Backup and Disaster Recovery: How Protected Are You?
By: Ken Klika, Director, Networking Services, BCG Systems
In today’s turbulent economic environment, one misstep could be detrimental to a business as a whole. Unfortunately, unforeseen challenges can occur without warning. A fire at a business premises, mighty Mother Nature or human error can cause massive damage to IT infrastructure within minutes.
While physical PCs and additional hardware can be replaced quickly and with relative ease, recovering months or years of critical business data can be another story completely. And no one is immune.
That is why it’s absolutely essential to have a backup and disaster recovery plan in place. Every business has to manage risks when it comes to their IT systems – everyone from the one-person shop to the Fortune 500 enterprise. However, when architecting a disaster recovery program, there are really only two primary metrics that can help guide your level of investment – Recovery Time Objective and Recovery Point Objective. No matter the size of your business, these same two metrics come in to play.
- Recovery Time Objective (RTO): RTO is defined as the maximum tolerable length of time that a computer, system, network or application can be down after a failure or disaster occurs. In other words, how quickly can you recover from a problem such as a lost file or corrupted database? Once RTO for an application or system has been defined, administrators can then decide which disaster recovery technologies are best suited for the situation.
- Recovery Point Objective (RPO): RPO is defined as the age of files that must be recovered from backup storage for normal operations to resume if a computer, system, or network goes down. In other words, how much data are you willing to part with in between backups? Once the RPO for a given computer, system, or network has been defined, it determines the minimum frequency with which backups must be made.
While the value of data certainly varies significantly among industries, the size of the company and even by an application within the same firm, once you’ve taken the time to determine both your RTO and RPO you’re well on your way to protecting valuable data and minimizing downtime.
Want to learn more about some of the leading technologies in backup and disaster recovery to protect your business? I invite you to register for our upcoming educational webinar, When Disaster Strikes, Will You Be Ready? Backup and Disaster Recovery Strategies for Every Business Model. During the session we’ll highlight why BDR technologies are growing increasingly important and showcase various backup and disaster recovery scenarios available to you.
Change is Easy … Maintaining Excellence is Tough
By: Dave Brockman
I recently had the opportunity to listen to former Ohio State University head football coach, Jim Tressel, speak to a business group here in Akron. His new position with the University of Akron is Vice President of Strategic Engagement.
I must admit, I am still trying to comprehend what “strategic engagement” is exactly and Coach Tressel’s role with the university? But if his new role involves him teaching and sharing his values and his life’s lessons with college students…I am all in!
During his presentation he spoke about his transition from Youngstown State to OSU and how like him, several other college football coaches had won National Championships in only their second year of taking over as the head coach. He shared that the change to a new coach and coaching system was actually easy. The most challenging part was maintaining excellence over a long period of time.
Now I am not sure I would call leading change easy, but certainly maintaining excellence and executing at a very high level, day in and day out, is very difficult.
Leading Change & Maintaining Excellence
Getting people excited about setting direction and implementing new initiatives comes fairly easily at BCG&Co., as we have a committed leadership team who works well together. We support each other and always do what is best for BCG&Co. versus us as individuals.
Forward Momentum
However, keeping the momentum and focus on what it is we are trying to achieve as a group takes constant effort and reinforcement. Let’s face it; we all are busy professionals with multiple tasks to accomplish and many demands on our most valuable resource…our time.
Focus
Focusing on just two to four of the most important initiatives over a short period of time, usually two to three months, is critical. I am a big believer in focusing on less than a handful of things and doing them extremely well, versus a dozen and doing them all on a mediocre level.
Accountability
Accountability is the key to maintaining excellence. Self-accountability is the most effective character trait for those who are able to perform at high levels. Simply look at professional athletes like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. Their dedication to perfection, practice, workout routines and ambition to be the best they could be were all driven by their self-accountability.
Many of us also need to be held accountable by others in order to keep us performing at a high level. Knowing you have to report your results to your peers can be a very effective way to motivate people. Making a commitment in front of a group and/or in writing is powerful.
