PwC report identifies a ‘fundamental shift in risk management’

Economic turmoil, political upheavals and natural disasters, all combined with advancing globalization and rapid technology progress, are creating a new era of risk for businesses and causing a fundamental shift in risk management practices, according to a new PwC US 2012 annual report.

Entitled ‘Risk in Review’ the report is based on a survey of more than 1,000 executives and risk management leaders.

"2011 marked a year of reckoning, and many companies are still struggling to create an effective approach to managing the ever-widening risk landscape. Businesses are scrambling to fix weak links in their systems stemming from non-traditional risks such as social media and digital technology, to dealing with the realities of operating in today's global marketplace," said Dean Simone, leader of PwC's US Risk Assurance practice.

"In this new risk era, corporate boards and senior management have a crucial role to play to ensure they set the right culture and align their strategy to risk imperatives."

According to the report, forward-looking companies are responding by shifting their risk management focus in several fundamental ways: from internal to external, from operational to strategic and from bottom-up to top-down.

To better prepare themselves to deal with unexpected events for the upcoming year and beyond, companies installed new risk management organizational structures, have put in place a new breed of risk management leadership and have adopted innovative techniques such as scenario analysis and predictive indicators.

To address changing risk landscape, PwC recommends the following risk management approaches for 2012:

Increasing cross-communication: Place greater emphasis on communications and data sharing in 2012 and take steps to improve cross-functional and departmental communication.

Improving data quality and reporting: Enhance global economic teams to help improve data quality and put in place improved processes for reporting data. Different business units should meet periodically with different business units to review and exchange information and data as a form of early alert to possible upcoming risks to the business.

Better forecasting and scenario analysis: Leverage more sophisticated tools such as early-warning systems and contingency plans to reconfigure approaches to manage risk (i.e. set up scenario models or Monte Carlo analysis geared to the nuances of the business, run models as events unfold, etc.)

Elevating the chief risk officer (CRO): Put risk management role on the proactive offensive instead of reactive defense by giving CROs more cross-functional access and ability to effect decision-making.

Integrating risk management: Manage risk holistically by continuing to integrate risk management into decision-making processes relating to ‘traditional’ functions (i.e. strategic planning). Don't exclude new areas of risk (i.e. talent management and outsourcing), but address and integrate them into decision-making processes.

Bolstering IT: Address data privacy and security concerns and take stock of where to build better processes, practices, procedures and technical defenses. Shifting technology and heightened competition for new customers in new markets are also exposed to more risks, so it's imperative to study the setbacks and successes of peers who pioneered the use of these new technologies.

Greater board involvement: Understand the risks facing a company and have in-depth discussions with management to make sure those risks are being handled properly. The discussion should also cover potential risks that are not yet on management's radar and what the implications of those emerging risks might be.

To download a full copy of the report visit: http://www.pwc.com/riskinreview

The times they are a changin' - YouTube

There are two types of bosses: the one that changes as a continuous learning experience and understands the motivation of the others, those who do not (yet).

And in these two basic attitudes one can also reflect the success with their employees. It can be simplified to identify the following two types of managers:

• Those who accept change as something continuous vs. those who see it as a one-time task.
• Those who see their success as something temporary vs. those who strive constantly to maintain it.
• Those who believe that anything is possible vs. those who think their future depends on the past.
• Those who allow change vs. those who hide behind operating procedures, to keep everyone under control.
• Those who see life as a permanent and lasting learning experience vs.. those who think they have reached their "target" and will no longer move.
• Those who keep their teams alive and alert to changes vs. those who allow their teams to "doze off".
• Those who view change as an impetus for dialogue, and a potential insight to see improvement vs. those who see change and dialogue as intrusive, annoying and /or bothersome.
• Those who radiate energy and personal motivation vs. those that show fatigue and negative emotions.
• Those who think they can gain something vs. those who are afraid of losing something.

Change Management - What is it and why it matters?

Complexity of Change

 According to Wiki, ‘Change management is a structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organisations from a current state to a desired future state.

It is an organisational process aimed at helping employees to accept and embrace changes in their current business environment.’

Such definition of Change Management is often called Organisation Change Management to differentiate from the software change management that refers to software configuration management or project change control that refers to managing the project scope, timeline, and budget.

When we talk about the Organisation Change Management we need to understand who needs to change and who are all the stakeholders that will be affected.

