-based business, you can spend more time with your kids (WAHM: Work at Home Mom). You can do tasks when the little one's asleep and not abide by any office schedule that requires you to stay away from your baby for 9-10 hours.

Another great thing about this choice is that enterprising, skilled and experienced women often find it to be a more fruitful way to earn money. You can spend time with your children and add to the family income too.

Many moms discover a need specific to pregnancy and childcare. They create a product or service that caters to this need as the core concept of their business. This is also another reason that makes new moms enthusiastic about this option.

What Types of Businesses Offer the Best Opportunities for Mompreneurs?

Different business opportunities are suitable for new-age moms. Whether you want to design a line of maternity clothes or offer childcare consultancy services for new parents, the choices are numerous.

Trends show that home-based online businesses will continue to do well in the future. It is possible to succeed as a consultant, a freelancer, a social media marketer, an app developer or a franchise-holder.

Decide on what you love to do – it is the first step for every entrepreneur. If you scribble away images of apparel and accessories in your notebook, you had better start designing them. If you love connecting to others, social media may be the right place for you.

While trends can dictate the type of businesses have high possibilities of success in the near future, it is best to take them as pointers. Don't depend on them. Instead, depend on the thing you love to do and the thing you are good at.

Dos and Don'ts for Mompreneurs

DO Separate Personal and Professional Fronts

It's not a good idea to take on a conference call with a client when you are preparing the bath for your baby. Similarly, it is a bad idea to continuously check your smartphone while watching your child's first soccer match.

DON’T Neglect Yourself

You have two full-time jobs – that of a mom and that of an entrepreneur. It can be difficult, stressful and, at times, completely chaotic. Pay attention to your physical and mental health and well-being.

DO Treat Your Home Office Like an Office

It is much easier to keep off tasks for later when you work from home. This is one lure you must not fall for. Determine your goals and plan your tasks just like when you work in a corporate space.

DON’T Forget to Share Tasks

Your spouse and kids can be great partners if you know how to get their help. Delegate the tasks you cannot manage alone to them. Even your little one can help garnish a dish you prepare or put the clothes on the line to dry.

DO Outsource

Just as you need to delegate household tasks to your family members, you may also outsource certain tasks to other professionals. For example, if you don't like to do accounts, or are not good at it, choose an accountant to outsource the task to.

DON’T Be Afraid to Say No

No business can take every opportunity, every client or every project. Some opportunities are just a waste of time and effort. And you know it. You need to learn to say no to such opportunities.

DO Be Flexible

There's no guarantee that the schedule you have would go as planned. You need to make sure that you are prepared for the unexpected. Flexibility in attitude helps you accomplish this with ease.

With the right business idea and approach you can easily achieve success in your endeavor.

Draw up a business plan and accumulate as much money and a little more. A new business often takes time to earn profits. Before you set business goals, examine whether they are realistic. Maintain balance between family and work and take time out for yourself.

There are no secrets to success. It all boils down to sincere, hard work. As a mother, you learn the key lessons of life. But you don't stop being a good mom when you face a setback. As an entrepreneur, follow the same rules and you are sure to succeed.

Work at Home Mom Photo via Shutterstock

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Simon Berg: Using Collaborative Tools to Build a Storytelling Platform in the Cloud

Posted: 26 Jul 2013 08:00 AM PDT

In order to create effective content to grab the attention of your target audience, it takes more than a bunch of disconnected tweets and Facebook posts. It takes a compelling story that speaks directly to the heart and minds of your audience.

Simon Berg, CEO and Founder of Ceros, a Cloud based platform looking to change the way brands communicate with audiences, shares his experiences in using collaboration tools to build and run his growing business. A small business that has employees, partners and customers spread all over the globe.

* * * * *

storytelling Small Business Trends: Can you tell us a little bit more about what you do at Ceros?

Simon Berg: It is cloud-based technology platform and at the core, we're looking to help brands to inspire an engagement with their consumers through storytelling and inspiration.

Brands such as Gucci, Michael Coors and companies like that, would use that technology to create rich, engaging, storytelling outputs using all of our tools. Pushing them out, using all of our distribution tools, to any channel, platform or any device through email distribution.

