We certainly take pride in our approach to journalism – our coverage of impressive technology projects, our resources for helping you create better RFPs (and better ROI), our perspective on where technology is heading and our focus on evolving our content for today’s digital audience.

An important complement to that is providing a platform for our audience, the folks who live breathe the challenges related to choosing technology solutions for an organization.

You care about what you do. Who better than you to present an idea, issue a challenge or pick a bone with the tech decision-making community?

Since we launched TD, we sought to be a voice for the folks who are in the trenches, choosing technology solutions for their organizations and taking responsibility for the return on investment. If you write for TD, you can amplify your own voice.

Some of my favorite MyTechdecisions articles have been written by tech decision makers like you.

Examples of Topics to Be Tackled by Tech Decision Maker Community:

• What keeps you up at night? What do you see as the biggest potential threats to an organization’s network and how can folks in the tech decision making community mitigate those concerns?
• How has the role of an IT professional changed during your career? Maybe you’re now charged with creating access control or unified communication and collaboration (UC&C) solutions for your organization. And how have you adjusted?
• How do you truly educate and get employees to take ownership of their role in the organization’s cybersecurity?
• What are your methods for choosing which vendors (AV, electrical, office design, communications, etc.) to work with? And yes, we’d welcome an opportunity to learn from your mistakes, as well.
• The video display industry is big on specs – HDR, 4K, 8K, you name it. What specs are actually important to you and your organization when rolling out video solutions?

These are just a few topic examples. We’re actually more interested in the ones that, as mentioned, are likely rattling around in your head.

How to Write for MyTechDecisions

You don’t have to be an executive, CIO, CTO or IT director (but you can be). You don’t have to be great writer (we are a team of editors). You just need passion for what you do.

If you’re interested in writing a column for MyTechDecisions, here’s how it works:

• Send an email to zachary.comeau@emeraldx.com; or web editor Alyssa Borelli at alyssa.borelli@emeraldx.com.
• We’ll kick around your ideas and discuss how to optimize them for our audience.
• We’ll give some direction, including a suggested word count and deadline.
• You’ll pour your thoughts into a column.
• Our team will edit as needed and help to position it for maximum impact.
• We’ll run significant changes by you to make sure you’re comfortable with your by-lined column before it gets posted.
• We’ll share it and promote it to TD

Are you ready to take a thought-leadership role in the tech decision-making community? If so, we’d love to hear from you — and so would MyTechDecisions’ audience.

The post Write for Us: Why You Should Write for MyTechDecisions appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The information security nonprofit membership association’s survey of 750 C-level executives across the U.S. and U.K. show that confidence among IT security professionals is high when it comes to ransomware defense, and there remains a strong willingness to invest in technology and staff.

According to the survey results, 71% of respondents say they are confident in their ability to handle a ransomware attack, which is up from 69%. Only 15% reported a lack of confidence.

The survey also suggests that IT and security professionals need to do a better job relaying cybersecurity and ransomware concerns to executives, as just 55% of executives describe themselves as “very aware,” and 40% say they are “somewhat aware.”

Nearly 60% of executives say the communications they receive from their dedicated security professionals are “excellent or good,” and about one in five say those communications are either “poor or very poor.”

However, that communication appears to be increasing after what many experts say was the worst year ever for ransomware attacks, as the percentage of those that rate communication “excellent or good” increased by 5%.

When asked about the critical information they need from IT when it comes to ransomware, 38% cited ensuring backup and restoration plans are not impacted, 33% cited how operations can be restored in the event of an attack, and 32% said how prepared the organization is to engage with law enforcement.

Read Next: Your Guide to Implementing a Zero Trust Network Architecture

When a ransomware attack actually happens, the top concern among business leaders is exposure to regulatory standards (38%). Next is the loss of data or intellectual property (34%), followed equally by loss of confidence among employees, loss of business, uncertainty that data could still be compromised after paying a ransom and reputational harm (31% each).

Based on these survey results, (ISC)² has five tips for IT and cybersecurity to consider when communicating with executives about ransomware threats:

Increase communication and reporting to leadership

According to the survey, leadership wants and needs more communication about the ransomware threats facing their organization, including more detailed reporting to ensure that leaders fully understand the threat landscape. That could better inform leadership’s decisions about security investments.

Temper overconfidence as needed

A good rule of thumb in cybersecurity is to never be overly confident in your ability to defend against ransomware attacks. The survey indicated that leaders are growing more confident in their ability to do so, but security professionals need to paint a realistic picture of the threat landscape to their C-suite.

