Taking anti-corruption enforcement to a new level, the World Bank Group today announced the debarment of two companies and, separately, the first-ever World Bank cross-debarments of firms, for engaging in corrupt and fraudulent practices in development projects. The announcement comes on the eve of the International Corruption Hunters Network meeting, which takes place December 6 – 8 at the World Bank’s headquarters.

“These enforcement actions are timely, coming as they do just before our meeting next week with the International Corruption Hunters Alliance.

Our hope is that the Alliance will facilitate our investigations and increase their impact to further eliminate fraud and corruption risks impacting development resources,” said Leonard McCarthy, World Bank Vice President for Integrity (INT). “An important item on our agenda is stepping up enforcement action as part of a global enforcement regime. These are examples of cases that could be scaled up with the support of Alliance members given the network’s multi-jurisdictional impact.” He also added that managing fraud and corruption risks is a prominent feature of the World Bank Group’s Governance and Anticorruption (GAC) agenda.

Kwaplah International Trading Co., Inc., a U.S.-based company, and its owner, Mr. Sherlock Mahn, together with any organization they directly or indirectly control, have been debarred for 12 years for engaging in corrupt and fraudulent practices in Bank-financed projects implemented in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Ghana, Gambia and Liberia. This is the second-longest debarment since the Bank began sanctioning firms in 1999. In making its decision, the World Bank’s Sanctions Board took into account the multiplicity of sanctionable practices committed by the company among other considerations. “This Sanctions Board Decision has laid down some brightline rules, following an extensive INT investigation that crossed multiple jurisdictions,” said Mr. McCarthy. “Companies and individuals who misuse development resources should know that, together with our partners, we are stepping up the fight against fraud and corruption, and they will be caught,” he added. In addition, the World Bank Sanctions Board debarred another company, “Elkri” for three years for engaging fraudulent practices in a Bank-financed project in Albania. The debarment may be reduced to two years upon implementation of an effective corporate compliance program. These rulings are eligible for cross debarment under the April 2010 Agreement for Mutual Enforcement of Debarment Decisions entered into by the African Development Bank Group, Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank Group and the Inter-American Development Bank Group. Under the agreement, entities debarred by one multilateral development bank (MDB) may be sanctioned for the same misconduct by other participating development banks, which translates into collective enforcement action. Based on that agreement, the World Bank also announced the its first cross-debarments, sanctioning 12 companies previously debarred by the Asian Development Bank for engaging in fraudulent and corruption practices in some of their projects. “Since the signing of the Cross-Debarment agreement earlier this year, INT has worked diligently with our MDB partners to ensure that enforcement is not delayed,” said McCarthy.“This enforcement action is sending a very powerful signal of how the global anticorruption landscape is fast forwarding. This progress cannot be reversed,” he added. About the International Corruption Hunters Alliance

Over 200 anti-corruption officials from more than 134 countries will meet for the first time at the World Bank’s headquarters in Washington on December 6-8, 2010 to help facilitate the investigation and prosecution of corrupt actors, including those who defraud World Bank projects. The meeting of the International Corruption Hunters Alliance, which flows from regional networks of anticorruption enforcement personnel the World Bank established over the past two years, will enable officials from developing countries to interact with counterparts from OECD countries, share information, and work toward a global enforcement regime.

By Craig Pumfrey, NICE Systems

Customers of financial services organisations have high expectations and a low tolerance of poor service. They want to interact and transact with their providers quickly and efficiently and at their convenience, whether this is on the telephone, web-site (self-service and live chat), mobile apps, email, SMS, IVR, or social media. However, simply providing access to multiple communication channels of communication isn’t enough to deliver the standard of customer experience that is demanded in such a competitive market.

Today, customers expect to be able to move seamlessly from one channel to the next and the organisation needs to be able to match their pace, and whenever possible get one step ahead. This is what has become commonly known in the industry as an omni-channel customer experience. In our latest survey measuring the channel preferences of customers, 74% of respondents reported challenges when switching from one channel to the next. Clearly there is work that needs to be done, and in order to create this seamless omni-channel experience, organisations need to make a cultural and technological shift.