Any change in the organisation involves to various degrees following stakeholders:

• Customers – they experience change in customer service at all touch points, unless change is completely internal (hard to imagine such changes these days!)
• Executive team – they need to formulate the strategy and embrace the change first so they can ‘walk the talk’ and inspire the organisation to internalise the change
• Line management (within an organisation and within partner organisations) – they need to interpret the strategy, define the ‘how to’ plan, and then embrace the change so that they can become effective mentors and coaches and continue to inspire ‘by example’
• Line workers (within an organisation and within partner organisations) – they make the change happen or not; when they are inspired and identify with the change the organisation achieves true transformation

Given the wide reach of change on all levels of stakeholders internally and externally to the organisation, the program that has to be put in place needs to define correctly the scope of the change being introduced and the areas being impacted.

Read more of this article: Business Process Management (BPM) - Change Management - What is it and why it matters?

An Agile Approach to Change Management

All Agile methodologies include integrated practices and processes that manage evolving requirements to efficiently develop a continuous stream of new software capabilities.

However, what Agile does not address are changes related to enterprise support of the Agile process or tasks that fall outside the scope of the project work, including:

• How to effectively manage an organisation's internal personnel so that the appropriate stakeholders are available throughout the course of a project.
• How to gather and prioritise the most important features desired by the organization throughout the ongoing development cycle.
• How to adjust the notion of needing training in a continuous release environment.
• How to ensure customer team members are informed by the full breadth of stakeholders required for enterprise acceptance.
• How to secure timely approval of new technologies that a team would like to leverage.
• How to address stakeholder discomfort with cultural, business, social or other non-technical changes related to software implementation.

Each of these challenges is compounded when organizations operate multiple Agile projects simultaneously. Such unaddressed issues can cause IT projects to ultimately fail, even if executed perfectly within the scope of the development teams and meeting all project acceptance tests. It is no surprise that the vast majority of large-scale IT initiative failures are actually caused by factors other than technology.

Enterprise Change Management (ECM) provides a framework that addresses many of these missing factors. This article focuses on how organisations can leverage ECM practices in conjunction with their Agile development teams to foster IT delivery adoption.

To move stakeholders from negative thoughts and bad feelings, an ECM program must communicate a vision of the change that is compelling enough to not simply overcome negative preconceptions but also motivate positive participation.

Project and executive managers tend to treat those who will be impacted by software initiatives as if they were Vulcans, not humans. Of course, stakeholders are more like Kirk than Spock. Humans don't coldly and rationally evaluate information and form impressions based solely upon logic.

Instead of withholding judgment on an impending change such as a new software initiative, people tend to make gut-level intuitive leaps that are often negative in nature, and resistant to new evidence to the contrary.

This assumes, of course, that those impacted are even cognizant of upcoming changes. In "Switch: How To Change Things When Change is Hard," authors Chip and Dan Heath use the metaphor of "Rider, Elephant and Path" to describe three primary areas that must be addressed in change management.

The Rider is our inner Spock. A stakeholder cannot support a change until he or she can understand its purpose and the concrete changes that will likely occur. The type of 50-page technical documents and 100-element flowcharts that developers often create under a "waterfall" approach must be translated into clear, high-level infographics for non-technical stakeholders.

The Elephant represents our subconscious and emotional levels. ECM influences the elephant through communication that creates positive feelings and mitigates negative emotions such as mistrust, anxiety and anger. For instance, messaging may focus on how the change will solve an existing problem that vexes stakeholders.

The Path addresses the environment within which the change occurs, including changes to the physical environment such as the arrangement of office space, and processes or procedures such as kanban.

There are a number of formalised ECM models that have been developed to standardise change management within organisations, with processes and practices that support the entire lifecycle of a change initiative. The principles and activities described in this article can be adapted to any existing corporate ECM infrastructure.

They can also be applied within organisations that do not yet have an established ECM process in place.

The Unique Enterprise Change Management Demands of Agile Software Development

Ironically, the more successful an Agile project is in rapidly developing new capabilities, the greater the ECM challenge may be. Although Agile's customer-led iterative approach significantly reduces the magnitude of changes related to each software release, it greatly increases their frequency.

Instead of being asked to adapt to a single release that institutes a significant number of changes created within "waterfall's" typical multi-year release cycles, stakeholders must accustom themselves to an ongoing series of small, incremental releases every month or two.

Having an ECM program is especially important for enterprises transitioning to Agile from a phase-based development methodology. Corporate cultures that are accustomed to traditional development release cycles can be strained by a shift to more frequent releases and the ongoing interaction required by participation in the iterative process.

