Vantage 2013: Another fine vintage

Today’s post comes from Norv Leong, Director of Product Marketing at Actiance.

Just like any popular restaurant, Microsoft continues to deliver sumptuous dishes and please its customers.  Let’s take Microsoft Lync as an example.  According to Microsoft, Lync revenue grew 45% in its Q4 2012 and, even more eye-popping, was the 822% growth in hosted Lync Voice in particular.

Goodness all around, but it’s all for naught if you’re in a regulated industry and/or subject to a lot of potential litigation, where having records of everything is absolutely critical.  What counts is that you have a management solution in place that can capture and monitor Lync communications so you stay out of regulatory and legal trouble.

Think of it as a wine pairing.  Meals at restaurants are almost always enhanced with a glass of fine wine (or perhaps a craft beer for you beer lovers out there).  It complements the meal and ensures a holistic experience.

That’s where we come into the picture.  Actiance has been and continues to be the gold standard with respect to its varietal of wine, namely, the management of unified communications platforms.   Rather than get complacent and rest on our laurels, we’ve actually done the opposite.  We’ve managed to make an awesome product, even awesomer!  (Not sure if that’s a word, but today it is.)

With the release of Vantage 2013, Actiance has set the bar even higher for ensuring compliance and security for the leading UC platform on the planet.  Just taking a look at the latest features included in the release and it’s a no-brainer why financial services companies, technology firms, and government agencies all turn to Actiance to meet their governance requirements.

Let’s start with the obvious:  support for Lync 2013.  Vantage picks up right where it left off in Lync 2010.  Vantage supports the monitoring and capture of Lync IM, Persistent chat, and now Voice.  Dodd-Frank and PRA/FCA (for our UK friends) regulations are driving demand for Lync voice recording solutions, and Vantage is the cleanest solution in town to do just that.

Next up is real-time Jive capture.  UC may be growing leaps and bounds, but the enterprise social software space is growing even faster.  Jive’s the poster child of the space, and Vantage 2013 adds real-time capture support so you don’t miss a thing.  The social space is dynamic, and it’s important not to miss any key postings, deletions, and edits that a regulator, auditor, or attorney would find of interest.

Finally, you’ve got direct integration with Symantec Enterprise Vault, the beast in the email archiving space.  By integrating directly with EV, customers can retain the invaluable metadata so crucial to quickly understand the essence of conversations in a social world.  With all the blogging, commenting, replying, and sharing going on, it’s imperative to have a tagging and archiving workflow that retains as much context as possible.  Without it, your legal and IT costs can blow through the roof.

So, Actiance provides benefits on several fronts – from UC to collaboration to archiving.  With governance headaches out of the way, a compliance officer or general counsel can sit down, relax, and enjoy that glass of Vantage 2013.

Bringin’ the sizzle at the FINRA annual

Today’s post comes from Norv Leong, Director of Product Marketing at Actiance.

The 2013 FINRA Annual Conference just wrapped up yesterday and judging by the packed house at the two social media-related sessions, the topic is still a hot one.  Much like the last few years, the industry is grappling with what to do with social.  “To allow or not to allow?” was clearly on the minds of everyone in the room.

Somewhat surprisingly, there’s still a lot of folks who don’t allow any access to social media (I’d ballpark it at around 1/3 of the people).  Then, you’ve got another third that only allow limited or selective access (e.g., only business card-type info on LinkedIn).  But for even these guys, they admitted they’d have to “release the hounds” eventually, with “eventually” being sooner rather than later.

FINRA itself is becoming more educated on social networking trends and capabilities and responding accordingly.  Just a few months ago, Rule 2210 (Communications with the Public) went into effect.  Realizing that the power and allure of social relies on the dynamic, interactive nature of the medium, Rule 2210 specifically exempts from pre-approve things like Facebook posts and tweets that don’t make any financial or investment recommendation or otherwise promote a product or service of the firm.

Some may say the financial industry is moving too slowly, but hey, baby steps are better than no steps at all.  After watching the industry get annihilated five years ago, a little bit of caution and conservatism perhaps is not a bad thing.  The main point is that the industry realizes social media is not a flash in the pan and that it’s here to stay.  The industry is embracing it, just at its own pace.