Culturally, organisations need to stop trying to manage and measure customer engagement as a linear series of isolated transactions. It is about accompanying the customer on a journey, and this may take place in one interaction via a single communication channel or, as our latest research suggests, across an average of more than five channels. From a technology standpoint, financial service providers have traditionally been amongst the earliest to offer new customer contact channels. Now is the time to take the lead and break down the silos of data and begin joining the dots between them, mapping and tracking the individual journey of each customer. Here is an example of how getting it right can deliver an exceptional omni-channel customer experience.

Tom is 28-year old and uses his iPhone for the majority of his online banking needs. He sometimes visits the branch, but mostly uses the website and mobile app to check his balance and make payments. On this occasion he tries to set up a new payee for a bill but is having problems using the app. He is about to give up and call the contact centre, but because the bank is using customer engagement analytics to monitor all the interactions of a customer regardless of channel, it has spotted that Tom is having an issue and makes a pre-emptive move, sending him an invitation to speak directly to live representative. He accepts and is automatically routed to an agent who has his customer details already available to them on screen.

Tom prefers to assist himself (self-service) as he doesn’t have to wait in a queue to speak with an agent, so he is hugely is impressed when he isn’t kept on-hold. Another reason he doesn’t like to call is the need to go through the cumbersome security process. Authentication typically accounts for 25% of time spent on a call.

However, in this instance a real-time authentication solution was being used and his voice is automatically matched with his unique ‘voiceprint’ using voice biometrics technology. Tom is authenticated in less than 15 seconds, during which he has been addressing his issue with the agent – and not providing answers to questions, like his mother’s maiden name. The agent, on his side, also has the benefit of real-time guidance to assist in resolving the problem without the need to escalate the call, or make a call back. What more, the agent is able to explain to Tom what he was doing wrong, so he does not have the same issue again.  Whilst Tom is on the call, the agent also notices that he recently opened a saving account in a branch, but could now get a better interest and offers to switch him to the better deal. With the call completed, Tom is invited to provide feedback via an SMS to his iPhone about his experience, which he gladly gives.

In this example, the organisation recognises that rather than providing multiple service channels and waiting for the customer to initiate outreach, by tracking their interaction journey it is possible to pre-empt problems that customer are facing and then intervene at the right time to offer the right level of assistance. Furthermore, as the organisation has a Voice of the Customer solution to monitor all interactions taking place across all channels, it was also able to recognise that Tom’s issue wasn’t an isolated incident and as a result changed the existing process on the mobile app to make it easier for all customers to use.

It has never been easier for a consumer to move from one financial services provider to another, so don’t make it easier for your customers to switch provider than it is to switch between channels. Consumers may be more demanding than ever, but it is also true that there has never been a better time to provide consistently an exceptional customer experience to every customer along every journey.

James Dawson – the engineer of bespoke advanced silicone and organic rubber products – has appointed Chinese national Pan Feng as General Manager for Dawson Polymer Products in Shanghai, and Indian national Amit Kaul as Sales Manager-India in New Delhi.

Amit will report directly to Pan Feng in Shanghai, whom will report to James Dawson MD Paul Edwards in Lincoln, England.

Pan joins James Dawson from Trelleborg, having previously worked for large multinationals including Shell and Federal Express.  He is originally from Shanghai, but spent a number of years in Australia studying for an MBA. Pan becomes James Dawson’s first ever Chinese national General Manager of its operations in China.

Of Pan Feng’s appointment, Paul Edwards said: “Having always had British ex-pats filling the role of GM at our plant in Shanghai, we thought it was time to consider employing a local national.

“Pan was recommended to us by the outgoing General Manager who transferred to a sister company, as they had worked together previously.

“In order to ‘test the thinking’, a local recruitment firm was engaged to assess all the options – and Pan was successful in being appointed on his own merit. He fitted the bill perfectly, being a native of Shanghai, but having worked for many large multinational organisations in China.

