tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35551284089355978352024-03-05T12:10:16.001+04:00VEXSTO - Do IT ProfessionalVEXSTO is multinational management consulting company. We work with top executives to help them make better decisions, convert those decisions to actions and deliver the sustainable success they desire.Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comBlogger100125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-34978260825134567822023-05-24T14:46:00.005+04:002023-05-24T14:49:41.136+04:00Cryptography and crypto<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghSf9HHjnBnYvC2Ho9hIL2E2bdLjDgIhMzpy3HYlFbODLTz3HfT_rDFiHkjY_2JIuohVR2tQ-UXDDqqsJjAaBopAWlDAwC7igJTHR-SvzaVynliPWUmtpye98rDduhn9L61DbmjCD-Gk523byfjTuWoj0haPbByzrtkQP1YZ3RkkuZG5qN8-Uh1gv9/s320/Cryptography2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="213" data-original-width="320" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghSf9HHjnBnYvC2Ho9hIL2E2bdLjDgIhMzpy3HYlFbODLTz3HfT_rDFiHkjY_2JIuohVR2tQ-UXDDqqsJjAaBopAWlDAwC7igJTHR-SvzaVynliPWUmtpye98rDduhn9L61DbmjCD-Gk523byfjTuWoj0haPbByzrtkQP1YZ3RkkuZG5qN8-Uh1gv9/s1600/Cryptography2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>One of the most crucial components that goes into making contemporary cryptocurrencies and blockchains feasible is cryptography, the study of creating codes and ciphers for safe communication. <div><br /><p></p><p>However, a very long history of development has led to the cryptographic methods that are employed today. Cryptography has been used by humanity to send information securely since the dawn of time. Here is a fascinating history of cryptography that explains how the sophisticated and cutting-edge techniques utilized for current digital encryption came to be.</p><p><br /></p><p>Cryptographic techniques have been used since ancient times, with early civilizations employing symbol replacement as a basic form of encryption. The earliest example of symbol replacement was found in the tomb of Khnumhotep II, an Egyptian noble from 3,900 years ago. It was used to enhance linguistic appeal rather than conceal information. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>The Ancient Roots of Cryptography</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Around 3,500 years ago, Mesopotamian scribes began using cryptography to protect sensitive information, such as concealing a pottery glaze formula on clay tablets.</p><p><br /></p><p>Cryptography was widely used in later periods, including in ancient Greece where messages were encrypted using parchment and cylinders, and in ancient India where spies utilized coded messages.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Romans achieved advanced cryptography with the Caesar cipher, which involved shifting letters by a specific number of places in the Latin alphabet for encryption and decryption purposes.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Developments in the Middle Ages and Renaissance</b></p><p><br /></p><p>During the Middle Ages, cryptography gained importance, with substitution ciphers like the Caesar cipher being widely used. However, cryptanalysis, the science of breaking codes, started to advance, prompting the need for more sophisticated cryptography.</p><p><br /></p><p>Around 800 AD, Arab mathematician Al-Kindi introduced frequency analysis, making substitution ciphers vulnerable to decryption.</p><p><br /></p><p>In response, in 1465, Leone Alberti developed the polyalphabetic cipher, which utilized two different alphabets for encoding, rendering frequency analysis ineffective. This significantly enhanced the security of encoded information.</p><p><br /></p><p>Additionally, in the Renaissance period, new encoding methods emerged, including binary encoding invented by Sir Francis Bacon in 1623.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Advances in More Recent Centuries</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Over the ages, cryptography has become a more sophisticated science. Thomas Jefferson proposed a huge cryptographic advance in the 1790s, but it may never have been realized. His creation, the cipher wheel, was made up of 36 letter rings on rotating wheels that could be utilized for complicated encoding. The Second World War would see the use of this notion as the foundation for American military encryption since it was so far ahead of its time.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Enigma machine, a model of analog cryptography, was created during World War II. This Axis tool, similar to the wheel cipher, uses moving wheels to encrypt messages, making it nearly hard to decipher without another Enigma. The Enigma encryption was eventually broken with the aid of early computer technology, and the successful decryption of Enigma signals is still regarded as a crucial element of the eventual Allied victory.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Cryptography in the Computer Age</b></p><p><br /></p><p>The advent of computers led to significant advancements in cryptography compared to earlier analog methods. Modern encryption relies on strong 128-bit mathematical encryption, surpassing the security of ancient and medieval ciphers. In the 1990s, computer scientists began developing quantum cryptography as a new form of encryption to further enhance protection.</p><p><br /></p><p>Cryptographic techniques have also played a vital role in enabling cryptocurrencies. Technologies such as hash functions, public-key cryptography, and digital signatures are utilized to secure data stored on blockchains and authenticate transactions. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin utilize the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) for enhanced security, ensuring that funds can only be accessed by authorized individuals.</p><p><br /></p><p>Cryptography has made remarkable progress over the past 4,000 years and shows no signs of stopping. As long as there is a need to safeguard sensitive information, cryptography will continue to advance. While the cryptographic systems employed in modern blockchains represent cutting-edge technology, they are built upon a rich historical tradition spanning back through human history.</p><div><br /></div></div>Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-76456011551075146402022-03-18T14:12:00.006+04:002022-03-18T14:17:25.345+04:00Non-fungible tokens (NFTs)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjT8_byq7MoOK2VU7TeB2w9i3vfuRRSJL3QTEEXpre-IaDoHxSsR4J5R4WXDD7g2eKFe-kP_pi2_bHzfJxkp0dywRl8sSZ1dl6vHShCETRsZSa6OZk2GpRwEa3ZrANhh-ymKm08gwRd-edntFMOZCmgUHo_vv03ilNtjXKQ2fo0Peg8VBBN8RXsKEif=s600" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjT8_byq7MoOK2VU7TeB2w9i3vfuRRSJL3QTEEXpre-IaDoHxSsR4J5R4WXDD7g2eKFe-kP_pi2_bHzfJxkp0dywRl8sSZ1dl6vHShCETRsZSa6OZk2GpRwEa3ZrANhh-ymKm08gwRd-edntFMOZCmgUHo_vv03ilNtjXKQ2fo0Peg8VBBN8RXsKEif=s320" width="320" /></a></div>A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique identifier that can cryptographically assign and prove ownership of digital goods. <p></p><p><br /></p><p>As NFTs for digital artwork have sold for millions — sometimes tens of millions — of dollars, to say they're popular could be an undersell. In the first half of 2021, NFT sales hit $2.5 billion. </p><p><br /></p><p>However, once you understand how NFTs work, you'll see there are additional use cases for this technology.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>What is an NFT?</b></p><p>NFT stands for "non-fungible token." At a basic level, an NFT is a digital asset that links ownership to unique physical or digital items, such as works of art, real estate, music, or videos. </p><p><br /></p><p>NFTs can be considered modern-day collectibles. They're bought and sold online, and represent a digital proof of ownership of any given item. NFTs are securely recorded on a blockchain — the same technology behind cryptocurrencies — which ensures the asset is one-of-a-kind. The technology can also make it difficult to alter or counterfeit NFTs.</p><p><br /></p><p>To really get a handle on NFTs, it's helpful to get familiar with the economic concept of fungibility.</p><p>- Fungible items can be exchanged with one another with ease because their value isn't tied to their uniqueness. For example, you can exchange a $1 bill for another $1 bill, and you'll still have $1 even though your new bill has a different serial number. </p><p>- Non-fungible items aren't interchangeable. With NFTs, each token has unique properties and isn't worth the same amount as other similar tokens. </p><p><br /></p><p>So why are people shelling out so much money for NFTs? "By creating an NFT, creators are able to verify scarcity and authenticity to just about anything digital," says Solo Ceesay, co-founder and COO of Calaxy. "To compare it to traditional art collecting, there are endless copies of the Mona Lisa in circulation, but there is only one original. NFT technology helps assign the ownership of the original piece."</p><p><br /></p><p>Selling NFTs has been a lucrative business in the art world. Here are a few examples you may have heard about:</p><p>- Digital artist Beeple sold "Everydays — the First 5000 Days" for $69.3 million through a Christie's auction.</p><p>- A 20-second video clip of LeBron James "Cosmic Dunk #29" was sold for $208,000.</p><p>- A CryptoPunk NFT sold for $1.8 million at Sotheby's first curated NFT sale.</p><p>- Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey auctions an NFT of his first tweet, which sells for $2.9 million.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><blockquote>Note: The high-priced and headline-making NFT craze is also attracting scammers and fraudsters, so investors should beware. Some may try to sell you something and tell you it's an NFT when it's not. Others may claim they have the right to sell an NFT of a piece of work they don't own and didn't create.</blockquote><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Other people may be able to make copies of the image, video, or digital item that you own when you buy an NFT. But, similar to buying a unique piece of art or limited-series print, the original could be more valuable.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>How NFTs work </b></p><p>Many NFTs are created and stored on the Ethereum network, although other blockchains (such as Flow and Tezos) also support NFTs. Because anyone can review the blockchain, the NFT ownership can be easily verified and traced, while the person or entity that owns the token can remain pseudonymous. </p><p><br /></p><p>Different types of digital goods can be "tokenized," such as artwork, items in a game, and stills or video from a live broadcast — NBA Top Shots is one of the largest NFT marketplaces. While the NFT that conveys ownership is added to the blockchain, the file size of the digital item doesn't matter because it remains separate from the blockchain.</p><p><br /></p><p>Depending on the NFT, the copyright or licensing rights might not come with the purchase, but that's not necessarily the case. Similar to how buying a limited-edition print doesn't necessarily grant you exclusive rights to the image. </p><p><br /></p><p>As the underlying technology and concept advances, NFTs could have many potential applications that go beyond the art world. </p><p><br /></p><p>For example, a school could issue an NFT to students who have earned a degree and let employers easily verify an applicant's education. Or, a venue could use NFTs to sell and track event tickets, potentially cutting down on resale fraud.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>What's the difference between NFTs and cryptocurrency?</b></p><p>NFTs and cryptocurrencies rely on the same underlying blockchain technology. NFT marketplaces may also require people to purchase NFTs with a cryptocurrency. However, cryptocurrencies and NFTs are created and used for different purposes. </p><p><br /></p><p>Cryptocurrencies aim to act as currencies by either storing value or letting you buy or sell goods. Cryptocurrency tokens are fungible tokens, similar to fiat currencies, like a dollar. NFTs create one-of-a-kind tokens that can show ownership and convey rights over digital goods.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>How to buy an NFT </b></p><p>You can buy, sell, trade, and create NFTs from online exchanges or marketplaces. The creator or current owner may choose a specific price. Or, there may be an auction, and you'll have to bid on the NFT. </p><p>- Foundation: A community-curated marketplace that requires creators to be invited by other creators who are already part of the platform. </p><p>- Nifty Gateway: An art-focused marketplace that works with big-name brands, athletes, and creators. </p><p>- OpenSea: One of the first and largest marketplaces where you can find NFTs for a wide-range of collectibles. </p><p>- Rarible: Offers a range of NFTs with an emphasis on art. Uses its own RARI token to reward members.</p><p>- SuperRare: A marketplace that focuses on curating and offering digital art.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><blockquote>Important: NFTs can be highly speculative assets. Some people have made thousands or millions of dollars selling NFTs. Others may wind up spending a lot of money for a digital asset that winds up being worthless.</blockquote><p></p><p><br /></p><p>The sign-up process can vary depending on the marketplace. Generally, you'll buy NFTs using a cryptocurrency, such as ether (Ethereum's native cryptocurrency), although the price may also be listed in dollars. Depending on the marketplace, there may be different fees associated with each transaction.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>The bottom line</b></p><p>While there may be many practical applications for NFTs in the future, they're primarily used with digital art today. </p><p><br /></p><p>"For creators, NFTs create a seamless way to sell digital art that might not have much of a market. Additionally, there are ways in which creators can get paid fees for each subsequent sale of the art," says Ceesay. "On the flip side, collectors are able to speculate on digital art as well as have bragging rights on rare collectibles on the chain."</p><p><br /></p><p>If you're considering purchasing an NFT as an investment, know that there's no guarantee it will increase in value. While some NFTs sell for thousands or millions of dollars, others may remain or become worthless.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nft-meaning" target="_blank">https://www.businessinsider.com/nft-meaning</a></p>Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-34408574550889290542021-11-12T18:47:00.005+04:002021-11-12T18:52:14.964+04:00What is SAFe?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0PaY83uhccr_NP1PVWxwTbM2SejagKqaa5gExfM6m1P0108Exu4P5cswf13N-5rgv3OQbp0POD4VV_vQwRvVIzlMMCHqxbBLYSFA-VrUG7pjB2xXCGpAv8JhJCHGrxwWhAfFoQv3x-_I/s600/scaled-agile-framework.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0PaY83uhccr_NP1PVWxwTbM2SejagKqaa5gExfM6m1P0108Exu4P5cswf13N-5rgv3OQbp0POD4VV_vQwRvVIzlMMCHqxbBLYSFA-VrUG7pjB2xXCGpAv8JhJCHGrxwWhAfFoQv3x-_I/s320/scaled-agile-framework.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>If your organization is seeking efficient project delivery, decreased time-to-market, and increased stakeholder value, then the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) may be right for you.<div><br /></div><div>Larger organizations tend to move more slowly — and be more change-resistant — than smaller, more nimble competitors. Much of this can be chalked up to deep-rooted cultural issues of being a larger incumbent, and to policy- and process-based barriers, as bureaucracy tends to flourish in broader corporate environments.</div><div><br /></div><div>Still, many larger organizations seek to capture the benefits of agile development, for which they may not be naturally suited. The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is a powerful tool that can be adopted to help larger organizations overcome issues that negatively impact project success.</div><div><br /></div><div>SAFe offers large organizations a framework for becoming more agile so that their deliverables can reach the market faster. Here is an overview of SAFe and its benefits and principles, as well as tips on how to effectively implement the framework and its methodologies.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)</b><p>The Scaled Agile Framework encompasses a set of principles, processes, and best practices that helps larger organizations adopt agile methodologies, such as Lean, Kanban, and Scrum, to develop and deliver high-quality products and services faster. SAFe is particularly well-suited to complex projects that involve multiple large teams at the project, program, and portfolio levels.</p><p>SAFe provides larger organizations with a way to leverage the benefits of Scrum and Kanban in a more scalable way. It enables larger organizations to manage projects with a higher degree of agility, offering a way for stakeholders across multiple groups to get feedback faster. This accelerated feedback loop leads to higher engagement levels, increased productivity and job satisfaction, and improved work quality.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>SAFe principles</b></p><p>SAFe is built on nine key principles derived from existing Lean and agile principles:</p><p></p>1. Take an economic view to allow for optimal lead time while providing the best quality and value.<br />2. Implement systems thinking into all facets of development.<br />3. Assume market and technical variability by preserving choices and encouraging innovation.<br />4. Build incrementally with fast, integrated learning cycles that allow customer feedback and reduce risks.<br />5. Base milestones on objective estimation and evaluation of working systems to ensure there is an economic benefit.<br />6. Limit the amount of work in progress, decrease batch sizes, and manage queue lengths to enable continuous flow.<br />7. Apply cadence (timing), synchronize with cross-domain formation to recognize business opportunities and allow for corrective action as needed.<br />8. Unlock the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers to reach their unseen potential.<br />9. Decentralize decision-making to become more agile and effective.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>SAFe 5.0</b><p>The current version, SAFe 5.0, focuses on Lean enterprise and business agility as well as the following five core competencies:</p><p><b>Lean agile leadership</b>: Lean agile leaders drive change and operational excellence, leading by example to help ensure teams reach their potential. This involves modeling SAFe’s Lean agile mindset, principles, and practices.</p><p><b>Team and technical agility</b>: Teams must possess certain vital skills and adhere to Lean agile practices to create well-designed solutions quickly. Ensuring the technical agility of teams is especially important, as they are the ones who ultimately perform the actual work that will be delivered to your customers.</p><p><b>DevOps and release on demand</b>: The establishment of a continual, ongoing pipeline for deliverables is vital for creating value to meet your customers’ needs.</p><p><b>Business solutions and Lean systems engineering</b>: The more organizations facilitate Lean agile practices to drive blueprints, development, and deployment, the more innovative they can be.</p><p><b>Lean portfolio management</b>: A sound organizational strategy that includes financial considerations, portfolio management and compliance-related aspects is essential to SAFe success.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>SAFe agile methodologies</b></p><p>Teams often use SAFe to scale agile methodologies such as Lean, Kanban, and Scrum. The key is recognizing SAFe is about scaling up in larger teams and organizations and complex projects versus smaller ones that don’t necessarily require the SAFe framework. SAFe doesn’t change the principles of the other methodologies.</p><p><b>Kanban</b> focuses on ongoing collaboration and fosters an environment of continuous learning and improvement. It uses visual boards and cards to help teams see complete, in progress, and outstanding tasks.</p><p><b>Lean development (LD) </b>focuses on reducing waste while maximizing output and increasing stakeholder value. Lean follows seven key principles: reduce waste, improve quality, share knowledge with others, remain in a state of continuous improvement and faster turnaround.</p><p><b>Scrum</b> uses interactive sessions or “30-day sprints” to determine prioritized tasks. Small teams may be assembled to focus on specific tasks independently and then meet with the Scrum master to evaluate progress or results and reprioritize backlogged tasks.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>SAFe vs. DAD vs. LeSS</b></p><p>While SAFe focuses on alignment, teamwork, and provisioning across a large number of agile teams, there are other popular frameworks for scaling agile at larger organizations, including Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS) and Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD). It is important to understand each of these frameworks so that your organization can select the best option for your projects.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>SAFe</b>: Practitioners created the Scaled Agile Framework by investing in three main bodies of knowledge: agile software system development, systems thinking, and Lean product development. It has been a well-recognized approach to scaling agile practices.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD)</b>: DAD is focused on the end-to-end lifecycle of products, from inception to delivery. It is driven by seven principles: delight customers, be awesome, pragmatism, context counts, choice is good, optimize flow, and enterprise awareness.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS)</b>: LeSS focuses on getting all teams seeing the entire product rather than taking the view from a “my part” perspective.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>SAFe agile process flow</b></p><p>There are 12 general processes organizations should follow to implement SAFe, although it is important to note that each step should be modified as needed to fit your organizational needs.</p><p></p>1. Recognize and communicate the need for change: Many factors may prompt the need for organizational change, including shifts in industry legislation, best practices, or desired goals. Company leadership needs to identify and communicate the business reasons for the shift to SAFe, and then mentor and motivate stakeholders to ensure all activities are aligned with the vision for change.<br />2. Identify and train change agents: Leadership must identify people across the organization who can be change agents and facilitate their training as Certified SAFe Program Consultants. These change agents will be responsible for training business leaders and other stakeholders in SAFe practices and processes.<br />3. Get executives and managers on board: Executives must also be trained so they can model behavior around the same Lean agile views and practices.<br />4. Create a Lean agile center of excellence: Creating a center of excellence (CoE) will help ensure companywide optimized performance rather than simply practicing agile project management within specific domains.