Which means it’s a wonderful opportunity for vendors like Actiance to help these firms meet their regulatory obligations.  Actiance’s sweet spot is financial services and has been for over 12 years.  We relish the role of advising the “newbies” on how to leverage social and to do so compliantly.  We’ve been to a bunch of these FINRA events so we know what keeps compliance officers up at night and what it takes to allay those fears.

Sometimes you need that lil bit of hand-holding to cross the finish line.  No shame in that.  In this day and age of global interdependencies, going it alone is more difficult than ever before.  Maybe that’s why we friend, connect, and follow.  Social makes looking for new business opportunities (or that specialty bacon) much easier.

Ahhhh….

Sawubona from the highest pub in Africa

Another #TravelTuesday tale from Norv Leong, our wayward product marketing lad at Actiance.  No ostriches were harmed while living the blog, although some did end up on my plate as a normal part of life in South Africa.

Seems as if I’ve been banished to the far reaches of the earth that I can’t seem to find an Internet connection anywhere.  I’m back in South Africa, having spent the last 10 days in Lesotho.  It’s a tiny-ass country, the size of Belgium.  Lesotho is completely landlocked within the South African borders, yet it has a totally different feel than South Africa.  Lesotho attire is all about blankets, Fat Albert hats (you old skoo folks know what I’m talkin bout), and wading boots.

I guess I should recap what kinds of shenanigans I’ve been up to since my last turkey update.  I got into Cape Town about a month ago.  It’s a city that’s very reminiscent of San Francisco, my hometown.  Their coastline is similar to what you’d see along Highway 1.  They’ve got a prison on an island (where Mandela was holed up), they’ve got wineries nearby, some hills, seals all over the place, and even Vietnamese and Korean restaurants.

I ended up spending a week in Cape Town, getting hammered on a winelands tour, biking down toward Cape Point (the southernmost tip of Africa), takin a tour of Robben Island (their Alcatraz), and basically hanging out.

It’s easy to get sucked into a loungin lifestyle in Cape Town, so I forced myself to hop on a bus and start makin my way around the country, but not before getting another Hep B shot and some malaria pills.  Traveling along the Garden Route, the first place I stopped at was a place called Oudtshoorn, which is famous for their ostrich industry.  I chowed on some ostrich steak and sausage and managed to find it palatable.   I even rode on an ostrich for about 15 seconds before I ate shite.  Dem birds are actually really tall (bout 7 feet tall) and go pretty fast (they can do 60 km/hour).

From Oudtshoorn, I cruised to Plettenberg Bay, which has beautiful beaches and is known for their whale and dolphin watchin.  I took one of those tours and, sure enough, saw lots of dolphins and seals but, alas, no whales.

Since my time is so “limited,” I knew I couldn’t see everything I wanted to in South Africa so I skipped some places that are definitely worth checking out, like Stormsriver and the Tsitsikamma Trail.  Yearning for a taste of true Africa, I ventured into the Transkei region, which is where Mandela is from.  This is the blackest part of South Africa.  It’s also known as the Wild Coast.

Poor me. Had to hike with these views for 5 days.

It’s also the most beautiful part of the country.  I did a 5-day hike on the Wild Coast Hiking Trail from Port St. Johns to Coffee Bay.  The hike was simply amazing.  Totally deserted, unspoilt beaches, authentic villages all along the way, and scenery reminiscent of Big Sur and the California coast the whole 65km.  We stayed in huts that had only bunk beds (no bedding or pillows), no electricity, and no running water.  We didn’t pass one single tourist while on the trail.  Needless to say, I was one foul-smellin boy by the end of the trip.

From Coffee Bay, I decided to head to the mountains.  I went to a place in the southern Drakensberg mountain range toward the Lesotho border.  To get into Lesotho from this part of South Africa, you have to enter via this very hairy mountain pass.  They won’t even let you try the pass unless you have a 4WD vehicle.  Since I didn’t have a rental car, I relied on my thumb, to get into Lesotho.  I ended up catching two different rides to make it into Lesotho, the first with a nice South African couple on vacation and the second on this huge Lesotho produce truck (thankfully no produce was in the back) that barely made it up the pass.  The views of the switchbacks, valleys, and gorges from the top were awesome.

