bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Performance of monthly multivariate filtered historical simulation value-at-risk
Authors: Chrétien Stéphane , Coggins Frank , Trudel Yves
Published: July 2024

This study examines the performance of 16 value-at-risk (VaR) models in the context of institutional portfolio management. The paper focuses on multivariate versus univariate approaches of asset modelling, estimated with monthly or daily data, and filtered historical simulation (FHS) versus Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) techniques. Tests on VaR violations show that the best-performing models are generally the univariate FHS and MCS models with daily asymmetric GARCH specification. A comparative analysis reveals that the asymmetric impact of positive versus negative shocks in the conditional volatility is the most important feature of the models.
The seven faces of consumer sustainability, and what they mean for brands
Authors: Baker Nick
Published: July 2024

Sustainability is still a driving force behind the marketing approach taken by many brands. There are, however, risks associated with perceptions of ‘greenwashing’ and a potential failure to understand the attitudes and behaviours behind consumer behaviour in this area — in particular, the ‘say-do’ gap. This pertains to what people think about sustainability and how it actually affects their buying patterns. This paper analyses the findings from an extensive study of more than 12,000 adults in the USA, Canada and UK to identify seven consumer segments characterised by personas that identify their thinking and buying behaviours across a number of important consumer product and service categories. It thereby offers marketers new insight into how the nuances of these personas can inform future campaigns developed around sustainability.
How payments professionals can engage more effectively with regulatory colleagues: A short guide to technical advocacy
Authors: Wandhöfer Ruth
Published: July 2024

This paper examines the European Union (EU) decision-making process around financial legislation, with a particular focus on the payment services industry. Given the plethora of regulatory requirements emanating from the EU, it is important to understand the procedures and processes that lead to legislation. In that regard, the advice of industry experts is key and, therefore, this paper explores ways of applying and sharing expert knowledge at a technical level in appropriate ways. The engagement process and opportunity to influence and shape legislation is discussed in detail, with a view to enabling improved dialogue between market participants and those responsible for developing policy at EU level.
The case for applying systems thinking to global supply chain management
Authors: Gardner Dan
Published: July 2024

‘Systems thinking’ is an engineering discipline designed to improve the performance of any type of system by leveraging the interactions that take place between its component parts. Because it focuses on the interdependencies that exist among the elements that comprise a system’s structure, as well as the feedback loops that occur within it, systems thinking is ideal for application to the field of supply chain management. Whereas the principles of systems thinking can be seen in supply chain simulations such as ‘the beer game’, its use has not kept up with the complexities inherent in globalisation. It is the objective of this paper to reintroduce systems thinking to global trade professionals and demonstrate how the application of its tenets to supply chain management can yield order-of-magnitude advances in operational outcomes, supplier relations, customer satisfaction, corporate citizenship and financial results.
Leadership and developing a patient experience programme
Authors: Green Melissa
Published: July 2024

The healthcare industry is quickly transitioning to a value-based environment. Patient experience is a driver in the new healthcare world, focused on the start-to-end care a patient receives in the healthcare system. Leadership is an essential part of the success of an organisation’s healthcare programme. This paper gives details of several components of a successful patient experience programme, which all begin with the leadership defining purpose.
Protecting the crown jewels of the government through infrastructure resilience and the DHS Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation programme
Authors: Cox Kevin , Kneidinger Mark
Published: July 2024

For the first time, the US federal government will know the state of its networks at any given time, identify and rank problems for priority resolution, and invest resources in fixing the most significant cyber security problems first. How is this being accomplished? Through the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) programme established by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Through CDM, agencies are provided a risk-based tools framework for cyber security, inclusive of sensors and an associated dashboard to detect vulnerabilities. The approach provides full visibility of the network for timely mitigation and proactive maintenance. This programme is making an impact today across over 97 per cent of the federal government. It has done so by: 1) discovering and protecting endpoints not detected by previous assessments; 2) providing solutions that prevent unauthorised access to the information ‘crown jewels’ of the government; and 3) initiating comprehensive CDM dashboards, both at the agency and federal levels, to provide critical visibility into vulnerabilities across the infrastructure. The CDM programme’s commitment to cyber security matches its commitment to innovation. This paper is premised on discussing the current state of the CDM programme, as well as its future direction.
Airport noise and performance-based navigation: A force for good or evil?
Authors: Eagan Mary Ellen , Gundry Rhea
Published: July 2024

