Ghost-written article for Steve Buck, Vodafone & LogicaCMG.
Published somewhere in the UK, 2003.
Any network operator expecting personalised content or MMS-based functionality to be a hassle-free source of increased revenue may be in for a nasty shock. Whilst it’s true that manufacturers increasing the choice of camera or MMS-compatible handsets will ensure more users are introduced to the functionality, there are underlying problems with it. Everyone can see the potential of personalised content on mobile handsets, but who has mastered its delivery in a way that consumers actually like?
According to all the network operators I’ve spoken to this year, most consumers try MMS once or twice, have the service fail, and then give up – never to use it again. In general, consumers expect all new technology to be ‘plug and play’, especially when used to a diet of Instant Messenger, free web-based e-mail services, and the Vodafone “Live” and O2 “Active” offerings. They want it now, and don’t expect to have to spend any more than a few minutes learning how to use it. The reality of MMS alone is some way from this, and with the way things are developing it looks as if things will get worse before they get better.
There are likely to be over 100 different MMS-capable phones by the end of this year, many of which aren’t mainstream - Danger, or Alphacell for example.
It gets worse.
These 100+ handsets all use different formats for the three potential parts of MMS – sound, still image, and video. In moving image, you have the Windows vs. RealPlayer battle – RAM, MPG, MOV etc. For still images, handsets could be using JPG, TIFF, GIF, BMP, or another alternative. Then there is sound, just when you thought it couldn’t get any more complicated. All in all, you already have thousands of possible combinations of MMS ‘DNA’ if you will, and that’s only based on existing formats.
Unfortunately, even if MMS formats were to be standardised tomorrow, it still wouldn’t solve the problem. Different handsets interpret MMS in a different presentation order, regardless of the format those three parts arrive in. Ironically, the technology at the heart of the problem that is making consumers and operators grimace alike, is synchronised multimedia integration language (SMIL), which is pronounced, "smile." SMIL was introduced in 1998 as a document type of XML, designed to ensure the audio, video and graphics elements were executed sequentially or in parallel. Unfortunately it wasn’t designed for use in MMS, which is why you get radically different results when you send MMS from, say, a SonyEriccson T68i to three different handsets.
For example, a Panasonic GD87 would cramp the sound part of the MMS to the same length of time that the first video frame lasted, resulting in truncated sound. A Sharp GX-10, conversely, would stretch the first frame of video to the length of the sound, resulting in good sound but a stalled moving picture. If a Nokia 7210 received the MMS, it simply wouldn’t play back at all. The consumer is not going to get the service they expect.
The problems are likely to multiply because there is no industry-wide testing process in place. Handset vendors are ignoring the MMS Conformance Document v2.0.0 because they want their products to market faster, and because the document is already out of date. For example, it makes no allowance for ring tone standardisation, but there is nothing new that can be enforced to ensure this problem does not spiral out of control.
Consumers using MMS will expect the same they get with SMS – an instant message and instant response. SMS catches up with the recipient wherever they are and a one-letter reply, ‘y’ or ‘n’, can acknowledge that an instruction is understood. Consumers expect MMS to do exactly the same, so no-one will be satisfied if an MMS takes up to 30 minutes to be delivered, which some are at the moment.
In order to solve handset problems then the common factor to consider, from the consumer’s point of view, is speed. Everything must be as it is on the web – just a few clicks away. Obtaining content should be completely menu-driven, not short code driven. The thin line will have to be trod between making content available and spamming, but this can be achieved. It just needs to be intuitive – MMS needs something like the purpose hotbar.com fulfils for e-mail. Content could be offered via means of the mobile handset equivalent of the BBC News Ticker on a PC desktop – available without interfering. Get this right, and there might be real revenue in MMS or content provision after all.
28 October 2003
More ‘Back to Front’ Than ‘Back to Roots’
Video game review of "Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness" for Sony Playstation 2 (PS2).
Published on ciao.co.uk, October 2003.
Well, after months and months of anticipation and innumerable postponements by publisher, Eidos, it's here. Overall it's not bad, but I think that if this is all that can be done with Lara on the PS2 vs. PSone format, then it might be time to retire the poor girl.
For forty quid you expect to at least be able to control Lara. Unfortunately she responds with all the urgency of a three-toed sloth in a coma. Ironically this means you're less likely to fall off a high ledge, but more likely to end up shouting at the screen when involved in a close-quarters combat situation. "MOVE!", "RUN!", "DO SOMETHING!" and far, far ruder cries rang around my flat the first time Lara came up against a boss. You do get used to it, but compared to other third-person games e.g. Syphon Filter, and previous Tomb Raiders, Lara behaves as if she's heavily sedated. The other annoying fact is that you can't sprint until almost the end of the game, and it isn't terribly obvious when she learns this ability. Make sure you note that she can belly-crawl too, as you'll need it to get under tripwires and laser-activated bombs (press and hold 'triangle', then tap L2).
My other initial impression of disappointment was of the level domains. This is a far cry from the stunning Sphinx room, Great Wall of China, or legendary "Cistern" level in the first couple of Tomb Raiders. Early on in the game the levels are cramped and linear - even Lara ironically complains, "Another cold, dark city..." as you arrive in Prague. It's not until you reach the Tomb of the Ancients or maybe the Bio-Dome that you start to see the jaw-dropping visuals and rendering the PS2 is capable of, but this is an original differentiator for Tomb Raider that Eidos really hasn't exploited much.
Tomb Raiders also used to be known for their puzzles. Maybe I'm getting cleverer, or just used to the format, but I breezed through this game and was only really stuck once, trying to figure out that the subtle change in The Keeper's behaviour meant the painting was up for grabs. There were scant few occasions when I entered a level, saw a high balcony or ledge and thought, "Wonder how I get up there", and then ended up getting to it an hour later having been round the houses. Shame.
Playing as a bloke (Kurtis) for a while is new, as are some of the weapons, belly-crawling, and climbing of drainpipes etc. Unfortunately Kurtis walks like a chimpanzee, complete with knuckles scraping the floor, and frustration is added to amusement when you realise that he wields what looks like a ninja throwing star equipped with AI only in the cut-scenes, not in the game.
All in all, Tomb Raider is still a good game by today's standards. If you haven't played the originals then it's up there with Timesplitters 2, Tenchu 3, and Syphon Filter. Unfortunately, Eidos set a high standard with the first game that's difficult to live up to, so TR fans might be a bit disappointed.
Final verdict - buy it if you're new to the series, wait for it on Platinum or promo-price if you're a fan.
Not what the doctor, or customer, ordered
Consumer review of Sony Ericsson T68i mobile phone.
Published on ciao.co.uk, October 2003.
I didn't actually want this phone.
I'd had my last mobile nicked, and when I rang Orange to get it replaced I specifically asked for something that didn't look flashy, and thus wouldn't be attractive to other, light-fingered people.
Oops. Enter the flashiest looking phone ever, complete with bullseye target for pickpockets.
The phone has character too - I'm just not sure which one, maybe Harry Hill. It seems to be stuck in a mode of permanent lateral thinking, though much of this could be put down to the fact that since buying my first mobile in 1997, I've always had Nokias until the last two.
For example, the phone was the first I'd had with a colour screen - wooo. You could tell the hearts and diamonds from the spades and clubs when playing Patience...except it's not called "Patience". In fact, Snake isn't called Snake, it's called "Erix". Reversi/Othello is called, "Contrary" (which better describes the phone than a game on it), and - according to Sony Ericsson at least - Battleships is called "Naval Fleet". All games come with a list of which keys to press but no actual objective or instructions, which is fine for all the above, but not for a game that SE calls "Q". The real game was trying to figure out what the hell it was, something that kept me preoccupied on long tube journeys until only two months ago.
The meagre ringer and SMS volume mean you can't actually hear the phone if it's in your bag or jacket pocket, which has been the cause of umpteen missed calls and texts, from potential job interviews to my girlfriend arranging plans for the evening. This is bad enough when - according to the experts - men are from Mars and women from Venus, but the T68i is from a different planet again.
Menus are overly long and complicated, but at the same time, simple things are difficult to find in it. After every call, a time summary is displayed on the phone's screen. Look back a few seconds later and the thing's still there! Try as I might, I can't get rid of it, so making two phone calls in quick succession is almost faster if you switch the phone off and on again....which is unfortunately something the phone does best on its own, despite the keylock.
In the last few days the phone has become gravely ill, taking to displaying just one of a possible five bars for network signal. Needless to say, everyone else's phone nearby has a full stack of bars, and so has this one - once you've removed the battery and replaced it again.
The basic requirements of a phone are the ability to make and receive calls, wherever you are. This mobile fails on both accounts, and I just can't recommend it. Time for an upgrade to Nokia again methinks...
...and don't get me started on the fiddly joystick thing.
Published on ciao.co.uk, October 2003.
I didn't actually want this phone.
I'd had my last mobile nicked, and when I rang Orange to get it replaced I specifically asked for something that didn't look flashy, and thus wouldn't be attractive to other, light-fingered people.
Oops. Enter the flashiest looking phone ever, complete with bullseye target for pickpockets.
The phone has character too - I'm just not sure which one, maybe Harry Hill. It seems to be stuck in a mode of permanent lateral thinking, though much of this could be put down to the fact that since buying my first mobile in 1997, I've always had Nokias until the last two.
For example, the phone was the first I'd had with a colour screen - wooo. You could tell the hearts and diamonds from the spades and clubs when playing Patience...except it's not called "Patience". In fact, Snake isn't called Snake, it's called "Erix". Reversi/Othello is called, "Contrary" (which better describes the phone than a game on it), and - according to Sony Ericsson at least - Battleships is called "Naval Fleet". All games come with a list of which keys to press but no actual objective or instructions, which is fine for all the above, but not for a game that SE calls "Q". The real game was trying to figure out what the hell it was, something that kept me preoccupied on long tube journeys until only two months ago.
The meagre ringer and SMS volume mean you can't actually hear the phone if it's in your bag or jacket pocket, which has been the cause of umpteen missed calls and texts, from potential job interviews to my girlfriend arranging plans for the evening. This is bad enough when - according to the experts - men are from Mars and women from Venus, but the T68i is from a different planet again.
Menus are overly long and complicated, but at the same time, simple things are difficult to find in it. After every call, a time summary is displayed on the phone's screen. Look back a few seconds later and the thing's still there! Try as I might, I can't get rid of it, so making two phone calls in quick succession is almost faster if you switch the phone off and on again....which is unfortunately something the phone does best on its own, despite the keylock.
In the last few days the phone has become gravely ill, taking to displaying just one of a possible five bars for network signal. Needless to say, everyone else's phone nearby has a full stack of bars, and so has this one - once you've removed the battery and replaced it again.
The basic requirements of a phone are the ability to make and receive calls, wherever you are. This mobile fails on both accounts, and I just can't recommend it. Time for an upgrade to Nokia again methinks...
...and don't get me started on the fiddly joystick thing.
24 October 2003
Retail Banking: Mile Long Queues or Mile High Club?
Ghost-written article for Cisco Systems EMEA.
Published in Retail Banking magazine, UK, October 2003.
There were several set backs along the way – 9/11 most notably – but it is now almost safe to conclude that the travel industry is well on the way to embracing internet protocol (IP) as a quasi-industry standard for IT operations. Major global airlines are migrating their internal networks to IP, the major airline alliances are using IP as a commonality to enable inter-organisational communications, and the internet itself has rewritten the rankings of organisations within the travel industry, as well as creating whole new industry sub-sections.
What can this possibly have to do with retail banking? Well, the impact of the internet on the air transport part of the travel industry in particular has quickly demonstrated those areas where IP can be harnessed to reduce costs, improve operational efficiency, and enhance customer service. By default, it has also determined where IP is not suited. The main issue that determines this in the travel industry also determines it in the retail banking industry.
That issue is simply that there is still only a relatively small proportion of the travel market that will purchase a package holiday or flight online. Despite everything you’ve read or heard, high street travel agents are not going out of business, and they never will. The reason for this is two fold. Firstly, certain types of customer will always prefer face-to-face contact with the seller when making a purchasing decision. It feels more tangible, more ‘proper’, and with a particular person and location associated with the transaction, the customer feels more comfortable because a method or recourse, should something go wrong, is much more obvious. In this case, the quantity of people booking online will not change until the demographics of the target market age with time. The fact is, the younger you are, the greater the proportion of your life has been spent in the presence of the internet, and therefore the more comfortable you are with it.
Secondly, certain types of transaction are inherently complicated. A round-the-world trip using different airlines from different alliances, an expedition that – literally - required planes, trains and automobiles, or a solitary journey where the customer cannot specify either the departure or return date would be examples. This would give even a seasoned IP expert or systems integrator a run for their money, and where the customer is concerned, the human need for reassurance that everything has been booked correctly may require something more tangible than an e-ticket or a pop-up window stating, “Complete. Return to homepage?”.
Humans do not and, in fact, cannot cease this pattern of behaviour when they leave the travel agent having booked their holiday, and head for the bank to get their foreign currency. It’s of little surprise then that according to Datamonitor, in spite of online banking, telephone banking, and mobile payments, 79 per cent of European consumers prefer physically visiting their humble local bank branch over any other channel. Retail banking and travel are very similar in this respect, and it is likely that the more expensive the transaction being made, the more likely the customer will require face-to-face contact. Think about it at a personal level – if you wanted to arrange an overdraft or a loan, wouldn’t your first instinct be to meet the bank manager in person? To a lesser extent, the last time you had a cheque for a sizeable sum to pay into your bank account, did you trust the express pay-in envelope? Or, like me, did you queue in the bank, despite it taking a large proportion of your precious lunch hour, because you felt more comfortable seeing it passed over the counter than sitting at the bottom of a perspex box fixed to a pillar somewhere? Face-to-face contact is still essential where a large or complex transaction is concerned. For some people, such contact is essential for all transactions.
This is a headache for the retail banking industry. Despite investing in online banking, neither the cost of staffing a branch can be reduced nor the efficiency of it increased while customers still prefer to use the branch to any other channel. The most pessimistic banker might decide that IP had nothing to offer the retail banking industry because of this issue, but that is not necessarily the case.
One just needs to turn the problem on its head. Rather than just trying to harness the internet as a method to get customers to complete transactions themselves, IP can be used to improve the efficiency of not only one branch, but all branches in a banking empire. Once one has the opportunity to think about it, the fact that bank branches all over Europe are crammed with impatient customers in their lunch hour is actually a blessing in disguise. After all, how many organisations would love to be able to predict where their customers will be and when, so that promotional offers could be targeted at them? The fact that in retail banking the target customer is most likely to be inside a branch, presents an opportunity to communicate with them. The personnel each customer is exposed to within the branch offers another opportunity for that bank to differentiate itself through provision of superior service. Even the kiosks within the branch could offer revenue opportunities for the bank from third parties, a means to promote complimentary services, or the beginnings of CRM with a personalised experience for each individual.
