FinOps: The Essential Art of Fine-Tuning Cloud Expenditure for Enterprises

 

In the era of multi-cloud adoption, the stakes have never been higher when it comes to managing and aligning your cloud expenditures.

Embracing cloud services is a breeze, but mastering cloud spending can be problematic for enterprises dedicated to extracting maximum value from their tech investments.

According to Gartner’s latest forecast, global spending on public cloud services is set to skyrocket by 20.7% in 2023, reaching a staggering $591.8 billion. Meanwhile, Foundry’s Cloud Computing Study for 2023 reveals that while reducing total cost of ownership ranks among the top priorities for cloud computing initiatives, reigning in cloud costs is the ultimate hurdle that can either accelerate or derail cloud adoption.

One of Excelien’s clients points out, “The cloud offers unparalleled potential for growth, but costs can quickly spiral out of control.”

Navigating Uncharted Cloud Expenses

Worries about soaring cloud and distributed computing costs often leave organisations with two crucial strategies for cost containment:

  1. Optimise computing power to minimise expenses while achieving business goals.
  2. Turn off cloud resources swiftly to save precious budgets.

Excelien experts say, “In the pursuit of speed and customer onboarding, cost efficiency can sometimes take a backseat. Attempting to optimise costs after the fact while simultaneously managing operations and growth can become an uphill battle.”

Unleashing cost-efficiency and unleashing productivity hinges on the ability to meticulously track cloud resource usage, workload execution, and the reasonable deployment of available CPUs.

These factors are central to the evolving realm of FinOps, a fusion of financial wisdom and DevOps principles. According to the FinOps Foundation’s Technical Advisory Council, FinOps empowers organisations to bring financial accountability to cloud spending by fostering collaboration among engineering, finance, tech, and business teams for data-driven spending decisions.

With access to financial insights, organisations can make real-time decisions to optimise costs. Engineers can now evaluate the financial implications of feature development and product changes, aligning them with cost efficiency, just as they would fine-tune for performance or uptime.

Bridging the Gap Between Cost and Performance

“To act upon cloud financial data effectively, it’s essential to attribute costs to the teams responsible for spending. These teams are best positioned to leverage the cloud’s elasticity.” – Excelien FinOps.

While all cloud providers offer some level of cost reporting, the complexity of managing multiple cloud environments can make it challenging to consolidate and align cost and performance insights across an enterprise. With advanced analytics, organisations can achieve superior results in less time, extracting maximum value from their cloud investments.

Can you run analytics in the cloud? Absolutely. But will it deliver the performance you need? For many, that’s the million-dollar question…”

Of course, we can help in all the above with a whole host of tools – Automated reports on where cost savings are possible, management of payment methods to ensure you’re on the most cost-effective instance possible, management of RIs to ensure you’re not overprovisioned, rightsizing of containers.

Speak to Excelien, see how a 2-week PoC can deliver you a RoI report and show precisely what savings are possible.

Schedule a meeting with Excelien to discuss FinOps

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What 10 cybersecurity threats should companies monitor

With new technologies, hackers are presented with more avenues to exploit vulnerabilities. So, what are the prevalent security challenges faced by organisations today? 

Excelien explores the top 10 security threats that every company should be conscious of:

Phishing 

Phishing attacks are becoming more frequent and intricate. These schemes can lead to data leaks, malware outbreaks, and identity theft. Cybercriminals are perfecting their phishing methods, making their emails seem more legitimate. 

People are often lured into clicking malicious links or downloading harmful attachments through sophisticated social engineering tactics. Signs of phishing include generic greetings like “Dear Valued Customer” and glaring grammatical mistakes. 

Suspicious attachments or unfamiliar website links are often red flags. Always be sceptical of urgent emails or those asking for personal details. If unsure, always verify the email’s legitimacy with the supposed sender.

Malware 

Companies, regardless of size, grapple with malware issues. Cybercriminals deploy malware to infiltrate and control computer systems and sometimes disable entire networks. 

Malware can be disseminated via phishing emails, compromised websites, or malevolent ads. Once embedded, eradication is tricky. 

Defence against malware includes a reliable anti-malware system, continuous employee cybersecurity training, and regular software updates.

Ransomware 

This malicious software encrypts user data, holding it hostage until a ransom is paid. Ransomware attacks can be crippling, especially without updated backups. 

Exercising caution with unfamiliar links and documents is vital. Employ robust security tools, including backups and anti-malware utilities, to fortify defences against ransomware.

