Former Citi VP of Treasury Sentenced

In this age of compliance and tight security, how can one still manage to embezzlement more than $22 million?

Well Mr. Gary Foster did, the former vice president at Citigroup Inc.’s treasury finance department was sentenced to 97 months in prison for fraud related to his embezzlement. Foster embezzled funds from various Citigroup accounts by transferring money to Citigroup's cash account and then wiring it to his personal bank account.

Foster concealed his thefts with various false accounting entries, making the Citi cash account appear in balance and placing a fraudulent contract or deal number in the reference line of the wire transfer instructions.

Made me wonder, which accounting system were they using that nobody can even catch this kind of false transactions especially during month-end reconciliation. I guess if you work for a large multinational bank, it'll take a few cycle before you can confirm that there's fraud or breakage in the process. But mostly this can be remediated by constant communication between people who audit and reconciles cash.

LinkedIn error

LinkedIn is acting up today as I'm getting this error a lot - Sorry, there was a problem processing your request. Please try again.

Even on simple links, it doesn't work.

10 things you should know about NoSQL databases

Did you hear about the latest trend in databases? If not then you should read this article about NoSQL or  "not only SQL".

NoSQL vary from your classic relational database management system (RDBMS) as they do not use SQL as their primary query language. These data stores may not require fixed table schemas, usually do not support join operations, may not give full ACID (atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) guarantees, and typically scale horizontally. NoSQL is now used by major internet companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter and others.

Here's an article about NoSQL which will help you understand the pros & cons of using the technology. Click here.

Cloud Computing Practice Overview

Bessemer Venture has been an advocate of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for years now. They've compiled a one-pager of all potential providers of cloud services in different areas of the business. Get the one-pager here.

Apple's iPhone forcing smartphone industry change by Computerworld

The intensely competitive smartphone industry is becoming an increasingly challenging space. Analysts say Apple [AAPL] has achieved the largest share of hardware sales and revenue, putting competitors on any current platform (Android, Microsoft, RIM, etc.) under lots of pressure. In this environment, surely it won't be long until another round of mergers and acquisitions begins?

[ABOVE: Thanks to Asymco for this image, which shows how much things have changed since Apple invaded the mobile industry with the iPhone.]
Apple's game to lose
Surely it's obvious? Think about this: Asymco's Horace Dediu, believes four of the biggest smartphone makers lost money in the last quarter: Nokia, Motorola, Sony-Ericsson and LG.

For more on this click here. 

Cloud war already started?

For months, I've been waiting for somebody to write an article about cloud-based services which features bigwigs like Micrsoft, EMC, Apple and some unknown players in the market. The day finally came but I was more disappointed than excited about the article as it failed to recognized other David's in the market.

Also, what do you consider players in this market and how do you classify them in such groups? Is it the services they provide or the target markets they're trying to penetrate?

I wonder if Sharepoint will have new competitors once Office 365 goes to market.

Read more about the article here.

The Dynamics Decade

I liked this article because it shows you the history of the company I've grown to follow and the individuals who have contributed to its success over the years. Here's an excerpt from the article:

Microsoft originally created a Microsoft Great Plains Business Solutions brand headed by Great Plains Chairman and CEO Doug Burgum, who became a Microsoft senior vice president and president of the Great Plains Division. Burgum reported to Jeff Raikes, then group vice president of Microsoft's Productivity and Business Services Group.


Read the full article here.