Top Research Firm Praises URM GROUP for Helping Customers Manage Risk Across Complex Business and IT Ecosystems

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EMA confirms X-Act platform offers unmatched breadth of prescriptive and predictive analytics, calling it “a step beyond BI, big data, AIOps, and other IT analytic investments”

Universal Risk Management Group (URM GROUP), today announced a new report from top market research firm Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), which praises the predictive insights and correctional guidance offered by URM GROUP’s X-Act® platform as “a step beyond business intelligence (BI), big data, AIOps, and other IT analytic investments.”

EMA has labeled this new category of capabilities “Transformational Analytics,” reporting that the sophisticated algorithms used in X-Act place it in an advantaged position vis-à-vis other, more operations-centric analytic tools that typically rely more on statistics.

Download ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES® (EMA™) White Paper, How X-Act can Optimize Business Performance by Managing the Unknown at https://urmgrp.com/portfolio-item/ema-urm-xact/.

Dennis Drogseth, Vice President of Research at Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) noted, “EMA interviews and market research confirmed that no other solution in the market today is designed to bring IT and business components and processes together in a single, unified model as deeply and as efficiently as X-Act. As such, the platform stands out for being proactively prescriptive in minimizing risk and optimizing both IT and business performance.”

What Customers are Saying about X-Act

“I do not believe that there is any other solution in the market that offers a single consistent model for business processes and the application/infrastructure when you seek to optimize both effectively. Only X-Act does that, and it does so with unique levels of accuracy,” Head of Infrastructure Operations at a global Financial Services Company said.

“X-Act tells you where the problems are, where they are likely to materialize in the future, and how planned changes on all fronts may affect the outcome one way or another. This makes investments in new resources, if they’re needed, a fact-based discussion with a clear business context. Not surprisingly, this is one of the reasons for IT executive enthusiasm.” IT Architect, Large European Bank said.

Learn more about X-Act platform at https://urmgrp.com/technology/.

About URM GROUP

URM GROUP provides the technology and services many of the world’s most recognizable brands depend on to optimize opportunities and comprehensively control risks across diverse business and IT systems. With patented generative intelligence technology, X-Act® platform provides a revolutionary way to quickly and predictively pinpoint hidden sources of risk within business ecosystems and know which actions should be taken to meet business goals. Leaders across financial services, retail, manufacturing, transportation, healthcare and governments trust X-Act to make informed decisions relating to a wide range of strategic objectives—from digital transformation, cost management, mergers and acquisitions to supply chain management and production performance. For additional information, visit https://urmgrp.com or connect with us on Twitter @URMgroup.

About EMA

Founded in 1996, EMA is a leading industry analyst firm that specializes in providing deep insight across the full spectrum of IT and data management technologies. EMA analysts leverage a unique combination of practical experience, insight into industry best practices, and in-depth knowledge of current and planned vendor solutions to help clients achieve their goals. Learn more about EMA research, analysis, and consulting services for enterprise line of business users, IT professionals and IT vendors at http://www.enterprisemanagement.com.

URM GROUP Launches to Arm Executives with Better Risk Intelligence, Bridging the Business and IT Gap

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Building on 15 Years of Success as Accretive Technologies, URM GROUP Aims to Revolutionize how the World’s Largest Brands Prescriptively Manage Business-IT Risk

Universal Risk Management Group (URM GROUP), formerly Accretive Technologies, today launched to deliver its patented generative intelligence technology, X-Act® platform to a broader base of global organizations that desperately need a better way to manage risk across highly complex business and IT domains. Fueled by record profits and growing market demand, URM GROUP aims to arm executives with the intelligence they need to optimize business performance and prescriptively treat risks that domain experts, business intelligence (BI), business process management (BPM), AIOps, and other analytic investments often miss.

“In a world that is constantly morphing due to the acceleration of innovation and digital disruption, businesses can no longer afford to pay an army of experts and then wait months while they argue over the cause of poor performance or settle on the best strategic plan,” said Charlie Fote, Chairman of the Board, URM GROUP and former CEO & Chairman, First Data. “With the innovations URM GROUP is bringing to market, decision makers can quickly gain a single, unified view of their entire business and verify, with better certainty, which actions will lead to the most desirable outcome.”

Proven through more than 350 cases worldwide, URM GROUP provides the technology, innovation and expertise that leading brands within financial services, retail, manufacturing, transportation, healthcare and governments trust to identify hidden risks and make informed decisions relating to a wide range of strategic objectives—from digital transformation, cost management, mergers and acquisitions to supply chain management and production performance.

