Why Accenture Bought a Digital Ad Agency

Posted by & filed under Career.

A conversation about where the smart money is and how investors should bet on the newest tech in the health care space at Fortune's Brainstorm Health 2019.

Never has the notion of swimming outside one’s lane been so exciting.

Accenture, the spawn of Arthur Andersen turned consultant turned marketing guru, is buying Droga5, a buzzy advertising agency. Odd fit? Maybe. But consultants increasingly have been veering into the business of marketing. Clients that need IT strategies need marketing strategies that happen to be IT strategies these days.

Source: Fortune Magazine
Date: April 5th, 2019
Link: http://fortune.com/2019/04/05/accenture-droga5-consulting-advertising/


Discussion

  1. Are you thinking of becoming a Marketing major? What are you doing to become tech-savvy now that marketing needs you to be?
  2. Macdonalds just bought a data-analytics firm, and Starbucks launched a payment system? Why is it that most companies are becoming more and more tech-enabled?

Samsung warns its profits will drop 60% as smartphone demand slumps

Posted by & filed under Smartphone.

Image result for galaxy fold


Samsung is feeling the chill from cooling global demand for smartphones.The South Korean technology giant said Friday that it expects operating profit for the first quarter to plunge by 60% compared to the same period year ago.Samsung (SSNLF) warned last week that its earnings would be hit by slowing demand for memory chips and display panels, a sign that device makers and their suppliers are coming under pressure.The company estimated Friday that operating profit for the first three months of 2019 will total 6.2 trillion Korean won ($5.4 billion), lower than analysts’ already downbeat expectations.

Source: CNN Technology News
Date: April 5th, 2019
Link (included video): https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/05/tech/samsung-profit-warning-smartphones/index.html

Discussion
1) What do you think is behind the “cooling demand for smartphones”?
2) What influences your decision to purchase a new smartphone, and how has that decision making process changed over the last 3 years?

Let the 5G battle commence

Posted by & filed under 5G.

A woman on her smartphone

South Korea was long expected to be first with 5G. It is a technological powerhouse with ultra-fast broadband, home to giant firms such as Samsung and a government that sees leading the world in connectivity as a matter of national pride.

Three networks were due to launch commercial 5G services on Friday when news emerged that an American operator was trying to steal their thunder.

With quite a fanfare, Verizon launched its service on Wednesday in very limited areas of Chicago and Minneapolis.

So the South Korean operators moved their launches forward to the same day, although it appeared that only a handful of celebrities were able to use it on the first day.

In both South Korea and the US, these are largely symbolic launches because just about nobody has a 5G-enabled mobile phone yet.

Source: BBC Technology News
Date: April 5th, 2019
Link: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47826948

Discussion
1) What is 5G?

2) Why might 5G completely transform how we get our internet services?

Look beyond RPA hype

Posted by & filed under Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

Image result for robotic process automation

Despite talk that RPA is over hyped, Sarah Burnett, a guru on automation technologies, says that it can cut process costs by 30%, but there is another benefit, not so obvious, and it lies with creating data we can trust.

Source: Information Age

Date: March 27th, 2019

Link: https://www.information-age.com/look-beyond-rpa-hype-123481025/

Discussion

1) What is Robotic Process Automation?

2) How is Robotic Process Automation going to impact Accounting, Finance, Marketing, HR, Operations?

Phishing Attacks and Spear Phishing: What They are, Why They are Effective, and How to Prevent Them

Posted by & filed under Cyber Security.

Phishing attacks have been a way for malicious actors to compromise organizations at alarming rates over the years. In fact, a recent survey found that 83% of respondents experienced a phishing attack in 2018, and that a successful attack costs a mid-size enterprise organization $1.6 million. Unfortunately, most industry experts agree that phishing will also be one of the top attack vectors for 2019, so it’s important to have a phishing prevention plan in place.

Source: LMG Security
Date: March 27th, 2019
Link:
https://lmgsecurity.com/phishing-attacks-and-spear-phishing-what-they-are-why-they-are-effective-and-how-to-prevent-them/

Discussion
1) Why are phising attacks so successful?
2) How could you use the information in this article to form a company?

The Imminent Evolution of ‘Augmentation’ in Accounting and Finance

Posted by & filed under Automation, Career, Future of Work.

