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Talking the talk: Cyber security cited as a top priority, but 25 percent of world’s banks still victimized in 2011
Talking the talk: Cyber security cited as a top priority, but 25 percent of world’s banks still victimized in 2011
Source: Deloitte
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited’s (DTTL) 8th global financial services industry security survey once again confirms information security is a top priority for financial services industry organizations globally. And despite the challenges of balancing the cost of improved security initiatives with perceived risk of sophisticated threats and emerging technologies, organizations say that have become more proactive in implementing innovative security measures and creating greater awareness within their business, which is hopefully good news for the 25 percent of financial institutions that suffered a breach in 2011.
Here’s a quick glance at the additional top three findings in this year’s survey:
- Increased coordinated activity among security and business groups: almost two thirds of respondents believe that their information security function and business are engaged; most organizations are using a Security Operation Center (SOC) model to monitor traffic and data and actively respond to incidents and breaches.
- Growing adoption of new technologies and security innovation: as the use of social media increases, 37 percent of respondents are revising organizational policies and 33 percent are educating users on social networking to address the security risks.
- Policing cyber threats and due diligence with data assets: almost half of the organizations surveyed (49 percent) claim to actively manage their vulnerabilities, with 82 percent also actively researching new threats to proactively protect their environment from emerging threats.
Meeting the Challenge: Maximizing the value of employer-sponsored health care
Meeting the Challenge: Maximizing the value of employer-sponsored health care
Source: Deloitte
Employer-sponsored health care (ESHC) is the dominant source of health care coverage for the civilian workforce in the United States. According to the 2010 Census, 103 million workers obtained ESHC coverage that benefited 169 million individuals. Sixty-eight percent of the civilian workforce was insured through ESHC plans in 2010; this share increased to 73 percent when only full-time, year-round employees were considered.
ESHC benefits employees, employers, and health care plans by improving access to health insurance, providing more cost-effective coverage, strengthening the employer-employee relationship, contributing to productivity, supporting recruitment and retention, and improving efficiency of coverage. Yet, ESHC plans are under pressure from rising health care costs, a stalled economic recovery, and regulatory uncertainty around health care reform and possible tax reform.
Talent 2020: Surveying the talent paradox from an employee perspective
Talent 2020: Surveying the talent paradox from an employee perspective
Source: Deloitte
The economic turbulence of the past few years has created a talent paradox: amid stubbornly high unemployment, employers still face challenges filling technical and skilled jobs. Employers now need to adjust their talent management initiatives to focus on retaining employees with critical skills who are at a high risk of departure and the capable leaders who can advance their companies amidst continuing global economic turbulence.
To help employers gain a better understanding of the latest employee attitudes and emerging talent trends, Deloitte Consulting LLP teamed with Forbes Insights to survey 560 employees across virtually every major industry and global region. Based on the results and Deloitte’s analysis of the talent market, three emerging challenges rose to the top:
- Engage employees with meaningful work or watch them walk out the door: Employees value meaningful work over other retention initiatives. 42% of surveyed respondents who have been seeking new employment believe their job does not make good use of their skills and abilities.
- Focus on “turnover red zones”: Employee segments at high risk of departure, or “turnover red zones,” are employees with less than two years on the job and Millennial employees (those aged 31 and younger).
- When it comes to retention, leadership matters: 62% of surveyed employees who plan to stay with their current organizations report high levels of trust in corporate leadership.
2012 Deloitte Survey of U.S. Employers
2012 Deloitte Survey of U.S. Employers
Source: Deloitte
U.S. employers are concerned about continued rising health care costs; however, they are unaware of solutions that could improve the safety and quality of care, and simultaneously reduce cost. While employer-sponsored health benefits are not likely to disappear, changes that shift financial risk to employees are certain.
These are among key findings in Deloitte’s 2012 survey of employers with 50+ workers offering health benefits. The survey explores employers’ opinions about the U.S. health care system, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and anticipated strategies for employee health benefits coverage and cost containment. Participants include C-suite executives and human resource (HR) professionals.
Provider 2020: Strategies for strategic differentiation in an uncertain environment
Provider 2020: Strategies for strategic differentiation in an uncertain environment
Source: Deloitte
A number of factors are converging to make the next decade likely one of the most tumultuous in the history of the health care industry. While it may seem premature or even risky to begin planning for a future that is uncertain, the greater risk is failing to take decisive action now.
