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Talking Shop: Mastercard Exec Tells You Why Cash Is King

Posted: 23 Apr 2019 04:00 PM PDT

While there are a lot of factors in a small business's success, cash flow is one of the most prominent. A positive cash flow can be the difference between just surviving and actually thriving.

Research shows that the vast majority of businesses that fail do so, at least in part, because of cash flow problems. Cash flow refers to the amount of money coming in and going out of your business.

To be successful, you don't just need more coming in than going out; you need to make sure it is coming in when you need it to so that you have money on hand to pay your bills and employee salaries.

As senior vice president for small business at Mastercard, Jay Singer knows just how important cash flow is to a small business's success. Singer has been with Mastercard for more than 20 years and served in a variety of roles, including as senior vice president and group head for North American commercial products and as senior vice president and group of U.S. commercial products. Prior to joining Mastercard, Singer was a senior manager at American Express.

We recently had the chance to speak with Singer about cash flow, its importance and the steps you can take to boost it.

The importance of cash flow

Q: Why is having positive cash flow important for businesses?

A: Positive cash flow means you have an opportunity to grow, make new investments in your business, innovate and ultimately continue doing what you've been doing – satisfying your customers.

To get here, it's important for your business to have a tool that aggregates all of your financial data (e.g., account, balances, receivables, collections and invoices to pay) to provide a complete view of your business's financial position. Cash inflow is the lifeblood of every business, fueling all aspects of operations, from employee salaries to electricity; and for many business owners, keeping the lights on – literally – can be a juggling act.

Q: What can happen when a business doesn't have proper cash flow levels?

A: Worst-case scenario, it can fail. In fact, research shows that 82% of businesses in the U.S. fail due to cash flow issues. Low or negative cash flow scenarios put a business in serious jeopardy.

Even with a profitable, sound business model, small businesses need an effective cash flow management solution in place. Most small businesses in the U.S. have only 27 days of cash on hand. Improper cash flow levels can hinder a business's growth and impact the returns for the small business owner.

Q: How do you determine how much cash flow your business needs?

A: To determine the amount of cash flow your business needs, you first need to analyze the current state of your business. It's important to understand how much cash you've been using and plan to use, as well as the length of time it will take to acquire more cash.

While every business's needs are different, it would be wise to have enough cash on hand to cover up to six months of your average cash outflow.

Jay Singer, senior vice president for small business at Mastercard

Q: Do certain types of business, or businesses in certain industries, require more cash flow than others?

A: Every business's situation is unique, and there are two key factors at work here. The first is the stage of the business – startups or growing businesses generally need more cash to support their development and cover expenses such as inventory, infrastructure and employees, compared to more established businesses.

The type of business is also key. Factors such as seasonality and weather are impactful, and having cash is critical with labor-intensive businesses. We often find in agriculture or manufacturing that short-term financing in the form of a line of credit or credit card is critical to help the business owner bridge the period between the cash outlay and the sales receipts.

Increasing cash flow

Q: What are some tips for increasing your cash flow?

A: One way small businesses can better manage cash flow is with AI-enabled solutions. They provide tools for small business owners to stay abreast of their cash position today and forecast it so they can take appropriate action.

The Strands Business Financial Management (BFM) platform, for example, contains a layer of AI and machine-learning models that can help manage accounts payables, receivables, budgets and provisions. It also delivers personalized notifications and highlights recommendations and solutions for a small business owner which will help mitigate these challenges.

Another way to increase cash flow is with a small business credit card that offers interest-free grace periods to support the short-term financing needs of many small businesses. Also, with transaction details of every purchase, credit cards can highlight opportunities to save, and many even come with innovative reporting options that illustrate spending trends to help business owners optimize their cash flow.

Ultimately, streamlining business processes is key to managing cash flow. Analyzing the current position of your business and processes in place will help you find efficiency gaps and areas where you might be able to invest in updated products or smarter solutions.

Q: What are the greatest challenges businesses face when trying to properly manage their cash flow?

A: Poor cash flow management is one of the top reasons small businesses fail, and many banking solutions don't address the unique requirements of small businesses. Our research found that small business owners globally cite cash flow projection as the most challenging aspect of cash flow management.

Many small business owners don't have a clear reporting mechanism that provides a complete view of their financial accounts and forecasts of their inflows and outflows. To help solve for this, small business owners are increasingly looking to integrated platforms powered by artificial intelligence and big data.

Having the right cash flow management system in place that is simple and easy to use is particularly important. Most small business owners aren't professionally trained in accounting and finance and would rather spend their time following their passion or concentrating on what got them into business in the first place. Expending energy trying to educate themselves on how to manage their cash flow takes precious time away from practicing their craft.

Q: What is the best piece of career advice you have ever been given?

A: When I first started managing people, I had a mentor who shared with me two important pieces of advice when it comes to leading teams. First, learn how to trust and empower your team. As a first-time manager, the thought of ceding control and needing to know every little detail was – and I believe still is – a major challenge. Trusting and empowering my team has allowed me to take on the role of the leader rather than the doer.

This ties well to my second thought, which is that diversity is critical, whether that's diversity of background, race, gender or thoughts. Openness to diversity provides much richer and broader perspectives and has helped me create and lead well-balanced and effective teams.

Want to Launch a Business? Why You Should Consider Acquisition Entrepreneurship

Posted: 23 Apr 2019 12:00 PM PDT

Launching a business from the ground up is a difficult road lined with numerous potholes. That's why some entrepreneurs find more success from buying an existing business and molding it into something new.

