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Wake County Schools
Lincoln Heights Elementary
Public, Magnet PK, KG-5
Fuquay Varina, NC 27526-1805
District: Wake County Schools
1175th of 1,434 North Carolina Elementary Schools
Number of students: 484
African American:
American Indian:
Pacific Islander:
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Compare Lincoln Heights Elementary to nearby elementary schools!
We updated the 2017-18 rankings and test scores for this school on Wednesday, September 5, 2018.
Compare Details In 2018, Lincoln Heights Elementary ranked worse than 81.9% of elementary schools in North Carolina. It also ranked 94th among 108 ranked elementary schools in the Wake County Schools District. (See more...)
Compare Details Student population at Lincoln Heights Elementary is diverse. Racial makeup is: African American (33.9%), White (31.4%), Hispanic (30.2%). (See more...)
Compare Details The student/teacher ratio at Lincoln Heights Elementary is 12.7, which is the 9th best among 108 elementary schools in the Wake County Schools District. (See more...)
Compare Lincoln Heights Elementary employs 38 full-time teachers.
Map and boundary of Lincoln Heights Elementary
Lincoln Heights Elementary:
SchoolDigger ranks Lincoln Heights Elementary 1175th of 1434 North Carolina public elementary schools. (See Lincoln Heights Elementary in the ranking list.)
Wake County Schools:
SchoolDigger ranks Wake County Schools 74th of 199 North Carolina school districts. (See district ranking list.)
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Rank History for Lincoln Heights Elementary
Total # Ranked Elementary Schools
NC State Percentile
2016 25.94 1133rd 1425 20.5%
Data source: test scores: North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction, rankings: SchoolDigger.com
Lincoln Heights Elementary Test Scores
EOG Mathematics
EOG Reading
EOG Science
EOG Writing
Data source: North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction
All ratings (Avg rating: 3.7)
Although the school has always struggled academically, at least it used to have heart and a sense of community. However, in the past 2 years it has changed dramatically - while its appearance has been improved with renovations, the inside has become more cold with increased focus on data. Excellent, caring staff have left and scores have dropped. For those assigned here in upcoming years, though, have no fear... in true Wake County fashion they are addressing the problem in 2018-2019 by reassigning the many of its current students to other schools and bringing in new, better performing populations... cynical much? Maybe, but you can't ignore the facts. Watch for Lincoln Heights scores to raise and surrounding school scores to absorb former failings.
This is a great place to be. The school with a heart for the students.
This school is more than just a rating. It has grit, determination, and heart. My children have learned first hand about issues affecting minorities and immigrants, and will be more compassionate and aware as a result. I love LHES and encourage all to visit and really see the amazing things going on within those walls.
by a parent on FaceBook
LHES is a nice school with a community feel. It's true that the building is in need of renovation (scheduled to start this year) and the school is in a low income neighborhood, which affects its test scores. However, the teachers and staff at LHES are caring and professional. I really like the principal as well; he is responsive to parents and very kind and positive with students. My own two children are doing well academically, have tested well, and are happy when they come home at night. What more could a parent ask for?
I've been a parent for 20 years and can tell you that the state-wide test score ratings are only a small part of what makes a great school. Having had children in 11 schools in three states, I can honestly say that Lincoln Heights Elementary is one of the best we've experienced. The staff are ALL kind, loving, and friendly. They look out for the children and care for their safety, their well-being, and their academic progress. There are many resources to help children and their families thrive; my own child is receiving tutoring at school. I really hope parents don't let whatever stigma exists about this school to sway their decisions. LH is absolutely where we know our children are receiving a quality school experience.
I have requested a transfer for my child from Lincoln Heights. The area the school is in is AWFUL. We have been fortunate enough to get great teachers...but that does not excuse the rest of the school. There always grown men outside the school...no shirts on...just hanging out drinking beer right across the street from the ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. No one questions you when you enter the building. Any time I have gone into volunteer I simply walk in. No one bothers to ask who I am or where I am going. The school is completely unsafe and unacceptable.
Enrollment information for Lincoln Heights Elementary
1988 394 141 2 5 2 n/a n/a 0 544
2000 382 176 2 10 2 n/a n/a 0 572
2007 409 149 6 45 0 n/a n/a 35 644
2011 232 143 7 110 1 0 21 0 514
2015 129 212 10 145 2 0 19 0 517
Students eligible for free or discounted lunch at Lincoln Heights Elementary
2007 644 n/a n/a 28.2
2008 681 53.6 12.7 n/a
Student/Teacher Ratio Lincoln Heights Elementary
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NCNorth Carolina Elementary School Rankings
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Schools in Fuquay Varina, NC
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SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.


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Speaking just before the end of the two bands US tour, Meighan reflected on how much he would miss being on the road with his new best pals.


To join our facebook group just put this link in your web browser address bar http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21257940642 . You may need to wait a short while for authorisation. Usually this will be within minutes or a few hours max.
Ok folks, we admit it we love facebook. Not in a carnal way, not in an obsessive way but just in a very genuine this technology is a very useful tool for keeping up to date with what is going on in the danceworld and with my mates.
If you are already on it you don't need convincing. If you aren't on it then why not give it a go. Forget the horror stories you have heard about it being a waste of time and intrusive. You are totally in control of what you post and what you receive.
Anyway, we plan to move more of our content and member benefits to Facebook. For us it is a much quicker, more efficient and stable environment than regular website posting and emails.
Already there are a number of good reasons why you should join our facebook group.
1. It saves you money. The best offers and prices will always be for our facebook groups. Currently there is a special offer saving members a further £1 off our regular pre-book decaDance price. That means you save £3 versus the on the door price.
2. It is where you will find ALL the photos from ALL the events . Currently almost 450 decaDance pictures and almost as many from the bootcamps. It takes absolutely ages to post individual pictures to the website versus literally seconds to post whole albums to facebook. It also slows our websites down. So in future we will only post a handful of pictures to the website and in our upcoming clean up/overhaul we will move the majority of pictures off the site.
3. You can prebook our events saving yourself money immediately and without any interaction with us via email. Simply rsvp to the event invites and you are immediately placed on the pre-booked list. You then just pay the cheaper rate on the night.
4. You can find out who is attending or thinking about attending our events. Although we currently only have approx 1/4 to 1/3 of our regular attendees active on facebook that number is growing all the time. You can check and see if your mates are going or via facebook you can message your mates and invite them along as well.


BostonBlues.com - - Bernie Pearl - Sittin� on the Right Side of the Blues - Have a great 2019!
Before Lady K even popped Bernie Pearl�s new CD into a player, she read the liner-notes and liked what she read. The CD was recorded in concert, at Boulevard Music in Culver City, California, with Bernie Pearl on guitar and vocals, and his pal Michael Barry on upright bass; that�s it. The recording was pressed - no overdubs, no fancy post-recording tinkering, just as the audience heard it (except for the song order). Bernie wrote little notes next to each song title, and his style of writing/speaking is warm, friendly and humble; he �made� Lady K like him and to look forward to listening to his music.
