Archive for the ‘Arkansas’ Category
Thursday, March 10th, 2011
 John Robbins, Jr. LITTLE ROCK, ARK. – John Robbins, Jr., has been named president and chief executive officer of Little-Rock-based DataPath after the death of founder John Robbins, Sr.
DataPath, founded in 1984, is a management-owned, privately held company based in Little Rock, that produces software solutions for administering employee benefit plans. Our clients include employers, third party administrators, benefit consultants, Plan Service Providers, banks, certified public accountants, insurance companies, and insurance agencies.
John Robbins, Jr., who has served as DataPath’s vice president and director of healthcare payment solutions for the past four years, has been with the company since 1996 and is known in the employee benefits industry for his development of the myResourceCard credit card in close partnership with national credit-card companies. The card has several patents on it and is a leading healthcare payment platform for many large companies across the country.
In 2007, Robbins helped form the national association SIGIS, Special Interest Group for IIAS Standards (www.sigis.com). He has served SIGIS as an elected member of the management committee. Robbins has presented at several national industry conferences, including seminars with the Employers Council on Flexible Compensation (ECFC).
Since health reform, he has been recognized as an authority on consumer driven healthcare and has been interviewed frequently by local television and radio stations. Robbins has been named a “40 Under 40” leader by Arkansas Business and is a 2010 graduate of Leadership Arkansas.
Prior to joining DataPath, Robbins worked with an actuarial firm providing defined benefit and 401(k) administration and testing. He graduated with a bachelor’s of science degree in mathematics from Christian Brothers University in Memphis.
Tags: DataPath names John Robbins Jr. president and CEO, Healthcare, IT
Posted in Arkansas, Healthcare, IT, Other SE, People | Comments Off
Tuesday, December 14th, 2010
By Allan Maurer
 The InZero security device RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – Cybersecurity still seems to be an afterthought among everyone from McDonald’s to Gawker Media, not to mention the U.S. government and military. Too many entities worry about digital security only when it is breached.
Great business strategy that. Apparently, even giving your email address to a publication such as Gawker or to McDonald’s during one of its promotions, can expose your private data these days. Both admitted to serious security breaches as 2010 ends, while many Twitter accounts – including mine – were hacked by someone selling Acai for weight loss this week. Probably because I used the same password for both sites (see: Spammers Exploit Gawker) on Gawker, where I commented maybe once.
TechJournal South had its own problems with a hacked ad server a few months back and had to shift to another. Two major ad networks were hit with a similar problem this week.
And most of those security breaches were relatively minor in the scheme of things. Many more serious ones have already occurred and we have little doubt are to come.
But coming on the heels of the WikiLeaks fracas, these breaches all show a laxness about cybersecurity that I think is increasingly dangerous on the part of commercial enterprises, government agencies and the military, not to mention to each of us personally.
The problem is partly inherent in the open, accessible nature of the Internet. The very ease with which we swim the Internet’s electron sea makes us vulnerable to sharks. Still,the bad guys, be they foreign hacker crews backed by their own governments, malware creators, spammers, scammers or plain old crooks, actively hack away at us, while credit card companies, government agencies, and businesses remain all too often re-active.
We can’t win the cybersecurity battles that way.
It is absolutely necessary – probably for all of us, but certainly for government and commercial entities – to actively combat this problem. Harden passwords, be careful about what we put on thumb drives or pick up on them, shred documents with sensitive data, and find and use security systems not so easy for cyber criminals to break through.
I’ve noted one approach that seems to be powerful, that of using a security device separate from other equipment that acts as a lockbox preventing suspicious or actual malware and other intrusions from ever reaching operating systems. See: Herndon-based firm grabbing media attention for security device. And: NZero keeps the bad guys out.
Meanwhile, Panda Security of Orlando, which provides antimalware software in the cloud rather than on individual machines, has listed the top ten cyber security threats it sees for 2011.
See also: WikiWars: The Face of future conflicts.
There are contrary views. Over at InformIT, Gary McGraw & Ivan Arce explain how the current climate of exaggeration and FUD surrounding cyber attacks does not ultimately serve the best interests of computer security research in Cyber Warmongering and Influence Peddling.
Email TJS Editor Allan Maurer: Allan at TechJournalSouth dot com.
