In December 2017, we launched our first #GoodTechChat on our Twitter channel (@Strillobyte).

Here’s a short Q&A to help you get the most out of it.

1. What is the #GoodTechChat?

It’s a Twitter chat that helps our followers connect, share solutions and learn. Every month, we address different topics that we think are useful and valuable for our participants.

2. When do we host the #GoodTechChat?

Every first Wednesday of the month at 8.00 pm BST.

3. Who should join the #GoodTechChat?

Anyone involved in the start-up/SME world should: from those thinking of launching a business to those who are already in the game.

4. What are the topics of the #GoodTechChat?

The topics of the chat are picked by our team and built around the issues that entrepreneurs face. Usually, they are tech-related, but we like to vary.

Strillobyte is always open to suggestions, so, if you have an idea for a topic, drop us an email at hello@strillobyte.com

5. Are there rules?

Yes, there are. We thought of 4 points to ensure that everyone can enjoy the #GoodTechChat. They are:

1. Add #GoodTechChat to every answer
2. Add the question number to your answer e.g. Q1, Q2
3. Talk to each other, build your community
4. No spam, please

To join our #GoodTechChat, subscribe to our newsletter. We send a reminder the day before.

You can reach us on our website, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

#GoodTechChat: a brief explanation of our monthly Twitter event was originally published in strillobyte on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Is GDPR the result of the scandal around Facebook and Cambridge Analytica?

Let’s debunk a myth: the answer is NO.

The EU approved the law back in 2016, long before the infamous events. GDPR is the result of a long journey started in 2006, when the boom of Internet services raised the need for a new and up to date regulation on data protection.

For instance, one of the cornerstones of the new law is the right to be forgotten. It implies that:

Personal data must be erased immediately as long as the data are no longer needed for their original processing purpose, or the impacted person has withdrawn his consent and there is no other reason for justification, the impacted person has objected and there is no preferential justified reason for the processing, or erasure is required to fulfil a statutory obligation under the EU law or the right of the Member States. In addition, data must of course be erased if the processing itself was against the law. (Art 17 of GDPR)

GDPR has been in place since 2016 but companies were given two years of time to comply. Today, on 25 May 2018, the two years expire and the law becomes effective.

Why are companies asking everyone to “opt-in”?

In the last few weeks, many businesses have sent out emails asking their customers the fateful question “Can we keep sending you messages? Click opt-in”, hoping to still have a mailing list at the end of the process. Many have offered discounts, coupons and other freebies to incentivise people to stay in touch.

Does it mean that companies never had the authority to hold personal details? Or that there was no law to regulate this procedure before GDPR?

The answer is simple. Since 1998, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) has regulated most of the online world. A lot has changed since, so it was about time that a new set of rules was enforced. However, PECR already contemplated the need for companies to ask for authorisation for handling sensitive data. For instance, to create an account on Facebook, you already had to give your email, other personal details and an authorisation to hold and process them.

So, why is everyone asking your permission (again)?

Somehow everyone got confused and thought best to just join the plethora of “opt-in” emails. Maybe it is because GDPR is still somewhat unclear, or perhaps because of the Facebook scandal. But as Henry Cazalet stated on Investment Week:

“ Organisations need to make sure that their existing consent meets the standards of GDPR or it will need to be refreshed. However, consent is one way to comply with the GDPR, but it’s not the only way.”

This means companies don’t necessarily need to re-ask for consent, and there are other ways to be compliant with new regulation that aren’t just the “opt-in” emails.

Will GDPR change the game?

GDPR is surely empowering consumers, but to which extent?

It seems very unlikely that people will stop using online services (e.g. Google) to avoid sharing personal data. Also, in around 30 years since the start of the internet, it is almost impossible to revoke your consent to every company you gave it to.

For example, I challenge you to open your Facebook account, go to Settings and open the “Apps and websites” section. In there you will find all the companies you have authorised to access your personal data since you joined the platform. Personally, I shared my details with over 500 apps and websites. Facebook gives you the possibility to remove each one of them, but this does not guarantee that they will automatically delete your data from their records. You have to contact each one individually.

