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WHITEPAPER | Excel or a Business Intelligence solution? When is it just better to stick with Excel.
Excel and BI tools are great tools for your business, but when is each more suitable?
Microsoft Excel has been a pillar of business since the late 1980s, and since then, it’s only grown in its usefulness and relevance to modern business. However, as businesses’ requirements for analysis and reporting grew, along with increases in the volume and sources of data, Excel began to struggle.
In the past few years, we’ve seen an evolution of the tooling into Business Analytics (BI) platforms. These platforms use modern programming languages and data storage techniques to speed up and automate repeated tasks, removing human involvement and reducing overhead on a business.
Despite what evangelists from both sides preach, both Excel and BI tools have their place in modern business. Knowing when to leverage each toolset can save time, effort, and cost –leading ultimately to better, faster, and more accurate decision-making.
In this paper, we look at both sides of the story and highlight when switching to BI tools can improve business outcomes and when it’s best to stick with Excel.
To discuss how to capture, manage and understand your data, leave your details below and an expert will get in touch with you.
Or call us on +618 8238 6500
Whitepaper | Empowering Your Team: A Guide to Successfully Rolling Out Microsoft Copilot Part One: Piloting Copilot
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As AI comes to dominate the world of technology, generative AI tools are becoming the key to staying competitive and efficient.
Enter Microsoft Copilot, an AI-powered assistant integrated with Microsoft 365. By automating routine tasks and providing intelligent suggestions, Copilot has the potential to revolutionise your team’s productivity and streamline your workflows.
However, a successful implementation takes more than purchasing licences and adding desktop shortcuts. A well-planned and structured rollout of Microsoft Copilot will ensure that your organisation reaps maximum benefits from this world-changing tool, while minimising disruption and wasted resources.
This guide outlines the essential steps for businesses to successfully implement and maximise the benefits of Copilot
To discuss how you can best protect your data and IP, contact us, and an expert will get in touch with you.
Email: sales@advance.net.au
Or call us on +618 8238 6500
Whitepaper | Your Employees Are Probably Using ChatGPT – Are You Ready for the Risks?
The past two years have seen the meteoric rise of a technology that many experts hail as world-changing: generative artificial intelligence (AI). AI chatbots like ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, have become a nearly ubiquitous tool for individuals and businesses across many sectors. In fact, one in 10 Australians now report using ChatGPT for work 1 —regardless of their workplace’s official stance on AI usage.
To use ChatGPT effectively and safely at work, employees must be educated about its features, risks, and limitations. Key training topics are covered in our free whitepaper below!
To discuss how you can best protect your data and IP, contact us, and an expert will get in touch with you.
Email: sales@advance.net.au
Or call us on +618 8238 6500
Supercharging CX with Customer Journey Management
Source: inQuba
The Value of Optimised Customer Experiences
It's difficult to argue that positive customer experiences don't provide benefits to both customers and business. When customers have a seamless, rewarding experience, the result is greater loyalty, improved customer retention and customer lifetime value (which invariably means greater customer spend). Having worked with businesses in a variety of industry verticals, it has always been exciting to demonstrate these principles when correlating CX scores with operational metrics, such as revenue or profit. And in reality, the points generally hold true.
Better customer experience also translates to lower operational cost to service the customer - this can be via lower complaints or through more efficient handling of customer queries/issues.
And because experiences are more difficult to replicate, than say a product feature, they can also be the ultimate competitive differentiator..
Source: inQuba
Where Traditional CX Falls Short
There is a "but" however. Simply measuring customer feedback, obtaining scores for your key metrics, and even correlating these with business outcomes, is no longer enough in today's hyper-connected world where an omni-channel approach to the customer journey is mandated.
I'm often reminded of my grandmother's ISP, who only offers support via a single channel, which isn't easily accessible for many people like her. But efficiently delivering a well-orchestrated omni-channel customer journey isn’t all that easy. Which begs the question; is it valuable to know that CX metrics for a given channel are on-target, if the customer is traversing many other channels to reach their goal? Or how do we know where the customer is dropping off and which journey path is actually the best for that individual customer?
And how does one bring together all experiences, touchpoints, and channels along the customer journey to ascertain (with a strong degree of confidence) where the pitfalls and opportunities are... all in real-time so that the customer can be engaged appropriately?
Add to this that often it is difficult to demonstrate tangible business value from traditional CX programs, within a reasonable lead time to ROI. Business leaders aren't merely interested in a CX-metric uplift; they want to understand what improvements mean in terms of increased acquisition, retention, and upsell revenue.
