The value of business data is immense, and any company that doesn’t wish to be left behind
understands that fact quite well. Now, the real question is, are their efforts enough? As there is no
single, universal answer to this question, go through the following to find out for yourself.

Find and Hire the Right People

As of now, finding and hiring data scientists, data analysts, machine learning experts and data
visualisation specialists is a key priority for many of the world’s leading companies. There are, however, three problems that most smaller organisations face while trying to find quality talent for their company’s analytics needs:

1. They don’t know what makes a good data analyst or scientist and where to find them
2. They don’t know what they actually do! and how to make your company attractive to them
3. They don’t have the budget to hire data scientists, data analysts, and data visualisation experts full time

Datawrk understands these issues all too well, and effectively solves them by connecting companies with the most suitable data visualisation specialists, data analysts, data scientists and machine learning experts.

Datawrk’s online platform enables data professionals to work with more flexibility, which means that even the best data analysts and data visualisation experts can take on short-term projects for smaller companies, helping them excel.

Embed Data Streaming into Business Processes

In order to facilitate faster decision making in a remote working environment, data streaming should now become embedded in the company’s analytics and reporting processes. This allows for real-time actions, eliminating delays on both micro and macro levels.

Alongside the obvious advantages of real-time decision making, embedding live data streams will also reduce the stress of work getting bottlenecked. That is, unless it is swiftly attended to by the leading executives in real-time, via embedded data feeds.

Update Your Data Infrastructures and Architectures

A lot has happened in the last few years, so if you are still using outdated data infrastructure and
architecture, it is most certainly time to think about upgrading. You will need to hire a data architect or data engineer in order to help you make the necessary changes, though.

Understand the Impact of Covid-19 on Data Analytics

We all knew that nearly every industry was slowly shaping up to take a digital-first business outlook in the future, but that future has been sped up exponentially by the Covid-19 outbreak. The importance of understanding data science is greater than ever in 2020, skyrocketing the demand for analytics specialists as companies are increasingly under pressure to do more with less.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Are you Doing Everything You Can To Get the Most Out of Your Business Data? appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Two in five (41%) parents working from home are finding the stress of homeschooling difficult, on average, they’re spending three hours during the working day looking after their children, however, a third (35%) want their working patterns to stay the same post-lockdown, UK employers have introduced various measures to help employees who are homeschooling and two fifths (39%) of working UK adults are homeschooling their children while balancing full time jobs, new research from Canada Life today reveals.

Canada Life polled parents who are homeschooling, and UK employers, to understand how workers are fairing during lockdown. On average, parents are spending three hours a day – or 15 hours a week homeschooling their children. They are therefore only working ‘in the office’ for three and half hours a day and are then spending two hours working after bedtime every evening to make up for lost time.

With the Government announcing that schools won’t be open full time until September, four in ten workers who are homeschooling (41%) admit that the stress of balancing this is becoming difficult. However, more than a third (35%) want their working patterns to stay the same when the lockdown restrictions are lifted; only a quarter (26%) want to return to a physical workplace, compared to 32% who want to work from home more often.

Leading by example

Employers have mostly been quick to respond and accommodate working parents. With one in four (39%) small business decision makers homeschooling their own children, the majority (87%) of parents say their employer has introduced flexible measures during lockdown. These include:

· Flexible hours (24%)

· Reducing parents’ workplace responsibilities (19%)

· Cutting back the number of meetings parents have to attend (17%)

· Implementing role-sharing between colleagues where possible (10%)

SME decision makers who are homeschooling themselves are more likely to have introduced flexible measures for parents; 84% of those who are balancing the classroom and working life themselves have introduced flexible measures for their employees, compared to just 33% among those who aren’t.

Overall, two thirds (67%) of employers think the measures they’ve introduced are sufficient, but a fifth (20%) are still planning to do more because they don’t feel like they’ve done enough. One in ten (9%) know that they haven’t done enough to support working parents, but can’t do anything else; this is higher among those who aren’t homeschooling (14%) than those who are (6%).

Paul Avis, Canada Life group insurance marketing director said: “No one could have predicted at the start of the year that parents across the country would be balancing the pressure of full-time jobs with homeschooling their children. It’s a really stressful time for everyone, but parents with young children have been particularly affected. It’s really positive that employers are taking their responsibilities seriously and supporting staff playing the role of parent, teacher, and employee.

“If you have a group protection policy in place, you’ll likely have access to a range of support services with your cover.  Canada Life for example has recently launched ‘WeCare’³, an extensive range of virtual support services covering health, mental health and wellbeing support, which is available for free to over 9,000 employers, supporting 150,000 employees and their families.