Final thoughts

GDPR has created great fears and expectations before it came into force. However, in the long run it is likely to have a similar fate to web cookies.

Do you remember the scandal of web cookies?

In 2012, Internet users started to realise that companies were tracking their browsing activities through web cookies. It caused uproar and everyone felt Big Brother was watching them. But the whole scandal was over in a matter of months. Now we remember cookies only because of the annoying banners that pop up every time we visit a new website.

So, the biggest impact of GDPR is likely to be on start-ups and SMEs that have asked for consents again, and didn’t receive positive answers. These companies will have to re-build their mailing lists almost from scratch :/

You can reach us on our website, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Is GDPR really going to change how companies handle data? was originally published in strillobyte on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Countless studies have proven that collaboration and team-working can significantly improve a company’s performance. But how do you boost collaboration among your employees?

Here’s a list of 4 tools to consider:

Instant messaging apps

Instant messaging apps are a great tool for making communication easier in the workplace. The advantages are numerous: they are quick, intuitive and colleagues can converse in real time. Most importantly, they help to significantly reduce the amount of emails that clog your inbox.

A popular instant messaging app is Slack - it is a digital workspace where you can create different channels to manage messages, discussions and notifications by purpose, department or topic.

Chatbots

Chatbots are largely used to improve the user experience on company websites. However, this is only one of the many uses of this technology. Chatbots can also be leveraged in internal communication among different departments - they can guide conversations and interactions between different areas of a business and ensure that important messages are delivered and acknowledged.

Collaboration Platforms

As the name suggests, these platforms enhance collaboration among company teams. They serve as digital workplaces for colleagues to check on the status of projects and to share data with other departments. At Strillobyte, we use Trello and Basecamp.

Trello is a collaboration tool that organises your projects into boards, cards and lists. At a a glance, you can see what’s being worked on, who’s working on what, and at what stage any task is within a process. Boards give you a comprehensive view of all the elements of a project, while lists and cards allow you to organise and prioritise actions. Cards can be easily dragged and dropped within lists and can contain deadlines, attachments, checklists, images, discussion notes and coloured labels.

Basecamp works more like a project sharing platform. Each project contains several areas with very specific features, e.g. a Message Board, a space for Docs & Files, To-Do Lists and so on. Users are automatically notified of anything that is assigned or relevant to them, and you can set up automatic check-in questions such as “what did you work on today?” to encourage everyone in a project or team to share regular updates.

Gamification

“The application of typical elements of gameplaying (e.g. point scoring, competition with others, rules of play) to other areas of activity, typically as an online marketing technique to encourage engagement with a product or service.”

Wikipedia

Everyone loves a game. More and more companies are leveraging this simple fact for all sorts of purposes, e.g. to promote their values and mission among employees, or even to share and explain the rationale behind certain business strategies (check this cool project that we did a while ago with our friends at Scarlett Abbott).

Have you ever tried one of these tools to improve collaboration and team work? Which one do you think is the most effective?

On 2nd May, we’re having a Twitter chat about collaboration. Follow #GoodTechChat on our Twitter channel (@Strillobyte) to join us. Save the date!

Strillobyte on Twitter

Join us for the #GoodTechChat on Weds 2 May @8pm BST Topic: Collaboration https://t.co/uSuzOEC2TV #SmallBusiness #SME https://t.co/zigg7TvnzP

Great ideas and businesses need great teams to support growth. Surround yourself with innovative and creative people, and make sure that collaboration is constantly fostered by creating occasions and spaces for them to talk and exchange views and opinions.

Marco Strillozzi, founder of Strillobyte

Do you want to create a tool or implement a strategy to improve collaboration and team working?

Get in touch and our team at Strillobyte will guide and support you on your journey!

You can reach us on our website, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Four ideas to improve collaboration and team-working was originally published in strillobyte on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Aside from the obvious ego-boost, it renewed my energy to work harder to promote good tech, and the vision of technology as a tool to unleash human potential, rather than a replacement for it.

