Category Archives: Uncategorized

Why Venture Capitalists Should Hire Consultants to Monitor Their Investments

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Why Venture Capitalists Should Hire Consultants to Monitor Their Investments

Venture capital (VC) is a high-stakes arena where strategic oversight can significantly impact the success of investments. Despite the critical importance of expert management, many VCs still appoint managers based on personal connections rather than industry expertise. This practice can lead to suboptimal performance and missed opportunities. Hiring consultants with specialized knowledge offers numerous advantages, from improving decision-making to enhancing the long-term viability of investments.

Consultants bring specialized knowledge and an objective perspective to the table. Unlike friends or acquaintances who may lack relevant experience, consultants are hired based on their expertise in specific industries. This allows for a more accurate evaluation of startups, ensuring that investment decisions are based on solid, data-driven insights rather than personal biases. A study published in the Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship highlights how VCs often rely on heuristics and biases due to bounded rationality, which can be mitigated by the objective analysis provided by consultants​ (SpringerOpen)​.

Effective due diligence is crucial for the success of VC investments. The case of SoftBank’s Vision Fund illustrates the pitfalls of inadequate due diligence. The fund’s strategy of rapidly pumping money into startups without thorough evaluation led to inflated valuations and unsustainable growth models​ (Corporate Finance Training & Development)​. Consultants can help avoid such scenarios by conducting comprehensive due diligence, assessing not only the financials but also the operational capabilities and market potential of startups.

Consultants offer strategic guidance that goes beyond initial investment decisions. They assist in post-investment monitoring, helping startups navigate growth challenges and avoid common pitfalls. This ongoing support can significantly enhance the performance of portfolio companies. Research from Harvard Business School underscores the importance of strategic oversight, showing that VC-backed firms with experienced guidance are better positioned to achieve long-term success​ (HBS Working Knowledge)​.

Numerous case studies support the value of hiring consultants. For instance, the SoftBank Vision Fund’s approach of prioritizing rapid investment over strategic planning led to inflated valuations and dependency on continuous capital injections, undermining the sustainability of startups​ (Corporate Finance Training & Development)​. Conversely, firms that engage consultants tend to have more robust evaluation processes and better risk management, resulting in healthier, more sustainable growth trajectories.

Venture capitalists can significantly benefit from hiring consultants to oversee their investments. Consultants provide critical expertise, enhance due diligence processes, offer strategic guidance, and help mitigate risks. By prioritizing professional oversight over personal connections, VCs can improve the performance and sustainability of their portfolio companies, ultimately leading to more successful investment outcomes.

For more detailed insights, you can refer to the full articles and case studies from Harvard Business School and the Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which provide comprehensive analyses and real-world examples of the impact of strategic oversight in venture capital investments​ (HBS Working Knowledge)​​ (SpringerOpen)​​ (Corporate Finance Training & Development)​.

Legacy support for older equipment using SiliconSystems, Sandisk or Smartmodular cards

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Businesses using PCMCIA Type II ATA or Compact Flash cards from SiliconSystems, Sandisk or Smartmodular still have options to purchase cards that will work. These older systems use capacities as low at 16MB. The development of new less expensive controller chips has eliminated the ability to produce these smaller capacity cards. Older systems do not have the the ability to upgrade the BIOS due to lack of support from the original developer. Companies such as http://www.PCcardsDirect.com offer support to those searching for legacy support of these older systems. They offer new PCMCIA Type II ATA and Compact Flash cards starting at 16MB. More complex systems using SRAM or Linear Flash cards are also available with small capacities, 8k, with and without attribute.

8TB SSD

New 8TB SSD internal drive availble

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PCcardsDirect.com now offers up to 8TB industrial grade, high temperature rated SSDs. Offering read writes 520/500MB/s respectively. Delivers solid I/O cost-to-performance benefits for applications that demand low latency high read speeds and greater bandwidth for server and storage environments for SATA-based systems in capacity of 2TB, 4TB and 8TB.

