Finished.

Finished.

Posted by EYHokie

I'm finished with the case with Sweet Mondays. It never really went anywhere. I had to met with the husband to get a non-emotional view of the company. The lady was over the top. My concern though is the guy wasn't really involved. I hoped he was the backbone but my fear is that he wasn't.  Oh well. I tried to get together with him several times and it never worked out. I'm dropping it for now.

I hope to pick the idea back up.

ITSecurity Blog - 10 Reasons to be an IT Auditor

ITSecurity Blog - 10 Reasons to be an IT Auditor

Posted by EYHokie

Robert just sent me this link:  http://itauditsecurity.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/top-10-it-auditor/#more-4238 

10. You have access to all systems, data, and people (with a business reason, of course). Employees rarely ignore you.

9. You can uncover fraud, mischief, ignorance, and just plain laziness. Either way, you “add value to the business” (yeah, I hate that term too, but it is what audit is about, and so appropriate).

8. You can work hand-in-hand with security to raise risk awareness.

7. You get a broad overview of all company operations and get to know people in all departments. That helps you know whether you want to stay with that company or whether to leave it before it implodes. If you choose to stay, all those contacts will be valuable in advancing into other areas of the company.

6. Sometimes your work enables IT to get the funding that it needs, which it hasn’t been able to get on its own.

5. You get to do some cool data analytics to discover misconfigurations, anomalies, trends, and more.

4. You can cross pollinate ideas from one area of the company to another (or one division to another).

3. You are able to constantly learn about technology without having to implement and support it. And when you identify problems, you get to provide guidance on how to fix them, but you don’t have to fix them.

2. You work with technology all day, but when you go home, your work doesn’t follow you. No phone calls at 2 a.m. for support.

1. It usually pays better than financial auditing!

I cannot tell you how many times I've used some of this when trying to pitch IT Audit to someone.

Where to go...

Where to go...

Posted by EYHokie

I've lost some excitement since my initial meeting with Look Better Than You Feel.  I think it part because I was sold this idea that there was no other product like this on the market.  A little research and I find out that there are many versions of the same/similar design.  One of them even had a removable pocket so that you could put it on any garment.  This seems a lot more simple given that you just have to buy the pouch and you get to keep your existing clothes.  I have no idea how well the project functions but it seems to be just as good of an idea.  That being said, LBTYF is currently going after hospital relationships.  While Kim wants to take things big, it seems like her biggest market right now are the local hospitals here in Richmond.  That may be the niche that Kim needs to exploit.

From our initial conversation we learned that LBTYF is working with the New Richmond Ventures. Avery has a relationship with Bob Moony so he is trying to set-up a meeting to understand their vision.  The last thing we want to do is write a case study that is contradictory to the advise that Bob and his team is providing.

I reached out to Kim today to find out if we could meet with her husband.  I am curious what his thoughts are.  Kim is very passionate and I want to know where her husband is coming from.  What does he want?  How does he play into the finances of the company?  I have high hopes, though I hope not too high, of getting the business side and practical day to day version of the company.  I need more than the excited sales pitch that we were given in our first meeting.

Avery and I are at an initial passing.  Where to go?  We are not sure of the direction to head in.  Right now, there are 3 options on the table.  1. (most likely) pitch the question of should she or should she not move into and invest heavily in social media.  2. With so much on her plate, how does a dreamer focus their dreams and make them become a reality?  3. Go in a completely different direction and ask NRV is we can build a case around them.  How/Why invest local?

I took a quick look through HBR and didn't really see anything about suggesting a company not move into the social media space.  Does everyone need to?  Does LBTYF need to?  If relationships are currently being built with local hospitals, does social media get you anywhere?  Does the invest in time going to drive sales?

Initial Meeting

Initial Meeting

Posted by EYHokie

Avery and I met with Kim Newlen on April 26nd at Baker’s Crust.  I was very excited as this is one of my favorite places in Richmond.

Avery and I met outside and walked in together.  It didn’t take long at all to see Kim.  As advertised, she wore a big pick flower on her shirt.  We barely sat down and Kim gave us her pitch.  She showed us all of her clothes, the progression to the current style and some of her advertisement.  I felt like she was going a mile a minute and was trying to get us to invest, though I know she wasn’t.

One of the funniest moments was when she was showing off her shirts and turned around to a table behind her and told them she was a breast cancer survivor and she was sharing with us her clothing line.  Personally, I would have kept on going and not mentioned anything to the couple.

My first reaction is that she is trying to head in 10 different directions and doesn’t seem to have a plan.  I think her vision is to change hospital clothing into something fashionable and comfortable.  As a part of that she’s taking on too many different dreams and giving her product away to everyone.  We were both glad to hear that she has recently been introduced to a venture capitalist group here in Richmond.  She doesn’t seem to have much business sense so this should go a long way for her.  In my opinion, she just needs to hire a business manager to get things off the ground.  At the same time, its hard to say because I think she said she has been doing this for 9 years.  Here are some of the things that she has invested her time in:

-          Sweet Mondays – an organization for woman

-          Expanding Sweet Mondays internationally

-          Developing cloths for woman with breast cancer

-          Developing advertising material

-          Developing relationships with area hospitals

-          Writing a devotional book

-          Exploring the idea of creating a men’s line of clothing

-          Speaking engagements

-          Developing a web presence

-          General marking

I can see why she hasn’t gotten anywhere in 9 years.  Well, she has made a difference in woman’s lives but from a business/profitability stand point it would seem as though she hasn’t gotten anywhere.  She needs to focus on one thing and attack it.  Once she’s built that platform move onto another goal. 