The first company I acquired was a book-printing business. People told me I was crazy. The industry appeared to be in decline, and no one from my generation was entering that space. But the company had long-standing relationships with hundreds of publishers, was full of knowledgeable talent, and had a long track record of solid performance.

What my critics missed was an underlying trend that was showing solid growth. Digital book printing was driving a golden age in self-publishing, online ordering was providing new authors with accessibility to readers, and short runs were bringing the advantages of just-in-time inventory management to publishers. I decided we would build on what this company had while embracing the new trends. It's what's called acquisition entrepreneurship, or the philosophy of "buy then build." By embracing the best of both worlds, we are able to bring a startup approach to an existing, and often undervalued, infrastructure of an old-economy business.

Every industry has a life cycle, from startup and adolescence through maturity and decline. When a business reaches these later stages, the trick is to make the leap from a mature or declining business back to the adolescent stage.

For instance, manufacturing and distribution are old-economy business models. But today's' consumer demands instant access, round-the-clock accessibility, and fast turnarounds. Already, almost half of business-to-business institutions offer their full product line online, according to a CloudCraze survey. These growth strategies are how small business-to-business organizations succeed in the new economy. The trick is in getting the balance right.

Why acquisition entrepreneurship?

After all these years, we haven't found a way to engineer a better way to start up. Startups are burdened with pitfalls: a lack of customers, a lack of capital, and a lack of cash flow. Meanwhile, though old-economy businesses hold mature infrastructure, they have the things that today's entrepreneurs struggle most to build from scratch. By buying an existing small business and building upon it, entrepreneurs get instant access to everything they need to be successful. From there, they can mold their companies to fit their style. It's a smarter way to start.

Further, the capital to buy an existing company is so much easier to come by because activity is booming. According to a Deloitte survey, almost a third of corporate and private equity respondents predict a jump in mergers and acquisitions, up from about a quarter last year. Buying an existing company is like buying a home, with banks standing by ready to help. But unlike buying a home, an acquired business pays off the loan with its cash flow, making it an ideal platform to build from.

Business models that can benefit from acquisition entrepreneurship

Will acquisition entrepreneurship work in your industry? Fundamentally, there are four business models: making products, reselling products, providing services, and running online businesses. All of them can benefit from the principle of "buy then build."

Acquisition entrepreneurship is about using the benefits of established, mature businesses, regardless of their industry. If your business grew from $0 to $20 million when the internet didn't exist, its survival depends on connecting to how consumers (and businesses) are buying today. Every business can incorporate new ideas and technology and build them alongside a long-standing, profitable infrastructure.

If you're buying a small business, look for one with an existing customer base and revenue, a solid reputation, at least a few reliable team members, and a clear opportunity for growth. This cuts out a lot of the risks that traditionally kill startups. You'll have solid ground under your feet so you can dive right into growth.

Uncovering the potential of the "old economy"

Here are four ways you can make the most of taking over an old-economy business:

1. Know the clear path to growth.

The risk of buying an existing business is usually not inherent to that business. Instead, look at limitations as growth opportunities. This is where key performance indicators come into play. Ask how this business could double in size or how this business could change so that it could serve 1 million customers. The answers to these questions will reveal the growth potential.

2. Match your skill to the need.

Many old-economy businesses don't have sophisticated online strategies. Maybe they need better sales management or to capitalize on a market trend they're perfectly poised to execute. Whatever the opportunity, if it's within your comfort level and skill set, that's the time to strike.

Gallup's Entrepreneurial StrengthsFinder interviewed 5,000 people found that their strengths fell into one of 10 areas: business focus, creative thinker, confidence, determination, delegator, independent, promoter, knowledge-seeker, relationship-builder, and risk-taker. If you can find out which skill you have and match it to what the business needs, it doesn't matter how weak the business is — it'll be positioned for growth.

3. Assess the opportunity.

I've created a matrix for assessing opportunity potential. Every business falls into one of four general areas: eternally profitable, growth, turnaround, or platform. The eternally profitable model focuses on stability. The growth model is ripe for rapid profit. And the turnaround model depends on recovery.

The platform model, however, hinges on your ability to recognize the right opportunity. There's a healthy balance of risk and reward — strengths to build on and weaknesses to compensate for with your own expertise. It favors skilled and growth-minded entrepreneurs.

For example, if you're a branding whiz, you might take a look at the field of e-commerce, where some companies know what they sell but not who they're supposed to sell to. If you have a passion for data analysis, find a company that's neglecting its customer data or ignoring its margins. Whatever your skill set, the platform model lets you do what you do best while building value.

4. Educate yourself on the business.

There are a few fundamental business models I use consistently: Porter's Five Forces, Collins' Hedgehog Concept, and Christensen's Innovator's Dilemma. For me, these are the three pillars to understanding the underlying forces of a company.

These frameworks can easily help you view a business from a strategic vantage point. How strong is the business model? What is the core competency? What can it be best in the world at providing? And what new trends are providing the best opportunity within the industry?

With acquisition entrepreneurship, your small business has already gone through the product-market fit process, so you can jump straight into growth. And it doesn't require you to develop an idea for a business; you already have one that's set up for success. All it needs is you.

National Small Business Week Begins With Hackathon Presented by SBA and Visa

Posted: 23 Apr 2019 11:09 AM PDT

To open the U.S. Small Business Association's National Small Business Week, set for May 5 to May 11, the federal organization is teaming up with Visa to host the annual Small Business Week Hackathon in Washington, D.C.

