OnQ

On Day 3: Security

The last session of the conference for me is the repeat of Dana's security seminar. If you haven't seen Dana's sessions, you're really missing something. The main focus of his presentation was on using two-factor authentication. Two-factor authentication is comprised of something you have and something you know. For example, your bankcard - you have the card and you have to know the PIN.

One of the key issues facing small business IT shops is how to manage the administrator passwords for the systems you manage when you have an employee leave the company. If you change the administrator password, you also have to change the password for services that run as administrator, plus change the passwords of any additional admin accounts that may have been created, and this can take a very long time, especially if you have a large number of servers or a lot of turnover.

With a centrally-managed two-factor authentication solution, the need to change administrator passwords is either significantly reduced or eliminated because you can disable the OTP (one time password) for the departing employee in the central system and lock that user out of the systems you manage.

Some vendors who have solutions for two-factor authentication:

www.cryptocard.com (cryptocard) - bill@cryptocard.com ask for starter kit referred by Dana
www.rsasecurity.com
www.authenex.com
www.securecomputing.com
www.aladdin.com
www.actividentity.com
www.verisign.com (
www.vasco.com (VASCO)
www.passgo.com (Defender)
www.scorpionsoft.com (Anvil)

Dana demoed several implementations of two-factor security on live systems, including a new product from Scorpion Software that adds two-factor authentication to Remote Web Workplace.

One audience question - what about biometrics? Dana pointed out the "gummy bear attack" that gets past fingerprint scanners.

Now for the afternoon activities...

On Day 3: CRM Project Planning

I sat in on Anne Stanton's CRM Project Planning session this morning. CRM is an avenue I'm looking into, and I've worked with Anne on a couple of leads for CRM application implementations. She focused specifically on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM product, but the basic concepts can apply to all CRM applications in general.

Anne started showing a project proposal template that she uses as a building block (living document) to work with a potential client and discussed the different phases of a CRM implementation. (Note to self and others - CRM implementations are more involved that just installing the software.) She then covered the basics of what it takes to install CRM SBE onto SBS. CRM SBE does integrate well with SBS, because it integrates with many of the components of SBS, but there are some "fun" points dealing with ISA.

Anne followed next with a deep dive into the implementation process. One of the most important phases, if not the most important, is the data migration process. This is taking all the existing data the client has and migrating it into the MS CRM app. One of the key aspects of data migration is data cleansing - making sure that the data you're importing is ready for importing - this is where some of the pain points of the entire project are really evident, because if the client data is not really "clean" this phase can take an extensive amount of time.

Audience question: How do you price data migration? Sit down with the customer to see where they are and try to find out how many records they have. If they have a small number of records, it might make more financial sense to have a temp re-key the records in the system, but a larger number of records might require some outsourcing for custom programming to get all the records imported.

Next, Anne showed some of the different planning templates. These documents have screen shots of each and every piece in the interface that you go over with the client and find out what they need or not in the interface and you can note in the template what changes you need to make. The template also breaks down the structure of the record so you can see what the individual fields are and what the data type is for each field. These templates are available for download from the Partner web site as a ZIP file.

As you're going through configuration, document everything that goes on during the research and deployment phases. Scope creep can really impact the project, but if you sufficiently document every request, at least you have the information that can back up any questions the client may have during the process.

Now on to the next magical session...

On Day 2: Entertainment

I had a wonderful opportunity this evening to really do something very cool, at least for me. I got to see my home town Texas Rangers play the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field. The game went thirteen innings, and while my team ended up losing, it was a great game and worth the time. Oh, and did I mention that because of a few connections, I ended up watching the game from the Owner's Suite? Oh yes, it was suite indeed!

Now to get some sleep and try to rest up before tomorrow. No vendor hall, so I'll be able to attend at least a couple of sessions...

On Day 2: Vendoring Again

OK, so even though I thought I would attend sessions in-between the market expo times, once again I ended up spending the day as a vendor at the Community booth. The good news, I was able to move a number of books not only at the table but also to people who will order online because they had no more room in their outgoing luggage. The bad news, I really missed out on some of the side sessions and mingling that are so valuable at this conference.

Later tonight, I'll have a different activity that I could only take advantage of in Seattle. More on that later...

On Day 2: Keynote

Day 2 of SMB Nation 2006 opened with a keynote speech from conference organizer Harry Brelsford on the global reach of Microsoft's Small Business Specialist certification program. Actually, it was more of a group participation effort than a talking slide deck. Bob Hood announced Arlin Sorensen as the SBSer of the Year. Harry summarized the events of the last year for SMB Nation the company including the interviews of members of the worldwide community on SMB Nation TV (and no, he didn't just stand there and play videos, but did have a couple of the interviewees come up and share a little about their activities with the audience). Harry discussed the activities of the SBSC implementations in Italy and Denmark. Jeremy from Auckland, New Zealand, discussed the way MS New Zealand is handling the SBSC memberships by making it more exclusive than general admission. Beatrice came up and discussed some of the lessons they learned in Amsterdam and EMEA in general. The general consensus from the different nations was that the different leads of user groups and other groups are keeping in contact with each other on a daily basis to help grow not only their businesses but their market as well.

Now back to the vendor hall to sell books for a bit while getting ready for the Mac talk...