Is it ever a nice time to talk about bad people hacking our democracy? I don’t really know. That said, it was a real pleasure to take an interview one again with one of CTV’s most insightful reporters, Penny Daflos. This is a critical issue for democracies here and abroad. Here’s some of what I had to say in this report, ‘It’ll be something new’: Canadian election interference likely in unexpected places: We always are ready to fight the last…
Forbes magazine reporter Nigel Davies was recently asking around about Five Future Workplace Predictions That Are Hopefully More Accurate Than Steve Ballmer’s. I’m pleased to say that some of my own thoughts are included here! Enjoy: The gig economy will get giggier Vaclav Vincalek, CEO of PCIS, which helps enterprise businesses to innovate, predicts that automation will see businesses swallow up more and more jobs while remaining profitable. But Vincalek doesn’t think this will result in mass unemployment. He says:…
I use Slack to help manage projects. It’s pretty useful. Apparently, others think so, too. After its listing on the New York Stock Exchange, the company was worth $23 billion. But something about Slack’s rise had me thinking about how much further it could go — and if it’s not careful, how far it has to fall. Here’s an introduction to my commentary about workplace collaboration in Forbes. About five minutes after their triumph, it would be funny at best,…
Companies are getting savvier than ever about using technology to improve the customer experience. But we need to balance out benefits with privacy. That’s not getting any easier, even for big companies. I shared some thoughts on this in TechTarget: Princess Cruises puts real-time customer experience into action. “There’s a point at which a company, while they’re trying to be helpful while propping up their bottom line, becomes creepy,” Vincalek said. Hypothetical examples include receiving offers from Weight Watchers about…
Like many technology entrepreneurs, I’m well aware of the buzz around Artificial Intelligence (AI). There’s a lot of investment going into any company that can boast an AI-powered app. But there’s a big problem with letting the computers do all the thinking for us. There are some very important kinds of decisions that humans should still be making. From my commentary in Forbes, Forget About Artificial Intelligence — We Need Augmented Intelligence: The same type of smart people who are…
There are some truly amazing emerging technologies out there. AI and chatbots. Blockchain. Cryptocurrencies. Augmented reality, virtual reality… we’re all in a new kind of reality. Enterprise companies don’t want to leave these technologies in the hands of the startups that will disrupt them. But is is a huge challenge even for experienced CIOs to get a handle on how to bring these technologies in-house, integrate them with legacy systems and beat the competition. Why startups have the edge with…
With all the controversy of the Green New Deal in the USA, I feel like Canadians (and especially the David Suzuki Foundation) are owed an apology. That, or at least an acknowledgement: Democrats in the US pretty much stole our big idea for the future of our country! What was that idea — or should I say, belief? Very simple: give up our sinful pasts as producers of dirty energy and minerals and find redemption at last through the holy spirit of technological innovation.…
Twitter, the decade plus old company is still trying to define what it is and how to make money. It is trapped in a business model of providing free service in exchange for our souls and friends. Based on the past performance there is little hope that Twitter’s future will be brighter. The number of free users is not growing fast enough (if at all) and the revenue from ads is not rising fast enough to stop the bleeding. What…
Is it just me, or are we making some big mistakes in how we talk about big data? This crossed my mind (yet again) as I read Straight Talk About Big Data. The article starts with a suggestion for the CEO to get 5 questions answered from the executive team: Do we have a value-driven analytics strategy? Do we have the right ‘domain data’ to support our strategy? Where are we in our journey? Are we modelling the change personally?…
The weather isn’t just a topic for chatting around the water cooler. Thanks to Big Data, it is becoming big business. That’s why IBM recently bought the Weather Channel for reported $2 billion. And it is also another manifestation of big data creating opportunities for companies to capitalize on. IBM has made Big Data and analytics the next mountain it wishes to climb They understand that a company of any size will need vital sets of information in order to…