Cold beer awaits at the top

We stayed at the top of the pass at a place called Sani Top Chalet, which also had no electricity.  They like to advertise their pub in the chalet as the “highest pub in Africa.”  I also froze my dingleberries off here since, once the fire dies out, it feels like you’re sleepin in a freezer.  I even broke down and bought a fleece (yes, I actually spent money for clothes rather than rely on computer trade shows).

Once in Lesotho (btw, pronounced “le-soo-too”), it was all about kickin and hikin.  The country is basically one huge hiking trail.  There are mountains everywhere and the country is actually known as the “Mountain Kingdom in the Sky.”  It also has the highest low point in the world (if that makes sense).  The mountain passes and scenery in eastern Lesotho were particularly striking.  Tourists are almost non-existent, but I did meet a ton of Peace Corps people out here.  Evidently, the Peace Corps presence in Lesotho is huge.

I stayed 3 days in a tiny-ass village called Moludong (moo-doo-mong).  No electricity, but awesome hot showers.  Very peaceful and relaxing here.  The villages were great, ice cold beers could be had, and everyone was real friendly.  I did get a lil tired though of eating spam-type meat or soya meat.  Fresh veggies, fruit, and real meat were non-existent in Lesotho so I basically survived on rice, pasta, and canned meat.  I am really hurtin for some pho now.

From Molumong, I checked out a place recommended to me by a Peace Corps volunteer, a village called Liphofung (dee-po-fung).  They’re known for their rock cave paintings, but I thought they sorta sucked.  The location of the place, however, was beautiful.  Nestled in a valley with mountains all around, the setting was very picturesque.  There happened to be a Peace Corps worker here, too.  A real piece of work, she was from Humboldt County, so you can pretty much guess what her interests were.  Herbal remedy for those who need a hint.

After minibus hell (they don’t leave in Lesotho til they’re packed to the gills), I arrived in a place called Malealea, which is known for their pony trekking.  Shockingly, there were tons of tourists here.  Apparently, if there is only one place to go in Lesotho, people come here.  Huge busloads of German and Dutch tourists were here, as well as some Americans (including my first sighting of Asian-Americans since I’ve been traveling)…. in Lesotho of all places.  Go figure.

The pony trekking was ok until I got rained on.  Shweeeet.  Mix wet clothes with that of pony and you’ve got a tasty concoction.  On top of that, I ended up gettin the most stubborn of the ponies.  I happened to draw the pony that always veered off the trail, liked to stop and eat every 100m, whinnied every 150m, and never responded to any of my commands.  Meanwhile, all the other ponies were good lil beasts.  Always lookin for a bright side, we saw some great scenery and my arse didn’t hurt as badly as I expected afterwards.

From Malealea, I cruised to a place called Semonkong, once again on minibus and big bus hell.   Semonkong, I have to say, was much nicer than Malealea, despite the latter gettin more of the publicity.  Semonkong was in a much nicer setting (by the river with mountains all around) and the accommodations were much quainter (I stayed in a traditional hut with really comfy beds and comforters).  Also, the waterfall near Semonkong blew away the one in Malealea.  In hindsight, I shoulda done my pony trek in Semonkong, but, oh well.

While in Semonkong, I bumped into a Chinese-owned store.  I expected to see my homeys in Maseru, the capital, but I didn’t expect it in tiny-ass Semonkong.  But, there I was pullin out my kindergarten-level Mandarin to talk with this guy.  It’s a big-time trip to see my homeys speaking Sesotho (that’s the language people from Lesotho speak).  Also met a cool lady from Idaho who happened to have a 4WD rental truck and she was headed in the general direction I was going.