There is a higher level of stakeholder involvement required throughout the development process. The impact of a new Agile implementation cuts across technology and functional groups, from top management down to the frontline worker.

An ECM effort can help break down the organizational sensation of feeling burdened caused by the insistence of Agile teams for day-to-day customer involvement.

Introducing ECM to the Agile Team

Simply introducing basic ECM concepts to an Agile team can actualize the potential of existing Agile practices to foster positive change. For instance, customer-focused user stories and acceptance tests can be informed by ECM considerations.

This new perspective can tangibly improve the way IT and business sides of an organization work together. The resulting synergies build a heightened level of trust and provide a means to measure and track success of not only the technical quality of software, but its acceptance by end-users .

If the customer already has an institutionalized change management practice, bringing ECM personnel into the Agile team's release planning process is a good first step. They will be able to anticipate potential change management issues related to a release and work with the team to synchronize their efforts.

For customers who are transitioning to Agile from a traditional waterfall methodology, ECM involvement is a good tool to foster participation by business stakeholders.

When an organization is ready to integrate ECM tasks into an Agile software development project, securing an ECM subject matter expert for the team is the first challenge usually faced.

If the organization has existing ECM expertise, personnel can be shifted onto an Agile team. If there are no available resources, it may be necessary to hire an ECM subject matter expert or send an existing team member through an ECM training program.

Once staffed, a basic approach is to integrate ECM into the Agile development process by simply having ECM requirements progress through the same processes as technical requirements, including user stories, acceptance tests and the iterative development of deliverables.

ECM team member and developers participate in the same customer planning meetings and stand-ups.

Take for example the implementation of a portion of a typical change management plan. In conjunction with an upcoming Agile software release, change management requirements might include:
• Create a stakeholder list.
• Create a series of surveys on stakeholder attitudes.
• Contact these stakeholders, and socialize the survey results.

Tasks required for the delivery of iteration can then be broken down into stories, for example:
• Make a list of stakeholders in a certain business group.
• Create a survey covering these specific questions.
• Create an analysis spreadsheet.

Creating ECM stories in the same manner as their development tasks deeply integrates change management into the Agile process. In fact, these stories can be created in a test-driven development manner. For the above story examples, a test could be written proving that:
• A stakeholder from the business group is included in the stakeholder list.
• A survey covers a specific required content item.
• The analysis spreadsheet has a correct column.

At the start of each iteration, these tests would initially fail and would begin to pass as these change management stories are fulfilled. ECM tests and their pass/fail state can be illustrated on the Agile teams' continuous integration dashboards.

Making these dashboards available organization-wide provides all stakeholders maximum insight into teams' overall progress to heighten project awareness across the enterprise.

By integrating ECM into Agile development, the development team can escape the project stovepipe and extend its vision to the greater enterprise. Every veteran Agile manager has watched hopelessly as a project that met every customer requirement failed due to external factors beyond their control.

Although ECM does not give the project team absolute control over its destiny, it can substantively expand the domain of its influence.

Avoiding Mistakes in Managing Change

We are all facing change in our lives and some would say it was always there but there is normal ongoing 'change' and sudden 'traumatic change. This is the change involved in downsizing, layoffs and restricting employee benefits in a shrinking market and a very tight economy.

Traumatic change is difficult enough without mis-managing the change and adding insult to injury. When crises occur, managers need to be strong and be good leaders.

They need to know how to avoid the traps that make it harder to recover from. Here are 13 common mistakes and some guidelines for avoiding the downside of them.

1. Pressure to act quickly undermines values and culture.
Leaders take drastic steps quickly with no time to fully explore alternatives. Values about participation, involvement, or concern for people disappear. Cynicism and disloyalty grows.

Look to the long term and avoid the temptation to announce short term decisions for short term benefits. Allow employees the chance to be involved in problem solving and assign teams to tackle issues.

2. Management exercises too much control.
In crises, management can become insular and decisions get confined to the top. Top managers are micro-managing and rethinking everything. The people below become marginalised and passive. They lose motivation, cease to be innovative and become reactive. They simply wait around to be told what to do.

Keep the middle managers and workforce involved. Establish short-term tasks that empower employees to seek quick wins, giving them a feeling of responsibility and control over results.

3. Urgent tasks divert leaders' attention from the mood of the organisation.
Managers are swamped with meetings and decisions. No one takes the view from the workforce or takes responsibility for assessing the impact on employees' motivation and performance.

