2 Degrees of Separation – The Net-effect of Networks

You’ve all heard about it, some of you have done it, many have looked at doing it, and others just don’t know how to start doing it. And some of you have done it so much that it just doesn’t do it for you anymore!

It’s called networking.

It’s one of those words that you hear in business over and over again, day in and day out. It’s used, abused and sometimes even used to amuse. But through all of its iterations so many people really do not understand its true meaning. Or for that matter, its true value in business.

It’s like some of those other ‘business words’ you use but really don’t know why. Words like benchmarking, leverage, optimisation, and futureproofing. The terms you hear consultants say are presented as very complicated in an effort to convince you that you’d need their help to understand how they work.

We’ll I’m here to tell you, it’s just not that hard!

So, let’s put this into perspective for you and maybe give the word some meaning in your business and as a result remove the complication. Let’s provide you some sort of a path or plan to make networking more effective in your business in 2009.

I believe that in business there are two types of networking: internal and external. In order to effectively create a business network it’s important to combine both networks to give you maximum impact.

The internal network.

Too often in business we forget to use the internal network we’ve created; a network that exists through the staff we have employed and the lives they lead outside of the business environment.

Each and every person that works with you has a life outside of the business. And unless you tap into, show interest, and understand that life you are missing out on the networking opportunities it may deliver to the business.

Now I am not for one minute suggesting that you want your staff to work for you, or think about working for you, 24/7. What I am suggesting is that by simply understanding their lives and their personal interest you might be able to fulfil the needs of both parties and in turn create a great opportunity to not only network the business, but to add value to everyone’s lives.

Let me give you an example.

Sally, your receptionist, has worked with you for two years. She’s a great asset to the team and a fantastic ambassador for the business. Through talking to her over coffee you realise that she plays tennis on Saturdays, is a keen supporter of the hockey club where her boyfriend plays on Sundays and she helps out in the community through her involvement in the local church charity.

Armed with this knowledge you’re now in a position to add value to her life while adding three new networks to your business.

What can you do to help her with a sponsorship for her tennis club, or a fundraising event that might help them with a particular piece of equipment they are looking to buy? By doing this you are making her look like a hero to her team mates and in turn adding value to her life, while also getting a direct line into the tennis community network of members and players to promote your business. It’s a win-win.

The same sort of approach applies to her boyfriend’s hockey team, and her church charity. What can you do for her so that she might feel conformable with introducing you – and your business – to a new network?

The key here is to give these individuals in your internal network some incentive to help introduce you to that network. This incentive can be perceived or real, but an incentive none the same. They are putting their reputation on the line to introduce you. So make it worth their while to do that to ensure they are right behind the introduction and that you are both committed to the deal and the benefit of all. It’s that easy.

The external network.

When you look at the two networks, the internal network is the easy one as you already have the key contacts in the people you work with and an open door to the group of individuals in the network you are not currently a part of. So, you will see the benefits from this much faster as the introduction should happen much quicker.

The external network is a little harder to work.

Most business people think that networking in a business sense is to simply turn up to a function, hand out your business card and hope that someone calls you because you’ve made a new contact in your network.

Wrong!

To develop an effective external network takes time, dedication, and planning. Here are a few simple steps to take to ensure the best results with your networking activity.

1. Work up your 30-second ‘elevator pitch’ on what you do, how you do it, why you do it, what is your passion, and what you like to do for others to improve their lives. This will help position you to new people you meet as someone that they should take the time to meet and understand more. Without this first impression flow of relevant, engaging and interesting information you are just another handshake.

2. Create a range of ‘counter response’ questions that are more interesting and intriguing than, ‘so what do you do’ to avoid the stereo type ‘here’s me and here’s you’ first impression exchange that inevitably leads to a dead end conversation about the football. If you want to make it into a particular network of individuals they need to want you to be there! So you need to engage them.

3. In preparation to receive new people into your business network, make sure you have a robust data base and data storage process and system so you are capturing all of the names you are looking to attract. Networking is only as good as the data you have on each and every individual in your network. Without this you can’t use it to your advantage.

4. Develop a road map on the sort of individuals you would like to attract to your network. The sort of people that you feel could give you the best introductions to new business. Also those that you feel you could make the most impact on by what you can do for them, not so much what they can do for you.

5. Look to establish WHY they would give you those business introductions and help you develop your business. What is the pay off for them? In all cases they need to have some reason to network you on your behalf. And you being ‘a good person’ or having a ‘good product or service’ is simply not good enough.

6. Put a plan in place to establish how you are going to contact these people in your network, when you are going to do that and why you are going to do that. Remember you want to be a positive part of their network not a nuisance.

7. Don’t overload your networking. There is only so much ‘shaking hands and kissing babies’ one person can do. Too much and you will tire of your networking. Look to target three to four specific groups and work those groups well. These should be made up of a mix of:

o A group from your business category

o A group from your passion in life

o A community group that you feel you can contribute to or make a difference.

o A related group by way of business category or lifestyle.

By developing a networking strategy to tie both your internal network and your external network your exponential effect on the business will be extraordinary.

And last but not least, remember this golden networking rule:

Networking is not built around the fallacy of 6 degrees of separation. Networking works best with only 2 degrees of separation. i.e. where the person your networking with acts as the introducer to another person in another other network you would like to meet. This offers both you, and your potential contact a mutual person in the middle of the network, ensuring better communication of everyone’s needs and a personal endorsement both ways in the network.

Good luck! And remember business development is the net effect of networking.

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Changing Scenario of Information Exchange by Network Administration

Network Administration is different from System Administration. In System Administration all tasks are concerned with one independent computer system. In case of Network Administration once you put your system on a network, it interacts with many other systems. In today’s fast paced world everybody is demanding for modern network which is much superior to the earlier ones. We need improved security and better network management.