<br />5. Identify value streams and agile release trains (ARTs): Value streams refer to the value that a business provides its customers, while ARTs are the agile teams that develop solutions that create value. It is this combination of people, internal processes, and technology that will deliver value to your customers.<br />6. Prioritize and roadmap: Goals must be prioritized and a roadmap must be set to accomplish the vision for your SAFe transformation. Implementation involves selecting the first value stream, then selecting the first ART, and repeating this process.<br />7. Define parameters for each ART launch: Define the ART, set deadlines, assemble agile teams, train personnel, and perform readiness assessments. It’s also important to undertake backlog program preparation.<br />8. Train teams and ensure everyone understands their role: The individuals that work as a team to develop the business systems are essential to each ART’s success. Everyone must fully grasp their role and possess the skills to do their job successfully.<br />9. Execute your ART: Proper execution relies on excelling at iteration planning, backlog refinement, daily standups, iteration reviews and system demo, and iteration retrospectives, as well as Scrum-of-Scrums, PO Sync, and ART Sync.<br />10. Launch more ARTs and value streams: Subsequent, prioritized ARTs should be launched as above, by training teams, coaching ART execution, and giving each ART the necessary time and effort to succeed without skipping steps or diligence.<br />11. Extend to the portfolio level to lead business transformation: It is time now to apply all of the above steps at the portfolio level to set the overall culture, improve companywide performance, and increase goal attainment.<br />12. Sustain and improve operational effectiveness company-wide: Continued success depends on seeking ways to take advantage of new opportunities and find improvements. Business leaders should also be operating with a continuous Lean agile mindset.<br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.cio.com/article/3434530/what-is-safe-the-scaled-agile-framework-explained.html" target="_blank">https://www.cio.com/article/3434530/what-is-safe-the-scaled-agile-framework-explained.html</a></div><p></p></div>Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-89131948132391152021-10-12T13:30:00.006+04:002021-10-12T13:34:38.184+04:00Using A 'Walking Skeleton' To Reduce Risk In Software Innovation<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSHPPIYzYOssm5xlvi_9rSU3DYxo2fXsXMFqRsLSEYILorGduO0LchD-dIv7yZrFqNDkbELpu6gaok4gauc2CmxHyXjIaz4AevOvA-OCHBSwAr6dlcjROFQeLVP_vnRWhyphenhyphen42RAidSARoQ/s600/ws2.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSHPPIYzYOssm5xlvi_9rSU3DYxo2fXsXMFqRsLSEYILorGduO0LchD-dIv7yZrFqNDkbELpu6gaok4gauc2CmxHyXjIaz4AevOvA-OCHBSwAr6dlcjROFQeLVP_vnRWhyphenhyphen42RAidSARoQ/s320/ws2.png" width="320" /></a></div>A common pitfall development teams face when first transitioning to using Scrum is holding onto parts of their old processes. This is especially difficult for teams that are used to a waterfall model, where technical design and architectural implementation are the very first steps after the specification is written. One instinct people new to Scrum have is to keep the technical design and architecture phase up front and then move to a Scrum process for the remainder of the project.<p></p><p><br /></p><p>The problem with doing both Scrum and waterfall is that you’re then actually doing neither — and you definitely aren’t capitalizing on all agile has to offer. There’s a reason that BDUF (big design up front) is a problematic term in agile circles. One of the key advantages of agile is that it lets customers change their minds whenever they want. If a large portion of the design is completed up front, requirements and choices can’t change as easily.</p><p><br /></p><p>But does that mean that Scrum teams are doing NDUF (no design up front)? The answer: nope. Doing NDUF can also cause problems that can affect the long-term success of a project. For instance, say you write a bunch of code that works but doesn’t actually support what you need it to do because there wasn’t enough upfront thinking. The worst thing you could do would be to keep that code and try to make it work.</p><p><br /></p><p>Instead, the best compromise is SDUF (some design up front). With SDUF, teams can make several fundamental upfront decisions before writing the first line of code. This helps everyone stay on the same page and establishes clear parameters for success. These types of decisions are typically more challenging to change down the line — for example, foundational choices like the technology, framework, languages, patterns and practices.</p><p><br /></p><p>Another important step teams can take to set their project up for success and reduce risks is to create a walking skeleton.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>What Is A Walking Skeleton? </b></p><p>A walking skeleton is a basic set of code that acts as a “starter pack” for the development team. It’s a lightweight application framework without any product-specific functionality but that is still runnable and can exemplify the fundamental architectural patterns. Think of it as the simplest thing that can possibly work.</p><p>Completing a walking skeleton before the first sprint provides development teams with several important advantages:</p><p></p><span> </span>- It puts some architectural building blocks together, exhibiting structure and patterns.<br /><span> </span>- It establishes the fundamental technologies and proves the basics work.<br /><span> </span>- It provides fodder for continuous integration and automated deployment.<br /><span> </span>- It can establish a common framework.<div><br /><p></p><p>However, the biggest benefit of creating a walking skeleton is that it allows development teams to immediately focus on new product functionality. Before the first sprint even begins, you’ve already proven that your walking skeleton will run in a production-like environment, and you’ve established the automation necessary to support ongoing development.</p><p><br /></p><p>But more than that, having a walking skeleton prior to the first sprint can help reduce risks and head off problems.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>How Does A Walking Skeleton Reduce Innovation Risks? </b></p><p>By having a deployable framework ready from the very beginning, you can identify and deal with problems before they become unmanageable. Discovering a problem on day zero gives you options and time to explore that problem. If you start down the path of making your walking skeleton work in a production-like environment and end up running into issues, at least you now know that problem exists — and problems you know you have are much better than problems you don’t know you have.</p><p><br /></p><p>After all, one of the biggest criticisms of Scrum is that it can cause teams to paint themselves into a corner by not taking the long-term vision into account. In reality, Scrum gives teams the opportunity to think long term and act short term — and the walking skeleton can help establish the framework for that long-term thinking.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Where Do I Get A Walking Skeleton? </b></p><p>There are a few possible sources for creating a walking skeleton:</p><p></p><span> </span>1. Borrow from past products your team has already built, and strip them down for this new purpose.<br /><span> </span>2. Seek out a template, either internal or community-based.<br /><span> </span>3. Build from scratch.</div><div><br /><p>If you decide to go with option No. 3, make sure you minimize the process. Ideally, a newly built walking skeleton shouldn’t take more than two to four weeks. Keep in mind that you just want to build enough to get going so you can spin up a framework and get end to end with source code.</p><p><br /></p><p>The greatest challenge in software development is that we’re almost always doing something that no one else has ever done before. By beginning with a walking skeleton, Scrum teams can enjoy the flexibility and focus of the Scrum process with the risk protection of minimal planning ahead.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2020/01/02/using-a-walking-skeleton-to-reduce-risk-in-software-innovation/" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2020/01/02/using-a-walking-skeleton-to-reduce-risk-in-software-innovation/</a></p></div>Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-7411788012250463872021-08-16T17:31:00.006+04:002021-08-16T17:31:55.347+04:00Shu-Ha-Ri in Agile<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi5axCUPQGh82I-kgRHIvQ6yHuDh4L8Zo5Ra7rXNtDTD3OgEmYZaQu0xRMOhFnFf2jjazGEjgpNVT3Zi-dQ8FBxiT0ncIqQpz4_VChtYWkhbr-YLwUZ6CVAl9SPIpZuLtf1OKbqRSusU4/s600/shuhari.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi5axCUPQGh82I-kgRHIvQ6yHuDh4L8Zo5Ra7rXNtDTD3OgEmYZaQu0xRMOhFnFf2jjazGEjgpNVT3Zi-dQ8FBxiT0ncIqQpz4_VChtYWkhbr-YLwUZ6CVAl9SPIpZuLtf1OKbqRSusU4/s320/shuhari.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The concept of <b>Shu-Ha-Ri</b> originates from the Japanese martial art Aikido. Here the meaning:<p></p><p><br /></p><p>Shu (守) "protect", "obey"—traditional wisdom—learning fundamentals, techniques, heuristics, proverbs</p><p><br /></p><p>Ha (破) "detach", "digress"—breaking with tradition—detachment from the illusions of self</p><p><br /></p><p>Ri (離) "leave", "separate"—transcendence—there are no techniques or proverbs, all moves are natural, becoming one with spirit alone without clinging to forms; transcending the physical.</p><p> </p><p>The Shu-Ha-Ri model can be adapted not only to martial arts. This is a perfect metaphor for the development of Agile teams.</p><p> </p><p>Shu - We strictly follow the rules of agile. I see that as having all the agile ceremonies, and following the guidelines for these e.g. your stand up follows the pigs and chickens rules, everyone answers the “3 questions”, and it is time-boxed to 15 minutes. This should be done until everyone, and I think the key word here is everyone, is comfortable with those “forms”.</p><p><br /></p><p>Ha - Now that everyone is comfortable with the basic forms, we can start to tweak/make amendments to them. Looking at the example above, maybe now we look at our stand ups, and change the timing of it, or go through each story rather than each member of the team. Doing this, we can see what works and what doesn’t work — retrospectives would play a big role in this section.</p><p><br /></p><p>Ri - We have moved away from the “out of the box” structure and mechanisms and we have become the rule.</p>Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-82450989772961040812021-05-06T21:21:00.008+04:002021-05-06T21:29:35.204+04:00Why Agile Is Eating The World<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5P4t7GxQ_a1V8nyu-l2cAkDQuCgFD9utNyhTpzAJorkhF9wCO2Sb66U_h5S9dOlmudoqIobAOIuS9HjWj3J3TAQ5SMb9S8QrVHc63MfW0dZKY0nLB43qu3wKf3KR-BHS1j75sopxHDGs/s600/agile-project-management.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU-Ap2pnB_T7Yeni5hQMNTvY__wSkU9RlDcrrrNmaVHWdNWgk4Ur9Zgl6NZtrIEuTTw2RS5CblJk90FqhKInj5byR9xtve0kukHMDWCua-xd1nS3K0efmSetFHnNYt5irGxND9MV5eGPI/s600/agile-project-management.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU-Ap2pnB_T7Yeni5hQMNTvY__wSkU9RlDcrrrNmaVHWdNWgk4Ur9Zgl6NZtrIEuTTw2RS5CblJk90FqhKInj5byR9xtve0kukHMDWCua-xd1nS3K0efmSetFHnNYt5irGxND9MV5eGPI/s320/agile-project-management.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>In 2011, Marc Andreessen wrote his famous essay, “Why Software Is Eating the World,” in The Wall Street Journal, leading to the cliché that “every company needs to become a software company.” (A useful update by Jeetu Patel on the situation in 2016 is here: “Software is still eating the world.”)<p></p><p><br /></p><p>In one way, Andreessen’s 2011 article was remarkably prescient. In 2011, IT firms were looked down on by Wall Street. Andreessen was telling Wall Street: “Pay attention! These companies are more valuable than you think they are.” And Wall Street listened. In 2018, the five biggest companies in the world by market capitalization are IT firms: Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft.</p><p><br /></p><p>But it turned out that Andreessen was only half right. It's not that all software is eating the world: General Electric has just proved that in a spectacular fashion: It invested heavily in software and the result. After five years, the CEO and his top lieutenants were terminated. Similar developments are under way at Intel, P&G and HP.</p><p><br /></p><p>It turns out that it’s not just software that’s’ eating the world. Firms are learning the hard way that software requires a different way of running the organization to be successful. Firms have to be nimble, adaptable, able to adjust on the fly to meet the shifting whims of a marketplace driven by the customer. This kind of management was—and is—beyond the capabilities of the lumbering industrial giants of the 20th Century. It is firms that are truly agile that are eating the world (whether or not they call themselves by the label "Agile").</p><p><br /></p><p>In fact, many of the big successful IT firms don't use the label “Agile” to describe the way they are run. Instead they talk about "the Google way" or "our startup culture." Of the big five, Microsoft is the exception in making an explicit commitment to the label “Agile.”</p><p><br /></p><p>But whatever label is used, the successful software firms are all recognizably implementing the substance of Agile—a focus on delivering value for customers, working in small teams in short cycles, and networked organizational arrangements rather than top-down bureaucracy and silos. It’s the firms that invest in software while retaining the top-down 20th Century management practices and structures that fail.</p><p><br /></p><p>As a result, the world is entering a new age: the age of Agile. An unstoppable revolution is now under way in our society, affecting almost everyone. Agile organizations are connecting everyone and everything, everywhere, all the time. They are capable of delivering instant, intimate, frictionless value on a large scale. They are creating a world in which people, insights, and money interact quickly, easily, and cheaply. For some firms, the revolution is uplifting and beautiful. For others, it is dark and threatening.</p><p><br /></p><p>Dazzling examples of the new way of running organizations are everywhere apparent. It’s not just the five biggest firms by market capitalization: Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft. It’s also firms like Airbnb, Etsy, Lyft, Menlo Innovations, Saab, Samsung, Spotify, Tesla, Uber and Warby Parker. At the same time, what is lifting some companies is killing others, as the big, lumbering market=leading bureaucracies miss game-changing transformations in industry after industry.</p><p><br /></p><p>Simply put, it’s Agile, not just software, that is eating the world. As usual, with any massive social change, there’s good news and bad news. Let’s begin with the good news.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Good News #1: Customers Take Charge</b></p><p><br /></p><p>The winning firms are those that deliver instant, intimate, frictionless value for customers.. A world in which people, insights, and money interact quickly, easily, and cheaply is a world that has transformed human life—everything is easier and more convenient. It’s difficult for young people today even to imagine the world of just thirty years ago. How did people get by with no cell-phones and no Internet? It sounds downright archaic, like the world before the wheel was invented.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Good News #2: The End Of Wage-Slavery</b></p><p><br /></p><p>With the great gains in material prosperity that were steadily generated by the Industrial Revolution from the late 1700s onward, it was easy to overlook the fact that they involved a dark bargain: in essence, large numbers of the human race agreed to sell themselves into wage slavery. Rightly or wrongly, they agreed to be treated like slaves while at work. While they were in the workplace, they agreed to follow orders, even if those orders were demeaning, stupid or just plain wrong, i.e. slavery. To be sure, there was some interesting work to be had in some parts of some organizations. But they were the exceptions. What was valued was diligent following of orders.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, although slavery was abolished in the political sphere by the mid-19th Century, it continued in the workplace in the form of wage-slavery, even if few were willing to call it that. The reluctance to face this social reality stemmed from the economic fact that wage-slavery was useful: it led to a huge improvement in material prosperity for most of society, at least for most of the developed world. The fact that it led to spiritually crimped existence for much of the human race was just a regrettable side-effect of “progress.”</p><p><br /></p><p>Wage-slavery as an economic model thus continued from the late-18th Century until the late 20th Century. Then something went wrong. It turned out that wage-slaves could not deliver what the economy now needed. In a marketplace disrupted by globalization, deregulation, knowledge work and new technology, firms now required initiative, innovation, commitment, smarts, passion--the very opposite of wage-slaves.</p><p><br /></p><p>As a result, a new kind of management was needed to enable this new kind of worker. Some called this way of running an organization “Agile.” Some used other labels. But whatever it was called, it wasn’t just a new process. It was a fundamentally different way of running organizations. It was economically more productive. And it has immense potential benefit for the human spirit. It can create workplaces that enable human beings to contribute their full talents on something worthwhile and meaningful—creating value for other human beings.</p><p><br /></p><p>The end of slavery in the political sphere was a big deal. The end of wage-slavery in the workplace is also a pretty big deal.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>The Bad News: A New, Darker Gilded Age</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Yet as with any massive social change, there are also downsides. A summary of the issues is set out by David Dayen in an insightful article in American Prospect, “Big Tech: The New Predatory Capitalism.” He argues that “The tech giants are menacing democracy, privacy, and competition” and asks: “Can they be housebroken?”</p><p><br /></p><p>Thus, the successful exponents of software and Agile are becoming so successful that they are now emerging as a threat to a free society, in the much same way, mutatis mutandis, that the big industrial companies of the late 19th Century (rail, oil, steel) became a threat to society and had to be broken up the trust-busters like President Theodore Roosevelt. A similar scenario needs to occur with the big IT firms. That’s a job for the public sector. Dayen's article sets out the agenda. True, it's hard to see how all this will happen in the current political environment. But it has to happen, if a free society is to survive.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Today’s Necessity: Embrace Agile</b></p><p><br /></p><p>For the private sector, waiting for anti-trust action is not a solution. Continuing the management practices and structures of the lumbering industrial giants of the 20th Century won’t cut the mustard. To survive, let alone thrive, firms today must learn to embrace the new business reality: they are entering the age of Agile.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2018/01/02/why-agile-is-eating-the-world" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2018/01/02/why-agile-is-eating-the-world</a></p>Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-53997649799235974302021-02-06T21:06:00.011+04:002021-02-06T21:15:54.341+04:00Understanding The Agile Mindset<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEittyzyRAX7gSpTQ_V4WVqAIaBEYqgZDf-EwCxyHiMudU_9-DFYp6kIfjXMCj63_xMgMeIePnd-tz26QZK9g0o341dHPkWyPVivRiUloHQtblRe9Gn5eeOJvAkJ780EW9e4Eb-ePE5tD5g/s600/AgileMindset.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEittyzyRAX7gSpTQ_V4WVqAIaBEYqgZDf-EwCxyHiMudU_9-DFYp6kIfjXMCj63_xMgMeIePnd-tz26QZK9g0o341dHPkWyPVivRiUloHQtblRe9Gn5eeOJvAkJ780EW9e4Eb-ePE5tD5g/s320/AgileMindset.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />The Agile management revolution is transforming the world of work. It took off in software development in 2001 and is now spreading rapidly, under various labels, to all parts and all kinds of organizations, including the five largest and fastest-growing firms on the planet. It is truly a Copernican revolution in management. As Professor Julian Birkinshaw declared in 2016, we have entered the age of Agile. Agile firms are now capable of delivering instant, intimate, frictionless value at scale. In case you hadn’t noticed, everything is different.<p><br /></p><p>A striking feature of the revolution is the widespread view among Agile practitioners that success in Agile management depends on an Agile mindset. Initiates’ enthusiasm for that expression has sometimes sounded to outsiders like a pledge of allegiance. Such enthusiasm, while stimulating for practitioners, has often turned off newcomers, who sense or fear they are entering a cult.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>What Is An Agile Mindset?</b></p><p>As to what “having an Agile mindset” means, things were initially unclear. Some resorted to the Supreme Court’s approach to defining pornography: “You know it when you see it.” Yet over time, the nature and content of the Agile mindset have clarified, particularly by way of contrast to the bureaucratic mindset that is still prevalent in many large organizations.</p><p>Practitioners are thus said to have an Agile mindset when they are preoccupied—and sometimes obsessed—with innovating and delivering steadily more customer value, with getting work done in small self-organizing teams, and with collaborating together in an interactive network. Such organizations have been shown to have the capacity to adapt rapidly to a quickly shifting marketplace.</p><p>By contrast, managers in traditionally run organizations are often said to have a bureaucratic mindset when they are primarily preoccupied with making money for the company and its shareholders, when they are organizing work according to rules, roles and criteria that they determine, and when they are operating the organization as a top-down hierarchy with multiple layers and divisions.</p><p>The bureaucracy that ensues from such a mindset often finds it hard to adapt to a world in massive rapid change.</p><p>The two different kinds of mindsets exert a powerful influence on the behavior of their respective organizations and can be seen as having the de facto force of organizational laws, as shown here.</p><p>It’s not that those with a bureaucratic mindset don’t care about the customer: it’s just that they generally focus more on making money for the company and its shareholders. Nor do they never use teams; it’s that in a bureaucracy, self-organizing teams are the exception, not the rule. Nor is operating as a network unknown in a bureaucracy: it’s just that maintaining the pyramid of layers and divisions is seen as more important.</p><p>A bureaucratic mindset, when shared by tens of thousands of staff, tends to create a radically different—and less adaptable—kind of organization than one peopled by those with an Agile mindset.