Is Your Data Ready for Winter?

My backyard after Massachusetts' 2008 Ice Storm! 

With today being Halloween, many of us think of scary things such as goblins, ghosts and witches.

Not me: what truly scares me is losing my data!

October is the anniversary of two major weather events in the Northeast: The October nor'easter of 2011 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Additionally, October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month.

How does this tie into my fear of losing my data?

While most of us generally plan for what we will do in the event of a storm or natural disaster - buy extra food, buy a generator, keep the car's gas task full, etc. - most people don't think about their computers and all the important information and memories that are in these pieces of technology.

With winter approaching and power loss / power surges almost guaranteed, is your data properly protected? And this is important for everyone: home owners, small businesses and even large organizations.

I can't count the number of times either a hard drive crash, a power surge, or even a fire has destroyed valuable data. Sometimes you can get it back, but the cost may be in the thousands of dollars.

You Need a Data Emergency Plan

Think about the information that is on your computers and other devices in your home or office. What would you do if all those family pictures or business records & projects were gone?

Step 1: Backup and then Backup Again

Local backup: We use Western Digital "My Passport" 1TB external USB drives to backup our home office laptops, but any external HD will do if it has these features:

• Automatic backup - don't rely on you remembering to back things up - schedule a backup nightly - better yet, buy a HD that automatically mirrors your data immediately after every save. 
• Encryption - make sure your data is safe from theft. Very important for businesses, but also vital for home owners who store bank or tax info on their systems.
• Enough capacity - buy a backup HD with 50% to 100% more space than your current system's HD. 
• Portability - get a portable HD that's easy to carry and simple to set up.

Important: Local backup is great until you lose that portable HD or it's damaged in an accident. Then Cloud Storage looks much more attractive...

Cloud backup: As a backup to the backup, you should also consider cloud backup services, not just for business data, but your home files as well.

Cloud backup plans start at around $50 / year and go up as you add storage space and features. The #1 benefit of Cloud backup is your data is protected from theft, fire, etc. If there's a natural disaster, there's nothing to carry out the door because your data is safely stored in a data center offsite.

A Google search for "cloud backup" yields a host of companies that can keep your data safe.

The way I personally use these 2 technologies:

• I backup all my data locally using external USB drives.
• I backup my "greatest hits" - favorite family pictures/videos plus important financial files to the Cloud. (I may start relying less on my external USB drives as the cost of Cloud storage continues to decrease. Right now it doesn't make sense to back up 3 TBs of data from multiple computers to the Cloud.)

Step 2: Work in the Cloud

Another way to keep all your important files safe is to make the Cloud the place where you work.

• You can use Google Drive or Dropbox to automatically store and share your important data across multiple platforms.
• If you have Microsoft Office, use the free online document storage for your most important work.
• You can also store and share important pictures and videos on image storage sites like Flickr, Photobucket, Snapfish, Shutterfly, or Picasa Web Albums.
• And of course if your company hosts it's own wiki or IBM Connections site, posting your work and files there will protect them from data loss as well.

Step 3: Plan on what you will do with your computer assets in an emergency 

When a winter storm hits, don't forget your computers and other electronics.

• Protect: Make sure you have all your sensitive electronics connected to high-quality power strips with surge protection.
• Unplug: If you lose power, remember to unplug all your sensitive electronics - TVs, DVRs, stereos, and computers - so when the power does return, your equipment isn't damaged by a possible power surge. (I unplug my power strips - even the ones with surge protection - I don't want to take any chances.)
• Remove: If you have to evacuate due to a winter emergency, plan on which electronics you will take.
    -  If we can drive away from the emergency - I plan to take all my phones, tablets, laptops, and backup HDs plus all needed cables. I also plan to take my desktop computers - only the cases, leaving behind monitors, keyboards, etc.
    -  If we can't drive away due to the roads being blocked, then we'll take all the portable electronics and place the desktops in the attic to protect them from flooding, etc.

I know this is a long list of items to digest - just make sure you add "protecting your data" to your family's emergency action plan today!

Happy Halloween!

For more information on how to prepare in advance for a power outage, visit the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency's site.

America's PrepareAthon is Today! Get Involved! Become Prepared!

It's the last day of September's National Preparedness Month. Are you better prepared? It's not too late - join in today's National PrepareAthon! Day!

View the "It Started Like Any Other Day" video on YouTube.

America's PrepareAthon! is an opportunity for individuals, organizations, and communities to prepare for specific hazards through drills, group discussions, and exercises.

National PrepareAthon! Day focuses on taking the time to prepare for these six specific events:

• Earthquakes
• Floods
• Hurricanes
• Tornados
• Wildfires
• Winter Storms

Campaign Goals

The goal of this campaign is to increase the number of individuals who:

• Understand which natural disasters could happen in their community
• Know what to do to be safe and minimize damage
• Take action to increase their awareness and preparedness
• Participate in community resilience planning and training

What can you do?