From the customer’s point of view, imagine approaching the till merely to pay that same cheque in, but then being informed by the cashier that your mortgage quotation was ready to be collected. At the same time, you’re reminded with the gleeful news that there are now only two monthly payments left on the loan you took out 18 months ago (meaning you might be able to afford that skiing holiday after all), and that if you were to open a joint account with your fiancé rather than just having separate accounts, you’d both get a better rate of interest anyway. Before you leave, you’re also given the opportunity to have a quick chat to the manager about that long-term savings plan you’d telephoned a bank branch 50 miles away about earlier in the week, which you’d completely forgotten about.
Conversely, imagine operating a bank where particular products or services could be offered just once to a customer most likely to need it, with a greatly increased possibility of the service suiting that customer and therefore a successful sale. Imagine also that no selling time was wasted – ever. Your marketing department or their local branch targeted customers individually, rather than in a slapdash group of people of the same age, disposable income, or postcode. Also, particular products or services were discussed once and once only with each customer, and at the right time – no, “Didn’t you call me about this last week?” or, “You were supposed to get back to me about this a fortnight ago!” responses. All this is entirely feasible through IP.
So, how would IP let the cashier know about all the banking needs of an individual customer rather than just the one need they have at that moment in time? If your organisation is going to embrace IP, then the return on investment will be greater if the quantity of places where IP reaches can be maximised. Put simply, if your bank’s call centres and branches are both running on IP, then there is no reason why the information used by either party cannot be shared. All in all, this means the customer’s local branch will know when the head office has contacted someone regarding a new promotional offer, or in response to a request for information from that customer. Similarly head office will know how quickly the customer responded by visiting their local branch, what questions they asked, and how the eventual service was tailored when the sale was closed. This is just one possibility though. With the same technology, it is also possible to do this in reverse.
For example, if the customer should contact the head office from outside the branch, then an IP-based telephony system can direct that individual’s call immediately to the personnel with appropriate expertise in the head office. However, the same call could also be redirected to someone working within the customer’s local branch, to the extent that the IP system will intuitively page the particular member of staff needed, wherever they are. This benefits the customer experience by ensuring that query calls are not endlessly transferred to various members of staff not equipped to answer the customer’s questions. It also means that the customer’s local branch will be able to develop a more comprehensive understanding of each customers’ lifestyle and needs, and therefore be able to tailor their overall retail banking experience to suit. In short, IP isn’t just a way to improve your telephony; it’s the start of an enterprise-wide CRM system, and the beginning of the end for missed opportunities to up-sell or cross-sell.
IP does not have to be restricted to its native ground of networked PCs and telephones. In-branch security surveillance could also run on IP, deliver real-time camera footage to the bank’s head office or, if needs be, the police. However, the same footage could be used by the bank’s marketing department to assess the impact of an in-store point of sale or other promotional campaign. Staffing levels could also be monitored, even customer behaviour in relation to new branch layouts and signage. Peak traffic times could be ascertained and staffing guidelines adapted accordingly. There is no limit to what can be done if the appropriate information is shared with those personnel that most need it.
As far as the customer is concerned, a trip to the local bank will never be like going on holiday – there is only so much that IP can do! However, once you accept that until the entire population of Europe becomes so comfortable with the internet that they never need to visit their branch, then the same issue that affects the travel industry will continue to affect the retail banking industry. Even if you ignore the issue, then one still has to accept that there are many opportunities for high street banks. Sales can be increased, customer satisfaction levels can be improved, and generally the bank stands to gain from literally wringing the most productivity out of the information its already has. John Paul Getty once said, “Money is like manure. You have to spread it around or it smells”. Metaphorically, information is the same. Once you realise that the best way to use it is to spread it around your organisation, then the only thing left to do is to decide how - and IP is the answer.
Published in Retail Banking magazine, UK, October 2003.
There were several set backs along the way – 9/11 most notably – but it is now almost safe to conclude that the travel industry is well on the way to embracing internet protocol (IP) as a quasi-industry standard for IT operations. Major global airlines are migrating their internal networks to IP, the major airline alliances are using IP as a commonality to enable inter-organisational communications, and the internet itself has rewritten the rankings of organisations within the travel industry, as well as creating whole new industry sub-sections.
What can this possibly have to do with retail banking? Well, the impact of the internet on the air transport part of the travel industry in particular has quickly demonstrated those areas where IP can be harnessed to reduce costs, improve operational efficiency, and enhance customer service. By default, it has also determined where IP is not suited. The main issue that determines this in the travel industry also determines it in the retail banking industry.
That issue is simply that there is still only a relatively small proportion of the travel market that will purchase a package holiday or flight online. Despite everything you’ve read or heard, high street travel agents are not going out of business, and they never will. The reason for this is two fold. Firstly, certain types of customer will always prefer face-to-face contact with the seller when making a purchasing decision. It feels more tangible, more ‘proper’, and with a particular person and location associated with the transaction, the customer feels more comfortable because a method or recourse, should something go wrong, is much more obvious. In this case, the quantity of people booking online will not change until the demographics of the target market age with time. The fact is, the younger you are, the greater the proportion of your life has been spent in the presence of the internet, and therefore the more comfortable you are with it.
Secondly, certain types of transaction are inherently complicated. A round-the-world trip using different airlines from different alliances, an expedition that – literally - required planes, trains and automobiles, or a solitary journey where the customer cannot specify either the departure or return date would be examples. This would give even a seasoned IP expert or systems integrator a run for their money, and where the customer is concerned, the human need for reassurance that everything has been booked correctly may require something more tangible than an e-ticket or a pop-up window stating, “Complete. Return to homepage?”.
Humans do not and, in fact, cannot cease this pattern of behaviour when they leave the travel agent having booked their holiday, and head for the bank to get their foreign currency. It’s of little surprise then that according to Datamonitor, in spite of online banking, telephone banking, and mobile payments, 79 per cent of European consumers prefer physically visiting their humble local bank branch over any other channel. Retail banking and travel are very similar in this respect, and it is likely that the more expensive the transaction being made, the more likely the customer will require face-to-face contact. Think about it at a personal level – if you wanted to arrange an overdraft or a loan, wouldn’t your first instinct be to meet the bank manager in person? To a lesser extent, the last time you had a cheque for a sizeable sum to pay into your bank account, did you trust the express pay-in envelope? Or, like me, did you queue in the bank, despite it taking a large proportion of your precious lunch hour, because you felt more comfortable seeing it passed over the counter than sitting at the bottom of a perspex box fixed to a pillar somewhere? Face-to-face contact is still essential where a large or complex transaction is concerned. For some people, such contact is essential for all transactions.
This is a headache for the retail banking industry. Despite investing in online banking, neither the cost of staffing a branch can be reduced nor the efficiency of it increased while customers still prefer to use the branch to any other channel. The most pessimistic banker might decide that IP had nothing to offer the retail banking industry because of this issue, but that is not necessarily the case.
One just needs to turn the problem on its head. Rather than just trying to harness the internet as a method to get customers to complete transactions themselves, IP can be used to improve the efficiency of not only one branch, but all branches in a banking empire. Once one has the opportunity to think about it, the fact that bank branches all over Europe are crammed with impatient customers in their lunch hour is actually a blessing in disguise. After all, how many organisations would love to be able to predict where their customers will be and when, so that promotional offers could be targeted at them? The fact that in retail banking the target customer is most likely to be inside a branch, presents an opportunity to communicate with them. The personnel each customer is exposed to within the branch offers another opportunity for that bank to differentiate itself through provision of superior service. Even the kiosks within the branch could offer revenue opportunities for the bank from third parties, a means to promote complimentary services, or the beginnings of CRM with a personalised experience for each individual.
From the customer’s point of view, imagine approaching the till merely to pay that same cheque in, but then being informed by the cashier that your mortgage quotation was ready to be collected. At the same time, you’re reminded with the gleeful news that there are now only two monthly payments left on the loan you took out 18 months ago (meaning you might be able to afford that skiing holiday after all), and that if you were to open a joint account with your fiancé rather than just having separate accounts, you’d both get a better rate of interest anyway. Before you leave, you’re also given the opportunity to have a quick chat to the manager about that long-term savings plan you’d telephoned a bank branch 50 miles away about earlier in the week, which you’d completely forgotten about.
Conversely, imagine operating a bank where particular products or services could be offered just once to a customer most likely to need it, with a greatly increased possibility of the service suiting that customer and therefore a successful sale. Imagine also that no selling time was wasted – ever. Your marketing department or their local branch targeted customers individually, rather than in a slapdash group of people of the same age, disposable income, or postcode. Also, particular products or services were discussed once and once only with each customer, and at the right time – no, “Didn’t you call me about this last week?” or, “You were supposed to get back to me about this a fortnight ago!” responses. All this is entirely feasible through IP.
So, how would IP let the cashier know about all the banking needs of an individual customer rather than just the one need they have at that moment in time? If your organisation is going to embrace IP, then the return on investment will be greater if the quantity of places where IP reaches can be maximised. Put simply, if your bank’s call centres and branches are both running on IP, then there is no reason why the information used by either party cannot be shared. All in all, this means the customer’s local branch will know when the head office has contacted someone regarding a new promotional offer, or in response to a request for information from that customer. Similarly head office will know how quickly the customer responded by visiting their local branch, what questions they asked, and how the eventual service was tailored when the sale was closed. This is just one possibility though. With the same technology, it is also possible to do this in reverse.
For example, if the customer should contact the head office from outside the branch, then an IP-based telephony system can direct that individual’s call immediately to the personnel with appropriate expertise in the head office. However, the same call could also be redirected to someone working within the customer’s local branch, to the extent that the IP system will intuitively page the particular member of staff needed, wherever they are. This benefits the customer experience by ensuring that query calls are not endlessly transferred to various members of staff not equipped to answer the customer’s questions. It also means that the customer’s local branch will be able to develop a more comprehensive understanding of each customers’ lifestyle and needs, and therefore be able to tailor their overall retail banking experience to suit. In short, IP isn’t just a way to improve your telephony; it’s the start of an enterprise-wide CRM system, and the beginning of the end for missed opportunities to up-sell or cross-sell.
IP does not have to be restricted to its native ground of networked PCs and telephones. In-branch security surveillance could also run on IP, deliver real-time camera footage to the bank’s head office or, if needs be, the police. However, the same footage could be used by the bank’s marketing department to assess the impact of an in-store point of sale or other promotional campaign. Staffing levels could also be monitored, even customer behaviour in relation to new branch layouts and signage. Peak traffic times could be ascertained and staffing guidelines adapted accordingly. There is no limit to what can be done if the appropriate information is shared with those personnel that most need it.
As far as the customer is concerned, a trip to the local bank will never be like going on holiday – there is only so much that IP can do! However, once you accept that until the entire population of Europe becomes so comfortable with the internet that they never need to visit their branch, then the same issue that affects the travel industry will continue to affect the retail banking industry. Even if you ignore the issue, then one still has to accept that there are many opportunities for high street banks. Sales can be increased, customer satisfaction levels can be improved, and generally the bank stands to gain from literally wringing the most productivity out of the information its already has. John Paul Getty once said, “Money is like manure. You have to spread it around or it smells”. Metaphorically, information is the same. Once you realise that the best way to use it is to spread it around your organisation, then the only thing left to do is to decide how - and IP is the answer.
08 October 2003
SAS Veteran Defeated by Cardboard Box
Video game review of "Conflict" Desert Storm II" for Sony Playstation 2 (PS2).
Published on ciao.co.uk, October 2003.
Yes, it’s true. No sooner had Bradley, the leader of my SAS team-of-four, escaped from his cell in an Iraqi POW camp after it was hit by a laser-guided bomb dropped from an allied stealth bomber, he managed to get stuck in a dimly lit pile of cardboard boxes behind a secluded shed. Well, I guess all that time abroad away from his girlfriend, and the lack of privacy available in the army, all that stress…
Mind you, while the standard issue for said team of four includes primary and secondary weapons (machine gun or telescopic rifle, plus handgun or shotgun for close-quarters-battle), a handful of claymore mines, a couple of grenades (fragmentation and phosphorus), and half-a-dozen medipacks amongst others, there’s no mention of a box of Kleenex or girlie mags. Anyway, when needed, you’ll also be let loose with a laser designator to call in air strikes from gunships, LAW anti-tank hand-held missile launchers, or C4 with a remote control detonator. I’m hoping the latter might be in the shops soon, what with Guy Fawkes’ Night just around the corner. However, before I ramble into any more detail, let’s talk about why I’ve got this game in the first place.
When I got wind of the game publishers SCI doing a second game in the “Conflict: Desert Storm” series, but with a different designer (in this case, Pivotal Games) I was worried that a brilliant game would end up dismantled. Far from it, “II” is basically ‘more of the same’. If the first Desert Storm had needed much improvement then more of the same would be a disaster. As it is, this is basically a levels add-on pack the same size, if not bigger, than the original…and it’s great. Cross-fertilise “Medal of Honour: Frontline” with the famed “Command & Conquer: Red Alert” series on the PC, multiply good graphics by pi and add on your date of birth for good measure and you’ve got the gist. It looks good, it plays better, and is more addictive than skittles (the sweets, not the game).
This is basic one-mission-at-a-time, control a team of four, action game. There is no plot (this is war) and no sub-plots (this is the SAS, or US Delta Force as you prefer) – you follow orders, dammit. Note that you only get the same set of missions regardless of which of the two forces you choose, it just depends whether you’d prefer to be controlling four paranoid, trigger happy ex-colonials called Chad, Biff, Chip and Brad, or the SAS. The whole concept is based on the shenanigans of the special forces behind enemy lines before, during, and shortly after the Gulf War, and comprises typical ‘removal’ of key generals, key installations, and rescue of critical POWs. The only bonuses are those for stealth kills or going berserk in battle against overwhelming odds and managing to come out alive. The former involves using a silenced weapon, often from a long way away, or a knife, and the latter usually involves a lot of re-loading your last saved game.
However, don’t go mad with those ‘saves’. At least one ‘official’ Playstation 2 magazine claims you can save each level as many times as you like, but I’ve played the game version you buy on the street, and only ever been able to save any one level three times maximum. Beware! You need to be careful where you save. The first game was the same, which adds partially to the frustration but ultimately Pivotal’s attempt to make it realistic. Here’s a couple of tips so you don’t get too discouraged – on the “Chemical Warfare” level, save your game before you go through the door. On the “Air Cover” level, save your game before you press the button. You’ll be glad you did.
Anyway, if you’re anything like me you’ll kick off with the Full Metal Jacket-stylee training camp first. I know it seems dull, but do it – you’ll need to get to grips with ordering your team around because the quickest way to fail a mission is to have all your team bunched together when a T-72 tank or Iraqi with an RPG meanders round the corner. Once you’re in-country (oh yes, I know all the lingo) you’ll have a team comprising an expert in anti-tank/machine guns, a stealth and demolitions expert, a sharpshooter, and an all-rounder who’s also the leader. You’ll also need to pick a level to play the game at i.e. easy, medium, or hard, but remember dammit, this is war y’know, so there are no re-charge points, checkpoints, or anything else. The menu screens are fairly slick once you get the hang of them, and loading times bearable, even after you’ve just snuffed it….and then you’re off.
