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NVIDIA and Hexagon Solutions Accelerating Industrial Digitalization

For industrial businesses to reach the next level of digitalization, they need to create accurate, virtual representations of their physical systems. NVIDIA is working with Hexagon, the Stockholm-based global leader in digital reality solutions combining sensor, software and autonomous technologies, to equip enterprises with the tools and solutions they need to build physically accurate, perfectly synchronized, AI-enabled digital twins that can be used to transform their organizations. Hexagon is building…

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Don’t Play That Funky Music (Might Be Harassing)

Eight individuals, which included seven women and one man, sued their former employer, S&S Activewear, L.L.C. (S&S), an apparel manufacturer, for sexual harassment under Title VII. The employees alleged that S&S permitted its managers and employees to routinely play “sexually graphic, violently misogynistic” music throughout its warehouse, which, in turn, fostered abusive conduct by some male employees. The Trial Court Decision In December 2021, the federal District Court for Nevada…

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Latest Guidance on Employers’ Use of AI Tools

Recently, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) made clear that it intends to make discrimination caused by artificial intelligence (AI) tools an enforcement priority over the next four years. This enforcement priority follows the EEOC’s 2021 announcement of its Artificial Intelligence and Algorithmic Fairness Initiative, which launched an agency-wide effort to ensure AI tools and other emerging technologies used in making employment decisions comply with the federal civil rights…

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How your Contact Center Can Get Started With Generative AI

The hottest topic in service today is generative AI, especially in the contact center. 84% of IT leaders we surveyed in a recent study say generative AI will help their organization better serve customers, and every day I speak with service leaders who are excited about the potential for generative contact center AI. Yet, only 24% are actually using any form of contact center AI. What’s in the way? 66%…

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Accelerate Success in the Age of AI

In the rapidly evolving landscape of generative AI, its true potential lies in how people use it. To succeed, organizations must adopt a human-centred strategy that thoughtfully integrates AI in the workforce. This approach connects people with new AI technology to address customer needs, reducing challenges and unlocking value quickly. Organizations can achieve higher customer and employee satisfaction by incorporating AI-enhanced features, improving performance and growth, and increasing adoption. The…

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Big product and platform shift – how to get the transformation right

Many incumbent organizations across industries and sectors want to become more like tech companies: fast, agile, and dominant. They’re doing so to remain competitive at a time when B2B and B2C customers have high and rapidly changing expectations and digital disruptors are upending the business landscape. The key to making this change lies in adopting a technology operating model based on products and platforms. This model organizes technology around user-facing…

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Hydrogen – The Future of Automotive Fuel

Why hydrogen and how to implement it? This article explains why hydrogen is the best option for the future and lays out a basic approach for attaining a hydrogen economy. Underpinned by a global shift towards decarbonization, hydrogen is gaining significance as an energy vector, especially for high-emission sectors that do not use electricity directly. Our research (Capgemini Research Institute Report – Low-Carbon Hydrogen: A Path to a Greener Future)…

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Beyond balancing the books for financial services

Is there more to FinOps than cost reduction for financial services organizations? Our FinOps experts share their perspectives from their firsthand experience. In recent years, the financial services sector has seen an increase in the pace of digitization. This is a reaction to the demands of the omnichannel customer and the need to compete with FinTech challengers whilst maintaining a cost discipline. Cloud transformation has been a key pillar of…

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Newly appointed Partners in Paris for forensic accounting

HKA, a leading global consultancy in risk mitigation, dispute resolution, expert witness and litigation support services, announces today that Andrew Flower and Matthias Cazier-Darmois have joined the Forensic Accounting and Commercial Damages (FACD)  practice, as Partners based in the firm’s Paris office. These two significant appointments further strengthen the firm’s capabilities in Forensic Accounting and Commercial Damages, as the team continues to grow its presence across multiple industry sectors both…

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Ekhart Yoga – From passion to profession

“I’m eager to expand our platform into a worldwide one-stop yoga place”   Entrepreneurship was never a major ambition of one of the most popular yoga teachers worldwide on YouTube. But Esther Ekhart knows like no other just how a passion and a mission to make authentic yoga accessible to everyone can lead to a successful business. With her yoga platform EkhartYoga, Esther currently reaches over a million yoga enthusiasts…

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Systems Leadership thought piece

