ON THE JOB FRONT

• 1 in 10 Office Leases Are About to Expire, Forcing Some Companies to Decide if Workers Should Return to Offices
• Why Hiring Back Boomerang Employees Can Help with Retention
• Each Tech Worker Supports an Additional 4.4 Local Jobs: Research

TECH INDUSTRY TRENDS

• PC Supply Chains Are 'Back to Normal,' Dell CFO Says
• Next USB Standard Will Double Existing Speeds, Even with an Older Cable
• Electrify America Wants to Make EV Chargers as Easy to Use as Gas Pumps; MEANWHILE, Google Maps Can Now Pick the Most Efficient Route for EVs
• Survey: 26% of Car Buyers Would Consider An Apple Car
• SoCalGas, UCI In Hydrogen Gas Project

TECH INDUSTRY & GOVERNMENT

• White House Puts Forth Six Principles to Reform the Tech Sector

CTI, a communications technology solutions provider for AV/IT integration and live events, is adding the AV consulting and integration arm of Cibola Systems to bring its customers a technology-rich environment nationwide. For 51 years, Cibola's core purpose has been to help clients build healthy workplace cultures and deep customer relationships through strategic communication. The addition of its AV division to CTI will continue to hold true to those core values. Lisa will now be shifting her energy and bringing the power of "How might we?" to her clients as a Design Thinker, Strategist, and Change Champion. For years, Lisa's been bringing her passion for Design Thinking into diverse groups of stakeholders through her Workshops, Retreats, and consulting one-on-one with clients looking for holistic solutions to their issues, who end up co-developing a clear and measurable implementation path for solving them. (Lisa Perrine, Ed.D., WLA)

Gryphon Fund Group has licensed Envision Financial Systems' investor management product suite to support the strategic expansion of its solution set to include third-party transfer agency services. Gryphon selected the Envision solution for its ability to efficiently manage all types of pooled investment products, and its ability to easily adapt to change.
ALSO, Envision is asking individuals to take its Envision Big-Think Mini Survey and let them know how important tech is to your business. Results will be shared with participants anonymously. (Satnam Gambhir, OC)

An article recently published in Nature - Climate change is making hundreds of diseases much worse - details a study which found that climate change has exacerbated more than 200 infectious diseases and dozens of non-transmissible conditions, such as poisonous-snake bites. Researchers examined 77,000+ research papers, reports and books, including the Global Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology Network (GIDEON).
ALSO, watch a recent GIDEON webinar on-demand: A Tale as Old as Time: the Start of the Anti-Vax Movement & Vaccine Hesitancy. (Uri Blackman, WLA)

OEwaves, Inc. has announced the OE4040 series of the Hi-Q laser product line, offering ultra-low noise lasers operating in the C-band. Utilizing OEwaves' patented whispering gallery mode resonator technology and micro-optic assembly, the frequency noise of a standard diode laser is improved by up to 60 dB to provide an ultra-low noise, narrow linewidth laser source at a small size, weight, and power consumption. (Lute Maleki, SGV)

Parasoft has shared the latest updates on its artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities for UI, API, functional, and static analysis testing that span across the entire SDLC. It's critical to leverage AI/ML to reach higher levels of software test automation. Parasoft has done exactly that by optimizing its solutions with innovative AI/ML features that accelerate test creation, maintenance, and execution. (Elizabeth Kolawa, Ph.D., SGV)

Ingram Micro, a distributor of information technology products and services, is now distributing products from The Joy Factory, including rugged cases that protect against hazards in virtually any environment to tablet mounting solutions that provide a hands-free workflow.
AND, The Joy Factory has partnered with smart workforce solutions provider Augmentir to deliver the tools needed by today's mobile connected workers to boost productivity, streamline processes, improve work quality, and ensure safety, particularly in the fields of Oil & Gas, Energy & Utilities, and Manufacturing. (Sampson Yang, OC, & Miranda Su, SGV)

Covetrus, which is the parent company of VCP, announced that Covetrus Compounding and Roadrunner Pharmacy have partnered with Fear Free to make visiting the veterinarian and receiving treatment more enjoyable for pets and pet parents. Fear Free is an education company providing online and in-person continuing education and certification programs for veterinary professionals and others to prevent and alleviate fear, anxiety, and stress in pets and provide enrichment. (Bob Richardson, OC)

