business

You’ll be paying extra for ad-free Prime Video come January

Amazon Prime, business, culture, prime video, streaming services / Paul Patrick / December 28, 2023

might want to level up —

Subscribers will have to opt-in to a pricier ad-free plan.

Jennifer Ouellette – Dec 27, 2023 4: 26 pm UTC

Amazon Prime Video

Amazon confirmed today in an email to Prime members that it will begin showing ads alongside its streaming Prime Video content starting January 29, 2024. The price will remain the same, but subscribers who don’t wish to see any ads will have to pay an additional $2.99 per month on top of their monthly or yearly Amazon Prime subscription. The change was first reported back in September.

“Starting January 29, Prime Video movies and TV shows will include limited advertisements,” Amazon wrote in an email sent to Amazon Prime subscribers. “This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time. We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers. No action is required from you, and there is no change to the current price of your Prime membership.”

Subscribers who want to avoid ads can sign up for the extra monthly fee at the Prime Video website.

Prime Video isn’t the only streaming platform looking to increase revenues via ad-supported tiers and price hikes in a challenging economic environment: both Disney+ and Netflix, among others, have hiked their prices in recent months. HBO Max, Peacock, and Paramount+ all introduced lower-priced ad-supported options, and Netflix launched an ad-supported tier last year for $6.99 per month.

Netflix did recently grant subscribers an ad-free episode for every three episodes watched, as well as downloadable content. However, this was apparently designed to help advertisers “[tap] into the viewing behavior of watching multiple episodes in a row,” per the November Netflix announcement.

Disney+ and the Disney-controlled Hulu increased prices starting in October. The ad-free tier of Disney+ rose from $11 to $14 a month, while ad-free Hulu increased from $14 to $18 a month. Both services are also offered together for $20 a month, and the ad-supported tiers maintained their current pricing; both strategies seem intended to drive viewers to either sign up for multiple services or drop down to an ad-supported tier. This is the second price hike for both services in the last calendar year.

Apple TV+ announced monthly price hikes for several online services in October, including its catchall Apple One subscription service in October. Apple TV+ jumped from $6.99 to $9.99 per month, while Apple Arcade went from $4.99 to $6.99 monthly. Apple News+ used to cost $9.99 per month, but now it’s $12.99. “Raising these prices helps Apple stay attractive to shareholders even amidst the tricky economic context—or at least it will if consumers agree to keep paying,” Ars Senior Editor Sam Axon wrote at the time. “Raising prices too much could drive customers away; Apple seems to be betting that that will not be the case this time.”

You’ll be paying extra for ad-free Prime Video come January Read More »

Why Emerging Tech is Both the Cause and Solution of Tomorrow’s Labor Challenges

AI, Artificial Intelligence, business, featured, HR, Immersive Technology, interview / Paul Patrick / July 31, 2023

The post-pandemic workforce is experiencing several significant shifts, particularly in how organizations tackle labor challenges and approach talent acquisition. One of the key factors for this disruption is the emergence of new, game-changing technologies like AI and machine learning.

Today’s organizations are facing staffing needs and talent shortages due to the Great Resignation, prompting them to respond to an uncertain future by shifting how they approach the talent acquisition process.

For this article, we interviewed Nathan Robinson, CEO of the workforce learning platform Gemba, to discuss the future of work and the workplace. We’ll also shed more light on how new technologies and developments are shaping the future of talent acquisition.

Rethinking the Traditional Talent Acquisition Process

According to Robinson, today’s talent acquisition process vastly differs from what it was like a few years ago. With the emerging technologies such as AI, VR, and quantum computing, many jobs considered in demand today didn’t even exist a decade ago. He adds that this trend will only become even more pronounced as technological advancements continue to rise.

“As a result, corporations will no longer be able to rely on higher education to supply a steady stream of necessary talent. Instead, organizations will have to hire candidates based on their ability and willingness to learn and then provide the necessary training themselves,” he remarked.

He added that, up to a year ago, no one had ever heard of ChatGPT and no one even knew what “generative AI” meant. Today, you can find job listings for prompt engineers and prominent language model specialists. Robinson also shared that technological advancement isn’t linear, with each innovation advancing and accelerating the pace of development, which can potentially change how organizations approach the talent acquisition process.

