ABL TECHNOLOGY ONLINE
ABL Member News * Technology Industry Trends * April 10, 2018

MIMI GRANT'S BLOG

Breakthrough: Printing Lifesaving Organs on Demand

Every day 13 people die while waiting for a kidney transplant. The sad fact is that every year, over 100,000 Americans need a new kidney, and only slightly more than 17,000 get them. But those statistics may soon change, as new breakthroughs in 3D bioprinting and tissue engineering are on the cusp of reversing the death sentence of kidney failure, or a typical 5-to-10-year life span spent tethered to a dialysis machine for 3-to-5 hours a day, three days a week. . . READ MORE >>> [Photo Credit: TechCrunch, 4/6/18]

 
ARTICLES
TECH MEMBER NEWS
Engage2Excel Certified Under EU-US / Swiss-US Privacy Shield

Engage2Excel (formerly Decision Toolbox) has received certification approval from the US Department of Commerce for the EU-US and Swiss-US Privacy Shield Frameworks program, the successor to the EU-US Safe Harbor Program. To provide adequate protection for certain EU and/or Swiss personal data relating to website visitors, customers, prospective customers, partners, vendors, third-party suppliers and contractors, Engage2Excel complies with the Privacy Shield as set forth regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information transferred from the European Union and Switzerland to the United States.  Meanwhile, Engage2Excel has published 5 Recruiting Experts Share Strategies for Success, which offers ideas you can use to compete more effectively in today's talent-driven marketplace. (Kim Shepherd, West Los Angeles)

myKaarma Raises $15 Million to Accelerate Product Development

myKaarma has received a $15 million investment led by Kayne Partners, the growth private equity group of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, which will be used to accelerate product development and further myKaarma's goal of improving the overall customer experience, efficiency, and profitability in automotive dealer service departments.  Meanwhile, myKaarma announced that Mercedes Benz of North Palm Beach stopped using their regular phone system in service and now puts every call, text, and email through myKaarma. The system keeps a record of every customer interaction, is fully searchable for seven years, and records all incoming and outgoing calls. This has helped build trust with customers, improved customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention. (Ujj Nath, West Los Angeles)

Sidebench Named #1 Software & Mobile App Developer in LA

Clutch recently announced the top creative, design, and development companies in Los Angeles in 2018, after researching 142 companies that have proven their ability to deliver high-quality services that their clients praise. Sidebench was named #1 in Mobile App Developers; iPhone App Developers; and Software Developers. The company was also recognized in the categories of Android App Developers and UI/UX Designers. (Kevin Yamazaki, West Los Angeles)

HEALTH IT MEMBER NEWS
GeBBS Healthcare Opens 2nd Delivery Center in Aurangabad, India

GeBBS Healthcare Solutions recently opened its latest global delivery center in Aurangabad, India, with the capacity to accommodate 1,200 employees and adding to GeBBS' scalability to onboard clients of any size and meet the BPO needs of its ever-expanding healthcare client base. The new facility also provides invaluable business continuity capabilities with GeBBS' Mumbai and Manila locations. In all, GeBBS employs 5,000+ experienced revenue cycle management staff throughout the world, supporting hospitals and providers across the U.S. (Nitin Thakor, Los Angeles)

Select Data Provides Check List to Assist in Proper Documentation

Select Data is providing a list designed to assist hospice agencies in preparing the proper documentation to support Medicare hospice services. The list provides a format to present the portrait of each patient and their specific needs. (Ed Buckley, Orange County, & Ted Schulte, Los Angeles)

INSIGHTS FROM ADAPTIVE
BUSINESS LEADERS
Alvaka Networks on: GDRP - "The Regulatory Iceberg of 2018"

Alvaka Networks' recent post reports that on May 25, 2018, the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) goes into full effect, intended to protect the personal data of EU citizens, wherever that data might be processed. It applies not only to organizations located within the EU, but also to those located outside of the EU if they offer goods or services to, or monitor the behavior of, EU residents. If you are not compliant with the GDPR, you could face fines of up to 20 million Euros or 4% of worldwide annual revenue - per breach. Immediately you need to review what kinds of data you handle, from where and how you are gathering such data, how that data are processed, and what security mechanisms, policies, and procedures you have in place already. Then, if you believe you are subject to the GDPR, you will need to review it to see what you may need to add or modify in order to comply. Alvaka also provides a list of things that need to be done by this time next year; in summary they are: Adopt accountability and governance measures; Appoint a Data Protection Officer; Perform impact assessments; Update data transfer policies; Implement new policies to accommodate individual privacy rights; Revise online consents; Add "Privacy by Design" to your development process; and Add "Privacy by Default" to your operations. (Oli Thordarson, Orange County Healthcare)

