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Risk, resilience and liability in complex cloud systems
'); document.write('“Just imagine if a major cloud service provider had a ‘Lehman moment’, with everyone’s data there on Friday and gone on Monday...” That’s what the authors ask us to do on page 2 of “Beyond data breaches: global interconnections of cyber risk”. It appears that some users of the Dedoose cloud-based...'); document.write('
Walkin\' Dog Blues
'); document.write('Never mind the mutually beneficial relationship created over thousands of years. Never mind them guarding you and yours. Never mind their ability to recognise human emotions. Never mind their ability to sense ill health and disease. Never mind the crazy, funny stuff they do. Never mind you no...'); document.write('
Business lessons from a 19th century railroad manager
'); document.write('Marketer Seth Godin: “Without a doubt, the ability to connect the dots is rare, prized and valuable. Connecting dots, solving the problem that hasn\'t been solved before, seeing the pattern before it is made obvious, is more essential than ever before.” Back in 1854, Daniel McCallum must have had a...'); document.write('
OBASHI Mindmap explaining OBASHI Methodology
'); document.write('Link to mindmap explaining OBASHI Methodology: OBASHI Mindmap Waiting for comments and feedback!...'); document.write('
Business, data flow and the U.S. cybersecurity standard
'); document.write('Here at OBASHI a point made regularly is that, Today as governments, businesses, and individuals we are increasingly reliant on flows of data, in nearly all aspects of our daily lives. Which means it is becoming ever more essential that standards for these flows of data are agreed and regulated. W...'); document.write('
OBASHI and \'Service\' layer?
'); document.write('This is my first day as an OBASHI \'thinker\'.... I am indeed very keen to embrace the OBASHI model in my organisation, but I feel there is one piece missing in this jigsaw which I need to resolve before moving forward. Coming from an ITIL background, I would have expected a \'Service\' layer between t...'); document.write('
Data flow disasters and the world’s ‘bumpy ride’
'); document.write('“More data flow disasters are inevitable – which means, because we as individuals are ever more reliant on flows of data to live our lives, some of us are going to share that pain. So don’t get comfortable...strap yourselves in. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.” A couple of years ago I argued in “...'); document.write('
IBM CEO Ginni Rometty on data flow
'); document.write('Throughout history understanding various flows has been critical to the successful implementation of new technologies and subsequent economic development. As we state in Chapter 3 of The OBASHI Methodology: “...Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution an understanding of flow – firstly flo...'); document.write('
Technology and trust in the financial markets
'); document.write('I used to think that we were good at designing systems. We would phase test them, user test them, stress test them and more, and eventually we would roll out the system and it would work. And life was good. In his blog, “Bank systems are not safe (anymore)”, Chris Skinner reflects on the reliabi...'); document.write('
Data flow disasters and public confidence
'); document.write('When large businesses suffer major problems related to information technology, the bad news often hits the headlines, usually because a lot of money has been spent. One example in the past few weeks is the cancellation of the BBC’s £100 million Digital Media Initiative, which was intended to tran...'); document.write('
The need for a common language in cybersecurity
'); document.write('In addressing, “Cyber Security and Global Interdependence”, Dave Clemente of Chatham House discusses the ‘security implications emerging at the intersection of cyberspace and infrastructure’. One of his conclusions is that, “Meeting these security challenges requires better shared understanding of...'); document.write('
The Legal Entity Identifier, Data Provenance and OBASHI
'); document.write('In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the finance industry is working on a number of regulatory initiatives, including Solvency II, Basel III and Dodd-Frank. Fundamentally, the aim of these various initiatives is to reduce risk, be it insolvency risk in the EU insurance companies, liquidi...'); document.write('
Finance IT problems around the world
'); document.write('On New Year’s Eve 2012, late afternoon, customers of three of the UK’s largest banks were unable to withdraw cash or use internet banking - some complaining that account balances were incorrectly showing ‘00.00’. There can’t be many worse times for such a “glitch” to occur, and the (further) dama...'); document.write('
Why does finance need a Legal Entity Identifier?