Game controls are intuitive and can be reprogrammed if you disagree. Sending your soldiers every which way is pretty easy, though knowing the best way to do it doesn’t come until you start to get into it more. When you first start, the temptation is to career into the Iraqi camp with all four of you in the jeep, so you can let loose with the mounted machine gun and rocket launcher. The most expeditious way to complete this part of the level, however, is to send Foley in first to do a bit of sneaky sniping.
You’ll soon realise that reconnaissance is an essential part of every mission. There are only four of you, and starting a pitch invasion isn’t a good idea if half the Iraqi army is waiting on the subs bench. Thus you’ll find yourself mercilessly strategising over each level, testing different routes, and using each team member’s own devious expertise against the opposition as you tiptoe through the streets of Baghdad or the sand of Iraq. Being able to call up a map of the locality helps with this, but while you’re doing it, you’ll realise it’s now one o’clock in the morning and you’ve eaten nothing, washed up nothing, and done nothing except play “Conflict: Desert Storm II” on the Playstation 2 since you got in from work. It’ll probably be dark, cold (because you haven’t switched on the central heating), and you’ll just have realised you’re still wearing the same coat and shoes you put on when you left the flat this morning when the sound of your girlfriend’s key turning in the door lock to your flat stirs you into action. Cue panic, yanking of plugs from power sockets, followed by an unusually generous offer to take your girlfriend out to dinner as you collide whilst trying to intercept her on the stairs. This gives you time to figure out how you’re going to do the washing-up before she see the flat, but then there’s the problem that you’ll have to do it while eating in the restaurant at the same time…
Suffice to say this game is very, very addictive. There’s the fact that different methods can be employed to achieve the same goals. There’s the fact that straying off the path slightly will often lead to an armoury where you’ll discover extra medikits, grenades, or Iraqi weapons to use…and you can’t beat spraying the bad guys with an AK-47. All the time you’ll be trying to do it a different way in order to receive more medals and promotions when you complete the mission and, in fact, while the missions are probably fairly repetitive in retrospect, I could quite easily pay for a whole lot more of the same.
Y’see, there’s always something new to learn. Once you’ve mastered the basic arts of covert operations then the Desert Storm version of cow-tipping i.e. ‘tank-tipping’ will keep you amused for hours. Tanks are a big problem, quite literally. You can hear ‘em coming from miles off but all it takes is a quick peek round the wrong corner and it’s all over (thus you’ll need to learn this method as well). You’ll need to get to grips with smoke grenades, which seem pointless until you realise they’re the only way you can complete some missions, and find yourself scouring outhouses for more of them. You’ll need to know the difference between LAWs and RPGs, because one of them won’t take a tank out unless you can figure out a way to shoot the tank right up the flue with it (the “Besieged” level will teach you this, one way or the other). Then there’s the anti-tank mine to figure out, and the best use of the rest of your demolitions portfolio. Another tip here – if you’ve planted C4 to blow up an installation, then move to a location that can be easily defended, or better still your next objective before you set it off. Achieving objectives like this often triggers the arrival of enemy soldiers en masse.
With Foley you’ll need to master the ability to roll from side-to-side whilst zoomed-in with the telescopic site, or you’ll be instant hamburger the minute someone realises the SAS are in town. By the time you get to the “Air Cover” level, you’ll need to know absolutely everything, including where best to leave a Claymore mine lying around. This is an excellent, excellent mission, and for the first time you’ll literally be in a running battle, having to position your men so that you’re covered from attack from behind as well as in front of you. Play this mission on the hard level and the game will last you a whole lot longer.
The game ain’t perfect though. I got caught out by the ‘game saving’ limitations and ended up having to do a couple of difficult levels from scratch. However, far more annoying was the problem of inventory items disappearing into thin air when trying to pass them from one soldier to another. Spreading your medikits, grenades, and (especially) RPGs between you is crucial, but when you receive an “UNABLE TO TRANSFER” message on the screen as you’re sharing out the last things that can possibly defeat a tank, it’ll infuriate you. I managed to lose about eight clips of ammo and an RPG, when I really needed it, for absolutely no reason whatsoever, and I never did manage to find out why it happened so I can’t even tell you how to avoid the same problem yourself. Then there’s the fact that while a soldier can bring down a helicopter gunship with a machine gun – eventually – it’s still possible to get him stuck behind or between parts of the scenery. This happened to me a couple of times, leading to a so-called battle hardened soldier floundering like a kipper as an Iraqi soldier slowly but surely killed him with little more than a potato gun. Hence the title of my review, which describes a situation where a humble cardboard box led to me having to switch my PS2 off and on again.
The other recurrent problem is the inability to identify a weapon you’ve found before you actually pick it up. You might have no ammo left, and be totally reliant on scavenging a weapon from somewhere to avoid trying to beat an Iraqi soldier with a combat knife when he’s got a bazooka. In this situation it doesn’t help that if the same soldier picks up two versions of the same weapon, then you’re stuffed. Why? Because ALL the ammo he has automatically falls into one of the two weapons, and you can’t share ammo once it’s allocated to a weapon. You’ll end up in the situation where Connors has an AKSU with 1,000 rounds in it, and Jones has the same weapon with a measly 30 rounds. This is enough of a pain in the arse on its own, but having two very similar looking weapons in the game (the AK-47, and the AK-74) means that you’ll probably make this mistake more than once. Fighting a gun battle in an aircraft hangar when all one of your soldiers has left is a pistol isn’t easy, not when it’s about a mile from one end of the hangar to the other.
However, spread over ten or so levels and at least a month of avid gameplay, these problems soon disappear. Overall, this is an absolutely stonking game, and well worth the 30 or 40 quid. By now you’ll be able to buy pre-owned copies, which will save you a bundle and further increase the value. Like me, you’ll probably be wishing there was more of it, but hey, with US troops all over Iraq at the moment, and Bush’s tendency to invade other countries combined with Blair’s tendency to follow him blindly, then it won’t be long be long before there’s more content matter to use as the basis for a C:DS III. Let’s hope so (about the game, not the real life stuff).
BT SETS BULLDOG ON SMEs
BT Wholesale today announces two extensions to its June 2002 strategic agreement on Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line (SDSL) with Bulldog Communications. The updated agreements will benefit both parties and are designed to pass on key advantages for small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK.
In the first extension, BT Wholesale has agreed to distribute Bulldog’s SDSL product, “Office Connect IP” to its existing customer base of service providers. In the second, BT Wholesale has embarked on a trial to integrate Bulldog’s access product from Bulldog’s enabled exchanges in to its own mainstream SDSL service. The new agreements will offer Bulldog a faster route to a larger customer base, and BT Wholesale an alternative delivery capability within the crucial London market.
“It makes good commercial sense for both companies to work together in providing SDSL services,” explains Stuart Horwood, managing director, BT Wholesale Markets. “Through this alliance, more SMEs will get what they need, and both Bulldog and BT Wholesale will be able to make the most of any opportunities. This is a great example of how BT is increasingly working in co-operation with other operators on the UK to utilise their products and services and build them into its own product range.”
The extensions enable both parties to cater to SMEs’ demand for simultaneous ‘upstream’ and ‘downstream’ broadband-calibre communications. While SDSL will have a shorter ‘last mile’ range than low bandwidth ADSL, it is a complimentary service depending on the individual SME needs. For example, it is apt for SMEs in the field of computer aided design, or for any SME needing to: send and receive large amounts of data at the same time; link local area networks using virtual private network technology; or allow internet application hosting services e.g. web or email servers on the SME premises. As the service can fulfil the needs of up to 200 users, it potentially can see an SME through all its communications and online marketing needs during the critical early years of trading.
It will also be a cost effective option for the SME, suitable for a range of applications such as VoIP, and will be offered at 500k, 1 meg and 2 meg speeds.
Richard Greco, CEO of Bulldog, commented, “We’re delighted to be able to augment BT Wholesale’s SDSL portfolio through adding both a wider product range and greater geographical reach. We’re also particularly pleased that the 10:1 SDSL product is being so fully integrated into BT’s own product portfolio. It really is a powerful combination.”
Notes to Editors
About BT Wholesale
BT Wholesale is the part of BT Group, which provides comprehensive network services and solutions within the UK. Its customers number more than 500 communication companies, fixed and mobile network operators and service providers, including the two other principal BT businesses: BT Retail and BT Global Services.
It offers connectivity to every corner of the UK and its strategy is to continue upgrading its network for next generation services, including broadband, and the converging multi-media future. Its assets in the UK include BT's fibre and copper networks, the core telecommunications network and local exchanges.
The BT Wholesale portfolio includes a comprehensive range of wholesale and service provider products. These include ADSL, convergence, transit, bulk delivery of private circuits, frame relay and ISDN connections, as well as added value services."
About Bulldog
Bulldog has a leading-edge DSL network specifically designed to deliver the highest quality broadband experience to direct residential customers, and value-added broadband solutions for wholesale and reseller partners. Bulldog is a DSL specialist; the company provides specialist technology expertise to its partners and customers.
Deploying the latest and most advanced DSL technology, Bulldog offers the broadest selection of DSL products and services commercially available in the market today and is continually expanding its state-of-the art network.
Customers can visit Bulldog’s website www.bulldogdsl.com to order products and services online that are available today, and pre-register for others coming soon. For enquiries by phone, please call 0845 452 0052 (local rate).
For further media information...
In the first extension, BT Wholesale has agreed to distribute Bulldog’s SDSL product, “Office Connect IP” to its existing customer base of service providers. In the second, BT Wholesale has embarked on a trial to integrate Bulldog’s access product from Bulldog’s enabled exchanges in to its own mainstream SDSL service. The new agreements will offer Bulldog a faster route to a larger customer base, and BT Wholesale an alternative delivery capability within the crucial London market.
“It makes good commercial sense for both companies to work together in providing SDSL services,” explains Stuart Horwood, managing director, BT Wholesale Markets. “Through this alliance, more SMEs will get what they need, and both Bulldog and BT Wholesale will be able to make the most of any opportunities. This is a great example of how BT is increasingly working in co-operation with other operators on the UK to utilise their products and services and build them into its own product range.”
The extensions enable both parties to cater to SMEs’ demand for simultaneous ‘upstream’ and ‘downstream’ broadband-calibre communications. While SDSL will have a shorter ‘last mile’ range than low bandwidth ADSL, it is a complimentary service depending on the individual SME needs. For example, it is apt for SMEs in the field of computer aided design, or for any SME needing to: send and receive large amounts of data at the same time; link local area networks using virtual private network technology; or allow internet application hosting services e.g. web or email servers on the SME premises. As the service can fulfil the needs of up to 200 users, it potentially can see an SME through all its communications and online marketing needs during the critical early years of trading.
It will also be a cost effective option for the SME, suitable for a range of applications such as VoIP, and will be offered at 500k, 1 meg and 2 meg speeds.
Richard Greco, CEO of Bulldog, commented, “We’re delighted to be able to augment BT Wholesale’s SDSL portfolio through adding both a wider product range and greater geographical reach. We’re also particularly pleased that the 10:1 SDSL product is being so fully integrated into BT’s own product portfolio. It really is a powerful combination.”
- ends –
Notes to Editors
About BT Wholesale
BT Wholesale is the part of BT Group, which provides comprehensive network services and solutions within the UK. Its customers number more than 500 communication companies, fixed and mobile network operators and service providers, including the two other principal BT businesses: BT Retail and BT Global Services.
It offers connectivity to every corner of the UK and its strategy is to continue upgrading its network for next generation services, including broadband, and the converging multi-media future. Its assets in the UK include BT's fibre and copper networks, the core telecommunications network and local exchanges.
The BT Wholesale portfolio includes a comprehensive range of wholesale and service provider products. These include ADSL, convergence, transit, bulk delivery of private circuits, frame relay and ISDN connections, as well as added value services."
About Bulldog
Bulldog has a leading-edge DSL network specifically designed to deliver the highest quality broadband experience to direct residential customers, and value-added broadband solutions for wholesale and reseller partners. Bulldog is a DSL specialist; the company provides specialist technology expertise to its partners and customers.
Deploying the latest and most advanced DSL technology, Bulldog offers the broadest selection of DSL products and services commercially available in the market today and is continually expanding its state-of-the art network.
Customers can visit Bulldog’s website www.bulldogdsl.com to order products and services online that are available today, and pre-register for others coming soon. For enquiries by phone, please call 0845 452 0052 (local rate).
For further media information...
BT WHOLESALE THWARTS SILO MANAGEMENT TO CREATE MORE LOTTERY MILLIONAIRES
- ISDN2 contract with Camelot, Global Crossing underpins new national lottery network –
BT Wholesale today completes a nationwide upgrade of Camelot’s network of 25,000 lottery machines to ISDN2. The £70 million, seven-year contract won in March 2002, enables Camelot to offer a wider range of lottery games nationally. The project, completed with Global Crossing as the intermediary, required BT Wholesale to completely revamp its internal processes to suit the brief, including product classification, lead times, day-to-day planning and implementation, and full logistical back-up to hardware, technical support and customer service. The success of the project has given senior BT Wholesale management cause to reconsider how new business is approached, and is likely to pave the way for similarly ambitious deals in the future.
“As soon as Global Crossing approached us early last year we turned our entire method of project implementation on its head”, explains Greg Forde, client director, International Fixed Sector, BT Wholesale. “Part of our business strategy is to break down barriers between BT Wholesale and the rest of the organisation so that more value can be offered via our collective infrastructure and intellectual property. This deal did just that – every single detail of the entire project was planned on storyboards, with everyone involved in the project attending the first planning meetings. The 25,000 installations were treated as a brand new product classification, and our lead times for it were altered to ensure we could complete the paperwork and keep our promises to retailers hosting the machines. It’s the first time we’ve done anything like this but, given the success, it won’t be the last”.
Legal guidelines in the UK meant that BT Wholesale can only correspond with network operators or telecoms organisations. Global Crossing therefore offered the contract on Camelot’s behalf, with Global Crossing retaining a separate contract. BT Wholesale had to establish ‘Chinese walls’ within its own organisation, as well as non-disclosure agreements between BT Wholesale and parts of BT Retail (in addition to Global Crossing and Camelot) in order to fulfil the contract. It is the first time BT as a whole has worked in this way, and also the first time that BT Wholesale engineers have used third-party hardware to complete a project. BT Wholesale devised a tailored training programme – covering both customer service and technical issues - for all 1,100 engineers working on the project, which had to be passed and certified before each was allowed to visit one of the 25,000 sites. Engineers were supported in the field firstly by a BT Wholesale help desk, and secondly by further technical support from Camelot and Global Crossing. From arranging an appointment to have an engineer visit a site to switching the machine to ISDN2 took no more than 20 days.
