Reputation Security: Looking at corporate reputation, reputational risk and reputational risk assessment?

Brand Killer Robots reveal::

Its quite simply the sum of what all the people and companies below think about your organisation:

You

Staff

Criminals

Competitors

Suppliers

Shareholders

Customers

Partners

Professional Service Providers

Regulatory Bodies & Government

These people and organisations base their assessment of your reputation on the following:

Identity of the organisation
Statements about vision and strategy
Actions of the organisation
Perceptions of the organisation from others
Quantitive Performance, in terms of profitability and profile of risk
Qualititive Performance in terms of social responsibility
Technology, research and innovation capability

Reputational risk is therefore the potential loss in reputation that leads to a series of impacts
to your organisation, including:

Loss of income
Costly litigation
Negative publicity
Decline in customer base
Reduction in market share

Decline in share price
Decline in organisation belief
Higher staff turnover & harder to hire high calibre managers

Additional costs associated with recovering reputation back

Reputational risk assessment is an estimate of the organisations current standing relative to each of the individuals, groups and companies mentioned above and its ability to sustain operations successfully within the current environment.

Reputation Security:: A formal approach to intangible risk management!

Brand Killer Robots reveal::

Why is it so simple for a company to think about operational risks, yet hard for them to understand the risks that threaten their company reputation? Could this be attributed to a lack of ability to perceive intangible risks, as opposed to more obvious tangible risks.

Don't they understand that the intangibles are far more likely to threaten share-holder value that any other form of risk?

We recall the cases where intangible risks has threatened shareholder value, such as the finger that alledegly found its way into a bowl of chilli at a fast food restuarant or the CEO who had allegedly been watching pornography on his computer (which he denied infatically). Or where the claims manager of a well respected underwriting firm was fired for setting up bogus policy holder accounts and making claims through them.

In each of these cases it is not difficult to understand just how devasting the outcome would be, both in terms of the negative media exposure in the market and the resulting financial losses.

In fact the impact could be far worse to the brand itself, hampering its development for many years to come.

Much of the shortcomings of todays business managers emanate from a general disregard for assessing the risk of intangibles, prefering to concentrate on those risks that can be more easily identified. The tangible risks, such as infrastructure, finance and product development.

At Brand Killer Robots we call for the introduction of a new formal approach to the identification, visualisation and assessment of risk in the area of intangibles - in order to reduce risk to shareholder value.

If you would like to know more about our work in this area: email sryan@intrench.com

Why industrial espionage is getting easier thanks to Business Intelligence Software!

Brand Killer Robots reveal::

I was invited to a presentation once by one of the worlds leading experts in the development of business intelligence tools, otherwise described as the technology and practice of applying information to make decisions. I learned quite rightly that in order for information to be usable, it must be trusted, timely, relevant, easy-to-use, and in context. I learned that executive dashboards could be used to put information in context, and in an easy-to-understand format.

I learned that different tools share the same answers to the same questions, gain more value from your information investment, and make better decisions.

It was truly the answer to the totally "information empowered"enterprise, where the personnel had the answers at their fingertips and the executives could spin problem models around in every which way and paint pictures on the data points and set traffic light indicators where numbers went above and below the pre-set threshold.

One of the people presenting was a young man from a blue-chip insurance company. His job was to tell a story to the audience, from a customers perspective about how the company he represented had maximised the return on investment(ROI), from implementing these tools across about 40 different locations across the world.

He had prepared an excellent presentation and even showed us how it was possible to slice and dice a high level data cube, whilst connected via the Internet, using a wireless laptop connection. In fact he got so carried away that he spent over an hour taking questions on the numerous features that were available in the analytical software. Essentially he was showing us a high level snapshot of underwriting performance data, categorised by Broker, Product and Sales Location.

Once he had finished he asked the audience if they had any questions. It seemed appropriate to stand up, as the previous questioners had done before. Bear in mind that there were about 200 other people in the room, most of whom were from the banking and insurance industry.

"Yes", he said, "what is your question?". I felt myself getting ready to sit back down again, in shame of the question i was about to ask. But i decided to stay standing given i had been invited to share my opinion as a security consultant - and i just couldn't help myself but to ask...

"Well", i said, "is it ok to ask a question on the security aspects of your presentation?"

To which he replied.. "yes of course".

"Well", i said "Why is the Loss Ratio at 95% on your Label V Taxi insurance product, when i know for a fact that a motor insurance underwriter not that far away is flying at around 70%?" I said, "don't you guys know how to run a motor insurance business?".

To which there was a gasp, a series of muffled chuckles, an uncomfortable silence (which seemed to take an age to revive), followed by a rather hurried end to the proceedings.

My point was of course less to do with showing them how stupid they were by using live data in a presentation to competitors and more to do with the dangers of using BI software. By dragging and dropping a few dimensions over a fairly simple data cube, it is possible to gain access to data that in the past would have been locked behind green character based screens, in the bosses head - or better still - locked away in 100 cupboards upstairs.

That's why corporate espionage is getting easier. Thanks to Business Intelligence Software.

Lack of Concern driving employee dissatisfaction?

Brand Killer Robots reveal::

A Financial Director once asked me why he thought our business relationship wasn't as steady as it might have been, to which i replied....

"There is a deficit of love!"

His response was to first look perplexed at my answer (as if he hadn't heard of love before) and then once he had recovered from my words, to scornfully refute that love had any place in business.

You might say... how can you MrRobot (a robot) be talking like this and more importantly - Why?

My answer to this question is ... perhaps it takes a non-human (a robot) to understand the human spirit! It does seem that humans are incapable of understanding it.

My answer to "Why love has a place in business" - and in fact in everything in life is.......

The best thing to achieve peace is to turn away from the dark things that worry you and train your mind to think only of love. Share it with everyone without thought of self. Share your love like you have never shared love before. Share your love, like a raging tide - and you will see.

There is no intellectual appreciation of enlightenment. There is only a practical one.

Enough Said!

Take care you look after the people you hire. You just never know what they might turn into - in the future!

Brand Killer Robots reveal::

Having had the good fortune of meeting a great many executive level people in my working life it has not gone unnoticed just how many of them have told me about experiences in their own working lives where they took up appointments and very shortly after, found themselves out of a job.

It seems a great many of these people feel that they were duped into undertaking a role that turned out to be something very different than what it was originally presented to be.

It seems that the obvious answer would have beem for them to do their homework before accepting any appointment.

You might just end up working with the wrong kind of people and this could reflect very badly on your career.

Worse is the fact that many of the people affected had held senior positions in corporate life and still hold many of these companies trade secrets in their head.

As their own social situations decay because of their encounter with the corporate honey-trap many of these people become desperate and begin to change their ethical perspective. These decaying circumstances, along with a society that constantly reminds them of their failure, begins to turn the mind towards the target. Begins to equip them with everything they need to get even. Get even with those who trapped them into walking this path.

The frustration turns to anger, which in turn, turns to rage!

These people turn from human beings, into cyborgs, into robots and eventually into

Brand Killer Robots.

Beware - the Brand Killer Robots are coming and we must be prepared to defend against them!

Take care you look after the people you hire. You just never know what they might turn into! It could be you they come after some day!