Translating Tech: Methods to Align IT Projects with Business Objectives

In the rapidly evolving world of technology, the ability to communicate complex ideas in a straightforward manner is invaluable. IT professionals often find themselves in the pivotal role of translators between the intricate world of technology and the strategic sphere of business operations. This article explores strategies to help IT experts articulate their contributions in a language that non-technical stakeholders can easily understand.

Visualize to Clarify Data and Information

When presenting complex IT topics to non-technical stakeholders, understanding your audience is crucial for effective communication. Start by identifying their familiarity with the subject matter, as this will help you tailor the content to their level of knowledge. Non-technical stakeholders may not need to understand the intricate details, but they will benefit from grasping the broader concepts and implications. Consider their roles, interests, and priorities, as well as any potential concerns or objectives they might have.

Visualize to Clarify Data and Information

Using diagrams, flowcharts, and infographics can transform the way technical processes are understood by non-technical team members. These important visual tools act as a bridge, conveying complex information through simple, digestible graphics. By presenting data visually, you ensure that stakeholders can grasp sophisticated concepts quickly and effectively. This visual method not only aids comprehension but also retains the interest of your audience, making technical reviews more engaging.

Focus on Outcomes

When discussing IT projects, shift the focus from the intricate technicalities to the tangible outcomes and benefits. Highlight how these projects streamline operations, cut costs, or enhance customer satisfaction. This approach not only makes your contributions more relatable but also aligns them directly with business goals, making them more relevant to your audience. Emphasizing results rather than processes underscores the direct impact of technology on business efficiency and profitability.

Showcase Real-World Success

Nothing speaks clearer than real-life examples. Incorporate case studies that demonstrate the successful implementation of technology within your organization or industry. These stories provide concrete examples of how abstract technologies operate in real-world scenarios, which helps stakeholders understand the practical value of IT investments. Sharing success stories also illustrates the direct correlation between IT initiatives and business outcomes.

Align Technology with Business Goals

It's crucial to explain the rationale behind specific technical decisions and how they align with broader business objectives. This connection shows stakeholders that technology choices are not just about the latest trends but are strategic moves to drive the company forward. Such discussions should clarify the thought process behind selecting particular technologies and how they contribute to overall business success. Articulating this alignment demonstrates your strategic thinking and commitment to the company's long-term objectives.

Simplify with Analogies

To demystify complex technical jargon, use everyday examples and analogies. This method makes abstract concepts more tangible. For instance, explain a network firewall as a security guard checking credentials at a building entrance, a familiar scenario that encapsulates the role and importance of network security in a relatable way. This simplification helps non-technical stakeholders understand and appreciate the functionality of complex IT systems.

Demystify the Jargon

While it's sometimes necessary to use technical terms, ensure these are either minimized or explained. Introducing a glossary or providing simple definitions during discussions can prevent misunderstandings and make technical discussions more accessible to everyone involved. This educational approach can empower stakeholders, enhancing their ability to engage in more informed discussions about technology.

Encourage Curiosity

Create an environment where questions are encouraged and valued. This open dialogue fosters a deeper understanding and comfort among stakeholders when discussing technical subjects. Taking time to answer questions thoroughly not only builds trust but also educates your audience, gradually increasing their comfort with technical topics. Encouraging questions not only clarifies uncertainties but also deepens stakeholder engagement with IT projects.

Effectively communicating technical information to non-technical stakeholders is more art than science. By employing these strategies, IT professionals can ensure their work is not just seen but understood and appreciated. As technology continues to permeate every aspect of business, the ability to articulate its benefits in clear, non-technical terms will be a distinguishing skill that drives both personal and organizational success.

Transform your business's communication infrastructure with Gilded Pendulum's cost-effective solutions and enjoy reliable service without the hassle. Contact us today

How Much Does Technology Control You?

Asking for a friend. But have you ever truly thought about it? Technology in the modern world has been weaponized to affect everything you see, hear, and believe and then tells you how to interpret it. It started decades ago within the industrial media complex when people still believed that apparatus to be a truthful institution of journalism. Most of us know better these days, although millions are still hypnotized by it. And if it’s not in the newsroom, it’s on late night TV, comedy sketches, sitcoms, music videos, film, advertising commercials, even videogames. Anything you consume can be touched by it. True escapism becomes more difficult by the day if you can’t simply shut off your TV or phone.

That’s why I have a very strict doctrine as to what I allow myself to consume if I consume anything at all. Corporate media is one of the biggest shock and awe organizations we have in the west. It has the crippling effects on the mind that typically lead to depression, despair, helplessness, etc. It’s extremely unhealthy to consume and in my opinion, mental cancer. It’s bite sized pieces of various degrees of fact, laced primarily with bias and misinformation. That’s how it’s designed. People argue in online comments that their media bias is better than your media bias. This somehow makes them correct, and you incorrect which is incredibly strange. Loyalties to one corp or another have materialized in the cyber landscape.

Clown world is a thing for the simple fact that if you’re not on the outside of the tent looking in, you’re part of the circus. The media is so powerful, it’s made lifelong friends, family, and acquaintances cease speaking to one another for holding some random opinion over another. That opinion becomes gospel. It’s had the very real outcome of people siding with the state over their own loved ones. This is something that if mentioned just two decades ago, people would’ve called you insane. That insanity is now reality, all run by clever algorithms to keep you clicking so advertisers can get richer.

Ultimately, despite what Gilded Pendulum does, which is sell powerful tech solutions for businesses to make their lives easier, one thing we don’t do is sell invasive technology that diminishes your ability to think and create. Much of my digital musings as I call them, are often times cautionary tales about tech, not necessarily how great it is. The majority of what I myself sell here is Unified Communications in the form of phone deals. I also dabble in cybersecurity and other things, but nothing that I feel is mentally harmful to my clients like social media certainly is. It’s no surprise that all the big tech CEO’s don’t let their children even use it, but they want you on it daily.

Many people think that the greatest weapons of mass destruction are all sitting in a missile silo somewhere waiting to be launched, but it’s not. The greatest weapon of mass destruction is likely sitting in your pocket right now, waiting for you to power on the screen and consume content. Many are addicted to this device called a smartphone. It beckons to them constantly. It sends out an audible notification to release dopamine in your brain, “I got a text message or a reply to something I posted on twitter!” Or if you use things like TikTok, it destroys your ability to focus or concentrate longterm while constantly presenting you with non-sensical lunacy daily, which then normalizes that spectacle in your brain as a typical daily occurence. Sadly, that may not be far from the truth.

What is Real? What Is a Clever Algorithm?

So I urge anyone reading this, do yourself and your family a big favor and disconnect. Don’t allow smartphones or tablets at the dinner table. Force everyone to unplug every night a few hours before bed. Don’t look for the latest news story or trending video. None of that matters, it never did. It’s simply there to keep you engaged, sap your motivation, and keep your mind dormant and full of garbage you don’t need. I use my smartphone for business, education, and investments. That’s literally it. I know what it is, and I know what it can become if I let it. You can get lost in the abyss behind the screen.

Stay safe and be healthy. Experience life, don’t become hypnotized by someone else’s Instagram. Most of what you’re looking at is probably fake or rented to build followers. Become the hero in your own movie. Build the life you want, not what your TV or tablet says you should be. Build your empire, create your own positive daily narrative, don’t accept mediocrity, and dare to create. Think outside the box and stay foolish. Never lose your sense of wonderment. When you separate yourself from your digital screens, you’ll find the world is still an amazing place to experience. I hope you take advantage of it all.

