IT News: ERP, Technology, Developer, Linux, PeopleTek News, Encryption, Big Data, Operations, Database, BI, Server, Mobile. MFA (Sept. 12th, 2021)
Volume 282, Issue 2 - Sept. 6th, 2021 — Sept. 12th, 2021
Selections from the weekly newsletter, “IT News and Events.”
ERP
6 Cloud ERP Implementation Challenges And How To Solve Them
Addressing risks early and closely monitoring the cloud ERP implementation process can help avoid problems down the road. Learn about some of the most common challenges
"Cloud ERP implementations are rife with the potential for failure. However, some implementation problems occur so frequently they are easy to predict and guard against.
Addressing these challenges early and monitoring the overall process closely can ensure a smooth cloud ERP implementation and help avoid problems down the road.
Here are some common ERP implementation challenges and ways to tackle them..." [SearchERP, September 8th, 2021]
The Best ERP Systems For Small Businesses To Consider Working With
Our editors have compiled a list of the best ERP systems for small businesses. The providers were selected based on their overall reputation, service offerings, and ability to meet the needs of SMBs
"No matter the industry, the market, or size, every business can benefit from an ERP solution. However, choosing the right vendor and solution can be complicated, especially as a small business, where budget, functionalities, and scalability are crucial. SMBs need a solution that can meet their immediate needs and grow alongside them as their team and customer base expands over time. There are plenty of leading ERP solutions to choose from, but not all of them are qualified to meet the needs of small-to-medium-sized businesses..." [Solutions Review, September 10th, 2021]
ERP Takes Flight
How a Pioneer in Electric Aircraft Manufacturing Selected an ERP Platform That Would Not Ground the Business Before it Took Off
"A European business at the forefront of developing electric aircraft is currently evolving from developing prototype aircraft to becoming an approved aircraft builder. The business required an enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform to run its core business processes, become an accredited aircraft manufacturer, and professionalize its business technology estate. As a four-year-old business with a strong data and digital services component, the ERP platform had to be cloud-native and avoid unnecessary complexity that could lead to delays or increase business costs..." [GIGAOM, September 7th, 2021]
How To Empower Your Employees With An ERP
Hats off to BMS. Business management software is an integral part of how most companies do business today. BMS solutions run the full gambit, from dedicated accounting software, customer relationship management (CRM) and human resources management systems (HRMS) to comprehensive ERP systems
"When it comes to the merits of implementing a BMS - or an ERP, in particular - the direct link between an ERP system and the employee experience often gets overlooked. If you're a business owner, you know that there's an even more important link - the link between the employee experience and your company's success. Employees are at the 'heart' of every company. The quality of your products and services depends on great work - and great work starts with great people..." [Forbes News, September 9th, 2021]
Technology
Microchip Unveils Compact 1.6T Ethernet Phy With Up To 800 GbE Connectivity
Routers, switches and line cards need higher bandwidth, port density and up to 800 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) connectivity to handle escalating data center traffic driven by 5G, cloud services, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) applications.
Routers, switches and line cards need higher bandwidth, port density and up to 800 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) connectivity to handle escalating data center traffic driven by 5G, cloud services, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) applications.
To deliver the higher bandwidth, these designs need to overcome the signal integrity challenges associated with the industry's transition to the 112G (gigabits per second) PAM4 Serializer/Deserializer (SerDes) connectivity that is needed to support the latest pluggable optics, system backplanes and packet processors.
These challenges can now be overcome with the industry's most compact, 1.6T (terabits per second), low-power PHY (physical layer) solution from Microchip Technology Inc. with its PM6200 META-DX2L that reduces power per port by 35 percent compared to its 56G PAM4 predecessor, META-DX1, the industry's first terabit-scale PHY solution. [HPCWire, September 8th, 2021]
Samsung's New SD Cards Offer Up To 120MB/S Write Speed
When it comes to SD cards, many people tend to only think about how much storage is on offer. But for some uses, speed is actually the most crucial thing to think about.
"Samsung announced a couple of new cards in the PRO Plus and EVO Plus microSD and 
SD Cards. They feature write speeds up to 120 MB/s and read speeds of up to 160 MB/s. These speeds only apply to the 128GB and larger versions of the cards, as the smaller version of the PRO Plus SD cards are a bit slower.
They feature all of the vital speed ratings you need to record 4K video without any problems. There are U3, V30, and Class 10 ratings on these cards. You'll have a hard time finding something these SD and microSD cards can't handle. Additionally, they fall into the SDXC category..." [How-To Geek, September 8th, 2021]
Developer
OWASP Secure Coding Practices 2021 PDF (Checklist/Cheat Sheet)
With secure coding standards in place, one can design and develop software by avoiding all the weaknesses which mark their way towards security-related vulnerabilities by sticking to specific standards as well as best practices
"This is where OWASP secure coding practices 2021 are recommended to avoid such errors and mistakes in early development stages.
