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How Blockchain Will Transform the Hiring Process.

Posted: 03 Apr 2019 11:30 AM PDT

Most people have heard of the blockchain, although according to Forbes, the No. 1 misconception with blockchain is that it's the same as bitcoin. Being aware of the differences between the two is essential in understanding how blockchain can revolutionize the hiring process. Furthermore, if blockchain is adapted to work with current HR systems, it could mean a shift in the paradigm of massive proportions. We're not looking only at the process here, but the data that facilitates that process. Blockchain has the potential to make that data even more meaningful to HR professionals as well as offer new insight into their potential hires than existing systems could.

The blockchain as a concept

So if bitcoin and blockchain aren't interchangeable terms, then what is what? CNN Money defines bitcoin as a cryptocurrency that was initially created in 2009, as a means of storing value and transferring funds as a digital medium that is not controlled by any financial institution. Blockchain is the technology that made the existence of bitcoin possible, but there are so many more applications for it than merely a store of value in digital coins. Investopedia informs us that a blockchain is a distributed ledger, where all people who use the register have access to the contents of it, and those contents are declared through consensus of the network that the ledger is held on. In simple terms, a blockchain is a series of records, and everyone who has an interest in that blockchain has access to the entire blockchain. For us to determine the contents of that blockchain, we consult each member of the chain that holds a copy and the version of the blockchain that is in the majority wins out.

Blockchain and security

There's something that makes the blockchain ideal for a situation where a company needs to take a potential employee's word based on trust. Security within a blockchain is directly proportional to the number of users on that blockchain. This means that as more companies adopt the blockchain, the more secure the record kept on that blockchain will be.

An excellent example of this from an HR perspective is the submission of resumes using a site like TrustED. These documents are almost wholly taken on trust, except for references which the application usually gives to the employer. As these sites have shown, in the case of a blockchain, there would be no need for a resume since jobs that the applicant has done can be tracked and linked to the applicant's account immediately. Additionally, previous employers could be reached directly to discuss the employee. And all of this data would be secured as more companies join the network. It would be a more reliable, but much more secure version of headhunting on LinkedIn.

Automated taxation

Blockchain was designed to be a method of securing data, but the evolution of the system has led to the development of a feature known as smart contracts. By setting a blockchain up that handles transactions automatically using these smart contracts, payment of salaries would be simple and wouldn't involve any third-party. Additionally, a smart contract could be tied to the salary of each employee to ensure that each salary is removed before payment is made.

As Pricewaterhouse Coopers notes, many people in the system today wonder if the taxation system at present is capable of dealing with the evolved form of employment as exists today. This automated taxation system could be beneficial to both HR managers (who no longer have to calculate and pay taxation) as well as employees (who don't have to worry about filing tax returns as all the information already exists on the blockchain).

Routine tasks and simplification

Payroll generation is another holdover from a bygone era, where the movement of money was linked to the flow of paper. Having a blockchain makes the need for keeping this paper-based system alive non-existent. Because blockchain can automatically log payments and instantaneously transfer funds, the need for updating a paper sheet with payment details and deductions (both of which could occur automatically as mentioned before) seems an added complication. Properly coded smart contracts would automatically execute these payments as they need to be done and inform both parties of the success of those payments. If there is a breach of that contract, all the data is readily available on the blockchain to allow for speedy litigation if necessary.

A disruptive technology

While Bitcoin might have had its way in the sun and is now moving like a rock rolling downhill, it did manage to show one thing – the usefulness and possibilities of a blockchain. Intelligent developers have already cottoned on the potential of these blockchains, and quite a few companies have become involved in research and development of the technology. Hackernoon even has a list of the banks that have started utilizing blockchain in their business, showing how disruptive this technology has been. The blockchain provides a better way of doing things than we have been invested in up to now. The smart thing would be to explore how it can change your business while everyone else is still in the dark about it.

SECURE Act Passes Committee, Could Change Retirement Rules

Posted: 03 Apr 2019 11:00 AM PDT

Legislators in the House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee unanimously passed a bill yesterday that could make it easier for small businesses to provide retirement plans to their employees and make more workers eligible to participate in them.

Dubbed the "Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019," or the SECURE Act, the bill contains several provisions that aim to make retirement an attainable goal for more American workers.

Following the bill's passage, Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) said the proposal was a big step in helping "workers of all ages prepare for a financially secure retirement."

"Americans currently face a retirement income crisis, with too many people in danger of not having enough savings to maintain their standard of living and avoid sliding into poverty. The SECURE Act goes a long way in addressing this problem by making it easier for Americans to save," he said. "Passage of this bill is a tremendous bipartisan accomplishment, and I hope to see the measure move through Congress and be signed into law in short order."

After the introduction of the Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act of 2019 in the Senate, SECURE is one of two similar pieces of legislation making their way through Congress that lawmakers hope to have on President Donald J. Trump's desk before the end of the year.

News of the bill's successful run through committee had retirement plan industry leaders excited at the prospect of SECURE and RESA becoming law.

"Taken together, RESA and the SECURE Act represent the kind of leadership necessary to address Americans' retirement security concerns," said Susan Neely, president and CEO of the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI). "We urge Congress to act quickly on these important measures."

What the SECURE Act proposes

While proponents of the bill, like Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), touted the proposal as "landmark, bipartisan legislation," it's important to note that the SECURE Act still must pass a vote on the House floor. For that to happen, legislators outside of the Ways and Means Committee will have to weigh the bill's perceived merits.

If passed, the SECURE Act will do the following:

  • Allow employers to automatically escalate employee contributions from 10 to 15 percent
  • Implement rules that help long-term, part-time workers participate in 401(k) plans by requiring employers that provide the benefit to have "a dual eligibility requirement under which an employee must complete either a one year of service requirement (with the 1,000-hour rule) or three consecutive years of service where the employee completes at least 500 hours of service"
  • Give a larger tax credit to small businesses that opt to set up retirement plans for their employees, making the process more affordable
  • Provide retirement plan holders with an easier way to transfer lifetime income to another employer-sponsored retirement plan or IRA
  • Let individuals continue to contribute to a traditional IRA beyond the current cutoff of 70.5 years old. Under the SECURE Act, people can continue to contribute until they are 72 years old
  • Help those with some taxable, non-tuition fellowship and stipend payments to save for retirement based on that income
  • Block qualified employer plans from making loans through credit cards, ensuring that "plan loans are not used for routine or small purchases, thereby preserving retirement savings."

