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Over the next couple of months, Microsoft will launch new operating systems, applications, and upgrades that draw on $20 to $25 billion in research. Now, I must admit I have often been skeptical of Microsoft’s boasts about how much it spends annually on research – somewhere north of $6 billion. The Washington Monthly years ago launched a useful adage about Washington bureaucrats – they talk ... Full story

This is, of course, the time for resolutions about how to become better, wiser, richer, or more loved. I haven’t been much good at applying such resolutions to my own life, so this year I am happy to offer them to others, specifically to folks in the financial services industry. Automate Fully to Cut Insurance Costs Partial automation, as an Avanade study found, can increase costs by ... Full story

2006 looks to be the year that mobility goes Microsoft, whatever the outcome of Blackberry’s patent litigation. A slew of sharp new phones running Windows Mobile 5.0 are hitting the market. Right now the big news is the Palm Treo running Windows with high-speed data access through Verizon, available in the beginning of the new year, with its Blackberry-style keyboard below a large screen. Already on ... Full story

Thirty-odd years after Merrill Lynch launched its Cash Management Account (CMA) to sweep uninvested account balances into an interest-earning money market, Bank of America has come up with its own take on a sweep account. It has launched a savings program around its debit card that rewards clients for their purchases by helping them save and then matching their savings up to $250 a year. Customers ... Full story

Whether it is ALM, AML, CRM, STP, P&C, SOX or RISK, data is part of the problem or part of the solution across capital markets, banking, and insurance. From asset-liability management to anti-money laundering, business users want to get their hands on the fundamental data so they can analyze it and combine it for actionable views of the business. Most financial services firms still operate in ... Full story