Setting the Tone
As leaders, you have to set the proper tone and example for others within your organization to follow. If you make the effort to excel at a high level, others will notice and join you in this quest.
Team Effort
Coach Tressel spoke about the importance of everyone giving their best effort and doing what is in the best interest of the team. That is all he ever asked of his players. It was never about winning at all costs or individual statistics. Simply, do your best and do it for the team. Good things will follow.
March Madness – Reporting Gambling Winnings and Expenses
By: J. Dustin Sheppard, CPA, MBA
Every year the question comes up:
“Are my gambling winnings and expenses reportable on my tax return?”
The answer is “Yes” — especially especially if a Form W-2G was issued to you and/or withholding taxes were taken.
IRS Tax Tip 2010-34 addresses many of the common questions asked by taxpayers.
- Gambling income includes – but is not limited to – winnings from lotteries, raffles, horse and dog races and casinos, as well as the fair market value of prizes such as cars, houses, trips or other noncash prizes.
- Depending on the type and amount of your winnings, the payer might provide you with a Form W-2G and may have withheld federal income taxes from the payment.
- The full amount of your gambling winnings for the year must be reported on line 21 of IRS Form 1040. You may not use Form 1040A or 1040EZ. This rule applies regardless of the amount and regardless of whether you receive a Form W-2G or any other reporting form.
- If you itemize deductions, you can deduct your gambling losses for the year on line 28 of Schedule A, Form 1040.
- You cannot deduct gambling losses that are more than your winnings.
- It is important to keep an accurate diary or similar record of your gambling winnings and losses.
- To deduct your losses, you must be able to provide receipts, tickets, statements or other records that show the amount of both your winnings and losses.
If you have any further questions regarding gambling income or expenses, please contact a BCG&Co. tax advisor.
Getting Naked! …
…Shedding Three Fears that Sabotage Customer Loyalty
(What did you think I was talking about?)
By: Dave Brockman, CPA
Ok, you have to admit the “Getting Naked” part of the title of this blog has to grab your attention! Certainly, it grabbed mine when a trusted advisor passed along the recommendation that I read a book by that name written by Patrick Lencioni. Patrick’s name may sound familiar, as he is also the author of the New York Times Best-Seller, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.
While the book tells the story of two consulting firms and how they work with their customers, I believe the concepts apply to all customer relationships. The central theme of Getting Naked is vulnerability. Patrick says it is one of the most misunderstood and undervalued of all human qualities.
He believes there is no better way to earn a person’s trust than by putting yourself in a position of unprotected weakness and demonstrating that we believe they will support us. Without the willingness to be vulnerable, you cannot build deep and lasting relationships in life.
‘Naked services’ boil down to the ability of a service provider to be vulnerable – to embrace uncommon levels of humility, selflessness and transparency for the good of a customer.
Most of us live our lives trying to avoid awkward and painful situations, which is why it is no surprise that we are susceptible to the three fears that prevent us from building trust and loyalty with our customers.
Three Fears That Prevent Customer Trust and Loyalty:
1 – Fear of losing the business.
2 – Fear of being embarrassed.
3 – Fear of feeling inferior.
Patrick shares the basic principles of nakedness that respond to these three primary fears.
Simple, but Powerful, Practices to Alleviate Fears:
Always consult instead of sell - Just start serving them as if they are already a customer.
Give away the business - Provide value even before they become a paying customer, and always error on the side of the customer when it comes to fees.
Tell the kind truth – Confront a customer with a difficult message, even when the customer might not like hearing it.
Enter the danger – Don’t shy away from uncomfortable situations, step right into the middle of them.
Ask dumb questions – Ask questions that others would be afraid to ask out of fear of embarrassing themselves.
Make dumb suggestions – Make suggestions you are not sure about. Customers are paying us for our objective thinking.
Celebrate your mistakes – While no one enjoys being wrong, call your mistakes out and take responsibility for them.
Take a bullet for the customer – Occasionally you may find yourself in position to accept responsibility for something that may or may not have been your fault, which may help a customer mitigate a potentially damaging situation for them.
Make everything about the customer – Throw your full attention into the world of your customer.