The need is for a better understanding of causality and improved control over customer outcomes along the journey i.e. Customer Journey Orchestration or better Customer Journey Management.
Customer Journey Orchestration
What really excites me about Customer Journey Management/Orchestration is that it provides a mechanism to help customers reach their goals, all while making it easier to demonstrate tangible business results to leadership. It all starts with a clearly-defined goal, followed by a mapping of the key journey points that customers traverse towards that goal (which are often done via customer Job To Be Done and Journey Mapping Workshops).
Like any CX or Customer Journey Management methodology, good data is the cornerstone of a successful program. However, where many methodologies and technologies miss out is the customer's context - there's a reason they say that "Context is King".
But context needs to extend beyond behavioural context (i.e. what the customer has done or what they are likely to do). It must include the customer's emotional context (what they think/feel), and this often requires a "conversation" or dialogue with the customer.
A good example of this was with an insurer's onboarding journey, where we were able to ask customers what they wanted to achieve in retirement. This simple additional emotional context allowed us to better understand the customers' context and thereby personalise the customer's journey accordingly. It facilitated personalised customer nudges along the onboarding journey, and the results spoke for themselves; with the test group cohort outperforming the control group by 34%.
Example Customer Journey: Acquisition Journey (source: inQuba)
Finally, Customer Journey Orchestration needs to extend beyond a single channel. Where customers need or want to switch channels, the methodology should allow them to do so. Think about my grandmother with her ISP. Alternatively, think of a customer that is going through the Application Journey and hits a snag when completing online forms. Typically, this customer might drop off if the effort is too high, but by managing the customer journey we can identify when the customer has gone idle and nudge them, perhaps by offering support via a different channel such as the call centre. There might be other points along the journey where the customer goes idle, and where different nudges/engagements would be appropriate, but the compounding effect of these incremental, contextual nudges adds immensely to the final result - customers reaching the goal.
Journey Summaries, including Journey Duration, Status, and Sentiment Overview (Source: inQuba)
Demonstrating Value
To my earlier point, business leaders need to demonstrate causality in order to prove the value of initiatives. Customer Journey Orchestration is no different, which is why an experimental design is best when first testing your program's impact. Experimentation in business is nothing new, with Harvard Business review writing about it back in 2014 already.
To ensure that you can more easily demonstrate the value of your journey programs, I find that it is best to consider the following design principles:
Start small by selecting a customer journey (what others might often call a "micro journey") that has high business impact
Embed test and control groups in the program design, at least until you've proven that your approach adds value
Embrace Outside-In input by leveraging the expertise of people outside your domain to help uncover blind spots in your Customer Journeys and Engagements
Be bold; to innovate by definition means to do something different. Many of our customers have realised immense value by trying new digital channels and nudges/engagements to help customers along their journeys
Getting Started
Customer Journey Management and Orchestration is as much a methodology as it is a technology-based approach. That is why we recommend starting with Journey Workshops, where we identify customer journey points, drop-offs, goal(s), as well as opportunities to engage and nudge the customer.
If you're as excited about Journey Management and Orchestration as I am, look out for one of our webinars or round-tables. Or, get in touch for a coffee & chat.
Hook, Line, and Sinker Building Phishing Resilience in Australian Businesses - Whitepaper
Hook, Line, and Sinker Building Phishing Resilience in Australian Businesses.
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The threat of phishing cannot be underestimated—nor can it be entirely eliminated. However, with diligent attention to education, preparation, and response, Australian businesses can build a resilient defence that significantly reduces the risk and potential impact of phishing attacks.
We’ve created this whitepaper to help raise awareness so you and your business can avoid being compromised.
To discuss how to protect your data and IP, leave your details below, and an expert will contact you.
Or call us on +61 8 8238 6500
Use Case | Australian Healthcare Provider Maximises Efficiency and Success Through Data Integration, Business Intelligence and Modern Reporting
Where do you begin with a data integration project? Data is the lifeblood of success, but it's also overwhelming, and people often ask us where to start with a data project. Usually, it's the place that is causing significant pain.
Business owners, CEOs, managers, and employees all face decisions daily that impact the success of our organisations and individual roles. It is crucial to use data to make the best decisions and focus energy on getting the best return on time investment. We have lots of data, that is a certainty!
One of our clients in the healthcare sector had a significant problem with data integration and effective reporting. While providing medical devices for patients, they were unable to make data-driven decisions due to lagging and inaccurate reporting. This impacted their appointing setting across the entire business and across various locations in Australia.