Along with those provisions, the SECURE Act will give employers a "fiduciary safe harbor" when selecting a lifetime income provider. Under those protections, employers will have a set of guidelines that, if followed, can shield them from liability.

Funding the SECURE Act

If passed, the SECURE Act and the Senate's RESA Act would be the first major piece of retirement legislation since the Pension Protection Act became law 13 years ago. Since then, 401(k)s and IRAs have grown in popularity.

As with most pieces of legislation, lawmakers are left wondering how to pay for the SECURE Act's laundry list of changes. According to the bill, there are four main methods that legislators hope to employ to even out the costs:

  • Change existing rules surrounding the distribution of 401(k) plans when participants die. Unless those retirement plans are disbursed to the employee's surviving spouse, disabled or chronically ill individuals, people who are 10 years younger than the employee, or the employee's child (under 18 years of age), beneficiaries will not get the funds until 10 years after the death of the plan holder.
  • Increase the penalty that comes with not filing your taxes to either $400 or 100 percent of the amount of taxes due, whichever is the lesser amount.
  • Increase the penalty for failing to file retirement plan returns. Under the new legislation, the Form 5500 penalty will go to $105 per day, not to exceed $50,000. Other fees are also included in this item.
  • Bolster information sharing between the IRS and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in order to more easily administer and collect the heavy vehicle use tax.

Laptop Buying Guide for Small Business

Posted: 03 Apr 2019 10:59 AM PDT

There are plenty of top-10 lists out there for people who want a quick reference for the best work laptops on the market, but this laptop buying guide will teach you how to buy computers the clever way, without relying on the (often sponsored) opinions of someone else. Don't be concerned if you have little to no tech support or limited experience – once you know the nuts and bolts of what makes a good laptop, the shopping process will be much less overwhelming.

This buying guide is designed to be worked through step by step and considers general hardware best practices as well as the budgetary and deployment concerns of small business owners.  

Step 1: Set your technology budget and optimize your shopping strategy.

The best way to optimize your tech spending is to set a clear budget before shopping. As you set your budget, be sure to consider not only the overall amount you're willing to spend but how that will amortize over the number of laptops you'll buy. When entrepreneurs don't set a budget before shopping, especially for technology, they often end up overspending or underspending. Not every business needs a fleet of top-of-the-line machines, and it's a waste of time to consider high-cost options if they don't suit your bottom line. On the other hand, underspending can end up costing you more in the long run if you don't get what your employees need the first time around. 

One popular approach to tech budgeting is to adopt different tiers of devices based on user needs. For example, it may be worthwhile to spring for luxury Dell machines for your C-suite execs and dev team, midrange Dell laptops for your professional staff, and entry-level Dells for support staff. It's advisable to stick to one or two manufacturers to simplify maintenance and mobile device management (MDM) in the future. For this reason, it's best to keep tech purchasing decisions in the hands of a small number of high-level employees and not open the conversation to your entire staff.

In fact, the easiest management approach is to have only one original equipment manufacturer and two or three model variations. If you have creative pros on board, though, you will likely end up adopting two types of machines, since creatives often require pricey Macs (which are not typically necessary for other employees). [Read related article: What Is Mobile Device Mangement?]

If you're not sure how to strike a balance between cost and quality, check out our breakdown of laptop budget ranges and determine your range based on the types of employees you have: 

  • $300 and under: In the $300 and lower range, you'll find low-end Chromebooks and Windows machines exclusively. We don't recommend laptops at this price point for business users, as they typically have cheap build quality, limited storage and slow performance. Even for light business use, you can do better.
     
  • $350 to $599: In this price range, you'll find mediocre Windows laptops and good business Chromebooks. The reason Chromebooks are better than Windows machines in this range is because they have far less storage (which is expensive), so they can stay at a low price without sacrificing on build and display. Either way, you should only purchase a work laptop in this price range for staff that sticks to basic tasks such as using Microsoft Office, posting on social media and browsing the web. For support staff with limited needs, like receptionists and assistants, this price range may be adequate.
     
  • $600 to $900: Most professional business users' needs can be met in the $600 to $999 price range. Users should have no trouble getting the memory and storage they need as well as a powerful enough processor for business multitasking at this level. Work laptops in this category often feature business-class security features, such as fingerprint scanners, and they tend to have good battery life, comfortable keyboards and nice displays.
     
  • $1,000 and up: For $1,000 or more, you can get a laptop that's much more powerful or portable than those in the cheaper price brackets. Premium ultraportable models, such as Dell's XPS 13, offer fast performance in an extremely sleek package. Bulky, powerful workstations also fall into this category and range from $1,500 to $3,000 or more. This is the best price range for your power users, like your dev team, design team and C-level execs who want to project a certain image.

Now that your budget is set, filter your future searches based on cost. Even looking at laptop models outside of your price range is a recipe for budgetary disaster, so steer clear. 

Step 2: Choose an operating system.

Unless you're able to spend at least $1,300 per laptop, you'll be choosing between the Chrome and Windows operating systems, but there are three primary operating systems, and you should know the differences between all of them. If, after reading these descriptions, you are still unsure which operating system to select, choose Windows. Windows is still the business standard worldwide, and you are unlikely to regret the decision.  

Apple OS X

Laptops that run Apple's OS X carry hefty price tags, but many die-hard Apple fans are willing to pay a premium for a beautiful machine with a well-designed interface. Historically, creative professionals favored Apple laptops for their high screen quality, function keys, and ability to run high-octane programs such as Avid, Maya and Dreamweaver. 

Many creative pros still purchase laptops from Apple, but it's no longer considered the go-to brand, especially since recent MacBook Pros have featured less RAM than previous models and seem more focused on appealing to a mass audience than a niche. 

