Dragging Banking into the 21st Century

Across the industry, Banks and other financial organisations are involved in a full–scale wrestling match. We aren't talking about the one between competing Banks, or the Banks and the regulators, though. This scrap is much closer to home, and is being fought between Banks and their ageing IT systems. Read more...

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• Business Process Improvement

  Processes are the power house of any business. They describe how a business sets about delivering value to its customers in the form of products or services. Put simply, they articulate how a business does what it does. It almost goes without saying therefore, that these processes are of fundamental importance to the business, and need to be managed and exploited just like any other corporate asset. Read more...

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• The Information Timebomb

  We are living with an Information Timebomb: the ever–increasing volume of data in our lives is constantly ticking away and causing potential mayhem to the enterprise. In order to avoid the enterprise being blown apart, it has become vitally important to have an effective Information Management strategy in place, and sooner rather than later. Indeed, failure to deploy a solid strategy will be detrimental to a business' long term survival if its executives, customers and employees rely upon that data. Read more...

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• Need to Share versus Need to Know

  While terrorism and the globalisation of fraud continue to challenge the UK's security services, it is the rise in civil unrest that has most focused attention in recent months. Combined with ongoing public sector cuts and pressure on resources, it is becoming ever more critical to exploit the increasing wealth of information from diverse sources to improve intelligence and support front line activity. Read more...

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• Social Network Analysis – Making Sense of Spaghetti

  Social network analysis has been around for many years now, but with the burgeoning amounts of network data available to both governmental and private organisations, the use of these techniques is becoming ever more popular and valuable for business and crime fighting purpose. Read more...

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• Monetising Smart Metering

  Emma Goodwin, Utilities & Power Divisional Director at IPL, explains that energy companies need to look ahead and build as much intelligence as possible into their smart metering solutions, especially the In Home Display (IHD) to transform operational efficiency and build intelligence into the IHD which will underpin competitive differentiation. Read more...

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• The Shop Sells More If Its Doors Are Open

  BlueVia (Telefonica), Betavine (Vodafone), the OrangeAPI, the oneAPI. All of these are attempts by the telecommunications industry to open up networks to third parties. But why would you, as an operator, want to open the doors to your network to strangers anyway? There are financial reasons, business reasons and technical reasons: Read more...

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• Lack of Transparency Drives Fear and Market Volatility

  As the Euro zone lurches from one economic crisis to another, the financial services marketplace is struggling to build confidence, from customer mistrust to credit agency downgrading. At the same time, governments are introducing a raft of regulations designed to improve financial transparency and rebuild faith in the financial sector. Read more...

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• Agile Development Demands Agile Procurement

  The Cabinet Office's introduction of an ICT Strategy which, amongst other things recommends the wider adoption of agile methodologies in the development of public sector IT systems represents a sea change in government thinking. This change of mindset seems to indicate a genuine commitment to innovation, rather than a token change. Read more...

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• Strategic Business Intelligence

  If your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) aren't aligned with your strategy, they could drive behaviour in an unexpected direction. Don't let the tail wag the dog. Ensure you measure performance against your strategic objectives. Read more...

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• A Bridge Too Far – Handling Multiple Party Roles in Dimensional Models

  As DW/BI Project teams should conduct data model requirements and design reviews as part of any development lifecycle to consider high level dimensional models and logical dimensional models. Read more...

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• Business Intelligence In A Cold Climate – A Cautionary Tale

  A simple journey home turned into an epic battle against the elements for IPL's Jon Evans. By the time he finally made it, he'd had over 15 hours to ponder many things – like the weather, sports cars and even Business Intelligence. Read more...

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