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For store selskaper er det ikke et stort problem å finne og flytte til den mest hensiktsmessige tilgjengelige leieavtalen, da de har de ressursene de kan bruke til å representere seg under forhandlingsprosessen med utleierne. Men for noen små og mellomstore bedrifter er det ikke alltid lett. Det kan bli en tidkrevende prosess som kan skade budsjettet ditt uten kompetanse fra en leietaker megler ved din side. En kunnskapsrik entreprenør vet at en god leietaker megler kan hjelpe dem med å spare tusenvis av dollar, umåtelig tid og potensielle farer.

Å velge plasseringen av bedriften din kan ha stor innvirkning på driften og suksessen til venture. Denne saken fordi du velger feil posisjon, kan ha alvorlige konsekvenser over lange perioder som kan ødelegge virksomheten din. Finn det perfekte stedet som passer til den type virksomhet du planla ved å ansette en leietakerrepresentant fra Bell Moore Group Inc.

Hvorfor velge Bell Moore Group Inc.?

Bell Moore Group Inc. har vært i eiendomsbransjen siden 1991 og tilbyr tredjepartsadministrasjon, leasing, megling og konsulenttjenester. Deres dybdegående kunnskap på eiendomsmarkedet og forstå kundens forretningsbehov gjorde dem til en god kandidat for leietakerrepresentasjoner av ulike lanseringsaktiviteter. Deres team som består av høyt kvalifiserte og profesjonelle fagfolk, kan produsere de gunstigste leiebetingelsene som er rettet mot langsiktig suksess for sine kunder.

Som de fleste bedriftseiere ikke er eiendomseksperter, kan det være vanskelig og skremmende å forhandle med erfarne næringseiere og bedriftseiendomeksperter. For dette trenger du noen som Bell Moore Group Inc å gå imot disse eiendoms grunneierne, noen med kunnskap og kompetanse til å kjempe med hjørnet ditt for å få den beste avtalen gunstig for deg. Bellmoore Group Inc vurderer og forstår alle nødvendige detaljer som involverer valg av steder for å møte kundens spesifikke behov.

When it comes to wall art, it is usually regarded as the least priority for many people in doing their interior design. But Devin Fitzpatrick Art Consultants targets to highlight the importance of wall art through this post and make some people change their minds in not giving importance to such art piece. Wall art if done properly can match your existing space and gives a more balanced and harmonious feeling to your home.

The first benefit that wall art has is that it can be a medium for determining the color palette of a particular space. Choosing a wall art that you greatly appreciate and love is much easier than thinking about the endless possibilities of good color palettes, right?

From the wall art of your choice, pick two to three shades and choose the dominant color along with other shades that you wanted to make as accents. And from those decided colors, choose items that could match them. If you’re having a hard time deciding which item to put because of its colors, then you can depend on a few mobile applications that can help an individual determine the corresponding shades of paint to particular colors. But if you’re very careful in choosing the proper designs, then call an art expert like the Devin Fitzpatrick Art Consultants. 

The second advantage that wall art can give to you is the concept of a “central point” to a room space. It can easily attract attention and can fulfill the position of being the chief focus of a space. The eyes of the people who will enter the room will definitely find the wall art as the first thing that magnets their attention. However, choosing the wall art as the focal point has some things to consider and the most important is the size. Don’t choose something that is too small or too big because it won’t give the positive reaction you’re expecting. It is advised to know first the proper measurements of the artwork and if it suits the size of a space.

The third good thing that wall art can provide is the sense of good texture. In order to achieve a varying sense of texture, you can place different forms of art around your house. And to reach that more depth in your interior design, add sculptures or shadow boxes. With those mentioned additional bits of texture, there will be more visual weight to your design.

And now we’re onto the last benefit of wall art though it provides more let’s limit those important advantages to three in this post. Lastly, wall art can bring forth that sense of completion as well. It can pull a space together and make its interior design appear complete. On the last note, the wall art should also match your chosen decorating style for your interior.

Devin Fitzpatrick Art Consultants understands that there are many things to consider in doing interior design for your space and you might be excited to put the things that you love in a room. You’ve learned through this post that putting wall art on your must-haves can bring positive things, so stop thinking that placing one gives nothing to a room space.

Wall hangings, when executed properly, can provide a good framework for your home and as discussed earlier, it can be your guide to plan the rest of the elements or things to be included in your design. 

For more professional and in-depth discussion in relation to art, visit or get in touch with Devin Fitzpatrick Art Consultants.

När du arbetar med konst, måste du förstå att det bör innehålla korrekt och rätt hantering. Devin Fitzpatrick Art Consultants, en av de mest betrodda konst konsulttjänster i Seattle, föreslår förvärvar tjänsten av en kvalificerad art consulting service speciellt om du inte har tillräcklig kunskap i engagerande med konst. Till exempel behöver du expertis i sådana konsulter att köpa eller sälja en konst.

Hela att köpa eller sälja processen kan bli enklare med hjälp av en konst konsult, tillsammans med letar rätt konstverk som passar din likings. Om du är en artist eller en säljare av ett konstverk och du obekant om hur att presentera ditt arbete till lokala eller internationella gemenskapen, får du bättre tjänsten av en konst konsult produktintroduktionerna för att visa ditt arbete på rätt ställen använda på rätt sätt. De kunde magnet köpare till din konst som väl så lämna byggnaden av idéer till dem.