To keep up the good work, here is my list of top tips for non-technical founders. Something that I always stress with clients, and that I hope can be helpful for anyone who is thinking that technology is just such a hassle.

Tip #1 - Don’t underestimate the cost of using the wrong tech

From internal communications, to sales and customer support, technology can help your business thrive. Or, it can choke it.

Emails are often a good example: how may of them lie unread or waiting for a response in your inbox? Are they all of the same importance? Are they from customers, or internal staff?

If the numbers are high, you should consider whether this is simply an indication that email is just not the right tool for all purposes.

If your inbox is exploding, you should probably take a look at Instant Messaging platforms. There are several on the market that are affordable, easy to set up, and much, much more effective than emails at managing conversations within a business. They all come with pros and cons, so carefully consider which one is the best match for your needs.

Some of the most common features and advantages of IM products available today are:

• the ability to organise conversations by topic, and to only invite relevant people to contribute
• easy ways of sharing documents
• support for searching a conversation’s history to quickly revisit a whole thread

I would also add that if you have remote staff, then an Instant Messaging tool is a must. It can help you foster quick feedback and collaboration and dramatically reduce the need for meetings or calls, generally improving the speed at which decisions are taken.

Some of the most popular platforms currently worth checking are:

• Slack
• Microsoft Teams
• Atlassian Stride

Tip #2 - Technology evolves quickly, be prepared to change with it

You might have come across the term technical debt before. This is normally referred to as the amount of legacy technology that a business relies on, and that cannot be easily replaced.

While the concept of technical debt might sound abstract, its consequences are very much real. Failing to keep systems and tools up to date can cause great damage to any company. At a basic level, data and information may become unusable over time, but you could also become exposed to the risk of being hacked.

Still, technical debt is somewhat unavoidable. The speed at which technology changes means that no one can be 100% on top of the latest trend. From small businesses with tight budgets, to large corporates running on complex and often bespoke applications, it is practically impossible to be flexible enough to try, test and eventually adopt any new platform or widget that comes to life.

The key to dealing with this type of debt is to manage it. Be aware of its existence and constantly check wether your debt is growing too much, and if there can be any new opportunities to reduce it.

For instance, you might store a lot of information on an old server, just as a backup, or even for sharing it with your staff. Could you perhaps move that to a new network storage drive (a sort of private Dropbox)? They normally come with up-to-date antivirus software, solid encryption algorithms, various levels of redundancy to prevent data loss, and so on. All for probably less than £500.

Think of those processes or areas of the business that haven’t changed in a while, and look for opportunities to upgrade and improve your systems.

Tip #3 - Know what tech your customers use, and engage with them on their favourite platforms

Technology is not just great to support collaboration and teamwork within a company. It can also offer huge opportunities to nurture and grow your customer base.

Almost anyone has some form of online presence, from Facebook to Twitter or LinkedIn. Being aware of where your users are can be crucial to the success of your products or services. Learn to master the tools that your customers use, be there offering them value and new ways to stay engaged with your business.

Could you use webinars or podcasts to promote what you do?

Or, especially if you are a B2B company, do you have an active LinkedIn page that provides useful content to readers?

Online sharing platforms and social media channels can be extremely powerful to promote what you do (or sell). Be there!

Over to you

Wondering how you could use technology more effectively, or have a specific question to answer?

Drop it in the comments below, or get in touch with the team at hello@strillobye.com.

You can reach us on our website, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

3 top tips for non-tech founders was originally published in strillobyte on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Chatbots and the IT industry in general tend to be male dominated. As it’s International Women’s Day, it is only right that we celebrate women who are breaking the mould by building some great bots!

Allie, a Slack bot For Inclusion At Work

We are witnessing a great shift in the business world towards better and fairer work environments. The “Weinstein case” opened a Pandora’s box of abuse in the workplace. The enormous media resonance of this case has increased awareness around this problem, and pushed governments and companies to adopt stricter policies.

Allie is a new bot that positions itself in this spiral of positive change. Launched in 2017, its mission is to promote diversity and inclusion in the business culture.