For the second consecutive year, Vincit has been named to the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. The custom software development and design agency showed 118% three-year growth.
MEANWHILE, read recent Vincit articles: The maintenance of a digital service begins during the design phase - take these three things into account and Competence development takes place best within projects. (Rachel Valentine, OC)

A recent Orange County Business Journal article - From Disney to Dentists, No Sector Safe From Cyber Breaches - features quotes and insights from Alvaka Networks on how local companies are faring in the battle against cyberattacks and ransomware money demands, and what firms can do to better secure their data and operations.
AND, in Windows 11's New Update Defends Against Compromised Credentials, Alvaka reports that Microsoft is implementing a new Windows 11 security default that aims to suppress ransomware attacks on compromised credentials.
Other recent articles from Alvaka Networks include OFAC Sanctions Cryptocurrency Mixer Tornado Cash and U.S. Department of State's $10M Bounty on Conti Ransomware. (Oli Thordarson, SGV)

In Finding a strategic partner, investor or buyer, Dave Berkus describes the "matrix method" of identifying and focusing on likely candidates, an exercise which he declares as time well spent which should pay back in multiple ways.
AND, in Is 'servant leadership' too soft for you?, Dave ponders if in technology-based enterprises, a visionary leader can abdicate the execution of their vision by subordinating to those who carry out the execution of that vision? Or must he or she be more like Steve Jobs or Elon Musk and stand in the center of the storm, constantly testing the execution efforts of those around? And how about the leader working with his or her remote workforce? (Dave Berkus, SGV & WLA)

In this video - Installing the MegaDrive LED Grow Light System - George Mekhtarian, CEO of California Lightworks, discusses the operation, installation, and troubleshooting of his company's new system, which features a patented central power supply providing industry-leading light design and support. (George Mekhtarian, SGV)

In Four Ways Smart Recruiting Technology Can Benefit You, Clovers explores four major benefits of this technology, including faster and easier hiring, better hires, and a better candidate experience.
AND, in The Future of HR Leadership - Transforming Companies From the Inside, Groundswell notes that in a world where the entire corporate structure is rapidly evolving, the human resources department is taking on an increasingly central role in business management, and that's likely to continue. (Adam Miller, JD, WLA)

Jason Ciment, CEO of Get Visible, was featured in a recent article from Rise25.com - Top Agency Experts: Confronting Challenges, Growth, and Partnerships.
AND, on September 14, Jason was a panelist in a webinar - Addressing the Global Talent War.
MEANWHILE, in his own newsletter, Jason continues to offer a variety of business hacks, including:
>> Try WhenIsGood.net if you're tired of the back-and-forth emails when trying to schedule a zoom meeting with more than 2 people.
>> Protect your Wordpress site from hackers by hiding your username: Follow the steps here.
>> SEO trick to try to improve your appearance in the "knowledge panel" which is critically valuable for rankings now.
>> Ostagram is a very interesting photo and image tool. For example, you can take a photo of yourself and turn it into a Van Gogh. (Jason Ciment, WLA)

In A Master Guide To B2B Content Marketing: Strategy, Execution, Results! - Chapter 1, Half Past Nine runs through the top 10 factors that define B2B customer journeys, looking at the buying process in particular.
AND, in Why And How To Use Instagram Reels In Your Ad Strategy, Half Past Nine looks at the advertising opportunities that Instagram Reels offers, and some tips to create successful content. (Kenneth Shen, WLA)

Ali Payani, CEO of LookinLA, wrote an article in Forbes - Five B2B Marketing Predictions For Business Owners - discusses five key predictions to help your company stay ahead of the curve, including rises in account-based marketing, sales-enablement technology, and smarter content development, as well as increasing popularity of chatbots, and improvement on reaching millennial buyers.
MEANWHILE, LookinLA has published The Definitive Guide To SaaS Content Marketing and Sales & Marketing Alignment: 10 Tips To Make It Happen. (Ali Payani, SGV)