So, I cruised with her thru the hinterlands of Lesotho, basically doing some 4×4 wheelin, on back-country roads.  Pretty fun with fantastic scenery and great villages everywhere you go.  Every time we saw a white flag flyin (it signifies that a batch of fresh moonshine had been brewed), we stopped and searched for this elusive beer.  But, alas, most places were out of beer — they’re just too damn lazy to take the flag down when they’re out of beer.  I can respect that laziness.

The next morning Idaho drove me as far as she was willin to take me, then I had to rely on my thumb again.  This time, I successfully got a ride exactly to where I needed to go…which is where i am now (the northern Drakensberg).

I’m at a very cool hostel with excellent food and friendly dogs roaming around.  I did a nice hike today to see a mountain range with sheer rock faces.  I even did a Karate Kid pose on one of the ledges.  Yet another example of my idiocy.

Well, my fingers are tired and I need a cold bevvie now.  I’m off to Jo’burg (murder capital of the world) on Thursday where I’m catchin a bus to another tiny-ass country, Swaziland.

Hope y’allz have a great Thanksgiving and save me some turkey and stick it in a freezer.  I swear I’ll eat it next year.

Salang hantle,
N

Turkish Delights on #TravelTuesday

Today’s post comes from Norv Leong, Director of Product Marketing at Actiance.  Eons ago, in his vagabond days and long before the advent of social media, Norv embarked on a quest for enlightenment taking him around the globe over a two-year span, armed with only a backpack, a Swiss army knife, lousy Spanish, and even worse Mandarin.  The fact he was able to dig up from the email archives the following ditty shows that communications don’t really go away in the electronic world and that his warped sense of humor can be recalled with just a few mouseclicks.  Note that no Brits (or Europeans) were harmed during the making of this blog.

Hey folks,

True to my nature, I know I’ve been a slacker in sending these updates so this will be a lengthy one to make up for it.  Well, I’m back in Istanbul again, gettin ready to hop on a plane to South Africa tomorrow.  For all of you who have never been to Turkey, the Lama says “check it out.”

Though they’re not Buddhist here, much to the Lama’s chagrin, they an extremely friendly lot.  Can’t say that I’ve met a nicer group of people than the Turks.  It was one of those rare trips where I spent more time chattin and hangin with locals than with other backpackers.  Naturally, I learned the obligatory Turkish curse words – always handy when traveling.  And I’ve never drank so much tea in my life, prior to here.

I basically did a figure-eight of the country (the western half) in a month.  When I last wrote y’all, I had just arrived in Istanbul.  From there, I visited a couple of small towns, Safranbolu and Amasya, the former having the best-preserved Ottoman-style housing and the latter a peaceful little city with a river cutting right through the middle of it.  It was in Amasya that I stayed with a Turkish family.  On the bus ride over to Amasya, I met a dude who was insane enough to invite me to stay with him and his family.  This was a godsend since I got to eat some homecooked meals and he showed me some cool local bars with indigenous music.  Plus, his family was super nice, despite the fact communication was challenging at best (charades, anyone?).

From Amasya, I went to Cappadocia, where I lived like Fred Flintstone for a few days.  This is the place where there are lots of cave hotels (I stayed in one) and where there are many phallic rock formations.  Pretty wild landscapes here what with all the caves and “manhood” rocks dotting the landscape.

Insert your own joke here

From the town of Bedrock, I went to Egirdir, a beautiful lake area that is ideal for kickin back and watching the local fishermen do their thang.  I did a lil hike here that afforded awesome views of the lake.

Next up was Pamukkale, which for some reason was swarming with hordes of Russian and Polish tour groups.  This place is known for their travertine pools, which are naturally formed from white calcium deposits.  Some of the pools are beautiful, while others weren’t so nice, especially when a 200-lb. Olga was posing for photos in her swimsuit while Vladimir, with his belly hanging for all to see, snappin the photo (Da!!).

Pool party….Russian style.

By now, I was ready to hit the coast.  Made my way to Antalya and started heading west.  I stayed in a place called Olimpos, which is famous for having no buildings made out of concrete.  Thus, many of the pensiones/guesthouses have treehouses.  I stayed in one of these, just me and the mosquitoes.  In a near drunken stupor, I almost fell off the ladder to my treehouse (the steps were a lil dodgy or at least they SEEMED like they were) which would have threatened my pilgrimage to Tibet.  The beach at Olimpos was OK, with very clear water.  They’ve also got some ruins which were nice to stroll around in a lush setting.