Developed by Emilie Hsieh and her team, Allie integrates with Slack and helps employees anonymously report micro-aggressions (such as interruptions in meetings or uncomfortable jokes) that may go unnoticed. The purpose of Allie is to help flag up these behaviours before they become bigger problems.

Employees can self-report micro-aggressions by sending Allie a direct message and replying to a series of questions. They can also get tips on how to address them in the future. Companies then receive aggregated data and trends so that they can proactively improve culture.

allie - inclusion at work

Ask Cindy Gallop

Gender equality implies equal pay. Unfortunately, the UK is still far from achieving that. According to the Office for National Statistics, the gender pay gap for full-time workers is entirely in favour of men for all occupations.

Launched on Equal Pay Day in 2017, Ask Cindy Gallop has been built on Facebook Messenger as a digital version of the famous businesswoman and social activist Cindy Gallop. The bot helps women with tips and ideas to ask for a pay rise, in Cindy’s unique style.

Ask Cindy Gallop

Mica, The Hipster Cat Bot

Barbara Ondrisek is a software developer with a love for coffee shops with a hipster vibe, and the creator of Mica, the hipster cat bot.

I thought it would be great fun to have a chat bot that shares my love for good coffee and food that can be asked for recommendations worldwide.

Barbara Ondrisek on chatbots.magazine

Launched in May 2016 as one of the first chatbots for Facebook Messenger, Mica is now also available on Skype, Kik, Telegram and Viber. It is a venue recommendation bot that can suggest the best restaurants or coffee shops around your location.

Mica, The Hipster Cat Bot

Those familiar with the Strillobyte blog might remember our own recommendation chatbot, SEB - The Social Enterprises Bot, that provides users with details of social enterprises and events in the UK.

SEB - The Social Enterprises Bot

Replika, Your AI Friend

To process the grief following the death of her beloved friend Roman, Eugenia Kuyda decided to create a chatbot that resembled his tone and personality.

In some ways building this technology is something that is really rallying friends and close ones around the person that passed away. It makes us look into what kind of person he or she was.

Eugenia Kuyda for CBC Radio

After launching the chatbot, Eugenia Kuyda and her team went one step further and created an AI friend for everybody: Replika. Available to download as an app, this bot learns about you and your interests to become a a safe space for you to share thoughts and feelings without the fear of being judged.

I talk about my relationships a lot, my friendships, about what’s going on in my mind and what kind of feelings I’m going through everyday… It’s sometimes really good to just unpack everything that’s in your head

Eugenia Kuyda on her relationship with Replika for CBC Radio

Replika

Super Izzy, The Period Bot

Female sexual health can be a sensitive topic. The stigma around it sometimes makes it difficult for women to openly ask for information.

Hajnalka Héjja, a medical doctor, knows about the challenges of talking about female health. As a student, she offered free sexual health lessons in primary and secondary schools.

It was like a never-ending fight against all the myths, misunderstandings and misconceptions about sexual health. On top of that were the barriers to communication created by embarrassment and shame.

Hajnalka Héjja on Medium

In 2017 Hajnalka built Super Izzy, a chatbot for Facebook Messenger that can track your period and send reminders when you need to take the pill.

Super Izzy

Do you have an idea for a chatbot that can make a difference in your business strategy?

Get in touch and our team at Strillobyte will guide and support you through an exciting journey!

You can reach us on our website, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

IWD 2018: 5 great chatbots developed by 5 great women was originally published in strillobyte on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Personal Investment

You might think “Really? If I had enough money, I wouldn’t need investors!”. This is true, but financially supporting your own SME has many advantages. You have total control of your business. Future investors, partners and employees will look up to you as a committed entrepreneur. You’re putting money where your mouth is. However, how can you save enough money to invest in your start-up?

Save your day job

When you start a new project, the temptation to neglect everything else so that you can completely focus on it is very strong. My advice is: don’t do it. Especially at the beginning, your day job can be a funding resource and, let’s not forget, a safety net if your project fails. Once your new project requires more time and commitment, you might still be able to switch to more flexible jobs (e.g. Uber driver). So, work hard and save money.