“We can rightly assume that in five or ten years’ time, there will be a whole host of new positions that today we can’t reasonably predict, much less expect there to be a sufficient number of individuals already skilled or trained in that role,” Robinson told us. “That’s why we will almost certainly see a renewed focus on talent development, as opposed to acquisition, in the near future.”

How Emerging Technologies Are Changing How Organizations Look At and Acquire Talent

According to Robinson, some of the factors that have prompted this shift include the pandemic, the rise of remote and hybrid work, the Great Resignation, and Quiet Quitting. He noted that because of these shifts, the “goals and psychology of the modern worker have changed dramatically.”

“This is why now, more than ever before, organizations must be clear and intentional about the culture they cultivate, the quality of life they afford, and the opportunities for learning and growth they provide their employees,” Robinson said. “These types of ‘non-traditional’ considerations are beginning to outweigh the cut-and-dry, compensation-focused costs associated with attracting top talent in some senses.”

He also shared that this new talent acquisition process can impact organizations over time, promoting them to shift away from recruitment and instead focus more on internal employee development. According to a Gartner report, 46% of HR leaders see recruitment as their top priority.

However, Robinson thinks that, as new technologies offer better solutions to labor challenges, such as on-the-job training, this number will steadily decline as HR professionals gradually focus on developing existing talent.

Emerging Tech as Both the Cause and Solution of Future Labor Challenges

“Advanced technologies, such as AI, XR, and quantum computing, are the driving force behind the looming skills gap in that they are leading to the development of new types of roles for which we have very few trained professionals,” said Robinson.

A World Economic Forum report highlights that by 2027, it’s estimated that machines will instead complete 43% of tasks that used to be completed by humans. This is a significant shift from 2022’s 34%. Moreover, it’s estimated that 1.1 billion jobs may potentially be transformed by technology in the next ten years.

While emerging technologies are prompting labor challenges, they can also be seen as a solution. Robinson adds that these emerging technologies, particularly XR, can help organizations overcome the skills gap. According to him, such technologies can help organizations facilitate more efficient, cost-effective, and engaging training and development, thus allowing them to overcome such challenges.

To help potential employees overcome the upcoming skills disconnect, Robinson notes that the training should begin with management, using top-down managerial strategies and lean and agile development methodologies.

Overcoming Today’s Labor Challenges

“Today, talent acquisition is seen as a key differentiator between successful and unsuccessful companies. While I think that will continue to hold true, I also think it will soon take a backseat to employee training and development,” Robinson said. “The industry leader will no longer be whoever is able to poach the best talent. It will soon be whoever is able to train and develop their existing talent to keep pace with the changing technological and economic landscape.”

At the end of the day, according to Robinson, embracing the unknown future of work and the workplace is about being ready for anything.

“As the rate of technological advancement continues to accelerate, the gap between what we imagine the near future will be and what it actually looks like will only grow,” Robinson remarked. He suggests that instead of trying to predict every last development, it’s better to be agile and ready for the unpredictable. This means staying on top of new technologies and investing in tools to help organizations become more agile.

Why Emerging Tech is Both the Cause and Solution of Tomorrow’s Labor Challenges Read More »

Moth+Flame Launches AI-Powered VR Authoring Tool for Custom Enterprise VR Training Content Creation

business, Education & Training, Enterprise, featured, training, virtual reality / Mike M. / February 1, 2023

A new VR authoring tool can potentially accelerate enterprise VR adoption this year. Invesco, a global investment firm, recently launched a virtual reality training experience they custom built using the new Moth+Flame’s VR authoring tool. Taking only 72 hours to develop, this custom VR training gives us a glimpse of the vast potential the new VR tool offers.

Moth+Flame VR Authoring Tool Addresses Challenges in VR Content Creation

In one of the most recent PwC surveys of PwC, 51% of companies have built VR into at least one specific line of business or are in the process of integrating VR into their processes. Many companies also see the benefits of VR as an effective way to develop and train people.

While the adoption of VR in enterprises is steadily increasing, enterprises face several challenges that hamper VR integration. Among these are the long development time and the level of expertise needed to create VR content.

