by admin_lauth | May 31, 2017 | Private Investigations News
What is Business Intelligence?
In 1989 Howard Dresner, the founder and chief research officer at Dresner Advisory services is noted as the first to use the term business intelligence as an umbrella category for supporting and accelerating business decision making processes using data analytics techniques.
According to CIO business intelligence refers to a variety of software applications used to analyze an organization’s raw data. CIO also states that BI as a discipline is made up of several related activities including, data mining, online analytic processing, querying, and reporting.
In layman’s term, BI is simply using methods and programs to collect and structure data into relevant and reliable information that can be presented to directors within a company. This information is very meaningful to directors and helps them to take actions towards achieving goals as well as making important decisions, such as understanding what drives revenue for your private investigation business.
Hitachi Solutions describes BI as a grocery store of business data because all of the data is organized in such a way that you can find information on your own and not rely on anyone else. However, you would first need to speak to the relevant experts to gather raw data and then pass it onto someone who would then compile everything for you in a business intelligence system.
No longer do employees have to sift through complex spreadsheets and analyze data manually in order to put together reports. Now, organizations can simply use a business intelligence system to request the required information.
Data Mining
Data mining is the incorporation of mathematical methods such as equations and algorithms to extract trends and patterns.
According to the criteria, a business may need data mining in BI systems can provide predictive analysis of several growth potentials that can be used to determine the best market to enter, resulting in saving countless man hours.
In order to maximize the benefits of data mining, it’s important that managers and directors apply the knowledge obtained from BI systems. BI makes it easy with neat reports instead of scattered notes and files.
Online Analytic Processing (OLAP)
According to their website, OLAP performs multidimensional analysis of business data and provides the capability for complex calculations, trend analysis, and sophisticated data modeling. It is the foundation for many kinds of business applications for Business Performance Management, Planning, Budgeting, Forecasting, Financial Reporting, Analysis, Simulation Models, Knowledge Discovery, and Data Warehouse Reporting. OLAP enables end-users to perform ad hoc analysis of data in multiple dimensions, thereby providing the insight and understanding they need for better decision making.
A great real world example of how OLAP may be useful to a business comes from Network World, where they speak of requesting information about company sales in Europe over the year, then drilling down to the sales of computers in September to calculate year-to-date sales or compare revenue figures with those for the same products sold in January, and then seeing a comparison of TV sets sales in Europe in the same time period.
Querying and Reporting
Querying and reporting consists of three steps:
1. Querying – retrieving data from a database (OLAP for example)
2. Formatting – making the results readable for analyses
3. Distribution – administering reports to users
In strict terms, the formatting and distribution are both considered reporting. From the business intelligence, BI systems may form business reports. Business reports are created by the business users and may be created without any knowledge of programming eliminating the need for involvement with the IT department.
Why Use Business Intelligence
BI can be a great advantage when making strategic decisions such as a merger with another company. A decision like this has many potential risks and would require detailed information on the company’s history, ethics, affiliations and undisclosed liabilities to name a few.
Since BI is organized data that can be accessed freely whenever one desires, it could also be used to access the internal state of a business or organization by providing data on areas of strength and weakness, hidden patterns, ineffective business operations, and can even point out new opportunities for the firm. It can also be used to determine the return on investment of your marketing strategy for a private investigation business for instance.
A great example from Hitachi Solutions is using a loyalty card to track everything a customer buys within a store or online, which will then go into your database. This data can then be used to run analytical reports on the customer’s information enabling you to comprehend specific details about your target audience, such as the products the purchase and how often the purchase them, and which preference the have when it comes to shopping online, versus shopping at a brick and mortar.
All of this information would be very valuable to a retail manager as he would be able to predict the customers’ habits, needs, and preferences and create new opportunities to sell. But it’s clear to see how having a BI could benefit other business owners allowing them to deliver better services and create marketing campaigns specifically tailored to their clientele.
Firms can also use BI systems to gain information on your competitor by gathering the demographics of their client base, the number of products they offer, and the age range of their customers. With that data a company can then gear towards differentiating their brand and offer higher quality products and/or services.
Of course, there are many more benefits to having a Business Intelligence system, such as collection information in the Human Resource Department for combatting income loss and retaining employees, creating easy to understand graphs and charts for important meetings, and identifying areas of the business that need re-engineering.
Business Intelligence Software
“Lack of trust is one of the greatest barriers to success in business intelligence programs.” – Howard Dresner
Finding a trustworthy BI software is essential to the success of your business and with the many choices there are out there it’s important that you purchase the right one.
Top BI software and tools include IBM Cognos Analytics, Microsoft SharePoint, and YellowFin. Some of these softwares offer a free trial before you have to commit to paying. And so you can get a good gauge of which tools would work best for your business.
Conclusion
In short business intelligence refers to a group of tools and techniques that collect and organizes data then presents it in a way that is useful when making important business decisions.
Business intelligence makes turns data into understandable accurate information that you can take action on.
by admin_lauth | May 1, 2017 | News
Mainstream media has done a fantastic job of skewing the public’s view of private investigators to be something that it’s not. Specifically, TV-shows and movies portray private investigators as people who are not bound by the same laws as everyone else. Here are some of the popular misconceptions about private investigators:
Misconceptions about Private Investigators
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Private investigators can’t make arrests.