• Register to participate in America’s PrepareAthon! and provide details about the activities you’re planning.
• Plan your own local community or organizational preparedness event
• Participate in discussion forums online with like-minded community members
• Learn the actions to take for disaster preparedness and practice them regularly

Where can you find more information?

There are many great resources on the FEMA site:

• America's PrepareAthon! Fact Sheet and Frequently Asked Questions
• America's PrepareAthon! Webinar

Stay connected

Email: prepareathon@fema.gov

Twitter: 

• @PrepareAthon follow #PrepareAthon
• @Readygov
• @FEMA

Communicate with Peers:

• FEMA's Community Site
• National Preparedness Community

On the web:

• http://www.community.fema.gov/connect.ti/AmericasPrepareathon
• http://www.ready.gov/
• http://www.fema.gov/

So don't wait too long to visit these resources and start your planning activities - for us in the Northeast U.S., winter storms are right around the corner!

It's 9/11 - Do You Have a Family Communications Plan?

Can't believe it's been 13 years.

I can remember that morning like it was yesterday and the main thing that sticks in my mind was the amount of confusion and worry that day.

We all didn't know what was happening in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. We all wanted to know our family and friends in those areas were safe. But many phone systems in those areas were either down or jammed with call traffic.

The good news is that today there are many more options to keep in touch and stay informed.

Communication Plan - make one today.

With the advent of smart devices and social media, getting the word out that you are OK or contacting loved ones to check on their status is much easier, but it still requires some thought and planning.

1) Determine the best ways to let your family and friends know you're OK in an emergency. Here's my ranked list:

1. Social media: Facebook, Twitter, Google+
2. Text messages
3. Voice: cell or landline

• I chose social media as my first method due to it's redundancy and one-to-many communication method. Any one of these channels can let your family know you're OK and can also be used to query loved ones on their status. You can also access these channels from multiple devices - if WiFi is down, but cell service is still working, you can still communicate through your smart phone.
• Text messaging is a good back up to social media, especially if you need to communicate with family and friends who may not be tied into social media or unable to access it from work, etc. You can use group texts to contact multiple people more efficiently.
• The phone call or message is my last resort, mostly aimed at my older relatives and friends who don't have smart phones and don't live on social media like I do.
   - I'm assuming that my status is "OK". If I'm in trouble, a phone call to my local police or fire department would be my first choice.
   - Also, have important phone numbers written down - when your cell phone dies or is lost, that speed-dial function is going to be useless.

2) Make sure your family & friends know how you're going to let everyone know you're OK.

• If you're going to use social media, let everyone know that's your plan. Worst case, a friend or relative outside of the emergency area that saw your update on social media or spoke to you on the phone can let others know what's going on through various methods.

3) Have backups in your plan. For example:

• What will you do if your cell phone dies, is broken, or lost? (Borrow a neighbor's phone?)
• What if the cell service is down or locked up due to excessive traffic? (Can you still get on the Internet? Use social media?)
• What if the land lines are down? (Use Cell or Internet?) 

I realize that having a communication plan is not a silver bullet to solving an emergency crisis, but being able to easily communicate your status or check up on a loved one's condition will give you a greater peace of mind, enabling you to focus on more important tasks during an emergency.

Get started now with this great planning resource from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA).

September is National Preparedness Month, visit FEMA's site for more info and excellent resources.
For my readers in Massachusetts, visit MEMA's site for additional local preparedness info.


(Image courtesy of http://www.freeallimages.com/)

Are you ready for Arthur? How about the next storm?

OK, it's time to put my National Guard, Emergency Management hat on.

June 1st was the official start of the Hurricane Season for the Atlantic Ocean. While many forecasters predict a below-average 2014 Atlantic hurricane season, all you need is just one hurricane to ruin your day (or ruin your life).

Image courtesy of CNN

For us in the Boston area, it appears that the Northeast will be spared most of Arthur's effects. See http://www.weather.gov/ for the latest, official forecast.

So what can the average citizen do to prepare for this storm or the next one?

Be alert
In today's social media, TV-everywhere society, it still shocks me to see people surprised by weather, especially tropical storms and hurricanes.

• Weather apps: If you have a smartphone or tablet, download a weather app - I use WeatherBug & AccuWeather - but they are all good. Then check the app daily.
• Weather sites: If you don't have a smartphone or tablet, bookmark a good weather site such as http://www.weather.com/ or a local news website (here's Boston's list) and check the site at least daily.
• Social media: Many states' emergency management agencies have Facebook and Twitter accounts plus official social alert systems. Below are Massachusetts' channels:
   - http://www.facebook.com/MassachusettsEMA
   - http://twitter.com/MassEMA|
   - http://www.youtube.com/MassachusettsEMA
   - Get Emergency Information on Your Cellphone via Ping4alerts! & WEAs

Additionally, many towns also have fire and police social channels. Either search your favorite social media app for your town's account or check your town's website for its channels.