Lastly, I greatly look forward to the decentralized web. I hope it will cease being a big corporate landscape of static websites with no creativity, to a vibrant presentation platform much like the web of the early 2000s. Far less censored and much more free to open conversation. Your private data is your own and not the property of a data merchants. If people are going to consume web content, I hope this is the environment they can do it in.

As a wise man once said, “The Internet needs a new renaissance.”

Indeed it does.

Call Routing Can Make You Millions...

People always freak out when I say that, but I've seen it happen in real time. If you had 3 salesman and 1 could close 95% of all calls, the other was decent and could close 3 out of 5, and the third just enough to keep his job.....who would you rather that call go to?

Image: Vadim Sadovski

That's more or less the thing. And if you have a high paying client calling into your organization for the first time, they want information and consultations setup FAST! They don't want to be transferred 3 or 4 different times.

This is how you lose money. If someone or something needs a problem solved, they're not going to wait around for you to get them to the right person. They're going to hang up and call your competition.

Do you know how precisely I can nail down your call routing? If someone calls into your organization to inquire about service, I can get them to that first sales engineer we discussed immediately, in seconds. He'll setup that consultation or just close them right there in minutes. That could've been a million dollar phone call.

If your boiler room phone guy didn't do a deep dive on your call routing, you're leaving money on the table. The larger companies get, the more bloated their department personnel become. If you don't know how to get your mission critical people on the line immediately, you absolutely will lose opportunity after opportunity.

What good is advertising with a marketing budget if you can't get your mission critical people to close deals for you or your support staff to service your current clients? If your hunt groups are garbage, so is your close rate and client satisfaction. This is just one of the many things Gilded does to ensure you truly take advantage of what you're paying for.

Welcome to the attention economy.

For Your Sanity,

Dominic

#callrouting #huntgroups #autoattendant #ucaas #ccaas #1anddone

Is Your Small Business Finally Ready for Big Boy Phones???

Starting a new business requires shoestring budgets. You need some basic things like a website, phone number, and an office. Although that last one is very optional these days.

You probably just bundled with your local ISP to get some quick phones setup. On paper it looks like you're getting a discount, but you're really not. The system you're offered is basically just a party favor for your new business. If someone calls you, the phone rings, you answer.

You'll get a few minor features with this but nothing sophisticated. What normal features are with real VoIP companies, you're nickel and dimed for with your current ISP. You WILL eventually outgrow these and have to move into a "grown up" system because your business will require them.

You might try to shop for yourself searching for "business phone deals" or the like, click on some google ad page, think you found a deal based on a few minutes of research and now you're overpaying, have horrible outsourced customer support, had to install it yourself, and the person who sold you the deal you'll never hear from again. That's the business model.

I can't make the buying experience any more simple. You see what you're getting before you buy it, just like test driving a car. Instead of just getting a slide deck in your email, you'll get to see the software. You'll get answers to questions from the engineers who built the system. No boiler room tactics to make you a client, just a tried and true buying experience with decades of industry knowledge and experience. Gilded Pendulum is a power broker with well over a hundred voice partners so we definitely get our clients great deals.

Getting that first real system is an important decision, but it's not a stressful one if you come to the right people. And the more phones and integration you need, the better the deals become. Free consultations always available for first time clients.

Hiring Contractors for Digital Projects: 5 Tips for Entrepreneurs

As a business owner, you wear lots of hats - but sometimes, you don’t have the necessary expertise to tackle a certain project by yourself. If you’re trying to launch a web-based project that you just don’t have the skills to execute, it’s time to consider hiring freelancers and contractors to help you get the job done. For instance, an IT support agency like Gilded Pendulum can assist you with everything from installing network infrastructure to data center migration! Here are a few professionals you can hire to contribute to web-based projects.

Consider Online Learning

 If you’re struggling to handle particular web-based tasks and projects on your own, outsourcing these responsibilities to more experienced professionals is a smart idea. However, you can also expand your knowledge of these topics by taking online courses. And by enrolling in an online learning program, you can plan your study time around your busy schedule. By continuously mastering new skills, you’ll be able to grow your business. 

Freelance Content Writer

Do you want to start building up a content library on your company blog, develop an ebook, or even add pages with new content to your website? Hire a freelance writer! As long as you’re prepared to provide a comprehensive project brief, an experienced freelance writer can turn your vision into quality content for your audience.  

To hire the right writer, Theme Isle recommends posting your opening on freelance marketplaces and online job boards and paying promising candidates to create a sample article for you. You can also check out their portfolios to see if they have worked on similar projects in the past. 

IT Support 

Setting up cybersecurity protections, installing cloud infrastructure, and even performing regular maintenance on your servers can be time-consuming and complicated. That’s why hiring an IT support contractor or working with an agency like the Gilded Pendulum is a great investment. Ask other business owners you know for referrals to contractors or agencies that they have been happy with. 

Digital Marketing Experts 

Digital marketing encompasses lots of different channels. And trying to manage your company’s social media profiles, search engine optimization strategy, and email marketing campaigns can be time-consuming. Plus, you might not possess specialized knowledge in all of these areas.  

To enhance your company’s marketing strategy, you could work with a digital marketing expert. You could bring them on for a part-time role or hire them as a contractor for times when you’re exceptionally busy in regards to marketing, like the holiday season. Make sure you know exactly which channels they’ll need experience in, and ask to see the results of campaigns they have worked on for previous clients.  

Web Designer 

You’d like to give your website an entirely new look, but you just don’t know how to work with all of the functions on the backend of your site in order to make it happen. Instead of going through the process of trial and error, why not budget for a web designer?  

Before hiring a web designer, Canny Creative recommends writing out your design preferences and ideas or even creating a vision board to illustrate exactly what kind of aesthetic you want to see. When you find the right designer, make sure to map out the creative process up front: for example, you can set up shared files, finalize your site map together, and send them any images or copy that you definitely want to see on the website. 

Running a business means sharpening your skills in many areas. But you don’t need to stretch yourself too thin when you’re launching new projects. By bringing these experts into the fold, you’ll be able to achieve stellar results with your new initiatives! 

Need IT support for your business? Gilded Pendulum can guide you through migrations, security upgrades, and more. Book an appointment through the contact page on our website today!

 Photo via Unsplash

Choose the Right Software to Propel Business Growth

Business software is a significant investment. In 2021, SMBs are expected to spend $684 billion on IT hardware, software, and services. When it's your turn to make that investment, it's important to buy software that fits the budget and the growing needs of your business.

On the face of it, some business software may seem simple. This is especially the case for software such as expense management software and invoicing software. However, many of these tools may require you to make some crucial changes to your hardware and business processes. Consider what changes you may have to make when deciding which solutions will work best.

Whether you plan to replace current software or buy a new product, Gilded Pendulum suggests that you consider several things.

Cost vs Value

You want a product that fits your business’s budget. The first step is to determine how much your business can afford to spend on software. Next, create a list of products that are within your budget. Compare the products on this list to determine which ones are the most suitable for your business’s needs.

Avoid the mistake of going for a software product well above your budget just because it has a long list of features. You'll often find your business has no use for many of the features on that list. When comparing products, make a list of must-have, nice-to-have, and do-not-need features to help you compare the products on your short list.

