financial services

Looking for a job?

Judi Hasson — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 18:04:53 -0500

Looking for a job? One approach is to use professional online networks like Xing and LinkedIn. Traffic on the world's top professional web networks has surged since the financial crisis started.

"Given that a lot of professionals are currently losing or are worried about losing their job, it makes sense that career-focused social networks such as LinkedIn should see a boost in traffic," said Martin Olausson, director of the digital media strategies unit at Strategy Analytics.

Kevin Eyres, head of LinkedIn's operations in Europe, said "We are growing by almost one new user each second.'' Membership on LinkedIn has jumped to more than 31 million from 18 million at the start of the year, growing fastest in the financial services, media, education and technology fields, Eyres said.

"Given that a lot of professionals are currently losing or are worried about losing their job, it makes sense that career-focused social networks such as LinkedIn should see a boost in traffic," added Martin Olausson, director of the digital media strategies unit at Strategy Analytics.

For more tips on job hunting:
- see this eWeek.com article

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Career news from FierceCIO

The IT worker's meltdown worry list

Judi Hasson — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 14:35:01 -0400

The economy is in bad shape--very bad shape. That means job worries all around, and IT workers are not immune. The Corporate Executive Board in Washington, DC surveyed 50 CIOs, and nearly 25 percent said they have imposed a hiring freeze, while half said they are cutting spending on consultants and contractors.

However, Computerworld.com said some skills will always do well in this market. It cited a need for SAP techs and even financial services IT experts who can integrate platforms and improve risk management systems. There are some options available for workers and many uncertainties. You could consider relocating, with the Northern Virginia IT sector not in as bad shape as some other parts of the country. But that is not so easy to do, and in the meantime, no one knows how long the downturn will last, whether companies will turn to outsourcing to save money or how drastic the cuts will be.

What can one do to avoid getting laid off? Analysts and various surveys all seem to agree that companies will be deferring new IT projects and cutting where they can until the economic questions are resolved.

For more on IT jobs and economic worries:
- see this Computerworld.com article

Financial IT could face slowdown

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:59:59 -0400

Financial services IT may be the next sector to face cutbacks in the volatile economic climate that has already taken down Bear Stearns. Analysts anticipate the overall IT spending in the financial industry to either flatten or fall. "For some larger banks, IT budgets could be down by as much as 15%," depending on their degree of exposure to the subprime mortgage mess, says David Easthope, at research company Celent. There is some good news, too, however. Some technology areas, such as risk management software and high-speed, low-latency network infrastructure for obtaining market data and making instantaneous trades, will continue to rake in IT dollars.

For more on the pending downturn in financial IT:
- See this InformationWeek article

Change in the wind for CIOs

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 07:00:00 -0500

The CIO's job is definitely changing. Hardly a week can go by without us hearing about another line of responsibility being added, either formally or informally, to the position. In the latest move, more companies are adding business services to the CIO's list of responsibilities. While this may be a smart addition, how much work can one executive do without letting the ball drop in other areas? For example, Fidelity, the largest mutual fund company in the United States, tapped Marvin Adams, CIO at Citigroup, as the new president of its shared services organization. He will report to the company's president, Rodger Lawson.

"Marvin Adams is a leader who has wide-ranging experience in technology and operations both within and outside of financial services," said Lawson. "As our business relies more and more upon robust technology solutions coupled with efficient operations, Marv's background suits him ideally to help us take the greatest possible advantage of our market-leading capabilities in these areas."

Are these kind of hiring trends part of a new wave of adding layer upon layer to a CIO's portfolio or is it time to change the definition and meaning of a CIO? Is a CIO a dinosaur or a tiger? -Judi

IBM launching "Blue Cloud"

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 06:59:59 -0500

IBM is planning to take a page from Google to bring better information and programming from remote locations to consumers. It's the latest chapter in Big Blue's efforts to capture more corporate clients. IBM is calling its initiative "Blue Cloud." It's a version of supercomputing known as cloud computing that can search and retrieve vast amounts of information from around-the-world. This Internet-based supercomputing is called cloud computing because vast stores of information and processing resources can be tapped from afar from virtually any kind of computer.

Experts say this is the next step in information strategy. IBM hopes to sell more IBM products and services for cloud computing. The company is expected to launch this initiative in the spring of 2008. And the cost will be low to users. Most of the basic software for cloud computing is open source. The hardware is typically industry-standard server computers. So what's the advantage for IBM? "Large financial services companies are going to be among the first to be interested," said William M. Zeitler, senior vice president in charge of IBM's systems and technology group. And that means banks and financial institutions with huge amounts of data will be looking for easier ways to deal with retrievable data. "In some ways, the cloud is a natural next step from the grid-utility model," said Frank Gens, an analyst at the research firm IDC. And it may mean that the world will one day become one small computer screen instead of many screens.

For more on IBM and "Blue Cloud:"
- See The New York Times article (sub. req.)

Starting salaries for IT graduates up

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 06:59:59 -0400

We've been hearing that fewer and fewer students are interested in studying computer science, but according to a recent study, starting salary offers are up for students who graduate with expertise in IT and computer science. Emanuel Contomanolis, associate vice president of co-op and career services at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in New York, told ComputerWorld that in addition to tech vendors, other industries like financial services are aggressively hiring graduates with IT skills, not just financial-related skills. The survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), said that computer science graduates have been offered an average salary of $53,051 this year--up 4.5 percent from last year's figure. As we've reported in previous issues, many companies are increasing their recruiting efforts, as companies begin to prepare for the upcoming retirements of baby boomers.

For all the details of the study:
- read the article in ComputerWorld

Is Content Intelligence ready for prime time?

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 19:01:38 -0500

Content Intelligence services, which can help organize corporate information using tools like information extraction, conceptual classification, business analysis and taxonomy and metadata management, promise to save enterprises significant time in searching for information--not to mention, significant amounts of money. But are Content Intelligence services ready for widespread use? The U.S. federal government is already using CI, and the financial services, high-tech, pharmaceutical and publishing industries are on their way. The market is still emerging, with a mix of big names and upstarts in the game. Once the market shakes out, though, it's expected to take off in a big way.

Read more about the emerging Content Intelligence market:
- read the article at Itdirector.com

Cyber attacks in finance sector overstated

Sun, 03 Dec 2006 19:01:39 -0500

Last week's news brought a dire warning from the Feds that terrorists were readying to hit financial sites and data banks. But some industry groups are downplaying the risk, saying that cyber attacks are less of a risk than actual physical attacks. The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center says it has lowered the risk level for cyber security attacks, as it hasn't yet detected any such malicious activity. One security expert even claims that the reported denial-of-service attack cited by the Feds wouldn't do much damage even if it did occur.

For more on cyber terrorism:
- read the news at InformationWeek

Email policies broken, ignored in financial sector

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 19:01:35 -0500

While email monitoring seems to be okay with financial services employees, it may be because they're dodging email scrutiny when they need to. A new study of Wall Street workers reports that seven out of 10 have broken an email policy or evaded an email use requirement. Over 50 percent admit they have used web-based mail services to send data or information that they didn't want to send over their corporate networks due to monitoring controls.

For more on breaking email policy:
- read the story at Vnunet

Server is Redmond's weapon against Linux

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 20:01:37 -0400

Microsoft is seriously going to battle against open-source Linux, releasing its first high-computing cluster server product aimed at enterprises needing hefty power for data workloads. According to the vendor, its Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 is an easier fit both in management and deployment. The initial market segments are financial services and business intelligence systems.

For more on the new cluster product:
- see this TechWorld article