“Pan has also studied overseas, and is fluent in English, making communication between the main plant in the UK and China very easy. Having a Chinese national appointed as the GM also means that he can communicate with both customers and employees in their own language.”

Of Amit Kaul, Paul said: “We have always believed in recruiting local sales representatives in local markets, from both a cultural aspect as well as language. This has proved very successful for us in Europe and North America, so the same thinking was applied to India.

“We felt that having a full time employee living locally within the market would offer the best value to our customers.

“Amit speaks fluent English and has experience of representing large multinationals in India, making him the ideal choice.”

James Dawson develops and manufactures high performance silicone and organic rubber hoses for a wide range of diverse markets, significantly diesel engine applications.  Key customers include global giants Caterpillar, JCB and Cummins and many other major OEMs around the world.

As part of the FTSE 250-listed Fenner Group, James Dawson enjoys significant investment for future global growth.

With manufacturing facilities in Lincoln and China, a warehouse in the USA, and regional sales offices in India and worldwide, James Dawson is a global leader in the provision of advance polymeric solutions.

Crowdcube helps bring pyrotechnic torch technology to market

With more than 120m landmines stored and deployed in places of conflict and post-conflict around the world and 20,000 victims of landmines every year, a British company is set to tackle the problem head on with its revolutionary pyrotechnic torch technology after raising funds on equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube.

Disarmco, which raised almost £150K against its original £120K target and attracted 126 investors, turned to crowdfunding after its earlier efforts to attract investors through more traditional means failed.

Crowdcube investors will help Disarmco develop and launch one of its first commercial products, the Dragon Torch, engineered to help safely and effectively dispose of landmines and other unexploded ordnance (UXO) and is currently undergoing final testing at its base in the South East.  A second product, a portable ammunition disposal facility (ADF) that assists in the disposal of obsolete munitions stockpiles, is also being developed.

Co-founders, CEO Arpana Gandhi and CTO John Reid, expect to have a fully operational and commercial pyrotechnic torch within 6-8 weeks and will file a patent for the technology, which offers a unique and environmentally friendly approach to demining.  In addition, with tight restrictions on the transportation of explosive products, which makes the job of demining even more challenging, Disarmco is also looking to get the Dragon Torch downgraded in Health & Safety testing as the torch is inert until assembled. This makes the transport and movement of the torch across all borders, easier and safer.

The firm has already received significant interest from NGOs (non government organisations), UNMAS (United Nations Mine Action Service) and commercial organisations to trial the torch in Kuwait, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and the Far East.

An entrepreneur actively involved in fundraising activities for landmine charities, Arpana Gandhi, explains: “There are so many people living in conflict and post-conflict countries who face daily dangers due to anti-personnel mines, IEDs and other stockpiled or abandoned explosive ordnance.  We want to support charity workers, NGOs and commercial organisations to make their jobs easier and safer through more effective and lower cost technology.  We’ve carefully planned how we gain market entry and our aim is to offer a toolbox of products to become the de-facto service within the defence sector.”

Gandhi adds: “Crowdcube has been incredibly supportive of our mission and goals and our investors have taken a keen interest, wanting to learn as much as possible about the business and our products.  Unfortunately, many of the investors and VCs we approached in the past were either very cynical or risk-averse about investing in what we see as life-saving and life-changing technology.”

Darren Westlake, CEO and co-founder of Crowdcube, adds: “We are incredibly proud to be supporting Disarmco and delighted to see that they have exceeded their original funding target due to popular demand.  Landmines and other hazardous ordnance present a huge humanitarian and commercial challenge for demining organisations around the world, but Disarmco clearly has a competitive edge and the commercial and technical skills to become a leader in this field.  We and all 126 investors are excited to be part of bringing this technology to market.”

With development of the technology currently taking place in a factory in Essex, Professor Stephen Murray, Head of Energetics, Engineering and Applied Science at the British Defence Academy at Cranfield University is acting as a consultant to Disarmco.  The company is also being supported by Simon Weston OBE and Falklands War veteran – in his role as a Non-Executive Director and an ambassador for raising awareness of the dangers of obsolete stockpiles of munitions – and former SAS soldier, Andy McNab.