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>My First Encounter With The Agile Mindset</b></p><p>The profoundly pragmatic Agile Manifesto of 2001 makes no mention of any “Agile mindset.” My 2010 book, The Leader's Guide to Radical Management, talked about attitudes, approaches, points of view and philosophies but it didn’t mention “mindset” either.</p><p>I first came across the term “mindset” in 2015 when the member firms of the Learning Consortium were trying to describe what they had learned in a series of site visits to firms like Microsoft, Ericsson, and Menlo Innovations who all said they implementing varieties of “Agile management.”</p><p>In those discussions, we asked ourselves: what exactly were these firms doing and why? We were puzzled by the many variations in principles and practices that we observed, as well as by the fact that some firms seemed to embody the spirit of Agile without ever using the Agile label.</p><p>What did these firms have in common? We were struck by one thing: managers in successful firms seem to speak and act differently from those in the less successful firms. When managers spoke and acted in this way, benefits seemed to flow even if there were shortfalls in processes, practices or systems. By contrast, when managers spoke and acted in a more traditional bureaucratic manner, few if any benefits seemed to flow, even when the firms were implementing Agile processes and practices according to the book.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>What was going on?</b></p><p>In our discussions in the Learning Consortium, Menlo Innovations CEO Rich Sheridan suggested a term that might encapsulate what we were trying to describe: these managers could be said to have “an Agile mindset.” Those who didn’t, didn’t. And that was the central conclusion of our 2015 report.</p><p>In fact, the term, “Agile mindset” had been pioneered at least five years earlier in 2010 by Agile thought-leader Ahmed Sidky, as depicted in his brilliant diagram below, which shows the Agile mindset as preceding, and even driving, the values and principles of the Agile Manifesto.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindset</b></p><p>Even earlier, in 2006, Stanford psychology professor Dr. Carol Dweck had popularized the term, “mindset” in her best-selling book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (Random House, 2006). She distinguished between a Fixed Mindset and a Growth Mindset. The Fixed Mindset was one in which “I believe that my intelligence, personality, character, are inherent and stale. locked down or fixed. My potential is determined at birth. It doesn’t change.” By contrast, a Growth Mindset was one in which “I believe my success is based on hard work, learning, training, and doggedness.” Dweck offered educational research showing that teaching practices based on a Growth Mindset got better results than those based Fixed Mindset.</p><p>Some Agile practitioners have equated the Agile mindset with Dweck’s Growth Mindset. That is an unusual usage, as it would appear to omit the main elements of the Agile management revolution—the focus on customers, small teams and networks. Dweck’s own research is thus more concerned with individual education than management.</p><p>Two further concerns about Dweck’s work should also give pause to those equating the Agile mindset with the Growth Mindset. One is that Dweck’s research has, despite multiple efforts, yet to be replicated—a key requirement to establish its validity in its original field of education, even before exporting it to management.</p><p>Another is that the management examples cited in her wide-ranging book appear somewhat the opposite of Agile management. The Growth Mindset is said to have led Jim Collins’ firms from Good to Great and its heroes are said to include Jack Welch at GE and Lou Gerstner at IBM. Meanwhile, the Fixed Mindset is cited as the reason behind the failures of Lee Iaccoca at Chrysler, Albert “Chainsaw Al” Dunlap at Sunbeam, Steve Case of AOL Time Warner; and Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling of Enron. In such boldly expansive writing, one has to wonder whether the concepts of Growth and Fixed Mindset have been stretched from their original concept beyond breaking point.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Douglas McGregor’s Theory Y</b></p><p>The Agile mindset is also often associated with the work of MIT management professor Douglas McGregor. His Theory Y, in which managers are encouraged to trust and support their people to do the right thing, is opposed to Theory X, under which managers distrust their employees and tell them what to do. McGregor’s book The Human Side of Enterprise (1960) is an application of the concept of mindset before the term itself became popular.</p><p>While the Agile mindset is congruent with the Theory Y mindset, it goes considerably beyond it. Thus McGregor remained neutral on the roles of the customer vs. the shareholder, the hierarchy vs the network, and even Theory X vs Theory Y. His approach offered a way of looking at the issues rather than solving them and was more influential among humanistic thinkers than it was among managers. In the decades following 1960, firms focused steadily more on downsizing and shareholder value. Theory X came to dominate, while Theory Y remained a largely unrealized ideal.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Gil Broza: Multiple Mindsets?</b></p><p>Gil Broza in his interesting book entitled The Agile Mindset (3P Vantage Media: 2015) wrote that a leader may have multiple mindsets – Agile, Waterfall and Lean – and may choose the appropriate mindset according to the task at hand as if choosing which pair of clothes to wear on a particular day.</p><p>The elements of the Agile mindset, however—the prioritization of customers over shareholders, of self-organizing teams over boss-driven individuals, and of networks over top-down hierarchies—are not the kind of viewpoints that are likely to change on a daily basis. Nor are the objects of the Agile mindset amenable to adjustment on a moment’s notice. There is thus much to be said for the view that you either have an Agile mindset or you don’t.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Agile As A Professional Mindset</b></p><p>It may be better to think of the Agile mindset as something akin to the mindset of a profession, such as that of a lawyer, a doctor or an economist. Thus, lawyers, doctors, and economists think about certain problems in characteristic ways. They notice certain kinds of information, data, and concerns in their respective subjects. They analyze the issues in their respective ways. They pursue their respective kinds of solutions. These different ways of thinking, perceiving and acting as lawyers, doctors, and economists, are acquired over years of training and practice, which in turn generate characteristic attitudes, values, modes of thought and approaches to problems. Professional mindsets are not things that can be acquired overnight or a two-day training course.</p><p>Similarly, those managers with an Agile mindset also pay attention to certain kinds of information, data, and concerns. They analyze problems in particular ways. They tend to pursue certain kinds of solutions—focusing on value for customers, working in small teams and operating as a network. Their ways of thinking, perceiving and acting are often acquired over a period of years of practice. We should not be surprised that the Agile mindset too isn’t something that can be acquired overnight or a two-day training course.</p><p>What we are talking about with the Agile mindset is the emergence of management itself—finally—becoming a real profession.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>The Nature Of The Agile Mindset</b></p><p>The Agile mindset is an attribute of practitioners more than theorists. It is pragmatic and action-oriented more than a theoretical philosophy. It goes beyond a set of beliefs and becomes a tool for diagnosis and the basis for action. It tends to be built on the hard-won knowledge of experience and crafted from the lessons of trying to cope with massive change in the face of incomprehensible complexity.</p><p>The Agile mindset might also be called a framework, a paradigm, or a common model. Yet “mindset” seems a better choice of word, reflecting a coherent tradition of exploration, paths of analysis and patterns of reasoning.</p><p>The Agile mindset reflects ways of thinking that have developed over time. It is a certain cast of mind that emphasizes some things over others. It should continue to grow and evolve. It reflects attitudes and viewpoints that tend to endure. Over time, it leads to people being seen as having a certain makeup or character. Once we have understood the Agile mindset, we can anticipate types of behavior that should occur.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Lessons From Earlier Shifts</b></p><p>Big, deep, epochal changes of the kind we are now undergoing have led to deep changes in society before, such as Copernicus’ revolution in astronomy in 1539 and Sir Frances Bacon’s revolution in science in 1620. In those intellectual revolutions, we can see that the processes and practices varied, but in each case, the change was driven by a constant mindset. We can also see that in each case, change was initially resisted and full adoption by society took a very long time. Fake versions of the change were also continuing problems. Yet in the end, resistance was futile. The better mindset proved stronger than society and prevailed.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Agile of course is more than a mindset. It includes many different values, principles, and practices. But what is important is the human intelligence, the sensibility, and the values that are driving those processes, practices, and systems. They may be used for good or evil. They may lower and dehumanize humanity or to uplift and sustain it. Understanding the Agile mindset may help us attain the latter.<p></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2019/08/13/understanding-the-agile-mindset">https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2019/08/13/understanding-the-agile-mindset</a></p><p><br /></p><br />Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-59217122387923208512020-12-11T17:32:00.003+04:002020-12-11T17:38:35.991+04:00Explaining Agile To Your Boss? Here’s How<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih4-461RJHr3xsXm3FfTR2TAdjjx6CVsVDpru1gg88J-EN__tK-TVJDXgB80CXWWaOOl77z5rVQZx_-iHLWJLXO9PSgGGUa3lk0-6lODxMY_7v0otkQMmmsAiaBFoO2t5eJnhdOIyAgao/s600/Agile-Project-Management.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih4-461RJHr3xsXm3FfTR2TAdjjx6CVsVDpru1gg88J-EN__tK-TVJDXgB80CXWWaOOl77z5rVQZx_-iHLWJLXO9PSgGGUa3lk0-6lODxMY_7v0otkQMmmsAiaBFoO2t5eJnhdOIyAgao/s320/Agile-Project-Management.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Business agility is a complex multidimensional concept, as shown in the table below. Explaining each dimension to a traditional boss is more likely to result in mental overload and frustration than comprehension, even if he listens to the whole explanation, which itself is unlikely. Can the magic of metaphor help?<p></p><p><br /></p><p>The first impulse in searching for a metaphor is often to look for something agile like an acrobat, a ballet dancer or a squirrel. This usually doesn’t help because it gives no clue that the concept of the Agile enterprise has come to mean a great deal more than the English adjective, “agile.”</p><p><br /></p><p>Nevertheless, metaphors can help to illuminate Agile’s key principles. Here are several possibilities. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>1. The Goal Of The Firm: A Copernican Revolution</b></p><p><br /></p><p>In terms of the goal or ideology of the firm, business agility implies a shift from a focus on making money for the firm to a focus on delivering more value to customers.</p><p><br /></p><p>It is akin to the Copernican Revolution in astronomy in which we realized, contrary to the evidence of our own eyes, that the Earth is revolving around the Sun, not vice versa. This changed not only astronomy but the society as a whole: social phenomena like the Divine Right of Kings and the Roman Catholic Church started to look implausible once we realized that the Earth is no more than a speck of dust in a much vaster universe. Everything began to look different.</p><p><br /></p><p>Similarly the business agility revolution involves the realization that in a complex and rapidly changing world, the firm revolves around the customer, not vice versa. Everything the firm does now has to be viewed from how it affects the customer, not just whether it made money for the firm. “Delighting the customer” is no longer just a slogan: the whole organization needs to be mobilized in this cause.</p><p><br /></p><p>Making money becomes the result of the firm’s activities. Happily though, as the experience of Agile firms like Amazon shows, delighting the customer makes more money for the firm and its shareholders than explicit efforts to make money off the customer.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>2. Architecture Of Work: U.S. Football Vs. Basketball</b></p><p><br /></p><p>In terms of the architecture of work, business agility involves a shift from bureaucracy—i.e. individuals filling roles and reporting to bosses—to a mode of operation that draws on the full talents of staff, often through small self-organizing teams working in short cycles. This shift is similar in some ways to the difference between American football and basketball.</p><p><br /></p><p>The 20th century corporation is in some ways like an American football team, which in the NFL is tightly controlled by a “coach” who makes all the decisions about strategy, about who will play, about how the players will play and about what specific plays they will make. In fact, play is stopped every few seconds to enable these top-down decisions to be communicated to the players.</p><p><br /></p><p>By contrast, an Agile corporation is more like a basketball team in which the players play as a set of sub-teams (offense and defense) within an overall team. The coach is a real coach and stays off the field of play. Decisions about how to play and what specific moves to make are the responsibility of the players.</p><p><br /></p><p>This in turn leads to a very significant difference in actual playing time. In basketball, a two-hour game has at least 60 minutes of playing time. By contrast, a 3-hour game of American NFL football has only 11 minutes of actual playing time.</p><p><br /></p><p>This phenomenon closely resembles the difference between bureaucracy and agility. In a bureaucracy, often more than 50% of the time is spent reporting on work that has been done, is currently being done or will be done in the future, rather than actually doing work that adds value to some client. By contrast, in Agile enterprises, most teams have a clear line of sight to the customer; any work that is not adding value to a customer is questionable. As a result, real waste is systematically eliminated.</p><p><br /></p><p>It also illustrates how identical words can have radically different meanings. For instance “coach” means something radically different. In soccer, a coach is actually a coach who sits on the sidelines and lets the players play, while in American football, a coach is a commander and controller who, though also sitting on the sidelines, is actively deciding every play—a quintessential micromanager.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the same way, the term “manager” means something very different in a bureaucracy as compared to an Agile enterprise. Part of the transition from bureaucracy to business agility involves not only learning the new meanings of apparently familiar words but also changing the behaviors associated with those words. This obviously doesn’t happen overnight. As social theorist Thomas Kuhn suggested, it can be like “entering a new world.” The firm becomes much more productive because it is drawing on the full talents of those doing the work, and who are in constant contact with customers. In such firms, human beings are creating more value for other human beings.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>3. The Firm’s Dynamic: PC Vs. iPhone Apps</b></p><p><br /></p><p>In terms of the dynamic of the firm, a 20th Century firm is like a 20th century PC: its components operate separately as separate computer programs. To get anything done, you have to close one program and open another. The programs didn’t interact well with each other. The very structure of the system gets in the way of getting anything done.</p><p><br /></p><p>Similarly the silos of a 20th century firm are often in competition with each other. As former general Stan McChrystal explains in his book, Team of Teams. I, there were “very provincial definitions of purpose: completing a mission or finishing intel analysis, rather than [winning]. To each unit, the piece of the war that really mattered was the piece inside their box on the org chart; they were fighting their own fights in their own silos. The specialization that allowed for breathtaking efficiency became a liability in the face of the unpredictability of the real world.”</p><p><br /></p><p>By contrast, the dynamic of an Agile firm resembles the apps of an IPhone. The apps interact easily with each other as a result of predefined interfaces. The apps are “always on”and interact almost immediately.</p><p><br /></p><p>In an Agile organization, the artificial barriers between different parts of the organization are eliminated. The firm operates as a network, where ideas and information can flow up or down or horizontally as needed, not just top-down. Instead of teams and units being at odds with each other, now the firm becomes a set of teams that interact with and collaborate with other teams with the same connectivity, interaction and passion as they do within their own small team. As a result, once the manager accepts the new way of doing things, there is much less pressure on the manager.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2020/08/23/explaining-agile-to-your-boss-heres-how">https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2020/08/23/explaining-agile-to-your-boss-heres-how</a></p>Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-14986193450526574632020-02-27T16:16:00.004+04:002020-03-06T09:15:06.953+04:00Data Security Solutions for Fintech Startups<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEkRTzTlNVxaHGlyUm8r4YpUMwhuKgSH6wt9pj0VW0UA6REKkNmtScYSYlRSo16k_mxhLTh5E7qNxBBVkoiTPwCb_KZhXJuCeIpyb65rl3I62heCZ2y0knLg_cmEGDmAuGfCH70sPyNgE/s1600/fintech-big-data-evolution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEkRTzTlNVxaHGlyUm8r4YpUMwhuKgSH6wt9pj0VW0UA6REKkNmtScYSYlRSo16k_mxhLTh5E7qNxBBVkoiTPwCb_KZhXJuCeIpyb65rl3I62heCZ2y0knLg_cmEGDmAuGfCH70sPyNgE/s400/fintech-big-data-evolution.jpg" title="Data Security Solutions for Fintech Startups" width="400" /></a></div>
The fintech sector has brought consumers an endless stream of modern offerings that have enabled them to ditch several outdated banking and lending products.<br />
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Companies now have advanced B2B payment solutions at their fingertips, and online financial solutions have never been more convenient - largely thanks to the progress made by fintech startups.<br />
But, despite being on the cutting edge of digital financial products, young fintech companies are at a disadvantage in a wildly important arena: data security.<br />
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<b>Table of Contents</b><br />
<br />
- What is Data Security?<br />
- The Importance of Cyber Security in Fintech<br />
- Data Security Challenges Faced by Fintech Startups<br />
- Modern Fintech Data Security: Trends and New Innovations<br />
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With limited resources, growing compliance regulations around the world, and a constantly-evolving list of increasingly dangerous cyber threats, fintech startups face a uniquely difficult uphill battle.<br />
And, with data breaches continuing to leer as an ever-present security threat, fintech firms are turning to new and advanced approaches to data privacy.<br />
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But, first, what do we mean when we talk about data security for startups?<br />
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<br />
<b>What is Data Security?</b><br />
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<b>Data security</b> is the process of protecting digital assets - like information stored in a database - from unauthorized access by unapproved actors.<br />
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When we refer to data security, we’re simply talking about the set of standards and technologies that protect your business’ data. These days, data security is a fundamental aspect of IT at any modern organization.<br />
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From encryption and tokenization to cloud storage, data security technologies run a wide spectrum - and a number of advances have been made in recent years. This progress has been in response to, though not quite as speedy as, the growing sophistication of large-scale cybersecurity threats - like <b>data breaches</b>.<br />
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In the healthcare sector, for example, Black Book Market Research found that 96% of healthcare IT professionals agreed that data security attackers are outpacing their medical enterprises.<br />
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Healthcare data breaches will cost the industry $4 billion by the end of the year. Next year, by Black Book’s estimates, will be even worse.<br />
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And that’s just the healthcare sector.<br />
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Organizations from all industries are vulnerable to data breaches - especially in the age of ID verification, endless online payment methods and 1-click purchasing.<br />
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Even multinational tech giants have fallen prey, in extremely public ways. Yahoo just reached a $117.5 million class-action settlement with the victims of its infamous 2016 data breach.<br />
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That announcement came on the heels of a $700 million settlement that Equifax reached to deal with the aftermath of a 2017 data leak that exposed the Social Security numbers of almost 150 million consumers.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>We could keep going down the list - data breaches happen, and they happen to organizations with ample resources invested in information security.</i></div>
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What about smaller organizations?<br />
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<br />
<b>The Importance of Cyber Security in Fintech</b><br />
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Financial technology companies have revolutionized the way that consumers bank, how startups reach their customers and how businesses all over the world can run more smoothly.<br />
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Fintech investments took off in the past five years - providing us with simple alternatives to slow, conventional financial solutions.<br />