Bernie Pearl honed his craft while playing with some of the bigger names in the blues, and this CD contains many nods to his mentors: Lightnin� Hopkins� �Jailhouse Blues� and the slow-blues tune �Shinin� Moon� (thanks, Lightnin�); Mississippi Fred MacDowell�s �New Hollow Log Blues� (with a few original verses from Pearl), �I Believe I�ll Carry My Hook�, and a stomping �Shake �em Down�; and Son House� �Shetland Pony Blues� is a more than suitable ode to Son. Pearl tossed in a few other �oldies but goodies:� Herman Johnson�s �I Just Keeps on Wanting You�; �Can�t be Satisfied� from Muddy Waters; and Mance Lipscomb�s �Night Time is the Right Time�. All these bare-bones, acoustic tunes just make you wish you were sitting on a back-porch somewhere down in the Delta, listening to Bernie and his heroes and getting lost in the blues with them.
Bernie Pearl doesn�t �just� cover other people�s blues; he included six of his own tunes at the concert, and on this CD. You�ll probably find yourself applauding and shouting right along with the audience on the recording; you�ll be having almost as much fun. �Outside Boogie� is an acoustic instrumental that�ll have you tapping toes and bopping your head, and smiling!!
�I Ain�t Hurt� � a nice play on words for the title of this original instrumental, because it�s not about being harmed or in pain. Bernie Pearl introduced it to his audience with a little guitar-player wisdom: �if you do 3-finger picking, you�re gonna sound like Mississippi John Hurt;� hence the title � Bernie�s 3-finger picking, but he �Ain�t Hurt�.
�You Can Break My Heart� offers lessons for the heart, and how to nurture it. �You can break my heart . . . freeze the pieces in your soul . . . we can stick �em back together, when you�re not so cold. �Love is something so very hard to understand; you think you are winning, but hold a losing hand. Love is something that can grow or fade away; don�t take it for granted, keep lovin� every day.� Words and music to the wise, from Bernie Pearl!!


text:
Tribeca factory transformed by Andrew Franz
Architect Andrew Franz has done a great job transforming a 19th century soap factory in Tribeca, New York, into a unique loft apartment.
Andrew Franz drew inspiration from the natural world, aiming to create something that felt outdoors, while maintaining as much of the original structure as possible. The very goal for this project was to create the feeling of being outdoors when inside the walls.
"The top floor and roof of an 1884 warehouse are reconceived as a warm and welcoming residence with open entertaining areas and a fluid connection to the outdoors. The residence is transformed by a relocated mezzanine where a sunken interior court with a retractable glass roof connects to the planted green roof garden above. This gesture of subtracting volume from the interior brings the outdoors into the primary living zones. Embracing the building's industrial past, a visual discourse between new and old is devised through insertions of modern materials along with restored or reclaimed materials", stated the architect in charge.
The result is a home which cleverly combines modern clean lines and open space with rustic wooden columns and raw brick walls. In short: the perfect marriage of old and new.
Photos: Albert Vecerka/Esto
factory, interior, interior design, New York
Doya Karolini
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text:
Ghana, Portugal, Cameroon, and Serbia
Cameroon's Jean-Charles Castelletto celebrates after scoring their team's first goal during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group G match between Cameroon and Serbia at Al Janoub Stadium on November 28, 2022 in Al Wakrah, Qatar.
Game of the day: Serbia 3 – 3 Cameroon
We could have gone either way with this one, as South Korea and Ghana had its own share of going off the rails. But we'll choose the early game today as it had one more goal. It always feels derivative to say that soccer is defined by goals or that "goals change games," which is perhaps the most popular trope among commentators. But it also just happens to be true.
Cameroon took the lead against the run of play. They only had one shot at all in the first 20 minutes, though Serbia wasn't doing too much more than pawing at their defense in the opening exchanges. But going behind stirred something in Serbia we hadn't seen this tournament, who then snapped back into the lead with two goals before halftime, including this textbook header from Strahinja Pavlović to tie it:
By the way, could you find a more Serbian looking guy than Pavlović? You've seen this guy smoking an unfiltered cigarette outside a bar with no sign, haven't you?
After the break, the lead only caused Serbia to purr even more smoothly, with Dusan Tadić and Sergej Milinković-Savić (who scored the second Serbia goal) dovetailing with striker Aleksandar Mitrović, culminating in this gorgeous third goal that should be set to some killer smooth piece of music like the Pink Panther theme or a Sly song:
And this was over. Or it should have been. A funny thing happened. Cameroon manager Rigobert Song introduced striker Vincent Aboubakar, switched his team to a 4-4-2, and Serbia reacted as if they'd subbed on a dinosaur. Twice Aboubakar broke Serbia's defensive line/offside trap, both times Nikola Milenković on the right side of Serbia's three-man defense being the one caught too deep and keeping Aboubakar onside. The back three found covering one forward to be a breeze. Throw a second one at them at it was a kindergarten firedrill back there. The first, when everyone assumed the flag would go up and it eventually did, only for VAR to retrieve the goal back from the trash, was finished off by Aboubakar himself with the kind of scoop you'd only try when you're pretty sure it doesn't matter anyway:
If Aboubakar was sure that he was onside, is he quite as relaxed? Doesn't matter now.
The second time saw Aboubakar square for Eric Choupo-Moting. And suddenly, without Cameroon really deserving it, they had tied the game and looked the more likely winner. Sadly, they only generated two more shots after the equalizer, but got what they needed to at least go into the last day with something to play for. Just have to beat Brazil! Easy peasy!
At 3-1, it seemed it would be the same story for Cameroon that it's been since last winter's AFCON, where something broke. After going out on penalties at home, they've been pretty wishy washy, and showed a lack of anything against Switzerland, especially after going behind. They did show gumption and fight on Monday.
For Serbia, they'll rue not clinching all three points here, especially with everything riding on an already boiling match with Switzerland, that only needs a draw. It is strange that after featuring both Mitrovic and Dusan Vlahović together in qualifying, they've shied from that in this tournament. Especially with Mitrovic certainly not 100 percent. They played a great 50 minutes or so. But in a World Cup, you can't leave the other 40 on the table.
South Korea 2 – 3 Ghana
This was another game that saw a team that hadn't shown much storming back out of nowhere, except the Koreans couldn't then hang on. The worry about South Korea before the tournament, especially with Heung-min Son barely fit, is that their careful and intricate way of building attacks would end up looking like the worst of tiki-taka, with no end product and opposing teams yawning as they easily held them out before rushing the other way. And that's what the first half pretty much looked like. Ghana barely under any threat (0.37 xG against) and were able to cash in on a set piece. With the comfort of a lead, Ghana then took a page out of South Korea's book and pieced together 31 passes to set up Mohammed Kudus for his first of the day:
Nothing spurs a team like staring into the abyss, though. Finally, for the first time in two games. South Korea played with some pace and urgency in the second half,and the whole game flips with two Gue-song Cho headers. The second is a prime example of just wanting it more than anyone around you:
From there, Korea battered the Ghanian goal, as they should have…except for the small problem of leaving the back door open. Which Ghana strolled right through just seven minutes later:
Great dummy from Inaki Williams. At least that's what he'll say.
Ghana wasn't great. They scored when they needed to. South Korea couldn't one more time. There's your game.
Brazil 1 – 0 Switzerland
Well this was a comedown. Brazil without Neymar are certainly a different beast, both missing his enormous talent as well as their usual tendency to try and find him. With him missing for the rest of the group stage, Switzerland didn't find it too hard to make Brazil look pretty flaccid. Without their #10 in the heart of attack. Brazil were far more dependent on going out wide, and Vinicius Jr. had moved more inside in the first half to combine with Richarlison up top.
