tech - Blog - Global Risk Community2024-03-29T02:24:05Zhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/techHVAC Meets AI: How Artificial Intelligence is Streamlining Operationshttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/hvac-meets-ai-how-artificial-intelligence-is-streamlining-operati2023-02-15T02:51:55.000Z2023-02-15T02:51:55.000ZRegi Publicohttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/RegiPublico<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10967555699?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p><span style="font-weight:400;">The world of HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) is rapidly evolving due to the increased use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. Nowadays, AI systems are being used to automate operations, improve energy efficiency and make life more comfortable for building occupants.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-weight:400;">With these enhancements, it's clear that AI is helping to <a href="https://www.getconduit.com/" target="_blank">revolutionize HVAC technology</a> and making it far more efficient than ever before. In this article, we will explore how AI streamlines operation processes for HVAC systems and how it can help reduce costs while improving performance. Keep reading!</span></p><h2><strong>What is HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning)?</strong></h2><p><span style="font-weight:400;">HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) is a system that controls the temperature in an indoor environment. It uses specialized equipment to regulate air quality, increase ventilation, and maintain comfortable temperatures. In other words, it's like having your climate-control squad!</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-weight:400;">The main components of an HVAC system include the furnace, air conditioner, heat pump, and ventilation equipment. The furnace generates warm air while the air conditioner cools it down. Heat pumps can heat and cool, while ventilators ensure fresh air is brought in from the outside.</span></p><h2><strong>What is Artificial Intelligence?</strong></h2><p><span style="font-weight:400;">AI is a branch of computer science that enables computers and other electronic devices to perform tasks using algorithms, recognizing patterns, and making decisions with minimal human input.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-weight:400;">AI can be used in many ways - from processing large amounts of data to automating mundane tasks.</span><a href="https://www.youngwonks.com/blog/Machine-Learning-and-Artificial-Intelligence---An-Introduction-For-Absolute-Beginners"><span style="font-weight:400;"> AI is particularly helpful</span></a><span style="font-weight:400;"> in fields such as healthcare, where AI-based systems can identify disease patterns and recommend better treatments.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-weight:400;">By recognizing patterns and making decisions quickly, AI can help simplify complex tasks and provide insights that may have been previously difficult or impossible for humans to achieve.</span></p><h2><strong>How Artificial Intelligence Streamlines HVAC Operations</strong></h2><p><span style="font-weight:400;">The integration of artificial intelligence into HVAC operations is revolutionizing the way that systems are managed and operated. Businesses can streamline operations more effectively by leveraging AI-powered sensors, predictive analytics, and machine learning algorithms. Here are some of how AI is being used to improve HVAC operations.</span></p><h3><strong>Predictive Maintenance & Repair</strong></h3><p><span style="font-weight:400;">Predictive maintenance and repair are the most critical ways AI streamlines HVAC operations. By using advanced AI-powered sensors, predictive analytics, and machine learning algorithms, businesses can detect issues before they become significant problems. This allows for faster repairs and reduces expensive downtime due to malfunctioning equipment.</span></p><h3><strong>Improved Energy Efficiency</strong></h3><p><span style="font-weight:400;">An AI-driven HVAC system's most significant advantage to an organization is improved energy efficiency. By automating processes, an AI-based system can ensure optimal temperature and humidity settings in each part of a building or facility. This increased control allows for more precise adjustments, resulting in an overall reduction in energy consumption.</span></p><h3><strong>Optimization of Resources</strong></h3><p><span style="font-weight:400;">An AI-driven system can optimize the use of resources. Through intelligent monitoring, an AI-based system can detect when an HVAC unit is not operating at its peak efficiency and take corrective measures to get it back on track. This enables an organization to make sure that they are optimally utilizing its energy resources.