Insights

"I want God, I want poetry, I want danger, I want freedom, I want sin." — Aldous Huxley, "Brave New World" This week it was announced Sears will be closing all its mall locations in Asheville, North Carolina. Sears has been the cornerstone of the American mall experience since the 1960s and 1970s. But if you have been to a mall lately, you will notice shopping malls have become a barren wasteland of mobile phone repair...

We live in a world where we are inundated with more information on a daily basis than we can possibly process. It is an over-communicated environment. There are so many unwanted messages bombarding us that often the ones we want get lost in the noise. It doesn't matter whether you are connected to the Internet or not. We get hit by information at every turn – at work, at home and even as we try to relax. Have you ever wondered that...

(Content sponsored by Capella University) Not long ago, technical skills were all that IT and analytics professionals needed to grow their careers. Not anymore. Over the past few decades, technology has become key to executing business strategy. The challenge, however, was that some IT professionals didn’t understand the business—they understood IT. Mad technical skills alone no longer cut it for IT experts. Merging IT...

Already, computing systems are outperforming humans in many tasks that profoundly shape our everyday lives in the fields of transportation, communication, energy, finance, healthcare, retail, education, public services and utilities, law as well as defense and security. There are also clear upsides and opportunities, disrupting the fabric of our social contracts, our sense of human identity and dignity, and our considerations of agency and...

There are many aspects of the healthcare industry that are ripe for streamlining with blockchain. For instance, my last Blockchain Spotlight article focused on a new telehealth company called WELL. This time around I’m talking to Synthium to find out more about their platform to address the costs and inefficiencies in the medical device market, of which there are many. Small- to medium-sized manufacturers of medical devices cannot...

Big data analytics has rapidly become a critically important driver of business success across different sectors. Big data can offer a lot of value only if organizations know how to claim it. Today, big data is given high preference. Organizations worldwide see big data as an opportunity and plan to increase their investments in big data in the upcoming years. The value of big data doesn’t come from the gathering of information, that...

New research shows corporate demand for cybersecurity skills is rising faster than internal supply, with innovative thinking needed to plug the gap – both in the acquisition and retention of key talent. The report "Cybersecurity Talent: The Big Gap in Cyber Protection" by Capgemini's Digital Transformation Institute demonstrates that, of all the digital skills necessary for organizations with aspirations of digital leadership,...

Four out of five employees see significant opportunity for artificial intelligence (AI) to create a more engaging and empowering workplace experience, yet employees admit a lack of transparency from their employers is a primary driver of fear and concern. This is according to a worldwide survey of nearly 3,000 employees across eight nations conducted by The Workforce Institute at Kronos Incorporated. "The Engaging Opportunity: Working...

The healthcare as an industry – and medical records, in particular – is an environment that is ripe for disruption via blockchain technologies. I’ve seen a lot of initiatives started, but I think the WELL project is one of the furthest along. It is beyond just storing medical records, enabling an entire telemedicine platform and payment system. WELL has had a working platform for almost three years now and is the...

Today's customers evaluate a company on the experience that they receive. Oftentimes, the entire sales cycle experience (pre-sales, purchase and post-purchase) is as important to them as the actual product or service. Today's multi-tasking customers are juggling multiple channels at one time, usually on multiple devices. Servicing these customers requires companies to be always alert, frequent the same channels as customers and be consistent...

One of the UK's leading universities has announced plans to appoint 30 highly prestigious Chancellor’s Fellowships in Data-Driven Innovation. The University of Edinburgh is aiming to attract academics across a range of disciplines who will focus on data-enabled research to drive innovation across eight industrial sectors, including: • Digital Technologies • Health & Social Care • Space...

As I continue my Blockchain Spotlight series , I find that the world still hasn’t found the killer app that the typical consumer will understand and enjoy, but in this column, I think we’ve come very close. In late January 2018, I attended the Crypto Funding Summit conference and was impressed with a few companies there, one of which was Ponder . Ponder is a decentralized matchmaking platform that already exists outside the...