SQL Injections 

SQL injections allow cybercriminals to execute harmful database commands. This potentially exposes sensitive client or proprietary details. Directly incorporating unscreened user input into SQL queries can lead to these vulnerabilities. 

Defend against these by properly configuring and shielding your database servers and deploying a reliable firewall.

Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks 

DoS attacks prevent users from accessing a particular site or service. Often targeting high-profile or smaller sites alike, these attacks are costly in terms of finance and downtime. 

A robust firewall can thwart these by screening suspicious traffic preventing system overloads.

Distributed Denial-Of-Service (DDoS) Attacks 

DDoS attacks harness multiple computers to overload a service with excessive traffic. Often executed using botnets, they primarily target renowned services, but smaller entities must be immune. Employ a web application firewall (WAF) to deter malicious traffic.

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) 

XSS attacks allow hackers to inject harmful code into websites, potentially hijacking sessions or stealing user data. Defend against these by ensuring your website is securely coded, utilising security filters, and adopting a WAF.

Insider Threats 

These are threats from within—employees or contractors who misuse their access rights. Given their legitimate access, they’re often hard to detect. Effective access controls, stringent password policies, and secure physical access are essential.

Man-In-The-Middle Attacks

In MITM attacks, cybercriminals intercept communications between two entities. Such interceptions can lead to data theft or fraud. Encrypting all communications using methods like SSL or HTTPS and deploying VPNs can thwart these attacks. Also, consider two-factor authentication for added security.

Credential Reuse Attack 

These occur when stolen credentials from one platform are used elsewhere. The repercussions can be dire, leading to fraud or data breaches. Encouraging strong, unique password practices among employees is crucial.

Conclusion 

Staying abreast of the ever-evolving threat landscape is a formidable challenge. Organisations must be vigilant about familiar threats and train employees to recognise and respond to potential dangers. Fundamental understanding and continuous learning are vital to staying one step ahead in cybersecurity.

Our Security Advisory Team has a comprehensive perspective, serving on both the vendor and client fronts. This unique vantage point has endowed us with unparalleled market acumen. Engage with our experts to fortify your cybersecurity posture.

Book a meeting with the Excelien Advisory Team

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2023 Cybersecurity Predictions

Cybersecurity faces challenges and threats each year, and 2023 is no exception. While aggressive ransomware methods and the exploitation of data breaches are growing, the rapid advancements in AI are already being exploited, from ChatGPT to the expanding usage of Deep Fake technologies. Many organisations continue migrating to the cloud, and remote/distributed working is now the norm. However, employees must still be included in protecting the office network perimeter. Criminals are still trying to take advantage of the vast access that corporate devices and VPNs still offer. Given the growing skills gap and the likelihood of a global recession, underfunded IT teams will likely continue to struggle to deliver digital transformation while securing more complex environments. 

To better comprehend some of the growing dangers we might see over the following year, we’ve compiled the cybersecurity forecasts for 2023 from our vendors and other sources in the industry in this post.

Trend Micro

People have taken upon new forms of contactless technology, and goverments and businesses have been shifting more into the cloud over the past few years. Businesses’ digital footprints and attack surfaces grow, creating security gaps that cybercriminals eagerly search to exploit. These criminals are developing logical, professional business strategies to increase their revenues.

Forcepoint

What effects will 2023 have on security? Senior Forcepoint subject matter experts make five predictions in this Future Insights eBook on the trends they think will influence security efforts in 2023 and beyond. Did you know four out of five forecasts came true from Forcepoint’s 2022 Future Insights series?

Bitdefender

Similar to previous years, 2022 was a challenging year for cybersecurity. The Costa Rican government was threatened with overthrow by the ransomware group Conti. This different cybercriminal gang improved the social engineering attack vector and exposed confidential information all year. Microsoft, Nvidia, Uber, Globant, and several other major tech businesses were targets of Lapsus$.

Contrast Security

Cybersecurity mayhem is anticipated: Tom Kellermann, SVP of Cyber Strategy at Contrast Security, predicts that serverless malware like Denonia will increase and that Twitter will be used as a launchpad for cyberattacks in 2023.

Radware

Inquiring about their predictions for the state of cybersecurity in 2023, Radware contacted a number of their clients.

Cofense

Organisations must adopt a forward-thinking strategy for cybersecurity in a time of economic uncertainty and geopolitical upheaval to stay one step ahead and prevent expensive breaches. Email and endpoint security are necessary because email is the main threat channel. 