Not fearing anything in the middle, Switzerland simply deployed a 4-5-1, and doubled up on Brazil's wide players with their fullbacks and wide attackers. You can do that against this Brazil team because unlike in the past when they had real cowboy fullbacks such as Cafu or Roberto Carlos or Dani Alves, manager Tite prefers his fullbacks to stay where they are. Éder Militao, who started at right-back today, is really a centerback for a living. Switzerland cut off any links to glory from out wide, with Brazil not having too much to answer in the middle.
The second half didn't change all that much, even with Vinicius restored to his normal left wing and Rodrygo brought on to link with Richarlison. The goal came from Brazil simply solving the problem of going through the middle with numbers instead of having Neymar, as Casemiro found himself in the box to volley home an absolute rapier. There was too little time for Switzerland to respond, and they didn't seem much interested in doing so.
Neymar will be back for the important games, but if he's not fully healthy then Switzerland's blueprint will be used again.
Portugal 2 – 0 Uruguay
And the real comedown. Here are two teams that are capable of really setting off a fireworks show that spent the first 45 minutes kicking each other into seven different kinds of shit and bitching to the ref when they weren't doing that. Uruguay came for a point and didn't get it.
It did contain maybe the most Ronaldo moment ever, as he tried to claim this was his goal in every way possible, even throughout the celebrations:
Dress for the job you want and all that.
Finally, after going a goal down Uruguay actually tried to cross the halfway line with more than just Darwin Nunez and the corpse of Edinson Cavani, but could only find the post again. Now they need to beat Ghana and hope Portugal don't rest everyone and have enough left on the field to not let South Korea sneak a win past them. It didn't have to be this way, but this is apparently how Uruguay has it drawn up.
Goal of the day: Aboubakar's trampoline-flick was a contender, but Casemiro may never hit another shot like this again:
Did VAR fuck anything up?: We saw both sides. Aboubakar's goal is exactly why referee's assistants have been holding raising their flag until the play is completed, because he was onside and VAR saved a goal that should stand. But Portugal's penalty came off a handball from Jose Giminez when he was merely putting his hand down as he slid to the ground, the only place his hand can go and something explicitly stated is not supposed to be a penalty.
And yet the VAR official called the on-field ref to the screen, and that almost always ends up in a reversal. The system is still dependent on the opinion of people, and it's not hard to get two people who see the world cockeyed making these decisions.
Did Alexi Lalas say anything stupid?: No Alexi, Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't have "haters" just because he's good. You mentioned his "off the field matters," so go all the way, bud. Once you open that door you can't just dip a toe through it and then run away from it.
The one true Ronaldo: It is truly inspiring to see the OG Ronaldo, and more to the point the level of consistent contentment he seems to have achieved. Maybe you have to be the best forward of your generation to exude such a relaxed state, but maybe it's there for all of us. Follow the OG Ronaldo to freedom:
Lastly, I know many people out there don't follow sports. Most of their arguments are sound. Sometimes I even envy them. But the question I always come back to is, if you don't follow sports, what makes you feel like this?
Tags: Cameroon, Ghana, Portugal, Serbia
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It is already a natural thing to encounter some problems while utilizing your PC. Especially when searching the net, it is very possible for you to come across various errors which you have no idea about. Runtime.getruntime .exec Batch is not a thing to be worried about since it is a typical thing. This only informs you that you have to take action and there's no need to panic. The first step that you should take is to know the real cause of the existing problem. Doing so will help you contain the damage.
A faulty driver or an incompatible application is only two of the numerous reasons why Runtime.getruntime .exec Batch happen. Nothing is better than learning how to troubleshoot it yourself. This is due to the fact that obtaining a new operating system or device entails you to exhaust your resources. This article will provide you a highlight of the usual computer errors and the ways to resolve it, you can find it below.
We always want to update our computers, the good reason why we install some new hardware and software into it so that we could enjoy more functionality. The truth is, when you keep on updating your PC, you will sometimes bump into an error causing your computer to display a flash of blue in the screen as you reboot it. Regardless if you have an updated operating-system, you can still encounter this type of error. One thing you must do to be able to fix the issue, it is to uninstall all the latest software you added in your personal computer and as you finish the whole thing, you have to boot and open your computer via safe mode. Troubleshooting this error is more than just rebooting your computer or pressing the ESC control. For you to handle Runtime.getruntime .exec Batch, you should understand first how to run the fundamental computer processes.
If your RAM space is insufficient, you may encounter this error. Especially if the memory of the application you're presently using is bigger than what your computer can deal with. Boosting the PageFile will help, only if your RAM space is still workable. There is a need for you to learn how to change the advanced tab settings in order to do this. Just go to Control Panel, System, Security and Advanced system settings Once you reach this, you can double the size of the PageFile when compared to the RAM memory. Changing the RAM would be a better idea if you cannot work it out anymore. Just do not forget to check out the supplier of the RAM whenever you plan to buy one.
When you run a certain program in the computer and it lacks a file, the program won't run correctly making way for this Runtime.getruntime .exec Batch to take place. It is feasible to download the file from the web so long as it is a system file. But of course, be sure that you are transacting with a trustworthy service provider. The problem is that not all files from the web will work. It's another case if a software causes the error since you need to do re-installation. One other reason for this problem could be a virus attack so getting a good anti-virus is also a good thing.
These Runtime.getruntime .exec Batch may be encountered every time you use the functionality of your computer. These tips are certainly beneficial since you can save cash and learn new technical skills at the same time, plus the indisputable fact that you have fixed the problem on your own. This just means that trouble-shooting the problem first is always much better than replacing anything in your computer immediately.


When you're compliant or certified to the appropriate standard, the businesses that work with you know that quality objectives, continuous improvement, Information security and customer satisfaction are your goals. An example is like many companies require that their suppliers are ISO 9001 compliant; therefore, once you're certified, your opportunities increase. Similarly companies comply to ISO 27001 to demonstrate their eagerness to protect critical and confidentail information.
ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is the world's largest developer of standards. The standards contribute to making the development, manufacturing and supply of products and services more efficient, secure, safer and cleaner, while making trade between countries easier and fairer.
They provide governments with a technical base for health, safety and environmental legislation. They aid in transferring technology to developing countries. ISO standards also safeguard consumers and users of products and services, as well as making life simpler.
British Standards are produced by BSI British Standards, a division of BSI Group that is incorporated under a Royal Charter and is formally designated as the National Standards Body (NSB) for the UK.
ISO 27001, also known as "Information Security Management System", is the replacement for BS7799. It is intended to provide the foundation for third party audit, and is 'harmonized' with other management standards, such as ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.
The basic objective of the standard is to help establish and maintain an effective information management system, using a continual improvement approach. It implements OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) principles, governing security of information and network systems. The standard itself is to "provide a model for establishing, implementing, operating, monitoring, reviewing, maintaining, and improving an Information Security Management System". Further, "The design and implementation of an organization's ISMS is influenced by their needs and objectives, security requirements, the process employed and the size and structure of the organization".
The key concept of ISMS is for an organization to design, implementation and to maintain a coherent suite of processes and systems for effectively managing information accessibility, thus ensuring the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information assets and minimizing information security risks.
ISO 27001 has 11 domain areas which covers 39 control objectives and 133 controls in all. The security controls represent information security best practices and the standard suggests that these controls should be applied depending on the business requirements.
Compliance with legal, regulatory, and statutory requirements.
ISO 27001 certification is recognized on a worldwide basis.
Marked improvement in efficiency and operational performance of the company.
Enhance vendor status of your organization.
Minimizes internal and external risks to business continuity.
Implementation of ISO 27001 results in great security awareness within an organization.
