Author Archive

By Ben Mattlin In March 2008, New York-based International Derivatives Clearing Group was designing a clearing system for trades of over-the-counter interest-rate swaps and other fixed-income derivatives. An independent subsidiary of NASDAQ OMX Group, the world's largest securities exchange company in total market value of its listed securities, IDCG had to bring efficiency and transparency to ... Full story

By Ben Mattlin Before 2006, information-technology innovators had no efficient way to share news affecting their industry. IT solution providers, software developers, technology resellers, trade associations, user groups, consumers, related businesses and myriad others who care about the future of innovation needed a reliable stream of up-to-date information about workforce developments, educational trends, shifts in the ... Full story

In early 2005, Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (annual revenue: $7.65 billion) had no standardized sales and marketing tool for its 3,000 financial advisors nationwide. The sales force supplied its own material and technology from a variety of independent sources, over which the home office had little control. “Guardian decided ... Full story

Glenview State Bank, an independently owned full-service lender for individuals and businesses in Chicago’s North Shore and environs with $885 million in assets under management, needed to upgrade its mortgage loan origination software. The old system’s vendor was phasing it out and pushing Glenview toward another solution that “would require a lot of work to implement,” recalls Bill Campbell, executive vice president of the Glenview, ... Full story

IM and group chat have several distinct advantages over the telephone and e-mail. They don’t interrupt the way a ringing phone does, and messages don’t pile up as they do in e-mail inboxes. “Instant messaging is a lot faster than e-mailing, and it allows you to see who is online and who isn’t at any given time, which e-mail doesn’t. The telephone, on the other hand, ... Full story