Whether you opt for a machine running Apple OS X or not is mainly up to personal preference and how much you're comfortable spending. The only real exception to this rule is if your business happens to use a software product that can only run on Mac. While this scenario is becoming less common, you should always ask IT experts about possible operating system and software compatibility issues before buying new laptops. Some businesses also choose Apple OS machines for the image they project, and if you are in a field where looks matter and cultivating a luxe vibe is important to your clients, that may be a valid choice.

Windows 10 OS

As we already mentioned, Windows is the standard for work laptop operating systems. If you go with a Windows OS, you'll have more laptops to choose from than if you go for Chrome OS or Apple OS X. There are Windows machines available in every configuration and price range possible, which means you can be pretty picky (within your budget, of course). 

Windows 10, the latest version of the operating system, comes with a handful of new features that can boost your productivity. Cortana, Microsoft's virtual assistant, can perform all sorts of tasks, such as scheduling appointments and checking the weather. Then there's Task View, which lets you set up multiple virtual desktops for easier multitasking.

The main benefit to choosing Windows is familiarity. It's highly unlikely that your employees have never used a Windows laptop before, and most IT pros (even those with limited experience) know how to provide support for Windows devices. Ease of use is an important part of business tech adoption, and the average office worker is comfortable with Windows.

Chrome OS 

Google's Chrome OS is the new kid on the block of operating systems, so if you're not sure what to expect from a Chromebook, you're not alone. When Chromebooks first hit the market, they were primarily created with students in mind, because they have a super low starting price. 

Now the offering of Chromebooks is more diverse, and there are business-focused laptops running Chrome OS. Chrome is a great choice for an entrepreneur who is comfortable living in the cloud (you can't download programs on a Chromebook) and doesn't want to worry about updates. 

Chromebooks are built to automatically download and deploy updates for you, which is a great timesaver for busy entrepreneurs. Thanks to an increase in cloud-based programs such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Chromebooks are growing more functional for a broader range of business owners.

Step 3: Choose a laptop design.

The key to choosing the right laptop design is considering how you (and your team) work. Here are a few questions to ask yourself (or your employees) before you shop.

Do I want a hybrid laptop or a traditional laptop? 

You're already familiar with traditional laptops that open on a hinge, but now there's another breed of hybrid laptops to consider. Hybrid laptops, also called convertible laptops or 2-in-1s, are laptops that double as stand-alone tablets.

Some hybrid laptops feature screens that detach completely from the keyboard, while others have hinges with a 180-degree range of motion, so you can fold the laptop inside out and use it as a tablet. Employees who travel a lot or currently switch back and forth between a laptop (for typing) and a tablet (for stylus and touchscreen use) may be a good match for a hybrid design. However, you should be aware that a 2-in-1 with high specs will be costlier than a standard hinge laptop with the same specs.

Is a comfortable keyboard a high priority? 

When you're busy looking at laptop designs, it can be easy to forget about the basics and be dazzled by gorgeous chassis and high-resolution screens, but keyboard comfort is an important factor for most business users. In fact, an uncomfortable keyboard will end up being a much bigger barrier to getting work done than a slightly unimpressive PPI or a bland design. While you shop, keep in mind that the smaller the laptop, the smaller the keyboard, and that typing on a miniature keyboard for hours at a time can be tiresome.

If possible, test out keyboards to get a feel for what you like. If you can't do that, at least take note of the size of the keyboard on any laptop you consider. If you choose a laptop with a less-than-ideal keyboard, you can invest in an external keyboard for long typing sessions – but this is not ideal, of course.

Will I be traveling with my laptop or mostly working in one place? 

Portability is a major concern for some business owners and a nonissue for others. If you travel a lot or work in different locations on a regular basis, it may be worth sacrificing screen and keyboard size for a lighter computer. You can always check the dimensions and weight of a laptop under the technical specifications online. 

Keep in mind that laptop screens, like television screens, are measured diagonally (corner to corner) and that, in general, any device that weighs less than 3 pounds is portable enough for business travel. Before you choose an ultraportable, though, make sure the device has the ports you require and a battery life you can live with.

Do I need a touchscreen or stylus support? 

Touchscreens are a nice feature if (and only if) you use them a lot. Laptops that have touchscreens and/or stylus support are nearly always more expensive than similar models without touchscreens.

Computers with touchscreens also use a lot more battery power than those without, even if you don't actively use the touchscreen feature. To top it off, touchscreens are heavier than regular screens. If you need a touchscreen or stylus support, you should absolutely look for that feature in a laptop, but don't spring for it just because you think it seems like a cool add-on.

Do I need a rugged laptop?

Rugged laptops are essential for some businesses, especially those that employ servicepeople in rugged or remote conditions. Toughbook by Panasonic is the most high-profile of the rugged laptop lines, and it's very popular with public service professionals (police, fire, EMT, conservation) as well as private companies that require ultra-resilient laptops (oil, fishing, agriculture, construction, delivery).

Rugged laptops and tablets are often offered with accessories that are not available for mainstream laptops, such as vehicle mounts and vehicle battery packs (some rugged laptops can operate for days at a time with these packs). Rugged laptops are also typically waterproof, drop-proof, and able to be used with gloves on (even if they have touchscreens). However, they're also usually larger and clunkier than consumer or business laptops, and they can be expensive once you factor in accessories.

Most businesses do not need rugged laptops, but if yours does, don't even bother looking at standard consumer or business machines. Instead, start by checking out these rugged lines: Toughbook by Panasonic, Getac and Dell Rugged Extreme.

Step 4: Compare these three specs. 

By now, you've probably found a couple laptops that fit your budget, have the operating system you want and meet your design needs. Choosing between them comes down to the specs. Looking at specs can be overwhelming when you're not familiar with all the tech talk, so let's break it down in simple real-world terms. 

CPU

Under the technical specs, you'll see the laptop's CPU (central processing unit, also just called the processor) listed. The CPU is the first thing you should look at when comparing laptop options. 

If your laptop were a car, the CPU would be the engine. As you can imagine, the quality of your laptop's processor has a huge impact on usability. That said, many people overspend for top-of-the-line processors when they don't need them. An equivalent would be someone who buys a Porsche but never drives more than 40 mph. 