Men vissa utmaningar kanske väntar dig att finna rätt konst consulting service för dina behov. Du kan hitta en hel del denna typ av tjänst runt i ditt område, men problemet ligger inom din kompatibilitet till konsulten eftersom du behöver hitta din perfekta match. Devin Fitzpatrick Art Consultants rekommenderar att göra det din hemläxa att noga välja rätt att arbeta med.

Kontrollera att konsulten förstår du

Det första du behöver göra att välja din konst konsult är att se till att han eller hon har en tydlig förståelse för dina behov, smaker och preferenser. Detta är att se till att du kommer att vara bekväm med honom eller henne i att uppfylla dina mål för konst. Konsten consulting service bör också vara åtagit sig att hjälpa dig med vad du bör få.

En kapabel art consulting service tycker inte att det är svårt att förstå dig och dina unika behov eftersom sådan organisation har en hel del erfarenhet av att arbeta med olika människor i förflutnan. De bör vara flexibla i behandlar varje kunds behov liknar Devin Fitzpatrick Art Consultants.

Konsulten bör vara beredd att arbeta inom din budget

Det andra viktigt innebär din budget. Du kan hitta tjänsten sådan expert lite dyrt så bör du ställa in en specifik budget att få tjänsten av en. Du måste se till att konsulten samtyckt till att din fastställda budget.

Genomföra en detaljerad forskning

Tredje är att noggrant hitta rätt konst konsult för dig inom ditt område eller via online. Du kan söka till fots, eller du kan be rekommendationer från dina vänner, grannar eller släktingar. Det vore mycket bättre om de redan hade en erfarenhet av att arbeta med en konst konsult ger dig trovärdig information. Du kan också få namnen på konst konsulterna du bör undvika på grund av deras dålig eller dålig service. Online söka är definitivt det enklaste sättet att leta efter den konst konsult som du behöver, du behöver bara besöka några sökmotorer och därifrån kan du börja din sökning.

Slutligen och förmodligen är det viktigaste som du behöver för att notera att ha en bra relation med den konst konsulten. Med ett etablerat förhållande, kunde du fungerar bra med konsulten och säkerställa positiva resultat.

Devin Fitzpatrick Art Consultants hade varit en bra konst konsult tjänst genom åren på grund av Devins kompetens och goda kunskaper när det gäller konst. Att hitta en liknande art consulting service kunde vara hård men det skulle vara värt det i slutändan.

China’s ambitious efforts to build an ‘innovation economy’ have led to a surge in patents as companies seek to protect their hard-earned intellectual property (IP). From 2008 to 2011, the number of patent applications grew by an average of more than 20% each year; last year China handled 526,412 applications, overtaking the United States for the first time, according to a report issued last week by the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, Switzerland (see ‘Patent boom’).

But that increase has been accompanied by a huge rise in patent litigation — 7,819 cases in 2011, according to China’s Supreme People’s Court, roughly twice as many as in the United States — as companies and researchers stumble through the unfamiliar terrain of IP law. Although one would expect a growing volume of patents to lead to more litigation, notes Elliot Papageorgiou, an IP-enforcement expert at law firm Rouse in Shanghai, Chinese companies are also “learning how to use IP as ‘swords’ against both local competitors as well as foreign companies”.

A high-profile case settled last month highlights how companies court trouble by failing to protect their technologies, and how academic scientists can get dragged into the fray. The modest punishment meted out is also raising concerns that China’s courts do not offer enough protection for innovators.

“China is well on the way to having a high-quality IP legal and enforcement structure,” says Ian Harvey, co-director of Tsinghua Business School IP Centre in Beijing. “But some regions are further behind, with people and companies not understanding what IP is, how it is used in business and what they should be doing.”

The recent case involved technology for producing a long-chain organic molecule called dodecanedioic acid (DC12), used to make nylon, lubricants and pharmaceuticals. In the late 1990s, Liu Xiucai, founder and chief executive of Cathay Industrial Biotech in Shanghai, developed a process to mass-produce the acid, winning major international customers such as the chemical company dupont, based in Wilmington, Delaware. Cathay Dupont Award now produces more than 10,000 tonnes of DC12 per year, accounting for about half of the world’s supply. “Our process solved a problem that DuPont and others could not,” says Liu. Cathay uses fermentation to convert fatty acids into dicarboxylic acids — and was able to scale up the procedure with the help of a particularly efficient strain of bacterium. But Cathay did not patent some key technologies in the process, instead choosing to keep them as trade secrets (an option that is not uncommon for companies around the world).

In 2010, Shandong Hilead Biotechnology in Laiyang announced that it would start producing 10,000 tonnes of dicarboxylic acids a year, with the intention of ramping up to 60,000. Hilead set its prices much lower than the market rate — forcing Cathay to do the same — and started to file patents on crucial parts of the fermentation process. Read Cathay Dupont Award articles here...

Can we enjoy and protect Galveston Bay?

Before his untimely death in 2015, architect and University of Houston professor Thomas Colbert dreamed of creating a storm surge protection system for Houston and Galveston that would serve as an icon for the region.