Reporting challenges faced were:
A lack of insight into the business, proving difficult to make good decisions on staffing and resource planning.
Difficulty determining which clinics were busy and the number of reserved appointments/placeholders available within the calendars.
Inconsistency across the retail brands.
Different diary management systems and appointment definitions.
Operational data entry issues.
The business needed to run more efficiently, and management had to make effective decisions.
To address these challenges, we used a Business Intelligence tool (PowerBI, Qlik, and Tableau are popular examples) to create a holistic view of business performance and leveraged the data warehouse for the brands.
Data integration and Business Intelligence tools allowed us to:
Create reports according to exact Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
Create a mapping table for appointment types and a traffic light "dashboard" for quick identification of low/high-performing areas, with a drill-down function for further investigation.
We can now examine the percentage of booked/busy areas by business unit, state, clinic, and medical practitioner to make changes in real time.
Determine the number of reserved "test" appointments available.
Check for free space within the calendars.
Enable reconciliation and check for any data entry errors.
Using this approach provided the following business and efficiency benefits:
A holistic view of the business.
Management can make informed decisions on where to deploy resources. Call centre staff can be tasked with booking appointments for clinics with a high vacancy rate or moving appointments forward if needed.
Connecting various data sources highlighted the inconsistent format/terminology used across different clinics, which was then improved.
Reduction in errors due to manual data entry.
You may already have access to Microsoft PowerBI or have used it before, but are you getting the business benefits discussed above? We work on new projects to make clients more efficient and effective with better data integration, reporting, and insights.
Phone: 08 8238 6500
Email: sales@advance.net.au
Website: www.advance.net.au
DATA: Data Debt - A Silent Challenge in Data Engineering
Where do you begin with a data integration project? Data is the lifeblood of success, but it's also overwhelming, and people often ask us where to start with a data project. Usually, it's the place that is causing significant pain.
In the realm of data engineering, the spotlight often falls on technological innovation and how to manage burgeoning datasets efficiently. Yet, a critical but less discussed aspect is 'data debt.'
What is Data Debt?
Data debt arises when shortcuts in data handling, such as collection, storage, and management, are taken. Driven by the urgency to produce results, compromises like embedding transformations directly into SQL, instead of utilising variables, are made. Although this might offer immediate time savings, it can lead to poorly structured datasets and overlooked documentation, causing long-term complications.
Real-World Impact
The repercussions of data debt are significant and widespread. While no one intentionally codes a server’s IP address only to change the production server pre-weekend with a Monday board meeting looming, such scenarios are not unheard of. This often results in teams spending excessive time deciphering value calculations and dependent data sources, causing project delays and data inaccuracies.
Strategies to Mitigate Data Debt
Documentation: While documenting data sources, transformations, and assumptions can seem burdensome, it's invaluable for managing complexity. Balancing the speed of development with adequate documentation is key. Encouraging new hires to contribute to documentation and code improvement can also be effective. This not only ensures the upkeep of your data processes but also fosters a learning environment.
Data Governance: Implementing a solid data governance framework is essential. This involves establishing clear policies and procedures for data management to minimise inconsistencies and inefficiencies, ultimately reducing data debt.
Regular Audits: Conducting regular audits is crucial. Surprisingly, some ETL/ELT processes yield inconsistent results upon repetition. Regular audits help identify data quality issues, code alterations, and state-dependent calculations, ensuring reliability and consistency in data processing.
Looking Ahead
As Joel Spolsky aptly put it, "code doesn't rust," but in our interconnected world, even code can 'rust.' Adapting swiftly is crucial, yet challenging when burdened with significant data debt.
One lingering question remains: Is managing data debt a technical challenge or a strategic business issue that requires proper budgeting and management?
Have you encountered similar challenges? How does your organisation address data debt?
Use Case | Unlocking Efficiency: Data Integration Transforms Travel and Accommodation Business
Where do you begin with a data integration project? Data is the lifeblood of success, but it's also overwhelming, and people often ask us where to start with a data project. Usually, it's the place that is causing significant pain.
Data is the lifeblood of success, but it's also overwhelming, and people often ask us where to start with a data project. Usually, it's the place that is causing significant pain.
In the example below, we discussed the existing process and the challenges this causes and applied a process and software to automate and simplify the process.
Invoice/File Processing
Challenges
1. Invoice Overload
Travel and accommodation businesses deal with a high volume of invoices daily. Manually processing and approving these invoices can be overwhelming, leading to delays, errors, and inefficiencies.