Honor the customer’s work – Not only take an active interest in your customer’s business, but appreciate the importance of their business to the customer.
Do the dirty work – Take on whatever a customer needs in the context of your services, even if perhaps the work is not as attractive or exciting as we would like it to be.
Admit your weaknesses and limitations – Do not try to be what you are not, that can be exhausting and prevent us from succeeding in the areas we can thrive.
So if you want to find ways to more effectively help your customers, practice the ‘getting naked’ principles I outlined above! But of course, please keep your clothes on at all times!!
[For more information on Getting Naked by Patrick Lencioni, visit, http://www.tablegroup.com/books/gettingnaked/]
The Safety Mission
By: Rick Kavenagh, CPA
Before I let one of my daughters go ‘off into the wild’ on her bike, I make sure she is outfitted with her helmet, arm pads and knee pads (and then I don’t let her out of my sight).
In the 1970’s, I would have been laughed right out of the neighborhood in that get-up. But, times have changed.
When we think about planning for our business, how often does safety come to mind? It’s more on the front burner than it was 30 years ago, but when you think of planning, things come to mind like equipment purchases, new revenue segments, succession issues, taxes, etc. These are things that can’t have a “seat of the pants” reaction. They take time and energy.
How often do we invest time in planning for safety? Are we proactive, or reactive?
Below is an article, “Planning for Success,” by Gary Hanson, President of American Safety & Health Management Consultants, Inc., that is right on target and really puts the importance of safety in perspective.
In addition, for the third year in a row, Gary will be presenting at our annual safety seminar on February 29, 2012. If you haven’t yet received your invitation for the event, please click on the link below to register.
… continue reading.
The Importance of a Year-End Review
By: Ray Lampner, CPA, ABV, CVA, CFF; Director of Entrepreneurial Services
Securing Your Sustainability
The last couple of years have been very trying times for business owners. Many business owners have spent the bulk of their time keeping the business operating and finding ways to stay in the black.
And while the struggle has been to keep your business operational through planning and strategy, finances, operations, and sales and marketing efforts, generating ‘sustainability’ is the key to starting off to a strong year ahead. For this reason, it is important that you take time to review your personal and corporate goals as a business owner.
Evaluating business strategies, successes and weaknesses will keep you sharp and help avoid missing opportunities. [Bud Kulesza, CFO.com, December 2011]
Now that 2011 is behind us, this is the ideal time to perform a year-end business review.
A year-end review will allow you to track your personal goals relating to succession planning, financial independence and legacy planning. Below are some items that should be reviewed during this process;
Corporate:
- Tax strategies
- Value of business
- Financial projections of business
- Strategies for growth
- Banking considerations
- Succession planning
- Review qualified retirement plans
- Insurance review
Legal:
- Update corporate documents
- Review buy/sell agreements and determine if properly funded
- Lease agreements
- Employment agreements
Individual:
- Personal financial plan review
- Insurance review
- Estate planning review
- Exit planning considerations
It is common for owners to have several separate meetings with the parties mentioned above. We suggest that the business have a once a year meeting that includes all of your key people.
Implementing an annual review and educating all of your strategic advisors will be beneficial for the following reasons:
- Increased uniformity of suggestions by advisors
- Updates to original plans as necessary
- Provides status of obtaining goals
- Prevents uncertainty in an unexpected business transition
- Provides direction for corporate and personal goals
- Communicates succession plans to the business, family and advisors
During these meetings it is important to be open and honest and include your advisory team. This may include your accountant, attorney and financial advisor. It would also be beneficial to include key members of management, as well as certain family members, within parts of the year-end review process.
Hopefully your business is showing signs of stabilizing and you are able to consider implementing a year-end review process. The key is to keep it manageable when you plan out your strategy and new initiatives for the coming year.
Culture…Is Yours Worth Catching?
By: Dave Brockman, CPA, Managing Partner
One of the volunteer organizations that I am actively involved with is Akron General Health Systems, which recently completed a strategic planning process. Vince McCorkle, their President & CEO, repeatedly reminds the leadership team at the hospital that “culture eats strategy.” His point was, you can have the best strategy in the world, but if you don’t have the right culture to support your strategy you are wasting everyone’s time and energy.