Be parsimonious

To put money aside and being careful with expenses is the second logical step to invest in your start-up. You might be already mindful of how you spend your cash, but there are always some cuts that can be made to save a few pounds. Do you really need Spotify Premium? Or Netflix? I know that it can be hard, and these might seems small amounts, but it all adds up very quickly. Make a list of your expenses and decide what your priorities are.

FFF Investment

If you are not familiar with the FFF acronym, it stands for Family, Friends and Fools. I know, asking your relatives and friends for money to fund your business is not fun. The whole process of talking to your parents to ask them for help can make you feel like you’re 15 again, and you’re asking for your pocket money. And, maybe, you won’t receive a “small loan of $1 million” by your father as Trump had, but every penny matters.

It doesn’t have to be a grant. You can repay them by involving them in the project, or making them minority shareholders.

Public Investments

The UK government offers many investments programs for small and medium enterprises. Currently, there are several different loans and schemes that you can join. You can benefit from clearly defined terms and conditions, and have access to resources such as a network of mentors. Moreover, if your start-up operates in an innovative field, you could get access to grants from programs like Innovate UK or Horizons 2020.

Private Investments

Private investors are always looking for SMEs with long-term growth potential. From Angel funding to Venture Capitals, sophisticated private investors search the market to find companies that need financial support. They want to diversify their portfolio and eventually gain profit from the growth of your business. This search for opportunities to fund has in itself become a new market in recent years (see Aspect Ventures, who raised 181$ to invest in SMEs).

However, this type of backing can have major downsides. In exchange for financial support, you have to give away part of the equity and potentially some amount of control over your business (e.g. by granting voting rights on the board of directors).

Crowdfunding

One of the latest and most common practices to find investments is crowdfunding. Websites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo and more recently Crowdcube or Seedrs, can be the ideal platform for your start-up, especially if you are B2C product or service. Here, your ability as a storyteller can make the difference. You have to create compelling videos and stories about your vision to convince people that your idea is worthy of their money.

Our Event on #Fundraising

On our Strillobyte twitter channel we host a monthly #GoodTechChat around technology and more. This month, the topic will be #Fundraising.

On 7th March, from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., join us to discuss tips and ideas about how to access funding, and to network with professionals involved in the #Fundraising sector. You could meet your future investors, so save the date!

Final Question

Which of the types of investments we mentioned do you think is the more effective?

Each type of investment has its pros and cons, depending on the stage that your business is at. Choose your strategy wisely, and do not forget that money is just one of the pillars that will support your dream. Great ideas and businesses need great teams to support growth. Surround yourself with innovative and creative people that excel at what you lack.

Marco Strillozzi (Founder of Strillobyte)

You can reach us on our website, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

5 Types of Investments that will help you fund your SMEs was originally published in strillobyte on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Nowadays, clients are demanding more and more authentic relationship with companies. From small social enterprises to large corporates, marketers are looking for tools to establish connections with their target audience to a personal level. To this end, bots might seem like an odd choice, but they can turn into a powerful resource for your business strategy. Here are 4 ways in which a chatbot can give your business superpowers.

The rise of the chatbots

Despite what we often think, chatbots have a long history. The first automated replying system dates back to the 1960’s. Named as project ELIZA, it was an early Natural Language Processing computer program at the MIT. Eliza simulated conversation by using a ‘pattern matching’ and substitution methodology that gave users an illusion of understanding on the part of the program, but had no built-in framework for contextualising events.

Technology has moved forward since ELIZA, and today chatbots are significantly more advanced. They can decode a user’s input, as well as interrogate a database of possible results and serve up the best match.

What can chatbots do?

Thanks to the versatility of this technology, every company, even charities or social enterprises on a budget, could now consider including chatbots in their business strategy. Apple’s Siri, or Amazon Alexa are just two examples of what chatbots can do. They can adapt to every need of your company.

Global discount supermarket Lidl, for instance, has created a chatbot that advises you on the perfect wine to match your grocery shopping considering your budget. Our own SEB (the Social Enterprises Bot) instead helps users discover social enterprises by name or location, and keeps them informed of any social events or initiatives.

