Daily News Archive

Please note that The Daily News is publishing (hopefully) twice a week for the foreseeable future due to time constraints.

Monday, November 27th

"We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems." -- Lee Iacocca

 

The Picks of the Day

The Digital Ice Age

“The documents of our time are being recorded as bits and bytes with no guarantee of future readability. As technologies change, we may find our files frozen in forgotten formats. Will an entire era of human history be lost?”

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4201645.html

[This is a very interesting article.]

 

How Americans Are Living Dangerously

“We pride ourselves on being the only species that understands the concept of risk, yet we have a confounding habit of worrying about mere possibilities while ignoring probabilities, building barricades against perceived dangers while leaving ourselves exposed to real ones. Six Muslims traveling from a religious conference were thrown off a plane last week in Minneapolis, Minn., even as unscreened cargo continues to stream into ports on both coasts. “

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1562914,00.html

[This is an interesting article.  It talks about how we worry about the wrong risks in general.  For example contracting Avian Flu yet we still don’t get a standard flu shot.]

 

'No such thing as an IT problem'

“’At Disneyland], there's no such thing as an IT problem. It's always a business problem,’ he said, describing the approach to IT that his CIO adopts. ‘We believe that IT or IT security, by itself, has little value. It's how you apply IT in relation to the business that matters.”

http://www.zdnetindia.com/news/business/stories/162198.html

 

IT Process Improvement / Quality Management

Gartner warns of impending IT training crisis

“The problem stems from the appointment of the APM Group in July as the new accreditation body for IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) examination and training.  Analyst firm Gartner predicts that this will result in two competing computing training programmes after June 2007.”

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2169068/gartner-warns-impending

[Note that this is a topic that varies depending on who you talk to.  One group thinks problems are imminent.  Another believes that APM, ISEB and EXIN will work out a deal.  One person even told me that APM and EXIN were close to an agreement already.]

 

ITIL-based service management no picnic, survey finds

“Analysis of 80 respondents to a survey at the IT Service Management Forum (itSMF) Australia conference earlier this year showed that while many companies have begun introducing ITIL-based standards management, hardly any have managed to complete the process.”

http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/7319/53/

 

Risk Mitigation Considerations for Backup and Restoration Processes

This white paper covers controls for ensuring reliable backup and recovery capabilities.

http://www.spaffordconsulting.com/Risk Mitigation Considerations for Data Backup Processes_gs_050606_v1d.pdf

 

Legal and Regulatory Compliance

Restatements: Stupid Human Tricks?

“Speaking at a session of the recent Financial Executives International conference on current financial-reporting issues, Taub said that 55 percent to 60 percent of the errors triggering recent misstatements were ‘simple misapplications of [generally accepted accounting principles] or books and records problems.’”

http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/8313894?f=alerts&x=1

 

Sarbox Rollback Report Due November 30

“Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson — who claims the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is having an ill effect on U.S. competitiveness and the nation's audit firms — could receive documented support for his theory next week from a blue-ribbon committee he formed earlier this year.  The Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, an independent group Paulson introduced in September, is expected to release a study on November 30 that promotes the rollback of Sarbox.”

http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/8313658?f=alerts

 

Security and Risk Management

Segregation of Duties Spreadsheet Template

This spreadsheet can assist organizations who are reviewing their organizational structures and processes for segregation of duties issues.

http://www.spaffordconsulting.com/SOD_060506_v1.xls

 

Expert says RP online security very low

“Online business growth in many parts of Asia, particularly in the Philippines, is at risk due to poor online security according to a marketing consultant group.”

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/nov/27/yehey/techtimes/20061127tech1.html

 

Human Error / Safety

Global warming already killing species, analysis says

“Animal and plant species have begun dying off or changing sooner than predicted because of global warming, a review of hundreds of research studies contends.  These fast-moving adaptations come as a surprise even to biologists and ecologists because they are occurring so rapidly.”

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/11/21/climate.species.ap/index.html

 

High court to hear global warming case

“The Supreme Court hears arguments this week in a case that could determine whether the Bush administration must change course in how it deals with the threat of global warming.  A dozen states as well as environmental groups and large cities are trying to convince the court that the Environmental Protection Agency must regulate, as a matter of public health, the amount of carbon dioxide that comes from vehicles.”

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-11-26-scotus-global-warming_x.htm?csp=34

 

Appalachian Trail could be 'canary in coal mine' for eastern U.S.

“Passing through 14 states and eight national forests from Georgia to Maine — including a 90-mile stretch through Massachusetts — it's also a living laboratory that could help warn 120 million people along the Eastern Seaboard of looming environmental problems.  That's why a diverse group of organizations has launched a project to begin long-term monitoring of the environmental health of the trail, with plans to tap into an army of volunteer ‘citizen scientists’ and their professional counterparts.”

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2006-11-25-appalachian-trail_x.htm?csp=34

 

Energy Firms Come to Terms With Climate Change

“While the political debate over global warming continues, top executives at many of the nation's largest energy companies have accepted the scientific consensus about climate change and see federal regulation to cut greenhouse gas emissions as inevitable.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/24/AR2006112401361.html

 

Outsourcing / Globalization / International

NYSE CEO Thain heading to China to lure listings, explore Asian expansion

“Thain, who has been at the helm of the New York Stock Exchange for three years, has his eyes set on Asia as the next step in his plan to build a global financial marketplace. The NYSE's US$13 billion combination with the Paris-based Euronext exchange is expected to be approved soon by European regulators, setting up a shareholder vote there on Dec. 19.”

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/headline_news/article.jsp?content=b112611A

 

Outsourcing a done deal with very few able to rebuild in-house capability

“Once an organization outsources, it is a mammoth task rebuilding in-house capability, or insourcing. In fact, of all the companies in Australia that have outsourced a mere 23 per cent have brought services back in-house, according to a Gartner study undertaken last year.  The preference is to incrementally outsource elements of the business rather than bring it all back in-house. With big bang outsourcing deals a thing of the past, selective sourcing is being driven locally by IT skills shortages and the desire to free up staff and resources.”

http://www.arnnet.com.au/index.php/id;773701421;fp;2;fpid;1

 

Foreign firms see wisdom in outsourcing to rural U.S.

“There’s nothing terribly novel about sending jobs to smaller U.S. cities, said Harold Sirkin of Boston Consulting. . . . But there is a trend toward higher-level jobs being sent to rural America, particularly from overseas, Sirkin said. The reasons are the same as always: flexible hours, employees with strong work ethics and relatively low wages.”

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/business/16102254.htm?source=rss&channel=journalgazette_business

 

Execs, Wonks Debate India's Economy

“A potential water shortage and the spread of HIV infections pose some of the biggest risks to India's economic future, the country's finance minister said Sunday as business executives from around the world discussed the opportunities and challenges facing its booming economy.”

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/061126/india_economic_summit.html?.v=1

 

Economics / Business / Misc.

Nuclear fusion deal 'victory for humanity'

“Representatives of more than 30 countries signed a deal on Tuesday to build the world's most advanced nuclear fusion reactor, aimed at developing a cheap and abundant energy source as the end of fossil fuels looms.”

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/11/21/nuclear.fusion.reut/index.html