Following BT Wholesale’s contract win, a pilot began in April 2002 and the project in full during August 2002. Communication from each lottery machine in branches of Tesco’s, W.H. Smith and other retailers throughout the country is now carried via internal cabling to a BT ISDN2 line, through the BT network, and back to the TV studio at Camelot that holds the lottery draw machines. ISDN2 has proved to be the most cost-effective network option in terms of repair, maintenance and management, and the network contract was originally offered as part of the Lottery Commission’s directive to maintain fair competition for bidding network operators.
- ends –
Notes to Editors
BT Wholesale:
BT Wholesale is the part of BT Group which provides comprehensive network services and solutions within the UK. Its customers number more than 500 communication companies, fixed and mobile network operators and service providers, including the two other principal BT businesses: BT Retail and BT Global Services.
It offers connectivity to every corner of the UK and its strategy is to continue upgrading its network for next generation services, including broadband, and the converging multi-media future. Its assets in the UK include BT's fibre and copper networks, the core telecommunications network and local exchanges.
The BT Wholesale portfolio includes a comprehensive range of wholesale and service provider products. These include ADSL, convergence, transit, bulk delivery of private circuits, frame relay and ISDN connections, as well as added value services.
01 October 2003
Clean Bill of Financial Health for Telecoms May Cause Serious Illness
Ghost-written article for Cisco Systems EMEA.
Published in TM Forum magazine, UK, October 2003.
Why - because profits without effort will encourage the average network operator to expand the organisation instead of improving it. If the last few years have taught us anything about network operators, it’s that they are not best prepared to cope with adversity. Yes, a global economic downturn has obviously affected all vertical sectors including telecoms, but the temptation is to use this externally as the cause when there are more inherent problems at play. Internally, IT is often the scapegoat. It’s not surprising that management remain reticent when substantial investments in technology fail to deliver the return or savings expected. At the core of all this IT is the organisation’s operational support system, or OSS – it’s heart, lungs and central nervous system combined. Improving the OSS – the way an organisation lives, breathes and does business day-to-day rather than tinkering with peripheral things is the way to reduce costs and improve overall health. However, not all network providers realise this, or are more concerned with the technology they provide than how they provide it. Furthermore, even those that do recognise this fact have yet to learn that organisation-wide ‘surgery’ of this nature should not be taken lightly.
Cure the Cause, Not the Symptom
Two key things are needed – firstly a thoughtful yet practical approach to OSS that deals with the organisation as a whole. A surgeon cannot help a patient by mending a broken leg and a dislocated shoulder, without also considering the circulation that keeps both functioning. The same applies to management trying to improve the organisation by taking each division, management layer or IT ‘limb’ in turn – neither humans nor organisations work that way. Where internal problems are concerned, examining the OSS rather than one part of the business may well reveal that the information all other IT or business systems are reliant on is flawed. Perhaps the way in which information is recorded should be reviewed, the way departments work together, or the way information moves from department to department – maybe all three.
Whatever the case, seeking the quick fix is easier to stomach when the unwelcome prognosis is that there is no such thing, no ‘silver bullet’, or single detail escaping everyone that can be tweaked as a panacea. The quest for the quick fix leads to constant fire fighting, with budget being splintered to attend to many problems occurring one after the other.
Those problems may not be internal flaws but external factors. Difficulties encountered by organisations we advise include: changes in regulatory environment; consolidating, converging or going global; maintaining margins during downturn; and protecting market position against new entrants and new business models. However, the more robust an organisation’s OSS, the better it will cope with unforeseen circumstances. One cannot predict the next bout of flu, but can be physically fit to cope with it when it arrives.
Regardless of the nature of the problem, the second consideration is that tinkering with an organisation’s OSS should not be underestimated. It is the business equivalent of neurosurgery, potentially a fundamental change to the way that every individual in the organisation uses their working time. Samuel Johnson was neither a surgeon nor a telecoms businessman, but he still recognised that, “Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better”. More than a century later, Dr. Bernard Burnes, researcher, lecturer, and head of the Operations Management Group at the University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology, said of organisational change, “In cases where staff are required to keep up the same level of output during the transition phase, it may require additional resources to achieve this...Nothing is guaranteed to be more demoralising than having to make changes without the necessary resources or support”. When you accept that improving an organisations OSS will deliver improvements throughout the business and decide to do it, then adequate preparation is needed.
Prepare the Surgeon, and the Patient
Before any plans are made let alone implemented, consider that fundamental organisational change needs a budget of its own – not for OSS software, for kit, or anything else – for the change itself. Overtime will be incurred, mistakes or teething problems will be unavoidable, and as a result, resources will be used. The twin necessity to a financial budget is the need to allocate time for the change. You are changing something that has an impact on every employee in the organisation, and doing your best to prevent people outside the organisation feeling any adverse affects, or even noticing. That takes time, and the people implementing the change or being affected by it cannot be expected to cope in addition to fulfilling their usual responsibilities. The other consideration where time is concerned is to plan the change over weeks or months, with realistic deadlines and a way to measure progress. These may need to be adjusted as the organisation encounters problems, but a sure-fire way to ensure something never gets done is to label it ‘ASAP’.
Communicating the importance of the change internally can increase likelihood of success. Appoint an internal change management team, whose sole responsibility for the duration of the project is to ensure that things go smoothly and on time. Use representatives from all parts of the organisation involved and from mixed hierarchical levels, and foster an environment of respect but without bureaucracy, as in Edward de Bono’s theory on brainstorming. Everyone’s experience will be needed, and if concerns or ideas are not aired or overruled then the change will not be embraced.
Anyone attempting to fly British Airways on 18th June 2003 will have borne witness to the result of failure to consider, prepare and provide time to employees for significant OSS changes. Unfortunately there is a tendency for management to veer from one extreme to another – either the ‘fluffy’, people-oriented style, or intense, task-oriented style where the product or service is all, no matter what your staff turnover rate is. There is no simple way to decide what approach to take except to say that it will be closer to the middle than at either end. Accurate consideration of the participants of OSS change will help diagnose where the organisation is now, and where it needs to be. However, this is not the only reason for preparation before embarking on change. Changes to an organisation’s OSS are both time-critical and fraught with danger. To use the metaphor again, a surgeon will progress both methodically and quickly – and a lack of the necessary care or speed will end the same way. If the organisation were still based on paper, pens and copper wire, change might be approached more carefully. The fact that these have been replaced by IT and fibre optic cable does not necessarily make OSS change easier, only different.
The Recovery Room
‘Perpetual change’ seems to be where everyone is headed – a style of work where nothing is permanent and a dynamic organisation can respond quickly to any external factor. As an organisational state, perpetual change in consulting lingo has its roots almost a decade ago, triggered at the time by academic study of managerial steps taken by Nissan and Volvo in the automotive sector. That is not to say that network providers will be able to learn from their experience without suffering some of the same difficulties. Only this year, AT Kearney surveyed almost 300 European organisations in various sectors that had completed a business change programme. Only 20 per cent of those 300 were found to be successful. Regardless of the outcome and whether or not perpetual change is where you want to be, it is essential that both management and employees be given some time to recover from organisational change where OSS is concerned.
It is human nature to hoard information for coercive power, to build empires, and play politics. No amount of IT spend will change that. However, successful change is possible if it is considered and planned appropriately, and where else can network operators make an operational and cultural change more effectively than with the organisation’s OSS, the system on which the rest of the business depends? Let us hope that a temporary improvement of finances in the telecoms sector does not mean essential surgery is postponed any longer.
Published in TM Forum magazine, UK, October 2003.
Why - because profits without effort will encourage the average network operator to expand the organisation instead of improving it. If the last few years have taught us anything about network operators, it’s that they are not best prepared to cope with adversity. Yes, a global economic downturn has obviously affected all vertical sectors including telecoms, but the temptation is to use this externally as the cause when there are more inherent problems at play. Internally, IT is often the scapegoat. It’s not surprising that management remain reticent when substantial investments in technology fail to deliver the return or savings expected. At the core of all this IT is the organisation’s operational support system, or OSS – it’s heart, lungs and central nervous system combined. Improving the OSS – the way an organisation lives, breathes and does business day-to-day rather than tinkering with peripheral things is the way to reduce costs and improve overall health. However, not all network providers realise this, or are more concerned with the technology they provide than how they provide it. Furthermore, even those that do recognise this fact have yet to learn that organisation-wide ‘surgery’ of this nature should not be taken lightly.
Cure the Cause, Not the Symptom
Two key things are needed – firstly a thoughtful yet practical approach to OSS that deals with the organisation as a whole. A surgeon cannot help a patient by mending a broken leg and a dislocated shoulder, without also considering the circulation that keeps both functioning. The same applies to management trying to improve the organisation by taking each division, management layer or IT ‘limb’ in turn – neither humans nor organisations work that way. Where internal problems are concerned, examining the OSS rather than one part of the business may well reveal that the information all other IT or business systems are reliant on is flawed. Perhaps the way in which information is recorded should be reviewed, the way departments work together, or the way information moves from department to department – maybe all three.
Whatever the case, seeking the quick fix is easier to stomach when the unwelcome prognosis is that there is no such thing, no ‘silver bullet’, or single detail escaping everyone that can be tweaked as a panacea. The quest for the quick fix leads to constant fire fighting, with budget being splintered to attend to many problems occurring one after the other.
Those problems may not be internal flaws but external factors. Difficulties encountered by organisations we advise include: changes in regulatory environment; consolidating, converging or going global; maintaining margins during downturn; and protecting market position against new entrants and new business models. However, the more robust an organisation’s OSS, the better it will cope with unforeseen circumstances. One cannot predict the next bout of flu, but can be physically fit to cope with it when it arrives.
Regardless of the nature of the problem, the second consideration is that tinkering with an organisation’s OSS should not be underestimated. It is the business equivalent of neurosurgery, potentially a fundamental change to the way that every individual in the organisation uses their working time. Samuel Johnson was neither a surgeon nor a telecoms businessman, but he still recognised that, “Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better”. More than a century later, Dr. Bernard Burnes, researcher, lecturer, and head of the Operations Management Group at the University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology, said of organisational change, “In cases where staff are required to keep up the same level of output during the transition phase, it may require additional resources to achieve this...Nothing is guaranteed to be more demoralising than having to make changes without the necessary resources or support”. When you accept that improving an organisations OSS will deliver improvements throughout the business and decide to do it, then adequate preparation is needed.
Prepare the Surgeon, and the Patient
Before any plans are made let alone implemented, consider that fundamental organisational change needs a budget of its own – not for OSS software, for kit, or anything else – for the change itself. Overtime will be incurred, mistakes or teething problems will be unavoidable, and as a result, resources will be used. The twin necessity to a financial budget is the need to allocate time for the change. You are changing something that has an impact on every employee in the organisation, and doing your best to prevent people outside the organisation feeling any adverse affects, or even noticing. That takes time, and the people implementing the change or being affected by it cannot be expected to cope in addition to fulfilling their usual responsibilities. The other consideration where time is concerned is to plan the change over weeks or months, with realistic deadlines and a way to measure progress. These may need to be adjusted as the organisation encounters problems, but a sure-fire way to ensure something never gets done is to label it ‘ASAP’.
Communicating the importance of the change internally can increase likelihood of success. Appoint an internal change management team, whose sole responsibility for the duration of the project is to ensure that things go smoothly and on time. Use representatives from all parts of the organisation involved and from mixed hierarchical levels, and foster an environment of respect but without bureaucracy, as in Edward de Bono’s theory on brainstorming. Everyone’s experience will be needed, and if concerns or ideas are not aired or overruled then the change will not be embraced.
Anyone attempting to fly British Airways on 18th June 2003 will have borne witness to the result of failure to consider, prepare and provide time to employees for significant OSS changes. Unfortunately there is a tendency for management to veer from one extreme to another – either the ‘fluffy’, people-oriented style, or intense, task-oriented style where the product or service is all, no matter what your staff turnover rate is. There is no simple way to decide what approach to take except to say that it will be closer to the middle than at either end. Accurate consideration of the participants of OSS change will help diagnose where the organisation is now, and where it needs to be. However, this is not the only reason for preparation before embarking on change. Changes to an organisation’s OSS are both time-critical and fraught with danger. To use the metaphor again, a surgeon will progress both methodically and quickly – and a lack of the necessary care or speed will end the same way. If the organisation were still based on paper, pens and copper wire, change might be approached more carefully. The fact that these have been replaced by IT and fibre optic cable does not necessarily make OSS change easier, only different.
The Recovery Room
‘Perpetual change’ seems to be where everyone is headed – a style of work where nothing is permanent and a dynamic organisation can respond quickly to any external factor. As an organisational state, perpetual change in consulting lingo has its roots almost a decade ago, triggered at the time by academic study of managerial steps taken by Nissan and Volvo in the automotive sector. That is not to say that network providers will be able to learn from their experience without suffering some of the same difficulties. Only this year, AT Kearney surveyed almost 300 European organisations in various sectors that had completed a business change programme. Only 20 per cent of those 300 were found to be successful. Regardless of the outcome and whether or not perpetual change is where you want to be, it is essential that both management and employees be given some time to recover from organisational change where OSS is concerned.
It is human nature to hoard information for coercive power, to build empires, and play politics. No amount of IT spend will change that. However, successful change is possible if it is considered and planned appropriately, and where else can network operators make an operational and cultural change more effectively than with the organisation’s OSS, the system on which the rest of the business depends? Let us hope that a temporary improvement of finances in the telecoms sector does not mean essential surgery is postponed any longer.
30 September 2003
Paradise in Pants' Clothing
Video game review of "Project Eden" for Sony Playstation 2 (PS2).
Published on ciao.co.uk, September 2003.
I didn’t always think like this game was brilliant value. To be blunt, the screenshots on the back of the box were only so-so, and I had this game tucked in the drawer for a long while before I started to play it properly.
Even then, the cut scene that plays automatically when you first load the game looked good but the cut scenes within the game were, and are, a bit ropey to say the least. Then there were the controls – playing in third person had me stumbling over bricks in the road and my hardcore, futuristic SWAT team running into each other like a scene from a ‘Carry On’ film. Switching to first-person view for a Red Faction-style experience is better, but even then you need to get used to the PC/mouse-style control. In a nutshell, the crosshair moves across the screen as far as possible before the character you’re controlling actually turns the corner or looks up or down. Cue lots of falling down holes, walking into alien nasties and taking a week to grab a door handle.
However, with persistence I’d say all these difficulties are mastered within a couple of days’ playing.