Chatbot = strategy boost

In addition to keeping up with the latest trends in tech, bringing bots into your marketing or customer support strategy can benefit your business on many different levels.

1) Offer your users a personalised experience

Personalised experience is a hot topic in business. Consumers want to feel special for the company. According to Forbes, personalisation leads to impulse purchases, increased revenue, fewer returns and loyalty.

Chatbots are the right tool to deliver a tailored experience when it comes to interactions between consumers and companies. The flexibility of this technology can now make conversations user-friendly and more personalised. Imagine a chat between your bot and a potential customers. It would be able to call them by name and, as the conversation flows, it would learn more and more details about them. Accordingly, the bot’s responses and user experience would become very specific to that customer, making her feel unique to your company.

A great user experience will help you grow appreciation towards your brand, and data collected from these interactions can become a powerful resource to better understand your market and create more effective business strategies. However, consumers expectations will also grow, so you will need to maintain a high quality standard.

2) Make your brand more “human”

Consumers are not dumb, they know when they are not talking to a real person, and bots are surely not be the first tool that comes to mind when thinking about humanising a brand.

The trick however, is not to try and replace humans, but to adopt anthropomorphism.

Generally speaking, anthropomorphism can be defined as the attribution of human characteristics to inanimate objects like toys, cars and chatbots.

So, avoid portraying your bots as real people, but rather give them personality traits that reflect your company’s values and image. Some chatbots can be sassy, others can be blunt. Some are pseudo-arrogant, others are extremely funny. Even though users will know that they are not dealing with a real person, those human touches, combined with functionality, can enhance consumers experience and make your company stand out.

3) Increase engagement

When chatbots deliver great services, consumers will gravitate towards them. They will refer to them to solve different tasks, and they will come back if your bots prove their worth. Hence, the engagement with your brand will increase.

However, remember that chatbots are an extension and integral part of your brand. Consumers will tend to identify their interactions with your chatbots as an experience they had directly with your company, with all its pros and cons.

4) Be always available

Even though you might consider building a chatbot an expensive investment, it is like having the almost-perfect employee on your team. Bots don’t need a break, or holidays, they cannot get sick and can work 24/7, 365 days a year. Your chatbots will only require regular updates and maintenance to be aligned with changes in technology, and to learn how to solve the evolving needs of your clients. According to Business Insider, US companies will save up to 23$ million thanks to this technology.

Chatbots are one of the best tools for marketers to leverage technology and drive better conversations, better customer experience and better engagement. By building bots with a clear purpose, you can differentiate your company from other competitors and thrive in the market.

(Marco Strillozzi, founder of Strillobyte)

Do you have an idea for a chatbot that can make a difference in your business strategy?

Get in touch and our team at Strillobyte will guide and support you through an exciting journey!

You can reach us on our website, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Why you should consider having a chatbot in your business strategy was originally published in strillobyte on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Online fitness app Strava released its yearly “Global Heat Map” which shows the path its users took when exercising throughout 2017. The data is anonymised so nothing to worry about except that, among all the paths, the map showed fitness circuits that military personnel performed around military bases, whose layout and position are supposed to stay secret.

There are many reasons why such places are hidden. They might be located in war zones like Syria, Yemen or Afghanistan, or hosting secret training activities.. or even hiding secrets about aliens (Area 51 anyone?)!

Regardless of the reasons behind all the secrecy, it is clear that no one is immune from being tracked when using modern technology. The good news is: it’s not that difficult to stop it.

What is Strava and how it works

Strava is a fitness app that uses the GPS on your device to track your fitness activity. It shows your stats for every exercise and gives you the chance to dive into your data to improve your performances. Strava also calls itself “the Social Network for Athletes”. Indeed, all of your exercises are shared on its feed, where friends and followers can check you.

The “Strava Gate”

In January 2018, Nathan Ruser, a 20-year-old student of international security at the Australian National University, noticed something strange in Strava’s latest “Global Heat Map”.

He pointed out that, in several places around the world, fitness paths were revealing location and structure of (supposedly) secret US military bases.