From May 3 to May 5, app developers, designers and business owners will work together at the Inclusive Innovation Incubator to build solutions meant to help small businesses deal with major natural disasters like wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes and snowstorms.

When disaster strikes, small businesses are hit particularly hard, as federal assistance and insurance claims can take a long time to come through.

In recent years, natural disasters have become a more frequent occurrence. Last year, more than a dozen major weather and climate disasters caused more than $1 billion in damages, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Two major incidents have already broken that threshold as of April 9, 2019, the federal administration reports.

By the end of the three-day event, officials hope developers will come up with concepts that will help small business owners get back on their feet and stay in business following natural disasters.

The challenges ahead

For this challenge, the SBA tasked participants with focusing on solutions for the numerous hurdles that small businesses face in the immediate and long-term aftermath of a natural disaster. According to event officials, teams will be asked to consider how to help local businesses "restore their revenue streams, finance short- and long-term recovery, establish a robust supply chain, deal with power disruptions, and keep their employees on the payroll." Points will be awarded for creativity and originality. Teams will work around the clock, from 6 p.m. on May 3 until 9:45 a.m. on May 5, to devise their apps.

Tackling the problem of climate change, natural disasters and their impact on a local economy may sound like a lot to take on in just three days, but participants will have some powerful tools at their disposal. Over the course of the event, each team will have access to various application programming interfaces (API) from the federal government, as well as the Visa Developer Platform.

With the ability to pull data from the SBA's open data sources and Visa's financial tech, officials hope one team will be able to turn their laptops and digital know-how into potential real-world solutions.

Picking a winner

At the end of the weekend, a group of judges will select the top three apps developed. The judges include SBA Chief Information Officer Maria Roat, Visa Vice President for Global Small Business Nate Smith, Technical.ly Market Editor Michelai Graham, and Janice Jucker, president of Three Brothers Bakery, representing a Houston small business that recovered in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

SBA Acting Administrator Chris Pilkerton and David Simon, Visa senior vice president for global small business, will hand out the awards, with first place taking home $25,000, second place receiving $15,000 and third place getting $10,000.

Along with the grand prizes, a $5,000 award will go to the Visa API Challenge Winner, and another $5,000 will go to the Authorize.Net API Challenge Winner.

National Small Business Week

For more than five decades, National Small Business Week has been recognized with a presidential proclamation touting the societal and economic contributions of American small business owners and entrepreneurs. According to the SBA, "more than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, and they create about two out of every three new jobs in the U.S. each year."

Over the course of the week, various seminars and workshops will be held both in Washington, D.C., and online in an effort to further educate small business owners on topics like social media best practices and digital commerce.

Sunday, May 5 and Monday, May 6 will also feature awards ceremonies to celebrate some of the country's most successful and impactful entrepreneurs.

Need a Loan? Lending Trends That Are Increasing Your Chances of Getting the Funds You Need

Posted: 23 Apr 2019 10:00 AM PDT

The past decade has been one of the most eventful periods for small business funding. Ravaged by the effects of the 2007 and 2008 financial crisis, small businesses struggled to secure funding to keep their operations running.

In the years following the recession, bank lending shrunk by 18 percent – a direct impact of tougher lending restrictions and a wave of pragmatism within the banking sector that made it difficult for small businesses to access capital.

In subsequent years, however, the small business funding environment started showing signs of revival, thanks to a recovering economy and the increasing popularity of fintech within the banking and allied sectors. Elements of fintech, including machine learning and the Internet of Things, gave birth to a number of new alternative lending platforms, a trend that was accurately represented when LendingClub, one of the earliest P2P lenders, became the first alternative lender to get listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014.

Since then, a handful of disruptive technologies, a raft of regulations within the banking industry, and other trends have continued to impact the funding landscape for small businesses. Here's a closer look at how these trends are affecting the way businesses get funded. 

Regulation

For a long time, the regulatory environment that governed small business funding was quite inefficient. There were a number of regulatory overlaps that often exposed small businesses to unfair terms and exploitative practices. In the U.S., close to a dozen state and federal institutions are often charged with regulatory oversight over banks, credit unions, and other small business lenders. And because each of these institutions works independently, the resulting regulatory environment was heavily fragmented, thus creating barriers to effective oversight.

However, with the growth of online lending, especially after 2016, regulators started paying more attention to the relationships between lenders, small businesses, and the regulatory framework that binds them.

Since early 2016, over half a dozen regulators in the US, including the Treasury Department, rallied behind several measures to help streamline regulations. These measures included publishing statements and whitepapers, holding fintech conferences and the formation of industry trade associations to give a bigger voice to small businesses and ultimately get rid of the "spaghetti soup" of multiple, sometimes contradicting, regulations.

Although there's still a lot to be done, more comprehensive regulations mean businesses can launch and get funded easier than before. For instance, in Wyoming, one of the "paradise" states for small and midsize businesses incorporation, entrepreneurs from across the world can form an LLC for less than $300 and get access to loans and investment opportunities from banks and other lenders within the U.S., sometimes without even stepping on American soil.

Such is the impact of improving regulation within the U.S., especially when it comes to online lending. Outside the U.S., countries such as China, the country with the highest volume of alternative loans globally, and the U.K. have been on a constant path of regulatory reforms within the SMB funding space. The U.K., for instance, has been implementing innovation-friendly guidelines to help spur the disruption within fintech while using the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the British Business Bank to regulate SMB funding within the country.

