March Fisher

What is your assessment of the new process for managing priorities at Volkswagen of America? Is it better or worse than the old process? Are the criticisms justified?

The executive leadership team at VW did not give proper attention and priority on its IT department and as such, it had to be built from an infancy state…twice. The act of v…[Read more]

Amanda – I too rely on Amazon’s feedback for a majority of products I purchase – online or not. I bought something recently based on the positive feedback from +2K responses and received a message from the vendor that they’ll provide me a free product if I do a review. To me, this is like trying to buy the 5 stars on Yelp. After that incident,…[Read more]

Good post Mike. After 4 instances with credit card theft, I’ve learned to be a bit more careful online. I’ve never provided personal information unless I know it’s secure…but then again, how secure is it really?! If there’s an option to use PayPal, I take it as I believe people working at the online stores have disseminated card numbers.…[Read more]

How would you explain the controversy regarding Yelp’s reviews — to a 5 year old?

There are good and bad people in this world. Companies like Yelp must use tools to remove what it believes to be a review from a bad person. The tool they use isn’t perfect but it is a way to help get rid of the bad guy reviews. Sometimes, it goofs and gets rid…[Read more]

What do you think – Have advances in technology made it easier to commit fraud? Or, has technology made it easier to keep your money safe?

I think both – advances in technology keep your money safe for a certain amount of time until advances in hijackers’ technology and abilities figure out how to crack the safe. The CIO article “How to Secur…[Read more]

Do you think retailers, payment processors, and credit card companies are doing enough to keep your financial information secure? Or, is a certain level of fraud just a cost of doing business?

I believe the companies accept a certain level of fraud as a cost of doing business. They absolutely are not doing everything they can to avoid scams…[Read more]

Describe the security breach experienced by Sunnylake. Why do you think this breach occurred? What would you have done to prevent it?

I believe the IT development for the system did not provide adequate business continuity processes. All applications, particularly those that are business critical (which Sunnylakes certainly was!) must have a…[Read more]

When I have to drive to another office location, it’s a 5 hour round trip. To make this time productive, I have an app “Voice Dream” that reads various files (pdf, docx, HTML, etc.) aloud. I download the files on my iPad then play the app while driving. The app lets you pick the voice you want to use for a fee however, it comes with a free one…[Read more]

I agree Mori – the more information the better. As a renter, I would want to be assured the host is reputable. Whether they have a good credit history or not is not as important to me as the background check…though I would hope they pay their mortgage so my booking isn’t cancelled! This I believe should be required from Airbnb prior to allow…[Read more]

If you were a crisis consultant, what advice would you give to Airbnb on how to handle incidents like this?
Timing is everything as I learned in a risk management course when it comes to addressing corporate crises. Airbnb should have reacted quicker as delay insinuates incompetence. Press releases should have been quickly made regarding their…[Read more]

I agree with you Eric regarding requiring a background check. Had Airbnb required this for all users and hosts, it is likely the EJ incident would have been circumvented or at least a less likelihood of happening. I would also recommend a credit check on the users as this will indicate whether they are responsible or not. I haven’t used A…[Read more]