Moth+Flame, a VR technology platform that specializes in enterprise-grade immersive learning solutions, addresses some of these challenges to accelerate the adoption of VR.

Ushering a year of great leaps in tech development, Moth+Flame launched a new VR authoring tool that leverages generative artificial intelligence. The new tool allows users to build custom VR content faster and easier. It empowers metaverse content creators and enterprise users to fast-track the development and adoption of VR across industries.

Empowering Novice Users to Create Immersive VR Content

Built on an advanced AI-driven platform, the VR authoring tool generates immersive training content that feels hyper-realistic and engaging. Voice-activated features prompt users to speak to navigate the training scenario. The interactive and immersive experience enhances training as it reinforces learning objectives and improves knowledge retention.

With its user-friendly interface, the platform can be used for VR content creation even by novice users with little or no technical expertise. Drag-and-drop editors and 3D asset libraries help users create high-quality immersive experiences. Multi-user support allows collaboration within teams and among learning and development departments. All these features enable enterprises to revamp existing training or create new ones that are more engaging and effective.

Invesco Uses Moth+Flame VR Authoring Tool to Build VR Training

The Moth+Flame VR authoring tool is still in its beta phase, but it has already shown how it can revolutionize VR use at the enterprise level. Invesco, the first early-access user to bring this technology to workforce development, has shown the benefits the tool brings to enterprise training.

Last week, Invesco launched their new VR training that was built using the Moth+Flame authoring tool. While the average development time for a VR training program is around eight to ten weeks, Invesco was able to build theirs in just 72 hours. Moreover, they were able to create VR content tailored to their specific requirements.

The new VR training is designed to help the Invesco sales team in handling customer complaints and concerns. Sales representatives use VR headsets to practice conversations with customers in realistic simulated scenarios. By adopting the Moth+Flame authoring tool, Invesco can generate other immersive training experiences across their enterprise.

“The biggest challenge for all education is the scale of content creation. So much enterprise training is limited to low-scoring e-learning products because of scale limitations,” said Kevin Cornish, CEO of Moth+Flame. “So much enterprise training is limited to low-scoring e-learning products because of scale limitations. With this tool, enterprises will be able to scale their content creation across all use cases in virtual reality, the most effective training modality available.”

Paving the Way for Rapid Adoption of VR in Enterprises

Invesco, along with other global brands, is now implementing VR training to maximize efficiency in the workplace. With the new VR authoring tool from Moth+Flame, enterprises gain access to advanced technology that empowers them to create immersive VR training. They can easily create VR content and deploy them to their workforce on iOS or VR headsets. With solutions like this authoring tool, we can expect the rapid adoption of VR at the enterprise level across industries.

Moth+Flame Launches AI-Powered VR Authoring Tool for Custom Enterprise VR Training Content Creation Read More »

What the hell is job boomeranging and why is it trending right now?

business, Design & Dev, House of Talent / Rejus Almole / January 17, 2023

Not, in fact, a fun sports perk offered by tech companies eager to keep up with the latest in compensation trends, “job boomeranging” is actually a rising workplace trend. In a nutshell, it’s when a former employee bounces back to a previous employer.

The trend has been observed by experts such as Anthony C. Klotz, associate professor of management at UCL School of Management in London; Klotz is also responsible for coining the term, the “great resignation.”

One trend complements the other. The great resignation cohort left their jobs in droves during the pandemic: 47 million US workers quit their job in 2021. In France, resignations peaked towards the end of 2021 and, in the UK, job-to-job movement was at an all-time high between October and December 2021 as workers sought better work-life balance, more money, or a step up the career ladder.

Bounce back

Boomerangers, on the other hand, form part of a new movement that’s also being called the “Big Regret.”

Endless column inches have trumpeted the advantages of making a career move over the past couple of years, and anecdotal evidence from that friend-of-a-friend who did it and never looked back helped to make a compelling case too. Research also backed up workers’ rationales to ditch the day job and look elsewhere. According to Pew Research Center, 60% of workers switching jobs saw an increase in their real earnings.

For many workers––those for example, who may have been coasting along in “quiet quit” mode––or anyone who genuinely felt it was time to make a career change, the change has proved positive.

But there is a sizable cohort of people for whom that job switch hasn’t worked out as planned.

No regrets?

