We are extremely proud that Mirror Communications‘ client CoSoSys, a developer of endpoint security, device control and data loss prevention solutions, has been included in this year’s edition of Deloitte’s 2011 Technology FAST 50 top for Central Europe. CoSoSys is now part of a prestigious and very competitive list, where a technology company’s intellectual property and the subsequent revenue growth are evaluated and rewarded.

Deloitte’s FAST 50 not only rewards innovation and major contributions to the technology market. It also shows the world how intellectual property actually generates business growth, as the companies ranked have an impressive year to year revenue growth. The growth rate is not the only factor, there is a minimum revenue required to make the list and the chunk of budget invested in research and development is also important.

While both the CoSoSys team and I are extremely proud of this amazing accomplishment, the company’s inclusion is a well deserved recognition of their role in the endpoint security and data loss prevention field. CoSoSys has over the years launched a few world premiers, including the first ever cloud computing solution for device, data and endpoint security, MyEndpoint Protector, and the first out of the box DLP and endpoint security appliance – the Endpoint Protector Hardware Appliance, a plug and play hardware and software package to protect companies from all threats of the modern business environment. CoSoSys has also been extremely successful ever since their debut in the market back in 2004, reporting significant business growth and profitability every year.

I am sure they will keep on being as successful as before, even more so, and I know for a fact they have new products just waiting to amaze the world of IT security. So keep an eye on them to find out what’s next!

I’d also have to congratulate the other five Romanian companies that made it into the top. The big winner, the company on the first position of the top, being one of them – Vola.ro. Hope Romanian companies just take over the top next year!

Guest post by Susan Daniels

Due to the slow economy, businesses and professionals alike are looking for ways to save money on day-to-day operations. One of the highest expenses of any professional is that of the office. With a traditional office, businesses and professionals have to worry about rent, utilities, office supplies, and generally a staff. To reduce these costs, many are turning to the virtual office.

However, if you find yourself not wanting to relinquish your traditional office just yet, ask yourself the following questions. Your answers may just sway your opinion:

Do You Need All the Staff?

Having a traditional office generally requires you to have a small staff – even if it is just a cleaning lady or maintenance guy. However, with a virtual office you don’t necessarily need some of the staffers that you have. Keep your personal assistant, but do you really need a receptionist if you don’t have a front desk? Better yet, with a virtual office, you can hire a receptionist to be on-call so that you don’t have to pay anyone’s salary. You simply pay a minimal hourly fee.

Do You Need All the Equipment?

Social media and the internet have become increasingly important in PR work. We have to be connected at all times; however, being connected doesn’t mean that you need to have every type of hardware known to man. Traditional offices generally use multiple electronics including copy machines, desktops, and intricate phone lines which all require frequent check-ups and maintenance. With a virtual office, all you need is your phone and your laptop, and you are able to stay connected and conduct business from where ever necessary.

Do You Need to Be Tied Down?

In PR, we are frequently on the go. We have to show up at events and make appearances all over town to keep up our images. If we aren’t making appearances for the sake of appearances, then we are in meetings with other professionals or in offices strategizing marketing campaigns. We are rarely in our offices, so why be tied down to one? No one wants to feel like they need to go to their office simply because they are paying monthly for it.

If you are a PR professional, there is no need to have a traditional office space. The cost of keeping one simply isn’t worth it. If you have a larger firm, a traditional office may be necessary, but generally PR professionals can save a substantial amount of money by forgoing the traditional office. Even better, they can still keep up professional appearances by signing up with a virtual office firm that will not only give them a high end business address but allow them to use meeting and conference rooms whenever necessary. So what have you got to lose besides a monthly rent and utility bill?

About the author
Susan Daniels is an internet marketer for 43a.com. In her spare times she likes to write guest posts for marketing related blogs.

The Sony PlayStation network hack and the millions of customer whose private information might have been accessed is one of the prominent headlines this week. So was TJX and their security breach at its time, being considered the largest data breach in history as over 40 million credit cards had been stolen throughout their stores in the US and Canada. So was every big financial data breach.

