Published on December 28, 2022
That's me with my tongue out in 1972 after arriving in Houston to see my grandparents. I'm pretty sure I flew Southwest. In fact, Southwest has long been my favorite airline. Southwest has been the most affordable, flexible, on-time, and easiest to do business with airlines I've flown, bucking all the fees and extras all the others charge so ruthlessly.
Unfortunately, Southwest is in the news and the news isn't good. The United States Transportation Secretary, White House Press Secretary, and every 24/7 news anchor or wanna-be commentator and investment analyst are slamming them continuously as the Grinch that stole Christmas and now New Years, too.
The reason they are getting slammed is because all the other airlines have recovered from the weather scheduling problems and Southwest can't, yet. Southwest canceled thousands of flights today because their IT and communication systems have failed the company and its "supply chain" of workers and planes. The planes are available. They're fueled up and ready to go. The airports are open and the skies are clear. The pilots, gate agents, baggage handlers, and flight attendants want to fly.... BUT... the computers aren't working sufficiently yet to get us back into the air.
Southwest will suffer tremendous financial and reputational damage from what will surely be remembered as a once-in-a-generation disaster. Extensive regulatory measures, fines, ongoing permanent increases in their cost structure, and surely a big increase in their political lobbying and PR budgets will have to occur.
BUT DON’T WISH THEM TOO MUCH HARM BECAUSE - _ _IT ROLLS DOWN HILL
Faced with disastrous occurrences, most small and medium businesses struggle to survive at all. That's a big reason why when you fly from place to place, most of the retailers, service companies, livery drivers, restaurants, and grocery stores are the same. They're all owned by the same people who survived multiple disastrous occurrences and took the place of the small business that was there before the crushing burden of regulation and compliance.
Our customers in related defense, medical, and financial sectors and those that supply them (almost all of us) report that their cost of regulatory and audit compliance has gone up 100+% in the past three years. New regulations and audit requirements surface all the time and are pushed through the supply chain from top to bottom. In addition, banks, insurance companies, regulators, and customers are demanding that small businesses prove they can be resilient before they give them their funds, insurance coverage, bonds, licenses, or purchase orders. Even if your business is wildly profitable and you're perfectly willing to play along and you can pass all of those costs onto your customer, it can be terribly difficult to do your day job and compliance, too.
Any one of you in medical, logistics, financial services, manufacturing, or defense can attest that every new page of every bill passed by Congress results in 10 pages of additional regulations subject to varying interpretations across the country. States like Illinois and California where I'm from like to take those things and then go over the top on them, making them even more onerous and anti-competitive.
Most small businesses will find themselves missing out on contract opportunities, customers, and even suppliers until they prove compliance with third-party audits. If they're not prepared for the audit, the cost skyrockets and so do the required remediation efforts. If they don't know what they're talking about or haven't been through it a thousand times, they won't be able to fend off a laundry list of unnecessary and inapplicable audit requirements and findings at all. Faced with this, a lot of small businesses just forgo the opportunities and kiss their customers goodbye after the customer outgrows their compliance capabilities.
BTI GROUP WILL SIMPLIFY IT ALL FOR YOU AND HELP YOU AFFORDABLY IMPLEMENT BEST PRACTICES THAT DEFEND AND PROTECT YOUR PROFITS.
If you find yourself confused or apprehensive about compliance or security, we need to be your next call. If you find yourself uncertain about your IT company, infrastructure, or environment, we need to be your next call. If your building and employee security and safety is a concern, we need to be your next call. If you’re worried about your communications systems’ reliability and capacity, we need to be your next call. We are here for you and we’ll talk to you and put you at ease right away.
BTI offers services ranging from free remote IT scans and site assessments to paid vulnerability assessments and ongoing penetration testing, remediation, infrastructure hardening, security policy writing, audit preparation and defense, and even done for you business continuity. Many leaders in the medical, manufacturing, financial services, utilities, and travel industries rely on BTI to provide those services and we do, 24x7x365. We are here for you.
Check out our offerings here Cyber Security & Services | BTI Group, Managed IT | BTI Group, Complete Security Systems | BTI Group, Communication Equipment and Services | BTI Group.
#soc , #ciso , #hipaa , #pci , #hitrust , #fedramp , #cmmc2 , #iso27001 , #itar , and #nist along with their checklists and CPA examiners and findings litter the desks and file cabinets of most successful businesses these days with greater significance to them than their tax returns. Tax returns only apply to profits but these apply to every aspect of one's business. Even a bathroom paper towel supplier will find their customer’s customer's contract requires them to fill out forms and comply.
Don't be a victim or a casualty. We can help turn the tables for you so your greatest weakness becomes a strength against your biggest and most worthy competitors.