Management can be assured of quality of system, business unit if a recognized framework or approach is followed.
For further information contact us and our consultants will be happy to provide a quote / proposal.
Continued operations in the event of a disruption, whether due to a major disaster or a minor incident, is a fundamental requirement for any organization. BS 25999, the world's first British standard for business continuity management (BCM), has been developed to help you minimize the risk of such disruptions.
BS 25999 has been developed by a broad based group of world class experts representing a cross-section of industry sectors and the government to establish the process, principles and terminology of Business Continuity Management.
Provides a rehearsed method of restoring your ability to supply critical products and services to an agreed level and timeframe following a disruption.
Delivers a proven capability for managing a disruption and protecting your reputation and brand.
IT is essential to delivering today's business. However, concerns are increasingly being raised about IT services, both internal and outsourced, not aligning with the needs of businesses and customers.
A recognized solution to this problem is to use an IT Service Management System (ITSMS) based on ISO/IEC 20000, the international standard for IT service management. Registration to this standard enables you to independently demonstrate to your customers that you meet best practice.
ISO/IEC 20000 is based on and replaces BS 15000, the internationally recognized British Standard.
Part One is the specification for service management which covers the IT service management. It is this part which you can be audited against and it sets out minimum requirements that must be achieved in order to gain certification.
Part Two is the code of practice for service management which describes the best practices for service management processes within the scope of the specification.
External service providers can use registration as a differentiator and win new business as this increasingly becomes a contractual requirement.
Gives you the ability to select and manage external service providers more effectively.
More opportunities to improve the efficiency, reliability and consistency of IT services impacting costs and service.
Certification audits enable the regular evaluation of the service management processes which helps to maintain and improve effectiveness.
The certification process can reduce the amount of supplier audits thereby reducing costs.
ISO 9001 is by far the world's most established quality framework, currently being used by over ¾ million organizations in 161 countries, and sets the standard not only for quality management systems, but management systems in general.
It helps all kinds of organizations to succeed through improved customer satisfaction, staff motivation and continual improvement.
ISO 9001 – Requirements: This sets out the criteria you will need to meet if you wish to operate in accordance with the standard and gain certification.
ISO 14001 is an internationally accepted standard that sets out how you can go about putting in place an effective Environmental Management System (EMS). The standard is designed to address the delicate balance between maintaining profitability and reducing environmental impact – with the commitment of your entire organization, it can enable you to achieve both objectives.
This means you can identify aspects of your business that impact on the environment and understand those environmental laws that are relevant to your situation. The next step is to produce objectives for improvement and a management program to achieve them, with regular reviews for continual improvement. We can then periodically assess the system and, if compliant, register your company or site to ISO 14001.
Registering your company's environmental management system to ISO 14001 means that a third party, has assessed it that it meets the requirements set out in the standard.
PCI DSS is a guideline to help organizations that process card payments prevent credit card fraud, hacking and various other security vulnerabilities and threats. A company processing, storing, or transmitting payment card data must be PCI DSS compliant. Non-compliant companies who maintain a relationship with one or more of the card brands, either directly or through an acquirer risk losing their ability to process credit card payments and being audited and/or fined.
The PCI Data Security Standard represents a common set of industry tools and measurements to help ensure the safe handling of sensitive credit card and debit card information. The Standard provides us with a framework for developing a robust account data security process for preventing, detecting and reacting to security incidents. It was authored by The PCI Security Standards Council, which was founded by American Express, Discover, JCB, MasterCard and Visa.
The Standard applies to all merchants and service providers that store, process or transmits cardholder data.
Defigo in association with partner QSA standardized methodology of PCI Certification for all its clients.
Increase network security by aligning hardware and software releases, features, and functionality with PCI Data Security Standard specifications.
Improve deployment team and operations staff proficiency by providing continuous knowledge exchange throughout service delivery.
Mitigate the risk of network downtime and of costs from potential rework and speed implementation and migration of new security solutions and technologies through time-tested design methodologies.
What do I need to do to meet the PCI standards?
Pass quarterly remote vulnerability scans conducted by an a Visa and MasterCard "Qualified Independent Scan Vendor". Scans are required for all Internet connection points whether they are office networks or home/office connections (dial\-up, DSL, cable or wireless) or permanent Internet servers such as your web site and email server, etc.
Successful completion of a security self-assessment questionnaire. The self assessment questionnaire asks specific questions about your internal security practices, both on your web site and in your office.
The Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT) is a set of best practices (framework) for information technology (IT) management created by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), and the IT Governance Institute (ITGI) in 1992. COBIT provides managers, auditors, and IT users with a set of generally accepted measures, indicators, processes and best practices to assist them in maximizing the benefits derived through the use of information technology and developing appropriate IT governance and control in a company.
COBIT 4.1 has 34 high level processes that cover 210 control objectives categorized in four domains: Planning and Organization, Acquisition and Implementation, Delivery and Support, and Monitoring and Evaluation. COBIT provides benefits to managers, IT users, and auditors. Managers benefit from COBIT because it provides them with a foundation upon which IT related decisions and investments can be based. Decision making is more effective because COBIT aids management in defining a strategic IT plan, defining the information architecture, acquiring the necessary IT hardware and software to execute an IT strategy, ensuring continuous service, and monitoring the performance of the IT system. IT users benefit from COBIT because of the assurance provided to them by COBIT's defined controls, security, and process governance. COBIT benefits auditors because it helps them identify IT control issues within a company's IT infrastructure. It also helps them corroborate their audit findings.
Recently, ISACA has released Val IT, which correlates the COBIT processes to senior management processes required to get good value from IT investments.
In 1996, the US Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). It brought into existence for the first time, a set of generally accepted security standards and requirements for protecting health information. In 2009, the scope and depth of HIPAA was extended with the enactment of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. HIPAA and HITECH lay out strict standards governing information security and privacy.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) - Title II sets national standards for electronic health care transactions. The regulation requires security and privacy of health data during electronic data interchange in health care system.
Companies providing health care plan, acting as clearing house for health plan or delivering health care services are identified as "Covered Entities" under the HIPAA regulation. Covered entities have to follow 45 CFR §160, §162, and §164 rules to be HIPAA complaint and have to ensure that their IT systems follow Privacy and Security rules in the regulation. The IT systems have to ensure privacy and security rule of protected health information (PHI) during transmission and maintenance of health information through electronic media.
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
HIPAA is broadly divided into two sections or titles. Title I protects the health insurance rights of workers who change or lose their jobs. It also limits the number of restrictions that health insurance companies can impose on individuals with pre-existing health conditions.
Title II is far more influential. Also known as the Administrative Simplification provisions, it contains rules, standards and guidelines to protect sensitive health information. These rules include the Transaction and Code Sets Rule which streamlines and secures transaction processes among healthcare institutions, and the Unique Identifiers Rule which mandates that all healthcare providers have a National Provider ID to file claims.
While these two rules are extremely important, a lot more attention is being paid to the Privacy and Security Rules, especially as the integrity of data becomes increasingly threatened. Both rules contain extensive provisions and guidelines surrounding the use, protection and disposal of sensitive health information.
The Privacy Rule was instituted to protect all individually identifiable health information that is stored or transmitted. This information, also known as Protected Health Information (PHI) includes any part of an individual's medical record, health status or payment history.
Train employees on all privacy and security policies and procedures.