As you compare CPUs on the laptops you're looking at, keep these general guidelines in mind: 

  • Low-end CPUs: Low-end CPUs include the Intel Atom, AMD E Series, Intel Pentium and Intel Celeron. These CPUs are best suited for very light use. If all you plan on doing is typing and web browsing, a low-end CPU may be fine, but, in general, we don't recommend these for business use.
     
  • Midrange CPUs: Midrange CPUs include Intel Core m3, Intel Core m5 and Intel Core m7. You will likely only see these CPUs in lightweight laptops and hybrid laptop designs. These CPUs are OK for basic work tasks. If the laptop you're buying is a secondary machine for travel, or something you'll only use occasionally to take notes and send emails, this range of CPUs should suit your needs. If your business requires you to run robust programs on a regular basis, spring for more power.
     
  • CPUs that are good for most business use: Intel Core i3 and Intel Core i5 processors are suitable for most businesses; they're like the reliable four-door sedans of the laptop world. If you regularly multitask on your machine, like running QuickBooks while managing massive spreadsheets in Excel when your browser has 15 tabs open, a Core i5 is a better choice for you than a Core i3. If you're a standard business user who uses Outlook, types documents, streams media, stores photos and posts to social media, a Core i3 will suit your needs just fine.
     
  • High-end CPUs: When they first came to market, Intel's sixth- and seventh-generation Core i7 processors were found exclusively in high-end laptops. As with most technology, the price has decreased somewhat, and you can now find laptops for less than $1,000 that have i7 processors. While there's nothing wrong with purchasing a laptop with a Core i7 processor, you probably don't need one. 

Many people think a powerful processor equals better performance, and everyone wants the best performance possible, but that idea is both true and false. Here's an analogy: Imagine loading a bag of groceries in the back of your four-door sedan (your Core i3 or Core i5). You can easily drive that bag of groceries home, right? Now imagine putting that same bag of groceries in the back of a high-end pickup truck with way more horsepower. Was it easier to drive the bag of groceries home in the more expensive truck? No, it didn't make a difference, because the task you were performing was so lightweight that you didn't even tap into the benefit of the pickup truck's extra horsepower (the ability to haul massive loads, attach a snow plow, use four-wheel drive, etc.). 

The same is true for high-end processors. If you're not going to do video editing or 3D modeling, you don't need a high-end processor, and having one won't improve your laptop experience. If those demanding tasks are part of your daily business, a Core i7 will be well worth the money. 

  • Luxury CPUs: If you gave yourself an unlimited budget for business laptops, you may encounter a few that feature the Intel Xeon. The Intel Xeon is only necessary for professionals who regularly do hardcore business analytics, vector-based processing, and other highly intensive data science and analytics tasks. If all those terms sound like Greek to you, you don't need an Intel Xeon. If an i7 is a fancy pickup truck, an Intel Xeon is a high-end sports car, like an Aston Martin or a Porsche. There's a very small population for whom buying a sports car is a financially sound decision, and the same is true for a luxury laptop with an Intel Xeon.

Memory and storage

The second most important factor to compare in work laptops is memory and storage. There are two basic types of memory and storage that your laptop will have. You can think about them like long-term storage and short-term memory. For short-term memory, there's random access memory (RAM), and for long-term storage, there's your hard disk drive (HDD, also just called a hard drive). Some computers have a solid-state drive (SSD) in addition to an HDD for long-term storage, while others only have an SSD for long-term storage. 

SSDs are newer than HDDs, but they are increasingly popular for storage because they're faster than HDDs, meaning they make your laptop run faster too. SSDs don't have any moving parts, so they're also more durable and compact than standard hard drives, which is why you'll almost always find them in rugged laptops.

Here's how to figure out if the laptop you're looking at has enough memory and storage for your business use:

  • RAM: Skip any laptops with 2GB RAM, as they'll be frustrating to work on. Aim instead for laptops that have 4GB (good) or 8GB (even better). Some laptops come with 16GB, but that's not necessary for most business users.
     
  • HDD and SDD: Unless you're planning on doing a lot of video editing (therefore storing tons of footage on your machine), you should be fine with a minimum combined storage capacity of around 256GB. Bear in mind that if you opt for a Chromebook, you will have far less hard drive space (which is fine if you're OK with living in the cloud and running mobile apps). The storage suggestion here is primarily for business users purchasing Windows or Apple machines.

Battery life 

The last major spec you should consider before making your final decision is battery life. Battery life is a nonissue for some business owners and a huge dealbreaker for others, and only you know how often you'll be using your laptop without access to power. 

In any case, it's a good idea to glance at the battery life of any machine you purchase. Bear in mind that laptop manufacturers use different metrics to measure battery life, so take each one's reported number as more of an estimate than an absolute fact.

Some laptop manufacturers make add-on batteries for an additional cost. While these extended-life batteries can massively improve the battery life of a work laptop, they also add considerable weight to the machine, so make sure you consider combined weight if you opt for an extra battery pack.

Step 5: Buy laptops for your business.

Now that you've successfully narrowed down your choice of work laptops based on what you need and what you can afford, you can confidently make your purchase. The basic approach outlined in this laptop buying guide can be used to buy other technology too, like printers and copiers and business phone systems. We also have helpful guides to advise you on software buying decisions. 

Best Storage Certifications

Posted: 03 Apr 2019 10:06 AM PDT

There's no question that skills and knowledge related to various networked forms of storage – such as storage area networks (SANs), network-attached storage (NAS), virtualized storage, and even storage as a service (STaaS) – are in high demand. Also, IT professionals interested in data center or network-backbone-related positions are likely to need strong storage chops.

Average salaries for storage engineers are consistent (and lucrative) across several job-related websites. For example, SimplyHired reports the average nationwide salary is a little over $107,600 in a range starting at $74,085 and climbing just over $156,000. Potential earnings reported by Glassdoor are higher: The national average salary is just over $165,800, with the low end of the range at about $110,000 and the high end close to $182,000.

In some ways, the state of storage certification perfectly mirrors in a single subject area (or perhaps a closely clustered collection of related subjects) what occurs across the full spectrum of information technology. Some vendor-neutral storage certifications are available, particularly those from the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) and Arcitura. Also, there are numerous vendor-specific storage credentials available from providers of storage systems and solutions, including Cisco, Dell EMC, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), HPE, NetApp and Sun/Oracle, among others.