Fintech and increased convergence

One of the major reasons behind the evolution of regulation is the rate at which technology, and more specifically fintech, has been disrupting SMB funding. Fintech trends, such as smart contracts, artificial intelligence and mobile banking, continue to change the way lenders and investors interact with small businesses. According to one fintech analysis, mobile banking is on pace to overtake online banking in terms of the number of users. Mobile banking has seen an increase of 3.4 million users, on average, over the past five years. This has significantly changed the online lending marketplace for small businesses.

But perhaps a more interesting trend for fintech is the rate at which traditional lenders and new fintech disruptors are coming together. These entities are forming an unlikely pact, which is disrupting the SMB lending in the process. Traditionally, banks and other mainstream lenders have relied on conservative methods when it comes to reviewing and approving loans, methods that have been both slow and inefficient. On the other hand, fintech firms haven't shied away from using the latest technology to improve the lending process, a trend that has seen many new alternative lending platforms springing up across the globe.

The unlikely union between these two groups of lenders has been on the rise since 2017. Fintech disruptors, with their high uptake of technology, are bringing things like AI-powered decision-making to the table, thus reducing risk and improving the speed and accuracy with which lending decisions are made. On the other side, traditionally conservative banks are bringing their large databases of user data and customized loan products to the table. By combining these strengths, a new era of SMB funding is slowly budding.

A good example is the unlikely union between SoFi, an online lender, and Fannie Mae, one of the biggest mortgage lenders in the US. Their 2016 partnership has helped boost SoFi's customer base significantly while improving Fannie Mae's debt refinancing processes, making it a win-win situation for both companies.

The next few years hold a lot of promise for small businesses looking to get funded. As the lending industry continues on its path of disruption, small businesses stand to benefit immensely from more access, quicker loan approvals and a better overall SMB funding environment.      

 

Get Creative: 5 Ways to Develop Fresh Ideas for Your Content Calendar

Posted: 23 Apr 2019 08:00 AM PDT

If you're in content marketing, you always working to come up with fresh, new ideas for your team to drive traffic and boost sales. The best way to garner organic traffic is through your content, and if it isn't appealing and engaging, there's a slim chance it'll get you the engagement you're looking for.

Usually, the most difficult part of content marketing is coming up with the topic ideas. It's easy to come up with oversaturated content that can be found in a million different places. It's not so easy, however, to curate topics that are refreshing to read and give readers something different to think about.

Here are a few ways you to develop creative ideas that will result in a winning content marketing strategy.

1. Use topic generators

Consider using one of the many topic generators to come up with new ideas. Although they aren't foolproof and may not give you completely optimized titles, they can steer you in the right direction. All you have to do is enter a few keywords and the generator will come up with ideas for you.

You can take some of these key phrases and put them into CoSchedule's Headline Analyzer. This tool helps determine which titles will perform well in search engines and aren't overused or generic in nature. You never want your content to sound boring or be something that's been done a bunch of times already.

2. Look up the latest industry trends

You want your content to be current and up-to-date on all the latest events and news happening in your industry. If you give your audience content that's tailored to their interests, you're already on the right track. If you can give them content that also revolves around the most current trends, they'll see you as a valuable source of information that keeps them informed.

Try searching a topic in Google News to see what pops up. You can then do a deeper dive into all the latest available news on that topic. The sooner you find out about current trends, the farther ahead you'll be in the content marketing game.

3. Look up customer inquiries

It's important to create content that's customer-focused because you write for them, not you. The best way to give your audience valuable information is by finding out what they want to know. figure out what pressing questions your target audience has, what their pain points and how your content can help them live better lives and reach their goals.

Scour social media to see what questions people in your niche are asking and if you can answer them. Brainstorm topic ideas that could help them solve their problems or give them something enjoyable to think about. This can be one of the easiest ways to come up with ideas that will actually increase user engagement and boost traffic.

4. Check your competitors

There's no shame in seeing what the other guys are doing to build a successful brand, and that includes peeking on your competitors. If they're popular with their audience, they must be doing something right. There's usually something valuable you can learn from your competitors, and rather than only seeing them as competition, view them as something you can gain insight from.

What kind of content are your competitors creating? What has the most engagement or hits? What are people responding to and why? When you figure out what they're doing right, you can implement this into your own content marketing strategy.

5. Repurpose popular content

You should already be monitoring your analytics to look for patterns in your content's performance. For blog posts that aren't getting a high number of shares and comments, avoid those topics moving forward. When it comes to high-converting content, you know when you've hit the jackpot.

Find ways to repurpose old content so that users think about it in a new, exciting way. This doesn't mean writing the same exact blog post with the same exact point. Instead, you want to take the same topic and put a twist on it. The chances of it performing well are already high, so don't be afraid to expand on previously popular topics.

It can be stressful and aggravating trying to come up with topic ideas for your content calendar. You want your blog to thrive so you can increase organic traffic as well as user engagement. A successful business relies on its content and visitors to reach its milestones, and your content is the first step to get there. 

Want to Boost Productivity? Start by Cleaning Your Office

Posted: 23 Apr 2019 06:00 AM PDT

Whether you're growing your business or collaborating on a team project, it's essential that you have a workspace that's organized and relaxing to work in. Having a neat and tidy space not only helps keep your mind refreshed, but it also can boost your productivity. 

Your workspace directly reflects what's going on in your brain, and the more organized it is, the more constructive and useful you'll be. Disorganization and hoarding objects have harmful effects and cause you to have extreme anxiety when making decisions, according to Psychology Today. It can also cause stress, make you feel burned out, reduce your ability to concentrate and magnify negative emotions associated with clutter.

