Feral Jundi

Monday, December 13, 2010

PMC 2.0: The Army Wants To Give It’s Soldiers Free Smart Phones

    You know what would really be cool is if companies handed out free smart phones when you signed a contract? I would classify it as a piece of kit as important as a rifle or radio that would be issued.  Because as you read through all the reasons why the Army wants to give their soldiers smart phones, then you can see why something like this would be important for companies to think about doing. Especially if they want to share the battle space with the military.

    Also, contractors already deploy with smart phones.  I take an iPhone 3GS with me when I go on contract, and it is indispensable.  Most contractors you work with now a days have these phones as well and take them out on gigs. This is nothing new and I have talked about this in the past.  It’s just now you see the military recognizing the smart phone’s utility and potential, and they are the ones leading the charge of incorporating them into their operations. Good on them.

    Another idea for companies is to develop applications that contractors can download for a contract. For example, DynCorp could have a DynCorp application that could serve as a portal for employees to access their intranet, all from a mobile phone.  DynCorp could send out alerts to their employees and contractors through this application, and people could call or write back to the company with these devices.  For travel arrangements or time sheets, this could also be done on the mobile phone through a really easy to use and understand company application.  For secure communications, they could integrate Hushmail or something similar on their company application and the possibilities are endless.

    The military could benefit from the companies having contractors armed with smart phones as well.  An application could be set up for a specific Area of Operation in a war, and all companies would require that their contractors download that app on their phone.  It could be set up as a secure means for the military and contractors to communicate with each other, and establish unity of effort through the real time exchange of information.  Smart phones could be that thing that could connect private industry with the military in a war zone.

     Apps like this could lead to more enemy killed, less fratricide incidents, and real time information exchanges that could assist in local COIN efforts. Contractors are a HUMINT resource that could really be exploited via smart phones and their applications.

     A contractor AO specific app could also have the rules for the use of force (RUF) that could be constantly updated by the military in that AO, or that RUF could be sent to them by the company via a company app. Unity of effort all the way and as long as the military has a network established out there, companies could be brought into that as well.

    The other thing that would be interesting with a company app or a company issued smart phone, is security.  If you want your employees/contractors using these devices, they have to be secure.  By channeling everyone through an app, a protected remote browser or company issued phone, a company information technology security team or contracted security team could stand a better chance of protecting the system.  Because once you have have established a connection between the contractor and company, there will always be some group or person out there that will want to sabotage it or try to hack into it.

     That last part is very important to remember, and there are numerous folks out there that are making it very easy for anyone to be a hacker.  Easy to use programs like Firesheep, that allow folks to break into other people’s computers or phones via wifi are just one example of what I am talking about. (thanks to DVM for that story)  As the military or companies delve further into integrating smart phones into their organizations, their phone and computer security personnel will be vital to the safeguarding of their operations. But the benefits still outweigh the negatives with this technology, and this is where the military (and private industry) is going. –Matt

Army sees smart phones playing important role

The service also views smart phone as a ‘force multiplier’ — and it wants to give you a free one

By Joe Gould and Michael Hoffman

Sunday Dec 12, 2010

The Army wants to issue every soldier an iPhone or Android cell phone — it could be a soldier’s choice.

And to top it off, the Army wants to pay your monthly phone bill.

To most soldiers, it sounds almost too good to be true, but it’s real, said Lt. Gen. Michael Vane, director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center. He said the Army would issue these smart phones just like any other piece of equipment a soldier receives.

“One of the options potentially is to make it a piece of equipment in a soldier’s clothing bag,” Vane said.

With the backing of officials such as Vane, efforts are underway around the Army to harness smart phones to revolutionize the way the service trains and fights.

Army-issued smart phones are already in the schoolhouse and garrison, in the hands of some students at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.; Fort Lee, Va.; and at Fort Sill, Okla., under an Army program called Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications. CSDA’s next step, already underway at Fort Bliss, Texas, is testing for the war zone.

In February, the Army plans to begin fielding phones, network equipment and applications to the first Army brigade to be modernized under the brigade combat team modernization program. That test will not be limited to smart phones but will include any electronic devices that may be useful to troops.