</span></p><h3><strong>Improving Comfort Through AI-assisted Automation</strong></h3><p><span style="font-weight:400;">An </span><a href="https://www.lockingpowercords.com/"><span style="font-weight:400;">effective HVAC system depends on proper cable management</span></a><span style="font-weight:400;"> for smooth operation in an increasingly digital world. With AI-assisted automation, intelligent machines can take the guesswork out of managing and maintaining an efficient HVAC system. AI-assisted automation is an even more innovative way to ensure that a building's air conditioning and heating functions run smoothly and efficiently.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-weight:400;">AI-assisted automation provides an extra layer of control, allowing an HVAC system to intelligently adjust its settings depending on various factors, including occupancy levels and outdoor temperature. This ensures that the building is always kept at an optimal temperature for the comfort and convenience of occupants.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight:400;">***</span></p><h2><strong>Challenges and Limitations of AI-Integrated HVAC Systems</strong></h2><p><span style="font-weight:400;">Here are the main challenges and limitations of AI-integrated HVAC systems:</span></p><h3><strong>Security Concerns & Potential Vulnerabilities</strong></h3><p><span style="font-weight:400;">One of the most prominent challenges with AI-integrated HVAC systems is their vulnerability to cyberattacks. Without proper security protocols, these systems can be easily compromised by malicious actors and used for data theft or disruption of services.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-weight:400;">What's more, their reliance on cloud computing and wireless connectivity make intelligent homes vulnerable to network-based security threats such as phishing attacks.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-weight:400;">Furthermore, AI-integrated HVAC systems access personal user data to optimize energy efficiency and customize performance settings--which could result in privacy problems if the system needs to be adequately safeguarded.</span></p><h3><strong>High Initial Cost</strong></h3><p><span style="font-weight:400;">Installing AI-integrated HVAC systems is significantly more expensive than traditional systems, mainly due to the complexity of the technology. To ensure that these systems are correctly integrated and secure, they require specialized hardware and skilled labor, which can drive up costs. As a result, some organizations may be hesitant to invest in AI-integrated HVAC systems due to the high initial cost.</span></p><h3><strong>Difficulty in Troubleshooting and Debugging Issues</strong></h3><p><span style="font-weight:400;">AI-integrated HVAC systems can be difficult to troubleshoot because they comprise a complex hardware and software components network. If one component fails or malfunctions, it could cause cascading problems. As such, diagnosing and fixing these issues is often a time-consuming process that requires specialized technical expertise.</span></p><h2><strong>Conclusion</strong></h2><p><span style="font-weight:400;">In conclusion, there is no doubt that artificial intelligence (AI) is helping usher in a new era of efficiency for the HVAC industry. AI can quickly identify and diagnose problems with HVAC systems, enabling technicians to repair them faster and more accurately than ever before. </span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-weight:400;">The data from AI-powered monitoring can also help facility managers identify inefficiencies and reduce energy costs. With AI-powered HVAC systems, the sky is truly the limit for how much time and money businesses can save. </span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-weight:400;">This technology will undoubtedly revolutionize how air conditioning systems are maintained and operated - making it easier to keep buildings cool, safe, and efficient.</span></p></div>Transforming Risk Management into Risk Intelligencehttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/transforming-risk-management-into-risk-intelligence2021-05-01T05:30:00.000Z2021-05-01T05:30:00.000ZEce Karelhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/EceKarel<div><p><span style="font-size:24pt;"><strong>Transforming Risk Management into Risk Intelligence</strong></span><br /> <br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8866046693,RESIZE_1200x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8866130477,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="8866130477?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">In one of our latest interviews, we've been joined by Will Anderson, the CEO of </span><a href="http://www.resolver.com"><span style="font-weight:400;">Resolver.inc</span></a><span style="font-weight:400;">. Resolver provides an integrated risk management software for mid to large-sized organizations to empower business, to move faster. The solutions include risk management, corporate security, business resilience, and IT risk. Over 1,000 organizations worldwide depend on Resolver’s security, risk and compliance software. That’s about 1,000,000 people using Resolver each day. With their prominence in the field, they have taken the role of </span><strong>transforming risk management to risk intelligence</strong><span style="font-weight:400;">, in order to bring more insight into the executive table, and for a better decision making process. We're happy to present you a few key points from this interview.