Tags: Allan Maurer, cyber crime, cyber security, cybersecurity, Gawker, twitter, Wikileaks
Posted in Alabama, Arkansas, Carolinas, Columns, Florida, Georgia, Government/Defense, Internet/New Media, IT, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Other SE, Potomac, Security, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, DC, West Virginia | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, December 14th, 2010
 The office of the future might not be an office at all. As virtual teams become more prevalent, we edge ever closer to a culture where “work” means logging in to your company’s online project management site from your home or collaborating with people who each work for different teams or functions at their local co-working establishment.
“Company headquarters” is becoming more of a concept than an actual building. And as physical location becomes less important, companies can hire the best talent regardless of their location. In addition, companies can enhance their efficiency by handing off work across time zones, enabling them to be productive around the clock.
Especially in the Internet company start-up culture and in early-stage biotechnology companies, virtual teams are increasingly prevalent.
But far too often, say Darleen DeRosa and Rick Lepsinger, this vision of the global economy workplace falls short of today’s reality. In other words, virtual teams may be increasingly popular…but they’re not necessarily successful.
“Today it isn’t uncommon for companies to have as many as 50 percent of their employees working on virtual teams,” says Lepsinger, coauthor along with Darleen DeRosa of Virtual Team Success: A Practical Guide for Working and Leading from a Distance (Jossey-Bass/A Wiley Imprint, 2010, ISBN: 978-0-470-53296-6, $50.00, www.onpointconsultingllc.com).
“Our research finds that many organizations recycle the same guidelines and best practices they use for their co-located teams and hope for the best,” says DeRosa. “Frankly, that just doesn’t work. Virtual teams and face-to-face teams are the proverbial ‘apples and oranges’—and leaders who recognize this fact are the ones whose teams succeed.”
To help organizations maximize their investment in virtual collaboration, OnPoint Consulting conducted a study of forty-eight virtual teams to understand the success factors of top performing virtual teams. Surprisingly, 27 percent of virtual teams in the global study were not fully performing. Given these results, the authors recognized the need for a resource that could help organizations and leaders enhance virtual team performance—and so they wrote Virtual Team Success.
Through the study, the authors recognized that virtual teams regularly fall victim to four pitfalls:
Lack of clear goals, direction, or priorities—Because it is tougher to communicate with and inform team members who are geographically dispersed, it is often difficult to keep all team members focused on the same goals, especially over time.
Lack of clear roles among team members—In virtual teams, it is especially important for team members to clearly understand their individual roles and how their work impacts other team members.
Lack of cooperation and trust—Because there is a lack of face-to-face contact inherent in virtual teamwork, the process of establishing trust and relationships that lead to group cooperation can be very arduous. Over time, this lack of collaboration can lead to a lack of trust amongst team members.
Lack of engagement—With virtual teams, people can easily become bored and “check out” because there is a lack of dynamic face-to-face interaction and because there are more distractions.
Eliminate these pitfalls and a team’s chances for success greatly increase. Below DeRosa and Lepsinger identify six lessons—excerpted from the book—for creating successful virtual teams.
We’ll be presenting the rest of the lessons tomorrow, including a reprise of Lesson 1, below.
Lesson #1: Focus on people issues. Essentially, successful teaming depends largely on the effective interaction of team members. Virtual teams need to compensate for the inherent lack of human contact by supporting team spirit, trust, and productivity. The authors identify warning signs that indicate that a team’s “people issues” need more attention.
“You may notice that team members work independently and do not reach out to other team members to collaborate,” says Lepsinger. “You may also notice that an ‘us versus them’ mentality has developed between locations or sub-groups. The truth is, when everyone is engaged and communicating, it is much easier to succeed as a virtual team. When team members build relationships with one another, it prevents people issues from taking over and impacting team efficiency.
Lesson #1 in Action:
- Develop a team web page where virtual team members can share information and get to know one another.
- Create ways for team members to interact and communicate informally. Use real-time communication tools like Instant Messaging or social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter to create a virtual water cooler of sorts that allows people on virtual teams to communicate more spontaneously.
- Build a collective online “resource bank” to share information and experiences.
- Find ways to “spotlight” team members.
- Send electronic newsletters or updates to the team.
- Create ways to virtually celebrate successes as a team
- Partner team members at different locations on projects and rotate these periodically.
Darleen DeRosa, Ph.D., is a managing partner at OnPoint Consulting. Darleen brings more twelve years of management consulting experience, with deep expertise in the areas of talent/succession management, executive assessment, virtual teams, and organizational assessment. Her client list includes Accenture, Bayer Pharmaceuticals, Daiichi-Sankyo, Gerdau Ameristeel, and Johnson & Johnson.
