Ensure Banking IT Security with Information Risk Management

Today technological advancements have led to the opening of new avenues for enterprises. However, as the amount of opportunities increases the number of risks also increases exponentially. Hence, the greatest challenge faced by the enterprises is to pursue opportunities without being affected by the risks/dangers associated with it. This is what risk management is all about. Wikipedia defines risk management as “the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events or to maximize the realization of opportunities.”

Any industry be it manufacturing industry or service industry like banking industry, risks are something that is inevitable. In the case of the banking industry, their greatest challenge is ensuring banking IT security. The changing regulatory / compliance requirements and the adoption of new technology (Cloud and Mobile services) have led to increased security threats making effective information risk management a top priority. Effective information risk management involves assessing current risk management strategy and controls, creating unified risk management frameworks and focusing on ROSI (Return on Security Investment).

Risk management helps enterprises not to avoid risks but to minimize and control its intensity and effect. Risk management is the process of identifying, assessing, controlling, and reviewing risks, to ensure that the enterprise is exposed only to those risks that are necessary to achieve its primary objectives. Risk management is a proactive process and not a reactive process and therefore it involves six major steps namely

  1. Identify all known risks
  2. Characterize each identified risk by describing its impact and probability of occurrence
  3. Assess the vulnerability of critical assets to specific threats
  4. Prioritize risks based on the impact and probability of each risk
  5. Evaluate different measures and strategies to mitigate it
  6. Control risks so that its impact is lessened as much as possible

Enterprises can ensure effective information risk management by collaborating with global leaders who help in developing comprehensive risk management solutions that drive compliance, effectiveness, innovation, and sustenance. Their vast and in-depth industry expertise help enterprises in managing their information risk framework comprising of regulatory compliance, optimization control, and compliance reporting. Their banking IT security services include


Thus a proactive approach can ensure effective risk management which helps enterprises to fast track business success even in an environment that is highly volatile, hyper competitive and increasingly uncertain.

Also read on - risk management frameworks, Information Risk Management

Importance of Precision Machining in Aerospace Manufacturing

The changing demands of clients have brought about significant changes in the aerospace manufacturing industry. Most of the engineering departments in a majority of industries, like aerospace, automotive mobile communications and industrial equipments are encountering a mounting pressure to invent, launch and create new products within a short period of time. The aerospace industry requires high quality and precision products for greater customer satisfaction due to which automotive and industrial companies are constantly at work to create better models with advanced features to give them an edge above the rest in the market.


Most aerospace engineering services companies usually concentrate on providing a high-quality base for the global aerospace industry by manufacturing stable aerospace precision machine part both for the military and commercial spheres. Since the job of manufacturing and engineering requires high levels of competency and extensive experience these companies should employ specialists who have spotless track records in proficiency.


Manufacturing and engineering services involve precision machining, conceptualizing, designing, prototyping, automation, data documentation, instrumentation, controls, embedded systems development, support systems and vendor management. This involves extensive security maintained along with strict policies and incessant monitoring for operative discovery of threats and remediation solutions.


Outsourced engineering companies are well-resourced with current and state-of-the-art machinery for generating efficient aero structure components that pass every criteria of quality standard and are durable and long lasting. With efficient precision machining aerospace manufacturers can enjoy


* Complete sourcing solution by integrating design and manufacturing

* Large scale fabrication for industrial and power generation sectors

* Castings and forgings with and without machining, precision machined parts for industrial, medical and automotive sectors

* Managing large turn key fabrication projects

* Help customers achieve quality, cost and delivery objectives

* Robust vendor qualification and monitoring process


Leading service providers are equipped with the latest precision machining techniques  that are most important in delivering efficient aero structure components. Reputed aerospace manufacturing services companies have teamed up with other organizations of global eminence to augment their ability in special processing areas along with sheet metal manufacturing.

It is prudent to partner with the best service provider who can combine aerospace engineering services with the best precision machining. They help the aerospace engineering businesses in meeting all requirements for improving quality, reducing time-to-market, enhancing revenues, reducing costs of product development and enhancing the sustenance of the businesses. Enhance the business value and profitability of your organization with their expert suggestions and techniques.


