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Category: InsideOffice

InsideOffice

  • LendingClub CEO Working to Turn It Into a Financial Health Club

    LendingClub CEO Working to Turn It Into a Financial Health Club

    The CEO of LendingClub, Scott Sanborn, says that they are really looking to make membership in the club mean something and are working to take Lending Club and turn it into a ‘financial health club’ that will help people successfully manage expenses. He says that LendingClub helps by shining a spotlight on credit card debt which is the first step to doing something about it.

    Scott Sanborn, LendingClub CEO, discussed the business with Investor’s Business Daily:

    A Looming Crisis in People’s Overall Financial Health

    We are seeing really an epidemic happening which is incomes have been stagnant for more than 20 years. All of people’s major expenses, healthcare, college, housing, is going up and it’s creating a real looming crisis in people’s overall financial health and it’s something that people just aren’t talking about. Close to half of Americans have credit card debts and they are more than twice as likely to talk about spousal infidelity than they are about the fact that they have credit card debt that they need to manage. We believe that by shining a spotlight on the problem it’s the first step to helping people do something about it.

    The first core thing we’re doing is we help people who have credit card debts pay that off with a healthier form of debt. Credit cards are now at a record high-interest rate average of about 19 percent. We allow them to pay that off with a fixed rate, fixed payment installment loan that will be paid off in a defined period of time so that they’re not caught in the minimum payment trap. It’s healthier for their overall credit profile.

    Turning Lending Club Into a Financial Health Club

    As we’ve been working with consumers to solve this problem we’ve increasingly been finding ways to actually do it even better. We launched last year the ability as part of the loan application to directly pay off the credit cards through the process. Instead of giving you the money, asking you to turn around and take care of it, we do it directly. In exchange, if you elect to do that we’ll give you a lower rate, essentially incent you to do it and make it easy for you to do it.

    The bigger picture in the course of time is we’re really looking to make membership in the club mean something and take Lending Club and turn it into really a financial health club and do more for people to help them manage these expenses.

  • GM’s Bob Lutz on Carlos Ghosn: No CEO is Immune to CEO Disease

    GM’s Bob Lutz on Carlos Ghosn: No CEO is Immune to CEO Disease

    Former GM vice chairman Bob Lutz commenting on Nissan’s Carlos Ghosn arrest says that no CEO is immune to CEO disease. He said that he’s surprised at this, but in a way not too surprised. “Carlos is also extremely aware of his own capabilities and his own importance and that type of personality can slip into borderline behavior,” noted Lutz.

    Bob Lutz, former GM vice chairman, offered his thoughts on the arrest of Nissan’s Carlos Ghosn and the future of The Alliance between Nissan, Renault, and Mitsubishi:

    No CEO is Immune to CEO Disease

    It’s both surprising and disappointing and as Phil DuBose said, let’s not forget that he’s innocent until proven guilty. As for retaining the CEO or presidency or a chairmanship of Renault, if he is in fact found guilty of a felony of underreporting taxes or misappropriating company property, there’s there’s no way that another large corporation in the world is going to retain him as CEO. That’s just out of the question. If he loses the Nissan job they’re basically all gone. He’s 64 anyways and he has many many millions.

    I’m both surprised at this and in a way… not too surprised. Carlos has always since I’ve first known him a highly capable person of very high intelligence but also extremely aware of his own capabilities and his own importance. That type of personality can slip into borderline behavior. No CEO is immune to CEO disease.

    Think about it, everywhere he goes all three corporations, nothing but admiration, adulation, yes boss, etc. No negative feedback ever. The President of the United States at least he reads the media so there’s some constant negative feedback, but a CEO never gets any. CEOs tend to develop, in the business, we call it CEO disease. CEOs tend to develop this… I am God’s gift to leadership and everybody loves me and I’m fabulous and over a while, they tend to believe that they’re above the rules and above the law and then they start misbehaving.

    The Alliance Has Worked Fabulously Well and Will Continue

    I was a huge critic of The Alliance at the time it happened. I said it would never work and you know to my amazement it has worked fabulously well for both companies and that will continue. The business is getting more competitive, we have new mobility encroaching on profitability and new car sales and so forth so the three-way sharing between Mitsubishi, Renault, and Nissan will continue because it’s just plain the right thing to do. I would imagine that the fact that The Alliance has worked for all three companies means that they’ll find a way to continue it.

    Carlos Gomes Incredible Goals Will Not Be Missed

    I think the goals that Carlos put in place for Nissan may be replaced by other goals that are more realistic or less publicized. What we tend to forget is that many of those goals that he put out there and said Nissan market share will be such-and-such by the year such and such, they never materialized anyway.

    Sometimes setting difficult goals will energize the organization to reach them, sometimes they won’t, and sometimes unrealistic goals will cause the organization to do anything they have to do to reach the goal and that can sometimes trigger unethical behavior or stupid behavior like in the case of Nissan.

    In the US, for a while, excessive incentives and basically giving away the profitability in order to make the market share goal. So I don’t think that Carlos Gomes incredible goals will be missed at all.

  • Apple: The Biggest Change to iPad Since iPad (Watch New Commercial)

    Apple: The Biggest Change to iPad Since iPad (Watch New Commercial)

    Apple introduced the new iPad Pro today at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Howard Gilman Opera House. Apple says it is the “Biggest change to iPad since iPad”. It includes an all-screen design with Liquid Retina display, Face ID, A12X Bionic chip, USB-C, Smart Keyboard Folio, and a redesigned Apple Pencil. Check out their new iPad Pro commercial below.

    Here’s how Apple describes the New iPad Pro, Pencil and Keyboard:

    It’s all new, all screen, and all-powerful. Completely redesigned and packed with our most advanced technology, it will make you rethink what iPad is capable of. And what a computer is capable of.

    The new all-screen design means iPad Pro is a magical piece of glass that does everything you need, any way you hold it.

    With new, intuitive gestures, getting around is simple. Just swipe up to go Home.

    The new Liquid Retina display goes from edge to edge. True-to-life color and ProMotion technology make everything look gorgeous and feel responsive. You’ve got to see it — and touch it — to believe it.