As a way to help avoid some of those harmful effects, there are a few simple steps you can take to organize your workspace and clear your mind.

Throw out what you don't need

The first step is to conduct a workspace audit where you determine what items, paperwork, and supplies you truly need and what you can do without. Take a good look at what's in your office space. Determine what you use every day, what you use once in a while, and what you never use. Then create separate piles for trash, items you want to keep and those you wish to donate.

Initially, it may seem difficult to get rid of certain items or materials, but if you know you never use them, there is no point in having them. They only add to the mess in your office and your mindset, so you are better offer getting rid of them. 

Hide electrical wires and chargers

Simply hiding the wires in your space will make a huge difference in how clean and neat it is. Communicating with clients in your office when it's in a state of disarray can be embarrassing. If you know it's messy, so to do others. That's a clear sign that it is time to take steps that will help you feel better inviting others into your workspace.

It's handy to use a surge protector to keep all your cords charged to the same outlet so you don't have wires coming from several places. If your work desk has an open back, put the wires in that opening so when you shut the drawer, they aren't visible. The goal is to make sure your cords are in an accessible place but don't draw too much attention to themselves.

Recycle extra papers

With how digitized the average workplace has become, there's not much reason to have tons of paper files lying around your office. Most businesses and companies use apps and online resources to get their work done and don't need to rely on paper products to accomplish tasks.

Unless using paper is a must, try to decrease the amount of paper you use and recycle the paper you have, but no longer need. 

Minimize desk clutter

Although it's easy to throw random things on our desks, they are not the equivalent of storage space and shouldn't be treated as such. This is the place where you're supposed to work on your career goals and accomplish important tasks, so treat it as such.

With organization comes minimizing what we have and maximizing the space we're working with. If something is sitting out in the open on your desk and not shoved in the back of a drawer, there's a good chance it's useful to you and will enhance your productivity. Use the existing wall space you have to minimize the clutter on your desk. Put up hanging shelves that can hold your must-have items. If you want your items in drawers, buy small storage bins that will hold items in them so you don't have a bunch of stuff randomly floating around.

Clean regularly

Unfortunately, cleaning one time and never again isn't going to help you stay organized long-term. You must make cleaning your workspace periodically a conscious habit – much like scheduling emails or attending meetings – so it never goes back to being a cluttered mess again.

Pick a frequency that works for you. Tidying for 15 minutes once a week should be more than enough time to put everything back into place and wipe down your desktop. Try your best not to be lazy about your cleanup because that'll leave you with more to do down the road. If something has no use to you or doesn't liven up your workspace, don't be afraid to throw it away.

In the end, a key component to cultivating a positive work life is organizing and cleaning up your workspace. A tidied work area will lead to a tidy mind. When you realize how much time you waste by looking for misplaced items and trying to get through the clutter, it'll be a relief to finally have a space that's sorted properly.

Inside Job: How to Create a Fraud Response Plan

Posted: 23 Apr 2019 05:00 AM PDT

One of the worst situations a business can find itself in is discovering that a long-time, trusted employee has been embezzling money from the company. 

Such a situation can have long-lasting negative consequences and is the reason why all employers should have a plan in place to deal with it should it ever occur.

The discovery of financial fraud within your organization is far from an everyday occurrence, yet how you respond can have a dramatic effect on whether you can achieve a successful outcome. In the absence of a fraud response plan, management is left to their own devices – sometimes with disastrous consequences. There are also a variety of risks to be avoided: from unwittingly compromising the evidentiary value of data, to making uninformed decisions based on underdeveloped evidence, to inadvertently tipping off the suspect – conducting a successful investigation can be a sensitive operation.

Your fraud response plan – a foundational element to anti-fraud policies – sends a signal that the organization will not tolerate fraud. Designed to outline the steps to take when fraud is suspected, a fraud response plan provides the framework for ensuring that allegations of fraud are handled prudently and systematically. 

The initial response

Bear in mind, the improprieties you discover are likely just the tip of the iceberg. Unlike a bank robber threatening you at gunpoint, concealment is the modus operandi of the fraudster. Your initial response should be one of discretion. Avoid the temptation to alert others or directly confront employees. Any information you gather should only be shared on a need-to-know basis.   

Due to its sensitive nature, a fraud investigation should be a confidential undertaking. The oversight of any investigation should be assigned to a senior leader, or team of senior leaders, who understand the weight of the potential situation. Regardless of the size and structure of your organization, the responsibility should reside with management to authorize investigative actions and coordinate the overall response. 

Secure potential evidence

Take immediate steps to safeguard data and other potentially relevant information:

  • Computers and other media:  Avoid the urge to examine computers and other electronic media.  Don't connect external devices or even turn computers on or off. Doing so alters the original evidence, rendering it useless in an investigation.  Have hard drives mirror-imaged by a computer forensic specialist. A mirror image creates a bit-by-bit copy of the original drive, allowing examination of the copied drive without disturbing the data. During the examination, the computer forensic specialist will look for documents, emails and files – deleted or intact – that may provide the financial investigators with the who, what, where, when and why of the investigation.
  • Desk and office space: Secure – don't search – the implicated employee's workspace.  To avoid a misstep, the search for evidence should only be undertaken by trained professionals.