For those of you who don’t know, one of Mirror Communications’ clients, CoSoSys, develops endpoint security and data loss prevention solutions. Since I fist started to work with them, more than three years ago, I have been reading about data breaches every single day. I cannot remember the number of hospitals exposing patient data, financial institutions having client details stolen by employees, laptops and flash drives with important databases being lost or stolen, or the number of instances where military units (in the US or other countries) where either broken into and having data stolen or lost because they either weren’t paying attention, or because they did not care to properly dispose of it.

What lacks more than the obvious protection against such security breaches is knowing how to deal with the PR crisis that follows the data loss or theft. So after personally reviewing so many PR fails when it comes to data breaches, here’s a quick guide made up of useful tips to help you better deal with the consequences:

1. Don’t waste time and make the security breach known

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard of data breaches being revealed months after happening. The press sometimes gets hold of the news before the customers, creating panic and distrust. The moment you know something happened, let customers know and let the press know. Being the source of information prevents distortions and assumptions.

2. Own it!

It is your fault it happened. Not the hacker’s, not the air-headed employee’s who thought leaving company property in a car in a random parking lot was OK, not the IT guy’s who you fired that put all that project details on the Internet, not the thief’s you let into your company network so easily. You are to blame, it is your fault and the sooner you admit it the better. Employees can be trained, security can be tightened, data can be protected. If anyone can prevent something like this, it is the company in question through their policies and practices.

3. Apologize for it the right way

Yes, it’s good for your customers to know you value their privacy and wouldn’t want them exposed to data theft, fraud and other such individual disasters. But their data has been stolen, lost, or just temporarily made available to anyone with a malicious intent. So while you cared about it, you certainly did not value it enough. You screwed up and you have to apologize. Fast and properly.

4. Explain what happened, but don’t make excuses

Understanding what happened is important for your customers, and seeing you are willing to reveal the details might save some of their shattered trust. While letting them know which circumstances led to the breach, make sure it does not sound like you’re making excuses. They have entrusted their data to you, so you are responsible for what happened to it. Remember, it’s your fault, don’t go looking for escape goats in your version of how it all went down.

5. Be very clear about what you are going to do

Your next actions are extremely important and you have to be clear about new measures being taken. The fact that you’re offering free credit monitoring and investigating the issue is not enough. Your customers need to know that you will invest in improved security solutions and practices, in personnel training and overall business process monitoring. Your goal is not only to solve the current PR nightmare, your main goal should be to do everything you can to prevent a similar event from happening.

6. Keep your customers informed

The press will go on and on about it if this is a high profile case. If the malicious hackers or thieves are caught and go to trial, they will cover it. They will cover any move you make that has to do with the breach. Therefore, it is better to send updates to your customers and present your progress and your point of view. Remember the assumptions and distortions you want to keep under control!

7. If there is a class action suit, don’t start a witch hunt against customers

Some might feel free credit card monitoring and an apology is not enough. If their bank account was wiped clean or some very sensitive information has been revealed, their position is understandable. Don’t start bashing plaintiffs, they are former customers and how you treat them will take its tool on how your remaining customers see your brand and your company.

The truth is, in most cases, companies affected by breaches try to settle lawsuits fast and cut their brand image losses. That is the right way to go. Even if you pay less at the end of a long court battle, it will definitely cost you more to counter the negativity that will surround your brand afterwards.

This is just a quick guide to get you through the immediate PR crisis yielded by the data breach. After handling the immediate consequences, you will have to invest PR and marketing dollars into repairing long term effects, such as losing part of your customers, a general distrust from potential ones and getting enough positive stories out to balance all the data breach coverage.

You might think that if you are a smaller company and less people worry about your security breach means you’re better off. The truth is the press might not give you that much attention, but losing half of your customer base is a bigger blow than it is for a big corporation. Also, when you’ll want to make your positive messages known, you will deal with the same attitude from the press – lack of interest.

The best way to deal with data breaches and the PR disasters they cause is… to prevent them, of course. But allthough they happen more often than we even want to know, companies still have the wrong attitude - it only happens to others, it cannot really happen to me. So they postpone their investment in proper network protection, endpoint security and data loss prevention. They never get around to that training for their staff. They only remember it when the data breach hits the news or their customers and they’re flooded with angry messages.

