Identity Resolution Daily

smart (enough) systems: How to address decision making challenges - ownership

“You want to manage the decision so that the value of the customer, their retention risk and more is considered and so that the person who REALLY made the decision was the person who works on how to handle the best customers. Only taking control of decisions, being explicit about how they are made and using automation to deliver the decision in every channel, every time is really going to work.”

Evolution of Security: ID Update and Word on the Blog

“Now that the new ID requirement is almost one week old, we wanted to provide additional stats.”

Hi-Tech-Blog: Economy Down Shoplifting Up

“The rise in retail thefts is also being blamed on the presence of organized crime, which account for up to $30 billion in losses every year, according to the FBI. These rings of professional thieves can easily move stolen items through the Internet, where consumers go to look for deals.”

Andy on Enterprise Software: MDM Fashions

“There are some good points in the DM Review article on MDM by William McKnight. In particular, I like that he clearly highlights some issues that some parts of our industry are still in denial over:”

Homeland Security Watch: Technology Task Force Presents 7 Recommendations to Chertoff

“Before he left, Chertoff charged the HSAC membership with one more task: ‘What are the ten tasks for the next Administration to take up and accomplish over its first year or two?’ It seemed odd to charge this group with something so trite. However, he explained, rightly, that it is important that efforts be made to preserve the institutional knowledge of the Department into and through its first ever Presidential transition. I’d like to know what you think should make the top ten list. Comment below.”

Hub Solution Designs: Building a Data Governance Organization

“I’m often asked how many data stewards a company needs. A rule of thumb I’ve used for quite a while is ‘one data steward per $1 billion in annual revenue’, but of course that can’t be a hard and fast rule. Depending on the company, the degree of automation, what data quality tools are available, and the major processes around the enterprise, that number is going to vary.”

The First Post: More snooping please, we love it

“Freeborn Englishmen like nothing more than the state’s jackboot on their windpipes, says David Cox”

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[Post from Infoglide] The Importance of Identity Resolution to MDM

“In a recent post on the Hub Solution Designs blog, I wrote about the importance of integration to Master Data Management (MDM). Today, I’d like to dig into the importance of identity resolution to MDM.”

b-eye.com - Business Intelligence Network: Loss Prevention in the Retail Environment

“Leading retailers are using business intelligence to implement enterprise-wide loss prevention solutions that take into account the wide variety of factors that contribute to economic loss.”

DataFlux Community of Experts: Data Quality Strategy

“I was just creating a data quality strategy for a customer going through a conversion from multiple sources to one integrated database. While doing the conversion, new software will be introduced and propagated out to the organization. Not an easy task for any organization!”

Wired Danger Room: FBI Data-Mining Slashed After G-Men Dis Congress

“Earlier today, a House appropriators voted to pull $11 million to expand a controversial FBI data-mining project, after the Bureau repeatedly stiff-armed Congressmen and their gumshoes in the Government Accountability Office.”

b-eye.com - Business Intelligence Network: The Dirty Job of Data Governance

“Hence, this inaugural edition of the Jill Dyché Data Governance newsletter, courtesy of our buddies at the Business Intelligence Network (BeyeNETWORK.com). We’re encountering some new clients who’ve asked us to do cleanup duty on their failed data governance efforts, and that’s taught us a lot about how to deliver data governance, data management, data quality, master data management (MDM) and data integration initiatives the right way. Through this monthly newsletter, I’ll be sharing some of those hard-won lessons with you.”

Data Governance and Data Quality Insider: Data Quality Events – Powerful and Cozy

“For those of you who enjoy hobnobbing with the information quality community, I have a couple of recommendations for you. These events are your chance to rub elbows with different factions of the community. In the case of these events, the crowds are small but the information is powerful.”

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Evolution of Security: New ID Requirements Begin Tomorrow

“If you’re flying tomorrow, or anytime in the near future, you may want to make a note that tomorrow is the day the TSA enhances its ID requirements. There have been many misconceptions of the new requirements and I just wanted to attempt to clear things up a little bit. . . . Is this about control? No. It’s about knowing who is getting on the plane. It’s about shifting our focus towards people instead of items on a list. . . . If our goal is to keep bad people off of planes, and our law enforcement and intelligence partners have gone to the lengths of creating watch lists of known terrorists to keep them off said planes, we have to know for sure that each person who goes through matches the name on their boarding pass and is who they say they are.”

