3 Savvy Ways to Spend Your Budget Surplus

It’s halfway through the year, and for some companies, the fiscal year is wrapping up, leaving them with an unexpected budget surplus.  While it might be tempting to funnel these extra funds into new equipment or throw after-hours parties, there’s a more strategic opportunity at hand. Investing in initiatives that…

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Tech services and generative AI: Plotting the necessary reinvention

Through most advances and innovations in enterprise technology, IT or technology services providers (also known as system integrators [SIs] or managed services providers [MSPs]) have, for the most part, been able to rely on one constant: their customers continuing to look outside their four walls for help stitching together and…

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Are International Institutions Viable in the Future World Order?

It will be significantly easier to the Western world to gradually accept that its resources are finite than it will be for those who currently find the dominance of the United States and Europe unsatisfactory to establish new models of collaboration, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Timofei Bordachev. One of…

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After the surge: Tien‑Tsin Huang on the future of payments

New challenges await payments providers, now that the pandemic-related surge in adoption of digital payments has leveled off. Among them are questions about how the technology and use cases are likely to develop. In this episode of Talking Banking Matters, payments industry expert and McKinsey partner Roshan Varadarajan talks with…

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How Generative AI Can Support Advanced Analytics Practice

Magazine Summer 2024 Issue Large language models can enhance data and analytics work by helping humans prepare data, improve models, and understand results. Pedro Amorim and João Alves June 11, 2024 Reading Time: 15 min  Topics Data, AI, & Machine Learning AI & Machine Learning Paul Garland The glare of…

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What’s new from Teams Rooms and Devices at InfoComm 2024

In our conversations with customers and partners, two themes consistently emerge: the impact of AI at work and the challenge of successfully navigating flexible work. We see these challenges as related: adopting AI will enable the improved transformation of our workplaces. This transformation lies not just in adopting AI, but…

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The origins of RevenueCat

If you build something because you need it, chances are good others need it too. RevenueCat (YC S18) is an excellent example of this. While adding in-app subscriptions to an iOS application, RevenueCat’s co-founders realized they were spending a ton of time building out the behind-the-scenes plumbing. It was necessary…

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Revolutionizing procurement: Leveraging data and AI for strategic advantage

In today’s tumultuous business landscape, where price volatility, geopolitical tensions, and sustainability imperatives converge, one function stands at the forefront of navigating these complexities: procurement. In this context, the procurement function will act as a strategic lever for value protection and creation. Procurement sits at the confluence of huge quantities…

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Video analysis of Iceland 2010 eruption could improve volcanic ash forecasts for aviation safety

When Eyjafjallajökull erupted in 2010, it ejected roughly 250 million tonnes of volcanic ash into the atmosphere: much of which was blown over Europe and into flight paths. With planes grounded, millions of air passengers were left stranded.Forecasts of how ash will spread in the aftermath of an explosive eruption…

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Anna Reisman: Bringing the Humanities to Medicine

Howie and Harlan are joined by Anna Reisman, a physician and writer who leads Yale’s Program for Humanities in Medicine. They discuss the gaps in care she encountered when her developmentally disabled sister was diagnosed with cancer, and her work reviewing the “dude wall” of portraits at Yale Medical School.…

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How the Shift of Power Dynamics Eastward Impacts the Evolution of the Ukrainian Crisis

A process of reconfiguration is underway globally, with several power centres emerging that seek to gain greater autonomy, space, and protection for their interests. While this process has some negative aspects, such as increasing uncertainty and tension, it can also be seen as an opportunity for development. Some analysts, including…

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Preparing for the 2024 UK General Election: How Civil Servants can pivot whilst maintaining momentum 

The 2024 UK General Election is set to shake-up many policy areas with defence, health and housing featuring heavily. Sprinkle in the main political parties pledging not to raise tax burdens and 35% of public spending going to the five largest departments, and that puts civil servants firmly at the…

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Managing Data Privacy Risk in Advanced Analytics

“How can we protect the privacy of our customers’ personal data while leveraging that data via AI and analytics?” This question reflects a growing internal dilemma as companies pursue advanced analytics and artificial intelligence.The troves of data that customers’ ever-more-digitalized lives produce can be a rich source of insight for…