The global aviation system is in the midst of modernisation. This includes a transition to satellite-based navigation, which offers opportunities for improved safety, efficiency and predictability. This paper posits that — despite some false starts — performance-based navigation (PBN) also offers opportunities to address noise problems. PBN relies on satellites for navigation, rather than ground-based navigational aids. The improved precision of PBN routes generally results in concentration of flights into narrow corridors. When implemented without consideration of community impacts, it has resulted in significant community outcry (even lawsuits), but when implemented with care, it can offer potential to avoid noise-sensitive areas. Our experience shows that the most successful projects are those in which the airport has been fully engaged and in which there is extensive and meaningful collaboration between all stakeholders: air navigation service providers (ANSP), industry (including airlines and other operators), airports and communities. Participants should not expect this to be easy — it is a lengthy and expensive process — but one that may be necessary for long-term compatibility and for airport growth. This paper provides an overview of PBN development in the USA as well as case studies of implementation of PBN at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (AZ), Oakland International Airport (CA) and Boston Logan International Airport (MA). The case studies illustrate the increasing collaboration between stakeholders and show that progress can be made.
Establishing an archive asset management system at the Sharjah Broadcasting Authority
Authors: Kummer Jean-Christophe , Stöger Silvester
Published: July 2024

This paper describes the establishment of a video-tape digitisation factory and an archive asset management system at the Sharjah Broadcasting Authority, in the United Arab Emirates. It explains the context for the decision to adopt in-house digitisation, along with the arguments for adopting the proposed solution. Special focus is put on the preservation process, cataloguing needs, integration with production asset management systems, multi-site setup and disaster recovery solutions.
Renewable energy: The pros and cons of its use for retrofit in domestic and commercial settings
Authors: Benfield Carl
Published: July 2024

Renewable energy is one of the most exciting technologies of the 21st century, held aloft as the panacea to take us out of the energy and carbon crisis and into a place of energy resilience. The ‘trilemma’ of ‘keeping the lights on’, being cost-effective, and reducing carbon emissions is met in part by this technology. Businesses and domestic customers alike are increasingly interested in what renewable energy has to offer, but are often confused by the available options, pitfalls and potential complications of becoming involved in renewable microgeneration. This article aims to address this issue with an overview of each of the technologies, their relative merits and the incentives available to help make renewable energy a worthwhile investment. Case studies are also included as examples of the use of the renewable energy and the investment opportunity that it holds.
RICS Property Measurement: The new standard for office buildings
Authors: Ash Robert
Published: July 2024

The measurement and reporting of office space within the UK changed on 1st January, 2016. The professional statement, published as RICS Property Measurement, details the new standards that reflect the internationally agreed criteria (IPMS Office Buildings) established in 2014 in the pursuit of greater consistency and transparency for commercial office property dealings around the globe. Previously, the use of existing national measurement standards from around the world lead to differences in reported area figures of office space by as much as 24 per cent. This article describes the differences of the new standard from the RICS Code of Measuring Practice, 6th edition, and the means of converting between the old and new standards. The RICS Code of Measuring Practice, 6th edition, now only applies for office space reporting under direct client instruction but still remains current for all other property types.
The Mexican transparency standoff: What will you do ‘next time’?
Authors: Gibson Alaric , Simpson Daniel
Published: July 2024

Nearly six years on from the launch of the G20 plan for financial services reform, hundreds of thousands of pages of regulation have been written on transparency. As increasingly more regimes are put in place across the G20, the difficulty in meeting the requirements rises: new data fields are required to be sourced, infrastructure needs to be built and complexity arises from each regime’s distinctive ‘flavour’ of requirements. At the same time, even if one argues that firms in theory could meet these disparate and often vague transparency requirements, they have little incentive to invest the vast amounts of resources required because the penalties for not doing so are less burdensome. UK-based firms have been fined a total of £33m over the last six years for transaction reporting failures, less than £5m for risk reporting failures and nothing at all for trade reporting. Meanwhile, regulators, without the quality data with which to analyse the financial system, find their ability to prevent future crises com­promised. Without significant changes in the approach to providing data for systemic risk analytics, the industry will continue to live with an opaque and murky system.
Changing the paradigm of emergency response: The need for first-care providers
Authors: Bobko Joshua P. , Kamin Richard
Published: July 2024