Check Point

The top security priorities for organisations in the upcoming year will include hacktivism, deep fakes, attacks on business communication platforms, new legal requirements, and pressure to reduce complexity.

ZeroFox

No matter what sector you work in, the end of the year brings us all a few universal gifts: a deluge of retail offers for incredible discounts on everything we need (or want), a flurry of conversations about what we learned from the past year and what we plan to do more/less/better next year; and predictions for the opportunities and challenges the new year will present.

Fortra

Geopolitical upheaval and a growing online assault surface in 2022 helped rise to several topics in the cyber landscape. Governmental entities, supply chains, and IOT devices were all the targets of high-profile campaigns aimed against infrastructures linked to opposing ideologies. Attacks by cybercriminals against weak targets have become more sophisticated, with DDoS, ransomware, and hacking for a good cause frequently making news. Governments worldwide started enacting laws and regulations to counter the growing threats brought on by cyberattacks on large and small organisations.

Skurio

Business leaders will be let down if they anticipate post-pandemic operations to return to normal this year. The new normal will consist of ongoing disruption, a lack of resources, and increased cybercrime. As a result, security managers will be in the limelight, and risk will be the guiding principle for 2023. Every day, external attacks and unprotected data put businesses in danger. Many people are unaware that their company is a target. But with only one adjustment to their security posture, companies may drastically cut or even eliminate the danger. Your company could lessen the threat posed by these trends by searching externally for data leaks and threats.

CyberTalk.org

Staying educated about new advances and cutting-edge trends is crucial in the fast-paced, high-stakes world of risk management. To develop and implement advanced risk management frameworks that measurably improve security performance, governance, and business outcomes, you require deep domain experience. 

How can Excelien help

At Excelien, we are not just a team but a multifaceted ensemble of seasoned security experts. Our vast knowledge and experience allow us to navigate the intricate market landscapes, intricately aligning with your unique business needs. We transcend the traditional approach, pioneering the discovery of hidden risks, providing rich insights, and conducting nuanced analyses.

Our proficiency extends to selecting the perfect vendors, individually suited to your requirements. Beyond assessments, we offer comprehensive perspectives, reflecting on real-world cases where our recommendations have facilitated success for clients with comparable needs.

Interested in discovering a tailored solution that is the right fit for you? Engage with us. Schedule a consultation with our specialists and uncover the boundless possibilities of how Excelien can elevate your security measures to new heights. Your success is our commitment, and we are excited to embark on this journey with you.

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How Excelien Can Help Banks To Manage Cloud Resources More Effectively

Banks are investing in cloud technology as a significant priority. According to a recent survey by American Banker, over 40% of executives consider cloud technology among their top five spending priorities. Additionally, 80% of respondents expect to migrate at least 20% of their computing infrastructure to the cloud by 2023.

This shift towards cloud adoption is appropriate due to the advantages it offers banks, such as scalable resources based on usage and the ability to avoid unnecessary onsite hardware purchases to meet increasing resource demands. However, banks currently face three major challenges in managing cloud effectively. 

The first challenge is the need for more visibility, as they need to understand their cloud usage, deployment details, and locations to make the most of it. Increased cloud spending can lead to cloud sprawl and loss of control.

The second challenge is agility, which allows banks to act quickly based on information. Legacy solutions can hinder this advantage, making it crucial for banks to identify areas they need to modernise to enhance their agility.

The third challenge is managing cloud spending efficiently. While the cloud provides cost-effective solutions, expenses can escalate beyond control without proper oversight.

To address these challenges and stay competitive, banks can adopt a CloudOps approach, emphasising visibility, automation, and continuous optimisation in the cloud. This approach aligns business objectives with cloud operations, providing banks with a complete understanding of their cloud-based services, identifying areas for improvement and optimising operations.

Intelligent automation can enhance flexibility, allowing banks to adapt to changing conditions swiftly. Moreover, optimisation based on the principles of continuous integration and continuous delivery from DevOps can help banks save money.

Nevertheless, the elastic nature of the cloud presents challenges in managing resources effectively. Many banks may find themselves surprised by their monthly cloud spending and its rapid growth without a clear strategy to control it. However, with the right approach and solutions, banks can optimise their cloud operations, ensuring efficient resource utilisation and cost control.

How Excelien Can Help Financial Services

Of course, it’s one thing to talk about CloudOps for banks; it’s another to implement it at scale.