2. Visibility Gap
Without real-time visibility into invoice commitments, businesses often find themselves in the dark until month-end or the next reporting cycle. This lack of transparency hampers decision-making and financial planning.
3. Manual Data Entry Woes
The tedious task of manually entering invoice details consumes valuable time and resources. Errors are common, and the process is prone to bottlenecks.
Solutions
1. Streamlined Approval Process
We’ve transformed the way invoices are handled. By implementing an automated scanning and approval process, we enabled swift and accurate invoice management. Say goodbye to paperwork overload!
2. Web-Based Portal
Our user-friendly web portal empowers clients to track invoices in real-time. From submission to approval status, everything is at their fingertips. No more waiting for month-end reports!
3. Budget Alerts
Our system proactively alerts departments and projects when invoices threaten to exceed budgets. Timely notifications prevent financial surprises and allow for course corrections.
Benefits
1. Workload Reduction
Significantly reduce manual effort. Staff can focus on strategic tasks, knowing that routine processes are automated.
2. Informed Decision-Making
Real-time visibility enables better decisions. Businesses can allocate resources wisely, optimise spending, and stay ahead of financial commitments.
Data and system integration is not just about solving problems. This type of work empowers businesses to thrive. Efficiency, transparency, and informed decision-making are the cornerstones of our success.
Interested in transforming your business? Reach out to us today below.
Email: sales@advance.net.au
Phone: +61 8 8238 6500
Follow me: linkedin.com/in/johnpaul
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Cybersecurity Myths Debunked - Whitepaper
Cybersecurity is no longer a new topic for most organisations.
Digital transformation creates incredible opportunities in almost all industries, but it brings with it unique and modern challenges. While those challenges are generally understood, several myths still surround them. In this whitepaper, we take a look at some of the common ones and check the facts.
Download your free whitepaper below
Cybersecurity is no longer a new topic for most organisations.
Digital transformation creates incredible opportunities in almost all industries, but it brings with it unique and modern challenges. While those challenges are generally understood, several myths still surround them. In this whitepaper, we take a look at some of the common ones and check the facts.
To discuss how to protect your data and IP, leave your details below, and an expert will contact you.
Or call us on +61 8 8238 6500
Data Security - ASD Cyber Threat Report 2024
Using cloud software like Xero, MYOB, or Salesforce? Our free whitepaper provides a foundation of cloud cybersecurity considerations to make sure your data is secure.
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Every business needs to protect its data. The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) releases a Cyber Threat Report every year that covers the state of cybersecurity, cybercrime, and cyber resilience in Australia. In this whitepaper, we summarise and analyse the most important findings that are essential to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).
To discuss how to protect your data and IP, leave your details below, and an expert will contact you.
Or call us on +61 8 8238 6500
Cybersecurity: Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan
Using cloud software like Xero, MYOB, or Salesforce? Our free whitepaper provides a foundation of cloud cybersecurity considerations to make sure your data is secure.
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A CIRP empowers business leaders to take a proactive, predictable approach to cybersecurity incident management—rather than waiting for an incident to occur and trying to determine how to respond under intense pressure.
In this whitepaper, we’ll delve into the essential components of a CIRP and how to create one that suits your organisation’s specific needs.
To discuss how to protect your data and IP, leave your details below, and an expert will contact you.
Or call us on +61 8 8238 6500
Cybersecurity: What is a cyber-aware culture, why it’s important, and how to create one.
Using cloud software like Xero, MYOB, or Salesforce? Our free whitepaper provides a foundation of cloud cybersecurity considerations to make sure your data is secure.
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Employees can be a business’s greatest cybersecurity asset or its biggest vulnerability. As modern businesses place greater emphasis on technical cybersecurity defences and controls, cyber attackers are increasingly focusing on the ‘human factor’ by targeting employees.
It’s often said that a business is only as secure as its least informed employee. No matter how much a business has invested in cybersecurity, the unfortunate truth is that it can all be undone in seconds by a single employee who lacks a basic understanding of cybersecurity. This is why building a “securityaware culture” within an organisation is not just a high return on investment, but a cybersecurity necessity.
So, what is a Security-Aware Culture? Read the whitepaper to get a grasp on this important element in protecting your data, improving compliance and safeguarding intellectual property.
To discuss how to protect your data and IP, leave your details below, and an expert will contact you.
Or call us on +61 8 8238 6500
Cloud Security - A Shared Responsibility | Understand the basics
Using cloud software like Xero, MYOB, or Salesforce? Our free whitepaper provides a foundation of cloud cybersecurity considerations to make sure your data is secure.