Andy on Enterprise Software: MDM Research

“13% of the (mostly larger) 112 companies surveyed had over 100 systems that hold and maintain customer data, which gives some idea of the scale of the problem that MDM is tackling. . . . The good thing was that plenty of companies seem to have begin measuring the costs of poor master data, and those costs are high, which should make it easier to justify master data management initiatives.”

NRF Loss Prevention Convention & Expo: Day One - General Session: The State of the Loss Prevention Industry

“Sheriff Judd and his team recently broke up an organized retail theft ring the stole an estimated $100 million worth of retail goods. . . . Sheriff Judd pointed out that many agencies think the crime ends with the single arrest. That’s not always the case, that simple shoplift may be organized retail theft. There needs to be a paradigm shift within law enforcement. Retail theft needs to be taken more seriously. Stopping retail theft can impact other crime. Your minor thieves are your major thieves. Thieves are good at what they do, it’s their industry.”

CQ.com: We Rage, Europeans Yawn, Over Domestic Counterterrorism Ops

“Ever since I attended a conference on homeland security in Paris four years ago, I’ve been fascinated by how little the French, Italians, Germans and other continentals worry about violations of their civil rights by their spy agencies. In fact, outside the United Kingdom, which invented civil liberties with the Magna Carta 993 years ago last Sunday, ordinary Europeans couldn’t care less about wiretapping, national ID cards, preventive detention and police spies in mosques, all of which have millions of Americans, not to mention the ACLU and libertarian Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, up in arms. . . . It’s likely because Germans, like the French and Italians, ran out of patience with domestic terror groups years ago. . . . ‘There is a more highly developed sense [in the United States] of what freedom means,’ he said.”

Business Insurance: Risk management not yet boardroom issue: Survey

“Risk management is not making its way into most of the boardrooms at Europe’s leading companies, a recent survey reveals. . . . Quantifying risk and demonstrating value were the biggest risk management challenges cited by three-quarters of the respondents, according to the survey.”

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Homeland Security Watch: Homeland Security & Technology Panel Event

“Greg Nojeim, Director of the Project on Freedom, Security, and Technology at the Center for Democracy and Technology offered insightful warnings about the unintended consequences of technology when it is not developed or deployed with privacy protections at the initial stages.”

b-eye.com - Business Intelligence Network - Blog: Jill Dyche: At Night She Sells Oranges: Sarah Mclachlan Eats Our Lunch

“You may have seen Baseline’s latest YouTube video, one of several in our ongoing Get in the Game series. To film it we took advantage of the actor’s strike in L.A. and ended up producing several videos on the cheap. We were pretty proud of our opportunism, which let us deliver a funny and tongue-in-cheek send-up of master data management. The video illustrates how customer identity resolution —a key part of the MDM stack—is a problem that can often be found in your own backyard, as it were.”

Fraud, Phishing and Financial Misdeeds: NRF Survey shows Organized Retail Crime activity is growing!

“When I stated that this activity hurts all of us, the reason is that retailers have to make up the $30 billion they are losing to this activity somewhere. This normally equates to higher prices, or in extreme circumstances (especially in tight economic times) cutting payroll. Simply stated, people might be losing their jobs because of this activity.”

Andy on Enterprise Software: Data Quality stories

“The most entertaining thing I saw was a presentation by a consultancy firm on some real-life data quality situations they had encountered at clients, showing just how tricky data quality algorithms can be.”

National Retail Federation: The Most Famous Sheriff You Never Heard Of: Sheriff Grady Judd of Florida’s Polk County Sheriff’s Office will speak about high-profile cases of organized retail crime

“Sheriff Judd and I have something in common—we truly believe in the value of educating the public about organized retail crime. During Sheriff Judd’s keynote at the opening session of the LP show, he will address the importance of partnering with local retailers and others in the private sector. He will also share his story about uncovering the organized retail crime ring and about how his team worked with local retailers to track the criminals.”

[Note: While not exactly on topic, we felt that anyone who reads or writes blogs should be aware of the following story.]
Concurring Opinions: The Associated Press, Copyright, and the Blogosphere

“The Associated Press, one of the nation’s largest news organizations, said that it will, for the first time, attempt to define clear standards as to how much of its articles and broadcasts bloggers and Web sites can excerpt without infringing on The A.P.’s copyright.”