There is a major gap in the security of the critical infrastructure — civilian medical response to atypical emergencies. Clear evidence demonstrates that, despite ongoing improvements to the first-responder system, there exists an inherent delay in the immediate medical care at the scene of an emergency. This delay can only be reduced through a societal shift in reliance on police and fire response and by extending the medical system into all communities. Additionally, through analysis of military data, it is known that immediately addressing the common injury patterns following a traumatic event will save lives. The predictable nature of these injuries, coupled with an unavoidable delay in the arrival of first responders, necessitates the need for immediate care on scene. Initial care is often rendered by bystanders, typically armed only with basic first-aid training based on medical emergencies and does not adequately address the traumatic injury patterns seen in disasters. Implementing an approach similar to the American Cardiac Arrest Act can improve outcomes to traumatic events. This paper analyses the latest data on active shooter incidents and proposes that the creation of a network of trauma-trained medic extenders would improve all communities’ resilience to catastrophic disaster.
Identity and verification in the digital age: Where we are today and what the future could hold
Authors: Poole David
Published: July 2024

Thanks to the internet, the digital economy has changed the way people shop forever. However, this convenience has come at a price. In the effort to improve convenience and ease of use, financial and personal data have become exposed. This paper considers the identification and verification processes that have become necessary to allow digital transactions, and how upcoming developments, such as biometrics and machine learning, can impact the future and complement current identification and verification methods, like password and personal identity numbers, to strengthen data security.
Asset managers and financial market data procurement: Pay or die!
Authors: Siebel Rudolf
Published: July 2024

This paper describes the issues asset managers are facing in financial market data procurement. It discusses possible short- and medium-term regulatory measures in the European Union’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive/Regulation (MiFID/R), benchmark regulation and credit rating agency regulations (CRAR) to deal with the associated exchanges price, index and ratings data-procurement and usage issues, collectively referred to as financial market data (FMD). As first step, in the near term, increased supervision and enforcement of existing MiFID/R market data cost regulation by both European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and National Competent Authorities (NCAs) could help to address somewhat the ongoing dispute between market data users on the buy- and the sellside and market data providers, mainly exchanges and market data distributors. Additionally, changes to applicable supervisory laws across the different regulated data providers, namely exchanges, benchmark providers and credit-rating agencies, are suggested to be implemented during the mandate of the new European Commission, which operates until 2024, to achieve a coherent regulation of FMD cost and transparency rules.
RARET’s coalition-based model: Addressing complex life-sustaining transportation during emergencies
Authors: Sydnor Dean
Published: July 2024

Emergencies intensify existing vulnerabilities and create new ones for people in their impact areas. In the case of transportation, for example, disasters have the capacity to isolate individuals from the services on which they rely not for only their health and wellbeing, but for their very lives. This paper discusses the Regional Alliance for Resilient and Equitable Transportation (RARET) — a coalition-based model created to address non-life-saving transportation coordination needs during emergencies. RARET focuses on the provision of lifesustaining transportation, serving vulnerable individuals who may require first-responder assistance if their unaddressed needs remain unmet. Using examples from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as seasonal and regional disasters, the paper highlights how leveraging a coalition built to break down the sector and geographical silos leads to better outcomes for the public and bolsters regional resiliency. The paper underlines how the novel nature of RARET delivers ongoing process improvements via a new emergency transportation provider network. Lastly, the paper suggests methods to adapt this model to other jurisdictions.
Never mind quantum — what about liability?
Authors: Fetherstonhaugh Guy
Published: July 2024

Dilapidations cases in recent years have tended to focus upon damages rather than liability. But many of those cases also illustrate confusion regarding the tests to be applied in order to ascertain whether the covenantor is liable in the first place. Too often professionals adopt a case-technician approach to liability, trying to find the nearest fit to the facts. This approach is unprincipled, and apt to lead to error. This paper seeks to set out the first principles of interpretation of repairing obligations, and to explain why the facts of even closely similar cases may generate quite different liability results.
Leveraging financial personality for inclusive credit scoring amidst global uncertainty
Authors: Van Thiel Diederick , Goedee John , Leenders Roger
Published: July 2024

The Ukraine war, high inflation and rising interest rates are jeopardising people's ability to afford essential items such as food and energy, causing a widespread sense of vulnerability worldwide. Consequently, access to finance has become increasingly challenging for vulnerable consumer groups, including young adults without established credit histories, senior citizens with fixed incomes, start-up entrepreneurs, sole traders, single parents, immigrants in Western markets. To address this issue, this study explores the potential use of individuals' financial personality for inclusive credit scoring in these uncertain environments. Examining a sample of low-income individuals in the USA and the Netherlands, our psychometric scoring models (PSMs) demonstrate that late payments can be attributed to factors such as financial capability, materialistic tendencies, impulsive buying behaviour, social desirability and attitudes towards debt. These findings provide evidence that PSMs offer a viable solution to advance financial inclusion for vulnerable customer segments amidst global uncertainty.
The impact of merchant and mobile payments on financial inclusion in Asia-Pacific
Authors: Kapron Zennon
Published: July 2024