    Face ID comes to iPad. It’s engineered for secure unlocking and works seamlessly whether you hold it in portrait or landscape. It’s the world’s most secure facial authentication in a tablet. And in a computer.

    Use Face ID to unlock your iPad Pro, log in to apps, and pay with a glance. It’s one password you can’t forget.

    A12X Bionic is the smartest, most powerful chip we’ve ever made. It has the Neural Engine, which runs five trillion operations per second and enables advanced machine learning. Translation: It’s faster than most PC laptops.

    Put all that power to work by multitasking with just a few swipes. Work on a creative project, message with a friend, search the web for inspiration and make a FaceTime call. All at the same time.

    A12X Bionic delivers 2x faster graphics.2 Which makes iPad Pro the perfect machine for augmented reality and a great way to play immersive games. Reality just got really fun.

    Introducing the New Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard

    Apple Pencil now responds to your touch. With a double tap, you can quickly change brushes or switch to the eraser, without interrupting your flow.

    And it attaches magnetically to pair and charge. In other words, it’s a snap.

    And There’s More…

    The all-new Smart Keyboard Folio provides a great typing experience and elegant front and back protection. We think it’s just your type. (Sorry, we had to.)

    USB-C gives you a high-performance connection to accessories like an external display or camera. You can even charge your phone with it.

    iPad Pro has two great cameras equipped with Smart HDR. A 12MP camera great for stunning photos, 4K video, document scanning, and AR experiences. And a TrueDepth camera perfect for Portrait selfies, FaceTime, Animoji, and Memoji.

    At just over a pound, it’s more portable than ever. Connect on the go with fast Wi-Fi and Gigabit-class LTE. And with up to 10 hours of battery life.

    That’s a look at the new iPad Pro. It’s the biggest change to iPad since iPad.

  • Thinking About Using AI to Recruit New Staff? Amazon’s Failed Experiment Might Have You Thinking Twice

    Thinking About Using AI to Recruit New Staff? Amazon’s Failed Experiment Might Have You Thinking Twice

    Companies that are planning to use artificial intelligence for recruitment should think twice before doing that. A new report revealed that Amazon’s AI machine learned gender bias and weeded out women as potential job candidates. The machine even downgraded applicants based on the school they attended.

    A growing number of employers are using AI to boost the efficiency of their hiring process. The machine can be utilized to evaluate resumes, narrow down a list of applicants, and recommend candidates for the right post within a company. It can then pass on its findings to its live counterpart for human assessment. While AI is an effective tool for screening resumes, it has been shown to develop bias, as proven by Amazon’s experiment.

    Reuters reported that the retail giant spent several years developing an AI that would vet job applicants. The machine was trained to look at the resumes that the company received for the past ten years. But as most of these applications were from male applicants, the patterns the AI identified were strongly oriented to that sex. In short, Amazon’s AI learned gender bias.

    For instance, the AI developed a preference for terms like “captured” or “executed,” which were words commonly used by male engineers. The machine also began to penalize applications that included the word “women” or “women’s.” So describing yourself as the head of the “women’s physics club” was a strike against you.

    A source familiar with Amazon’s AI program also admitted that the machine even downgraded applicants who graduated from two all-women’s universities. The names of the universities were not specified in the report.

    The bias shown by the AI’s algorithm became noticeable a year after the project started, and Amazon admittedly tried to correct its AI. The company’s engineers initially edited the system to make it neutral to these specific words. However, there was no way of proving that the machine would not learn another way to sort candidates in a discriminatory manner.

    The project was eventually shelved in 2017 because company executives lost confidence in it. The AI also reportedly failed at providing choices for strong and effective job candidates.

    Fortunately for Amazon, the AI hiring experiment was just a trial run. The machine was never utilized by a larger group and was never used as the main recruiting agent. Nevertheless, the possibility is high that a qualified applicant was weeded out simply because she was a woman and did not think to use a masculine term like “capture.”

    [Featured image via Pexels]

  • CareerBuilder CEO Says Technology is Driving Jobs Growth

    CareerBuilder CEO Says Technology is Driving Jobs Growth

    The release of today’s Jobs Report shows the lowest unemployment in the US since 1969 and CareerBuilder is now predicting that an additional 8,310,003 jobs will be created over the next 5 years. CareerBuilder CEO Irina Novoselsky says that technology is driving that growth, whether the job is a technology-oriented job or a traditional manufacturing job, technology skills are now required.

    Irina Novoselsky, CEO of CareerBuilder recently discussed how technology is driving jobs growth on Fox Business:

    Technology is Driving Jobs Growth

    Technology is driving a lot of that growth. You are seeing it in two ways, both on new industries that are emerging such as AI, robotics, cybersecurity, as you would expect, and the high wage earners are seeing a lot of that growth in jobs like nursing and software development.

    We are also seeing a lot of growth on the low wage in industries that are really the American fabric such as manufacturing. What’s really driving some of the conversations around that is the technology aspect and the skill deficit that’s happening as part of that.

    The top is growing, the bottom is growing, and really the middle is stuck in a dilemma where they have to get more skillset if they are going to get there. They are either going to go up or they are going to be left behind.

    70 Percent of Jobs Have a Major Technical Component

    Employers are saying that 70 percent of their jobs have a major technical component, including in manufacturing. A machinist today has a big technical aspect to their job, more than even a few years ago. Consumers and employees are left looking at how do they upscale and career path in non-traditional ways?

    The four-year education model is really difficult for them, it’s budget constraint, time constraint, so they are looking for unique opportunities to get that education and that skillset and in non-traditional ways.

    Employers Have Turned to Training Internally

    One of the things employers are doing is creating that competency skill training internally. What’s happening is that there are not enough of the skilled employees to recruit. One of the largest things employers are dealing with is open roles for a very long period of time and they are maneuvering this talent deficit by taking it on themselves.

    One of the things that we are doing is no longer mandating a 4-year college degree for some of our roles. We are taking on the onus to bring in the people and train them ourselves. It’s a great opportunity for middle wage earners to start upscale and career pathing, learning the technology skill sets to move up or they are going to be left behind.

