As I mentioned in Part One of this blog, a VPN tunnel allows for the safe transfer of data across the Internet, and adds layers of security to your company network. It does this through the use of encryption and other security mechanisms (including hardware settings/passwords and approved IP addresses).

No networked computer system is immune to malware attacks, but some organisations actively prepare to defend themselves. Here, for example, is an illustrative news report that warms the cockles of my Technical-Support-Desk heart.

The Internet is teeming with cybercriminals armed with increasingly sophisticated malware designed to steal your data – or extort you for cash. It’s an evolutionary process, an arms race, and a threat to every organization doing business across the Internet. Symantec’s 2016 Internet Security Threat Report contains some appalling statistics. During 2015:

Streamlining isn’t just for planes, trains and automobiles. It’s also a valuable concept in business. Is competition fierce? Profit margins tight? Can the difference between success and failure boil down to a few minutes of lead time? If you answered ‘yes’ to any of those questions, it’s time to look for areas where you can minimize the drag on your business.

The evolution of the user experience (UX) is nothing short of remarkable. From Dieter Rams’ Blaupunkt designs in the 1960s, to the game-changing innovations of Apple’s iPhone in 2007 – the UX has expanded from individual design silos into the unified and much contemplated mission of entire organisations.

You can’t seem to have a conversation about UX without talking about Apple products – especially the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. The iPhone was obviously a ‘game changer’, but it didn’t appear out of thin air. Its design was at least as much evolutionary as revolutionary. Apple’s aesthetics were pre-figured in the 1960s, by Dieter Rams, a German designer who worked for Braun.

Scalability is a bit of a buzz word these days. Some experts struggle to find a consistent definition, but it remains an important concept for understanding the growth-related characteristics of businesses, and of the systems, such as ERP, that support them.

 In 1965, Dr. Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel, made the following observation - the number of transistors per integrated circuit was doubling every year, with a correlative doubling of processor speed. In 1975 he refined his observation to describe a two-year cycle.