 Your customers are the lifeblood of your business. Their happiness will make or break your bottom line, and there are a lot of factors that add up to a satisfied customer. How they are treated by you and your employees, the quality of your product or service, the ease with which they can accomplish their business with you, all of these things play a substantial role in whether a one-time client becomes a repeat customer.
There is one key factor that actually encompasses all these elements — protecting your customer’s data. From Sony to Target, JP Morgan to Marriott, billions of people have had their digital information compromised because of online threats. While some small businesses may not think their small client pool would be tempting to hackers, that kind of thinking can get you and your business into cyber trouble. If you’re leading a small business and are interested in finding ways to prioritize cyber security, then you probably have a lot of questions. Here are a few answers to help you wrap your head around the basic idea of protecting client data. When should I bring in the big guns? If you are not tech savvy and lack an in-house IT department, hiring a data-recovery professional can help you put a plan in place to reduce the risk of a data breach or recover after experiencing one. If you’ve been the victim of a phishing attack or other email scam, you may not even realize there’s been a data loss. Partnering with technology and digital security professionals like Secure Data Recovery frees you from trying to navigate the digital world alone and allows you to focus on running your business. You can save time, money, productivity and face by partnering with professionals to get you and your data secure. What can my business handle on it’s own (and with a smaller budget)? Data recovery is a scalable solution — that means you can find options out there that fit your capacity and budget. For instance, if your main revenue source is e-commerce, make sure you have a secure point of sale system. If you are storing client data on a server, avoid using a shared one and pay the small extra costs to make sure you’re on a dedicated server. You can also add another layer of security by encrypting your data. There are simple, easy options, like using Microsoft’s Bitlocker or more robust encryption measures like using a virtual private network (VPN). A subscription-based VPN can be a more affordable solution for a lot of small businesses. How can my business profit from spending money on data protection? We all know how important the bottom line is, especially for small businesses. All leaders know there will be times of feast and times of famine, so it’s important to make sure there is a strong return on investment for every dollar spent. One company calculated the cost of each stolen record in a data breach at $160 — that’s because you’ll feel the damage of stolen customer data in multiple ways, including losing your reputation and credibility. If a breach were to occur, you’d risk upsetting and unsettling customers, and maybe even have to pay fines or legal fees. Data security may require some upfront costs, but protecting important client data can save you big in the long run. Prioritizing customer data is synonymous with prioritizing customer service. When your clients feel their data is secure, they feel more secure in other things — like product quality and return policies. Plus, a robust data protection policy can save your business — and not just financially, but your reputation as well. Blog post contributed by: Julie Morris Life and Career Coach juliemorris.org (Photo by Pexels)
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Two rounds of trade negotiations between US and China government officials, but no agreement just yet. We learned after the most recent round in Beijing that the form of the agreement, which must be approved by President Trump and President Xi, may be a memo of understanding. However, the deadline to significantly increase tariffs on Chinese imports has just been delayed by President Trump, sighting “substantial progress” during the most recent trade talks.
There are a lot of issues to sort out, some of them so complex and emotionally fraught that full consensus may not be possible in the remaining time. Diplomats have a fix for that and it’s called a framework. For example, we agree that China needs to find a different WTO compatible way to support its State-Owned Enterprises (SOE). These companies get huge government subsidies at the expense of smaller privately-owned firms. They can and have produced a surplus of steel on the world market, driving down world prices and affecting non-China steel producers. Persuading China’s government to substantially change the way SOEs operate will not be easy, certainly not in two weeks, if ever. This is why a framework to resolve the issue by some date in the future may allow parties to agree on some more easily accomplished things while kicking this can down the road. Purchases of more US goods by China is a fairly easy lift, but the surplus China enjoys will not reduce it much. Always good to sell more soybeans and LNG, but what US business wants is more access to the China market, to be treated the same as domestic companies, to be able to purchase and own 100 percent of a business and to have their intellectual property protected, among other things. IPR is difficult because to sell a product in China, as well as many other countries, you need a certificate from the government. Different rules are applied differently, but companies trying to enter the China market have long complained that regulators insist on detailed information about the product, which can reveal the secret sauce. Government examiners can then essentially steal this information and sell or give it to a local competitor. US negotiators will be trying to ensure safeguards are put in place that reduces the likelihood that secrets will be revealed during this process. Meanwhile, the US side will be trying to put processes in place that will help verify that the controls are working. This will be tougher, and the Chinese will be sensitive to US overreach. The US is also demanding an end to the practice of requiring US companies to share their IP with their Chinese partner, putting the IP at risk if the venture does not work out. Nope. Soybeans won’t do it this time or next. Everyone needs to get used to the terms of structural reforms and action-based verification. Another term is decoupling, a deliberate downsizing of the entire economic relationship. Chinese officials publicly say this would be a disaster. Many US businesspeople would agree. It’s a new vocabulary for a very different relationship. Enjoy this blog and want more insight on global trade? Check out the WebPort Global blog at https://www.webportglobal.com/Blog-Community/International-Trade-and-Global-Business If you want more information on how WPG can help your business grow & go global contact Stephanie Misar at smisar@webportglobal.com for more information.  One of the biggest costs of and impediments to more cross-border trade is the paperwork needs of the freight forward and customs broker industry. One problem is a lot of shipments are big and heavy. Then there’s the paperwork. A Netherlands shipping company said sending a container of avocados from India to Antwerp requires 200 communications involving 30 separate parties. That adds a lot to the cost of guacamole.