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Advances in the industry has brought us instant P2P payments, purely-online banking, seamless B2B solutions, innovative lending approaches and products that many businesses and consumers can’t even imagine living without at this point.<br />
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But the global fintech ecosystem’s consistent growth, potency and complexity make it inescapable that some solutions won’t be secure enough to guard against sensitive data exposure. It’s likely that these vulnerabilities will keep getting identified by attackers, then exploited.<br />
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This is a harsh reality that modern businesses are realizing - and starting to invest against.<br />
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We can see this when we look at application security spending. Businesses are pouring money into protecting their applications and the data flowing through them.<br />
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According to Market Research Future (MRFR), the worldwide application security market is expected to reach a staggering $9.64 billion by 2023 - up from just $2.56 billion in 2017. That’s an annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.95%.<br />
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Within this market, SMEs are estimated to be the fastest growing investors in application security, when broken down by type of organization.<br />
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Unfortunately, when it comes to data privacy and protecting sensitive information, fintech startups face a unique set of challenges that make growing their core business an even more difficult endeavor than it already is.<br />
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<b>Data Security Challenges Faced by Fintech Startups</b><br />
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In the world of securing sensitive data and avoiding data breaches, younger organizations in the fintech space have it especially hard.<br />
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Why is that so?<br />
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<b>1. Reliance on sensitive user information</b><br />
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These days, fintech and data analytics go hand-in-hand. From robo advisors to AI-powered saving apps, data-driven technologies have been at the heart of the fintech revolution.<br />
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With fintech products deeply intertwined in modern retail banking, asset and wealth management, capital markets and insurance, organizations in this space are inevitably going to have to handle and store sensitive information from your users.<br />
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From ID verification to processing credit card payments, large volumes of sensitive data will make its way onto the databases of fintech organizations. The mere possession of such sensitive consumer information puts them both at risk of sensitive data exposure and places them within the scope of any number of data privacy laws.<br />
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<b>2. New, updating and evolving data privacy laws</b><br />
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The nature of how fintech startups do business make it so that a lot of sensitive data hits their systems, which attracts the interest of government regulators - who are increasingly focused on protecting consumer data.<br />
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In the last few years, governmental regulatory institutions around the globe have started to take greater steps in protecting the rights of consumers when it comes to their personal information.<br />
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From Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), effective since 2018, to the soon-to-be-implemented California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA), businesses are suddenly needing to juggle compliance certifications for new regulatory frameworks.<br />
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Not only that, but fintech companies that accept or process credit card transactions have already been saddled with the burden of needing to maintain compliance with PCI DSS - a set of requirements that are aimed at preventing credit card fraud.<br />
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<b>3. Limited resources for securing personal data</b><br />
<br />
To successfully prevent data breaches and - simultaneously - meet the complex requirements set forth by legal frameworks like the GDPR, the CCPA and PCI DSS, you’re going to need a team of information security experts and compliance specialists that can create data flow maps, secure your networks and sensitive data storage solutions, ensure that you’re meeting regularly compliance rules… the list goes on.<br />
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Conglomerates have the resources to put towards a large-scale data security effort, but fintech startups have much less at their disposal.<br />
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<b>4. Increasingly sophisticated cyber threats</b><br />
<br />
As mentioned above, even some of the most widely-recognized tech brands have suffered from data breaches. From increasingly sneaky malware to highly-targeted phishing attacks, which skyrocketed 250% higher last year, there are simply too many ways for threat actors to gain access.<br />
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It just takes one team member on the wrong end of a phishing campaign to trigger a sensitive data exposure event - which can ruin a startup-stage business overnight.<br />
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And it’s not just unauthorized malicious actors that fintech startups need to be worried about, as there are threats coming from all angles - even some unexpected ones.<br />
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According to Verizon’s Insider Threat Report, 57% of database breaches involved some kind of insider threat from within an organization. Add that to the possibility of accidental sensitive data sharing and ransomware attacks, and covering all your bases becomes a costly and complex endeavor.<br />
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<br />
<b>Modern Fintech Data Security: Trends and New Innovation</b>s<br />
<br />
Thankfully, advances in the realm of data security have sprung up in recent years, helping relieve much of this pressure faced by fintech startups that need to secure their sensitive data.<br />
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From tokenization to data encryption, fintechs have employed a number of tried-and-true data security methods. Even with innovative approaches like these, however, data breaches are still a probable threat.<br />
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If sensitive data is stored in your database, there is a chance it will be exposed, and there are several avenues through which this could happen.<br />
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Fortunately, VGS has been securing fintech startups’ sensitive data for years using a next-generation data security approach that enables businesses to evade storing sensitive information on their systems altogether - while still enabling businesses to reap all the benefits of the original data.<br />
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This approach is called data aliasing, which is a technique that redacts sensitive information in real-time and replaces it with a synthetic data alias, enabling organizations to offload their data security responsibilities entirely by keeping the original data off their systems.<br />
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Businesses simply put their data security burden in the hands of VGS, which takes care of all sensitive data collection, storage and transfer on their behalf.<br />
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With their systems significantly freed from sensitive data, businesses’ data security and compliance scope is drastically minimized - enabling them to spend time focusing on innovating their products instead of designing a complex data privacy policy.<br />
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<br />
This <a href="https://blog.verygoodsecurity.com/posts/data-security-solutions-for-fintech-startups/" rel="canonical" target="_blank"><b>article</b> </a>was originally posted on <a href="https://blog.verygoodsecurity.com/" rel="canonical" target="_blank"><b>Very Good Security</b></a>.<br />
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Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-2838506730505779682020-01-17T09:52:00.003+04:002020-01-17T09:52:25.152+04:00How To Get Innovation From Service Providers and Vendors<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnTNuiXcTB8BnjKtaDmeqbNdWRQF0ZGboTri3uTzNF5UZeTtlbOmEL6Pu68NSGsp3OTjzk_OY0zKZ5jF0vqQX6vEjdp495DW0ic-piFzGvlXZ9Q6hRKMUs_OcPwkIWAUqugJZo6Bhj21w/s1600/innovation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnTNuiXcTB8BnjKtaDmeqbNdWRQF0ZGboTri3uTzNF5UZeTtlbOmEL6Pu68NSGsp3OTjzk_OY0zKZ5jF0vqQX6vEjdp495DW0ic-piFzGvlXZ9Q6hRKMUs_OcPwkIWAUqugJZo6Bhj21w/s400/innovation.jpg" title="Innovation" width="400" /></a></div>
Companies today hold all business functions to a mandate for innovation. Innovation should create business value (a better experience for employees, customers, and partners). It should create agility and speed. It should make business functions more easily adaptable, easier to change. And it should also lower the cost of the functions over time. The benefits are clear and obvious. But the truth is innovation is illusive and hard to get.<br />
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It’s hard to get because innovation is disruptive. It sets off change. Change is painful. Institutions resist change because it’s ambiguous. Implications cascade across many dimensions and across all components of the operating model.<br />
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Most organizations’ approach to innovation is episodic. Innovation occurs in unexpected and serendipitous ways. Someone uncovers a new technique, a new source of talent or a new relationship with a stakeholder. An executive gets an idea, a vendor brings new technology or a competitor does something to gain an advantage. All these things create opportunities for innovation. But the ability to get an organization and its business processes and functions to adopt it is hard.<br />
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<br />
Because change is so painful, organizations find it easier to maintain the status quo. That’s also the case with vendors and third-party service providers.<br />
<br />
<b>Why Service Providers Don’t Innovate For Customers</b><br />
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One of the most frequent comments we at Everest Group hear when talking to executives responsible for a service line is “We don’t get innovation. We believe that there is more innovation to be had, but it’s very difficult to get our organization (and particularly our vendors) to not only bring us innovative ideas but also do it in their service lines.”<br />
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It’s all very well for a provider or vendor to use an innovative idea to try to take work from other vendors. But that unleashes a huge amount of change. It would be much better if a company’s existing vendors would bring innovation in the services they deliver. Although companies frequently ask for that, they are also just as frequently disappointed.<br />
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Companies find it’s much more desirable to get innovation from their incumbent providers than it is to introduce new providers. They don’t want to go through the expense, dislocation and change management of shutting down one provider and standing up another. But it’s hard to get incumbent providers to innovate. They are not incented to bring innovation. They have an incentive to maintain the status quo. Furthermore, they may have incentives to take costs out, but they would rather capture that cost themselves and increase profit margins than bring it through increasing value. They see innovation as a means to charge more, not do a better job.<br />
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Some providers try to use innovation to open adjacencies and grow new service areas, but fundamentally this is a conflict. Furthermore, providers struggle with revenue compression. Many innovations create efficiencies and, therefore, reduce the amount of revenue they can get for the same function. That creates a conflict of interest for them. Like all businesses, providers want to grow their revenue as well as their profit, but asking them to innovate is asking them to do something that will shrink their revenue, at least in the areas in which they apply it. They operate in a PxQ = R model (price times quantity = revenue). If you shrink the Q, which is the bigger number, the revenue inevitably falls.<br />
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<b>How To Drive Your Service Provider To Innovate</b><br />
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The answer to the innovation dilemma is to think of innovation for every one of your company’s business services (a business process or function) as a journey. Don’t think about trying to drive innovation in big, incremental step changes. That approach is very difficult and ends up<br />
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Think of it on an ongoing monthly basis. Set up an environment in which you bring ideas to the internal organization and the vendor community as to how they can change.<br />
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Recognize that it’s very difficult to do this in step-change functions. That ends up requiring that your company replace its vendors, which I’ve already discussed as not advisable or, at least, only a second option. If you’re looking to drive ongoing innovation out of your incumbent vendors, you need to approach it as a journey.<br />
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Recognize that much of the challenge of innovation is change management. You need data and insight to drive institutional conviction so the organization can understand the benefit and how to overcome resistance and move down that path.<br />
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The innovation journey will involve changes in technology, changes in talent, changes in customer experiences and, eventually, change in the business operating model. Company leaders must digest and understand all that change. Thus, it’s important that you break the journey into small steps, feeding the information in consumable pieces. Helping them understand the change involves a lot of persuasion that needs to happen over time. Ask the organization to do only the change it’s capable of doing at the time.<br />
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The information you’ll need to provide leaders to get institutional conviction requires:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Knowing what changes in technology to present to your vendor and your organization</li>
<li>Recognizing what innovations are happening in the marketplace regarding technology and business processes</li>
<li>Placing that information into the context of the business service the internal organization or service providers deliver.</li>
<li>Understanding where your company’s opportunities are.</li>
</ul>
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All this information requires a source of technology competitive intelligence, peer intelligence and ongoing data and facts to help to drive the change that cascades from innovation.<br />
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Once you have this information on an ongoing basis, you can introduce the necessary data and facts in digestible pieces to maintain institutional conviction regarding innovation opportunities and approaches on an ongoing basis.<br />
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<br />
<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterbendorsamuel/2020/01/14/how-to-get-innovation-from-service-providers-and-vendors" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterbendorsamuel/2020/01/14/how-to-get-innovation-from-service-providers-and-vendors</a>Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-71193695986823183022019-12-06T17:51:00.003+04:002019-12-06T17:51:46.445+04:00Your Tech Is Great - Now, Get Your Employees To Use It<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtLRAWJdn587tzvpLtvRhd-kmTFKe7e3_VTU_LzTADbouJXwEkpDObExS2h6DVo_acdYtDigEBCfq_O3aeFuOw-skOuojXkYUwiNo3gohtlb-czbGLQqOQoPTvO3Ui4zSRPs535NXR0Ho/s1600/Business-Team-Busy-Working-Talking-Concept.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtLRAWJdn587tzvpLtvRhd-kmTFKe7e3_VTU_LzTADbouJXwEkpDObExS2h6DVo_acdYtDigEBCfq_O3aeFuOw-skOuojXkYUwiNo3gohtlb-czbGLQqOQoPTvO3Ui4zSRPs535NXR0Ho/s400/Business-Team-Busy-Working-Talking-Concept.jpg" title="Your Tech Is Great - Now, Get Your Employees To Use It" width="400" /></a></div>
Whether you lead a company, a function or a team, here's a problem you've probably faced: Your company just invested a lot of money in a new technology, which can do 99 things better and faster than the old way, but no one is using it, or they're using just one or two of its capabilities, not all 99.<br />
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This example corroborates the findings in a report published by IDC (via CIO), which stated that "70% of siloed digital transformation initiatives will ultimately fail because of insufficient collaboration, integration, sourcing or project management."<br />
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In marketing, I see it all the time. From my experience, customer-centric modern marketers should be using the latest marketing technology. AI-driven marketing analytics, for example, can help marketers tailor and pace communications for each targeted individual, measure results in real time and alter campaigns on the fly while giving professionals and partners the right data at the right time for strategic decisions.<br />
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But most employees don't have a tech background. Many view the essential eight technologies (including AI and blockchain) as mystifying, not exciting. Plus, they already have jobs to do. They're not thrilled with spending hours at training sessions. Many will drag their feet and do as little as they can with the new tech for as long as they can unless you roll it out just right.<br />
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<b>Give insiders the outsider treatment.</b><br />
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I like to think of my team the way I think of my company's clients, which is as valued individuals whose professional lives I want to make better and more productive. So when we roll out new technologies in-house, we use some of the same strategies that we do with clients:<br />
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•<b> Earn attention</b>. You don't expect clients to be a captive audience. Don't demand it from your employees, either. Instead, make learning a game through engaging apps that turn lessons into friendly competitions. The best of these apps make the competition team-based to strengthen a collaborative mindset.<br />
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• <b>Offer bite-sized pieces</b>. You wouldn't ask clients to sit through hour-long lectures. With your employees, offer apps that provide lessons in bite-sized pieces so they can "nibble" in their spare time. And if those apps are games, these "snacks" will feel like breaks, not extra work.<br />
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• <b>Make it active</b>. Some of the most effective marketing gets people doing something, not just watching. Similarly, the best upskilling apps enable employees to quickly accomplish something with the new tech. People retain 5% of what they hear in a lecture but 75% of what they practice.<br />
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• <b>Be transparent — and humble</b>. You wouldn't keep your clients in the dark or ignore their feedback. Similarly, tell your team exactly what your expectations are, and provide channels for them to say if anything isn't working. And when they talk to you, listen!<br />
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• <b>Win the influencers</b>. In companies, the key influencers aren't social media stars but middle managers. Get those internal leaders on board by demonstrating the new tech's benefits for their teams, giving them some authority over the rollout and listening to their needs.<br />
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• <b>Keep track, and stay agile</b>. Just as modern marketers follow the progress of campaigns in real time and adjust as needed, do the same with your tech rollout. Monitor employee engagement with usage analytics, and be ready to course-correct.<br />
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• <b>Give more power to your people</b>. Make it easy for those who are accountable for business goals to see adoption progress and steer that behavior.<br />
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<b>Everyone is trying it.</b><br />
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Most large companies, by their nature, resist change. But every large company has to change, rolling out newer and better digital technologies and getting its workforce to use them. Even Amazon and Microsoft have recently launched major upskilling initiatives.<br />
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But even if everyone is trying to get its workforce even more digital, many are failing. That's why if you want your company to be a winner of the Fourth Industrial Revolution instead of a casualty, you'll have to do more than offer your employees new opportunities. You need to get your teams excited to learn and use them.<br />
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<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/12/06/your-tech-is-great-now-get-your-employees-to-use-it/#4ca3990240f7" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/12/06/your-tech-is-great-now-get-your-employees-to-use-it/#4ca3990240f7</a>Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-76225593363163787062019-09-03T11:27:00.003+04:002019-09-03T13:34:24.752+04:00How to become a consultant without experience<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdymNTAdn9zd35XlwWnqzN2utcvVWHbOe3kLI0VQ7ATz3c_INIY4r0woDdoHoC02MSwAhbfGQBJCAz-1-i_A2eLyoyGgHcioPYaB3rx1yBfbQ1n9rZARNGmjx-wQDfChjiN0XaVSSgKVA/s1600/How-to-Become-a-Consultant-Without-Experience-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdymNTAdn9zd35XlwWnqzN2utcvVWHbOe3kLI0VQ7ATz3c_INIY4r0woDdoHoC02MSwAhbfGQBJCAz-1-i_A2eLyoyGgHcioPYaB3rx1yBfbQ1n9rZARNGmjx-wQDfChjiN0XaVSSgKVA/s400/How-to-Become-a-Consultant-Without-Experience-2.jpg" title="How to become a consultant without experience" width="400" /></a></div>
<b>Become a Consultant Without Experience</b><br />