UKG, a workforce management platform, ran a survey across six countries in 2022. The company compared responses of 1,950 employees who quit their jobs since March 2020, with the responses of people managers who had people on their team resign.

Forty-one percent of people felt they quit their old job too quickly, and 43% of job quitters admitted that they were better off at their old job. Of those who weren’t quite feeling their new position, 62% agreed that their old job was, in fact, superior.

So can you ever go back? Professor of management Michael A. Campion looked at boomerang employees for a research paper called “Welcome Back? Job Performance and Turnover of Boomerang Employees Compared to Internal and External Hires,” in the Journal of Management.

“In an era when the average employee will work for many different employers during their career, however, organizations are becoming more open to rehiring former employees,” Campion says.

Changing mindset

There is evidence that employers were softening on this even before Covid-19. A 2015 study commissioned by The Workforce Institute showed a changing mindset around re-hires. Back then, 76% of HR professionals said they were more accepting of hiring boomerang employees than before.

In 2019, more than 10% of Microsoft’s hires were boomerangs, and at LinkedIn in the UK, 5% of all new hires in 2021 were actually former employees who returned to the company.

“Hiring former employees, who are a known entity, is thought to be less risky than hiring new employees. They are also familiar with the job, understand the organization’s culture and values, and may have relationships with existing employees,” Campion explains.

However, boomerang employees often don’t excel when they bounce back to a former employer. “Results suggest that boomerang managers’ performance tends to remain the same after being rehired,” he says.

Get re-hired

So how can you go about getting re-hired at your old firm, and boomerang back to your happy place? The first thing to do for the future is to always keep things cordial. Leaving your old job on a good footing is the most important factor in being able to go back as a rehire, so beware sending any critical all-hands emails, for example.

You’ll know fairly fast if your new role and company aren’t a fit––the company culture isn’t right, the job hasn’t worked out as planned, or you can’t get on with your new boss. If that’s the case and you can’t see yourself staying in your new position long-term, then get in touch with your old manager or the hiring team to check in. You want to get a sense of the lay of the land; if your contact will be well-received, and from there, you can open a wider dialogue.

If you’re still close to your previous boss, schedule a lunch or a coffee break. Tell them what’s going on, and explore whether there’s any opportunity for you to return.

It’s common to panic and want to go back to what you know. But do ask yourself some hard questions too. Do you want to return because it’s an easy option? Think about your previous experience with the company––and what motivated you to leave in the first place.

Before you accept any offer to boomerang back, make sure it’s one that gives you the chance to progress, prove yourself––and grow your career.

For more great opportunities in tech, visit The House Of Talent Job Board today

What the hell is job boomeranging and why is it trending right now? Read More »

Surprise: business leaders should be compassionate – here’s the evidence to prove it

business, House of Talent, Tech, Twitter / Paul Patrick / December 26, 2022

In the month after Elon Musk triumphantly announced his takeover of Twitter with his now famous “the bird is freed” tweet, he implemented a large-scale cull of the social media platform’s global workforce. While Musk’s rationale for this move was to make Twitter more efficient, how he carried out the cuts was widely criticised as showing a lack of compassion for employees.

Luckily, the public have spoken and Musk has promised to step down after embarrassingly being voted out in his own poll. But what can we learn from this and what kind of leader does Twitter need moving forward?

Twitter might instead benefit from a more thoughtful and caring approach to leadership. Research shows compassionate leaders boost staff morale and productivity, not to mention projecting a more positive image of an organisation and its brand to the world.

Compassion in this context can be taken to mean a leader who is understanding, empathetic, and that strives to help their employees. This kind of leadership is needed now more than ever. Businesses are facing difficult times because of the lasting effects of the pandemic and the rising cost of living. The UK was already experiencing a slump in productivity growth since the 2008 financial crisis and a decline in the standard of living, which is set to continue over the next two years. Brexit hasn’t helped this situation.

Such testing times warrant organizational leadership by compassionate and competent people with sound judgment and effective coordination skills. This also applies to political leadership. The UK has seen a lack of this in recent months while dealing with “partygate”, reported bullying, and harassment in government offices, and the dire effect of recent leadership decisions around the economy.

