Inside ASCII Featured Articles

81. Mind The (Tax) Gap: How Opaque Structures Cost Tax Payers Billions 10/29/2019

    Since the global financial crisis, tax enforcement has increasingly become a priority as governments attempt to curb the potentially harmful tax practices of multinational entities. Additionally, rising rates of child poverty and homelessness, and subsequent increases in costs of government and social programs, are calling attention to the billions in lost revenue due to corporate tax evasion.

82. 7 Steps For Dealing With SaaS Outages 7/30/2019

    As an IT manager, what are we supposed to do when the unthinkable happens? Don’t feel helpless, don’t just throw up your hands — instead, take it on head-first and do the following.

83. No. 17: Jim Roddy, RSPA 7/25/2019

    Topics discussed: Momentum at the RSPA and why content and education are a marketer’s best tools, how community shapes a business leader’s worldview, bouncing back from bad decisions, why publishers and VARs are still in business, hiring slow and failing fast, a POS provider’s greatest challenge and how it’s overcome, the legalities of running your business into the ground, and much more.

84. Software Testing Services: Solving The Puzzle Of Continuous Growth 7/8/2019

    The world of technology is changing and with this change, new challenges are coming up. Software testing and Quality Assurance (QA) are have successfully made their way in the brand-new world of Agile and DevOps. In fact, without the integration of software testing Agile and DevOps will not be of any use no matter how great and beneficial they are. In this blog, you’ll find out why software testing is still the need of the hour and why you need to get software testing services for DevOps and Agile projects.

85. Fake News In Cybersecurity 7/1/2019

    Ever since news spread that an HVAC contractor was the alleged vector in the massive Target breach of 2013, IT security consultants have been ringing out a common refrain: thoroughly vet your third-party contractors, especially the small ones. Restrict and monitor their access to your network and applications. Maybe even think about moving away from small business partners in favor of contracting with larger, well-heeled partners who are, presumably better equipped to thwart cyber threats.

86. Life Sciences: A Target-Rich Environment For Tech 6/25/2019

    A bit earlier this month, I had a unique opportunity to travel with a few of my colleagues to the BIO International Convention in Philadelphia. It’s a large conference and exposition, attended by some 17,000 life sciences professionals from 67 different countries. The event focuses largely on the pharma industry. Exhibitors and attendees span the gamut from biopharmaceutical manufacturing equipment builders to therapeutic research scientists to contract pharmaceutical manufacturers. It was a strange new place for a 20-year IT writer. What in the world was I doing there?

87. Test Case Management Challenges In FinTech World 1/30/2019

    FinTech is one of some sectors that are important for our everyday lives. Testing of these FinTech apps is required to be through with due significance given to data protection and privacy. Finding comprehensive and sufficient test data is always a difficulty and, in FinTech, it is very difficult because of the sensitive and complex nature of data.

88. What VARs & MSPs Can Learn From The Trump Campaign's IT Provider 1/22/2019

    The Wall Street Journal’s homepage on January 17 featured a headline that included the words “IT Firm.” VARs and MSPs take note: a fellow solutions provider is caught up in a nasty, politically-charged debate being litigated on a national scale. Obviously, your clients are not paying you in large sums of cash handed over in plastic Wal-Mart bags. This story is preposterous in so many ways, and it’s far outside the realm of what’s normal for how VARs and MSPs operate. As absurd as the entire situation might be, this story does raise a few legitimate questions about IT service provider business models that are worth rehashing.

89. VARs: What Is Your Plan B? 1/9/2019

    Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model is a must-read for leaders in the channel who come from a tech background and not from a business background. Here are some of the top takeaways for VARs.

90. The State Of VARs, 2019: Security And Education 12/27/2018

    A coworker was telling me he hasn’t seen a Top Ten Films of 2018 list that doesn’t include Roma. That same concept can be applied to 2019 VAR predictions: try and find a list that doesn’t include security and education in some way, shape, or form at or near the top. Go ahead, I’ll wait.