Exela’s global presence (basically, we’re everywhere) means two very important things to us. One is that we are wherever you need us to be to advance your digital journey. The other is that we care. We care about people and the work we do. And we care about the future of planet earth and the people who live here. Through our #ExelaGivesBack philanthropy initiative, we turn caring into action.

For example, on Thanksgiving Day of 2018, Exela raised funds and awareness for SOFOSH, a charity based out of Pune, India, by rounding up employees, friends, and families in Dallas, Texas, and Santa Monica, California to participate in local road races and/or make personal donations ( and, of course, no amount is ever too small or unappreciated). And here’s the coolest part: Exela matched all such donations dollar for dollar (our employees raised $7,200, bringing the grand total raised through our efforts to $14,400). But hey, that’s how we roll.

On May 19, 2019, we not only matched our employee contributions dollar for dollar, we worked hand-in-hand with the Bare Hands Initiative to turn urban space in Atlanta, Georgia into sustainable, edible greenspace. Our other philanthropic efforts this year have included the Stamford Boys & Girls Club 5K (May 22, 2019) and Relay For Life (June 14, 2019). Currently we are building awareness for and raising funds in support of Children’s House.

Run. Hear. Now.

For months now, Exela has been raising funds in support of children with hearing impairments, and those efforts will culminate at the 42nd Annual Will Rogers Pacific Palisades 5K/10K race and ½ -Mile Fun Run For Kids taking place on July 4, 2019 (U.S. Independence Day) in Pacific Palisades, California. In preparation, we’ve been rounding up all the employees, family members, and friends in the area, and getting the word out to our 22,000 employees all over the world about the awe-inspiring work being done by the Center for Early Diagnostics and Therapy of Children with Hearing Impairments (“Children’s House”) in Zvezdara, a municipality in Belgrade, Serbia.

Our hope is to raise at least $15,000 for Children’s House. And Exela has pledged to match employee donations up to that amount.

About the Children’s House

Established in 2006, Children’s House is dedicated to changing the lives of children with hearing loss—including the profoundly deaf—by providing a full range of treatments, from surgical to therapeutic to rehabilitative. Children’s House’s mission and greatest accomplishment is the integration of its children into hearing-society, no matter how much work or how long it takes.

To attain its lofty goals, including annually working with 9,000 children—from infants through teens—Children’s House needs our financial support. In particular, Children’s House is seeking to develop a program of universal neonatal hearing screening, build a room for multisensory stimulation, and purchase such needed equipment as audiometers and tympanometers.

We’re so excited about this, and about all of our upcoming #ExelaGivesBack events. Keep checking here for more on Exela’s philanthropic efforts (spoiler alert:there will be the wearing of pink in October, as is traditional here at Exela). We promise to keep you in the loop!

Spoiler alert: he KNOWS you can make this work, and wants to share HOW

In the midst of the pandemic, we managed to grab a few minutes of Carlos Mallen’s time to talk about the real issues facing remote workers right now. Carlos is Exela’s Senior Vice President of Human Resources, and Exela is a company made up of over 22,000 employees worldwide, so we trust Carlos has his finger on the pulse of this great, ongoing remote work experiment.

Q. How ready was the business world for the sudden shift to remote work?

CM: For many companies, this was completely unforeseen. Fortunately, because facilitating secure remote work was already becoming a priority for many of our customers, Exela was prepared. That means our employees who are not performing essential business activities for our customers can work from home as needed during government-imposed shelter-in-place mandates. It’s what we do and we’re happy to be able to help our customers get up to speed in any way they need.

Q. What are some best practices for battling “remote work fatigue”?

CM: Being honest, for many of us this is a change in our work habits. It can be difficult both to pivot to working remotely and to continue working remotely for an uncertain period of time. Like any other change in life, it’s important to be aware of the changes and adapt to them. For example:

• Working from home means our normal office commute is no longer required. That means we can start calls and emails earlier, maybe end later too. To battle remote work fatigue, or work from home burnout, it’s important to set appropriate boundaries for yourself and to make time for your home and family.
• Working at home in the middle of a pandemic with some of us under shelter in place orders means that if we don’t take action, we may end up with cabin fever. A walk around the block while maintaining a reasonable distance from others could be a good relief.

Q: What are some best practices for managing teams remotely?

CM: Before the pandemic, many of us could walk over and talk to our teams. We may not have realized it, but this was a luxury. And now for managers working from home, we’ve lost that luxury. But one thing that never changes is the importance of communication. The good news is there are so many channels available to us, including Exela’s collaboration solutions, which cover all the bases.

