Why Blockbuster Failed. Is Big Data to Blame?

Why Blockbuster Failed- Thanks Big Data

In 2000, Reed Hastings, the founder of a little company you may know as Netflix, flew to Dallas to propose a deal with Blockbuster. He wanted to run Blockbuster's online brand, and in exchange Blockbuster would promote Netflix in their thousands of retail locations. But, he was laughed out of the room. Blockbuster was at the top of the world, with millions of customers, uninterested in a little online company.

But, we all know what happened ten years later: Blockbuster went bankrupt, and now Netflix is on top of the world.

How did such a big, successful company fail? It's simple really, they didn't use data analysis (while someone else did), and they refused change.

Blockbuster made most of their revenue through late fees (we all still shudder at the thought of missing the due date). But customers hated the late fees.

They had thousands of retail locations, but certainly not in every neighborhood; creating an inconvenience for customers.

The rental agents made recommendations to customers based on what they said they liked. Their recommendations were based on opinion.

It is possible that the executives at Blockbuster knew all of this, and chose to ignore it. As consumers, we typically think that these insights are obvious. They may have been inclined to ignore this information because late fees earned them a profit, fewer locations kept costs down, and rental agents simply made recommendations because that's how it has always been done.

However, there is also a possibility that they simply did not know these things. Or, they may have had an idea, but did not whole-heartedly trust the reports that declared this. When data comes from disparate sources, it does not give you a complete and accurate picture. Furthermore, the compilation of reports from various systems is prone to manipulation. But this was how they always did it, and they were very successful thus far.

But little did they know that data analysis was the new competitive advantage. Netflix knew this. They gathered data that gave them insights about the consumer and the market. They discovered that people didn't like paying late fees. And people didn't like the inconvenience of driving all the way to Blockbuster.

The only downside to the Netflix alternative was that some customers really enjoyed going to the retail store to browse through movies. As the widespread use of the internet grew and grew, people took their browsing online.

Netflix successfully used data analysis to identify what customers want. They did this so well that Blockbuster simply could not keep up. This makes us wonder, what if Blockbuster had taken Hastings up on his offer back in 2000?

Why Blockbuster Failed. Is Big Data to Blame?

Why Blockbuster Failed- Thanks Big Data

In 2000, Reed Hastings, the founder of a little company you may know as Netflix, flew to Dallas to propose a deal with Blockbuster. He wanted to run Blockbuster's online brand, and in exchange Blockbuster would promote Netflix in their thousands of retail locations. But, he was laughed out of the room. Blockbuster was at the top of the world, with millions of customers, uninterested in a little online company.

But, we all know what happened ten years later: Blockbuster went bankrupt, and now Netflix is on top of the world.

How did such a big, successful company fail? It's simple really, they didn't use data analysis (while someone else did), and they refused change.

Blockbuster made most of their revenue through late fees (we all still shudder at the thought of missing the due date). But customers hated the late fees.

They had thousands of retail locations, but certainly not in every neighborhood; creating an inconvenience for customers.

The rental agents made recommendations to customers based on what they said they liked. Their recommendations were based on opinion.

It is possible that the executives at Blockbuster knew all of this, and chose to ignore it. As consumers, we typically think that these insights are obvious. They may have been inclined to ignore this information because late fees earned them a profit, fewer locations kept costs down, and rental agents simply made recommendations because that's how it has always been done.

However, there is also a possibility that they simply did not know these things. Or, they may have had an idea, but did not whole-heartedly trust the reports that declared this. When data comes from disparate sources, it does not give you a complete and accurate picture. Furthermore, the compilation of reports from various systems is prone to manipulation. But this was how they always did it, and they were very successful thus far.

But little did they know that data analysis was the new competitive advantage. Netflix knew this. They gathered data that gave them insights about the consumer and the market. They discovered that people didn't like paying late fees. And people didn't like the inconvenience of driving all the way to Blockbuster.

The only downside to the Netflix alternative was that some customers really enjoyed going to the retail store to browse through movies. As the widespread use of the internet grew and grew, people took their browsing online.

Netflix successfully used data analysis to identify what customers want. They did this so well that Blockbuster simply could not keep up. This makes us wonder, what if Blockbuster had taken Hastings up on his offer back in 2000?

Banks Simply Can't Handle Technology As Well As PFs

We have made the argument before that when it comes to mastering the technology required for next-generation payments, the structure of banks doesn't permit it and the attitude of bankers won't allow it. Seems that we're not alone. McKinsey & Company has now come to the identical conclusion.

In a fascinating report, McKinsey's argues that bank's technological intransigence-which creates the economic hole that payment facilitators are uniquely qualified to fill-dates back hundreds of years before credit cards. "Banking has historically been one of the business sectors most resistant to disruption by technology. Since the first mortgage was issued in England in the 11th century, banks have built robust businesses with multiple moats: ubiquitous distribution through branches; unique expertise such as credit underwriting underpinned by both data and judgment; even the special status of being regulated institutions that supply credit, the lifeblood of economic growth, and have sovereign insurance for their liabilities (deposits)," the McKinsey report said.

Banks Simply Can't Handle Technology As Well As PFs

We have made the argument before that when it comes to mastering the technology required for next-generation payments, the structure of banks doesn't permit it and the attitude of bankers won't allow it. Seems that we're not alone. McKinsey & Company has now come to the identical conclusion.

In a fascinating report, McKinsey's argues that bank's technological intransigence-which creates the economic hole that payment facilitators are uniquely qualified to fill-dates back hundreds of years before credit cards. "Banking has historically been one of the business sectors most resistant to disruption by technology. Since the first mortgage was issued in England in the 11th century, banks have built robust businesses with multiple moats: ubiquitous distribution through branches; unique expertise such as credit underwriting underpinned by both data and judgment; even the special status of being regulated institutions that supply credit, the lifeblood of economic growth, and have sovereign insurance for their liabilities (deposits)," the McKinsey report said.

Payment Regulatory Insanity Two: A Dog Named Dash

Two weeks ago, we told you the tale of PayPal's Venmo going overboard with compliance efforts, when it delayed any transaction that mentioned the word "Persian." Not wanting to be outdone by any PayPal division, Chase has decided to top Venmo in the craziness department. Chase's entry? It blocked the money transfer of a 55-year-old sufferer of muscular dystrophy, who was paying someone to walk his service dog and the dog's name is Dash. Seems that the bank saw Dash as code for Daesh, the Arabic term for the Islamic State aka ISIS.

A few initial takes. First, Daesh may sometimes be pronounced "dash" but it's never spelled that way. Secondly, really? If I pay someone to walk a dog named SPOT, it's probably not an acronym for Special People Overthrowing Turkey. And third, let's go again with "really?" But wait: this story gets even better with the details.

Payment Regulatory Insanity Two: A Dog Named Dash

Two weeks ago, we told you the tale of PayPal's Venmo going overboard with compliance efforts, when it delayed any transaction that mentioned the word "Persian." Not wanting to be outdone by any PayPal division, Chase has decided to top Venmo in the craziness department. Chase's entry? It blocked the money transfer of a 55-year-old sufferer of muscular dystrophy, who was paying someone to walk his service dog and the dog's name is Dash. Seems that the bank saw Dash as code for Daesh, the Arabic term for the Islamic State aka ISIS.

A few initial takes. First, Daesh may sometimes be pronounced "dash" but it's never spelled that way. Secondly, really? If I pay someone to walk a dog named SPOT, it's probably not an acronym for Special People Overthrowing Turkey. And third, let's go again with "really?" But wait: this story gets even better with the details.