International leaders aren’t doing much better. The US appears to have become far more polarised, leading to the Capitol riots and suffered accusations of a “leadership vaccum” during the pandemic. In the EU, compassionate leadership appears to have been in short supply based on slow responses to COVID and the energy crisis. All of these examples suggest a need for more compassionate leadership.

What is a good leader?

Research shows that good leadership helps companies to be more competitive and boost performance, particularly concerning innovation and flexibility. One study argues that good leaders win followers because of three main attributes: sound judgment, expertise, and coordination skills. These qualities allow leaders to lead by example.

Unfortunately, however, not all leaders fit this bill. A recent Europe-wide study found 13% of workers have “bad” bosses, although participants tended to score their bosses worse on competence than consideration. Still, poor leadership can negatively affect workers’ morale, wellbeing, and productivity. A review of studies in this area reported that worker wellbeing tends to be better served when companies — and their leaders — allow workers to have some control and provide more opportunities for their voices to be heard and for greater participation in making decisions.

In addition to the competence and coordination skills highlighted in a lot of research to date, my research shows that “soft leadership skills” are also important. This is about being compassionate and making others — employees in particular, but also suppliers and customers — feel important. Leaders with such “people skills” are not just technically competent, they can also look at an issue from a human perspective, thinking about how it might affect people.

My recently published research used nationally representative data from the 2004 and 2011 workplace employment relations survey, which polls more than 3,000 organizations and over 35,000 workers. They were asked to score their managers on a five-point scale in terms of certain soft leadership skills, chosen to measure the impartiality, trustworthiness and empathy of leaders.

These employees were asked whether their managers:

could be relied on to keep their promises
were sincere in attempting to understand employees’ views
dealt with employees honestly
understood that employees had responsibilities outside work
encouraged people to develop their skills
treated employees fairly
and maintained good relations with employees.

The results suggest that workers’ perception of good quality leadership is also positively affected by managers being upbeat when discussing organisational performance. This kind of leadership boosts workers’ wellbeing, helping employees experience greater job satisfaction and lower levels of job anxiety.

This research suggests that compassionate leaders help to both enhance company performance and boost worker wellbeing. It shows that improving the quality of leadership is worthwhile. This can be achieved with recruitment, appraisal, and training of leaders that elevate soft leadership skills.

Good leaders matter. As organizations and society in general face particularly difficult times, compassionate leadership could make a real difference to future business success.

Getinet Astatike Haile, Associate Professor in Industrial Economics, University of Nottingham

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Surprise: business leaders should be compassionate – here’s the evidence to prove it Read More »

Psst, automating these 3 parts of your business is the best thing you can do right now

Artificial Intelligence, business, Neural, Tech / Rejus Almole / December 21, 2022

Content provided by IBM and TNW

Thanks to the convergence of several trends and changes across different markets and industries, automation is becoming a critical factor in the success of businesses and products. Advances in artificial intelligence, in parallel with the accelerating digitization of all aspects of business, are creating plenty of opportunities to automate operations, reduce waste, and increase efficiency.

From managing your Information Technology (IT) bill to finding bottlenecks in your business processes and taking control of your own network operations, here are three areas where companies can gain from applying automation.

1. IT automation

Greetings, humanoids

Subscribe to our newsletter now for a weekly recap of our favorite AI stories in your inbox.

Practically every large organization has IT. Even small companies that don’t have in-house IT staff may pay for another company to do it for them. The growing demand for IT can put extra strain on professionals who must deal with the ever-expanding and changing landscape of application and compute platforms.

“I’ve never met an IT person or CIO who said they have so much time and budget that they can do everything the business asks and more. There’s always a shortage of ability to drive projects through IT,” says Bill Lobig, Vice President of IBM Automation Product Management.

The talent shortage is highlighting the need to provide automation tools to IT staff so they can manage application uptime and keep IT operations stable.

Fortunately, advances in artificial intelligence are helping companies move toward smart automation by gathering and processing all sorts of structured and unstructured data.

“We’re seeing companies have more confidence in applying AI to a broader set of data, including log files and metrics and information that are spinning off of the systems that are running in your business (databases, app servers, Kubernetes, VMs),” Lobig says.

