The post AI is Listening: What Executives Must Know about Privacy in the Age of Workplace AI Assistants appeared first on Foster Institute.

AI chatbots – ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity – bring unique strengths to business tasks, from data analysis to strategic communication. Why have just one star player on your team when you can have several? While many executives have found remarkable success with one platform, utilizing multiple chatbots can unlock even greater value. As you become familiar with more chatbots, you will naturally develop your preferences for example, you might choose:

• ChatGPT for versatile tasks and data visualization
• Claude for emotionally aware communication
• Gemini for technical troubleshooting
• Perplexity for research

The goal here is to inspire you to explore chatbots you might not have used.

Introduction:

When associations and organizations hire me to present about AI, audiences frequently ask me which chatbot is best. After presenting to thousands of executives across diverse industries, I’ve discovered something fascinating: each person develops their own preferences based on their unique needs and experiences.

There are many chatbots, each trying to earn your favor. If you only use one, you will benefit tremendously from trying others.

A great strategy is to give the same prompt to several chatbots and see which response you like best. Enter a prompt into one chatbot, copy it to your clipboard, and then paste it into other chatbots.

Capabilities change frequently with updates, so what works best might change tomorrow. As of today, here are some specific benefits you might appreciate as you multiply the number of chatbots on your team. Please adapt the example prompts to your specific industry or goals:

Expert Strategy:

For the best results, always give the chatbot context and detail. Describe yourself, the interests relevant to the project, your role, your audience, and what you want to accomplish. For example, instead of asking, “Review this email draft,” tell the chatbot your industry, what your organization does, your role, and the challenges you’re addressing. Then say something like, “I wrote this follow-up email after yesterday’s board meeting. Review it and suggest if there are clearer ways to explain our quarterly results. The board members reading this want both the wins and challenges clearly explained, and they prefer brief, to-the-point documents.” The difference in response quality will amaze you. You can attach examples of previous successful communications you’ve written and tell the chatbot to use a similar tone and style.

ChatGPT: Amplify Your Productivity:

Chatgpt dot com. Almost everyone has heard of this popular chatbot’s vast range of capabilities. In addition to what it has always done, I use ChatGPT when processing documents and generating or analyzing graphs.

• Manufacturing: “Generate a workflow to reduce downtime by analyzing machinery data and prioritizing maintenance schedules.”
• Healthcare: “Create a patient satisfaction survey based on current trends in healthcare delivery.”
• Finance: “Summarize key takeaways from a quarterly earnings report for a stakeholder presentation.”
• Distribution: “Using the attached spreadsheet, generate a graph of Lead Time (Days) vs. Monthly Usage (Units) with data points colored by criticality. Label the material names using a large font.”

For executives on the move, ChatGPT’s voice mode transforms travel time into productive strategy sessions. While driving, you can brainstorm solutions to business challenges, rehearse important presentations, or analyze competitor strategies – all hands-free. You have a knowledgeable thought partner ready to explore any topic. For safety, please only use voice mode while driving.

Claude: Transform Your Business Communications:

Claude dot ai. For written conversations and reviewing documents, Claude often causes me to pause and think, “Wow! That response is surprising in a good way!” Experienced business people know success comes through professional relationships. Claude seems the best at considering human attitudes, sentiments, and reactions. If you want to write a persuasive document, Claude might help you best refine the text you’ve already written.

• Manufacturing: “Refine a message to factory staff emphasizing the importance of new safety protocols while maintaining morale.”
• Healthcare: “Draft a memo to staff addressing a sensitive policy change with a positive and empathetic tone.”
• Finance: “Rewrite an investment pitch to highlight potential ROI while addressing client concerns about risk.”
• Consulting: “Analyze this email conversation and tell me how this person feels frustrated, and gently suggest benefits to them by sharing examples of how other professionals have benefited from our practices. Do not strive to convince them since they will push back harder.”

Think of Claude as a collaborator. Converse back and forth about how the recipient or audience will react to specific words and phrases and refine them accordingly. Ask Claude if there are parts that can be left out. This process can produce emotionally intelligent content that produces results.