Now, how much security is needed, or when do we know that our software is secured and what are its standards? We have uploaded the OWASP secure coding checklist and cheatsheet. This will help you pinpoint and keep the most obvious standards insight.
With each day frauds and security threats have increased and a new variety of security theft can also be seen even in most secured software..." [Securedyou.com, September 7th, 2021]
Linux
In Search Of Linux Laptops? Check These 6 Places To Get Your Laptop In 2021
Are you in search of Linux laptops? This article takes you through 6 different places that offer the best Linux laptops. So get prepared to choose your Linux laptop in 2021.
"When it comes to laptops, the first name that comes to my mind is Dell. For over 20 years Dell has been selling high-end Linux laptops. In a Dell store, you can get Ubuntu and Redhat Enterprise Linux laptops. These laptops are built to meet the needs of developers, businesses, and sysadmins.
For developers, who travel a lot, XPS 13 Developer Edition would be the confirmed best choice. Dell XPS comes at an expensive cost of around $1,000. So, if you're in search of something less expensive, you can check Dell Inspiron laptops. Dell's Precision workstations with RHEL or Ubuntu are designed for small business owners or CG professionals..." [Linux Journal, September 8th, 2021]
PeopleTek News
We're All Different
Chances are your work culture is comprised of individuals that are not from the same 'mold'; we're all different in a variety of ways. What matters is how we embrace and leverage those differences
"As a leader, how and what are you doing to help others create and support an environment comprised of a variety of work styles and differences?
A few weeks ago we talked about a multi-generational workforce. Did you feel there were noticeable differences in styles and behaviors? Some feel yes, others say no.
We'll add to those differences. Consider values, practices, traditions, race/ethnicity, religion and gender in addition to age. Now think about preferred styles such as Myers-Briggs, DiSC, Listening, and Managing Conflict. The differences are endless!
We all have biases and filters. What we suggest is taking the time to examine those biases and recognize the impacts on our relationships and mindset. Studies show that differences enhance learning; growth occurs when we listen, process, and understand things from a different perspective. We also have to understand that our way isn't the only way!..." [PeopleTek News, September 8th, 2021]
Encryption
The Post-Quantum Cryptography World Is Coming: Here's How To Prepare
Have you ever sat in traffic and cursed the town planners? For years, you may have watched as the town approved new subdivisions and stores along the roads you drive often
"And you wondered when they would add a new lane, extend a road or install a new stoplight. But think about this: If you're skipping over news articles about quantum computing and post-quantum cryptography, you're doing the same thing in relation to your business that town planners seem to do relative to new construction - waiting for the negative impacts before fixing the issue.
Much (if not most) of the time, these changes only happen after negative impacts come in force. People will go to council meetings over accidents and stop-and-go traffic. Have you ever wondered why town planners don't proactively improve the roads before the new construction is finished? ..." [SecurityIntelligence, September 8th, 2021]
What Is Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE)?
Company leaders are continually looking for ways to keep data safe without compromising its usability. Fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) could be a step in the right direction
What Is Fully Homomorphic Encryption?
Fully homomorphic encryption allows the analyzing and running of processes on data without needing a decryption method. For example, if someone wanted to process information in the cloud but did not trust the provider, FHE would allow sending the encrypting data for processing without providing a decryption key.
How Does Fully Homomorphic Encryption Work?
FHE is like other encryption methods that require using a public key to encrypt the data. Only the party with the correct private key can see the information in its unencrypted state. However, FHE uses an algebraic system that allows working with data without requiring decryption first. In many cases, information is represented as integers, while multiplication and addition replace the Boolean functions used in other kinds of encryption... [CIOinsignt, September 10th, 2021]
Big Data
Big Data: The Technology Behind Retailers Success
During the beginning of the pandemic, many businesses went digital, and the retail industry is no exception. Technologies became a crucial part of achieving success in the increasingly competitive market, including big data and analytics.
"Big data in retail help companies understand their customers better and provide them with more personalized offers. Data-based insights can help make the right decisions, keep up with market trends and navigate the uncertainty.
Big data is a not new concept, and it has been around for a while. However, it doesn't become less relevant, and on the contrary, it is only growing in popularity during unprecedented times like this. 33% respondents of Statista's survey indicated that big data is essential to their business success..." [SmartDataCollective, September 7th, 2021]
4 Steps To Purging Big Data From Unstructured Data Lakes
Data purging rules have long been set in stone for databases and structured data. Can we do the same for big data?