Appoint a representative or a team of natural leaders to monitor the culture, take the pulse of employees, and coach managers on an effective process.

4. Communication is haphazard, erratic and uneven.
The truth is sometimes the first victim of chaos. Things change quickly, leaders are distracted, and it's not clear who has the most accurate or th elatest information. Potentially destructive rumours take on a life of their own.

Establish an interactive communications site to reach everyone with the same information in a timely fashion. Keep it going throughout and for some time after the worst of the crisis is over.

5. Uncertainty creates anxiety.
Most executives don't like to be caught without an answer or be forced to say they "don't know," so they will normally wait until they do have an answer, before they talk to their people. Unfortunately, your people can't take positive actions when they are hindered by anxiety.

Establish a middle-of-the-road process, when there is some uncertainty about decisions. Create a calendar of briefings so that people know when they'll know. If you don't have an answer yet, just say so.

6. Employees hear it from the media first.
In public profile comanies, aggressive journalists dig for information, and speculation and rumours can run in the media before employees hear about them. The worst case is when workers hear that their plant may be closing, on the radio while driving to work. Middle managers look ineffective and uninformed. Employees feel insulted and left out.

Manage any press interfacing very strongly and if possible keep them away from the staff. Develop networks of employee-leaders to connect an information chain as part of your communication plan.

7. There is no outlet for emotions.
Traumatic change can lead to strong feelings. Anger and grief can build up with no way to express or deal with these emotions. People can become dis-orientated and start acting in negative ways, undermining cooperation and positive teamwork.

Establish facilitated or managed sessions /workshops specifically for venting emotions. Teach managers about dealing with trauma and ensure that they acknowledge their own, and others, grief and anxiety.

8. Key stakeholders are neglected.
If executives are too busy internally, there is a risk that they fail to fully engage with other key stakeholders. It is a mistake if your key customers, dealers, suppliers, or local government officials hear about a crisis via an unsympathetic media or with a competitor's negative slant. They can feel slighted, offended or simply get nervous about the depth of the crisis and withhold much-needed support.

Manage all your interfaces and relationships. Identify all groups that need to be to be involved in communications and talk to them regularly. Make it a part of your communications plan.

9. It seems easier to cut than redeploy.
Reducing budgets or people on a percetage basis or in equal proportion across the board, seems easier from an accountancy perspective than taking time to re-assign people or re-allocate valuable resources. Unfortunately, this is a weak or poor tactic, a knee-jerk reaction that ensures you loose strong performers which, with some more thought, could serve you well, elsewhere.

Establish a pool of strong performers from all the areas that are facing reductions. They will be able to help the business in a number of ways. They can be used as consultants or called back for special assignments to support the change and transition.

10. Casualties dominate attention.
Sometimes empathetic leaders want to do the humane thing by offering help to people who are being dismissed, while neglecting the the loyal employees that will be remaining and on whom their future depends. This lack of 'care' for resident staff can lead them to feel insecure, under-valued and they may either, become un-motivated or may decide to leave.

Cherish all staff and treat them all equally. Meet individually with remaining staff leaders. Remind them that they are the future and show your appreciation. Offer recognition for extra problem-solving efforts and collaboration during this stressful crisis period.

11. Changes are expedient, not strategic.
Managers often restructure by removing the weakest or newest people, without regard to true business needs. The unit continues to do what it has always done, in the same way but with fewer people. The opportunity for positive re-structuring in the face of change, is lost.

Identify a team and process to re-examine mission and priorities, to redirect activities toward more productive future uses.

12. Leaders lose credibility.
The shock of crisis, lurches in business strategy, and performance shortfalls can make some leaders' appear less potent and their words less credible. If the staff do not believe in the new strategy, then it is doomed to fail.

Be aware of your image as a leader and make short-term, tangible, achievable promises, one's you know you can keep. Your credibility is on the line.

13. Gloom and doom fill the air.
It is very easy for everyone to be preoccupied with the negatives in the current situation. They feel guilty about losing people. Morale can sink very low very quickly, and it is hard to find the energy to be creative or productive.

Focus on and show them the future beyond the crisis. Repeat the credible positive vision at every possible opportunity. Emphasise the steps being taken to avoid any re-occurrence of the present crisis. How we've grown, what we've learned and how things are going to change so it doesn't happen again.