Square's Design Miracle: EMV, NFC And An Amazing $49 Pricetag

FastCompany recently took a fascinating deep-dive into the strategy and tactics behind Square's design. It's a terrific read, if only to explain the design genius behind a thoroughly under-appreciated feat of engineering. It's certainly no surprise that the Square team would have taken so much time perfecting it's design, which delivers a beautiful-yes, I think it's beautiful-fast and truly effortless interface. The biggest surprise here is how difficult it was to deliver the price they needed to hit.

It's a longheld marketing reality that you can have your timeline, your price or your scope, but never all three. Such realities don't cut it at Square. What is going on here is Square making a strategic longterm bet on mobile payments. Their top brass felt that someone has to suck it up price-wise to get the market moving. It's a loss-leader mentality, but not in the quintessential razor-and-razor-blade mode. It's more in the "we'll pay a lot more now for a big slice of this worthless pie, betting that we can make this pie worth a bundle if we make the first move." And Square's engineering team has succeeded in a big way, not merely in capturing marketshare but in moving the entire market.

Square's Design Miracle: EMV, NFC And An Amazing $49 Pricetag

FastCompany recently took a fascinating deep-dive into the strategy and tactics behind Square's design. It's a terrific read, if only to explain the design genius behind a thoroughly under-appreciated feat of engineering. It's certainly no surprise that the Square team would have taken so much time perfecting it's design, which delivers a beautiful-yes, I think it's beautiful-fast and truly effortless interface. The biggest surprise here is how difficult it was to deliver the price they needed to hit.

It's a longheld marketing reality that you can have your timeline, your price or your scope, but never all three. Such realities don't cut it at Square. What is going on here is Square making a strategic longterm bet on mobile payments. Their top brass felt that someone has to suck it up price-wise to get the market moving. It's a loss-leader mentality, but not in the quintessential razor-and-razor-blade mode. It's more in the "we'll pay a lot more now for a big slice of this worthless pie, betting that we can make this pie worth a bundle if we make the first move." And Square's engineering team has succeeded in a big way, not merely in capturing marketshare but in moving the entire market.

James Brown Hand Signed, Inscribed Publicity Photo

My Forever Treasures celebrates, Black History Month, Every Day of the Year. Direct from, our vintage icon vault, we are honored to offer, This James Brown hand signed and inscribed Publicity Photo. James has even inscribed, “All My Love,” and “God Bless.” He is the founding “Father of Soul Music.” As a result, Brown earned the title, “The Godfather of Soul.” Music magazine Rolling Stone, has named James Brown # 7 on their list of, The 100 Greatest Music Artists of All Time.     James Brown, is an American singer, song writer, record producer, dancer and band leader. He is considered, a major influence on 20th Century Pop Music and Dance. Among his many classic hit songs, are “Papa's Got A Brand New Bag,” “It's A Man's World,”  “I Feel Good,”   and “Please Please Please.” His hit songs in every decade, are the reasons, James Brown was declared, “Soul Brother # 1.” His dynamic stage shows are legendary.     James Brown was a worldwide sensation. Little Richard, gave him one of his first breaks. He was admitted, with Elvis Presley, to the First Class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. James is the most sampled […]

Putting the Finishing Touches on PAR

EMVCo is getting formal about tokenization.

 

The chip card standards body, which manages the Europay/MasterCard/Visa (EMV) payment technology standard, this week officially updated its tokenization specification to include the new Payment Account Reference (PAR) data element. In keeping with the formalized specification, token service providers (TSPs)-at present, payment card networks-will generate these PARs, with the data field of each PAR consisting of 29 upper-case alpha-numeric characters. The first four characters will essentially identify the card issuer, and the remaining 25 will assign a unique value to the underlying payment account number (PAN).  PAR data must be included in payment-token response messages; its incorporation into authorization, clearing, and chargeback messages is optional.

 

According to EMVCo, the presence of PAR fulfills “a fundamental need” to link together PAN- and token-based transactions. Moreover, PAR is seen as enabling the industry to move away from dependence on the PAN as the primary linkage, as it reduces the exposure of PANs to hackers by matching tokens connected with the underlying PAN of a credit or debit card. PAR data cannot, a statement from EMVCo stipulates, be reverse-engineered to reveal the PAN or EMV payment token, nor can it be used on its own to initiate transactions-e.g. such as authorization, capture, clearing, or chargeback. Parties that use PAR data are required to safeguard it in accordance with national, regional, or local laws and regulations.

 

Beyond the above-mentioned basics, EMVCo perceives PAR as bringing to the table a multitude of benefits. In a statement issued when the update to the tokenization specification was announced, EMVCo Executive Committee Chair Mike Matan noted that while tokenization enhances digital payment security by “limiting the risks associated with the compromise or unauthorized use of PANs,” the standards body wants to do more than that. “We want to ensure the payment acceptance community can continue to deliver associated payment processing and value-added services…currently enabled by PAN.  PAR addresses this by enabling all payment transactions-regardless of how they are initiated-to be processed in a consistent manner.”

Elsewhere in the statement, EMVCo directors observed that the use of PAR allows for a consolidated view of transactions on payment accounts-a view that is needed for security and regulatory purposes, such as risk analysis and anti-money laundering measures. “It is also important for value-added services, as these often leverage historical transactional data to derive analytics and measurements to support customer programs such as loyalty,” the statement reads.

According to Digital Transactions, payment executives and security researchers agree that the PAR concept is sound, but believe its implementation could take years to complete and prove expensive for merchant acquirers to achieve. We have no quarrel with that, but feel PAR is a must-have in an increasingly complex and ever-changing data security landscape.

Why Use The Chamber Of Commerce?

Why use any chamber of commerce? Much less this one? Listen to this quick podcast for yourself.

Managing Problems Associated With Rapid Business Growth

So, your business is growing, and quickly. That's great! However, there are some cases where the bubble grows so quickly- and  bursts. This is why rapid business growth is exciting, but nerve-wracking for any executive. The common problems affiliated with rapid business growth affect all aspects of your company, from management and employees, to the physical workspace, to your customer relationships.The first step is to identify these problems before they yield negative outcomes.

What Happens to Centralization and Standardization?

One of the first requirements of rapid expansion is to implement and develop new departments, locations and tools. Whenever you add more of any one of these, decentralization increases and standardization decreases. A negative effect is a lack of communication between silos, resulting in a lack of understanding across departments and locations. You may see the corporate standards fade, changing definitions, metrics and even entire processes.

Disparate Systems and Inaccurate Reports

An even worse effect of this is an increase in disparate systems. Many disparate systems are detrimental because data and information coming from disparate systems is not well integrated; thus you are not getting the complete and accurate information that is needed to make the best business decisions. You might be getting bits of information, but many times it is confined within certain silos. The most common response of management in this situation is to pressure reporters to give you more complete information and reports. Unfortunately, a common consequence of this is manipulation of the data- which only gives you the ability to make misinformed decisions.

Employee Consequences

But it's not just management that suffers from problems with newly-introduced, disparate systems. It's all employees that have an interaction with the system or the tool. They too suffer from a lack of communication between silos. Simultaneously, they are required to learn how to use all of these new tools. Frequently when software companies, or companies that sell you the new tools come to install them, they know exactly how to deploy them, but not how to use them. Therefore, they do not help you implement the tools, nor do they ensure you and your employees know how to use them properly and to their full potential. This only puts more pressure on your staff.

This is one of the first signs that your staff may become dissatisfied. As your company grows and grows, the demands of individual employees also increase- they must learn new tools, and accomplish more in any given work day. This will likely result in a tired, stressed out team with low morale. What do you get when you have a stressed out team that is unable to communicate seamlessly? Petty arguments.