Shippers and shoppers used to the speed of e-commerce deliveries—some can be made in hours if the goods are stored locally—will be chagrined by the unpredictability of sea shipments and floored by the costs of airfreight. In some markets, it takes three times longer and costs four times more to send a 150-pound item by air than to buy an airline ticket for a person weighing the same amount. The impact of digitizing all the paper could be huge, starting with the cost of transportation. This savings should stimulate more trade and economic growth. Some economists believe that full digitization in Asia, for example, could increase the region’s exports by $257 billion a year, reducing transport times by 44% and costs by 31%. Some experts think these reductions will have more of an impact than reducing the region’s remaining tariffs. Succeed at both and a bigger trade boost is possible. If tariffs go up, as they are in the U.S., efficiencies on the logistics side can help keep total trade costs in some sort of balance. Trade and the documents needed to facilitate it require many moving parts. Some goods need inspections before they leave port; others when they arrive at their destination. Combatting terrorism involves other kinds of inspections. Some goods require licenses. Certain countries impose extra paperwork burdens and corresponding delays. Technophobes beware Freight forwarders and customs brokers, sometimes owned by the same company and sometimes separate, make good money off the arrangements. They may account for a quarter of the logistics’ industry output, or close to a $1 trillion a year. They’ve been among the most technophobic, still relying on faxes and telephones. The bills of lading used in shipping are mainly still in paper form, little changed from the documents merchants issued in medieval Europe. Banks, insurers and governments are starting to digitize the processes; and computers and Big Data engaged to do the heavy lifting. The Global Trade Connectivity Network will launch later this year as a joint venture between Hong Kong and Singapore, digitizing trade between both places. The project is partly funded by several Chinese banks, raising hopes that the mainland will join the paperless trend. Since China produces a seventh of the world’s exports, its participation would encourage other countries to do the same. The U.S. is also headed in this direction, starting with the single window concept begun during the Obama administration. The UN has been advocating a similar approach, especially in the developing world, since 2011. https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tradfa_e/case_studies_e/escwa_e.pdf The WTO is pushing single window as part of its trade facilitation initiative, which provides technical assistance to countries that request it. Many countries, especially in Africa, don’t use computers to store data at ports of entry and exit, and inefficiencies including corruption are rife. Logistics companies such as UPS, FedEx and DHL have morphed into technology companies and have pushed the countries they do business in to embrace the digital revolution. But without countries’ full participation, the current system will remain a hybrid of digits and papers. The sooner we all commit to a digital future, the faster we’ll get there. Enjoy this blog and want more insight on global trade? Check out the WebPort Global blog at https://www.webportglobal.com/Blog-Community/International-Trade-and-Global-Business If you want more information on how WPG can help your business grow & go global contact Stephanie Misar at smisar@webportglobal.com for more information.  By: Julie Morris
Do you feel like you have more to offer than what you’re currently doing in your nine-to-five job? Do you have a passion you’d like to share with the world? Are you looking for ways to create additional revenue streams? Then perhaps now is the time to take a chance and dip your feet into the gig economy. Today, more and more people are pursuing short-term or freelance work thanks to recent advancements in technology that make running your own business easier than ever before. With so many different platforms to buy, sell, and exchange goods and services, ordinary people have watched their personal passions explode into massively successful business enterprises. If you are interested in starting your own success story or even just creating a small additional source of income, here are five tips to get you started. Find Your Starting Platform Your very first step toward turning your passion into profit will be to take advantage of any pre-existing platforms to give your small business a jumpstart. For instance, if you’re looking to sell your handmade crafts, you should start listing your items on popular websites such as Etsy. For a small cut of your listed price, these sites makes it easier for customers who want your product to find and purchase it. This gives you an incredible amount of reach for just getting started and increases your business’s chance for success when compared to trying to market and sell locally. Similarly, if your goal is to sell goods online, you should look into dropshipping options from existing platforms. For example, if you want to sell clothing online (women’s clothing is an especially lucrative option), working with a dropshipping service allows you to sell your product without keeping any inventory on hand, saving you money and stress while allowing you to reliably send your goods directly to your customers’ doors. Stay Organized When just starting out in the gig economy, most don’t quit their day job. Therefore, most small business owners are juggling two or more different jobs at the same time. To ensure that you are able to successfully manage the baby steps of your small business, you need to keep organized in how you go about your daily life. By efficiently managing your time, you will have a better understanding of how much time you need to dedicate to your small business and how that fits in with your