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[Post from Infoglide] Integrating Identity Resolution into MDM Solutions: Real-Time or Batch?

“Dan Power at Hub Solution Designs recently challenged ‘MDM project team leaders, program managers, and data champions’ to think about the importance of integration. In particular, he asks about MDM integration in three contexts: real-time, business modeling, and two-way hub communication.”

Jeff Jonas: Smart Systems Flip-Flop

“Certainty often shifts with observations over time. And this is good.”

DataFlux Community of Experts: Integration in a Big Way!

“I am so excited! I get to work on an integration project that is huge. I mean really, really big — and it affects an entire organization. . . . After the project plan is solidified, roles and responsibilities are identified. Now a role is not necessarily a person! For example, there could be a data architect, business architect, technical architect, and a business intelligence architect role. Are you confused? I was, until we dug into the responsibilities of each role.”

Evolution of Security: Why is ID Important for Security?

“Last week we announced on our Web site a plan to begin REQUIRING ID from travelers on June 21st. This plan includes enabling our officers to refuse entry into the area beyond the security checkpoint anyone that does not cooperate with us to establish his or her identity. The exclusive reason to do this is to ensure people are who they say they are and are not gaming the system by using a boarding pass in a fake name; a well-known endeavor of professionals and college kids alike that could potentially circumvent the no-fly list.”

b-eye.com - Business Intelligence Network: An Update on Knowledge Management in the Federal Government

“A survey of the attendees of this year’s Knowledge Management Conference reveals that knowledge management in the federal government is alive and well.”

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Hi-Tech-Blog: “Shoplifting Ring Pocketed Millions”

“A joint task force of federal agents and San Jose police officers arrested 17 alleged members of organized crime families for their suspected involvement in a shoplifting ring. Authorities say that the Le and Vo crime families employed hundreds of shoplifters to steal from retail stores.”

b-eye.com - Business Intelligence Network - Blog: David Loshin: Microsoft to Purchase Zoomix?

“Just heard through the rumor mill that Microsoft is ‘thinking about acquiring Zoomix.’“

CNBC: Retail Theft Up But Is Bad Economy The Cause?

“A record number of retailers–85%–say that they’ve been victims of organized retail crime in the past 12 months. That’s up 6% since 2007. . . . According to the NRF, nearly two-thirds (63%) of retailers experienced an increase in online resale of stolen items or ‘e-fencing’ during the past 12 months. Maybe this illegal online market is booming because consumers are now comfortable with buying from eBay or unknown merchants if the price is right.”

PogoWasRight.org: Your Papers Please: TSA outlaws ID-less flight

“In a major change of policy, the Transportation Security Administration has announced that passengers refusing to show ID will no longer be able to fly.”

Hub Solution Designs: Importance of Integration to MDM

“While integration doesn’t always have to be real-time, if you find yourself thinking solely in a batch-oriented mode, take a step back and ask yourself, ‘what will we be giving up by not providing for any real-time capabilities?’”

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[Post from Infoglide] Mistaken Identity Resolution Part V: Identity Resolution vs. Data Quality

“In this series of posts on Mistaken Identity Resolution we have compared identity resolution with other market spaces that it’s sometimes confused with, such as Master Data Management (MDM), data integration, and data warehousing. With Informatica’s recent acquisition of Identity Systems, now’s a good time to address the confusion between identity resolution and data quality.”

The Daily News Tribune: Shoplifting a matter of opportunity

“LaRocca said the theft of items that are specifically targeted can be associated with the economic status of the country, however a direct correlation is difficult to make. ‘The economy is just one of a number of different triggers. It is not the driving force behind it,’ LaRocca said. ‘The largest factor is always the opportunity.’ . . . Last year, retailers nationwide lost $40.5 billion worth of merchandise due to theft. . . . That monetary loss, he said, is unfortunately passed on to honest consumers who must pay higher prices. According to National Retailers Federation, consumers pay 1.5 cents more per dollar spent because of the toll shoplifting takes on retail business. Furthermore, when merchandise is stolen, no one is paying sales tax to the state, he said.”