Winners and good leaders make their own luck. In the face of traumatic change, it is important to take the time to anticipate and avoid 'unlucky' mistakes. Better leadership in the face of change is difficult, but it will help everyone get through the crisis and secure a better future for everyone.

Project Management Adds Real Value and Cost Savings to Organisations

Project management is certainly not overhead. Project management, if implemented and performed in a structured and professional manner, adds real value by reducing waste, controlling costs and improving performance.

Good portfolio management will reduce waste by weeding out projects that should never be started. Often we start these projects and later cancel them after wasting effort and money.

Practicing good project management in the area of initiation, planning and execution will greatly increase the success rate and performance of your project execution. Resources will be better utilised and the team will be more communicative, motivated and organised.

This will reduce duplication of effort, control costs and ensure that risks, issues and dependencies are dealt with in an optimal and effective manner, maximising effort and minimising waste.

Performing proper project closure, and learning good lessons from our past successes (and occasional mistakes), will improve the performance and effectiveness of future projects.

Finally we need to monitor, review and control our projects. We learn in six sigma that you do not improve what you do not measure.

Taking metrics during each phase of your product development process is key to learning and improving your future performance. You can start taking these measurements at any time.

As you improve your implementation of project management you will also see an improvement in the performance of your projects. These project improvements will provide a 'gearing' effect and the same amount of effort as before, will create a greater momentum and more energy in the implementation of your projects. Simply by the introduction of good, strong project management methods.

With due regard for the creation of real value from dilligent effort, the Project Manager's mantra follows Vaughan's Equation: VO > EI (Value Out is greater than Effort In) You will find that strong project management follows this equation, very closely and will always be well worth your time and effort to implement.

Project management is certainly not overhead. I hesitate even to include the word in the same sentence to avoid establishing a subconscious association.

Project management, if implemented and performed, by a professional, in a structured and professional manner, adds real value by reducing waste, controlling costs and improving performance.

Project management provides better ROI, lower TCO and better TQC.

Project failures and Change Management strategy

Tight budgets have upped the ante in what IT projects organisations choose to pursue this year, and in some cases the executive involvement in those projects has substantially increased as a result, consultants and practitioners say.

Yet the executive contribution to project and portfolio management (PPM) at large enterprises is more often about communication and change management strategy than other parts of the process.

Project Portfolio Management
Executives are involved with managing the project portfolio or adjusting priorities among projects at less than 20% of organisations with more than 1,000 employees. Rather, those duties are most often performed by IT directors or governing bodies.

Instead, the executive's role is one of communicating a vision and driving a change management strategy that will result in greater user and organizational acceptance of the projects selected for development.

Lead by Example
There is more riding on the executive's decisions in the project management space than ever before. The executive can't just delegate project management responsiveness to the staff because he must lead by example.

Organisational Change
Organisational change management is crucial. Before rolling out new PPM solution from anyone consider having a soft launch, configuring resource pools and providing training for resource managers, senior leadership team members and project managers.

Change Management
Change management should be the starting point because the overall project management strategy will succeed or fail based on this.

A change management strategy formally introduces initiatives to everyone affected by them, and should also introduce any new roles or expectations to team members to get everyone on the same page at the same time.

Creating a Change Culture
Creating a culture where everyone understands their roles, responsibilities and expectations from the get-go increases the chances for project success and it reduces surprises.

Indeed, surprises are one reason for project failures, which persist despite governance and tools like PPM software to keep projects on track. It regularly comes down to the fact that the business didn't realise the impact the change was going to have, and therefore didn't plan for it.

Project Success rates
Research on project success rates found that 24% of projects are cancelled part-way through or delivered and not used. Surveys showed that just 11% of large organisations complete all projects in their development queue; the majority (54%) report an abandonment rate of 1% to 10%. The final third don't even finish 11% to 50% of their projects!

Consolidation
Consolidation can go smoothly if you lay out an extensive workflow for change management prior to or during the implementation process. Pay special attention to the rigorous standardisation that needs to take place while developing a realistic timeline.

Small Changes
Start out by changing small things; changes grow in complexity as the organisation works toward its goals. Remember, you need to be able to crawl before you can run. Whenever you are changing business culture you first need to plan out the procedure for it, or else the tools will just sit there, unused and unwanted.

Starting point
Change management should be the starting point because the overall project management strategy will succeed or fail based on this but too much process can also be a problem, resulting in a slow death "by a thousand cuts".