Then Project Eden really comes into its own. I’ve played a lot of games and I don’t know how Eidos has done it, but it really works. The concept is simple, the plotline infantile, the graphics are no work of art, and on reflection the levels are extraordinarily repetitive. Watching someone else play Project Eden is probably marginally less dull than sitting in a clear glass box suspended above Tower Bridge, but this is one of the longest and most addictive games I’ve played in ages. After completing a level, I couldn’t resist a quick peek round the corner of the next level, which then turned into an hour, and was shortly followed by the entire post-work evening slipping away. Severity of puzzles vary, and when lured into a false sense of security there is still ample opportunity to be caught unawares and swamped by the enemy, resulting in a quick return to the last power-up point you passed (a wall-mounted box with a “UPA” sign that produces what looks like a lightning bolt to recharge your enviro-suit, much like Half-Life).
I guess I should explain what the game’s all about before I witter any further.
You control a team of four UPA (glorified police) officers at some point in the future. Earth now resembles what you see in the film, “The 5th Element” i.e. nobody lives at surface level anymore except tramps and scavengers. The adventure kicks off with your budding team of four investigating some sort of technological disturbance at a meat-packing factory near the populated levels of the city. From there onwards you are embroiled in some sort of sinister plot that means your job is never quite done. When you’ve investigated the disturbance, you find out some technicians are locked-in somewhere else in the building. When you’ve rescued them, you’re investigating the kidnappers a.k.a. “Death’s Head Gang”. You then find out they’re all using a new recreational drug of some sort that turns them into psychopaths…and so on and so forth. The same drug seems to be lying around all over the place, and a quick nibble turns your average Roland Rat, Tiddles the cat, Spot the dog or homing pigeon into a monstrous genetically mutated beastie. Some have bad breath and quite a range with it too so don’t get too close. The drug also has the same effect on humans, so you could be in a room full of people you think are just innocent bystanders at one moment, only to be surrounded and one the receiving end of a good kicking the next. Anyway, eventually the roots of the whole palaver links back to a member of your team, but that’s all I’ll say for fear of ruining everything for you.
Your team of four have various skills that you’ll need to get through the puzzles. Amber is a female ‘Robocop’ and impervious to heat, poisonous gases (handy given how many lifts and other confined spaces the team finds itself in). Minoko can hack into pretty much anything resembling a computer, which you’ll need to open doors and grab information amongst other things. The real fun though is overriding the control systems of wall or ceiling-mounted laser cannons, handy for taking out an attack if you’re overrun with bad guys. It’s like using a shotgun to kill an ant. André is the DIY expert who fixes keypads, door locks, generators and other things, and Carter is the team leader with sole security access to certain rooms or information.
You’ll get help in various ways too – first of all, guns. The most useful weapon by far is the Timeshock. Flick this to the “area” setting and you shoot a projectile through the air in the same way as a mortar. When the projectile hits the ground or a wall, it emits a ‘bubble’ of light in which time slows down. Any bad guys caught in the bubble, which has a circa 20 feet diameter, instantly turn to slow motion, meaning you can literally walk up to them and poke them in the eye. Handy for giving you time to think when you’re caught by surprise. Be careful though, it works just as well on your team members too. The other weapon of note is the Extractor. If your team’s armour is running out and there’s no recharge point in sight, fire this puppy at a bad guy and it saps energy from them. Keep doing this enough and you’ll create an energy cell, which can be used later to replenish either armour or weapons. You’ll also slot the bad guy in the process, though getting them to stand still for long enough might prove difficult – see note on the “Timeshock” above.
In addition to your fancy protective suits, and your weapons, everything seems to run on electricity too in this game, and your other main source of help is from electrically powered James Bond-style gadgets. Not all are available at the start, and you’ll have to collect them throughout the game. You can’t miss them though – you’ll get an e-mail from the boss to say they’re on their way down in a UPA lift, marked on your scanner so you can find it. The first two are the Rover and the Flycam, the former resembling a remote-controlled car with on-board camera and grappling arm, and the latter is literally a flying camera. Both can press buttons to open doors, get into little nooks and crannies where a team member won’t fit, and the Rover can also defend itself with a small laser cannon, though gets stomped on and squished quite easily so don’t rely on it too much. Whilst a bit dull, both are essential to completing the game as there are some points where your team will hit a dead end, which is usually a cue to start looking for a heating vent or hole in the door that one or the other will fit through. Think 3D too – many puzzle solutions mean checking either at your feet, or up a lift shaft or through a skylight.
The best gadget by far is the laser sentry – a long gun with a short temper mounted on a tripod. Set it down and its radar kicks in immediately, so just sit back and watch as it deals out the punishment. The best place to put them is in the middle of a wide, open space, preferably on a crate or boulder so the bad guys can’t get to it too easily. Otherwise leave one in the centre of a crossroads, or at a right angle corner – that way it can defend from attacks from more than one direction at once. It also serves as an early warning system – even when the baddies are too far away to appear on your scanner, you can hear the sentry firing from miles off so you know an ambush has been sprung.
Objective? What objective? When you start, you’re just starting a run-of-the-mill mission and it all kicks off from there. Whilst sounding disorganised, this introduces great variety in the game, as rescue missions follow search-and-destroy, which in turn might follow all four of your team running for their lives to get out of a place before it explodes. Good stuff. Graphics are OK, levels sufficiently varied to hold interest, and animation OK. The artificial intelligence of your team members does leave a little to be desired. Give your team the “follow me” instruction and then accidentally fall into a hole, and it’s likely that what you’ll see before you breathe your last and get zapped back to the last recharge point is the other three landing on top of you in a pile. Morons, the lot of ‘em.
The thing this game does really well is the sheer playability. Look at it logically and it’s repetitive, play it and it’s addictive. The controls, while tricky at first, are soon mastered and you’ll be ordering people around all over the place, flanking the bad guys, and only needing to put your sentry in one place in a room to clear it. You feel like you’re progressing quite quickly, but the game just goes on and on – it’s like the first Space Invaders games in the 1970s where the game looped if you completed it so, as long as you stayed awake, you never stopped. It took me more than a week from when I was saying, “I think I’ve nearly finished it now”, to actually completing it. The game does actually have an end but this characteristic delivers in spades to the game’s value-for-money, and how many adventure/RPG games do that these days? I think this is down to (a) a BIG game anyway, (b) pitching of puzzles at the right level, and (c) the fact that despite potential targets being highlighted when you point your gun at them, it’s still possible to miss details in a room the first time you visit. This is part of the opportunities there are to interact with the environment. In addition to basic button-pushing and lever-pulling, you’ll need to shoot obstacles to remove them, use movable objects to get the Rover somewhere you haven’t even seen yet, and use the right combination of each team members’ skills to proceed.
I know I said the plot is infantile but it’s good enough to keep you intrigued, and there are a number of clues along the way as to what’s really going on, though I must admit that when the ‘twist’ came, it caught me slightly by surprise. During some levels your team will be split up and won’t see each other again until right near the end, changing the game from one of actively seeking the enemy to more escape and evasion.
All in all, this is a top-notch game. If it had stonking graphics too, and a little more variety, I’d be giving it five stars and ringing Eidos to see if I could work with them on the next one, if there is a next one. As it is, there’s even a multiplayer option offering a better-than-basic ‘shoot ‘em up’ experience. Good value for money even if you spend 40 quid, and brilliant value if you get it pre-owned or on price promotion. Go buy it now and kiss goodbye to conversation and your social life for months.
29 September 2003
Soul Reaver + Feminism = Primal Urges in Male Gamers
Video game review of "Primal" for Sony Playstation 2 (PS2).
Published on ciao.co.uk, September 2003.
Well, if you like Soul Reaver, you’ll like this.
Imagine Soul Reaver, except starring a curiously foxy, leather-clad (hubba hubba) twenty-something girl clubber, instead of the tormented, rotting corpse of a vampire. Also, imagine that when morphing takes place, it’s the person rather than the scenery that morphs.
Not that the scenery isn’t varied in Primal. It is – with four demon realms in addition to ‘Mortalis’ a.k.a. Earth where you travel from at the beginning of the game. You might need to turn up the brightness on the TV a bit (though there’s an in-game option for this) but once you do, you’ll see very expansive, detailed levels. Being completely fictional, the worlds aren’t restrained by trivialities such as physics, so the programmers have ‘carte blanche’ to make each world as characteristic of its inhabitants as possible.
Each realm also comes with its own wildlife as well as weather, scenery, and architecture. The wildlife is usually bad tempered and spiky, even sarcastic where the “Aetha” realm is concerned. The upside of visiting each new demon realm is that sooner or later, Jen, our heroine, will assume the ability to morph into the demon form represented by that realm. These abilities are probably the second-most anticipated part of the game, with each morph being really quite cool and including Jen growing horns, elongated – Wolverine style – fingernails, the ability to breath underwater and communicate via telepathy, or the chance to morph time when running or fighting. The latter ability is similar to bullet time in the Max Payne games except a lot easier to use and control. Weapons and battle combos also vary with each realm, ranging from a simple double punch to some pretty useful manoeuvres with either a whip or twin energy swords. You get a little pep-talk when Jen has acquired a new ability so it doesn’t go to waste.
“So what’s the most eagerly anticipated part of the game?” I hear you ask. Well, once you get into the game it becomes apparent that completing Jen’s list of chores in each realm will have an impact on what happens next. There’s a plot y’see. The whole reason Jen’s in this mess is because her boyfriend got nabbed outside a nightclub on Mortalis by a big nasty demon. She’s chasing him to rescue him. As you start to look as if you’re going to complete one realm, you develop a hankering to see what the next one’s like. You don’t know the sub-plots for each realm until shortly after you enter them, which also keeps the game fresh, and there are bonuses in the form of tarot cards to be collected along the way. These unlock anything from game concept art to a, “The making of…” video. It’s handy sometimes that the ol’ PS2 plays DVDs too!
Jen’s newly-acquired abilities help her to navigate the various landscapes, as well as solving the puzzles along the way. It might be that you need the Ferai ability to jump higher than usual, the Undine ability to swim, or the Wraith ability to slow down time – handy for scuttling under the occasional portcullis before it slams shut. Thinking laterally and therefore using the appropriate demon form to solve a puzzle becomes more and more important as you proceed, though I don’t think this is exploited to its fullest potential (I’ll explain later). If you get stumped completely on a puzzle, then it’s probably because you should be playing as Scree rather than Jen.
Scree is not only a stumpy, overly-polite gargoyle with no patience for Jen’s flippant sense of humour, he’s also Jen’s guide. Scree also helps connect Jen to the ‘bigger picture’ plotline, which is that the two forces balancing the four demon realms are…well…unbalanced. Basically, there’s too much chaos and too little order for the first time in eternity, and if Jen doesn’t sort her act out then it’ll all go a bit Pete Tong, including on Mortalis. Imagine it being the January sales on Oxford Street for every day of the year and in every town and you’ll get the picture – total bloodthirsty anarchy combined with a complete lack of social responsibility to yourself and others.
OK, so, we’ve got objectives, we’ve got the opportunity to play as either of the main characters (that follow each other around in case you were wondering), a plot, a few sub-plots thrown in for good measure (including Scree’s, which is revealed late on in the game), and the chance to kick a lot of arse along the way. There’s decent background graphics, good animation, good beat-em-up-ability, characters with differing personalities, and some half-decent puzzle-solving in-between. There’s even a twist at the end, and the size of the game means you’ll probably get your money’s worth out of it. All in all it sounds quite good, but there is room for improvement here.
I said that Primal was a bit like Soul Reaver. Well…it’s actually VERY like Soul Reaver. I swear that even a couple of the sound effects are actually the same. The layout is very similar, and the huge size of the realms mean it takes ages to traipse from one end to another - especially if you’re dragging a stone gargoyle with you, no matter what diet he’s on. The supposed ‘fix’ to this problem is the rift gates (read ‘teleport’), which crop up regularly in each realm. Trouble is, you can never remember which one’s which in relation to the rest of the realm, so while you can crank one up and supposedly stroll great distances in one step, you end up warping backwards and forwards all over the place until you can remember where that flippin’ door was that you just pulled a lever to open from somewhere ten miles away. If you ignore the rift gates then the miles and miles of realm you found so cool on the first time through turn out to be a bit of a pain. There needs to be some sort of better linking between the in-game screen and the map screen here.
One of the cool things about Soul Reaver was the ability to backtrack to old places when you’d acquired new abilities, making the hunt for bonuses all the more satisfying. In Primal, during Solum – the first demon realm visited – you wander past many a pool or lake that looks worth investigating if you could only swim. You learn the swim later on, but you can’t get back to Solum once you’ve left it, so you’re left wondering what delights rest at the bottom of that river. Maybe game bonuses where you ring a special phone number to be included in a special international Primal ‘experts’ club, perhaps a preview of Primal 2, maybe an opportunity to design a level that ‘The Gauntlet’ game did so successfully on the Sega Megadrive – who knows?
The puzzles aren’t as puzzling as they might be. Once you get the knack of it, then the major difficulty in completing the game becomes finding the time to play it, not calling all your mates that are playing it to see who’s figured it out first. This reduces the ideal age of the player, though in the process serving as a useful step up for a young gamer taking on something a little more adult. Mind you, there’s a lot of blood in it too. Also, when fighting, there’s no tuition on combos. People who play Tekken as the Bruce Lee-style character (I can’t remember his name) will love this ‘cos it’s all about walloping the buttons as fast as you can. Anyone else will get fed up with the funky moves in the demo sequences that seem to be impossible to replicate when you’re actually playing the game.
Overall, I’d say it’s not one of those, “Omigod, I gotta have it the minute it hits the shelf” games. However, when you’re wandering around Game or Electronics Boutique with a couple of games to trade in, I would say to look for this in the pre-owned. If you haven’t played Soul Reaver then the format will seem new to you, and it’s still a good game even if you have played Soul Reaver. It’s nowhere near as dull as some of the PS2 magazines said, and the bonuses available do make it worthwhile checking every corner and behind every tree. A promising start, and if all the faults are taken into account then Primal 2 would become a must-have purchase.
04 September 2003
Anna Jackson, reporting manager, Band & Brown Public Relations
From: Anna Jackson
To: Glyn Davies
Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2003 12:16:45 +0100
Can you forward me any email communication you have had with Geoff M and I will submit the by line.
Thanks for your help with this, the client is really, really impressed - as am I!
To: Glyn Davies
Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2003 12:16:45 +0100
Can you forward me any email communication you have had with Geoff M and I will submit the by line.
Thanks for your help with this, the client is really, really impressed - as am I!
02 September 2003
Valerie Weisenreder, reporting manager, Band & Brown PR
RE: Work update
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 16:04:33 +0100
MY God - you are brilliant.
I am sure you guys can fill Glyn's schedule for two hours!!!!
V
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 16:04:33 +0100
MY God - you are brilliant.
I am sure you guys can fill Glyn's schedule for two hours!!!!
V
01 September 2003
An Ecosystem - Just What European Resellers Need?
Ghost-written article for Edzard Overbeek, Cisco Systems EMEA.
Published in European Reseller magazine, UK/Europe, September 2003.