Enlist a fraud response team

The complexity of a financial investigation is not the time for a do-it-yourself mentality. The intricate maze of a fraud investigation requires specialists with deep knowledge in a variety of areas:

  • Legal counsel: An attorney with employment experience can assist you through the web of employer and employee rights. Additionally, an attorney with white-collar crime experience can be invaluable in developing and executing a plan from investigation through resolution – either civil or criminal.
  • Financial investigator: A financial investigator, such as a Certified Fraud Examiner, will maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of the investigation. Avoid the temptation to use your accountant to serve as your financial investigator. The accountant who does your taxes or financial statement audit is not likely to be independent of the situation being investigated. Nor are they likely to be familiar with the proper development of evidence or testifying to their findings.
  • Computer forensic specialist: The preservation of digital evidence is critical to most financial investigations. The proper collection and handling of digital information can make or break your ability to recover proceeds of the crime. Avoid the temptation to use your IT personnel. A computer forensic expert will use forensically sound methods to recover and preserve digital evidence.

Deal with the alleged perpetrator

Try to ignore the impulse to immediately terminate the suspected employee. As difficult as it may be to keep the potential fraudster around, employees have a duty to cooperate with employers during a lawful investigation. Retaining the employee during an investigation can make interviews and obtaining records to prove wrongdoing much easier. Once they are off your payroll, the chance of getting information from them diminishes exponentially.

After the employee has been notified that they are the subject of an investigation, do not allow them to touch or remove anything from their office except personal items. The employee should be accompanied while in the office, then escorted from the premises.

It is also critical that you deactivate passwords to deny access to company information systems. The worst cyber threats don't necessarily come from outside the organization, but rather internally from its employees.  A disgruntled employee can wreak havoc on information systems in a matter of seconds. 

Contact your insurer

Failure to put your insurer on notice can void coverage. Many policies have a 30- or 60-day notification provision from the first day you discover that a loss may have occurred. There's no time to waste.

By using the steps above, you can formulate a fraud response plan that prepares you for the worst-case scenario should fraud occur at your company. Taking the right action from the start is critical to the integrity of an investigation, and it can make or break a case.

Oracle Certification Guide: Overview and Career Paths

Posted: 23 Apr 2019 05:00 AM PDT

Oracle offers a multitude of hardware and software solutions designed to simplify and empower IT. Perhaps best known for its premier database software, the company also offers cloud solutions, servers, engineered systems, storage and more. Oracle has more than 430,000 customers in 175 countries, about 138,000 employees and exceeds $37.7 billion in revenue.

Over the years, Oracle has developed an extensive certification program. Today, it includes six certification levels that span nine different categories with more than 200 individual credentials. Considering the depth and breadth of this program, and the number of Oracle customers, it's no surprise that Oracle certifications are highly sought after.

Oracle Certification Program Overview

Oracle's certification program is divided into these nine primary categories:

  • Oracle Applications
  • Oracle Cloud
  • Oracle Database
  • Oracle Enterprise Management
  • Oracle Industries
  • Oracle Java and Middleware
  • Oracle Operating Systems
  • Oracle Systems
  • Oracle Virtualization

Additionally, Oracle's credentials are offered at six certification levels:

  • Junior Associate
  • Associate
  • Professional
  • Master
  • Expert
  • Specialist

Most Oracle certification exams are proctored, cost $245, and contain a mix of scored and unscored multiple-choice questions. Candidates may take proctored exams at Pearson VUE, although some exams are offered at Oracle Testing Centers in certain locations. Some exams, such as Oracle Database 12c: SQL Fundamentals (1Z0-061) and Oracle Database 11g: SQL Fundamentals (1Z0-051), are also available non-proctored and may be taken online. Non-proctored exams cost $125. Check the Oracle University Certification website for details on specific exams.

Oracle Applications and Cloud certifications

The Oracle Applications certification category offers more than 60 individual credentials across 13 products or product groups, such as Siebel, E-Business Suite, Hyperion, JD Edwards EnterpriseOne and PeopleSoft. The majority of these certifications confer Certified Implementation Specialist for some specific application, with various Certified Expert credentials also available. The Application certifications aim at individuals with expertise in selling and implementing specific Oracle solutions.

Oracle's newest certification category is Oracle Cloud, which covers Java Cloud as well as a number of Oracle Cloud certifications, including Oracle Database Cloud. Cloud certs fall into seven sub-categories:

  • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
  • Platform as a Service (PaaS), including Data Management, Application Development, Management Cloud and Mobile Cloud Service
  • Software as a Service (SaaS) – Oracle Customer Experience Cloud, including Service, Sales, Marketing and CPQ Cloud
  • Software as a Service – Oracle Performance Management Cloud, including Performance Reporting, Enterprise Planning and Budgeting, Financial Consolidation and Close, Profitability and Cost Management Cloud
  • Software as a Services – Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning Cloud, including Financials, Project Portfolio Management, Procurement and Risk Management Cloud
  • Software as a Service – Oracle Human Capital Management Cloud, including Workforce Rewards, Payroll, Talent Management and Global Human Resources Cloud
  • Software as a Service – Oracle Supply Chain Management Cloud, including Order Management, Product Master Data Management, Product Lifecycle Management, Manufacturing, Inventory Management, Supply Chain Planning and Logistics Cloud

These credentials recognize individuals who deploy applications, perform administration or deliver customer solutions in the cloud. Credentials mostly include Associate and Certification Implementation Specialists, with one Mobile Developer credential offered plus a professional-level Oracle Database Cloud Administrator.

Oracle Database certifications

Certifications in Oracle's Database category are geared toward individuals who develop or work with Oracle databases. There are three main categories: Database Application Development, MySQL and Oracle Database.