Take into account the scalability of the products on the lower end of your budget. You want a solution that grows alongside your business. Project the growth of your business in the next five or so years, and estimate how the software’s cost will increase to meet the increasing number of processes, users, and products. You might be surprised to find those seemingly cheaper solutions that might become incredibly costly to scale up or replace as your business grows. Considering the medium- to long-term implications of buying software can help you make the best choice.

Implementation

Consider how easily your employees can learn how to use software and adapt to it. Employees are often more willing to adopt software solutions that are easy to learn and use. Research the specific use cases of software products to determine how efficiently you can implement them in your business.

If it turns out the software that offers the best value also happens to be difficult to learn, find out whether the provider offers assisted implementation. For an additional cost, some software providers may help you set up the software and train your employees on how to use it. Factor the assisted implementation cost into your budget considerations.

Customer Support

Good software support can make or break your business, especially if all employees use the same program. If you select a program that's difficult to use or have a small IT team, customer support is vital. When comparing the customer support of software providers, be sure to inquire about available hours.

Moreover, take note of the type of support the providers offer. They may offer phone support or a ticketing system via email — or both. If they provide a ticketing system, find out the expected wait time for a response. Ultimately, you want a software provider that will give you prompt, helpful support.

The most suitable software solution for your business is one that offers you the best value for its price, is easy to implement and use, and provides timely, helpful support. Keep these and other considerations in mind when choosing software for your business. 

When you’re ready to level up your business’s information services, a fully customized solution is the best choice. To ensure you’re fitted with the right services, connect with Gilded Pendulum today!

-Written by Derek Goodman

Stop Worrying About Your Sensitive Information Getting Stolen

Seriously, don’t waste your time. Over a period of years the agents of identity security have been trying to get into your wallets to extract that $10 a month to be the supreme watchdogs of your identity online and elsewhere. Well, that’s cute and all but unfortunately for all of us, our identities were all stolen quite some time ago. Yours, mine, everyone’s.

You may recall the Equifax breach that happened in March of 2017. It made all the headlines and 2/3 of Americans were effected directly by it, although with the way corporations secure our data in the half-assed way they do, we were probably robbed years prior. But if you logged into the site and input some basic self-identifying information you were probably immediately greeted with the screen that indicated your identity was stolen. I know I was. I didn’t care though, I had canceled my LifeLock account years and years prior (not to mention the CEO had his information stolen 3 times or more, look it up). It was all a joke. Lifelock and other companies didn’t do much of anything you couldn’t do yourself simply by creating accounts with all the same credit bureaus and adding notifications for any changes or inquiries on your credit. I did one better and just froze all of my credit because like I said, my information as well as about 200 or so million other Americans already had their socials floating around the dark web and other places. You can buy a social security number down there for about $10 by the way.

I’m seeing similar things now for title lock protection on TV. Evidently criminals have very inventive ways of stealing the title to your home due to a lack of protection and able to get you evicted from your own home as they become the new owners and take out ridiculous loans on your home. They’re not doing much of anything different than LifeLock does except it’s for the title on your home. And much like your own credit and FICO information, depending on where you live, you can create an account with your county to get immediate notifications if someone tries to steal the title to your home. Supposedly this is becoming an issue according to the infomercial but I honestly don’t have enough data to really know because everything I found about it was nothing more than an advertisement for the service itself. Both companies offer a large sum of money to fix everything for you but of course the fine print is a mile long, and aside from that they’re not doing anything for you that you can’t do yourself………for free.

We are all now sitting very cute and comfy in the digital landscape of the current timelines. You get a nice dose of fear porn every day on your TV’s in the form of Covid deaths, financial turmoil, most recently the fallout from Afghanistan, and a whole slew of other things. And if you watch it long enough it will not only put you in a constant state of fear and stress, it’s actually causing mass psychosis. Quite strange that people are getting in fist fights on planes 30,000 feet in the air these days. That wasn’t the norm just a year ago, strange. Well, the corporate charlatans are getting very rich off your fear because you’re paying them for their artificial security they say they’ll provide you. As our world starts to seem more and more dystopian with each passing day, don’t forget that 99% of that fear is artificial and you’re in zero danger for the most part, except for con artists trying to put you on yet another subscription service you don’t need.

Stay well, stay healthy, stay safe out there.

Gilded's Requirements of it's Partners...

Here at Gilded Pendulum I’m capable of selling and implementing over 200 products and services for businesses nationwide. But I don’t actually SELL everything I have available. Why? Because they fail to meet certain criteria necessary to be considered a “Gilded Partner.” Some of those organizations have gotten too big and can’t provide the level of support and attention necessary that I expect of them after passing them the torch to my client’s technical well being. And although I’m willing to fill the gap on the attention aspect, the following things are non-negotiable:

U.S. Tech Support

Local tech support right here in the US! As companies grow and become more and more corporate it becomes solely about profit, share price, bonuses, and cutting corners to save a buck. I’m not going to call these companies out by name, but rest assured I’ll never sell their services to my clients. Ever. Numerous companies, many with extremely familiar names, have decided to outsource their tech support overseas. Unfortunately too many of their customers are stuck dealing with people on the phone they have a hard time understanding and are trying to comprehend their buildout in a minute or two. Unacceptable. I expect all tech support to be located here in the US and those jobs going to Americans who built and programmed those networks themselves and can therefor troubleshoot them appropriately with minimal effort or downtime to the end user. Full stop.

High Tech Global Security

Another thing I expect is attention to detail for security. Whenever you have a cloud product of any kind, security is a hallmark of that product’s excellence. Things need to be constantly patched and maintained on a 24/7 basis. Like many non-tech businesses, there are a handful of actual tech businesses that are not serious about their own security. This isn’t the case with actual security firms as they’re attacked daily, and if they’re not up to snuff on their cybersec, they’ll be breached and sued into oblivion in most cases. A few can weather that storm, but not many. I’d rather just not have to have any of my customers deal with a devastating breach to begin with. Therefor I will only engage with businesses whose products and services meet or exceed my expectations for keeping my client’s data and sensitive information secure. Nothing is guaranteed in today’s digital age, but adhering to high level security standards and practices typically produce outstanding results for years and years of service.

Precision and Excellence

One of the last things I’ll mention here is precision and being exceptional. I work with some of the best and brightest minds in the industry but have also had the unfortunate experience of working with the opposite. Ergo, when I started Gilded a few years ago I always said I would never work with an organization that couldn’t get it done right the first time. There are far too many instances of companies coming out to do cabling work, phone installations, routing and switching, etc that have to keep coming back over and over because they consistently keep doing it wrong. This is also unacceptable, so when we get someone to come do a site survey and then eventually perform labor intensive work at a job site, it’s going to get done right the first time, period. Even if it has to be done piece by piece due to building constraints or permit issues, what has been installed is going to work on the day we turn up service.

I hope this has given you a little further insight as to how I conduct business operations both internally and externally with my partners and clients. I already know what the red flags are and which companies are choosing to cut corners to save a buck, focusing solely on profit instead of quality and level of support. They pay well on their commissions so some consultants might use them for that factor alone, but I never will. Doing shoddy work and having angry clientele whose issues never get resolved is a sure fire way to not be in business very long. I will never stoop to those standards for the almighty buck. Gilded was built for you, the client, not my providers. I just honestly got sick of seeing things never being done right, support being horrible, and security an afterthought. I knew I could do things better and from day one, Gilded Pendulum has never missed the mark and we’ll always keep finding ways to become even better.