Q: Specific advice for HR professionals

CM: Like everyone else working in these new and challenging times, human resources (HR) professionals have a lot going on. Alongside with legal professionals, we’re often the first place employees and managers go to for immediate answers to of-the-minute questions such as:

• What is the latest on covid-19
• How do we respond to national, state and local regulations
• What does this all mean for employees, their jobs and their livelihood

If you're part of an HR team, it’s vital to stay in touch with your team and your business leaders in real-time as possible. Managers and employees are your customers, and right now your customers need your service! If you're an HR team of one, you're not alone. HR professionals across the country are always available to help you with thoughts and sharing of best practices so that you can support your customers. Here are some of ours:

• 6 Work From Home Best Practices
• How to Make Remote Work Work For Your Business
• Don’t Let COVID-19 Stop You From Getting Your Mail
• How the Cloud is Opening Doors in the Remote Business World
• Human Capital Management Tools Offering Automation and Remote Access

A few closing words of wisdom from Carlos:

For managers: Keep preparing. It's always best to be prepared and not have to execute than to have to execute and not be prepared.

For employees: Keep your chin up. This too shall pass. Families first and keep focused on what you can do to help out - at home, at work and around your community. Here at the Exela Blog, we strive to bring you only the most reliable, accurate, news that is relevant to you. Stay tuned for more COVID-19 content, and in the meantime, be sure to check out, which COVID-19 “offers” are really just scams, and best practices for remaining uninfected.

You might have noticed Exela CEO Ron Cogburn has been particularly busy lately offering his highly unique and valuable business insights via thought leadership articles in Forbes and other publications. In the June 27, 2019 Forbes article,Tech Experts Predict 12 Ways 5G Will Transform How Business Is Done, he doesn’t disappoint with his response to the question, “What benefits will 5G bring for both businesses and consumers?”

Ron’s answer? Well, you can read it here. But here’s a hint: Ron recognizes that the Internet of Things is expanding more rapidly than anyone could have predicted, and well, he’s in the B2B space, so he’s thinking about ways to integrate the IoT of the office into our lives as a whole. And that matters to Ron and the rest of us at Exela, where work-life balance is an important value. Not to mention,we’re bringing our customers the IoT every day with our Smart Office suite of solutions.

Ron Cogburn is a member of the Forbes Technology Council, offering many valuable insights. You’ll find many other thought-provocative articles from elite members of the C-Suites of Top Tech Companies like Exela here. For more up-to-the-minute Exela news, stay tuned to the Exela Blog, including this post regarding why Ron spent some time on Exela’s July 12 birthday shopping for a good pair of shades. To learn more about Exela’s broad range of rapidly deployable business process automation solutions, check out our Solutions page.

Although one of the goals of coding is streamlining the claims process, coding errors can lead to delays in the claims process, which can kick of a daisy-chain of consequences that can significantly and negatively impact public health. Delays in the claims process are costly to the payer. They also lengthen the payment cycle for providers and create cash flow issues for patients, creating economic hardship for all. Here’s how that might work in a given situation:

→Denials

When delays turn into denials, costly appeals by the patient and/or the provider may follow.

→Patient Default

Denials can lead to patient default on medical bills. During 2016, more than 66% of patients defaulted on bills of $500 or less. By 2020, that number could increase to 95%.

→Increased Administrative Expenses

Patient default can lead to costly collection efforts. A large portion of provider administrative expenses can be attributed to provider collection efforts, according to Suresh Yannamani, Exela’s president.

→Increased Prices

One of many reasons healthcare providers charge as much as they do is to cover the cost of patient defaults and uninsured patients. What’s the alternative? Going out of business altogether?

→Physician Burnout

“Physician burnout” is now a diagnosable illness caused by excessive workloads and administrative burdens, which are exacerbated by SNAFUs in the claims process.

→Diminished Access to Quality Care

Physician burnout leads to physicians exiting the provider space, ultimately diminishing patient access. It also interferes with physicians providing the highest quality of care.

→Erosion of public health

Diminished access to healthcare is known to directly negatively impact public health. For example, it’s associated with poor management of chronic disease, increased incidence of preventable diseases, and premature death.

Of course, coding errors can’t be singularly blamed for all of healthcare’s woes. As discussed earlier, it’s just one of many examples of the way effective healthcare information management has become pivotal to public health.[In our next post, we’ll be exploring how to get started with your health information management program.Can’t wait? Check out the full story in our Q4 Edition of PluggedIN: Tell Us Where It Hurts:How Tech Can Heal Healthcare.