The next beach I hit up was Patara, about 5 hours west of Olimpos.  I had some surreal moments here.  The highlight was stumbling across a photo shoot for a swimsuit catalog.  All the models were non-Turkish which meant that they were betties.  The lowlight was an old, nekked Brit plops right down next to me, of all places (keep in mind this deserted beach is 17km long and 20m wide) and he sits down right next to me and starts chatting me up like he’s at a London pub.  Hoooooooly.

That was not the end of the Brit sightings.  The next place I went to, Oludeniz, is where they filmed that Blue Lagoon movie with Brooke Shields.  Nice beach but the place is crawling with more octogenarian British tourists.  Many of the restaurants even posted their prices in pounds.

Fearful I would run into more overly tanned Europeans draggin on their cigarettes, I headed north to Selcuk, home of one of the best-preserved Roman ruins (Ephesus).  The ruins here are indeed impressive, giving you a good idea of how Caesar, Augustus, Nero, et al, wined and dined.

Since I still had some time left, I shot way east to Sinop, on the Black Sea coast.  Everyone had said the Black Sea coast was amazing, and indeed it is, if it didn’t rain for 3 freakin days straight!!!  On one of those days, Ignant Norv doesn’t bring his rain slicker along and ends up hiking in the rain for 18km.  That’s about 11-12 miles for you metric-system-challenged folks.  The coast is outrageously beautiful.  Sorta like Highway 1 but with more dramatic terrain and scenery.  I also spent a couple days at Amasra (not Amasya), a picturesque lil town on the west side of the Black Sea coast.  Since it’s a lil tough to get to, I did not see one single nekked Brit here, let alone any other tourists.

Which brings me to today.  Back in Istanbul.  I’m stayin in the same hostel as when I first got here a month ago.  I guess they don’t get too many bald Asian guys cuz they remembered me.

Congrats to anyone who is still reading this email cuz my fingers are getting tired, too, especially when I have to consciously look for the correct “i” to type each time I need it (Turkish keyboards are set up differently than US ones due to their alphabet.)

Hope to write you guys again shortly after my arrival in Cape Town.  Hope you all are well and feel free to email me any titillating news from back home.

I günler,
N

Social eDiscovery is alive and well

Today’s post comes from Norv Leong, Director of Product Marketing at Actiance.

Ahh, another LegalTech in the history books.  As usual, there was an interesting mix of suits, vendors, and swag-hunters trolling the floors of the Hilton.  One difference from last year was the very noticeable feeling that in-house counsel, law firms, and compliance officers alike – across all industries – acknowledging (sometimes reluctantly) that they have to include social media and social-ish communications (think IMs, collaboration, texts, etc.) in their legal hold and eDiscovery strategies.

For instance, over the last twelve months, the body of case law involving social media eDiscovery has mushroomed exponentially.  Everywhere you turn you see a wide variety of cases – personal injury, harassment, copyright infringement, wrongful death, even assault and rape – where social media content played a critical role in the outcome.

Upon finding out that Facebook content is admissible evidence.

More and more, judges are allowing the admissibility of instant messages, Facebook posts, and Tweets.  Judging by the conversations we had at our booth, there was also much concern over what to do with data such as Jive, SharePoint, and Chatter.  These tools are like Facebooks for the enterprise, which researchers, engineers, and partners use to exchange information, product plans, and other business records.

Our presentation on the first day, “Social Business is booming:  Are you really prepared for eDiscovery?”, generated heaps of questions, such as “Can you inspect files for sensitive keywords?”, “How do you speed up eDiscovery searches?”, and “Do you capture content in context?”  Given the number of folks that stuck around after my presentation to ask me questions, I felt pretty optimistic that the market was indeed ripe for solutions that could help organizations manage this array of communications channels while slashing their legal costs and reducing their overall risk exposure.