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size:18pt;"><strong>What is No Code Risk Management?</strong></span></h2>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">Bringing more insight to the executive requires us to get it </span><strong>from the first line, </strong><span style="font-weight:400;">which is not always the easiest. Historically, what was happening was that any sort of assessment, whether that be a risk assessment, or a control assessment or asking someone questions about compliance, it’s going onto their desk and it’s being sent in Excel forms or sort of large enterprise software, that’s hard to use. This means that in order to get good quality and accurate </span><strong>we have to be able to engage that front line with something that looks more like a consumer app</strong><span style="font-weight:400;">. So the way to go is to build software with a so-called</span><strong> no-code platform, rather than hard-coding</strong><span style="font-weight:400;"> that allows us to tailor the platform to the exact needs of that customer. However, customized solutions can become expensive and inefficient with each change they may require in the future. Nevertheless, with customer-centered companies like Resolver, this also becomes avoidable, as with administrator training and easy configuration options, you won't need to go to the developer each time for tweaks. This allows user to connect a risk to the things that they care about, whether that be a process or an objective or a decision or a project in an agile matter.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size:18pt;"><strong>Major Trends In the Risk Management Discipline during the Pandemic</strong></span></h2>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">Just like in many other fields,</span> <span style="font-weight:400;">the biggest question and challenge here is</span><strong> how do we prevent it from happening next time?</strong><span style="font-weight:400;"> And secondly, </span><strong>how we can make sure we can make the sessions and training fully online and efficient.</strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">Europe is much more mature than North America on the concept of the continuous assessment without being in person. There is more interest in such business continuity, although this may not be permanent as the interest has scaled down further we went through returning back to normal state. Europe is also driving a lot in terms of Incident management as there are more serious requirements in Canada and in EU. That’s probably the bigger driver we’ve seen in the last sort of three to six months. </span><span style="font-weight:400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight:400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight:400;">On top of these, there's also a trend to more integration. Accordingly, you should be auditing the controls you say are strong for areas that you say are high risk. There is a lot of integration especially on the European side and the cyber security topic is also commonly discussed. For a tech company, this is especially very crucial, and their most important risk involves around cyber security. Any big breach could mean the shutdown of operations. In other organizations of course, this is one of many risks and it's important for both companies and decision making organisations to focus on topics such as regulatory risk or safety risk in an equal manner - especially moving onto future challenges from the pandemic. </span><strong>It is important to not over-focus on one trend as we might lose sight of something that’s equally big, which doesn’t have the attention of today.</strong></p>
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<h2><span style="font-size:18pt;"><strong>What Role Does Technology Play in Risk Management? </strong></span></h2>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">There are a lot of new emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and they have been talked about by everyone in every industry. The question is, if they are really going to be implemented or not. </span><span style="font-weight:400;">Most likely, but it doesn't come without its risks. For example, in terms of it being deployed in GRC, we have deployed it more on the Incident side because we get in narrative complaints. And what ends up happening is that that’s a block of text and you can search it, but sometimes you want to connect data points together. </span><strong>So it is important for proper AI implementation, to be able to go through a block of text and identify people, organizations, dates, times, places, that sort of thing, and turn it into usable tags. </strong><span style="font-weight:400;">So that if you have an organization show up multiple times in a compliance violation that will be picked up. If it’s just a narrative, it’s not.