current job. Maximize Your Efficiency Another part of maximizing your new business’s potential is by creating your own workspace to operate your business from. When just starting out, many choose to simply work from home. The benefit of setting aside a room of your home for your small business is that it will help keep you organized and maximize the efficiency of your work. Keep all of your materials and work-related documents in one space, and you’ll be ready to immediately get back to work without wasting any time. Market Your Passion While large platforms such as Etsy will give you a great starting point to reaching new customers, there are other ways you can share and market your small business. Social media is a great way to stay in touch with friends and family, but for small business owners, it’s also an incredible resource for interacting with customers and creating new business. Start by creating a Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook page specifically for your business. By regularly posting, following, and interacting with other pages similar to your business, you can reach a huge population of people and potentially a few new customers. Slow and Steady Wins the Race One of the most important things to keep in mind when starting your own business is to remain patient. You might hear about wild overnight success stories, but the truth is most companies find success through discipline, dedication, and slow and steady growth. Don’t feel like you need to move your business in leaps and bounds. Even if the market is ready for your business to explode, you might find that you are not ready to manage a large customer base in so little time. The best advice is to grow with your business. If you are passionate about what you do, then you will gladly take the time to do it right. Over time, you’ll be amazed at how far following your dreams and investing in your own business can carry you. Just stay patient, and always keep moving forward. Photo Credit: Pixabay.com  More U.S. government money intended to counter China’s growing influence in the developing world means more opportunities for U.S. small and medium size companies. About $60 billion will now be available, much of it in loans.
President Trump signed the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development (BUILD) Act into law on October 5, 2018. This legislation will reform and strengthen U.S. development finance capabilities into a new federal agency to help address development challenges and foreign policy priorities of the U.S. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (“USDFC”) will be a modern, consolidated agency that brings together the capabilities of OPIC and USAID’s Development Credit Authority, while introducing new and innovative financial products to better bring private capital to the developing world. That according to a press release from the news agency. When the reimagined government agency gets back to business, it will provide the U.S. more flexibility to support investments in developing countries to “drive economic growth, create stability, and improve livelihoods.” In truth, the monies available are dwarfed by what China is spending and prepared to spend on high speed rail lines, dams, roads and other infrastructure. Still for those countries wanting to avoid the strings that come with China aid, USDFC is welcome news. How does the program work? OPIC can meet the long-term capital investment financing needs of any size business in a wide variety of industries such as information technology, health care, education, infrastructure, telecommunications, financial services, housing, and agribusiness. The majority of OPIC’s financing is used to cover the capital costs—such as design/engineering services, facility construction or leasehold improvements, and equipment—associated with the establishment or expansion of the foreign investment (the “project”). OPIC can also work with financial institutions to fund the expansion of lending capacity—such as microfinance, small business lending or mortgage lending—in a foreign market. OPIC does not consider financing requests that are solely for the purpose of making an acquisition, though limited acquisition costs may be financeable if additional capital will be expended to expand or rehabilitate the investment. OPIC seeks to support early stage projects that demonstrate significant potential to achieve a positive social or environmental impact. These projects face obstacles to adequate financing in emerging markets because of their relative size and early stage of development. If you represent an innovative, earlier stage company with that is committed to a high level of social impact, please read more about OPIC support for your company through OPIC’s Portfolio for Impact Program (PI). OPIC does not finance stand-alone export transactions. U.S. and even non-U.S. companies in need of trade finance should consider the Export-Import of the U.S. and the Small Business Administration. To learn more about other U.S. government programs that support exports, please visit www.export.gov. OPIC is not right for every business interested in making investments in developing countries. For those considering, the application process is not a walk in the park. But this year there’s a lot more money available and there will be the usual competing pressures on the new agency of spreading the money around. Enjoy this blog and want more insight on global trade? Check out the WebPort Global blog at https://www.webportglobal.com/Blog-Community/International-Trade-and-Global-Business If you want more information on how WPG can help your business grow & go global contact Stephanie Misar at smisar@webportglobal.com for more information.  In a previous post, we discussed the importance for small and midsized business engaged in cross-border trade to have in place strong cyber security policies and procedures. This is important because 58 percent of companies subject to data breaches worldwide are small businesses.