Organizations are rapidly turning to the Cloud to reduce costs, provide greater flexibility and quickly ramp up support of business needs. But as more data, applications and infrastructure move to the Cloud, security remains a top concern. In fact, according to the Cloud Security Alliance, security is cited as the number one barrier to adoption of Cloud services among organizations.
Organizations use the Cloud in a variety of different service models (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS) and deployment models (Private, Public, Hybrid). Regardless of how your organization leverages the Cloud, Hycom can help your organization manage the security, risk and compliance concerns.
Cloud Security Strategic Consulting: Establish a strategic direction for gaining the benefits of the Cloud while minimizing risk and improving security. Understand the ramifications of Cloud adoption on your information security program and policies. Integrate Cloud controls into your overall security program.
Cloud Security Tactical Planning: Determine the explicit steps that should be taken to securely move a business process to the Cloud. Identify available security controls and how should they be deployed to mitigate risk. Establish control criteria for Cloud providers and different classes of information.
Cloud Risk Assessment: Understand the security and compliance risks of a current Cloud deployment and how to manage them. Create a consistent process and cadence around how you manage your risk.
Assurance Testing of Cloud Deployments: Evaluate the security model of a Cloud deployment. Test the effectiveness of security controls in the Cloud. Determine if the controls are properly implemented and function as designed. Understand how difficult (or easy) it would be for an attacker to penetrate the defenses and assess the potential impact.
Compliance Assessments for the Cloud: Ensure compliance requirements are met when using a Cloud-based resource, approaching your deployment from an auditor's point of view. Understand how security regulations such as PCI, FISMA, HIPAA, etc. apply to Cloud environments. Identify compliance gaps and appropriate remediation steps.
Incident Response and Forensics in Cloud Environments: Understand the impact of Cloud architectures and data flows on your current Incident Response program. Determine the role of your Cloud partner in this process. Mitigate incidents involving Cloud environments and capture evidence.
Cloud Security Architecture and Design: Develop architecture for securing data and IT assets in the Cloud. Understand the delta between a Cloud environment and your network security architecture. Establish standard architecture for securing Cloud deployments.
The above services can also be provided as part of general security consulting engagements where Cloud services or resources are in scope. If Cloud is a key part of your IT strategy, then including your cloud deployments in broader assessments, testing and compliance auditing is highly recommended.
As a leading provider of information security services, Hycom can help organizations deliver Cloud-based services securely and satisfy the compliance requirements of their customers. Whether you are building a Cloud environment from the ground up or simply building on top of existing Cloud services, Hycom can provide you with expert guidance and critical security controls to protect your infrastructure, applications and data.
The term "auditor," according to the Oxford English Dictionary, stems from the historical responsibility of an official examiner to hear oral statements of account from those who held money on others' behalf. And if you were an auditor listening to oral accounts, you would certainly notice the difference between someone saying "I hold $5,000 belonging to X" and "I used to have $5,000 belonging to Mr. X, but I gave it to Mr. Y to hold for me." In the second case, you would need to check with Mr. Y to ascertain whether indeed the account was correct, and if those funds were still safe.
These days, auditors not only listen to oral accounts, but also read written records and analyze financial statements. In IT auditing, those records include data dictionaries and network maps. But the underlying concept of the auditor remains the same – to examine statements of account.
Corporate consumers of cloud computing rely entirely upon the attestations of their providers to answer those follow-up questions about the specifics of security. For auditing to be complete and worthwhile, there has to be a handshake between the auditor of the provider and the auditor of the consumer of cloud computing services. The auditor needs to know what security practices are being followed and whether they're being kept up to date. And the auditor can't just accept it on hearsay.
In general, whenever business processes cross organizational boundaries, the complexity of auditing and monitoring compliance will increase. Cloud computing layers another dimension to this complexity; it's not just a single business process being placed into the hands of another entity, but rather it acts as a component that stretches across multiple business processes.
If you were to visualize an organization's value chain, its adoption of cloud computing wouldn't replace a single link in the chain, it would change the nature of every single link. If customer data, for example, is held in the cloud, then all practices involved with customer data, from customer acquisition to fulfillment to servicing, have to be re-assessed for compliance purposes.
Yet this need not be a sticking point. For smaller enterprises, a well-prepared supplier often provides higher levels of security, assurance, and process excellence than can be offered by the organization itself, with the increased costs of compliance more than made up by the efficiencies of scale and scope. This is why small-to-medium-sized enterprises have adopted cloud-based applications at a rapid clip.
The problem becomes more challenging when a highly complex entity goes to a smaller cloud technology provider. In this case, the provider has to race to catch up with the compliance obligations of the larger entity. The cost involved with meeting these organization-specific compliance requirements cannot be easily distributed across many clients, which makes the value proposition of enterprise cloud computing harder to achieve. An example would be a security-minded government agency, which would tend to look to a private cloud rather than a public technology provider.
As cloud technology providers become more mature and more able to handle the specific compliance needs of vertical industries, along with the process flexibility to deal with the idiosyncratic requirements of specific enterprises, the auditing process for cloud should become easier. But in the meantime, auditors examining the cloud should listen to their gut instincts. They'll usually be right.
Who's afraid of the Big Bad Hacker? Many of us are, according to recent studies — and for good reason. Lost or stolen data cost companies an average of $7 million last year according to one widely quoted figure, mostly due to customer turnover.
And should important financial data be lost, companies may be forced to pay harsh fines for violating federal securities laws.
So why should any company trust their data, particularly sensitive financial and accounting data, to a third party? It may just be that a solid SaaS provider will do a better job of protecting those assets than your own IT department.
Consider the evidence: Hackers accounted for less than a quarter of the data lost or stolen last year, according to widely quoted recent survey. It turns out employees accounted for the greatest percentage of incidents, including breaches involving email, social networks, and mobile computing devices. Although third parties are said to be responsible for 42 percent of data breaches, to date not a single major incident involving a SaaS provider has been reported.
Have enterprises just been lucky? I think it's more likely that reputable SaaS providers do a superior job of safekeeping data because they have to. If they don't, they're out of business.
Still, there's no reason to enter into this relationship lightly, especially when it comes to financial and accounting applications. Mitigate your level of risk by asking tough questions of a prospective SaaS provider. If you receive satisfactory responses take the next step of securing those assurances in writing.
What are the data access controls? The best SaaS providers use advanced, multi-layered defensive systems to block unauthorized users.
Do you use SSL for any data transmitted between the host and user? SaaS data is transmitted through the public Internet. By using SSL encryption that data, should it be intercepted, is rendered useless.
Are the provider's data centers physically safe? Are they in flood zones, on a fault line, in an area susceptible to hurricanes? If so, there should be backup facilities so that service remains undisrupted and data remains intact.
Have the data centers passed a SAS-70 tier 4 compliance test? This is the most rigorous test for systems performance in the industry.
Has the SaaS provider passed muster with outside auditors? The provider should be able to show compliance certificates from independent third parties for its security practices.
Finally, every enterprise should ask itself an important question. Given the cost savings and the potential to better safeguard sensitive data like financial and accounting applications, can any organization afford not to hire a reputable SaaS provider?
Should you choose a public cloud offering, build your own private cloud or develop a hybrid?
How do you build security into your private, public or hybrid cloud?
Which cloud-based services are right for you?
How do you develop new cloud applications or migrate your current applications to a cloud environment?
Our cloud services range from an overview of cloud technology, to a discussion of your business and IT goals, to an infrastructure assessment and explanation of how you might benefit from cloud. Working together, we can develop and implement a best practice-based strategic plan for cloud computing success in your data center and end-user environment.