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size:18pt;"><strong>Thoughts on Objective Centric Risk Management </strong></span></h2>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">There’s no sense in assessing a risk against something that doesn’t matter and what matters are ultimately the objectives of the corporation. And if you want to be relevant at the executive level, you have to talk in the line, which they're used to talking in. However, there is importance in differentiating what exactly you mean with risk management, as it can range from operational risk to enterprise risk management. Oftentimes risk management is used to also mean ERM, or enterprise risk management, however, there is a bit of difference. It’s not just assessing risk to assess Risk, it’s like a box checking exercise and that’s not going to be valuable. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">According to Will, when you speak to you definitely do need to tie to objective. However he adds, that there’s some place where we go too far. And that is, on the expert level, the idea of modeling everything. </span><strong>You need the flexibility of a purpose-built modeling solution.</strong><span style="font-weight:400;"> And I think if you get really tied down that everything must be quantified and everything must be modeled, you’re going to miss some nuances that you can’t model. Regardless, quantification is still quite important</span><strong>, </strong><span style="font-weight:400;">and this is not to mean to not quantify. What it means is to remember that there’s a lot of things in this world that you can’t model.</span><strong> And if you focus only on modeling, you’re going to miss some qualitative things that are important.</strong></p>
<h2><span style="font-size:18pt;"><strong>Takeaway Points</strong></span></h2>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>The first takeaway is consumerization and focusing on your first line.</strong><span style="font-weight:400;"> If you are not getting good data, there’s no sense in focusing on reporting and all of the other stuff. If your data is no good or you’re getting it a month behind, you’re in trouble. COVID is a great example, considering that no one had a pandemic on their January, 2020 Risk plan. And if you were doing a quarterly, you’d come back in April and the world is upside down. This is an extreme example, but those kinds of high velocity risks happen all the time. So it is important to be very focused on the front line, get integrated with them to make it easy for them.</span><span style="font-weight:400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight:400;"><br /> </span><strong>The second takeaway is integration</strong><span style="font-weight:400;">. Now we are seeing more and more of that but buying siloed systems for SOX and ERM, and compliance and IT Risk does not make much sense. They may have more bells and whistles, but you’ll gain more by asking the assessment once instead of asking people the same thing at different systems or trying to stitch them together.</span><span style="font-weight:400;"><br /> <br /> </span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size:18pt;"><strong>Closing Words</strong></span><span style="font-weight:400;"><br /> </span></h2>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;"><br /> For now, this sums up the key points of our interview. As the Global Risk Community team, we once again thank Will Anderson for his insight on risk intelligence and providing a solution with Resolver. More information about this topic is available in our interview, which is accessible <a href="https://globalriskcommunity.com/video/interview-with-will-anderson-ceo-at-resolver">here</a>:<br /> </span></p>
<p><br /> <br /> Our blogs are also available on <a href="https://medium.com/global-risk-community/transforming-risk-management-into-risk-intelligence-9185e65d567a" target="_blank">Medium</a></p></div>Expert Chuck Brooks Offers A Cybersecurity “Cheat Sheet” For The C-Suitehttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/expert-chuck-brooks-offers-a-cybersecurity-cheat-sheet-for-the-c2017-04-13T11:00:00.000Z2017-04-13T11:00:00.000ZChuck Brookshttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/ChuckBrooks<div><blockquote><span style="font-size:2em;">Expert Chuck Brooks Offers A Cybersecurity “Cheat Sheet” For The C-Suite</span></blockquote><div class="et_post_meta_wrapper"><p class="post-meta">by <span class="author vcard"><a href="https://highperformancecounsel.com/author/zachale/" title="Posts by Zac Hale">Zac Hale</a></span> | <span class="published">Apr 12, 2017</span> | <a href="https://highperformancecounsel.com/category/fearlesslaw/">#FearlessLaw</a>, <a href="https://highperformancecounsel.com/category/legal-content/cyber-security/">Cyber Security</a>, <a href="https://highperformancecounsel.com/category/legal-content/legal-tech/">Legal Tech</a> | </p></div><div class="entry-content"><div id="attachment_5339" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="wp-image-5339 size-medium" src="https://highperformancecounsel.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/chuck-brooks-300x215.