Note: Oracle Database 12c was redesigned for cloud computing (and is included in both the Cloud and Database certification categories). The current version is Oracle Database 12c R2, which contains additional enhancements for in-memory databases and multitenant architectures. MySQL 5.6 has been optimized for performance and storage, so it can handle bigger data sets.

Whenever a significant version of either database is released, Oracle updates its certifications exams over time. If an exam isn't available for the latest release, candidates can take a previous version of the exam and then an updated exam when it becomes available. Though MySQL 5.6 certifications and exams are still available for candidates supporting that version, the new MySQL 5.7 certification track may be more appropriate for those just starting on their MySQL certification journeys.

Oracle currently offers the Oracle Database Foundations Certified Junior Associate, Oracle Certified Associate (OCA), Oracle Certified Professional (OCP), Oracle Certified Master (OCM), Oracle Certified Expert (OCE) and Specialist paths for Oracle Database 12c. In addition, Oracle offers the OCA credential for Oracle Database 12c R2 and an upgrade path for the OCP credential. Because many of these certifications are also popular within the Oracle Certification Program, we provide additional exam details and links in the following sections.

Other database certifications

Oracle Enterprise Management Certifications

The Oracle Enterprise Manager Certification path offers candidates the opportunity to demonstrate their skills in application, middleware, database and storage management. The Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Certified Implementation Specialist exam (1Z0-457) certifies a candidate's expertise in physical, virtual and cloud environments, as well as design, installation, implementation, reporting, and support of Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Oracle Database Foundations Certified Junior Associate

The Oracle Database Foundation Certified Junior Associate credential targets those who've participated in the Oracle Academy through a college or university program, computer science and database teachers, and individuals studying databases and computer science. As a novice-level credential, the Certified Junior Associate is intended for individuals with limited hands-on experience working on Oracle Database products. To earn this credential, candidates must pass the Oracle Database Foundations (novice-level exam) (1Z0-006).

Oracle Certified Associate (OCA) – Oracle Database 12c Administrator

The OCA certification measures the day-to-day operational management database skills of DBAs. Candidates must pass a SQL exam and another on Oracle Database administration. Candidates can choose one of the following SQL exams:

  • Oracle Database 12c SQL (1Z0-071)
  • Oracle Database 12c: SQL Fundamentals (1Z0-061) NOTE: This exam will be retired on November 30, 2019.

Candidates must also pass the Oracle Database 12c: Installation and Administration (1Z0-062) exam.

Oracle Certified Associate – Oracle Database 12cR2 Administrator

To earn the Oracle Database 12cR2 OCA credential, candidates must first earn either the Oracle Database SQL Certified Associate, Oracle Database 11g Administrator Certified Associate, or the Oracle Database 12c Administrator Certified Associate.  In addition, candidates are required to pass the Oracle Database 12cR2 Administration exam (1Z0-072).

Oracle Certified Professional (OCP) – Oracle Database 12c Administrator

The OCP certification covers more advanced database skills. You must have the OCA Database 12c Administrator certification, complete the required training, submit a course submission form and pass the Oracle Database 12c: Advanced Administration (1Z0-063) exam.

Professionals who possess either the Oracle Database 11g Administrator Certified Professional or Oracle Database 12c Administrator Certified Professional credential may upgrade to the Oracle Database 12cR2 Administration Certified Professional credential by passing the Oracle DBA upgrade exam (1Z0-074).

Oracle Certified Master (OCM) – Oracle Database 12c Administrator

To achieve OCM Database 12c Administrator certification, you must have the OCP Database 12c Administrator certification, complete two advanced courses, and pass the Oracle Database 12c Certified Master Exam (12cOCM), complete the course submission form, and submit the Fulfillment Kit request.

Oracle also offers the Oracle Database 12c Maximum Availability Certified Master certification, which requires three separate credentials, including the Oracle Database 12c Administrator Certified Master, Oracle Certified Expert, Oracle Database 12c-RAC and Grid Infrastructure Administration, and Oracle Certified Expert, Oracle Database 12c – Data Guard Administration.

Oracle Certified Expert (OCE) – Oracle Database 12c

The OCE Database 12c certifications include Maximum Availability, Data Guard Administrator, RAC and Grid Infrastructure Administrator, and Performance Management and Tuning credentials. All these certifications involve prerequisite certifications. Performance Management and Tuning takes the OSP Database 12c as a prerequisite and the Data Guard Administrator certification requires the OCP Database 12c credential. The RAC and Grid Infrastructure Administrator provides candidates the most flexibility, allowing candidates to choose from the OCP Database 11g, OCP Databases 12c, Oracle Certified Expert – Real Application Clusters 11g and Grid Infrastructure Administration.

Once the prerequisite credentials are earned, candidates can then achieve Data Guard Administrator, RAC and Grid Infrastructure Administrator or Performance Management and Tuning by passing one exam. Achieving OCP 12c plus the RAC and Grid Infrastructure Administration and Data Guard Administration certifications earns the Maximum Availability credential.

Oracle Database Certified Implementation Specialist

Oracle also offers three Certified Implementation Specialist credentials: the Oracle Real Application Clusters 12c, Oracle Database Performance and Tuning 2015, and Oracle Database 12c. Specialist credentials target individuals with a background in selling and implementing Oracle solutions. Each of these credentials requires candidates to pass a single exam to earn the designation.

Oracle Industries certifications

Oracle Industries is another sizeable category, with more than 25 individual certifications focused on Oracle software for the construction and engineering, communications, health sciences, insurance, tax and utilities industries. All these certifications recognize Certified Implementation Specialists for the various Oracle industry products, which means they identify individuals proficient in implementing and selling industry-specific Oracle software.