Your employees are now unable to meet skyrocketing demands, unable to effectively use new tools, are stressed and no longer feel a part of a unified team. These employees are far more likely to decide to leave, exacerbating the problem for management. Because now, management must focus their attention on hiring, rather than managing. New hires only add to the confusion and chaos, not reduce it.

New Workforce

So let's say you do hire more employees. You may not immediately have the physical space to hire and train all the employees that are needed to fulfill all the duties that your customers expect from the company. This is likely a time when you might open new branches; only increasing decentralization. As your locations and your people become more and more disconnected with you and the center of the company, how can you be sure the original values and standards are being taken in and valued? During rapid expansion, it is much easier to lose touch with your company culture, especially when many of your earlier employees have left.

Loss of Customer Relationships

It is at this point that your disconnect with your customers has grown too much. The employees that once held the company values and delivered your standards are gone. They are replaced with new trainees and new systems. But the new systems are not running seamlessly, causing more hassle for the customers, and giving you less feedback on their experience.

You are likely to begin losing even your most loyal customers, before you can do anything about it. Due to the disparate systems, you are likely to have too little timely and accurate customer data to make this discovery before it is too late. This is a huge problem because retaining loyal customers is vital to your success. Loyal customers are worth up to 10 times their first purchase. Now you are tasked with finding and retaining new customers which is costly.

Can You Prevent These Problems?

Ultimately, this chain of negative consequences will result in a loss of profit. Once you are in the midst of these problems, it is difficult to address them. However, if your company is rapidly expanding, you can take preventative measures to ensure this is not your fate.

The first thing to address during expansion is system integration. Cliintel is able to take the data from your disparate systems, providing you with accurate, complete and timely data. They also conduct data analysis to help you identify problem areas, then develop and deploy solutions quickly. Our clients typical see improvements within a month, and experience ROI improvements in just a couple months.

We also help our clients enhance the previous implementation of tools. We ensure you and your people are using your tools to their full potential. We can even conduct trainings to make sure your employees are using them properly, reducing a great deal of stress for them, while simultaneously reducing user error.

We can even help you increase the productivity of your workforce. We have increased previous clients' worker productivity by 15%. We've also helped them repurpose internal resources that were not utilized as effectively and efficiently as possible. We re-matched a clients' employees with more appropriate roles for their skillets. This increased their workload distribution and resulted in a hard dollar savings of $90,000 per month.

Therefore, we can help prevent each of these negative situations from occurring. We help you keep things running as seamlessly as they did before the rapid growth and chaos, so your customer continues receiving the same quality of service they expect from you. We helped a client improve their net promoter score (customer loyalty) by 40%. Find our more about what we've done, and what we can do for you. 

 

 

 

 

3D Printing Podcast -Is There A Way To Keep Things Simple In 3D Printing Marketing?

Making things simple is complicated!

To speak plain and clear you need time and depth; like an iceberg – a quiet crystal peak above the waters holds centuries of frozen storms underneath. Complication becomes simple to us after a long journey of forgetting everything we learned in schools; forgetting, not ignoring. You make things simple when you bring people to understand them. To understand means to place things in accord with our mind, within its direct reach, self-evident. You understand that which resounds in images familiar to your mind and in commonsense words, which you are at ease to use. It's why the 3D Printing Trade Association is always striving to simplify the message around 3D Printing.

James Brown Hand Signed, Inscribed Publicity Photo

My Forever Treasures celebrates, Black History Month, Every Day of the Year. Direct from, our vintage icon vault, we are honored to offer, This James Brown hand signed and inscribed Publicity Photo. James has even inscribed, “All My Love,” and “God Bless.” He is the founding “Father of Soul Music.” As a result, Brown earned the title, “The Godfather of Soul.” Music magazine Rolling Stone, has named James Brown # 7 on their list of, The 100 Greatest Music Artists of All Time.     James Brown, is an American singer, song writer, record producer, dancer and band leader. He is considered, a major influence on 20th Century Pop Music and Dance. Among his many classic hit songs, are “Papa's Got A Brand New Bag,” “It's A Man's World,”  “I Feel Good,”   and “Please Please Please.” His hit songs in every decade, are the reasons, James Brown was declared, “Soul Brother # 1.” His dynamic stage shows are legendary.     James Brown was a worldwide sensation. Little Richard, gave him one of his first breaks. He was admitted, with Elvis Presley, to the First Class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. James is the most sampled […]

Putting the Finishing Touches on PAR

EMVCo is getting formal about tokenization.

 

The chip card standards body, which manages the Europay/MasterCard/Visa (EMV) payment technology standard, this week officially updated its tokenization specification to include the new Payment Account Reference (PAR) data element. In keeping with the formalized specification, token service providers (TSPs)-at present, payment card networks-will generate these PARs, with the data field of each PAR consisting of 29 upper-case alpha-numeric characters. The first four characters will essentially identify the card issuer, and the remaining 25 will assign a unique value to the underlying payment account number (PAN).  PAR data must be included in payment-token response messages; its incorporation into authorization, clearing, and chargeback messages is optional.

 

According to EMVCo, the presence of PAR fulfills “a fundamental need” to link together PAN- and token-based transactions. Moreover, PAR is seen as enabling the industry to move away from dependence on the PAN as the primary linkage, as it reduces the exposure of PANs to hackers by matching tokens connected with the underlying PAN of a credit or debit card. PAR data cannot, a statement from EMVCo stipulates, be reverse-engineered to reveal the PAN or EMV payment token, nor can it be used on its own to initiate transactions-e.g. such as authorization, capture, clearing, or chargeback. Parties that use PAR data are required to safeguard it in accordance with national, regional, or local laws and regulations.

 

Beyond the above-mentioned basics, EMVCo perceives PAR as bringing to the table a multitude of benefits. In a statement issued when the update to the tokenization specification was announced, EMVCo Executive Committee Chair Mike Matan noted that while tokenization enhances digital payment security by “limiting the risks associated with the compromise or unauthorized use of PANs,” the standards body wants to do more than that. “We want to ensure the payment acceptance community can continue to deliver associated payment processing and value-added services…currently enabled by PAN.  PAR addresses this by enabling all payment transactions-regardless of how they are initiated-to be processed in a consistent manner.”

Elsewhere in the statement, EMVCo directors observed that the use of PAR allows for a consolidated view of transactions on payment accounts-a view that is needed for security and regulatory purposes, such as risk analysis and anti-money laundering measures. “It is also important for value-added services, as these often leverage historical transactional data to derive analytics and measurements to support customer programs such as loyalty,” the statement reads.

According to Digital Transactions, payment executives and security researchers agree that the PAR concept is sound, but believe its implementation could take years to complete and prove expensive for merchant acquirers to achieve. We have no quarrel with that, but feel PAR is a must-have in an increasingly complex and ever-changing data security landscape.

Why Use The Chamber Of Commerce?

Why use any chamber of commerce? Much less this one? Listen to this quick podcast for yourself.

Managing Problems Associated With Rapid Business Growth

So, your business is growing, and quickly. That's great! However, there are some cases where the bubble grows so quickly- and  bursts. This is why rapid business growth is exciting, but nerve-wracking for any executive. The common problems affiliated with rapid business growth affect all aspects of your company, from management and employees, to the physical workspace, to your customer relationships.The first step is to identify these problems before they yield negative outcomes.

What Happens to Centralization and Standardization?

One of the first requirements of rapid expansion is to implement and develop new departments, locations and tools. Whenever you add more of any one of these, decentralization increases and standardization decreases. A negative effect is a lack of communication between silos, resulting in a lack of understanding across departments and locations. You may see the corporate standards fade, changing definitions, metrics and even entire processes.