This all may sound like overkill, but being informed and alert is your first line of defense in these types of events.

Be prepared

Now I'm not saying we should all go out and become Doomsday Preppers, but all families should have a plan, loose or written down, for weather emergencies. Having a plan will give you a much greater sense of confidence going into a weather event and greatly improve the outcome should you experience an actual weather emergency.

• For my friends in Massachusetts, visit MEMA's "Ready Massachusetts" site - an excellent source of information and plan outlines. For other states, entering "<your state here> emergency management" in any search engine will get you to the correct local resources. 
• FEMA also has an excellent Family Emergency Plan that can be downloaded and filled out.

And being prepared doesn't mean going into overkill mode, it just means carefully thinking about what you should do before, during and after an event.

Act early

Being informed and prepared will then allow you to respond to a weather event in a timely manner.

Some tasks you should do earlier rather than later:

• Secure outdoor furniture and loose items to prevent additional wind damage.
• Fill your car's gas tank.
• Shop for food and essentials. (In a perfect world, we'd all have enough canned food and water on hand to not have to do last minute shopping...)
• Determine if you are going to "shelter in place" or leave the area.

Once again, your actions should be part of your family's overall plan.

Well, I have to go and start securing my yard in advance of Arthur. For those on the east coast, I hope this storm doesn't ruin your holiday week and more importantly, I hope and pray for a very uneventful 2014 hurricane season.

We Did It! IBM is one of the Ten Best Web Support Sites of 2014!

We Did It!

IBM has been recognized as one of the Ten Best Web Support Sites of 2014 by the Association of Support Professionals!

One of my last projects I completed before leaving IBM was to lead the application team for IBM's entry in this year's Ten Best Web Support Sites competition. I can't begin to describe how proud I am of our team of writers, editors and reviewers - all whom ensured the judges were well aware of all the improvements IBM accomplished over the previous year. I must additionally praise the IBM web development team for giving us such a great support site to work with!

Award Background

Now in its 17th year, the annual "Ten Best Web Support Sites" competition is one of the most prestigious awards a company can receive for its online support efforts. It requires a 12 page paper as part of the application process, documenting your company's greatest challenge, how you overcame this challenge, the metrics process used to measure success of your support site and 3 feature highlights of your support site. Then volunteer judges, who are subject matter experts in support site design and functionality, take over a month to score the submitted websites based on 25 specific criteria.

What is the Association of Support Professionals?

The Association of Support Professionals (ASP) is an international membership organization for customer support managers and professionals. In addition to its annual "Ten Best Web Support Sites" awards, the ASP publishes research reports on a wide range of support topics, including support compensation, fee-based support, and services marketing. The ASP also provides its members with discounts and career development services. Visit asponline.com for complete association details.      

Next steps

In the near future, you'll see a press announcement from IBM. IBM will also place the following logo on its support site in various areas.

Additionally, the ten winning sites will be profiled in a book called "The Ten Best Web Support Sites of 2014", to be published by the ASP in July - I'm looking forward to seeing my name in that book! 

Also, I was one of the judges this year - no, I didn't judge IBM's site...

Overall, very exciting news for my friends at IBM - I can't wait to read the ASP book this summer!

It's Time for a New Adventure!

I'll miss my parking spot!

Goodbye IBM...

This Spring, I left IBM and now find myself trying to figure out what I really want to be when I grow up.

While I will very much miss being an "IBMer" and I miss my IBM colleagues terribly, I am looking at this change as an opportunity to explore some new things and reconnect with some older interests.

New things

I'm still very interested in social business and all aspects of technology. I will comment on the latest tech news and trends as often as possible. 

Older interests

I plan on returning to the university, focusing on information technology and project management studies. 

I've always wanted to write a book about my parents - they grew up in the Great Depression and personally experienced WW2 and the Cold War. I want to capture those stories before it's too late. Now I have some time to start this project.

I also have a new role in my military career. For over 20 years now, I have been a member of my state's Air National Guard. Recently, I was selected for a new role, concentrating on Massachusetts' emergency management and critical event planning. This is an area that I find extremely interesting and rewarding. Who knows, maybe this will be my new career...

Blog Background

I'm starting this blog because while I've written a blog for IBM Electronic Support for years, it was all about IBM tools and sites, not about the lessons I've learned doing marketing, social business, and emergency management for over a decade now.

I can't promise I'll keep this blog always focused on business - my other love, Jeeps, may sneak in once in a while along with some military articles.

Well, let's see where this takes us - I hope you'll find my ramblings useful and possibly entertaining...

Thanks,
 - Pat O'C