Ring Suit Alleges Cameras Vulnerable to Hackers

Home security service Ring provides customers with a false sense of security by failing to protect its Wi-Fi cameras from hackers, according to a class-action lawsuit.A Ring customer in Alabama filed the suit on Thursday against Ring and parent company Amazon, citing a breach of a system he had i...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 27, 2019

What Kind of Problems Can Machine Learning Solve?

This article is the first in a series of articles called “Opening the Black Box: How to Assess Machine Learning Models.” The second piece, Selecting and Preparing Data for Machine Learning Projects, and the third piece, Understanding and Assessing Machine Learning Algorithms, were both published ...

By Chandu Chilakapati and Devin Rochford • Oct. 28, 2019

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The CFO Strategy for Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence’s impact on the office of the CFO continues to evolve, and finance chiefs must be aware of the opportunities it will create for growth. 

By CFO.com staff

Siloed Usage of New Technologies Thwarts Innovation

Silos have long been a common bane for companies. That remains true today — even when it comes to deploying technologies enabling innovation that could provide significant added value if they were scaled across the enterprise instead of merely being used in pockets.It creates what Accenture calls...

By David McCann • Oct. 7, 2019

PayPal Pulls Out of Facebook’s Crypto Project

PaypPal has become the first company to withdraw from Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project, dealing a potential setback to the social media giant amid regulatory scrutiny of its plan.PayPal announced its withdrawal after pulling out of a key meeting of the Libra Association in Washington on Th...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 7, 2019

Digital Transformation, One Step at a Time

Several years ago, an international utility in North America with millions of customers set out to become more digitally adept. On paper, it was about as big and as ambitious a “digital transformation” as a CFO could face. It was going to be expensive — and as it turned out, frightfully risky.The...

By David McCann • Oct. 4, 2019

PayPal Investment Positions It for China Entry

PayPal has broken through a digital payments barrier as the Chinese government approved its acquisition of 70 percent of a domestic payments provider.PayPal’s investment in GoPay makes it the first foreign payment platform to provide online payment services in China, a market currently dominated ...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 1, 2019

5 Tests for Deciding Whether to Use Blockchain

Like all emerging technologies, blockchain is going through the ups and downs of the hype cycle. Depending on the month, it’s either a hopeless fad or the next big thing (for which are you are already late!).Much of the technology we use every day went through that cycle, from disappointing clums...

By David McCann • Sept. 17, 2019

Transformation Requires a Scientific Approach

What it takes for businesses to succeed has changed dramatically in the last decade, and the 2020s portend even more change. Many organizations will need to undergo fundamental changes to keep up with evolving technology and competition.But traditional transformation practices, generally grounded...

By David McCann • Sept. 2, 2019

Fed Unveils Plan for Real-Time Payments System

In a long-awaited move to speed up the U.S. payment system, the Federal Reserve has announced it will develop a real-time service that would eventually link more than 10,000 banks and credit unions across the country.Fed officials compared the plan to start a service called FedNow to the birth in...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 6, 2019

Execs Cop to Data Dysfunction

Generally speaking, to be successful today — a decade after “big data” entered the business lexicon — a company must make data-informed decisions.So, why are corporate executives hesitant to “get their hands dirty” by learning how to manipulate data themselves, as opposed to relying only on data ...

By David McCann • July 25, 2019

Survey Shows Tensions Between CFOs and CIOs

Fewer CFOs are aligned with their companies’ chief information officers than are any of the other key C-suite members, according to a new study.Just 30% of respondents to a survey of 555 senior executives said their company’s finance chief is “deeply aligned” with its CIO.By comparison, 56% of CE...

By David McCann • July 23, 2019

U.S. Finds Surge in Business Email Scams

Cybercriminals who scam businesses into transferring funds to them through phony emails attempted to steal more than $300 million a month last year, with manufacturing and construction firms being the top targets, according to a U.S. government report.The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes En...

By Matthew Heller • July 17, 2019

Amid Data Deluge, Judgment Still Makes the Difference

Gartner’s well-known hype cycle applies to many new technologies, it seems. An initial period of inflated expectations gives way to a deep “trough of disillusionment.” After the trough bottoms out, a “slope of enlightenment” develops as people begin to find practical uses for the technology. That...