Get PluggedIN Now

Sources:

• https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/26/two-in-three-patients-cant-pay-off-their-hospital-bills.html
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6262585/
• https://www.ahrq.gov/prevention/clinician/ahrq-works/burnout/index.html
• https://www.alleghenycounty.us/uploadedFiles/Allegheny_Home/Health_Department/Resources/Data_and_Reporting/Chronic_Disease_Epidemiology/HEB-ACCESS.pdf
• https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/Access-to-Health-Services

“Everything changes and nothing stands still.” - Heraclitus

Keeping up with new technology is a never-ending process that pushes ahead at near breakneck pace. That’s why we developed Lynx, which is part of the Learning and Development stack within our Human Capital Management suite of solutions. Lynx is an extremely configurable cloud-based learning management system that lets you develop, create, and implement up-to-the-minute interactive training courses your staff needs.

Rajesh Devadoss is the driving force behind Lynx. His expertise in design, project management, and code review have been fundamental throughout its development and rollout, but naturally, we wanted to know more. Rajesh was kind enough to oblige. Here’s what we learned:

Q: What’s your background, and how did that bring you to Exela?

Rajesh:Even as a child, I was always fascinated with technology and how it shapes our lives. I pursued my Bachelor’s in Engineering (Specifically in Electronics and Communications Engineering) and eventually ended up as a Software Development professional.

Q: What industry trends can you identify for us?

Rajesh: We’re not only developing the tech, but also developing new ways to apply existing technology to drive business. Watch for new ways Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and Machine Learning are making our lives safer, easier and more efficient. And DevOps technologies like Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD are redefining the way products are made, with companies leveraging them to reduce costs and maintain a competitive edge.

Q: How is Exela addressing these trends?

Rajesh:Artificial Intelligence is used by Lynx to group students and users according to their relative strengths and areas where they can use improvement. Using periodic and gradual evaluations of performances, Lynx lets examiners create advanced and highly intuitive programs. Soon, Lynx will be integrated with QCard, and AI will be able to auto-assign tests to groups based on performance and other organizational requirements.

Q: What inspires you at work?

Rajesh:The environment at Exela constantly keeps me on my toes. As project manager, I regularly address new challenges and work to address them with innovative and technology-driven solutions.

Q: What are some technologies you want to learn more about going forward?

Rajesh:DevOps, IoT, Serverless Computing and Blockchain. I want to keep abreast with all the upcoming technology trends and help integrate them into Exela’s solutions.

Q: What's one thing your team doesn't know about you?

Rajesh:I am a highly accomplished Kabaddi player. Kabaddi is best described as a team-based wrestling sport. I played on an inter-collegiate team.

Thanks, Rajesh, for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk with us. We’re really excited about the work you’re doing and about the Human Capital Management suite of solutions, which includes a full roster of Human Resource resources, from Applicant Tracking to Onboarding to Performance Management, with lots of others in between.

Sitting Down with Tydus Mathis: Enterprise Operations Director

What is your position?

Enterprise Operations Director

What is your background, what brought you to Exela?

My background was in banking responsible for Mail, Transportation and Print. I started my career with Bank of America in 1981, and in 1993 I switched jerseys and joined the team.

Describe yourself in five works or less.

• Dedicated – (38 years in the Financial Industry)
• Humbled – (By the opportunities the company has afforded to me and my family)
• Coach – (Love to develop individuals and teams and celebrate their growth)
• Innovative – (Creative, always thinking. I use my 45-minute commute to envision opportunities that will benefit my client and our Organization)
• Successful – (By surrounding myself with people smarter than me)

What is an example of something “innovative” you have accomplished – at Exela or elsewhere?

Taking a platform that is already successful and leveraging it into new business opportunities. For example, we have a great track record in the Mail and Copy space with a particular customer, as well as a great rapport with them. Using those strengths, we organically grew our business by way of Transportation Services, Address Remediation and Lockbox. These new business opportunities would not have been possible without key leaders protecting the base business; National Directors Renee Sanders and Justin Knight, Enterprise Ops Manager Eny Alfonso and the entire Management and staff within Mail and Copy Services.

What industry trends (outlook) do you see?

Great question, Risk is always a big concern. Companies are starting to invest in this area. We have a great opportunity to help protect our clients with a secure mail solution, Digital Mail and Intelligent Lockers.

How are you and/or Exela addressing them?