Download your free whitepaper below
Using cloud software like Xero, MYOB, or Salesforce? Our free whitepaper provides a foundation of cloud cybersecurity considerations to ensure your data is secure.
While it would be nice to say that security in the cloud is purely the responsibility of the cloud service provider, the reality is that such an important responsibility must be shared between the cloud provider and the consumer.
However, ‘cloud’ is a broad term that describes several different technical frameworks, and the security responsibilities are shared differently in each.
This paper will cover the three most common cloud frameworks and how security responsibilities are split between the provider and the consumer.
To discuss how to protect your data and IP, leave your details below, and an expert will contact you.
Or call us on +61 8 8238 6500
Top Data & Business Intelligence Trends 2023 Event - Recap
Top Data & BI Trends 2023 Report
Top Data & BI Trends 2023 Event - Recap
Jeremy Sim from Qlik delivered an exciting talk about trends impacting data and business intelligence from a global perspective, and our Q&A session provided an opportunity to dive a little deeper and discuss artificial intelligence and the impact this is already having on our roles.
You can access the report here.
We’ve provided a link to our other BI whitepapers here.
To discuss how you can best help you with your data, get in touch below
Or call us on +61 8 8238 6500
Essential Eight Best Practices Guide: Multifactor Authentication
Excel and BI tools are great tools for your business, but when is each more suitable?
Download your free whitepaper below
Have you ever been annoyed by those multi-factor authentication (MFA) codes that are sent to you via SMS or email when you try to log in to your online accounts? While it's true that these codes can be a bit of a hassle, they serve an incredibly important purpose - protecting your accounts from being stolen. Also, we can actually make those codes a much more seamless experience with lower friction and fewer steps to gain access to your systems.
In today's digital age, over 5 billion people are connected to the internet, and any of them are potential cybercriminals who may try to guess your username and password to gain access to your accounts.
While it's essential to use strong, unique passwords for all of your online accounts, it's not always enough to protect you from account takeovers. That's where MFA comes in. This security feature requires you to provide an additional form of verification, such as a code that is sent to your phone or email or available in an app, which is needed to log in to your account. And it's incredibly effective - MFA has been shown to block 99.99% of account takeover attempts.
Check out the whitepaper which covers MFA in more detail above.
To discuss how you can best protect your data and IP, leave your details below, and an expert will get in touch with you.
Or call us on +618 8238 6500
WHITEPAPER | HOW TO MANAGE TECHNOLOGY RISK IN YOUR BUSINESS
Risk management is the foundation of protecting your investment.
HOW TO MANAGE TECHNOLOGY RISK IN A SMALL OR MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESS.
Everything you’ve heard about cybersecurity comes down to managing RISK. Even the best system isn’t 100% foolproof and there is always some risk.
Our whitepaper below focuses on managing technology and cybersecurity risks and the principles can be applied across all risk types within a business.
Put simply, managing risk is at the foundation of protecting your business, and your data and avoiding disruption.
To discuss cybersecurity protection strategies for your business, leave your details below and an expert will get back to you.
Or call us on +618 8238 6500
Optus Data Breach - What You Need to Do
Passwordless authentication is accelerating quickly
Optus Data Breach - What You Need to Do
Optus Australia has suffered a major data breach, in which sensitive personal information about both past and present customers was stolen by cyber attackers. Here are some simple steps you can take to understand if you were impacted and protect yourself if you were.
Update: As of the 27th of September, the attacker has claimed to have deleted all copies of the data. Unfortunately, there is no way to verify this, and may simply be a tactic to slow people in protecting their identity. We still strongly recommend that you take appropriate steps to protect yourself in case the data has been sold or reemerges in the future.
1. Check if you were impacted
Use the chat in the My Optus app to confirm if your details were exposed. Ask them to check each email address that is associated with your account.
Optus is in the process of informing customers however they may not have current contact details, and many customers are reporting Optus emails being caught in spam and junk filters. The best thing to do is speak to Optus directly via the My Optus app and ask them to check each email address you have associated with your past or present Optus account.
2. Apply for a credit ban
If ANY of your identity documents or ID numbers were exposed, apply for a credit ban with Equifax, illion, and Experian. Credit bans prevent new credit facilities from being fraudulently taken out in your name. Fraudulent credit applications can negatively impact your credit rating, cause significant stress, and take many hours to evidence as fraudulent to businesses and debt collectors.