Lastly I’ll close with this. The partners I do work with are phenomenal. I’ve met most of them in person at our conventions and summits. I’ve had dinner with some and just great conversations with others. They’re hard working people who love their jobs and love what they do. There’s never so much as a second thought when I go to them with a new project as to how it will turn out. I know that from beginning to end they’re going to only provide the highest level of service to each and every client of mine they interface with. It’s always a pleasure working with them and my clients soon find out the same. I’m quite thankful they’re there as they’ve helped pull many business owners out of some very dark places at a moment’s notice. They are the very definition of a “Gilded Partner” and I’m happy to know them.

Inevitable Inflation and the Goldback...

So I pay pretty close attention to all things financial. It’s saved me in the past from some pretty hard hits to my investments and I’m always looking for the next hedge when I need it. As of right now, the FED has wholeheartedly admitted to keeping the money printing press running nonstop despite the level of inflation that will ultimately occur. Many are already saying that because of this the dollar is in free fall (or getting close). If you’ve read my book “Crypto Four Eleven” 95% of everything I wrote about within it’s pages has come true. Here’s a nice graph showing just how profound quantitative easing has become starting in 2020.

Image courtesy of Nevadagoldback.com

This is absolutely ludicrous. This image indicates to me how the middle class could very well be wiped out with such irresponsible behavior. The outcome of this can lead to a few things but massive unemployment would certainly be one of the intended or unintended (depends how you view the world) consequences. What might then happen can be the introduction of universal basic income in the form of a digital Fedcoin (think crypto but sinister). The Fedcoin itself hasn’t been announced yet but it’s very possible. This can then force people into accepting negative interest rates, i.e. free money that may have an expiration date forcing you to spend it. This then allows the bankers to stimulate the ponzi-scheme economy for a lot longer. The consumer price inflation will further damage the real economy and wipe out larger and larger swaths of the middle class. That in turn will cause even more people into going on U.B.I. damaging the economy infinitely. It becomes a vicious circle that will ultimately enslave people to a digital fiat currency while also having to pay down the debts they incur with the same financial vehicle. This Fedcoin will allow the government to see exactly what you’re buying while also telling you exactly how to spend it. And if the bankers control this currency digitally they can dictate what you’re allowed to buy and what you aren’t.

Sounds crazy, I know. But I also know that total control is what the financial system is all about, always has been. Most Americans don’t even have $5,000 in any form of savings or emergency money. And even if they did, this level of inflation will consistently devalue what they have with the insane printing of money we’re seeing at the moment. I would also speculate that allowing you to buy gold, silver, or other tangible assets will be strictly forbidden. It also means that dissenters can be cut off from the system entirely. This is already happening in China with their digital currency testing.

Enter the Goldback. I’m a big advocate of being your own bank and these are essentially thin, flexible rectangular gold coins. Whether that means you’re out there buying and storing crypto or stacking gold and silver in a vault or locked up in your home somewhere. The tangible asset will always retain it’s value. That value might fluctuate, but it can never be inflated into nothing.

Remember during the Weimar Republic when we saw just how worthless paper money could end up being?

There’s recent pictures from Venezuela that look identical after a bank was looted and the bolivars set ablaze in the street to prove they’re worthless

Image courtesy of Nevadagoldback.com

We may very well be at the same tipping point now. So what is a Goldback? Well, quite simply it’s fractional gold in the form of a tangible currency that follows the spot gold price that you can literally use to buy things. Larger companies aren’t too hip on this yet but your local small businesses are starting to love it. They’re taking gold payment that they can keep and spend themselves in exchange for their own products and services or just hold onto. This is an extremely high-tech form of value. A machine literally imprints gold onto the plastic sheet at the atomic level which makes them incredibly difficult to even attempt to counterfeit, and it’s beautiful looking currency!

Have a look:

They’re a lot shinier and vivid in person

At the moment these fractional shares of gold are at $3.71 per 1 unit as of this writing. So the 1 denomination is $3.71. For the 5 you would multiply that price by 5 equaling $18.55. For the 10, multiply by 10 for $37.10 and so on. So these aren’t gold certificates (a promise to pay gold when surrendered to a bank), these are made of actual gold, and if you melted them down you would be able to turn them into ingots if you so desired. They’re very real and I love them. Currently the states that have them as “voluntary currency” meaning it’s up to the person receiving it whether they choose to take it, have been Utah, Nevada, New Hampshire, and next up is Wyoming. You now have a very affordable way to not only buy gold to protect against dollar collapse, but you can also use it in manageable increments to buy things you need in your day to day life! It’s quite literally Armageddon money for what may be an impending collapse of global fiat.

As I’ve ventured around town to patronize my local small businesses (being a small business owner myself I like to help out my business community) the reception for these have been very well received! Not only are they astounding to look at but once people understand their purpose they start to garner the same excitement I have. And although these are considered voluntary currency in the states they’re made for, it’s gold folks, you can spend them anywhere a merchant allows you to. I read a story recently about a gentleman up in Washington whose been spending Nevada Goldbacks in his local city and the people love them. He’s even been getting top notch service at restaurants because the waiting staff know they’ll be tipped with these.

So with everything going on in the financial world right now, this is a great addition for regular people to protect some of their wealth with a great looking tangible asset that will always hold value akin to it’s fractional gold price. The premium is a bit higher due to the labor involved in creating them, but due to the technical advances that have been accomplished in the last few years (2019 to be exact) these went from only being able to be produced at a 400% premium down to a nice 70% premium making them far more available to everyone. It’s incredibly dangerous to ignore what’s going on in the country right now and the fiscal policies that can very well lead millions of people to financial ruin. There’s no reason I can think of why buying and holding onto some of these isn’t a nice hedge for you and your family’s future. And of course explore other avenues as well! Buy gold coins and gold bars. Buy the same in silver. Dedicate 30% of your portfolio to bitcoin. Grab some ethereum or litecoin as well.

At the end of the day preparation is paramount with what I’m seeing. The above images speak for themselves. As of this writing, Gilded Pendulum is now also accepting Goldbacks for our consultation fees.

Stay safe, stay healthy, stay solvent.

Learn more about Goldbacks here

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What's the Entire Point of Managed Services???

A lot of companies have IT departments and IT professionals. Some even have sales engineers who are focused on selling their particular tech product. These things are all fine and good and it’s great to have technical professionals who can handle complex situations regarding infrastructure and other things because those types of issues are absolutely vital in day to day operations. Always have been, always will be. But there are some instances where it’s just better to have specialized individuals with years, often times decades of experience on one particular aspect of the telecom industry. This is where managed service providers come in to handle these types of things. These are the people they have on their staff at all times that are there to use precision and drill down into highly complex issues that a local IT department probably isn’t as familiar with.

In fact, very few companies have entire teams of experts that specialize in managing cloud infrastructure, security, web content platforms, databases, containers, email and collaboration applications, disaster recovery, and IT transformation. When you have specialized, managed teams like those listed, the organization or corporation can focus on their core business. This is often stated ad nauseum in the industry but few really grasp the gravity of what that entails and how much time it frees up for not just you the business owner but also your entire staff. How much is your actual time worth and how much would you pay to have more of it? So choosing the correct managed partner who not only has years of experience, but who has also dealt with the exact same infrastructure you’re using, cloud or otherwise and can correct major issues that could otherwise cause massive outages if not caught in time is certainly worth the cost of admission.