We address these with our clients using several vehicles: through our 1 on 1’s, Strategy calls, and QBR’s. Once a year we would establish an Innovation Day which showcases all of our capabilities.

Learn more from Exela:

Join us for Exela’s People Behind Our Technology series, a new initiative that highlights both our Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and proprietary technology solutions. Our SMEs answer a series of questions that help provide insight into the present and future of Exela’s suite of solutions, leveraging their hands-on experience to demonstrate value. Stay tuned for more, and continue to visit the Exela website to see the full list of our People Behind Our Technology Q A blogs.

When it comes to climate and sustainability issues, cities are a paradox. On the one hand, cities consume as much as 80 percent of energy production worldwide and account for a roughly equal share of global greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, cities are under increasing scrutiny over their impact on climate change.[1]

On the other hand, cities are well-positioned to tackle sustainability issues on a large scale. As Exela’s President of Americas and APAC, Srini Murali, points out, with so many people living in cities (i.e., half of the global population), change can happen much faster than in rural locales.[2] Indeed, cities everywhere are embracing their role in sustainability, with many finding technology, and in particular, automation and digital transformation, to be a powerful ally. Here are a few examples:

Connecting data silos for efficiency

Certain life events--like a birth or a death in the family, a move from one address to another, or leaving a job--require us to fill out multiple forms that ask us for the same information, over and over. It’s a time suck, and it’s infuriating, especially when various forms are all meant to end up in the same office, as so often happens with governmental forms, and it’s a terrible waste of paper, printing, postage, and/or fuel. When city governments embrace digital transformation and automation initiatives, information disclosed on, say, an application for unemployment benefits, will also be available for use by the government department in charge of reviewing public healthcare assistance and benefits.

Here’s why data silos aren’t the real enemy in digital transformation.

Letting predictive cognitive automation predict future requirements

“What if you could predict the general area where crime is likely to occur and deploy police officers as a precaution?” Murali asks in the article he wrote for Smart Cities Dive. “What if you could predict where a roadway would need to be repaired and send a crew out before the damage gets out of hand? Digital transformation initiatives hold the promise of using current and historical data to model and predict future events with enough accuracy that it becomes possible to nip problems in the bud before they can even manifest as problems”. For example, Exela’s Data Aggregation and Data Visualization solutions can help city governments to mine raw data for patterns for the purpose of generating actionable insight.

Learn how office automation, including predictive facilities management, can improve your business’s bottom line.

Digital portals for more efficient workflows

Cities send out a large amount of paper mail each month for such things as tax bills, license renewal notices, and reminders from various departments. But why does it have to be paper? And for such simple communications, why does a human have to be involved at all? Finally, wouldn’t rote tasks of this kind be more trustworthy if executed by a programmed machine? Those are just some of the reasons for adopting digital user platforms.

Learn where “user interface” fits into the seven layers of digital transformation.

Moving beyond Alexa

The Internet of Things has been shaping up to make life much easier. We can vacuum our bedroom while we’re in a meeting at the office. While sitting at our desk in the office, we can bring a filet mignon to precisely the temperature we wish for it to be in our kitchen at home. But the Internet of Things isn’t just for leisure time. It’s already at work in offices everywhere, adjusting the brightness of overhead lights, setting the thermostat, and smart-tracking shipments, to name a few. At the same time, it’s collecting valuable data about your workforce and your workspace--data you can leverage to your advantage using advanced data analytics tools such as those underpinning .

In short, even though cities are a major source of emissions, they’re also ripe for digital transformation and automation initiatives. Moreover, the concentrated population of cities means that more people will become part of the change sooner than in rural areas.

[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49639003

[2] https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/deep-dive/

Why We Do What We Do Here in Corporate Marketing

Eliza Leonardis’s official title is Director of Digital Marketing. But if you’re ever lucky enough to get to work with Eliza, you’ll quickly learn that doesn’t begin to explain what she does. “Director of Digital Marketing” is an apt description of the piece of Eliza’s job that relates to making sure Exela’s web site looks how it should look and says what it should say. But it doesn’t address Eliza’s role as the head of Exela’s Corporate Marketing team.

Corporate marketing’s mission is to raise brand awareness. Corporate marketing is the reason you know Exela exists, and equally important, the reason you feel compelled to pay us any attention at all. To paraphrase a television commercial from the 1970s, when Exela looks good, we look good. Corporate marketing is different from product marketing, which raises awareness and desire for what we’re selling, but we work hand in hand with the Product Marketing team and need to always be aligned in terms of message. With a company of our size (23,000 employees all over the globe), this isn’t as easy as you might think, especially when you consider the two teams operate in at least four different time zones. Anyway, not only does Eliza run Corporate Marketing (I report to her, as do all the others on the team), she also has to make sure we’re all in constant communication with Product Marketing.