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="215" /><br /><p class="wp-caption-text">Chuck Brooks: VP of Government Relations and Marketing, Sutherland Global Solutions</p></div><p>The Internet was invented in a government laboratory and later commercialized in the private sector. The hardware, software, and networks were originally designed for open communication. Cybersecurity initially was not a major consideration. That mindset has surely changed due to the explosion of connectivity and commerce on the Internet. And also from the threats. A recent McAffee study disclosed that there was one new cyber-threat every three seconds in the fourth quarter of 2016.</p><p>Corporate board director roles have been traditionally reserved for those with expertise and leadership experience in management and best practices. Cybersecurity expertise historically has not been a primary concern for Directors. but it has become an evolving requirement for accountability in the era of digital connectivity.</p><p>The bottom line is that almost every type of business, large and small, touches aspects of cybersecurity whether it involves finance, transportation, retail, communications, entertainment, healthcare, or energy. Cyber-threats are ubiquitous.</p><p>The frequency and maliciousness (including Ransomware and Distributed Denial of Service attacks to networks) of cyber-attacks has become alarming. There are growing cyber-threats to corporate operations, reputation, and theft of IP that not only can affect stock prices, but the viability of a company.</p><p>The growing threat of data breaches from hackers has made cybersecurity a global urgency. According to IBM, the cost of an average data breach has now risen to about $4 million. According to Gartner, spending on cybersecurity to try to ameliorate data breaches is expected to reach $90 billion in 2017.</p><p>Dr. Chris Brauer, Director of Innovation in the Institute of Management Studies, sums up the state of cybersecurity for board members succinctly: “overcoming the threat boils down to two things: accepting that you will be breached (awareness) and the ability to do something (readiness).”</p><p>Targets of the increasing incidence of phishing and other types of social engineering breaches include many corporate giants, such as Target, Anthem, and Yahoo. Even the federal government has been targeted, most notably the breach at the Office of Personnel Management where 22 million personnel records were taken.</p><p>In spite of this, there is still a lack of awareness and specialized knowledge on most corporate boards. For example, according to a National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) survey, only 14% of the board members queried expressed a deep knowledge of cybersecurity topics.</p><p>The cybersecurity landscape is complex, and it is extremely difficult to encapsulate all the various aspects that may confront a corporate board. Suzanne Vautrinot, President of Kilovolt Consulting and Major General and Commander, United States Air Force (retired), does provide a very good framework for addressing the landscape: “The board’s role is to apply the principles of risk oversight, to advise on strategy and help push to overcome challenges—in this case, cybersecurity gaps and challenges.”</p><p>Following that strong lead from General Vautrinot, I developed a condensed “cheat sheet” with themes to hopefully provide boards with insights and impetus to address the cybersecurity threat at the C-Suite level. The four themes include: risk management, responsibility, communication, and expertise.</p><h4><strong><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-5337" src="https://highperformancecounsel.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/cybersec-300x146.png" alt="cybersecurity graphic" width="300" height="146" /><br /></strong></h4><ul><li>At its very core, the practice of cybersecurity is <strong>r</strong><strong>isk management</strong>. It requires being vigilant and encompasses educating employees, identifying gaps, assessing vulnerabilities, mitigating threats, and having updated resilience plans to respond to incidents. Board directors should have a working understanding of risk management (and risk exposure) and have context on the different array of threats and threat actors. They should also be knowledgeable on the guiding axiom of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Framework: <u>Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, Recover.</u></li></ul><ul><li>Cybersecurity is a <strong>responsibility</strong>. Elements of cybersecurity include policies, processes, and technologies. Every company is unique in culture, mission and capabilities, but in terms of cybersecurity, the management (including board members) and employees are accountable for overseeing those elements. A requirement for every board member should be that cybersecurity must be treated as a company priority.