Oracle Java and Middleware Certifications

The Java and Middleware certifications span several subcategories, such as Business Intelligence, Application Server, Cloud Application, Data Integration, Identity Management, Mobile, Java, Oracle Fusion Middleware Development Tools and more. Java and Middleware credentials represent all levels of the Oracle Certification Program – Associate, Professional and so on – and include Java Developer, Java Programmer, System Administrator, Architect and Implementation Specialist.

The highly popular Java category has certifications for Java SE (Standard Edition), and Java EE (Enterprise Edition) and Web Services. Several Java certifications that require a prior certification accept either the corresponding Sun or Oracle credential.

Oracle Operating Systems certifications

The Oracle Operating Systems certifications include Linux and Solaris. These certifications are geared toward administrators and implementation specialists.

The Linux 6 certifications include OCA and OCP Linux 6 System Administrator certifications, as well as an Oracle Linux Certified Implementation Specialist certification. The Linux 6 Specialist is geared to partners but is open to all candidates. Both the Linux OCA and Specialist credentials require a single exam. To achieve the OCP, candidates must first earn either the OCA Linux 5 or 6 System Administrator or OCA Linux Administrator (now retired) credential, plus pass an exam.

The Solaris 11 certifications include the OCA and OCP System Administrator certifications plus an Oracle Solaris 11 Installation and Configuration Certified Implementation Specialist certification. The OCA and OCP Solaris 11 System Administrator certifications identify Oracle Solaris 11 administrators who have a fundamental knowledge of and base-level skills with the UNIX operating system, commands, and utilities. As indicated by its name, the Implementation Specialist cert identifies intermediate-level implementation team members who install and configure Oracle Solaris 11.

Oracle Systems certifications

Oracle Systems certifications include Engineered Systems (Big Data Appliance, Exadata, Exalogic Elastic Cloud, Exalytics, and Private Cloud Appliance), Servers (Fujitsu and SPARC) and Storage (Oracle ZFS, Pillar Axiom, Tape Storage, Flash Storage System). Most of these certifications aim at individuals who sell and implement one of the specific solutions. The Exadata certification subcategory also includes Oracle Exadata X3, X4 and X5 Expert Administrator certifications for individuals who administer, configure, patch, and monitor the Oracle Exadata Database Machine platform.

Oracle Virtualization certifications

The Virtualization certifications cover Oracle Virtual Machine (VM) Server for X86. This credential is based on Oracle VM 3.0 for X86, and recognizes individuals who sell and implement Oracle VM solutions.

The Oracle VM 3.0 for x86 Certified Implementation Specialist Certification aim at intermediate-level team members proficient in installing OVM 3.0 Server and OVM 3.0 Manager components, discovering OVM Servers, configuring network and storage repositories and more.

Related jobs and careers

The sheer breadth and depth of Oracle's certification program creates ample opportunities for professionals who want to work with Oracle technologies, or who already do and want their skills recognized and validated. Although there are many specific Oracle products in which to specialize in varying capacities, the main job roles include administrators, architects, programmers/developers and implementation specialists.

Every company that runs Oracle Database, Oracle Cloud, or Oracle Linux or Solaris needs qualified administrators to deploy, maintain, monitor and troubleshoot these solutions. These same companies also need architects to plan and design solutions that meet business needs and are appropriate for the specific environments in which they're deployed, indicating that the opportunities for career advancement in Oracle technologies are abundant.

Job listings and hiring data indicate that programmers and developers continue to be highly sought-after in the IT world. Programming and development skills are some of the most sought-after by hiring managers in 2019, and database administration isn't far behind. A quick search on Indeed results in almost 12,000 hits for "Oracle developer," which is a great indication of both need and opportunity. Not only do developers create and modify Oracle software, they often must know how to design software from the ground up, package products, import data, write scripts and develop reports.

And, of course, Oracle and its partners will always need implementation specialists to sell and deploy the company's solutions. This role is typically responsible for tasks that must be successfully accomplished to get a solution up and running in a client's environment, from creating a project plan and schedule, to configuring and customizing a system to match client specifications.

Oracle training and resources

It's not surprising that Oracle has an extensive library of exam preparation materials. Check the Oracle University website (education.oracle.com) for hands-on instructor-led training, virtual courses, training on demand, exam preparation seminars, practice exams and other training resources.

A candidate's best bet, however, is to first choose a certification path and then follow the links on the Oracle website to the required exam(s). If training is recommended or additional resources are available for a particular exam, Oracle lists them on the exam page.

Another great resource is the Oracle Learning Paths web page, which provides a lengthy list of Oracle product-related job roles and their recommended courses.

Ed Tittel
Ed is a 30-year-plus veteran of the computing industry. He has worked as a programmer, technical manager, classroom instructor, network consultant and a technical evangelist for companies that include Burroughs, Schlumberger, Novell, IBM/Tivoli and NetQoS. He has written for numerous publications, including Tom's IT Pro, and is the author of more than 140 computing books on information security, web markup languages and development tools, and Windows operating systems.

Earl Follis
Earl is also a 30-year veteran of the computer industry, who worked in IT training, marketing, technical evangelism, and market analysis in the areas of networking and systems technology and management. Ed and Earl met in the late 1980s when Ed hired Earl as a trainer at an Austin-area networking company that's now part of HP. The two of them have written numerous books together on NetWare, Windows Server and other topics. Earl is also a regular writer for the computer trade press with many e-books, white papers and articles to his credit.
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