Dave Berkus on: Advice & Insurance

In Any advice can be worthless, or worse, Dave shares a story about a CEO and several board members/investors to illustrate his recommendation that company leaders should filter all advice through the strainer of good reason, taking that which seems reasonable and rejecting that which is wrong for yourself or for the immediate time. If you perceive advice to be in error or against better judgment, form your arguments after a little thought and make your case with information to back it up if necessary. Most of the time, the person on the other side of the table will see your side, feel your passion, and either agree or withdraw any objection. Passion and reason almost always win the day in these cases, even when facing a superior in the food chain.  And, in Insurance is always too expensive - until it's needed, Dave urges all companies with any assets to measure and protect to contract for business package insurance policies. A typical beginning package for a small company costs about $4,000 a year and covers several forms of liability for both premises and product as well as theft, employee dishonesty, employee use of self-owned cars for work, and more. There is usually a small amount of business interruption insurance in the standard package, and more protection can be added at a cost. (Dave Berkus, Downtown and West Los Angeles)

Express Analytics on: The Role of Data Translators

In Data Translators: Those Who Ensure Analysis Is Not Lost In Rendition, Express Analytics describes that data translators are seen as the new conduit between data analysts and the key decision makers within an organization. They explain in plain language to senior management the complex insights received from analytics, effectively putting everyone in an organization on the same page of decision-making. Data translators are a cross between a data scientist, analyst, and a business person. They must be data savvy, but simultaneously completely understand the business goals of the organization they work in. (Hemant Warudkar, Orange County)

GetVisible on: Email Delivery Rates & Mobile Friendliness

GetVisible has provided some information to help businesses improve their email delivery rates, suggesting you review the following domain settings with your email service provider - 1.) Fix your domain SPF Record. This article uses a GoDaddy domain as the model. You can follow the instructions for any domain host. Test your modified SPF settings here. 2.) Fix your domain DKIM settings: Here are some step-by-step links, if you use Office 365 and/or if you use Google Apps. Also, GetVisible provides this article from GoogleBlog about ensuring your website is mobile friendly. And here's a test to see how your site looks to Google. Meanwhile, links to your website still matter: use www.Majestic.com to see your backlink profile, and here's a good article. (Jason Ciment, West Los Angeles)

PeopleG2 on: Pillars of Positive Workplace Culture

Chris Dyer, CEO of PeopleG2, recently published an article in Practice Business - The seven pillars of a positive workplace culture, in which he discusses Transparency, Positivity, Measurement, Acknowledgement, Uniqueness, Listening, and Mistakes. "While good cultures have some of these pillars imbedded into their daily processes, great cultures have all seven. Try to hit them all," Chris urges. "This is a proven strategy for enhancing performance and retaining talented employees. It will also stoke morale. Staff who feel both personally satisfied and professionally challenged will stay, thrive and add to great culture."  Meanwhile, in San Francisco Amends Their Fair Chance Ordinance, PeopleG2 reports that San Francisco and Los Angeles both developed Ban the Box/Fair Chance Laws prior to the passing of the California statewide ban the box law, which went into effect on January 1, 2018. In some ways, the laws passed in these cities are stronger than the CA law. Recently, the Board of Supervisors for the City and County of San Francisco amended some portions of their Fair Chance Ordinance to align it with AB 1008, the California Fair Chance Ordinance. PeopleG2 details the items that were amended. (Chris Dyer, Downtown Los Angeles)

Taylor Digital on: Neuromarketing, Landing Pages & Microsites

In This is Your Brain on Marketing, Taylor Digital (Td) explains that neuromarketing is the combination of neuropsychology and marketing research which studies a person's response to marketing stimuli. It's a unique field that is a deep dive into how the brain works and how as marketers, we can tap into this information in order to make a considerable impact.  And, in Landing Pages vs Microsites: Which One is Right for You?, Td briefly defines a Landing Page as a standalone web page that is created specifically for the purposes of a marketing or advertising campaign. It's where a user "lands" after clicking a specific link from an Adwords campaign or email link. But a Microsite is an individual website or cluster of smaller websites that act as a separate entity for a brand. Typically, a microsite lives on its own domain, although some can exist on a subdomain. Deciding between a landing page or microsite will be dependent largely on the complexity of the campaign you are driving or product you are offering. (Randy Taylor, Orange County)