It could be that attorneys are a nervous, worrying lot, but still, it’s no coincidence that patent litigation continues to skyrocket, eDiscovery sanctions are on the rise, and law firms still continue to do big business.  I’m sure I’ll be back next year to see if the same folks I saw this year look a bit grayer up top.

O Canada, O IIROC

I just got back from a quick trip to the Great White North.  NHL teams are still locked out, which might explain the forlorn look on folks I met or walked by.  Luckily, the absence of hockey didn’t put a damper on IIROC’s Compliance and Legal Section (CLS) annual conference.  Sessions were lively and informative, especially the social media one, and people seemed generally optimistic that the NHL season could still be salvaged.  It was optimism all around.

IIROC lives . . . hockey or no hockey

Much like its FINRA brethren, IIROC has its own social media-specific guidelines in the form of Notice 11-0349.  I swear, looking at FINRA’s 10-06/11-39 and IIROC’s 11-0349 side-by-side, you’d think you were seeing double.  Even the session topics looked similar to what you’d see at the FINRA events.  Just like in the States, the social media session was packed.

At the IIROC one, the panel consisted of an attorney, a compliance officer, and a marketing executive – the exact same key stakeholders you see involved in social media enablement efforts south of the border.  In fact, as a whole, I got the impression Canada is not so far behind the US in terms of adoption of social in the financial services industry.

I heard repeatedly that Canadian firms were slowly opening up access to social and getting the ball rollin’ on pilot programs.  So, the trend seems to be that, if you’re a financial institution, you should at least be considering social or else you’re gonna be left behind.  That was the consensus of nearly everyone I spoke with.

2013 is just around the corner, and I’m expecting big things out of our friends up north.  They’ve had a year to take notes from their US counterparts, guidelines are in place, social media policies are being drawn up, and there’s a still chance for an NHL season.

We just need Rush to belt out “O Canada” and all will be good.

Murder, She Tweeted

Today’s post comes from Norv Leong, Director of Product Marketing at Actiance.

Up to now, social media’s been credited with playing a major hand in the Arab Spring, Weinergate, and (sadly) the rise of Justin Bieber.  We’ve also seen a marked rise in eDiscovery of social media (in civil cases) over the last couple of years.  However, the much-publicized case of Trayvon Martin reveals the application of social media on an entirely new stage:  a murder case.

Social media eDiscovery has almost always reared its head in civil cases, such as employment law issues.  The Martin case is noteworthy because it crosses the chasm onto the criminal side.  In the case, Martin’s attorneys used Twitter initially to bring attention to his death.  In response, the defense lawyer (Mark O’Mara) has been using Twitter and Facebook to counter the prosecution’s claims about the case and his client (Zimmerman).  Additionally, O’Mara is seeking to use Martin’s own Facebook and Twitter pages to bolster Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense.  So, no matter how you look at it, social media is playing a critical role in this murder case.

I want to see your Facebook page.

Interestingly, O’Mara went so far to say that “if every defense attorney is not searching for information on something like this, he will be committing malpractice.”  Wow.  Those are bold words but perhaps not too far off from the truth (who knows, there might even be a case as we speak, making its way through the courts on this very issue).  The point is that the amount of potentially relevant information in social media is massive and that social needs to be taken into consideration in any eDiscovery strategy.

Over the last five years, social has assumed a more visible role in professional settings.  We’ve seen the emergence of regulatory guidelines specifically calling out social (FINRA is an example), and the continued proliferation of software and service providers preaching the goodness of social applications within the workplace.  Of course, all these projects heighten the need for information governance initiatives, as regulatory bodies and courts keep a watchful eye on things to make sure that all affected entities (people and companies) utilize this dynamic medium appropriately.

Social has proven to be an effective communications tool across a variety of fields – from politics to business to pop culture.  It was only a matter of time before its impact was felt in legal circles.  I don’t know how the Martin case will end up, but I do know this:  social’s here to stay and every in-house counsel or law firm should at least consider deploying tools to help them conduct eDiscovery on these emerging communications channels.

Ya never know.  O’Mara’s words might prove to be prophetic after all.