Government Computer News: Big Brother may listen in Britain

“The British government’s Home Office reportedly is considering building a massive database of virtually all the electronic communications generated by residents of the United Kingdom, including voice and data communications along with Web site views and other online traffic.”

Andy on Enterprise Software: A Burning Platform

“I was amused by a piece regarding data quality in which a data quality initiative at a chemical manufacturer was kicked off only after a warehouse burnt down and the company discovered that they had no way of tracing which customers would be affected.”

STORES Knowledge Series: Refunds Management: Balancing Customer Service and Loss Prevention (Free Webinar)

“Retailers are continually challenged with balancing good customer service and loss prevention. Good customer service breeds loyalty and has a strong impact on top-line revenue. Refunds management practices and tools provide retailers with a well-managed solution that can provide top- and bottom-line revenue and profit. Join us as we explore the refunds challenge, tools and practices in place today that can offer a way to manage the refund process, and explore emerging tools that can set your stores apart from the competition.”

PogoWasRight.org: Department of Homeland Security Information Sharing Strategy

“The Department’s Information Sharing Strategy provides strategic direction and guidance for all Department of Homeland Security information sharing efforts.”

Forbes.com: Supermarket group stocked $1.4M into 1Q lobbying

“The Food Marketing Institute, the trade group for food retailers and wholesalers, spent nearly $1.4 million in the first quarter to lobby on food safety, public health and other issues, according to a disclosure report. . . . FMI also lobbied on retail pharmacy and Medicaid drug reimbursement, credit card interchange fees, identity theft, organized retail crime, and pension, wage and tax issues, according to the report filed April 21 with the House clerk’s office.”

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Note: There will be no post on Monday as we will be observing Memorial Day. Enjoy your holiday weekend, and we hope to ’see’ you back here on Wednesday.

[Post from Infoglide] Partners in Crime Fighting

“eBay and other online auction services have taken some heat from retailers and Congress because organized retail crime rings and other shoplifters are using these types of services for e-fencing. It’s a bit of a dilemma for these sites because if they do the right thing, and reduce e-fencing on their sites, they lose revenue, which is certainly something no business, public or private, wants to do.”

The 451 Group (requires free registration): An MDM acquisition: the next deal for Informatica?

“Through a combination of homegrown and acquired software, Informatica now has all the requisite pieces for a complete MDM offering – data access, data analysis and profiling, data correction, cleansing, data transformation and now identity management – but not an actual MDM platform itself. It therefore seems logical to us that once the company has digested Identity, a deal scheduled to close in May, it will start eyeing an MDM target to provide a complete offering.”

WKYC.com: Shoplifting: A $40 billion enterprise

“A National Retail Federation study indicates 75 percent of businesses have found their shoplifted items for sale on the internet. . . . Bokovitz said increased incidents of shoplifting are directly related to the state legislature’s decision to drop progressive sentencing on theft related crimes. The penalties for shoplifting no longer increase with the number of times you commit the crime. So who really pays the price? ‘Me and you, the consumer, everybody who plays by the rules because our costs just went up,’ Bokovitz said.”

Netrics HD: The Monk Factor

“It’s great to see that simply collecting customer data is no longer good enough - the data needs to be usable to benefit the business. ‘Refining customer data quality and access to customer data have emerged as two of the top marketing investment priorities of b-to-b CMOs this year. Half of b-to-b marketers plan to put more resources against creating marketing databases, cleaning up customer data, improving sales force automation and CRM integration, according to Forrester Research in its “B2B CMO Investment Priorities for 2008” report.’”

PogoWasRight.org: DHS to monitor access to IT systems

“Government employees, contractors and consultants with access to Homeland Security Department computer systems are among those whose names and personal information will be kept in a newly created database, according to a notice posted in the Federal Register.”

DMReview: Master Data Management and Service-Oriented Architecture

“One of the many ‘hidden benefits’ of a successful master data management (MDM) strategy is the contribution it can make to your enterprise’s move toward a service-oriented architecture (SOA).”

