CIOs Juggling Collaboration Technology

2016 drastically marked change to business communication technology, especially in light of new mobile apps used for business. Today's CIOs, CTOs, and IT Managers are facing more challenges than ever. In fact, a recent survey of over 500 tech executives found that 88% believe their role is more challenging than ever. 71% of the same executives found it especially difficult to drive efficiency and innovation while trying to balance data security.

Despite these challenges, it's possible to implement collaboration technology without leaving yourself vulnerable to any additional security threats. Here's are some suggestions for those responsible for business communication and security protocols:

Don't Go Overboard

Your job isn't to shut down everything that looks like it's even remotely insecure. Your goal is to figure out what tools will generate the best performance for your organization and then figure out how to make sure everything is secure. According to Forbes, these are the important points to keep in mind when you find a way to improve operational efficiency:

• Is it a reasonable or tolerable amount of risk?
• Will there be a reasonable way for us to manage or mitigate the risk?
• What are the specific benefits of this new tool or process and what kind of revenue will it drive?
• As we grow and continue to focus on security, will the new system be able to scale with us?

Once you've answered these critical questions, finding the balance will be much easier.

Secure the Most Important Threat

The Wall Street Journal cites the biggest threat to corporate security isn't hackers or faulty systems. It's employees. Take the time to make sure your staff is trained to make security a priority. Make sure systems require strict authentication and require additional security for especially critical information.
If you're able to keep your staff from making security mistakes, all of your processes will be much more secure. You'll be left to focus on improving operations and actually adding value to the company.

Less is More With Regards to Collaboration Technology

One of the best ways to keep your organization safe is by simply limiting the amount of exposure you have. Each program or mobile application that you use to transfer information or collaborate is one more tool you need to secure and develop best practices for. That's why it's important to use the same application for multiple processes whenever it's possible. YapApp is one such communication app that allows you to do many important things for your business in a simple small package. It offers free video conferencing, video chatting and calling. The secure application design ensures that nobody has access to your messages and files except for you. For a CIO worried about the security of collaboration technology, it's the perfect balance between efficiency and security.

Source:- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cios-juggling-collaboration-technology-yap-app

Top 7 Business Travel Apps

What if we said the most important thing you can pack for your business trip is free, weightless, takes up no extra space, and can easily impress your boss? No, we're not trying to be funny – it's all about the apps on your phone. While thoughts of downloading yet another new app service may stress you out, don't worry about these: They are designed specifically to take the stress out of your next business trip, and we'll show you how:

There’s an App For That?

TripCase: TripCase exists to help you manage your trip with as little effort as possible. If you don't have a secretary to handle these things for you, TripCase can organize your itinerary, import tips, and use your confirmation emails for things like tickets, reservations and more, automatically building a snapshot of your trip you can access on any device. Even if you have a secretary, get TripCase and have her do something more productive than check your departure times.

Concur: One of the most boring and time-consuming tasks involved in a business trip is recording all your expenses. Concur helps make this much easier: The app lets you take a photo of your receipts, upload compliant images into your expense reports, and add car mileage the moment you come to a stop. Managers can also use the app to approve expense reports.

Skyscanner: If you find yourself booking a lot of flights for your business, you may want to consider switching to the aggregate app Skyscanner, which allows you to quickly search for available flights without any fuss. The app also offers updated news on travel conditions and important travel industry facts, along with some entertainment pieces.

YapApp: Communicating with peers and managers at a distance can be challenging on an active trip. YapApp is a free video calling & conferencing app that allows you to immediately speak in live video with your business associates. It's great for working on large projects or tricky contracts where you need an immediate answer on something – and the encryption keeps your data safe.

TripIt: TripIt is a complex itinerary manager that takes an active role in your trip. Give it the right information and calendar syncing abilities, and the app can show you confirmation numbers, give you directions to your next destination, and generally act like your personal valet in real time.

Toggl: Toggle is a more specific expensing tool that's basically an advanced time tracker, a little like a business-oriented stopwatch. Turn it on with a tap and it starts recording time, which can be used to track time covered by business funds or just have a fun little contest on who’s worked the most over a trip.

Handshake: Handshake is an excellent little app for trade shows. It allows you to immediately create orders on the fly, send information, create shipments, check your inventory, and much more. If you plan on finding new business on your trip, give this one a look.

Apply The Apps At The Right Time

These are only a handful of the apps that may be useful to you on your trips, so we suggest doing some of your own research as well. Focus on apps that are particularly connected to your industry for the best results.

Like we said above, If you’re looking for more ways to keep in touch while out of the office, make sure to download YapApp from the App Store, or Google Play. You’ll have instant access to video conferences, group chats, file sharing, and everything your employees need to start collaborating.