Guest post by the Workbooks team

Having accurate records of communications with your clients is vital for any business. Networking, marketing, sales and retention of clients all rely heavily on the ability to easily recall and check on previous interactions. Some of the best tools on the market today that can be used to track and analyse communications and interactions with clients are web-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software packages.

What is Customer Relationship Management?

Customer Relationship Management is a strategy for managing your company or business’s communications and interactions with customers and potential customers. Various Customer Relationship Management software packages are available that provide tracking, organization and analysis of various business processes, including marketing, sales, customer service and technical support. Web-based CRM software is especially popular as it provides unparalleled flexibility and accessibility to the software for employees and business owners alike.

What Can Customer Relationship Management Do?

CRM software allows for every communication and interaction of your company with a client to be easily recorded and integrated into an easy to use database. Emails, mailings, telephone calls and the customer’s replies (or the lack thereof) can all be documented. Web metrics, including such interactions as clicks and page views can also be tracked. By using Customer Relationship Management software a business owner or member of staff can have all this information at their fingertips, aiding decision making and allowing customers to experience more professional and more helpful customer service and technical support. Technical support and customer service staff need not ask repeat questions every time a customer has a problem, therefore improving the quality of the customer’s experience.

Marketing and sales staff can assess the impact of previous interactions on the client, and make better decisions going forward, thereby increasing the generation of leads and conversion of leads into sales. Customer Relationship Management software can also flag up bottlenecks in your communications, such as a particular member of staff who has been dropping the ball or a method of communication that has slower response times. This allows business owners to streamline and improve their client communications.

Advantages of Web Based Customer Relationship Management Software

Many companies now offer – and many employees now wish to take advantage of – flexible working hours and opportunities to work at home. Web-based Customer Relationship Management software allows these working conditions and the benefits that go with them to accrue to a company without sacrificing the advantages that an integrated Customer Relationship Management software solution provides. When employees are on business trips, at home, or away from the office when an opportunity or concern arises from a client, they do not need to be equipped with a company laptop on which the software is installed. Instead, the employee can use any computer with internet access to log on to the secure site and log the communications. This avoids lag times where important communications are not available to other employees, avoiding crossed wires, unnecessary communications and annoyance to the client.

This article was written by Workbooks, leading supplier of web CRM software.

Guest post by Selena Narayanasamy

The hybrid of watching videos and reading emails, arguably the two biggest ways to spend time on the Internet, seems like a match made in heaven. After all, what’s not to love about combining these two powerful means of communication? And video email is on the rise. What was once a tech-lover fantasy may now be a blossoming reality for the masses. This is thanks to both creative applications of old technologies and some emerging technologies.

Click-on-This: The Classic Approach

YouTube became popular because countless people sent emails to all their friends with links to funny videos. These simple links take people to a video site where the content is played. Revolutionary, right?

How to Use Video Links

There are several great tips you can use when following the traditional method of sharing videos.

1) Link using a picture. Instead of linking text, link an image that’s relevant to the video in question. This is shown to significantly improve click-through.

2) Use a call to action. Rather than simply providing a link, use phrasing such as “click here to see our product in action.” Do this even if you’re linking with an image.

3) Explain the relevance and value. Prior to dropping the link, let people know why it’s worthwhile to watch.

Animated Gifs: They’re Not Just for Forum Signatures Anymore

It’s nearly impossible to imagine that these disreputable animations would have anything to offer a new web trend–proof that reality sometimes exceeds our imagination. Big names in marketing like Chad White, Anna Yeaman, and Justin Foster all contributed to the recognition of what has been named “animated image video.”

While these moving images are lacking in sound, animated gifs, nonetheless, make for an excellent presentation. The technology for making high quality images with this medium has progressed with time, and the end result is a great marketing tool.

How to Use Animated Image Videos

There are many types of software that can allow you to create animated gifs, and some of them are even free to use. The more professional software types (such as the Adobe Creative Suite) are also pricey, but do come with a free trial. Once created, these images can be embedded into emails and sent out. The only real downfall is that some email hosting groups block images, which includes your mini-video.