Related Links: Aircraft interior design   ,    engineering consulting service

Supply chain management- streamlining and mobilizing your business

The challenges in the global business environment are complex, intimidating and very risky. Although global expansions offer more promises you need to be armed with intelligent business tools to ensure a smooth sailing despite the rough journey. A flexible, secure and robust supply chain management process helps in streamlining and mobilizing your business effectively. The process deploys a centralized management process and provides you with increased visibility and improved controls.


Collecting information is very crucial to help you understand the position of your business and implement more effective processes that guarantee you enhanced and positive returns. The supply chain management solutions are powerful allies that provide you with real-time updates so that you are aware of the recent changes in the market. The solutions possess remarkable integration and customization capabilities which help in incorporating changes as per the requirements of your business without creating any adverse reactions.


If you want to impress your customers you need to employ strategies that optimize processes, leverage efficiencies and reduce the costs and risks. Competent retail distribution services have the tendency to elevate your business status and project a reliable and positive image. The retail distribution management solutions maintain a constant vigil on the progress right from the packaging stage to the final dispatch stage. The retail distribution management process effectively lowers the costs associated with the inventory and overheads.


The supply chain management solution also provides intelligent smart retail packaging services and prevents losses caused due to shipping errors, inventory overheads and obsolete products. It provides on-site custom label printing, automated source tagging and bar coding facilities. The products are packaged as per your desire i.e. assembled by hand, shrink-wrapped or by using the eco-friendly blister packaging process. The processes that are deployed are energy-efficient and in consideration with the environment compliance norms.


There are other aspects that have to be considered too such as reverse logistics. The products that are returned have to be recycled, amended, repaired, recreated, tested and dispatched without wasting much time so that you do not lose revenues. The supply chain management solutions display exemplary reverse logistics management skills and prevents excessive stocking of products with limited shelf lives.


The competition and risks in business have increased manifold today. An agile temperament is necessary to ensure that you do not lose potential opportunities that can shower you with enormous benefits. Technological solutions help in easing your tasks and provide you with rich experiences.    

 

Read more about : Retail Packaging Solutions

 

A Few Eye-Opening Facts Regarding Social Media Marketing

Social media combines technology and social interaction to help enterprises communicate with peers, customers, and potential consumers. Social media is an important marketing tool as it provided a platform for both enterprises and customers to understand and respond to each other. Hence, social analytics should be part of the marketers’ social media campaign as it helps to measure and increase effectiveness online. Social media analytics tools help enterprises by


  • Tracking social media behaviors in real-time and getting immediate feedback on what will work for the product

  • Providing trending views and drill-down capabilities

  • Making them understand what keeps customers engaged

  • Providing actionable insights to make faster, smarter operating decisions across huge amounts of social data

  • Revealing the levers that can most impact revenues

  • Providing results in seconds for businesses to track user behaviors in real-time and get immediate feedback on what’s working and what isn’t so you can optimize products, features, campaigns, and interactions on the fly

  • Providing faster insights into the key influences on K-Factor and viral campaigns


However, there exist quite a number of marketers who doubt the potential of social media marketing and therefore here is a few statistics to open their eyes


  • Around 91% of American adults use social media when online.

  • Nearly a quarter of the total time spent online is on social networks. .(Kissmetrics)

  • Over 800 million Facebook users are there in the world, with more than 200 million joining in 2011 alone. Almost 40% of those 800 million log in every single day. (Social Beat)


As per 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report,


  • A whopping 94% of marketers employ social media for marketing purposes.
  • A significant 83% of marketers indicate that social media is important for their business.
  • The top 5 benefits of social media marketing are generating more business exposure (85% of marketers), increasing traffic (69%), providing marketplace insight (65%), generating leads (58%) & developing loyal fans (58%), and improving search rankings (55%).
  • The top five social media tools/networks for marketers are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, and YouTube.
  • B2B marketers have been using social media longer (18.3% reported 3 years or more) than their B2C counterparts (14% indicated 3 years or longer).
  • Nearly 15% of marketers spend more than 20 hours each week on social media.
  • A whopping 92% of marketers are using Facebook and 72% plan to increase their activities.