Dennis Drogseth, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), Vice President of Research said, “URM GROUP’s X-Act platform stands out for delivering beyond its customers’ expectations. Moreover, its promise is in no way a small one. X-Act produces critical predictive insights and correctional guidance to minimize risk and optimize business performance across complex business and IT ecosystems.”

Building on 15 years of success as Accretive Technologies, URM GROUP is backed by a strong performance record and a history of innovation.

  • Currently serves some of the largest and most recognizable brands in the world across multiple industries including financial services, retail, manufacturing, transportation and healthcare
  • 2017 marked the second year in a row that the company has grown revenue and the second consecutive year of growing gross margins over 60%
  • Repositioning strategy has poised the company for further growth
  • Holds a variety of patents involving the innovative use of mathematical modeling and related methodologies covering both business and IT systems
  • Maintains strong partnering agreements with IBM, Accenture, Persistent Systems, and Dynatrace

“It’s always satisfying to hear that X-Act helped a customer save hundreds of millions of dollars or prevented them from making really a bad decision,” said Nabil Abu el Ata, CEO, URM GROUP. “We’ve dedicated fifteen years into the research and development of X-Act to make these results consistently possible for our customers. With the launch of URM GROUP, the people, technology and channels are finally in place to serve the broad base of companies that want to use X-Act to quickly and cost effectively know when and which actions should be taken to ensure the most optimal business outcome.”

Additional Resources

About URM GROUP

URM GROUP provides the technology and services many of the world’s most recognizable brands depend on to optimize opportunities and comprehensively control risks across diverse business and IT systems. With patented generative intelligence technology, X-Act® platform provides a revolutionary way to quickly and predictively pinpoint hidden sources of risk within business ecosystems and know which actions should be taken to meet business goals. Leaders across financial services, retail, manufacturing, transportation, healthcare and governments trust X-Act to make informed decisions relating to a wide range of strategic objectives—from digital transformation, cost management, mergers and acquisitions to supply chain management and production performance. For additional information, visit URMgrp.com or connect with us on Twitter @URMgroup.

New Book from URM Founders

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Explains How Businesses Use Risk Management Breakthroughs to Outperform Competitors, Achieve Higher Profits and Sustain Growth

“Leading from Under the Sword of Damocles: A Business Leader’s Practical Guide to Using Predictive Emulation to Manage Risk and Maintain Profitability” is now available at online booksellers

Dr. Nabil Abu el Ata, URM founder, business technologist and author, has just released his latest book, Leading from Under the Sword of Damocles: A Business Leader’s Practical Guide to Using Predictive Emulation to Manage Risk and Maintain Profitability. Dr. Abu el Ata jointly authored the book with Annie Drucbert, URM co-founder and technology strategist, to explain how businesses are using universal risk management (URM) breakthroughs to outperform competitors, achieve higher profits and sustain growth.

Globalization trends and the rapid pace of technological innovations have introduced unprecedented change and uncertainty. To thrive under these conditions, companies must adopt new risk management practices and technologies to better anticipate and adjust to risks caused by the hyper connectivity of our modern world.

Leading from Under the Sword of Damocles helps readers understand how new algorithm-based predictive and prescriptive analytics technologies are being used to control risk and maximize opportunities in today’s dynamic business environment.

Case studies show how the presented URM methods have been practically applied to preemptively expose risks and support decisions to optimize, transform or disrupt current business models, strategies, organizational structure and information technology (IT) systems when necessary to maintain a market position or outperform competitors.

“For those that want to forge a clearer and more scientific path forward,” Charlie Fote, CEO, Fotec Group, former CEO, First Data Corporation, says, “Leading from Under the Sword of Damocles provides a practical guide that shows business leaders and risk management practitioners how mathematical emulation can be used to understand the modern impacts of hyper connectivity and hyper risk, as well as clearly identify when and which opportunistic actions should be taken to ensure the continuous efficiency and cost effectiveness of business operations.”

Leading from Under the Sword of Damocles  is 233 pages, published by Springer, and available in both print and e-book through online book sellers including Amazon.com and Springer.

To learn more about the practice of universal risk management and the technological breakthroughs that support improved business performance, visit: http://URMgrp.com.

About the Authors

Nabil Abu el Ata has invested over 20 years maturing the science of risk management and the practical application of predictive analytics technologies. In the late 1970s Dr. Abu el Ata’s mathematical discoveries provided accurate coordinates for space exploration. By solving a problem that was previously defined as unsolvable, Dr. Abu el Ata set the foundation for a new era of risk management, which today enables companies worldwide to more accurately predict future system behaviors and take strategic actions to improve business outcomes.