Richard Lepsinger is president of OnPoint Consulting and has a twenty-five-year track record of success as an organizational consultant and executive. His client list includes Bayer Pharmaceuticals, Citibank, Coca-Cola Company, ConocoPhillips, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, NYSE Euronext, PeopleSoft, Prudential, and Subaru of America, among many others
Tomorrow: the other five lesson.
Tags: best practices, Darleen DeRosa, Rick Lepsinger, Viewpoint, virtual teams
Posted in Alabama, Arkansas, Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Internet/New Media, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Other SE, Potomac, Tennessee, Viewpoint, Virginia, Washington, DC, West Virginia | Comments Off
Monday, June 28th, 2010
 WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected the challenge to the constitutionality of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the attempt by Congress to bring stricter accounting standards to the corporate world following the Enron and WorldCom scandals.
The court did find that the way members of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board are removed is unconstitutional and made the members removable at will rather than only for “good cause.”
Many business lobbying groups had hoped the court would declare the entire law invalid due to problems with the way members of the board are appointed.
But Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the Act “Remains fully operative as law.”
Many public companies and business lobbying organizations contended that the Act is unduly expensive and did not do anything to curb fraud while constricting the number of companies that could afford to go public and slashing the number of foreign corporations listing on U.S. stock exchanges.
We’ll bring you reactions from industry sources as they’re released. The decision is bound to disappoint many smaller public companies which find the act burdensome and expensive.
Contact Tech Journal South Editor and writer Allan Maurer: Allan at TechJournalSouth dot com.
See:
Posted in Alabama, Arkansas, Business Briefs, Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Legal, Maryland, North Carolina, Other SE, Potomac, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, DC, West Virginia | Comments Off
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
 Deepak Gupta By Allan Maurer
CLEARWATER, FL – Deepak Gupta, a marketing expert, says he helps clients “aggressively increase brand awareness and consumer engagement” via social media. When Clearwater-based Help My Resume, a nonprofit organization assisting the unemployed hired him, we saw his bio and decided to ask him just what aggressive use of social media requires.
Gupta, Founder of Marketing By Deepak Consulting Group, a social media thought Leader located in California, has created and executed social media strategies for non-profits to Fortune 500 organizations raising brand awareness, user engagement and growing main site traffic.
He has created and executed social media strategies for non-profits to Fortune 500 organizations raising brand awareness, user engagement and growing main site traffic.
So just what is aggressive use of social media?
“Let’s pretend you’re in the Navy,” he tells us. “You’re off the shores of North Korea and it decides to pull out a rogue ship with nukes on board. You can’t just take them on with a destroyer or frigate. You bombard them with the whole fleet: gunboats, aircraft carriers, destroyers, ground-based air attacks. A multiple wave.”
That’s what he suggests to firms executing a marketing campaign.
“Don’t do one tactic in a vacuum,” he says. “Use them all. Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.”
So, when he works with a client, he first determines what they want: increased brand awareness or boost market share? Then he says, “Let’s get you a blog, optimize your web page, make sure you’re on Facebook and engaging with your consumers. Make sure you’re on Twitter and following those who follow you. Answer tweets. When you talk to your client base, they’re more likely to do business with you if they know you.”
Make executives accessible
He suggests that if a company has the budget, it should put a team together and look at TV ads and direct mail and print advertising and include social media links on the ads. “Combine it all with banner ads, email marketing. Make sure it all has social media sharing buttons.
“Do as many news worth press releases as you can so you’re featured in media regularly. Help out some large charity and put out a press release. You have to be out there.”
Also, make your executives assessable, he says.
Don’t do what BP did
What he says you should not do, is what British Petroleum is doing. “They’re spending $50 million on an ad campaign that’s too late. If you’re company makes a mistake or has a problem, own up to it.”
BP currently faces a number of Twitter accounts such as Boycott BP that are more active than their own twitter stream, he points out.
As an example, he mentions Jet Blue, which kept passengers on one plane for seven hours waiting for takeoff during a snowstorm.
“The CEO came back and decided to make it up. They gave everyone tickets and publically apologized. They messed up, but fixed it and did it publically.”
Another big wave coming
Gupta says that while the distribution barriers to using social media are low – it can be done from a laptop or even a phone – companies do have to spend time on them every day. “You need to make sure you have teams – more than one or two people – respond to complaints or negative brand mentions.”
Gupta predicts there is another “big wave of social marketing coming just around the corner” and that’s mobile marketing.
“Social and mobile will come together,” he says. “People can access Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn on their phones. You can go out on the golf course and check email or social media. You can do it waiting in line or on the subway and keep your productivity high.”