“Provider 2020: Strategies for strategic differentiation in an uncertain environment” takes a closer look at a strategic response to the path forward. In this article, Deloitte reviews:
- Potential strategic destinations for hospitals and health systems
- The evolving journey of strategic differentiation
- “False positives” in the current market
- Where to start: Selecting the suitable path for strategic differentiation
Manufacturing Opportunity: How America can regain global leadership in manufacturing
Manufacturing Opportunity: How America can regain global leadership in manufacturing
Source: Deloitte
Manufacturing is experiencing a crisis of confidence in the United States. Americans view the manufacturing sector in the U.S. as fragile and unstable. They are concerned about the long-term stability of manufacturing employment and fear that manufacturing jobs will inevitably be moved to workers in other countries. Despite these fears, Americans remain steadfast in their support of manufacturing in the United States and the economic benefits that result.
Today there are new pathways to manufacturing opportunity in America that are both available and achievable. And public policy has a major role to play in supporting these directions.
This report relies on collaborative efforts with a number of organizations working on important issues affecting the manufacturing industry, as well as surveys of American citizens, business and labor leaders, university presidents, and directors of some of the United States’ largest national laboratories. It presents a case for optimism – and for hard work. It examines some of the main challenges facing any attempt to cultivate an American manufacturing renaissance, and highlights recommendations that could help the United States overcome these roadblocks.
Deloitte Survey: Back-to-School Shoppers Ready to Spend, Prepared for Higher Prices at Checkout
Deloitte Survey: Back-to-School Shoppers Ready to Spend, Prepared for Higher Prices at Checkout
Source: Deloitte
Consumers’ days of cutting back-to-school spending are behind them, and shoppers are reverting to more traditional information sources to study up before heading to the store, according to Deloitte’s annual “Back-to-School” survey, released today.
Nearly 9 in 10 (88 percent) consumers surveyed plan to spend the same or more on back-to-school shopping this year, with higher prices a contributing factor for some families. Among those who plan to spend more this year (34 percent), nearly 6 in 10 (58 percent) cite higher prices as their reason for doing so and more than one-third (34 percent) say their children need more expensive items than last year.
Despite these intentions, few intend to forego the tradition of setting a budget or looking for a sale. Nearly 6 in 10 (59 percent) consumers have a budget in mind for back-to-school shopping, and while two-thirds (66 percent) say they will shop for items on sale, fewer respondents feel stores are offering them more value for their money (36 percent in 2012 versus 47 percent in 2011).
Ripple Effects: Why Water Is a CFO Issue
Ripple Effects: Why Water Is a CFO Issue
Source: Deloitte
Water, the once plentiful resource, is growing scarcer. And that scarcity is a finance issue – one that has the potential to disrupt business and supply chain operations, lead to increased costs, and increase the price of commodity products.
In this edition of CFO Insights, we explore the reasons behind water scarcity; the risks associated with the growing lack of water; and why water availability is a CFO issue.
Smarter maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO)
Smarter maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO)
Source: Deloitte
A few leading airlines and MRO companies have figured out how to exploit opportunities to reduce the cost of maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) operations by 8-15 percent.
What do they know that their competitors don’t?
It’s tougher than ever to perform MRO operations efficiently and effectively. From outside, material costs are rising. From inside, siloed processes, disparate systems, and data overload make it hard to coordinate the whole MRO process, from scheduling and forecasting to inventory management and replenishment. Only a few airframe, engine and component MRO companies have an approach that enables simplification, standardization, speed, and “do it right the first time” quality. But those that do are reducing total costs by 8-15 percent initially and achieving a sustainable competitive advantage with continuous improvement.
Smarter MRO
Implementing the following five strategies can help MRO organizations in their efforts to become more efficient and effective.
- Achieve short and consistent turnaround time (TAT) using a combination of lean, Six Sigma, theory of constraints, and information
- Improve the design and planning of maintenance
- Reduce inventory, while increasing service levels
- Select the right MRO IT solution and extract value from that investment
- Craft a fact-based outsourcing strategy
The five strategies for achieving smarter MRO result in increased speed, improved reliability, and reduced costs — all at the same time. Although each of the five strategies has different impacts, when combined they affect the efficiency and effectiveness of the whole MRO function. Excellence in these five strategies represent nothing more than a fundamental transformation of capabilities.
Still Standing: Planning for the High-Wealth Tax Increases Ahead
Still Standing: Planning for the High-Wealth Tax Increases Ahead
Source: Deloitte
The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 means that two new tax increases in the health care reform law targeting earned and unearned income of certain wealthier individuals will take effect as scheduled in 2013.
Still standing: Planning for the high-wealth tax increases ahead examines these provisions and discusses practical steps taxpayers can take now to evaluate their tax positions for 2013 and prepare for the impact of these impending tax hikes.
2012 Deloitte Survey of U.S. Employers: Opinions about the U.S. Health Care System and Plans for Employee Health Benefits
Source: Deloitte
From press release:
U.S. employers are concerned about continued rising health care costs; however, they are unaware of solutions that could improve the safety and quality of care, and simultaneously reduce cost. While employer-sponsored health benefits are not likely to disappear, changes that shift financial risk to employees are certain.