At Q5, we constantly challenge ourselves to push the boundaries of what we can achieve with our clients – and with every breakthrough comes new learnings, that we bring back in-house and cross-pollinate across our clients. Our recent work on Systems Leadership has presented a new perspective on organisational design, that could fundamentally reshape how government departments work to operationalise and deliver on policy objectives. Policy is often highly disjointed…

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Nearshoring Common Questions Answered

1. What is nearshore software development? Nearshoring is a model of co-working and using different resources from an organization in a nearby country with lower average wages but highly qualified teams. Typical nearshoring locations in Europe are Croatia, Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria, among others. Outsourcing and co-working with organisations in countries further away, such as China, India, or the Philippines, is called offshoring. Nearshoring provides solutions for companies that want…

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Bricks, clicks, and the retail landscape for 2023

From the pandemic to inflationary pressures, supply chain struggles, workforce shortages and the cost-of-living crisis, you name it, retailers worldwide have worked through it. Over the last three years, businesses have overcome diverse and unprecedented challenges with reactive, problem-solving attitudes. And while the industry we know and love is overdue for some peace and quiet in 2023, there are still challenges left to navigate. By now we’re all too familiar…

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Limited resources leave school leaders with few options to manage poor behaviour

The findings are from a qualitative study which investigated why more school leaders are not exploring alternative approaches to behaviour management. It argues that resource limitations and other concerns have left teachers feeling trapped within the prevailing system of mounting punishments. Under this, more than a thousand students are excluded, and almost 150,000 suspended every year. Educators interviewed for the study often acknowledged the potential benefits of alternative methods, but…

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Business Not as Usual – Companies Stepping up in Crisis

In February 2023, two devastating earthquakes claimed more than 55,000 lives and affected over 10 million people in Turkey and Syria. Responding to this massive humanitarian crisis is everyone’s business – including private companies. Indeed, after the Turkey-Syria earthquakes, semiconductor technology company ASML matched employee donations made to Turkish NGO Ahbap, and IKEA donated funds through its IKEA Foundation, among other acts of generosity by corporate donors. Such post-disaster responses…

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Early Implications of Generative AI for Private Equity Investors

Generative AI solutions, e.g., Open.AI/Microsoft’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, and Meta’s LLaMA are a generational leap forward from previous AI tools. While previous generations remain highly effective for their specifically trained tasks, they are otherwise limited to “one-trick-ponies.” Generative AI tools are more versatile and adaptive and capable of performing a wide array of tasks without requiring specific training. These developments will significantly impact private equity investment strategies, portfolio company productivity,…

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The Week in Weed

Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana. This week, we check in on the move to put adult use on the ballot in Florida. We see that Maryland is working on regulations, as July 1 draws nearer. We note that the FDA is looking at a regulatory framework for CBD. And finally, we note that the Kansas City…

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TOILETPAPER and Samsung – Not what you think

Good design isn’t just about looking good; it can merge form and function, transforming everyday objects into something truly exceptional. In line with this vision, Samsung and TOILETPAPER debuted a collection at Fuorisalone 2023 in April as part of Milan Fashion Week that aimed to redefine the essence of good design. Samsung and TOILETPAPER, the creative studio founded in 2010 by renowned Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari,…

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Build together: Rethinking solar project delivery

The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) supports the growth of US renewables at an unprecedented pace. Solar, storage, and onshore wind capacity could reach more than 1,240 gigawatts (GW) over the next decade, growing 2.7 times faster than projected before the IRA took effect (Exhibit 1). The IRA is expected to stimulate domestic manufacturing of modules, subcomponents, inverters, trackers, and more, which could alleviate material shortages that had…

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Governance in the Age of Technological Innovation

Today’s boards can no longer afford to solely prioritise shareholders and maintain an inward-focused approach to business. Instead, they need to consider stakeholders and the wider ecosystem that gives rise to complexities, challenges and also opportunities, said Sonia Tatar, executive director of the INSEAD Corporate Governance Centre (ICGC) at the recent INSEAD Directors Forum. Themed “Governance Complexities in Unprecedented Times”, the forum organised by the ICGC shone a light on the…

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Guidance on Outdoor Workers Exposed to Wildfire Smoke

Seyfarth Synopsis: As Canadian wildfire smoke spreads across the Northern United States, employers should review the CDC/NIOSH guidance on occupational exposure to wildfire smoke and implement effective measures to protect employees.  Canadian forests continue to burn, with about 3.8 million hectares (9.4 million acres) burned at the time of this writing, roughly 15 times the annual average.  At least 100 million Americans have been affected by air quality alerts from the…

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SCOTUS, Dog Poop Jokes, Infringement. Anything else?