“Words like ‘unprecedented’ have probably been overused, but having researched the many issues with our current working practices over the years, I believe that out of this adverse situation, a beneficial outcome is on the horizon, with working from home and work-life balance now being recognised by employers as a good thing.”

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post COVID-19 And The Difficult Life Of UK Workers Dealing With Homeschooling appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

It’s been predicted that business recovery will rise in the following 28 weeks, which however would suggest a much longer lockdown , as it will take longer to rebuild. But despite this, more than two-fifths of businesses (41%) report a positive outlook for next 12 months, offering a glimmer of hope for economy

One in ten businesses in the wholesale and retail sector (9%) are facing a collapse as it’s been stated they will not survive another month of the lockdown period, which is being said by the latest wave of the Opinium-Cebr Business Distress Tracker.

Furthermore, the long-term damage the economy will have to face continues to grow as the time that businesses anticipate they will need to recover from the crisis is now 28 weeks. This is a 3 week rise since the last Tracker, just a fortnight ago, and suggests the longer the lockdown persists, the longer it will take for businesses to rebuild.

Business Distress Tracker topline results

• Despite the damage that is piling up, there is a glimmer of hope that some businesses have made it through the lowest point of the coronavirus crisis, as more than two-fifths (41%) reported a positive outlook for the next 12 months. This is the first time during the crisis that the number of businesses with a positive assessment of future conditions has outweighed the number with a negative assessment.
• However, even though there are improvements in sentiment, conditions remain extremely challenging by any historical standard, and more than half a million (510,000) businesses are at a high risk of entering insolvency.
• The severity of the crisis varies between sectors. While, nearly one in ten (9%) businesses in the wholesale & retail sector state that they will not survive another month of the lockdown, manufacturers appear more resilient.

The Opinium-Cebr Business Distress Tracker checks the pulse of the UK business community on a fortnightly basis, as firms across the country grapple with the unprecedented challenges brought about by the coronavirus crisis. The Tracker is based on a survey of 500 business across the country, representing a broad range of industries and business sizes.

James Endersby, CEO at Opinium said “We are all going through the most immensely challenging time and all businesses are doing their best to keep their head above water. The good news is that there is no further bad news, with businesses adapting to life in lockdown as best as they can, but it is hard to avoid the large number still facing the risk of insolvency.

“Another ray of hope is that B2C businesses appear to be responding to steadily rising consumer demand by bringing some of their workers back from furlough. However, the incredibly challenging trading conditions across the board means that B2B businesses are yet to see any noticeable improvement in their outlook.”

Pablo Shah, Senior Economist at Cebr said “The latest results of the Tracker show that long-term damage to the economy is stacking up. Businesses now anticipate needing 28 weeks after restrictions are lifted to return to pre-crisis levels of production – 3 weeks longer than in the previous edition of the Tracker. Meanwhile – at more than half a million – the estimated number of businesses at high risk of insolvency remains alarmingly high.

“With that being said – while present conditions remain challenging to the extreme – the survey results suggest that we could perhaps be starting to see some break in the clouds. More than two in five companies now describe their prospects for the next 12 months as positive, while assessments of current trading conditions have also picked up marginally.”

Business insolvency risks

Insolvency risks for the business community as a whole appear to have receded marginally, with nearly 3 in 5 (58%) of businesses indicating that they are safe from insolvency as a result of coronavirus-related disruption. However, 9% of firms – amounting to 510,000 – remain at a high risk of going insolvent as a result of the current crisis.

Eight weeks after the national lockdown was introduced, many businesses are now on the cusp of closure. 5% of firms surveyed indicated that they could not survive another month if trading conditions remain as they are currently. The situation is particularly dyer in the wholesale & retail sector, where nearly one in ten (9%) of businesses do not think they can survive another month of lockdown.

Trading conditions and employment impacts

Though there has been a slight decline in the number of businesses making workplace adjustments, over four fifths (84%) of UK businesses continue to make changes to their operations. Positively, there has been a small reduction in the average number of employees on furlough (32% down from 35%), though the number of staff facing reduced hours (33% up from 32%) and wage cuts (34% up from 33%) have increased very slightly.

Most noticeably, B2C businesses have appeared to turn a corner. In our first wave at the height of lockdown two thirds (67%) said their trading conditions were poor, but this has dropped by 8 percentage points to 59% in our latest wave. Although they remain in incredibly difficult circumstances, it suggests both business and consumers have improved their ability to navigate their way through the lockdown measures. This has resulted in B2C businesses reducing the proportion of their staff on furlough (30% down from 36%) or with wage cuts (36% down from 41%).

