The network is and why it is important in business?

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When I began my networking journey, I attended any and all networking events as time permitted. Every event was fair game! Today I am much more strategic in my networking endeavors. I discovered which events and organizations gave me the best return on my investment of time as well as how to be an effective, caring networker.

In order to know where to begin you must first understand what networking is and why it is important to grow your business. Networking in its purest form is simply talking to people, making connections and developing rapport to grow our circle of influence. Business networking is essentially the same except that our primary objective in business networking is to help us grow our businesses. For most of us, building a network means meeting people we can do business with or who will do business with us, or refer people who will do business with us, are our ultimate goals.

In fact, some of the best networks are those created by people who own and run their own businesses. When you create valuable networking relationships, you build them on a foundation of mutual trust, sharing knowledge, experiences and resources to help one another grow your businesses by either referring one another or doing business directly with one another.

It works like this: If you do a good job, one customer might tell three to five of her colleagues, family and friends about you. Whereas, when you build a network of say 10 to 20 strong advocates, they may each tell only one person about your, however your "exposure" is now more than doubled - With the right network, the ultimate in "word of mouth" marketing takes place. You promote your network, and your network promotes you.

Have you ever attended a BNI or Le Tip or other form of structured networking groups? Perhaps you are already a member of a similar group. If not, you might consider becoming involved in one to the fastest growing business networking concepts around. These groups invite business professionals to join on an exclusive basis. That means, that if you are a chiropractor and become a member of one of these groups, no other chiropractor will be invited or allowed to join.

These groups have regularly scheduled meetings (anywhere from monthly to weekly) with a list of rules and objectives to which you must abide. In some cases, a minimum number of referrals is required to participate. In others, simply doing business with one or more in the network is all that is asked of he members. However, keep in mind that for this type of networking to be worthwhile for all parties, each must make every effort to do business with other members of the group.

If this form of structured networking isn't for you, there are other options for finding potential networking venues and partners. Here are some ideas to help you on your way to networking success.

a. Develop a joiners mentality. By that I mean, don't just sign up to get our name on a roster. REALLY JOIN. Get involved. Participate in discussions, events and BE VISIBLE. The saying "out of sight, is out of mind," holds true when it comes to networking. I have been involved in groups and decided to take a hiatus from attending for 2 to 3 months (and sometimes more) only to have people come up to me and tell me they forgot the name of my business so they had to find someone else either through a friend or through the local phone book. BUMMER!

b. Attend networking functions. These can include Chambers of Commerce meetings, after hours socials, ad hoc committees and special events task forces.

c. Get involved in a community service group such as Kiwanis, Lions, Jaycees, etc.

d. Volunteer with a non-profit organization, whose mission you are passionate about and believe in. People who have similar passions will want to do business with you.

e. Host events - I started an event called Goddess Gatherings more than 2 years ago in my home. It is an intimate gathering of women (8 max.) who share a common interest and/or wish to expand their own circles. I invite women who do not yet know one another although they may be familiar with their names. These women are women in my circle of influence either directly or indirectly (they are either members of the 22 groups I belong to and attend regularly or they are part of a circle within these groups). I might invite a "surprise" guest who can entertain the women - such as a masseuse or tarot card reader- or feature a business such as a jeweler or make-up artist. This helps make for a memorable evening and the women either start their own Gathering or look forward to being invited to another gathering hosted by either myself of one of the women in attendance.

f. Look for ways to cross-promote with businesses that complement yours. For instance, a spa might join with a health food store or restaurant and promote their products and services for staying healthy. A salon might join a florist to promote weddings or proms and a realtor might join with a mortgage broker to promote a "one-stop" experience for home buyers.

g. Interview others. A great way for me to network is to interview women for projects I am working on. Since most people are flattered when you ask their opinion about something or experiences in life, this has been a great means of increasing my own circle for various reasons. I might interview a woman (or even a man) about an article or book I am writing, or a seminar I am developing. People love to share their stories. I tape the interview (with their permission, of course) and give them a copy afterwards. It helps to have a list of questions ready prior to the interview, however, unless they insist, I don't give them the questions ahead of time. I have done these interviews via phone, email as well as in person. Many of the women have since.

h. Join an online business or social networking community such as MeetUp, Ryze, Max-in-Common, Linkd In, Open BC, to name a few,. These groups have subgroups made up of people with a specific focus and similar interests. Or you can join a non-specific group to gain more knowledge, exposure and contacts.

Make a point of attending one new networking event a month just to "check it out." Make a list of the people you know, the organizations you have heard and read about and the companies who currently do business with you. These are all great resources to tap into to find new venues to network. Get the local newspaper and look at the organizations and businesses hosting events to which the public is invited. Attend them.