Disparate Systems and Inaccurate Reports

An even worse effect of this is an increase in disparate systems. Many disparate systems are detrimental because data and information coming from disparate systems is not well integrated; thus you are not getting the complete and accurate information that is needed to make the best business decisions. You might be getting bits of information, but many times it is confined within certain silos. The most common response of management in this situation is to pressure reporters to give you more complete information and reports. Unfortunately, a common consequence of this is manipulation of the data- which only gives you the ability to make misinformed decisions.

Employee Consequences

But it's not just management that suffers from problems with newly-introduced, disparate systems. It's all employees that have an interaction with the system or the tool. They too suffer from a lack of communication between silos. Simultaneously, they are required to learn how to use all of these new tools. Frequently when software companies, or companies that sell you the new tools come to install them, they know exactly how to deploy them, but not how to use them. Therefore, they do not help you implement the tools, nor do they ensure you and your employees know how to use them properly and to their full potential. This only puts more pressure on your staff.

This is one of the first signs that your staff may become dissatisfied. As your company grows and grows, the demands of individual employees also increase- they must learn new tools, and accomplish more in any given work day. This will likely result in a tired, stressed out team with low morale. What do you get when you have a stressed out team that is unable to communicate seamlessly? Petty arguments.

Your employees are now unable to meet skyrocketing demands, unable to effectively use new tools, are stressed and no longer feel a part of a unified team. These employees are far more likely to decide to leave, exacerbating the problem for management. Because now, management must focus their attention on hiring, rather than managing. New hires only add to the confusion and chaos, not reduce it.

New Workforce

So let's say you do hire more employees. You may not immediately have the physical space to hire and train all the employees that are needed to fulfill all the duties that your customers expect from the company. This is likely a time when you might open new branches; only increasing decentralization. As your locations and your people become more and more disconnected with you and the center of the company, how can you be sure the original values and standards are being taken in and valued? During rapid expansion, it is much easier to lose touch with your company culture, especially when many of your earlier employees have left.

Loss of Customer Relationships

It is at this point that your disconnect with your customers has grown too much. The employees that once held the company values and delivered your standards are gone. They are replaced with new trainees and new systems. But the new systems are not running seamlessly, causing more hassle for the customers, and giving you less feedback on their experience.

You are likely to begin losing even your most loyal customers, before you can do anything about it. Due to the disparate systems, you are likely to have too little timely and accurate customer data to make this discovery before it is too late. This is a huge problem because retaining loyal customers is vital to your success. Loyal customers are worth up to 10 times their first purchase. Now you are tasked with finding and retaining new customers which is costly.

Can You Prevent These Problems?

Ultimately, this chain of negative consequences will result in a loss of profit. Once you are in the midst of these problems, it is difficult to address them. However, if your company is rapidly expanding, you can take preventative measures to ensure this is not your fate.

The first thing to address during expansion is system integration. Cliintel is able to take the data from your disparate systems, providing you with accurate, complete and timely data. They also conduct data analysis to help you identify problem areas, then develop and deploy solutions quickly. Our clients typical see improvements within a month, and experience ROI improvements in just a couple months.

We also help our clients enhance the previous implementation of tools. We ensure you and your people are using your tools to their full potential. We can even conduct trainings to make sure your employees are using them properly, reducing a great deal of stress for them, while simultaneously reducing user error.

We can even help you increase the productivity of your workforce. We have increased previous clients' worker productivity by 15%. We've also helped them repurpose internal resources that were not utilized as effectively and efficiently as possible. We re-matched a clients' employees with more appropriate roles for their skillets. This increased their workload distribution and resulted in a hard dollar savings of $90,000 per month.

Therefore, we can help prevent each of these negative situations from occurring. We help you keep things running as seamlessly as they did before the rapid growth and chaos, so your customer continues receiving the same quality of service they expect from you. We helped a client improve their net promoter score (customer loyalty) by 40%. Find our more about what we've done, and what we can do for you. 

 

 

 

 

3D Printing Podcast -Is There A Way To Keep Things Simple In 3D Printing Marketing?

Making things simple is complicated!

To speak plain and clear you need time and depth; like an iceberg – a quiet crystal peak above the waters holds centuries of frozen storms underneath. Complication becomes simple to us after a long journey of forgetting everything we learned in schools; forgetting, not ignoring. You make things simple when you bring people to understand them. To understand means to place things in accord with our mind, within its direct reach, self-evident. You understand that which resounds in images familiar to your mind and in commonsense words, which you are at ease to use. It's why the 3D Printing Trade Association is always striving to simplify the message around 3D Printing.

Questions Every New Payment Facilitator Should Ask Its Payments Attorney

Under the latest card brand rules, payment facilitators are being held to exacting requirements. Note that the acquirer is now able to terminate a PF contract immediately with "good cause." So while state and federal regulation may get the bulk of the attention, those are hardly the only areas of potential rules-enforced disasters.

Visa's Core Rules, for example, have the PF being "liable for all acts, omissions, cardholder disputes, and other cardholder customer service related issues caused by the Payment Facilitator's Sponsored Merchants" and "is responsible and financially liable for each transaction processed on behalf of the sponsored merchant, or for any disputed transaction or credit." MasterCard similarly requires that "the payment facilitator must ensure that each of its submerchants complies with the standards applicable to merchants." Understanding the limitations and obligations that the card brands impose upon PFs is crucial to ensure the ongoing operations of business.

Questions Every New Payment Facilitator Should Ask Its Payments Attorney

Under the latest card brand rules, payment facilitators are being held to exacting requirements. Note that the acquirer is now able to terminate a PF contract immediately with "good cause." So while state and federal regulation may get the bulk of the attention, those are hardly the only areas of potential rules-enforced disasters.

Visa's Core Rules, for example, have the PF being "liable for all acts, omissions, cardholder disputes, and other cardholder customer service related issues caused by the Payment Facilitator's Sponsored Merchants" and "is responsible and financially liable for each transaction processed on behalf of the sponsored merchant, or for any disputed transaction or credit." MasterCard similarly requires that "the payment facilitator must ensure that each of its submerchants complies with the standards applicable to merchants." Understanding the limitations and obligations that the card brands impose upon PFs is crucial to ensure the ongoing operations of business.

A Slow Year for Tax Returns Processing

Uncle Sam doesn’t accept excuses for late tax returns,and neither do state governments. However, it seems both entities are going to be late with tax returns processing—and hence, the issuance of refunds—this year, data security specialist Brian Krebs reported in his Krebs on Security blog. The delays, Krebs said, stem from “more stringent controls enacted by Uncle Sam and the states to block fraudulent tax refund requests filed by identity thieves.” Complicating matters are the aftermath of a spate of corporate data breaches involving “phished” W-2 information and increased use of professional services to process large numbers of phony tax returns.

 

Krebs said the above-mentioned problems are spurring the IRS to take up to three times longer to review 2015 tax returns compared to past years. Meanwhile, he quoted Julie Magee, commissioner of Alabama’s Department of Revenue, as attributing much of this year’s delay at the state level to new “fraud filters” put in place with Gentax, a return processing and auditing system used by about half of U.S. state revenue departments. If the states cannot outright deny a suspicious refund request, Magee told Krebs, they will very often deny the requested electronic bank deposit and issue a paper check to the taxpayer’s known address instead.

 

“Many states decided they weren’t going to start paying refunds until March 1, and on our side we’ve been using all our internal fraud resources and tools to analyze the tax return(s),” Magee said.