As if leveraging, ramping up, and creating ‘synergies’ weren’t enough business jargon to choke any IT expert, we are now creating 'ecosystems' for resellers in the European channel to market. Recent analysis by Martin Canning, VP, European Services Research, IDC EMEA, suggests that the current linear, hierarchical method for manufacturers to work with their channel partners may be retired by, of all people, the end users. Why? Quite simply, end users want to be able to contact just one person if something goes wrong, they need an upgrade or they have any questions. Traditionally, an organisation might deal with many resellers for different things. However, those days are gone.
Our ‘ecosystem’ functions like a human networking cocktail party hosted both in the real world and in cyberspace. The aim is to ensure that the perfect fusion of specialised IT knowledge is applied to each end-user scenario, reducing duplication of activities and therefore cost to the customer. This tackles the main issue for resellers in that it is impossible for them to be all things to everyone. It is also the reason why the majority of IT vendors employ a mixture of channel partners and systems integrators to provide the ultimate in business flexibility. Furthermore, the ecosystem tackles two other key concerns for resellers – overstocking and keeping up with ever-evolving technology. Both are part of the same problem - rapid advances in technology are almost impossible for an individual reseller to match, resulting in a supply chain beset with yesterday’s technology.
We encourage resellers to specialise, firstly to reduce overlap between rivals and secondly because competing on price alone is a recipe for disaster. Preventing such duplication of expertise is vital to ensure a seamless and profitable channel. The combined market opportunity for the extensive range of networking products, from routers and switches to wireless LAN solutions, is worth up to €64 billion for product sales, plus €30 billion for advanced services. No single vendor can possibly claim to do all this single-handedly, which is why an ecosystem of specialised, complimentary organisations is the ideal scenario. Our goal is to help give those organisations a slice of this action.
If that isn’t incentive enough, the focused ecosystem approach acknowledges the strengths of each player – whether software publisher, distributor, ISP, or reseller - working on any end-user requirement without bias. To reassure all concerned we invoke a “traffic light process,” ensuring that once a partner has been engaged on a project, no other player can muscle in.
In February this year we announced an expanded partnership agreement with US operator AT&T, where AT&T agreed to use our indirect sales partners to sell its advanced services. However, the ecosystem doesn’t solely benefit the reseller community. AT&T obtains access to more SMEs than ever before, regarded by many industry analysts as the "sweet spot" of the multi-billion Euro managed services market.
Far from being simply a new approach tagged with new jargon, the ecosystem presents genuine opportunities for all involved. These range from an increased customer base to carrying more up-to-date or varied solutions, or being able to access one specialised section of a massive IT project that had never been deemed possible in the past. It just goes to show – some buzzwords really are a hive of activity.
Published in European Reseller magazine, UK/Europe, September 2003.
As if leveraging, ramping up, and creating ‘synergies’ weren’t enough business jargon to choke any IT expert, we are now creating 'ecosystems' for resellers in the European channel to market. Recent analysis by Martin Canning, VP, European Services Research, IDC EMEA, suggests that the current linear, hierarchical method for manufacturers to work with their channel partners may be retired by, of all people, the end users. Why? Quite simply, end users want to be able to contact just one person if something goes wrong, they need an upgrade or they have any questions. Traditionally, an organisation might deal with many resellers for different things. However, those days are gone.
Our ‘ecosystem’ functions like a human networking cocktail party hosted both in the real world and in cyberspace. The aim is to ensure that the perfect fusion of specialised IT knowledge is applied to each end-user scenario, reducing duplication of activities and therefore cost to the customer. This tackles the main issue for resellers in that it is impossible for them to be all things to everyone. It is also the reason why the majority of IT vendors employ a mixture of channel partners and systems integrators to provide the ultimate in business flexibility. Furthermore, the ecosystem tackles two other key concerns for resellers – overstocking and keeping up with ever-evolving technology. Both are part of the same problem - rapid advances in technology are almost impossible for an individual reseller to match, resulting in a supply chain beset with yesterday’s technology.
We encourage resellers to specialise, firstly to reduce overlap between rivals and secondly because competing on price alone is a recipe for disaster. Preventing such duplication of expertise is vital to ensure a seamless and profitable channel. The combined market opportunity for the extensive range of networking products, from routers and switches to wireless LAN solutions, is worth up to €64 billion for product sales, plus €30 billion for advanced services. No single vendor can possibly claim to do all this single-handedly, which is why an ecosystem of specialised, complimentary organisations is the ideal scenario. Our goal is to help give those organisations a slice of this action.
If that isn’t incentive enough, the focused ecosystem approach acknowledges the strengths of each player – whether software publisher, distributor, ISP, or reseller - working on any end-user requirement without bias. To reassure all concerned we invoke a “traffic light process,” ensuring that once a partner has been engaged on a project, no other player can muscle in.
In February this year we announced an expanded partnership agreement with US operator AT&T, where AT&T agreed to use our indirect sales partners to sell its advanced services. However, the ecosystem doesn’t solely benefit the reseller community. AT&T obtains access to more SMEs than ever before, regarded by many industry analysts as the "sweet spot" of the multi-billion Euro managed services market.
Far from being simply a new approach tagged with new jargon, the ecosystem presents genuine opportunities for all involved. These range from an increased customer base to carrying more up-to-date or varied solutions, or being able to access one specialised section of a massive IT project that had never been deemed possible in the past. It just goes to show – some buzzwords really are a hive of activity.
01 August 2003
No Need for Basel to ‘Sex Up’ Storage
Ghost-written article for Geoff Love, Business Development, Storage Area Networks, Cisco Systems EMEA.
Published in Storage magazine, UK, August 2003.
Mention ‘storage’ to a non-IT person and you’ll inadvertently conjure up images of a garage, cobweb-ridden attic, or dusty, crate-filled museum basement. Even in business the image isn’t much better – a storeroom on the top floor, filled with little-used filing cabinets. Sadly the image of storage in IT terms hasn’t been that different until developments over recent years with the realisation that data (voice and video) is one of most valuable commodities within the business. Storage now plays a core role in protecting and managing the digital assets of an enterprise to ensure operational productivity. Storage Area Networks, ‘SANs’, in particular have helped to change the image of storage from that of the redundant cyber-filing cabinet into something more flexible, more dynamic, that can positively impact an organisation’s bottom-line. The much talked about Basel II Accord, which builds on original directives from 1998 and, whilst late in the game, brings a political stamp of approval to what many financial organisations were considering or already in the process of implementing anyway.
However, as Samuel Johnson once said, “Change does not come without inconvenience, even from worse to better”, and financial institutions falling under the scope of the Basel Accord now have a lot to think about. There is work to be done in terms of improving reporting mechanisms and public disclosure. Most of all, the introduction of operational risk as a part of the criteria on which organisations are assessed brings a host of new scenarios that not only need to be planned for, but also budgeted for.
Basel Brushes Up Legislation
The impact of the original Basel Committee on Banking Supervision was significant. In general, financial organisations were advised to put aside capital to counter two issues. Firstly, the adverse effects of changes in financial market prices, which included currencies, interest rates and liquidity amongst others. Secondly, under the umbrella of ‘credit risk’, the scenario where the value of a bank’s position is adversely affected by a change in the credit quality of a counter-party i.e. default, or by the bank being downgraded by a credit agency.
The new accord dwarfs the former one in terms of implications for day-to-day business. Senior IT staff will need to take a strategic view of risk management, aligning the business needs of the enterprise with the technologies required to enable adequate reporting, data collation, exceptions monitoring, and compliance reporting. From an IT perspective, the new regulatory environment will require a common risk methodology across the enterprise which, in turn, is based on common definitions and report formats. It includes ‘operational risk’, where a bank must literally brainstorm, anticipate, and allocate budget to contingencies against anything from a simple missed deadline that impacts revenue, to terrorism or an Act of God. The deadline for senior management to do this isn’t until 2006, but much of the IT-related work will need to be commenced before this year is out.
AXA Technology Services, for example, is already reaping the benefits of IP technology. During the summer of 2003 it began deploying Cisco SAN technology as part of a global consolidation of its ‘IT Competency Centres’. To give some sense of scale AXA has the challenge of storing information pertaining to the many insurance products and financial services it provides to over 50 million individuals and businesses around the world, totalling $65 billion in annual sales. Its business depends on the quality and security of this information, which no doubt it considered when choosing to move towards SAN.
Yet despite such complexities, this shift of information strategy has been relatively straightforward for AXA. It established a storage-over-IP infrastructure without incurring much incremental cost, because it already had an IP network in place. The beauty of IP is that in allowing voice, video and data all to run over a single network, the addition of SAN functionality was relatively uncomplicated.
As well as cost this is an important demonstration of how businesses can, in real terms, address the Basel II stipulations that information must be relayed to storage sites located beyond specified distances from organisations’ main sites. Moreover, it is noteworthy that this can be achieved without additional expense to a company’s existing IP or Fibre Channel networks. In fact, different such networks are no longer separate as Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) can easily link Fibre Channel storage area networks (SAN).
Dealing With Operational Risk
Here storage, SANs and networking in general comes into its own. Delve into the detail of the Basel II Accord and the factors that financial organisations need to consider include failure of key vendors to fulfil contracts, data entry error, model or system mis-operation, hacking, lack of integration, utility or systems outage and, of course, natural catastrophe, vandalism, or terrorism. In short, those organisations already moving from a traditional ‘points of risk’ approach to one covering extended supply chains, viewing IT security in a non-compartmentalised manner, and planning safeguards will be ahead of the game. Little wonder then that almost 40 per cent of UK banks consider enterprise-wide, data warehouse development a high priority, and 20 per cent consider implementing an integrated collateral management system similarly urgent.
One of the likely impacts of Basel II will be a massive increase in data storage. While Basel is an affirmation of what financial organisations should, and have been doing anyway, it is shifting the focus away from hardware-based resilience and simple backup solutions to end-to-end IT architectures that are resilient to data corruption or loss. The nature of this vertical sector means that SANs are ideally suited to multiple enterprise environments, especially those that have multiple locations globally, need to integrate with other organisations, and have business-critical systems, some of which being customer facing. The security and reliability of the network becomes paramount as more business critical information is held electronically.
These are some of the reasons why Euronext.Liffe, the derivatives business of Euronext, used Cisco to network its London and Paris data centres, backing up information to each other – despite being 650 kilometres apart.
SANity Check for CEOs, CFOs and CIOs Alike
Financial organisations responding to Basel or their own objectives to contingency plan may well look outside their organisation for help.
Using focus groups to identify ‘hot’ issues which cause the most headaches for IT managers, Cisco found three main areas of concern: the sheer task of managing large, disparate islands of storage from multiple physical and virtual locations; dealing with the complexity of maintaining scheduled backups for multiple systems or preparing for unscheduled system outages; and the inability to share storage resources for utility. In addition, IT managers complained of a shortage of qualified professionals to manage storage, and went on to admit confusion over the choice of storage technology alternatives. Further pressure is being brought to bear as IT budgets are continually restricted, and the IT department is put under more scrutiny than ever before.
One common concern is that as Basel II comes to fruition, the financial services sector will have less time, little money, and in some cases insufficient expertise to cope in-house. Worse still, in some cases different teams manage networks and storage, which is against the flow of networking evolution. At the same time, IT industry opinion is that direct attached storage is on the way out, and that SANs trump them anyway in terms of lowered cost of ownership, increased return on investment, and the ability to provide CRM, ERP, or even the basic e-mail function.
Spice Up Your Organisation with Basel II
Basel will not create panic in the financial services sector. It is not a reason for stomachs to churn, nor a dictatorial directive coming from ‘bureaucrats in Europe’. In most cases it will enforce banks’ existing or intended risk management strategies, but it is also an opportunity. Following a methodology to ensure compliance with Basel will be surprisingly satisfying. Assessing the current capability of an organisation’s network and identifying the weak points is something that is probably already completed. It might also be advisable to plan for significant increases in data storage requirements, and for a redesign of data warehouse and associated security issues. Again, this is part of best practice that IT managers will probably want to do anyway. Compliance with Basel also allows organisations to standardise their networks onto single integrated IP infrastructures, using SANs to enable them to maximise network and information management.
Given these benefits, perhaps it’s no surprise the market for SAN-attached storage in 2005 is expected to exceed US$22 billion – three million terabytes of data. Total cost of ownership of a SAN is typically less than half that of a traditional direct-attached solution, and backup and recovery applications can be much easier managed in a SAN environment. Then consider the perils of downtime that Basel is designed to help financial organisations avoid. In the specialisation of financial brokerage, unplanned downtime can cost an organisation US$6.5 million per hour, not to mention damage to other important areas such as reputation and brand. Basel will offer financial organisations validity for their risk management process, a chance for in-house IT staff to improve their lot, and a reason for the IT industry to get excited about what used to be one of its least glamorous specialisations.
Published in Storage magazine, UK, August 2003.
Mention ‘storage’ to a non-IT person and you’ll inadvertently conjure up images of a garage, cobweb-ridden attic, or dusty, crate-filled museum basement. Even in business the image isn’t much better – a storeroom on the top floor, filled with little-used filing cabinets. Sadly the image of storage in IT terms hasn’t been that different until developments over recent years with the realisation that data (voice and video) is one of most valuable commodities within the business. Storage now plays a core role in protecting and managing the digital assets of an enterprise to ensure operational productivity. Storage Area Networks, ‘SANs’, in particular have helped to change the image of storage from that of the redundant cyber-filing cabinet into something more flexible, more dynamic, that can positively impact an organisation’s bottom-line. The much talked about Basel II Accord, which builds on original directives from 1998 and, whilst late in the game, brings a political stamp of approval to what many financial organisations were considering or already in the process of implementing anyway.
However, as Samuel Johnson once said, “Change does not come without inconvenience, even from worse to better”, and financial institutions falling under the scope of the Basel Accord now have a lot to think about. There is work to be done in terms of improving reporting mechanisms and public disclosure. Most of all, the introduction of operational risk as a part of the criteria on which organisations are assessed brings a host of new scenarios that not only need to be planned for, but also budgeted for.
Basel Brushes Up Legislation
The impact of the original Basel Committee on Banking Supervision was significant. In general, financial organisations were advised to put aside capital to counter two issues. Firstly, the adverse effects of changes in financial market prices, which included currencies, interest rates and liquidity amongst others. Secondly, under the umbrella of ‘credit risk’, the scenario where the value of a bank’s position is adversely affected by a change in the credit quality of a counter-party i.e. default, or by the bank being downgraded by a credit agency.
The new accord dwarfs the former one in terms of implications for day-to-day business. Senior IT staff will need to take a strategic view of risk management, aligning the business needs of the enterprise with the technologies required to enable adequate reporting, data collation, exceptions monitoring, and compliance reporting. From an IT perspective, the new regulatory environment will require a common risk methodology across the enterprise which, in turn, is based on common definitions and report formats. It includes ‘operational risk’, where a bank must literally brainstorm, anticipate, and allocate budget to contingencies against anything from a simple missed deadline that impacts revenue, to terrorism or an Act of God. The deadline for senior management to do this isn’t until 2006, but much of the IT-related work will need to be commenced before this year is out.