In Trustpoints vs. Touchpoints?, myKaarma CEO Ujj Nath uses a personal anecdote to illustrate what a trustpoint is. It's a "Critical interaction and the foundation of building trust with customers. These interactions can be digital, physical, or in my fish market example, simply a conversation between two people," Ujj says. "What they all have in common is that the interaction delivers on a promise, inherent or otherwise, to deliver the best experience possible, every time." (Ujj Nath, OC)

In How a Dealer Contact Management Solution Can Assist OEMs in the Ever-Growing EV Market, Optimum Info shares that market consultant AutoPacific projects that EV sales in America will reach one million by 2024 and two million by 2026. As dealers are scaling up to sell EVs, they need to be prepared for the unique needs of these vehicles as well as their buyers. It is beneficial for OEMs to have a solution that makes it easy for sales and after-sales field managers to work collaboratively with their franchise partners to ensure their dealerships are making all the accommodations necessary to successfully sell and service EVs. (Arvind Verma, OC)

In 5 Core Learning Experience Design Principles to Launch a Winning Online Learning Program, Profi declares that beyond subject matter expertise, you need an understanding of cognitive and educational theory. Then, there are the online-specific principles for user and learning experience design.
ALSO, read Profi's The 6 Best Coaching Approaches to Use in 2022, which discusses mindfulness, developmental, emotional intelligence, vision, transformational, and positive psychology coaching approaches. (Alina Trigubenko & Adam Miller, WLA)

A recent episode of the Feudal Future Podcast, hosted by Marshall Toplansky and Joel Kotkin - The State Of The Economy - features Jim Doti, President Emeritus of Chapman University, discussing the state of the US economy and the recession. (Marshall Toplansky, OC)

Eliott Jones, CEO of Biospectal, wrote an article for Forbes - Consumers Are Awash In Healthcare Data - Here Are Four Ways Technology Can Help Manage It, in which he discusses making it easy to use apps and input data; focusing on essentials; designing better apps and interfaces; and ensuring privacy.
AND, in this video post, Eliott and Professor Patrick Schoettler, MD, discuss how Biospectal's OptiBP can help physicians and individuals manage their hypertension and live longer and healthier lives. (Eliott Jones, ABL-Health SV)

SJF Ventures recently described their $7 million Series A investment round in Elemeno Health this way: Elemeno has built a "playbook in your pocket" for nurses, which helps them enhance patient care and execute their day-to-day tasks more efficiently. The "playbook" has been associated with increased nurse satisfaction and a decrease in turnover of up to 50%. Improved consistency of care has resulted in decreased medical errors and hospital-acquired conditions by up to 75%.
MEANWHILE, Elemeno has published its recent presentation slides to the American Organization for Nursing Leadership - Empowering Nurses with the Cloud to Improve Engagement, Onboarding, and Cost. (Arup Roy-Burman, MD, ABL-Health Bay Area)

FOMAT Medical Research has unveiled its new Ambulance of Research, with which FOMAT will engage in innovative ways to conduct hybrid clinical trials, while reaching underserved communities. The company aims to inform the community about the risks involved in various health conditions, educate them on the early steps one can take to prevent serious health problems from developing, and offer free diagnostic tests if appropriate. FOMAT's Ambulance of Research currently offers services for fatty liver scans, COVID-19 tests, immunizations, physical exams, and more.
MEANWHILE, two of FOMAT's clinical research sites were recently named Top 10 Enrollers for a major study on Chronic Pancreatitis; one site was recognized as the top enroller for the entire study.
ALSO, FOMAT was recognized for their incredible contributions towards the largest pediatric mRNA vaccine trial conducted to date. (Nick Focil, ABL-Health LA)

Following its recent 510(k) clearance from the FDA, MedWand Solutions announced that its MedWand device and VirtualCare ecosystem are commercially available to enable clinical exams with its comprehensive care solutions. Available kits include MedWand Evaluation, MedWand Mobile Clinic, and MedWand Remote Clinic.
MEANWHILE, MedWand has been featured in several recent articles, including: Telemedicine is Transforming with Access to NEW, Cutting-Edge Comprehensive Care Solutions by American Telemedicine Association; MedWand's devices for improved telehealth nabbed FDA's approval by Health Geniuses; and New Virtual Resources Aim to Promote Telehealth, Enhance Access by mHealth Intelligence. (Bob Rose, ABL-Health OC)