Previously, IT experts may have optimized their infrastructure through informed judgments and overprovisioning their resources. Now, they can take the guesswork out of their decisions by using AI to analyze the data of the IT infrastructure, find patterns, estimate usage, and optimize their resources.

For example, J.B. Hunt, a logistics and transportation company, uses IBM Turbonomic software to automate the scaling of its cloud and on-premise resources. For their on-premises environment, J.B. Hunt is automating all non-disruptive actions 24×7 and scaling non-production actions during a nightly maintenance window.

“Workloads scale and spike—it’s not static. No matter how much performance testing and capacity you put into sizing an application deployment, it’s a guess, albeit an educated one. You don’t really know how your customers’ workloads are going to vary across different times,” Lobig says.

In their public cloud environment, the J.B. Hunt team has been using a combination of recommendations and automated actions to manage their resources. Over the course of 12 months, Turbonomic executed nearly 2,000 resizing actions which—assuming manual intervention requires 20 minutes per action—freed up over 650 hours of the team’s time to focus on strategic initiatives.

2. Business processes

Business processes are another area that can gain from advances in AI and automation. The previous wave of automation in business processes was mostly driven by robotic process automation (RPA). While RPA has had a tremendous effect on productivity, like other solutions, it has limits too.

RPA only addresses tasks that you think need automation. It can automate a poorly designed process but can’t optimize it. It also can’t handle tasks that can’t be defined through deterministic rules. This is where “process and task mining” enter the picture. According to Lobig:

RPA executes scripts to automate what you tell it to do. It’s very deterministic and rigid in what it can do, automating highly repeatable tasks. Process and task mining find inefficiencies you can’t see.

Process and task mining can answer questions such as, is your business really running the way you think it is? Is everyone completing processes in the same way? What should you optimize first? It helps you get past the low-hanging fruit and find the hidden inefficiencies of your business that can also be addressed with automation.

3. Networking

In the past, networking was a specialized hardware-based discipline largely controlled by big telecommunications companies. Today, the networking ecosystem is more complex as enterprises now require ubiquitous application distribution in a hybrid multi-cloud environment, from customer prem, to edge, to private and public clouds.

The challenge is deploying and connecting all application endpoints at scale. Networks must be agile and dynamic to maintain application performance, availability, security and user experience. Today’s networks, however, face unprecedented challenges that can render them unresponsive and unadaptable to change. Enterprise and service providers can address those needs, delivering custom enterprise network value with self-service enterprise control.

Organizations can now own and manage their networking functions and end-to-end connectivity without being experts in switches, routers, radio-access networks, and other hardware.

“Networking has become just another part of the application supply chain (like databases, VMs, and containers) that companies are already running. Why not have your network be part of your full IT landscape so that you can apply AI to optimize it?” Lobig says.

For example, consider a large multinational bank that provides its customers access to their accounts overseas through ATM machines. The company previously outsourced network connectivity to a big telco. When the telco faced an outage in one country where the bank provided service, the customers could not access their funds. Although the bank didn’t have control over the networking service, it was fined for the outage.

Now, thanks to software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) and automation and orchestration tools such as IBM’s AIOps solutions and IBM SevOne Network Performance Management, the bank can assume control of its own software-defined network, instead of shifting such an important responsibility to another company. New application-centric network connectivity can enhance those capabilities. This can drive enhanced security, intelligent observability, and service assurance, while providing a common way to manage networks across the diversity of infrastructure, tools, and security constructs.

Another area of networking that will provide new opportunities for automation is 5G.

“A lot of people think about 5G as a faster networking technology. But 5G is going to transform and disrupt B2B use cases. It can really bring edge computing to the forefront,” Lobig says.

There’s an opportunity for organizations to leverage software-defined networking and 5G to unlock new business models where high-bandwidth, low latency, and local connectivity is crucial.

An example is DISH Wireless, a company that’s working with IBM to automate the first greenfield cloud-native 5G network in the US. DISH Wireless is using IBM’s network orchestration software and services to bring 5G network orchestration to its business and operations platforms. One application they’re working on is enabling logistics companies to track package locations down to the centimeter, thanks to edge connectivity, RFID tags, and network management software.

“We’re helping them do this with our telco and network computing automation, edge computing automation, and enabling them to set up state-of-the-art orchestration for their customers. These unexpected industries can use 5G to really transform how business gets done across different areas,” Lobig says.