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If you are reading this article, you probably have thought about becoming a consultant. You may have one or more reasons, all shared by a surprising number of people in a wide variety of job fields.<br />
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But not many people feel comfortable taking those first steps to pursue their dream of working for themselves and determining their own destiny by becoming a consultant. Therefore, the aim of this article is to offer a few guidelines to show you how to become a consultant without experience.<br />
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<b>Do You Feel Stifled and Powerless?</b><br />
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Maybe you feel stifled in your current job. Maybe you have been hopping from company to company, looking for that elusive perfect opportunity that makes you giddy when you get up in the morning and think about the day ahead. Be honest. When last have you relished the opportunity to get out of bed for work?<br />
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Maybe you feel you have reached a ceiling. Perhaps you want to learn and experience more. Utilize your potential better. Take back the power you have once felt. Or, you simply don’t like your boss very much – it happens!<br />
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<b>What does it take to be a good consultant?</b><br />
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In simple terms, a consultant is a person who gives professional advice to an organization or individuals in a business or field of expertise. To an aspiring consultant, this definition may seem a little daunting. Many people believe that they don’t have the experience to become a consultant. Hence the reference to becoming a consultant without experience in the title of this article.<br />
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However, although you may feel that you don’t have experience to get you going with confidence, I want to stress that experience comes in many forms. It goes without saying that anyone who first starts in a line of work doesn’t yet have the formal practical experience in that position. That comes with time. But what you do have in your corner is a lifetime of knowledge, skills, and observations that you can apply to guide other people. After all, this is what consulting is all about! This is fine, you may think, still, if I decide to get up tomorrow and quit my job, what do I do to become a successful consultant?<br />
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<b>Steps to Become a Consultant</b><br />
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Now that you understand the theoretical context of what consultants do, here are my recommended first steps to become a consultant in less time than you think.<br />
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<b>#1 – Identify Your Strengths & Expertise</b><br />
Even if you think you have insufficient experience to take the leap into consulting, I bet that you have ample strengths and expertise to be able to guide others to success. Take a quiet time away from the hustle and bustle of your life. Turn off distractions like your mobile phone and email. Take a pen and paper or open a word editor.<br />
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Make a list of the knowledge and skills that you have acquired over the years. It may be tools that you have used like software, protocols, or methods. It could be information and knowledge that you have learned in your field, such as how to lead a team, or how to sell products effectively. It may even be inner qualities that you value and have helped you to achieve your goals. Resilience in bad times, encouraging others, or the ability to organize are all examples.<br />
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Start a second list. This time write down the fields or areas of your expertise. Some ideas are leadership of multi-disciplinary teams, sales of consumer goods, marketing of IT products, or design of systems.<br />
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By looking at both lists – they don’t have to be long and exhaustive – you should have a good idea of what, where, and to whom you can offer consultancy services.<br />
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<b>#2 – Specify Your Niche</b><br />
Together with your passion and interests, use your lists of strengths and expertise to specify a niche on which to focus. This will form the basis of how to get into consulting with the quickest turnaround.<br />
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As the consulting world is competitive, clients expect quick and efficient service from their consultant. The best way to achieve this is to focus on a well-defined area that fits your knowledge and skills and has a high demand for good guidance.<br />
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Your niche should be specific enough to enable you to start building a network of potential client from the get-go. Consider the companies and business areas that you know, as well as your existing contacts to choose a niche. As you gain momentum, your focus can change but, for now, select a specialty area that you feel most familiar with.<br />
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<b>#3 – Define Your Goals</b><br />
Your dream has brought you to this point. Now it is time to become more precise so that you can develop an action plan and work toward milestones. Describe at least one medium and one long-term goal. A good framework is 3-12 months for the medium-term goal and 2 to 5 years for the long-term goal.<br />
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Make sure that your goals are SMART, the acronym for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. This means your goals must be realistic. You should be able to know when you have achieved a goal or how much progress you have made at any time. And each goal should have a target date or frequency.<br />
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For instance, stating that you want to offer consulting services to make enough money is much too broad and vague. Instead, you may want to establish 5 paying clients in mid-sized clothing retail companies within 6 months.<br />
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<b>#4 – Research Your Market</b><br />
If you have chosen your niche wisely, based on the knowledge and skills that you already possess, you already have a solid base from which to research your target market. Use the internet and your existing contacts to look for ideas and opportunities. Do not hesitate to ask people for their input. “If there is one thing that someone can do to help you improve your business, what would it be?” This is a very insightful question to ask.<br />
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Divide any segments of your target market that come up. Use a diagram or chart to identify the issues or opportunities that you can help resolve in each of the areas. Keep your solutions brief but specific. Be sure to test your ideas with your contacts and keep refining according to their input.<br />
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If you follow the principles of mindful communication, you will be astonished to see how your contacts grow organically and how eager people are to answer your questions. Especially if they start to notice that you can positively influence their business.<br />
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<b>Two Indispensable Ideas to Become a Consultant in Your Own Field</b><br />
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Now that we have covered the basic steps to follow when you start out on becoming a consultant, let’s talk in more practical terms about building your network and using mindful communication in the process.<br />
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<b>BUILD YOUR NETWORK</b><br />
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<b>#1 – Start from you existing list of contacts: </b>You can use a simple spreadsheet or specialized CRM (customer relationship management) application to order and manage your information. Examples are Zoho.com, Google Contact Manager or Trello.<br />
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I use LinkedIn to build my network and transfer the information of every new, relevant contact into my contact management system. Constantly look at the associations of your existing contacts and connect with new people if they can be useful to your business offering.<br />
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<b>#2 – Communicate sparingly but pointedly:</b> Every communication should have a purpose that is aligned with your target market. Be specific and to the point. Make your communication worthwhile to your recipients.<br />
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<b>#3 – Be respectful of your contacts’ preferences, needs, and workload:</b> Needless to say, you should always respect people’s beliefs, culture, and other aspects of their identity. Keep messages friendly but professional and at the level of your recipients’ language skills.<br />
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<b>#4 – Be careful when using mass emails:</b> When used with care, mass emails can be extremely useful. However, it can be annoying too and easy to dismiss if it does not have a personal touch. His or her name is the most obvious but also put work location, company, field of business, whether you have or have not met them in person, and anything else of personal value into the text of your message. That way, it will come across as a genuine personal message and stand out.<br />
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Also ensure to maximize the probability of getting a response. For instance, ask an interesting question at the end that only demands a short answer but will make the recipient feel valued and important.<br />
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<b>PRACTICE MINDFUL COMMUNICATION</b><br />
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Simply speaking, mindful communication is when you put the recipient first, consider his or her needs, and above all, listen to what they have to say. These principles apply to in-person, voice, video, and text communications alike.<br />
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<b>#1</b> – Show curiosity in the other person’s issues and desires<br />
<b>#2</b> – Consider what they have to say with thoughtfulness<br />
<b>#3</b> – Don’t make assumptions of the meaning behind their words (ask for clarity if needed)<br />
<b>#4</b> – Put yourself in their shoes and show understanding<br />
<b>#5</b> – Be sympathetic but not emotional<br />
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Practice these principles from now on and you will be surprised to notice the positive effect on the quality of your communications and the growth of your network.<br />
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<b>Final Words</b><br />
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This article is not meant as an exhaustive guide to starting and setting up your online and offline workspace as a consultant. Rather, my hope is that it has provided you with enough ideas to make your dream of becoming a consultant a reality.<br />
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Structure and planning are essential. If you find the information a little overwhelming or need a nudge in the right direction, it is often a time-saver and comforting to find a seasoned professional to show you the ropes when you learn to be a consultant.<br />
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<a href="https://sebwichmann.com/become-consultant-without-experience/" target="_blank">https://sebwichmann.com/become-consultant-without-experience/</a>Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-16927059573353869972018-12-04T14:35:00.002+04:002018-12-04T14:38:34.777+04:00Get Paranoid About Securing Your Data<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm4TLNkXWvM7vLsJ1RrL_kGciJmAYH2l_tyZscyZIG8m_DTwnPDZmA8zpKBmJJ3gNWmPxPN43j7XMUVvifQoNd_M9HkZUck7Dq3_wVTml-HUgtLIDriHXxBMTV10WOsUvDPBCNJMYdM8w/s1600/password.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm4TLNkXWvM7vLsJ1RrL_kGciJmAYH2l_tyZscyZIG8m_DTwnPDZmA8zpKBmJJ3gNWmPxPN43j7XMUVvifQoNd_M9HkZUck7Dq3_wVTml-HUgtLIDriHXxBMTV10WOsUvDPBCNJMYdM8w/s400/password.jpg" title="Securing Your Data" width="400" /></a></div>
If you are not paranoid about cyber security, identify theft, or fraud, you should be.<br />
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Today’s hot news from the Washington Post:<br />
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<i>“Marriott discloses massive data breach affecting up to 500 million guests. The hotel giant said an unauthorized party had accessed the reservations database for Starwood hotels, one of Marriott’s subsidiaries. The breach included names, email addresses, passport numbers and payment information.” (Nov. 30, 2018)</i><br />
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If that doesn’t motivate you to protect your data, nothing will.<br />
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The financial loss can be devastating, But, it’s worse than that. It’s not just your financial information at risk. You expose your entire life, reputation, friends, address, travel plans, health information and other private personal information to grievous harm.<br />
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The Internet opens up an entire new universe. However, it can also be a bad neighborhood. But, in any bad neighborhood a little caution goes a long way toward cutting down your chances of being mugged.<br />
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To paraphrase an old Navy saying, a data breach can ruin your whole day.. Even if you recover every cent, it will lead to months of aggravation.The threat is real, persistent, and menacing. You need to set your defenses.<br />
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It’s critical that you secure your data, but much easier than you think to do it. It’s not hard. Existing tools make it remarkably easy. Now would be a great time to get started.<br />
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<b>Password management: The first step to building a moat around your data</b><br />
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It doesn’t take long to use a hundred different sites that require your log in. That’s for your security. But, nobody is going to remember 100 passwords. So, most people cheat, opening themselves up to unlimited mischief.<br />
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Right now get a good password manager that will sync across all your devices, and suggest really strong unique passwords like “or!MXY3$VLWw7eHD” for every one of your accounts. Of course, you are never going to remember this password but the application will, and it will open your sites directly from the password manager. So, you can have a different virtually unbreakable password for every site you log into. And, you will have secure access to them from any place in the world.<br />
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Password managers are available for all the major operating systems, easy to install, secure, synch data across all your devices and cheap. There just isn’t any excuse for not using them.<br />
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<b>Browsers as password managers</b><br />
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Modern browsers like Google’s Chrome or Microsoft’s Edge will remember your passwords and sign you into any of your accounts once you are logged into either your Google or Microsoft account from any device in the world. Just remember to sign out any time you are not on one of your own devices.<br />
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<b>Simple passwords won't hack it</b><br />
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Even very sophisticated professionals get lazy and use the same password for multiple sites and/or use something simple like 123456, or abcdefg. They might as well wear a target on their backs.<br />
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A remarkable number of people use simple passwords. Searching Google yields the most used passwords:<br />
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<ul>
<li>123456</li>
<li>Password</li>
<li>12345678</li>
<li>qwerty</li>
<li>12345</li>
<li>123456789</li>
<li>letmein</li>
<li>1234567</li>
</ul>
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Really? Any child can figure those our in a few seconds. But most hackers are sophisticated, highly motivated criminals. It won’t take them too much longer to try variations of your birthday, address or spouse’s name.<br />
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Let’s be honest, any self respecting hacker has programs that will grind through a million possibilities in a few seconds. So, long complex passwords are essential to keep them at bay. Sixteen digits with upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters are a reasonable standard.<br />
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<b>Plan for the worst</b><br />
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Get used to the idea that sites you use will be breached. But when it happens you must contain the damage. Don’t reuse passwords.<br />
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If you use the same password on multiple sites, one data breach opens up your whole life on all your other sites like so many falling dominoes. So, if Marriott gets breached (it did) it could open up your password for Amazon and other sites that use the same password, no matter how strong it is. Not good.<br />
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You know better than to write down your passwords. But, half of you probably have them neatly typed under your keyboard or in your top drawer.<br />
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By using your browser’s password memory, and a good password manager gets you down to just two passwords you have to remember. Of course those two passwords are the keys to your kingdom, so use a little thought on them. It gets even simpler and more secure if your devices have fingerprint or facial recognition. But you have to make it exponentially harder for a bad actor to access your data.<br />
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<b>Start now</b><br />
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It’s going to take some time to change all your passwords. However, it will be well worth the effort. Just do a few a day, but get it done. Start with financial and credit card accounts. Then work your way down to the least important.<br />
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Once you are done your life will be a lot simpler, and secure.<br />
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There’s lots more to do before your moat is finished. But, if you don’t do these first steps, there isn’t much hope for you. Now would be a great time to get started.<br />
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The Internet is a jungle. Be safe out there.<br />
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<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/frankarmstrong/2018/11/30/get-paranoid-about-securing-your-data/?ss=cybersecurity#2deb3b56774e" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/frankarmstrong/2018/11/30/get-paranoid-about-securing-your-data/?ss=cybersecurity#2deb3b56774e</a>Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-55628028252930153292018-11-02T15:02:00.003+04:002018-11-02T15:02:24.592+04:00Artificial Intelligence: What's The Difference Between Deep Learning And Reinforcement Learning?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgovSVoRnhHrsIDsGr5UGxw8IG_a3OKmO2i9OVm9QSNhMRwqZyWWmJDu4d9P-bwXn0hWfA28HGK1qT3hDVZ4frbf36O-KZuKLAf1H-sqmDNxiMKtwABt52-F4_5owg4HtZMT7Ugg18ajto/s1600/Artificial-Intelligence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgovSVoRnhHrsIDsGr5UGxw8IG_a3OKmO2i9OVm9QSNhMRwqZyWWmJDu4d9P-bwXn0hWfA28HGK1qT3hDVZ4frbf36O-KZuKLAf1H-sqmDNxiMKtwABt52-F4_5owg4HtZMT7Ugg18ajto/s400/Artificial-Intelligence.jpg" title="Artificial Intelligence" width="400" /></a></div>
The various cutting-edge technologies that are under the umbrella of artificial intelligence are getting a lot of attention lately. As the amount of data we generate continues to grow to mind-boggling levels, our AI maturity and the potential problems AI can help solve grows right along with it. This data and the amazing computing power that’s now available for a reasonable cost is what fuels the tremendous growth in AI technologies and makes deep learning and reinforcement learning possible. With the rapid changes in the AI industry, it can be challenging to keep up with the latest cutting-edge technologies. In this post, I want to provide easy-to-understand definitions of deep learning and reinforcement learning so that you can understand the difference.<br />
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Both deep learning and reinforcement learning are machine learning functions, which in turn are part of a wider set of artificial intelligence tools. What makes deep learning and reinforcement learning functions interesting is they enable a computer to develop rules on its own to solve problems. This ability to learn is nothing new for computers – but until recently we didn’t have the data or computing power to make it an everyday tool.<br />
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<b>What is deep learning?</b><br />
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Deep learning is essentially an autonomous, self-teaching system in which you use existing data to train algorithms to find patterns and then use that to make predictions about new data. For example, you might train a deep learning algorithm to recognize cats on a photograph. You would do that by feeding it millions of images that either contains cats or not. The program will then establish patterns by classifying and clustering the image data (e.g. edges, shapes, colors, distances between the shapes, etc.). Those patterns will then inform a predictive model that is able to look at a new set of images and predict whether they contain cats or not, based on the model it has created using the training data.<br />
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Deep learning algorithms do this via various layers of artificial neural networks which mimic the network of neurons in our brain. This allows the algorithm to perform various cycles to narrow down patterns and improve the predictions with each cycle.<br />
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A great example of deep learning in practice is Apple’s Face ID. When setting up your phone you train the algorithm by scanning your face. Each time you log on using e.g. Face ID, the TrueDepth camera captures thousands of data points which create a depth map of your face and the phone’s inbuilt neural engine will perform the analysis to predict whether it is you or not.<br />
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<b>What is reinforcement learning?</b><br />