Now that cloud computing is either being implemented, or in on every business's to-do list, some "best practice" thinking is beginning to emerge concerning the security of data and other practices, and whether data security is best administered in the cloud or on in-house systems.
A key factor for almost every company is the nature of the business case for cloud. If the company is a small or medium-sized business (SMB), there are likely to be pressures to offload as many systems (and data) from IT's plate as possible. The primary goal here is cost containment, or possibly even cost reduction.
With cloud computing, you don't have to purchase and then record the depreciation of assets in your financials. You also require less floor space and potentially fewer IT personnel to run these systems. SMBs are also likely to be less regulated than their enterprise counterparts, so security is likely to be less rigorous. In the SMB environment, cloud-based data (and systems) can be highly attractive IT options – whether the project is to move a standard office productivity software like word processing or spreadsheets to the cloud, or to migrate a CRM (customer relationship management) system. In some cases, SMBs might even opt to have a cloud services provider with expertise in their particular industry and applications host their mission-critical transaction processing systems, such as customer order taking.
Enterprises, on the other hand, have sophisticated IT infrastructures with decades of investments into the finest toolsets and data security practices for the industries that they are in. They also have stiffer regulatory requirements and greater risk when it comes to safeguarding the security of their data. Unless the business case is extremely compelling, these organizations are likely to use private cloud services for specific business applications and data, and only when they feel some reduced costs can be realized at minimum risk to the security of these applications and data. At the end of the day, most will tell you that their long-term plan is to maintain their mission-critical applications and data – and the disaster recovery and failover capabilities for these assets – internally.
A cloud services provider may offer a solution that can take a non-mission-critical application (and data) out of the enterprise's normal workload, giving IT more time to focus on the core business. An example would be an electronics company that has expertise in design and manufacturing, but not the supply chain that gets the product into the hands of consumers. In this case, the enterprise might select a cloud services provider to host, run, and store supply chain applications and data.
A cloud provider may help an enterprise that is engaged in a global business and can no longer guarantee high service levels to its global customers – because of Internet delays encountered when transactions encounter inter-country firewalls. In this case, the enterprise might opt to apportion its data into "country" zones, hosting each application and its data within the boundaries of the country it is providing service to, so that international data traffic slow-downs can be avoided.
In either case, the enterprise is likely to insist on a private cloud implementation that dedicates specific servers and other assets on the site to the enterprise and to no one else. The enterprise will also insist on a personal visit to the cloud service provider's data center, and will ask for a copy of the service provider's latest IT security audit and latest SAS70 report (the latter to guarantee long-term financial viability of the service provider).
As cloud services continue to evolve, so will the business cases that also include the safety and the security of corporate data, whether it is kept in-house or managed in the cloud. The key for cloud services providers will be to continue to tighten data security practices. The key for companies will be to continue to benchmark data security internally and in the cloud as cloud-based services continue to mature.
As companies investigate cloud computing, they are obviously eager to apply internal total cost of ownership (TCO) and return on investment (ROI) metrics to these deployments. And many of them are finding it hard to obtain truly useful results.
One reason why is the immaturity of the cloud computing market. There simply isn't much empirical evidence about cloud costs and returns yet — and companies are also still in the process of learning just how cloud implementations impact their IT operations and cost structures.
At first blush, the process of establishing an ROI for cloud computing looks straightforward. Jobbing out a system or two to cloud providers reduces software licensing costs, cuts your data center footprint and energy use, and eases IT staffing costs. The cloud services provider charges for the service, but in virtually every case, the cloud solution comes across as the best ROI because it comes in with lower costs to implement and to operate.
But evaluating the true ROI of cloud computing (or anything else) shouldn't stop with the scratch of a sharp pencil on a spreadsheet in the Finance Department. For one thing, up-front cost savings may have a very different impact on ROI gained over an average IT lifetime (say, five years) of an investment. To this end, IT must be sure to extrapolate total costs of the cloud service over the term of the contract, and then compare that to its current view of on-premise IT resource utilization and support costs.
If the cloud service value proposition still looks good at this point, the next step is to perform a total impact analysis on cost of operation. It is already known that a cloud solution will save server and other data center costs, along with expenditures on IT staff used to support the systems being outsourced. But does cloud computing create any new costs? The answer is "yes," at least potentially, in two areas.
The first area is contract management. At least one IT person at the Project Lead or Manager level will have to be dedicated part-time to manage the details of the contract, the relationships with the vendor, day to day performance of the solution, and communications with end users in the business. This is not a person with an entry-level skill set or an entry-level salary. Chances are good that this person already exists on the IT staff (perhaps in a Program Management Office), but in order to fulfill the new cloud environment management responsibilities, the person will have less time to devote to other projects.
A second area of new costs that the cloud can introduce involves security. An April, 2010 PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of over 12,000 security and IT professionals around the world revealed that 35 percent were "very confident" in their own companies' security, but only 29 percent felt the same way about the security of their partners and suppliers. Ensuring security compliance (and testing/certifying for it) with third-party cloud providers consumes both time and resources that otherwise could be dedicated to internal IT security. There is also early evidence that network Quality of Service (QoS) performance on third party services is not as high as it is on internal systems. This means that more IT time will likely be needed from senior level security and network professionals — a significant cost and organizational impact that can easily be overlooked in an ROI study.
It is difficult now to predict just how cloud computing ROI will pan out. It is certain, however, that more useful results on the "real" ROI of cloud computing will be available in two or three years, after organizations have had enough runtime with clouds to assess its value. Meanwhile, many companies are making the leap into cloud computing anyway — perhaps out of faith that those long-term benefits really will be there.
Increase IT responsiveness and efficiency.
Reduce capital expenditures and operational overhead.
Provide greater business flexibility through an on-demand, pay-as-you-go model that scales with your business.
Get more choice in providers — use in-house or third-party vendors.
Free up IT resources for innovation.
After years of data center growth and IT evolution, many businesses are left living with complex, overgrown computing platforms that are chronically underutilized. These systems take up valuable data center floor space, depreciate quickly, consume large amounts of power and cooling resources, and can cause management headaches.
What's more, the IT resources in the typical data center are locked into silos that are dedicated to particular applications. This rigid architecture makes it hard for an IT organization to quickly adapt or respond to changing business demands, and it makes it difficult to share resources throughout an enterprise — to increase utilization and improve efficiency.
By providing resources as a service, cloud computing addresses these fundamental data center challenges.
Many organisations report and make decisions based on information which is unreliable, inconsistent and misleading. There is an increasing burden of external reporting and compliance.
Non-financial performance information is becoming increasingly important to all organisations regardless of sector. It is widely recognised that short and long term financial performance are predicated on sound performance information. Confidence in performance information is essential as it forms the basis on which key decisions are made by management, Boards and external stakeholders.
We help our clients and their key stakeholders build confidence in their performance information to make well-informed decisions.
Performance Assurance is a portion of the quality management process focused on providing confidence that a system or component accomplishes its designated functions. In a global business environment, consumer demand and competitive pressures have compelled organizations to ensure critical business software performs to optimal standards. With more and more business processes being automated by software, its agility and effectiveness drives the performance of business.
The challenge of ensuring your new business applications are production ready and will meet performance expectations is more intense than ever with the ever-increasing size, complexity and integration of business systems. Your organization can proactively address system performance issues using Hycom's Performance Assurance Services. Our experienced team of professionals utilizes a proven methodology along with automated testing tools to examine the components of your application that drive and impact performance.