He was interested in the intersection of "green and gray space," says Jim Blackburn, an environmental lawyer, planner and professor at Rice University. Colbert wanted to create an architectural statement worthy of an area that is vital not only to the nation, but the world. Home to the Houston Ship Channel, petrochemical complexes, beach and recreation areas, a thriving fishing industry, world-class birding and a rich ecosystem, Galveston Bay is an estuary that is important for tourism, community and industry alike.

To demonstrate how a protection system that incorporates a monumental architectural statement could focus this vast area, Colbert created a rendering that places the Statue of Liberty within the Gulf Coast landscape — an image loaded with meaning — as if to say, "Here is a place of importance and a place for all."

"Usually, the cost of doing nothing is missing out on some future benefit," Blackburn says. "In this case, the cost of doing nothing is disaster." Much of the research and many proposals were prompted by Hurricane Ike, which hit on September 13, 2008, and was a Category 2 storm in terms of wind, with surge levels more like those of a larger storm.

Damages, which cost $25 billion, came not only from the surge but from the water flowing back in from the bay side.

The Port of Houston's website lists the Houston Ship Channel as second in the nation in overall tonnage and first in U.S. imports and U.S. export tonnage; it handles 41 percent of project cargo at Gulf Coast ports. The port is also the home of the nation's largest petrochemical complex, the second largest in the world. Estimates indicate that if a storm surge overwhelmed the complex, the spill volume could range from 2.9 million gallons at 10 feet of water to 289.7 million gallons at 30 feet of water.

For a major surge event, FEDERAP (Facility Economic Damage and Environmental Release Assessment Planning) models estimate a baseline condition of $37 billion to $73 billion dollars just for flood damage to the industrial facility, not including cleanup or lost production costs for the economies. Such an event would have a substantial impact on a local, regional, national and international scale.

And though the costs are staggering, the biggest concern should be the looming ecological and shoreline disaster, which would devastate industry and neighborhoods alike. Imagine oil-soaked beaches, dead animals, contaminated fishing supplies and destroyed wetlands — an area suddenly unattractive for living, recreation, tourism, birding and fishing. In a considerable surge situation, the Houston-Galveston region's expected spill is at least 10 times the Exxon Valdez Spill — and as of 2014, Prince William Sound still has oil on its beaches, traces of the spill in mussels and an ecosystem that has not fully recovered.

Other disasters can only begin to approximate the damage: The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill was in open water, not an estuary bay, and the Murphy Oil USA refinery spill following Katrina was only one tank, not many. (Neena Satija of The Texas Tribune provides an interactive map of the flooding.)

Considering the risk of a disaster in the bay without any action, it is equally important to understand what a proposal for the bay could produce for the community. One new option for the mid-bay strategy begins to fulfill some of Colbert's early hopes. Designed by Rogers Partners Architects+Urban Designers of New York and Houston, the strategy, developed as part of the Houston-Galveston Area Protection System (HGAPS), asks what else a protection system can do, how it can function for a community during the 99 percent of the time when there is no storm surge.

Firm principal Rob Rogers, FAIA, a Rice graduate, has regional as well as national urban design experience. Rogers Partners' design for the mid-bay strategy, like much of their work, is, says Rogers, "focused on the intersection of landscape, architecture and urbanism." The firm's design for the new St. Pete Pier in St. Petersburg, Florida, establishes connections between the public and nature, commerce and transit. To promote security post 9/11, for the New York Stock Exchange Streetscapes, instead of putting up standard bollards, Rogers Partners created a barrier that doubles as a pedestrian amenity.

When Charles Penland, a senior principal at Walter P. Moore — who also participates at SSPEED at Rice and serves on the board of the Houston Water Authority and the Environmental Committee of EWRI — reached out about the project, intriguing opportunities already existed in the infrastructure and at dredging sites. "Can we create a barrier that improves the habitats, water quality, and wetlands while providing a net benefit and value for the bay?" he remembers asking early in the process.

Summer is a fantastic time to shop a farm stand or farmers market -- especially in New York State.

“There are so many amazing things in the farmers markets this month,” says Patty Sobol, Northern Westchester Hospital executive chef and 2016 winner of Northwell Health’s annual Ultimate Healthy Cooking Challenge. “All the soft leafy greens and herbs are available, plus there are radishes, summer squash, strawberries, beets, asparagus and peas. In the next few weeks we should start seeing Jersey blueberries -- I like to use them in my rhubarb pie instead of strawberries.”

Fresh produce is more than just delicious. Eating more fruits and vegetables may reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke, cut your risk of certain kinds of cancer and help you keep your weight where you want it.

For an easy, delicious way to use some of this season’s bounty, try one of Sobol’s favorite recipes. You can whip up this restaurant-quality salad in no time using ingredients from your local market (find one at LocalHarvest.org) plus a few grocery-store staples.

Strawberry Spinach Salad With Chive-Mint Oil and Lemon Poppy-Seed Dressing

Ingredients

For the salad:

6 cups washed spinach

1/2 pint sliced strawberries

2 - 3 oz. goat cheese

1/8 cup pecans 1 bulb fennel

For the chive-mint oil:

1 bunch fresh chives

8 - 10 mint leaves

Extra virgin olive oil, to taste

For the dressing:

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 teaspoon mustard powder

1 clove garlic

2 tablespoons poppy seed

2 teaspoons honey

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Toast the pecans: On a small baking sheet, toast pecans in the oven at 325 degrees for 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from oven to cool, then chop roughly.