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Reinforcement learning is an autonomous, self-teaching system that essentially learns by trial and error. It performs actions with the aim of maximizing rewards, or in other words, it is learning by doing in order to achieve the best outcomes. This is similar to how we learn things like riding a bike where in the beginning we fall off a lot and make too heavy and often erratic moves, but over time we use the feedback of what worked and what didn’t to fine-tune our actions and learn how to ride a bike. The same is true when computers use reinforcement learning, they try different actions, learn from the feedback whether that action delivered a better result, and then reinforce the actions that worked, i.e. reworking and modifying its algorithms autonomously over many iterations until it makes decisions that deliver the best result.<br />
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A good example of using reinforcement learning is a robot learning how to walk. The robot first tries a large step forward and falls. The outcome of a fall with that big step is a data point the reinforcement learning system responds to. Since the feedback was negative, a fall, the system adjusts the action to try a smaller step. The robot is able to move forward. This is an example of reinforcement learning in action.<br />
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One of the most fascinating examples of reinforcement learning in action I have seen was when Google’s Deep Mind applied the tool to classic Atari computer games such as Break Out. The goal (or reward) was to maximize the score and the actions were to move the bar at the bottom of the screen to bounce the playing ball back up to break the bricks at the top of the screen. You can watch the video here which shows how, in the beginning, the algorithm is making lots of mistakes but quickly improves to a stage where it would beat even the best human players.<br />
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<b>Difference between deep learning and reinforcement learning</b><br />
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Deep learning and reinforcement learning are both systems that learn autonomously. The difference between them is that deep learning is learning from a training set and then applying that learning to a new data set, while reinforcement learning is dynamically learning by adjusting actions based in continuous feedback to maximize a reward.<br />
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Deep learning and reinforcement learning aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact, you might use deep learning in a reinforcement learning system, which is referred to as deep reinforcement learning and will be a topic I cover in another post.<br />
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<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/10/22/artificial-intelligence-whats-the-difference-between-deep-learning-and-reinforcement-learning/" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/10/22/artificial-intelligence-whats-the-difference-between-deep-learning-and-reinforcement-learning/</a>Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-52096481452396952382018-08-21T15:01:00.003+04:002018-08-21T15:01:47.573+04:0010 Amazing Examples Of How Deep Learning AI Is Used In Practice?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDA_1oTlr8lkFKUF7zq3kRPsS7-Pz0WypLjv8vMjtM-qrfP86kD48F06Fecwfdl41FzEdWUTwXkngFoxs4h5rujQX0GEW0P37pXazZQWpu1gAprRavNwv6USH0ObDFv0K_IQYoHHS4tPc/s1600/deeplearning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDA_1oTlr8lkFKUF7zq3kRPsS7-Pz0WypLjv8vMjtM-qrfP86kD48F06Fecwfdl41FzEdWUTwXkngFoxs4h5rujQX0GEW0P37pXazZQWpu1gAprRavNwv6USH0ObDFv0K_IQYoHHS4tPc/s400/deeplearning.jpg" title="Deep Learning AI " width="400" /></a></div>
You may have heard about deep learning and felt like it was an area of data science that is incredibly intimidating. How could you possibly get machines to learn like humans? And, an even scarier notion for some, why would we want machines to exhibit human-like behavior? Here, we look at 10 examples of how deep learning is used in practice that will help you visualize the potential.<br />
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<b>What is deep learning?</b><br />
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Both machine and deep learning are subsets of artificial intelligence, but deep learning represents the next evolution of machine learning. In machine learning, algorithms created by human programmers are responsible for parsing and learning from the data. They make decisions based on what they learn from the data. Deep learning learns through an artificial neural network that acts very much like a human brain and allows the machine to analyze data in a structure very much as humans do. Deep learning machines don't require a human programmer to tell them what to do with the data. This is made possible by the extraordinary amount of data we collect and consume—data is the fuel for deep-learning models. For more on what deep learning is please check out my previous post here.<br />
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<b>10 ways deep learning is used in practice</b><br />
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<b>1. Customer experience</b><br />
Machine learning is already used by many businesses to enhance the customer experience. Just a couple of examples include online self-service solutions and to create reliable workflows. There are already deep-learning models being used for chatbots, and as deep learning continues to mature, we can expect this to be an area deep learning will be used for many businesses.<br />
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<b>2. Translations</b><br />
Although automatic machine translation isn’t new, deep learning is helping enhance automatic translation of text by using stacked networks of neural networks and allowing translations from images.<br />
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<b>3. Adding color to black-and-white images and videos</b><br />
What used to be a very time-consuming process where humans had to add color to black-and-white images and videos by hand can now be automatically done with deep-learning models.<br />
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<b>4. Language recognition</b><br />
Deep learning machines are beginning to differentiate dialects of a language. A machine decides that someone is speaking English and then engages an AI that is learning to tell the differences between dialects. Once the dialect is determined, another AI will step in that specializes in that particular dialect. All of this happens without involvement from a human.<br />
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<b>5. Autonomous vehicles</b><br />
There's not just one AI model at work as an autonomous vehicle drives down the street. Some deep-learning models specialize in streets signs while others are trained to recognize pedestrians. As a car navigates down the road, it can be informed by up to millions of individual AI models that allow the car to act.<br />
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<b>6. Computer vision</b><br />
Deep learning has delivered super-human accuracy for image classification, object detection, image restoration and image segmentation—even handwritten digits can be recognized. Deep learning using enormous neural networks is teaching machines to automate the tasks performed by human visual systems.<br />
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<b>7. Text generation</b><br />
The machines learn the punctuation, grammar and style of a piece of text and can use the model it developed to automatically create entirely new text with the proper spelling, grammar and style of the example text. Everything from Shakespeare to Wikipedia entries have been created.<br />
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<b>8. Image caption generation</b><br />
Another impressive capability of deep learning is to identify an image and create a coherent caption with proper sentence structure for that image just like a human would write.<br />
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<b>9. News aggregator based on sentiment</b><br />
When you want to filter out the negative coming to your world, advanced natural language processing and deep learning can help. News aggregators using this new technology can filter news based on sentiment, so you can create news streams that only cover the good news happening.<br />
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<b>10. Deep-learning robots</b><br />
Deep-learning applications for robots are plentiful and powerful from an impressive deep-learning system that can teach a robot just by observing the actions of a human completing a task to a housekeeping robot that’s provided with input from several other AIs in order to take action. Just like how a human brain processes input from past experiences, current input from senses and any additional data that is provided, deep-learning models will help robots execute tasks based on the input of many different AI opinions.<br />
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The growth of deep-learning models is expected to accelerate and create even more innovative applications in the next few years.<br />
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<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/08/20/10-amazing-examples-of-how-deep-learning-ai-is-used-in-practice/#6ded6a18f98a" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/08/20/10-amazing-examples-of-how-deep-learning-ai-is-used-in-practice/#6ded6a18f98a</a>Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-87890382792840296142018-04-04T15:04:00.001+04:002018-04-04T15:04:13.114+04:003 Ways To Embrace Digitization To Improve Productivity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUbukZOP-6asW5A4ELWUESX0VpzDjiRtivUtpFrUoVeYmhp5y0lLZGdNqCGHeVKJ3iGEj6M1X8bmbD8WEoqtsqRCgKOs4HGoejez3W9efirp-1dQaFr8zJWalxaPcgdYS2gfzUEugcwzw/s1600/manufacturing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUbukZOP-6asW5A4ELWUESX0VpzDjiRtivUtpFrUoVeYmhp5y0lLZGdNqCGHeVKJ3iGEj6M1X8bmbD8WEoqtsqRCgKOs4HGoejez3W9efirp-1dQaFr8zJWalxaPcgdYS2gfzUEugcwzw/s400/manufacturing.jpg" title="Digitization To Improve Productivity" width="400" /></a></div>
Going back to Economics 101, productivity is the stimulus that our economy needs. When productivity increases, wages and standards of living follow suit, causing the demand for goods and services to increase along with them. In a world where technology advances on a daily basis could we really be seeing a decline in productivity? You bet.<br />
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According to a recent report by McKinsey, “Productivity growth has fluctuated over time; it has been declining since the 1960s and today stands near historical lows.” In fact, between the years of 2010-2014, the total labor productivity growth stood at a negative 0.2%, compared to a positive 3.6% in 2000-2004 – just a decade difference.<br />
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There is hope, however. McKinsey believes that there is potential for the productivity levels to recover to at least 2 percent. But how? Thanks to the ever-growing realm of tech, we now have digitization and the digital transformation.<br />
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Let’s discuss how digitization and the transformation can both be the key to our productivity struggle.<br />
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<b>Transformation Through Upskilling and Training</b><br />
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There is always talk about robots taking all our jobs. However, it is being proved to not be the case. Digitization and the transformation will impact both high-skill and low-skill jobs yet will create more in the long run for us all. However, those who are digital natives including millennials, Generation Z, and their kids will be the majority; those that have the skills necessary to perform these positions. To increase our productivity at ground level, we need to begin upskilling our current workforce and implementing training that fits.<br />
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Companies such as AT&T are beginning to see the true value in upskilling their employees. Scott Smith of AT&T put it this way, “You can go out to the street and hire for the skills, but we all know that the supply of technical talent is limited, and everybody is going after it. Or you can do your best to step up and reskill your existing workforce to fill the gap.” Since beginning their upskilling initiative, AT&T has reduced its product development lifecycle by 40% accelerated time to revenue. It’s an impressive feat that only upskilling and dedication can create.<br />
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During digitization and the digital transformation, your business will need to create a strategy for cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and more. How will you be able to manage these technologies? You must have a current talent base that can implement these tools once they hit your front door. Upskilling and training can completely change the game.<br />
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<b>Digitization Through Diffusion</b><br />
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It is critical that digitization and technology are adopted by all enterprise, not just a select few, to boost productivity. Also called digital diffusion, McKinsey states, “Action is needed both to overcome adoption barriers of large incumbent business and to broaden the adoption of digital tools by all companies and citizens. Actions that can promote digital diffusion include: leading by example and digitizing the public sector, leveraging public procurement and investment in R&D and driving digital adoption by small and medium-sized enterprises.”<br />
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The digital transformation will have an impact on businesses that do not choose to adopt the up and coming technology. In fact, these businesses may suffer the consequences and be left behind. True digitization to boost our productivity will need to include all sectors and enterprise to make a difference. This means that large corporations will need to face their tech demons head-on and solve their adoption issues with strategy. Small businesses and mid-size enterprises will need to begin adopting technology to remain competitive.<br />
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<b>Reinvention Through Strategy</b><br />
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McKinsey asks the question: “How do companies, labor organizations, and even economists respond to the challenge of restarting productivity growth in a digital age? Companies will need to develop a productivity strategy that includes the digital transformation of their business model as well as their entire sector and value chain.” Every change that must be made, every training strategy and move towards digitization is part of a larger digital transformation strategy.<br />
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When it comes to businesses that place emphasis on their digital strategy, “We found that more than twice as many leading companies closely tie their digital and corporate strategies than don’t. What’s more, winners tend to respond to digitization by changing their corporate strategies significantly.”<br />
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Businesses that are investing in digital transformation by changing their strategy are boosting their productivity through revenue growth and return on digital investment. In fact, McKinsey found in further research that 49 percent of leading companies, in revenue growth, EBIT growth and digital investment, are investing in digital more than their counterparts do.<br />
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McKinsey concluded that bold strategies win. And I agree. With a digital transformation strategy, strong levels of digital diffusion and upskilling of the workforce, we are sure to see the increase in productivity that is predicted. It is time now to embrace digitization more than ever, from the top of the ladder to the bottom. After all, our economy depends on it.<br />
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<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2018/04/03/3-ways-to-embrace-digitization-to-improve-productivity/#91f44d2266e1" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2018/04/03/3-ways-to-embrace-digitization-to-improve-productivity/#91f44d2266e1</a>Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-86750389877971752272018-02-15T16:50:00.002+04:002018-02-15T16:50:11.865+04:006 Ways To Make Smart Cities Future-Proof Cybersecurity Cities<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPfX4EVRqD8nSKdEsJ5WmiAScruX-VOayunah0LnHDOY0TVu9Dt0UfUqM-Jnqr4TJu4SDvFhWC3HCyTzzpOrlHjtTP2xZgWmgJPzm8wMBOqbA5iexw0-5QAOTSHLn1QONqsAlfN5KknmI/s1600/smartcity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPfX4EVRqD8nSKdEsJ5WmiAScruX-VOayunah0LnHDOY0TVu9Dt0UfUqM-Jnqr4TJu4SDvFhWC3HCyTzzpOrlHjtTP2xZgWmgJPzm8wMBOqbA5iexw0-5QAOTSHLn1QONqsAlfN5KknmI/s400/smartcity.jpg" title="Ways To Make Smart Cities Future-Proof Cybersecurity Cities" width="400" /></a>By 2050, about 70% of the world’s population is expected to live in cities. Using the Internet of Things, analyzing lots of data, putting more services online—all herald the digital transformation of cities. Becoming digital, however, means a new life in the cybersecurity trenches.<br />
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There is no place like Israel to teach local government leaders how to make their cities and citizens cybersecurity resilient. Welcoming attendees from 80 countries to the Muni World 2018 event in Tel-Aviv, Eli Cohen, Israel’s minister of economy and industry, highlighted the fact that the country represents 10% of the global investment in cybersecurity. And it shares its expertise with others, including alerting 30 countries to pending cyber or terrorist attacks, Cohen said. (I was attending the event as a guest of Vibe Israel).<br />
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Cybersecurity is a prerequisite for the smart city, argued Gadi Mergi, CTO at Israel’s National Cyber Directorate. That means pursuing security, privacy and high-availability (having a cyberattack recovery plan, backup facility, cloud management, and manual overrides) by design. As other presenters discussed at the event (see the list of presenters below), smart cities must adjust and adapt to the requirements of the new cybersecurity landscape, characterized by:<br />
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<b>The expansion of the attack surface</b> with the introduction of new points of potential vulnerability such as connected and self-driving cars, and the Internet of Things (71% of local governments say IoT saves them money but 86% say they have already experienced an IoT-related security breach);<br />
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<b>A wider range of attacker motivations</b>, including ransomware (it was the motivation behind 50% of attacks in the US in 2017, with ransom payments totaling more than $1 billion) and hactivism (drawing attention to a specific cause, adding cultural and political dimensions to cyberattacks);<br />
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<b>Increased consumer concern</b> about personal data privacy and loss (30% of customers will take action following a data breach—demand compensation, sue or quit their relationship with the vendor);<br />
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<b>Not enough people</b> with the right expertise and experience (the much talked-about cybersecurity skill shortage is exacerbated in municipalities which find it hard to compete for scarce talent with organizations with much deeper pockets; this challenge becomes even more severe with the introduction of new approaches to cybersecurity involving new tools based on machine learning and artificial intelligence);<br />
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<b>Insisting on fast time-to-everything</b> (Agile is not agile enough) results in reduced quality of cybersecurity applications.<br />
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What’s to be done about meeting these challenges? Here’s a short list of priorities for leaders of smart cities worldwide, based on the presentations at Muni World:<br />
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<b>Prepare </b>for the worst - develop a protection strategy and emergency plans, and get outside experts to help;<br />
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<b>Practice </b>- training and testing and more training and testing and simulations;<br />
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<b>Automate </b>- implement a continuous adaptive protection, automate the process of detection and response, apply algorithms liberally, including AI and machine learning-based solutions;<br />
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<b>Upgrade - </b>keep up with attackers’ new methods and tools, improve the state of hardware and software including leveraging the cloud and big data analytics and invest in elevating the skill level of the people responsible for cybersecurity defense;<br />
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<b>Share - </b>raise public awareness, disclose your experiences, and exchange information with other local governments;<br />
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<b>Separate and disinfect - </b>insert a virtual layer between the internal network and the internet, allowing only for sending commands and showing display windows, and make downloadable files harmless by deleting areas where programs may exist or transform them into safe data, regardless if they are malicious or not.<br />
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In addition to Eli Cohen and Gadi Mergi, other presenters at Muni World included Jonathan Reichental, CIO, City of Palo Alto, California; Roy Zisapel, co-founder and CEO, Radware; Menny Barzilay, Co-founder and CEO, FortyTwo Global; Morten Illum, EMEA VP, Aruba/HPE; Takahiko Makino, City of Yokohama, Japan; Yosi Schneck, Senior VP, Israel Electric Corporation; and Sanaz Yashar, Senior Analyst, FireEye.<br />
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Tamir Pardo, the former Director of the Mossad (Israel’s national intelligence agency), also spoke at the event, comparing the cyber threat to “a soft and silent nuclear weapon.” There is no way to stop a penetration, he said, and there will never be a steady state for cyber security.<br />
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Meaning life in the cybersecurity trenches, for local governments and all other organizations, will continue to get very interesting. To quote FireEye’s Sanaz Yashar (who quoted President Eisenhower), “plans are nothing; planning is everything.”<br />