"Data purging is an operation that is periodically performed to ensure that inaccurate, obsolete or duplicate records are removed from a database. Data purging is critical to maintaining the good health of data, but it must also conform to the business rules that IT and business users mutually agree on (e.g. by what date should each type of data record be considered to be obsolete and expendable?)..." [TechRepublic, September 7th, 2021]
Operations
Patch Management: Definition, Process & Best Practices
Maintaining and safeguarding code is an inherent part of the software development lifecycle
"For developers, software programs are a never-ending work in progress. From adding new features, revising code, and resolving vulnerabilities, software publishers release updates or patches to ensure their software applications remain fully functional and secure. For clients, legacy or outdated software tools can appear harmless - but the reality is that most code contains vulnerabilities.
In this article, we look at patch management, how patching works, and best practices for safeguarding software integrity..." [ServerWatch, September 9th, 2021]
Database
12 Database Security Landmines, Failures, And Mistakes That Doom Your Data
Lapses in protecting databases are common and attackers know it. Here are the top database weaknesses they try to exploit.
"In most enterprise stacks today, the database is where all our secrets wait. It's part safe house, ready room, and staging ground for the bits that may be intensely personal or extremely valuable. Defending it against all incursions is one of the most important jobs for the database administrators, programmers, and DevOps teams that rely upon it.
Alas, the job isn't easy. The creators give us all the tools. They build in good security measures and document them. Yet dozens of potential errors, oversights, and mistakes both stupid and understandable make it an endless challenge..." [CSO Online, September 9th, 2021]
BI
The New Normal: What The Past 18 Months Have Meant For Enterprises And Business Intelligence
In late 2019, Forbes reported 100 statistics connected to digital transformation and the customer experience
"Most notably, they found that 70% of companies already had a digital transformation strategy in place (or had one in development) and companies planned to spend more than $2 trillion in total on digital transformation in 2019, a figure that represented 40% of all technology spending that year. These efforts largely aimed to improve business intelligence through data analysis and automated business processes, enabling employees to maintain a comprehensive view of the business while focusing on higher-value tasks..." [Forbes News, September 9th, 2021]
Server
Worldwide Server Market Revenue Declined 2.5% Year Over Year in the Second Quarter of 2021, According to IDC
HPE/H3C ended the quarter in a statistical tie* with Dell Technologies for the top position in the worldwide server market
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, worldwide server market revenue declined 2.5% year over year to $23.6 billion during the second quarter of 2021 (2Q21). Worldwide server shipments surpassed 3.2 million during the quarter, an increase of just 0.1% over the previous year.
Volume server revenue was up 5.6% to nearly $20.0 billion. Midrange server revenue declined 30.0% to $2.4 billion, and high-end servers declined by 32.7% to $1.3 billion.
"Broadly speaking, server market performance was muted in the second quarter as the market shifted slightly towards single socket server configurations," said Paul Maguranis, senior research analyst, Infrastructure Platforms and Technologies at IDC. "While servers purchased directly from ODMs declined year over year, some past backlog recovery within the hyperscale datacenter community contributed to a large jump in this segment when compared to the first quarter of this year." [IDC, September 9th, 2021]
Mobile
5 Considerations For Mobile Device Management
Take careful steps when enrolling agency devices into unified endpoint management
"Mobile device management (MDM), also called enterprise mobility management or unified endpoint management, increases security by enforcing compliance with organizational policies on mobile devices.
1. Should my agency go on-premises or in-the-cloud for MDM tools?
With a cloud-first strategy, you'll deliver a better service and experience lower overall costs. On-premises MDM may be required in certain circumstances; for example, if an MDM is tightly linked to an existing endpoint security product already running on-premises. If possible, use the cloud for this important (but not business-critical) function to save time and money..." [StateTech, September 9th, 2021]
MFA
The Importance Of Multi-Factor Authentication And Strong Passwords
Understanding and implementing MFA and strong password protocol
"The importance of multi-factor authentication and password security is critical. Often, it is your best line of defense for protecting all your data, devices and systems from unauthorized access. Unfortunately, many don't take password security seriously, which makes them especially vulnerable to hackers.
Good password security can help protect you from data breaches, network intrusions, malware and viruses. It can also minimize your risk of the lawsuits, fines and bad publicity that can accompany a data breach.
Here's what to know about the latest recommended password security best practices, including minimizing your risk from hackers, choosing good passwords and utilizing multi-factor authentication..." [Cyber Defense Magazine, September 8th, 2021]