Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants

The Best Firms to Work for in 2007

Researchers at Kennedy Information published their cut at the top management consulting firms to work for in 2007. For the second year, Bain & Company took the top spot, with The Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey rounding out the top three winners.

None of the top three firms' respondents reported traveling less or working fewer hours than colleagues at other firms. Instead, the top three firms scored well on compensation, career development, and firm culture.

Beyond the top three firms, the results aren't as clear cut. One firm, for example, saw their rankings drop from 2006 in essential areas such as firm culture, firm leadership, and job experience, but that firm moved up in the overall rankings for 2007. Go figure.

The message to recruiters from the study is clear: consultants gravitate to well-paying firms that offer challenging client work in a dynamic environment.

Turning a Dream Vacation into a Nightmare

"We regret this situation has occurred and realize this may cause concern for our associates and customers.” -Stephen P. Weisz, President, Marriott Vacation Club International

Talk about an understatement.

The concern: computer tapes containing the personal information of more than 200,000 of Marriott’s timeshare owners, timeshare customers, and employees vanished from an office in Orlando, Florida. The perpetrator(s) made off with social security numbers, bank information, and credit card numbers.

In 2005, more than 55 million Americans were exposed to identity theft from 130 reported computer break-ins. What’s worse is that many attacks are either unreported or undetected, raising the likelihood that the number of breaches is greater than anyone knows.

Battling identity theft is hard enough under normal circumstances. But if we can’t trust organizations to do their part to safeguard our personal information, we’re one step closer to raising the white flag.

Marriott’s problem isn’t the first such case, of course. But it’s a stark reminder that the world of commerce runs on information and trust. If computer break-ins continue unchecked, consumer trust will erode, leaving all of us at great risk.

40 Million Credit Card Records Swiped

Tell me it's just a bad dream.

Unsuspecting holders of almost 40 million credit cards are now vulnerable to financial fraud.

Hackers burrowed into the computer systems of an Arizona company that processes transactions for Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. Oh, and according to published reports, the breach occurred almost a month ago.

Ah, thanks for the timely heads-up.

Some say this is the largest theft of financial information ever. I guess it does pale in comparison to Citigroup's recent loss of 4 million customer records and Bank of America's bungling of a back-up tape containing 1.2 million customer records...not to mention more than a dozen Universities that have been infiltrated due to lax security.

I have the eerie feeling that this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

As you'd expect, the government "swung into action." According to a spokesperson for the Federal Trade Commission, Orson Swindle (yes, that's his real name), "Corporate America is acting irresponsibly in protecting consumer data. The payback for that irresponsibility will be painful." Yeah, but for whom?

I'm suggesting a tweak to Mastercard's promotional spiel.

Cut to TV Commercial:

"Romantic dinner for two on the town, $85.00
Theatre tickets for two, $100
Coffee and dessert after the show, $25
Knowledge that some cyber thug isn't about to ruin your life...Priceless."

OK, back to the usual fare tomorrow.