  • KENTECH Launches ClarityIQ, Bringing Predictive Analytics to the Hiring Process

    KENTECH Launches ClarityIQ, Bringing Predictive Analytics to the Hiring Process

    The challenge for business startups is focusing your time and money on the things that will be most impactful to your business success. Kenneth Coats, founder, and CEO of KENTECH Consulting says that “the lesson I would pass on to other entrepreneurs is to simplify.”

    CEO Kenneth Coats of KENTECH Consulting, an investigative background check technology company recently discussed on Entrepreneur his business challenges and offered advice to other small business founders:

    Simplification is Key to Going to Market Quickly

    I’m the founder and CEO of KENTECH Consulting. We help the world make clear informed decisions. We are an investigative technology firm. We help our clients navigate risks and hire superior human capital. The biggest challenge I experience in my current role as founder and CEO is having many ideas and not enough time to execute on them all.

    The challenge that it created was the ability to go to market. How we resolved it was to simplify the process which was harder than it appears on paper to cut out things we knew we couldn’t possibly do in the time we have. The lesson I would pass on to other entrepreneurs is to simplify. There are many great ideas that are constantly running around in our head. Those are great, but it’s good to just journal them and simplify and execute.

    KENTECH Launches ClarityIQ, Bringing Technology to the Hiring Process

    Security has continuously been a challenge throughout the world whether it’s people, or access or technology. What we are looking at is tackling police and law enforcement recruitment. Policing in the US is not so good. There is not a great relationship between the community and police. Part of that challenge is stemming from the hiring practices.

    We’ve been looking at how to resolve that problem by ensuring that the right people are being hired in these positions. We now have a patent pending product called ClarityIQ which is built on providing predictive analytics, a “FICO” score of sorts on the success probability of a person becoming a law enforcement officer that can orient into the community.

    Entrepreneurs Should Expect the Unexpected

    As a leader how do you prepare for the challenges that you may face? The simple answer to that is to expect the unexpected at all times. Being an entrepreneur is living inside the Matrix where two plus two does not equal four. If you understand that from the outset two plus two can equal whatever you want it to. You can always plan and 80 percent of the time things will work out, but leaving about 20 percent unforeseen and expect it is the challenge.

  • Slack Will Be Even More Useful in the Future

    Slack Will Be Even More Useful in the Future

    Slack Technologies CEO Stewart Butterfield was recently interviewed on “Bloomberg Studio 1.0” where he discussed the likelihood that Slack will continue to grow and dominate messaging and workplace efficiency:

    Slack’s Enormous Growth and Future Goals

    We’re unbounded in terms of opportunity and we’re unbounded in terms of resources. The market is just way bigger than we thought. There are, excluding China, 200 million people in the world who will inevitably be using Slack or something like Slack. We don’t necessarily win, but the advantages are just so big that everyone will eventually switch.

    There are a hundred thousand plus people using Slack every day out of IBM. There are also farms, dentist offices, small tax preparers, and police departments using it. The Norwegian Department of Labor and Welfare uses it. Almost every academic research lab here in San Francisco, UCSF, Berkeley, Stanford uses it. Also, the Federal Government uses it. The range of utility was way greater than we thought when we first got started.

    Slack Can Be a Positive or Negative

    If your company or organization has really serious cultural problems using Slack can exacerbate it, it can actually make it worse. If your a company that has really healthy patterns of communication where there’s a high level of trust and respect using Slack can make it even better.

    Slack Will Be Even More Useful in the Future

    I think what really is interesting about the future of work when you look at people in their individual functional roles today versus a few decades ago, they’re just massively more powerful in their ability to get things done. Where we haven’t seen as dramatic of improvement and what ends up being the limiting factor on performance is communication and how difficult and hard it is to gain the kind of alignment that you need.

    The difference between the best and the worst performing team is far greater than the worst performing individual. So we’ve concentrated most of our effort at individual worker productivity, time management skills, life hacks, to do lists and things like that.

    We have focused far less on what is probably the more important thing to change like the degree of transparency, clarity around goals, trust, respect, alignment. The output there could be several orders of magnitude greater.

  • The Best Form of Energy is PASSION

    The Best Form of Energy is PASSION

    Prolific video blogger and digital marketer extraordinaire, Neil Patel, recently talked about how passion drives him and should drive you too. Here are some key outtakes to get you motivated:

    Passion is All You Need

    Today, I’m shooting a lot of videos, probably 20-25. There are moments when I’m tired, I am human. It’s not like I am a machine where I can keep going forever. People ask me do you want coffee? I don’t want coffee, I don’t need caffeine. If you haven’t tried giving up coffee in your life, the first week or two or even a month is a bit tough, but it gets easier.

    Here’s what I found is the best form of energy. It’s passion. If you love what you are doing you will keep going no matter how tired you are.

    Passion Drives Personal Efficiency

    I was talking to a buddy last night and he was mentioning to me, hey sometimes I only work like 43 hours in a week, because if I work 60 hours that other 17 hours are really inefficient, and I’m not really getting much done. What I’ve found is that if you are truly passionate about what you are doing, you’ll be efficient with all of your hours. It doesn’t matter if you are tired, you will still figure out how to grind through, put in all that you have, and get the job done.

    Yes, you could take vacations, you could take breaks, but I believe the best form of pushing through and accomplishing your goals is having passion. And if you don’t have the passion for whatever you are doing, stop doing it, life is too short. You’re going to regret it in the future, the question is just when.

    How to Find Your Passion

    Keep trying out different things. When you are a kid you’re like, I want to be a doctor, I want to be a firefighter. Then you grow up, you may go to college, you may not, but you’re not still like I want to be a doctor or firefighter. Most people are lost. A lot of people 50 or 60 are still lost. Most people don’t know what they want to do, they just don’t admit that.

    The way you figure out your true passion, what you want to do, is you try a lot of little things out and you will eventually figure out what you are good at, and usually what you are good at is also what you are passionate about. And if not, quit, go onto the next thing. As long as you keep trying new things you will learn what you’re passionate about, and then you will do well and you won’t need the coffee.