But none of the above addresses Eliza’s unofficial role at Exela, which is a sort of hybrid of “Chief Motivation Officer” and “Chief Morale Booster.”

The motivation part

Eliza doesn’t just get the job done, she gets all of us to get the job done. And again, that’s not always as easy as you might think. Each of us has a distinct function (for example, I’m outward-facing content, whereas my colleague, Nick, is inward-facing), and the only thing any of those functions really have in common is the goal of getting your attention and keeping you interested. But Eliza has a deep understanding of what each of us does and knows exactly how to get the best performance out of each of us.

The morale part

They say when you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. Well, that’s kind of true, especially for those of us who are, in fact, getting paid to do at Exela what we would likely be doing as hobbies if our jobs didn’t exist. But some might argue work is always “work.” That’s why it’s called “work.” That’s where Eliza’s other unofficial role comes in. No one knows how she does it exactly. We know it has something to do with the upbeat and bubbly personality. We know it has something to do with really believing in each of her reports, even when we don’t necessarily believe in ourselves. We know it has something to do with the pizza parties (including today’s Valentine’s Pizza My Heart Party) and the Hershey’s Nuggets that magically appear on her desk when we’re in a meeting that’s about to go long. But there’s also something intangible Eliza brings to the table that has this team producing prolifically and constantly setting new goals and challenges. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at our LinkedIN page, which she’s grown more than 300% since this time last year).

Last month, it came to light that a major US insurer made an unfortunate error with one of their customer communications. A mail piece sent to over 10,000 members showed through a clear window on the envelope that a patient was taking a certain kind of medication, directly revealing the illness suffered by each individual.

This is a major and urgent issue for several reasons. First, health insurers operate in a heavily regulated industry. Chief among those regulations require insurers to safeguard patient privacy. Mistakes like this one expose organizations to potential lawsuits, and possible class action litigation. Financial penalties can go beyond the costs of any settlements, because the government can levy fines against insurers that fail to effectively protect their patient’s privacy. Beyond that, the reputational damage can be costly, and internal reviews of production processes, or changing communications strategies to address these kinds of problems can be disruptive and costly as well.

As pressing as the consequences are for this insurer in the present, perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the entire event is this: the mistake was on the part of the communications vendor the insurer had contracted.

While the vendor was ultimately responsible for the error, the penalties and reputational loss will still fall on the insurer. Therefore, it remains the charge of the principal company to select not just a vendor, but a communications partner, to work with to prevent mistakes by implementing effective processes.

Here are three ways to help your enterprise select a company that can facilitate effective, consistent exchanges between your organization and clients, while avoiding the errors that have led to this undesirable situation for both insurer and patients alike.

1. Careful Vendor Selection

Enterprises should seek an experienced partner who offers a secure unified, multi-channel customer communication solution. The solution should include both print and mail, because while many clients may prefer digital communications, not all of them do. Further, there are times when physical communications are mandated. Beyond expert multi-channel and print and mail capabilities, look for a vendor who can decrease your costs around postage and production. A worthwhile provider will be able to provide comprehensive database management to increase the relevance and quality of your business communications – giving you the ability to target and segment your audience appropriately. Beyond that, look for a vendor who provides transparency and a cloud-based platform for you to manage and control the process on your own terms. A worthwhile communications process outsourcer will include multiple print options, in-depth composition capability, and best-class security including SSAW 16 Type II and HIPAA certifications in their offerings.

Ultimately, performing intensive due diligence on any potential communications vendor is the most effective step that enterprises can take to mitigate these risks. The characteristics described above can be indicators of a capable, experienced provider.

2. Expert Resources for Mail-Piece Design

Any vendor you select should provide expert resources for mail-piece design. One of the explanations for the widespread mailer mistake described above was that the letters within the envelopes shifted in route to reveal confidential patient information. This points to errors in the design of the communication. For example, simply including a cover sheet or title page for the letter with only letterhead and recipient addresses would have been a simple, cost-effective, and straightforward way to avoid this issue. An expert mail consultant would have been able to make such a suggestion.