For more tips from Gupta, see his blog.
Tags: BP, British Petroleum, Deepak Gupta, facebook, Help My Resume, Jet Blue, LinkedIn, social media, twitter
Posted in Alabama, Arkansas, Business advice, Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Internet/New Media, Kentucky, Marketing, Maryland, North Carolina, Other SE, Potomac, South Carolina, Tennessee, Viewpoint, Virginia, Washington, DC, West Virginia | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
 Dean Williams, Services Development Manager, Softchoice By Allan Maurer
TORONTO – With less than 4 weeks before Microsoft discontinues support of Windows XP SP2, a Softchoice study finds that 77 percent of organizations are still not prepared. Toronto-based Softchoice, which has Southeast offices in Atlanta, Charlotte, Norfolk, VA, and DC, says these surprising findings will have a significant impact on the overall security of a company’s data if computers are not upgraded before July 13, 2010.
It is estimated that nearly eight out of every 10 organizations have a high enough prevalence of SP2 in their environment to warrant immediate action to update their systems. Failing to do so could create unnecessary security risks as hackers continue to look for vulnerabilities knowing that software updates will no longer be forthcoming from Microsoft.
How much is a high enough prevalence? If 10 percent of a company’s computers are running XP Service Pack 2, that’s enough to worry about, Softchoice says.
“We were surprised by the number of people who have not yet deployed Service Pack 3,” said Dean Williams, Services Development Manager for Softchoice.
Williams tells us XP is still the most popular operating system in the world. “The more popular an operating system is, the bigger the bullseye on it,” he says. “Every day, people are looking to exploit known XP vulnerabilities, so there is no more dangerous operating system in the world.”
XP is “like a comfortable pair of jeans” for many users, a fact that forced Microsoft to extend its support of the system. Many also may have experienced disruptive issues when installing XP’s service pack 2, Williams notes, which may have made them reluctant to update to the XP service pack 3.
A whopping 93 percent of users are still running XP, says Williams, which we find amazing.
Also, While offered free of charge by Microsoft, the work involved in deploying Windows SP3 is not insignificant for larger organizations or those without systems management technology in place.
Service pack 3 is a much more incremental update compared to the major overhaul of SP2 and does not cause those troublesome issues. Users should update immediately, says Williams. Even better, he suggests, would be to upgrade to a current system such as Windows 7.
Hackers will be actively looking even harder to exploit vulnerabilities in XP Service Pack 2 once Microsoft discontinues software updates, Williams notes.
Tags: Dean Williams, Security, Softchoice, Windows 7, Windows XP Service pack 2
Posted in Alabama, Arkansas, Business advice, Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Internet/New Media, IT, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Other SE, Potomac, Security, South Carolina, Studies, surveys, reports, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, DC, West Virginia | Comments Off
Friday, June 18th, 2010
By Rhonda R. Savage, DDS
 Rhonda R. Savage There’s no doubt that Facebook participation can be an asset to any business. The question is, how can you use it to promote your products and company, yet be sure your team members are cautious in the way they use it? What should the owner and office manager post?
Where is the line between personal and professional? Knowing the good, the bad and the ugly of Facebook for business, your company can take full advantage of this tool and watch your business grow.
The good: One benefit Facebook offers for business is it lets the customers and potential clients know your company on a personal level. Clients come to you for a relationship. They assume you know how to take care of their needs. Being accessible on social media sites helps your clients and customers feel connected to your company.
A Facebook page can also help bring people to your website. Customers will look for your presence on the Internet and a Facebook profile is just another way they can find you, leading them to your website to find out more information and possibly contact you.
Facebook can be a tremendous networking tool. Business pages on Facebook can elevate your website status through Search Engine Optimization. In addition, if you have a Facebook business page link on the opening page of your website, potential clients can feel that they know you and your office before coming in for their new customer experience. Several companies have gained new clients simply because of their Facebook page.
The bad: A recent study of companies with 1,000 employees found that 8% of their employees have actually been dismissed for their behavior on sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. That’s double from the previous year! Companies have also fired employees for sharing sensitive details about the business and their clients. In addition, team members have been sanctioned and fired for making unprofessional remarks about their boss via social networking sites.
The Ugly: Realize that even if you use Facebook privacy settings, you may still be in danger. Remember going to high school and doing things you thought your parents would never know about and yet somehow they always found out? The same is true of social media. Avoid bad -mouthing your boss, co-worker or anyone in your professional life in such a public way on a public forum.