  • HipChat Maker Atlassian Calls It Quits, Sells to Rival Slack

    HipChat Maker Atlassian Calls It Quits, Sells to Rival Slack

    The saying “If you can’t beat them, join them” certainly holds true for Atlassian and Slack. The former is selling its rights to HipChat and Stride to rival Slack and will even be making a small investment in the company.

    The surprising news was announced recently by Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield. Aside from tweeting his company’s purchase of the two products, he also explained that the move was to “better support those users who choose to migrate” to Slack. Joff Redfern, Atlassian’s VP of Product Management, also confirmed the news. In a blog post, he said this was the “best way forward for our customers and for Atlassian.”

    What was not as surprising was the revelation that the company would be shutting down both HipChat and Stride. The former is one of Slack’s main competitor in the workplace chat arena while the latter is a chat and collaboration system that Atlassian rolled out in 2017.

    Atlassian clarified that they only sold the intellectual rights to HipChat and Stride and that Slack will not be handling support for the two products. However, existing HipChat Server and HipChat Data Server customers will still enjoy product support until their license period ends. The two products will be discontinued on February 15, 2019.

    Slack and Atlassian will also be working together to migrate all of the enterprise giant’s users over to Slack. The two companies will also be collaborating in developing future integrations. Atlassian will also be receiving a small stake in Slack, with the startup paying an undisclosed amount to the company in the next three years.

    Atlassian tried hard to remain competitive in the office chat space environment by moving its HipChat users to Stride. Aside from the usual chat and communication features, Stride also offered project-tracking and audio and video conferencing. However, the revamped system just wasn’t enough to bring in new users and the company started to consider selling.

    Atlassian co-CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes told Bloomberg that they’re proud of what their team has built, but also admitted that “it is a crowded space, and there’s a pragmatic option there.”

    The alliance between the two rivals makes sense, especially with Microsoft chipping away at Slack’s dominance in corporate chat software. Microsoft has put the pressure on with its Teams software, which is now available to its 135 million Office cloud subscribers. It has also released a free version of Teams to attract new users. At the moment, Slack reportedly has 500,000 live organizations using its system while Microsoft says 200,000 active organizations are using Teams.

  • The Death of Net Neutrality and What it Means for Consumers

    The Death of Net Neutrality and What it Means for Consumers

    It finally happened. The repeal of net neutrality laws by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took effect on Monday.

    According to the FCC, the repeal will put an end to the “unnecessary, heavy-handed regulations” implemented by the previous administration and move forward with “common-sense regulations that will promote investment and broadband deployment.”

    The net neutrality rules, which were passed in 2015 during the tenure of President Barack Obama, prevented internet providers from giving special treatment to specific websites or charging them more for particular content. However, current FCC Chairman Ajit Pai opposed these regulations as he believed they impeded innovation.

    What It Means for Consumers

    Most internet users and consumer advocates are rightly worried that the repeal of Title II, or the net neutrality bill, means that broadband providers would start to sell their services in bundles, much like how cable television is packaged. For instance, some providers might require users to pay for a social media premium bundle in order to access platforms like Instagram and Twitter.

    There are also concerns that without the protections of the neutrality law, internet providers can slow down their competitor’s traffic or any other site they want to slow down. Conversely, they can also create “fast lanes,” which companies with deep enough pockets can take advantage of in return for faster connectivity.

    This also means that the playing field could be biased against small companies or eCommerce startups that will have to fight harder for exposure. Freelancers and other remote workers might also have to shell out more money to work from home.

    Can Net Neutrality be Revived?

    While it’s understandable for consumers to be wary about the FCC repeal, it will reportedly be months before any changes are felt. In the meantime, several states have already taken steps to protect net neutrality. The governors of Montana, New York, and Washington have either signed a law or issued executive orders to counter federal rules regarding the internet.

    There’s also a motion in the lower House right now that could push Republicans to vote to reinstate the 2015 net neutrality rules. Voters still have a say on this as they can either force their state representative to take a stand or vote out and replace them with someone who supports their stand on a free internet.

    For their part, some internet providers have publicly pledged that they will not throttle or block sites even with the repeal of Title II. Their only argument against the bill was the fact that the FCC had so much control over their business and that the regulations made expansion difficult.

  • Slack Lets You Get Even More Work Done With New ‘Actions’ Tool

    Slack Lets You Get Even More Work Done With New ‘Actions’ Tool

    In its bid to become more than just a messaging platform, Slack has been collaborating with several companies to building integrations across apps. Called “Actions,” this simple shortcut lets you work with productivity tools like Asana, Zendesk, Jira, and Hubspot, among others without leaving the app.

    Similar to Slackbots, Actions let users turn any Slack conversations into tasks, messages, or follow-ups via the integrations. You can even add comments to tickets and pull requests as well as save information for review later. All you have to do is click on the drop-down of any Slack message to choose the appropriate action, without typing a slash command or messaging a chatbot.

    It seems like integrations with third-party apps make for a better user interface and easier Slack experience. With Actions, users save time since detailed information is automatically sent out to the corresponding app. This means that if you create a new ticket or assign a new task based on a Slack message, Zendesk or Asana generates the same on its platform by mirroring information.

    To date, Slack has eight million daily users on its platform, three million of which are paid accounts. And with 200,000 developers on board, Slack wants to improve user experience on the platform through deeper integrations with popular apps. For others, this may be a better alternative than memorizing commands or sorting through hundreds of productivity Slackbots in the app directory.

    Not content with being just a messaging service, Slack wants to position itself as the de facto collaboration tool in the workplace. As more companies rely on several enterprise software to handle various tasks like project management and customer service, there’s logic and value in integrations.

    “There’s such a demand for specialized software, and for great tools that are easy to use and interoperable with all applications you use,” Slack chief product officer April Underwood pointed out. “We think this is good, and we think more tools means customers have more choice. Ultimately there’s more competition in the marketplace, that means the best tools, the ones that truly help companies do their best work, rise to the top.”