Avaya Alternatives, Replacing an Avaya Phone System, Moving up to the Next Level of Enterprise Communications

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MOVING UP TO NEXT

LEVEL ENTERPRISE
COMMUNICATIONS
INCREASE EFFICIENCY AND IMPROVE
OPERATIONS BY MITIGATING THE RISKS
OF AGING SYSTEMS

ABSTRACT
Aging communication systems make enterprises vulnerable to security threats
and system failures, and often restrict an organization’s ability to evolve
business processes to meet operational requirements and business objectives.
Unplanned operational and capital costs continue to increase as these systems
remain in service beyond their support contracts and expected life cycle.
And when these systems fail, they seriously restrict an organization’s ability
to deal with customers. By analyzing existing risks, identifying new system
requirements, and adopting centralized and virtualized solutions that leverage
existing infrastructure elements, every organization can mitigate the risks
and eliminate unplanned costs associated with continuing to operate and
maintain aging systems. At the same time, they can lay the foundation for
the introduction of new capabilities, features, and functions that will improve
business processes, increase employee efficiency, and deliver a higher return
on communication network investments.

AGING COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS CREATE RISKS
Communication systems that have been in service for a long time usually continue to
perform as expected. Operational costs associated with these systems appear to be under
control. But aging systems are very vulnerable to three main risks:
• Security threats, such as toll fraud
• System failures, which create major disruptions in daily business processes
• Inability to accommodate business group or corporate evolution requirements
Usually, unplanned operational and capital costs associated with these risks increase as
systems age:
• Outdated security policies increase vulnerability to expensive toll fraud attacks.
• Spare parts are expensive and are more difficult to find as the system ages, so the
duration of downtimes increases during failures.
• The lack of service contracts and vendor support when systems reach end of life often
leads to hasty and expensive fixes for every outage.
• System maintenance personnel with the right skills are no longer on staff because they
have left or retired, so ongoing operations costs are high.
• Unavailable system features or options to support new requirements can only be added
by purchasing a new system, which usually comes with high upfront costs.
In addition to these unplanned costs, the cost of business disruptions and loss of
customer satisfaction can be huge if telephony services are down for several hours or
days. Therefore, to avoid potential disruptions and increases to operations budgets, all
organizations with aging communication systems should identify the risks they face and
take action to avoid them before they affect the bottom line.

AGING COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
ARE EXPENSIVE
Despite an old communication system’s apparent stability, most organizations
underestimate the cost of maintaining and operating an aging system beyond its
end-of-life date. Every organization should be aware of the three areas that can
create substantial operational cost increases and address them before they affect
operations budgets.

Underestimated costs of toll fraud attacks
A typical statement from Information Technology (IT) managers with old systems is:
“We cannot be hacked. The system was secured during installation.”
However, maintaining security for communication systems is a continuous improvement
process. Unfortunately, aging systems cannot always comply with the latest security
requirements because they are built with outdated security policies and insufficient
protections. For this reason, aging Private Branch Exchange (PBX) systems are prime
targets for toll fraud. Hackers take advantage of known security breaches in old systems,
such as weak password controls or no replay counters, to divert PBX features. For
example, a hacker may use transfer features to resell call minutes or place calls to
international premium rate numbers, which belong to the hacker. This toll fraud usually
happens during non-business hours and is only detected when the phone bill is received.
Moving Up To Next Level Enterprise Communications

It may result in tremendous financial losses over a few hours, and can be as much as
between $4,000 to more than $150,000.

ALCATEL-LUCENT ENTERPRISE APPROACH TO
AGING SYSTEMS
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise can provide organizations with end-to-end support for a smooth transition from legacy infrastructures to new systems with
a three-step process that:
• Mitigates risks with up-to-date software that leverages existing investments
• Curbs maintenance costs and drastically reduces communication bills with centralized
communications and voice over WAN (VoWAN)
• Virtualizes applications to save on operations and get budgets for innovations that
meet business expectations

Get up-to-date software that leverages existing investments
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise helps organizations leverage the components of their
communications system that have value and update only components that are no
longer able to meet operations objectives. An existing Alcatel-Lucent system, such
as the Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX™ 4400 or an Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise
Communication Server (CS) PBX, can be transformed to the latest version of the
OmniPCX Enterprise CS. Valuable assets such as telephone sets, wireless infrastructure
and existing cabling can be reused, and third parties can be interconnected with Session
Initiation Protocol (SIP) or Q-Signaling (QSIG) protocol.
In addition, commercial programs can help transform Time-division Multiplexing (TDM)
licenses to Internet Protocol (IP) or SIP user licenses to improve user experiences with
the latest business telephony features. This includes wideband audio, touchscreen
desk phones, software-based clients on PC and MAC, call shifting, desk sharing, and
embedded conferencing capabilities.
Installing the latest software also mitigates the risk of toll fraud attacks and addresses
further business continuity requirements. The OmniPCX Enterprise CS redundancy
capabilities offer business continuity for data centers and remote sites, and disaster
recovery plans can be put in place to meet company standards.

