As Fred tries to enter the building, he is told that there has been a chemical spill in the building. Nobody will be allowed into the building for at least three days and that the electricity is off indefinitely. It is not good.

It becomes apparent to Fred that your firm's telephone system and computer network are down. You are effectively out of business.

As Fred is returning to his car, he notices that the local news crews have just pulled into the parking lot. They are looking for someone to talk to and they want to include Fred in their breaking news report!

What would Fred do? How would your firm respond? Would there be a controlled response or chaos? Would your firm still be in business twelve months after this disaster?

On May 28, 2009, Microsoft unveiled Bing and described it as “a new Decision Engine and consumer brand”.  Their press release described a Decision Engine as a search tool that is “designed to empower people to gain insight and knowledge from the Web, moving more quickly to important decisions”.

It is clear that Microsoft is trying to take market share away from rival Google.

Bing includes new features that help organize search results.  The Explorer Pane is located on the left side of the search window and contains navigational and search tools.  The Related Search feature includes a list of related searches and displays on the left side of the search screen.

Bing is definitely not just another Google.  It brings lots of new features to the search tool.  Only time will tell if people really want or need a new search engine.

If you haven’t already, it’s time to give Bing a try!

Massachusetts has set the gold standard when it comes to privacy regulations.    Their new regulation, 201 CMR 17, is entitled Standards for The Protection of Personal Information of Residents of the Commonwealth and can be found here.  The regulations apply to “all persons that own, license, store or maintain personal information about a resident of the Commonwealth”.

Essentially, the regulations apply to any company that employs residents of Massachusetts and any CPA firm that prepares returns for Massachusetts residents.  The requirements of the regulation are comprehensive and will require organizations to devote significant amounts of time, money and energy to ensure compliance.