AXA Technology Services, for example, is already reaping the benefits of IP technology. During the summer of 2003 it began deploying Cisco SAN technology as part of a global consolidation of its ‘IT Competency Centres’. To give some sense of scale AXA has the challenge of storing information pertaining to the many insurance products and financial services it provides to over 50 million individuals and businesses around the world, totalling $65 billion in annual sales. Its business depends on the quality and security of this information, which no doubt it considered when choosing to move towards SAN.
Yet despite such complexities, this shift of information strategy has been relatively straightforward for AXA. It established a storage-over-IP infrastructure without incurring much incremental cost, because it already had an IP network in place. The beauty of IP is that in allowing voice, video and data all to run over a single network, the addition of SAN functionality was relatively uncomplicated.
As well as cost this is an important demonstration of how businesses can, in real terms, address the Basel II stipulations that information must be relayed to storage sites located beyond specified distances from organisations’ main sites. Moreover, it is noteworthy that this can be achieved without additional expense to a company’s existing IP or Fibre Channel networks. In fact, different such networks are no longer separate as Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) can easily link Fibre Channel storage area networks (SAN).
Dealing With Operational Risk
Here storage, SANs and networking in general comes into its own. Delve into the detail of the Basel II Accord and the factors that financial organisations need to consider include failure of key vendors to fulfil contracts, data entry error, model or system mis-operation, hacking, lack of integration, utility or systems outage and, of course, natural catastrophe, vandalism, or terrorism. In short, those organisations already moving from a traditional ‘points of risk’ approach to one covering extended supply chains, viewing IT security in a non-compartmentalised manner, and planning safeguards will be ahead of the game. Little wonder then that almost 40 per cent of UK banks consider enterprise-wide, data warehouse development a high priority, and 20 per cent consider implementing an integrated collateral management system similarly urgent.
One of the likely impacts of Basel II will be a massive increase in data storage. While Basel is an affirmation of what financial organisations should, and have been doing anyway, it is shifting the focus away from hardware-based resilience and simple backup solutions to end-to-end IT architectures that are resilient to data corruption or loss. The nature of this vertical sector means that SANs are ideally suited to multiple enterprise environments, especially those that have multiple locations globally, need to integrate with other organisations, and have business-critical systems, some of which being customer facing. The security and reliability of the network becomes paramount as more business critical information is held electronically.
These are some of the reasons why Euronext.Liffe, the derivatives business of Euronext, used Cisco to network its London and Paris data centres, backing up information to each other – despite being 650 kilometres apart.
SANity Check for CEOs, CFOs and CIOs Alike
Financial organisations responding to Basel or their own objectives to contingency plan may well look outside their organisation for help.
Using focus groups to identify ‘hot’ issues which cause the most headaches for IT managers, Cisco found three main areas of concern: the sheer task of managing large, disparate islands of storage from multiple physical and virtual locations; dealing with the complexity of maintaining scheduled backups for multiple systems or preparing for unscheduled system outages; and the inability to share storage resources for utility. In addition, IT managers complained of a shortage of qualified professionals to manage storage, and went on to admit confusion over the choice of storage technology alternatives. Further pressure is being brought to bear as IT budgets are continually restricted, and the IT department is put under more scrutiny than ever before.
One common concern is that as Basel II comes to fruition, the financial services sector will have less time, little money, and in some cases insufficient expertise to cope in-house. Worse still, in some cases different teams manage networks and storage, which is against the flow of networking evolution. At the same time, IT industry opinion is that direct attached storage is on the way out, and that SANs trump them anyway in terms of lowered cost of ownership, increased return on investment, and the ability to provide CRM, ERP, or even the basic e-mail function.
Spice Up Your Organisation with Basel II
Basel will not create panic in the financial services sector. It is not a reason for stomachs to churn, nor a dictatorial directive coming from ‘bureaucrats in Europe’. In most cases it will enforce banks’ existing or intended risk management strategies, but it is also an opportunity. Following a methodology to ensure compliance with Basel will be surprisingly satisfying. Assessing the current capability of an organisation’s network and identifying the weak points is something that is probably already completed. It might also be advisable to plan for significant increases in data storage requirements, and for a redesign of data warehouse and associated security issues. Again, this is part of best practice that IT managers will probably want to do anyway. Compliance with Basel also allows organisations to standardise their networks onto single integrated IP infrastructures, using SANs to enable them to maximise network and information management.
Given these benefits, perhaps it’s no surprise the market for SAN-attached storage in 2005 is expected to exceed US$22 billion – three million terabytes of data. Total cost of ownership of a SAN is typically less than half that of a traditional direct-attached solution, and backup and recovery applications can be much easier managed in a SAN environment. Then consider the perils of downtime that Basel is designed to help financial organisations avoid. In the specialisation of financial brokerage, unplanned downtime can cost an organisation US$6.5 million per hour, not to mention damage to other important areas such as reputation and brand. Basel will offer financial organisations validity for their risk management process, a chance for in-house IT staff to improve their lot, and a reason for the IT industry to get excited about what used to be one of its least glamorous specialisations.
22 July 2003
Thales e-Security Takes BACS to the Future
Case study written for Thales, UK, July 2003.
The key issue associated with making financial payments electronically is security, whether simple transactions between two parties via debit or credit card, or payment via the internet. ‘Skimming’ of consumers’ credit cards in restaurants and other retail outlets, misdirected payments via the internet, and fraud on a much grander scale are all issues that have hit the headlines this year alone. The responsibility for securing such payments, whatever the size, is a daunting task for any individual or organisation. Imagine then, undertaking to supply the security solution to the Bankers Automated Clearing System (BACS).
BACS is the organisation - owned by all the major UK clearing banks and building societies - that processes the majority of business-related electronic funds transfers in the UK. For example, every month businesses in the UK perform the payroll operations for their personnel, triggering thousands of money transfers as staff salaries are paid directly into their bank accounts. This is just part of what BACS does and by the end of the year, BACS will have processed more than 14,400,000,000 direct debit and direct credit payments on behalf of over 100,000 UK businesses.
With such an important system there is no margin for error, given that any difficulties could potentially affect all UK businesses. It is therefore great testimony to BACS that its payment delivery system, BACSTEL, has been almost 100 per cent reliable since its inception more than two decades ago. However, by early 2002, the BACS board had concluded that the BACSTEL infrastructure should be upgraded as the first stage of a comprehensive technology upgrade plan for all BACS systems. In 2002 BACS migrated BACSTEL’s infrastructure to run on internet protocol (IP), enabling BACS to offer a wider range of services to business users, as well as an improvement in existing services. These services would lead to cost savings for the UK businesses that used BACSTEL-IP, and with the flexibility of IP, would make it much quicker and easier to incorporate new payment services in the future.
However, BACSTEL-IP had to be secure, as the sheer quantity of payments and sums of money on the system made security critical. Further, the security solution had to fulfil a number of criteria in addition to simply authenticating UK businesses as they accessed the system. It had to be able to trace all the transactions made on the system if needed, and secondly for every transaction it needed to produce an audit trail. The size of the project also made it daunting – the solution had to be able to scale to a total of 500,000 users and up to 100 million payment items per day. Perhaps most complex of all, it would have to interoperate with 12 banks, operating seven different public key infrastructure (PKI) systems with five different smart card manufacturers. BACS called on Thales e-Security to help them secure the future of UK business electronic payments.
Thales e-Security’s implementation of the project was a true team effort. The Thales e-Security project team worked closely with the other vendors involved, as well as the BACS technical design and implementation teams, throughout the development cycle. This minimised the project risk, and ensured successful on-time delivery of the complete solution. BACS’ project security team had already recommended using smart cards to enable the solution. Once approved by the member banks and BACS senior management, the project was trialed with Royal Bank of Scotland for four months before being rolled out to all other member banks in the UK. Hardware and Thales software was installed around the UK by BACS approved solution suppliers.
In order to support the simultaneous connection to 12 banks required by BACSTEL-IP, Thales e-Security worked closely with BACS to develop the fourth generation of its digital signature messaging system, AssureTransaction. UK businesses wishing to organise payments via BACSTEL-IP from their office are issued the cryptographic smart card by their bank. That smart card is then used to digitally authenticate all payment instructions, tying them to the signer and ensuring that they cannot be accidentally or deliberately altered. Each bank was given the flexibility to select its own public key infrastructure (PKI) for the issuing of the digital certificates used on this card.
AssureTransaction ensures compatibility with all relevant PKI standards by verifying each transaction against the set of rules defined by the bank that issued the smart card being used to sign the transaction. It authenticates the smart card holder by generating a random number. The cardholder responds by signing the logon challenge using the smart card together with his or her secret PIN, a so-called two-factor authentication. AssureTransaction then cryptographically confirms the identity against the cardholder’s public key certificate, and validates this in real time with the issuing bank. Similarly, all payment requests and other transactions submitted to BACS are digitally signed by the user with his smart card and PIN, and verified in real time. AssureTransaction also digitally signs the reports sent by BACS to users, so that the user knows he or she can rely on the contents of the report.
Since all digital certificates used are verified in real time against the issuing bank, lost or stolen cards cannot be used to sign transactions, and changes in employee status are reflected in the system as soon as the bank is made aware of them. This substantially reduces the risk of fraud compared to the old system. Varying levels of security access are supported for different personnel working in the banks or businesses using the system.
After the system had been rolled out, BACS surveyed its member banks for their opinion on the new technology and its impact on their business. The results were very promising. Over 75 per cent of users expressed the intention to migrate to the new solution as soon as it was available to them. In the same survey, users rated the enhanced security of the new system the number one benefit to their business. Users particularly valued the ability to tightly define payment permissions for individuals in the business, allowing delegation of signing responsibility to specific cardholders within subsidiaries or departments whilst retaining full control at a corporate level. All in all, the feedback was so positive that BACS now intends to work again with Thales e-Security to develop and implement further service enhancements in the future.
The key issue associated with making financial payments electronically is security, whether simple transactions between two parties via debit or credit card, or payment via the internet. ‘Skimming’ of consumers’ credit cards in restaurants and other retail outlets, misdirected payments via the internet, and fraud on a much grander scale are all issues that have hit the headlines this year alone. The responsibility for securing such payments, whatever the size, is a daunting task for any individual or organisation. Imagine then, undertaking to supply the security solution to the Bankers Automated Clearing System (BACS).
BACS is the organisation - owned by all the major UK clearing banks and building societies - that processes the majority of business-related electronic funds transfers in the UK. For example, every month businesses in the UK perform the payroll operations for their personnel, triggering thousands of money transfers as staff salaries are paid directly into their bank accounts. This is just part of what BACS does and by the end of the year, BACS will have processed more than 14,400,000,000 direct debit and direct credit payments on behalf of over 100,000 UK businesses.
With such an important system there is no margin for error, given that any difficulties could potentially affect all UK businesses. It is therefore great testimony to BACS that its payment delivery system, BACSTEL, has been almost 100 per cent reliable since its inception more than two decades ago. However, by early 2002, the BACS board had concluded that the BACSTEL infrastructure should be upgraded as the first stage of a comprehensive technology upgrade plan for all BACS systems. In 2002 BACS migrated BACSTEL’s infrastructure to run on internet protocol (IP), enabling BACS to offer a wider range of services to business users, as well as an improvement in existing services. These services would lead to cost savings for the UK businesses that used BACSTEL-IP, and with the flexibility of IP, would make it much quicker and easier to incorporate new payment services in the future.
However, BACSTEL-IP had to be secure, as the sheer quantity of payments and sums of money on the system made security critical. Further, the security solution had to fulfil a number of criteria in addition to simply authenticating UK businesses as they accessed the system. It had to be able to trace all the transactions made on the system if needed, and secondly for every transaction it needed to produce an audit trail. The size of the project also made it daunting – the solution had to be able to scale to a total of 500,000 users and up to 100 million payment items per day. Perhaps most complex of all, it would have to interoperate with 12 banks, operating seven different public key infrastructure (PKI) systems with five different smart card manufacturers. BACS called on Thales e-Security to help them secure the future of UK business electronic payments.
Thales e-Security’s implementation of the project was a true team effort. The Thales e-Security project team worked closely with the other vendors involved, as well as the BACS technical design and implementation teams, throughout the development cycle. This minimised the project risk, and ensured successful on-time delivery of the complete solution. BACS’ project security team had already recommended using smart cards to enable the solution. Once approved by the member banks and BACS senior management, the project was trialed with Royal Bank of Scotland for four months before being rolled out to all other member banks in the UK. Hardware and Thales software was installed around the UK by BACS approved solution suppliers.
In order to support the simultaneous connection to 12 banks required by BACSTEL-IP, Thales e-Security worked closely with BACS to develop the fourth generation of its digital signature messaging system, AssureTransaction. UK businesses wishing to organise payments via BACSTEL-IP from their office are issued the cryptographic smart card by their bank. That smart card is then used to digitally authenticate all payment instructions, tying them to the signer and ensuring that they cannot be accidentally or deliberately altered. Each bank was given the flexibility to select its own public key infrastructure (PKI) for the issuing of the digital certificates used on this card.
AssureTransaction ensures compatibility with all relevant PKI standards by verifying each transaction against the set of rules defined by the bank that issued the smart card being used to sign the transaction. It authenticates the smart card holder by generating a random number. The cardholder responds by signing the logon challenge using the smart card together with his or her secret PIN, a so-called two-factor authentication. AssureTransaction then cryptographically confirms the identity against the cardholder’s public key certificate, and validates this in real time with the issuing bank. Similarly, all payment requests and other transactions submitted to BACS are digitally signed by the user with his smart card and PIN, and verified in real time. AssureTransaction also digitally signs the reports sent by BACS to users, so that the user knows he or she can rely on the contents of the report.
Since all digital certificates used are verified in real time against the issuing bank, lost or stolen cards cannot be used to sign transactions, and changes in employee status are reflected in the system as soon as the bank is made aware of them. This substantially reduces the risk of fraud compared to the old system. Varying levels of security access are supported for different personnel working in the banks or businesses using the system.
After the system had been rolled out, BACS surveyed its member banks for their opinion on the new technology and its impact on their business. The results were very promising. Over 75 per cent of users expressed the intention to migrate to the new solution as soon as it was available to them. In the same survey, users rated the enhanced security of the new system the number one benefit to their business. Users particularly valued the ability to tightly define payment permissions for individuals in the business, allowing delegation of signing responsibility to specific cardholders within subsidiaries or departments whilst retaining full control at a corporate level. All in all, the feedback was so positive that BACS now intends to work again with Thales e-Security to develop and implement further service enhancements in the future.
Salmon Helps PRI Swim Upstream
PR case study written for Salmon, July 2003.