(more…)

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

PMC 2.0: Innovation Prizes For Private Military Companies

“I’m worth a million in prizes..” Iggy Pop

*****

     Wow, I really liked this article at the Economist and I wanted to share.  It kind of shows how desperate private industry and governments are for really good ideas.  And as everyone here knows, I am all about new ideas or ‘building snowmobiles’ and I try to promote that process as much as I can.

    But imagine adding incentive to the ‘building snowmobiles’ theme?  That is what makes innovation prizes such an interesting and potentially lethal concept for our industry and the war effort. Perhaps I should consider raising prize money for the best construction of a Letter of Marque concept for modern warfare use?  How about an innovation prize for low cost, high return warfare ideas?  Really open it up to the public, or just offer the contests within the boundaries of an organization. How about an innovation prize for new types of war or business strategies? Or how about for a company logo? To really put it out there, how about using mobile cash as a means to reward locals as a means of gaining ideas for COIN and reconstruction in Afghanistan?

    Companies could also offer innovation prizes to those who can come up with the best cost saving ideas, or to new directions in business?  There are many complex problems a company could try to solve by putting it out there for their employees to solve through a prize system.  It is just one more way to create that unique situation that would allow for your employees to create something important to the company or ‘people will support what they help to create’.

    Now the one thing that is most valuable and truly the prize, is business success or victory in war. A company would be smart to not only offer prizes for innovations, but to reward their company as a whole by increasing salaries because they are more profitable. Or offer the benefit in one way or another, which would reward your employees for participating in this innovation prize concept in the first place.

    The articles below indicate that this is a major theme throughout the world, and it sounds like most of the experts agree that it works.  For companies reading this, InnoCentive is the company that the Economist identified as a platform for innovation prizes.  Or you could just start your our prize initiatives. If the US government is jumping all over this stuff with their Challenge.gov site, then our industry could probably stand to benefit from it as well. I would even post it here on the blog if it was open to the industry and public?

    As for the problem solvers out there, there are plenty of prizes to go after if you have some big ideas.  Thousands of dollars are available and it sounds like these prizes are only increasing in size and number.  Just check out the chart below. –Matt

And the winner is…

Challenge.gov looking for great ideas

For Corporations (from InnoCentive website)

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And the winner is…

Offering a cash prize to encourage innovation is all the rage. Sometimes it works rather well

Aug 5th 2010

A CURIOUS cabal gathered recently in a converted warehouse in San Francisco for a private conference. Among them were some of the world’s leading experts in fields ranging from astrophysics and nanotechnology to health and energy. Also attending were entrepreneurs and captains of industry, including Larry Page, the co-founder of Google, and Ratan Tata, the head of India’s Tata Group. They were brought together to dream up more challenges for the X Prize Foundation, a charitable group which rewards innovation with cash. On July 29th a new challenge was announced: a $1.4m prize for anyone who can come up with a faster way to clean oil spills from the ocean.

The foundation began with the Ansari X Prize: $10m to the first private-sector group able to fly a reusable spacecraft 100km (62 miles) into space twice within two weeks. It was won in 2004 by a team led by Burt Rutan, a pioneering aerospace engineer, and Paul Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft. Other prizes have followed, including the $10m Progressive Automotive X Prize, for green cars that are capable of achieving at least 100mpg, or its equivalent. Peter Diamandis, the entrepreneur who runs the foundation, says he has become convinced that “focused and talented teams in pursuit of a prize and acclaim can change the world.”

(more…)

Sunday, September 5, 2010

PMC 2.0: Paying Your Local Guard Force With ‘Mobile Cash’

     This is an excellent article that discusses a very unique solution to a problem that we are dealing with in the war zones and other places throughout the world.  When companies subcontract with local guard companies for security, you often hear about how the managers screw over their guard force by skimming off the top of their pay.  They do all sorts crappy things to their people, and it can do a lot of damage to the morale of the guard force.

     The idea of mobile cash is about how the customer that pays for this guard service, can ensure that their contracted guard force is getting paid on time and in full via cell phone/text messaging.(read the article below for details) This is especially pertinent in war zones where telecom might be up and running, but not much else. Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq all have thriving telecom markets, and everyone has cell phones, and this is one more way to tap into this technology for the good of the company and mission.

     In order to maintain the edge in this market of force, and not lose folks to the enemy or a competitor, you need to make sure every last penny you are spending on these guard contracts is accounted for.  It also makes it very hard for your subcontracted field managers to take from the guards, which will also help in your market of force optimization. Anything you can do to minimize the potential for corruptive activities is a good thing.

