June 2020

IT business owner walking in high tech data center full of servers and computers.

4 Ways Your Data Chaos Will Hurt You

The term “garbage in, garbage out” is as relevant to your data today as it was 20 years ago. If your company’s data is in chaos – incomplete, fragmented, trapped in siloes, hidden in legacy systems, poorly identifiable, duplicated – anything you try to do with that data will be, unfortunately, garbage.

Four Ways Your Data Chaos Will Hurt You – Badly

The pandemic shutdown exposed or exacerbated problems with cost optimization, cost efficiency, business continuity and disaster recovery. As companies reopen and retool post-lockdown, it’s more important than ever that you have clean and complete data – everything starts with having a handle on your data. If it’s in chaos, it will hurt you.

1) The drip, drip, drip of legacy systems

It’s kind of a “Catch-22” scenario – your data situation is in chaos because of your legacy systems, but you don’t think you can move from the legacy systems because of how deeply ingrained your data is. But legacy systems cost more to maintain, things take longer, and opportunities are missed. Data is growing exponentially at a time when you need speed and efficiency – but that new data is going into chaos. Whether moving to the cloud or staying on-prem, it’s time for application modernization and integration. You don’t need to do it all at once – but you better start soon, or the drips will keep on coming.

2) The data privacy movement

The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and laws like it give individuals a level of control over how companies use their collected data. This includes the “right to be forgotten” – a company must delete a requestor’s information in its systems as mandated. Fines can add up – in CCPA it’s $2,500 per compliance violation, going up to $7,500 if the violation is deemed intentional. If you don’t know what data matches to which customers, or all the nooks and crannies where that data is and how to get to it, the penalties could add up fast.

3) Entity resolution

“Wizard of Data” Jeff Jonas defines entity resolution as “who is who and who is related to who” in data. The common terms identity resolution; record linking, matching and deduplication; and “merge-purge” are forms of ER. Entity resolution means you have a single version of something that your business must deal with, like a customer or a vendor, or you understand the relationship between somethings, like which salesman belongs with which vendor. If your data is garbage, and entity resolution is difficult, you’re setting yourself up for problems from bad customer experiences and cost inefficiencies to outright fraud.

4) Advanced and predictive analytics

Companies today are using artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) tools to automatically detect sophisticated data patterns to predict potential outcomes, giving them better decision-making insight and abilities. For example, a financial organization using AI/ML can analyze its entire historical loan portfolio on an ongoing basis, learning and recognizing patterns of factors in real time that lead to a much higher rate of default. If a new loan application has those factors, the AI/ML program would flag it for denial.  AI/ML is for “what’s next” questions, like which current customers will likely buy your new product or when will a piece of equipment break down. These insights can have you crushing your competition – unless your data is in chaos. Then the competition will be crushing you.  

Get a handle on your data

Prolifics experts can help you with your data, systems modernization and integration, and cloud and hybrid cloud platforms. Visit www.prolifics.com or email solutions@prolifics.com.

Coffee with Talend

Join data experts Brian Kordelski (Prolifics) and Rolf Heimes (Talend) for a discussion on how companies are striving to be leaner and more efficient when it comes to housing and managing data. They’ll also look at how migrating to an opensource framework can be cost-effective and quickly deployed. More information and registration here .

hr

How Automation Eases the Pressure for HR Managers

You already know that in most cases, it’s easier to retain an employee than to find a new one.

Still, while a strong onboarding process has been shown to improve new hire retention by as much as 82%, only 12% of employees strongly agree that their organization does a great job onboarding new employees.

This month’s infographic shows the pressures HR staff faces with traditional onboarding and how automating those processes can make new employees happier while easing the burden for HR managers.

Problems With Manual Onboarding

Starting a new job can be stressful, but a smooth onboarding process can make new employees feel welcome, excited and motivated.

It is the HR staff’s responsibility to ensure a new hire fully understands not only their job duties, but also the company culture they’re now a part of.

Unfortunately, complications can arise during a typical manual onboarding process — both for the new employee and the HR staff. These include:

  • Friction among employees and managers due to poorly defined job duties and inadequate training
  • Consuming too much of HR personnel schedule
  • Exposing the company to security risks (through data privacy violations, for example)

How Automated Onboarding Benefits HR Managers

Streamlined processes, better decision making and empowered employees – that’s what intelligent automation brings to your onboarding process. Advances in intelligent automation can create efficiencies and scalabilities for your business that were unheard of before. 

A process that is sustainable, compliant, and scalable can help HR managers deliver a smooth, seamless onboarding experience. An automated process can deliver this experience and consistently:

  • Save time and resources. For example, new hires can enter their personal information once and it will automatically populate across W-4, I-9, 401(k) and other relevant forms.
  • Minimize the risk of errors (and resulting compliance issues).
  • Gain insights by collecting and aggregating data to identify skill gaps and behavior trends (which in turn helps with retention and training).
  • Reassure new hires about their role, making it easier to acclimate to the corporate culture and transition from their prior role.