Tailor your message

Communicating these security concerns to leaders can sometimes be challenging, so that message must be tailored to the unique business environment or industry in which the organization operates. Focus on the top areas of concern and communicate that risk to leaders in a way that aligns with their concerns.

Make the case for new staff and investments

When it’s clear that the C-suite has a more thorough understanding of the threat landscape, now is the time to make the case for more IT and security staff and other investments, including technology, third-party services and more.

Employ everyone in the organization

While the security of the organization is largely the job of IT and security professionals, leadership, end users and anyone else using corporate systems bear some of the responsibility for defending against ransomware.

The post Ransomware Survey: IT Needs To Better Communicate Threats To C-Suite appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Employees would have to leave customers on the showroom floor to go search for answers or additional resources to help serve customers.

To address this issue, CITY Furniture piloted a new solution at select locations that utilized a combination of iPads, the Zello instant voice messaging app and wireless push-to-talk buttons from Pryme.

This system allowed employees to instantly connect with other team members and other stores to query product availability and more.

After a successful launch, the iPads with the Zello app and Pryme PTT Super Mini Buttons were deployed in every CITY Furniture location, allowing employees to immediately search for answers and connect to other team members and stores, as well as keeping customers engaged throughout the sales process.

This allows for more seamless communication between the 40 to 60 sales associates on the floor at any given time, says Rich Quarantello, the company’s managing director of retail operations.

“With the addition of these advanced technologies, we’re able to communicate seamlessly in real time inter-store or between showrooms, with a single staff member or the whole team at once, which provides chain-wide awareness instead of being siloed,” he said.

Read Next: Thompson Seattle Hotel Communications Trifecta

Each associate wears a Bluetooth earpiece and carries an iPad bag with the wireless button Velcroed to the handle or to a belt loop, leaving hands free to perform multiple tasks at once.

With a touch of Pryme’s PTT button, sales staff can quickly activate Zello and respond to messages or access the iPad’s suite of technology without breaking stride.

“Better communication creates an environment of trust and enhances customer satisfaction,” adds Quarantello, “Because furniture is the third largest purchase in a lifetime, trust is key to building customer loyalty.”

CITY’s communications solution also helped incentivize performance and train new associates. The company uses Zello to celebrate sales contest winners live with the whole company, and new hires can use the tool to message managers without breaking the sales cycle.

Zello and Pryme can also be used for critical communications during an emergency and can help shave vital seconds off response time.

CITY Furniture has experienced higher employee engagement and lower turnover thanks to this integration, and looks forward to optimizing their partnership with Zello and Pryme in the future.

The post CITY Furniture Retailer Streamlines Communications With Zello, Pryme appeared first on My TechDecisions.

CISOs should have regular dialogue with the board and be prepared to have a part in almost every board meeting. However, “communicating to the board is more of an art than it is science,” says Myrna Soto, Apogee executive advisors CEO, at a WSJ Pro Cybersecurity webinar.

Threats, especially cyber, are a forever process – so it’s not a one and done conversation with the board. CISOs should let the board know how the business can react to a total changing market condition or changing cyber threat, and how the business can respond to it, meanwhile keeping the business going.

“Ten years ago we were talking about bird flu, it never really materialized, but suddenly here’s COVID,” says Scott Howitt, McAfee CIO, at a WSJ Pro Cybersecurity webinar. “The threat isn’t necessarily imminent, but we should talk about it in case it happens,” he says.

With cyber incidents like SolarWinds and the Colonial Gas Pipeline, the Biden administration set out aggressive response and new frameworks. However, “we have to be very careful that board members do not believe that regulation, and or any type of oversight from the government will be the silver bullet,” says Soto. “Very often many of the regulations, or many of the standards that are drafted are very good, the only problem is that their static in nature, and obviously, we know that that our environment is everything but static.”

Related: SolarWinds Report: IT Pros, Leaders Aligning More on Cyber Risk

“I always recommend CISOs to do is whenever there’s an incident at another organization that is headline worthy, that you immediately start to prepare to explain to your board; while you may be different, what you may be doing that may be different, or how you may also be at risk, and that’s the opportunity to request support” says Soto.

For smaller organizations, that don’t have a board of directors, there should be at least a committee or council made up of the people who manage the different functions of the organization that the CISO can approach. A CISO must go into the board with a business head — it’s about 70% listening and 30% suggesting a solution, says Howitt.

Soto recommends three key things to convey in the meeting: the ability to protect company data, third party risk exposure, and the ability to manage privileged access management.

