LEADING A TECH BUSINESS

• New Wave of IT Freelancers Prefer to Tackle Digital Projects, Then Move On
• Tech Unemployment Rate Falls to 2.1%, Countering Fears of a Slowing Economy
• Small Businesses Need More Help with Tech - 5 Ways to Get It
• Top Tech Skills to Secure a Career During a Recession

AREAS TO WATCH

• AI Software Spending Set to Nearly Double by 2025: Forrester
• Masimo Unveils First Watch to Offer Accurate, Continuous Health Data

TECH & GOVERNMENT

• White House to Raise Cyber Standards for Healthcare, Water & Emergency Communications

1P.org, co-founded by Adam Miller and "committed to tackling some of the most intractable challenges facing our one planet through extensive research, innovation and funding," was featured in two recent articles. STEP Fund seeks to prevent homelessness in LA with microloans, published by Spectrum News, provides an overview of the Short-Term Eviction Prevention Fund, which is patterned after micro-finance programs that have helped low-income individuals and businesses in developing countries. The idea is that offering people on the verge of homelessness one-time cash assistance can decrease their likelihood of ending up on the street, at which point the situation becomes far more expensive and intractable. 1P.org is behind the $1.9 million fund.
AND, Will Gun Owners Fight for Stronger Gun Laws?, published in The Washington Post Magazine, spotlights another 1P.org-founded organization, 97Percent, which promotes pragmatic gun-policy reforms - with a twist: Their principal goal is to engage gun owners in the conversation. In polls and focus groups, they say they have found that gun owners are more amenable to reforms than most Americans believe. To make real progress on the issue, they argue, gun owners must be at the table. (Adam Miller, JD, WLA)

The Corporate Caffeine podcast recently did a two-part episode with Mike Quinn and Devin Jones of Active Cypher. Part 1 focuses on "what the real cyber security situation looks like. This conversation will unnerve you, but you need to know." In Part 2, Mike and Devin "share the upside and what you need to know to be proactive."
ALSO, Security Magazine published Quantifying the risk of cybersecurity, and Information Week published Cybersecurity Just Became a Board Issue for Real, both from Active Cypher. (Mike Quinn, OC)

On the afternoon of October 20, Alvaka Networks will host the Channel Strong tour stop in Orange County, a free event for those in IT/MSP services, digital forensics, breach counsel, and other related fields.
AND, on the afternoon of November 16, Alvaka will celebrate its 40th anniversary with a party at its Irvine facility that will feature various product presentations, food, drinks, and more. (Oli Thordarson, SGV)

Auxora has launched the industry's first single-fiber bidirectional optical components core - WDM BOSA core, which has passed a rigorous review and won a high score in the 2022 Lightwave Innovation Reviews innovation selection. Auxora introduced the innovative BOSA core product to help customers re-use the existing Passive Optical Networks BOSA structure for 5G mid-haul bidirectional wavelength division multiplexing transmission application. (Jinghui Li, SGV)

In a recent press release, California Lightworks reported that cultivators can play a pivotal role in combatting the climate crisis while improving operations by upgrading old HID lighting systems to high efficiency LEDs. In California, to ease the strain on California's energy grid, the state authorized the Market Access Program as a strategy to reduce peak demand and mitigate rolling blackouts. The program authorized $150 million to incentivize projects that contribute to energy savings. There are no cost caps and no product restrictions.
MEANWHILE, California Lightworks shared that its MegaDrive LED system will be lighting up a "massive" new greenhouse in Coachella Valley, CA, as well as Nipomo AG's licensed 70,000 sq. ft. greenhouse in San Luis Obispo County. (George Mekhtarian, SGV)

Coherent Corp. has won a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency contract to develop coherent optical transceiver technology for the agency's Space-Based Adaptive Communications Node (Space-BACN) program. The program's aim is to create low-cost, high-speed, reconfigurable, laser-based data links that will enable communications between various government and private-sector low-Earth-orbit satellite constellations.
MEANWHILE, Coherent announced that its 400G ZR+ QSFP-DD-DCO transceiver has won the 2022 ECOC Exhibition Industry Award for Optical Integration. (Randy Heyler, SGV)

Eckert & Ziegler Isotope Technologies Dresden and NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes have announced an agreement for the purchase of hot cells and related equipment for NorthStar's dedicated non-carrier-added actinium-225 production facility. NorthStar is a global innovator in the development, production and commercialization of radiopharmaceuticals used for therapeutic applications and medical imaging. (Frank Yeager, SGV)