So that all sounds fine and good along with making perfect sense, but then comes the hard part of actually find a deal in the tech landscape of service providers. Whose having deals this month? This quarter? Is there a better deal coming along if you wait? Is there a superb deal waiting for you if you turn up service today? These are all the reasons why businesses need master agents to source these deals and then custom fit the entire solution to the business. What most people do is perform a cursory google search for what they need, gets tons of pages of ads and search results, and from there attempt to find a needle in a haystack that is the deal itself. Chances are you won’t find one that works for what you need, and an even higher chance that you’re overpaying for it under the guise of them making it look like an actual deal.

Sourcing deals is what Gilded Pendulum does, and we have over 200 providers to source them from that often times only give us as a master agent, these types of offerings. We build relationships not only with our clients but with our providers. When businesses call these providers directly, they’ll be sold only what that sales agent is allowed to sell them. There’s no negotiation, only a set list of what they can offer and if that doesn’t fit what you need or is too much of what you don’t need, you’ll have to keep dialing and HOPE you find someone who can offer what you need at a price that sounds fair. But is it a deal? You’ll probably never know for sure and the probability in this business, is that is probably isn’t.

So when you’re looking for a managed service provider for just about anything you’d require, look into hiring a master agent to find it for you. Not a company that resells two or three products and tries to close you on a deal, but instead a company that offers an entire arsenal of products who already knows where the deals are for this month or this quarter. It’s worth the consultation fee to save hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year depending on your needs.

How to Defend Your Small Business Against Data Breaches

Article by Lindsey Weiss

Becoming a victim of fraud or experiencing a data breach can mean more to your business than a hiccup in your day. It can mean lost production, lost income, and lost customers. That’s why making plans for digital security should be something you include in your business plan, and it should be as natural and second-nature as market research and filing your paperwork as an LLC in Nevada. So, read on for important information on protecting your company from trouble, and what to do if a problem occurs.

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Scary statistics

If your small business fell victim to a data breach, would you know what to look for? When your system is hacked, criminals can potentially siphon sensitive data without you even knowing it. Small Business Trends points to recent studies that show most companies take 191 days to even notice a breach occurred. Additionally, cyberattacks cost businesses an average of 66 days of downtime and $3.62 million in damages.

While you might think your company is too small to be a target, with the advent of the Dark Web and software such as Tor, small businesses are typically ideal from a cybercriminal’s viewpoint. The tools required to break into an unprotected business can be purchased for a few hundred dollars, so anyone with a corrupt mindset, a little cash, and time on their hands could have your small business in their sights.

Examine your safeguards

Just like your home, some of the best protection for your business against break-ins is firm defenses. Put up some walls, doors, and locks in the form of well-chosen software and hardware. Investigate what you’re currently using, and find out whether your selections are known for strong security. Another option is to find a hacker of your own; these professionals can test your network’s strength by attempting to penetrate its defenses.

When it comes to payment systems in particular, choosing a system with rock solid security can make the difference in whether your customers’ data remains safe. If you’re using an old school method, or made a decision without more information, take time to examine options like the Square Terminal, which provides data protection and ensures it remains PCI compliant.

Where is your data?

Moving your data storage to the cloud is an important step toward improved security. By engaging the cloud, your data will be better protected—safe from hardware crashes or accidental deletions. Additionally, security updates can be managed automatically rather than when someone remembers to do them.

Not only is the cloud more secure than holding data in-house, but there are also other benefits as well. You can cut hardware expenses, improve team collaboration, and create a more flexible work environment.

Spotting trouble

Removing weak spots in your software and hardware is a great start, but without training your staff, your company will still be particularly vulnerable to cybercrime. With that in mind, teach your employees to recognize the indicators of phishing emails, such as mismatched URLs or poor grammar. Also train your people to use appropriate passwords. As PCMag explains, many people still rely on weak credentials, such as “12345678” for their passwords.

Since hackers can come in many forms and are so widespread, it’s tough to always know if you were victimized. One tool you and your employees can use to see if passwords are still secure is haveibeenpwned. It’ll run checks using email addresses to verify if there has been a breach.

No matter what, it’s crucial to establish a policy of using more complex passwords, and to help your staff, install a password manager appropriate to your business’s needs. Also, when it comes to security training, it’s important to keep it fun. One idea for keeping things lively is to gamify your training since you don’t want staff zoning out over dry information.

Planning for recovery

If your small business is hacked due to a phishing scam or other form of cybercrime, the sooner you contain the problem and notify affected parties, the better. Eliminating corrupted data can help keep trouble from spreading, and it’s your company’s responsibility to let customers know about breaches. If your company doesn’t have an IT department, hiring a recovery team can often be the best bet for a speedy and healthy resolution. And when you act quickly, your business will endure fewer (if any) productivity losses.

The last thing you want is to see your business derailed by cybercrime. Make sure your defenses are solid, best practices are followed, and you know what to do if there’s trouble. With well-thought-out protection, your company can stay safe.

4 Things You Need to Succeed as a Solopreneur

Article: Courtney Rosenfeld

It’s easy to think that solopreneurs have it easy. They own their time, work wherever they want, and do the things that they’re passionate about. However, they’re not at all that different from other entrepreneurs in that they work hard to keep their businesses going. If anything, they may even work extra hard as they juggle a multitude of tasks by their lonesome. It’s challenging, yes. But with a few key things in your arsenal, solopreneurship can be made easier, possibly even enjoyable. Here’s what you need to survive and succeed as an intrepid solopreneur.

Great tech

Technology is a godsend, in more ways than one, and few people are reaping its rewards more than solopreneurs. At present, there are over 5 billion app users all over the world, and no doubt a good chunk of this figure are solopreneurs taking advantage of the many time-saving and productivity-increasing apps designed to make their lives easier. Of course, getting on this bandwagon means investing in reliable tech devices and protecting your business. One gadget that most solopreneurs can’t live without is their smartphone. You can perform most (if not all) of your business functions on it, from communicating with clients to taking photos of your products for your selling and marketing efforts. Newer-model smartphones have increased capability, revolutionary camera systems, augmented battery life, and lots of memory.

Some help

Even with the best tools on hand, there are those that still struggle as solopreneurs. In reality, a good trick of the trade is not to be so enamored by the one-man or one-woman show ideal that you find yourself unable to ask for help. This is actually counterproductive because you end up burnt out and stuck on tasks that aren’t your forte when you could be spending more time on revenue-generating efforts. You can hire a freelancer or two to help you with tasks that may not be central to your business but still need to be done, such as bookkeeping, content writing, and the like. There’s a good number of freelancer networks available today that make the task of finding and hiring remote workers a breeze.

Effective time management

Getting all the help you can get from technology and freelancers is one thing, but being able to actually get work done is another. The fact is you are your own worst enemy as a solopreneur, and more often than not, this boils down to time management. Indeed, it’s all too easy to get sidetracked into doing inconsequential things when you’ve only got yourself to answer to, which is why it’s important to adopt effective ways to manage your time. A great way to do this is to make use of time blocking. In truth, setting boundaries for your schedule is not as restricting as you might think; rather, it actually frees you to do the things that you’re meant to be prioritizing, which takes us to the next point. If your business is appointment based, an appointment management system can be a big help. With this software, you can easily adjust appointments, track freelancer schedules, and send automated reminders to clients. 