Financial inclusion is one of the biggest impediments to growth in South-east Asia. Access to financial products or even financial institutions is very limited in some countries, constraining both individual and company access to capital. This phenomenon has only intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is especially problematic for those individuals and companies with largely offline businesses. This paper argues that the roots of change are starting to take hold, as payment service providers and business-to-business players are helping bridge the digital divide. Payments services are increasingly likely not to be standalone products, but rather to include a myriad of both financial and non-financial products and services that can help individuals and companies increase their economic empowerment.
The former Indian DPB, California's CCPA and the European GDPR: A comparative analysis
Authors: Chacko Mathew , Mishra Shambhavi
Published: July 2024

This paper intends to critically analyse the major substantive areas of divergence between India's former draft data protection law (the Data Protection Bill, 2019), the European General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act, 2018. The paper further identifies aspects of the General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act, 2018 that must be adopted in the Indian context from a business perspective. The Indian government has since withdrawn the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 (the 2021 bill containing proposed amendments to the 2019 bill) in light of the severe pushback received from the industry. Instead, the government proposes to create a comprehensive legal framework regulating the entire digital ecosystem, which would also include a new data protection bill that fits into this framework. The authors intend to revisit their observations when this legal framework is published for consultation.
Is your company ‘The Biggest Loser’?
Authors: Jancouskas Bill
Published: July 2024

This paper takes a light-hearted look at two very dissimilar topics — losing weight and establishing a business continuity programme — and considers the similar challenges that must be overcome to ensure success. Both topics require buy-in by the participants, a disciplined approach, certified managers and planning techniques to keep the efforts on track.
Safe banking to avoid moral hazard
Authors: Acharya Sankarshan
Published: July 2024

This paper argues that the moral hazard risk faced by a banking or non-banking firm can be dissipated by arbitrage trading in a market economy. This implies an optimal policy for (a) discontinuation of government insurance, regulation or bank intervention and (b) promotion of market-based safe banks that only invest in government securities and universal banks that invest in all assets. Safe banks can serve panic-prone depositors and thus minimise the systemic risk faced by an economy due to banking panics and runs. The risk premium on assets of a leveraged firm can be shown to be negatively related to asset volatility. The minimum asset-to-debt ratio threshold below which a firm goes bankrupt is an increasing function of the asset risk premium.
Using loyalty card records and machine learning to understand how self-medication purchasing behaviours vary seasonally in England, 2012–2014
Authors: Davies Alec , Green Mark A. , Riddlesden Dean , Singleton Alex D.
Published: July 2024

This paper examines objective purchasing information for inherently seasonal self-medication product groups using transaction-level loyalty card records. Predictive models are applied to predict future monthly self-medication purchasing. Analyses are undertaken at the lower super output area level, allowing the exploration of ˜300 retail, social, demographic and environmental predictors of purchasing. The study uses a tree ensemble predictive algorithm, applying XGBoost using one year of historical training data to predict future purchase patterns. The study compares static and dynamic retraining approaches. Feature importance rank comparison and accumulated local effects plots are used to ascertain insights of the influence of different features. Clear purchasing seasonality is observed for both outcomes, reflecting the climatic drivers of the associated minor ailments. Although dynamic models perform best, where previous year behaviour differs greatly, predictions had higher error rates. Important features are consistent across models (eg previous sales, temperature, seasonality). Feature importance ranking had the greatest difference where seasons changed. Accumulated local effects plots highlight specific ranges of predictors influencing self-medication purchasing. Loyalty card records offer promise for monitoring the prevalence of minor ailments and reveal insights about the seasonality and drivers of over-the-counter medicine purchasing in England.
Small airport adoption of environmental practices: A managerial perspective
Authors: Harley Grace , Timmis Andrew J. , Budd Lucy
Published: July 2024

Although the environmental effects associated with the operation of a small airport may not exceed regulatory thresholds and may be small in comparison to the environmental impacts associated with the operation of large hubs, the combined cumulative environmental impacts of small airports remains considerable and individual sites may aspire to improve their environmental performance. Small airports, however, may struggle to adopt the environmental practices (EP) that enable larger airports to manage and mitigate their externalities. As such, there is an unrealised potential for environmental mitigation at small airports. The aim of this research is to explore the drivers and barriers to EP adoption at small airports. Using in-depth semi-structured interviews with airport managers and environmental officers representing 19 small airports in the UK, this paper identifies and examines the drivers and barriers to EP engagement for small airports. The findings show that although cost can be an issue, human resource availability, levels of management support and local site-specific factors often pose the biggest challenges to EP adoption. Policy and practice-based recommendations to support small airport engagement with EPs are offered in the conclusion.
An epistemological study of Hispanic marketing, 1979–2015: The need to bridge theory with practice
Authors: Beniflah Jake , C. Chatterjee Sharmila
Published: July 2024