Network administration commonly includes activities such as network address assignment, routing protocols and configuration of Authentication and Authorization -directory services. It often includes maintenance of network facilities in individual machines, such as drivers and settings of personal computers. It sometimes also includes maintenance of certain network: gateways, intrusion detection system, etc.

The task of Network Administration is done by Network Administrator. Network Administrator is responsible for network design and security.

Designing:

Designing a network is termed as Network Architecture. Network Architecture can be defined as the design principles, physical configuration, functional organization, procedures, and data structures used for designing and construction of a communication network.
In this fast changing scenario the term Network Architecture also denote classification and differentiation of distributed computing architecture.

To tackle with the collision issue a certain set of rules are also defined which ensures not more than one computer can send across a packet through data cable.

Security:

Sometimes security has more to do with politics and human resources issue than networking. A security administrator is mostly put into abeyance in deciding priority to maintain a reasonable level of security or providing flexibility to users to get their job done. A security administrator has to seek balance between these two opposite wants. Security should be like clothing as clothing are so designed that they are not to tight so that it does not restrict movement and it should not be so loose that it gets revealed to public.

When thinking of securing a corporate network three ways should be kept in mind that someone can get access to the corporate network:

1) Through the Internet.

2) Through dial-in-access.

3) Through Virtual Private Networks.

Network Management System:

Network Management Systems is a combination of both the hardware and software used to monitor and administer a network. Individual network elements are monitored by Element Management Systems.

Network management refers to the activities, methods, procedures, and tools that pertain to the Operation, administration, maintenance, and provisioning of networked systems.

o Operation deals with keeping the network (and the services that the network provides) up and running smoothly. It includes monitoring the network to spot problems as soon as possible, ideally before users are affected.

o Administration deals with keeping track of resources in the network and how they are assigned. It includes all the “housekeeping” that is necessary to keep the network under control.

o Maintenance is concerned with performing repairs and upgrades – for example, when
equipment must be replaced, when a router needs a patch for an operating system image, when a new switch is added to a network. Maintenance also involves corrective and preventive measures to make the managed network run “better”, such as adjusting device configuration parameters.

o Provisioning is concerned with configuring resources in the network to support a given service. For example, this might include setting up the network so that a new customer can receive voice service.

Changing Dynamics of Network Administration:

Perhaps you prefer to work outside the office, say, on the golf course. When you’re away it would be useful to monitor your servers and network remotely. You’re in luck; there are a bevy of utilities that let you monitor, diagnose, and repair problems and perform administration tasks remotely with a smartphone or handheld device linked to one of your data center servers.

Most offerings let you manage passwords, printer connections, email programs, or database servers with a Blackberry, Palm Tree, or Nokia smartphone linked to a network server, which is linked to the rest of your network. But while Avocent’s Sonic-Admin, Ecutel’s IC2 (Infrastructure Command and Control), MobileControl from ASG, and other solutions probably work well; many administrations have reservations about security.

Security Concerns

The idea of network management applications using a wireless device represents a dream come true for many network administrators, but it will be a while before the concept takes hold. In fact, the potential market for such utilities is huge, but security concerns have reduced it to only a fledgling market, and the utility’s debut has been too small to track, says analyst Gerry Purdy of Mobile Trax.

“Of course, demand for this type of application will eventually grow as smartphones will have more feature sets and can handle the software loads necessary,” Purdy says. “But at the same time, these devices and applications represent security [threats] in the minds of [IT administrators], such as when a person leaves the company and has access to the network with his mobile device or when a mobile device might provide the opportunity for someone to hack your network with a smartphone.”

Acknowledging that appeasing security concerns represents the toughest sell, Robert Touw, a business development manager for Avocent’s mobile solutions group, maintains that IT administrators are increasingly buying into both the idea of remote network management and the security that the utilities can offer. He also says that even some financial firms, for which security is of utmost concern, now use the utility.

Wireless & Remote Freedom

Most of all, IT administrators relish the opportunities wireless and remote network administration offers. “There is quality of life: Suddenly you don’t have to give up dinner to fix something right away,” Touw says. “Now, suddenly you can also do things in 10 minutes that used to take 40 minutes.”

For security, Avocent says SonicAdmin offers 3DES encryption and token transaction authentication so that the server only accepts valid data packets with recognized tokens. Authentication levels, backed by RSA SecurID, include SonicAdmin user account authentication, device authentication, and NT/AD authentication plus optional RSA SecurID integration. Data such as confidential network and personal logon is not stored on mobile devices. Additionally, remote administrative actions are logged on both the SonicAdmin server and managed servers.
Ecutel says its IC2 software offers six security layers. The server, on which it runs, for example, sits behind the data center’s firewall and signals to and from the server, and mobile devices use a minimum of 128-bit encryption. Authentication is based on a Web-based administration client and RSA SecurID. There is also a complete audit trail of IC2 server operation, and IC2 automatically times out after 30 minutes of inactivity.

ASG says users of its MobileControl Administrator’s management interface are required to log in using a PIN and domain credentials. The systems also can take advantage of RSA SecurID, SSL, VPN, and third-party wireless gateway server security solutions. Sensitive information, such as passwords, is never stored on the wireless device, and an automatic timeout feature for each mobile device prevents illegal entry into the network if a wireless device is lost or stolen.
According to Purdy, the application will likely eventually take hold once vendors convince IT administrators that the security risks can be minimized. Purdy says, “It is just a matter of these companies getting the word out that [these utilities] are secure and that they work.”

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