Every business should have specific guidelines that apply to social media use. There are two factors at work here: employers need to be closely monitoring social media sites and employees need to use common sense when posting about work life. Employees need to be careful about sharing sensitive information as well as making foolish remarks about their employer.
The owner needs to set the vision and goals for the office regarding social media with the help of the team with the development of a mission-driven ethical use policy.
Following are some basic guidelines for using social media in business. The guidelines listed below must apply to every member of the team member, including the owner:
- Never post anything that directly or indirectly insults customers, clients or the business itself.
- When posting on personal and social media sites, be nice and keep it clean. Develop verbal cue cards on “what to say and not to say” on social media. Have clearly developed expectations that apply to all team members.
- Consider leveraging your office’s Facebook profile to start positive conversations about your employees and your services. You can do this by regularly posting testimonials from current or past clients.
- With your customers’ permission, involve them in your efforts. You can do this by connecting with them and posting information about their business.
If you have a personal page and a business page, consider your policy regarding clients who want to become your personal friend. One business owner lost a family of customers who requested to be his personal friend and he said “no.”
- Create a page in your office policy manual regarding Facebook and social media posting so each employee understands what to do and what not to do.
- Designate one or more specific employees to be responsible for posting on and updating your sites. Business page content will need to be updated frequently and consistently to ensure the Wall tab stays fresh. Carve out 1-2 hours/week for this responsibility dedicated to marketing on the web.
With a clearly established policy and understanding of the good, bad and the ugly, Facebook and social media can be a great asset to your business. By enforcing social media policies and following these guidelines, you’ll see great results from your efforts!
Dr. Rhonda Savage is an internationally acclaimed speaker and CEO for a well-known practice management and consulting business. Dr. Savage is a noted motivational speaker on leadership, women’s issues and communication. For more information on her speaking, visit www.DentalManagementU.com
Tags: Business advice, facebook, Rhonda Savage, social media, soical media in the workplace, twitter
Posted in Alabama, Arkansas, Business advice, Carolinas, Columns, Florida, Georgia, Internet/New Media, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Other SE, Potomac, South Carolina, Tennessee, Viewpoint, Virginia, Washington, DC, West Virginia | 2 Comments »
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
 WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hand down a decision affecting the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) act of 2002 soon. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act more than quadrupled corporate auditing costs for public corporations. Passed in response to the slack auditing that allowed companies such as Enron to appear healthy when they were not, SOX proved so costly that some public companies went private again, while it also reduced the number of companies going public.
That effect is still being felt in the venture financing industry, where a successful IPO is a coveted exit. We’ve heard from a number of smaller venture-backed firms that the cost of going public now means they aimed at a merger or acquisition exit from the start rather than for an IPO.
The case before the Supreme Court, says the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) whose attorneys are service as co-counsel, mounts a constitutional challenge to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), the accounting regulatory body created by the law.
Negative impact on entrepreneurs
The CEI argues that the way in which the PCAOB board members are appointed violates the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Namely, that PCAOB officers, who wield a great deal of regulatory power over businesses and industry-wide accounting practices, are “principal officers of the United States” who must be appointed by the President, with advice and consent of the Senate or by an agency head, as required by the Appointments Clause.
CEI says, “This requirement was intended by the Framers to instill a high level of accountability for officials who wield such vast powers. Although the PCAOB is a striking constitutional anomaly – a case of an independent agency (Securities and Exchange Commission) appointing an equally powerful independent agency – it’s a case that will also potentially change, for the better, how other government officials and regulatory bodies are answerable to the American people.”
CEI notes that SOX has had a negative impact on entrepreneurs and inventors.
Fewer IPOS
CEI says SOX permanently reduced the number of companies going public, increased the size of companies going public, and had a negative effect on job creation and economic growth. It also caused many foreign firms to stop listing on U.S. exchanges.
According to a 2009 Renaissance Capital report, IPO issuance in 2008 and 2009 is lower than any period since the 1970s, when business creation struggled against inflation, high interest rates and the Vietnam War.
Also, data compiled by Jay Ritter of the University of Florida show the number of U.S. IPOs were lower in every year after SOX was enacted in 2002 (2003 to present) than in every year of the decade from 1991 to 2000, including the early ’90s recession years. For instance, in the post-SOX boom year of 2006, there were 162 U.S. IPOs. Yet in 1991, a year when the U.S. was mired in recession but did not have SOX, there were 295 U.S. IPOs.
Bigger IPOs
The sheer size of companies going public has also increased, in large part because a company needs to be pretty big to afford the accounting costs that have shot up fourfold as a result of SOX, according to a summary of research in the Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Journal.
