Federal government boosts digital strategy with mobile apps, security programs

By Chantal Tode

May 29, 2013

The White House is talking up a series of recent mobile initiatives designed to more efficiently and effectively connect Americans with government, including mobile security guidelines and a mobile application development program.

These developments reflect the growing role that mobile is playing in people?s lives and the government?s strategy to deliver information anywhere, anytime and on any device. The news was revealed by the White House on the year anniversary of the release of its Digital Government Strategy and is meant to build on that strategy.

A blog post introducing the mobile initiatives addressed how open government data that is publicly accessible in easy-to-use formats can fuel innovation and economic growth.

App development
One way that the government is embracing mobile is through the release of hundreds of APIs that can be used by private-sector developers to create new applications and services.

These APIs encompass government datasets such as home and business energy trends, real-time earthquake notifications around the world and the current weather on Mars transmitted from the Curiosity Rover.

 

To facilitate the creation of new apps, each government agency has released its own developer pages and Data.gov launched a government-wide API directory so these resources are easier to find and use.

These moves were further supported by President Obama?s recently executive order and open data policy making open and machine-readable the new default for government data.

The federal government also created the Mobile Application Development Program to help agencies launch mobile apps.

Mobile analytics
The government is also focused on optimizing federal Web sites for mobile devices and creating its own mobile apps to ensure government services are available to citizens on any device.

For example, the new USAJobs app from the Office of Personnel Management makes it easier for job seekers to search and apply for jobs with their mobile devices, and the SaferBus app from the Department of Transportation allows users to access a bus company?s safety performance record and file a complaint from their mobile devices.

 

In order to have insight into what information the public is looking for, where they are looking for it and if they are able to find it, the government has implemented a digital analytics program.

Centralizing the management of mobile devices used by government employees and strengthen the security of government?s mobile platforms is the focus of another series of developments, including the creation of a government-wide mobile and wireless contract program that acts as a ?family plan? for the federal government and which is expected to save taxpayers $300 million over the next five years.

A new Managed Mobility Program was also created at GSA.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York

Associate Editor Chantal Tode covers advertising, messaging, legal/privacy and database/CRM. Reach her at chantal@mobilemarketer.com.

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M&A strategy in a rebound economy

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Many companies with stockpiles of cash are eyeing potential acquisition targets. Should they look for stand-alone companies that may improve top-line revenue growth and market share? Or should they continue to grow their bottom line by focusing on targets that can be integrated into the business?

Over the past few years, many companies methodically improved their bottom line by trimming operating costs, increasing profit margins and building up a war chest. Now as the economic tempo accelerates, investors and analysts want to see that cash put to good use. Should you spend it by acquiring stand-alone companies that will help you quickly grow top-line revenue and market share? Or should you look for companies that can be integrated into your business, eliminating redundancies and further strengthening the bottom line? 

Here’s the debate:

Focus on top-line growth.
Market share is king in today’s market place. Now is the time to buy-up competitors and grab their share of the customer’s wallet before someone else does. It’s also a fast way to add capacity to keep current customers happy. You can worry about growing profits at a later stage.Keep both eyes on the bottom line.
Profit rules – regardless of the marketplace. Look for targets that can be quickly assimilated into your organization to reduce costs and improve profits. Winners stay lean and efficient -- through good times and bad.Market share powers the supply chain.
A global scramble is on for raw materials, parts and semi-finished products. Prolific economies-of-scale mean bigger orders – moving you to the front of the supplier’s line.Planning powers the supply chain.
Who needs the luxury of being able to place last-minute orders? Smart business planning provides enough lead time to shop multiple suppliers and negotiate longer-term contracts at a better price.People want to work for the big dog.
The allure of a fast-growing company attracts top talent. They want to work for companies that provide opportunities to pursue different careers within the same company. It’s an unbeatable talent retention strategy.People want an employer they can depend on.
A more profitable and efficient company offers better long-term rewards and a stable work environment. Who wants to risk being laid off – again?Time to think big.
Size gives you the freedom to think big and be innovative. That’s what gets investors’ attention. Small players don’t make sound global partners.Time to grow up.
Investors have learned their lesson watching high-flying companies crash and burn. A better strategy is to be clear about who you are and what you do – and execute better than anyone else.