Firm focus

Staying focused is easier said than done, as many solopreneurs would agree, and getting distracted from one’s priorities is an inevitable occupational hazard. It goes without saying that having a firm focus and tangible goals are crucial to being a solopreneur. A mission statement comes in handy as it not only keeps you fixated on the big picture but also keeps you accountable as a solopreneur. Best of all, it keeps you motivated. Indeed, being a solopreneur is a difficult job, but it is in no way a thankless one. By giving yourself what you need to succeed, you will, in no time, reap your just rewards and live to tell the tale of your solopreneurial journey.

Image URL: https://pixabay.com/photos/entrepreneur-startup-start-up-woman-593360/

Image Credit: Photo by Pixabay.com

The Dystopian Internet

I think the older we become the more fondly we look to the past to remember the "good ol' days." As I've recently bypassed the four decades of life milestone, I find myself doing this quite often. Usually it's the nostalgia of the 80’s from television to movies along with seeing arcades & pinball machines on every corner, but that also refers to the earlier internet. 

This doesn't pertain to the days of dial up and the walled garden of ISP's like America Online (although that was a time that helped sculpt my future) but more the earlier 2000's. There was a technology that existed called macro media flash and fireworks/after effects, etc which created some of the most beautifully innovative websites I'd ever seen. And although that was almost two decades ago, nothing seen today even compares to it. Literally nothing. 

There was one man in my opinion, at the center of this revolution who started a design firm called "2Advanced Studios" and that man's name was Eric Jordan. The first time I ventured to 2advanced.com I was absolutely blown away. My exact words were, "Whoa! I didn't know the internet could do that." The only way to explain it would be to say that the pages seemed artificially alive. They reacted to every move of your mouse. Menus and navigation bars displayed incredible animations and as one page was wiped away another was created in its place as if by magic as you traversed the site. I loved it so much I started dabbling in flash myself but only a handful of people were capable of doing anything even close to what Eric and his team were. I love digital aesthetics and flash was to the internet what the brush was to Picasso. Eric's artistic genius is still alive today but mostly in broadcasting/commercials along with his music. Just the same however, the internet seems a lot less bright. 

Around 2010-ish the "intellects" in silicone valley announced they were slowly going to stop supporting flash in their web browsers because they were worried about using up battery power on their mobile devices (YouTube is what uses up most of mine, go figure). This essentially meant that millions upon millions of people would no longer be capable of seeing what the web SHOULD look like today. With it, innovation and creativity died as well. Today you might see some random video in the background with text in the foreground, but that's about as ground breaking as things get. We went from a beautiful landscape of creativity, colors, motion, and graphics to a static template of garbage. Despite what those at the top of the tech world have given us over the years, most of it is just an annual refresh of slightly upgraded technology in their current lineup of devices to keep their stock prices intact. Who cares? 

I'm not impressed with any of it. Look up "Most innovative websites of 2020“ and have a gander. That's the best we're capable of now, and it's not unlike anything else out there. Web designers just don't have the tools they need to really wow anyone anymore. This includes myself. Even with Gilded Pendulum, I can only pretty it up so much. I can't make pages load intuitively or give you an incredible visual representation of what I'd like to really show you. As far as I'm concerned there's nothing more tragic in today's world than wasted talent. Or in this case, no longer being able to engage your talents because a corporation took away your paint brush. 

This is what that world use to look like from the man himself:

A Solution For the Current Pandemic...

This isn’t a blog but an open letter to our friends and future clients in the Nevada business community:

With the current virus outbreak going on all over the world, fear has kicked in and it would appear that the masses have gone into survival mode. The lines at Costco and other stores are proof of this. But it’s not just people that are fearful it’s also businesses and their owners that fear the millions of layoffs that will be coming and their customers no longer having income. The financial markets have already lost billions from investors pulling their money and we’re only seeing the beginning of what this aftermath will entail.

So I started thinking what could Gilded Pendulum do to lend a hand and hopefully assist businesses in retaining as many of their staff as possible? I myself was a statistic of the great recession and I know what it’s like when economies tank and jobs are like a mirage in the desert. I also know what it’s like when you don’t know where your next paycheck is coming from and the anxiety that comes with that. Now add millions of people all over the country that are in that same situation, it’s recipe for disaster.

So what can businesses do to hopefully weather this storm that I’m hoping will only last a few months while we get a handle on things? What could an organization do to save thousands of dollars a month and tighten up their financial belts to increase their likelihood of survival? You go 100% remote. We have the infrastructure in this country to make this a reality and a relatively simple process going forward. And if I can help you retain as many people on your staff as possible so they don’t have to endure what I did back in those dark times of the recession, it would be a victory for all of us.

As of this writing I am waving the modest retainer fee I charge clients for my time, access to our master agent pricing, and the negotiation of products and services and I will help any business that wants to move their business into the cloud, 100% free. You will have access to your staff via phone and instant messaging all in one place. You’ll be able to continue doing your conferences and your staff meetings remotely without it effecting your bottom line in any way. One of the best things about this scenario is that the marketplace is already expecting you to conduct business in this fashion anyway. Every large corporation that is able to allow their employees to work remote, has already done it or is in the process. Schools are closing. Conventions and summits are being canceled. Hotels and resorts are halving their staff. Airlines and cruise ships are cutting their prices to ludicrous levels. Places where people congregate for business or social venues are canceling these events for the next few months. Much of the city as we know it is going to be shutdown or running on skeleton crews. The only question is, are you ready within the next coming weeks to be where the commerce will take place? If not, Gilded Pendulum will get you there and hold your hand the whole way, and again we’re going to do it for free.

And what would helping you go remote be if we ourselves couldn’t help you get there the same way? We take pride in meeting with our prospective clients face to face but we also know that there’s a current health risk going on. We can take care of everything you need over the phone and through email. This is of course less personal and not a preferred way of doing business, but common sense dictates this being the best way to accomplish this goal at the current time. So please know, this isn’t something that’s going to make us rich as we are literally doing it for free. This is instead something that is very personal to me as a business owner and I want to do whatever is possible to help keep as many people employed and capable of earning income this year as possible. The worst is still coming.

I wish each and every person reading this the best of luck and may you remain healthy during the current pandemic. Godspeed and we’ll be here if you need us.

Best Regards,

Dominic Allen

Ransomware Becoming More Prevalent

Current estimates have ransomware attacks on businesses sitting at around $40,000 per incident. The primary viruses responsible for this were typically the Sodinokibi and GlobeImposter variants. More recently however it has been noted that a whole myriad of bad actors using Ryuk, Phobos, Snatch, Estamani, Hidden Tear, and Netwalker have started being pushed to potential victims. Once these malicious programs infect your workstation or server environment, the ransom is demanded (usually in the form of a crypto currency) and failure to pay it results in loss of data and about 12 days of company downtime, give or take.

It has been found that smaller companies tend to mitigate these threats far better than larger corporations who implement extremely vast and complex network environments. The latter type of organization is typically the ideal target because they have the means to pay higher ransoms, often times in the amounts of $100-150k respectively. Attempting to restore data via decryption methods or prior backups is extremely time consuming and not always successful depending on the type of attack and how it works.