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California Appeals Court Finds Employer’s Arbitration Agreement With Cost-Sharing and Out-of-State Law Provisions Unconscionable

Quick Hits A California appellate court found an employer’s arbitration agreement with an eyewear store employee to be unenforceable for being both procedurally and substantively unconscionable. The appellate court noted several issues with the arbitration agreement—including finding that it was a contract of adhesion—that placed it “high on the scale…

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3 ways “doing it yourself” could lead to worse retirement outcomes

The Covid-19 pandemic saw many of us confined to our homes for an extended period. While it was a challenging experience, lots of people looked for the silver lining and took the opportunity to work on their homes and gardens. Unfortunately, there was an unintended consequence to this increased interest…

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Making the digital euro truly private

13 June 2024By Maarten G.A. DamanMany people appreciate privacy when paying, and want their data protected. Current electronic means of payment are not optimal in this regard. We are designing the digital euro to be the most private electronic payment option. The ECB Blog explains.Paying is a private affair for many…

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What it takes to rewire a CPG company to outcompete in digital and AI

There’s a race on to capture value from digital and AI, and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are in danger of falling behind both retailers and consumers. It’s not for lack of trying. Like most sectors, CPG companies have been on some form of digital and AI transformation journey. But…

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Managing the risks around generative AI

Generative AI (gen AI) is an advancement that has seized the attention of governments, the public, and business leaders. But it presents unique challenges to the professionals tasked with managing gen AI’s existing and potential threats. In this episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast, Ida Kristensen, coleader of…

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The End of Analog

A windowpane is just a piece of glass. But embed it with sensors and Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology, and it can automatically get darker to block the sun, and display images as if it were a computer screen. A tractor is just a machine of brute force. But endow it with…

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Unlocking the power of price transparency data

After a slow start, hospitals and payers are making progress toward complying with federal price transparency rules that require them to publish online the pricing information about items and services they provide. As part of a trend of rising consumerism in healthcare, consumers express a high willingness to “shop” for…

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Our Guide to the Summer 2024 Issue

subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Auditing Algorithmic Risk Cathy O’Neil, Jake Appel, and Sam Tyner-Monroe Key Insight: A set of frameworks can help organizations identify potential harms posed by algorithms, AI tools, or large language models (LLMs). Top Takeaways: As business uses of artificial intelligence, LLMs, and other algorithmic applications expand, so,…

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Navigating the AI renaissance in Publishing

Generative AI is redefining the publishing sector, offering efficiencies and reshaping roles, content, and business models. Our strategic guidance helps leaders navigate this evolution, ensuring ethical AI integration while fostering innovation. As the industry transforms, Q5 stands ready to assist publishers in embracing this new chapter with strategic foresight.  Generative…

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Piero Cipollone: Why Europe must safeguard its global currency status

12 June 2024By Piero CipolloneMore reforms are needed if the euro is to maintain and strengthen its role amid geopolitical shifts. Europe needs to further develop the infrastructure for making cross-border payments in euro with key partners. For the last quarter of a century, the euro has been a key…

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Know Your Own Strength

Topics Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Paul Garland We all love a good “what went wrong” story. Analyses of corporate failures are a staple of the management genre, alerting leaders to hidden…

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Webinar Jun 25, 2024: Italy, Spain and France: Current Trends and Upcoming Regulations in the European Employment Law Landscape

About the Program: Italy, Spain and France have seen many changes in the employment law landscape within the last year. Seyfarth’s Italy, Spain and France qualified international employment law experts, Sofia Bargellini, Ana Cid and Laurence Harvey Wood, look forward to sharing some recent developments in their upcoming 45 minute…

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Illinois Legislature Again Amends the Illinois Day and Temporary Labor Services Act

Quick Hits Governor Pritzker is expected to sign SB3650, legislation amending Illinois’s Day and Temporary Labor Services Act (DTLSA). Third-party clients would not be required to provide comparator pay information until the worker has worked for the same third-party client for more than 720 hours within a twelve-month period and…

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The Harvard Business School Faculty Summer Reader 2024

As the vacation season looms, Harvard Business School faculty members share recommendations for a little light reading. Spoiler alert: Lessons in Chemistry tops two of their beach-read lists.For those whose brains can’t—or won’t—turn off, HBS faculty also suggest some of their favorite business and academic tomes. Their favorites hit some…

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Rescuing the decade: A dual agenda for the consumer goods industry

The consumer goods industry was an investor darling for decades, delivering a reliable formula of more than 5 percent growth at healthy, stable margins. Over the past ten years, however, topline growth has faded away. While consumer packaged goods (CPGs) have searched for it, they have ended up scrambling to…

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Is Verbal Abuse a Crime?