Many of these companies do very little to protect themselves, largely because the topic itself is for many people perceived as overly complex and expensive to manage. In truth, it is neither—if you know the steps to take. Not taking them leaves you vulnerable to economic losses and reputational damage caused by having customer data, intellectual property and data used to manage your business stolen by cyber criminals. And not all such criminals are focused on hacking Target, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget or Marriott Hotels. It’s worth applauding the Cyber Awareness Institute (CAI), a non-profit that recently kicked off operations at an event in Washington, DC. https://www.cyberreadinessinstitute.org On hand were MasterCard President and CEO Ajay Banga and former IBM CEO Sam Palmisano. They serve as honorary chairs of CAI and know a thing or two about the subject. The concept for an organization to do education outreach to small companies came from a bipartisan commission that flagged the growing problem of our collective vulnerability to all kinds of bad actors including individual crooks, organized crime syndicates, gangs and even nation states whose policy it is to destabilize other countries and steal money to fund their own budgets. Hardening the targets What keeps good people up at night is the understanding that our global economic system is only as strong as its weakest link. And there are plenty of weak links out there who can provide hackers with an easy-to-access back door to some serious motherlode data. This is because many small companies are involved in complex supply chains whose efficiency depends on the sharing of data between many suppliers and goods forwarding companies. The more players of different sizes and data protection capabilities, the greater the risk of a soft target that can expose the firewall to a successful penetration. The CAI proponents are counting on enlightened self-interest and an understanding that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts to animate small companies to act before they become a victim and a statistic. To do so, they created a website intended to demystify what it takes to engage in “data hygiene,” or safe cyber. The site is easy to navigate and the explanations of what and how to do it mercifully short and free of geek speak. One module on the importance of passwords included commonsense tips such as change passwords often and make them reasonably complex. In other words, not pet names or birthdays. Surprisingly, some pretty valuable stuff is hidden behind names like “Annabelle.” CAI also likes the capabilities of the cloud and supports companies keeping their valuable data there rather than on premises. The argument is that the professional keepers of the cloud are the most adept at safeguarding customer data and staying a couple of steps ahead of people who want to hack into them. Once on CAI’s website, you’ll be asked to register and can opt-in to receive a newsletter that includes new threats and what’s being done to thwart them. Tips and tricks are also included. Best of all, there are best practices to share with employees to make sure everyone in the company is practicing good data hygiene. Everything is free and supported by private donors. This is a valuable and important effort. Too few of us know enough about the dangers we and our data face. The good news is that it takes remarkably little time and effort to substantially improve security while doing our part to protect the larger business ecosystem on which we all depend. Enjoy this blog and want more insight on global trade? Check out the WebPort Global blog at https://www.webportglobal.com/Blog-Community/International-Trade-and-Global-Business If you want more information on how WPG can help your business grow & go global contact Stephanie Misar at smisar@webportglobal.com for more information. |
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Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce
7900 Westpark Drive, Suite A550, Tysons, VA 22102-3853 Phone: 703-749-0400 | FAX: 703 -749-9075 Home of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce |
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