TECH TRENDS
LA #2 Tech Employment Area In Nation

A new report, recently published by the nonprofit CompTIA group, says that Los Angeles is the number two metropolitan area in the nation for technology employment. According to the CompTIA 2018 CyberStates report, LA had 501,900 technology workers, number two in the nation behind New York City, which has 664,800. Washington, DC was number three, with 427,900 workers; San Francisco, at number four, has 375,000 workers; and San Jose is fifth with 365,600. CompTIA's study includes not just workers in the technology industry itself, but those working IT support, network engineering, software development and related roles. California, as a whole, represents 25% of all people on the technology sector payroll in the nation, according to the study. (Click for Full Article: socaltech.com TechNews, 3/30/18)

A Look at LA's "Killer Q1" - Ring, Bird & Wag

According to Amplify, in a Q1 2018 update on what appears to have been a landmark quarter for LA tech, the top-ten VC deals in LA last quarter took in a combined $1.02 billion in funding  -  just a few percentage points shy of the $1.14 billion raised in the top-ten LA rounds in all of 2017. (Click for Full Article: Amplify.la, 4/2/18)

Facebook Launches Tool to Clean Up Your Privacy Settings

Facebook now lets you bulk remove third-party apps, and any and all posts those apps may have published on your behalf, a welcome privacy change that should make it easier to strip access to your profile from services you no longer use. The change is part of a series of sudden changes Facebook is making to mitigate fallout from the revelation that third-party developers have had generous access to users' data and could use it in ways Facebook had little to no control over. (Click for Full Article: The Verge, 4/3/18)

Zuckerberg Admits Mistakes: "I'm the one responsible here"

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is set to tell Congress that the company made mistakes with regard to how third-party apps accessed users' private data and how Facebook got used by foreign entities during the 2016 presidential election. "It's clear now that we didn't do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm as well," Zuckerberg will tell lawmakers Tuesday during the first of two appearances on Capitol Hill. "That goes for fake news, foreign interference in elections, and hate speech, as well as developers and data privacy. We didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake. It was my mistake, and I'm sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I'm responsible for what happens here." (Click for Full Article: Silicon Valley Business Journal, 4/9/18)

Tech's Fix for the Problems It Created: Blockchain

Worried about hacking and privacy? The technology industry has an answer - blockchain, even for the problems the industry helped to create. The first blockchain was created in 2009 as a new kind of database for the virtual currency Bitcoin, where all transactions could be stored without any banks or governments involved. Now, countless entrepreneurs, companies, and governments are looking to use similar databases - often independent of Bitcoin - to solve some of the most intractable issues facing society. (Click for Full Article: New York Times, 4/1/18)

Foxconn & Sirin Labs to Make World's First Blockchain Smartphone

You'll soon see the world's first blockchain-based phone - Finney, created by Sirin Labs, which will let people store and use digital currencies without having to pay transaction fees. This means you won't need to carry USB sticks along with your digital wallet. Instead, everything will all be stored on the phone. Sirin has selected electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn to build the Finney. (Click for Full Article: CNET, 4/4/18)

Walmart Unveils Plans for High-Tech Shopping Experiences

New patents provide examples of how Walmart plans to make stores more high-tech. Walmart shows how sensors can make shopping carts smart and capable of communicating with mobile devices. Customers could also turn to drones for assistance while shopping to price check and get directions inside the store. The company recently expanded its trial of shelf-scanning robots to 50 stores across four states. Read more and watch a video of the robots in action: Consumer Technology Association, 3/26/18

AR / VR Startups Raise Record $3.6 Billion

Augmented and virtual reality startups raised over $3.6 billion from venture capitalists and corporates in the last 12 months to the end of Q1 2018, setting a new record. Over three-quarters of a billion dollars was invested in the first three months of this year alone. A fundamental transition in the fundraising market towards AR from VR, as well as the very early-stage dynamics of mobile AR, is driving an acceleration of fundraising trends. (Click for Full Article: VentureBeat, 4/3/18)

Global Electric Vehicle Market to Fire On All Cylinders in 2018

There's more disruption brewing for the mobility industry as electric vehicles continue to surge ahead. According to Frost & Sullivan's recently released "Global Electric Vehicle Market Outlook 2018," global sales are poised to climb from 1.2 million in 2017 to 1.6 million in 2018 to an estimated 2 million in 2019. (Click for Full Article: Forbes, 4/3/18)

Arizona Suspends Uber's Self Driving Vehicle Testing

The Governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey, who had chided California for its strict rules on testing of self-driving vehicles, has suspended Uber's self driving vehicle privileges in that state in the wake of the death of a pedestrian, killed by an Uber self-driving vehicle. (Click for Full Article: socaltech.com TechNews, 3/27/18)

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