In DIG THIS: Why HealthCare Needs a Flywheel, Providence Digital Innovation Group explains that in physics, a flywheel is a mechanical tool used to store rotational energy thereby adding stability and increasing momentum. Just as Jim Collins first popularized the flywheel effect in Good to Great, put in business terms, a flywheel is the mechanism that drives consumers to a platform and keeps them coming back for more and more. While a flywheel is hard to start, once it's started moving, it is difficult to stop. Providence goes on to discuss why healthcare needs flywheel programs. (Marcee Chmait, ABL-Health LA)

Maxwell Healthcare Associates, a proud partner of Select Data, recently featured a blog post from Select Data: Case for Outsourced Coding - Optimizing coding and CDI with help from industry experts, which explains why home health agencies with optimized coding and clinical documentation improvement practices have fewer problems with audits, faster time to payment, and excellent capture of all possible and appropriate charges.
AND, watch an on-demand replay of a recent webinar from Select Data and Maxwell: Augmented Coding & QA Webinar - Reduce Staff Turnover While Improving Quality of Care, as well as Spotlight On: OASIS.E New and Removed Items - explore items that take effect on January 1, 2023. (Ed Buckley, ABL-Health OC)

WestFax has announced the launch of its new fax integration for PaperCut MF - the first time a third-party fax provider has worked with PaperCut's Developer Relations team to create a custom plug-in for the company's platform. WestFax says that as part of its overall environmental impact effort, they've partnered with Papercut to reduce office paper waste by helping customers convert to a Secure Cloud Fax alternative. (Barry Clark, ABL-Health OC)

About 243 million square feet worth of office leases - approximately 11% of the country's total leased office space - is set to expire across the country this year, a 40% increase from 2018 and the highest since property manager JLL began tracking the data in 2015. This year won't be an outlier, either; the volume of lease expirations is projected to exceed 200 million square feet annually through 2025. At the same time, office occupancy is still in the 40% range in some of the biggest markets in the country, according to the weekly occupancy report from Kastle Systems, which monitors card swipes in office buildings. Given the slow pace of Return to Office, leaders will have to figure out how many employees they want back In the office full-time, and how many can stay home or work hybrid [as they renegotiate their leases]. (https://www.kornferry.com/insights/this-week-in-leadership/return-to-office-the-moment-of-truth)

The number of people leaving their jobs has never been higher — more than four million people have quit their job each month of 2022 according to the US Labor Department. But even as this Great Resignation remains underway, organizations have started to see a new trend emerge: the boomerang employee. According to a new report by software company UKG, more than 40% of employees say they were better off at their former job, and in fact, 20% of employees who resigned during the pandemic have already returned or "boomeranged" to their prior company. These types of employees were once shunned by HR departments. Pre-pandemic, more than 50% of departments even had active policies against re-hiring former employees. But in the ongoing war for talent, organizations have rethought this stance, and instead have started building programs that leave the door open in the chance that employees might come back. (https://chief.com/articles/boomerang-employee)

According to a recent report from the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, every "high-tech worker" supports another 4.4 local, or "non-tradable" jobs - i.e., the trash collectors, carpenters and surgeons of the world. How can high-tech jobs have such an outsized impact? For one, they're especially well paid - according to a Technical.ly assessment from earlier this year, tech jobs have grown as a share of high-income earners in each of a dozen US cities evaluated. Those jobs are well paid because they tend to be highly productive - a scientist, software engineer and data scientist can typically do a job once and have their work used again and again, but a carpenter really can only frame one house at a time. High-tech skills are also in relatively short supply, so demand for them is high. Another reason high-tech jobs tend to be well paid is exactly because they can be done elsewhere: They're globally competitive. Competition tends to make professionals continuously sharpen their skills. Skill sharpening is a kind of innovation, which is a way to describe productivity gains, which is how we tabulate economic growth. (https://technical.ly/civic-news/why-exactly-do-tech-jobs-matter)