I find that Claude often provides unsolicited suggestions that are very helpful. For example, while reviewing a business proposal, Claude will often point out valuable opportunities to strengthen the key benefits. Claude often thinks beyond the immediate request, offering insights and recommendations as a trusted strategic advisor would.

Gemini: Solve Technical Challenges:

Gemini dot google dot com offers another option for technical information and troubleshooting steps. Many users appreciate Google’s extensive data repository for technical questions.

• Manufacturing: “Provide troubleshooting steps for a PLC system showing error codes X, Y, and Z.”
• Healthcare: “Outline the process to integrate a new Electronic Health Record (EHR) system with existing software.”
• Finance: “Explain how to configure advanced security settings in a new financial analytics platform.”
• IT Director: “Identify potential pitfalls in the transition to cloud-based services.”
• Executive on the Weekend: “I am a non-technical executive, and my help desk is busy. Walk me through setting up a mail merge using a list of contacts and a form letter.”

Perplexity: Power Your Strategic Research:

Perplexity dot ai excels at providing stunningly useful results searching the web. Other chatbots can provide citations for where they obtained their information, but what attracts me the most to Perplexity is how quickly it allows you to access the sources and see summaries of the content if you click the “show all” citations button.

• Manufacturing: “Find and summarize case studies on how AI optimizes supply chain management.”
• Healthcare: “Research emerging telemedicine technologies and their potential ROI.”
• Finance: “Identify recent regulatory changes affecting the fintech industry and summarize key implications.”
• Expanding your AI Toolkit: “What are the best AI tools this year that will help me (fill in the rest, such as analyzing trends in my inventory turnover to identify ways I can improve my supply chain)?”
• Strategic Planning: “Research top competitors’ strategies for market expansion.”

Perplexity has almost replaced my use of search engines since I receive the answers I need and can drill down to sources when needed. The sources earned their place in the list based on their content rather than which sites use the best search engine optimization techniques.

Perplexity is excellent at crafting documents and generating lists of instructions, too.

Free vs. Paid:

All these chatbots have free and paid versions. Some chatbots have elected to provide advanced features to free accounts, limiting the number of times unpaid users can use those features per day. As you use chatbots, evaluate the time savings or added value to decide when to upgrade to a paid version. Many executives find the ROI on paid versions substantial.

Risks:

Chatbots can produce inaccurate results, known as hallucinations. For example, when generating financial projections or analyzing marketing insights, they might fabricate results. Always verify chatbot-generated information and avoid expensive mistakes.

Feel free to challenge the chatbot’s biases. Sometimes, a good argument can be constructive.

Always use privacy settings to help ensure sensitive data isn’t stored. Understand the chatbot’s privacy policies.

Customization:

Some chatbots allow you to preload information about yourself and your company in settings or attached files.  Sometimes, you can generate custom profiles or unique chatbots. This can be very productive, saving you time and achieving specific results.

AI Ethics and Integrity:

Excellence in AI requires the same principles that guide all business practices: honesty, integrity, and ethics. Just as we use presentation software to communicate clearly and CRM systems to build stronger customer relationships, AI tools help enhance our natural capabilities. They can analyze data more quickly, provide valuable insights, and help us communicate more effectively with our teams and customers.

Any powerful business tool, from email to social media, can be misused. However, responsible leaders use AI to enhance human judgment and creativity. Use AI tools to create value, improve efficiency, and drive success for your organization and the people you serve.

Conclusion: Using Multiple Chatbots is a Force Multiplier:

Issue your prompts to multiple chatbots to see which resonates best for specific tasks. Remember that chatbots are continuously improving. If you keep experimenting with all of them, you might update your preference for specific tasks. Other fabulous chatbots are available, too; don’t feel limited to the four I discussed here.

I’d love to hear about your journey with AI tools. Whether at a conference where I’m speaking or through email, share which chatbots have transformed how you work and how. Your insights help me bring fresh perspectives to organizations worldwide, and I might feature them in a future blog. As chatbots continue to evolve, I’m committed to helping executives and their teams unlock the full potential of these powerful tools!

Subscribe to maximize your executive potential with Foster Institute’s E-Savvy Newsletter, packed with practical IT security solutions and actionable strategies for success: https://fosterinstitute.com/e-savvy-newsletter/

The post Which AI Chatbot is Best? The Executive’s Guide for When to Use ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity appeared first on Foster Institute.