These are among key findings in Deloitte’s 2012 survey of employers with 50+ workers offering health benefits. The survey explores employers’ opinions about the U.S. health care system, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and anticipated strategies for employee health benefits coverage and cost containment. Participants include C-suite executives and human resource (HR) professionals.
GovCloud: The future of government work
GovCloud: The future of government work
Source: Deloitte
From press release:
According to GovCloud: The future of government work, a report launched today by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL), today’s government is being asked to solve the problems of the 21st century with a workforce and managerial structure designed for a different era. The report offers a potential alternative framework, the GovCloud model, which is a collaborative teaming environment that supports shared services, workplace flexibility, and scalable, on-demand capabilities.
“The GovCloud model represents a dramatic departure from the status quo,” says Paul Macmillan, Global Industry Leader, Public Sector, DTTL. “The concept would use a cadre of government-wide workers to help small agencies adapt to evolving circumstances and thereby leverage changes in work, workers, workplaces, processes, and technologies.”
Just as cloud computing is revolutionizing the way businesses and governments use technology, GovCloud has the potential to transform how governments organize their workforces, according to the report. GovCloud would allow on-demand access to shared resources by having workers reside in a central talent pool—or “cloud”—accessible by numerous agencies. Cost efficiencies would be optimized since each individual agency would not have to maintain and manage a large workforce. And GovCloud would be dynamically scalable, with resources that could be quickly shifted from low-need to high-need programs without hiring new workers or setting up new departments or agencies.
Managing Biofuels Portfolio Risk – The Role of Financial and Risk Analysis
Managing Biofuels Portfolio Risk – The Role of Financial and Risk Analysis
Source: Deloitte
The Department of Navy (DON), Department of Energy, and United States Department of Agriculture are together pursuing an ambitious program to support military requirements for viable and cost effective biofuels and to accelerate the growth of a national biofuels industry to address strategic energy security concerns. These three departments are stakeholders in a major program utilizing Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III authority to invest up to $510M in the nascent US biofuels industry. The investment, further leveraged by a one-for-one funding match by the private sector, could create a total portfolio in excess of $1B. The magnitude of this industry-shifting investment has attracted significant attention from the biofuels industry, investment community, law and policy makers and the US public.
Physician Payment Sunshine Act
Physician Payment Sunshine Act
Source: Deloitte
Calls for more transparency and disclosure of payments made by the life sciences industry to health care professionals are creating challenges and opportunities for all parties involved in the delivery of health care. These new rules, such as the Physician Payment Sunshine Act (PPSA) in the U.S., were not intended to eliminate financial interactions between life sciences companies and individual health care providers, but rather to empower patients by providing visibility to those interactions. The hope was that by providing such visibility, patients could question whether the financial interactions might negatively affect their course of treatment.
To better understand how all parties are addressing these requirements and this new era of transparency, Deloitte, in collaboration with Forbes Insights, surveyed 110 U.S. based physicians and 223 global life sciences executives about transparency and these new requirements. The survey, Physician Payment Sunshine Act: Physicians and life sciences companies coming to terms with transparency? indicates that both parties appear to be coming to terms with the concept of transparency, and health care providers and life sciences companies expect to continue collaborating to develop new and more effective treatments for patients. Physicians do have concerns over how the data will be interpreted by the public (e.g., the context), as well as their own understanding of the requirements of the new regulatory environment.
Life sciences company executives, on the other hand, at this time are less focused on the public’s interpretation of the data than the logistics of aggregating and reporting it. As a result, most are still investigating how best to leverage the data for competitive advantage once it becomes publicly available.
ReThinking red tape: Influencing behaviors to achieve public outcomes
ReThinking red tape: Influencing behaviors to achieve public outcomes
Source: Deloitte
Governments employ many policy levers to provide for the safety and welfare of citizens. Through taxes, subsidies, laws, and regulations, governments help shape the options available to us and the choices that we ultimately make. But, in an era of fiscal and regulatory restraint, policymakers are quickly realizing that these traditional methods have their limitations, particularly, the associated costs.
Now, government leaders are turning to the increasingly politically acceptable discipline of behavioral economics as a cheap accompaniment or alternative to traditional policymaking. Popularized in recent years by a number of best-selling books, behavioral approaches have been used successfully in a number of private and public sector organizations to influence citizens to make better choices. Deloitte’s GovLab examines successful cases from across the globe and provides practical advice for determining when behavioral approaches can add value and help achieve a positive societal outcome, in the report ReThinking red tape: Influencing behaviors to achieve public outcomes.