GIDEON Informatics has made a recording of its webinar available - GIDEON in the Classroom, which unveils the company's lesson plan package.
AND, recent articles from GIDEON include A Brief History of Infectious Diseases and What is the Epidemiological Triad? (Uri Blackman, WLA)

In LookinLA's Q3 2022 Newsletter - Marketing Matters - they announce recent new partners, recession-proof marketing tips, holiday shopping predictions, and more.
MEANWHILE, LookinLA CEO Ali Payani was interviewed on Fox 57's Market Makers, and Cryptonews named LookinLA a top metaverse marketing agency. (Ali Payani, SGV)

OEwaves, Inc. has launched a new time domain laser frequency monitoring feature for its flagship ultra-sensitive OE4000 Laser Linewidth and Phase Noise Analyzer product family. This new feature precisely measures the optical frequency drift and deviation of the laser under test (LUT) with high refresh rate over a user specified period of time, allowing the end user to further characterize the LUT and gain valuable insight into its behavior in the time domain. (Lute Maleki, Ph.D., SGV)

Parasoft announced the latest releases of its industry-leading API and microservices testing tools, including SOAtest, Virtualize, CTP, and Selenic.
AND, on November 3, Parasoft will present its virtual 3rd annual Automated Software Testing & Quality Summit to gain insights on ways to automate and accelerate testing and deliver robust applications that users will love.
MEANWHILE, read Parasoft's article - What Is Artificial Intelligence in Software Testing? (Elizabeth Kolawa, Ph.D., SGV)

Redzone Software spotlights The Joy Factory in its recent blog post - A Partnership That Empowers The Connected Workers In Manufacturing. Redzone explains that it wanted to design software built for factory workers, whose talents were often overlooked, to replace widely used, dated technology. The Joy Factory knew this technology would need to be mobile on the factory floor to keep up with workers' responsibilities, enabling them to update and access data at any moment. Together, Redzone's manufacturing software and The Joy Factory's tablet cases, mounts, and accessories, create the ideal safe and collaborative working environment for factory front line employees. (Sampson Yang, OC & Miranda Su, SGV)

Dave shares a 16-minute video of his recent keynote presentation at the Keiretsu Forum West Coast Investor Capital Expo, where he discussed six pieces of advice that investors typically recommend, but startups founders don't seem to follow.
ALSO, in Hire on ability. Fire on fit., Dave points out that new employees are more often let go because they aren't a good fit with the company culture, rather than their inability to do the job.
AND, in Would you celebrate your mistakes?, Dave asks, how do you teach your work force that mistakes are OK, as long as they learn and don't repeat them? The answer: by being a visible example. (Dave Berkus, SGV & WLA)

Jason Ciment, CEO of Get Visible, recently collaborated with other leading agency partners to put together Mastering Your SEO Strategy, Featuring Tips from our leading SEO Partner experts, published by Luz. Jason emphasizes the importance of original, quality content, and offers a practical way to put this into action: "The two things to focus on are both content related: write buyer guides comparing products; and create 'how to' guides showing your product in use." (Jason Ciment, WLA)

Half Past Nine has published a 4-part Master Guide to B2B Content Marketing (at the link, scroll down for the four parts). Topics include: The B2B Customer Journey + Buying Process; Building Your B2B Content Marketing Strategy; Creating Your B2B Content; and Distribution Tactics for B2B Marketing Content.
ALSO, read their recent article - How to Build a Killer eCommerce Black Friday Marketing Strategy in 2022.
MEANWHILE, Half Past Nine's Ken Shen is an Advisor to EcoCart, which recently announced they raised $14.5 million in Series A funding. (Ken Shen, WLA)

In 7 Steps for Reigniting Sales Growth, Greg Lebsack says that to reignite your sales engine, you must first identify the unmet or underserved needs of your target customers and the market. He then elaborates on the 7-step framework he developed, which includes: Learn; Product hypothesis; Determine target customer; Competitive alternatives; Identify needs; Differentiate; and Measure. (Greg Lebsack, WLA)

In 10 Ways to Achieve Automotive Service Excellence with Great Customer Service, myKaarma is addressing the automotive service industry, but these insights are applicable to others. An excerpt: "Customers today are tech-savvy and have higher expectations for customer service. Therefore, even if you think you are giving the best customer service, there are bound to be some areas of improvement. Software alone is not the solution, however, a complete operating system for dealer fixed operations can eliminate unnecessary tasks, make more tasks fast and easy for your team to complete, and ultimately optimize the customer interaction management for your entire service department. When this happens, your service team is more responsive, they have the tools and data to make fast accurate customer service decisions." (Ujj Nath, OC)