Asish Ramchandran
Principal, M&A Consultative Services, Deloitte Consulting LLP

It’s a good time for many companies to pursue top-line growth – as long as they know what they’re getting into.

This year, companies that judiciously cleaned up their bottom lines and stockpiled cash during the financial crisis are eagerly eyeing less diligent companies that appear undervalued. Some acquirers see an opportunity to expand their territory while satisfying investor and analyst expectations. Others hope to quickly ramp-up operations to fulfill their customers’ pent-up demands and keep competitors at bay.

As a result, we’re seeing more companies interested in pursuing inorganic strategies focused on top-line growth. It’s a strategy that can work well – with the right due diligence. Companies that are currently struggling may have acquired targets that did not fit their overall business strategy. As a result, the acquired companies did not strengthen the parent’s core business or improve its overall market share. Meanwhile, the combined company’s operating costs increased, profits declined and analysts are questioning the long-term vision for the franchise. Smart acquirers must be careful not to repeat their mistakes.

When pursuing any M&A deal, it’s important to understand your core focus and look for targets that will complement your global business strategy. A deal that looks like a good value can still be a poor investment if it doesn’t fit the company’s strategic vision. In addition to the typical financial and IT due diligence, also scrutinize the target’s operations and market presence. In-depth due diligence may increase your upfront effort by a week or two, but can provide the information you need to make an effective go-or-no-go decision.

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As used in this document, “Deloitte” means Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

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When crafting corporate strategy, should social business be bolted on or baked in?

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Many companies recognize that social business offers new tools and rules for competing in the marketplace. But should social strategy be integrated into the overall corporate strategy? Or should it stand alone?

Social media has amplified customer and employee voices to levels that companies can ill afford to ignore. Today, leading companies are not just listening, but responding – fast. So what’s next? Incremental improvements may not be enough to sustain your market leadership – it may be necessary to embrace the fundamental shift brought about by social business to "change the game" in your industry.

To this end, some enterprises are positioning social business as a stand-alone discipline that informs their corporate strategy. Others see social business as possessing the power to transform business and disrupt industries – and they are diffusing social business throughout their overall strategy. Which approach should you take to put this trend to work for your organization?

Here’s the debate:

Bolt it on.
Social business can more effectively serve the enterprise as a stand-alone discipline, employing sophisticated tools and dedicated resources. Until it is a more mature discipline, social business deserves a page in the corporate strategy book, but shouldn’t replace it.Bake it in.
Social business possesses transformational powers that could disrupt entire industries. Considering people, process, technology - and their convergence – from the start can allow strategists to plan smarter.Leadership’s not convinced.
Executive management is not willing to bet the farm on social – and who can blame them? A smarter approach tests social initiatives in isolated areas and builds from there. If the value is there, you can eventually build a business case that can get leadership’s attention.How much proof do they need?
In many organizations, sales and marketing are already believers in the power of social initiatives, with human resources, recruiting and product development following close behind. But these strategies in isolation are not as powerful as they are together and not likely to generate the potential synergies of a broad strategy.Social business supports small steps.
Sure, social business can improve collaboration and productivity. These incremental improvements are worthwhile pursuits, but they are not going to revolutionize our business.Social business supports big leaps.
Social conversations can trigger expansive, new ways to think about your business and enable innovation. There can be value in serendipity. Breakthrough ideas often come from unexpected places.Why take on a transformation project when a social networking page will do?
It's the domain of marketing and public relations today and they have it handled with our social networking pages and social media accounts.That’s postponing the inevitable.
Even on a small scale, you’ll need people to manage systems and interactions – not to mention security and integration issues that are likely to occur. Plan to disrupt or risk being disrupted.My take

Chris Heuer, Specialist Leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP

Can social business deliver more potential value when it’s baked into a company's strategy, or when it stands alone? The answer varies from industry to industry, but if you want to increase the chance to win, bake it in and enjoy the sweetness of a warm chocolate chip cookie. Consider changing your thinking and then changing your strategy, to meet the changing dynamics of the market. Make big bets – but make them smart bets – to out-compete others in your marketplace.

For example, the risks and rewards for consumer-facing companies are often clear, so their social initiatives tend to be more far reaching than those of business-to-business companies. And, regardless of industry, collaborative cultures are more likely to create greater value, improve performance and enable you to retain talent.