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<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2018/02/14/6-ways-to-make-smart-cities-future-proof-cybersecurity-cities/" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2018/02/14/6-ways-to-make-smart-cities-future-proof-cybersecurity-cities/</a>Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-48763964776742198042018-01-17T14:19:00.003+04:002018-01-17T14:19:56.957+04:00A Complete Beginner's Guide To Bitcoin In 2018<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFiy0MDCEXJb97lhIeiy6u8U9ReTi3dXQNeWUGh5GwQ_g7ciYhQ8qN2qjzqAf216DWetnIjzDCHE9sPZAP0KgCxp3IQoy7s5AFM32t8Y5XFZbEI254kxBbLgDHLT_q-eTlqTBHjplU5Og/s1600/bitcoin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFiy0MDCEXJb97lhIeiy6u8U9ReTi3dXQNeWUGh5GwQ_g7ciYhQ8qN2qjzqAf216DWetnIjzDCHE9sPZAP0KgCxp3IQoy7s5AFM32t8Y5XFZbEI254kxBbLgDHLT_q-eTlqTBHjplU5Og/s400/bitcoin.jpg" title="A Complete Beginner's Guide To Bitcoin" width="400" /></a></div>
When you dig into the details of Bitcoin, it’s almost an unbelievable tale about how to create money. Although it seems like fiction, it’s actually the best-known version of digital currency in use today. To help you wrap your head around what it is, what it does and how to earn Bitcoins, I pulled together this complete beginner’s guide to Bitcoin.<br />
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Before we go any further I just want to reiterate that investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment.<br />
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<b>A bit of bitcoin history</b><br />
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Bitcoin was the first established cryptocurrency - a digital asset that is secured with cryptography and can be exchanged like currency. Other versions of cryptocurrency had been launched but never fully developed when Bitcoin became available to the public in 2009. The anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto - possibly an individual or a group whose real identity is still unknown - is behind the development of Bitcoin who stated the goal of the technology was to create “a new electronic cash system” that was “completely decentralized with no server or central authority.” In 2010, someone decided to sell their Bitcoins for the first time to purchase two pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoins. I hope the pizza was good, because if that person would have held onto those Bitcoins, they would be worth more than $100 million today. In 2011, Nakamoto shared the source code and domains with the Bitcoin community and hasn’t been heard from again.<br />
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<b>What is Bitcoin, really?</b><br />
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Bitcoin is a digital currency, so there are no coins to mint or bills to print. There is not a government, financial institution or any other authority that controls it, so it’s decentralized. The owners who have Bitcoins in the system are anonymous - there are no account numbers, names, social security numbers or any other identifying features that connect Bitcoins to its owners. Bitcoin uses blockchain technology and encryption keys to connect buyers and sellers. And, just like diamonds or gold, a Bitcoin gets “mined.”<br />
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<b>How do you “mine” Bitcoins?</b><br />
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People - or more accurately extremely powerful, energy-intense computers - “mine” Bitcoins to make more of them. There are currently about 16 million Bitcoins in existence, and that leaves only 5 more million available to mine because Bitcoins developers capped the quantity to 21 million. Ultimately, each Bitcoin can be divided into smaller parts with the smallest fraction being one hundred millionth of a Bitcoin called a “Satoshi,” after the founder Nakamoto. The mining process involves computers solving an extremely challenging mathematical problem that progressively gets harder over time. Every time a problem is solved, one block of the Bitcoin is processed and the miner gets a new Bitcoin. A user establishes an Bitcoin address to receive the Bitcoins they mine; sort of like a virtual mailbox with a string of 27-34 numbers and letters. Unlike a mailbox, the user’s identity isn’t attached to it.<br />
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<b>How are Bitcoins used?</b><br />
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In addition to mining Bitcoins, there are other ways to earn Bitcoins. First, you can accept Bitcoins as a means of payment for goods or services. Setting up your Bitcoin wallet is a simple as setting up a PayPal account and it’s the way you store, keep track of and spend your digital money. They are free and available through a provider such as Coinbase. While this might take more time than it’s worth, there are websites that will pay you in Bitcoins for completing certain tasks. Once you’ve earned Bitcoins, there are ways to lend them out and earn interest. There are even ways to earn Bitcoins through trading and recently Bitcoin futures were launched as a legitimate asset class. In addition, you can trade your regular currency for Bitcoins at Bitcoin exchanges, the largest one being Japan-based Mt. Gox that handles 70 percent of all Bitcoin transactions. There are more than 100,000 merchants who accept Bitcoin for payment for everything from gift cards to pizza and even Overstock.com accepts it.<br />
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<b>What are the risks?</b><br />
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There’s risk as well as great opportunity with Bitcoin. While it has been appealing to criminals due to its anonymity and lack of regulation, there are lots of benefits to all of us if you’re willing to accept some risk to jump in to the Bitcoin marketplace. Since there is no governing body, it can be difficult to resolve issues if Bitcoins get stolen or lost. In 2014 Mt. Gox went offline, and 850,000 Bitcoins were never recovered. Once a transaction hits the blockchain it’s final. Since Bitcoin is relatively new, there are still a lot of unknowns and its value is very volatile and can change significantly daily.<br />
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So, the jury’s still out if Bitcoin will accomplish what its proponents predict, the replacement of government-controlled, centralized money. I fully expect 2018 to give us even more insight about the future of Bitcoin as the technology continues to grow and mature.<br />
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<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/01/17/a-complete-beginners-guide-to-bitcoin-in-2018/#299e852d4418" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/01/17/a-complete-beginners-guide-to-bitcoin-in-2018/#299e852d4418</a><br />
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<br />Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-14845441603518626962017-11-15T10:52:00.000+04:002017-11-15T10:52:01.249+04:00How Thermal Cameras Work<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRVybFrBiBFbTpOfnU7Bc58cC5A9S-YhofJI1z0chhpQ-mpiX-c6XFyWQVt9cO6zY6RLHes7bOXRs6thzHT6q6Wz235WH6yX2i4pWeXOGIsesniSd8GaFLOzO19TsoqKnj_JO4TJlI-3M/s1600/thermal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRVybFrBiBFbTpOfnU7Bc58cC5A9S-YhofJI1z0chhpQ-mpiX-c6XFyWQVt9cO6zY6RLHes7bOXRs6thzHT6q6Wz235WH6yX2i4pWeXOGIsesniSd8GaFLOzO19TsoqKnj_JO4TJlI-3M/s400/thermal.jpg" title="How Thermal Cameras Work" width="400" /></a></div>
Our eyes work by seeing contrast between objects that are illuminated by either the sun or another form of light. How thermal cameras work is by “seeing” heat energy from objects. All objects – living or not – have heat energy that thermal cameras use to detect an image. This is why thermal cameras can operate at all times, even in complete darkness.<br />
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Because thermal cameras work by “seeing” heat rather than reflected light, thermal images look very different than what’s seen by a visible camera or the eye. In order to present heat in a format appropriate for human vision, thermal cameras convert the temperature of objects into shades of gray which are darker or lighter than the background. On a cold day a person stands out as lighter because they are hotter than the background. On a hot day a person stands out as darker because they are cooler than the background.<br />
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<b>Outdoor challenges can impact how thermal cameras work</b><br />
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For these reasons, thermal cameras have become a good choice as a sensor for “seeing in the dark” because at night background objects tend to be cooler than a person at 98.6 degrees. Under ideal conditions, people are well emphasized at night because they appear brighter than the background and stand out, even in zero light.<br />
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However, outdoor security conditions are rarely “ideal”, especially during the day when darker objects absorb the sun’s energy and heat up, an effect known as Thermal Loading. When objects in the scene become uniformly hot in any given area, many cameras have difficulty mapping the narrow range of temperature differences into a useful image. The result is an image with large areas that look “whited out” or “grayed out” and undefined. This makes it difficult to see what is happening in the scene, and it makes it difficult for smart thermal cameras to automatically detect intruders accurately.<br />
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The capture at right shows a daylight image from a thermal camera which cannot effectively compensate for white-out. Details such as the power lines, pavement, and other objects have become impossible to discern due to the effect of thermal loading. It’s even difficult to tell that this is a daytime image.<br />
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Lack of image clarity can reduce security effectiveness. Security personnel who have to view blurry, undefined video even on a single monitor can become fatigued and confused by images that are not as intuitive as they would be with daylight cameras, while on-board video analytics will have a more difficult time detecting intruders.<br />
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<b>Video Processing and Thermal Cameras</b><br />
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Thermal imagery is very rich in data, sensing small temperature variations down to 1/20th of a degree. Thermal cameras must convert these fine temperature variations – representing 16,384 shades of gray – into about 250 gray scales to more closely match the capability of human vision to decipher shades of gray. The image below shows the eye’s difficulty distinguishing between close levels of gray. The top row shows six levels of gray which the eye can see. The bottom row shows sixteen shades of gray – you can see how it is increasingly difficult to distinguish where the shades transition from one block to the next. Consider the fact that a thermal imager has 16,000 shades of gray, over 1000 times more than show in the lower bar graph, and the magnitude of the problem becomes clearer.<br />
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In the past, most thermal cameras converted this data in a simplistic way by mapping gross areas together that are close in temperature. This is why thermal images often look blurry, lack detail and conceal intruders, while the analytics would often misdetect intruders entirely.<br />
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New cameras with a high-level of image processing can emphasize small variations between objects and the background to exaggerate the fine details and present a clearer image in contrast to other image features, while automatically detecting intruders accurately, every day, every night, under all outdoor conditions.<br />
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<a href="http://www.sightlogix.com/how-thermal-cameras-work/" target="_blank">http://www.sightlogix.com/how-thermal-cameras-work/</a><br />
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<br />Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-4031421696775385382017-10-17T10:02:00.001+04:002017-10-17T10:02:49.021+04:00Why is Cybersecurity Important?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The answer to the question “Why is cybersecurity important?” might seem simple enough, considering the number of cyberthreats is growing in a big way. As a result, it’s no surprise that it’s an inquiry getting asked more frequently–and the knowledge behind it is something that investors in the sector should be aware of.<br />
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For starters, a proliferation of cyberattacks is causing increasing damage to companies, governments and individuals. Take the WannaCry attacks that happened in May 2017 as a significant example: the ransomware inscribed itself on roughly 300,000 computers and other digital software in over 150 countries, later called the “largest such cyber assault of its kind.” Putting it simply, organizations need to respond to this increased threat by adopting strict cybersecurity measures.<br />
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In this article, the Investing News Network (INN) breaks down the three main answers to the question: “why is cyber security important?” Together, the expanding number of cyber attacks, the increasing severity of these assaults and the amount of money companies are spending on cyber security illustrate why it is such an important market.<br />
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<b>Why is cybersecurity important? Increasing threats</b><br />
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As noted above, the number of cybersecurity attacks is increasing every year. From the period between 2013-2015, it was reported that the cost of cybercrimes quadrupled–with those numbers falling anywhere between $400 billion and as high as $500 billion during that time.<br />
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In a Cybersecurity Ventures report on cybercrimes, the firm projects the cost of cyberthreats to rise to $6 trillion annually by 2021, which includes everything from damage and destruction of data, stolen money, lost productivity, theft of intellectual property, theft of personal and financial data, embezzlement, fraud, post -attack disruption to businesses, forensic investigation, restoration and deleted hacked data and systems, to name a few. What investors might not know is the rising threat of cyberattacks on medical devices–which is expected to reach $101 billion by 2018.<br />
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On that note, in an interview with INN, Dr. Alissa Johnson–CSIO of Xerox and former Deputy CIO at the White House, said that in order to prevent cybersecurity attacks, it’s important to remember the basics.<br />
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“Security is not just the responsibility of the security team, but as we’re learning and realizing–especially with all the spear phishing attacks–security is everyone’s responsibility,” she said.<br />
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<b>Why is cybersecurity important? Severity of attacks</b><br />
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However, it isn’t just the number of cybersecurity attacks that is increasing. The degree of these attacks is on the rise as well. According to PwC’s report, these attacks are “becoming progressively destructive and target a broadening array of information and attack vectors.”<br />
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Politicians are at risk. Obama’s administration proposed a $19 billion budget for cybersecurity. Hillary Clinton’s private emails became front page news in the midst of her presidential campaign, underscoring the importance of a strong cybersecurity policy.<br />
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In May 2017, current President Donald Trump signed an executive order with a focus on improving cybersecurity in the US–particularly for the country’s infrastructure systems and federal information technology networks.<br />
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On that that note, in late August eight out of 28 members of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, who are oversee the country’s response to cyberthreats, resigned.<br />
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According to BNA, those that resigned said, the Trump administration had paid “insufficient attention to the growing threats to cybersecurity of critical systems.”<br />
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BNA had previously reported that the “Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure” gives the heads of federal agencies responsibility for managing cyber threats–which still holds true, although is slightly eerie now, given recent the recent events.<br />
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<b>Why is cybersecurity important? Future outlook</b><br />
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Looking ahead, PwC’s Global State of Information Security Survey 2017 states that 59 percent of GSISS respondents say “digitization of their business ecosystems has impacted” security budgets. As these statistics show, cybersecurity is a very important area worthy of commitment, and companies are responding accordingly.<br />
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Struggle between increased needs and limited funding is however characteristic of the cybersecurity industry. Hopefully, more and more companies, government departments and organizations are recognizing the importance of cybersecurity, and are allocating funds accordingly.<br />
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<a href="https://investingnews.com/daily/tech-investing/cybersecurity-investing/why-is-cybersecurity-important/" target="_blank">https://investingnews.com/daily/tech-investing/cybersecurity-investing/why-is-cybersecurity-important/</a>Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-28079610215667498922017-10-03T10:57:00.001+04:002017-10-03T10:58:31.042+04:005 Myths About Artificial Intelligence (AI) You Must Stop Believing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Very few subjects in science and technology are causing as much excitement right now as artificial intelligence (AI). In a lot of cases this is good reason, as some of the world’s brightest minds have said that it’s potential to revolutionize all aspects of our lives is unprecedented.<br />
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On the other hand, as with anything new, there are certainly snake-oil salesmen looking to make a quick buck on the basis of promises which can’t (yet) be truly met. And there are others, often with vested interests, with plenty of motive for spreading fear and distrust.<br />
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So here is a run-through of some basic misconceptions, and frequently peddled mistruths, which often come up when the subject is discussed, as well as reasons why you shouldn’t necessarily buy into them.<br />
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<b>AI is going to replace all jobs</b><br />
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It’s certainly true that the advent of AI and automation has the potential to seriously disrupt labor – and in many situations it is already doing just that. However, seeing this as a straightforward transfer of labor from humans to machines is a vast over-simplification.<br />
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Previous industrial revolutions have certainly led to transformation of the employment landscape, such as the mass shift from agricultural work to factories during the nineteenth century. The number of jobs (adjusted for the rapid growth in population) has generally stayed consistent though. And despite what doom-mongers have said there’s very little actual evidence to suggest that mass unemployment or widespread redundancy of human workforces is likely. In fact, it is just as possible that a more productive economy, brought about by the increased efficiency and reduction of waste that automation promises, will give us more options for spending our time on productive, income-generating pursuits.<br />
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In the short-term, employers are generally looking at AI technology as a method of augmenting human workforces, and enabling them to work in newer and smarter ways.<br />
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<b>Only low-skilled and manual workers will be replaced by AI and automation</b><br />
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This is certainly a fallacy. Already, AI-equipped robots and machinery are carrying out work generally reserved for the most highly trained and professional members of society, such as doctors and lawyers. True, a lot of their focus has been on reducing the “drudgery” of day-to-day aspects of the work. For example, in the legal field, AI is used to scan thousands of documents at lightning speed, drawing out the points which may be relevant in an ongoing case. In medicine, machine learning algorithms assess images such as scans and x-rays, looking for early warning signs of disease, which they are proving highly competent at spotting. Both fields, however, as well as many other professions, involve a combination of routine, though technically complex, procedures – which are likely to be taken up by machines – as well as “human touch” procedures. For a lawyer this could be presenting arguments in court in a way that will convince a jury, and in medicine, it could be breaking news in the most considerate and helpful way. These aspects of the job are less likely to be automated, but members of their respective professions could find they have more time for them – and therefore become more competent at them – if mundane drudgery is routinely automated.<br />
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<b>Super-intelligent computers will become better than humans at doing anything we can do</b><br />
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Broadly speaking, AI applications are split into two groups – specialized and generalized. Specialized AIs – ones focused on performing one job, or working in one field, and becoming increasingly good at it – are a fact of life today – the legal and medical applications mentioned above are good examples.<br />
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Generalized AIs on the other hand – those which are capable of applying themselves to a number of different tasks, just as human or natural intelligences are – are somewhat further off. This is why although we may regularly come across AIs which are better than humans at one particular task, it is likely to be a while before we come face-to-face with robots in the mould of Star Trek’s Data –essentially super-humans who can beat us at pretty much anything.<br />
<br />
Bernard Marr is a best-selling author & keynote speaker on business, technology and big data. His new book is Data Strategy. To read his future posts simply join his network <a href="https://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/d.jsp?llr=lclkgckab&p=oi&m=1110322785355&sit=k9bwpwahb&f=defb3704-7fcf-487e-b1b4-713f01ff2ab9" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<b>Artificial intelligence will quickly overtake and outpace human intelligence</b><br />