Ultimately, automated onboarding software eases the pressure on HR staff by making things easier for the new employees while effectively providing and collecting information. A painless and productive onboarding process reassures all involved, leaving new hires more optimistic about their future within their new organization.

Tell Me More About Entity Resolution and Jeff Jonas

Tell Me More About Entity Resolution and Jeff Jonas

We’re in the era of data – tsunamis of data, in fact, that are growing exponentially. With it comes concerns about what we can learn from the data – separating the melody from the noise – as well as overcoming worries surrounding privacy and fraud. Entity resolution (ER) is an important tool used to address these data issues.

On the cutting edge of ER technology is Jeff Jonas, CEO and Chief Scientist for Senzing, Inc., an artificial intelligence‐based (AI) software company focused on ER.

What Is Entity Resolution (ER)?

In the book “Entity Resolution and Information Quality,” writer Terry Talley states:

Entity resolution is the process of probabilistically identifying some real thing based upon a set of possibly ambiguous clues. Humans have been performing entity resolution throughout history. Early humans looked at footprints and tried to match that clue to the animals that made the tracks.

In the same book, writer John R. Talburt gives it a more formal, scientific view:

Entity resolution is about determining when references to real-world entities are equivalent (refer to the same entity) or not equivalent (refer to different entities). Linking is appending a common identifier to reference instances to denote the decision that they are equivalent.

Other related terms include identity resolution, record linking, record matching, record deduplication, merge-purge, and entity analytics, all of which represent particular forms or aspects of ER.

Jeff Jonas gives ER a simpler and more understandable definition:

ER determines “who is who and who is related to who” in data.

Why Is Entity Resolution Important?

Entity resolution is important to a business because it helps create a single version of the “truth” for any given entity that the business deals with.

The Single Customer View Example

Many companies can relate to the idea of a single customer view. Multiple systems may store separate pieces of information — purchase history, demographics, credit info, loyalty programs, and more — for the same person.

Example:
If your systems send an email blast to K. Coggs, KT Coggs, Katie Coggs, and Kathryn Coggs — are they one annoyed customer receiving four emails or four separate people?

Benefits of Clean Data

Having a single, unified customer view improves data accuracy for advanced and predictive analytics. Without it, you might send the wrong offer or communication — for example, sending Katie Coggs’ product recommendation to her mother, Kathryn.

Detecting Fraud and Ensuring Privacy

ER also plays a vital role in fraud detection — such as when multiple people use the same assets as loan collateral at different branches.

In addition, ER supports compliance with data privacy laws like the EU’s GDPR and California’s CCPA, which grant individuals control over their data — including the “right to be forgotten.”

For example, if KT Coggs requests deletion of her data, failure to recognize that K. Coggs and KT Coggs are the same person could lead to non-compliance fines.

Jeff Jonas – “Wizard of Big Data”

Jeff Jonas addresses all these ER challenges and more as CEO and Chief Scientist at Senzing, Inc. His work ranges from identifying duplicate contacts to uncovering criminal identities in real time across thousands of data sources.

The nickname “Wizard of Big Data” originated from a 2014 National Geographic article that profiled his innovative ER work. Some of his high-profile cases include:

  • Identifying potential terrorists
  • Detecting fraudulent behavior in casinos
  • Connecting loved ones after natural disasters
  • Modernizing voter registration systems

Privacy and Legal Data Use

As National Geographic described, Jonas’ systems use only legally obtained data and include privacy safeguards. They connect data points — such as addresses, job applications, and loyalty program details — to detect hidden links between people.

Making ER Accessible

Jonas’ goal is to make high-quality ER technology available to mainstream businesses. Senzing offers both a plug-and-play real-time ER desktop app and an advanced API for developers — removing the need for million-dollar budgets or large IT teams.

Jonas continues to collaborate with government leaders, think tanks, and global executives on innovation, national security, and privacy. He holds over a dozen patents and is one of only five people in the world who have completed every Ironman triathlon currently on the global circuit.

See Jeff Jonas live on “Innovation Sandbox, Powered by Prolifics”

Jeff Jonas will be the first guest for the inaugural season of “Innovation Sandbox, Powered by Prolifics,” a new YouTube Live series featuring today’s brightest minds, latest technologies, and creative ideas.

📅 Date: Thursday, July 9
🕙 Time: 10–10:30 a.m. ET
📺 Where: Prolifics TV

The episode, “We’re LIVE to see the Wizard!”, will be hosted by Greg Hodgkinson, Prolifics’ CTO and Innovation Center leader.

Join us for a dynamic discussion on how entity resolution impacts everyday life, plus insights from Jonas on innovation, AI, and even Ironman training during a pandemic.