Excelien can help. we can help banks discover what they have in the cloud and what they can do to optimise these resources. Companies can also use these tools to significantly reduce their computing costs.

Excelien also can help banks by finding unused resources in current cloud infrastructure and then offloading those resources to other consumers. In other words, Excelien allows banks to effectively sublease some of their excess cloud resources to other businesses, allowing them to eliminate cloud sprawl and reduce costs without compromising performance.

Banks need the cloud to stay current, connect with fintech firms and effectively address emerging market challenges. But just having the cloud isn’t enough. Banks need to boost visibility, improve flexibility and control costs to make the most of cloud deployments.

Contact the team at hello@excelien.com or book an appointment with our specialists.

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SD-WAN vs. SASE: How They Work Together

Nothing is more crucial for your business’s connectivity than ensuring you always have quick, dependable internet access. To ensure that data is safe and applications function correctly, you need security and performance features in addition to high-speed internet. SD-WAN and SASE are helpful in this situation.

With its robust technology for creating quick and secure connections, SD-WAN is the foundation of connectivity. SASE also has features for enterprise-level security and application performance that are unmatched by competing services. These resources work effectively together to boost any company’s productivity and efficiency.

What is SD-WAN? 

Networking techniques have changed paradigms with the introduction of SD-WAN. Due to their reliance on complicated hardware and complicated configuration protocols, traditional WANs can be challenging and time-consuming to administer. In contrast, SD-WAN is software-driven, making the system’s administration more straightforward and flexible. Thanks to this, businesses can change their network settings as their needs change, which boosts productivity and lowers costs.

Fundamentally, SD-WAN uses intelligent traffic routing techniques and cutting-edge software algorithms to improve performance at a fraction of the cost of traditional WANs. With the aid of these advanced technologies, SD-WAN enables enterprises to monitor real-time network activity from any location quickly and to swiftly optimise network architecture in response to shifting weather conditions or spikes in traffic. Overall, SD-WAN has emerged as a crucial tool for managing contemporary networks, allowing companies across all sectors to thrive in the digital age. 

What is SASE? 

SASE, or secure access service edge, is a cloud-based security architecture that unifies various security functions into a single, integrated platform. These functions include firewall as a service (FWaaS), web security, identity and access management (IAM), and data loss prevention (DLP).

Additionally, SASE offers fine-grained visibility into network activities, enabling organisations to recognise and address security concerns immediately. Businesses may safeguard their data from various threats with the help of this all-encompassing security strategy. 

How SD-WAN and SASE Work Together

While SD-WAN and SASE are crucial components of contemporary networking, combined, they can offer businesses of all sizes a genuinely transformational experience. SD-WAN provides the quick and dependable connectivity required to enable cloud-based services and applications. SASE simultaneously increases security by adding a layer, ensuring that data is safe from internal and external attacks. Additionally, SASE simplifies network security management by combining several security operations into a single platform, enabling enterprises to protect their data. 

Benefits of Using SD-WAN and SASE Together 

There are several benefits to using SD-WAN and SASE together, which include:

 Increased flexibility and agility

SD-WAN and SASE are software-based solutions that don’t require complicated hardware or configuration and can be rapidly and easily installed. This increases the agility and flexibility of enterprises by enabling them to alter their network architecture as their demands change quickly. Additionally, SASE simplifies network security management by combining several security operations into a single platform, making it more straightforward for enterprises to protect their data. 

Performance gains

SD-WAN optimises network traffic using sophisticated algorithms, and SASE offers granular visibility into network operations. Businesses may quickly and easily discover potential performance issues with this feature set, which enhances overall performance.

Reduced costs

SASE can assist in reducing the cost of WAN by up to 90%, whereas SD-WAN can help reduce the cost of security infrastructure by up to 50%.

 

The Challenges of Integrating SD-WAN and SASE 

Despite the numerous advantages of combining SD-WAN and SASE, there are a few difficulties that should be taken into account:

The complexity of management and implementation

The complexity of setup and management when combining SD-WAN and SASE is one of the main difficulties. Both options require proper deployment and configuration, which might make your network architecture significantly more complex.

Cost increases

The initial cost of deploying these solutions can be high, even though SD-WAN and SASE can help you lower the overall cost of your WAN and security architecture. Fees may also rise due to the difficulty of managing and executing these solutions.

Lack of standardisation

Currently, there is no accepted method for integrating SD-WAN and SASE, meaning each supplier has its own proprietary solution. Due to the lack of standardisation, businesses may need help to compare multiple vendors and choose the best solution for their needs.