The Case Begins

The Case Begins

Posted by EYHokie

I have to admit, some of the luster has worn off.  I still see the importance so I am pushing on.

Where was I going to find a willing company?  Do I just look up small business in the phone book and start calling?  No.  Having graduated from UR, I realized I have a great resource.  There are always companies that want to be a part of the Capstone projects.  However, we just don’t have enough students to work with every company.

I was initially given two companies to look into: Looks Better Than You Feel and RSVPHere.  I don’t want to go into the reasons I picked one of the other but I decided to go LBTYF as it was advertised to me.

I am going to be meeting Kim Newlen, owner, in a few weeks for lunch.  This will be my opportunity to understand her vision and hopefully start to get a framework around the learning objectives.

What do I know now?

Looks Better Than You Feel appears to be a great concept.  Women struggle in all sorts of ways as they go through cancer.  Kim is trying to provide an outlet for fashion specifically pointed at these women.   She is trying to improve the fashion of medical garments.  Who would have thought of such a niche market?  Kim Newlen.

Kim Newlen, what an amazing testament to the power Christ in one’s life.  Her and her mother both battled breast cancer.  She has been an active part of the Richmond community, bring woman together in support of each other.  Kim has been featured in several magazines and has had several public speaking engagements[i].  You cannot mention Kim without a reference to “Sweet Mondays” her create outreach to woman in the community.  You can read her story on the MD Mercy website.

---

[i] http://kimnewlen.wordpress.com/

Running with, not kicking, a can down the road!

Running with, not kicking, a can down the road!

Posted by EYHokie

I had intended to write part 2 but I've gone off in a different direction.  First, I'm trying to change around the look of the blog.  Its been 6+ years since I've done anything with HTML so its taking a bit to get back into the game.

As you can see, and I have said, I'd like to work with small/mid-sized business at some point.  I'd rather it be sooner rather then later.  In an effort to get the ball rolling, I'm going to be writing a case study.  At the moment, I do not have a company or an idea yet.  One of my advisers suggested, Look Better Than You Feel.  What a great concept for a business! Hopefully the owner is interested.

My initial thoughts are around segregation of duties in the accounting department.  For this company, I may need to move more into the risk management space.  We shall see.  I haven't even been introduced to the owner yet.

I'll keep things posted here and hopefully can continue to work on the format of the site.

Data (big?) part 1

Data (big?) part 1

Posted by EYHokie

I went to an event last night about “big data.”  Come to find out that is the hot topic right now.  Now I sat through an hour and 15 minutes and over 60 slides in a powerpoint presentation about “big data.”  After that, do I know what “big data” is?  The guy took a bunch of definitions that other organizations/people have said and tore them apart.  What was his idea: putting the Information back in IT.  Wow.  Deep. 

My best understanding at this point is taking all of the information that a company amasses and finding ways to use it.   Its all too easy to live in a bubble and not take into consideration what other departments are doing, what data they are storing.  If we talked together as an organization; how much more could we achieve?  The likely will never happen, atleast to the fullest extent possible. 

My concern with this whole idea is that we spend a bunch of time analyzing our data and forgetting our core.  When I write a research paper I spend a lot of time researching.  I often get lost in my research and forget where I was headed in the first place.  Might that happen with all the focus on “big data?”

What if I don’t have a lot of data to start off with?  Well, start with what you have.  As a small business owner, you most likely have a lot more data than you think you do.  Lets say your business is lighting and your job is to bid on large projects.  Should you focus on every single project available?  Probably not.  That would be a waste of your time.  You will spend too much time focusing on bids you’ll likely never get.  Which projects, historically, have you won?  Start there.  What are the characteristics of those projects?  I’ll stop here with the business side.  I’m sure I could write for hours.

Now lets start thinking of what an audit program may look like for this lighting business.

Governance:

1.       Organization

a.       Is there a clear structure and position descriptions?

b.      What is the mission of this organization?

c.       Are they in a niche market?  Do they have a direction?

2.       Talent Management – keep in mind this isn’t a large organization

a.       Are the right people hired for the right job?  Do you have qualified people making bids?

b.      For new hires, is there a mentorship program? 

c.       Is there a methodology for sharing information?

d.      Is there a clear path for career progression?

As with any governance review, there a lot more topics to cover.  Just keep in mind we are talking about small businesses so don’t go overboard.

Access: This is where its at.

1.       Administration

a.       Who is responsible for managing the applications used for bidding?

b.      Is that person qualified?

c.       What other tasks does that person do?

2.       Access to data

a.       Who has the ability to enter data?

b.      Who has the ability to change existing data?

c.       How can you change data? Is it possible?

d.      What type of application are you using to enter in bid information?

3.       View data (key part to consider):