In How to Conduct an Employee Compliance Assessment, ProProfs covers what they are, how they help maintain compliance, the top 10 compliance assessments, how to create one online, best practices, and more. Other recent articles from ProProfs include 50+ Best Team Quiz Ideas to Try Out for Your Next Virtual Meet-Up and Tips to Create a Conflict Management Style Quiz. (Sameer Bhatia, WLA)

In a recent episode of the "Feudal Future Podcast," hosted by Marshall Toplansky and Joel Kotkin - On Our Mind: The State of Consumer Thinking & The US Economy - Jeff Jones, Senior Editor at Gallup discusses U.S. society and economy and the state of the consumer.
ALSO, watch a replay of a recent webinar which Marshall moderated - NFTs & Digital Assets, presented by Chapman University's Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics. (Marshall Toplansky, OC)

Angle Health announced it has partnered with Benefix to offer instant level funded quoting with no apps needed. Brokers and agencies can sign up for access to Benefix free of charge to start quoting ACA and level funded plans in Angle's markets. (Andy Leeka, LA)

Biospectal is among the winners of the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award 2022, organized by Venturelab.
ALSO, for Global Week for Action on NCDs, from NCD Alliance, Biospectal is honored to be included in Michael Ferro and Robin Farmanfarmaian's new book, How AI Can Democratize Healthcare: Shifting Care from the Clinic to the Point of the Patient. (Eliott Jones, SV)

Change Healthcare's recent article - Technological Fixes To Ease The Labor Shortage Issues In Healthcare, originally published in Forbes, discusses the moral obligation to fight physician burnout, as well as confronting the challenge of modernization, and new data systems and interoperability.
ALSO, watch a recording of Change Healthcare's recent webinar - How to Make the Labor Shortage Work for You. (Marcia Augsburger, JD, Bay Area)

Arup Roy-Burman MD, CEO of Elemeno Health, was interviewed on a recent episode of Otter Labs' Behind Company Lines podcast, in which he shares his career background, his inspiration for starting Elemeno, and where his company is today.
MEANWHILE, Elemeno is partnering with the Emergency Nurses Association to empower the "Emergency Nurses of the Future" - watch a 2:30-minute video about the initiative here. (Arup Roy-Burman, MD, Bay Area)

FOMAT Medical Research was named one of three Finalists for this year's Site Patient Recruitment Innovation Award, which recognizes sites that utilized innovative strategies to achieve enrollment success. (Nick Focil, LA)

In What Caused the Current Shortage of Medical Laboratory Technologists and What Steps Need to Be Taken to Solve the Problem, LigoLab shares that the pandemic has brought into sharp focus the shortage of qualified laboratory professionals, which has major implications for the healthcare industry - because behind the scenes in support of nearly every stage of the healthcare continuum is a medical laboratory scientist. In the U.S., approximately 14 billion lab tests are performed annually in 260,000+ CLIA-certified labs.
AND, read other recent posts from LigoLab such as How Cole Diagnostics Streamlined Client Billing with LigoLab's LIS & RCM Platform and LigoLab Helps Lab Directors Get a Healthy Return on Their Laboratory Information System (LIS) Investment. (Suren Avunjian, LA)

MedWand is featured on The Bleeding Edge of Digital Health Podcast, in an episode entitled "MedWand: The Swiss Army of Telehealth." They discuss MedWand's role in the future of telemedicine, how the stark differences between clinical medicine and telehealth paved the way for MedWand's invention, and the challenges of bringing this revolutionary technology to life. (Bob Rose, OC)

In a recent Voices article - Select Data CEO Ed Buckley on the Next Phase of Home Health Care AI - Home Health Care News sits down with Ed to learn how the Select Data team is redefining the capabilities of artificial intelligence solutions to empower care teams to overcome today's greatest home health challenges.
AND, Healthcare At Home: The Rowan Technology Report has published a Select Data product review: New AI Tool Turns Good Coders into Great Coders; Eliminates ADRs. (Ed Buckley, OC)

Upcoming healthcare-related webinars from Wipfli include:
>> >> On November 8, Preparing for OASIS-E: What you need to know now.
>> Strategic Planning - Creating a durable plan to thrive in a challenging healthcare environment, on Nov. 15.
AND, watch a recording of a recent Wipfli webinar: Build a more cyber resilient healthcare organization. (Jeff Johnson, Steve Rousso & John Dao, Bay Area)

