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LEADING A TECH BUSINESS
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Startups, Investors Bet on Remote Work Future |
Even as more employers signal an end to remote work, tech startups and their investors are betting that it's here to stay, offering a range of digital tools designed to support a permanent workforce outside of the office. And those bets appear to be paying off. Later-stage remote-work startups are fetching hundreds of millions of dollars in investing rounds, drawing high-profile Silicon Valley investors. Corporate spending on remote-work technology is expected to reach $352.6 billion this year, up from an estimated $332.9 billion in 2021, according to IT consulting and research firm Gartner Inc. Spending is forecast to reach $381.5 billion by the end of next year, Gartner said. (https://www.wsj.com/articles/startups-investors-bet-on-remote-work-future-11667436359)
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What COOs Will Need to Succeed in 2023 & Beyond |
How many of us can name a famous COO? The role of the COO was low profile to begin with, and in the early 2000s, a trend toward flatter organizations and more hands-on CEOs took hold. But COOs are making a comeback. As of 2022, 40% of leading companies had a COO, with the financial and energy sectors leading the way at 48%. Furthermore, the role itself has changed - it's bigger, bolder, and more transformative than ever.
The COO job description has never been a fixed one: it varies by industry, organization, and need. Some COOs may see their role as that of a mentor, whereas others may be partners or heirs apparent to the chief executive. Managing day-to-day operations and executing the strategies of the top management team are only part of the job. In an uncertain post-pandemic environment, the COO role is evolving from its roots in the back office into a catalyst for technology-driven growth, strategic expansion, and employee empowerment. As chief executives increasingly become the public face of organizations and deal with external constituencies and stakeholders, it often falls to COOs to provide internal leadership and direction. And as operations face extraordinary disruptions, COOs are now key players in boosting organizational resilience and value creation.
McKinsey spoke with several current and former COOs from various sectors about what skills they see as necessary to operate effectively in the years to come. (https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/stepping-up-what-coos-will-need-to-succeed-in-2023-and-beyond)
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5 Execs Share the Hardest Tech Jobs to Hire for Right Now |
In October, companies were hiring for 317,000 open technology positions, up 10,000 from the previous month and undoing a five-month run of decreased tech role openings, a CompTIA review of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data found. But some positions are harder to fill than others, depending on the novelty of a specific technology, the general availability of those skills, and even outside factors certifications a role requires. In a recent article, CIO Dive shared what 5 technology executives say are the hardest jobs to hire for: https://www.ciodive.com/news/tech-jobs-hiring-CIO/636316/
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Some Companies Finding Humans Can Do the Job Better |
Companies have been trying out automatons to serve food in restaurants, make home deliveries or do chores in stores, partly in hopes of easing the worker shortage. But some of those consumer-facing robots aren't passing probation. Among the disenchanted, FedEx Corp. said last month it was powering down Roxo, its last-mile delivery robot, to prioritize several "nearer-term opportunities," a spokeswoman said. Also in October, Amazon.com Inc. said it was ending field tests of Scout, its home-delivery robot, after learning that some aspects of its "unique delivery experience" weren't "meeting customers' needs," a company spokeswoman said. And over the summer, DoorDash Inc. said it was shutting down its Chowbotics business - best known for Sally, the salad-making robot - roughly 18 months after buying it.
Companies have entertained hopes that the growing variety of robots could help them not only weather the worker shortage, but speed up labor-intensive tasks, improve customer service by reducing the number of things the human workers have to do, and as an added bonus, position their brands as innovative and forward-leaning. Some of those efforts have been successful, at least partly. Others have ground to a halt, sending companies back to technology that is less sci-fi, but can be deployed more quickly and cost-effectively.