Everything is connected now. Everything. And those connections are typically to the internet in some form or function. If you’re not monitoring your traffic or don’t have a security solution in place for mitigation of threats, you can find yourself paying some random person a world away to get your sensitive data back or simply unlocking your network. As the digital landscapes change, there are always companies out there who keep on top of these things to protect business owners from suffering massive data losses and financial setbacks, including 24 hour monitoring. Even insurance companies have recognized this threat and have started selling cyber insurance policies years ago to help recoup business losses for most any type of breach you can imagine.

This is just a friendly reminder that these things are still happening and becoming more and more intricate. The cost to establish a safeguard isn’t just some random expense on a spreadsheet that’s not making your company any money. The costs used to implement and maintain these solutions far outweigh the losses you would suffer without them. Not to mention it’s going to look far better in a court of law if you’re ever sued by your customers should an actual breach occur, that you did in fact have multiple types of protection running at all times and that you took your network security seriously. As well as your customer’s sensitive information.

5 Ways Small Businesses Can Invest in Tech to Help Them Survive and Thrive

Note: This is a guest article submission by Gloria Martinez from Womenled.org. We hope you find it informative and insightful. Enjoy!

Technology drives the small business world, but it can often feel too expensive for many small business owners. In reality, though, if you’re not investing in tech for your business, you could be missing out on some pretty important benefits, like heightened security and increased efficiency. So if you want to keep your tech investments minimal and still help your business thrive, here are a few of the smartest ways to spend your company’s tech budget. 

Hire Data-Recovery Specialists

If your small business falls prey to a phishing attack or any other cyberattack that results in the loss of private data, hiring the right tech support is crucial to helping your business recover. If you don’t already employ an IT specialist, the services provided by data-recovery companies can help you with this recovery effort and get your business back on track. You can even keep a data-recovery company on retainer. This kind of proactive measure can provide you with some added peace of mind but can also be a smart first step toward creating a data breach plan for your small business. The FTC recommends that businesses of all sizes have this kind of response plan so that businesses impacted by cyberattacks and data breaches do not miss any essential steps during the overall data-recovery process. 

Purchase the Right Smartphone

A dependable smartphone is essential for today’s small business owners. If you’re on the go like so many business owners, you’ll need to be able to communicate effectively with clients and employees, whether that’s through regular calls, email, or video chats. A high-quality smartphone will also enable you to run the apps your business needs to thrive, and you can also use it to shoot video and take unique product photos. Before purchasing a new phone, research the features you need, and consider how much you’re willing to spend. Some service providers have trade-in specials where you can turn in your old phone for a discounted new model. 

Invest in a Secure Private Server 

When your business really starts to boom, it may be time for your own server. You can tell it’s really time for a dedicated server when managing multiple PCs and providing your employees with access to essential systems feels like a burden. Setting up a server for your small business can make managing these tech needs less of an effort for you and your tech team, and using a secure server can also provide staff members with remote access to critical processes and systems without having to worry about any added potential for data breaches. To boost the privacy and security benefits of your new server, it’s also a good idea to train all your employees on data privacy practices, like safeguarding any private data collected from colleagues or customers and staying updated on current cyber threats for small businesses. 

Ensure Professional Communication

Are you still using a Google or Yahoo email address for your small business? If so, your email communications with clients and vendors may not appear as professional as they should. This is such as simple tech fix for small businesses, but using a business domain instead can instantly help your business appear more legitimate and also help potential customers place more trust in your small business. In addition to adding a more professional look to your business emails, you should once again be concerned about adding a layer of security as well. Email encryption is a smart way to keep your mailboxes safe from phishing attacks and other cybersecurity threats. If you or your employees will be using smartphones to store and work with private information, you may also want to take additional steps to encrypt smartphone data and protect your business. 

Enhance Employee Productivity 

Tech that provides protection is always a wise investment for small businesses, but tech tools that improve productivity can provide a solid ROI as well. In fact, productivity is so crucial to business success that tools like Trello, a task management program that allows business owners to collaborate with teams and share vital productivity resources, is ranked as one of the top tech tools that small businesses should invest in this year. Of course, it also doesn’t hurt to consider more traditional tech approaches to managing staff time and productivity, like firewalls. With firewalls in place for your small business, you will be able to prevent employees from accessing websites that could pose a distraction or even a threat, and you will also have an added layer of security to prevent an expensive data breach from sidetracking your success. 

Updating tech isn’t just about adding profits. The right tech can ensure survival for your small business and peace of mind for you so you can focus on helping your small business succeed. 

Photo Credit: Unsplash

The Master Agent Summit in California...

So this year I decided to venture to California for our annual tech summit where a substantial amount of our vendors gather on the west coast to introduce us to many of their new products and services. The cloud, IoT, and remote infrastructure not only appear to be in good health but making some nice leaps and bounds from a few years ago. At these summits we also receive a myriad of training on various subjects, such as how to service clients in an increasingly more expansive and ever changing tech market. In fact the summit was actually called “Changing Tides.” We engaged in a deeper dive on marketing platforms and how best to reach those niche markets, how A.I. platforms like IBM Watson was going to change the world around us and how that technology will interface with your own proprietary apps, as well as having tech icons like Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Technology Association give us some stark warning about many of the things I was discussing in this blog years ago (but that companies don’t listen to). Also can’t say I minded receiving a copy of his signed book Ninja Future.

But of course we had tech on display in all it’s glory. I particularly enjoyed seeing where business phones are going and how you can either have them running on your own personal mobile phone via an application or now enjoying cordless handsets in the office with all the same features and security offered by the traditional phones with cord attachments to the receiver.

This was the scene at the Polycom booth this year

I go to these summits to be able to better serve struggling companies grappling with exceeding costs in the coming year. I also attend for the blatant grab bags of tech we receive from these vendors and our parent company, Sandler partners who treat us extremely well for the hard work all their master agents perform all over the country. But most importantly it shows me where the industry is going. Executives high up in many of these companies gave keynotes on where the industry is going and how their positioning themselves to be the most useful to their customers when that change arrives. As agents we receive a wealth of knowledge from these people and I also get to learn the ins and outs of companies I meet with in person so I can inform those who reach out to us in the best way possible about their pain points and how to remove them. I also see whose new on the block and how they’ll be doing things differently than everyone else.

One thing is absolutely paramount, and that is that every business is different. No one company can be a cookie cutter fit for another company that maybe has 10-20 employees versus a behemoth with thousands of employees and multiple office locations around the world. It’s crucial to know what every carrier is capable of in the grand scheme of things and what products and services they have available in the marketplace. And that’s why these trips are so worth it to me, and in the future they’ll pay off in dividends for you as well.

5G Will be the Most Explosive Tech Trend in the Next Decade

It really is as simple as that, but to understand where 5G is going we have to quickly discuss where we’ve been with 4G LTE and what it’s given us. I myself was part of the 4G Wimax deployment followed up by the 4G LTE uplift many years ago, although it doesn’t seem that far off. 3G networks just weren’t getting the job done when it came to the throughput needed to run today’s most demanding apps. It was essentially a far better answer for data networks having millions of Iphones broadcasting on them, but was more of a stop gap than an actual solution. Enter 4G.