Where is the industry headed?

Automation is quickly evolving and we’re bound to see many new applications in the coming months and years. For companies that are at the beginning of their automation journey, Lobig has a few tips.

In the business automation space, look at process and task mining. Do you really know where the time is being spent in your enterprise? Do you know how work is getting done? If you use this technology, you’ll be able to identify the patterns and sequence of events that go into good outcomes and those that go into bad outcomes. Armed with these insights, you can redesign and automate the processes that have the biggest impact upon your business.

Lobig also believes that IT automation will be a bigger theme in 2023 as the world faces an energy crisis and electricity costs potentially become an escalating problem. IT automation can help organizations to use the capacity they need, which may translate into savings.

IT automation can also be important in tackling the climate change crisis.

“These days, you can tell whether your organization’s data center or workload is running on a renewable energy source,” Lobig says. “With that data, IT automation has the potential to automatically move workloads from cloud to on-prem and back and across hyper-scalers to optimize for costs and efficiencies.”

As for the future, Lobig believes that low-code/no-code application platforms will play an important role in automation by enabling more employees to build the automations that can enhance productivity.

Psst, automating these 3 parts of your business is the best thing you can do right now Read More »

Yes, company values and vision matter when looking for a job

business, Design & Dev, House of Talent, Twitter / Paul Patrick / December 14, 2022

Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter earlier this year has shined a bright light on how quickly the sands can shift under employees’ feet. “Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in the coming months. We will keep what works & change what doesn’t,” the SpaceX CEO tweeted of his mission for Twitter 2.0. Some of those changes have, so far, included mass layoffs, some of which are now resulting in lawsuits from workers who say they weren’t given proper notice of termination, or sufficient severance pay. Musk has also reinstated former president Donald Trump to the platform,…

This story continues at The Next Web

Yes, company values and vision matter when looking for a job Read More »

What you need to know about AIOps

Artificial Intelligence, business, Neural / Rejus Almole / December 13, 2022

Content provided by IBM and TNW As our lives become more digitized, the IT infrastructure supporting the applications and services we use have become increasingly complex. There are a variety of options to run services in the cloud, on-premise, serverless, and hybrid, which makes it possible to accommodate different kinds of applications, environments, and audiences. However, managing such complex IT architectures is becoming increasingly difficult. There are too many moving parts, which makes it difficult to optimize IT, predict and prevent outages, and respond to incidents after they happen. Fortunately, AIOps — the use of AI in IT operations —…

This story continues at The Next Web

What you need to know about AIOps Read More »

Dependence on cloud’s ‘big three’ is hurting EU startup growth — it’s time for a new approach

business, Europe, Growth Quarters / Rejus Almole / December 8, 2022

In July, Sweden’s payments firm Klarna marked a drop in valuation at $6.7 billion, down from $46 billion in June 2021. The buy-now-pay-later firm — which was once seen as Europe’s most valuable private tech company — recorded its first ever large-scale layoffs in May as it shed 10% of its staff. Similarly, Berlin’s once fast-growing rapid grocery delivery startup Gorillas recently laid off 300 employees. Between the global economic downturn and poor public market performance, Europe’s world of tech is currently facing a major decline in venture funding, sliding to its lowest point in nearly two years. Investments in…

This story continues at The Next Web

Dependence on cloud’s ‘big three’ is hurting EU startup growth — it’s time for a new approach Read More »

ExpressVPN Survey Explores Immersive Tech in the Workplace

business, featured, Immersive Technology, Industry Reports, metaverse, Mixed Reality, remote work, safety / Rejus Almole / November 30, 2022

ExpressVPN has conducted a survey of 1,500 employees and 1,500 employers to learn about attitudes toward immersive work. Remote collaboration has been one of the biggest promises of immersive technology as it relates to work but employers seem to be more excited than employees. One potential reason: surveillance fears.

Who Wants to Work in the Metaverse?

Remote work was already trending upward before the pandemic. However, as more and more offices closed, remote work started to seem like part of the “new normal.” It was also an explosive opportunity for the immersive tech industry with many promoting the metaverse as the new office water cooler.