It is a common perception that private investigators function similarly to the police. However, private investigators are not permitted to make arrests unless they are in a state where a citizen’s arrest is legal. Even then, specific circumstances must be met and it is more probable that a private investigator would contact the police if they felt an arrest was warranted.
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They can’t check someone’s financial records.
Private investigators have several tools at their disposal but access to financial records is not one of them. Bank account information falls under private property and cannot be accessed without the appropriate approval from a court.
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They can’t tap phone conversations.
This is another instance where a private investigator is bound by the law. Private phone conversations are still protected property and it is illegal for anyone to tap a phone without permission from a court. This also applies to recording any kind of conversation without the subjects being aware.
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They put together background reports on people that contain private information.
This misconception is derived from the background reports people purchase online. The information in these reports, however, consist of public information and are usually generated by an automated system. You can often find the same information online yourself without paying a fee for it.
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They can’t access someone’s credit information.
Laws in the United States have made it exceptionally difficult to obtain an individual’s credit information. A private investigator is bound by the same laws and cannot legally obtain someone’s credit information without telling them first.
Now that you know a little more about the misconceptions of private investigators, let’s talk about how they can actually be of help. The advantage of a private investigator is that they can tell you where to find information that will bolster your case. They can also compile useful information that might be difficult to obtain on your own. If you decide to hire a private investigator, be sure to get complete documentation of the services they provide.
Feel you have a case? Feel free to contact us to see how we can help.
by admin_lauth | Mar 20, 2017 | Corporate Investigations, Cyber Crime, Cyber Investigations, Investigations, Technology, Theft
We expose more of ourselves on a daily basis than at any other time in history. Most people have some form of social media an enterprising sleuth could build a profile based off of just by pressing the “older posts” button. There’s been a lot of news about wiretaps lately, but something under most people’s radar are the Smart TV’s and toys that have been listening to their owner’s conversations.
While it’s scary enough to consider how many things in your home could be listening in on you this very moment, what’s even more concerning is how quickly you can lose control of these devices and extorted to get them back. And it’s not just individuals having their devices and data taken from them, it’s also hit schools, hospital and private businesses hard over the last year.
One of the most common forms of extortion today is the use of “ransomware” to lock people or companies out of their electronics and data. Ransomware is a term for a particular kind of hacking that’s been on the rise as internet reliance has increased. Victims of ransomware typically receive a message on their device’s display saying something to the effect of “pay us this money and we’ll give you back your data.”
In an interview with CNN, South Carolina public school administrator Charles Huck, highlighted the dilemma presented by ransomware when he said, “You get to the point of making the business decision: Do I make my end-users — in our case teachers and students — wait for weeks and weeks and weeks while we restore servers from backup? Or do we pay the ransom and get the data back online more quickly?”
If the targets of ransomware want their systems or data back then they don’t have much choice, but to pay the fee. The hackers have repeatedly targeted hospitals since their technology working is literally a case of life or death there is significant pressure on the hospitals to simply pay the ransom.
When Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center had some of it’s communication devices taken over by hackers last year, the criminals demanded $17,000 to be paid in bitcoin. The hackers asked for that amount, because it’s low enough most places will pay under the impression it’s the quickest way to get it all over with.
“The malware locks systems by encrypting files and demanding ransom to obtain the decryption key. The quickest and most efficient way to restore our systems and administrative functions was to pay the ransom and obtain the decryption key,” Chief Executive Allen Stefanek said when the LA Times asked why they paid the hackers. “In the best interest of restoring normal operations, we did this.”
One of the scarier things about ransomware is this is only the beginning. The FBI reported ransomware to be a $1 billion industry in 2016. In a follow-up story CNN reported:
At that rate, ransomware is on pace to be a $1 billion a year crime this year. The FBI told CNN that the number “is quite high” because a few people “reported large losses.”
The agency also said that the losses could even be bigger once other related costs from these extortion schemes are factored in. Plus: Some victims may choose to pay and not report the crime.
Paul Roberts, founder and editor of a website called The Security Ledger told CNN, “The ransomware criminals understand this. Their business in some ways is a volume business so they don’t set their ransom so high that you can’t pay it. They set it at a level so they can get their money and move on to the next victim.”
This crime has even made its way into consumer electronics like smart phones and TVs. Last Christmas a photo of an LG TV stricken with ransomware went viral.
The hackers demand far less money to relinquish control of personal devices, but $500, especially if it’s on Christmas Day after you’ve spent money on gifts, is still a lot. In December, Slate reported:
“Ransomware works by taking over a system until a user pays a fee, often in the form of cryptocurrency or digital gift cards. One recent high-profile ransomware attack shut down much of San Francisco’s public transit system while another targeted a Hollywood hospital. More mundane ransomware has been reported on Android devices since at least 2014, and Frantic Locker first began to show up on phones in 2015.
Keep your systems operating systems up to date and don’t download files that aren’t from trusted site to help avoid ransomware. If you do all these things and still end up under attack, contact your systems administrator or the manufacturer of your device. Take precaution, because ransomware isn’t going away anytime soon.
David Schroeder, Blog Writer, Lauth Investigations International