The best networking begins with planning and taking action. Being strategic in your planning is important to your ultimate success as an effective, caring networker.

If you are interested in sharing your networking success stories, drop me a note to heidi@speakingwithspirit.com. It would be an honor to interview you. Who knows, your story could be the subject of one of my articles, or you could even write your own.. Looking forward to hearing from you. Here's to your success in building your network.

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Why is it so important to online documentation

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Undocumented Networks

------------

I can't tell you how many projects I've worked on in which

the customer has little to no network documentation. The

reason for the lack of network documentation is varied. In

many cases this is both the fault of the customer and the

vendor / consultant who designed and implemented the

network. The vendor just does not do it and the customer

does not press hard enough for it. In some cases, technology

consultants do not feel it's important enough or want to

lock the customer into having to call "them" if something

goes wrong or a configuration needs to be changed.

Not only is this poor practice on the side of the

consultant, it can have a dramatic affect on the future

growth of the customer, increase the costs of future network

upgrades and diagnostics, and can negatively impact the

security of the customers network.

The Results Of A Undocumented Network

------------

Before I tell you the basic items that need to be documented

with regards to computer networks, I first want to give you

examples of what I have "not" seen documented, and what

problems this has caused.

During one of my past projects, which was primarily to

implement a new firewall and to secure many of the internal

systems , I ran into some really incredible issues. None of

the primary server systems were documented. No one knew what

server did what, how much memory, disk space, what type of

processor(s), and in some cases, did not know what Operating

System was installed. And worse than that, during my initial

review, we located three servers in a closet, on a different

floor, that no one even knew existed!

Because of the lack of network documentation, no one knew

what was suppose to be done to maintain their enterprise

Anti-Virus system. When I finally determined what the admin

password was to login to the Anti-Virus services, I found

that virus signatures had not been updated in over six

months. Then we found that the system was not even

functioning and nearly 90% of systems on the network were

infected with virus and worms (and not the annoying kind

either, the destructive kind)

We also found there were four different tape backup servers,

and again, because of the lack of network documentation,

none of them had been maintained. The customer just kept

changing tapes. And do you know what, none of the backup

jobs had been running for months. Talk about a false sense

of security!

The very last thing I want to talk about is how lack of

network documentation and procedures can affect network

security. In one case, a customer had a rather expensive

Check Point Firewall in place. No documentation was

available and the customer had been told that nothing needed

to be done to maintain the Firewall. The customer told me

that recently, their Internet access had become very

sluggish. It took two days to locate the Check Point console

password. When I logged in I found that the C: drive had

absolutely no free disk space because the Firewall log had

consumed it all. This could have been avoided if the

Firewall was setup properly in the first place. The Firewall

was also about 4 Service Packs behind, and the rules in

place were quite inadequate. Not to mention that none of the

rules themselves had been documented. And one more thing to

think about. If this network had been attacked and

compromised, how quickly would we have been able to respond

to the attack if so much of the network was undocumented? It

would have been a disaster.

Basic Network Documentation

------------

Here is a basic set of items that should be contained in

network documentation:

All server hardware and operating systems should be

documented, including the physical locations and what

primary, secondary, etc.. purpose they serve. All key

service accounts an login account user-id and password's

should be documented and stored in a safe location, maybe a

company lockbox or vault, or use something like KeyPass to

store them. A visual diagram of the network layout, even

from a high level, should exist no matter how small or large

the network is. Products like WhatsUpGold can assist with

this or you can create a Visio diagram of the network.

Procedures on how to maintain the network technology,

including Operating Systems, security related services,

backup and disaster recovery (business continuity), and

firewall technologies should exist.

Additionally, you should

document and secure all Operating System and application

licensing. This is something that is very often overlooked

and is imperative if you have to recover from a disaster

situation in which the rebuild of systems is necessary.

Other information to have documented is key contact

information. For instance, who do you call if your Internet

connection goes down? Who do you contact if your offsite web

services are not functioning? Do you have a third party that

maintains your Domain Name Services (DNS)? If you have

custom applications, do you know exactly who you must call

if there is a problem?

The above is just the basic items that need to be documented

within a computer network. There are many more aspects to

network documentation.

Who Needs To Document Their Network

------------

In a nutshell, anyone who has a computer network, home

office, small office, or large office, should have an

adequate level of network documentation and procedures to

follow in order to maintain the network. If you have

invested in network technology, don't you want to keep your

investment safe, sound, and performing at it's peak?

Conclusion

------------

If you are a customer, and have a systems integrator or

consultant working on a new network implementation or

upgrading an existing one, demand that they provide you with

complete network documentation. Even if it costs you extra

you should request it. It will save you a lot of time and

money in the future. And, it may actually keep your business

from experiencing long periods of down time.

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