Like other IT certifications, vendor-neutral credentials recognize broad competency in design, implementation and management, while vendor-specific programs tend to match up with technologies active IT professionals interact within the workplace (or that they'd like to interact with for prospective employers).

How is a storage-minded IT professional supposed to pick a winner here? Name recognition is one factor. Big name and big company certifications tend to attract higher numbers of certified individuals, lending more credibility to such certifications.

Popularity with employers is another consideration when selecting a certification. In our informal survey, we searched several online job sites on a given day for specific storage certifications. Note that the Cisco CCNP swamps the other certifications because its coverage goes well beyond storage. (The CCNP Data Center specialization involves storage to some degree, but it does not focus only on storage.)

Job Board Search Results (in alphabetical order, by certification)

Certification

SimplyHired

Indeed

LinkedIn

Linkup.com

Total

CCIE Data Center (Cisco)

366

516

345

364

1,591

CCNP Data Center (Cisco)

596

792

390

448

2,226

HDS Storage Administration (Hitachi)

205

256

104

110

675

NCDA (NetApp)

515

656

226

322

1,719

SNIA certifications

30

44

48

16

138

 

Based on name recognition and job board surveys, our picks for 2019 lie with Cisco, HDS, NetApp and SNIA. One item noticeably absent from the leader board this year is the Brocade storage program. This gap in the lineup isn't for lack of popularity. In fact, quite the opposite is true as the job board search yielded over 3,000 employers seeking candidates with Brocade experience and certs. Unfortunately for certification seekers, after Brocade was acquired by Broadcom, its exams, accreditations, certifications, and instructor-led training are no longer available. However, many free web-based courses remain that cover Fibre Channel Storage Area Networking products for professionals seeking to expand their Brocade knowledge and skills.

The following sections explore each of the preceding certifications and/or programs.

CCIE Data Center: Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert

Of all the storage-related Cisco certifications, the CCIE Data Center is the most senior and the best recognized. While it is a difficult and demanding credential to earn, it comes with a terrific payoff for its holders.

An expert-level credential, CCIE Data Center professionals are masters when it comes to planning, designing, implementing and managing IT data center infrastructures. Exam topics focus on connectivity (Layers 2 and 3), fabric infrastructure, storage networking and computing, network services, evolving and emerging technologies, and network services and automation.

To earn this credential, candidates must pass both a written and a rigorous 8-hour, two-part practical lab exam. The written exam must be passed before candidates may attempt the lab exam. Lab exams must be attempted within 18 months of successfully passing the written exam. The lab exam is delivered in two parts: The first part consists of a one-hour Diagnostic Module, while Part 2 consists of a 7-hour Configuration and Troubleshooting module. It is reputed to be fiendishly challenging.

CCIE Data Center Facts and Figures

Certification Name

Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) Data Center

Prerequisites & Required Courses

None

Number of Exams

Two exams: CCIE Data Center (400-151) (written exam) and the CCIE Data Center lab exam

Cost per Exam

Written Exam: CCIE Data Center 400-151: $450

Lab Exam: $1,600

Exam fees to not include travel-related costs.

URL

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/training-events/training-certifications/certifications/expert/ccie-data-center.html#~stickynav=1

Self-Study Materials

Cisco maintains links to recommended training, including self-study materials, study groups, webinars, syllabus, recommended readings, and other resources on the CCIE Data Center and exam web pages.

 

CCNP Data Center: Cisco Certified Network Professional Data Center

Cisco offers a variety of certifications that address storage networking topics, including the Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCENT) and the Data Center versions of the CCNA, CCNP, and CCIE (in order of difficulty). The CCNP Data Center credential hits the sweet spot in terms of warranting an IT professional's knowledge and understanding of Cisco's storage networking products and platforms in a data center context.

Cisco requires the Cisco Certified Network Associate Data Center (CCNA Data Center) credential or any Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) certification as a prerequisite for the CCNP Data Center.

Cisco CCNP Data Center Facts and Figures

Certification Name

Cisco Certified Network Professional Data Center (CCNP Data Center)

Prerequisites & Required Courses

Valid CCNA Data Center certification or any CCIE certification. Training recommended but not required.

Number of Exams

Four exams:

Implementing Cisco Data Center Unified Computing (300-175 DCUCI)  90 55-65

Implementing Cisco Data Center Infrastructure (300-165 DCII)

Implementing Cisco Data Center Virtualization and Automation (300-170 DCVAI)

plus

Design track: Designing Cisco Data Center Infrastructure (300-160 DCID)

or

Troubleshooting track: Troubleshooting Cisco Data Center Infrastructure (300-180 DCIT)

Cost per Exam

$300 per exam; $1,200 total (price may vary by region). Exams administered by Pearson VUE.

URL

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/training-events/training-certifications/certifications/professional/ccnp-data-center.html?stickynav=1

Self-Study Materials

Instructor-led training is recommended. Information on self-study materials and Learning Partner training available at the URL above and on the Cisco Learning Network Data Center (CCNP Data Center) site.

 

Hitachi Qualified Professional - Storage Administration

Hitachi Vantara, formerly known as the Hitachi Data Systems corporation, is known for its hybrid storage systems, storage management, and networking solutions aimed at Fortune 100 and Fortune Global 100 enterprises. The company has a well-developed certification program to support its products and services.

Unlike most other IT certification sponsors, Hitachi's program distinguishes between qualifications and certifications. Qualification credentials aim at the associate and professional levels where candidates have broad knowledge of topics and concepts. Hitachi certifications are either specialists or experts, where candidates have deep knowledge of and ample hands-on experience with products and solutions.

Both types of credentials fall under various tracks: Administration (professional), Architect (specialist and expert), Implementation and Integration (specialist and expert), Installation and Support (specialist and professional), and Basics and Fundamentals (entry-level), as well as Sales and Presales.

The Hitachi Qualified Professional – Storage Administration credential, part of the Administration track, is an intermediate-level qualification aimed at storage networking professionals who can configure and troubleshoot Hitachi Command Suite products, as well as use Hitachi Device Manager to manage the storage environment. Candidates must pass one exam – Storage Administration HQT-6740 – to earn the credential.