This clearly substantiates the importance of social media in today’s highly competitive business environment.


Read more about : analytics facebook & social intelligence

Sourcing Supply Chain Management Solution

Whether it is a service or product offered by a business there are actually multiple business entities that are involved in various stages of the supply chain that comprises manufacturers, distributers, retailers and wholesalers. Consumers form the last group in the supply chain. Supply chain management is essential in the modern business scenario as it synchronizes and coordinates initiatives of business partners and provides increased efficiency.

Partnering with a Supply Chain Consulting Firms


To achieve better results in your supply chain it is always advised that you partner with an efficient supply chain consulting partner. An able partner will be successful in offering you a comprehensive reverse logistics solution that covers phases such as serial number capture, labeling to dock management. The solutions further have the capacity to offer your personalized service as per your company requirements.

 

Eminent service providers works by configuring your products from the electro-mechanical assembly and retail pack out to the custom labeling stage and ensures complete supply chain management. There is a team to manage these set of activities that are skillful enough to ensure that you offer the best quality good to your end users every time they order. Furthermore, successful supply chain management consulting firms based on their work have associations with huge selection of industries and suppliers. Some of the services offered are as follows:-

 

·         Material Planning and Procurement

·         Turnkey Materials

·         Consigned Materials

·         Domestic and Offshore Sourcing

·         Supplier Qualification and Certification

·         Vendor Managed Inventory

·         Kan/Ban

·         Lifecycle Management

·         order fulfillment

·         Web Based Inquiry and Reporting

 

With the help of these services you can successfully package goods for store shelves or installations, ship products directly to the distributor, retailer or any other destination. You can even fill orders directly and can track the progress from the inventory stage to delivery from your desktop.

 

However, when you are planning your supply chain management sourcing is an essential component that you must consider. Sourcing needs careful analysis of supplier strengths and then choosing one, depending on a set of parameters. When you select a supplier, you need to ensure that it is prepared to deliver products and services that the business requires to set up their goods. There are managers in SCM to set up policies by delivery, pricing and payment with every supplier and enhance the associations by use of certain metrics.

 

Read more about : Retail Packaging

 

FBAR Made Easy and Penalty Free

For an American citizen the FBAR is a form where he/she needs to file in order to comply with the foreign bank account and financial account reporting needs to the United State tax authorities. This policy is applicable for anyone residing in the United States and giving a financial interest or any other form of authority on any financial account in a foreign state or country. It is also applicable if the aggregate value of the account held exceeds the mark of US$10,000 anytime in a year. The form that American citizens need to fill out for this each year is known as the Treasury Department Form 90-22.1.

The earnings that are produced inside these foreign bank accounts are reported to the individual tax return for the year the income has been earned. Hence, you need to report the foreign income depending on the kind of income being produced. For example, incomes and dividends need to be reported on Schedule B, the capital gains fall under Schedule C and many more. Therefore, if you are earning on dividends and interests of these accounts then it is crucial to check the column in Part III Line 7A of Schedule B and indicate the country/countries where you are having an account.

Types of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts Reported

The following types of financial accounts need to be reported on the Foreign Bank Account Report, if qualified:-

 

* Bank accounts (checking and savings)

* Investment accounts

* Mutual funds

* Retirement and pension accounts

* Securities and other brokerage accounts

* Debit card and prepaid credit card accounts

* Life insurance and annuities having cash value

Time To File The Form

The Treasury Form 90-22.1 needs to be filled in by June 30th each year. This time the American citizens are asked to report the foreign bank account they are presently holding. As per the quote of the Internal Revenue Manual Section section 4.26.16.3.7 it is highlighted that the “The FBAR is considered filed when it is received in Detroit, not when it is postmarked."

Filing Aversion and Penalties

Any individual is required to file the TD F 90-22.1 to report on foreign bank accounts that he/she is presently holding, even if the person has missed the deadline of June 30th. The state has established strict penalties for the ones failing to file the same on choice. Therefore, in order to remain scrupulous in your FBAR filing it is advised that you seek professional help from a tax planning consultant in United State to avoid any kind of penalties.