One thing CISOs must do is communicate how valuable data is — technology is everywhere. Howitt recalls working at a casino where the temperate of the chickens in the refrigerators were closely monitored at the proper temperature. For human health and safety, it was important that the company protected that data system.

CISOs, or any business leader should ask what they are doing to make sure that they have the least impact if something goes wrong to those technologies.

Tips for Communicating Cybersecurity to the Board

Chris Labash, Carnegie Mellon University Associate Teaching Professor said at a WSJ Pro Cybersecurity webinar, the most valuable things you can give board members is honesty, expertise, respect for their time, and clarity about what you want.

Most board members will be prepared as soon you enter the room and will have read the read-ahead (up to three times) before the meeting. Board members are time constrained and the CISO is just one thing on the agenda.

Labash recommends beginning with the BLUF – Bottom Line Up Front. Don’t just tell a story or walk board member through powerpoint slides, give context and demonstrate how it relates to what’s happening in the industry.

CISOs must be engaged and be engaging, “board members will never care about your presentation more than you do,” says Labash.

The basics of presentation delivery, such as having good eye contact and being articulate about things about the business are important. Don’t use jargon and don’t read your slides or a script off of an iPhone.

When speaking with the board, have energy, slow down, and don’t present.  The meeting should be a conversation not a presentation.

If you’re bored by your own presentation, the audience will be too. “You can’t bore anyone into buying your product,” said advertising tycoon, David Ogilvy.

Labash recommends monitoring your cadence, slow down if talking fast. If you must use a PowerPoint, add visuals that add to the understanding and the least amount of cognitive load.

A CISO must look at the data and see what the data tells. “That method is a much more honest way of going about it than cherry picky data that supports some narrative,” said Labash.

“If you are presenting, you are losing,” says Labash. CISOs need to focus on what it is they need up front.

Anticipate questions the board is going to ask and incorporate them into the presentation. If addressing the board in a group, know who will answer what.

The more relaxed you are, the more you can convey how to help them solve a business problem.

The post How To Communicate Cybersecurity To The Board appeared first on My TechDecisions.

“SMBs across industries are facing the challenge of supporting employees who have been forced to work remotely due to the coronavirus,” the Onepath announcement says. “With many states and cities reopening and some employees returning to the office, the challenge increases, as companies must find a way to connect workers in a wider variety of locations.

“SMBs have limited financial and technical resources as compared to larger companies, making them more vulnerable during this transition. Over the past few months, many SMBs have had a difficult time providing remote workers the tools they need to be productive,” the announcement says.

“Under ‘normal’ circumstances, a lack of access to basic tools such as fax and phones might stunt an SMB’s growth. In a pandemic, the impact could be devastating,” according to the company announcement.

How Cloud PBX Helps SMBs

The Cloud PBX unified communications-as-a-service (UCaaS) solution is designed “for SMBs confronting coronavirus-induced challenges,” the Onepath announcement says.

Onepath Cloud PBX “offers everything a worker needs to do her/his job remotely or from the office, including the ability to receive and transfer calls and manage voicemails as if using an office desk phone, secure document sharing and storage, and video conferencing and screen sharing,” the announcement says.

Onepath Cloud PBX can be deployed to WFH and office environments in two or three days, is offered in three flavors – Engage, Accelerate and Optimize – and starts at $99/month.

“This is all about helping companies adjust to the new normal as far as supporting workers wherever they are,” said Onepath senior VP Brian Kirsch in the company announcement.

“With Cloud PBX, SMBs can get up-and-running quickly with integrated call, fax and collaboration capabilities, with zero hardware requirements, and companies can easily add users and sites without needing to purchase additional infrastructure,” he said.

“We think it’s a slam dunk for any SMB, and we look forward to helping companies transition smoothly to the new normal,” said Kirsch in the company announcement.

The post New Cloud PBX UCaaS from OnePath appeared first on My TechDecisions.

“In today’s climate, rooms are radically changing with an exponential demand for meetings that utilize video conferencing,” according to the Crestron announcement.

Crestron’s Flex R-Series is a mobile UC solution “that enables customers to quickly and easily share information and work collaboratively,” the company announcement says.

Crestron Flex R-Series “offers unprecedented versatility by eliminating the costly, time-consuming installation process, allowing organizations to better anticipate the evolving needs of the places people meet,” according to the company announcement.

“The need to share knowledge and work collaboratively is more critical than ever,” said Andrew Gross, Crestron director of sales for UC enterprise, in the company announcement. “Our Crestron Flex R-Series delivers a rapid deployment, social distancing-friendly solution that creates a productive workplace and can be utilized anywhere, quickly and efficiently.

