Archive for October 27, 2020

New Salesforce Research Reveals That 89% Of Canadians Expect Companies To Accelerate Digital Initiatives

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 27, 2020 by itnerd

Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, today released the fourth edition of its State of the Connected Customer report which reveals that while a string of crises has affected all facets of life, including a fundamental shift in how customers connect with brands, factors like empathy, personalization, convenience, and digital transformation are the keys to customer relationships. As these same customers reevaluate the role of business in society, the notion of stakeholder capitalism is increasingly factored into purchase decisions.

The global report captures insights from over 15,000 consumers and business buyers across 27 countries, including 650 respondents from Canada, to help companies transform how they drive customer success. The research examines survey results across four generations of customers: baby boomers, Gen Xers, millennials, and Gen Zers. 

New for this year, interactive data by country and generation is available in Tableau, highlighting the key findings byCOVID-19 impacts, consumers and business buyers. 

The key trends revealed in this year’s State of the Connected Customer show:

  • Customer Connections Are Essential Amid Crises

The events of this year have upended the relationships between customers and brands. During a time when uncertainty and confusion reign, brands have an opportunity to reinforce and rebuild trust with new and loyal customers alike. In Canada, 90% of customers say how a company acts during a crisis demonstrates its trustworthiness.

  • Understanding and Convenience Drive Differentiation

As each individual navigates change and uncertainty, empathy for and support of customers’ unique needs, expectations, and challenges are as critical, as is providing a convenient, connected experience that eliminates unnecessary burdens in a stressful time. Fifty-five percent of Canadian customers say it generally feels like sales, service, and marketing don’t share information.

  • The Digital Imperative Hits Its Moment of Truth

Digital-first behavior is here to stay as customers develop new habits that will last for the long term. As digital engagement grows, customers expect companies to digitize their operations for multichannel, high-touch interactions. This relies in no small part on the use of personal information, and customers are calling for enhanced transparency and stewardship. In Canada, 66% of customers say that COVID-19 has elevated their expectation of digital capabilities.

  • Customers Demand That Brands Demonstrate Their Values

Long-overdue reckonings with social, economic, and ecological ills have come to the fore, and society is calling on businesses to do their part in righting wrongs. A failure to heed responsibilities to more than shareholders threatens bottom lines. Eighty-five percent of Canadian customers say the societal role of companies is changing.

Look Ahead: Lessons from Across Sectors and Industries

Customers navigate products, services, and experiences from a variety of industries throughout their day-to-day lives, criss-crossing between the personal and professional, digital and physical, essential and supplementary. As they do this, their standards are being constantly influenced, with distinctions between sectors often blurred in their minds. 

Companies seeking to differentiate themselves are wise to look beyond their immediate competition and evaluate how their capabilities stack up against other industries. Globally, 62% of consumers say their experiences with one industry influence their expectations of others.

For more information: 

Methodology

Data in the State of the Connected Customer report is from a double-blind study of 12,000 consumers and 3,600 business buyers across North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia Pacific. Data was collected between July 16 and August 18, 2020. All respondents are third-party panelists. Countries surveyed include Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, S. Africa, S. Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, UAE, UK, and the United States. Cultural bias impacts survey results. Data was weighted to accurately represent the general population.

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Review: Spigen iPhone 12 / iPhone 12 Pro Tough Armor Case

Posted in Products with tags on October 27, 2020 by itnerd

Protecting my new iPhone 12 Pro is top of mind for me because when you spend the kind of cash that Apple wants you to spend on a phone, you want to make sure that nothing happens to it. For that reason, I went with the Spigen iPhone 12 / iPhone 12 Pro Tough Armor Case to protect my iPhone 12 Pro:

This is a case that offers the following features:

  • All-new foam technology for an extra layer of shock resistance
  • Combination of TPU and Polycarbonate for dual protection from drops and scratches
  • Reinforced kickstand with raised lips to protect screen and camera
  • Certified [MIL-STD 810G-516.6] protection and Air Cushion Technology for anti-shock protection
  • This case completely covers every edge of the iPhone for complete protection.

