Pinnacle Solutions Increases Knowledge, Productivity & Efficiency
Submitted by Michael G. Roughton, Pinnacle Solutions
Pinnacle Solutions is a Level 4 Performance Management Company. We enable the convergence of Level 4 Planning with exceptional execution that delivers consistent Peak Performance. Our Performance Enabling System effects constant revenue growth and substantively increases output per labor hour worked for every F.T.E. in the support and overhead functions.
Do People Really Make the Difference
In today’s extremely competitive world, one question the executive team should continually ask is the Human Capital in our organization a Sustainable CompetitiveAdvantage. If the answer is not an unequivocal yes, the second question to ponder is why not.
If you exclude technology’s impact on productivity there is no clinical and objective way of measuring true human productivity and their ability to consistently perform at extraordinary levels.
Pinnacle Solutions has created a holistic prism of analyzing and measuring the leading edge performance indicators of an organization’s capability to constantly perform at Peak Levels.
Exceptional Human Capital + Competitive Products = Remarkable Results
No company can expect to consistently achieve its Revenue and EPS Growth Plan and have a substantive way to increase its win ratio against competition unless it has the most effective and efficient Human Capital in its execution and support teams.
It is a proven fact that countless companies’ Level 4 business and product strategies fail because of their inability to execute in a way that delivers constant operating plan results. This flaw centers on the failing attention of the right performance enablers, retaining Human Capital in the wrong positions, and being incapable of delivering the results for these critical strategies.
The amount of time, financial and human resources that are required for senior management to develop company and product strategies, and then fail on the desired performance of these strategies, the loss of revenue, time and resources is immeasurable.
The internal financial overtones are enormous. The external financial implications are a reduction in EPS and market confidence. These deficiencies also drive down stock price, employee retention, and the ability to produce non-stop planned and record profits.
Today the revenue and productivity impact of these Human Capital defects at the field, operation and support team level is of the utmost concern. Approximately 20% of the companies in North America have recognized this serious problem and have required the enhancement of their human assets’ performance to consistently perform at peak levels, while executing the company’s Level 4 business plan.
Pinnacle Solutions addresses this significant issue by furnishing senior management with an objective and quantifiable ExecutiveDashboard that allows for the scientific analysis and measurement of the competence and effectiveness of the execution capability of their sales, IT, operation, and support teams. Pinnacle also Eliminates the Waste in the costly flow of information in order to significantly increase productivity.
These solutions augment senior management’s ability to determine which strategies their execution teams are capable of implementing successfully. This crucial knowledge will guide the strategy and implementation teams’ ability to develop plans that are not only executable, but will meet and exceed business expectations. In the same process, the field and support teams will enhance their current Performance Effectiveness and Execution Capabilities. These solutions are the gateway to increase a company’s Human Asset productivity by eliminating performance inhibitors and critical waste factors.
Pinnacle Solutions is the immediate shorthand that enables revenue and supports execution risk mitigation, while substantively increasing productivity at the field, IT and support level by:
- Enabling performance that increases competitive wins by approximately 15% to 20% and substantively reduces information flow requirements by eliminating critical waste
- Calibrating the sales organization’s significant revenue opportunity to execute Level 4 company strategies against Pinnacle’s Peak Performance Model.
- Using scientific methodologies that clearly define sales and front/back office Human Capital defects and compares the data against Success Oriented Performance Filters.
- Measuring and quantifying the Performance effectiveness and execution capabilities of the sales, IT, operation, and support teams’ to consistently perform at Peak Levels.
- Articulating the compelling requirements to transform the performance of the sales and front line organizations into a “Sustainable Competitive Advantage.”
These Patent Pending Solutions allow for endless opportunities for consistent revenue and productivity growth.
NOT “for your eyes only”: A case study on security for Wireless Networks
Submitted by Yigal Baher, 2Secure Corporation
Have you recently connected a “wireless Access point” to your corporate Local Area Network, or you are planning to do so in the future? (Fig-1)
If your answer is “yes,” you have a good reason to be worried … You have deployed a Firewall with anti-virus scanning systems and now all those elements have been bypassed.
Why has this happened? From the time that you have connected the access point directly to your LAN (Local Area Network,) you have exposed your network to an unauthorized access from any device that has a wireless support. Once an attacker obtains an IP address using his laptop or PDA, then he can then launch an attack against computers on your network and other objects using corporate resources. Computers on your LAN will receive commands from the attacker launching timely attacks acting as robots.
In simple words … Wireless attacks can be launched by anyone from anywhere. From the person who’s next to you or in the office down the hall, in an elevator or the parking garage, he or she could be hacking your wireless networks at this very moment. If you do not take the necessary precautions to protect your systems, you might just hand them the alarm code to your office and your private files.
Some of the outcomes could include:
(1) Slow network response when accessing files on servers and slow performance when reading or sending emails.
(2) A non-operational network where users can not access ANY resource on corporate servers.
(3) Interception of user name, passwords and other data transmitted between wireless workstations and the servers on the network.
(4) Public relations damage to the company.
What Can You Do To Prevent A “Security Breakdown” On Your Infrastructure?
Here are some of the basic things that can be down to prevent security invasions:
- Connect the Access Point to the firewall using a hub and then connect the hub to the Firewall on a separate NIC (Network Interface Card) (Fig-2).
- Disable the DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) function on the Access Point. Any access point has the ability to assign an IP address to devices connecting thru the “air”; this is normal operation and needed for communication, resulting in the IP assignment working manually.
- Enable MAC (Media Access Control) address to filter connections to the Access Point. Any device that performs communication needs a physical address. The MAC address is a unique and given by the manufacturer. We can define which MAC address would be able to connect to the access point.
- Enable encryption WEP (Wireless Encryption Protocol) or WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) on the Access Point. To avoid data interception it is recommended to activate at least the WEP.
- Stop broadcasting the Access Point BSSID (Basic Service ID) on the Access Point. Any access point is broadcasting its name on the “air”, it says “I am here, my name is …” and we need to associate each device manually.
- Give an Unknown name to the Access Point. Any access point comes with a default name such as “linksys”, which can easily decoded, by using a name like this it allows a hacker to know what kind of access point you have, and a small search will reveal its defaults.
- Change the access point’s default password. Every access point comes with a default password and hackers know these passwords.
- Authenticate users accessing the wireless Access Point using RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service) (Fig-2). To enhance security measures it is necessary to check their identity before letting them in using RADIUS server.
- Deploy IDS (Intrusion Detection System) or IPS (Intrusion Prevention Systems) (Fig-2). IDS in some cases can alert if someone is trying to tamper with your access point, and IPS can detect and prevent from pre-defined attacks from happening.
- Enable event logging on the Access Point. Any access point has the ability to log events, such as connections to the access point and etc.
- Monitor activities on the Access Point. Check logs and try to correlate events from the access point and IDS or IPS.
Remember! The best security practice is combining as many protection layers as possible, keeping your infrastructure safe and for “Your Eyes Only!”
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