By default, credit bans last for 21 days and can be removed or extended if needed.
More information about credit bans can be found here.
3. Monitor your credit
If ANY of your identity documents or ID numbers were exposed, consider regularly checking your credit report and using a credit alerting service to alert you to fraudulent credit applications in your name
Monitoring your credit report and using free or paid credit alerting services will ensure you quickly become aware of fraudulent credit applications and can begin the process of preventing them early before too much damage is done.
4. Replace your Driver’s License
If your Driver's Licence number was exposed, check your state rules for replacing your Drivers Licence with one with a new licence number. It’s important to ensure you don’t just get a new card but that the license number that was exposed is changed. Eligibility for this varies depending on the state in which your licence was issued, and unfortunately, this is not possible in every state.
Optus is currently working with state licence providers for a solution for all customers.
5. Replace, Renew or Cancel your passport
If your passport details were exposed, consider a replacement or renewed passport via the Australian Passport Office. Again, ensure the new type of passport you select has a new passport number to replace the one that was exposed. Eligibility criteria for each type of new passport apply.
6. Enable Multi-Factor Authentication wherever possible
If any of your details were exposed, ensure you have Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) in place on all your accounts, starting with the most important ones.
The details exposed in this, or other, breaches may be enough for the attacker to access your online accounts or reset your passwords, depending on the security questions each account provider has in place. MFA is a great way to prevent other people from accessing your accounts with websites and online services.
7. Be vigilant of future scams
If any of your details were exposed, be vigilant for future attempts to scam you. Exposure of your email address, physical address and phone number lets scammers know how to contact you, and exposure of your full name and date of birth allows scammers to appear to know you or appear to be contacting you from a legitimate company that holds details about you.
Be wary of anyone contacting you unexpectedly. If in doubt, ask for a reference number, hang up, find the business’s phone number on google and call them back to ensure you are speaking to a legitimate person.
8. Increased security for moving providers
To reduce the risk of an attack known as SIM swapping, where an attacker steals your phone number to bypass SMS-based MFA, Optus has implemented increased security measures for porting numbers.
If you are planning to move providers, be aware that current increased security measures mean you will need to visit a store in person with your ID to have services moved to a new provider.
9. Watch for updates
The situation is still very new, and details are emerging every day. Optus has advised they will be providing free identity monitoring services to those "most affected" by the breach but are yet to provide full details.
Optus is providing regular updates via its Media Centre, and most media outlets are following updates very closely at present.
10. Contact IDCARE for further assistance
IDCARE is Australia’s free identity and cyber support service. They have an Optus Data Breach Response Fact sheet available and can support you through this time.
This infographic is an overview of the Optus breach and what you need to do - Click to open and save the infographic.
To discuss cybersecurity protection strategies for your business, leave your details below and an expert will get back to you.
Or call us on +618 8238 6500
WHITEPAPER | How Does Zero Trust Work?
Passwordless authentication is accelerating quickly
ZERO TRUST – A SECURITY MINDSET FOR MODERN BUSINESSES
Long before the covid-inspired work- from-home revolution, the traditional enterprise security perimeter was already disappearing. With remote work poised to be a mainstay of future business operations, and more and more businesses adopting software as a service (SaaS) subscriptions, the idea of securing a network inside four walls is no longer relevant.
While many solutions exist that attempt to draw a secure “perimeter” around outside assets, modern best-in-class cybersecurity is based on a zero-trust approach.
“Zero-trust” is one of the hottest buzzwords in cybersecurity today. The term describes a systematic approach to minimising, or even eliminating, implicit trust and instead continuously confirming every digita transaction. While traditional methods aim to protect networks and assume everything within them can be trusted, zero-trust focuses on safeguarding resources.
In a recent study of IT professionals, Australian respondents were substantially more likely (88%) than their counterparts in Malaysia (75%), Singapore (65%), India (62%), or Japan (43%) to be investigating a zero trust approach. In fact, following a sharp rise in cybersecurity incidents, more than a quarter of Australian respondents had begun implementing zero-trust in 2021 alone.
This article will cover everything businesses need to know about zero-trust and why it should form a key part of their cybersecurity strategy.
To discuss cybersecurity protection strategies for your business, leave your details below and an expert will get back to you.
Or call us on +618 8238 6500
WHITEPAPER | Passwordless, What does the future hold?
Passwordless authentication is accelerating quickly
Passwordless authentication is accelerating quickly, especially now that Google, Apple, and Microsoft have fully committed to this future by agreeing to adopt passwordless standards and implement it in the near future. It’s well known that few users of any system follow password best practices, and modern malicious attackers have advanced password-cracking techniques at their disposal.
