Archive for January, 2010

“Only two industries in the world call their customers ‘users.’ The illegal drug trade and the IT industry.” This joke highlights a condition that too many customers feel about how they are considered by developers of too many software and computer products. Companies can avoid being characterized by this joke if they always remember who their customers are…

In the technology industry, “PII” stands for “Personally Identifiable Information.” However, anyone who provides technology to customers should also think of it as standing for “Privacy Is Important.” Two important events this week—one regarding Google and one regarding Facebook—underscored the importance of this and served as reminders of how important protection of privacy is to mainstream adoption of technology…

To actively manage risk across your enterprise, you will need develop an organization-wide consistent method to seeking out and identify risk. This requires two critical steps: 1) develop a clear definition of risk enterprise-wide and 2) teach your staff to seek out and plan for all types of risk: positive, negative, internal and external. Once you do this, you will be ready to begin planning for and managing response to nearly any situation of importance that is likely to occur…

Before any organization can begin to actively manage risk, it must first change its culture to one that openly and freely discusses risk at all levels. This is not easy. It requires commitments from management and staff at all levels. However, it will pay off in many ways: higher trust, increased respect and better results…

Today is the first day of 2010. This year, as we exit a global recession our hopes for success are much larger than before—while our margins for success are tighter than they have been for many years. Use of Active Risk Management (ARM) can be vital helping us navigate these challenges…