At BCG & Company, we have worked hard the past twenty-five years to be our tagline: ”Caring People, Shaping Futures.” As a result of these efforts, we have been recognized as a seven-time winner of the “Northcoast 99” awards for being one of the 99 best places to work in Northeast Ohio, and other employer of choice awards such as the ‘Plain Dealer Top Work Places’ in 2011, ‘Best Employers in Ohio’ in 2011 and ‘Accounting Today’s Best Accounting Firms to Work For’ in 2009.
So what is our secret? What things does BCG & Company do to create a caring and supportive culture? Allow me to share a few thoughts with you.
Creating Culture
First and foremost, creating culture starts at the top of any organization.
Introduce Organization Leaders
When I took over as Managing Director of our firm in December 2008, we were just heading into a recession and our associates were concerned about the uncertainty of the impact of the recession on them, and the firm, and what the new leader of the firm was all about.
At my very first ‘State of the Firm’ address in January 2009, I took a few minutes to introduce myself and share with everyone my leadership background and a few of my leadership philosophies. One in particular that I stressed was being a person who likes working with others, and whose glass is half-full vs. half-empty. I displayed a positive, upbeat attitude and outlook, but also gave them my honest assessment of what the future looked like.
Model the Behavior You Want to See
About six months after taking over the role of Managing Director, one of our senior managers asked me, ”What was the one thing that surprised you the most in your new role?” I responded that I always had to be on the top of my game at all times. What I meant by that is that everyone in the firm watches, listens and pays attention to everything I do.
Why was this an important revelation for me? My behavior models what is acceptable for others. Leaders in organizations have a much greater impact on everyone else than what they realize. As a leader, you can make or crush someone’s day and you set the example for others to follow.
Communicate!
For restaurants – in addition to good food and service – you always hear that a key for their success is ’location, location, location.’ To create a great culture, one of the key ingredients is ’communication, communication, communication.’
We try to find multiple ways to communicate how we are doing and what our key initiatives and leadership themes are – and reiterate over and over again.
Communication Out
For example, in addition to the annual ‘State of the Firm’ address, we do a mid-year update where we share key financial information. I personally create monthly 360 video tapings to communicate key messages and updates to all employees. And we also hold quarterly growth celebrations to celebrate new clients to the firm and to recognize those involved with winning them.
Communication In
We’ve initiated monthly ‘fishbowl lunches’ with myself and a group of five randomly-drawn associates, each from a different department, to keep a pulse of what is happening in the trenches and to allow them to ask questions about the firm in a more intimate setting.
We also survey our employees multiple times throughout the year to get their feedback and input and react to what we are learning from the surveys. Several key findings we have learned from the surveys are to treat associates with respect and fairly, create an open and friendly culture, keep life/work balance in mind and offer creative perks.
Communicate Recognition
Another essential component to having a great culture is recognizing associates for exceptional performance. Semi-annually, our associates recognize others in the firm who are helpful and demonstrate the ‘Caring People, Shaping Futures’ theme internally via our “Gotta Hand it to Ya” traveling trophy. We also allow clients and associates to recognize exceptional client service via our ‘U Rock’ awards. And, we celebrate community involvement and recognize those who are active participants. And, most importantly, we constantly work at telling people “great job!”
Communicate Opportunities
People, especially professional types, rank development opportunities very high when it comes to job satisfaction. Giving associates the opportunity to learn and grow is critical for both them and the firm. We provide coaching and career guidance. We provide new, challenging assignments and allow associates to take the lead on projects. We have developed an internal training program called ‘BCG Leads’ for future leaders and we send people to outside leadership training programs.
Make It Enjoyable
And finally, and certainly not least important, we try to build fun into everything that we do. It is key that top management has to participate in the fun activities. I know a few of us at BCG will be taking pies in the face for reaching this year’s United Way campaign goals. You talk about having fun and taking one for the team!
I hope you have found this helpful and my challenge to you is simply: ”Culture…Is Yours Worth Catching?”