     Now on to some ideas with this ‘mobile cash’ concept that the authors could have expanded on.  I have talked before about COIN and SMS, and this kind of cell phone payment system will make it easier to crowd source and spread messages. Some of the ideas I was thinking of is to offer bounties through the same system for any individuals that can locate wanted enemies or provide information. You could also provide bonuses to guards that participate in surveys.  How about an english learning program, which would make it a game for guards to learn english?  There are a ton of things you could ask the guards to do in order to get ‘feedback gold’ before they could collect their paycheck. I guess the point is, is just offering payment through this convenient service will be reward enough for anything you need them to do.

     The other thing that you could do with this concept for government related services, is to constantly ask police, military, and government folks to identify issues that need to be addressed within their organizations–before they collect their paycheck via phone. You don’t want to piss them off by making them go through too many hoops, but you could definitely tap into all of these ‘human sensors’ throughout the organizations, and get a feel for what is going on and collect data.

     I really like the commerce angle on this.  If this mobile cash concept makes transactions more transparent with better record keeping, then that will make banks more accountable. Especially when you have dorks like Karzai’s family in charge of the Kabul Bank, and because they keep playing games and writing checks to all their friends, that now you have a bank in trouble. (and I will pull my hair out if the US bails out this bank…pfffft) Hell, if there was a way to bypass corrupt local banks and maybe use international banks or even try a telecom bank type system?  Who knows, but either way the cell phone transaction will only add more record keeping to the whole thing.

     Now for the future.  I believe in several years, the smart phone market will catch up in these war zones.  People might joke, but locals in the cities will purchase these things because they are status symbols. The car, motorcycle, satellite dish, cellphone, and the soon to become a hit ‘smart phone’ are all status symbols that locals in these countries want to have. These devices will also be within their reach just because there will be such a large supply of them throughout the world.  The telecom industries in these countries will also do their best to keep up with this latest trend.  That is just my thoughts on the future of this stuff.

     Now imagine a local Afghan businessman with basically a computer in his pocket?  The apps, the online payment systems of international banks, the social networking, all of it, will be available to these folks in developing countries. It will be wise for us to take advantage of this new reality, and develop strategic communications plan that utilizes these devices as a means to reach out. Good article and a big hat tip to the guys at Small Wars Journal for putting it out there. –Matt

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One Cell Phone at a Time: Countering Corruption in Afghanistan

by Dan Rice and Guy Filippelli

September 2, 2010

Download the full article: One Cell Phone at a Time

American commanders are preparing for a major offensive in Afghanistan to attack one of the most formidable enemies we face in country: corruption. Despite sincere efforts to promote governance and accountability initiatives, Afghanistan has slipped from 112th to158th place on Transparency International’s global corruption index. One reason the international community has been unable to effectively tackle corruption in Afghanistan is that our own reconstruction efforts perpetuate the problem. As Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton recently acknowledged, “Corruption, frankly… is not all an Afghan problem.” Money appropriated to secure and stabilize the country is too easily siphoned and redirected as it changes hands, inevitably making its way to local powerbrokers, insurgent networks, and offshore bank accounts, rather than the individuals who need it most. One solution to this problem lies in the palm of our hands: the mighty cell phone.

(more…)

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

PMC 2.0: The Middle East Declares War Against BlackBerry Smart Phones

     The  author of “City of Gold” a history of Dubai, Jim Krane said, “The U.A.E. has never been a place that offered much in the way of electronic privacy. “The government makes no secret that it monitors electronic communication, including text messages, phone calls and e-mail. The revelation that secure BlackBerry data is frustratingly out of the government’s reach only confirms this.” 

*****

     This is definitely some PMC 2.0 news, just because many contractors carry BlackBerry smart phones, and many companies have management teams that depend upon this phone.  So imagine all these guys having to give up those phones just to do business in the middle east?

     One interesting tidbit with all of this is that these countries really don’t have a problem with iPhones, just because they can easily monitor the traffic on those devices. That is good and bad for contractors that have iPhones.  It kind of confirms what the best phone is for privacy–the BlackBerry.  Although there are still ways to make iPhones secure, it’s just with this crackdown on ‘CrackBerry’s’, it seems that the BlackBerry is the winner.