It makes sense that malware uses strategies to infect and hide inside of networks undetected. Here is some fascinating insight into that self-preservation: The malware related to SolarWinds attack looks for specific security related software, including a free program named WireShark, before installing itself. If Wireshark is running in Windows, the virus installation terminates itself.

Should you run WireShark on your computers 24×7? Ordinarily, IT Professions remove WireShark in case attackers installed it. Paradoxically, running WireShark will stop the initial activation of the SolarWinds attack. WireShark is not the only choice. Open this Microsoft article and use CTRL-F search for the word WireShark to see the other security related tools that will horrify some malware: https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2020/12/18/analyzing-solorigate-the-compromised-dll-file-that-started-a-sophisticated-cyberattack-and-how-microsoft-defender-helps-protect/

But, after SUNBURST installs itself, it is too late. It doesn’t look for security related tools after installation.

This message is not a recommendation to run these applications, nor is it intended to dissuade you. If organizations start adopting this strategy to thwart cautious attacks, it will be interesting to see how malware responds.

Forward this article to your friends so they receive this insight into how bad actors strive to avoid detection and discuss implementing this unconventional approach to stopping malware installations.

The post Tips and Tricks: An Unconventional way to Protect Yourself from SolarWinds and Future Hacks appeared first on Foster Institute.

SolarWinds is a well-respected organization, and many organizations utilize their products. Not enough details are known to discredit their organization. Clearly, attackers see them as valuable enough to use as an infection vector.

This is called a supply chain attack because bad actors use a trusted product in an organization’s supply chain to attack the organization. A similar well-publicized attack happened with a popular tool, with many benefits, called CCleaner. The attackers successfully compromised 2.3 Million PCs.

The CCleaner supply chain attack is an illustration of dwell time. Attackers waited five months from the time they gained access to CCleaner before they launched the attack on CCleaner users. Many computers were safe, but not 2.3 Million of them.

Remember: Just because your organization fixes a vector through which the infection came does not eliminate damage already done. As an analogy, if you were the king or queen of a castle, and you found that attackers entered your castle walls to attack your city, raising the bridge over your moat does not eliminate the attackers who already made it inside.

Supply chain attacks are one of many reasons to eliminate as much software as possible at your organization. If a program is not essential, remove it asap. SolarWinds is vital for many organizations.

Please forward this to your friends so they can alert their IT departments to address this situation, and know to remove all non-essential software from all computers.

The post Emergency Update if Your IT Team Uses SolarWinds Products, and How to Protect Against Supply Chain Attacks appeared first on Foster Institute.

More often than ever before, bad actors infiltrate organizations in a slow, methodical way. They can remain undetected for weeks, months, even years. The FBI uses the term dwell time to designate the period from when attackers infiltrate systems until you discover them. The FBI warns businesses that attackers can cause significant damage during dwell time. Bad actors quickly establish backdoors to ensure access, even if you block their first point of entry. They deploy keyloggers on systems to record keystrokes. If your cyber assets are compromised, the bad actors can potentially monitor your messages to find out when you discover their presence in your network, computers, applications, cloud resources, websites, or anywhere else.

Once attackers know you’ve discovered their infiltration, that triggers them to move forward with their next phase, often contacting you to demand a ransom. Sometimes they threaten severe consequences if you attempt to recover your system in any other way than paying them. Since they are in your systems, you must take the threats seriously.

Establish a protocol for workers to communicate suspicions in some method other than email.

Even your IT department must avoid emailing each other questions such as, “I received an alert that someone is resetting an administrator password. That’s odd. Is that you?” Instead, they must communicate by mobile phone or radio.

If you suspect a breach and contact us, consider phoning. If you must email, use a personal account outside of your company account, and use a phone or some device other than a company computer’s keyboard to send the message.

I’m not talking about when users receive a phishing message. I’m talking about if they receive a phishing message that includes customer account information, if an important file is missing or won’t open, or if they receive an unexpected login request on a website or to open a file. IT needs to investigate these early-warning signs.

