Posts by author
Henry J. Schumacher
Top 5 Things you should know about the DPA
STILL not sure how the Data Privacy Act (DPA) applies to your business? This list contains the essentials about the Philippine data-privacy regulations that you have to comply with, whether you like it or not.
Corruption in 2018: Will we see change?
Over the last two years, scandals unveiled by the publication of the Panama and Paradise Papers grabbed headlines, shocking citizens and shaming the corrupt. These scandals made prominent an ugly truth—that corruption and unethical practices undermine the benefits of globalization by exacerbating inequality, deterring investment and distorting competition. These revelations showed an urgent need to strengthen public integrity, double down on anticorruption reform, create a level playing field for businesses, and close legislative loopholes. Moreover, they demonstrated the need to rebuild trust between governments and citizens.
Game development—very much part of Creative Philippines
Video-game development is the process of creating a video game. The effort is undertaken by a game developer, which may range from a single person to an international team dispersed across the globe. Traditional commercial PC and console games are normally funded by a publisher, and can take several years to reach completion. Indie games can take less time and can be produced at a lower cost by individuals and smaller developers. The independent game industry has seen a substantial rise in recent years with the growth of new online distribution systems, such as Steam and Uplay, as well as the mobile game market, such as for Android and iOS devices.
Corporate corruption is alive: Can data catch the criminals?
The misbehavior of company executives endanger their companies and are inflicting billions of damages on the public. Almost all of it is preventable if a new breed of ethics and compliance software, emerging thanks to machine learning, is used, which can also scrutinize the enormous vaults of data held by the world’s large companies.
Animation and the Filipino
AS early as the 1980s, the animation industry has already been present in the Philippines; our local animators have thus been providing animation services for 30 years now. Besides Finding Nemo, Filipinos are the talents behind esteemed cartoons and animated films from the likes of Scooby Doo (1969 to present), Tom and Jerry (1940 to present), The Incredibles (2004), Dragon Ball Z (1989 to 1996), Captain Planet (1990 to 1996) and The Mask (1995 to 1997), all under big names in the entertainment industry, such as Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, Cartoon Network and Marvel.
After Cambridge Analytica, data privacy is a must
Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun, Chairman Mao taught us. Nowadays, it is just as likely to derive from the click of a mouse.
Design–the competitive edge
Why design? With growing access to better technology, the new competitive advantage lies in the ability to carve out and create new markets through the fusion of business, technology and arts. Design, which functions to bring about such convergence, has emerged as the key differentiation strategy for businesses.
Risk Assessment/ Penetration tests/ Ethical hacking
Whether we like it or not, compliance and ethics management cannot be ignored when doing business locally and/or internationally. Successful compliance programs rest on a foundation of successful risk assessments.
Tolerating corruption?
For years the Integrity Initiative tries to create Integrity Nation, a nation where transparency and integrity rule and corruption is no longer part of everybody’s life. Have we succeeded? Obviously not, if you read the latest Corruption Perception Index, published by Transparency International, in which the Philippines scored 34 out of 100 and a ranking of 111th out of 180 countries.
Strengths, weaknesses and opportunities
The British Council recently profiled the creative industries of the Philippines and came up with two very interesting segments: the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis for this exciting sector with so much potential. I have picked up some ideas that I would like to share with you:
Do you know where your data is?
Everyone should be worried about data privacy and cybersecurity, given the stringent laws covering both issues here in the Philippines and most part of the rest of the world. Of course, the easy answer to the above question is: Our data is in the cloud! Then comes the next question: Where in the cloud? And the normal answer is: I don’t know where it is! This is followed by the hand-wringing about transferring data across international borders, about the European Union’s privacy rights that fall into place on May 25 this year, and about cyber thieves. That’s the time everyone panics.
Moving from Creative Industries to Creative Philippines
‘Creative Philippines” was the battle cry used at a highly interactive roundtable organized by Arangkada Philippines last week to discuss “policy changes, initiatives and recommendations” to get “Creative Industries” into the position they deserve. And we were not talking about the position in this country only, we had clear ideas what role Creative Philippines should play in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and beyond.
You need hackers!
Why? The future of human work is imagination, curiosity, creativity and resourcefulness. Whether you believe it in many ways, ethical hackers are the model citizens of the digital era. They are creative, persistent and resourceful. They think in digital terms and have a curiosity and drive to figure out how technology works. They view every problem as an opportunity. They stand up for what they believe in and they want the world to be a safer place.
