Showing posts with label The Global Futurist. Show all posts

Monday, July 30, 2012

CROWDFUNDING: The Future Is Here.

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With the capital markets in a state of disruption and inaccessibility, and with the industrialized nations in desperate need of fuel to create employment opportunities by supporting small to medium-sized businesses, entrepreneurial ventures and promising start-ups, Crowd Funding is one of the only possible market vehicles which can meet pent-up (i.e., unsatisfied by banks) and growing capital demand.

The market for capital (inclusive of that which is needed for not-for-profits, NGOs, community projects, quasi-public infrastructure replacement, as well as for businesses of every type) is estimated by The Global Futurist Blog and numerous other credible sources of trend-spotting and financial forecasting to be between $300.0 billion to $600.0 billion US in 2012.

Start paying serious attention to everything that you hear about Crowd Funding. It is going to be a game changer in terms of causes, commerce and consumerism. It has the potential and the promise of being a sea change -- a complete paradigm shift -- in the geopolitical and global economies.

A company with which I've recently become affiliated, CrowdFunding Incubator, LLC will likely be the 'proof of concept' sought by so many. While logistics and process infrastructure 9programs and processes) are in place currently to raise tremendous amounts of capital, the regulations regarding crowd funding in practice are still being legislated and will be tested as the momentum behind crowd funding becomes more powerful.

Furthering this momentum is the calamitous state of the western world's central banking systems, and the dark cloud of Glass-Steagall, Dodd Frank, FINRA, mandatory stress tests, updated reserve requirements, downgraded credit ratings, enhanced oversight and other regulatory straitjacketing hangs overhead.

We will keep you posted as to the trends, participants, deals funded and regulatory evolution of this enormous movement toward a private sector solution to problems triggered by irresponsibility, ignorance, wastefulness and greed in the public and capital markets sectors.

A new market is being born. With crowd funding, the old aphorism about necessity being the "mother of invention" rings loudly. It's the opening bell.

Douglas E. Castle
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p.s. To my friends, readers and colleagues: Please take a moment to view three new Twitter Feeds, and follow them if you find them to be of interest. They are filled with fascinating material from an optimized amalgam of the very best and most diverse sources.

CFIalerts

CFIbrands

CFIWorldwide

Would you also honor me by taking a brief visit to each of my new blogs-in-the-making about the subject of CROWD FUNDING? every click is a source of encouragement to my team and myself.

CrowdFunding Incubator

Crowd Funding: Breaking News

Crowd Funding RSS Feeds

Crowd Funding Forum

As always, thank you, one and all for reading me, retweeting me, quoting me and inspiring me.

Douglas

Monday, November 7, 2011

Stuxnet's Spawn Increases Widespread Cyberthreat - Viral Adaptation And Accelerated Evolution

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Increasingly sophisticated malware (mostly of the trojan horse and worm varieties) is propagating and evolving in terms of sophistication at an incredible rate. These forms of malware are increasingly targeting small to middle-sized businesses which might be more vulnerable to attacks. Many of these are designed specifically to commandeer all of the systems and functions which are subject to the infected computer's control, including utilities (like HVAC, lighting, auto-locking physical security doors and zones, tracking of personnel, communications with other data systems and the like).

The following common sense precautions might prove helpful, but (lamentably) offer no certain guarantees:

1) Thoroughly screen any surfing activity, email and downloads with anti-viral and anti-malware defense sytems.

2) Do not install any new computers, peripherals, components, drives or programs which have not been thoroughly virus and malware tested. The items are frequently infected before they have even been packaged for sale. Don't be given a false sense of security because of unbroken shrinkwrap.

3) Run systemwide anti-viral and anti-malware checks with increasing frequency.

4) Maintain vigorous controls over employee outside access to internal systems.

5) Password-protect all computer access. Passwords must be algorithmically changed periodically.

6) Sensitive data should be encrypted.