Nathan Ruser on Twitter: "Strava released their global heatmap. 13 trillion GPS points from their users (turning off data sharing is an option). https://t.co/hA6jcxfBQI ... It looks very pretty, but not amazing for Op-Sec. US Bases are clearly identifiable and mappable pic.twitter.com/rBgGnOzasq / Twitter"

Strava released their global heatmap. 13 trillion GPS points from their users (turning off data sharing is an option). https://t.co/hA6jcxfBQI ... It looks very pretty, but not amazing for Op-Sec. US Bases are clearly identifiable and mappable pic.twitter.com/rBgGnOzasq

In Strava’s defence, most of these sites were open secrets rather than actual secrets. Indeed, many of these locations had already been spotted by local reporters throughout the years. For example, Jeremy Hsu pointed out on WIRED how the Strava Heat Map revealed the location of an Italian military base in Djibouti. However, googling “Italian military base in Djibouti” yields numerous articles, many of which predate the “leakage”. It has even a Wikipedia page. This means that the position of the base was already a well-known fact.

Also, as pointed out by Aric Toler on Bellingcat, Strava’s data has its limits and needs to be interpreted. In fact, one should take into account the popularity of the app among some populations rather than others. For instance, the Kuzminsky firing range (one of the largest Russian military camps on the Ukrainian border) shows much less activity than other smaller US bases. According to Toler, the map has to be interpreted considering many other factors. He suggests that the map should be studied doing cross-references with historical satellite imagery, to see the development of the site throughout the years, and with Wikimapia, bearing in mind the possibility of mock locations.

However, as The Verge wrote, the Heat Map reveals human activity, such as “how people are moving along those areas, and how frequently”, and this type of information can be easily used to harm military personnel.

How this could have been avoided

Whenever something of this magnitude happens, it’s easy to blame just the app developer. However, most times there are several factors at play, and several parties involved. This case is no exception, but it could have been easily prevented.

Strava’s defence is essentially based on the fact that users can opt out from the data collection that will form the Global Heat Map. It also provides a feature to set “privacy zones”, where data collection is automatically disabled, so that users can hide portions of their journeys to other members of the community.

Soldiers could have turned off location tracking on their devices

It seems pretty straight-forward: no GPS available, no leaking of your position and hence your secret air base.

However, soldiers are very likely to have more pressing worries to think about, rather than remembering that Strava is silently collecting data about their fitness paths.

Mobile Device Management could have limited the leak

Already used by many companies, MDM is a way to ensure employees stay productive and do not breach corporate policies. With MDM, safety measures such as email encryption can be applied automatically not only to business devices, but also personal ones (e.g. where BYOD — Bring Your Own Device policies are in place).

In this instance, IT managers of military forces could have simply used an MDM solution to forcefully disable the collection of location data from personnel’s devices, especially when troops are deployed to secret locations. The problem could have been solved at its roots, almost literally with the flick of a switch.

This is just another example of good tech that has gone a bit too far. While it is hard to draw a line that can apply to any scenario, tech companies do have a responsibility to assess the impact of any data that they publish, as well as make it easier for users to understand how their information is used.

50 pages of Terms & Conditions displayed when signing-up to a service are simply not good enough anymore.

(Marco Strillozzi, Founder of Strillobyte)

Do you agree? Should Strava have verified whether its data could potentially put secret locations at risk? Or is it down to us, the users, to be more aware of how we use technology and the amount of information we share?

You can reach us on our website, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

The “Strava gate” and how it could have been easily avoided was originally published in strillobyte on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Where are Social Enterprises now?

Social Enterprise UK recently posted “The Future of Business — State of Social Enterprise Survey 2017”: the largest and the most representative report for social enterprises in the UK.

According to their data, 70,000 social enterprises operate in the UK. They are generally micro and small young start-ups that operate mainly locally. They showed remarkable commercial resilience, outperforming mainstream SMEs in a range of business metrics, from turnover growth to diversity in leadership. Indeed, 41% of them are led by women, a percentage much higher than in other business areas. For instance, according to a Cranfield University study, in 2017, only 6 of FTSE 100 companies in the UK had a female CEO.