Dodd-Frank Impact on Energy Trading

Today’s post comes from Norv Leong, Director of Product Marketing at Actiance.

Yeeeeee haaaaawwww!  Having just returned from stuffing my face with BBQ beef brisket, chicken chili, and cornbread, I’m left to ponder what I gleaned (besides a few extra LBs) from the 2^nd Annual Energy Trading Operations and Technology Summit 2012 in Houston, TEXAS (cuz everythang’s big in TX).

First off, many industry participants are still confused about what the Dodd-Frank Act (DFA) means to them.  From banks to brokers to energy traders, nearly everyone in attendance bemoaned DFA and the additional burdens it places on them.  Add to the mix this year’s meaty sanctions from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and it’s crystal clear why many firms are nervous about what they need to do to stay out of FERC’s crosshairs.

The sanctions imposed on Constellation Energy ($245 million) and Barclays ($470 million) were eye-popping, and they showed this watchdog ain’t takin’ no mess.  FERC wields a big stick and intends to use it.  Crucial to FERC’s credibility and success are its policing of the energy and utilities industry to avoid Enron-like fiascos from happening again.

And you thought Dodd-Frank was confusing

The industry is swimming in complexity, as evidenced by the alphabet soup of acronyms (CFTC, NFA, NERC, DCO, DCM, SDR, EMIR, to name but a few) and the bewildering number of players (brokers, traders, banks, hedge funds, clearinghouses, regulators) and instruments (swaps, hedges, options, futures, etc.) in the game.  Unfortunately, DFA doesn’t really simplify anything, but rather, just makes things muddier and more complex.

At the end of the day, however, it all comes down to monitoring trading activities, recording all relevant communications, and making sure that all transactions are done at arm’s length.  If a trader executes a trade via Yahoo! IM, you best have a record of it.  Or, if someone in Marketing tries to IM a buddy on the transmission side of the house, well, you better have a mechanism in place to make sure that communication doesn’t happen or a record of it is kept somewhere.  All the players in the industry must play by these rules or risk getting nailed by the regulators.

And this doesn’t even include the legal ramifications of improper trading practices.  Lawsuits are just as pervasive in the oil and gas industry as it is in other sectors like financial services and healthcare.  Rogue traders can cost their firms millions or even billions of dollars (Nick Leeson ring a bell?), which means shareholder lawsuits are just around the corner.

So, given the litigiousness of today’s society and business environment, proper recordkeeping is crucial.  When the legal hold comes, firms have to be prepared to lock down and produce relevant content in the event litigation becomes a reality.  As a result, eDiscovery is growing ever more important in this day and age of multiple communication channels.

Indeed, DFA made its presence felt at the conference, but the attendees walked away with a little peace of mind knowing that technology exists to help them stay true to DFA provisions.  Who woulda thunk that some good ole “Texas tea” could spawn such a chaotic mix of regulations, sanctions, lawsuits, and technology?!?!?!  Yee haw to that.

Google makes a splash in Social Business waters

Today’s post comes from Norv Leong, Director of Product Marketing at Actiance.

Google is back at it again with the introduction of more business-oriented features for Google+.  This is significant because it places the tech giant squarely in the social business sea with the likes of Jive, Yammer/Microsoft, and Salesforce Chatter, just to name some of the biggest fish.

Undaunted by the failure of the short-lived Google Wave, G+ on Roids (btw, there seems to be no official name for this enhanced offering, so this is what I’m calling it for the time being) seems to have a better chance at surviving.  Why?  Well, presumably, the smart folks at Google learned some lessons from their Wave experiment, and also, the value proposition of social business is much clearer than in 2009-10 when Wave was slip-sliding along.

Is that a Google fish I see?

With G+ on Roids, Google Apps users can leverage the social and business aspects of Google+ and Wave, respectively, much more seamlessly.  For instance, sharing of posts on Google+ can be limited to specific individuals, and video meetings can be integrated with Gmail, Calendar, and Docs.  However, Google’s emergence in the social business landscape once again highlights the potential dangers around compliance and security.