Increased security risks

SASE can help your network become more secure, but it also brings new hazards that must be controlled. Incorrect configuration of your SASE system, for instance, could allow attackers to get over your security measures and access your data. To correctly configure security measures, SASE also necessitates that enterprises have a thorough awareness of their network traffic. If your company lacks this knowledge, you can endanger your data’s security. 

Businesses may enhance the performance and security of their networks with the help of SD-WAN and SASE, two potent technologies. These solutions must be designed appropriately and implemented to prevent rising complexity and expenses. Additionally, it may be challenging to analyse several solutions and select the best one for your needs due to the need for more consistency across supplies. With that said, SD-WAN with SASE may be the best option for your company if you’re seeking a strategy to expand the speed and security of your network. 

 

How Excelien can help

Excelien partners with leading providers in the industry, such as Masergy, Aryaka and Globalgig – we can help navigate the market to find the best solution based upon your requirements.

Contact the team at hello@excelien.com or book an appointment with our specialists.

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Cloud Costs spinning out of control?

 

The debate over cloud costs has intensified as cloud platforms have become the primary focus for most IT deployments. Despite the significant growth in cloud adoption over the last decade, a considerable amount of technology remains non-cloud or on-premises.

Initially, it was believed that public cloud services would reduce the cost per bit of compute and storage resources and provide more account-friendly operating costs. However, while cloud costs can be classified as operating costs, they are still a significant expense. As a result, many companies are discovering that cloud resources are less cost-effective than their on-premises counterparts.

Nonetheless, cloud adoption has successfully accelerated the pace businesses operate and enable the rapid deployment of new services and digital products.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the cloud’s potential as a remote work and retail delivery solution. Additionally, cloud technology provides increased flexibility in purchasing compute and storage resources, allowing companies to procure more IT resources to support R&D, ongoing product development, and internal digital transformation initiatives.

 

“There is a newfound emphasis on the visibility of cloud costs”

Recent surveys and discussions with professionals have revealed that cost has become a new priority for cloud adoption. Organisations are interested in comparing the costs of cloud hosting with on-premises resources.

To quote Peter Drucker, “you can’t manage what you can’t measure.” The first step to understanding costs is to track and analyse them. Easier said than done. Many cloud services are still purchased in ad-hoc ways or by business lines operating in the “shadow IT” model. CEOs and CFOs are looking to put an end to this.

Cloud Cost Management (CCM) and Financial Operations (FinOps) tools have emerged to address this need for cost visibility. These tools offer sophisticated methods for measuring and managing cloud costs, including evaluating the impact on networking and security adjacencies. Additionally, managers would like to assign costs to specific business units for accountability purposes.

Cloud management companies like Flexera, Apptio, and Virtana are developing CCM and FinOps tools. CCM provides intelligent bill analysis across AWS, Azure, and GCP and alerts on unexpected changes that drive cloud spending, offering actionable saving recommendations. Flexera’s FinOps module integrates into the Flexera One platform, part of a comprehensive IT asset management strategy. Apptio focuses on understanding the operating costs in Amazon Web Services (AWS) and commitments to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) implementations. Virtana’s CCM offers ongoing cloud cost optimisation, uniquely emphasising balancing performance, risk, and cost.

While platform tools such as IBM’s Turbonomics and VMware’s CloudHealth provide some visibility into usage as it happens, they fall short of providing cost remediation information useful for finance and engineering teams to have cost-reduction conversations.

Emerging solutions focus on arbitrage between cloud offerings, and Kubernetes compute capabilities to reduce compute costs. CAST AI is a promising startup that helps organisations understand Kubernetes costs across various areas, including cost monitoring, security management, autoscaling, rightsizing, and spot instance automation. CAST AI has a unique business model in which it charges customers based on a percentage of the amount of money saved on compute costs.

 

“It’s not just cloud services, networking too”

 

The networking industry has recognised the potential to enhance the comprehension of cloud costs. Cloud networking companies like Aviatrix and Prosimo understand that networking is a critical enabler of the cloud. It can be leveraged to provide better visibility and management of cloud service access since cloud services are connected through networks.

Aviatrix’s CostIQ uses distributed telemetry to measure shared cloud network usage and assigns the results to the appropriate cost centres. Prosimo’s Full Stack Cloud Transit platform provides insights into application requirements and performance, which can be used to optimise cloud networking experiences and costs. Both companies are also working on other areas to maximise cloud expenses. We can expect new products from them soon.