Commercial Banking In Today’s Economy – Guidelines to a Healthy Banking Relationship
There’s an incessant buzz about banking – and let’s face it, there are few institutions that have been more despised over the past few years than big U.S. banks. One of the casualties of the 2008/2009 financial crisis might be the relationship between a business owner and his/her bank especially if the customer experienced performance challenges during that time frame.
At a time when cutting back on lending to businesses is reigning supreme, and a nationwide revolt has been launched to persuade customers to close their commercial bank accounts and move their funds into community banks and credit unions, consumer confidence has never been so low. And factors determining loan decision-making have never been more complex. So, what should the average business do to leverage their banking relationship?
“As many companies are seeing improvement in performance and banks are having an increase in their desire to lend, business owners should set the bar high,” says Mike Sweeney, senior executive of lender services at BCG & Company. “In northeast Ohio the banking industry’s changing landscape is a perfect time to spark evaluation of your current banking relationship,” says Sweeney.
And Sweeney should know, with 35 years of experience working for commercial banking customers in northeast Ohio, he has seen a lot of change in circumstance.
Smart Business spoke with Sweeney about how to evaluate your current banking relationship and how to improve or maximize your current banking relationship. What follows are his suggestions about improving your commercial bank relationship to determine whether your banker is adding value to your business and how to improve your relationship with a commercial lender. He recommends keeping your financials organized and following these important guidelines for relationship-building:
1. Timely communication – in this banking environment, don’t be late with your financial reporting, including financial statements, borrowing base reports, etc. It is a red flag at a bank. You should be generating monthly financials within 10 days after month’s end. Be proactive, accurate, and productive in reporting to your bank.
2. When meeting with your relationship manager, use this agenda;
Suggested Agenda
• Review Quarter ending performance vs. budget
• Review YTD vs. Previous years’ YTD
• Revised Projections for the rest of year
• Covenants update
• Review risk factors to performance
• Banking needs – do you have sufficient funding to make the plan happen
3. Bring the Boss – Your relationship should be with the bank AND the banker. Encourage your relationship manager to bring their team leader, senior credit officer, or regional president at least once a year to a meeting. You should establish multiple points of contact at your bank. The people who are making decisions about your credit needs should have first hand knowledge of management and your business.
4. Be Proactive - Communicate negative information to your banker ahead of time. If you know you are two months into a bad quarter, communicate with your banker at that time rather than a month after quarter’s end so that he/she has the necessary answers to represent you well throughout the process. An experienced banker knows how to do damage control within their credit culture.
5. Provide ‘Most-likely’ Projections – When discussing projections, provide banker with a ‘most likely’ scenario rather than overly optimistic or pessimistic; and provide an assumption page. No banker has ever seen projections that don’t support what a borrower wants in credit. The assumption page is key.
6. Provide a Referral or cross-sell opportunity to your banker periodically. Most bankers are under pressure to improve their bank’s “share of the wallet” with each customer. That means they would like 4 or 5 noncredit products per customer to support their credit extension. Banks may also give you better pricing if you do the above.
If you utilize these suggestions, you will have more productive meetings with your banker which should lead to an improved relationship with your bank.
Mike Sweeney is senior executive, financing services for BCG & Company in Akron. Reach him at (330) 864-6661 or Michael.Sweeney@BCGcompany.com
CFO On-Call: The Must-have for Entrepreneurs
By: Rick Kavenagh, CPA and Paula Harmon, CPA, CCIFP
Entrepreneurs wear many hats, especially if you’re an owner of a small- to medium-sized business. As the business evolves, many owners begin delegating responsibilities that they once handled. However, one of the responsibilities that many entrepreneurs are still finding themselves in charge of is that of the finances of the company. For many, this is a painful task—it takes away from your time in the operations of the company and could be something that you just simply do not want to do. You may not have the proper tools to handle this responsibility and the “unknowns” are what keep you up at night. Plus, if your company’s complexity, size and revenue, or financial pace (either downward or upward) begin to change, financial strategy could be vital.