Businessman holding tablet and magnifier

The American Bureau of Shipping Navigates Data Privacy

Data privacy laws and regulations, like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), are just getting started. That means more customers will control how companies use their collected data. Understandably, companies are struggling to understand and comply with these new laws.

 

Challenge

The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) collects a substantial amount of data from customers and business partners through its operations in 70 countries. ABS needed to understand what laws applied to them and how best to move toward compliance. But, instead of waiting for each government mandate to roll out, ABS needed a bigger picture solution – one that was applicable, repeatable and would address a large percentage of whatever government data privacy rules come next. ABS also needed the solution to help distinguish its brand in the marketplace as being a good steward of its customers’ data. 

About ABS

ABS is one of the world’s leading ship classification organizations, committed to setting standards for safety and excellence so that the marine and offshore industries can operate safely, securely and responsibly. For more than 150 years, ABS has worked alongside its partners to tackle the most pressing technical, operational and regulatory challenges.

Action

Prolifics provided data integration and data management solutions that helped ABS modernize data delivery and data consolidation for its 200 offices around the world.

We first worked with ABS to deploy our rapid Data Privacy Assessment, to identify issues and opportunities for data integration and a larger data solution for continuity.

We then introduced Prolifics’ Data Governance Framework solution, to give ABS a unified platform to deliver data governance, analytics and compliance on a global scale. The Data Governance Framework centralizes both structured and unstructured data from across ABS, so that the company can gain a more complete understanding of the information it owns and act on regulatory requests. With this insight, the company can target sensitive data for action, move toward better compliance, and avoid regulatory infractions that impact both the bottom line and the brand’s image.

Result

As a result of the Data Governance Framework solution, ABS is closer to compliance with GDPR, CCPA, and other regulations as they emerge.

The solution provides ABS with extensive cost savings in infrastructure capital expenditure in the first three years by centralizing onto a single platform. ABS expects a 10 percent improvement in service utilization, with a projected revenue growth of 20 percent over the next three years.

A foundation of reputable, high-quality data prepares ABS to adopt cutting-edge technologies that leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) to drive innovation. Potential use cases include regular, automated data remediation and risk reporting, as well as larger AI/ML-powered initiatives across the business. 

Closer compliance with GDPR and CCPA

10% service utilization improvement

AI/ML-powered use cases

ABS used the Data Governance Framework solution to:

  • Develop and enable a data privacy and governance roadmap, used to design and implement a fully featured data governance program
  • Create data transparency by identifying structured and unstructured data across organizational silos
  • Track, analyze and report the lineage of this data, which allows insight into the history and metadata of this information
  • Perform risk analysis to determine personally identifiable information and associated risk, with a data risk dashboard enabling executive review and monitoring of key risk factors
  • Design a roadmap of future AI/ML use cases, with confidence in the underlying data quality and compliance adherence

Technology

The Data Governance Framework solution brings together a number of Prolifics and IBM technologies to create a unique capability. Our combination of software, integration, governance framework, and forward-looking focus on innovation enables the Data Governance Framework solution to understand and respond to data problems as a whole – creating compelling long-term value for the client.

Specific technologies implemented with ABS included:

  • Prolifics’ rapid Data Privacy Assessment – identifies issues and opportunities for data integration into the larger data solution
  • Prolifics’ Data Governance Framework and assets – developed through extensive experience in solving data challenges
  • IBM Information Server and Information Governance Catalog – consolidates data from across the enterprise into a format that is ready for use in analytics and reporting
  • IBM QualityStage – cleanses data to ensure high data quality
  • IBM StoredIQ – gathers unstructured data from across the enterprise; combines that unstructured data with structured data gathered using IBM Information Server to provide a full view of the customer information within the environment
  • IBM Cognos Analytics – performs data visualizations and reporting

Using these technologies, Prolifics provided ABS:

  • A data mart that stores information regarding customers’ personal data, metrics, and progress
  • A data glossary housing information about transactions, service availabilities, rates, relevant business terms, and more
  • Integration with an information data governance catalog to consume and export business terms and steward relevant data for lines of business. It also provided a systematic data remediation approach.
  • Configurable information analysis to provide details about risk that is associated with compliance according to regulatory standards. The solution provided enterprise data inventory, data mapping, and data lineage capabilities that support compliance goals.
  • Reporting, analytics, and auditing capabilities
  • Unstructured data discovery to understand compliance risks surrounding big data and unstructured data repositories such as Outlook and other cloud applications
  • Remediation controls to satisfy company data privacy policies and prepare for regulatory data subject access requests

Learn more

At Prolifics, we provide end-to-end data analytics services, at any point you want them, for whatever condition your data is in. Visit our Data & Analytics services page or email us at solutions@prolifics.com.

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