As large leaks of password databases become more common, weak and repeated passwords present a growing issue for businesses, while password volume and complexity have becomes a growing frustration for users.
Passwordless authentication aims to solve these issues by removing the need to remember login information, while maintaining a high level of data security. In a passwordless system, users prove their identity using one or more methods like biometrics and one-time codes.
To discuss cybersecurity protection strategies for your business, leave your details below and an expert will get back to you.
Or call us on +618 8238 6500
Customer Story | Meals on Wheels SA centralises IT to realise $50,000 cost saving
Meals on Wheels SA centralises its IT environment to better coordinate thousands of daily deliveries. Almost everyone has heard of Meals on Wheels. David explained that implementing an Intelligent Information Management System allowed his group to digitise their financial model, saving his business $50K per year while increasing efficiency and security.
Meals on Wheels SA centralises its IT environment to better coordinate thousands of daily deliveries
Almost everyone has heard of Meals on Wheels. It was first formed in South Australia (SA), in 1954. Founder Doris Taylor MBE, wheelchair-bound from an accident as a teen, empathised with the challenges of those returning home from the hospital. She noted, in the elderly in particular, that they had trouble shopping and preparing meals for themselves, often depriving them of the ability to live independently. Meals on Wheels was her remedy. Nearly seventy years on, more than 50 million meals have made their way into SA homes. The organisation is currently providing 4,300 meals per day to customers across the state.
Key Challenges
The state-wide operation included a vast degree of variation among branches
There was no single payments system and accounting was resource-intense
COVID-19 caused a surge in demand that could only be met by a centralised model
In every other Australian state, Meals on Wheels operates as several independent entities. However, Meals on Wheels SA is a state-wide association with 80 branches. Some were established under the state-wide model, while others were independent organisations incorporated into the association - the latter managed their own affairs, with committees, treasurers, bank accounts and chequebooks. Add to this that many pre-dated the internet, set up without the benefit of computerised systems, and you get an idea of the variation within the Meals on Wheels model.
Even so, it’s a model that has served the community well for 50 years. Testimony to its success is the tenure of its volunteers. Among seven thousand volunteers, the average age is 75. David Smith, Executive Manager, Corporate Services for Meal on Wheels, recalls the first time he attended an annual award ceremony recognising long term volunteers; “There were 40 people who had been volunteering for 40 years,” he says.
COVID-19 caused a surge in demand
When COVID-19 arrived in early 2020, hitting Australian businesses hard, Meals on Wheels wasn’t one of them. “Quite the opposite,” Smith says. A surge in demand for meal services presented the organisation with the challenge of meeting it with maximum efficiency.
Growing fast in a controlled way required digitising and automating financial processes. It also called for complete compliance with Work health and safety (WHS) standards which view volunteers as employees, governed by the same safety rules. This includes 75 to 90-year-old volunteers who'd never had to think about them before during their working lives. “They've always stood on a ladder on top of a table to change a light bulb, so why would they not do it now?” says Smith.
Finally, the model needed to flexibly accommodate digital and non-digital interaction. Any assumption that in time everyone will become comfortable with internet-based services doesn’t take into consideration the aging population. “Just because you are computer literate now, it doesn't mean that when you're 85 or 90 you're somehow going to be magically better. And so this market for people who are getting older, and some of their capacities have diminished, they're always going to need a meal delivered to their house,” says Smith.
Meals on Wheels SA contacted Advance Business Consulting to help them cut through these requirements to arrive at a system that would allow them to grow securely with a fraction of the effort while getting more from their technology and data.
The challenge of connecting everyone
Creating a common organisational infrastructure was a priority. But not every branch had a physical office to call their own, and a few smaller branches had been relying on their own computers to log into Meals on Wheels. Smith leaned on Advance’s consultancy services to design an infrastructure capable of accommodating what Smith refers to as the “lowest common denominator of what you need a computer to be.” In this way, it would be embraced by everyone, regardless of their circumstance.
Security was top of mind. “If you have to put a secure internet connection in a branch and a managed computer, and that computer is only going to be used for one hour, twice a week, it's quite a big investment for a very small use case. Also, you don't know who's going to be using it. It might be 20 different people in a branch,” says Smith, who looked to Advance to propose the most viable security strategy.