</li></ul><ul><li>Cybersecurity’s backbone is effective<strong> communication</strong>. The CISO, CTO, CIO, and executive management must align strategies, collaborate, and regularly assess their information security programs, controls, and safety of networks. Communication enables readiness by the sharing intelligence on threats and new security innovations. Security awareness training is also an important mandate for everyone at any company, especially the board.</li></ul><ul><li>Cybersecurity requires<strong> expertise</strong>. Ideally, a corporate board should include a blend of internal and outside subject matter experts. It is always useful for executive management to get perspectives and ideas from experts on the outside. It helps avoid complacency. Areas of special knowledge should incorporate: legal compliance, cybersecurity technology solutions and services, training, liability insurance, governance, and policy. Information security management should include people with an ISO 27001 standard expertise and a knowledge of best practices.. Prudent policy advice necessitates that companies develop strong relationships with government. The recent passage of The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act promotes public/private cooperation on data threat sharing, especially with the Department of Homeland Security.</li></ul><p>Of course my cheat sheet is just a starting point. There is certainly room for more items and description. I highly recommend a new book written by <a href="http://www.weil.com/people/paul-ferrillo">Paul A. Ferrillo</a> of the Weil Gotshal law firm and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisveltsos">Christophe Veltsos</a> of Minnesota State University, Mankato, entitled “Take Back Control of Your Cybersecurity Now: Game Changing Concepts on AI and Cyber Governance Solutions for Executives” for an in depth analysis of cybersecurity and corporate board issues. With the backdrop of the startling NACD survey that found 80% of boards’ members lack deep cybersecurity expertise, hopefully the issue of the lack of board cybersecurity competency will get more of the attention that is needed.</p><hr /><p><em><strong>Chuck Brooks</strong> is Vice President of Government Relations & Marketing for Sutherland Government Solutions. In both 2017 and 2016, he was named “Cybersecurity Marketer of the Year by the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards. LinkedIn named Chuck as one of “The Top 5 Tech People to Follow on LinkedIn” out of their 450 million members. Chuck’s professional industry affiliations include being the Chairman of CompTIA’s New and Emerging Technology Committee, and as a member of The AFCEA Cybersecurity Committee. In government, Chuck has served at The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as the first Legislative Director of The Science & Technology Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security. He served as a top Advisor to the late Senator Arlen Specter on Capitol Hill covering security and technology issues on Capitol Hill. In academia, Chuck was an Adjunct Faculty Member at Johns Hopkins University where he taught a graduate course on homeland security for two years. He has an MA in International relations from the University of Chicago, a BA in Political Science from DePauw University, and a Certificate in International Law from The Hague Academy of International Law. </em></p></div><div class="et_post_meta_wrapper"></div></div>Can Pre-hire Talent Assessments Be a Part of a Predictive Talent Acquisition Strategy?https://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/can-pre-hire-talent-assessments-be-a-part-of-a-predictive-talent2017-01-06T15:00:00.000Z2017-01-06T15:00:00.000ZCarla at Talent Analyticshttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/CarlaatTalentAnalytics<div><p>Over the past 30+ years, businesses have spent billions on talent assessments. Many of these are now being used to understand job candidates. Increasingly, businesses are asking how (or if) a predictive talent acquisition strategy can include the use of pre-hire assessments? As costs of failed new hires continue to rise, recruiters and hiring managers are looking for any kind of pre-hire information to increase the probability of making a great hire.<br /> For All of the Marketing Hype, all Predictive Analytics Projects Have 3 Very Simple Steps.</p><p>1. A system reads “input” data - perhaps assessment scores or CV information.</p><p>2. The system does some math to apply a “predictive model” to the input data.</p><p>3. The results of the model are shown as “output” data of the model - perhaps the likelihood of the candidate achieving a certain level of Sales Performance or another KPI.</p><p>At heart, it takes “inputs” and turns them into “outputs” or predicted business outcomes. But to build and validate a model, you need a healthy, logical set of both input and output data for that role in your company.</p><p>If you are using a talent assessment alone this is just input data. To be predictive you need to include the other 2 steps.