“Given the amount of content on that channel with the amount of marketing that’s being spent to drive more users there’s a virality that is driving this asset to be worth over a period of time $100 to $200 billion,” says Wall Street Analyst Alex Zukin. “That’s why we think that for Oracle to invest at a $7.5 billion stake for a company potentially worth $60 billion today (and $200 billion later) could be compelling and add value to the share price.”
Alex Zukin, RBC Capital Markets, discusses why Oracle investing in TikTok is a real opportunity of the company to change the narrative and be relevant and exciting:
It does appear to us the Oracle has a real opportunity to change the narrative for the company. A narrative that has to do with growth, that has to do with cloud, that has to do with being relevant and exciting again. That is a really interesting opportunity again to add shareholder value.
Oracle is a fiesty competitor. Never underestimate Larry Ellison if he wants to get into a market. It started with the announcement that Zoom is a customer earlier this year. That was a big deal. That was really their first highly relevant actionable customer win that stood out to us. They are compounding their gains if they are able to successfully add TikTok.
When Oracle is looking for opportunities to change the narrative the fact that it is looking at this rather than potentially large scale M&A suggests that the valuation environment may not be one that supports that type of path right now. This is definitely an innovative construct to change the relevant narrative for the company.
The data indicates that the kind of engagement that this app is driving is not just unique but in the history of applications in internet software difficult to replicate. The amount of people that spend more than ten minutes, more than 30 minutes, or more than an hour engaging is very different than most established apps. Not just the amount of people that are engaging but the amount of time and the amount of people that are engaging over a certain amount of time.
It’s always possible that these types of things can be replicated with enough investment over a big piece of time. But the truth is right now given the amount of content on that channel with the amount of marketing that’s being spent to drive more users there’s a virality that is driving this asset to be worth over a period of time $100 to $200 billion. That’s why we think that for Oracle to invest at a $7.5 billion stake for a company potentially worth $60 billion today could be compelling and add value to the share price.
TikTok Deal: ‘Virality Driving This Asset To Be Worth $200 Billion’
Verizon has become the first wireless carrier to pilot the use of quantum key distribution (QKD) to help secure its network.
Quantum key distribution is a type of cryptography that relies on the principles involved in quantum mechanics, and specifically quantum entanglement. As a result, because information is transmitted in a quantum state, it’s impossible for a third-party to snoop on the transmission without being detected. This makes QKD one of the only types of encryption that is future-proofed in a world where quantum computing will render other forms of encryption obsolete.
Verizon has now demonstrated how QKD can be used to protect its network. Quantum keys were created and exchanged over a QKD network and used to encrypt video streams. The recipient was able to watch the videos in real-time, while any hackers would be instantly detected.
“We continue to innovate and discover new ways to ensure safe networks and communications down the road for both consumers and enterprises,” said Nicki Palmer, chief product development officer at Verizon. “In testing advanced security technologies, our QKD trial demonstrates how quantum-based technology can strengthen data security today and in the future.”
“The use of quantum mechanics is a great step forward in data security,” said Christina Richmond, analyst at IDC. “Verizon’s own tests, as well other industry testing, have shown that deriving “secret keys” between two entities via light photons effectively blocks perfect cloning by an eavesdropper if a key intercept is attempted. Current technological breakthroughs have proven that both the quantum channel and encrypted data channel can be sent over a single optical fiber. Verizon has demonstrated this streamlined approach brings greater efficiency for practical large-scale implementation allowing keys to be securely shared over wide-ranging networks.”
In further evidence robot domination may yet be in our future, a study has shown robot stock analysts outperform their human counterparts, leading to better investments.
There has been a fair amount of hand-wringing about what role robots will play in the future, and whether mankind will be able to control a true artificial intelligence. World domination aside, the economic possibilities and threats robots pose are just beginning to be understood. While many have believed it would largely be physical jobs, such as manufacturing, that would be taken over by robots, recent studies have shown that high-paying, white collar jobs are also at risk.
Now a study by Indiana University professors Braiden Coleman, Kenneth J. Merkley and Joseph Pacelli has demonstrated that robots even make better stock analysts than humans.
“First, Robo-Analysts collectively produce a more balanced distribution of buy, hold, and sell recommendations than do human analysts, which suggests that they are less subject to behavioral biases and conflicts of interest,” reads the study abstract. “Second, consistent with automation facilitating a greater scale of research production, Robo-Analysts revise their reports more frequently than human analysts and also adopt different production processes. Their revisions rely less on earnings announcements, and more on the large, volumes of data released in firms’ annual reports. Third, Robo-Analysts’ reports exhibit weaker short-window return reactions, suggesting that investors do not trade on their signals. Importantly, portfolios formed based on the buy recommendations of Robo-Analysts appear to outperform those of human analysts, suggesting that their buy calls are more profitable. Overall, our results suggest that Robo-Analysts are a valuable, alternative information intermediary to traditional sell-side analysts.”