Hycom's production-like environment for performance testing addresses threats to the production environment and helps organizations correct capacity and performance issues prior to deployment. Hycom is tool agnostic with experience in all available commercial performance testing tools.
Providing advice and assurance for corporate responsibility and sustainability reporting.
In our hands-on interactive workshop, we will help your team define performance goals, requirements and test scenarios, complete capacity planning and environment reviews, and define the entire performance test plan.
Prompt Planning: aurionPro will help your team plan your performance assurance strategy. We will get deeply engaged with your team and make sure that all performance testing related tasks are properly planned and accounted for.
Better Understanding: This workshop will help you to better understand the challenges associated with performance assurance and what to do to make sure they are properly addressed. Working closely with your team, we will define specific and measurable performance testing requirements and goals for your site.
Easier Project Planning: Based on our test plan you will be able to accurately schedule all performance assurance tasks. You will also be able to budget for any test environment costs and avoid last minute surprises.
The Performance PoC is designed to guide our customers with their selection of vendors. With the data gathered from this offering, our customers will learn how a selected application stack performs, in no uncertain terms, and be able to make informed decisions when moving ahead with their selection of vendors, design, and implementation strategies.
Stack Validation: Our engineers will help you determine the proper use cases to test. We'll develop realistic load simulations of those use cases and provide you with 3rd party validation of the vendors you are considering.
Proactive Decision Making: We'll deliver the information you need to begin planning your performance assurance strategy.
The Performance Audit is designed to guide our customers through their capacity planning process, helping them determine how many page views per second their site will need to deliver in order to handle the anticipated peak user load. We also quickly put their site through a series of infrastructure, stress, and baseline tests to measure how close they are to being able to handle their peak user load. With the data gathered from this offering, our customers will learn how their site performs, in no uncertain terms, and be able to make informed decisions when moving ahead with their performance assurance strategy.
Validation: Our engineers will help you determine the proper use cases to test. We'll develop realistic load simulations of those use cases and quantify your site's performance characteristics.
Cost Reduction: Performance, scalability, and stability defects can be costly to fix, as they sometimes require significant changes to the architecture. The cost of fixing them only increases over time. Let us help you identify them early on.
Proactive Decision Making: Find out how your site currently performs. We'll deliver the information you need, helping you understand how your site performs and what areas of your site require immediate attention.
A full pass through our proven methodology will ensure that your end users get an outstanding experience. This engagement will help you resolve any issues and will give you the confidence that you need.
Prompt Planning & Execution: aurionPro will get deeply engaged with your team and make sure that all performance testing related tasks are properly planned and executed before your site goes live.
Root Cause Analysis: When performance, scalability, or stability problems are discovered while testing your site, our team will perform the necessary root cause analysis to make sure the issues get identified and resolved quickly. Our ongoing involvement won't allow your performance and stability issues to languish, while your engineering team focuses on the functional aspects of the system.
Going Live with Confidence: Too many times we've seen that clients fail to plan and test adequately for performance before going live. The downtime required after launch to address performance issues can result in significant revenue loss and higher costs to resolve them. Our Readiness Evaluation enables you to realize measurable improvements and go live with confidence.
This 4-8 week offering is designed to allow software vendors to measure the performance and scalability of their product on a given platform stack. The benchmark report that we produce is often used as a sales tool to provide potential customers the information they need when selecting a vendor or doing capacity planning.
3rd Party Validation: Using our vast experience in testing various applications, our team will be able to independently assess the performance and scalability characteristics of your product. Through rigorous testing methodology that is fully documented, we will ensure the accuracy of the results and analysis. We will also work with your team to improve your product's performance if needed.
Accelerated Sales Cycle: Our benchmark report will provide valuable information about your product performance, scalability and stability that can be used during the sales process. This information can be crucial in reassuring potential clients about the enterprise readiness of your product and speed up the vendor selection process. If you need to get involved in a performance POC, you will be able to quickly set up the benchmark based on the documentation that we have provided and replicate results in the controlled environment.
Educated Customers: Sharing the performance and scalability characteristics of your product with your clients will enable you to set their expectations properly and enable them to do capacity planning and tuning. Educated customers are more likely to proactively plan for adequate performance testing of their installation. This will minimize your involvement in resolving customer crisis situations that arise from poor planning and not understanding performance issues.
Get a snapshot of your solution's current performance characteristics and identify major bottlenecks. In a relatively short time, we have always helped resolve issues leading to significant improvements.
Quick Root Cause Analysis: Understand why your site isn't performing. Our team of performance engineers can help you quickly identify the root cause of your performance and stability issues.
Increased User Acceptance and Satisfaction: Today's users have a low threshold for high response times or sites that are frequently unavailable. Let us help you make sure your site is responsive and available 24x7.
Support Cost Reduction: Poorly performing sites create a drag on support teams, flooding them with calls. Your support and operations teams will appreciate our involvement.
Revenue and Productivity Improvements: If you are running an e-commerce site, higher throughput equals more sales. If you're running a corporate intranet, higher throughput equals more employee productivity. Let us help you get there.
Let us help you achieve ongoing success by supporting your software development cycle. Our offering provides year-round performance testing and analysis of all major and minor releases.
Prompt Planning and Execution: aurionPro will help your team plan and execute your performance assurance strategy properly, making sure you test early and often for all major and minor releases. We will be engaged with your team regularly to make sure that all performance engineering related tasks are properly planned and executed.
Timely Root Cause Analysis: If performance related problems arise in your production or test environments, our team of experts will perform the necessary root cause analysis to make sure the issues get identified and resolved quickly. Our ongoing involvement won't allow your performance and stability issues to languish, while your engineering, operations, and support teams focus on the functional stability of the system.
Performance Change Management: To instill continued confidence in the performance, scalability, and stability of your site, our team will continuously regression test your site and perform root cause analysis when any performance, scalability, or stability issues are discovered. This will make sure your live site continues to perform and scale as new features are added. Planned infrastructure upgrades or changes may not be as benign as sometimes hoped, hence sanity-checking your changes before pushing them into production will prove extremely valuable in the long run.


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Easy Come, Easy Go: Tattoo Removal Isn't Such a Big Deal Now
KYLE, Texas — Taylor Glascow, a freshman at Jack C. Hays High School in nearby Buda, got her first tattoo last year from a friend, who used a sewing needle and ink from a ballpoint pen to draw a heart and cross on Glascow's right hip.
Kyle and Buda are small towns along Interstate 35 in Hays County between Austin and San Marcos.
"It was just me and my friends doing something really stupid," said the 14-year-old in an interview.
It wasn't long before Glascow's mother, Jamé Cearley, discovered the tattoo. Cearley, a 38-year-old stay-at-home mom, ordered it removed.
"I was furious with her," Cearley said in an interview. "She was just being a silly teenager, I guess."
Cearley has tattoos herself, but she didn't get her first until after she turned 18.
Ordered by mom or not, more people are getting tattoos removed. According to a February 2016 report by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, removals nationwide rose 37 percent from 2015. A 2017 report from Groupon Inc., an online coupon company, ranked Austin first in the country for tattoo obliteration.
According to a report by Marketwatch.com, an online financial news provider, the U.S. tattoo removal market grew 440 percent, to $75.5 million, over the decade ending in 2015. The growth in removals has increased as the number of tattoos has risen, according to Future Market Insights, a market data firm. The availability of laser removal techniques, which are less painful and cheaper than older methods, has also fueled demand.