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This is a misconception brought about by picturing intelligence as a linear scale – for example, from one to 10 – imagining that perhaps animals score at the lower end, humans at the higher end, and with super-smart machines at the top of the scale.<br />
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In reality intelligence is measured in many different dimensions. In some of them (for example speed of calculations or capacity for recall) computers already far outpace us, while in others, such as creative ability, emotional intelligence (such as empathy) and strategic thinking, they are still nowhere near and aren’t likely to be any time soon.<br />
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<b>AI will lead to the destruction of enslavement of the human race by superior robotic beings</b><br />
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This one is obviously out of any number of sci-fi scenarios – The Terminator and The Matrix are probably the most frequently cited! However, some voices which have proven themselves to be worth listening to in the past – such as physicist Stephen Hawking and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk – have made it very clear they believe the danger is real.<br />
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The fact is though, that notwithstanding the distant future, where indeed anything is possible, a great number of boundaries would have to be broken down, and allowances made by society, before we would be in a position where this would be possible. Right now, it’s highly unlikely anyone would think about building or deploying an autonomous machine with the potential to “make up its mind” to hurt and turn against its human creators. Although drones and security robots designed to detect and prevent threats, and even take autonomous action to neutralize them, have been developed, they have yet to be deployed and doing so is likely to provoke widespread public condemnation. The hypothetical scenario tends to be that robots either develop self-preservation instincts, or re-interpret commands to protect or preserve human life to mean that humans should be taken under robotic control. As it is unlikely that anyone would build machines with the facilities to carry out these actions autonomously, this is unlikely to be an immediate problem. Could it happen in the future? It’s a possibility, but if you’re going to worry about science fiction threats, then it’s just as likely that invading aliens will get to us first.<br />
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<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/10/03/5-myths-about-artificial-intelligence-ai-you-must-stop-believing/#36a6fa0b2739" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/10/03/5-myths-about-artificial-intelligence-ai-you-must-stop-believing/#36a6fa0b2739</a>Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-15074787479317262552017-08-29T10:10:00.001+04:002017-08-29T10:10:28.104+04:003 Ways to Defeat DDoS Attacks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfq7RsGOC7oXTbUxPrPzXTLrF1zUjxutbq51O-9HLAgAK2EXxkJkRXYkECIoqN5ZFVivsZ8kShl7Sd1dSm6PFDq4V47zLae9sbYdDn2rJpnMwHuQ-92uyeVtvYuWGWpD6vslNSbei2bIE/s1600/ddosattack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfq7RsGOC7oXTbUxPrPzXTLrF1zUjxutbq51O-9HLAgAK2EXxkJkRXYkECIoqN5ZFVivsZ8kShl7Sd1dSm6PFDq4V47zLae9sbYdDn2rJpnMwHuQ-92uyeVtvYuWGWpD6vslNSbei2bIE/s400/ddosattack.jpg" title="3 Ways to Defeat DDoS Attacks" width="400" /></a></div>
In 2012, a number of DDoS attacks hit Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank and PNC Bank. These attacks have since spread across most industries from government agencies to local schools and are showing an almost yearly evolution, with the most recent focus being the Internet of Things (IoT).<br />
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In 2016, compromised cameras, printers, DVRs and other IoT appliances were used in a large attack on Dyn that took down major websites including Amazon, Twitter, Netflix, Etsy and Spotify.<br />
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<b>Inside Distributed Denial-of-Service Threats</b><br />
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Although these large attacks dominate the headlines, they’re not what most enterprises will deal with day to day. The most common attacks are in the range of 20 to 30 Gbps or less, while larger attacks have been reported at 1.2 tbps.<br />
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<b>Creating DDoS Defense</b><br />
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Security technology is becoming more sophisticated, but so are hackers, which means attacks can be much more difficult to mitigate now than in the past. Enterprises must be knowledgeable and prepared with mitigation techniques as the attacks continue to evolve.<br />
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<b>DDoS mitigation comes in three models:</b><br />
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<u>Scrubbing Centers</u><br />
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The most common DDoS mitigation option for enterprises is to buy access to a scrubbing center service. During an attack, traffic is redirected to the security provider’s network, where the bad traffic is “scrubbed out” and only good traffic is returned to the customer. This option is good for multi-ISP environments and can be used to counter both volumetric and application-based attacks. For added protection, some providers can actually place a device in your data center, but this is not as cost-effective as the cloud-based option.<br />
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<u>ISP- Clean Pipes Approach</u><br />
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With the rise of DDoS attacks, many ISPs have started their own scrubbing centers internally, and for a premium will monitor and mitigate attacks on their customers’ websites. In this scenario, ISPs operate as a one-stop-shop for bandwidth, hosting and DDoS mitigation. But some ISPs are more experienced at this than others, so customers must be sure to thoroughly test and research the quality of the service offered by their ISPs.<br />
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<u>Content Delivery Network Approach</u><br />
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The distributed nature of content delivery networks (CDNs) means that websites live globally on multiple servers versus one origin server, making them difficult to take down. Large CDNs may have over 100,000 servers distributing or caching web content all over the world. However, CDN-based mitigation is really only a good option for enterprises that require core CDN functionality, as porting content to a CDN can be a time-intensive project. <br />
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<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/gartnergroup/2017/08/28/3-ways-to-defeat-ddos-attacks/#a981226da78f" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/gartnergroup/2017/08/28/3-ways-to-defeat-ddos-attacks/#a981226da78f</a>Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-6679492109532948512017-07-31T11:57:00.001+04:002017-07-31T11:57:15.056+04:0015 Trends That Will Transform The Way We Live And Work<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi34kty5qoCCrz07b9aZ23goYodvqYpPj7Y-NcIdRtDt9hfu2QEbg20T4Q1jIH55zRdGVsXT8pkluznz47V2sWs8sAT1gAiE4CIg56zFoHSrgvj4PtHUSo8NeCvdZv3SUrOut2AswK-TqI/s1600/new-life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi34kty5qoCCrz07b9aZ23goYodvqYpPj7Y-NcIdRtDt9hfu2QEbg20T4Q1jIH55zRdGVsXT8pkluznz47V2sWs8sAT1gAiE4CIg56zFoHSrgvj4PtHUSo8NeCvdZv3SUrOut2AswK-TqI/s400/new-life.jpg" title="15 Trends That Will Transform The Way We Live And Work" width="400" /></a></div>
Great change is underfoot in the places that we live, and also in the spaces where we work. While demographic trends and a mounting thirst for self-actualization plays a big part in these shifts, technological advances are the one factor that is accelerating this change.<br />
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In their book Spaces for Innovation: The Design and Science of Inspiring Environments, Kursty Groves and Oliver Marlow shares their discoveries on the impact that a physical space can have on workplace behavior. Their journey takes them through the offices of tech behemoths Airbnb, Microsoft, and others -- and gives an illuminating look at the trends that are rapidly shaping the way that we live and work.<br />
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1. <b>The mistrust of institutions</b>. Thanks to the public debt crisis and a heightening mistrust in big banks and corporations, the book points out that only 22% of Americans say that they trust their country’s financial system.<br />
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2. <b>Big changes in the corporate world</b>. Between 1983 and 2011, the 50 companies that made up 90% of American media have fallen to 6. This has to do with the consolidation of companies and also the illusion of choice.<br />
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3. <b>Crisis in the natural world.</b> Today, 50% of the world’s original forests have all bit disappeared. As tropical forests are home to a minimum of 50% of species, clearing out 17 million hectares of these forests every year are sure to do irreparable damage to our living environments.<br />
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4. <b>The proliferation of online identity.</b> Otherwise known as a “second life for all,” social media has created a new layer of identity. Facebook alone has 1.6 billion active monthly users in 2016, which is up 15% from 2015.<br />
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5. <b>The generation conundrum</b>. By 2025, 75% of workers around the world will be Millennials. An interesting thing to point out is that Gen-Z, the generation born after 1998 will be the very first post-Internet generation.<br />
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6. <b>The real-estate problem.</b> The issue that everyone is facing in regards to real estate these days is there is “nowhere to live, nowhere to work.” The book notes that 50% of Londoners will be renting by 2025, up from 40% in 2000.<br />
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7. <b>Disruption in manufacturing and supply chain.</b> The global 3D printing industry is set to skyrocket to US$12.8 billion by 2018, up from US$3.07 billion in 2013. This figure is set to surpass US$21 billion in revenue by 2020, and is supporting the trend of rapid making and customization.<br />
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8. <b>The doing away of “single-use architecture.”</b> As many are beginning to adapt to the “in my own place, on my own time” regimen, what will become of traditional brick-and-mortar environments? The book suggests that there will be a hybridization of environments as more take up the possibility of remote work. <br />
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9.<b> It’s the end of the office as we know it.</b> Thanks to advancements in robotics, AI, and genetics, over five million jobs will be lost by 2020. Two-thirds of these job losses will be in the administrative and office-related roles.<br />
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10. <b>Self-actualization a priority.</b> As people move towards purpose and self-worth, they’ll also want to find work that is both fulfilling and meaningful. Today, only 13% of employees globally report being engaged and emotionally invested in their work.<br />
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11. <b>Deeper understanding of why we need creativity and flow. </b>Workers are starting to be more in tune with the conditions needed for psychological happiness. According to Prof. M. Csikszentmihalyi, “Enjoyment appears at the boundary between boredom and anxiety, when the challenges are just balanced with the person’s capacity to act.”<br />
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12. <b>Increased need for collaboration to stay engaged.</b> The book points out that collaboration and teamwork are growing in importance. When working in a team, 71% of people reported feeling creative, 62% citing an increase in productivity, and 90% feeling more confident when coworking.<br />
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13. <b>Urban explosion.</b> Today, 54% of the world’s population are living in cities, which is expected to reach 66% by 2050. There is also a clustering of cities to create megacities (cities with more than 10 million). By 2030, there will be 41 megacities around the world, pitted against just 10 back in 1990.<br />
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14. <b>Rise of the gig economy. </b>Who can say who is the boss these days? By 2020, 40% of the American workforce will be working as a freelancer or independent contractor. This helps companies save money on things like benefits, but also helps people chart their own path to work-life autonomy.<br />
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15. <b>Collaborative consumption. </b>Sharing economy players, like Airbnb, continue to impact the way we live as more people tune into the digital nomad lifestyle. According to the book, the consumer peer-to-peer rental market is worth US$26 billion today.<br />
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<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/irisleung/2017/07/29/15-trends-that-will-transform-the-way-we-live-and-work/#6e5cb8fb3cdf" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/irisleung/2017/07/29/15-trends-that-will-transform-the-way-we-live-and-work/#6e5cb8fb3cdf</a>Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-77337461324373231532017-07-24T11:38:00.001+04:002017-07-24T11:38:08.813+04:00What Is Data Democratization?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzdV8MVNlCoZPjWvyXXs4763SSCPBSvCHa_iMb1YMMPjMuOtypmoMo9tjrTFiWGkLCxj59UqvxIbC8H_6EOFiGeCKif6UXvLScthTD8m4JVVqUhyphenhyphenHG8BFb5Cyvxe-FCGvNnVdfIQoSvKU/s1600/datademocratization.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzdV8MVNlCoZPjWvyXXs4763SSCPBSvCHa_iMb1YMMPjMuOtypmoMo9tjrTFiWGkLCxj59UqvxIbC8H_6EOFiGeCKif6UXvLScthTD8m4JVVqUhyphenhyphenHG8BFb5Cyvxe-FCGvNnVdfIQoSvKU/s400/datademocratization.jpg" title="What Is Data Democratization?" width="400" /></a></div>
Every business is inundated with data from every angle. There is pressure to use insights we glean from the data to improve business performance. As a result of this incredible amount of data to process and new tech that helps non-technical people make sense of the data, there is desire and demand for data democratization. Let’s explain what that means, the pros/cons of data democratization and the tech innovation that has transpired to support this effort.<br />
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<b>What is data democratization?</b><br />
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Data democratization means that everybody has access to data and there are no gatekeepers that create a bottleneck at the gateway to the data. It requires that we accompany the access with an easy way for people to understand the data so that they can use it to expedite decision-making and uncover opportunities for an organization. The goal is to have anybody use data at any time to make decisions with no barriers to access or understanding.<br />
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Until recently, data was “owned” by IT departments. Business units such as marketing, business analysts and executives used the data to make business decisions, but they always had to go through the IT department to get the data. This is the way it’s been for the better part of five decades and there are still some who believe it should remain that way.<br />
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<b>Why should there be data democratization?</b><br />
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Proponents of data democratization believe it’s imperative to distribute information across all working teams to gain a competitive advantage. The more people with diverse expertise who have the ability to access the data easily and quickly will enable your organization to identify and take action on critical business insights. There are many professionals who believe data democratization is a game changer. When you allow data access to any tier of your company, it empowers individuals at all levels with ownership and responsibility to use the data in their decision making.<br />
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<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/07/24/what-is-data-democratization-a-super-simple-explanation-and-the-key-pros-and-cons/#48c1f3846013" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/07/24/what-is-data-democratization-a-super-simple-explanation-and-the-key-pros-and-cons/#48c1f3846013</a>Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3555128408935597835.post-18348055455483016052017-07-14T11:22:00.000+04:002017-07-14T11:23:00.844+04:00How Does Ransomware Affect IOT Applications?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLk6CvMWMdGEM6ouLSadkmbZDWquds3wU37m3FdPOEu_w0HL5cJ2FmjgDQaXoHdZhmspJLpD4BkrzCB4ZvNrLrsOiF6AIHiPyjNf0GPpCS2osyl1RB8yehOvcxgXWecwroKqbCWBO8YRQ/s1600/ransomware-attack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLk6CvMWMdGEM6ouLSadkmbZDWquds3wU37m3FdPOEu_w0HL5cJ2FmjgDQaXoHdZhmspJLpD4BkrzCB4ZvNrLrsOiF6AIHiPyjNf0GPpCS2osyl1RB8yehOvcxgXWecwroKqbCWBO8YRQ/s400/ransomware-attack.jpg" title="How Does Ransomware Affect IOT Applications?" width="400" /></a></div>
How does ransomware affect IOT applications? originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.<br />
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Answer by Stan Hanks, CTO of Columbia Ventures Corp, on Quora:<br />
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I actively worry about how malware and ransomware will affect Internet of Things (IoT) applications.</blockquote>
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The one thing we know about IoT - largely based on other embedded systems like WiFi access points and cable modems - is that once the system is shipped, there’s nearly zero chance that it will be updated.<br />
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That’s probably a good thing, because if you make it possible to remotely update the core software of an embedded system, and you get the security mechanisms wrong (which is easy to do, particularly if you’re trying to do it cheaply because it’s all about per-unit cost in consumer devices), then having a vector by which someone can upload an “update” that’s really a security compromise and is a really, really bad thing.<br />
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Which creates a conundrum: you can’t update it once it’s shipped, and you can’t realistically create an ecosystem in which trusted updates flow natively at IoT price points. (Because someone is going to mention this, I’ll point out that it’s a really big difference in pushing updates for Windows computers, or smartphones, versus for devices that need to have a bill-of-materials cost under $20; you don’t have the financial headroom to use bigger processors, more memory, more storage, or more importantly, more headcount to make it possible do to it the same way it happens for your laptop or phone.)<br />
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As I see it, this is really problematic. Odds are pretty good that the developer didn’t spend the time to patch and harden the OS that’s running the IoT device - particularly if they’re just embedding some else’s system-on-a-chip solution. That means that a determined hacker can figure out how to penetrate the attack surface and re-purpose the device. And if you can do it for one, you can do it for, well, all of them.<br />
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Case in point: remember the DDOS attack on Dyn, back in October 2016? Well, hacked cameras and DVRs powered it. That’s the first time we’ve seen this, but trust me, it won’t be the last.<br />
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So how does ransomware play into this? How about a scenario? Let’s say that you manage the Trump World Tower, 72 floors of luxury high-rise living. And let’s say that you decide that if you use super-smart IoT controls for the building, that you can save a huge amount of money every year on energy costs (which is true). And let’s say that you want to promote this as an extra-luxe feature, and allow things like your smart phone telling your apartment that you’re almost home to change the settings as part of this (hey, that’s a thing…)<br />
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So you bite down and replace all the controls with this spiffy new fully interconnected Internet-accessible stuff. Costs millions to install and get working right. Takes months and months to do, probably over a year.<br />
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And there’s a problem, and it gets hacked.<br />
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And I’m now going to screw with everyone who lives there. Turn the heat on full in the middle of the night in July, turn off the hot water, run the AC in January, whatever. I’m just going to make everyone’s life miserable, randomly.<br />
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Or you can pay me to “manage your facility” for just a modest fee: only a million bucks. A month. Forever.<br />
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Or until you replace it. And hope that whatever you replaced the compromised control systems with doesn’t let me do it again.<br />
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Scale that horizontally, it’s less compelling: if you hack my Nest thermostat, it will be painful for me to replace (hey that’s like what, $200 or so?) but it’s manageable, for me as an individual. Less opportunity there, even times a million homes. I’m not going to bother to hold you hostage on ransomware with it, because the cost to replace is too low.<br />
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But vertically scaled infrastructure? That’s a different thing. Much more expensive to nuke-and-repave your world, much more painful while you’re doing it because it takes a lot of time.<br />
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At the “in your home” scale, the opportunity is different. That’s using the IoT device as a foothold to explore and penetrate the rest of your home. So I can possibly create a ransomware vector by using your thermostat to hack your router and send your computer to places you wouldn’t otherwise go so I can give you a big fat malware payload to do whatever I want with.<br />
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The more connected the world gets, more you have to think about this stuff. Unfortunately the number of people who are thinking about it, and who are in the position to get executive management to take the right action, is vanishingly small.<br />
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<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/07/13/how-does-ransomware-affect-iot-applications/" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/07/13/how-does-ransomware-affect-iot-applications/</a><br />
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Igor Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652433679771858987noreply@blogger.com