Paul Wallbank – Brilliant Communications

Author: Paul Wallbank

  • Unprotected computing practices

    Unprotected computing practices

    A US study finding malware is rampant on medical equipment shouldn’t come as a surprise to those running industrial computer systems in their businesses.

    It’s notoriously difficult to update medical equipment or other sensitive systems as a security patch could have unintended consequences. Unlike a home or business computer, these patches have to be thoroughly tested beyond the precautions vendors take.

    So it isn’t surprising that these systems aren’t kept up to date although some equipment suppliers are more tardy than they should be in updating the servers they supply.

    A few years ago I came across CCTV systems running on the original version of Windows 2000 which were hopelessly compromised. This is an unacceptable situation for the customer and was more the result of vendor carelessness than any concern that customers could be affected by these unsecured machines.

    Not having the latest software patches creates a weakness in any computer device as most common way viruses find their way onto networks is through systems not being updated – Australia’s Defense Signals Directorate rates unpatched systems as being the number one cause of corporate security breaches.

    This is what caught out the Iranian nuclear program with the Stuxnet worm as the Siemens SCADA devices used by the Iranians were running older, unpatched versions of Windows. The designers of Stuxnet took advantage of a number of known weaknesses in the software and were able to damage the equipment being controlled by the systems.

    Obviously systems should be patched wherever they can be and there’s no excuse for not patching most office and home computers. It’s also worthwhile carrying out a number of other security steps to ensure an infected computer can’t damage your network or catch a virus through your Internet connection.

    The survey looking at these medical systems is a good wake up call to all of us that we need to take computer security seriously in our businesses.

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  • Ominious days for the omni-channel

    Ominious days for the omni-channel

    At the beginning of the year we heard much about Omni Channel strategies as it dawned on retailers like Harvey Norman, David Jones and Myer that this Internet thingummy they’d heard about wasn’t going away.

    When asked at the time what a ‘omni channel’ strategy was, Gerry Harvey admitted he’d had no idea what it was a week before it was announced while Myer CEO Bernie Brooks said late last years it was something about having electronic kiosks and free delivery.

    So it was interesting to hear the CEO of US cloud computing service Netsuite, Zack Nelson, talk about his company’s ‘omni channel strategy’ this week at a lunch in Sydney.

    On being asked what exactly Netsuite’s omni channel strategy was Zack let the cat out of the bag about the holy grail of the omni channel.

    “There are so many channels, there are no channels,” said Zack. “Omni-channel was the only word we could find.”

    So we can safely put the omni-channel myth to rest – the idea businesses can focus on one, two or three channels such as bricks and mortar, the web, iPhone apps or tablet computers was always flawed and risked locking companies into one or two technology platforms at a time when things are changing quickly and in unexpected ways.

    Netsuite’s response is to adopt ‘responsive design’ principles where sites adapt to the device being used rather than spend lots of money building apps for devices that might be redundant in the near future.

    This is true of business in general – we often forget the core role of our businesses, like the retailer’s mission is to get goods into the hands of eager consumers and TV stations or newspapers are ways of delivering advertising. Instead we fixate on the type of delivery vans we use, the background colour of our websites or which apps we are going to develop.

    For retailers there’s a far more fundamental problem which Micheal Hills of CoCo Republic described at the same lunch, “people boast about buying designer labels online at discount prices but still want to go to bricks and mortar stores.”

    That paradox is the sort of problem many businesses have to deal with which aren’t going to fixed by trendy buzzwords.

    In Netsuite’s defense their use of the word ‘omni-channel’ is about offering multiple currencies and languages in the one package rather than selling to customers on different platforms. They aren’t using it as a cover for failing to notice their markets have changed in the last decade.

    The main change in the market place is the good old fashion imperative of getting back to the basics of service and delivering value for money. The days of making money from finance packages or vendor rebates instead of looking after the customer are over.
    Some managers are yet to understand this and their companies won’t have the luxury of indulging in buzzwords over the next decade.

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  • ABC Nightlife: Apps down the farm

    ABC Nightlife: Apps down the farm

    If you missed this program where we covered a wide range of subjects, you can listen to the ABC Nightlife podcast of the show.