You can start from where ever you are. If your organization has leadership support and a track record of effective bottom-up social initiatives, think big. How could your core processes and capabilities be reinvented to create more value, more quickly, in a society that’s interconnected by expanding social networks?

But if your organization is not ready to incorporate social business strategy across the enterprise, start small. Focus on building a solid business case based on results that are measurable and attributable. Stand-alone initiatives – with the big picture in mind – can be used to introduce a social mindset to leaders and employees that supports enterprise-wide collaboration and idea sharing, paving the way for more broad social strategies.

Sometimes it’s important to do something first, but often it’s more important to do it well. Companies that do social business well – building corporate strategies that align the passions of their people with the needs of their customers – hold the potential to not only capture their market, but to create passionate, loyal customers AND engaged employees.

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As used in this document, “Deloitte” means Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

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Telecom Italia chairman says focus is on strategy

By Paola Arosio and Giancarlo Navach

CERNOBBIO, Italy | Fri Sep 6, 2013 9:04am EDT

CERNOBBIO, Italy (Reuters) - Telecom Italia needs to set out a new strategy before deciding on a possible new partner, Chairman Franco Bernabe said on Friday.

Bernabe said Italy's biggest fixed-line telecoms group, which is the subject of takeover speculation, was not in immediate need of a new investor and ruled out a purely financial partner.

Several sources have told Reuters that both the Telecom Italia's management and the Italian core shareholders are considering alternatives to its current ownership structure.

Telecom Italia is 22.4 percent owned by holding Telco, which is in turn owned by Italian financial services groups - Intesa Sanpaolo and Mediobanca, Generali - and Spanish competitor Telefonica.

"What is required is an industrial plan which could include an industrial partner with Telecom on an equal footing," he said on the sidelines of a business gathering in Cernobbio.

"There is no need for financial investors. We have already been there".

Telco shareholders, which have lost hundreds of millions of euros on their Telecom Italia investment, have the option to decide by September 28 whether to leave their shareholder pact, potentially paving the way for new investors.

Telecom Italia, whose core market Italy is still in recession, is saddled with debt of nearly 29 billion euros ($38 billion) which it needs to reduce rapidly to avoid seeing its credit rating cut to "junk".

($1 = 0.7623 euros)

(Writing and additional reporting by Lisa Jucca; Editing by Erica Billingham)

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5 Ways to Boost Your Company's Cybersecurity Strategy

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A critical report from PricewaterhouseCoopers throws the spotlight back on companies that aren’t taking cyber threats seriously enough to do anything about them.The consultancy’s “ 2013 US State of Cybercrime Survey,” co-sponsored by the U.S. Secret Service, polled 500 executives and found that only 40 percent are able to determine the effectiveness of their companies’ security programs based on clear measures.“The survey results tell us that many organizational leaders do not know or appreciate what they are up against… and have made little headway in developing strategies to defend against both internal and external cyber-adversaries,” the report says.Okay, in-house counsel, here are five steps your company can take to change its leaky ways:1. Get the businesses in your supply chain on boardYour vendors and business partners—whether they are supplying components of your company’s IT infrastructure, or are facilitating the products and services you sell—may not have any cybersecurity practices in place. That means they can “increase cybercrime risks across any entity that partner or supplier touches,” the report says.PwC found that only 22 percent of respondents conduct incident response planning with third parties in their supply chain, and only 20 percent of respondents “evaluate the security of third parties more than once a year.”2. Identify your vulnerable assets—and who wants themIt’s hard to fend off threats to your company when you don’t know who they are or what they’re after. PwC defines threat awareness as “the ability to understand cyberthreat actors, capabilities, motivations, and objectives” – and says this should be a key starting point for developing your own cybersecurity strategy.Hackers and state-sponsored hackers aren’t the only ones targeting your company; trusted insiders know what corporate information is valuable, and they know where to find it. Still, 24 percent of respondents “who had suffered an insider attack did not know what the attack’s consequences were,” the report says, while 33 percent “had no formalized insider threat response plan.”Detecting and mitigating insider threats will require the legal department to collaborate with the company’s IT, information security, physical security, and HR departments.4. Read government security updates“A sensible approach to public-private partnerships should be a cornerstone of any cybersecurity strategy,” the report argues. But the survey indicates that companies aren’t taking advantage of the full range of threat intelligence available to them.While 71 percent of respondents said they monitor cybersecurity websites and email to keep up with trends, less than half (47 percent) say they use government websites and emails (other than the Department of Homeland Security), and only 24 percent said they get info about threats and vulnerabilities from DHS.The report cautions that security budgets should be set in line with business strategy, but it also notes that spending on information technology “does not appear to be keeping up with emerging threats.” Here are a couple examples of questions to ask:“Is [the company’s] current technology with a secure operating system and hardware, or did we choose the lowest cost alternative?”“Are the enterprise applications and their underlying databases current, or have we deferred maintenance and upgrades because they were highly customized, rendering the path to upgrade too costly to consider in our current economic client.”