Today, with many companies relying on a more intricate cloud operating structure that involves more cloud data, more cloud providers, improved cloud data management, and better cloud security, the financial consequences of daily decisions can significantly impact a company’s cloud bill and overall operating budget.

 

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Excelien partner with Zoom

Zoom was one of the most common words used in 2019. For many some older generations maybe the new MSN, the uptake wasn’t just businesses allowing users to continue WFH but consumers having access and meeting friends and family online.

Excelien is excited to have Zoom now part of our portfolio of vendors. We see Zoom as an easy-to-use, dependable and innovative platform for video-first unified communication, which also delivers phone, meetings, webinars and team chat.

The advisory services work with several vendors and continually analyse these but, Zoom is architected different, it’s the only platform which was built with video as its root foundation, this at its core is why customers like Walmart, Uber and Hubspot rely on this the reliability and scalability, not only that; Zoom also have a customer footprint in over 94% of countries around the world!

The common association with Zoom is video, which is true, but the video-first communications platform also offers:

Zoom has, and will continue to mould the way enterprise organisations globally communicate and connect. Zoom comprises all the tools you need into one simple platform – from 1:1 meetings to meeting rooms to large broadcasted webinars. It’s a seamless experience on desktop, mobile and conference rooms. With Zoom, companies have seen an 85% increase in video usage and VOIP six times more than traditional telephony – so people join fast and are more productive, and companies save money.

If you’ve come straight to this page, you may have missed how we work, Excelien has partnered with Zoom on an advisory partnership; this means, you have free access to our pre-sales team, consultants and 0% margin pricing.

  • What’s the most important priority to you with video collaboration?
  • What would you like to accomplish with Zoom, drive sales, expand the market or more?
  • What features are you currently using in your existing solution? What are some specific features you require but do not now have?
  • What do you do for IM and Presence today?
  • What are you using for voice today – on-prem vs PBX?

Excelien have a range of experts experienced in delivering Zoom, speak to one of the consultants and understand how we can help you in your journey.

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IT Procurement, Why choose Excelien?

IT Procurement consists of 4 pillars:
People, Process, Technology and Supply Chain.

At Excelien, we strive to meet and deliver on all these.

We have an experienced and more importantly, an enthusiastic team to support our clients.
We put in SLA’s into our procurement agreements to ensure our service is measurable.
We invest in technology to simplify the process, whether that’s a single system to track over 260 couriers or online portal.
We continue to grow our supply chain with a vast network of distributors and suppliers worldwide, meaning we can source stock quickly, be competitive in price and more importantly deliver.
Speak to one of our team, and see how we can help your IT procurement strategy at hello@excelien.com

 

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The evolution of the call centre to contact centre

The time is now to change the contact centre vision.

When you think call centre, it’s usually not good – PPI, Have you had a crash recently that wasn’t your fault – this still happens but think contact centres, what comes to mind? If it’s the BBC programme, then we need to change your mindset. The industry is one of the largest with a market size of £3bn and employing around 1.3 million in the UK – it’s a big deal.  

The journey from call centre to contact centre

We want to say historically (but it is still the case today) that the vision of a typical call centre is a floor lined with agents wall to wall, floor to floor taking calls all day – these days are gone, and technology along with the world has moved on thanks to the ‘contact centre’. Similar to how mobiles have moved from briefcases to smartphones, we now see the contact centre as more than a machine that churns out sales and services, to becoming an integral and intelligent asset with a broader range of business roles.

The output has moved from being a simple sales function to, enabling better and personalised customer experience, more accessible and in-depth reporting and a catalogue of integrations. These are the critical components of omnichannel customer service for any organisation, allowing customers to contact a company, through whatever method is best suited to them.

Digital transformation has accelerated with technology; the contact centre is no different, it’s been enhanced with features from skill-based routing, social media integrations, CRM integrations, automated sales training, AI predicting trends and workforce management. Contact centres have moved on from data-driven to analytic driven processes, delivering an unparallel service through a more personalised customer experience.

Along came COVID

COVID changed all industries, especially contact centres, where the environment was in large open plan offices, employees working with close proximities of each other, meant that these were high-risk areas, vulnerable to COVID. In the UK, we remember when the lockdown was enforced on BBC in the evening, and overnight, offices were forced to shut down, and contact centres were in the same position.