Deloitte Shadow Banking Index Debuts: ‘Only’ $9.53 Trillion in Size at End of 2011
Deloitte Shadow Banking Index Debuts: ‘Only’ $9.53 Trillion in Size at End of 2011
Source: Deloitte
The shadow banking system in the United States might not be as large today as regulators and market participants feared, according to a new quarterly index introduced today by the Deloitte Center for Financial Services. However, with regulatory changes and financial innovation looming, the shadow banking system could creep back very quickly, the Deloitte research group cautions.
The Deloitte Shadow Banking Index shows the volatile shadow banking system totaled $9.53 trillion at the end of 2011 ‒ more than 50 percent below its peak in 2008 ‒ and a figure considerably lower than many estimates.
Life Insurance Providers Could Benefit by Increasing Outreach and Education, Deloitte Survey Reveals
Life Insurance Providers Could Benefit by Increasing Outreach and Education, Deloitte Survey Reveals
Source: Deloitte
A prime reason many uninsured individuals don’t have insurance coverage is that no carrier has invited them to purchase their products, according to a Deloitte survey of life insurance buyers. Even insured individuals who are open to buying additional coverage often say that they have not been solicited by carriers.
“From our survey it is clear that life insurance is very much on the minds of many consumers,” said Rebecca C. Amoroso, Vice Chairman and U.S. Insurance Leader for Deloitte LLP, who was the survey’s executive sponsor.
Adds Amoroso, “A significant percentage of respondents have simply not been offered coverage recently; many also noted that they never shop for coverage on their own initiative. Not soliciting their business exacerbates this gap between insurers’ interests and consumers’ needs.”
The survey – “The Voice of the Life Insurance Consumer” – was conducted to provide life insurers with insights into how people perceived the value of life insurance, including where coverage ranked among their other financial priorities, as well how consumers preferred to be reached. The survey covered buyers and non-buyers’ related beliefs, motivations, influences, priorities and preferences.
Deloitte also identified some of the marketing challenges life insurers face in expanding their penetration among the uninsured and underinsured. “A significant number of respondents frankly don’t know if they need more insurance – or if they do, they don’t know how much they might need to buy,” said Sam Friedman, Insurance Leader for Deloitte Research, who led the project. “Still others say they want life insurance but cannot afford it – leaving open the question as to whether these cost-conscious prospects might in fact purchase a policy if they realized what the price and value for coverage might actually be.”
Office politics: Improving public sector property management
Shrinking budgets are driving fundamental changes to the size and shape of governments around the world. Leaders are exploring a more compact, dynamic government workforce, and in turn, their underlying asset needs are changing. Simply put, a reduced workforce translates to reduced property needs. But tackling the effective management of one of government’s largest spending areas is easier said than done.
While each government faces its own unique set of barriers to improving property management, there are a number of critical success factors to creating and employing smart property strategies. This report examines five areas that would enable more streamlined and efficient handling of government property through best practices and examples from across the globe.
Workforce Analytics: Using advanced analysis to manage talent and risk
Workforce Analytics: Using advanced analysis to manage talent and risk
Source: Deloitte
Given the importance of talent and people in the financial services industry (FSI), it’s time to move beyond instinct, gut and tribal wisdom in making workforce decisions. If you’re not using workforce data and analytics to drive your talent decisions, you may be behind the curve — and at risk of losing your competitive edge. As HR works with FSI leaders on the front lines, analytics are becoming critical in making more effective decisions related to workforce planning and recruitment, risk management, compensation, development programs and deploying critical talent.
Workforce analytics involves using statistical models that integrate internal and external data to predict future workforce and talent-related behavior and events. These models can help financial services organizations focus limited resources on critical talent decisions. For example, models have been demonstrated to predict the likelihood that a particular employee will leave in the next six months — and can provide likely reasons for the prediction.
+ Full Report (PDF)
Navigating the ICD-10 Transition: Implementation imperative for hospitals and medical groups
Navigating the ICD-10 Transition: Implementation imperative for hospitals and medical groups
Source: Deloitte
On February 16, 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that “HHS will initiate a process to postpone the date” by which certain health care entities have to comply with ICD-10. While there is uncertainty on a new compliance date, the transition to the ICD-10 coding set presents opportunities, benefits, and challenges that providers should address whether the implementation date is set for 2013, 2014, or beyond.
As organizations review their implementation plans based on scenarios that could play out with an extension, leaders of hospitals and medical groups should keep in mind that regardless of the compliance date, the transition to ICD-10 requires extensive planning and coordination across the organization. Organizations that have completed their ICD-10 readiness assessments have discovered that the road forward presents enterprise-wide challenges that require both a strategic and tactical solution if they plan to leverage benefits from the transition.
This article explores strategic decisions and leading practices for ICD-10 implementation across four key areas: project governance, technology, finance, and operations.
+ Full Document (PDF)