Disarmco will be seeking additional investment to further develop its ADF product and a revolutionary patented X-ray IED detection system.  It is looking to raise £10m over the next 12-18 months, with the company operating profitably based on its pyrotechnic products.

Remote users, mobile and transient devices, BYOD and cloud computing are the new normal for today’s “extended enterprise network.” To be competitive, businesses need to provide their users unfettered, any means access to corporate networks and hosted corporate resources without compromising security. In response to these factors, ForeScout Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of pervasive network security solutions for Global 2000 enterprises and government organisations, has revealed plans for CounterACT RemoteControl, which enables IT organisations an easy and effective means to monitor and enforce policy of remote corporate and personally owned devices.

According to an IDC report, the world’s mobile worker population will reach 1.3 billion or 32.7 percent of the total workforce by 2015.¹ As such, employees are using their PCs and smart devices to conduct business activities online and off the corporate network. Companies have made considerable investments towards issuing security policies and implementing host-based security controls, such as patch management, anti-malware, firewall, intrusion prevention and encryption. IT organisations predominantly use network access control (NAC) solutions to monitor and enforce endpoint security standards for both company-owned and personal devices that are connected to the network. Unfortunately, endpoint compliance is less assured for remote and transient devices that are online but not connected to the corporate network – making them susceptible to advanced threats, data leakage and other security exposures.

Driven by customer demand, ForeScout will reduce these risks by enabling its award-winning ForeScout CounterACT™ platform to continuously monitor and bolster endpoint security for devices both on and off the network with the introduction of CounterACT RemoteControl. By simply activating this CounterACT capability, IT organisations can:

• Gain visibility into remote corporate-issued and BYOD-enrolled devices
• Use one set of endpoint compliance policies and have them automatically and appropriately applied to devices both on and off the corporate network
• Uniformly monitor endpoint security standards to track adherence, to facilitate mitigation of violations and exposures and to help preempt threats before they reach the corporate network
• Reduce the costs associated with host-based security issues and related remote user help desk calls and problem-resolution tasks
• Preserve user experience by enabling granular, flexible policies that can inform users or attempt to mitigate problems before they connect to the corporate network

“Our customers are initially stunned to learn of the number and types of devices actually on their networks and, more so, the extent of non-compliant devices accessing network resources,” said Gord Boyce, CEO of ForeScout. “By leveraging ForeScout CounterACT, IT can close these blind spots. Customers also have concerns about their visibility and security over remote users and devices. The upcoming CounterACT RemoteControl capability allows us to address these risks and deliver on our promise of pervasive network security.”

ForeScout intends to offer the CounterACT RemoteControl capability as a downloadable software option that will be available to ForeScout customers under active maintenance at no additional charge. The option would transform a new or existing CounterACT into a CounterACT RemoteControl appliance. This RemoteControl appliance is placed outside the corporate network in a corporate DMZ and is administered through the CounterACT Enterprise Manager – dynamically updating remote endpoint security policy and obtaining remote endpoint intelligence. A ForeScout SecureConnector client for PCs is used to monitor and enforce policy and remediate issues on the remote device as well as communicate with the RemoteControl appliance. The planned release opens the door for additional managed security services.

Scott Gordon, ForeScout’s CMO, commented, “When remote employees VPN into the corporate network with their corporate-owned or personal PC, they would hit CounterACT and be assessed against policy before continuing to access network resources. Policy violations can result in a possible warning, just informing IT of an endpoint issue or threat, informing the user to do an update, having CounterACT attempt to remediate a system issue, or at the extreme, limit access to network resources. With CounterACT RemoteControl, our customers gain enhanced visibility and control for their extended network, i.e. those remote systems that are online but off network. This enhanced security control can not only preempt threats from entering the network or from impacting the system, but also preserves user experience.”

Relevant Links

ForeScout CounterACT RemoteControl
ForeScout Blog

ForeScout Facebook

ForeScout Twitter

 ¹ IDC Worldwide Mobile Worker Population 2011-2015 Forecast, Dec. 2011 (Doc #232073)