7) Important information should be backed-up off-site with increased frequency.

8) For key physical security functions, manual override systems must be put into place, with their keys, codes and protocols kept in the hands of a limited number of very trustworthy individuals.

9) Limit access to critical data via mobile applications - they have increasingly become the targets (and portals) of malware and spyware attacks.
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The excerpt which follows comes to us courtesy of a ZDNet newsletter, and it makes for excellent reading.

Stuxnet 2.0? Researchers find new 'cyber-surveillance' malware threat
Symantec warns of a new high-end Trojan that's "nearly identical to Stuxnet" but notes that the malware has a completely different goal.
READ FULL STORY |

More coverage:
Which is the most popular malware propagation tactic?
The greatest security vulnerability: You

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Increased vigilance is the Human key to the threat of data dnd communications breaches by ever-more-sophisticated forms of subtle, but incredibly powerful malware. Computer dependencies must also be counter-balanced with manual systems having the potential to override computer controls which may be subject to hijacking.

Douglas E Castle

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Monday, October 10, 2011

Companies Hoarding Cash? No. Self-Banking.

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Companies generally try to maintain a balance between profit (ROI) and liquidity. They need access to cash in order to take immediate advantage of opportunities, to get some vendor discounts in a tight economy, and to provide for contingencies in the currently volatile capital, political and regulatory markets. When banks fail to infuse the system with cash (because they are now avoiding the credit and lending businesses and are staying as liquid as possible, giant bonuses to executives notwithstanding), and they become much more interested in non-interest, transaction-based fee income, companies sit on their cash. They are not hoarding. They are self-banking.

While this has become the practice of large corporations over this past year and a half, it might be practical for small- to middle-sized organizations to develop formulas where cash balances, even in small increments, are accumulated. There is no one-size-fits all formula or appropriate liquidity ratio for every business, but as cash becomes tight, it becomes a wonderful negotiating tool. Give this serious consideration. At this moment, cash, even US Dollars, can purchase amazing bargains. But to participate in this opportunistic auction, you have to have your checkbook at the ready.

A prudent action at this moment in time might well be for senior management to carefully evaluate your company's three most fundamental options:

1) To invest in itself to reap a direct gain, where you have purchase or investment opportunities which can grow your market size or marketshare;

2) To invest in financial instruments... as a passive participant in the successes or failures of others, and to be exposed to the vagaries of unprecedented market volatility;

3) To accumulate a war chest of cash. The less that the banks are willing to lend, the more that cash may be worth to you; both to take advantage of distress sales and arbitrage opportunities, and to have a "cash cushion" in the event of company trauma.

Following is an excerpt from an article in the American Express Open Forum, written by John Mariotti, which will reinforce the "cash is king" strategy that has supplanted the "credit is critical" mindset that caused so many persons and enterprises to overextend themselves tragically.

Douglas E Castle [About Douglas Castle - Blog]

You might want to forward this entire InfoSphere Business Alert [http://InfoSphereBusinessAlerts.blogspot.com] to your peers, to your board, and to your colleagues.
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Cash IS Still King

John Mariotti Small Business Trends: October 5, 2011

The politicians who complain that businesses are sitting on piles of cash must not know how tight cash flow gets for many small businesses. It is very often the limit to growth, and can be the ultimate cause of the demise of a business. Profits are nice; when they come. But if the cash runs out before the profits roll in, you’re done for.
Big businesses don’t usually like to sit on cash hoards since they can’t earn much on them without making risky investments. However, these are unusual times, and the global banking crises, massive deleveraging, and anti-business policies coming out of Washington, D.C. makes sitting on a pile of cash a good idea.
Ditto when that pile is in a foreign country, and bringing it back to the USA means leaving more than a third of it in Uncle Sam’s coffers. So, no matter how much “jawboning” goes on, the cash hoards will sit there until a reasonable (not too much risk, good return) investment comes along. [read entire article]
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