While immersive tech gained some traction during this period, video conferencing remains the standard alternative to in-person meetings. About a third of employees and almost as many employers who participated in the survey prefer video conferencing to in-person meetings.

As for immersive meetings, 17% of employers and only 9% of employees surveyed preferred them over other communication methods. So, metaverse was less popular than in-person meetings, video conferencing, instant messaging, and email among employees, but more popular than social media, phone calls, and project management platforms.

On the other hand, it’s interesting that metaverse was the second-preferred method of communication among employers, with video conferencing being the top pick.

Which communication method makes you feel most connected and engaged with your co-workers — *Source: ExpressVPN*

Why Not Bring Immersive Tech Into the Workplace?

Why the low numbers among employees? First, they aren’t that low. After all, project management platforms were literally designed for remote collaboration, and immersive tech beat them out. And better than the telephone? That’s pretty good for an emerging technology.

Another potential explanation is that most people still haven’t tried an immersive meeting. The survey report didn’t ask (or didn’t include) how many people have experienced a meeting in the metaverse.

While virtual office meetings are becoming more common, they’re still not part of most people’s work week. Further, these platforms are improving but a lot still have hiccups. Even those that work as intended aren’t what most people are used to, which can lead to a learning curve if not plain old friction.

However, the study also found that over half (57%) of polled employees and over three-quarters (77%) of polled employers are interested in immersive work. So, while not all employees are already convinced, a good number of them are at least curious.

There’s still one more reason that employees in particular aren’t sold on the metaverse for meetings. It’s actually a concern that they already have about more conventional remote work solutions.

Surveillance of employees working remotely is already fairly common practice, particularly in large businesses. Immersive technology platforms, particularly those incorporating VR hardware, offer more opportunities for surveillance. Employees seem largely convinced that more opportunity means more abuse.

Sixty-three percent of employees are concerned about data collection, and 61% about being monitored by their employer in the metaverse.

More than half of surveyed employees responded that they’re concerned specifically about real-time location (51%) and real-time screen monitoring (50%). To be fair, under 40% of employers surveyed said that they intended to use emerging technologies in these ways.

Okay, Boomer

Digging too deep into what these numbers mean can be tricky for one more reason. Zany demographic information. Specifically, Boomers. To understand how confusing their responses are, one other piece of demographic information is required: Gen Z is typically the most supportive and least skeptical about the metaverse.

Boomers are the second most curious about the metaverse – they’re also the least excited and the least optimistic about it. They’re the least convinced that it will positively impact productivity but the second most convinced that it will positively impact work performance.

How do different generations feel about the meatverse and how do they think that the metaverse will positively impact work — *Source: ExpressVPN*

They’re the second least concerned about employee surveillance but the most concerned about overall digital privacy and security. Finally, they’re the most excited about remote collaboration and working remotely, but well under half of them think that immersive tech is the future of work.

Does any of that make sense to you? No? That’s a relief.

The Future? Yes. Tomorrow? No.

Please do read the original survey for yourself. There was a lot in there that we didn’t cover here and there are places where you might be able to make more sense of it.

No matter how one reads the numbers, immersive tech may well be the future of work but it may not be the immediate future of work.

ExpressVPN Survey Explores Immersive Tech in the Workplace Read More »

business

might want to level up —

Subscribers will have to opt-in to a pricier ad-free plan.

Rethinking the Traditional Talent Acquisition Process

How Emerging Technologies Are Changing How Organizations Look At and Acquire Talent

Emerging Tech as Both the Cause and Solution of Future Labor Challenges

Overcoming Today’s Labor Challenges

Moth+Flame VR Authoring Tool Addresses Challenges in VR Content Creation

Empowering Novice Users to Create Immersive VR Content

Invesco Uses Moth+Flame VR Authoring Tool to Build VR Training

Paving the Way for Rapid Adoption of VR in Enterprises

Bounce back

No regrets?

Changing mindset

Get re-hired

What is a good leader?

1. IT automation

Greetings, humanoids

2. Business processes

3. Networking

Where is the industry headed?

Who Wants to Work in the Metaverse?

Why Not Bring Immersive Tech Into the Workplace?

Okay, Boomer

More Problems With Trust

The Future? Yes. Tomorrow? No.