The primary objective of this study is to document the trends in US Hispanic marketing over the last 36 years. A review of journals in advertising, communications, general business and marketing in the USA from 1979 to 2015 found 42 papers were published on Hispanic marketing during this time frame. Content analysis showed that the majority of the research on Hispanic marketing centred on two areas: language and consumer behaviour. The authors express concern that the amount of research into Hispanic marketing is insufficient, given that the US Hispanic population will nearly triple by 2050 and will be an important growth segment for corporations. This paper suggests that business practitioners and scholars need to work more closely together to close the knowledge gap, combining their different competencies and areas of expertise to solve complex business problems in a country increasingly characterised by multiculturalism.
Marketing strategies to alleviate risk and build trust for emerging online brands: Case of an Asian cosmetic brand entering into the USA
Authors: Southworth Sarah (Song) , Kim Minjeong
Published: July 2024

Despite the growth of emerging brands launching their businesses online as their first retail channel, there is a lack of understanding regarding effective marketing strategies specific to them. The present research offers marketing strategies to alleviate risk and build trust, with a particular focus on emerging online fashion brands. The study examines how familiar cues such as store name and brand origin can be used to construct a perception of quality around an unfamiliar brand in order to alleviate risk and build trust. The researchers also observe how consumers’ online purchase experience with a particular product category influences how their quality perception alleviates risk and builds trust. The results indicate that unfamiliar brands can successfully introduce their brands online using familiar cues such as store name as a quality indicator to build trust and alleviate risk. In the context of this study, however, brand origin did not influence quality perception in the case of fashion goods in the USA. Furthermore, consumers with online purchase experience in a specific product category were found to be more confident that quality would alleviate risk. Practical implications are discussed.
Risk adjusting the culture of global finance
Authors: Grody Allan D.
Published: July 2024

The journey toward risk adjusting the financial system has begun in earnest. The pieces are being put in place: more resilient capital adequacy standards; more appropriate risk measurement techniques; central counterparties for over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives; new collateral and margin schemes; and the global identification coding system for financial market participants and their traded products. When completed, a long journey for sure, there will be a final piece left to do, risk adjusting the culture of global finance. That is certainly the most difficult of all as it effects people's attitudes and behaviour within newly evolving financial regulations, industry structures and financial institutions. It starts with hiring the ‘right’ people and then the way they are trained; it proceeds with the mentoring they receive and the habits they are taught within a tempered view of performance and risk; and its ends with a generational transfer of core principles from the seasoned to the young.
Electronic communications monitoring, the broken windows theory and artificial intelligence
Authors: Florez German
Published: July 2024

One of the reasons for having a compliance programme is to prevent and detect misconduct. It is for this reason that whistleblower programmes, hotline systems and compliance monitoring programmes have become more relevant. The purpose of monitoring is to determine whether the internal controls are adequately designed and executed in an appropriate manner. In this context, monitoring of electronic communications can provide a company with a clear picture in order to prevent and correct problems on the short-term basis. Despite the fact programmes such as employee monitoring (monitoring of electronic communications) are created by regulators to prevent conduct against the market and the society in general, in light of the ‘broken windows’ theory, any company involved in employee monitoring has an added value: internal and external frauds and misbehaviours are prevented by detection or by deterrence or by a ‘clean environment’, saving millions. The combination of electronic communications and artificial intelligence (AI) will change the way compliance is created. It will also prevent and address the risk before it is too late, avoiding fines and other negative effects, and will become an important tool for management in providing important information in order to focus and run the company. This paper discusses how the combination of electronic communications and AI will change the way compliance is implemented. It will become an important tool for management in providing important information to run the company.
Emotion and feedback: The keys to customer engagement
Authors: Mcmaster Mike , Schwartz Gary
Published: July 2024