Please forward this to other executives who you care about to establish a mobile hotline number for users to reach the IT team to report suspicious activity. Help avoid triggering attackers’ responses before your IT team has time to react and, hopefully, mitigate a potential cybersecurity disaster.

The post If You Get Hacked, Do Not Email Anyone About It appeared first on Foster Institute.

Here is another essential tactic to help protect your remote workers.

There’s a company in Saint Louis that ran into a problem your organization might face too.

Their remote workers must attend many video conference calls, online meetings, webinars, and online training sessions. Their IT Pro doesn’t want to install different programs on his users’ computers if he can avoid it.

As you know, a significant way to improve cybersecurity is to uninstall nonessential software, not to add more programs.

The company’s savvy IT Pro discovered an excellent solution. He found that all of the video conferencing and training tools his team needs can run inside their already-installed browsers. They don’t need to download and install extra software. They have Zoom already, but workers use their browsers for other kinds of meetings. They may not get all the advanced functionality, but they can still participate in the sessions just fine.

Please forward this to your friends so that they know, to improve cybersecurity, avoid installing software or apps whenever possible. Their IT Pro may find that workers can participate in many meetings using their browser only, without needing to increase the attack surface by installing more software.

The post Video Conferencing – Avoid Installing Meeting Programs When Possible appeared first on Foster Institute.

The post Executives Appreciate it when IT Professionals Communicate Effectively appeared first on Foster Institute.

The work they do is often so complicated, yet they make it look easy. Unless you are a high-tech executive, it can be difficult to appreciate how sometimes your team accomplishes a miracle.

In some organizations, the only time the IT team gets noticed is when something technology-related stops functioning correctly.

IT pros, by nature, need to invest more than 40 hours a week to keep up with rapidly changing technology. That doesn’t include responses to the helpdesk crises and completing the projects assigned to them.

Executives reading this newsletter already feel compassion for and support their IT teams. But just in case you know an executive who doesn’t, or the gift slipped their mind, please forward this message to them. And why not add an IT Appreciation Day to company calendars?

Happy Holidays – and you deserve a bunch of credit too!

The post Remember to Give Your IT Pros a Holiday Gift appeared first on Foster Institute.

Any of your computers that you purchased six years ago came with Windows 7 installed. Unless you paid for new licenses and gave your team time to upgrade them, those computers run Windows 7 today.

Some of your options include:
– Buy new computers
– If the computer is strong enough, upgrade Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 or Windows 10
– You can ask your IT team if you use a technology called VDI. If so, they can uninstall Windows 7 completely. They can install Linux, or make a bootable thumb drive, or use a No Touch Desktop program. The computer can function as a screen and keyboard to a server where Windows runs

If, for any reason, you need to keep Windows 7 on some workstations, be sure to give your IT team time to implement compensating controls. For example, they can isolate the computers from the rest. Ask them to install Microsoft’s downloadable EMET security tool that works in Windows 7.

Support for Windows 8.0 ended in 2016.
Support for Windows 8.1 ends on January 10, 2023.

Please forward this to your friends and business associates, so they know January 14 is the when Windows 7 becomes a severe security risk to their networks.

The post Microsoft Will Stop Protecting Windows 7 on January 14, 2020 appeared first on Foster Institute.

Patching VMware, which is often used as a platform for many of your other servers, can be frustrating. If the patch causes a problem, there is a risk that all your servers hosted on that machine will go down.

This is one of those risk vs. benefit decisions that is so important, business executives must be involved.

On the one hand, the patch could interrupt business, but not applying the patch could be considered reckless.

Test the patch prior to deployment, when possible. Having a pre-planned, if not pre-tested, roll-back plan is crucial in case the patch causes a problem.

Preferably patch one server at a time so that, if the patch does cause a problem, at least the interruption is limited to that server.

Without the patch, someone could run programs on your computer, potentially taking control of the server.

The patch fixes a vulnerability in the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program, even if a customer is not participating in the program.

Please emphasize the last phrase to your IT pros.

Ask your IT pros to look at VMware’s information by searching for VMSA-2017-0007.

Please forward this to everyone who may be using VMware, so that they can alert their IT pros just in case they don’t know already.

The post Alert Your IT Team – Urgent Patch for Network Servers appeared first on Foster Institute.