The fraud filters work by seeking out patterns known to be associated with phony refund requests. Such patterns are related to the speed with which a given return was filed, or whether the same Internet address was seen completing multiple returns. Some states have reportedly been adding new fraud filters nearly every time they hear about another significant breach involving large numbers of stolen or phished employee W2 data. The theft of employee W2 data through phishing and other methods, Krebs wrote, has been a persistent problem this tax season, with myriad companies of all sizes forced to disclose data breaches in recent weeks.

As a result of the different breaches, individual states and the IRS alike have also been taking extreme measures to repeatedly filter tax returns. Whenever there is news of an additional breach, they begin the process anew, re-programming fraud filters as well as re-assessing tax returns that have yet to be fully processed and those that have not been processed at all. 

It looks like it’s going to be a very interesting remainder of the tax season—and beyond. Stay tuned.

A Slow Year for Tax Returns Processing

Uncle Sam doesn’t accept excuses for late tax returns,and neither do state governments. However, it seems both entities are going to be late with tax returns processing—and hence, the issuance of refunds—this year, data security specialist Brian Krebs reported in his Krebs on Security blog. The delays, Krebs said, stem from “more stringent controls enacted by Uncle Sam and the states to block fraudulent tax refund requests filed by identity thieves.” Complicating matters are the aftermath of a spate of corporate data breaches involving “phished” W-2 information and increased use of professional services to process large numbers of phony tax returns.

 

Krebs said the above-mentioned problems are spurring the IRS to take up to three times longer to review 2015 tax returns compared to past years. Meanwhile, he quoted Julie Magee, commissioner of Alabama’s Department of Revenue, as attributing much of this year’s delay at the state level to new “fraud filters” put in place with Gentax, a return processing and auditing system used by about half of U.S. state revenue departments. If the states cannot outright deny a suspicious refund request, Magee told Krebs, they will very often deny the requested electronic bank deposit and issue a paper check to the taxpayer’s known address instead.

 

“Many states decided they weren’t going to start paying refunds until March 1, and on our side we’ve been using all our internal fraud resources and tools to analyze the tax return(s),” Magee said.

The fraud filters work by seeking out patterns known to be associated with phony refund requests. Such patterns are related to the speed with which a given return was filed, or whether the same Internet address was seen completing multiple returns. Some states have reportedly been adding new fraud filters nearly every time they hear about another significant breach involving large numbers of stolen or phished employee W2 data. The theft of employee W2 data through phishing and other methods, Krebs wrote, has been a persistent problem this tax season, with myriad companies of all sizes forced to disclose data breaches in recent weeks.

As a result of the different breaches, individual states and the IRS alike have also been taking extreme measures to repeatedly filter tax returns. Whenever there is news of an additional breach, they begin the process anew, re-programming fraud filters as well as re-assessing tax returns that have yet to be fully processed and those that have not been processed at all. 

It looks like it’s going to be a very interesting remainder of the tax season—and beyond. Stay tuned.

Myth: Big Data Is Too Expensive For My Business

Big Data analysis can cost you a pretty penny. This is why many people and organizations think that its only for big businesses that can afford it. And there is some truth to that. But there are some data solutions out there that are not as pricey.

For a business to take on a data strategy all on their own, there are many costs associated with the project. In addition to set-up costs, there are more, ongoing and annual costs that really add up. You will likely need a lead Java Developer, a data or Hadoop Engineer, a Data Scientist, a Technical Business Analyst and a Database Manager. For companies going about this on their own, estimated monthly costs average $55,000.

Luckily, for small businesses, and companies on a budget, there are cheaper alternatives. In many cases, companies are hesitant to invest even what is required for these cheaper alternatives when they don’t know how much data analysis can actually help them. Is it worth the cost? Will it yield the insights you’re looking for? Do you want to see the results and your data in action before you make a commitment to developing a data strategy?

Well, for a limited time, you can! Here at Cliintel, we understand that this is a big, scary commitment. We understand that it is hard to get all decision makers on board with something they can’t even see. This is why we are giving you the opportunity to “test drive” your data for a fraction of the cost. You provide us with a clean data set, and we will analyze your data; in return you get the insights we have gathered from your data. This way you get the opportunity to see what data can do for you; what Cliintel can do for you before you commit. Contact us if you are interested in learning more about this opportunity. Please not that we will be offering this for a limited time only, so waste no time taking advantage of this opportunity!

The best time to take action was yesterday. The next best time is today. 

Contact About This Opportunity

 

Myth: Big Data Is Too Expensive For My Business

Big Data analysis can cost you a pretty penny. This is why many people and organizations think that its only for big businesses that can afford it. And there is some truth to that. But there are some data solutions out there that are not as pricey.

For a business to take on a data strategy all on their own, there are many costs associated with the project. In addition to set-up costs, there are more, ongoing and annual costs that really add up. You will likely need a lead Java Developer, a data or Hadoop Engineer, a Data Scientist, a Technical Business Analyst and a Database Manager. For companies going about this on their own, estimated monthly costs average $55,000.

Luckily, for small businesses, and companies on a budget, there are cheaper alternatives. In many cases, companies are hesitant to invest even what is required for these cheaper alternatives when they don’t know how much data analysis can actually help them. Is it worth the cost? Will it yield the insights you’re looking for? Do you want to see the results and your data in action before you make a commitment to developing a data strategy?

Well, for a limited time, you can! Here at Cliintel, we understand that this is a big, scary commitment. We understand that it is hard to get all decision makers on board with something they can’t even see. This is why we are giving you the opportunity to “test drive” your data for a fraction of the cost. You provide us with a clean data set, and we will analyze your data; in return you get the insights we have gathered from your data. This way you get the opportunity to see what data can do for you; what Cliintel can do for you before you commit. Contact us if you are interested in learning more about this opportunity. Please not that we will be offering this for a limited time only, so waste no time taking advantage of this opportunity!

The best time to take action was yesterday. The next best time is today. 

Contact About This Opportunity

 

Yoga For Beginners – Home Workout Video

Yoga For Beginners

20 Minute Home Yoga Workout!

Adriene welcomes you to hop on the mat and start building the foundation of your own yoga practice with this 20 minute home workout video! Enjoy, stay mindful and find what feels good.

For more details and to join the conversation, go to http://yogawithadriene.com.

There are several basic types of yoga: Giyana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Raja Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Kriya Yoga. Their goal is the same, but their approaches are different. Each type of yoga focuses primarily on one aspect of the human personality.

The practice of separate branches of yoga in our lives is known as integral yoga which creates harmony between body, mind, and emotions and stimulates the expression of creativity and the creative potential of people in everyday life.

Yoga at the Center for Neuromuscular Massage Therapy

Please call us at 303-777-1151 to schedule your appointment.

Data is the New Basis of Competition For Business

For some reason, people seem to think that the idea of data creating business value is new. However, this is most certainly not true. What is new, is the use of data as the basis of competition.

For the most part, business has always used data; in the sense that they gather information to use as insight to make decisions. But our expectations for the data itself, and what it can offer us are growing and growing. Our demand for deep knowledge is only continuing to grow and grow.

For a long time, the only data a business could gather was data within the business (or external data in the form of surveys). But as our demand for knowledge and insight from data grows, we are turning to new sources to give us data. This is precisely why businesses began using unstructured data (from social media, the web etc.).

Today, the companies leading the change include a wide variety of data in their analysis. This includes: machine data, unstructured data, and online and mobile data to supplement the data within their organization. This allows them to base their decisions, not just on historical data, but on predictive analytics, promoting forward-thinking.

We can only expect this trend to grow. Big Data will fundamentally change the way businesses operate, and compete with one another. Big Data is the new competitive advantage.

The companies that embrace this change, and invest in a forward-thinking data strategy will have a distinct advantage over their competitors. As more and more data is generated and analyzed, this performance gap will only continue to grow. Soon enough, every company in existence will have a well developed data strategy; or they will fail.