Business activity rates

The latest business survey was conducted between May 7th and May 11th. At this time, all of the restrictions introduced on March 23rd remained in place, meaning that there was not a material change in the trading conditions faced by most businesses relative to two weeks prior when the previous survey was conducted. Profits over the previous 30 days were 30% lower than would have been expected under more normal circumstances. This is a fractionally larger fall than the 29% recorded in the previous survey.

Economic recovery

Although businesses have become marginally more optimistic about their prospects over the next 12 months, the survey results also suggest that the longer the lockdown lasts, the longer it will take for most businesses to rebuild once restrictions are eventually lifted. On average, businesses anticipate needing 28 weeks to return to their pre-crisis levels of production – up from 25 weeks two weeks ago. Meanwhile, more than a fifth (21%) indicate that they will need at least a year before output can recover fully.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post 1 In 10 Businesses Face Collapse As The Economic Crisis Deepens appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

In today’s modern world, data breaches are ever-growing threats that can affect businesses in just about every industry. To keep your company’s proprietary information, as well as your customers’ sensitive financial data secure, you must implement policies and procedures to protect that data. Here’s what you need to do.

Conduct a Thorough System Audit

You can’t protect against data breaches if you don’t know where your security vulnerabilities lie. An IT security audit will give you a better sense of the areas you need to give more attention to in creating future security measures. This audit should look for any ways that data thieves, both internal and external, could gain access to your company’s systems and the data they contain. At the end of the audit, you should have a detailed outline of what you need to do next to secure your systems.

Protect Against Malware and Viruses

Firewalls are your first line of defense against malware, but they are not enough to stop all of today’s digital threats. In addition to basic firewalls, you’ll also need robust virus protection software on every computer in your organization to stop these malicious files before they infect your machines, possibly spreading throughout your network. Email spam filters are necessities as well, as many viruses come in the form of email attachments.

Provide Training for Your Employees

In many cases, data breaches happen because unsuspecting employees inadvertently give hackers access. Most of the time, this is unintentional, and it is also preventable. Your business must require your team members to go through data security training as part of the employee onboarding process. This demonstrates to them that your organization takes data security seriously and that they should as well. Even long-term employees should go through this training, and your staff should repeat the training periodically to ensure they understand how to protect against the latest threats.

Secure Mobile Devices

Many of your employees likely utilize their smartphones or tablets to assist with their work, and if your organization does not provide company devices, this can be a significant security risk. If your team is using their own devices, you need to have a BYOD policy in place. This can require your employees to install specific software or applications on their devices to enhance security. You’ll also need to provide technical support to help employees with installation, updates, and other necessary tasks to ensure their devices stay as secure as possible.

Encrypt All of Your Data

While it may be tempting only to encrypt sensitive data, it is good practice to encrypt everything. If hackers identify that they can gain access to some of your unencrypted data, they’ll be encouraged to keep trying to break into your more secure files. By encrypting everything, you’ll show possible data thieves that you are doing everything in your power to keep them out, possibly discouraging them from attempting to hack your organization and leading them to move on to an easier target.

Manage Passwords Carefully

Even with the growing threat of data breaches, many people still don’t create passwords that are anywhere near secure enough to stop hackers. It is crucial that your business institute strict password protocols for your employees. Passwords should be complex so that they are not easy to guess, including both capital and lowercase letters, as well as numbers and symbols. You should also require your team to change their passwords at least every six months to minimize risk.

Minimize Accessibility

When it comes to your organization’s sensitive data, the only people who should have access to it are the ones who genuinely need it. In most cases, this will mean only those at the highest levels of your company or those in specific departments that use the data. General employees should not have any more access than they truly need. By restricting the number of people who are allowed to access secure data, you’ll reduce the number of possible vulnerabilities, making it much more difficult for hackers to gain access using low-level employee credentials.

Maintain Constant Vigilance

With data security, it is not enough to set up security protocols and hope for the best. Defending against data breaches is a constant battle as hackers and thieves continue to grow more and more sophisticated. To keep up, your security measures need to become more sophisticated as well. New threats are revealed with each passing day, so you need to update your security efforts to stay ahead of them continually.

While all of this may seem a bit overwhelming at first, there is no need to worry. As long as you create a step-by-step plan to improve your company’s data security and commit to following it, your organization can keep its data as secure as possible.

This is an article provided by our partners network. It might not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of our editorial team and management.

Contributed content

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Keeping Business Data Secure appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.