Let’s dive in a bit. Starting with the first two items:

You can see it uses a combination of materials to give it the ability to fully absorb shock. Which is exactly what I want as I want to make sure that this phone will survive a drop. Before you ask, I didn’t do a test drop. EverythingApplePro will likely do that on his dime.

Next up is the kickstand:

The case has a built in kickstand to allow you have the iPhone in landscape mode on a table handsfree.

That makes it perfect for watching videos. For example this is a video of Jai Hindley of Team Sunweb fighting to protect his lead in the Giro d’Italia three week bike race. For the record he lost the lead and the race overall to Tao Geoghegan Hart of Team Ineos Grenadiers.

The case has duplicate buttons are very large and tactile in terms of pressing them, and cutouts for the silent switch, speakers, and Lighting port. The edge of the case around the screen is slightly raised, which means that if you put the iPhone face down, the screen isn’t going to touch the surface. It’s also wireless charging compatible and Apple Pay seems to work fine with it. The case isn’t bulky which means it doesn’t change how you hold your iPhone, but it isn’t thin either. Likely because you need it to be that way to provide meaningful drop protection. It also doesn’t add much weight.

I’d recommend the Spigen iPhone 12 / iPhone 12 Pro Tough Armor Case daily use or for those who have “butter fingers.” This case is $40 USD and as far as I am concerned it’s worth every penny. Especially if you’ve spent a lot of money on your iPhone 12 or 12 Pro.

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Guest Post: ESET Collaboration Helps Reduce Trickbot Damage

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 27, 2020 by itnerd

A global partnership to disrupt the Trickbot botnet is already showing signs of significantly reducing cyberattacks aimed at swiping financial data and deploying ransomware.

In September 2020, ESET collaborated with partners Microsoft, Lumen’s Black Lotus Labs, NTT Ltd. and others to prevent businesses around the world from falling prey to Trickbot botnets – one of the top security threats currently prowling cyberspace on the hunt for victims. 

ESET telemetry shows Trickbot detection numbers have plummeted in tandem with the joint disruption effort. Compared to June 2020, Trickbot detections dropped by 7% in July, by nearly 32% in August and by nearly 36% in September.

“Trickbot has been a major nuisance for Internet users for far too long. It’s gratifying to be part of this effort to limit the damage inflicted by this malware and to make it safer for all of us online,” says Jean-Ian Boutin, Head of Threat Research at ESET. 

ESET first detected Trickbot in late 2016, and it has since been recognized as one of the most prevalent banking malware families across the globe. The botnet has infected more than one million computing devices around the world, targeting several different industries – including education, real estate and government – but the most frequently targeted seems to be the financial sector.

Trickbot is known to use phishing emails and other tactics to go after browser-stored passwords, Point-of-Sale systems, and cryptocurrency wallets, as well as banking, email and cryptocurrency exchange credentials. Trickbot’s modular architecture allows it to perform a vast array of malicious actions using a variety of plugins. It can steal all kinds of credentials from a compromised computer and, more recently, has been observed mostly as a delivery mechanism for more damaging attacks, such as ransomware.

While the threat global collaboration appears to have lessened the threat of Trickbot – at least temporarily – it’s still critical for businesses to maintain vigilance for other botnet attacks. ESET’s telemetry shows there has been a recent increase in activities by the botnet Emotet, a destructive Trojan malware spread primarily through spam emails.

Our Emotet detection numbers show an increase in attacks over the past few months. Compared to June 2020, Emotet detections increased by 64% in July, by more than 120% in August and more than 22% in September.

There are a few ways businesses can protect themselves from botnet operations:

  • It is crucial to protect all endpoints with a security solution that has robust detection modules, such as ESET Endpoint Security.
  • Businesses also need to ensure that their networks are always patched with the latest security updates to avoid falling victim to vulnerabilities that threat actors may exploit.
  • Remote ports can provide an access point for hackers, so restrict access as far as possible – especially to remote desktop protocol (RDP) ports. 

To find out more about ESET’s efforts to disrupt the Trickbot botnet, read ESET takes part in global operation to disrupt Trickbot on WeLiveSecurity.

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