</p><p>Most Current Talent Assessments Used Today for Talent Acquisition are Not Predictive</p><p>For most companies, their current pre-hire talent assessments are wasted data. Results are delivered in an individual report that often cannot be analyzed or aggregated. For most “legacy” talent assessments, it’s difficult or impossible to determine what positive (or negative) business affect the assessments are having. It often comes down to the question of “how much the HR person believes the results” vs. “how much the business is able to document and realize real results”.</p><p>But it doesn’t have to be that way.</p><p>Talent Analytics Predictive Talent Acquisition Solutions use Predictive Talent Assessments</p><p>At Talent Analytics, we include talent assessment data (generated from our own predictive assessments), as an additional data point in every predictive project. In predictive-speak, “our assessment data has proven to be a very strong independent variable for our predictive models”.</p><p>We repeatedly prove that our Talent Analytics scores predict business performance, such as the probability of someone making their sales quota, or the probability of someone lasting in a contact center role for at least 12 months, the probability of a bank teller making errors. . . and so on for most quantifiable KPIs.</p><p>It Can Be Daunting To Figure Out What Solutions Will Actually Deliver A Predictive Solution</p><p>To help, I wanted to share 15 important questions to ask of your talent assessment vendor.</p><p>15 Questions to Ask Your Talent Assessment Supplier – to Determine if They are a Good Part of a Predictive Talent Acquisition Strategy</p><p>1. The Predictive Company Itself<br /> Are you dealing with an assessment company, who is trying to learn how to be predictive? Or is it a predictive company that also uses assessment data? How long have they been doing predictive work? Are they invited to speak at predictive conferences or at basic HR conferences?</p><p>2. Their Predictive Team<br /> Ideally the company will have Data Scientists on staff as well as IO Psychologists. This is important because Data Scientists tend to utilize more modern and rigorous methods for prediction and validation. IO Psychologists tend to be focused on the instrument, while Data Scientists tend to be concerned with predictive validity and business results.</p><p>3. Are They Predicting For Your Company, or For Everyone?<br /> There are companies that create “Industry Benchmarks,” that is, a general performance predictions for general industry categories - such as Retail Sales or Customer Service. These predictions are significantly less accurate, because they are based on companies different from your own, with different cultures, goals, and regions. Not all “Customer Service” is the same. Modern computing methods enable leading providers to create and validate predictive models for your roles in your own company alone, and to continuously update the model over time.</p><p>4. Do They Care About Your Outcome Data?<br /> Generally these solutions predict attrition or performance for a candidate or employee. Has the assessment company asked you for the attrition or KPI data for your employees in your target role? If they don’t know your employee outcomes, how can they predict your outcomes? They can’t.</p><p>Most job roles have multiple KPIs that describe performance - do they predict each of these separately? For KPIs that naturally contradict each other, e.g. speed vs. accuracy, how does the predictive solution resolve the contradiction? Just getting a “green light” isn’t good enough in many cases.</p><p>What sample size did they ask for? Real predictions require a reasonable sample to properly validate that you aren’t being fooled by randomness. If they only ask for 15 top performers, your sample is too small to create a real prediction.</p><p>5. Does the Solution Base Predictions on Outcome Data or a Job Fit, Job Match or Job Blueprint Survey?<br /> Data Science predicts what you ask it to predict. If you want lower attrition or higher KPIs, the models must be trained and validated with those data alone. The process looks for fact-based patterns to drive your business.</p><p>Surprisingly, many solutions don’t use this approach, but fall back to managerial bias. These solutions ask well-meaning committees of managers to list competencies that they believe are needed for success in a role. The resulting criteria are not predictive at all - they just find candidates that match the laundry list of beliefs and biases held by that committee. Nowhere in this process is a connection to actual attrition or KPI outcomes. Again, if the system doesn’t know about your outcomes, how can the process predict them? Start with data, not bias.</p><p>6. Does the Solution Use Machine Learning to Recalibrate Your Predictive Models? How Often?<br /> Business needs, role descriptions, and culture changes over time. Local labor conditions change. For example, Service Representatives may be incentivized to cross-sell related products, or new regulations may require new compliance to be performed. It is important to update and re-validate your predictive models 2-4 times a year to keep up to date with seen and unseen trends. Some solutions have not changed their models for 30 years - do you expect these to find great sales reps for you?</p><p>7. The New Validation Question: Criterion Validation?