“Beyond deployment, Crestron’s suite of management tools ensure customers can manage more endpoints with the same resources, helping companies tackle the need to rapidly expand their video conferencing footprint,” he said.

Flex R-Series: Collaboration in a Few Steps

Crestron Flex R-Series features optional dual-mode technology based on the Crestron Flex MX architecture. It enables organizations to run native Microsoft Teams or Zoom Rooms software, or switch to bring-your-own-device (BYOD) mode for all other conferencing software.

The system can be moved, “supporting people wherever they meet, whether in cafeterias, classrooms, manufacturing floors, or in open spaces,” according to the Crestron announcement.

Crestron Flex R-Series includes the following features and options:

• Intelligent camera with 150° field of vision that autoframes participants, enabling social distancing without compromising experience
• 360° quad mic array with up to a 20’ range
• Support for displays from 50” to 60”
• Retractable Ethernet and power cables for easy connections
• Support for Crestron AirMedia wireless presentation system, enabling users to share content wirelessly from any device

“With worldwide video conferencing at an all-time high as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Crestron has taken swift measures to create an easy-to-use solution that brings remote collaboration to every space”, said Joseph Sarrasin, director of strategy for unified communications at Crestron.

“Our new Crestron Flex R-Series is reshaping the workplace as we know it, offering customers the ability to organize meetings on demand regardless of location or application,” he said.

Crestron Flex R-Series is “designed for an array of enterprise corporations and businesses globally, as well as in hospitals, medical centers, universities, and manufacturing facilities, among other organizations where social distancing measures are of utmost importance,” the announcement says.

It is available now in seven models.

The post New Flex R-Series from Crestron Extends UCC appeared first on My TechDecisions.

“As business leaders navigate an expanded distributed workforce, secure and resilient communication and collaboration tools are critical to maintain business continuity,” said Jed Brown, senior vice president of product and design at Fuze.

Related: Yamaha Unified Communications Deploys Conferencing Solutions at Barstool Sports NYC Headquarters

“Many decision-makers have been forced to digitally transform their businesses practically overnight. At Fuze, we are continuously innovating to make sure our technology not only meets enterprises where they are on their digital transformation journey, but also provides a secure, scalable, and integrated experience to compete in the rapidly evolving digital economy.”

More on Fuze 6 from the company:

• Resiliency & Scale: Updates to the backend services architecture enhances monitoring, intelligent routing, and capacity management. This ensures the best experience for users across calling and meeting use cases on mobile, native desktop, and web clients. Updates to the admin experience further simplify adding new users and guests, as well as adjusting the service entitlements for existing users, enabling customers to quickly scale as the demands of their organization shift. Since the start of this global crisis, Fuze has seen >300% increase in key meetings and mobile engagement and >600% increase in communication with video through the Fuze platform.

• Enhanced User Experience (UX): With the increased demands for rich face-to-face interaction and remote group collaboration, Fuze meetings will double the number of available participant video streams. This update also adds Fuze Join to simplify meeting join flows for attendees on an expanded range of browsers, including older browsers (e.g. Internet Explorer). Fuze 6 enhances the desktop and web experience for Fuze Contact Center with mobile queue access and increased accessibility to contact center functionality within the UCaaS experience for agents and supervisors. Other updates include enhanced multimedia messaging service (MMS) capabilities and chat reactions, including emoticons, access to the full meeting roster on mobile, dark mode for iOS, and new keyboard shortcuts for Fuze Web and Desktop to help streamline communication for all users.

• Enterprise-Grade Integrations Platform: With this update, developers have increased accessibility and documentation for implementing integrations with the Fuze platform with enterprise-grade security and performance. This allows organizations to maximize the communications and collaboration solutions that best support the needs of the modern workforce. Additionally, Fuze customers have access to an expanded Marketplace of pre-built integrations, including updated calling and meeting integrations with Slack, Microsoft Teams and G-Suite.

• Security By Design: Fuze was designed for users and built for the enterprise, where security and data protection has always been purpose-built. The Fuze 6 update provides continued support for risk mitigation of emerging trends and security threats. To prevent unauthorized access or mishandling of information, Fuze integrates security best practices across the development lifecycle and conducts frequent penetration testing and vulnerability management.

For more information on the Fuze platform, click here.

The post Fuze 6 Platform Aims to Secure Business Continuity with Secure, Scalable Comms appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Now that workers have proven they can be productive while working at home, businesses will quickly move to a hybrid model and more workers will be remote than ever before.