The study is a fascinating read on the potential of robots to help revolutionize another industry, and especially one that many may not think of as a candidate for robot takeover.
TSMC has reported its earnings and things are looking good for the semiconductor manufacturer.
TSMC is currently benefiting from multiple industry trends. The global pandemic has increased demand for datacenters as companies are turning to the cloud to continue running.
Similarly, US officials have placed greater emphasis on in-country semiconductor manufacturing, as the pandemic showed the dangers of relying solely on overseas manufacturing. Capitalizing on that, TSMC announced its plans to build a semiconductor factory in Arizona
While not immediately benefiting TSMC, another factor that should help it in the long run is Apple’s decision to move Macs from Intel chips to custom silicon. TSMC already makes the custom silicon in Apple’s iPhones and iPads. It stands to reason TSMC will likely handle the chip manufacturing for Apple’s Macs as well.
As a result of these various factors, according to Bloomberg, TSMC “reported sales of NT$120.88 billion ($4.1 billion) for June on Friday. That likely means TSMC’s revenue grew about 29% to NT$310.7 billion last quarter, based on previously reported figures, beating the NT$308.8 billion analysts expect on average.”
It’s likely TSMC will continue to rise, both in the short and long-term. These various factors will also help offset lost business from Huawei, as the US has greatly restricted TSMC’s second-largest customer.
Verizon’s quarterly results were a mixed bag, offering both good and bad news for investors, according to Bloomberg.
On the one hand, Verizon added 1.25 million subscribers, beating analysts’ expectations of 1.23 million. The added growth was, at least in part, aided by Verizon’s deal with Walt Disney Co. to provide subscribers free access to Disney+ for a limited time. On the other hand, that deal ate into profits, as Verizon is essentially footing the bill for its subscribers, although the exact cost has not been disclosed.
The cost of 5G roll out has also been cited as a reason for the company missing estimates. A separate report by Bloomberg, however, highlights why the company is pushing as hard as it is on 5G. According to the report, analysts at LightShed Partners are saying that Verizon has used up most of its available airwaves in Miami, Chicago and other cities. The firm’s report is based on their own research, as well as data provided by mobile testing firm Opensignal.
“They have used spectrum to fuel capacity growth and improved speeds, and now they have a limited amount left,” said Walt Piecyk, LightShed analyst.
As a result, Verizon needs to roll out 5G as quickly as it can, especially in cities, to ease the strain on its network. If its 5G delivers on the promise, however, the company should have no trouble growing its customer base and revenue even more.
“A lot of times it’s better to think about (digital transformation) in retrospect after you’ve gotten something done, but the digital platform is essential in helping you achieve your business objectives, and that’s really what it boils down to,” says AMA Chief Experience Officer Todd Unger. “Even though my purview here is mostly communicating between us and physicians, ultimately, I’m there to help them in what they care the most about, which is patient care. There is no aspect of healthcare right now that is not being transformed digitally.”
I Don’t Start Anything That I Do With Digital Blinders On
I don’t start anything that I do with digital blinders on. The first thing is to figure out what the job that you’re trying to get done is. Inevitably, of course, these days, if you’re trying to meet people where they are, that does involve digital platforms. We are, in essence, like any other subscription business in that we have something that we’re trying to get people to belong to. If you’re going to communicate with people and build a subscription business, you do need to have that platform in place.
I think, basically, today, most organizations or businesses, they have to act in three ways. They’ve got to have the consumer product focus of a company like Proctor & Gamble. They need to have the publishing experience and content management experience of a New York Times or Washington Post, and they need to have the data and analytics platform and skillset of like an Amazon. That’s a tough organization to build these days. But if you’re going to succeed in creating a member experience and really interacting with people, you’ve got to be able to do all three things.
There Is No Aspect of Healthcare That Is Not Being Transformed Digitally
I think digital transformation is a bizarre and scary term. I don’t walk in the door saying, “We need to have a digital transformation,” because that is really kind of meaningless to people. A lot of times I would say it’s better to think about that in retrospect after you’ve gotten something done, but the digital platform is essential in helping you achieve your business objectives, and that’s really what it boils down to.
