Recent Posts by Oracle Cloud

Uncertainty is the new normal. In the era of fake news and unpredictable market changes, there is however one thing you can trust and control: data. Data doesn’t lie, but it needs to be secure, for it to be harnessed by business leaders in decision making.   “Uncertainty is killing growth,” ran the FT headline at the end of December 2018. The hook for its story was a new paper from the IMF and Stanford University that launched a World Uncertainty Index (WUI) – a rough measure...

Finance’s job is getting bigger. With this comes greater complexity and a new level of accountability. New areas are emerging where the CFO is no longer just consulted but actually accountable, particularly when it comes to data security and compliance. And that shift means that finance leaders need to embrace a new mindset, where they actively embrace this new environment. You might or not be familiar with the responsibility assignment matrix, with its four categories:...

Finance leaders have always felt responsible for company data, but the spotlight has shifted to protecting people outside the business. Customer and employee data breaches can swing reputations and valuations overnight, making ethical data management a priority across the organisation. We squirm when an invasion of privacy feels personal, even if it doesn’t affect us directly. This is why recent data breaches – from the man who hacked German government officials to companies...

Nature devised a perfect structure to protect the most valuable part of fruits and vegetables. Think about artichokes, onions, and corn—it takes effort to get to the core. Good IT security works in a similar way. Multiple layers of security--including identity management and data-level encryption--help keep sensitive information safe in a breach. This strategy, however, can work only if there’s an easy way to control who can access what data at any point in time. Many...

It's a win-win situation in its best sense: Migrating to the cloud, while doing good for society – a German food charity is doing just that. While this may set a precedent for other NGOs, each organisation – whether big or small – must find its own data model and ensure that the asset is always available, trusted, and secure. Organisations have more data than ever at their disposal. That applies to bluechip companies and small organisations alike. Take the example of Tafel...

Gone are the days when an IT department alone was able to protect a company’s systems. Given the enormous risk, fending off cyber criminals must be of central concern to all employees, from the receptionist to the CEO. But that brings its own risks, which can be curtailed by emerging technologies. Today’s landscape is teeming with an ever-growing number of “attack vectors”,  with the newest being crypto-currency mining – a kind of cyber-attack that grew by an astonishing 4,000 per...

Data today is as valuable as money. While investors seek to protect their portfolio from currency fluctuations, IT leaders must aim for the highest possible data quality and security. Treating it like cash under a mattress is not an option. New technology will help to build up trust in cloud solutions. Data, some people say, is the new money. But like bank notes coming out of a cash machine, not all 1s and 0s are of the same quality. While some currencies may lose in value...

Data may be invisible, but its effect on your business when something goes wrong is all too tangible. As the team that feels most accountable managing data, IT can teach us a great deal about the power of information and how to approach it more ethically. If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? For years, people have quoted George Berkeley’s adage to distance themselves from problems that felt beyond their responsibility. It is this...

In the event of a data breach, the role of marketing could be arguably the most important. Speed and communication are of critical importance, as minutes could result in millions of dollars lost for your business. To avoid this, marketeers need to thoroughly assess all customer touch points and work with IT to ensure data is collected, analyzed and stored securely at every step.  In doing so, marketeers can mitigate the likelihood of a data breach and increase trust inside...