Consumers see those and experience them in rich, interactive, engaging experiences. We provide all of the technology to create, distribute, and integrate that with commerce.

Small Business Trends: I would almost call Ceros a storytelling platform?

Simon Berg: Yes, technology has changed the way in which brands and their consumers communicate. It was buyer beware and now it is more seller beware. You have got to beware of what your consumers are thinking and saying, being in the conversation. And you got to figure out ways to communicate a message in a more applicable fashion.

Tense conversations are massive these days. It is very difficult to create a campaign that says my sneakers are cool, buy my sneakers. That doesn’t wash anymore. Likewise, it is typical to weave a story into a conversation just generally around sneakers. So I think communicating messages in a way that it is acceptable in modern times it is important. My belief there is that open communication ultimately has a common thread. I think that is what we are trying to bring back.

If you take a look at magazines, books, catalogs, brochures, street theater, movies, TV shows, radio shows, you name it – all of these modern western forms of communication and media have a common thread.

The common thread is that they all have a start, middle and end, all of them – until the advent of the Web. The Web does not have a start, a middle and an end. Of course, you can say to me, “Google is a good start. ” Okay great, we are at the middle and an end. It never ends and there is no middle.

Genetically and culturally we are wired to enjoy story telling. Children still like to be read books at night and that hasn't changed. They like stories and you wouldn't read your child a story of random pieces of information about witches.

We like to think storytelling needs to come back and we are giving tools to "the brave" to be able to create stories. And ultimately, as a result, give them a way to communicate in a modern way that works across multiple devices and channels that allows them to interweave a story that leads to a message. Hopefully, this creates some inspiration and a purchase.

Small Business Trends: How many people actually work with you at Ceros?

Simon Berg: We have about 32 staff members.

Small Business Trends: So you have a good mix of clients; you have a number of employees and a number of partners. You have people that sound like they are spread across different geographical locations?

Simon Berg: For me personally, and as business actually, Ceros as a tool is very collaborative and very real-time. As a culture, we are also very spread out globally.

Our teams are in a number of different countries and cities and we have got five or six people in London, about eight or nine people in New York City, and we have about 10 guys spread out across North America. In additional to that we have guys in Italy, guys in Japan, guys in New Zealand, guys in Australia, and as a result of that, our culture is one of collaboration and real-time.

We've used Google, Google Hangouts, Google Drive and the Google Docs platform. It has become essential. If I walk into our office on a Monday and we have no electricity and no hot water and no cold water, it would be almost as bad if you were to remove the Google Platform from the middle of our business. I don't say that because Google wanted me to. I said it because it is true. It really stands out for us as being critical. We can't live without it.

We recently we had a lot of guys form North America who were in the New York office. We had about 15 people in the office and it came time to order lunch and somebody said, ‘What do you want?’ And they walked up to me with a sheet of paper and said, ‘We are going to the X-restaurant? What do you want?’ I said, ‘Where is the menu?’ It was online. So now I am online and I said, ‘Wait a second.’ I threw up a Google Doc and we ended up with 15 people collaborating in real-time in a Google Doc to order lunch. It sounds funny, but it is actually true. Everybody could see the menu and it was a bit fun as well.

That is a small case. At the larger end we have, every two to three months, an ‘all hands’ or ‘town hall.’ The ‘all hands’ are more me speaking about the business and what we are doing. The ‘town hall’ is a Q & A between all of the team and myself. We use Google Hangouts for that. So we will have 25 to 32 people all appearing on the screen, or looking at shared presentations, documents etc. And that would include the guys in New Zealand or Australia, getting up at inconvenient times, trying to line up with the rest of the world.

Because we use Google Drive, there is always a conversation about, ‘Oh, what's the latest thoughts on the processing styles?’ Or, ‘What are you thinking about for our next content marketing campaign?’ Instead of having to go, ‘Oh wait, just a second I will send everybody a file.’ Within two clicks, I have pulled up Google Docs inside of the Hangouts and now we are chatting around this document and people are commenting on it in real-time.