This paper explores the topic of customer engagement, and in particular, the key driver at the heart of effective customer engagement — emotion. Customer emotion is linked to measurable business benefits and return on investment measures. The paper examines effective communication channels to achieve this emotional engagement, focused on Short Message Service (SMS — text messaging) ‘the single most powerful real-time channel on the planet’. This includes practical examples of planning, implementation and achieving expected success measures/return on investment, including case study examples from the hospitality, retail and banking sectors in the UK and USA.
Creating value in patient-centred care by aligning the supply chain with service provision: Experiences with RITMOCORE
Authors: Moreno-Pérez Sofía , Viñolas Xavier , Barroso Mireia , Sampol Caterina , Anguera Ignasi , Maspons Ramon , Alessandrello Rossana , Fidalgo Nico
Published: July 2024

An ageing European population translates into a steady growth in the demand for pacemakers. Budgetary constraints in healthcare systems call for innovative solutions to meet this rising demand while safeguarding the quality of care. The current approach generally consists in reducing the price per device by aggregating buys, but this creates a misalignment in the value chains of suppliers and healthcare providers. Clinicians, already overworked, do not have access to technologies that could significantly decrease the time required per patient in the follow-up stages of the care pathway. Patients, on the other hand, receive lower-quality follow-up in a care pathway that is already fragmented and where general practitioners lack the necessary information to provide them with comprehensive care. RITMOCORE, a Public Procurement of Innovation (PPI) project funded by the European Union under Horizon2020, was set up in 2016 to transform the care pathway of patients suffering from bradycardias and implanted with a pacemaker. The model proposed by RITMOCORE posits a shift from buying devices to buying services, where payments are outcome based (thus distributing the risk between the parties) and where services are supported by advanced information and communications technology (ICT) systems that make remote monitoring possible.
Talent development: Driving improved company performance through an integrated global talent development model
Authors: Hersh Mark
Published: July 2024

This paper analyses how an integrated global talent development model enables the seven key foundations of supply chain excellence and delivers sustained marketplace success. A summary of the integrated talent model is presented along with a description of the blocks within the model and how together they shape the required skills, competencies and capabilities for successful supply chain leaders across all levels, as well as increasing supply chain discipline knowledge for leaders outside the direct supply chain field. This paper sets out the value of structured learning programmes and continuous learning, and stresses the importance of executive presence, inclusion and diversity, breaking bias, digital dexterity, new employee development and overall career development. The paper also describes the critical success factors and governance for sustained success. Measurable value can be delivered across multiple vectors using this talent development framework and approach. The paper concludes with a view of what supply chain leaders need to be successful in the future and sustain a company’s competitive marketplace success.
Strategic continuity planning: The first critical step
Authors: Smith Jack
Published: July 2024

Many companies (and business continuity professionals) believe a company needs a comprehensive, all-inclusive business continuity plan. Often they reach this conclusion after other companies or potential clients have requested to see their business continuity plan as a precondition of doing business. Companies without ‘a plan’ are then tempted to go out and hire a business continuity person and tell them to ‘Create a plan!’ This makes perfect sense to the executive team, but this approach will probably not work in a real event. This paper addresses the shortcomings of producing tactical documentation and calling it ‘The Plan’, and discusses ways to engage management in the development of a corporate strategy to be used during and after an event.
Security certification for critical information infrastructures: The Italian certification body approach
Authors: Franchina Luisa , Gratta Laura , Carbonelli Marco
Published: July 2024

Critical national infrastructures (CNIs) — defined as any public or private infrastructure whose operation is essential for a country’s security and functioning, including such fundamental sectors as healthcare, economy, energy, transport, communication systems, law enforcement, defence and, in general, public administration — can be affected by a variety of events that can jeopardise their efficiency both directly and indirectly. CNIs increasingly rely on critical information infrastructures (CIIs), such as telecommunications. These networks must guarantee operational viability when critical events occur, as well as under normal working conditions. In some circumstances, critical events can affect not only the CNIs, but also their telecommunication infrastructures. Such failures are not necessarily caused by external events. To guarantee their correct and continuous operation, security aspects of CIIs must therefore be the focus of particular care. Guarantees on the effectiveness and correctness of the security measures deployed in the CII can be obtained through certification. This paper analyses the role of system/product security certification in this context. In particular, the paper describes the certification approach recommended by the Italian national certification body (Organismo di Certificazione della Sicurezza Informatica) to achieve the maximum benefit from the process, in terms of both efficiency and security.
The modernisation of payment systems in Azerbaijan: Examination of the new regulatory framework
Authors: Rustamov Tamerlan
Published: July 2024