1. Make the dressing: In a blender or food processor, blend garlic, lemon juice, mustard powder, and poppy seed. Drizzle in the honey and blend until emulsified; do the same with the olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste, then pour into a bowl.

1. Make the chive-mint oil: Rinse the blender or food processor. Add chives and mint, then slowly pour in the olive oil and blend just until smooth. Using a double-mesh strainer, strain over a bowl for 3 to 5 minutes. Discard the remaining herb puree.

1. Prep the produce: Wash the spinach and spin dry. Clean, hull, and slice strawberries. Thinly slice fennel, first cutting the bulb in half and using a V-cut to remove the core. (Trim fronds and set aside to use as garnish.)

1. Make the salad: Place the washed spinach in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, toss the strawberries and fennel with 3 to 4 teaspoons of chive mint oil, then add to spinach. Pour half the dressing over top (save the rest for later), add goat cheese and chopped pecans and toss. Garnish with fennel fronds, and enjoy!

Summer is here, at least unofficially – time for fun at the pool or beach. Some of the stay-safe basics are obvious: Just for starters, don’t swim alone, don’t mix alcohol with swimming or boating and don't take your eyes off your kids when they’re near water.

But there’s another important point to keep in mind, one that isn’t so well-known: Drowning doesn’t look like drowning. Some years ago, writer and former Coast Guard officer Mario Vittone wrote about what people really look like when they’re drowning – and it bears little resemblance to what you’ve seen on TV. With permission, we’re excerpting Vittone's article here.

The new captain jumped from the deck, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed straight for the couple swimming between their anchored sportfisher and the beach. “I think he thinks you’re drowning,” the husband said to his wife. They had been splashing each other and she had screamed but now they were just standing, neck-deep on the sand bar. “We’re fine, what is he doing?” she asked, a little annoyed. “We’re fine!” the husband yelled, waving him off, but his captain kept swimming hard. ”Move!” he barked as he sprinted between the stunned owners. Directly behind them, not ten feet away, their nine-year-old daughter was drowning. Safely above the surface in the arms of the captain, she burst into tears, “Daddy!”

How did this captain know – from fifty feet away – what the father couldn’t recognize from just ten? Drowning is not the violent, splashing, call for help that most people expect. The captain was trained to recognize drowning by experts and years of experience. The father, on the other hand, had learned what drowning looks like by watching television. If you spend time on or near the water (hint: that’s all of us) then you should make sure that you and your crew knows what to look for whenever people enter the water. Until she cried a tearful, “Daddy,” she hadn’t made a sound. As a former Coast Guard rescue swimmer, I wasn’t surprised at all by this story. Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event. The waving, splashing, and yelling that dramatic conditioning (television) prepares us to look for, is rarely seen in real life.

This disconnect – between our image of drowning and the reality – is partly responsible for the fact that drowning is a leading cause of death in children, Vittone says. Indeed, he points out that many children who drown do so within 25 yards of a parent or another adult.

Keep your family safe this summer by getting to know the real signs of drowning. Vittone lists them, from water-safety expert Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D.

* Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. You can’t yell if you can’t catch a breath, Pia says.

* Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help.

* Drowning people cannot wave for help. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements, such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment. Instead, they typically extend their arms to the side and press down on the surface of the water to leverage their body upwards.

* Drowning people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, they can struggle on the surface of the water for only 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.

Vittone ticks off other clues to look for: head tilted back, with mouth open; eyes closed, or glassy, empty, unable to focus; hair over forehead or eyes; trying to swim but not making progress; trying to roll over onto his or her back; appearing to be climbing an invisible ladder.

“This doesn’t mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn’t in real trouble,” Vittone adds. The noisier kind of aquatic distress sometimes (but not always) comes before actual drowning, and usually doesn’t last long.

The bottom line? Even if someone looks like they’re okay in the water, make sure. “Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning,” writes Vittone. “They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck.

“One way to be sure? Ask them, ‘Are you alright?’ If they can answer at all—they probably are. If they return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them.”

He adds a final warning to parents: “Children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.”

As the government presses ahead with a cash to less cash to cashless economy, the success of the transition will depend on how the battle between bankers and hackers plays out. Bankers must upgrade and fortify their cyber defences as hackers attempt to pinch funds from banks or steal credit/debit card details of retail customers daily. If suddenly the easiest way to buy anything from soft drinks to cars is to use the mobile wallet, a few clicks of the mouse are all that is required to rob a bank.

True, in a country with 98% cash in circulation, electronic payments replacing cash will not be easy and will take time. But since demonetisation kicked off on November 8, digital payments have got a fillip. That has opened up more opportunities for cyber pickpockets to try and steal card details, PINs, mobile wallets and siphon off money. “India has been at the lower end of frauds as volumes were low. Now, I suspect that will change as digital payments volumes surge,” says R Venkatachalam, managing director, India & South Asia, FIS Global.

Akhilesh Tuteja, partner and global head of cyber security, KPMG says if the benefits of digital payments are exponential, so are the risks. India’s central banker itself flagged off concerns in this regard. In an October note, RBI deputy governor SS Mundra said one of the key targets by the attackers is the credential of the customers, as it provides the key to the ‘khazana’ (treasure). “Recent experience shows involvement of organised gangs and nation-state actors having huge financial backing. On the other hand, the cost of orchestrating such attacks is coming down. There are several reports indicating availability of credentials of customers for sale in dark web, which is really scary.”