Businesses and their employees play by a different set of rules.  They’re held to higher standards and expectations.  For instance, public companies have to answer to Sarbanes-Oxley requirements.  Regulated companies have to be mindful of whatever rules and statutes apply to them (e.g., SEC, HIPAA, FDA).  And finally, just about any business can be sued these days, so litigation and other legal issues are always in the back of executives’ minds.

It’s all well and good to be chatting with your Facebook friends or tweeting sophomoric jokes to your buddies while you’re at home, but it’s a different ballgame when business-related conversations are happening over social media-type channels.  Concerns over data privacy and the leakage of confidential information take center stage.  That’s why we’re beginning to see a viable technology space flourish, addressing the compliance issues created by the adoption of social business platforms within the workplace.

Requirements around recordkeeping, supervision, and monitoring have brought more uncertainty and hesitation to the waters.  Without the right gear, organizations stand to lose more than just the fish that got away:  you could lose your boat, your customers, and your reputation.  Companies are thus turning to Actiance to help navigate these murky waters.  Actiance provides the visibility and clarity that enable organizations to effectively use these social business platforms, making for a more virtuous cycle in the sea.

Suck it up and take the good with the bad

Today’s post comes from Norv Leong, Director of Product Marketing at Actiance.

Reading the smart-ass comments to online articles, blogs, Facebook posts, and the like is often more enjoyable than reading the actual article, blog, or Facebook post itself.  Everyone wants to be a David Letterman or Rush Limbaugh, quick with the wit or politically charged rant.  Tempers flare, folks get offended, or others just plain embarrassed.  At the end of the day though, most all of what’s “out there” is deemed free speech.

That’s the beauty of the First Amendment.  You can say what you want (most of the time) without reprisal.  The US government – author, guardian, and object of the First Amendment – knows it’s in a pickle.  Loads of federal agencies have their own Facebook pages and they’re very wary of the fact that the public can and will use these pages as a sounding board for all kinds of commentary and preaching.

Exactly when those comments cross the line and become, say, threats to national security, that’s when things get murky.  Where does that line get drawn?  When is a comment “libelous”?  When does a comment lose its First Amendment protection?  I think you get the idea.

Having a comment policy in place is a good start.  Making it very clear what is acceptable behavior for comments sets boundaries that apply to anyone and everyone.  There’s no singling out one person over another.  Doesn’t matter what color skin you’ve got; what your sexual preference is; what religion you practice; what football team you follow.  The policy applies to everyone.  If you violate it, your comment will be removed.  Simple as that.

Even better is utilizing technology to assist in the enforcement of these types of policies.  I’m not saying to take down every comment that drops an f-bomb or some other derogatory comment, but you can use technology as the helping hand in flagging potentially libelous or incendiary material and, if need be, remove it from the system.

Think these guys would be Facebook friends?

I mean, c’mon, I’m sure our Founding Fathers bickered amongst themselves when they were laying the groundwork for the Constitution and Bill of Rights.  Just think what it would’ve been like had they had Facebook at their disposal!?!?  One of their Facebook conversations might’ve gone like this:

George Washington (GW):  What do you think fellas… just make me the emperor and call it a day.  No term limits.  I’ll just pass the torch when I’m dead.

Benjamin Franklin (BF):  Georgie baby, methinks you’ve been hittin’ the herbal remedy a bit too hard.  How bout a ten-year max limit so you can spend some time with Martha and work on your garden?

James Madison (JM):  Nah, I think George would get bored of ten years of emperor-ing.  The guy’s got too many side interests.  I think four years is just the right amount of time.  Any longer than that and we’ll have another riot, like what happened in Boston a few years back….over tea fer crissakes!

BF:  Yeah, good point.  This land seems to have a bunch of rabble rousers.  Which brings up another point.  We better come up with a system that deals with these hooligan punks should they act up.  Maybe some kind of judicial or trial system where we can put the hammer down on them, if they do something bad.

GW:  Y’all crack me up.  I was just kidding about the emperor bit.  Let’s go with four years and call ‘em President.  Well, I’m spent, fellas.  Anyone fancy a beer….or 5?

And a country was born…