'); document.write('During July we attended the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, for the formation and launch of the Financial Stability Board’s (FSB) Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) Private Sector Preparatory Group. The group was created by the FSB in response to a call from the leaders of the G20 countries to procee...'); document.write('
Die Hard, data flow and the CyberCity
'); document.write('The other day, a little behind the times, I watched the fourth of the series of ‘Die Hard’ movies. Detective Lieutenant John McClane had his hands full yet again, battling devious cyber criminals in Washington D.C. The bad guys set out to ultimately do a bit of electronic money pilfering, and a...'); document.write('
Data flow disasters around the world
'); document.write('As 2012 draws to a close, businesses of all kinds, in all parts of the world, continue to suffer ‘data flow disasters’. Here at OBASHI, “data flow disaster” is the term we use for an event where a flow of data is interrupted or compromised, so that there is a negative impact on those who use or in...'); document.write('
Asset failure and flow
'); document.write(' “Assets will always fail at some point, and with any asset failure there is a chain of consequential loss which is triggered by an originating event.” Last year, I discussed the vulnerability of the modern city to interruptions in the various critical supply flows that keep it going. When key f...'); document.write('
Business and the best laid schemes
'); document.write('One of the most famous works of Scotland’s national bard, Robert Burns, is “To a Mouse”. During 1785, on a bleak winter’s day, Burns addressed a field mouse whose home he accidentally turned up with his plough. In the poem, the bard praises the ‘foresight’ of the mouse in building the ‘cozie’ n...'); document.write('
Business and flow
'); document.write('A point we make regularly here at OBASHI is that in today’s digital world, it is important to understand how data flows through and between businesses. We occasionally blog about “data flow disasters” - events that occur when a flow of data is interrupted or compromised, so that there is a negati...'); document.write('
Capabilities, perceptions and risk
'); document.write('Legal Risks on the Radar, is an annual survey, published in the U.S. by Corporate Board Member and FTI Consulting. The 2012 report researches attitudes to current legal issues among ‘two critical governance groups’: public company directors and corporate general counsel (GC). Amongst other thin...'); document.write('
Holding the CxO to account
'); document.write('Over at the FSClub Blog, Chris Skinner summarises a discussion he had with a senior manager in finance about bank operations. He writes, “...most firms struggle with enterprise management. It is down to the very nature of fragmented structures, legacy systems, merged and acquired operations, that...'); document.write('
Blood flow, data flow, and OBASHI
'); document.write('One of the analogies I sometimes use to describe how understanding data flow is becoming ever more important in business, is that of the doctor understanding blood flow through the human body. Medical professionals have a clear understanding of the vascular system, which carries blood, and how it ...'); document.write('
NASA, finance, and the engineering approach
'); document.write('There is an interesting juxtaposition between the brilliant success of NASA landing the Curiosity Rover on Mars last week, and the recent ‘software glitch’ at Knight Capital, which nearly wrecked the company. NASA projects like Curiosity are highly complex and highly dangerous, yet, when we consi...'); document.write('
A few more data flow disasters
'); document.write('“Data flow disaster” is the term we use here at OBASHI for an event where a flow of data is interrupted or compromised, so that there is a negative business impact on those who use, or interact with, that flow of data. During what has been an extraordinary few weeks for major IT problems, there h...'); document.write('
Standards and data flows
'); document.write('Three assertions that I hold to be true: The understanding of the flow of data is fundamental to an organization’s financial well-being. [more] Business resources, including people and IT assets, are either providers of data, consumers of data, or they provide the conduit through which the data c...'); document.write('
What explains the IT problems in banks?
'); document.write('The citizens of both California and Japan live in the shadow of ‘The Big One’ – earthquakes of catastrophic and devastating power that will inevitably occur, one day. Before these events, numerous ‘foreshocks’ will take place, smaller earthquakes, associated in time and space with the ‘mainshock’...'); document.write('
Technology risk and governance
'); document.write('“Technology Risk Management Guidelines”, is a research paper published by The Monetary Authority of Singapore. The objective of the guidelines is, “to promote the adoption of sound processes in managing technology risks and the implementation of security practices”, in regulated financial institu...'); document.write('
Is the financial system becoming too complex to depict?
'); document.write('As I walked away from the bank HQ 6 years ago, Han Solo’s famous Star Wars quote came to mind, “I got a bad feeling about this” During the meeting I’d just attended, a manager from the bank had explained how some transactions with other financial institutions occurred. The transactions were very ...'); document.write('
The simple big picture helps communication
'); document.write('“So how does that bridge work?” A few years ago, one summer evening I was with my son and daughter, wandering the shore of the River Forth, the majestic road and rail bridges towering over us. “Which one?” “The curvy one”“The road bridge, that\'s a suspension bridge. The four big posts hold u...'); document.write('
Data is lifeblood
'); document.write('In Chapter 3 of the OBASHI Methodology, we describe how understanding various flows has been critical throughout economic history: 1770s - mechanisation, factories, and canals – water 1830s - steam engines, coal, and iron railways – steam 1870s - steel and heavy engineering, telegraphy, refrigera...'); document.write('