Read Also On: Business Tax Return, Entity Formation

Mastering the Art of Functional Programming

Going back to the early days of computing, software development methodologies have evolved and so has the total landscape of computer technology. Today more competent hardware has made it possible to write complex software, that requires better development techniques and tools and made their deployment possible. A notable software development field that has undergone layers of development is functional programming.

Functional programming style can make programs much more compact, robust and parallelizable but being an expert at it might just take some time and effort. Functional programming though has been very prominent in the field of computer science research for numerous years’ its usage for writing real-life programs is a recent development. The main reason is that it is quite different from traditional programming, also known as imperative programming and it needs a great amount of learning and unlearning. The imperative programs are much easier to accumulate into machine code than the functional ones.


Basics of Functional Programming

The basic principle of functional programming is that you arrive at a computation by composing certain functions. The word “function” is applied in a mathematical sense that means mapping from input values to output values. Most programming languages refer to the term “functions” as subroutines that return a value.


An important difference of the function in a mathematical sense is that it always produces a same outcome when you give the same input.  One more essential difference is that a mathematical function does not perform anything else than returning a value. Therefore, it is not meant to have any side effects, for instance, it should not write anything on a file or create a variable change in the memory.

 


Furthermore, we can classify the languages for functional programming by their attitude to avert any side effects. Pure languages, for instance Haskell enable them only inside special language formats, allowing the compiler to confirm the absence of the unintentional side effects everywhere else. The impure languages leave the accountability for the using the side effects completely to the programmer.

 


Gathering sources of Functional Programming

Functional programming is becoming a popular field and is becoming a career option for many software students. Therefore any updated information is essential not only for the software developers but also for the young IT aspirants aiming for a career in this field. Whilst browsing the internet does prove useful, but resorting to online digital libraries and accessing their featured computer magazines  is even more beneficial. This is because these online libraries operate like a computer science society offering expert knowledge and authored articles of functional programming by leading software experts. Therefore, the knowledge shared is not only updated by also authentic.

Also read more on :  software engineering magazine  & Information Technology Training

 

Precautions To Ensure A Thriving Future in Business

The only secret to make way through your customer’s heart is by increasing their curiosity and keeping them hooked. Customers tend to get bored very soon with ordinary things and you have to assure them that each time you offer a new product there will be a new element that will surprise them. The customers have become smart and have also become aware of the tricks that businesses regularly resort to. It has become difficult to keep them engaged and make them your loyal patrons. In such trying times you have to ensure that your business qualifies as a dependable entity that does not make compromises and strives to always give the customers something better and new.

 

To gain your customers’ confidence and trust you have to prove that your business is capable of living up to their expectations. You have to improve your standards to elevate their satisfaction levels. You can only succeed in your mission when your business can show high flexibility and scalability and reduce the risks. You will need committed solutions that ensure a spontaneous and effective business operation. You have to prove that your business is ready to experiment for enhanced performance deliveries and it can go through any extent to win the customers’ hearts.

 

Your business needs consistent support that is focused on providing the customers with compelling order fulfillment services. You require solutions that leverage timely responses and ensure prompt resolutions. You need tools to provide you with constant and latest information without any interruption in the service so that you can make critical decisions promptly and accurately. You need strategies that ensure a risk-free and safe environment with the maintenance of environmental compliance standards.

 

Your customers will never contemplate seeking new grounds if you can fulfill your promises earnestly. There is no doubt that you need advanced and sophisticated solutions that provide you the customization and configuration facilities so that each customer’s requirements are met satisfactorily. You need highly proficient systems integration to help you accomplish all tests and debugging processes optimally to ensure an efficient returns management program. You have to ensure that there is no excessive stock of products with short term lifespan. Quality control management has to be highly regulated and transparent to help you assess and control the process.

 

Customers want to verify the products before they make any purchases. You have to give them an opportunity to use and test the products. But you also cannot afford losses due to loss or damage of products. Therefore it helps to have an evaluation system to keep a check on how the product is being used to avoid any damage to the equipments and subsequent losses. There is no limit to the demands of the customers. The success of your business depends on your ability to strike a balance in keeping up with the demands without incurring any losses.