The founders of PRI, one of the latest start-up companies to enter the UK and European insurance market, needed to achieve the impossible. Not only did they need to secure £130 million in funding from investors before a tangible company even existed, they also planned to use a new insurance underwriting application that was more advanced than any other available in the market, and would shake up the way that underwriting business was conducted.
This underwriting application would allow PRI to gain a significant competitive advantage, and also underpin the business model PRI wrote to engender a favourable impression from two key audiences. The first audience would be the potential investors in the company, and the second the Financial Services Authority (FSA), who had the power to offer or decline PRI’s accreditation and thus would decide whether or not PRI could legally trade once it was up-and-running. Within one year of trading PRI was so successful that it was snapped up by Brit, one of the UK’s largest insurance organisations, giving all PRI shareholders a healthy profit and demonstrating that such a complex application could be written from scratch, installed, and used to deliver return on investment within eight months.
In Spring 2002, founders Andreas Loucaides (now CEO) and Peter Matson (now Chief Underwriting Director) developed a radical new business case for a new insurance company. They intended to outsource absolutely everything possible, leaving only the specialised skill sets of professional underwriters untouched. While on paper this was recognised as being the ideal model, it relied upon back office operation, which was an integral part of the infrastructure that contributed to the stability and credibility of the company. This would be critical when Loucaides et al presented to the various financial institutions to secure investment, and later had to apply to the FSA for accreditation. It also had an impact on which organisation PRI would choose to outsource to, because its reputation and brand values would be considered crucial factors in determining PRI’s likelihood of success.
The outsourcing brief was won by the Ins-sure Services operating company, part of Xchanging, a business process outsourcing (BPO) organisation. Ins-sure accepted that everything including PRI’s office premises, furniture, fittings, and IT infrastructure would be outsourced to them. In turn, Xchanging put out to competitive tender the building of the underwriting application that was to be a crucial element in the overall integrated insurance system that Xchanging was offering to PRI. With its proven track record of delivering complex projects on time and to budget, Xchanging chose Salmon, a systems integration organisation, to build the underwriting application. Louciades explains, “By this time the investors also had a say in which organisation was chosen. They agreed that Salmon would be the right company to go with in addition to being more cost-effective than a previous company we had approached, but which was unable to deliver the required guarantees for service. The pressure was on, because PRI still had to be operational and trading no later than 1st September 2002, so we chose to use a temporary solution until January 2003 to allow Salmon enough time to deliver exactly what we needed. From the outset Salmon was very honest and transparent about delivering on time and to budget, which was important for us.”
Salmon’s work was to be the cornerstone to Xchanging’s outsourcing deal with PRI. Every insurance company has to have an insurance underwriting operational system that is relevant to all markets the company operates in, and compatible with the other applications. “It was critical that the application Salmon designed would enable us to deliver services to the standard we intended, given our revenue projections in the business case,” explains Louciades. “For example, without Salmon, debit notes and broker notes would have to be produced in another way, which adds time and administration into the underwriters’ day-to-day processes. The underwriting application would have an impact on every part of our business. This is why our investors had also expressed concerns that in the past, other insurance companies had underestimated the importance of this part of the business to the extent that it developed into a serious weakness over time.”
Within just nine months, Salmon delivered the underwriting application on time and to budget. Among the most significant hurdles that Salmon had to overcome was defining the application brief. Simon Ball, Salmon’s commercial director, explains: “Louciades is a visionary who intended PRI’s way of working to have beneficial long-term impact on underwriting in the UK. However, because the underwriting status quo hadn’t been challenged in years, PRI was more able to describe the shortcomings of the current system than the ideal new system. As a result, the application brief was defined over a longer period and almost by a process of elimination, during which we realised the work we were doing was going to be perceived as controversial by the insurance industry. Underwriters would be held more accountable for the work they did, and our application would record all the complex detail of every underwriting contract, to prevent issues caused by claims made by PRI’s clients in the future.”
This was also to be part of the challenge for Louciades. “The brief we gave Salmon meant they would come up with an application unlike any other,” he says. “Furthermore, it required slightly more of the individual underwriter’s time to use it, because it encouraged the recording of as much data as possible. We wanted to be able to maintain business continuity over decades regardless of which underwriters dealt with a particular contract in the future. Additionally we could see that the FSA and issues such as corporate social responsibility were going to play a role in shaping the insurance industry sooner rather than later. That said, user buy-in of the application was essential because the data inputted would later be cross-referenced alone and with other business applications. This would end up as part of the overall information management that would help deliver PRI’s competitive advantage. The fact that all information was stored in soft copy was also going to save PRI thousands of pounds in physical storage space. The application just had to work, or the business case put to both the investors and the FSA would unravel.”
Salmon had to bear all this in mind while writing the application that broke the mould for underwriting systems. However, Salmon’s multi-sector experience gave it an objective stance that perfectly complemented PRI’s visionary aims. A prime example of this was Salmon’s ability to deliver a web-based architecture as opposed to the standard client server based applications that are prevalent throughout the insurance sector. While some insurance firms might have a GUI front end, Salmon was able to deliver an advanced Java based architecture which few SIs in the insurance sector have experience of implementing.
It was paramount that Salmon delivered on all its promises at the soonest opportunity. This included breaking insurance sector history by devising a way to link the application directly to PRI’s document repository i.e. document management system, delivered by Xchanging. This was part of the automation Salmon built into the business processes required by the application, to compensate for the fact that underwriters charged by time and could afford to spend fewer hours with smaller underwriting projects. At the same time it would make PRI as a business more accurate, more accountable and more dynamic by enabling appropriate levels of information recording and sharing.
Weekly liaison between Salmon, Xchanging and PRI enabled a better understanding of the needs of the business, and the delivery of a complex yet user-friendly application. Underwriters populated the system the first time they logged on with a unique user ID and password, ensuring that initial access of the system was staggered, thereby avoiding any potential bottlenecks in data retrieval. They have freedom to customise the style and format of their individual GUI, but are governed by rules set in the system that dictate which information each individual has access to. Each underwriter is allocated an ‘identifier’ that associates them with a particular client company or companies, enabling free navigation of all necessary information for that company but simultaneously prohibiting access into other client company information. The system also automatically enforces varying levels of security access, so that authority for particular actions or documents is escalated to the appropriate level of management hierarchy. Similarly, each underwriter can customise document production and automated quotations, but only within parameters set at company level to ensure all necessary rules and regulations are adhered to. The system either displays an appropriate error message, or automatically logs out any user attempting to exceed their authority.
Individual underwriting documents are developed from a PDF or Microsoft Word template that automatically specifies field content and business actions the underwriter needs to complete. Paragraphs of copy are saved in a central repository that can be accessed by underwriters from different parts of the business, preventing unnecessary duplication of information that, if left unchecked, would use a disproportionately large quantity of storage space. The copy is stored in rich-text format to make it as flexible as possible and, because it is held centrally, can be updated in line with changes in legislation that affect the UK insurance market.
Perhaps the part of the application delivered by Salmon that had the most impact is the quotation rules engine. This helps underwriters develop project quotations almost automatically, by inviting as many details as possible to be inputted by the underwriter, before applying XML-based rules to any given situation to form the quotation.
The application’s computer architecture is based on J2EE standards for web applications written in Java, and both the data and application run on Sun Solaris central application servers using Oracle web server software. The modular application framework means that PRI can have system components added or removed without the need for reworking, and new software can be deployed easily. Again, this ensures rapid reaction to new legislation. In all, Salmon delivered a revolutionary application within nine months from a standing start.
The founders of PRI, one of the latest start-up companies to enter the UK and European insurance market, needed to achieve the impossible. Not only did they need to secure £130 million in funding from investors before a tangible company even existed, they also planned to use a new insurance underwriting application that was more advanced than any other available in the market, and would shake up the way that underwriting business was conducted.
This underwriting application would allow PRI to gain a significant competitive advantage, and also underpin the business model PRI wrote to engender a favourable impression from two key audiences. The first audience would be the potential investors in the company, and the second the Financial Services Authority (FSA), who had the power to offer or decline PRI’s accreditation and thus would decide whether or not PRI could legally trade once it was up-and-running. Within one year of trading PRI was so successful that it was snapped up by Brit, one of the UK’s largest insurance organisations, giving all PRI shareholders a healthy profit and demonstrating that such a complex application could be written from scratch, installed, and used to deliver return on investment within eight months.
In Spring 2002, founders Andreas Loucaides (now CEO) and Peter Matson (now Chief Underwriting Director) developed a radical new business case for a new insurance company. They intended to outsource absolutely everything possible, leaving only the specialised skill sets of professional underwriters untouched. While on paper this was recognised as being the ideal model, it relied upon back office operation, which was an integral part of the infrastructure that contributed to the stability and credibility of the company. This would be critical when Loucaides et al presented to the various financial institutions to secure investment, and later had to apply to the FSA for accreditation. It also had an impact on which organisation PRI would choose to outsource to, because its reputation and brand values would be considered crucial factors in determining PRI’s likelihood of success.
The outsourcing brief was won by the Ins-sure Services operating company, part of Xchanging, a business process outsourcing (BPO) organisation. Ins-sure accepted that everything including PRI’s office premises, furniture, fittings, and IT infrastructure would be outsourced to them. In turn, Xchanging put out to competitive tender the building of the underwriting application that was to be a crucial element in the overall integrated insurance system that Xchanging was offering to PRI. With its proven track record of delivering complex projects on time and to budget, Xchanging chose Salmon, a systems integration organisation, to build the underwriting application. Louciades explains, “By this time the investors also had a say in which organisation was chosen. They agreed that Salmon would be the right company to go with in addition to being more cost-effective than a previous company we had approached, but which was unable to deliver the required guarantees for service. The pressure was on, because PRI still had to be operational and trading no later than 1st September 2002, so we chose to use a temporary solution until January 2003 to allow Salmon enough time to deliver exactly what we needed. From the outset Salmon was very honest and transparent about delivering on time and to budget, which was important for us.”
Salmon’s work was to be the cornerstone to Xchanging’s outsourcing deal with PRI. Every insurance company has to have an insurance underwriting operational system that is relevant to all markets the company operates in, and compatible with the other applications. “It was critical that the application Salmon designed would enable us to deliver services to the standard we intended, given our revenue projections in the business case,” explains Louciades. “For example, without Salmon, debit notes and broker notes would have to be produced in another way, which adds time and administration into the underwriters’ day-to-day processes. The underwriting application would have an impact on every part of our business. This is why our investors had also expressed concerns that in the past, other insurance companies had underestimated the importance of this part of the business to the extent that it developed into a serious weakness over time.”
Within just nine months, Salmon delivered the underwriting application on time and to budget. Among the most significant hurdles that Salmon had to overcome was defining the application brief. Simon Ball, Salmon’s commercial director, explains: “Louciades is a visionary who intended PRI’s way of working to have beneficial long-term impact on underwriting in the UK. However, because the underwriting status quo hadn’t been challenged in years, PRI was more able to describe the shortcomings of the current system than the ideal new system. As a result, the application brief was defined over a longer period and almost by a process of elimination, during which we realised the work we were doing was going to be perceived as controversial by the insurance industry. Underwriters would be held more accountable for the work they did, and our application would record all the complex detail of every underwriting contract, to prevent issues caused by claims made by PRI’s clients in the future.”
This was also to be part of the challenge for Louciades. “The brief we gave Salmon meant they would come up with an application unlike any other,” he says. “Furthermore, it required slightly more of the individual underwriter’s time to use it, because it encouraged the recording of as much data as possible. We wanted to be able to maintain business continuity over decades regardless of which underwriters dealt with a particular contract in the future. Additionally we could see that the FSA and issues such as corporate social responsibility were going to play a role in shaping the insurance industry sooner rather than later. That said, user buy-in of the application was essential because the data inputted would later be cross-referenced alone and with other business applications. This would end up as part of the overall information management that would help deliver PRI’s competitive advantage. The fact that all information was stored in soft copy was also going to save PRI thousands of pounds in physical storage space. The application just had to work, or the business case put to both the investors and the FSA would unravel.”
Salmon had to bear all this in mind while writing the application that broke the mould for underwriting systems. However, Salmon’s multi-sector experience gave it an objective stance that perfectly complemented PRI’s visionary aims. A prime example of this was Salmon’s ability to deliver a web-based architecture as opposed to the standard client server based applications that are prevalent throughout the insurance sector. While some insurance firms might have a GUI front end, Salmon was able to deliver an advanced Java based architecture which few SIs in the insurance sector have experience of implementing.
It was paramount that Salmon delivered on all its promises at the soonest opportunity. This included breaking insurance sector history by devising a way to link the application directly to PRI’s document repository i.e. document management system, delivered by Xchanging. This was part of the automation Salmon built into the business processes required by the application, to compensate for the fact that underwriters charged by time and could afford to spend fewer hours with smaller underwriting projects. At the same time it would make PRI as a business more accurate, more accountable and more dynamic by enabling appropriate levels of information recording and sharing.
Weekly liaison between Salmon, Xchanging and PRI enabled a better understanding of the needs of the business, and the delivery of a complex yet user-friendly application. Underwriters populated the system the first time they logged on with a unique user ID and password, ensuring that initial access of the system was staggered, thereby avoiding any potential bottlenecks in data retrieval. They have freedom to customise the style and format of their individual GUI, but are governed by rules set in the system that dictate which information each individual has access to. Each underwriter is allocated an ‘identifier’ that associates them with a particular client company or companies, enabling free navigation of all necessary information for that company but simultaneously prohibiting access into other client company information. The system also automatically enforces varying levels of security access, so that authority for particular actions or documents is escalated to the appropriate level of management hierarchy. Similarly, each underwriter can customise document production and automated quotations, but only within parameters set at company level to ensure all necessary rules and regulations are adhered to. The system either displays an appropriate error message, or automatically logs out any user attempting to exceed their authority.
Individual underwriting documents are developed from a PDF or Microsoft Word template that automatically specifies field content and business actions the underwriter needs to complete. Paragraphs of copy are saved in a central repository that can be accessed by underwriters from different parts of the business, preventing unnecessary duplication of information that, if left unchecked, would use a disproportionately large quantity of storage space. The copy is stored in rich-text format to make it as flexible as possible and, because it is held centrally, can be updated in line with changes in legislation that affect the UK insurance market.
Perhaps the part of the application delivered by Salmon that had the most impact is the quotation rules engine. This helps underwriters develop project quotations almost automatically, by inviting as many details as possible to be inputted by the underwriter, before applying XML-based rules to any given situation to form the quotation.
The application’s computer architecture is based on J2EE standards for web applications written in Java, and both the data and application run on Sun Solaris central application servers using Oracle web server software. The modular application framework means that PRI can have system components added or removed without the need for reworking, and new software can be deployed easily. Again, this ensures rapid reaction to new legislation. In all, Salmon delivered a revolutionary application within nine months from a standing start.
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About Me
- Glyn
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- PR, internal communications and branding pro currently freelancing as a consultant, writer, DJ, and whatever else comes my way.
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