Facing economic headwinds, companies are filling gaps in IT teams with freelance software developers, coders and other high-skilled tech workers, while pulling back on efforts to recruit full-time staff, recruiters and industry analysts say. The number of job postings for software developers on Freelancer.com rose 54.7% in the third quarter on a year-over-year basis, the sharpest gain among 2,000+ job-related skills tracked on the platform. Demand for freelance coders rose 45.5%, followed by back-end developers, up 37.7%, the firm said.
Beyond cost-cutting efforts, employers say they are responding to a growing talent pool of IT freelancers with niche skills in areas like artificial intelligence, which can be tapped for specific, short-term enterprise-technology tasks. Many of these workers increasingly prefer to tackle advanced digital initiatives, then move on, rather than be tied to a single employer, said Balaji Bondili, a managing director at Deloitte. To stay competitive, he said, "companies need access to these specialized freelancers." On top of being drawn to unique tech challenges, a growing number of IT freelancers prefer the more flexible hours and remote-work opportunities they became accustomed to during pandemic lockdowns, said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA. (https://www.wsj.com/articles/souring-economy-gives-tech-freelancers-a-lift-11665608271 )

In September, the tech unemployment rate dipped to 2.1%, down from 2.3% in the previous month, signaling sustained demand for tech skills, according to a CompTIA review of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The national unemployment rate also fell month-over-month, hovering at 3.5% even amid fears of a slowing economy. Tech positions have long dominated in-demand job categories. Recent numbers show this resilience holds true even amid stock market sell-offs or targeted layoff cycles in some areas of big tech earlier in the year. Tech employment growth contradicts the prevailing sentiment of a slowing economy, said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA. "We can infer from the data that aggregate demand for tech talent remains strong enough to offset any pockets of weakness," he added. As companies shape 2023 budgets, technology is expected to survive looming cuts. Just 6% say they plan to trim their tech spending, the analyst firm found. To expand their ability to attract employees, some employers are dropping technology degree requirements, favoring instead certification programs in specific fields. (https://www.ciodive.com/news/technology-unemployment-numbers/633637/)

How do you know what systems or services to buy if you're part of a small business that doesn't have a seasoned IT professional on your payroll? A recent article elaborates on these five suggestions from the experts: Consider a temporary fix; Join industry associations; Look for specialist schemes; Get yourself out and about; and Be prepared to approach big businesses. (https://www.zdnet.com/article/small-businesses-need-more-help-with-tech-here-are-five-ways-to-get-it/)

Employees with cloud, software development, and IT security skills are most likely to be safe from layoffs and other workforce pressures caused by a recession over the next year, a survey of IT leaders has found. According to Robert Half's 2023 Salary Guide, business leaders who remain focused on expanding, accelerating and protecting their IT investments over the next 12 months, despite many companies preparing to feel the squeeze of an economic downturn, will be more successful. In fact, 79% of chief information officers and chief technology officers report feeling 'very confident' about their company's growth prospects in the year ahead, citing efficiency and productivity (31%), computing initiatives (26%), digital transformation (24%), and blockchain and Internet of Things projects as their top strategic priorities for 2023. (https://www.zdnet.com/article/these-three-tech-skills-could-help-recession-proof-your-career-say-bosses/)

Global enterprise spending on custom and off-the-shelf AI software will reach $64 billion by 2025, a new Forrester report projects. The category is set to rise from $33 billion in 2021. Growth in this category will outpace that of broader software spending, with compound annual growth rates of 18%, compared to software's 12%. AI software spending will make up 6% of total spending on software by 2025. Three key categories will drive spending in this subset of software: AI-infused software, AI maker tools, and AI-centric software. (https://www.ciodive.com/news/ai-software-spending-forrester/634158/)

Masimo announced the full market release of the Masimo W1 health watch for consumer use, providing for the first time in a watch format, accurate, continuous monitoring of oxygen saturation (SpO2), as well as pulse rate, respiration rate, and more, and, in a limited market release, hydration index - for consumers wanting to better understand their overall health, improve their fitness, or share their health data with friends and family. The wearable takes 86,400 measurements a day for second-by-second trending. (https://www.masimo.com/company/news/news-media/#eccc62f2-a423-4e81-a064-57ddc48c8a13)

The White House has picked healthcare, water, and emergency communications as its next critical infrastructure focus areas, with the aim of raising minimum security standards, Anne Neuberger, the White House deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology, said recently. "We're now recognizing we very much need to do that in the U.S.," building on what the administration has seen happen in recent ransomware attacks, including those against U.S. hospitals. At the end of October, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency will also roll out minimum security standards that can apply to organizations across sectors. (https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/white-house-cyber-standards-healhcare-water-emergency-communications/634146/)

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