Many of these weren’t ready, working from home wasn’t viable, PCI compliance wasn’t possible, reporting wasn’t possible, softphone wasn’t possible, system access wasn’t possible and so on…some just weren’t ready.

Disaster recovery is a contingency plan, and strategies are usually in place to ensure, businesses can continue as usual should the office not. Contact Centres struggled. With a massive surge in demand from internet shopping, economic changes and business changes, the cracks began to show and were clearly visible. Homebase should have had a boom in business turned off contact centre services, retailers not being able to take payments because of PCI not being available to WFH staff, Virgin Media contacting their 5.5 million broadband customers to ask them not to call.

Excelien knows it’s time to change and adapt, and continually adapt with the best contact centre technology to enhance the services you deliver, the outcomes your business produces and how you help your customers. With digital transformation across all industries and the ability to have what you want almost in an instant, customers now expect a certain level of service, so whether you’re a small retailer, a large bank, insurance firm – customer experience is a priority.

Customers build the company and are more critical than ever in the climate we’re in, contact centres need be a significant component of an enhanced customer service offering for your company, empowering consumers to communicate with you in a meaningful way, in the channel of their preference.

Tomorrow is the future, but the time is now. 

It’s still not clear waters yet.

We’re not out of the woods yet.

COVID forced a change predicted years from now in buying and selling behaviour. Consumers are moving online as their primary way of shopping and how a business manages its customers is more important than ever. We don’t particularly like to focus on doom and gloom. Still, the conversation of COVID and Christmas is already being debating, and with the various systems being thrown around whether its Tier, Circuit Breaker or regional/national lockdown, the ability to sail this one calmly is a priority.

COVID has forced a change in buying and selling behaviour. Consumers are buying more online and with the most crucial shopping season for retailers on the horizon, how businesses deal with their customers is more important than ever. The “Will COVID steal Christmas” debate is already on. Throw in the potential of another national lockdown and the ability to weather the storm and come out the other side really is blown wide open.

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail

The time came, and it will continually come in which businesses need to adapt and embrace all that’s on offer from contact centres. Not solely from a disaster recovery perspective but where they can supercharge customer experience, gain more insights into buying trends and potentially save money.

Excelien is your advisory partner for contact centre technology industrywide, if you would like to speak to one of our experienced experts to understand the market, please talk to us today.

Excelien is your consultative partner for contact centre technology, if you would like to know more, please speak to one of our experts today. 

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Biggest Cyber Attacks of 2020

Hackers a difficult people to understand, they don’t discriminate, they’re looking for any open door, every opportunity, to steal data, make money whether small or large amounts, cause disruption in business and ultimately chaos!

Enterprise businesses to SMB can fall prey, and at Excelien, we work our clients to ensure they’re aware of the latest technology, with access to our security consultants and security assessments. We’ve all seen headlines with companies who you would expect to have a concrete fortress become victims. The pandemic seems to have accelerated some of the most significant breaches that have taken place in 2020. Here’s a reminder of some of the headline-grabbing attacks, and the stark reality and severity of these cyber attacks.

WHO – World Health Organisation

WHO has been giving guidance through this pandemic but in the midst of was part of a massive data leak of 25,000 email addresses and passwords unlawfully accessed. It was common belief to be part of a broader attempt to disrupt the battle against Coronavirus, with organisations such WHO, National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Gates Foundation and more being hit by these team of elite hackers.

WHO confirmed a phishing campaign was used and targeted at its employees. WHO’s CIO, Bernardo Mariano stated, “Ensuring the security of health information for the Member States and privacy of users interacting with us a priority for WHO at all times, but also particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, We are grateful for the alerts we receive from the Member States and the private sector. We are all in this fight together.” It is still not clear if this cyber attack had any significant effect. According to WHO, the leaked information did impact an older extranet system, causing them to migrate to a more secure infrastructure.

Twitter

The Twitter breach was probably the most visible and famous attacks to date, with celebrities from all walks of life such reality star Kim Kardashian to tech guru Elon Musk to the ex-president Barack Obama. Though this was an attack which took place over a few hours, the exposure was huge.

The attack targeted a small group of Twitter’s employees through a phone spearphishing campaign, enabling hackers to gain access to Twitter’s internal support system, which then allowed them to target further employees. According to Twitter, using the acquired credentials, around 130 Twitter accounts had been hit, Tweeting from 45 of those, accessing the direct messaging feature of 36 and downloading the Twitter Data of 7. Twitter Support released a statement explaining, “This attack relied on a significant and concerted attempt to mislead certain employees and exploit human vulnerabilities to gain access to our internal systems.” The actual outcome of this elaborate hack isn’t clear, the incident has led to significant distrust with Twitter and its security protocols, and will most likely live on as one of the largest in cybersecurity disasters to a social media platform.