Victims of verbal abuse often wonder whether it is a crime and whether there is any recourse for them. This is particularly so when it occurs in the context of a domestic violence situation. Obtaining an apprehended violence order (AVO) is a possibility but only in circumstances where the conduct…

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Can Reflection Dislodge a Faulty Intuition?

Steve Jobs once said, “Intuition is more powerful than intellect.” But can it be too powerful? In research recently published in the journal Cognition, Yale SOM’s Shane Frederick and Andrew Meyer of the Chinese University of Hong Kong not only show situations in which widely shared intuitions are certifiably wrong,…

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Keeping Innovation Alive at a Legacy Organization

Topics Radar Brief insights on emerging trends in management from the opening pages of MIT Sloan Management Review’s quarterly print magazine. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Courtesy of GE Appliances Kevin Nolan, an engineer by training and a 28-year veteran of GE, is the president and CEO of…

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What’s going on in our brains when we plan?

In pausing to think before making an important decision, we may imagine the potential outcomes of different choices we could make. While this ‘mental simulation’ is central to how we plan and make decisions in everyday life, how the brain works to accomplish this is not well understood. An international team…

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Putin’s Sixth Principles Outline the Features of the New World Order

The Global South has to join such efforts and participate effectively in these procedures to empower them as global stream ends the American monopoly. That would help moving to a more just economic dynamics based on the win-win principle. The exploitation of Global South wealth is no longer possible in…

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A Five-Year Journey to Customizing Lives With Bespoke AI

Upon hearing “bespoke,” most people would imagine a tailored suit. But the word has taken on a new meaning since 2019, when Samsung Electronics unveiled its personalized Bespoke home appliances to usher in a new era of comfort and convenience at home. This year, the product line has evolved into…

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What do the new non-dom rules mean?

This year’s Spring’s Budget included significant changes concerning the way tax will be calculated for non-UK domiciled individuals (non-doms). Claire Spinks, our Head of Tax Technical and Development, takes a look at what’s been proposed and the effects for non-doms and those planning to reside in the UK. Non-doms have…

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The Future of Facebook

Our vision for Facebook is simple: Facebook is for social discovery that opens your world in big and small ways. We’ve always been social, and we’ve always helped people discover things, but the way that people want to do this is changing, so we’re evolving our product accordingly. As we…

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Your Board is Your Best Insurance Against Turbulence

Under stress, good people can make bad decisions. Even CEOs, who are often exposed to contradictory demands, are not immune. Bad decisions can range from ill-advised stock buybacks to poorly devised cost-cutting measures to extremes like imaginative accounting or illegal practices. We’ve seen how Nokia, General Electric, IBM and many…

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The case for doubling down on refinery reliability now

Refinery reliability issues have impacted product prices in recent times, and the ongoing reliability issue is creating both challenges and opportunities for refiners. As the wider industry continues to struggle with unplanned outages, refiners can invest to improve reliability and capture value. Operators can do this by revamping fundamental processes…

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The Long Tail of Social Media Influence

Radar Paid influencers with the biggest follower counts may not give companies the most bang for their buck, research finds. The MIT SMR Editors June 10, 2024 Reading Time: 2 min  Topics Radar Brief insights on emerging trends in management from the opening pages of MIT Sloan Management Review’s quarterly…

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Ripples in the OT Waters: Considering the Downstream Effects of Reclassifying Exempt Employees

Terry Vlisidis, Unsplash By: Kevin M. Young Seyfarth Synopsis: With the DOL’s new overtime exemption rule weeks from taking effect, employers must consider the impacts of reclassifying exempt employees. Some potential impacts are obvious, others not so much. Proactive, thoughtful planning is key for employers to navigate these waters for…

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