Despite the mixed reviews, around 121,000 service-sector robots were sold last year to carry out tasks from transportation to surgery to vacuuming, according to the International Federation of Robotics, an industry organization that conducts a yearly robot census based on global vendor data. (https://www.wsj.com/articles/robots-some-companies-find-only-humans-can-do-the-job-11667508854)
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TECH INDUSTRY TRENDS
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Walmart Adds More AR, Focusing on Speed & Ease |
Walmart is adding new augmented reality tools to its app to make the site easier to shop - and help it win more sales in the upcoming holiday quarter. 'View in your home' lets users see potential home furnishing and décor purchases in their living space. It recognizes walls and includes haptic feedback, ensuring shoppers can see what the purchase looks like and that it fits. Shoppers feel the vibrations as they move the 3D models around their homes, stopping them from dragging items past the room's boundaries, making the experience more real. Compared to early AR efforts, it has improved realism and lighting. (https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/379307/walmart-adds-more-ar-focusing-on-speed-and-ease.html)
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10 Gartner Tech Trends to Watch in 2023 |
In Gartner's top strategic trends for 2023, a new, choose-your-own-adventure approach to key shifts in technology emerges, one that shows how businesses can use specific strategies and products to mirror overarching goals. Some businesses are keen on cost-cutting next year, while others are expecting skyrocketing growth levels. A third group is simply reinventing themselves, said Frances Karamouzis, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner, who added, "The three ways that you're going to achieve this is by optimizing, scaling and pioneering."
Here is a summary of Gartner's top strategic technology trends for 2023: Sustainability; Metaverse; Superapps; Adaptive AI; Digital immune system; Applied observability; AI trust, risk and security management; Industry cloud platforms; Platform engineering; and Wireless value realization. (https://www.ciodive.com/news/gartner-tech-trends-symposium/634251/)
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EV Batteries Could be Repurposed for Energy Storage |
Over time, lithium-ion batteries lose their capacity. So, just as smart phone users start thinking about swapping out their batteries once they've been forced to walk around with a charger to keep their phone working throughout the day, electric vehicle owners want a new battery once their range has been noticeably curtailed. With EV sales growing exponentially - and California's coming ban on gas-powered cars - there are soon to be a lot of used batteries on the market.
Meanwhile, sustainable energy has yet to solve the problem of how to get electricity to people when they want it. Solar is now cheaper than coal, but, unfortunately, the sun has already set when people use electricity most. And wind power, also cheaper than ever, remains intermittent. So, solar and wind still only produce a small percentage of our electricity. It may seem obvious to use those used batteries to save our sun- and wind-generated power for the night, doing so is not a simple matter of plugging solar cells into EV batteries. One company that's tackling this is B2U Storage Solutions. Their energy storage facility in Lancaster, California, uses electric vehicle battery packs to store energy from solar panels and sell it to the grid when it's needed most. The facility has over 1,000 batteries with a current storage capacity of 20 megawatt-hours, and continues to expand. (https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/ev-batteries-have-a-second-life)
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US Government Looks at Ways of Limiting Impact of Ransomware Across World |
The White House recently united dozens of nations, the European Union, and representatives from big tech companies for the Second International Counter Ransomware Initiative (CRI) Summit - aimed at figuring out how to tackle the global ransomware problem. According to the Associated Press, companies participating in the meeting include Crowdstrike, Mandiant, Cyber Threat Alliance, Microsoft, Cybersecurity Coalition, Palo Alto, Flexxon, SAP, the Institute for Security + Technology, Siemens, Internet 2.0, Tata -TCS, and Telefónica. The U.S. links the rise of ransomware more closely with cryptocurrencies and said it's seen a "huge jump" in ransomware because money could move more fluidly across borders due to cryptocurrencies. (https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-is-a-global-problem-and-getting-worse-says-us/)
According to a post-Summit White House release, in the next year, the CRI will (in summary): Establish an International Counter Ransomware Task Force; Create a fusion cell at the Regional Cyber Defense Centre in Kaunas; Deliver an investigator's toolkit including lessons learned and strategies for responding to significant ransomware events and proactively tackling major cybercriminal actors; Institute active and enduring private-sector engagement; Publish joint advisories outlining TTPs for key identified actors; Coordinate priority targets through a single framework; Develop a capacity-building tool to help countries utilize public-private partnerships to combat ransomware; and Undertake biannual counter ransomware exercises. (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/11/01/fact-sheet-the-second-international-counter-ransomware-initiative-summit/)
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