Although aging communications systems may continue to deliver the level of service
and functionality they were configured to provide when they were originally designed
and installed, keeping them in service makes an enterprise vulnerable to unseen costs.
Security threats, such as toll fraud, system failures that create major disruptions in daily
business processes, and inability to accommodate business group or corporate evolution
requirements can seriously compromise any business operation.
To avoid potential process disruptions and increases to operations budgets, all
organizations with aging communication systems should identify the risks they face and
take action to avoid them before they affect the bottom line. A thorough analysis by all
internal stakeholders can identify internal and external drivers for change, and a path
towards a system transformation that addresses all business requirements.
The ideal solution:
• Mitigates potential risks with up-to-date software that leverages existing investments
• Curbs maintenance costs and drastically reduce communication bills with centralized
communications and VoWAN
• Centralizes and virtualizes applications to save on operations costs and free funds for
innovations that meet business expectations
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise helps organizations leverage the components of their
communications system that have value and update only components that are no longer
able to meet operations objectives. A business communications solution built on the
Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise CS can mitigate the risk of security threats, system
failures, and major disruptions that can seriously affect daily operations. In addition,
it can provide all the advanced features and functions an enterprise needs to address
business and customer service requirements today, while laying a solid foundation for
evolution to new OpenTouch Suite capabilities when they are needed tomorrow.

Contact [email protected] for more information on this article

 

 

 

 

E-mail and File Archiving a Modern solution using a Trusted System

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E-mail and File Archiving a Modern solution using Assureon Trusted System by Nexsan

Archiving files off your tier one storage can increase your capacity as well as help you in HR and legal matters.

Does your file archiving system comply with corporate and governmental regulatory requirements including HIPAA, SOX and SEC-17?

Does your data retention policy include:

Legal Hold

●A legal hold can be easily placed on any set of files, overriding their

original retention periods until the hold is removed

Audit Trails

●Audit trails report on file access and denied access attempts

Separation of Data

● Our solution provides complete separation of data between

departments or projects using logical and physical separation as well

as separation through the use of multiple AES-256 encryption keys

Encryption

●Files can be AES-256 encrypted.  Keys for a replicated Assureon

are stored safely at 4 sites by the integrated key management

system. A nominal annual key management subscription is required

Authentication

●Users are authenticated with Active Directory or digital certificates

Data Retention

●Easily create retention rules and associate them with unstructured

data directories or file types

Many companies simply copy their files over to a NAS, tape or shared stored without any verification or auditing.

DID YOU KNOW THAT 1 OUT OF 5 FILE RECOVERIES FAIL ?

In recent tests one out of every 1500 files stored are corrupt and are not discovered until a recovery is attempted.  New modern file archiving solutions audits all files in the archive every 90 days and issues a report if a file becomes corrupt.  So what happens when a file becomes corrupt?  When the file is brought in to the archive it is issued a digital fingerprint.  This fingerprint is then checked against the original and then again every 90 days.  If it were to become corrupt the archive would recover the file from the original and then notify you that you may have a disk or bad sector occurring.  The archiving is also replicated at a remote location.  You will have one system at your location and the other at a remote location that can act as your disaster recovery (DR) solution.

For additional information and a quote on E-Mail, File,  SEC, HIPAA and trusted file archiving contact us at [email protected]

 

Internet Phone and Cable for MDUs

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Internet, Phone and Cable for Multi-Dwelling Units (MDUs)

Titan Channel Partners is offering for a limited time the best of all worlds from the nations leading INTERNET, PHONE, CABLE and SATELLITE providers. 

Now you can choose the best plan that meets your property’s needs.  Offer premium internet services from the nations largest carriers and bundle it with DirecTV to empower your tenants with never before offered broadband.  Services include:

  • Fiber Connection
  • VOIP
  • Hosted PBX
  • MPLS
  • Internet
  • Phone
  • DirecTV

Contact our team Today for your FREE consultation and see how quickly you start saving money and start offering premium services.

Contact us  at [email protected], call +1 949 542-6128  , or post a confidential message below.

Managed Web and Blog Services for Small Business

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Managed Web and Blog Services for Small Business

Does your small business have a website?  If so…Does it have blog?

Blogs are a get way to engage new customers and retain old ones and using a third party service to host your blog is NOT a good idea.

You should own the content of your blog, not someone else.  Your blog should be part of your website and customers should feel engaged when they visit your site.  They should be inspired and compelled to leave comments and post questions.