<br /> HR has been taught to ask if the assessment is validated. The first level of validation checks whether the assessment measures are self-consistent. Continue to ask this question.</p><p>But ultimately you care about whether the assessment feeds predictions that accurately correspond to improved business outcomes. That is, are the predictions actually working? This level is called “Criterion Validation” and is a high bar that is not commonly reached by vendors.</p><p>A top tier predictive talent assessment vendor will perform Criterion Validation for the solutions several times a year - with every client. Criterion validation is the highest level of validation possible, and is the most preferred by regulatory agencies.</p><p>8. Can You Easily Access / Download Your Company’s Talent Assessment Data<br /> Talent assessment data is a critical dataset for your company. If your Talent Assessment vendor makes it difficult or impossible to access your talent assessment data - this is a good indication they are using pre-predictive technology and that they don’t appreciate that this data is your asset.</p><p>True predictive solutions know that your workforce data scientists will want to use your talent assessment data to find correlations and predictions in many areas of your business. You need to insist on easy and direct access to the raw assessment scores.</p><p>9. How Easy is it to Deploy the Solution into the Talent Acquisition Process and Use the Predictions<br /> How much training is required? Do your talent acquisition professionals need to read long text reports, or get out a calculator to use the predictions? The complexity of a prediction should be kept out of the way of daily operations.</p><p>If your team still needs to “think” about what the answer is, it is probably not a predictive solution.</p><p>10. Is there a Different Assessment for Every Role? Or 1 Assessment with Multiple Predictive Models?<br /> Multiple assessments make it impossible to predict one candidate's performance against multiple roles. This may also be a signal that you are working with an older, legacy (less predictive) talent assessment supplier.</p><p>11. Is There an Answer Key for their Solution on the Web?<br /> For many assessments, there are answer keys and guides on how to fool or pass the test. One example is here: <a href="http://on.wsj.com/29Che0n">http://on.wsj.com/29Che0n</a> . When you see this, it means two things: (a) that the test is easily fooled, lacking internal controls to prevent spoofing, and (b) it means that that you are looking at an “industry benchmark” with one clear set of answers.</p><p>A Data Science-driven model would be custom to your role in your company, and be continuously evolving - therefore very difficult for answer keys and spoofing to catch.</p><p>12. Does the Company Itself (i.e. Myers Briggs) Specifically Tell You Not to Use their Solution for Hiring / Talent Acquisition?<br /> Some assessments, notably the Myers Briggs survey, specifically implore users to not use the tool for talent acquisition: “It is not ethical to use the MBTI instrument for hiring or for deciding job assignments.” <a href="http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/hiring-an-mbti-consultant/guidelines-for-hiring-an-outside-consultant.htm">http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/hiring-an-mbti-consultant/guidelines-for-hiring-an-outside-consultant.htm</a></p><p>13. Ask to see their company policy on employee predictive modeling, discrimination, disparate impact and fairness. <br /> It is important that a predictive solution has thought through the specific outcomes of their models and how they fit into creating fair opportunity for all applicants. In particular it is vital for the solution to satisfy or exceed any government requirements for hiring and selection.</p><p>14. Do Your Own (Internal) Data Scientists Approve of this Predictive Solution?<br /> We recommend asking one of your own data scientists (from HR, marketing, or another area inside your own company) to accompany you in your evaluation. They know what is a rigorous approach and what is marketing fluff.</p><p>15. How Does the Predictive Solution Regularly Prove to You that the Models Are Working?<br /> Ideally the company you select will be able to show you 2 - 4 times a year how your predictions are working (i.e. turnover is going down, sales are going up, calls are going up, errors are going down etc.,)</p><p>Only use a predictive model during talent acquisition if the predictions are accurate. If they’re not - you should stop using the models. You need this feedback.</p><p>Predictive Talent Assessments Can Have a Prominent Place in Your Predictive Talent Acquisition Process…but you need to be careful in choosing the real predictive solution vs. a legacy talent assessment with a predictive marketing wrapper.</p><p>Greta Roberts, CEO, Talent Analytics, Corp.<br /> Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/TalentAnalytics" target="_blank">@TalentAnalytics</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/gretaroberts" target="_blank">@GretaRoberts</a></p></div>