Annie Drucbert is a co-founder of URM GROUP and a recognized authority in the predictive and prescriptive analysis of economic, financial and enterprise systems. Mrs. Drucbert’s specialties include modeling, emulation and performance management of complex database and corporate systems. Mrs. Drucbert holds 3 US patents and has delivered strategic, tactical and operational services using X-Act OBC Platform for many global clients.

 

 

URM Forum Launches to Solve Risk Management Problems of Fourth Industrial Revolution

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The URM Forum, which will serve a global community of experts and practitioners who are committed to developing a more scientific, cross domain approach to identifying and managing operational risks that increasingly threaten business performance due to the dynamic complexity of our modern world, launched today.

Current operational risk management practices are placing businesses in jeopardy. As our world becomes more dynamically complex, the opportunity to take corrective actions is shrinking, while risks are rising. Traditional risk management practices and technologies can no longer provide leaders with the insights they need to navigate the uncertainty and exponential change being driven by the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

“CEOs and governmental leaders are facing a real dilemma today as risks are growing exponentially while most risk management methods provide no better insights than astrology,” said Charlie Fote, former CEO, First Data. “URM Forum provides the framework we need to work together in order to identify a more effective approach to risk management.”

URM Forum will support a collaborative global network of individual thought leaders who are committed to working across industry and government segments to identify new operational risk management solutions that are vendor neutral and non-competitive in nature. Founding members include executive and technology leaders from Accretive, IBM, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, La Poste, Morgan Stanley, CLS Services and federal government.

“There can be no doubt that large and global businesses are in for some rough roads ahead if we cannot tame the complexity of risk challenges they now face,” said Nabil Abu el Ata, CEO, Accretive and Founder of URM GROUP. “By interacting and collaborating on a broad framework of shared objectives, URM Forum members will strive to deliver the best practices and technology frameworks that allow business and government stakeholders to make smarter decisions in times of uncertainty, maximize future opportunities and mitigate dynamic complexity related risks associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

URM Forum members must be invited and qualify based on their ability to contribute towards a meaningful solution, which is part of what makes this forum unique and our work impactful. Executive, technology, academia and governmental leaders interested in joining URM Forum are encouraged to apply at https://urmgrp.com/urm-forum/join-urm-forum/.

 

 

New Book from Dr. Abu el Ata Offers A New Framework to Predict, Remediate and Monitor Risk

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“The Tyranny of Uncertainty” is now available for purchase on Amazon.com

Omaha, NE—May 18, 2016–Accretive Technologies, Inc. (Accretive) announces the release of a new book, “The Tyranny of Uncertainty.” Accretive Founder and CEO, Dr. Nabil Abu el Ata, jointly authored the book with Rudolf Schmandt, Head of EMEA and Retail production for Deutsche Bank and Postbank Systems board member, to expose how dynamic complexity creates business risks and present a practical solution.

The Tyranny of Uncertainty explains why traditional risk management methods can no longer prepare stakeholders to act at the right time to avoid or contain risks such as the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster, the 2007-2008 Financial Crisis, or Obamacare’s Website Launch Failure. By applying scientific discoveries and mathematically advanced methods of predictive analytics, the book demonstrates how business and information technology decision makers have used the presented methods to reveal previously unknown risks and take action to optimally manage risk.

Further, the book explains the widening impact of dynamic complexity on business, government, healthcare, environmental and economic systems and forewarns readers that we will be entering an era chronic crisis if the appropriate steps are not taken to modernize risk management practices. The presented risk management problems and solutions are based upon Dr. Abu el Ata’s and Mr. Schmandt’s decades of practical experience, scientific research, and positive results achieved during early stage adoption of the presented innovations by hundreds of global organizations.

The book is available  to order on amazon.com at https://www.amazon.com/Tyranny-Uncertainty-Framework-Predict-Remediate/dp/3662491036/ref=sr_1_1.

The methodologies and innovations presented in this book by Dr. Abu El Ata and Mr. Schmandt are now in various stages of adoption with over 350 businesses worldwide and the results have been very positive. Businesses use the proposed innovations and methodologies to evaluate new business models, identify the root cause of risk, re-architect systems to meet business objectives, identify opportunities for millions of dollars of cost savings and much more.

About Accretive

Accretive Technologies, Inc. offers highly accurate predictive and prescriptive business analytic capabilities to help organizations thrive in the face of increasing pressures to innovate, contain costs and grow. By leveraging the power of Accretive’s smart analytics platform and advisory services, global leaders in financial, telecommunications, retail, entertainment, services and government markets gain the foresight they need to make smart transformation decisions and maximize the performance of organizations, processes and infrastructure. Founded in 2003 with headquarters in New York, NY and offices in Omaha, NE and Paris, France, Accretive is a privately owned company with over 350 customers worldwide. For more information, please visit http://www.acrtek.com.