    In fact, Slack is facing increasing competition from other companies out to build simpler but well-constructed collaboration tools. Atlassian, for instance, has made its team communications platform Stride open to developers, allowing customization for your team. On the other hand, Microsoft has continued to improve Teams, its collaborative software. It is fully incorporated into the company’s various applications, such as Microsoft Office and Skype, and features extensions allowing integration with non-Microsoft products.

    Slack’s flexibility and continued addition of numerous features make the platform a favorite amongst smaller, niche companies. But as these companies expand, Slack might need more action to convince them of the collaboration tool’s indispensability in the larger workplace.  

    [Featured image via Slack website]

  • Did Senate Democrats Really Save Net Neutrality? The House Has Yet to Vote

    Did Senate Democrats Really Save Net Neutrality? The House Has Yet to Vote

    The US Senate voted on Wednesday to save net neutrality. The chambers used the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to stop the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) decision to undo regulations regarding Internet usage set during the term of President Barack Obama.

    The bill was passed with a 52 to 47 vote, with the Democrats and Independents receiving some surprising support from Republicans John Kennedy and Lisa Murkowski. The duo represents Louisiana and Alaska respectively. As expected, Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine also voted in favor of net neutrality.

    Collins had long announced her support for the CRA move, but Kennedy and Murkowski’s stand on the matter was relatively unknown.

    Kennedy later admitted to the Washington Post that it was difficult to make a decision but it all boiled down to who you were going to trust. As Kennedy explained, those who trusted their cable companies won’t be happy with his vote but “If you don’t trust your cable company, you will.”

    Meanwhile, Murkowski emphasized in a statement that she’s still against some of Obama’s FCC’s regulations but understands the need to safeguard the rights of Internet users.

    “I have voted to pass this resolution today so that we can reset the discussion and move beyond the politics at play here to what is really needed—lasting legislation that will provide certainty and move us beyond shifting regulatory standards that depend on who is running the FCC,” the senator explained.

    Under the Obama administration, regulations prevented broadband providers from blocking, limiting or discriminating against lawful internet content. However, the FCC voted last December to disregard those rules. The FCC’s decision was slated to take effect on June 11, but the new Senate measure effectively blocks that order.

    While the vote to block the FCC might be a major triumph for those supporting net neutrality, they still have a long fight ahead of it. For one, the bill still needs to be approved by the House and signed by President Trump.

    This is where things will potentially get tricky, as net neutrality activists would still have to secure the support of more than 20 Republicans. This is despite having the unanimous support of Democrats. Meanwhile, the White House has been vocal of its support for FCC head Ajit Pai’s move to reverse the regulations set under the previous administration.

    Net neutrality supporters remain hopeful, though. After all, President Trump has changed his mind several times on key issues. There’s also the fact that some Republicans might feel that siding against net neutrality could cause problems in the upcoming midterm elections.

  • The End is Near: Net Neutrality Rules Set to Expire on June 11

    The End is Near: Net Neutrality Rules Set to Expire on June 11

    The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced that net neutrality protections will be repealed on June 11, 30 days after the notice was filed on Thursday. Alongside the expiration, new rules governing Internet service providers will also take effect.

    According to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, previous rules were deemed as “utility-styled and heavy-handed.” He also emphasized that the Internet has always been open and free, so there was no need for any restrictions made during the Obama presidency.

    “The Internet wasn’t broken in 2015, when the prior FCC buckled to political pressure and imposed heavy-handed Title II rules on the Internet economy,” Pai expressed in a statement. Despite opposition, Pai’s “Restoring Internet Freedom” proposal was green-lighted in December of last year. However, by April of 2018, only a few of the provisions were implemented due to a prolonged bureaucratic process. But on May 2, the Office of Management and Budget finally signed off the remaining key points.

    Set in the Obama-era, open-internet rules prevented service providers from blocking or slowing down access to specific sites and charging consumers more for faster content loading. Several Internet service providers (ISPs) were accused of throttling and restricting the access of their customers to rival companies with similar offerings. It was a practice that indicated a massive government oversight and jumpstarted FCC investigations under the 2015 rules.

    Once net neutrality rules expire, transparency rules will take effect and ISPs like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T are mandated to inform their customers when they will limit or restrict content and offer faster options at higher fees. These companies also pledged to be impartial against legal content.

    For net neutrality advocates, the fight for an open Internet continues ahead of the June deadline. Democrat senators have presented a petition to reverse Pai’s repeal and the Senate is set to vote on it next week. Even if the legislation passes Senate and Congress hurdles, President Donald Trump is expected to reject it.  

    More than 20 states have filed a lawsuit to block the net neutrality repeal. Several states have adopted laws enforcing the principles of net neutrality within their borders. FCC, however, has asserted authority over any state legislation inconsistent with the repeal.  

  • Microsoft on Track to Reach $1 Trillion Market Cap in a Year, Says Morgan Stanley Report

    Microsoft on Track to Reach $1 Trillion Market Cap in a Year, Says Morgan Stanley Report

    Investors have been anticipating the close race to the $1 trillion market cap between Apple and Amazon, but analysts at Morgan Stanley are also counting on Microsoft to hit the mark within a year.

    The investment bank hiked its stock price target for Microsoft to $130 from $110 in a detailed report released to clients on Monday. It was 49 percent higher than Friday’s close of around $87 and on track to reach the $1 trillion market value target.

    Following the Morgan Stanley report, Microsoft shares rose 5 percent in midday trading on Monday. With a midday market value of $707 billion, Microsoft was right behind Amazon at $733 billion and Apple at $849 billion.

    Morgan Stanley’s bullish outlook is attributed to the software company’s growing cloud services under the Office 365 subscription and Azure platform for businesses. Microsoft is expected to grow its share of the cloud market because of its large customer base and distribution channel, unlike cloud giants Amazon and Google. After becoming Microsoft’s CEO in 2014, Satya Nadella’s push for cloud computing, instead of making phones, has translated into surging stock prices for the company.

    “With Public Cloud adoption expected to grow from 21% of workloads today to 44% in the next three years, Microsoft looks poised to maintain a dominant position in a public cloud market we expect to more than double in size to (more than) $250 billion dollars,” analysts Keith Weiss and Melissa Franchi wrote.