Mike Livermore, founder and owner of Medermis Laser Clinic in Austin, said in a telephone interview that the spread of laser facilities explains a lot of the surge in demand for removals.
"It just looks like it's more popular because more people are offering the service," he said.
Austin's online Yellow Pages directory lists 90 tattoo businesses and 24 removal clinics. In 2006, there were 28 tattoo businesses and four removal clinics. Livermore's business was the first in Austin 11 years ago. He says in the past two years, he's seen eight new clinics in the area.
"The efficacy of the laser is so much better than it was 10 years ago," said Timothy Hill, owner of Fresh Start Laser Clinic in North Austin, in a telephone interview. He says the technology has made it easier and more lucrative for newcomers to join the market.
According to Future Market Insights, removing a tattoo costs between $100 and $500, with each tattoo taking up to 10 laser sessions.
"Almost 90 percent of people who get tattoos regret them at some stage," he said of his personal experience. "We're at the peak of the tattoo industry right now. As long as the tattoo industry is doing well, there will be a need for removal."
In Glascow's case, she accommodated her mother without much bother. Fresh Start is removing her tattoo at no cost, as it does for all minors. Anthony Carrasco, a removal technician at Fresh Start since July 2016, said services start at $39 a session, with six or eight treatments needed to remove a tattoo.
Glascow doesn't regret her experience, though. "I would definitely get another tattoo," she said, but next time will wait till she's older and avoid the risk and randomness of a home tattoo by going to a professional. "It's a life lesson learned," she said.


Need more leads? Trying to attract a wider audience? The key is a cohesive digital marketing strategy.
Most times when I'm invited to do consulting or a digital marketing audit, one of the first findings is that the marketing is splintered. What is done on Facebook is not connected to the strategies used on the website, or what is tweeted has no connection to lead capture initiatives on the website, etc. It's essential to get that corrected!
The online digital and inbound marketing strategy for a business needs to be integrated and cohesive, with all parts working in sync. One of my goals is always to make the complex simpler, and one way I do this is by keying on the three key elements, or funnel parts, that are central to organizing the digital marketing plan. By keeping these three elements as the overarching guide, it provides a framework for everything else.
Each of the three keys has two parts, so in total they create the 6 steps that make up the Digital Marketing Funnel that I use in client marketing initiatives. I'm going to dive into the 3 keys here, because as busy marketers this is the foundation, and if you build within these three arenas, you're going to have a complete digital funnel strategy.
These three elements are the building blocks and they provide a simple and "doable" framework for owners and marketers to use when setting, planning, and executing their digital strategy.
This is the top of the funnel and should comprise 50% of your content strategy. When I say "content" I mean blog content as well as social media posts, videos on YouTube and Instagram, podcast episodes, and images on Pinterest, Instagram, and other social networks. Each of these items is a form of content. You do not need to do all of these! You need to do the content forms that help you connect best with your audience and fit your company. Your website /blog is your foundational online asset, so use that as the starting point and primary core component for your content creation efforts.
Attraction and Engagement content needs to be broad, searchable, geared to do just what it says, "attract and engage," and relevant. This is where you are seeking to grow your audience by reaching out, "planting seed and watering" or put another way it is "chumming the waters" to attract your desired audience. This is not the harvest! It is content that is helpful and serves your audience. It is NOT product specific to your business. Think of it as "chumming the waters" prior to fishing for sharks. It draws in a crowd and gets them excited about your site and the nuggets you are providing, prior to the actual fishing with baited hooks. This post itself is an example of "attraction content". I'm simply offering you guidance and help, that can assist you to begin thinking through your digital marketing efforts and needs.
Simple post having fun at the place of business! It begs to be watched and received a lot of interaction.
Connects a large media event, the Oscars, with the organization's focus. Fun. Creative, Engaging. Look at the number of Shares!
Neither post is a hard sell at all. The first is just a fun video of an employee at work dancing a little jig! The second post is a great way to connect a major event, The Oscars, to the organization and invite engagement. This is not "salesy", but it personalizes the business and is a great social connection that attracts interest and interaction. The big bonus and key is that by doing this it is getting great comments and reach, both of which help extend the reach of the Page to other people on Facebook, which is the goal! This helps the Page reach more friends of fans and it helps increase the potential of future posts from this brand being in the News Feed of those who engaged with this post.
The second pillar is Capturing Leads and Nurturing Leads. It's all about leads! The more you attract, the more leads you have potential to get, the more leads, the more you can grow sales.
This is mid-funnel content, which serves to move visitors into the lead funnel, and from an unknown fan to a known lead. This type of content offers something useful and of value in exchange for a simple name and email sign-up. It can be access to a eBook, a video, a podcast, or a resource related to your products and services that that those interested in your offering would find of value.
The opportunity it provides a business is the ability to grow their email list, through which nurture campaigns to educate and ultimately offer a opportunity to buy can occur. The value is that these can be setup once and then run continuously to reach hundreds and even thousands of visitors.
Below is an example of this related value exchange. The Facebook Page "Enchanting Lawyer" helps law firms understand and grow their practice with Social Media. One of their latest offerings is a weekly podcast and the Facebook tab offer blends these together by offering a free book on Social Media by the author interviewed on the latest podcast episode. This drives awareness of the podcast while also growing the Enchanting Lawyer email list! Brilliant!
Once these email addresses are captured, an automated email nurture campaign should be launched which again fits within the 3 Key Element strategy outlined here. Start with helpful information that builds trust and educates, moving to a offer only after the fifth or sixth resource email over a 5-8 day sequence.
The final element of the 3-pronged content strategy to plan for is the "closure content" or specific sales offer content. This will likely be only 15-20% of your overall content plan mix. If it is more than that, your audience can get turned off from continual sales pitches, particularly on social media sites, but if you are adhering to the content strategy above then your audience will be ready for these timely and specific offers to purchase.
What happens in the top of the funnel is discovery and initial awareness. Then additional touch points are created with more content that is attraction and engagement based, along with helpful resources in the mid-funnel that prepares the ground for the sales offer. Now that trust has been built, and education and understanding has been accomplished, the potential customer is now ready to consider the offer to buy.
The key in specific sales conversion offers is to answer their final questions, and if at all possible to demonstrate the ROI potential to them clearly so they can see how their financial position can be improved by this purchase. The offer should seek to remove final barriers, being concise, and eliminating unnecessary distractions. This can be as simple as having a landing page with the information and clear call-to-action button on your website, or a concise offer in a email. It should not be surrounded by other links and information. Here's one example of a landing page below. This is the sum total of everything on that web page. There is no extra navigation, no footer links, no sidebar, simply the offer.
When done well, this will be a seamless process where no hard sell is needed, but simply the offer to take a next logical step with your business.
How can you evaluate all of this? Measure. You need to take the time to review metrics at each phase. Your google analytics that should be on your website is the the most basic tool to use. Look at traffic. Is it increasing? Where is your traffic coming from? Is your social posting plan increasing engagement and interaction in your blog comments and on your posts? Facebook Page Insights and tools like Buffer and Hootsuite for other posts can give owners and marketers the reports they need on their digital post mix to help determine what needs tweaked, what worked, and where to go from here.
So that's it! Keep the 3 Keys in mind as your foundational funnel components! It's often the most eye-opening for businesses to recognize the importance of the Attraction and Engagement content. This "top-of-funnel" content is critical to getting the increase in views that are needed to grow the leads and ultimately convert more business.
What's your first doable step you need to implement? How about pinning and printing the 3 Keys below!