I love this mini-manifesto from the Beeb describing their approach to social media internally with a view to improving the organisation. DO NOTHING GET OUT OF THE WAY and KEEP THE ENERGY LEVELS UP Source: Wiki and Social Media roundup I especially like this quote: His argument is that it’s going to happen in your organisation anyway, so …. Technorati tags: social+networks, BBC Continue reading BBC approach to Enterprise 2.0
This is startling information which will make the technology groups in Banks laugh. They will laugh because they don’t believe it. However I have seen enough outside the Banking environment over the last few months to confirm my earlier suspicions that Banks are hamstrung by legacy beliefs and practices, that restrict how they think about moving forward with technology. This time the focus was very much around the financial costs to build and deploy these web applications (as opposed to elements like lines of code or revenue). It also touched on what it costs in monthly maintenance. Here is an overview of … Continue reading How much does it cost to build the best web apps today, and how should Banks react?
Fascinating observation from Scoble while at SXSW this week. VC’s are moving on from technology to environmentalism. He says that the attention of the world’s biggest venture capitalists has left the computer world and moved to the world of environmentalism. Says that the attention there was on material scientists and other scientists who are coming up with ways to save energy, reduce carbon dioxide emissions, etc. I write this because if the world’s richest people are going to start pouring their resources somewhere other than computer science, that’s important to know, especially if you’re someone trying to decide on a … Continue reading The "coolness" leaving Computer Science for EcoStuff? « Scobleizer
I am trying to keep up with evolution of social aspects of sites, and in particular financial one, so I spent a little while looking around Wesabe again today. The social aspect is designed around goals and tips. Goals You can create your own goal, or you can read others goals, and search for one that matches what you seek. These are the most popular goals. What immediately struck me is the normal, and quite predictable nature of these goals. People are genuinely seeking advice from others who have been there, or still there, and working through it. Its interesting … Continue reading Wesabe – brief review of their ‘goals’ and ‘tips’ section
Even though the number of banks in the US has reduced to 7,402 at the end of last year from 14,411 banks in 1977, there remains a significant opportunity for community sized Banks to compete. They can bring a customer focus and clarity of vision that is hard to accomplish in larger institutions. This is evidenced by new ones being set up every year. (Hat tip Neil) A small bank is the vein that carries blood to the heart, said Edward Carpenter, chairman of Carpenter & Company, an investment bank that in 33 years has organized the founding of 708 … Continue reading Countering the Big-Bank Trend (US)
Lloyds announce a service that’s a long time coming. Many credit card companies have had this service for years. An automated alert to the customers telephone will announce a potential fraud alert. The message customers hear will ask them if they recognised the transaction in question. If the customer thinks fraud has taken place they will be transferred to a call handler who will then freeze the account and organise a refund. Where customers recognise the transaction, they will be able to confirm it is genuine and end the call. Source: Finextra: Lloyds TSB launches debit card fraud detection service The … Continue reading Finextra: Lloyds TSB launches debit card fraud detection service
This analysis from Wharton in Philadelphia describes the strategic run up to the current issues. It also implies the possibility that there might be a soft landing out of this, but its a definite maybe. In particular the tie to the overall capital markets is worrisome. The final factor was the mushrooming in the 1990s of “securitization,” the bundling of home loans into bond-like securities that could be bought and sold on the secondary market. This allows lenders to get loans off their books so they can lend more. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the quasi-governmental lenders, had long sold … Continue reading More on the US sub-prime mortgage market – Wharton
Off topic, but Microsoft is around us all, and I remain interested in their future. I have been critical of Ray Ozzie, but some things I have noted recently suggest to me, that he (or someone there is getting it). First … recently Scoble noted he was invited to a private NDA session at Microsoft to talk about things, presumably blogging. Pirillo and others of similar stature attended same session. This I knew from, of all things, Twitter, so no links. Now a colleague from Unspace, is at Microsoft this week, and since he is under NDA I won’t mention the … Continue reading Microsoft resurgence?
Let me state at the outset, I am an ardent believer in Social Networks as a concept. However I have real issues with the value in Linkedin, MySpace and Facebook, just to name three. I have found something that’s new to me (perhaps not to others) that helps define the characteristic of my doubts, but more importantly the outline of the solution. Dunbar supports this hypothesis through studies by a number of field anthropologists. These studies measure the group size of a variety of different primates; Dunbar then correlate those group sizes to the brain sizes of the primates to … Continue reading The Dunbar Number suggests Social Networks are misunderstood
Some background on the subprime lender problem in the US. The trouble started with New Century, which had become the nation’s second biggest lender to would-be homeowners with dodgy credit histories or little cash for a down payment. Last month New Century said it would be restating its earnings, triggering investigations into how it has accounted for its bad loans. Lenders have not only cut off all credit lines, many also demanded accelerated repayment of outstanding loans—which New Century says it cannot make. If the rest of its lenders demand their money back New Century will be on the hook … Continue reading America’s subprime lenders create a domino effect problem amongst lenders
