Oakbrook Solutions

Well, it appears the federal regulators and the financial industry continue to underperform, MF Global being the latest example. Whatever regulations have been in place are not working (again). How many times will this have to happen?

It is going to take is some real tactical work to get done at the data level to create the transparency needed to monitor these firms. Although regulators will tell you they can monitor these firms effectively, it is impossible until an application and data project is executed to mine, store, and report this data to appropriate staff in order to monitor the firms.

Instead of spending money on more people to write regulations, let’s execute a project to collect the data and use our good old American technology “know-how” to solve the problem.

Contributing author: Craig Cook, President

The phrase  “systems integration project ” still strikes fear in the heart of many a CIO. Given some past experiences this is understandable. With the introduction of web-based – hosted applications with varied, cheap, and easy to use software, the ability to avoid integration projects may be impossible.

The amount of software and functionality being delivered via the web is continuing to change the client expectations. Here are just a few examples that are industry changers:

-          Mobile applications

-          BPM (Business Process Management)

-          Social Media

Just the thought of taking existing legacy applications, developing strategies, building tactical plans, and implementing any of the above seems like a daunting task. But that is exactly what may be expected going forward. Unless the legacy data can be made available and integrated with the new software paradigm, the positive impacts to the business and clients will remain elusive. At Oakbrook, we are committed to supporting our clients efforts to embrace and leverage new software via successful integration efforts.

Contributing author: Craig Cook, President