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FurnitureToday: High tech security keeps shrinkage down

“Point-of-sale monitoring also is on the increase, allowing retailers to collect and analyze information on every transaction, thereby identifying trends and unusual patterns in each store. . . . ‘There are a number of new technology tools available to help retailers operate more efficiently, including intelligent cameras and software that can help detect criminal activity,’ said ADT’s Bean.”

b-eye.com - Business Intelligence Network - Blog: Jill Dyche: My Podcast Posse at TDWI

“Anyway, I got to interview a stellar crew last week and thought I’d highlight them here:”

Concurring Opinions: My New Book, Understanding Privacy

“I am very happy to announce the publication of my new book, UNDERSTANDING PRIVACY (Harvard University Press, May 2008). There has been a longstanding struggle to understand what ‘privacy’ means and why it is valuable. Professor Arthur Miller once wrote that privacy is ‘exasperatingly vague and evanescent.’ In this book, I aim to develop a clear and accessible theory of privacy, one that will provide useful guidance for law and policy.”

Homeland Security Watch: Chertoff, FEMA Chief Meet with HLSwatch Today

“The third ‘blogger roundtable’ convenes this afternoon, this time the Secretary of Homeland Security is accompanied by the head of FEMA to discuss the upcoming hurricane season. . . . Submit a comment below if you have any specific questions in this general subject area that you would like raised during the roundtable.”

ebiz: Informatica Completes Acquisition Of Identity Systems

“‘Together, Identity Systems and Informatica will provide a new generation of innovative technology to meet the demands of organizations in today’s global information economy,’ said Ivan Chong, General Manager of Informatica’s Data Quality Business Unit. ‘More so than ever before, corporations and governments need identity resolution integrated with data quality initiatives across their enterprises.’”

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[Post from Infoglide] When Your Business Knowledge of Identity Theft Gets Personal

“Identity theft is a scary aspect in both the business world and your own personal life. When those two worlds blend and it touches your child, the knowledge you’ve gained about fraud risk becomes the foremost thought in your mind, and you automatically fear the worst-case scenario.”

Yahoo! Finance: Informatica’s Acquisition of Nokia’s Identity Systems Completed

“Nokia (NYSE: NOK - News) and Informatica Corporation (NASDAQ: INFA - News) today announced that Informatica, the leading independent provider of data integration software, has completed the acquisition of Identity Systems, which was initially announced on April 17, 2008.”

The Wall Street Journal: Getting in Line: Fliers Self-Sort At Security

“In an effort to ease traveler anxiety and maybe even improve airport security, the Transportation Security Administration is rolling out a new setup where fliers are asked to self-segregate into different screening lanes depending on their security prowess. There are lanes for ‘Expert Travelers,’ who know the drill cold; ‘Casual Travelers,’ who run the airport gauntlet infrequently; and people with small children or special needs who move slowly through screening.”

The 451 Group (free registration required): Informatica buys itself a new identity with its $85m purchase of Identity Systems

“Rumors have continued to swirl around Informatica (Nasdaq: INFA) as a candidate ripe for acquisition. But the company’s announcement on April 17 to buy Identity Systems, a Nokia (NYSE: NOK) subsidiary, to expand its data integration portfolio places it more in the acquirer camp than the target camp – at least for now. . . . Infoglide Software is probably the best known of the independent players in the identity resolution sector, which has clearly consolidated a great deal over the past few years. Could Infoglide now be a target for acquisition from a vendor with fervent ambitions in data integration, MDM and BI such as Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) or SAS Institute?”

Save Borrow Spend: Many Brits do not think fraud is wrong, research suggests

“A total of 1.2 million Brits do not think it is wrong to tell a lie when making an insurance claim, according to a new study from RSA.”

OnStrategies Perspectives: Not Your Father’s Data Cleansing

“Admittedly, you could do a more primitive form of the same task with a traditional name/address verification tool; however getting rough matches is not the same thing as providing authoritative answers when you deal with names that are common, such as Smith or Jones in North America, or for that matter Bin Laden in the Mideast. Similarly, having versions of name/address verification tools in different languages isn’t new either. But again, this all child’s play compared to the challenge of verifying identity, which requires pattern matching that also accounts for context, not to mention real-time search capabilities (most data quality tools have traditionally been batch-driven). Demand for identity verification capabilities is obvious, given the plagues of identity theft, financial fraud, and world terrorism, not to mention more positive goals such as providing real-time credit verifications or managing patient electronic health records for care that may be delivered through multiple entities.”

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