Unlocking the future: Azure networking updates on security, reliability, availability

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:13 mins read

Our latest enhancements strengthen core network capabilities for mission-critical applications running in the cloud. In an era defined by the transformative power of AI, industries are reimagining the possibilities of predictive analytics, automation, and real-time decision-making. AI is now ubiquitous, reshaping sectors from retail and finance to healthcare and biotechnology.…

How Private Investors Can Help Solve Africa’s Climate Crisis

African people, businesses, and nations are becoming increasingly stressed by climate-related perils like droughts, river flooding, extreme heat, and rising sea levels. This is leading not only to the destruction of assets but also challenges to lives and livelihoods—not to mention disturbing the area’s peace, stability, and national security. And…

Mastering the new science of engineered management decision processes

  • Post category:Humatica
  • Reading time:5 mins read

Despite huge efforts to improve operational processes over the past 20 years, critically important management processes are left up to the discretion of each manager to define. Some are good, some are bad. It all depends on their experience. There are no standards. But, management processes drive decision-quality and productivity,…

The best jobs in the world: How Lighthouses shape production’s future

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:27 mins read

Companies globally are looking to adopt Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies to boost both productivity and sustainability. However, the path to success is fraught with challenges, from outdated legacy systems to the critical need for workforce upskilling. In some cases, companies need to overcome an image problem that makes it…

‘Globalise It’: The SCO and the Future of the Economic Agenda in the Organisation’s Globalisation

For the Russian Federation, cooperation with partners in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in multilateral and bilateral formats is one of the international priorities enshrined in the current Foreign Policy Concept of 2023 (hereinafter referred to as the FPC). Moreover, this not only details using the SCO's potential to develop…

How Integrating DEI Into Strategy Lifts Performance

Jing Jing Tsong/theispot.com Today’s top leadership priorities include attracting and retaining top talent, fostering innovative thinking and action, motivating employee performance, and enhancing stakeholder value in an increasingly diverse and competitive market. At the same time, many leaders have supported diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to address inequities for…

Podcast: Want real AI transformation? Focus on your people and processes

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:29 mins read

MOLLY WOOD: Today I’m talking to Delphine Zurkiya, senior partner at the strategy and management consulting firm McKinsey and Company, maybe you’ve heard of it. Zurkiya works at the intersection of technology and healthcare, helping medical and life sciences companies accelerate their digital and AI transformations and their growth. She’s…

Capital expenditure efficiency in chemicals: An opportunity for CFOs

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:13 mins read

Although capital deployment is strongly linked to enterprise value (EV) and financial health, it has always been difficult to manage. The chemical industry is no exception.Our research finds that the chemical industry anticipates annual growth of 3 to 5 percent by 2030, a 4 percent increase in capital expenditures, and…

Supercharging product portfolio performance with generative AI

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:8 mins read

Product portfolios tend to grow. Companies add new products and variants all the time to meet specific customer needs, pursue new market opportunities, or exploit technological advances. They can also be reluctant to kill off older items, for fear of upsetting long-standing customers. Finding the sweet spot in a portfolio…

How to Make Culture a Strategic Imperative: Cummins CHRO Marvin Boakye

Topics Culture Champions Building a healthy culture is one of the most important — and hardest — leadership jobs. These articles, based on a webinar series and research by Donald Sull and CultureX, share actionable advice from leaders whose cultures produced exceptional business results and a world-class employee experience. More…

If Pain, Yes Gain – Part 128: Alaska, Missouri, and Nebraska Join Nation’s Paid Sick Leave Law Patchwork

  • Post category:Seyfarth Shaw LLP
  • Reading time:16 mins read

What You Need to Know: As we reported last week, paid sick leave initiatives were on the ballot and up for vote in three states – Alaska (“Ballot Measure No. 1”), Missouri (“Proposition A”), and Nebraska (“Initiative 436”). Notably, constituents in all three states have voted and passed their respective…

How AI is improving long-term care insurance for insurers and customers alike

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:9 mins read

When people can no longer perform the everyday activities of life without some kind of assistance, the clear priority should be to ensure their health and dignity. Money should not be a prohibitive factor. Yet in too many cases, quality long-term care is hindered by financial concerns. Consider, for example,…

London & Capital Expands its European Headquarters with Relocation of Todd Cowan, Executive Director, Providing Dedicated Advice to US and UK Expats