    Morgan Stanley analysts cited results from a recent survey of chief information officers that highlighted preference to cloud services versus local servers. Large companies are predicted to channel more of their tech budgets to cloud computing with Microsoft, Amazon, and Cisco in the next few years.

    Microsoft still has other business lines, like the Xbox gaming segment and social networking through LinkedIn, that can contribute to its robust growth. However, investors are still betting on Microsoft’s cloud business to primarily drive sales and profit surge of nearly 10 percent in the following years.

    [Featured image via Microsoft]

  • Amazon is Now the World’s Second Largest Company, Surpasses Alphabet

    Amazon is Now the World’s Second Largest Company, Surpasses Alphabet

    Amazon became the second most valuable company as it overtook Google parent Alphabet for the first time amidst Tuesday’s trading.

    The eCommerce giant’s shares surged by 2.7 percent, pulling up its stock market value to $768 billion. Over the past 12 months, the online retailer has added around $350 billion to its market capitalization, surging by 85 percent. This was attributed to Amazon’s aggressive expansion into other markets, such as cloud computing and brick-and-mortar stores.

    More investors are betting on Amazon’s profitable and fast-growing cloud computing business, Amazon Web Services, to fund the company’s new ventures like original content, physical stores, and building data centers and warehouses.

    Amazon is still behind Apple, the largest publicly traded US company with market value of $889 billion. But analysts think the eCommerce giant can close the gap. “They could have Apple in their sights at some point,” Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York, said.

    On the other hand, Alphabet’s stock tumbled by 0.4 percent, trimming its market cap to $762 billion. The Wall Street ranking shake-up was traced to Monday’s tech sell-off following the political backlash over reports that a consulting firm leaked the personal data of 50 million Facebook users. Similar to the social media company, Alphabet also relies on obtaining massive amounts of personal data to target online advertising.

    Although Amazon also collects data from site users, some analysts believe that the online retailer will not be affected by concerns about the new regulation on online advertising, unlike Facebook and other tech companies.

    Fred Weiss, a managing director at CIBC Atlantic Trust, pointed out to Financial Times, “It is clearly companies that have proprietary personal data that they are able to market to advertisers. Those are the ones that are vulnerable, not so much Amazon. It does very little on advertising and is not being impacted the same as Google and Facebook.”

    [Featured image via Amazon blog]

  • Google Drive Update Will Use AI to Help Organize and Retrieve Shared Files

    Google Drive Update Will Use AI to Help Organize and Retrieve Shared Files

    Google Drive is an indispensable cloud-based tool for countless organizations worldwide. Its file sharing and synchronization services allow users to store and share all kinds of data within their group, enhancing their overall productivity through seamless collaboration.

    However, Google Drive users inevitably learn that while sharing files and documents with anyone is easy, locating and retrieving a particular shared document tends to be a bit more complicated. The problem is especially cumbersome for large organizations that may need to sift through thousands of files in the “Shared With Me” section just to find a single document. 

    Thankfully, Google Drive has come up with a new way to make its users’ lives a lot easier. With the help of artificial intelligence technology, the service will now try to guess which files you might want to open.

    In a blog post, the company announced that will now be revamping Google Drive’s Share With Me and will soon “start intelligently organizing” files located in this section. Once updated, the drive will display a list of people along with the files they have shared.

    Because users mostly search content by owner, Google Drive aims to make these searches even faster with the help of AI.

    According to the company, the new system will “predict the people and files that you’re most likely to search for and make them more visible.” In addition, the system’s predictive capability will get better with use thanks to the inclusion of machine learning technology.

    Google announced that the update will be released in the coming two weeks and be available to G Suite.

    Meanwhile, Google Drive for Windows and Mac OS will no longer be supported come May 12. But users need not worry too much, all documents and files stored in Google Drive will be unaffected. They’ll just have to install one app to keep things up and running.

    Google Drive users running on Windows and Mac OS will only need to install the Backup & Sync app to continue the automatic syncing between their desktop and the cloud. Android and iOS users will be unaffected by the ending of support since it will only cover desktop users.

    [Featured image via Twitter.com/googledrive]

  • Dropbox Announces Plans to Integrate Google G Suite Tools into Its Platform

    Dropbox Announces Plans to Integrate Google G Suite Tools into Its Platform

    One of the minor inconveniences plaguing the modern day workplace is the proliferation of different apps and tools that might not be totally compatible with each other. Thankfully, users of both Dropbox and Google Suite will have it easier in the near future as cross-platform integration is in the works.

    Dropbox recently announced that it plans to partner with Google to integrate G Suite tools to its file sharing and storage service. This is a smart move for the company as it would greatly improve the functionality and ease of use for its service considering that 50 percent of Dropbox users also maintain a G Suite account.

    This partnership will allow Dropbox users to easily access useful G Suite features once the integration is completed. For instance, they will be able to open and edit compatible files such as Google Slides, Sheets or Docs directly from Dropbox. For Dropbox Business administrators, the partnership will also allow them to manage Google Docs, Slides and Sheet that are in Dropbox.

    On the other hand, G Suite users will also be able to open, edit and even create Google Docs in Dropbox. They can also make the same kind of file manipulations for other G Suite files such as Google Sheets and Slides.

    “We want to make it easy for our users to work across devices with the tools they love,” explained Dropbox Vice President of Engineering Tony Lee, reflecting the trend of intercompany cooperation to make their different products work seamlessly with each other. Dropbox also partnered with Microsoft in a similar arrangement a few years back.

    The recent weeks have been eventful for the San Francisco-based file hosting and syncing company. Just last week, Dropbox went public in a bid to raise $500 million in fresh funding to finance its latest R&D efforts.

    [Featured image via Dropbox]

  • ZenBusiness Wants to Make it Easier for One Million Small Businesses to Get Started by 2023

    ZenBusiness Wants to Make it Easier for One Million Small Businesses to Get Started by 2023

    Austin-based company ZenBusiness has secured $4.5 million in seed money, thanks to numerous angel investors. The startup is also embarking on the lofty goal of assisting one million businesses get started.