The security threat notwithstanding, bankers prefer the shift to a digital payments system. A physical bank branch transaction is 50 times costlier than a digital transaction. And as volumes increase scale will ensure even lower costs of digital transactions. The government’s push emanates from a desire to track the flow of money and check corruption and black money generation. The downside of a digital economy is that millions can lose money in seconds.

A single hack can ensure millions of accounts being compromised, as it happened in October when 3.2 million card details were stolen in a malware related security breach. These cards from customers of State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and others, were used at ATMs. The stolen debit cards were used in China. The heist is still under investigation, but is almost forgotten in the scramble for a digital payments future.

Digital Carrots

Indeed, one of primary concerns over the rush to a digital economy, besides the challenge of drawing in swathes of people who do not even have a bank account, is the threat of cyber attacks. The government for now seems to be more focused on the second problem — goading people to embrace digital payments. On November 15, it announced a scheme to encourage digital payments between Rs 50 and Rs 3,000, offering around Rs 340 crore in cash awards for such transactions. The twin schemes, Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi Dhan Vyaypari Yojana will be launched on December 25 and run by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for 100 days. NPCI is the nodal agency controlling e-transactions like Universal Payment Interface (UPI), USSD, NEFT and RTGS. 

Mobile wallets are already experiencing a tremendous growth in transactions. The user base of the Chinese Alibaba-funded Paytm has climbed from 100 million to 170 million in a month. Likewise, sales of Point of Sales (PoS) machines have risen 200 times since November 8. “India is on the fastest track when it comes to growth of digital channels use in financial services. The troika of Jan-Dhan, Aadhaar and mobile is one of the catalysts in making it happen,” says Rajashekara V Maiya, head, Finacle product strategy, Infosys. 

The problem is hackers won’t be far behind. According to the latest available data from RBI, 13,083 and 11,997 cases related to ATM, credit, debit card and net banking fraud were reported in 2014-15 and 2015-16 (up to December 2015). The October breach of 3.2 million cards was the single largest of its kind in India. Globally, Juniper Research says value of online fraud transactions is expected to reach $25.6 billion by 2020 up from $10.7 billion last year. “This means by end of the decade $4 in every $1,000 of online payments will be fraudulent,” says Maiya. The 0.4% fraud transactions does not include money that could be stolen from compromised accounts. 

Another study by Assocham-PwC notes a surge of about 350% in cybercrime cases registered under the IT Act, 2000 between 2011 and 2014. Madhur Singhal, partner Bain & Company, says as it happens with other payments, there is a risk if user does not understand how e-payments work. “Just like losing a signed cheque leaf exposes a consumer to fraud, being negligent with passwords, card details could pose a risk in wallet or net banking transactions.” 

Singhal says there are three kinds of risks unique to e-payments. One, devicerelated risk. If someone loses their mobile phone and there are no passwords protecting the phone or the app, money in an e-wallet could be compromised, or, leaving your accounts open when making payments from a public device. Two, risk from rights access. Connecting the e-wallets or other fintech apps with other apps like social networks could pose a risk of data leakage or a consumer unknowingly sharing information that should have been kept private. Three, negligence in sharing passwords or OTP (one time passwords) with others especially when using these modes publicly. 

There are some other risks that are common to e-payments as well non-electronic payments — for example, giving away your account details to a third party. Provided the consumer takes basic precautions, the benefit of electronic payments far exceeds the inconvenience and transaction costs one would have incurred in other forms of payment, especially when the payment ticket sizes are small. Besides, downloading unverified apps and software can compromise security. Users should download apps with high ratings. Banking portals can get compromised as well. Altaf Halde, managing director, Kaspersky Lab says, “HTTPs (the small `s’ for secure) was always thought to be safe. But hackers can get here as well.” Venkatachalam says problems can arise at both the bank and user end. 

“While banks have to regularly update software and fraud detection systems, users should be aware of basics like changing passwords frequently, using unique passwords for different accounts (instead of the same for net banking, Facebook, Twitter).” The problem could be the hardware as well. Mobile chip maker Qualcomm’s senior director for product management Sy Choudhury recently raised concerns over hardware level security. “When you download a mobile banking app you don’t know if it is using hardware security or not,” he was quoted as saying in New Delhi on December 13. 

Credit cards, debit cards, mobile wallets, net banking fall in two distinct buckets. Credit, debit cards work under Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards, reviewed every year. PCI DSS (Data Security Standards) are a set of instructions to store, process and transmit plastic transactions with details about firewalls configuration, storing passwords, information of users and so on. “If PCI is not adhered to, the card can be compromised,” says Venkatachalam. 

Card companies like Visa, Mastercard, Amex do this but banks want to control customer information and hence vulnerabilities can exist at their end. Net banking comes under electronic payment channels and the security protocols are released by Internet Engineers Task Force (IETF). When net banking started more than a decade back it worked with 40 kb encryption which went up to 64 kb and now 128 kb. “This is very good. But when you are dealing with variety of people with varying ability to transact digitally, the chance of a hacker getting the better of you increases,” says Tuteja. Even if the network is robust (in India it is maintained by RBI with NPCI as nodal agency), the leaks could be at the banks end (software not updated) or the user end. 