Approval Points
Before the recent economic crisis, there were two or three approval points to get a project going. Now it feels like the number of stringent checkpoints has increased, leaving new, creative projects to die on the vine before they even have a chance.

Tight Budgets
Tighter budgets have led many organisations to add tight checkpoints for proposals, aimed at weeding out unnecessary or unrealistic projects before they even start. Although these processes can prevent wasting time and money on projects that don't provide a lot of value, they also stifle innovation and discourage new ideas. Finding the middle ground can be difficult.

If there are too many approval points, people get frustrated and throw up their hands in premature defeat but if there is not enough, the engagement can fizzle out.

A Vision
Developing a vision that meets business objectives and the needs of stakeholders can be the first step in finding that happy medium. Start basic, envisioning a plan that doesn't necessarily require a lot of tools and processes but has better stakeholder alignment and overall clarity into what the business problem is that you are trying to solve.

Balance in all things
Strike a balance by staying open to the potential for project adjustments along the way while also following Lean Six Sigma methodologies and ITIL best practices. You can run Lean Six Sigma in parallel to the business processes of the project and you can streamline every project to fit into this overall strategy.

Keeping costs down
At the end of the day, executives are trying desperately to keep operational costs and spending under control while still making progress on IT strategies. They need very honest and accurate information on the projects rolling up to them. It's very important not just for managing IT but also for engaging the stakeholders and the entire business leadership team. It is one of the IT executive's most important responsibilities.

Tools are not the answer
You can have the most expensive and beautiful project management tool out there, but without the support of the management and your project team, it just won't happen.

NYPD Spend $1M on New Typewriters! Change what change?

They say you can't stop or turn back Time but the NYPD have found another option for not progressing, avoid change and live in the Past!

Why is IT Change so Difficult for Political and Government bodies alike? It is bad enough that Typewriters are still in use by the NYPD but now the city of New York has signed a new three-year, $1 million deal for MORE typewriters, the majority of which will be used by the NYPD.

While the department has endured a major, multiyear technology overhaul, with some big success, it demonstrates that IT change is often well intended, meticulously planned but not always carried out or implemented in its entirety.

New York Post
Technological change is never easy, or quick, or perfect, especially for big bureaucracies. Unfortunately, the NYPD made news this week when the New York Post reported that the City of New York had signed up a $1 million contract with a typewriter vendor to purchase thousands of new manual and electric typewriters, during the next three years.

Improvements made
The NYPD's typewriter requirements, accounted for the bulk of the contract. The article describes how NYPD Deputy Commissioner and CIO Jim Onalfo, who took over the reins in May 2003, had invigourated the NYPD's IT department and brought them into the 21st century.

The article also reported that changes to the insular and bureaucratic culture and legacy loaded IT environment, had been vast. Massive improvements were made in areas of disaster recovery, wireless communications, networking infrastructure, and many others.

Three Years In
Even three years into Onalfo's serious IT overhaul in 2006, glaring disconnects were still present: "Each of the 76 precincts is now connected by a videoconferencing system that ties into a command center at One Police Plaza," the article stated. "Within some of the precincts, however, there are still detectives using typewriters to fill out paper reports and filing carbon copies."

Essential Typewriters
NYPD cops "still use typewriters to fill out property and evidence vouchers, which are printed on carbon-paper forms. There are typewriters in every police precinct, including one in every detective squad." This is not felt to be part of a strategic disaster recovery solution but the NYPD stated; "We are working on software to eliminate the old machines," a police representative stated.

Huge Strides with RTCC
It should be noted that NYPD IT and CIO Onalfo have made huge strides in overhauling how the NYPD uses new technologies. The NYPD relies heavily on the Real-Time Crime Center (RTCC), a high-tech "war room" where detectives are able to tap into dozens of police, government and other related databases. As an example of the RTCC's power, real-time information from police officers at the scenes of crime can be meshed with the sophisticated database queries made at the RTCC to help to track down criminals.

Crime Stoppers Hotline
In addition, emergency 911 capabilities allow citizens to directly transmit photos and videos to the police at the RTCC. New Yorkers can also send text messages and multi-language e-mails to its Crime Stoppers hotline program.

Typewriters Everywhere
In truth, there are probably a lot of businesses and government agencies that have stashes of typewriters in their offices, just like the NYPD does. But until everything is digitized, there will be a seemingly mind-boggling need for typewriters.

The NYPD's typewriters are both a lasting vestige of the way things were and how they uses to be done in the past but it is a shocking reminder of just how much more change and education needs to be done.