Hitachi Qualified Professional - Storage Administration Facts and Figures

Certification Name

Hitachi Qualified Professional – Storage Administration

Prerequisites & Required Courses:

The TSI2565 Managing Hitachi Storage with Hitachi Command Suite v8.x instructor-led course, which runs five or six days, is offered at HDS training centers. Training costs begin at $4,875.

Number of Exams

One exam: HQT-6740 (35 questions, 60 minutes)

Cost per Exam

$100. Exam administered by Kryterion Webassessor.

URL

https://www.hds.com/en-us/services/training-certification.html

Self-Study Materials

The exam PDF includes information on exam objectives and training. Candidates must create an HDS account to get more information.

 

NCDA: NetApp Certified Data Administrator

NetApp has been in the storage business since 1992, and offers a broad line of products and systems for backup and recovery, traditional and virtualized storage and cloud-based data centers. Although NetApp has some stiff competition – Dell EMC, HPE and Hitachi, to name a few – the company understands the value of flexibility and integration with other third-party products. For example, NetApp worked with Cisco to develop FlexPod, which helps customers manage Cisco, Citrix, Cloudera, Microsoft, NetApp, Oracle, Red Hat, VMware, and other applications and environments, and NetApp's hybrid cloud storage integrates with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, among others.

The NetApp Certification Program (NCP) features several certifications within three tracks: Data, Hybrid Cloud and Converged Infrastructure. All NetApp certifications focus on some aspect of storage hardware or the software that powers these products. The Data track includes the NetApp Certified Storage Associate (NCSA) – Hybrid Cloud, the NetApp Certified Storage Installation Engineer, ONTAP as well as our featured certification, the NetApp Certified Data Administrator (NCDA).

The NCDA recognizes working knowledge of NetApp storage architecture, core ONTAP components, high availability, data clustering, protocol administration, storage performance, security and data protection. Candidates must be able to configure controllers running the ONTAP operating system in NFS and Windows (CIFS) environments, and understand NetApp SnapMirror, SnapRestore and SnapVault technologies.

Candidates must pass one exam to earn the credential.

NetApp certifications are valid for 27 months, and credential holders must meet recertification requirements during this period to maintain their certifications.

NCDA Facts and Figures

Certification Name

NetApp Certified Data Administrator (NCDA)

Prerequisites & Required Courses

Recommended:

6 to 12 months of experience implementing and administering NetApp data storage solutions  

Knowledge of HA controller implementation and configuration, SyncMirror software or ONTAP solutions with single- or multi-node configurations

ONTAP Cluster Fundamentals

ONTAP Cluster Administration are also recommended

A NetApp Support Site account is required to enroll in NetApp University training.

Number of Exams

NSO-159: NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONNNTAP (60 questions, 1.5 hour to complete)

Cost of Exam

$150. Exams administered by Pearson VUE.

URL

http://www.netapp.com/us/services-support/university/certification/ncda/index.aspx

Self-Study Materials

NetApp offers instructor-led and web-based training, a practice test for the NS0-159 exam, and a list of reference documents. (See the NCDA web page for links to training resources.) The NetApp KB TV YouTube channel provides how-to videos on using NetApp technology. Candidates should also browse the NetApp University and Training website for insights on training and exams. No certification study guides or practice exams were found on the NetApp site or on Amazon.

 

SNIA SNCP: SNIA Storage Networking Certification Program

The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 1997 and comprises members from various storage vendors and service providers, as well as individuals. The association develops and promotes storage solution specifications and standards, and offers education and certification for storage and information management professionals.

SNIA recently rolled out several changes to its Storage Networking Certification Program (SNCP). Most notable among the changes is the retirement of the SNIA Certified Storage Engineer (SCSE) and SNIA Certified Storage Architect (SCSA). The exams for both credentials were withdrawn on January 31, 2019.

Both the SCSE and SCSA have been replaced by the SNIA Certified Information Architect (SCIA). SNIA will continue to recognize the SCSE and SCSA until November 31, 2021. The Storage Networking Certification Program (SNCP) offers several vendor-neutral certifications:

  • SNIA Certified Storage Professional (SCSP)
  • SNIA Certified Storage Networking Expert (SCSN-E)
  • SNIA Qualified Storage Sales Professional (SQSSP)
  • SNIA Certified Information Architect (SCIA)

Each certification requires candidates to pass the S10-110 Foundations exam or hold a current CompTIA Storage+ Powered by SNIA certification (exam no longer offered), which earns the Professional (SCSP) credential. The Networking Expert (SCSN-E) requires all of them.

SNIA certifications are good for three years from the date of certification. After that, a certification holder must take the most current exam to maintain the credential.

SNIA SCNP Facts and Figures

Certification Name

Storage Networking Certification Program (SNCP)

Prerequisites & Required Courses

Training is recommended but not required.

Number of Exams

SCSP: One exam; Storage Networking Foundations S10-110 (65 questions, 90 minutes, passing score of 66 percent)
 
SCSN-E: Two exams; Foundations S10-110 OR CompTIA Storage+ Powered by SNIA (no longer offered) PLUS SNIA Storage Networking Management Administration (S10-210) OR SNIA Information Architect – Storage Advanced Exam (S10-510) and two SNIA Certification Partner product credentials

SQSSP: One exam; SNAI Qualified Storage Sales Professional exam (S10-905)

SCIA: One exam, Storage Advanced Exam S10-510

Cost per Exam

All exams are $220 except the SQSSP exam which is $100. Exams administered by Kryterion.

URL

https://www.snia.org/education/certification

Self-Study Materials

SNIA provides links to study reference materials, practice exams and training on each certification's web page. Study materials are also available through training partners.

 

Beyond the Top 5: More storage certifications

Beyond the top five storage certifications mentioned in this article, there are lots of other certification programs that can further the careers and professional development of IT professionals who work in the networked storage arena.

Although no EMC storage certifications made our top five list for 2018 or 2019, EMC (acquired by Dell in 2016) has one of the longest-standing certification programs for storage. The program offers credentials for data scientists, cloud architects and administrators, storage administrators, cloud and implementation engineers, and a whole lot more.