The Challenges of running a Social Enterprise

While numbers show social enterprises perform extremely well, social entrepreneurs still face several issues, from recruiting the right staff, to access to finance, to how to best adopt new technologies to support their mission.

Even if there are no unique answers that work for all, we pointed out three solutions that might work for your social enterprise.

Recruiting the right staff

Finding the right person for the right position is crucial in every business. However, when it comes to social issues, it is fundamental to hire someone that is committed to contributing to your cause. Working locally can make this task hard to achieve. Talents need to be aware of your Social Enterprise to want to work with you. Your company needs visibility.

This was one of the reasons why we built SEB, the Social Enterprise Bot. SEB is an automated assistant that you can chat to on Facebook Messenger. It helps you discover social enterprises around you, and keeps you informed of any events or initiatives that they organise over time (you can read a bit more here)

Access to finance

Access to finance represents a significant barrier for all social enterprises. In 2017, only 34% of them had sought new financial resources over the previous 12 months, compared to 44% in 2015 and 48% in 2013. One of the main obstacles when you are looking for funding is that investors need to know that you exist! Again, SEB can improve your visibility, enhancing your chances of enriching your network and make your business more noticeable.

Adopting new technology

Keeping your business up to date with technology enables you to be more efficient, work faster and serve better your cause. However, while, most social entrepreneurs feel comfortable in developing business plans and strategies, 43% of them stated that they are not really tech-savvy.

With its expertise in IT combined with experience in the social field, Strillobyte can help your social enterprise embrace new tech and become more successful. We can help you identify the best tools for your business, or craft new ones if they don’t exist.

And for you, what are the hardest issues you are facing running a social enterprise?

You can reach us on our website, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

How to improve your Social Enterprise’s performance and be successful. was originally published in strillobyte on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

When I first came across the term social enterprise a few years ago, I simply assumed it was just another way of saying charity. The term enterprise didn’t really click at the time.

Only after meeting a few social entrepreneurs did I realise there was much more to it. Up until then, my idea of the business world was very much that of The Apprentice, where sharks fight amongst themselves to win a seat at the table with the big boss. The end goal justifying all manner of scheming and betrayals, with no space for compassion or empathy.

As someone who wanted to start his own company, this was quite depressing.

Luckily, I was very wrong. Through various connections (thank you The Happy Startup School) I met some amazing and inspiring people, living proof that being nice and succeeding in business are not mutually exclusive. With time, I discovered a world of organisations and movements, and realised that this was the way to go for me.

Fast-forward to today, my small software consultancy is now a supporting partner of Social Enterprise UK, and working towards becoming a true social business. For a geek like me, this means using technology to help others.

Experiment #1: Social Enterprises Bot

According to a recent survey from Social Enterprise UK, one of the main challenges in the social sector is access to talent. As most social businesses tend to work locally, finding the right people for the right role can be difficult. So, we set out to find a solution.

The result is SEB, a chat bot for Facebook Messenger that helps users who care about social causes find and support businesses with similar values.

Keeping It Simple

The KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle is well known in the technology world, the idea being that most projects work best if they are not complicated.

Chat bots and voice assistants (e.g. Amazon Alexa) can be extremely sophisticated, but the first version of SEB is intentionally simple. We wanted to build it quickly, get it out there and iterate fast so it becomes what users need, rather than what we would like to build.

• Should it be able to find information about businesses? Yes.
• Should it be able to understand questions in natural language? Yes!! Well.. OK cool, maybe later.

For now, you can ask SEB to find social enterprises around a UK postcode, or by name. It will reply with details of the ones it knows, and provide links to their websites for you to browse to.

With time, we plan to teach SEB to filter by category, or causes you support. It will have information about events, publications, awards etc., ideally becoming a reference tool for finding out all that’s happening in the world of social entrepreneurship.

At least, that’s the ambition :)

To start chatting to SEB, just go to our Facebook Page, our website, or click the button below.

If you have any feedback, we would love to hear from you at hello@strillobyte.com

Why we are launching a chat bot for social enterprises was originally published in strillobyte on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.