According to Business Week, the median market cap (as measured by number of shares times share price) for a company doing an IPO was $52 million in the mid-‘90s. Today, it has shot up $227 million. Google had a $1 billion market cap when it went public of 2004. And Facebook still hasn’t gone public, despite having an estimated market cap of nearly $10 billion.
That means, says CEI, that budding Microsofts can no longer go public to raise money for growth. They must wait until they’re as big as a Google to go public. That forces firms to seek financing through debt, which is especially difficult in the current credit crunch.
CEI notes that evidence suggests that we were able to recover more quickly from the early ‘90s recession because an actual increase in companies — from Starbucks to Cisco — issuing IPOs. But SOX forecloses that possibility and makes for a longer recovery.
Accountants full employment act?
CEI also maintains that the PCAOB has stretched Sarbox’s requirement that auditors “attest” to a company’s internal controls over financial reporting in the law’s Section 404 to require a full-blown audit of trivial items that could remotely effect a financial statement. “This has turned the law into the “Accountants Full Employment Act” and the reason the Big 4 accounting firms lobby so hard against even minor rollbacks in Congress,” says CEI’s John Berlan, director of its Center for Entrepreneurs and Investors in a memo.
SOX was Hell for a company like Google
Even companies large enough to mount and IPO such as Google, faced difficulties with SOX.
According to John Battelle’s book The Search, considered a definitive history of Google Inc., Sarbox was “hell for a company like Google, which made its money literally pennies at a time, from millions upon millions of micro-transactions.”
Battelle reports that Sarbox compliance significantly delayed Google’s IPO. “According to engineers involved in the work, Google had to significantly restructure its advertising report system from the ground up.” If this was difficult for a company like Google, imagine what a burden it is to smaller companies.
SOX ineffective in fighting fraud
University of Minnesota accounting professor Ivy Zhang found that the law has cost the American economy $1.4 trillion in direct and indirect costs.
Almost as important is that Zhang and other researches have found that Sarbox has had no quantifiable benefits in fighting fraud. The PCAOB has done little or nothing about in telling accountants how to handle accounting for the off-balance sheet entities at issue in Enron that resurfaced with Lehman and other companies. Countrywide Financial, now charged by the SEC with accounting fraud, actually won an award for its Sarbox compliance from the Institute of Internal Auditors in 2007.
There is bipartisan support in Congress for regulatory relief from SOX.
For more see also:
Peter Thiel, venture capitalist and first outside investor in Facebook, “The IPO window is almost closed and I think in part, this is a response to Sarbanes-Oxley to the ways in which being the CEO of a public company is simply no fun anymore. They’re subject to insane levels of scrutiny. You’re not able to pursue any sort of multi-year corporate strategy and instead you are held to a quarter-by-quarter earnings schedule which is ultimately quite detrimental to long-term planning.” bigthink.com/ideas/17716
Carl Schramm and Robert Litan, president and vice president of Kauffman Foundation, leading foundation on research in entrepreneurship: “Compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, in particular, has proven to be far more expensive for smaller companies than originally intended or forecasted. Since shareholders are the intended beneficiaries of Sarbox, why not let them vote on whether their company needs to comply with some or all of its provisions—the expensive requirement for auditing of internal controls, in particular.
We suspect that many shareholders would choose some form of opt-out, and in so doing, would enable more growing companies to continue growing as independent firms, rather than being bought out by larger companies that can intentionally or unintentionally rob the firms of the entrepreneurial magic that made them successful in the first place.” online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704013004574517303668357682.html
Commentary on the Daily Caller: Sarbox reform would boost our economy, but even small reforms (such as small company exemptions) are being blocked by the powerful accounting lobby: dailycaller.com/2010/02/02/obama-can-aid-small-businesses-by-providing-regulatory-relief/
CEI study, “SOXing It To The Little Guy,” detailing Sarbox’s cost to Main Street entrepreneurs and investors.