By London & Capital | 07 Nov, 2024 London & Capital, a leader in cross-border and international wealth management services, announces the relocation of Todd Cowan, Executive Director and Wealth Manager, from the firm’s London office to its European headquarters in Barcelona, Spain. With this strategic move, London & Capital…

Copilots are helping drive innovation to get business results that matter

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:26 mins read

The pace of AI innovation today continues to be extraordinary, and at Microsoft we are focused on helping organizations embrace it. By providing our customers with the most advanced AI technology across every product we build — combined with our unparalleled partner ecosystem and co-innovation approach — we are helping…

Key considerations for CEOs in the oil and gas sector

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:4 mins read

The demand for oil and gas has returned to prepandemic levels; however, the energy transition is expected to change the demand trajectory for the industry over the medium- to long term. For oil, under all bottom-up scenarios modeled in our recent Global Energy Perspective 2024 report, demand is projected to…

How CEOs Should Navigate the Trump Presidency

This commentary originally appeared in Time. The American democratic system worked even though the American Democratic party failed. Donald Trump was decisively reelected president by the largest popular vote and the most demographically diverse voting base in history without allegations of foreign election interference or domestic voting fraud. Kamala Harris…

Planting trees in the Arctic could make global warming worse, not better, say scientists

But, writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, an international group of scientists, including from the University of Cambridge, argue that tree planting at high latitudes will accelerate, rather than decelerate, global warming.As the climate continues to warm, trees can be planted further and further north, and large-scale tree-planting projects in the…

How to Sabotage Your Board

Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Ever sat through a board meeting and wondered whether other directors or trustees are not conscious of the time or are consciously sabotaging the meeting? Do some members seem hell-bent on turning decision-making into a no-win game? You’re not alone. The line between accidental…

Pioneers and Pathfinders: Tony Thai and Byong Kim

  • Post category:Seyfarth Shaw LLP
  • Reading time:3 mins read

Today’s episode of Pioneers and Pathfinders takes a slightly different approach. We are joined by Tony Thai, a returning guest, who is the CEO and Chief Engineer of HyperDraft, a contract automation software platform for various enterprises. We’re also joined by Byong Kim, Senior Director of Technology Innovations at Seyfarth.…

Ontario’s Working for Workers Five Act, 2024—More Rules for Employers?

  • Post category:Ogletree Deakins
  • Reading time:4 mins read

Quick Hits The Working for Workers Five Act, 2024 amended the Occupational Health and Safety Act’s definition of “industrial establishment” to exclude any office in a private residence, and the definitions of “workplace harassment” and “workplace sexual harassment” to include virtual activities. Under the Employment Standards Act, 2000, as amended,…

Federal Court of Appeal finds lengthy and complex privacy policies breached meaningful consent

  • Post category:BLG law firm
  • Reading time:16 mins read

In its recent decision, Canada (Privacy Commissioner) v. Facebook, Inc., 2024 FCA 140, the Federal Court of Appeal explored, defined, and explained two requirements of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, S.C. 2000, c. 5 (PIPEDA): (1) the requirement that an organization must obtain “meaningful consent” to collect,…

Varun Parmar on how CPOs are shaping the future of sales

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:12 mins read

In this episode of McKinsey on Building Products, McKinsey’s podcast on software product management and engineering, McKinsey partner Rikki Singh speaks with Varun Parmar, general manager of Adobe. Throughout his career, Parmar has led product teams at technology companies that are leaders in product-led growth (PLG), such as Box, Miro,…

Think Better – Going beyond the world of ‘different’ 

  • Post category:Elixirr
  • Reading time:3 mins read

“Thought has been the father of every advance since time began. ‘I didn’t think’ has cost the worlds millions of dollars.” – Thomas J. Watson Sr. Former chairman and CEO of IBM The original slogan ‘Think’ has been prominent since C-T-R became IBM in 1924 and was the starting point…

What are natural climate solutions?