Embedding: Why Videos Will Take Over Emailing

The new horizon of video emailing is embedding videos directly into the message itself. Big breakthroughs from third-party companies, who are now pitching their video mail products to the email hosting industry leaders, seem imminent. In the meantime, Google has released a quick solution for watching videos directly from your inbox.

How to Use Video Embedding

To use Gmail’s option, simply sending a linked video based in YouTube is sufficient. Once available as a labs feature, Gmail now allows all users to play videos while reading the message itself.

Video emailing has seemed inevitable for a long time. While there are certainly still kinks to work out in current video mail systems, solutions and new functionality are just around the bend.

About the author

Selena Narayanasamy loves everything having to do with technology, social media, internet marketing and blogging. You can find her quirky ramblings on Twitter, or her personal site Esvienne.

RSS might very well be one of the most overlooked technologies out there. We all use it, to read, to get content on different pages, to promote our content and our influence, but we rarely talk about it, there are a handful of articles on strategies, best practices and the likes. But there are special plugins to enhance your feed, there is RSS feed advertising, there are buttons showing RSS readers numbers. So here’s the paradox: if the technology is actually important, why do we fail to talk about it?

As it happens to some technologies, they are extremely useful, but lack a certain coolness factor, so we ignore them. We use them, we appreciate their value, but they are almost nonexistent in what we say, write or recommend. And then a comment someone makes that they have subscribed to an RSS feed reminds us that we depend on it!

For example, the RSS technology powers the following for me:

• my blogs’ feeds, which makes them easier to keep up with for my readers
• my reading list – blogs, online magazines, you name it, I have subscribed and I check their feed daily. I only go on their website to comment, tweet the article if I find it relevant for those following me or download something if needed,
• promote content – my blog feed is on my LinkedIn page, Facebook page and a bunch of other profiles I have created all over the internet. The RSS delivered version of what I publish here is definitely a more powerful hook than a simple link.

We claim it’s dead, we say it’s not earth-shaking, but how would our lives be without RSS? Wouldn’t we still need a tool to help us keep up with everything that’s published in our field, wouldn’t we need some way to plug in to our blog content from other pages? I know for sure I wouldn’t be able to create new notes for all my posts, I’d forget a few time, and would stop sharing on Facebook. I know I would probably bookmark the several hundreds of blogs I currently read, but would fail miserably at reading them each time they publish something.

How about you? What do you use RSS for? Would you miss it if it disappeared tomorrow? And most importantly, why do you think we’d ignore what’s clearly useful technology just because it’s not as cool or as trendy as others, sometimes less useful, newcomers?

What I think you shouldn’t have missed last week…

Welcome everyone! This week’s edition of our Monday Reading Roundup if significantly affected by the holiday breeze. Meaning it’s a combination of new stuff, new finds, humor, crazy news and interesting articles. Hope you enjoy it as much as you enjoyed previous ones.

First of all, I have to tell you all that Alex of Blogsessive has released a free WordPress theme called Simple Balance that you can download and use on your blog. It looks amazing, so consider it in your blog redesign plans.

I’ve also find an extremely cool site on tea, Ya-Ya’s Tea Bord. As I know a few of my readers are tea lovers, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

Speaking of crazy news, Geeks Are Sexy reported that a teen tried to sell his vote on eBay. When the police came knocking on his door, he’s excuse was it had all been a joke. Seems like everything is up for sale on eBay these days

Jonathan Fields has brought an interesting question to my (and your) attention: are smartphones actually making us dumber? It appears they are. I for one, if deprived of my phone, would be unable to contact any of my relatives or close friends.

Now that you’ve relaxed, had fun and sighed at others’ craziness, it’s time to relax. A guest post on Blissful Travel on the Thai island of Lipe. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be there than in the office

Matt Jones of Blogging Fingers states it’s possible to make more money by blogging less. And he has also done a terrific job at explaining us how to achieve such a goal.

And instead of conclusions, I give you John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing explaining how cheap gas makes us lazier and how the rise in gas price comes with more physical exercises.

I hope you’ve had fun reading these fine articles and blogs. See you all next week for another round of summery readings.