Tue. Jun 2nd, 2020

News

Employee surveillance: With everyone working from home, you have to learn to trust your teams

By Grace 2 weeks ago

The abrupt transition to remote work has some leaders looking to surveillance tools to monitor their employees. If you think this is a good idea, you’re probably wrong.

I’ve long found the topic of whether human beings are by nature fundamentally good or fundamentally evil an interesting cocktail party conversation. A microcosm of this enduring debate is whether managers who can no longer “shoulder surf” their teams in the relatively controlled environment of company office buildings assume they are diligently and productively working away from home, or shirking all responsibility and binge watching The Real Housewives of Paducaville while eating bonbons on the company dime. This is more than just an existential debate, since managers are tasked with running productive teams, and any perceived lack of performance could adversely affect their position and pay.

SEE: Coronavirus: Critical IT policies and tools every business needs (TechRepublic Premium)

Technology companies, as they

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Productive pandemic: Searches for free online courses are up 309%

By Grace 2 weeks ago

Available online classes include ways to upgrade your resume, add to current skills, or land a better job.

People want to be productive during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though many are working from home, they still see the light at the end of the coronavirus tunnel. And, they want to conserve money. The data provider SEMrush’s Google searches revealed some remarkable results. 

Searches and results include:

  • Free online education,+247% 
  • Online business marketing courses, +54%
  • Free SEO course, +52%, 
  • Online marketing courses, +49%
  • Online business courses, +49%

SEE: COVID-19: A guide and checklist for restarting your business (TechRepublic Premium)

Disclosure: TechRepublic may earn a commission from some of the products featured on this page. TechRepublic and the author were not compensated for this independent review.

No-cost tech education

The ever-changing tech world is a popular arena in which to explore courses, with education outlets that offer free online tech classes

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86% of data breaches are conducted for financial gain

By Grace 2 weeks ago

Increases in hacking, phishing, and cloud-based attacks have been even more prevalent with the influx of remote work, Verizon found.

Verizon released its 2020 Data Breach Investigations report on Tuesday, outlining the biggest cybersecurity threats hitting the enterprise and providing tips on how to handle the risks. The majority (86%) of data breaches are for financial gain—up from 71% in 2019, the annual report found. 

SEE: Security Awareness and Training policy (TechRepublic Premium)

“When we started it 13 years ago, [the report] was designed to be a means of sharing information of what we’re seeing out of the field,” said John Loveland, global head of cybersecurity strategy and marketing at Verizon. 

“The first report consisted of an analysis of the specific breaches that Verizon worked on and helped our customers with,” Loveland said. “But it’s become this means of information sharing with the goal around using data to make better

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How to implement augmented analytics–data science experience not required for users

By Grace 2 weeks ago

Using augmented analytics can help you pull insight from your big data–but approach it with caution.

More about artificial intelligence

Conversations about big data and analytics have emphasized the importance of leveraging data for the past decade. What hasn’t been discussed as often is the need to leverage the ability of people to understand data and apply this understanding to the business.

The need to democratize data usage and understanding beyond traditional dashboards and reports has been a major driver of augmented analytics, which Gartner defines as “the use of machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) to enhance data analytics, data sharing, and business intelligence.”

SEE: Cheat sheet: Data management (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

What is augmented analytics?

Instead of waiting for a data scientist or an IT specialist to assemble complex data models and algorithms to query data, an end user without formal background in data science

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How to update business information with Google My Business, Gmail, and Google Sites

By Grace 2 weeks ago

These three Google tools can help you keep customers informed as your company’s hours and offerings change.

As business hours and offerings evolve, customers need easy access to current information. That’s especially an issue as businesses comply with government mandates during COVID-19 containment efforts. 

The following tools let you update your business info for Google Maps and Search, create multiple custom Gmail signatures, and add an announcement banner in Google Sites. Even if you don’t otherwise use Google tools, most business owners or managers should make sure Google My Business content is accurate.

SEE: Google Sheets: Tips and tricks (TechRepublic download) 

How to update Google My Business information

Businesses may sign up for free, to ensure the accuracy of information that Google displays in Google Maps and Search drawn from Google My Business is accurate. The information includes content customers want: Your business location, hours, and contact information. Google Assistant

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Professional networking tips for the age of remote work and social distancing

By Grace 2 weeks ago

Developer relations specialist Wesley Faulkner explains how to avoid the biggest professional networking mistakes people make and how to effectively make contacts when everyone’s working from home.

Professional networking can be a challenge during the best of times, and doing it in the age of remote work and social distancing can seem impossible. But it’s not. On this episode of 
Dynamic Developer
, I had a chance to talk with Wesley Faulkner about the biggest mistakes developers (or anyone) make when networking and how to successfully make those all-important professional contacts as telecommuting becomes more the rule than the exception. Wesley is a public speaker, developer relationship specialist, worked as a social media and community manager for Atlassian and held a variety of roles at AMD, Dell, and IBM. He’s also a founding member of the government transparency group Open Austin and ran for Austin City Council in 2016. So,

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