So there comes a point in time when the financial responsibility of the company needs to be the responsibility of someone other than the owner, specifically the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Would you be able to recognize when that time has come for your company?
Financial Overload – When You’re In Over Your Head
Here are seven warning signs to help you decide when to delegate financial responsibilities:
1. You find yourself wearing the hat of a financial analyst, an operations manager, a marketing coordinator, and a CEO. Too many hats!!
2. You’re worried that you may be missing important financial policy changes that could have an adverse effect on your company and its shareholders.
3. You feel that the relationships between your company, banker, bonding agent and attorney are not being managed as efficiently and effectively as they should be.
4. You stress about whether you’re making the right financial decisions. Worse yet, is your company protected from any poor financial decisions that you may make?
5. Your current in-house accountant is competent at accounting but lacks the expertise to be able to give you strategic business planning advice.
6. You wish that you could have someone on board that has the financial experience that could help steer your company down the path of growth and success.
7. You realize that you alone cannot foster and drive change throughout the organization.
The Affordable, As-Needed Solution
If you can relate to any one of the warning signs, you’re not alone. Many smaller to midsize companies find that they need the expertise a CFO can provide, however, the cost of full-time employment just doesn’t fit into the budget
But companies in this scenario can engage the services of a CFO on an as-needed basis by utilizing a resource called ‘CFO On-Call.’ These CFO On-Call services are growing in popularity for owners of small- and medium-size companies, due to the fact that they generally take financial burdens and limitations away from the CEO.
As the leader of your business, it can be lonely at times and often the CFO Service is best utilized as your unofficial board of directors: bringing a different perspective on planning for future growth and profits.
Finding a ‘CFO On-Call’ Resource
According to BusinessWeek magazine, when choosing a CFO On-Call, seek:
- a resource who can offer a comprehensive blend of financial services that accomplish your daily accounting needs, while working towards a corporate financial goal and mission.
- an organization or firm with experience within your industry.
- highly specialized, highly organized financial specialists with proven experience.
BCG&Co. Offers CFO On-Call Services
BCG & Company provides ‘CFO On-Call’ services based upon your needs – whether it’s assisting with cash flow management, developing accounting policies and procedures or simply helping you close the month, the BCG CFO Services could be the perfect business partner solution.
With a dedicated team of business advisors that possess in-depth financial experience, BCG&Co.’s CFO On-Call services could be the ideal fit for you. We are the business partner, financial resource, and affordable solution that will help you attain your goals.
Contact a BCG&Co. business advisor to discuss CFO On-Call services – BCG CFO – and the implementation process in greater detail: BCG&Co. Business Advisors.
Economist Narrows in on Potential for Economic Growth
By: Jason Tuma, CPA
In case you missed it, the recent Impact Manufacturing Forum (sponsored by BCG&Co.) brought some interesting perspectives together in one room, to share with manufacturers and distributors the outlook on where our current economy stands, and its potential for growth, as well as its restraints.
Economist and president of ClearView Economics, Dr. Ken Mayland, spoke about the reasons for the slow economy, and offered some potential solutions and possibilities for growth. Ty Haines, vice president, manufacturing services at the manufacturer advocacy group WIRE-Net also spoke to address the challenges and opportunities for manufacturers in emerging markets, and John Schober, director of innovation at the Manufacturing Advocacy & Growth Network (MAGNET) presented creative innovation strategies for manufacturers in today’s economy.
For a recap of the forum highlights, here is the article published by the Akron Beacon Journal : “Solutions to Slow Economy Include Tax Reform, Pro-drill Energy Policies, Economist Says”
TCB with BCG- Backup and Disaster Recovery: How Protected Are You?
- Change is Easy … Maintaining Excellence is Tough
- March Madness – Reporting Gambling Winnings and Expenses
- Getting Naked! …
- The Safety Mission
- The Importance of a Year-End Review
- Culture…Is Yours Worth Catching?
- Commercial Banking In Today’s Economy – Guidelines to a Healthy Banking Relationship
- CFO On-Call: The Must-have for Entrepreneurs
- Economist Narrows in on Potential for Economic Growth