Jack Welch, General Electric CEO responsible for turnaround in 80s and 90s. ”Small companies with all these financial controls that are in there now and the penalties that go on with small entrepreneurial companies, it’s tough.” Interview with Tavis Smiley.www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200504/20050426_welch.html
Tags: Carl Schramm, CEI, Countrywide Financial, facebook, General Electric, Google, Ivy Zhang, Jack Welch, John Battelle, Kauffman Foundation, Peter Thiel, Robert Litan, SOX, Supreme Court ruling on Sarbanes-Oxley Act, University of Florida
Posted in Alabama, Arkansas, Carolinas, Economic Development, Florida, Georgia, Government/Defense, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Other SE, Potomac, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, DC, West Virginia | Comments Off
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
 Joe Procopio By Joe Procopio
Look, we all know that the world economy is in the toilet. Our own stock market seems caught in a range depending on what’s gushing, exploding, or opening its stupid mouth on any given day. Europe has had it, thanks for all those awesome centuries of culture and civilization, fellas. And Twitter still hasn’t figured out how to make any money.
Or have they? It’s hard to tell.
But I have a question for you on this, the fortnight before the season for the eve of all financial destruction: Which is the more valuable currency play? A) Euros; B) Flooz ; C) Badges
Answer Below (No Cheating!)
As far as the Euro is concerned, yeah, I’m the ugly American, but we do have the World Cup going on and that 1-1 draw with England is stuck in my craw like a keeper deftly securing a dribbling shot into his professionally gloved hands. You can actually buy Euro futures with an options collar using World of Warcraft money (I don’t know… pence?) and General Mills box tops. The only way you lose is if the scone market goes belly up.
If you read the word “Flooz” and didn’t laugh, you’re either twelve years old or Whoopi Goldberg. No wait, you can’t be twelve and not laugh at the word “Flooz.” Sorry, Whoopi.
And if you’re not 100% sure what badges are or why they might be the right answer, well, you’re not alone.
Badges Are Not Euros
Here’s what badges are in 15 words: Things that don’t exist with no intrinsic value other than to the few who seek them. But don’t take that explanation the wrong way. After all, a Star Wars action figure in the original packaging is just a few cents worth of plastic and cardboard. You can’t eat gold, yada and yada.
What badges are not are actual currency, certified or overseen in any way (and I say this knowing there is indeed some self-appointed badge certification website out there with tons of members who go by Monty Python referencing handles and nothing better to do than send me corrective email, I’m just too lazy to look it up), or linked to a central qualification.
You want the TechJournal South Ultra-Mega-Reader-And-Understander Badge?
There. Now you can put it wherever these things go, like on your MySpace page or above your fireplace.
Badges Are Not Flooz (Still Chuckling)
What badges are also not… are Flooz.
See. It’s confusing. Hang with me, we’ll get there.
Badges aren’t Flooz because Flooz was an Internet currency with a pre-determined cash value. You spent Flooz on the Internet instead of cash.
Badges have no, repeat, no value other than as a collectible and only, it seems, as a collectible to a single entity – a social network like FourSquare or an event like the World Cup. They come from the gaming industry, which is where I get my wobbly expert knowledge on the subject. I know of them, but I don’t have any, because while I can deftly destroy my wife and toddler children at Halo (the little one STILL has nightmares about the Flood, by the way, but you take your edge where you can get it), any kid beyond the age of five makes me look like my Dad.
Who, for the record, can still beat the hell out of Dr. Mario.
Social Badges
When badges came over to social networking they, like every other Internet idea, actually started out with good intentions, like Facebook, and were used to raise money for charity. These were actually less like badges and more like widgets.
But when used improperly, what badges can do, like every other Internet idea shamelessly copied and mutated into something awful for attention or money, like Facebook, is fall victim to a mix of trendhopping, poor program design, and automation, and bring down the worth of every achievement that they purport to reward.
Let’s say I decided that I want to get some sort of reliable return out of my ultra-mega TechJournal badge. This is the reason why anyone would want to do something like this and insert snarky social marketing advice here. If I do it right and offer something valuable in return for achieving the badge, like I come to your house and make fun of TV with you for an hour, then I’m actually on the right track.
But something of value to you requires something of value to me. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, no matter what kind of Groupon Schlotzkys is offering. So I’m going to make you do something to get the badge, like, let’s say, leave awesome glowing, ego-bending comments for my columns
Genius. Right?
Absolutely
Thank you. But unless I do it right, insert snarky social marketing cautionary tale here, I can actually devalue the badge and my return on it. We’ll hit it off great, with comments like “Joe, this column changed my life. I actually finished reading it and developed an idea for a new mobile business and now have term sheets from both coasts. Thank you!”
Then sooner or later, you’ll figure it out, and it’ll be “Nice column.” And finally, when it’s all blinders on and hell bent for leather, it’s “dsajhfsjh.” Basically whatever you can type with your fist before hitting “Post.”
It’s not long before I retaliate with automated monitoring and “Report Abuse” links on every post and then we’re getting bots and using captchas and then before you know it I’m fighting fraud on every front.