In addition, look at the credentials available from Arcitura, HPE, Huawei, IBM, Nimble and Sun/Oracle:

  • Arcitura Big Data and Cloud Computing certifications
  • HPE offers six storage-related certifications in its HPE Certification and Learning certification program, including:
    • HPE Master ASE - Storage Solutions Architect V2 and V3
    • HPE ASE - Storage Solutions Architect V2 and V3
    • HPE ATP – Hybrid IT Solutions V1
    • HPE ATP - Storage Solutions V3
    • HPE Product Certified – Nimble Solutions
    • PE Product Certified - OneView
    • Huawei storage certifications
    • IBM Certified Advanced Deployment Professional - Spectrum Storage Management certification
    • Nimble Implementation Specialist certification
    • Sun/Oracle storage certifications

SECURE Act Passes Committee, Could Change Retirement Rules

Posted: 03 Apr 2019 10:00 AM PDT

Legislators in the House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee unanimously passed a bill yesterday that could make it easier for small businesses to provide retirement plans to their employees and make more workers eligible to participate in them.

Dubbed the "Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019," or the SECURE Act, the bill contains several provisions that aim to make retirement an attainable goal for more American workers.

Following the bill's passage, Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) said the proposal was a big step in helping "workers of all ages prepare for a financially secure retirement."

"Americans currently face a retirement income crisis, with too many people in danger of not having enough savings to maintain their standard of living and avoid sliding into poverty. The SECURE Act goes a long way in addressing this problem by making it easier for Americans to save," he said. "Passage of this bill is a tremendous bipartisan accomplishment, and I hope to see the measure move through Congress and be signed into law in short order."

After the introduction of the Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act of 2019 in the Senate, SECURE is one of two similar pieces of legislation making their way through Congress that lawmakers hope to have on President Donald J. Trump's desk before the end of the year.

News of the bill's successful run through committee had retirement plan industry leaders excited at the prospect of SECURE and RESA becoming law.

"Taken together, RESA and the SECURE Act represent the kind of leadership necessary to address Americans' retirement security concerns," said Susan Neely, president and CEO of the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI). "We urge Congress to act quickly on these important measures."

What the SECURE Act proposes

While proponents of the bill, like Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), touted the proposal as "landmark, bipartisan legislation," it's important to note that the SECURE Act still must pass a vote on the House floor. For that to happen, legislators outside of the Ways and Means Committee will have to weigh the bill's perceived merits.

If passed, the SECURE Act will do the following:

  • Allow employers to automatically escalate employee contributions from 10 to 15 percent
  • Implement rules that help long-term, part-time workers participate in 401(k) plans by requiring employers that provide the benefit to have "a dual eligibility requirement under which an employee must complete either a one year of service requirement (with the 1,000-hour rule) or three consecutive years of service where the employee completes at least 500 hours of service"
  • Give a larger tax credit to small businesses that opt to set up retirement plans for their employees, making the process more affordable
  • Provide retirement plan holders with an easier way to transfer lifetime income to another employer-sponsored retirement plan or IRA
  • Let individuals continue to contribute to a traditional IRA beyond the current cutoff of 70.5 years old. Under the SECURE Act, people can continue to contribute until they are 72 years old
  • Help those with some taxable, non-tuition fellowship and stipend payments to save for retirement based on that income
  • Block qualified employer plans from making loans through credit cards, ensuring that "plan loans are not used for routine or small purchases, thereby preserving retirement savings."

Along with those provisions, the SECURE Act will give employers a "fiduciary safe harbor" when selecting a lifetime income provider. Under those protections, employers will have a set of guidelines that, if followed, can shield them from liability.

Funding the SECURE Act

If passed, the SECURE Act and the Senate's RESA Act would be the first major piece of retirement legislation since the Pension Protection Act became law 13 years ago. Since then, 401(k)s and IRAs have grown in popularity.

As with most pieces of legislation, lawmakers are left wondering how to pay for the SECURE Act's laundry list of changes. According to the bill, there are four main methods that legislators hope to employ to even out the costs:

  • Change existing rules surrounding the distribution of 401(k) plans when participants die. Unless those retirement plans are disbursed to the employee's surviving spouse, disabled or chronically ill individuals, people who are 10 years younger than the employee, or the employee's child (under 18 years of age), beneficiaries will not get the funds until 10 years after the death of the plan holder.
  • Increase the penalty that comes with not filing your taxes to either $400 or 100 percent of the amount of taxes due, whichever is the lesser amount.
  • Increase the penalty for failing to file retirement plan returns. Under the new legislation, the Form 5500 penalty will go to $105 per day, not to exceed $50,000. Other fees are also included in this item.
  • Bolster information sharing between the IRS and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in order to more easily administer and collect the heavy vehicle use tax.

How to Properly Advertise Your Business on Podcasts

Posted: 03 Apr 2019 08:30 AM PDT

If your company or marketing team has sat out of the "podcast revolution" but have seen it helped catapult scores of startups into million-dollar or billion-dollar brands, this is for you. Perhaps you don't know where to begin to form a plan for podcasts to become your secret weapon. Or worse, perhaps you tested podcasts and failed.

Whatever the reason, now is your last chance to act. As the hype machine behind podcasts sends valuations soaring, CPMs are likely to follow, closing the door for performance marketers to pursue low-cost advertising tests that immediately show tremendous returns. It's a quarter 'til three at the "podcast saloon," so here's some advice to get in on the action before last call.

Who should advertise?

This question could be an article on its own, so let's keep it general. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands have been the bread-and-butter of the podcast advertising space since its inception, and if that's your company, the path is set. However, success in podcasts comes in a variety of different business models, and DTC is not the only way.

Provide enough budget to test widely. There is no one-size-fits-all budget, but a minimum viable test spend is generally $50,000. If that number sounds ridiculously low, it is. Many podcasts charge that much for just one episode, but for the first test, steer clear of those. Test as many different types of shows as possible, giving each podcast enough time to prove its potential. While there are success stories where advertisers test podcasts with $20,000 and quickly scale to 50 times that amount, that was more indicative of the good old days.

Today, the fail rate for advertisers going in on the cheap is far higher than those who set aside a more significant test budget. It's a numbers game. Half of the shows tested will often not perform to expectations and testing wider will increase the likelihood of finding the true winners. 