But there is one thing holding us back: our technical ability to aggregate and analyze the data. Because we are capturing so much data, and from so many disparate sources, we are having a difficult time keeping up! Tools have been created to help us with this, but most thus far are not living up to our expectations. It is very likely that we will never be able to develop a tool that is able to analyze data as well as we would like. It’s simple; computers are simply not as good at seeing patterns as humans are.

Whether we develop a tool, or not, in the meantime, we do have the skills and human capital to accomplish the difficult task of aggregating and analyzing data. While many companies cannot afford a team of data scientists, this is a skill and service that can be hired.

Data Analysis is the New Competitive Advantage. How Do I Start Building a Data Strategy For My Business?

89% of companies believe that if they do not develop and adopt a big data analytics strategy, that they could lose both market share and momentum.

Why? Because big data tells you things about the world, and about your business that you didn’t know before. And as more and more of your competitors adopt data strategies, they will learn more and more about your industry, putting you at a disadvantage. It is quickly becoming the “new thing” in business.

Luckily, it is quickly becoming easier and easier to adopt a big data strategy.

Step 1: What is Big Data?

The first step is to learn what Big Data really is. Understand it first, in order to appreciate its value to your company.

Step 2: Get Comfortable With the Idea of Using Big Data

The definition may scare you, because it is a little mind-boggling and difficult to comprehend. However, it is not as big and scary as it seems. It is also not as costly as it seems. The Internet of Things (IoT) movement is making collection much easier, and the cloud is making storage much easier. Even analytics are becoming easier for companies of all sizes. If you don’t have enough money to spend on hiring a whole team of data analysts and data scientists, don’t sweat! There are firms out there that specialize in this that can analyze your data for a much lower cost than hiring a team.

Step 3: Ask Yourself These Questions to Develop a “Big Data Plan”

A good first question to ask yourself is, “what do we have?” Then identify what kind of data you think you are missing that you may need. This will help you identify what kind of data to collect. Many companies think that simply collecting a lot of data is a “data strategy.” However, data is only useful if it is relevant to your company. Furthermore, collecting a lot of data can make it more difficult for a data analyst to extract information and insight from that data. Having a lot of data makes the analyzing process more difficult, as they have to sift through all of the irrelevant information (and initially decide what information is irrelevant in the first place).

Next ask, “What assumptions do I have about my company?” This is a great question to ask, as it is a great starting point for companies that don’t have a big data analytics plan already in place. At this point, much of what you know (or rather, think you know) about your company are based on assumptions. You may have reports that tell you things, but this data can be manipulated and often comes from many, disparate sources. Because of this, you may not be getting accurate information.

Therefore, a good starting point is to test your hypothesis about your assumptions of your company. This also makes it easier for a data scientist to determine where to start…and you never know, along the way, he or she may find something else that will be useful.

 

3D Printing Business Incubator and Energy Implications of 3D Printing

Dr. Darrell Wallace, Youngstown Business Incubator, Delivers Keynote Address

Dr. Wallace’s talk on Energy Implications of 3D Printing for the Ohio Manufacturing Industry includes the following topics:

• The Current State of Additive Manufacturing


• Additive Manufacturing is Not Just for High Tech Industries


• When Does Additive Make Sense


• Energy and Additive Manufacturing


• A Vision of the Future


• Getting Help Today

The Top 3D Printed Things – 3D Printed Objects

Top 3D Printed Objects

The Top 10 3D Printed Creations

 

13 Amazing Things You Can Make With a 3-D Printer

Big Data Podcast – What Is A Big Data Scientist?

What is a Big Data scientist? Let’s listen to this free big data podcast and learn!

The Big Data Life Cycle, From Creation to Processing and Analysis

Creation:

We have always created data. Think of data as just information that is generated. Throughout history, we have written books, sent letters, recorded information, taken photos and more; therefore we have created data for year. Today, we create big data. We are able to create so much more data, primarily for two reasons: technology can record data and our new methods of communication.

We can turn just about anything into data. In the 1800’s, a person walking, was just that- a person walking. Today, that person walking becomes a data set. Sensors and customized software record loads of data. A person’s geographic location, the number of steps a person takes, and even credit card purchases are recorded as data.

Changes in the way we communicate have also increased the amount of data we create. Letters became emails, telephone calls became text messages, and then we increased the number of people we could communicate with via social media. Social media has played a major role in data creation, as it greatly increases the speed with which data is created. Not only is it created in real-time but it can also be analyzed and used in real time.

Processing:

Due to high costs, large volumes of data have not been captured and widely analyzed by businesses. But new technologies and discoveries have made this easier and cheaper. Software frameworks, like Hadoop have been introduced to help process large, unstructured data sets. Businesses don’t have to organically go on social media sites to know what people are saying about them. This would take hours! Now they can know, in real-time, all the time.

However, these processing tools are certainly far from perfected. They often have difficulty processing data from a combination of structured and unstructured data, and do not operate consistently enough to be considered reliable. You can read more about data tool hype here. Although we may not have the tools, we have the skill. Many data analytics and consulting firms, offer this as a service.

The introduction of the cloud as a storage solution has also played a big role in the processing of data. It allows companies to use pre-built data solutions, or to quickly build and deploy servers and solutions without the huge costs of the physical hardware.

Output:

While it has gotten easier and easier to capture and process data, turning that data into valuable insight remains difficult. In order for the data to be valuable, it must be readily available to the right people, and it must be accurate and timely.

Data visualization tools have made this easier. They enable decision makers, and even the average business user to review large and complex data sets. However, these tools are only helpful if the data is not coming from many disconnected, disparate systems (the vast majority of businesses have over 6 systems). They create a visualization of data, but some insights can be missed without a team of proper data analysts.

At this stage in the life cycle, it is simply data in the form of numbers, charts and graphs. But at this point, we need to ask, is this data complete? And is it telling me the whole story?

Resources and Analyzing:

Although we may not have the tools to conduct a thorough analysis, we do have the human capital to. There is a new breed of employee, called the data scientist. These employees have a special skill set and knowledge to handle the complexities of big data and the ability to simplify the big data output for daily use by the company. However, analysts are expensive…and you can’t really just have one.

The alternative is working with a data analytics and/or consulting expert. This method is often preferred by companies that do not have a team of data experts, because it is both easier and more economical. Data analyst firms prepare and analyze your data for you, simply providing you with the insights generated from the data. They also often perform a better, more complete analysis than any tool can. Finally, they can also assist you with any hiccups along the way, and some will even help you seamlessly implement the solutions that are based off of the actionable insight.

Those that have never worked with data analysis firms before may be nervous about someone coming in with access to all their data. If this is a fear of yours, listen to the Podcast from Data Talk Show below.

Business Data Analytics Fears

How to Explain Big Data to a 12-Year-Old

“If you cannot explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

~Albert Einstein

With this quote in mind, we challenged ourselves to come up with an explanation for Big Data that is simple enough for even a child to understand. Not only did we come up with a simple definition, but we also explain what the 5 V’s of Big Data are, sources of Big Data, and how Big Data is changing our world.

Big Data is simply a plethora of data, generated rapidly and from various sources. It can be both structured and unstructured (and is often a combination of both), and makes up data sets that are too large and complex for traditional data processing applications to handle. Big Data is also often characterized by the “4 V’s” of Big Data.

4 V’s of Big Data

1. Volume: The size of the data


2. Velocity: The speed of which the data is being generated


3. Variety: The different types of data (unstructured and structured, from various sources)


4. Veracity: The accuracy, or trustworthiness of the data

Sources of Big Data

• Communication Outlets:  Including: podcasts, articles, videos, audio, email and blogs.