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Adjusting long-term exit strategy has near-term effects: Fed's Kocherlakota

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Narayana Kocherlakota speaks at a macro-finance conference hosted by the Boston Federal Reserve Bank and Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts November 30, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder

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Adjusting long-term exit strategy has near-term effects -Fed's Kocherlakota

BOSTON, April 13 | Sat Apr 13, 2013 3:00pm EDT

Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota, speaking to reporters, said that for example deciding not to sell assets in the years ahead would amount to easier current monetary policy.

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EU growth strategy is failure so far - EU study

* "Dark picture" calls for bold policies, study says

* Study formed basis for Dublin talks

By Jan Strupczewski

DUBLIN, April 12 (Reuters) - The European Union's economic growth strategy has been a failure so far and unless bold steps are taken the economy will continue to stagnate, a study commissioned by EU finance ministers said.

The paper by Brussels-based Bruegel think-tank scholars Zsolt Darvas, Jean Pisani-Ferry and Guntram Wolff was the basis of discussions on the future of growth in Europe among the 27 EU finance ministers this week at informal talks in Dublin.

"Much of Europe suffers from a mutually reinforcing interaction between limited productivity gains, protracted deleveraging, weak banking sectors and distorted relative prices," the Bruegel study said.

"This combination contributes to an overall weakening of economic growth and threatens to turn into self-perpetuating stagnation. This dark picture calls for bold policy action significantly beyond what is currently being undertaken," it said.

The paper said that while 30 years ago, the output of the countries that formed the European Union until its 2004 expansion was 15 percent higher than that of the United States, it is likely to be 17 percent lower in 2017.

This is because productivity in Europe has been falling since 2007, labour markets are inflexible and slow to react to the economic cycle and the economy was more focused on imitation than innovation, among other reasons.

The 17 countries that use the euro were in recession last year and will contract further this year, mainly as a result of the sovereign debt crisis.

WHAT TO DO

The study said that to get Europe growing again, policy-makers should focus on credit, investment and growth because without these any structural reform would be rejected by voters, as would budget deficit cuts, unless they deliver results.

Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan, who chaired the talks, said the study triggered a "very positive discussion".

For growth and productivity to rise, the financial sector in Europe had to be fully functional and that could only happen if banks acknowledged bad loans and governments strengthened the banks, the Bruegel study said.

"Europe for too long refused to recognise it," the paper said, noting that the takeover of bank supervision in the euro zone by the European Central Bank was a unique chance to complete the overhaul of the banking system.

"Before the ECB carries out the 'comprehensive assessment' of the banks brought under its supervision, national authorities should trigger a recapitalisation of undercapitalised banks and a resolution of the insolvent ones," the paper said.

To give governments an incentive to recapitalise banks the European Commission should make clear it would disregard until the end of this year the costs of such operations as one-offs in its assessment of budget deficit reductions required by EU law.

The study said one way to boost growth would be to establish a euro zone banking union. Apart from single bank supervision, this would create a unified way for the euro to wind down banks and finance such operations.

"Banks that have passed the ECB's comprehensive assessment should fall under the banking union and become truly European banks with clearly defined burden sharing arrangements," the study said.

Governments also should gear budget deficit cuts to the performance of their economies. Instead of deep deficit cuts, which could further slow growth, governments could undertake pension reforms to consolidate public finances, it said.

Another way to help growth would be to subsidise credit to small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs).

"As banks may choose not to lend to SMEs because loans are subject to significant haircuts when taken as collateral in central bank repo operations, there is a case for providing support to the enhancement of this collateral," the paper said.

"The ECB cannot carry that fiscal risk. Instead, the EU should explore temporary collateral enhancement schemes, for example, in liaison with the European Investment Bank," it said.

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