Brands should have a national footprint or as close to it as possible. While dynamically inserted ads have made geo-targeting on podcasts a reality, it'll never truly be able to scale the channel until the business is close to national.

Which podcasts to buy

There are more than a half million podcasts available for consumption, and while most don't offer ads, choosing which podcasts to test the first campaign is daunting.

Listeners and brands love Serial, The Daily and This American Life – everyone does. However, the shows that everyone is talking about rarely pay off from a performance perspective. There are exceptions, but they are few. Launching a podcast test on the most popular shows will undoubtedly get a marketing message heard by millions of ears, but chances are it will not see an immediate return on investment. The strange secret is that the podcasts that drive efficient performance are seldom those that show up on the iTunes top-10 list. 

The same holds true for podcasts that may seem like a no-brainer for your business category. It's logical to think a widget company would see success only on podcasts that talk about widgets, but it's not necessarily the case. Maybe the widget podcasts are overpriced, or perhaps the reads aren't engaging. Maybe their download numbers are overreported. Most likely, there just aren't many people who want a whole podcast about widgets, so downloads never reach critical mass in a way that can help a business. You could spend all day managing a channel that gives two acquisitions per month. Whatever the reason, a podcast's subject is only part of the equation. It really comes down to the audience engagement, which is impossible to predict with CPMs and show descriptions alone. You need data.

Oxford Road has tested thousands of different podcasts from hundreds of network partners. We've found that you need to know which podcasts will drive conversion and those that won't. When evaluating which podcasts to test in the initial phase, first consider your demographic and preferably work with a partner who can dig through an extensive cache of cross-client performance data to find the podcasts that will give you the best opportunity for success. Testing a wide variety of genres on proven shows will identify pockets of success that work for your business and set the stage to scale up in the next phase.  

Flighting strategy

After determining your business is ripe to advertise on podcasts, let's get to the nuts and bolts. How many episodes per podcast do you buy, and how often should they run? The best practice during a test is three episodes per podcast, with a "one week on, two weeks" off cadence.

Why? Performance fluctuates wildly. While performance varies on each podcast in the test, performance teeters on the same podcast, episode to episode. A show may come out of the gate and crush performance goals on the first read and fail to drive a single conversion on the second. Often, the reverse is true. A show's performance will get better each time an ad airs. Running three drops will give you the clearest picture of the show's capabilities once the average response over the three episodes is identified.

Three episodes allows for course correction on hosts who may have had a weaker read in the first spot. Between onboarding hosts, setting up landing pages and sending product, a lot of time and effort was invested getting this thing off the ground. Running three or more episodes will give hosts a chance to optimize their reads and get comfortable selling the message to their listeners – and better results will follow.  

Start with a "one week on, two weeks off" flighting strategy. Waiting two weeks between drops is helpful for a couple of reasons.

By the time the second drop happens, the tail from the first drop will have mostly subsided. You'll typically get 40-60 percent of your response in week one, and 30-40 percent in the next two weeks. Waiting two weeks between drops allows your response from the previous drop to come down close to leveling off before the next drop.

Second, having two weeks between drops gives you time to evaluate the host read and performance so you can chat with the host to optimize it if need be. 

That's it! The simple ABC's of podcast advertising. Many shows behave differently for different advertisers, but these are best practices for a first test, as proven by millions of dollars of other people's money.

Companies Should Embrace a 'Liquid Enterprise' Culture

Posted: 03 Apr 2019 05:30 AM PDT

Silos of information, content, people and processes are pervasive across most businesses. In the digital age, businesses require the exact opposite – greater transparency and connectivity across resources to deliver improved focus, and agility in order to respond more quickly to the changes that digitization brings. Organizations that reduce silos and create greater transparency will be better suited to drive success in a digital world.

We refer to organizations that successfully balance these interests with the right technology as "liquid enterprises." They will emerge as winners in the next era of digitization, since they will be highly responsive and able to keep themselves ahead of market changes and their competition. Creating a liquid enterprise embraces agile principles to empower a more nimble culture that can seize new opportunities.

Technlogy enhances efficiency

New integration and automation technologies are allowing individuals and teams – those closest to and often directly responsible for business outcomes – to execute locally via communities and networks of affinity, whereas traditionally it has often been centralized teams of process or project specialists or divisional leaders. Decentralized ownership allows information, people and data to be lifted much more quickly and purposefully out of their silos into new, flexible, bite-sized and automated work constructs. With this, the overall speed of work execution increases, and the design of work becomes more flexible and contextually intelligent.

These trends are ushering in an era of WorkOps – the integration of connectivity, workflow automation, collaboration, productivity automation and reporting across the lifecycle of work and across different business systems, allowing organizations to craft outcomes not bound by the limitations of those systems, which has traditionally been the case. WorkOps satisfies the traditionally unserved impulse for people to work the way they intuitively think is best.

"Productivity automation," as we call it, is what gets organizations moving as efficiently as possible. Productivity automation is becoming increasingly attractive as businesses look to more effectively empower their employees, execute work and reduce the amount of fragmented, unstructured and manual types of work that are still most prevalent within businesses. This allows businesses to rethink existing structured workflows based on homegrown tools or legacy business systems that can't deliver the cross-system connectivity, automation and scale needed.

This gives the average worker capabilities that haven't typically been available, part of an important shift across workforce technologies to decentralized ownership over high-impact work. This leverages improved connectivity, agility and visibility across different workstreams. This shift is much needed as the current digital age has given rise to new customer and employee expectations and market requirements that, with the right workflow integration and productivity automation tools, businesses can respond to much more effectively.

The key to future success

As collaboration, intelligence, automation and reporting become intertwined and embedded across the work lifecycle rather than existing as separate siloed capabilities in pure-play tools, new productivity automation practices will allow businesses to constantly refresh their workstreams, more flexibly manage resources and generate feedback loops. Over time, businesses will intelligently model workstreams allowing them to continuously execute in a truly liquid way, giving them the kind of responsiveness needed to succeed in the digital age. Those businesses adopting tools to work toward that outcome will gain competitive advantage in the future of work.
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