 

Read more about : supply chain management & Returns Management

 

Use of Advanced Analytics in SM Monitoring

With the advancements taking place in the internet landscape and the prominence of the social media networking sites, most companies and eminent brands are aiming to be available “online”. The main reason is online visibility and the scope to connect with their target audience. Social media forums such as Twitter and Facebook offers much more than random discussions. It allows a brand to keep a tab on its competitors as well as its audience and generate awareness about new products and services. Most importantly it helps to keep a track on consumer mindset and their changing purchasing behavior.

 

Information gained through social media networking is of utmost importance. They represent valuable data that enable a company to plan its future marketing and branding initiatives. This information is technically known as social intelligence.

 

With the proper use of this social intelligence your company can make the best of its marketing initiatives. The information helps you to have a clear understanding of how to address or improve an impending issue at hand. Today enterprises are concentrating more on quantitative analytics and advanced social analytics tools so that they can optimize and improve. The appropriate data can guide you on what is working in your favor and allow you to plan your strategy accordingly. Advanced analytics are a core element of today’s business life. However, to have the apt tool for the task and to be able to use it wisely is quite a challenge.

 

Today esteemed social media analytics brands have come up with advanced analytics that offer actionable use insights to make essential enhancement in business. These perceptive insights are offered in real time to enable clients to attain smarter operational decisions and set up automated business procedures. This apart, advanced analytics also allows you to:

 

·         Assess data in real time from all over social, mobile and web platforms to enable game developers and social commerce companies to constantly improve consumer acquisition, engagement and monetization campaigns

·         Modernize your capacity to occupy broad data, discover meaningful insights and close the loop with automated action. All this takes place in real time.

·         Keep a track of user behavior in real time and attain immediate feedback on what is working and what is not working for your online marketing campaigns

·         Make use of visualization procedures that enable you to actually understand business performance to arrive at faster business decisions

 

Furthermore, the modern day advanced analytics tools have inbuilt SaaS applications that makes the implementation, maintenance and integration a breeze and offers the power to process vast quantities of data with 99.95 percent uptime and does not require any It resources.

Read more : social game metrics & analytics facebook

 

Aircraft Interior Design and its Significance

Style, sophistication and comfort are three crucial elements that define aircraft interior design. In the recent past, numerous researches and studies have been conducted on the aviation design technology but only a small fraction of scientific data is available that takes into account a passenger’s viewpoint. There have been innumerable passenger interviews and tour reports that have been used to collect the views about multiple aspects that requires to be improved so that an airplane as a comfortable as well as a stylish internal outlook.


Aviation interior designers of well known aero engineering services companies have been delving into minute details and nuances associated with the aircraft interior design and manufacturing. The capabilities of such organizations involve product design and certification assistance, side walls, ceiling panels, stowage panels and many more. These companies also specialize in multiple areas of aircraft cabin interior design and manufacturing.


The aircraft interior support solutions include a combination of interior design initiatives and assemblies that comprise of setting up certification documents. These companies have received accolades from around the globe for their immense contribution in the commercial aircraft and defense sector. Other services they offer include:


* Structural Analysis

* Detail Design

* Preliminary Stress Calculation

* Assembly Modeling

* Component Sizing

* Design Modification

* Interface Load Calculation & Substantiation

* DCN Incorporation

* Hand Calculations

* Installation Drawing

* FE Analysis

* Stress Justification Reports


Today aircraft interior design plays an essential role in the buying and selling of an airplane in the defense and commercial sector. This is because everyone today aims to have an aircraft whose function and maintenance quality are accurate. For a while, think of an airplane with innovative technology in the radio package, outstanding interior finish but the interior décor and the arrangement is outdated. Selling such an aircraft would be tough. Furthermore, from a buyer’s perspective would you be able to look and judge beyond the essential interior décor standards and concerns and buy an aircraft having other attributes perfect? It is true that other features and amenities are essential, but one should not overlook the value of the obvious. It is essential to notice that a passenger has to sit in the interior for a certain time period when he/she flies from one destination to the other.


In most cases, the aircraft interior design concerns can be resolved quickly. Today top notch aerospace engineering consultancy service companies have forayed into the market and have addressed aircraft design issues and other aero testing services.


Related Links: aero structures ,  aerospace Manufacturing