Development and expansion of cashless payments is one of the priorities in the economy. Accordingly, people need to be provided with wider access to payment services. Modern payment tools and new payment instruments should be employed. It is critical to specify precisely the rights and obligations of all parties concerned in the settlement process to develop cashless settlements. These aspects make necessary the establishment of a new category of payment service providers and formulation of oversight policy over their activities by taking into account the trends in international experience. General trends in the field show that amendments to current legislation and adoption of new laws on payment systems and services, leading to the establishment new service providers, are widespread not only in European countries, but also in ex-Soviet countries such as Russia, Georgia and Ukraine. Creation of new payment service providers and classification of payment services, commonly provided by banks, require a new approach by the CBAR and adoption of specific regulations. These regulations would ensure more effective and secure payment services and strong competition in the payment services market. This paper explains how important it is to adopt new regulations and make critical amendments to the current legislation to establish new payment service providers such as payment institutions and electronic money institutions, in the Republic of Azerbaijan, and summarises the essential requirements related to the improvement of payment services.
A guide to evaluating AI vendors: Key questions to mitigate security risks
Authors: Ottenheimer Davi
Published: July 2024

The proliferation of Generative AI (GenAI) marketing claims has thrust businesses into high-stakes decisions amid evolving societal attitudes towards emerging technologies. Exercising caution is paramount, however, given the prevalence of forward-looking assertions by nascent artificial intelligence (AI) vendors regarding future capabilities. This paper advocates for a pragmatic approach, underscoring the significance of tackling immediate safety concerns while manoeuvring through the realm of AI solutions. With insights gleaned from over five decades of AI evolution, the paper highlights the cyclical nature of AI’s allure and underscores the importance of drawing lessons from past cycles. It champions a methodical assessment of risks associated with adopting generative AI solutions, stressing the imperatives of transparency and accountability. A pivotal suggestion is to demand tailored AI solutions from vendors, ensuring that AI frameworks prioritise the welfare of data proprietors. The paper cautions against vendors putting their own interests before those of their clientele, urging readers to pose probing inquiries before committing to AI deployments. Ultimately, the paper endeavours to arm readers with the acumen and tools necessary to navigate the intricacies of AI vendor relationships. By furnishing actionable guidance on recognising and mitigating AI vendor risks, it endeavours to embolden businesses to innovate judiciously in the ever-evolving AI landscape.
An examination of BJC HealthCare's deployment of an innovative virtual centralised self-pay business office
Authors: Berry Tracy B. , Levin Steven
Published: July 2024

BJC HealthCare, a network of 12 hospitals in Missouri and southern Illinois, in 2011, moved to a virtual self-pay, centralised business office operating model. The approach was an innovative departure from the legacy operating model using localised hospital business offices and locally managed self-pay outsource operations. Self-pay includes revenue from uninsured patients and revenue from insured patients with balance after responsibility, often called BAI. Through the use of web-based technology, the programme complemented a corporate effort establishing a central business office and enterprise-standard revenue cycle system. In the years following the eight-month rollout, BJC has realised more than US$17m in annual improvements in self-pay collection, 48 per cent yield increase and 11 per cent reduction in vendor fees. Self-pay cost to collect has fallen 18 per cent through a combination of lower vendor contingency rates and pulling cash forward into less expensive collection stages. Vendor management in healthcare is more complex than simply rate negotiation and invoice audits. More revenue is being worked by third-party vendors than at any time in history, which represents more cash flow and, more importantly, a hospital's long-term patient relationships. Patient relationships, in light of risk-based reimbursements, are strategic assets to be nurtured at every engagement over time. Traditional approaches to vendor management fail to meet today's and tomorrow's burden, given technical limitations within patient accounting systems.
A new future for Scotland’s towns
Authors: Prentice Phil
Published: July 2024

Towns are often overlooked. They are, however, a key element of global urban infrastructure. Decline is not inevitable. Towns and town centres are for the well-being of people, the planet and the economy. Towns are for everyone, and everyone has a role to play in making our towns and town centres successful. The Scottish Government review, ‘A New Future for Scotland’s Towns’, is an attempt to use its town centres to help deal with COVID-19 recovery, tackle the climate emergency and deal with systemic market failures while attempting to rebalance taxation to enable collaborative and community-focused investment into town centres. The review captured input from a wide range of stakeholders, from pension funds and the commercial property sector to local government and community groups. Importantly, housing, digital, climate, transport, culture, health and economy sectors were engaged. The review also listened to the ‘unheard voices’ in society: migrants, poverty forums, young people, the disabled, etc. Communities felt disconnected but there was a recognition that some places were doing well and that we can learn from them. We discovered that there was a substantial over-provision of retail space and that housing and planning policies needed to adjust to allow more residential and mixed used solutions. Not enough was being done on climate, digital or well-being. There were systemic imbalances in how businesses were being taxed and how development was being encouraged. A positive interim response to the report has already been agreed by central and local government. The next step is driving these recommendations forward collectively and in close consultation with the key stakeholders. We expect this work will take place over summer 2021, with a new Town Centre Action Plan setting out detailed proposals to enact the recommendations in the autumn. This review will ensure that Scotland remains at the forefront of town centre regeneration; a holistic place-based approach involving all actors should see substantial improvements made over the coming years.
A resilient NHS for London 2012
Authors: Wapling Andy , Mooney Tom
Published: July 2024

