First what is operational risk? According to the Office of CC (insert link), these are defined as:

1. Internal fraud – perpetrated by your employees
2. External fraud – perpetrated by your customers, suppliers, distributors, etc.
3. Failed business processes or procedures
4. Failed HR processes or procedures
5. Liabilities around products or services offered.

How does BI mitigate, monitor or even eliminate some forms of OR?

1. By identifying the OR risks a bit faster than we can do today. If we can detect and stop fraud – whether internal or external – just a little bit faster than in recent history – then we have mitigated the risk associated with it quite a bit.
2. By using sophisticated analytical models to predict potential OR events or situations – sophisticated models of operational risk – causal models, trending and patterning models, even statistical models that indicate the likelihood of OR events happening are being developed today to help with future situations
3. Using these predicative capabilities, we can reduce OR by giving our front line workers the knowledge and intelligence to recognize OR much faster with the added bonus of giving them insight (using the even more futuristic guided decision making) into how to react to and handle the risk.

BI has a tremendous role in mitigating or even eliminating it before it takes root in your organization. However, it will require a new paradigm for BI – the use of these vastly more sophisticated models, pattern recognition, predictive analytics, and guided decision making technologies. The era of in which simple multidimensional analysis is king may be coming to an end!

I used to think that satellite imagery was just for the military or a few very specialized applications involving some sort of fancy geospatial telemetry analysis. Not anymore. Google is trialing a new service called Google maps that not only gives you very specific details on where some address is but then gives you the satellite image of that particular location. Go ahead – give it a try by typing in your home address. When the map comes up, click on the “satellite” button. You will be amazed at the incredible detail. I sure was. There was my neighborhood, the walking paths around my neighborhood, and, by holding down the left key, I could scroll across the entire area of Boulder, Colorado.

The email that I got informing me of this new service also showed me so fairly unintended consequences of the satellite imagery. The satellites took pictures of things that perhaps our government did not want others to see. For example, the famed B-2 Stealth Bomber or the newer version, the F117 Stealth Fighter, parked at air bases .

The newsletter also had some lighter findings like a blimp captured by the satellite over Florida. Take a look at this image for a bit of levity.

So… think you are alone? Think again. This new service by Google should shake us all up in terms of our “privacy”. Anyone, for no cost, can peek into your neighborhood and perhaps even your house with incredible clarity. Good or bad – we are no longer alone.

The other interesting thing about the Google service is that it has spawned all sorts of new services by clever people making use of the Google capabilities. Innovative creatures, aren't we?

According to the article, Lawrie's main problem was that he just couldn't "connect" with Tom Sieble. While they met frequently, it appears that Tom just didn't like the fact that his new CEO was actually changing the direction of his company. But isn't that why you bring in a new person?

But then again, Tom Sieble has been pretty quick to fire his top executives when the company's performance did not live up to expectations. Unfortunately that kind of behavior has not improved the company's faltering sales -- Siebel, the company, has seen its revenues decline for the past 2 years with no end in sight.

Looking back, Lawrie says that maybe he should have focused more on expenses rather than trying to improve the growth of the company. Sounds like a good idea for a company whose revenues are slipping badly. Maybe the next CEO will take his advice and have better luck. And just maybe Tom will relinquish a little of the $2.2 billion the company has in cash to its shareholders. It might just make them a bit happier.

You know what I am talking about? Every King in days of yore had a jester to make fun of him. The jester pointed out the things that were obvious, that would otherwise get a King's advisors' heads cut off. Done with humor, the jester could get away with pointing out that the King was only human after all, that he was fallible and was capable of making a bad decision. The key to this arrangement, of course, was that the jester could do this with impunity! Many a foible was nipped in the bud by having such a person around to point out faulty thinking.

OK -- on to modern day corporate executives. I believe that much of the fraud and disreputable business practices that occur in our enterprises stems from the fact that corporate executives have not had a jester, a conscience to poke fun at their obvious errors in judgement, someone to point out that the corporate king is making a dreadful mistake.

Therefore, I propose that every CEO in Global 2000 companies today hire their own personal jesters and give them the same role of former jesters. They can even have a mandate that the jesters must wear costumes with pointy hats with bells on them if they like. However, the CEO must also sign a contract stating that the jester can do what ever he or she likes -- that nothing is sacred -- as long as it is done with tasteful humor...

Sounds like a great idea to me. I may even apply for the job. Can't wait to read your comments on this idea.

Yours in Mis-Chief Officer success,

Claudia

According to an article written by John Pallatto, columnist for eWeek, there are several reasons why this marriage would not be viable:

1. Such a buy-out would create tension between Oracle and some other big names in the CRM space -- like SAP, IBM, and even arch nemesis, Microsoft. Somehow, I don't think that would bother Larry Ellison.
2. Why would Oracle want MORE CRM software? That is perhaps the better question. Oracle is still digesting PeopleSoft and all of its CRM capabilities and they have their own homegrown CRM products. All need to be integrated. Siebel's products are fairly redundant with what Oracle already has.
3. Then there is the question of whether Tom Siebel, whose ego is no small thing, could swallow his pride and do what is best for his shareholders before the prospects for the company dim even further.
4. Of course, you have to question whether or not another multibillion dollar deal would strain Oracle's financial position too much. They have been busy little beavers buying up a number of companies so their financial position is not to be taken lightly.

Finally, how would Sieble's customers react to such a deal? Probably not with great cheers and sighs of relief, huh?

Maybe we should rekindle the rumor that Carl Icahn is buying the company? That would keep everyone talking for at least a day.

Yours in BI success,

Claudia

For years, corporations have battled to get a consistent, complete and accurate single view of the customer -- the mantra of CRM. Vendors have taken note of this struggle and have jumped into the fray with CDI hub products. Gartner defines these products as having the following characteristics:

1. Support for the global identification, linking and synchronization of customer information across heterogeneous data sources
2. Creation and management of a central, database-driven system of record (this one is important)
3. Ability to deliver a single view of the customer.

They analyzed many products claiming to be CDI hub products and came up with their new quadrant based on their results. The magic quadrant has as an x-axis - completeness of vision and as a y-axis - ability to execute. The resulting graphic is divided into four quadrants: niche players (lower left), challengers (upper left), visionaries (lower right), and leaders (upper right). Vendors want to be in the upper right quadrant -- leaders who are best in their completeness of vision with the ability to execute on that vision.

According to Gartner, no one is a leader in CDI hub technologies. Siebel just squeaked over the line into the challenger quadrant from the niche one; the rest were either niche players (VisionWare, Dendrite International, SAP and Oracle) or visionaries (Siperian, Initiate Systems, SeeBeyond, and DWL). Several other vendors were -- as Gartner put it -- "on the periphery of the CDI hub market - Acxiom, D&B, IBM, Innovative Systems, Kalido, and Purisma to name a few.

Gartner goes on to say that the market is immature and, except in some well-established verticals like healthcare, the products are suitable for early adopters only. You will have to decide whether you want to take a chance on these new technologies or build a database (operational data store) of integrated customer data yourself.

Yours in BI success,

Claudia