• Social Media: All digital material (such as photos, videos, text, tweets and audio).


• Computers & Machines: This typically includes: sensors, business process logs and phone calls.


• Historical: Comes from archived records, forms or documents, and data about our environment (census, weather, traffic etc.).

How It’s Impacting Our World

• Business: Data analytics are called the new competitive advantage. They give us access to insights that allow us to make better decisions, that drive efficiency and optimization.


• Science: Big Data is allowing us to make discoveries that would otherwise be impossible by creating new ways of conducting research.


• Security: Data analysis is the new crime stopper. It is helping police forces to predict criminal activity, and conduct investigations to catch criminals more quickly.


• Health: Big Data analytics predict disease patterns, and help us find new cures. The use of data analytics in healthcare is a new phenomenon, so it will be interesting to see what is can help us accomplish.

 

MasterCard Uses Golf To Demo Virtual Reality

MasterCard, which has sometimes struggled with Internet-of-Things (IoT) efforts, used a golf tournament to (dear readers, please forgive me for what I am about to perpetrate) gulf the digital divide from putting green on a golf course's putting green. (Whatever you just said, I probably deserved it.)

In all fairness, MasterCard put on an impressive virtual reality demo at its sponsored Arnold Palmer Invitational. "While out on the course, golfers might simply tap their golf glove at the point-of-sale to buy refreshments from the beverage cart," said a MasterCard statement. "MasterCard is taking it a step further with a concept designed in collaboration with Wearality, an Orlando-based start-up that designs virtual reality glasses and wearables, to allow consumers to identify an item within the experience - such as a golf shirt - and buy it without leaving the virtual world." Let's put this into context.

Uber’s Deal With Green Dot Illustrates Payments Potential

When Uber and Green Dot last week rolled out Uber Checking By Go Bank, it offered little more than a slightly more convenient way for workers to get paid and to be paid more timely. In payments, though, it can be those little conveniences and small elements of automation that can build into a massive change. And who understands that digital disruption concept better than Uber—and payment facilitators.

The idea is straight-forward: When Uber drivers want to get paid for hours logged, use what Uber is calling Instant Pay. They can log in 24x7 and "cash out your earnings instantly and easily at any time, with no minimum deposit or transaction fees." The cash is loaded onto their Uber Debit Card. The near-term advantages are that workers control when they get paid—no more waiting until the company dictated date of, let's say, the 15th of each month—and the account can be isolated. That isolation means that they don't need to share sensitive bank account details with their employer if they don’t want to.

Be First In Change Management

Below is a short article written by Cliintel’s CEO, Richard Batenburg, also the author of the book, Change is Great. Be First. He discusses why and how you should approach change in the workplace:

While courtesy in the workplace is a good thing, there are times when you shouldn’t hold the door so all your colleagues can go through before you.  When approaching change management, forget what your mother told you: everybody has to head for the door together.  Creating a door that’s wide enough to accommodate the crowd starts with a thoughtful change management plan.

 

The challenge arises in situations where a weakness is identified in a process, tool or issue whose implementation crosses over into multiple departments.  As redundancies and inefficiencies are uncovered, these occasions represent tremendous opportunity.  A skilled change management advisor can look past the institutional status quo to capture unnecessary expenses and unrealized revenues.  The larger the organization, the more likely such opportunities will be.

 

But the best of times can also be the worst of times.  When change must be managed on multiple fronts in multiple phases, every party involved tends to think someone else will start the process.  The prevailing attitude can often be described as, “Change is great!  You go first.”

 

Often, the people most resistant to a process change are front-line team members whose daily routines will be most affected.  On the other end of the spectrum are those who don’t understand if or how the change will affect them, and skeptics who take a wait-and-see attitude.  Participants who see themselves as the last stop in the change management process may ignore the approaching change until it’s on top of them, or wait passively to receive their new marching orders.  These people may be lower down on the organizational totem pole, but if they haven’t prepared for the cut-over to the new way, they can sink the project.  It is very difficult to recover from a bad change management experience.

 

There is no tool that will facilitate change management. Successful change management depends on a full team effort right from the start. While some activities must precede others in the change process, that doesn’t mean any department can bide its time waiting for the baton to be passed.  Instead, it is incumbent on everyone involved to prepare for the hand-off and find ways to help colleagues across the company accomplish their piece of the mission.

 

Planning, prioritizing, and socializing are the keys to getting everyone on board the change management express:

• Socialize the vision of how the change will affect everyone, and how life will improve when it is complete. Involve everyone who may possibly be affected by the change, and help them understand that their participation is essential to make the end result address their specific concerns.


• At the same time, make it completely clear that disruption is unavoidable. Encourage each party to think about how they’ll handle that disruption, and incorporate these steps into the change management plan.


• Set a definite date for the end of the old practice. (There’s nothing like a deadline to get people’s attention.)


• Define success of the change management project and how that success will be measured.

 

It’s a basic fact of life – and change management – that people embrace what they help to create.  Open the doors wide and make sure everyone gets involved in creating a better way.

A Surreal Peek Into The Payment Data Underworld

If you're in the mood for a truly surreal peek into the stolen payment card data market, check out this profile of a data-seller called Joker's Stash, over at KrebsOnSecurity. This vendor's employees, solely selling illegal stolen data mind you, "set themselves apart by focusing on loyalty programs, frequent-buyer discounts, money-back guarantees and just plain old good customer service." Heck, it's hard enough to get legitimate retailers to do that.

Indeed, the Bitcoin-accepting company markets itself as proudly only selling data that it's own people stole, as opposed to selling what any lowlife on the street steals. And it offers limited guarantees: "All sales are final, although some batches of stolen cards for sale at Joker’s Stash come with a replacement policy — a short window of time from minutes to a few hours, generally — in which buyers can request replacement cards for any that come back as declined during that replacement timeframe." Even their loyalty program is better than that offered by some large retailers.

Process Automation: More Bang For Your Buck

In the never-ending pursuit of productivity, process automation is often an appealing solution for a business department or company division seeking greater efficiency and lower expenses.  The ideal approach to the problem is often software that addresses the user’s unique issues, ensuring a better fit, smoother deployment and easier adoption.  But paradoxically, organizations in greatest need of such a solution may not have the budget for the process automation tools that will make the biggest impact, or have a culture that embraces change.

 

A smart process automation consultant can help you spread the cost, share the benefits, and become a company hero by extending the use of your department’s software to other user groups.  After all, the same process automation tools can most likely support a variety of related processes.

 

Tools used to route and dispatch the service workforce can also be used for a sales force, often with just a minor tweak.  For example, consider the large telecommunications company whose non-pay disconnect group needed help.  This team cut off service at the utility pole for customers whose accounts were in arrears.  They operated apart from normal field operations functions as well as the field audit group, which detected illegal connections and theft of service.  But on examination, a savvy process automation consultant determined that the procedures followed by these three departments had a great deal in common, and that they both shared key elements with activities of the “feet on the street” sales team.

 

The new process automation tool designed for the field service department worked very well for the disconnect team and the field audit folks.  Joining with the sales team, all three groups became a powerful part of the company’s sales force and drove out the cost of redundant systems.  Instead of simply cutting off service at the utility pole for non-paying customers, the team began calling on these customers to offer them the opportunity to settle accounts and keep their service.  The tap audit team likewise turned service thieves into honest, paying customers.  Service technicians earned sales commissions, the CFO was ecstatic, and the department head who initiated the process automation received kudos from all quarters.