    ZenBusiness, which began operations in 2015, helps small business get off on the right foot by assisting with legal documents. The company will inform clients of each and every form required by the state and the reports that have to be filed yearly. This will undoubtedly be a big boon to first-time business owners and entrepreneurs, as the process and requirements of launching a small business differ per state.

    The corporate creation and management company is offering a fast, easy and affordable alternative to the complicated process of filing legal and business documents. ZenBusiness will provide clients a set of questions to answer that will determine the business they want to start. The business platform then creates and files all the needed documents for free, except for the state-mandated fees. What’s more, this is all accomplished in as little as 48 hours.

    Company owners can also avail of the $10 monthly package that lets ZenBusiness become the business’ registered agent and allows them to handle “annual filings, franchise tax, all of the red tape around an entity.” The company is also open to paying any potential fines in the event that they have been remiss with any of the documents. The payment will be taken from the $4.5 million seed money from investors Lerer Hippeau, Greycroft, Slow Ventures, Founders Fund, and Revolution’s Rise of the Rest.

    ZenBusiness founder Ross Buhrdorf explains that their platform and affordable pricing ensures that every small business owner has the “resources and protection they need to turn their business dreams and ideas into reality.” Burhdorf has also set a very lofty goal for the company, that of helping develop one million small businesses by the year 2023. This roughly translates to 2.5 million new jobs for Americans and over $100 billion in income for workers.

    [Featured image via Pexels]

  • Will Trump Tax Cuts Benefit Your Small Business?

    Will Trump Tax Cuts Benefit Your Small Business?

    Small businesses are feeling very optimistic these days, with a record number believing it’s the perfect time to expand. The positive outlook has reportedly been fueled by the changes instituted by the Trump administration’s tax-reform package.

    Survey Says It’s a Good Time for Small Businesses

    According to a survey released by the CNBC and Survey Monkey, the Small Business Confidence Index for Q1 saw numbers rise from 57 to 62. The five-point increase is the largest move per quarter that the index has seen since the two companies started measuring in 2017.

    The CNBC/SurveyMonkey Survey also highlighted several key takeaways. For instance, 47 percent of small businesses stated that on the whole, business conditions are good. Only 44 percent believed that last quarter. The survey also revealed that 32 percent of small business owners are planning to add more full-time workers in 2018.

    How the New Tax Law Affects Small Businesses

    It should be pointed out that the Q1 survey is the first done since President Donald Trump enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) on December 22, 2017. The rise in optimism and confidence is quite the surprise, considering that in the Q4 2017 survey, small-business owners were split in the middle regarding the effect the tax law would have on their business. Now it seems that 46 percent of those surveyed believe Trump’s tax policy will have a positive impact; an impressive jump from the 38 percent of last quarter.

    What kind of impact will the new tax law have on SMBs? The final iteration of the bill allow pass-throughs of as much as 20 percent of the income. However, these deductions depend on the type of business.

    In personal service businesses, like lawyers, architects, and brokers, the 20 percent deduction is only permitted for married partners that filed joint incomes of as much as $315,000. Meanwhile, the deduction is allowed for single taxpayers with incomes of up to $157,000.

    For businesses that are employee intensive, like manufacturers and restaurants, the deductions depend on the payroll. The 20 percent deduction is actually confined to 50 percent of the payroll. So companies with a lot of workers get a big break. The new tax law basically gives these businesses a good reason to expand and hire new people.

    Last December, Adam Looney of the Tax Policy Center was interviewed on PBS’s News Hour where he explained how the ‘pass-throughs’ would work for small business.

    Benefits of Tax Cuts to Small and Medium Sized Businesses

    The TCJA appears to have a trickle-down effect on consumers and small businesses. The higher take-home pay and bonuses resulting from the new tax law have given consumers more spending confidence. This was clearly seen during last year’s holiday season.

    This consumer confidence is a good sign for small and medium-sized business. With increased spending, these companies can generate more revenue that they can use to either improve the business or pay off creditors. For instance, savvy business owners can take steps to improve their credit rating, like paying their bills immediately.

    Companies with improved credit ratings have access to more capital. This can be beneficial to owners thinking of expanding operations, improving an office, buying new equipment, or refinancing a debt.

    More importantly, a positive credit score makes it possible for entrepreneurs to apply for small business funding with banks. These traditional lenders typically look more closely at credit scores. They can also offer small businesses better terms and rates. For example, instead of paying 20 percent interest on a credit card, a businessman can get capital at 8 percent interest which can be used to pay off debt and place the company in a healthier space, finance wise.

    Small businesses certainly have a lot to look forward to now that the TCJA is in effect. However, the changes introduced in this new law can be challenging to navigate. Some of the new rules are just so complicated that tax experts might have trouble processing them. So it’s a good idea for small businesses to invest in reliable tax advisers this year.  

    [Featured image via YouTube]

  • How Your Business Can Identify and Capitalize on Micro-Moments

    How Your Business Can Identify and Capitalize on Micro-Moments

    There’s no question that smartphones have become a ubiquitous part of our daily lives. Studies have shown that 46% of Americans reach for their phones first thing in the morning, while 91% of people automatically reach for a mobile device to check on something when doing a task.

    This reliance on smartphones has become so pervasive that many industries are putting more effort into targeting mobile users than those on conventional devices like a desktop. It’s a smart move since turning even a small segment of these users into customers can yield huge profits. An effective way for companies to profit from this group is to take advantage of “micro-moments.”

    What are Micro-Moments?

    Google coined the term “micro-moments” in 2015 to identify the exact points in time that lead to a consumer finally making a purchase. The company described these moments as “critical touch points within today’s customer journey, and when added together, they ultimately determine how a journey ends.”

    Essentially, these are the critical points where someone takes to their device (which is most often a smartphone) and takes steps regarding a need. It’s the intersection of what a customer wants and needs at the moment and what they know.