    Paul Wallbank joins Tony Delroy to discuss how technology affects your business and life.

    This week we’re talking about how the agricultural industry are using smartphone apps and the web. A list of apps for farmers is available from the NSW Department of Primary Industry website.

    We’ll also be looking at how machines are talking – in agriculture, the next generation of farm equipment will be sending data straight to the farmers’ tablet or laptop computer using the technologies we’re seeing in jet engines and other high tech equipment.

    Connecting everything does come with risks. A US report found that networked medical equipment is rife with malware and the Defense Signals Directorate points out that out-of-date computer systems are one of the main causes of data breaches.

    One of the things driving the apps world is cloud computing and Google have given a rare glimpse into the data centres that run their services.

    Social media is one of the things that are driving cloud computing, but there’s traps for businesses in posting information about customers and staff. We’ll be looking at those as well.

    We’d love to hear your views and comments so join the conversation with your on-air questions, ideas or comments; phone in on the night on 1300 800 222 within Australia or +61 2 8333 1000 from outside Australia.

    Tune in on your local ABC radio station or listen online at www.abc.net.au/nightlife.

    You can SMS Nightlife’s talkback on 19922702, or through twitter to @paulwallbank using the #abcnightlife hashtag or visit the Nightlife Facebook page.

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  • Big Data, Bad Data

    Big Data, Bad Data

    “What about bad data?” an audience member asked me at a recent presentation where we looked at how social media and big data were changing business.

    His question came from an experience where he had sacked a staff member who now refuses to change their status as being employed by his company.

    The former employee wants to keep up appearances that they are still being employed and this causes reputation problems for their old employer.

    All of this makes that LinkedIn information on the employee and the business junk data. Rather than being useful, it’s misleading noise and that is a risk to LinkedIn’s business.

    This ties into Facebook’s problem with groups, if people can be added without their consent then the risk of mischief making and false information increases. In turn, this makes Facebook’s targeted advertising less effective.

    Similarly, Google’s aim to become an “identity service” becomes less feasible when the information they’ve gathered isn’t accurate – again something that is increases with their opaque policies and poor support.

    In Terry Gilliam’s movie Brazil, a man is arrested and dies under interrogation because of a fly getting stuck in a typewriter. We’re in the age of a billion flies being stuck in typewriters.

    LinkedIn, Facebook and all the other social media and “identity” services need to build in systems where those mistakes can be managed and the consequences limited. If they can’t do this then their value and relevance will be limited.

    Big Data shouldn’t mean bad data, and we all need to be confident that the data about us and the data we use in our lives is reasonably accurate.

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  • Free content’s shaky foundations

    Free content’s shaky foundations

    Musician’s rights advocate David Lowrie has a takedown on his Trichordist of Pandora’s campaign to change the US music royalty payment system through the Internet Radio Fairness Act.

    Pandora and other online streaming services claim the current arrangement is unfair and puts them at a disadvantage to terrestrial AM and FM radio stations. Artists and record labels claim this is just a way to cut rights payments.

    David suggests that Pandora’s founders either lied about the sustainability of their business at the time of their IPO last year or are just being plain greedy.

    Regardless of what is true, or whether David is overstating the case against the IRFA, a truth remains that many Internet business models are unsustainable and Pandora’s may be one of them.

    Most unsustainable of all are those who rely on free content.

    Eventually the market works to filter out those who won’t pay for content – the good writers and artists move onto something more profitable, like driving buses or serving hamburgers, or they figure out they may as well control their own works rather than let some Internet company profit from their talents and labor.

    The website or service offering nothing in return for the contributor’s hard work eventually ends up distributing garbage – Demand Media or Ask are examples of this.

    In a marketplace where crap is everywhere, just pumping out more crap is not a way to make money.

    Those looking at investing in businesses which rely on free content need to remember this, if no-one values the product then you have no business.

    Sadly too many internet entrepreneurs, and corporate managers, believe the road to their wealth is through not paying artists, musicians or writers. They are the modern robber barons.

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