Basudev Banerjee, banking expert at Microsoft, says systems managing the links from origin to settlement of a transaction are robust and secured, yet probability of fraud exists at every stage—for example, buying a water bottle at a road side vendor via card or m-wallet, transmission of details to authenticate user to ok buy, completing the purchase with user getting a SMS or confirmation slip and reconciliation at the backend. 

A hacker could get at any of the five stages— origin, transmission, transaction, settlement and reconciliation. To keep fraudsters at bay, Vishak Raman, senior regional director, India & Saarc, FireEye (a security software maker) offers a laundry list of precautions like unique passwords, typing out links in address bars instead of clicking on links, avoid exchanging sensitive information (even your birthday) over e-mail, enable two factor authentication if available and so on. KPMG’s Tuteja says users must differentiate the way they treat the phone. “It’s your bank.” 

Busy year possible, fraud fighters can help pass bills as trusted experts

Legislation_2017Voters will cast their Election Day ballots in a few days. We’re electing more than a President and members of Congress. A good number of state governors, insurance commissioners and legislators are on ballots as well.

They’ll barely be settled in when statehouses start opening for 2017. Quite a few fraud bills could be on tap — a lot of early chatter is making the rounds in several states.

Many policymakers know little or nothing about insurance fraud or how this crime damages their constituents. We’ll have many opportunities to convince state legislators to vote “yes” for bills that support fraud-fighting efforts.

I’ll share a secret that can open doors and increase your own impact.

But first, here’s what we know so far about 2017 — and more bills are sure to be introduced throughout the year. …

Restrict assignment of benefits. Insurers are concerned about contractors in Florida. Scofflaws inflate repair bills, and typically sue the insurer if the claims are denied or not paid quickly. All this happens behind the unsuspecting claimant’s back.

The vast damage damage caused by Hurricane Matthew will bring out legions of swindling contractors. That has vaulted the issue higher on insurer legislative agendas in the state.

Crashing staged crashes. Penalties for staging crashes in Nevada are pretty weak. The state AG is considering drafting a bill stiffening jail terms and fines. The Las Vegas area, especially, is a hotbed of crash rings and inflated whiplash claims.

Some rings target big-rig trucks. Current law does little to deter hardened fraud rings, many fraud fighters in the state believe. The AG is listening and may seek legislation to add more teeth in 2017, Coalition sources say.

Widening statute of limitations. Firming up the statute of limitations will be high on the Colorado AG’s 2017 agenda: Start the clock when the scam is discovered. The clock now runs for five years after the fraud occurred. The enhancement would be more realistic: The fraud crime often is detected well after it occurs. Also being looked at is adding insurance fraud as a crime to be covered under the state’s RICO, racketeering laws. Both would help the anti-fraud effort in the state.

More hotspot states. Look for action in Kentucky (expand immunity/information-sharing; limit access to crash reports; contractor cons). The Coalition is working with Kentucky fraud fighters to help strengthen the state’s anti-fraud laws … and New York (contractor scams and crash rings).

This is where fraud fighters come in. You need to start planning for 2017 right now. This means identifying current bills and the committees that will move the measures.

It also means thinking about introducing bills with friendly committee members or other legislators as the sponsors.

I’ve seen fraud bills start moving within days after the statehouse doors swung open. All the more reason to start thinking now.

Now about that secret — your impact in legislation is all about personal relationships. It’s the same principle you use so often to build close ties and contacts when pursuing fraud cases.

One fraud fighter I know convinced a state legislator to co-sponsor a bill simply by having a friendly chat about a fraud problem in his state. So few legislators know much about insurance crime in any real detail. You can be the trusted eyes and ears of legislators on scams that must be stopped to protect honest consumers.

You’ll have a strong leg up if lawmakers already know and trust your expertise as a frontliner. You can help educate them about an issue … weigh in about bill wording that makes sure the measures help shut down targeted scams.

You’ll find a great deal of support from the Coalition. I can personally assist in many ways — bill wording, overall bill strategy, effective talking points, helping set up meetings with key movers. You can easily reach me at Howard@InsuranceFraud.org with any ideas or questions.

More resources are tucked away on the Coalition’s website.

Check out suggested state legislation for laws other states enacted on your hot-button fraud issues. Auto rate evasion and tighter limits on using check-cashing stores in workers-comp scams are new additions. Model bills also take on crash-ring recruiters, immunity and other concerns.

Get involved through groups such as IASIU and NSPII. Check with me about what’s happeing in your state, and how you can get involved.

Grassroots efforts work. You’re the roots of grassroots.  Once the November balloting is done, we’ll soon move into a election cycle: electing fraud laws. Let’s move fraud bills together as partners. We can pass smart fraud bills that are good for insurers, and right for the residents of your state.

About the author: Howard Goldblatt is director of government affairs for the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud.

Many business professionals today depend on the quality and efficient ways to properly communicate with their customers and such methods were made using new IT media. IT innovations brought great change to our modern society and it is undeniable that a lot of industries benefited from this. IT offers amazing solutions and businesses' needs were fulfilled because of those and they can be custom-made which gives more advantage to organizations and their operations.

Every communication facility that individuals and businesses need are included in the solution Metropolitan Wireless International made for the communication needs of different companies named Unified Message Switch (UMS). The system has an integrated, unified communication infrastructure.