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:16 mins read

A 3D rendering of light bulb covered with green grass and blooming yellow flowers against light gray backgroundAs with many aspects of modern life, technology has a significant role to play in tackling climate change—arguably the greatest challenge our species has ever faced. But to avoid the most devastating effects of…

How Not to Organize In-House Experts: Lessons From Boeing

Accidents involving 737 Max airplanes and Boeing’s ongoing internal struggles serve as a stark reminder that having experts is not enough: Leadership must organize expertise effectively. Pedro Monteiro November 06, 2024 Reading Time: 11 min  Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images In the race to recruit and deploy talent, organizations…

Colorado AG Proposes Amendments to the Colorado Privacy Act Rules to Implement Recent Legislative Updates

  • Post category:Ogletree Deakins
  • Reading time:7 mins read

Quick Hits The Colorado Attorney General’s Office recently proposed draft amendments to the Colorado Privacy Act (CPA) Rules. The draft amendments are largely focused on consumer data and implement recent changes to the CPA that reflect increased regulation of entities that collect and use biometric information and personal information relating…

Canada’s proposals for implementing a modernized CEPA

  • Post category:BLG law firm
  • Reading time:11 mins read

On Oct. 2, 2024, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) published three proposals for implementing changes to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), one of Canada’s core environmental laws regulating toxic substances and pollution. All three proposals relate to the CEPA modernizations made in June 20231, which we first wrote…

Windows Server 2025 now generally available

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:7 mins read

Generally available today, Windows Server 2025 builds on our mission to deliver a secure and high-performance Windows Server platform tailored to meet customers’ diverse needs. This release will enable you to deploy apps in any environment, whether on-premises, hybrid environments, or in the cloud. Windows Server 2025 Investing in your…

Inside the Coming AI Market “Supercycle” and How Cloud Startups Can Benefit: The Battery Ventures 2024 State of OpenCloud Report

  • Post category:Battery Ventures
  • Reading time:5 mins read

Has it finally happened? Have fledgling  AI “experiments” inside companies finally morphed into real technology deployments, paving the way for big new efficiencies and streamlined workflows across all manner of industries and business processes? The answer, according to our Battery Ventures 2024 “State of the OpenCloud” report, is yes—to a…

Do not let your Estate become a Horror Story

Ensure your wishes are known from the grave Halloween, the season of ghosts, ghouls, and things that go bump in the night, reminds us how the past can haunt the present. But there is a far scarier spectre than any creature in a costume – the nightmare of an unplanned…

How banks can supercharge technology speed and productivity

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:15 mins read

Technology has reshaped banking. Traditional financial institutions have grown their technology teams and are demanding more from them than ever before. Technology teams build innovative new products such as AI-enabled personalized customer experiences, digital payments, and analytics-driven cross-selling. They integrate acquisitions, automate back-office processes, and securely manage vast amounts of…

Crafting a Structure in an Unstructured World

As a discussion club widely known for focusing on global politics and world affairs, it is appropriate and timely under the circumstances that we start brainstorming and debating the possible structure of a new world order. This is because, on the one hand, the relatively stable balance of power achieved…

Why your business should register its design rights

In a world where visual identity can make or break a brand, the Marks and Spencer v Aldi case has brought design right infringement to the forefront of UK intellectual property law. This legal dispute revolves around allegations that Aldi copied Marks and Spencer’s premium gin packaging, specifically its distinctive…

How energy companies are using AI to capture and store carbon, even underground

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:11 mins read

During a time of both rapid transformation and intense scrutiny, today’s energy industry leaders are increasingly turning to advanced solutions in AI and data management to drive sustainability and efficiency as the global community works to combat climate change. This is a time-sensitive effort, as increased energy demand and the…

Building the Road to ‘Small Business Utopia’ with AI and Fintech

Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from chapter one of Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream, written by Karen G. Mills, senior fellow at Harvard Business School. The second edition was published in 2024 by Palgrave Macmillan.The cycle of fintech innovation in small business lending is not yet…

The state of gen AI in the Middle East’s GCC countries: A 2024 report card

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:21 mins read

Of all the various AI technologies, generative AI (gen AI) has arguably captured the most excitement among organizations in the business world and the public sector. Its ability to automate activities across a range of functions—customer interactions, content generation, and computer coding, for example—promises to reshape how much work gets…

German Employee Data Law Could Be on Its Way

  • Post category:Ogletree Deakins
  • Reading time:7 mins read

Quick Hits Two German federal ministries have drafted legislation that would provide more legal certainty for employers regarding how to handle employee data. The legislature also wants to allow the use of AI applications, but within certain limits. The draft legislation would provide a detailed regulation on the basics of…

How Microsoft Defender for Office 365 innovated to address QR code phishing attacks

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:10 mins read

Over the last year, the cybersecurity industry faced a significant surge in QR code phishing campaigns, with some attacks increasing at a growth rate of 270% per month.1 A QR code (short for “Quick Response code”) is a two-dimensional barcode that can be scanned using a smartphone or other mobile…