June 07, 2014

Even Data-Driven Businesses Should Cultivate Intuition
The study found that 42 percent of respondents said they collect and analyze data as much as possible before making a decision, while an additional 17 percent said they approach decisions empirically by developing hypotheses and performing tests to prove or disprove them. In other words, 59 percent rely on data to help them make decisions. Of the remainder of respondents, 32 percent said they seek to collaborate on decisions as much as possible, while only 10 percent said they primarily rely on intuition to make decisions. "Despite the apparent popularity of data-driven decision-making, however, intuition is in fact valued highly," says Jane Bird, author of the EIU report.


Data Brokers Coming Under Scrutiny
“You may not know them, but data brokers know you,” warned FTC chairwoman Edith Ramirez. The FTC studied nine data brokers who collect personal information about consumers from a variety of sources. The data is then sold for a variety of purposes, including identity verification and product marketing. Five of the brokers examined sold marketing data while four others sold “risk mitigation products” used by clients to verify a customer’s identity or to detect fraud. Three brokers scrutinized by the agency operated “people search” websites. One concern, the FTC stressed, is that data brokers seldom interact with consumers and individuals are often unaware that personal data is being collected much less the details of industry practices.


Welcome to the era of big, bad open information. Context needed.
While it is true that we have access to more information than ever before, we are not experts on every subject. Thus, it is very difficult to digest it. My concern is that over-information the new way of hiding information. The best way to combat disinformation is to demand context for all data, the “fact-checking journalism” promoted by sites like Gapminder or Open Knowledge. Visualizing.org strives to make sense of issues through data and design with a collection site where designers and all sorts of organizations can upload and share open data sets. If we demand context and facts instead of dumb numbers, the biggest legacy of the internet of things will be a world that is more transparent and democratic.


New Colorado law seeks to protect patient record privacy
“We thought the statute was pretty clear—all prescription drugs and prostheses are tax exempt and the Department of Revenue doesn’t get to make a distinction,” McGihon said, adding that Botox has 19 therapeutic uses, including treatment for Bell’s palsy and migraines.  “We then became aware that there are so many ways that the state accesses people’s medical records as multiple departments said ‘We need it for this, we need it for that,’” she said. “What the hell does a revenue officer know about a person’s medical history and what they need?” McGihon added that bill supporters worked with the Department of Revenue to “make sure the language of the bill was something they could live with.”


The 6 Of Best Small Business Accounting Software
As businesses come close to the midpoint of the second quarter, thoughts, actions and planning are being done by C-Level Executives as to what needs to be accomplished for the new fiscal year. Part of this involves capital expenditure planning, what kinds and types of new projects will be taken on, and how the financial budgets will shape out to be. For this latter task, having the right accounting software package in place, especially for the small to medium business. In fact, one of our previous articles examined the steps a small business owner should take in carefully selecting the right accounting software package to best fit their needs. In this article, we take out some of that hard work for you, and examine five accounting software packages which are available to the small and medium sized business today:


SAP® Best Practices for Data Migration – Hits and Misses
The migration templates are ‘programs’ or in SAP Data Services parlance ‘jobs’ that SAP Data Services executes. These jobs fall into multiple categories. One job category downloads SAP’s configuration tables into the staging area. The framework uses the downloaded configuration / lookup data to validate the data to be migrated. A second job category handles ETL of data into SAP. Tasks such as reconciliation of data loads, status checks and creation of staging area data stores are handled by other job categories. The framework also supports creation of SAP BusinessObjects™ Universes used for reporting on the progress of the data migration project.


Digital Business Is Not “Business As Usual”
The foundation of Digital Business is the Boundary-free Enterprise™, which is made possible by an array of time- and location-independent computing capabilities – Cloud, Mobile, Social and Data Analytics plus Sensors and APIs – with Integration as the glue to enable synergy and leverage business value. In becoming a Digital Business – whether a large enterprise traditionally on the buy side of technology, a software ISV in transition or a pure-play Cloud solution provider – this challenge is significant: how to implement a platform to support a Digital Business model and then keep pace with the ongoing pace of change. Saugatuck Technology research continues to indicate that too few enterprise Business and IT leaders fully understand the challenges and opportunities of Digital Business.


Finding a Home for the Chief Data Science Officer
With the CIO/CDSO reporting structure, there are two distinct disadvantages. First, a more centralized function might be too shallow to enable the CDSO to dredge deep enough into the problems, opportunities and data to surface solutions that make a meaningful difference. Moreover, the focus of the Data Science Office might end up being too technology focused and not business driven, which could discredit the initiative. The second choice is for the CDSO to report to the CFO. Concerned with the performance of different business and functional units, CFOs can be the natural owners of the data science functions. Like the CIO-CDSO reporting model, the CDSO will have access to the entire organization.


Techniques for Algorithm Animation Using JavaScript
In the early years of the web (1995-2003), Java applets were a popular option for implementing algorithm animation. To run applets, the web browser will normally utilize a plug-in that loads Java runtime. As they became more concerned with security risks, the majority of web users have become weary of using plug-ins including applets. JavaScript, on the other hand, is run directly by the browser inside a sand-boxed environment and with limited functionality so as to minimize security risks. With the advancement of client-side web technologies (HTML5 Canvas, SVG, CSS3, DOM, etc.), JavaScript has become a viable option for implementing algorithm animation.


Requirements for Becoming a Strategic Chief Risk Officer
Managing risk strategically has gained importance in financial markets as rising capital requirements and increased regulation force banks to structure their asset portfolios and manage their assets more carefully to maximize their return on equity (ROE). In most banks, optimizing risk – getting the highest return at any given level of risk – and managing risk more dynamically over a credit cycle requires a strategic CRO to lead the effort. Even so, in many organizations the office of the CRO doesn’t have the weight it needs to make such a difference. Here are the most important requirements for chief risk officers who want to transform a middle management job into something more strategic.



Quote for the day:

“You must be willing to give up what you are, to become what you want to be.” -- Orrin Woodward

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