What’s next? In Barco’s most recent research on “The Future of Meetings,” they found a shifting preference for business technology that enables flexible, remote work environments and intuitive devices that allow users to collaborate seamlessly from anywhere they want.

Bring Your Own Meeting (BYOM) is an extension of BYOD, allowing people to use familiar conferencing platforms more effectively. IT departments prefer standardization when it comes to unified communications platforms. Often, when outfitting multiple meeting rooms, the IT team will prefer a uniform AV solution across them all.

6/10/2020: Move Over BYOD, It’s Time To Bring Your Own Meeting – Click here to register!

This can lead to long waiting times, bad connections, poor video quality, and struggles to join. Not all UC solutions will be compatible with these uniform AV systems. Users prefer their to utilize devices they’re familiar with, so if those devices aren’t compatible with the AV system in meeting rooms it poses a problem. They want to work with the technology of their choice, they avoid working with equipment that they don’t understand or find difficult to operate. They prefer conferencing solutions that appeal to them, are easy and intuitive to use. If they can’t do so, they’ll simply ignore the meeting room equipment in favor of the platform that makes them comfortable.

Bring Your Own Meeting allows people to host a conference call using their preferred platform, whether it be Teams, Webex, Zoom, or any number of alternatives. This webinar, sponsored by Barco and presented by Commercial Integrator and TechDecisions, will explore how BYOM initiatives help organizations address the many dimensions of a highly effective Digital Workplace strategy, and how integrators and their customers can get started on creating a BYOM environment.

Click here to register for this webinar of June 10^th at 2:00 PM ET, and learn more about how Bring Your Own Meeting can work for you!

The post Webinar: Move Over BYOD, It’s Time To Bring Your Own Meeting appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The system can include “as many as 3,072 electrodes per array distributed across 96 threads,” according to a white paper credited to “Elon Musk & Neuralink.” The company is also developing a machine that automatically imbeds the threads. 

Musk unveiled all this new technology at a Neuralink launch event, which he admitted was primarily intended to inspire bright minds to apply and work for the pioneering company. After the team unveiled the plans to advance brain implant technology, however, the event became as much of a declaration of technological ambition as it was a simple recruiting tool.

If the technology itself measures up to hopes and expectations surrounding it, it will be a major advance in implants. Utah Array, for instance, is a rather common choice for neurological implants, but it uses stiff needles that only allow up to 128 electrode channels and can cause damage as the brain shifts in the skull. Neuralink is likely to edge them out in terms of long-term functionality.

The company does, however, have quite a few things to cross off before they change the implants game. It’s not as easy to implant as the Utah Array, for one, but the central issue is the speed at which the human brain can communicate with the machine. There is also the problem of making sure such an invasive technology is kosher on the legislative side. 

“There is a whole FDA process we have to go through,” he added, “we haven’t done that yet.” Matthew MacDougall, head surgeon at Neuralink who went on to express that his team hoped the implant process would one day be “something more like Lasik” eye surgery, in which a physician can correct vision without putting the patient to sleep.

The post Elon Musk’s Neuralink Unveils Plans for Revolutionary Brain Implants appeared first on My TechDecisions.

“The research opens the door to new types of hybrid electronic-photonic devices and is the first step toward ultra-high-speed Wi-Fi,” said Federico Capasso, the senior author of the study and Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering at SEAS.

The laser was made possible thanks to research done in 2017 at the Capasso Lab, in which researchers discovered that they could generate terahertz frequencies— the submillimeter wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that move data much faster than today’s wireless—using an infrared frequency comb in a quantum cascade laser. In 2018, they found quantum cascade laser frequency combs were able to act as integrated transmitters or receivers to efficiently encode information and that inside the laser, the different frequencies of light beat together to generate microwave frequencies — which are within the communications spectrum.

With this year’s discovery, the researchers have been able to extract and transmit wireless signals from laser frequency combs so that they can put in and take out useful, communications-based information from the microwave radiation.

From all this new information, the team created a device that uses a dipole antenna to transmit microwave signals and modulated the frequency comb to encode information on the microwave radiation created by the beating light of the comb. Microwaves containing the encoded information are radiated out from the device, thanks to the antenna, then a horn antenna receives a radio signal, which is filtered and sent to a computer.

“This all-in-one, integrated device, holds great promise for wireless communication,” said Marco Piccardo, a postdoctoral fellow at SEAS and first author of the paper. “While the dream of terahertz wireless communication is still a ways away, this research provides a clear roadmap showing how to get there.”

The post Harvard Researchers Harness Lasers for Communication Purposes appeared first on My TechDecisions.