Zoom

The use of Zoom has skyrocketed through the pandemic to enable the working from home to be the new normal. Zoom overnight became the big name, the go-to for a virtual meeting – the cybercriminals saw this, and soon became a target.

Cyberattacks have relentlessly targeted Zoom in the past and in April 2020 did in fact experience a data breach. Over 500,000 Zoom passwords were stolen and available for sale or even being given away for free across dark web forums. The attack impacted everything from personal accounts to financial and educational organisations. Victims’ login credentials, private meeting URLs and HostKeys were released. It’s believed that attackers used old stolen credentials, some from 2013. They used a credential stuffing attack which used multiple bots to avoid the same IP address for numerous Zoom accounts and to prevent detection as a denial of service (DoS) attack.

Zoom responded, “We have already hired multiple intelligence firms to find these password dumps, and the tools used to create them, As well as a firm that has shut down thousands of websites attempting to trick users into downloading malware or giving up their credentials.” Zoom will continue to examine the breach, are shutting accounts which they have found to be compromised, prompting users to change their passwords to something more secure, and investing into more technology solutions to bolster Zooms efforts.

Marriott International

A very public and large-scale security breach at the beginning of this year with a leading hotel group, Marriott, led to the data of more than 5.2 million guests data having their data compromised. Marriott believes hackers might have gained login credentials of two employees either by credential stuffing or phishing and subsequently able to gain access to information for customers part of the Marriott loyalty scheme.

Even though Marriott disclosed the security breach on March 31, 2020, it’s concluded that the data had been taken around a month before and included personal information including names, birthdates, and telephone numbers, travel news, and loyalty program information. It isn’t the first time that the hotel has announced a significant data breach – in 2018, they encountered a cyber-attack leaving 500 million guests affected.

MGM Resorts

Although it started in 2019, the data breach experienced by major hospitality group, MGM Resorts, continues in 2020. And it may be much larger than initially reported – now understood to have affected more than 142 million hotel guests (14 times the 10.6 million reported in February).

The attack came to light in an ad published on the dark web marketplace offering to sell the data of 142,479,937 MGM guests for just over $2,900. According to the seller, MGM Grand Hotels data as part of this. Hijacked information is assumed to include name, phone numbers, home address, email addresses, and birth date of guests, including those of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Justin Bieber and prominent government officials.

An MGM Resort spokesperson confirmed that impacted guests were notified about the data breach and added: “We are confident that no financial, payment card or password data was involved in this matter.” Although this is considered “phone book” information, a fear is that the personal data will continue to be sold, which opens up opportunities for spearphishing campaigns.

Garmin

Garmin known for its smartwatch and wearables had shut several of its services in July to deal with a ransomware attack, that encrypted its internal network and some production systems.

The company is still planning to have some severe downtime following this attack as they prepare for a multi-day maintenance window to deal with the aftermath, this includes the website going offline, Garmin Connect and Garmin Aviation services, and even manufacturing lines within Asia.

Garmin said the outage had also impacted its call centres, putting the company in a situation of being unable to answer emails, calls, and online chats.

The attack didn’t pass quietly and caused headaches for the company’s customers, who rely on the Garmin Connect service to sync data about bike rides and runs to Garmin’s servers, all of which also went down on.

It wasn’t just consumer wearables effected, flyGarmin was also down which supports the company’s line of aviation equipment. Another blow, following this outage, updates weren’t available for this software an FAA requirement to run an up-to-date version of this database.

The extent of the breach continues unknown to third-party observers. Besides consumer sportswear, wearables and smartwatches, Garmin also delivers mapping, tracking solutions and equipment for the maritime and automotive industry. The actual impact of the ransomware attack on these services remains unclear.

What Can We Learn from These Cyber Attacks?


Businesses need to be diligent. Cybersecurity always needs to be in front of mind and system as well as routinely assessed. Companies from small to the enterprise can easily fall prey of phishing schemes, ransomware, DDoS, malware, and other attacks leading to data breaches.

Excelien works with you to take the necessary precautions is the best chance they have at staying secure. Along with detection and response tools, authentication protocols, and ongoing employee security awareness training can make the most significant difference.

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