Other benefits of contracting a third-party communications partner with in-house mail piece design analysts include the ability to:

• Analyze the automation compatibility of mail pieces for access to automation-based pricing via the USPS
• Increase savings by leveraging in-depth knowledge of USPS pricing structures
• Test mail pieces for acceptable thickness levels, colors, flexibility, barcode compatibility

3. Intensive & Consistent Quality Control

Prior to bringing on a new partner to handle your physical communications, ask potential service providers about their processes for quality control. A robust system led by experts might be the difference between a successful print and mail run, and a massive, costly mistake.

Some things to look for include automated ocular recognition camera-based systems. Using production-related information files, these systems can track letter alignment, print quality, accuracy of data fields and more to help prevent errors. Make sure that they not only have technology-based quality control workflows in place – the value of physical checks by trained workers cannot be overlooked.

What happened to this insurer was a mistake. Nonetheless, it will be one that brings serious consequences. What must be a frustrating truth for this insurer – these issues are largely avoidable. By carefully vetting any potential shared service providers, making sure they leverage mail piece design analysts with intricate knowledge of best practices, and that they have a commitment to quality assurance demonstrated through both training and technology – you can more effectively find a best-class communications partner.

When choosing a digital transformation partner, you’re not merely choosing a vendor of software or a provider of services. You’re choosing a partner with whom you’ll construct a vision for the future of your business. Security is integral to that vision. Here are some questions to ask of, and issues to address with, your potential digital transformation partner to determine if they’re up to the task:

Which laws, rules, regulations, guidelines, etc. (“guidelines”) apply to my enterprise’s systems and the data stored on those systems?

Your digital transformation provider will be able to compile a complete list of all guidelines applicable to your particular type of organization, your industry, where you do business, where data is being delivered and where it’s coming from, and who and where the end users are located. Here are the guidelines your digital transformation provider should, at a minimum, be aware of.

Describe your level of compliance with guidelines.

Your digital transformation provider will be able to compile a complete list of all certifications, registrations, accreditations, and the like, what they mean, and why they’re necessary. Here’s ours, and stay tuned for a much more in-depth discussion of that next week on the Exela Blog.

What mechanism do you have in place for staying abreast of changing guidelines?

This is always an important question, and your digital transformation provider should have a regular process by it stays current on what guidelines are applicable, whether and how they’ve changed, and what changes must be employed to comply therewith.

What security technologies do you currently deploy?

This could include software, encryption methods, digital firewalls, etc. Which of these are proprietary versus third-party provided? What mechanism are in place for keeping up with the latest security technologies? What’s next on the horizon right at this very moment? What challenges do you see as a result of current technological limitations?

Who is your security team comprised of?

Who is in charge of leading the security team? Which departments are involved? What is the structure, and who reports to whom? How does the team interact with my enterprise?

Which of your staff members will interact with mine in connection with systems and data?

Will they only be employees? Or might they be consultants? What security clearance is required such persons on board with regard to this particular project/set of projects? What training/education do you require of such persons with regard to system and data security?

What security measures are in place at the facilities where you provide systems, storage, and/or services?

What methods are employed for monitoring the security at such facilities? Who has access to such facilities, how is access determined, and how is access enforced? These questions should address both physical security of facilities and equipment and user credentials. Learn about Exela’s secure MegaCenters here.

What are your system change controls?

In other words, what is the procedure for modifying/patching relevant systems, notifying affected parties, minimizing adverse impact?

What sort of monitoring are you doing to identify security threats before they become incidents?

How often are you auditing the systems under your care? How do you detect potential breach incidents? What is your standard breach response procedure?

What are your disaster recovery contingency plans?

What disaster recovery policies apply? What alternative processing methods are utilized? How often are these reviewed and updated? Here are some of the solutions Exela offers our customers with regard to business continuity and disaster recovery.

Stay tuned for the last post in this series on Leveraging Cybersecurity to Master Your Domain, in which we address the security standards Exela meets for itself and its customers. If you missed the earlier posts in this series on cyber security, you can catch up here on:

• Why security is the transformation you should be talking about
• What we’re really talking about when we’re talking about security
• 21 Staggering Security Statistics Every Business Should Consider
• How the Bad Guys Get In: Cyber Attack Vectors
• How to Keep The Bad Guys Out: Cyber Security Best Practices
• 8 Worst Cyber Attacks of All Time

Gotta read it all now? You can download the entire series as a flipping-book here.

A Leap Into The Breach: Leveraging
Cybersecurity to Master Your Domain

In the future, be sure to subscribe to Exela’s quarterly thought leadership publication, PluggedIN for up-to-the-minute news and views on topics that matter to you.