 

Although distinct from process automation, business intelligence software offers another attractive opportunity to spread the wealth – and costs – among multiple departments.  This takes very little salesmanship, as staff members notice that their colleagues in the newly BI-empowered department suddenly have valuable data, and are no longer griping about reports that are out of date on delivery.  The interest generated by water-cooler chat can easily lead to BI tools that benefit the entire organization.

 

Sharing process automation tools among work groups inevitably yields another valuable benefit: as information is shared, communication grows between user groups.  As a result, departmental silos that may have developed over time begin to dissolve, leading to a more integrated, mission-focused organization.

 

An experienced process automation advisor can help you uncover opportunities within your organization to extend custom software applications.  It’s just a matter of adopting a broad perspective, rallying support for a change to intercompany corporative processes and then preparing for applause.

1939 Golden Gate International Exposition Pennant San Francisco

The 1939, Golden Gate International Exposition, at San Francisco Bay, is an historically unique Exposition. This is one of the few, to open when the world was at war. The Czechoslovakian President, fled to Romania.   In Germany, being a member of Hitler’s Youth Movement, was now mandatory. Poland and The Netherlands mobilized, for the possibility of German invasion. Britain and Germany both sank ships. In the U.S., President F.D.R. declared America’s neutrality. As San Francisco’s, “Portals of the Pacific” Themed, $60 Million International Exposition, opened Feb. 14, 1939.   Unlike the devastation, unfolding in Europe, this International Exposition, offered impressive new Art Deco structures. Lush gardens, dancing water displays, and even a world class Entertainment Theater, awaited excited patrons. Instead of complaining about the war, San Francisco was in a celebratory mood. Honoring, all countries with borders on the Pacific.   This Exposition, believed there would be a peaceful future among all countries. Clark Gable cut the ribbon, opening this great 1939 event ! Benny Goodman “the King of Swing,” had neutral U.S. citizens, dancing all night long.  F.D.R. assured U.S. neutrality in Europe.   In Europe, Germany attacks and occupies Czechoslovakia. The President of Poland flees to Romania. […]

Class Action Merchant EMV Lawsuit Could Make The EMV Transition A Lot Messier

EMV has always delivered more than its fair share of headaches and surprises—and this week even has the MasterCard CEO doing some EMV griping of his own—but a class action lawsuit filed last week is raising yet another troubling EMV question. Is the liability shift appropriate if merchants have done everything in their power to embrace EMV? If backlogs from the card brands are why a merchant doesn't have an EMV greenlight, is it fair to punish them with the liability shift?

Like every payments issue, there are details to be dealt with. Did the merchant submit all paperwork in a reasonable timeframe? One can't file 10 minutes before the deadline and then blame the backlog for a lack of approval.
Still, it's an interesting question. And the lawsuit from B&R Supermarkets and Grove Liquors goes further than saying that the backlog was unexpected or larger than expected. The filing accuses the card brands—and other payments players—of deliberately being slow, in an attempt to push off liability costs on as many merchants as possible, regardless of their EMV efforts.

Going Green and Saving Green: Massive Energy Savings For Buildings

Major commercial buildings use the same amount of energy as over 500 houses. So trying to save energy in commercial buildings is key. But most building management systems (BMS) are trying to find a needle in the haystack, and wasting time doing so.

But new, cloud-based systems are finding the needle in the haystack much quicker than ever imagined. Many UK sites are starting to adopt new data analytics programs and systems, saving something like 1 1/2 million Pounds each year. So, those that have it are saving energy, saving the environment and saving cash.

There are high hopes for the future; thousands of sites will have this data capability. Thus, they will be able save the amount of energy of an entire power house.

Go Green and Save Green. Adopt a data analytics strategy in your company for massive savings.

What Is Holding Your Business Back? Can Big Data Help?

As a data analytics and business process engineering firm, we find that these 5 things are the most common challenges that businesses face. They also greatly impede on the prosperity of the company. Watch this video to find out what they are. And check out more on http://cliintel.com

How The Internet of Things Works

 

The Internet of Things is changing the whole world around us. It is changing how we drive, how we make purchases and even how we supply our homes with energy.

Everyone who engages with the modern universe now, pretty much knows that this is true. But what many don’t know is how it all works.

Watch this video to get a general idea of how the internet of things works.

Many think that this process is seamless. That computers and algorithms are doing all of the work. But, it is simply not that easy. In fact, most of the data we produced isn’t even being used. Why? Because in order to use the data, you must prepare it, and clean it up so that it can be analyzed. And let’s face it…humans are still better than computers at recognizing patterns.

So, you might think, well let’s just have more people analyzing data right? Unfortunately, it is not that easy. Not everyone can do this. This is why data scientists are a hot commodity, and rather expensive.

Business Intelligence. It’s Real.

We believe that the root of Business Intelligence is in the distribution and socialization of data driven down to the most front end, customer facing levels of the organization.

The organic connection with data afforded by the use of simple ‘layperson’ queries via a GUI interface is one key – the other being standardization of logic from the executive suite thru the divisional; regional; director; supervisor and finally customer facing agents is the other.

In short bringing ‘goal alignment’ to the data thru the logic used to calculate the key performance indicators.  The adoption of the BI tool can be viral if the two factors above are successfully achieved.

We have witnessed this accomplishment by our very large client in an environment known to be excruciatingly difficult from a reporting a metrics perspective.

Key to the viral use of BI is access to ‘fresh’ data, key to fresh access is the advent of OLAP cubing and a commitment from IT to provide real time updates to cubes of data.   Users who can then query based on their interest as opposed to waiting for IT to spit out canned reports for analysis on some schedule.

The platforms to enable this are cost effective COTS solutions combined with custom presentation layer and logic; minimizing the overhead of training and user resistance due to fear and time investment.

We have such a system in production today – managing over 500,000 new records per day with over 3000 front line users and its transforming the way they serve their 25M customers.

Knowing Your Third-Party Vendors A Must in Prepaid

In the prepaid arena, financial institutions hold the important responsibility of managing and training 4^th-party “downstream” vendors, but there is much to be done for third-party vendors if those responsibilities are to be fulfilled. This is the topic we’ll be talking up next week as we participate in “Prepaid Off The Record Session: Know Your Third Party Vendors,” a round-table discussion to be held during the APEX: ALL PAYMENTS EXPO slated for The Hyatt Regency, New Orleans, from March 20 through March 23. The session will be held on Monday, March 21, from 1:15 to 2:15 pm.

 

Our key message is, it’s very clear that financial institutions—as well as the vendors that serve them and are charged with managing “downstream” fourth-party crucial vendors—must focus heavily on communication with third-party vendors. Third-party vendors that do not fall into the financial services category require information and training. Otherwise, it will be impossible for the oversight process to be of maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

 

Financial institutions and vendors with fourth-party vendor management responsibilities must educate downstream vendors about why the oversight process is necessary, the information needed for it to occur, and how the information should be provided it. Third-party vendors must be told, in the most articulate and crystal-clear manner possible, what is required from them in order to achieve these efficiency and effectiveness goals.

 

To be more specific, financial institutions are in the midst of configuring robust vendor management programs. However, they are probably exerting more effort than necessary as they do so, and would experience fewer difficulties along the way if the third-party vendors that are actually doing the program creation work had an understanding of what information is needed for the review process to occur and how to provide it. Maybe employee training records would be of help. Perhaps an employee risk management program, including background check, or a compliance program for risks associated with UDAPP (Unfair Deceptive or Abusive Acts or Practices), or a written vendor management program for fourth-party vendors. Compliance team qualifications and ongoing training information may belong on the list as well.

 

We will explore all of this—and more—in the session. And if you’re at APEX, we would love to meet you. Get in touch by texting us at (678) 333-3254, or through the APEX app.