The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously rejected the Ninth Circuit’s opinion that a poop-themed dog toy should be protected as a parody under the First Amendment. SCOTUS ruled today in Jack Daniel’s Properties Inc. v. VIP Products, Inc. that the right to free expression does not excuse “trademark law’s cardinal sin”—use of another’s trademark “as a trademark.” Although the Court declined to take Jack Daniel’s suggestion that it should completely…

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A useful Guide for Investing in Digital Transformation

Everyone is interested in investing in digital transformation solutions. Leaders want to take their products and services online to provide a frictionless digital customer experience with the added benefit of improving their bottom line.This is the frontier of value creation for businesses, and it is much more than automating current processes behind the guise of digital transformation. The opportunities for digital transformation continue to expand as ground-breaking innovations like cloud technology and artificial intelligence create new options.In this guide, we explore the common misconceptions about digital transformation solutions, review the common pitfalls encountered when choosing a solution, define digital transformation strategy, and explain how to create a digital transformation roadmap.

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How to Use a Customer Journey Map to Measure Success

Does your organization actively measure and report on your customer experience (CX)? Or is your customer experience a vague catchphrase, like “This initiative is critical to the customer experience” or “We are a customer-driven organization?” No one can argue the validity of statements like that. But if you’re like many organizations, you rarely have the necessary tools to accurately analyze the customer journey to back up those customer experience statements with actual data. Historically, customer satisfaction (CSat) and net promoter scores (NPS) are the responsibility of the analytics team, measured every six months. So, how do teams typically collect information on the customer experience? The secret lies in purpose-driven CX with an actionable assessment tool. In this guide, we explore the need for a CX assessment tool, explain how to create a customer journey map, and explain how to measure points along the customer journey.

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Getting Access to the Fast Track for Career Equity

The Research The author conducted the research underlying this article while co-leading Mercer’s Workforce Sciences Institute.i The author analyzed the results of his research team's statistical analyses of three to five years of employee data for 20 large and midsize, mostly global, employers representing manufacturing and services companies in a range of industries, including consumer and industrial products, pharmaceuticals, technology, financial services, and professional services. Collectively, these companies employed over…

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Are you a Scottish taxpayer? Then you should read this

If you spend time in Scotland, it’s useful to check whether you’re there enough to become a Scottish tax resident. And if you’re already a Scottish tax resident you might also need to be aware of the implications on your wealth. Peter Webb, our Head of Tax Advisory, takes a look at some of the nuances of the Scottish tax system. By Peter Webb - Head of Tax Advisory Scotland…

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7 amazing investment tips from the “Oracle of Omaha”

An “oracle” is traditionally somebody who offers advice or delivers a prophecy, often thought to come from divine origins. Stories of legendary oracles like Pythia, who delivered prophecies from the Greek god Apollo, tell of people travelling from far and wide to hear her wisdom. It is perhaps quite fitting then, that Warren Buffett is nicknamed the “Oracle of Omaha”. Many investors closely follow the world-famous businessman hoping to learn…

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UK Purchase of residential property

A prospective purchaser of property in the UK will ask what taxes they will encounter. One of the taxes is Stamp Duty Land Tax or shortly known as “SDLT” . You must pay SDLT if you buy a property or land over a certain price in England and Northern Ireland. The tax is different if the property or land is in Scotland or Wales. In July 2020 the UK government…

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Logistics Disruptors Latin America – Fostering trust in e-commerce

Latin America was once considered an e-commerce laggard, full of consumers who were reluctant to buy online. No longer. The region now has one of the fastest-growing e-commerce sectors in the world. The start-up Melonn (founded in Colombia in 2020 by six friends) aims to capitalize on Latin America’s booming cadre of small and medium-size B2C e-commerce companies. But one of the challenges Melonn faces is a deficit of trust:…

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US Strategic Plan 2023: A look into the future of AI

The Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) of the National Science and Technology Council have recently released their latest update to the US Government’s National AI Research and Development (“R&D”) Strategic Plan (the “Plan”). Updated to account for the substantial developments in technology, the Plan sets out a comprehensive blueprint to ensure the US remains at the forefront of the AI industry.   The Plan sets out several strategies that not only…

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FinOps: Building the pillars for success

Implementing FinOps relies on governance, support, and ownership  FinOps uses technology and data to lower the cost of operations in line with the cloud computing model selected by cloud vendors. However, achieving a profitable and efficient optimization model requires more than the basic applications of FinOps optimization actions. Success starts with the people in your organization. We have helped many clients move to the cloud, and we’ve noticed that they…

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Taking Stock and Understanding Consumer Motivations

Consumer engagement is critical for any consumer products company today. Understanding your consumers, their motivations, and their connection to your product is what drives success, and it needs to be a cross-functional effort. In our last episode of Taking Stock, we dove into the concept of consumer engagement – what it is, how it’s evolved over the past years, and what to consider when building an effective consumer engagement strategy.…

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Considerations for Cash Management Policies

Stock issued by a corporation is treated as qualified small business stock (QSBS) only if, among other requirements, at least 80% of its assets (by value) are used by the issuing corporation in the active conduct of one or more “qualified trades or businesses” (the active business requirement) during substantially all of the applicable investor’s holding period for such stock. This requirement has become particularly relevant to many startup and…

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Competition and Markets Authority responds to the UK Government’s AI White Paper

On 1 June, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) issued their response (“Response”) to the UK Government’s (“Government”) AI White Paper (“Paper”) consultation, detailing their considerations on the proposed framework the UK seeks to implement in the regulation of artificial intelligence (“AI”). The CMA’s response is the latest contribution from UK regulators, following the Information Commissioner’s Office own response to the Paper in April 2023. The Response is the…

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What is social media?

A energetic and tightly grouped collection of social media reaction icons including hearts, thumbs up, happy and surprised faces along with comment and texting bubbles and hashtags. You probably already know what social media is. Whether you cringe at the memory of your Myspace page from the early 2000s, keep in touch with your aunt on Facebook, or are regularly unsettled by too-relevant ads on Instagram, few of us are…

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Overseas investors thinking of investing in UK real estate

CAN ANYONE INVEST IN UK REAL ESTATE EVEN WITHOUT A UK PASSPORT? Yes.  Foreign individuals (over the age of 18) and corporate entities (subject to being registered at Companies House) may purchase or invest in UK real estate. WHAT TYPES OF INVESTMENTS CAN BE MADE? There are many ways to invest in UK real estate. Some of the more conventional routes in England and Wales include: Ownership of a legal…

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Open data maturity can help deliver EU’s European Green Deal

  A European Green Deal is one of the six strategic priorities targeted by the European Commission for the years 2019-2024. It aims to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by becoming a modern, resource-efficient economy. The EC believes that access to data (both open and private) is crucial to this ambition, but just how mature are EU Member States’ open data policies in terms of contributing to the European…

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New York Minimum Wage: Increase for 2024 and Beyond

On May 3, 2023, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation into law increasing New York’s minimum wage for most employees beginning January 1, 2024, through 2026. Enacted as part of the state’s budget legislation, increases to the minimum wage beginning in 2027 and beyond will be indexed to the consumer price index. Below, we’ve outlined what employers should know about this development. Minimum wage increases, 2024 – 2026 The…

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Dr. Heidi Gardner: 6 tips for smarter corporate collaboration

You’ve likely heard collaboration categorized as a “soft skill.” Distinguished Harvard Fellow and award-winning author, Dr. Heidi Gardner, says that’s not true. Dr. Gardner was in Toronto for BLG’s smarter collaboration session, sharing the stage with Patrice Walch-Watson, senior managing director, general counsel and corporate secretary for Canadian Pension Plan Investments; Sandra Perri, senior vice president and general counsel at Sun Life Canada; and Graham Ross, BLG’S chief client officer.…

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Case Study – A Family Investment Company can be a Benefit

Mr Smith has been a client of Dixcart’s for many years and he wants to explore the options available to provide financial help to his children, as they get older and start their careers. The children are all in their teens, with the eldest just about to start university. Mr Smith wants to ensure that they make considered future decisions financially and do not take the opportunity to have a…

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