      Below, I posted three articles.  The last one is from 2005, but still a good one on how PIN messaging works for BlackBerry phones. The other articles detail what fears the various middle eastern countries have in regards to the BlackBerry. Interesting stuff. –Matt

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UAE crackdown on BlackBerry services to extend to foreign visitors

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — The United Arab Emirates’ crackdown on BlackBerry services will extend to foreign visitors, putting the government’s concerns over the smartphones in direct conflict with the country’s ambitions to be a business and tourism haven.

The UAE’s telecommunications regulator said Monday that travelers to the city-state of Dubai and the important oil industry center of Abu Dhabi will — like 500,000 local subscribers — have to do without BlackBerry e-mail, messaging and Web services starting Oct. 11, even when they carry phones issued in other countries. The handsets themselves will still be allowed for phone calls.

UAE authorities say the move is based on security concerns because BlackBerry transmissions are automatically routed to company computers abroad, where it is difficult for local authorities to monitor for illegal activity or abuse.

Critics of the crackdown say it is also a way for the country’s conservative government to further control content it deems politically or morally objectionable.

(more…)

Monday, June 14, 2010

PMC 2.0: Tip Submit

Filed under: PMC 2.0,Technology — Tags: , , , , , , — Matt @ 5:43 PM

     This is pretty basic and I just wanted to get this one out there as another resource.  This kind of stuff is just another way for a company to connect with it’s contractors, and especially with contractors that really don’t want to reveal who they are.  If someone has information, and they feel frustrated or intimidated by all other means of communication in the company, a ‘tip submit’ option might be another way.  Like I have mentioned before, companies should be using this information to their advantage (feedback gold) to not fire people necessarily, but to shape policies and their organization to better serve the client and fulfill the contract.  This is especially good for companies that have an office in the US and operations in another part of the world.

     I also think this kind of thing would be good for COIN operations in countries where SMS is as technological as a local population can get.  Although I have seen smart phone usage in places like Iraq, the infrastructure to support smart phones, and the cost factor is what limits that.  But even with smart phones you can still text message, as opposed to sending anonymous emails or whatever.

     Governments could benefit as well, and anonymous texting can be just one more tool to use in order to seek feedback.  It is also a way for employees or the public to connect, and not have to worry about anything coming back to them.  It allows ideas and information to dominate the conversation, and takes the person out of that conversation(if they so desire).  Not everyone out there wants to be in the spotlight, or be put on a soapbox–all because they had a good idea, or bad idea, or some crucial tip that led to stopping a crime or wrong doing.

     What this story below really highlighted was the law enforcement application of this.  Software like this only adds to a department’s SMS strategy. It allows law enforcement to connect with people, and it empowers an individual to do something good without fear of reprisal by criminals.  That is a very important element to this, and the safer and easier it is for people to act, the better.

     The only problem now is teaching people how to erase the history on their phones, so criminals or insurgents can’t take that phone and put ‘two and two together’.  That goes back to the SMS strategy and a text message should be sent back to the person on how to erase what they just did. That’s unless this company has already figured out how to do this automatically or something?  Interesting stuff. –Matt

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Tip Submit

TipSubmit… the industry leading solution for guaranteed secure and anonymous web tips!

Anderson Software… developer of TipSoft, the leading tip management solution, has now released by far the best way for tips (any type of confidential intel) to be accepted thru the web. Discover how much additional intel you could be receiving from those who otherwise shy away from phoning you with information. Our web tips are guaranteed secure and anonymous and are very easy to implement and use!

Website for company here.

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Agents watching Canadian border seek tips via text message

June 9, 2010

METALINE FALLS, Wash. — US Border Patrol agents often use horses to look for smugglers in the forested mountains along the Canadian border, but now will be adding a more modern tool to help them keep watch: text messaging.

The agency yesterday began asking residents, campers, hunters, and other outdoor enthusiasts to send anonymous text messages to report suspicious people they come across in the lightly populated area from Washington to Montana.

“Each alert person is going to be an extra set of eyes and ears for us,’’ said Danielle Suarez, spokeswoman for the agency’s Spokane Sector, referring to the 200 agents who patrol the region.

The agency is also pushing a companion service that allows people to send tips through the website, tipsubmit.com. Officials say the e-mail is necessary in a region where cellphone coverage is sparse.

(more…)

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