Opportunity to streamline payments processes
Digitising and automating payments within one simple payment system was identified as an excellent way to inject efficiency into operations. In the past, Central Office would invoice the branches for meals delivered, and reimburse costs incurred by them. If those costs had been incurred directly by Central Office and not the branch, which sometimes happened, another invoice would be issued for the money to be returned. A reconciliation was completed every three months on a simple electronic cash book, to check the accuracy and retrieve surplus funds advanced but not used. There was also an exercise of distributing funds from more profitable branches to those who needed “propping up” to ensure equity across the model. Accounting in this way took time and resources that Meals on Wheels decided it would prefer to apply to service excellence.
Solutions:
Advance standardised how branches connected to Central Office
World-class security was built in via VPN enabled teleworker devices
M-Files automated important processes like payments and reimbursements
One simple means of connecting
Advance migrated Meals on Wheels from Telstra 4g connections to a Cisco Meraki SD-WAN with Teleworker VPN, which has proven to be incredibly successful. Teleworker devices are not carrier dependent, for one thing, which supports the association’s need for flexible connectivity, as well as delivering world-class security. In this model, secure corporate LAN connectivity is extended to employees at remote sites via Meraki APs (access points), without needing them to install VPN software on their devices themselves. It can all be done centrally, keeping things simple.
Added security benefits are realised through Meals on Wheels’ ability to whitelist applications, making them unavailable to users on their devices, as well as best-in-class anti-virus software. This provides better protection from hackers. “Meals on Wheels is a very well-known name, which unfortunately makes us an obvious target for cybercrime,” says David.
A unified payment system
Improving the efficiency of the outgrown payment system began with eliminating the need for branches to pay their own invoices. “How do you get at branches to be able to effectively send invoices into Central Office if they want to send them by fax, which some still do?” says Smith. “But of course, that really just pushes the workload elsewhere.”
Advance suggested M-Files, a document management system for coordinating the right information to the right people at the right time. This immediately gave branches the ability to scan an invoice, sign to confirm goods had been received, and be paid automatically. Where branches don’t always have a reliable internet connection, M-Files helps with that too: “M-Files was great because we could actually fall back to a mobile phone to do the same thing,” says Smith. “And in a couple of cases we still do use the fax, but what it means is no longer needing branches to pay any bills”
Verifying and reimbursing drivers
Additionally, M-Files was set up to support driver reimbursement. Volunteers are paid a fee per delivery for their petrol and wear and tear. “They used to be paid in cash. The driver could take the money and if they didn't, it got flipped into a bucket and then banked as a donation,” says Smith. M-Files has automated the entire process with a workflow that lets Meals on Wheels collect a declaration from drivers with their bank account details for payment. Stored securely in M-Files, it can be centrally and accurately managed.
“We realised while we're doing this, it would be useful to check that the person we're paying a driver reimbursement to is actually a volunteer,” says Smith, explaining that people used to get roped in to be a deliverer and stay for 10 years when they're not actually on the books. If they're not registered, it means they haven't had a police check. “Right through this process, we found little added gains from simply just trying to improve a process,” Smith says.
Compliance is much easier
Driver verification is one aspect of compliance, but it’s not the only one to benefit from the new technology-enabled operational model. Meals on Wheels can now issue communications on things like Work health and safety rules to employees and volunteers with minimum effort and feel confident they have been received.
Outcomes:
Closing the branch bank accounts saves $50,000 per year
New employees can be onboarded, from anywhere, in moments
Centralised management of data drives compliance across 80 branches and 7000 volunteers
When you no longer need to pay for anything by cash or cheque, you don't need money. Meals on Wheels has been able to close all its bank accounts. This simple act is saving of $50,000 per year in bank fees and transaction costs.
Security concerns are alleviated through central controls configured by Advance that let Meals on Wheels whitelist applications and prevent people from running programs that are not supposed to.
The project, which began pre-pandemic, turned out to be well-timed since it allowed Meals on Wheels to rapidly transition to a work-from-home strategy during COVID-19 restrictions with the Meraki teleworking devices. “When our staff had to work from home, it was a trivial matter to give them a network device with a SIM card in and connect them and get them working. It was an accidental benefit that really set us in good stead.”
Since kicking off its transformation, Meals on Wheels SA has gone from strength to strength, most recently introducing a new ERP system, Pronto, for dealing with manufacturing, and other important resources, with efficiency, and creating a host of web applications using low-code development tool Intrexx, provided by Advance.
With the expansion of services no longer a heavy lift, the sky is the limit.
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KEY TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS
Cyber Security | SD-WAN | Cisco Meraki
Low-code development platform | Intrexx