With 4G, streaming to mobile devices and being able to use apps like Uber and Lyft became possible. Services like netflix and others were now capable of streaming full length television programs and movies to your phone or tablet. With apps like Uber and Lyft, 3G just wasn’t fast enough to get accurate locations via GPS for drivers to actually find you and pick you up. These mobile networks have become definitive answers to solving problems in our everyday lives or enhancing our leisure activities while stuck at an airport terminal somewhere waiting on a delayed flight. If we break down all the advances just 4G gave us, we could state that the technology itself introduced trillions of dollars in investment capital to not just US markets but on a global scale as well. What was Netflix’s stock price before the inception of 4G? Exactly.

Simply profound speed

So what exactly is 5G going to bring us besides a serious influx of investment opportunities in various markets? Well for starters the connection is going to be a minimum of 10 times faster than what we currently have on our mobile devices. You could surf the web and make phone calls while riding on a high speed train going 310 miles per hour. IT WILL BE 10 TO 15 TIMES FASTER!!! So to put that into a quick perspective, you will be able to download a full movie in about 2 seconds. 2 SECONDS! Have I got your attention? But what else exactly will we be seeing as the technology is rolled out and becomes a mainstay for us?

By 2025 an estimated 75 billion devices will be connected to the internet. AI machines are going to make a serious splash in not only our economy but our everyday lives. I’ll let Jeff Brown from Legacy Research explain this further:

5G isn’t just faster than 4G. It was built from the ground up to be able to assign “slices” of the wireless spectrum to specific applications. This will allow wireless network operators such as Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile to guarantee a network connection to a self-driving car or truck company. Each self-driving truck needs to be connected, in real time, with a high-speed connection. And if a human driver at a remote command center location needs to step in and drive the truck through a tricky navigation, there can’t be any delay – or “latency” – in the connection. 5G is the only network technology that can provide dedicated bandwidth, low latency, high-speed connections, and guaranteed quality of service. A self-driving world is impossible with current 4G networks.

These types of vehicles, both cars and large semi-trucks will be something you start seeing in the next decade as normal. If you’ve had any fears of automation systems taking over, they were well founded.

The medical field will also be very much effected. Robot surgeries are going to start becoming common in high tech hospitals around the world with a doctor on one end, miles and miles away, controlling a robotic surgeon possibly saving your life. This has already taken place. According to a report in the South China Morning Post a surgeon in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian used a 5G network connection to control robotic arms 30 miles away. This is possible because network latency over this new type of wireless network drops by 99%. Basically there’s no noticeable lag whatsoever.

These are just a few of the incredible developments we’re going to see in the coming years with this new technology. Many of the possibilities haven’t even been discovered yet. I would expect holographic technologies start to surface as well using these network speeds. If you’re an investor start preparing now for unprecedented market opportunities here. If you’re a techy, the things you’re going to get to experiment with and the systems you’ll be able to interface with are going to be incredible. For everyone else, I would simply expect you to eventually take these things for granted as we already do now. Or you can dive in head first and discover the wealth of opportunity that will be existent just over the next horizon. What you do from here is up to you.

Remote Workers Have Increased by 76%...

This is one of the most recent reports put out by “Apartment List” which also indicated that employees traveling over 90 minutes to and from the office increased by 31%. Obviously there’s a trend going on here and it appears to support that people and the companies they work for have become capable of working from anywhere that has an internet connection, usually their home but sometimes all over the world as employees can enjoy travel year round while still working during the home office’s business hours.

This is pretty incredible when you think about it. This means that employers have already started their migration into the cloud using technologies like Virtual desktops, SD WANs, and numerous ‘as a Service’ implementations which now allows them to do many things far better than they use to.

Let’s take a closer look at what’s actually happening here, because it’s good news for business organizations:

• Less Cost (Rent, desks, expensive hardware, coffee, water coolers, vending, couches, etc)

• Better Quality of Life for Employees (No commute in the morning, more time with family, flex time, etc)

• Much Larger Employee Pool (Instead of finding the best local person, companies can now just find the best person anywhere)

Of course here at Gilded Pendulum we realize that with all the good, there’s certainly plenty of bad. Working in this manner can cause substantial security risks for the company and it’s sensitive information. These can include things like insecure end-points, that same sensitive data leaving the company premises, and touch and go internet connections. Be that as it may, with technology consistently moving at light speed (I mean that literally these days) professionals in the industry have accounted for these issues and have built solutions to combat many of these negative aspects as well. With the proper virtual desktop solutions (some companies are simply calling this ‘DaaS- Desktop as a Service’) remote workers are logging on securely and storing their sensitive work files in secure places OFF of their laptop, mobile device, or client machine. With these problems mitigated and their connections secure, business owners are seeing far better profits at the end of the year for having to maintain less work space and office comforts while still being able to cater to some of those intense crunch times at the end of the month. When this transition takes place, these companies are already putting themselves ahead of the technology curve, can support their clients just as effectively, and more than likely get some outstanding glassdoor.com reviews to bring in even more talented people who want to become a part of the collective at a great organization.

Is this something you as a CIO or business owner have been contemplating? You’re not alone. Gilded Pendulum can completely transform the way you do business and how your employees interact with your most important assets, your customers. Even if it’s something you want to slowly transition to in the future, we can assist you in the pivotal steps needed to completely transform your business without a massive bill when payment comes due.

80% of You Pay Way Too Much…

You read that correctly. Most recent reports I’ve read stipulate that the vast majority of businesses out there, (as noted here in the 80th percentile) are simply spending too much for their technical products and services. Most business owners I’ve met simply don’t have the time to go over and compare product brochures and the corresponding service plans to keep them up and running. And why should they? Those things are ridiculous! Just going through the fine print and the caveats for various service plans will make your head spin. Then you have to call these companies and hope you get someone on the phone who actually knows what they’re talking about, and even then you’re still likely to get surprises on your billing after a few months establishing service.

These things typically fall into one or more of the following categories after establishing service:

• Cost for Time and Services- This is when a technician shows up to fix the problem and typically bills out his hourly rate to you.

• Managed IT Service Support- This is when you outsource all your technical and service support needs. This is often times on a yearly contract basis. These types of companies typically provide daily support either remotely or on-site. You usually pay a monthly service fee for any problems that may arise and you better hope these people know what they’re doing.

• Software Services- This is typically what you get when you have one developer’s software running somewhere within your company. They will offer you remote support and fix any bugs or glitches you may experience. They will NOT typically service any other type of issue you’re experiencing that isn’t their own product.

This is where things start to get fuzzy. Are you paying for managed IT support every month even though you rarely if ever require actual service? In that instance perhaps the first option of paying a tech an hourly rate would suit your needs better. Are you paying multiple software companies to support your organization when there might have been ONE company you were unaware of that provides all the same types of software you’re already using so all your support could’ve been found under one roof? These are typically the things most business owners who need to get up and running quickly don’t realize until it’s too late and that’s why 80% of businesses are currently overpaying these third party companies and either don’t realize it or acknowledge they’ve made a mistake and there’s no going back at that point.

This is why hiring a strategic service provider like us can help alleviate all of the above problems. We even have our own technical concierge with people who know exactly how best to place a company for product and service acquisition as well as the support piece after install. I would also be willing to bet that most businesses don’t even realize that strategic service providers exist. Which one are you?