Why should you have a good look at GDPR?
When the European Union (EU) regulators roll out the tougher privacy rules— known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)—on May 25, it will represent the biggest overhaul of the world’s privacy rules in more than 20 years.
An effective compliance program is needed by all businesses!
Competitive business has become synonymous with ethical business. Yet, keeping up with the heavy and complex web of regulations has made compliance all the more burdensome.
Compliance in 2018: What You Need to Know
Whether you zero in on compliance in the Philippines or zoom out to the global regulatory environment, a lot of issues were raised in the last few months of 2017, which most probably will spearhead a lot of change.
Integrity pacts and open contracting: The EU perspective
In 2016 one in three Europeans felt that their governments and political leaders were mostly or entirely corrupt. The European Commission consequently teamed up with Transparency International to pilot the use of integrity pacts (IP). In essence, an IP is an agreement with the public authorities that allows civil society to act as independent monitors of the procurement process.
Data-Protection Compliance: Failure will be costly
Data protection is in the news daily. Reports on data breaches are common and the damages involved are substantial, in the Philippines, in the Eropean Union, the United States and in other important partner countries of the Philippines. In general, we are talking about a combination between data-privacy breach and cybersecurity breach. More specifically, let’s look at the incoming law in the EU, which is not far away from the data-privacy law of the Philippines, as you will see.
Challenge for data-protection officers: Breaking down the walls
The world of data security is a highly complex and fluid environment where businesses must set in place policies and procedures that are proactive, rather than reactive, to the ever-present threat of data- security breach, as well as complying to an increasingly rigid regulatory framework. The need for C-suite level data-protection officers is only one of the requirements of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Unlike the current Data Protection Directive, GDPR will also apply to organizations or “data controllers” based outside of the European Union.
Creative industries
When the Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) launched Arangkada in 2010 and focused—among others—on “7 Big Winners,” Creative Industries was seen as one of the sectors that has great potential:
Corruption 2018: Dreaming like children…
As I sit to formulate reflections on the last 12 months, my mind is wordlessly scribbling ideas for 2018—for those of us who dream like children, going backward does not come easy—let’s look forward. Will we enjoy a level playing field in 2018? Will we be tough and walk away from all corruption challenges?
December 9 marked the UN’s ‘Anti-Corruption Day’: Celebrate or lament?
What is there to celebrate and lament in 2017, and have we finally “drained the swamp”? Let’s look at some “corruption news” during the last
few weeks:
Seemingly innocent actions = conflicts of interest = corruption
Imagine you discover a financial opportunity that promises to benefit yourself, your family or your friends. The only drawback is that this opportunity would put your company or its clients at a slight disadvantage. In this situation, your loyalties are torn between personal and professional duties—what’s known as a conflict of interest.
Future farms, supply and value chains, cooperatives
I had the pleasure to meet Gerard Papillon, President of Pamora Farms, the home of real free-range chicken, an eco-agri destination again. Our long discussion can easily be divided in the three subjects mentioned above: future farms, the opportunities for supply and value chains and the need for cooperatives to create reliable coproduction.
Whistle-blower hot line and case management
Compliance management is not easy. While we know in which areas of the company compliance breaches could be possible, it often needs a courageous person within the organization to become a whistle-blower and identify the cases where business ethics are violated. The question obviously arises whether you, as top management, have created such a hot line that whistle-blowers can make use of? If not, maybe it is time to open up safe whistle-blowing channels and encourage reporting to make sure you don’t miss out on any case.
Cooperatives–the key to success in agriculture (3)
Michael M. Alunan is reminding me for the second time in his BusinessMirror column last Wednesday, with the title “Duterte reforms in coop sector key to poverty alleviation,” how important the expansion of the cooperative movement would be in the Philippines to address the poverty in agriculture. I was appalled to learn from him that it takes three to 10 months to get registered with the Cooperative Development Authority. Looking at my investment in coffee-growing in Camarines Norte and having convinced young farmers there to create a cooperative, I can just imagine how enthusiastic they will be to wait up to 10 months to get their initiative approved by the government. There is no doubt that the economic team of the Duterte administration should look into this, together with the Agriculture secretary.
Anticorruption, data privacy, cybersecurity: why certification matters
As we continue to develop international and local business in the Philippines, in Asean, in Asia and beyond, there will be more and more pressure on companies to demonstrate that they follow the basic rules in anticorruption, in data-privacy compliance and in cybersecurity. Why?