By David McCann • June 6, 2019

Hack Exposes Data of Quest Diagnostics Patients

In another major data breach affecting the healthcare industry, Quest Diagnostics has disclosed that the personal information of around 11.9 million of its patients may have been compromised.The lab testing giant said Monday in a regulatory filing that an “unauthorized user” gained access to the ...

By Matthew Heller • June 4, 2019

Dems Propose Screening Algorithms for Bias

U.S. lawmakers have introduced a bill to address what they see as a gaping hole in anti-discrimination protections — the computer algorithms that companies use to make automated decisions.The Algorithmic Accountability Act would authorize the Federal Trade Commission to create regulations requiri...

By Matthew Heller • April 11, 2019

Advanced Technologies Are Taking Over Finance

It likely would surprise no one to hear that finance functions are increasingly employing automation and advanced technologies. Even so, the pace of adoption is eye-opening.A new survey by Grant Thornton and CFO Research asked 378 senior finance executives about their usage of advanced analytics;...

By David McCann • April 4, 2019

Microsoft Workers Protest U.S. Army Contract

Microsoft employees are calling for the company to cancel a contract for augmented reality technology with the U.S. Army, saying they do not wish to become “war profiteers.”In an open letter to CEO Satya Nadella and president Brad Smith, a group describing itself as “Microsoft Workers 4 Good” exp...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 25, 2019

5 Key Reasons Companies Are Wary of AI Adoption

Many companies expect in the near future to derive substantial benefits from adopting artificial intelligence-powered technologies. However, they must first overcome some significant obstacles.In a global survey of 300 C-level executives and their direct reports by consulting firm Protiviti, 16% ...

By David McCann • Feb. 13, 2019

Companies Explore Internal Uses for Chatbots

Perhaps the most visible applications of artificial intelligence today are “conversational agents” — chatbots or intelligent assistants that interact with people via voice or text.Think consumer-facing applications like Google Assistant, Siri, Microsoft Cortana, and Amazon Echo. However, companie...

By David McCann • Feb. 4, 2019

7 Golden Rules for ERP Implementations

A few years ago, I made the decision to leave a big multinational company and join a privately held mid-sized company. I joined as the CFO with expanded responsibilities that included overseeing HR and IT.One of the first initiatives I undertook was to understand the company’s IT infrastructure. ...

By Nicolas Nicolaou • Jan. 17, 2019

Marriott Says Data Hack Affected Fewer Guests

Marriott lowered its estimate of how many guests were affected by a breach of its Starwood reservation system but disclosed millions of passport numbers were stolen.The company initially estimated in November that hackers may have gained unauthorized access to the personal information of up to 50...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 7, 2019

A Finance Chief’s Practical View of Robotics and AI

Discussion around the impact of intelligent automation often centers on what it means for consumers, or its implications for the workplace and the changing nature of jobs. But what does it mean in practice for finance professionals?As the CFO of an S&P 500 company with more than three decades...

By Willis Towers Watson, CFO, and Michael Burwell • Jan. 3, 2019

Firms Settle With NY Over App Security Flaw

New York’s attorney general reached settlements with five companies whose mobile apps had a security vulnerability that could have exposed sensitive user information to hackers.The companies — Western Union, Priceline, Equifax, Spark Networks, and Credit Sesame — all have apps that handle users’ ...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 17, 2018

Equifax Hack ‘Entirely Preventable,’ Report Says

Hackers were able to perpetrate last year’s massive data breach at Equifax because there was a “culture of cybersecurity complacency” at the credit reporting bureau, a congressional report has concluded.The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said the breach, which compromised the ...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 11, 2018

An Action Plan for Artificial Intelligence in 2019

Last year, PricewaterhouseCoopers gave us predictions for how artificial intelligence would be used in 2018. This year, PwC has upped the ante with a rundown of what it says companies “must make happen” with respect to AI in 2019.Based on a survey of 1,000-plus business leaders, here is the new p...

By David McCann • Dec. 10, 2018