I can't image how you do business globally without such tech. I really don't.

Small Business Trends: Basically, this kind of technology allows you to work the way you need to work and lets your employees engage the way they need to?

Simon Berg: Absolutely 100%. We run most of our meetings with clients remotely. You can share a lot using the Hangouts and sharing documents and presentations on screen. Surprisingly, our email is in Google and our drives are in Google andour presentations are in Google. We don't need anything but an Internet connection and that it is the gospel truth. We even use Google telephone numbers, because they even have a telephone solution, and their answering machine service. So if Google closes tomorrow – which is highly unlikely – Ceros is dead.

Small Business Trends: It sounds like the Cloud and services like Google have made a huge difference in the way that you have grown Ceros, as opposed to the other businesses you had in the past?

Simon Berg: For sure. It keeps the cost low and it allows you do to more much quickly.

Small Business Trends: Where can people learn more about Ceros and what you guys do?

Simon Berg: They can visit the website at Ceros.com. You can follow the stories on there and see what our clients are doing and take a look at some of our videos and get a sense of what we are all about.

This interview on using collaborative tools to build a storytelling platform in the clouds is part of the One on One interview series with thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This transcript has been edited for publication.

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That’s the Best You’ve Got?

Posted: 26 Jul 2013 05:00 AM PDT

synergy business cartoon

I saw a cartoon recently with a genie in a bottle and thought it would be funny to put that genie in the middle of a business meeting to see what might happen.

While all sorts of scenarios like reshuffling personnel, increasing sales and smiting competitors played out, ultimately something boring and buzz-wordy like synergy was the funniest.

I mean, really? Three wishes and that’s the best you’ve got?

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VerticalResponse Email Marketing Company Acquired by Deluxe

Posted: 26 Jul 2013 02:30 AM PDT

VerticalResponse Deluxe

Customers of VerticalResponse, the email marketing software company, received a surprise email yesterday announcing that the company had been acquired by Deluxe Corporation. The purchase price was $27 million in cash.

The news also was officially reported in the Deluxe Corporation earnings release.

In that release, Deluxe reported revenue of $381 million, with net income (profit) of $48 million for the second quarter. About two-thirds of the revenue came from what Deluxe calls “small business services.” And that’s where the acquisition of VerticalResponse fits in.

In a statement accompanying the earnings release, Lee Schram, CEO of Deluxe, said, "Revenue in the second quarter was at the upper end of our outlook … driven by favorable performance particularly in both Small Business Services and Financial Services. Marketing solutions and other services revenue grew 21% over last year and will further benefit from the acquisition of VerticalResponse. Our strong first half of the year positions us well to grow revenue in 2013 for a fourth consecutive year."

The acquisition took place in June 2013, although just now reported. VerticalResponse will continue to be based in San Francisco, its current headquarters.

Deluxe, which many people still think of as the check printing company, has been transforming itself to a small business services provider in recent years, largely through targeted acquisitions. Since 2008 it has bought Web hosting company Hostopia, startup community website PartnerUp, Internet marketing company OrangeSoda, and logo company Logomojo.

The founder of Vertical Response, Janine Popick, wrote on that company’s blog that VerticalResponse had been in numerous acquisition talks over the years. Deluxe was the company that offered the best fit:

“Over the course of 12 years we've had many conversations, and I mean many. Companies big and small, public and private, too many to even think about. And every time we walked away from a conversation it was because the company didn't value us for our abilities and wouldn't have given our shareholders what they deserve. But this one was different. It was great, it was time and it was perfect.”

In addition to email marketing, VerticalResponse has broadened its offerings into related areas, including online surveys and marketing postcards. In late 2011 it acquired social media platform Roost to expand into social media marketing.

According to Popick, one of the things that will change is that more resources can now be placed on product development.

When we spoke with VerticalResponse in late 2011, the company reported 100,000 customers, plus 30,000 brought by the acquisition of Roost. VerticalResponse’s website today says the company has 800,000 users worldwide – but users and customers are not the same.

VerticalResponse employs 110 employees. Deluxe is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota.

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