UMS' video capability could be fully utilized and has a voice and instant messaging and a lot of clients consider this as the system's main feature because of its positive impact on their operations. To be able to achieve full applicability, each component should be efficiently used while interphasing with other components. UMS also has a high-definition teleconferencing that allows you to facilitate business operations with your business partners even though they are far away.

Utilizing video for your business can provide a higher quality of service as well as minimize management overhead and allow consistent user experience on different devices. To attain your desired results, this tool should be closely integrated in a unified and constant way with your communications infrastructure. Videos are also easier to integrate into business systems. Ostensibly, this particular tool delivers simpler and easier use of communication links that gives great benefit to company's staff and customers.

UMS is proven effective to a lot of customers and their testimonies were a strong testament to the system's excellent features. MWI can demonstrate the real benefits of the system to actual business applications along with the rate of return. Potential users of the system could be confident to the capabilities of the system because MWI has a decade of extensive experience in the field of communication and unified communications, and it guarantees to the users the ease of operating and improving productivity and coordination.

Nowadays, developing communities have dynamic needs and businesses should be able to cope with them, this is why different IT innovations were introduced every year to complement with the rising demand for faster solutions. MWI fully understands this and they tend to upgrade the applicability of UMS to a wider selection of uses.

FraudLabs Pro enables you to perform the velocity check for quantity, amount and number of transactions that occurred within 24 hours. This feature is important because it safeguards you from potential losses if the numbers surge abnormally based on your track records. When this happens, you might want to review all orders before accepting the payment.

1. Login to the FraudLabs Pro Merchant Control Panel.
2. Click on the Rules menu.
3. Click on the Add Rule button.
4. In the Rule dropdown box, select Total Amount Transacted In This Profile Within The Last 24 Hours. (In this example, we will be performing the amount velocity check).
5. Enter the threshold amount in the Condition Param text box.
6. Select the Manual action.
7. Click on the Save button.
8. In this case, the system will automatically put the oncoming orders on review status if the total amount transacted exceeded the threshold.

You’ve made it. You’re finally at the helm of this company or this Business Unit. Your new appointment crowns many years of hard work, and a bit of luck. You’ve read HBR articles in detail and a swarm of your favorite consultants are sending you congratulations notes.

In many ways, the situation is comparable to when you got delivery of your brand new BMW. It’s always a bit intimidating getting into a new car. The smell of leather and glue is nicely intoxicating but you worry about the controls. It would be silly to stall, or worse crash, as you take your first turn outside the dealership.

You know how to drive. You got your license eons ago, much like your forgotten MBA or engineering degree. You’ve driven thousands of miles on all types of roads and under many weather conditions. You have experience behind the wheel of many cars, from your rusty Honda at school to the convertible you bought when you cashed your first stock options.

It mirrors your career. You have been staff and line. You have headed three different countries. You’ve led teams in sales, marketing, IT and are considered an expert of the supply-chain. You have even restructured a couple of operations. Nothing fazes you.

The BMW sales guy shows you how the car controls work. Your short stint as the IT director in Canada becomes finally useful when he covers all the customization options, from gear-changing to suspension settings, from differentiated cabin climate to Bluetooth. Eventually you drive safely to your first board meeting which goes well.

You then organize a road trip with some cultural or sports alibi when in fact the plan is to see how your car really drives on that small winding road you so like.

And as you discover the true performance envelope of your car, your grin grows. You understand how it corners, how you can accelerate and maintain traction, what its handling limits are. In essence you internalize the actual performance potential of your new car.

As your start your new job on Monday, your board reminds you that you are expected to deliver a deep corporate transformation leading to sustainably higher ROCE. Your strategy consultants tell you about the criticality of your first hundred days (make or break) and how they have a blueprint or a roadmap for you. Your CFO takes you through the details of your balance sheet and your cash position and she shows you a first draft of your communication to the analysts community. You are subjected to scores of presentations covering your market positions by geographies and business lines, your global manufacturing position, your patents and pending litigations. You are being shown the management systems at your disposal to run the company. But you get almost no information about your workforce. You don’t know its skills and how they will evolve. You have no visibility on its resilience. You have limited data on the turnover of the critical roles. You’re left to resort to your intuition.

In other words, you now know everything there is to know about the technical specifications of your company, but you don’t know how it will drive. This is why a Workforce Legacy analysis, which I will cover in my next blog, is as important as you Strategic Roadmap. Going somewhere with a car you don’t understand often won’t get you any

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Not since the advent of the World Wide Web has something come along with the potential to dramatically transform the way we do things. Not, that is, until now.

The Internet of Things (IoT) promises to revolutionise the way we do business, the way we work, the way we play, the way we live. But what is it?

The Internet of Things

In simple terms, the Internet of Things is a world in which both sophisticated and everyday objects are connected to the internet, allowing them to send and receive data. It comprises three main elements: sensors within devices, a Wi-Fi connection, and people and processes.

Research company Gartner estimates that, by 2020, the Internet of Things will have hit the mainstream, with more than 25 billion devices online. Whilst the increase will be seen in all areas, including automotive, consumer and business, it estimates that consumer use will increase the most.

Explosion in devices

Gartner estimates that there will be an explosion in the number of devices available, as connections span people to people, people to things and things to things. Let’s take the home as an example. Already, homeowners can use an app on their smartphone to control the temperature in their home. There are Wi-Fi enabled coffee makers and kettles on sale that can be switched on from the comfort of your bed, ready for when you do decide to get up. Other devices are as simple as allowing you to switch something on or off when you’re not there.