London will host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. Hosting the Games brings with it both opportunities and challenges for the capital and country. The National Health Service (NHS) in London has a crucial role to play in the delivery of a safe and secure Games. It must also protect its business as usual services and be prepared to respond to any enhanced or additional threats and hazards that may be created by the presence of the Games. NHS London leads a programme of work to ensure that the NHS fulfils its responsibilities during the Games. The programme’s Health Resilience workstream has adopted a structured planning process to assess risks, identify gaps in the capability of the NHS, and ensure those gaps are addressed prior to the Games. It acknowledges that training, exercising and testing play vital roles in capability. This work aims to ensure that London’s health services will respond in a timely, proportionate and appropriate manner to any incident during the Games. This paper gives an overview of the Olympic context within which this resilience work is taking place, and details the planning processes and relationships employed in planning for such a major event.
Applying data, analytics and technology to improve patient outcomes in value-based care
Authors: Roy Ashok
Published: July 2024

The U.S. healthcare system is undergone a paradigm shift. Spiralling healthcare spending is not translating into improved patient outcomes and longer life expectancy. Patients demand, and deserve, value for their healthcare dollars. Value-based care provides the opportunity to improve patient outcomes and quality while decreasing total medical spend. Succeeding in value based care requires leveraging data, analytics and technology to best utilise limited resources and target the right patients with the right interventions at the right time.
Designing robust strategies for the digital age
Authors: Bughin Jacques
Published: July 2024

Digitisation is a key priority in many industries. Yet many companies engaging in such transformational processes lack a clear-cut digital strategy. What is more, many of those companies with a strategy in place rely on conventional strategy frameworks instead of putting the framework to the digital test. This paper uses case examples and questions to inform companies on the robustness of their digital strategy.
Predicting and managing supply chain risks
Authors: Lucchetta Francesco
Published: July 2024

In recent years, we have seen how the supply chains of all companies around the world can be challenged by events of varying nature and magnitude. The prevention of these events, and the risks associated with them, is crucial not only for the continuity of a business but also for its survival. The objective of this paper is to provide clear guidance on how to identify and predict supply chain risks and avoid or greatly limit their impact on the value chain of companies. Approaching the subject in a typical 3D manner (discover, develop, deploy), the text aims to provide a toolkit that can be readily applied, especially for companies of production and supply of goods, and easily customised to the specific needs that each enterprise normally has. The paper explains how to create a process for recognising and identifying risks that may affect an organisation; how to prioritise them by quantifying each risk by magnitude and likelihood of occurrence; how to mitigate them through targeted actions for each type of risk; and how to create a risk-sensitive working environment and anticipate its prediction and detection.
How to ensure analytics and martech are relevant to the business
Authors: Patterson Laura
Published: July 2024

Analytics and marketing technology (martech) are key tools for marketing and essential for the marketing function to serve as a nimble, effective and customer-centric organisation. Together, analytics and martech pave the way for marketing to serve as a strategic member of the organisation, manage and measure marketing performance, and facilitate customer, market and product decisions. Despite knowing what it takes to make analytics an engine of growth, many marketing organisations remain analytically challenged. In the majority of cases, this can be attributed to a lack of quality data, people, skills or predictive tools. This paper explores the evolution and role of analytics and martech and how marketing can use analytics to enable meaningful customerrelated decisions with a positive impact on profitability, targeting, loyalty and share of wallet.
International planning for continuity oversight: The need for forums for financial authorities to share best practices
Authors: Harvey Alton
Published: July 2024

Until recently, international financial authorities eschewed meaningful collaboration on their continuity oversight programmes. However, this is now beginning to change. Recent initiatives have promoted useful dialogues on these issues among the world’s leading financial authorities. While these developments are encouraging and are already paying dividends in terms of information exchanges for new threats, such as pandemics, more work needs to be done to promote forums focused on the needs of financial authorities in developing market centres.