Trouble for Credit Unions, Troubled by Telecommuters
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Three items this evening: RSA's latest Global Online Fraud Report found 186 financial institutions were the subject of online fraud attacks during December, an increase from last month, but a sizeable decrease from December 2006. One surprise: a big upswing in fraud against U.S. credit unions. According to a press statement, "attacks on credit unions now account for 45% of all monthly activity [among U.S. financial brands]. Attacks against national banks have decreased from 44% in November to the current 26%." Is this just an aberration, or are credit unions now viewed by some cyber criminals as the weakest link? We'll have to watch this one. |
More signs of difficulty using analytic tools: Forrester finds nearly 40 percent of "business and technology decision-makers and influencers" evaluate their use of customer analytics capabilities as poor/below average (base: 55); 25 percent feel likewise about their company's CRM practices (base: 74). "Organizations report significant deficiencies in the areas of customer information and analysis tools, customer information reporting and analysis, and customer information business activity monitoring tools," says the summary by Forrester's William Band. For more on troubles with analytics, see our own survey on business intelligence.
Telecommuting may be great for telecommuters, but is it good for the colleagues they've left behind in the office? An academic study of 240 professional employees from a medium size company found that "the greater the prevalence of teleworkers in an office, the less others in the office are apt to be satisfied with their jobs, with a corresponding decrease in the probability that they will remain with the company." How come? "While reasons for the adverse impact on non-teleworker's satisfaction are varied, it potentially could be due to co-worker's perceptions that they have decreased flexibility and a higher workload, and the ensuing greater frustration that comes with coordinating in an environment with more extensive co-worker telework," says the study's author, Timothy Golden, associate professor in the Lally School of Management & Technology at Rensselaer Institute of Technology in Troy, N.Y. "In addition, it may be that with a greater prevalence of teleworkers in a work unit, non-teleworkers may find it less personally fulfilling to conduct their work due to the increased obstacles to building and maintaining effective and rewarding co-worker relationships." Just one company, but still -- fair warning.