Static websites with contact forms no longer engage customers.  They are the “Website 101” for beginners.  Create a custom site with your own unique content for a fraction of what you spent on your current website.  See how customers will react to  your new foyer in to the virtual world.

Checkout these site and see how you too can have a similar sites for your products and services in days:

http://www.pccardsdirect.com/blog/

http://www.ssdsdirect.com/

Our experts at Titan Channel Partners, based in Irvine California,  create monitor and manage your business’ blog for only $49 per month.  We will make scheduled updates to your account and you will have full control of your blog at all times.

Contact us  at [email protected], call +1 949 542-6128, or post a confidential message below.

We look forward to hearing from you today and helping you attract new customers to your business.

Managed Twitter accounts for Small Businesses

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Managed Twitter accounts for Small Businesses

Has social media bypassed your business?

Is there  no time to manage your Twitter account?  Do you have a Twitter account?

Is your business invisible online?

Let our Managed Twitter Service help your business be seen online and take part in local  events via social media.

Our dedicated team will create, monitor and manage your business’ Twitter account.  Post new events and reply to questions received by your followers.

What businesses will benefit from this service?

1. Restaurants

2. Local services such as; plumbers, contractors, pest control, gardners, gas stations, auto repair

3. Home-based businesses such as; arts & crafts, bakers, hobbiest

Our experts at Titan Channel Partners, based in Irvine California,  create monitor and manage your business’ Twitter for only $25 per month.  We will make scheduled updates on your account and you will have full control of your account at all times.

New customers are just around the corner, literally.  New smart phone apps help customers find new places to eat, shop and patron everyday.  Make sure your business is one of them.  Don’t get left behind!

Contact us  at [email protected], call +1 949 542-6128, or post a confidential message below.

We look forward to hearing from you today and helping you attract new customers to your business.

Make your cell phone battery last longer

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Make your cell phone battery last longer

Have you ever accidently left your cell phone on when on a plane?

Your battery is drained quickly.  When the phone works hard to maintain a connection with the cell tower, you pay the price in battery life.

Your 4G phone will attempt to connect to 4G no matter how weak the 4G signal is, therefore the battery will decrease rapidly while searching or switching between 2G/3G and 4G.

Speed is Everything: The new 4G networks offer data speeds several times faster than 3G which is comparable to the broadband Internet services delivered to homes and businesses through cable TV or phone lines. 4G speeds vary by wireless provider. Signal boosters, such as the zBoost DataBlast, aid in amplifying weak 4G signal indoors.

Multiple Users: A single 4G connection has a large capacity and is able to be shared by multiple users, just like a home broadband link. Users can use it to set up a “mobile hotspot” that can connect several laptops or smartphones to the Internet through the 4G connection.

View the entire line of personal and business line of cellular booster at: http://itsupplyhouse.com/products/zboost.php

For additional information please post or comment here.

 

Need a custom Kiosk builder to include wifi, a display panel and a custom stand?

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Titan Channel Partners is a custom kiosk builder for companies looking for specialized kiosks to be used in display windows, trade shows and as floor displays.

Working with 4 or 5 vendors to integrate a variety of IT equipment is a daunting task.  We simplify the process by providing all the integration under one roof.  We supply all of the equipment, oversee construction, install in the field and provide post deployment support.  We also maintain brake fix inventory for equipment in the field for prompt repair services.

Weather you are wiring a 30,000 sq foot night club or looking for a stand alone kiosk for your retail location, TCP has the options and flexibility you need.

Looking for backend support of your existing network? Our datacenter expertise can assist you with managing content updates on a worldwide scale.  Our kiosk builders and designers can provide cloud support or local USB updates for your content.

Using the latest materials and building techniques Titan Channel Partners can design and integrate your kiosk to meet our display needs.  Consider a standalone kiosk at the entrance of your store or a double-sided 55″ LCD panel hanging from you store window.  These double sided panel can be configured to display a brighter image on side that the other when exposed to sunlight.  Using embedded media players the content on these panel can be updated remotely and as often as you want.

Here is a tip for your next custom build.  The next time you are welding two pieces of metal together, consider covering up the weld with automotive bondo.  Instead of seeing the weld after the painting process, you see a smooth fillet and gives your display a custom molded appearance.  For an additional custom look consider routing your cables through the frame buy cutting custom holes to allow for CAT5/CAT6, USB and power cables.

For additional information post a comment for a reply.