Which is exactly what happened to Flooz. Well that and people remembered they had credit cards.
A Fad. For Now.
Badges are a fad, but they’re the kind of fad like Angelfire was a fad or ringtones were a fad. There’s something there, most definitely, and when used correctly, badges can be another step on the way to actually monetizing all this social activity.
And there’s no reason you can’t figure it out before Twitter does.
—
Joe Procopio is the founder of Intrepid Company, a technical and management consulting firm (intrepidcompany.com) that has spun out publishing company/creative network Intrepid Media and digital incubator ExitEvent. You really can keep the ultra-mega badge, but what you really want is the super-ultra-giga badge, and to get that he’ll need one Star Wars action figure in original packaging. He can be reached at joe@intrepidcompany.com or twitter @jproco.
Tags: column, Joe Procopio, Stinking Badges, Viewpoint
Posted in Alabama, Arkansas, Carolinas, Columns, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Other SE, Potomac, Tech Culture, TechLife, Tennessee, Viewpoint, Virginia, Washington, DC, West Virginia | Comments Off
Friday, June 11th, 2010
 Content is King... again By Allan Maurer
RESEARCH TRIANGLE, NC – “Content is King,” is an idea that has had its ups and downs as a guiding principal for developing not just traffic but value on Web sites, but it is clearly back in the forefront. Yahoo recently agreed to buy Associated Content, which relies on more than 300,000 low paid freelance contributors to churn out 50,000 pieces of unique media monthly, paying $100 million for the company.
The Examiner.com, a similar operation recently bought NowPublic, a Vancouver-based citizen journalism site and continually advertises for “Examiners” to provide content on news, restaurants, entertainment and other topics nationally.
AOL recently announced its intention to hire hundreds of journalists, editors and videographers in addition to the 500 full-time editorial employees it now has, David Eun, president of AOL’s media and studios division told Crain’s New York Business.com.
“Our mission at this company is to be the world’s largest producer of high-quality content, period,” Eun, said.
Content hot again
Bob Butler, CEO and founder of BestThinking.com, a rather unique Research Triangle, NC-based content site, has predicted the content space would become hot again even before the Yahoo/Associated Content deal was announced.
The Triangle region, he notes, is home to a number of content oriented Web businesses in addition to his own, including www.BrightHub.com and www.Lulu.com, while many other content driven Internet companies dot the entire Southeast region. Butler tells us he thinks well run content sites will be delivering a good return on investment if they land venture dollars.
“This is Yahoo’s answer to what AOL is doing with Seed.com… basically acquiring their own internal freelancer-driven content website to reduce content costs and increase content volume,” Butler tells us.
“In any event, this clearly shows an increasing demand for ventures that can generate content for major media and their Internet offerings,” he adds.
Barrier to entry lower
Why all this renewed hoopla over content? For one thing, the barrier to creating an Internet company is, as Edwin Warfield, founder of Localbusiness.com (originally dbusiness.com) that thrived during the Internet boom years, much less now than it was then. Now founder and CEO of Potomac-based Citybizlist.com, Warfield tells us “It costs less than 5 percent of what it did then.”
So many more Internet sites are competing for traffic and search engine notice and getting original, unique and frequent content on a site is the reliable way to attract both search engine attention and visitor traffic, which translates into advertising dollars and a firm’s eventual worth.
We suspect that successful content-focused sites will gravitate more and more toward professional contributions rather than the type of low-paid, search-geared material now offered by Associated Content and Examiner.com.
A corollary of the renewed interest in building sites through content is a renewed interest in content management systems. We’ve used half a dozen in our decade of providing content to a variety of Web sites, and here’s a bit of advice: talk to some professionals in the content management space before you decide on a CMS.
The right CMS will have a lot to do with whether your subject matter experts or other contributors publish regularly.
Editor’s note: sponsored content is not necessarily provided by the sponsor. It may also be content of interest to the sponsor, such as this post.
 Sponsored by webslingerz
webslingerz helps organizations utilize interactive media to create and maintain connections with customers, partners, and employees.
Tags: AOL, Associated Content, BestThinking, Content is king, Examiner.com, NowPublic, Webslingerz, Yahoo
Posted in Alabama, Arkansas, Business advice, Carolinas, Columns, Florida, Georgia, Internet/New Media, IT, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Other SE, Potomac, South Carolina, Tennessee, Viewpoint, Virginia, Washington, DC, West Virginia | Comments Off
|
|
|