Late last month, I was the keynote speaker at the Tax Executive Institute in San Mateo, CA. This was a gathering of global tax leaders from accounting firms and public companies coming together to discuss the impact of technology in tax and accounting professions. I asked several folks a simple question — how much of your time is spent gathering data compared to acting on it? The surprising response from many attendees was over half of their time — and these are expensive senior leaders! Imagine if instead that time could be spent on strategic initiatives and investing in people.

Source: Medium
Date: March 27th, 2019
Link:
https://medium.com/@Ignition_Partners/the-imminent-evolution-of-augmentation-in-accounting-and-finance-df1eae71ca4

Discussion
1) ” while Artificial Intelligence (AI) is predicted to eliminate 1.8 million jobs by 2020, it’s also predicted that AI will create 2.3 million jobs in the same time period (Gartner) ” What sorts of jobs get eliminated?

2) “while Artificial Intelligence (AI) is predicted to eliminate 1.8 million jobs by 2020, it’s also predicted that AI will create 2.3 million jobs in the same time period (Gartner) .” What sorts of jobs get added, and what are you doing to make sure you are capable of performing those jobs?

Beefing up security

Posted by & filed under Cyber Security.

MANY OF US have little more than a weak, reused password standing between our financial assets and a remote attacker—one armed with powerful tools and a database of passwords from security breaches. This is a losing battle. It’s the most likely way for weak computer security to put our finances at risk.

Think this can’t happen to you? I’ll bet you have at least one password taken in a big security breach. A quick way to find out is entering your email address at Troy Hunt’s HaveIBeenPwned site.

Source: HumbleDollar
Date: March 22nd, 2019
Link:
https://humbledollar.com/2019/03/beefing-up-security/

Discussion

  1. Why is that even though the steps to create more personal online security are well-defined and reasonably simple, most people won’t follow them?
  2. How would you help the company you work for implement these suggestions to improve online security?

Hated and Hunted: The perilous life of a computer virus cracker

Posted by & filed under Ransomware.

For the senior manager of a large corporation in Hong Kong, it was instant cold sweat.

He had heard about this type of computer virus and how dangerous it could be. But he never thought that he would be tricked into clicking on a wrong link. Now, as he read the ransom note, he panicked. This could cost him his job.

Ransomware is a particularly nasty type of computer virus.

Instead of stealing data or money from victims, the virus takes control of computers and scrambles every single document, picture, video and email.

Then the ransom demand is issued. Sometimes it’s written inside a note left on a desktop, sometimes it just pops up on a screen without warning.

Source: BBC Capital

Date: March 21st, 2019

Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/hated_and_hunted_the_computer_virus_malware_ransomware_cracker

Discussion

  1. How can you protect yourself against ransomware
  2. How could you help a company protect its employees from ransomware?

Feeding Algorithms is a Full Time Job

Posted by & filed under Consumer Technology, Emerging Technologies, YouTube.

(Credit: Konstantin Ermakov)

Most mornings after Grace Lee wakes up, she spends two hours thinking up ideas for her YouTube channel, What’s So Great About That?, a series focused around popular films and TV programmes. Lee, a 24-year-old from Peterborough, England, researches ideas, then writes scripts that help explain the concepts to her 29,000 viewers.

After that, she moves onto her work for another channel, The Financial Diet, a financial advice organisation with 630,000 subscribers. There, she researches and edits a series of animated explainer and life-hack videos.

“I’ve been on YouTube since the year it started, but I didn’t know about professional help for YouTubers until I was in my second year at university,” Lee explains. “I still forget, with the people I watch, that they have a team – even though I’m part of a team.”

Source: BBC Capital

Date: March 15th, 2019

Link:http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20190307-the-hidden-armies-that-power-the-internets-new-stars

Discussion

  1. The internet and sites like YouTube were supposed to bring about the “democratization of technology”. What does this mean?
  2. It seems that there is a natural force that means that leads to large, powerful players dominating. Why is this?

The Youngest Tech Pioneer in Ethopia

Posted by & filed under Emerging Economies.


Betelhem Dessie, 19, is one of the youngest tech pioneers in Ethiopia. Over the last three years, in addition to patenting several software programs, she has travelled the country teaching students how to code and conducting innovation workshops. So far, she has reached more than 20,000 young people.

Source: BBC Capital

Date: March 15th, 2019

Link to video: http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20190308-how-ethiopias-youngest-tech-pioneer-inspires-a-generation

Discussion

  1. What do you think it takes for a 19 year old to travel her country and teach 20,000 young people how to code
  2. Is teaching young people how to code all that is needed?