The supply chain for personal computers is back to normal after years of logistics disruptions, Dell Technologies Inc. CFO Tom Sweet said. Many component costs are getting cheaper as availability has improved, and demand has weakened. Dell is working on clearing its inventories before being able to take advantage of more favorable component prices, he added. Many manufacturers are offering aggressive discounts to help clear inventories faster, mostly on consumer products, according to Sweet. Supply chains issues for servers have been harder to shake due to semiconductor shortages, he noted. However, this tightness should begin to ease in the fourth quarter. (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-08/pc-supply-chains-are-back-to-normal-dell-cfo-tom-sweet-says)

There's a new, super-fast, version of USB 4 on the horizon and you won't even have to buy a new cable to take advantage of it. The USB Promoter Group announced that the next-gen USB Version 2.0 standard is "pending release" and will double the bandwidth of existing USB 4 connectors, from 40 Gbps to up to 80 Gbps. Amazingly, the new standard is also backwards compatible with previous USB 4 cables. This means that existing USB-C cables capable of 40 Gbps will also get the faster speeds when the new standard becomes available. (https://www.engadget.com/usb-4-version-2-194625034.html)

Electrify America is debuting changes to its EV charging network - seeking to be similar to gas station experiences - that include additional charging level labels, balanced maximum charging, and streamlined payment options. "We want to help make the transition to EV charging easier by translating kilowatt ratings into simple names like Hyper-Fast and Ultra-Fast with corresponding colors to help them make a selection at the charger," said Robert Barrosa, Electrify America's director of business development. (https://www.engadget.com/electrify-america-10000-chargers-us-canada-by-2026-140040719.html)
MEANWHILE, Google Maps Can Now Pick the Most Efficient Route for EVs: Google Maps' newest feature will let you pick your car's engine type, with "Gas," "Diesel," "Electric," and "Hybrid" available as options for the eco-route planner to consider. Google says, "in the coming weeks," the feature will roll out to the US, Europe, and Canada. Google says picking an engine type will allow it to "get the best route and most accurate fuel or energy efficiency estimates. (https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/09/google-maps-can-now-pick-the-most-efficient-route-for-evs/)

Strategic Vision recently released the results of an annual study that this year reached 200,000 new-vehicle owners. For the first time, the consulting firm included Apple among the more than 45 brands it surveyed consumers about. The findings: 26% said they would "definitely consider" buying a set of wheels from the iPhone maker, behind only Toyota and Honda. And 24% ticked the top box ("I love it") when asked their impression of the quality of the brand, beating all others by a wide margin. That's serious brand power and suggests there would be significant appetite for autos alongside all those phones, computers, watches and television boxes. (https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/apple-s-car-is-beloved-before-it-even-exists-1.1813879)

Southern California Gas and the University of California, Irvine said they are in a "proposed collaboration" around clean, renewable hydrogen which can be blended into the campus natural gas system. According to the two, the project will help better understand how clean fuels like renewable hydrogen could be delivered at scale through California's existing natural gas system, either to existing customers connected to the gas grid, or to generate clean electricity in zero-emissions fuel cells. The new project will use hydrogen generated through something called an "electrolyzer," which converts water into hydrogen. They said the demonstration project would power existing residential and light commercial equipment, including water heaters, boilers, furnaces, and ovens in academic buildings, student amenities, and housing. (https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0082883.html)

President Biden's administration has recently proposed six principles to mitigate the damage done by the technology industry. These principles, which are intended to increase responsibility in the tech sector, are: Competition; Privacy; Youth Mental Health; Misinformation and Disinformation; Illegal and Abusive Conduct (including sexual exploitation); and Algorithmic Discrimination and Lack of Transparency. Anti-competitive business practices and privacy violations at the expense of average users were two of the most important issues discussed by experts in the recent listening session at the White House. (https://www.spiceworks.com/tech/tech-general/news/big-tech-reforms-proposed/)
ALSO, the White House said the U.S. needs "clear rules of the road to ensure small and mid-size businesses and entrepreneurs can compete on a level playing field." (https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-encouraged-by-interest-congress-pass-big-tech-legislation-2022-09-08/)

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