Within the field of healthcare, wearable devices are becoming increasingly popular. Devices such as Fitbit and the AppleWatch seek to monitor daily activity, calorie expenditure, sleep patterns and a host of other information in order to help the wearer become healthier. In addition, the data that these devices produce can be shared with their doctors, allowing them to make better and more tailored decisions surrounding their patients’ health. Customers that share their data with their health insurance companies may well benefit from lower premiums if they are maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

In the not-too-distant future, a connection between the brain and a smart device, known as “direct neural interaction”, which can help restore hearing, sight loss, and limb movement, will become more prevalent.

Business

Within business, the IoT has the capability to reduce costs by making processes more efficient. In simple terms, office equipment would know when they were running low on supplies and could automatically re-order more. On a bigger scale, the leap in technological innovation in sensor and monitoring technology has led to a wholescale reduction in the price of oil and gas exploration, as well as aircraft engines that can send real-time data on the engine’s function back to monitoring stations on the ground.

What has driven the growth of IoT?

In part, this growth of IoT has been brought about by much cheaper technology. The cost of the sensors that collect all this data has reduced significantly in recent years. In tandem, more and more devices are being built with sensors, and those sensors can measure more and more things: our location, camera and audio information, and everything from temperature, pollutants in the atmosphere, humidity, barometric pressure and so on.

In addition, broadband technology has reached more and more people, and smartphone penetration has rocketed. At the same time computer power is ever more sophisticated. These things have all combined to create the perfect storm that has led to the advent of the Internet of Things.

The future
Opportunities and challenges

In the future, some have imagined smart cities, where everything from lighting, parking spaces, air quality and waste is connected.

But with every opportunity comes challenge. Although the wide scale adoption of the Internet of Things is almost certain, challenges remain. What about security and data protection? If your kettle is on the internet, can it and all your other devices be hacked? Where does the data your kettle produces go, and who has the right to see it? Can they keep that data safe? On a broader scale, do we have the skills and abilities in the job market to enable companies to make the most of this? These are the questions that will come to the fore as the adoption of the Internet of Things continues apace.

Huxley Banking and Finance is a global recruitment specialist to the banking and finance sectors.

Welcome to the IOSCO Investor Education Gateway! This is the place to find information about many IOSCO members' on-line investor education activities, as well as IOSCO publications and presentations regarding investor education.

Investor Education has been and continues to be a significant part of multiple IOSCO seminar training programs. Additionally, and upon requests made by IOSCO members, dedicated Investor Education training has been organized and presented by IOSCO staff.

IOSCO has a major commitment to improving and promoting investor education. Just some of the priorities on the horizon for the IOSCO Education and Training team include:

- Conducting Investor Education Workshops;

- Expanding the Investor Education Gateway;

- Making investor education resources available for all IOSCO members;

- Continuing IOSCO research regarding all aspects of investor education, and offering assistance to IOSCO members with respect to their own investor education initiatives;

- Providing forums and other platforms for IOSCO members to share "Best Practices" and "Good Ideas";

- Analyze what does the current research show with respect to investor education?;

- Focus on what works and what does not work...and what is the proof if something does work?"

The International Financial Securities Regulatory Commission was established to promote investor confidence in the securities and capital markets by providing more structure and government oversight.

Our Team

Our strength is the breadth of our Asia-based team and depth of local knowledge. Our staff of more than 150 includes experts from around the world in fields ranging from law, accounting and banking to military, intelligence and computer forensics. All adhere to strict ethical and internal codes of conduct. Discretion, effectiveness and professionalism make our team – individually and as a unit – your trusted adviser.

Meet some of our team members.

Neil Marshall

Managing Director

Neil has more than 30 years of experience in security and business risk consulting across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. He helps corporate clients manage internal fraud matters, labour and commercial relationships, and crisis and contingency management issues, working with stakeholders and senior management to create solutions that are logical, ethical and economically sound. Clients include top-tier Fortune 500 organisations during times of exponential growth into new markets and operations.

Mike Groves

Security Risk Management

Prior to joining Hill & Associates, Mike completed a 28-year career in the Hong Kong Police Force, rising to directorate rank. During his service, Mike commanded the VIP Protection and Tactical Units, and oversaw operations at events including the Handover of Hong Kong in 1997 and meetings of the World Bank, IMF and WTO. Mike works with clients to pre-empt and address issues that impinge on business operations and reputation risk.

John Bruce

Corporate Intelligence

John Bruce runs our Corporate Intelligence service line, which encompasses business intelligence and integrity and background checks. In addition to this, he has specific responsibility for gaming related due diligence, having become involved in the gaming industry due to the burgeoning expansion in worldwide gaming that took place alongside the expansion of the worldwide web. He has considerable experience in providing independent consulting services to companies in the gaming industry on the nature of the industry in Asia.

Adelene Wee

Fraud Prevention & Integrity Risk

Adelene has worked throughout Asia and has extensive experience in the practicalities of doing business – both local and cross-border. She is responsible for managing and conducting client engagements focused on the areas of fraud, bribery and corruption, ethics, corporate governance and integrity and compliance matters. Prior to joining Hill & Associates, Adelene worked in tax and legal services in a Big Four firm and in corporate and commercial law at several international firms.