    Google has determined four key moments based on the consumer: “I want to do,” “I want to know,” “I want to buy” and “I want to go.” Most decisions made by shoppers can be traced to one of those four moments. For instance, a shopper who’s headed to Turkey would research on what to “do” in that country. A travel agency can come up with a promo that will arrange a trip to Istanbul’s famous Blue Mosque.

    Image result for micro moments

    [Graphic via Think with Google]

    How to Capitalize on Micro-Moments

    Now that the importance of micro-moments have been established and their constant evolution noted, companies have to think about how they can use these instances to their advantage. Here are some things to consider if you want to catch that perfect micro-moment with a customer:

    1. Put Your Business Profile Out There

    It pays to ensure that your business profile is accurate and completely filled out on Google, particularly if you have a physical storefront. There has been an increase in “near me” or “right here” searches, as more users are looking for a place to go for a certain activity. Getting your business profile up will help with micro-moments where a customer wants to “do” something or “go” somewhere. Google’s Local Guides program assists users in verifying if your profile information is accurate.

    2. Flaunt Your Value With Original and Significant Content

    The need to know is one micro-moment that could hit you several times a day. This is why people are always looking for content on eCommerce sites. Having unique and relevant content is a great way to introduce your business to shoppers who are searching for information on either a particular product or on something that has captured their interest. Regardless of whether it’s a short how-to video or some DIY tips, make sure to flaunt your value by offering good content that appeals at the moment.

    3. Speed is of the Essence

    Speed is key if you want to use micro-moments to your advantage. When asked, almost half of customers admit that they will leave a website if it’s unresponsive or takes too long to load. People also don’t like having to go through different windows or steps just to get information. Optimizing your site for mobile devices and streamlining your buying process is a good way to entice consumers to go to your page and stay.

    4. Improve User Interface

    Another area that brands should focus on is how the user experiences their website and content. When a potential customer goes to your site or a specific page, what will they see? Will they be able to find what they’re looking for quickly or are they going to spend time wading through redundant information?

    Aside from ensuring that information is accessed quickly, transactions should also be simplified. Complicated checkout pages or a cart that requires several clicks in order to finish a purchase will turn consumers off. There should also be fewer distractions on the checkout pages, especially those on mobile devices, as these further cut down the odds of conversions. The goal is to make shopping quick, fun, and simple.

    Companies have to be ready to take advantage of micro-moments. This means that business has to do some forward thinking to anticipate what their customers would need. Changes may also need to be made to ensure that websites are optimized for mobile.  

    [Featured image via ThinkWithGoogle]

  • How to Attract More Customers and Boost Your Sales with Webinars

    How to Attract More Customers and Boost Your Sales with Webinars

    In the early 2000s, only established companies or enterprises could afford to conduct webinars. However, in more recent years, advances in teleconferencing have made hosting a webinar more feasible for small businesses and even solopreneurs. 

    It’s clear that webinars are one of the more effective and useful online marketing tools today. Industry analysts have also determined that as businesses continue to use more video and incorporate social media into their marketing strategies, webinars will continue to be a trend. But how can you use this technology to attract more customers and sell more products?

    Explaining the Webinar

    A webinar, or “web seminar,” is a video conference conducted over the web. It utilizes the internet to connect the host (person conducting the webinar) to the audience (viewers and listeners).

    Webinars can be conducted in several ways. The hosts can choose to show themselves on camera during a live presentation or switch their screens to show demonstrations or slideshows. The webinar could also just be an audio presentation and speakers from different locations can be invited to co-host.

    Instead of using the technology for seminars, businesses, schools, and other organizations can also use it to give lectures. As a matter of fact, 2 out of 3 webinars are used for educational purposes. According to Clickmeeting’s research, 40 percent of webinars are staff training, how-tos, and product training while 15 percent are e-learning classes and online education courses. It could also be used as a promotional presentation to launch or sell a product and connect with new customers.

    Why Webinars are Popular

    The webinars rise in popularity is due to one very simple fact—it’s very effective in getting your message across.

    Webinars can be utilized to provide fundamental training for employees at a lower cost. Instead of paying for a conference or class just for continuing employee education, companies can offer a free webinar. It provides the same knowledge that employees would get from a conference without having to shoulder transportation or food expenses.

    This marketing tool is also very effective in allowing customers to interact with content. Customers who sign up for a webinar can quickly provide feedback or ask the company questions. More importantly, content is delivered in real-time.

    How to Boost Sales with Webinars

    Webinars have so much potential to do your company good. Conversely, it also has the capacity to do some damage if it’s not done right. Here are some suggestions on how you can conduct a webinar that will boost conversions.

    1. Make it Engaging With Visuals

    Visuals are the way to go if you want your webinar to be engaging and memorable. People prefer infographics over bullet points, as the former is easier to understand and more interesting to look at. This has been proven to be true on social media, as more users click or shared posts with images. For example, Facebook posts with images reportedly received 87 percent of engagement among users while Tweets with images receive 18 percent more clicks that ones that on have text.

    2. Keep Audience Interest Up

    Webinars typically run for about an hour, with half of that time devoted to getting your message across. You want to keep your audience interested throughout the entire seminar. Remember that you can quickly lose the attention of your audience if your presentation is boring or has too many instances of inactivity.

    One way to keep things lively is to opt for an interactive presentation. For instance, ask the attendees to answer a poll or write something down every 15 minutes or so. Entertain live callers who ask questions. Not only will this liven things up, it also makes the session sound more conversational.

    3. Practice, Practice, Practice

    Practicing a speech or a presentation, even one you’ve done a thousand times before, is always a good idea. Go over your notes and check your visuals a few days or hours before you air your webinar. Rehearse with a colleague or a friend. Record yourself. Doing these things will give you the chance to identify possible problems with your material or how you present it.

    4. Keep it Fun With Freebies

    Freebies and bonuses make life fun. Offering the audience a chance to win a prize will incentivize them and keep them engaged. The rewards don’t even have to be big or expensive. Cash, gift cards, discounts or a private consultation with you or one of your expert staff will suffice.

    Don’t underestimate the power of webinars. If you’ve never considered using this marketing tool, perhaps 2018 is the year to give it try.

    [Featured image via Pixabay]