Even though my purview here is mostly communicating between us and physicians, ultimately, I’m there to help them in what they care the most about, which is patient care. There is no aspect of healthcare right now that is not being transformed digitally. One of the most exciting places, and I think it probably has more relevance on the long-term care side, is remote patient monitoring. You look around at most systems and they’re equipping themselves to have people not come to the hospital, not come into the office, but to provide people with the technology to be able to do what they need to do from home and to be able to communicate with them from a remote place and have their progress monitored.
Driving The Future of Medicine
I’d say the final way that we (are an ally in patient care) is through something I don’t think a lot of people know about, which is driving the future of medicine. We are facilitating the changes that are happening in medicine right now. I talked about remote patient monitoring, but telemedicine is something that’s increasing in usage and all of the infrastructure that underlies that needs to get put into place to make sure that doctors have what they need to be able to do that and, from a technology payment standpoint, all of that kind of stuff.
The other thing and this is affecting every aspect of business out there is data. One of the key things about data right now in healthcare is, it’s not necessarily hooked up in a way that can connect the input when a patient comes in the door and the outcomes. There are different systems that underly that data input and the portability of that. We are putting in place an infrastructure and what we would call an innovation ecosystem to facilitate the flow of that data so that it can actually deliver better patient care in the end.
There Is No Aspect of Healthcare That Is Not Being Transformed Digitally – AMA Chief Experience Officer Todd Unger
As the coronavirus pandemic sweeps the globe, it’s proving to be a defining moment for cloud computing. At the same time, it could spell doom for legacy companies.
The coronavirus pandemic has forced countless companies across a wide range of industries to send their employees home to work. The unprecedented number of individuals telecommuting is already proving to be a boon to cloud-based businesses, as workers turn to Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Docs, Office 365 and other cloud services.
At the same time, however, the seismic shift in the U.S. workforce could spell doom for legacy companies. Companies like Oracle, Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprise could be in particular danger, as these companies rely heavily on hardware and software sales to private data centers.
Many of these companies are moving to the cloud, but as Business Insider reports, analysts believe they’re still vulnerable. According to BI, Brad Gastwirth, chief technology analyst of Wedbush told clients: “We see significant risk for traditional providers of IT hardware,” before citing HPE, Dell and NetApp as examples.
“We see this trend as generally positive for cloud vendors and their supply chain,” Gastwirth continued. “We see legacy hardware vendors as particularly poorly positioned given limited to no cloud exposure.”
One thing is certain: The coronavirus pandemic is going to result in permanent and monumental changes to the U.S. IT industry, changes that will greatly benefit cloud-based businesses.
Bloomberg is reporting that the CIA is “planning to hire multiple companies for lucrative cloud computing deals,” a move that will likely hurt Amazon.
Amazon was the first company to gain the coveted Impact Level 6 security certification, allowing it to store classified data in the cloud. This gave the company a huge advantage when bidding on government contracts involving sensitive data. However, Microsoft ultimately beat out Amazon for the Pentagon’s JEDI contract, worth some $10 billion. In December 2019, Microsoft also became the second company to gain the Impact Level 6 certification, opening the door to more competition for Amazon.
With the CIA’s latest move, however, that door has been flung wide open, giving multiple companies the chance to compete with the leading cloud provider for lucrative and prestigious contracts.
According to Bloomberg, “the government said the contracts could last up to 15 years with a five-year base period and two five-year renewals. The estimated award date is September 2020.
“The CIA has previously indicated that it intended to spend ‘tens of billions’ of dollars on cloud computing, Bloomberg has reported. It’s unclear whether the agency has finalized an amount it plans to spend.”
With analysts already predicting Microsoft could unseat Amazon as the reigning cloud leader, this latest report is not good news for Amazon. With Microsoft expecting a “halo effect” from the JEDI contact, Amazon may well find itself losing a considerable amount of government work.
“We just put out our latest research on Tesla,” says Ark Investment analyst Tasha Keeney. “We think over the next five years our expected value for the stock is $7,000 per share.” Tesla’s current share price is roughly $735 equating to a market cap of $132.4 billion. A $7,000 per share price would increase their current value tenfold. And that’s just Ark’s “expected” valuation. Ark’s bullish valuation is $15,000 a share, a $2.7 trillion market cap.
Keeney says it’s because Tesla is a leader in electric autonomous vehicles. “That’s the future of the auto market. What we’ve seen over the past year is that traditional autos have really struggled to produce EVs that are on par with Tesla’s cars and its data library. In terms of autonomous driving, it is really just running away from the competition.”
Tesla Has a Massive Advantage With Their Machine Learning Algorithms
In electric vehicles, Tesla is the leader and that’s because they’re writing down the battery cost decline curve. At Arc Invest we’ve actually done a lot of work using Wright’s Law to predict the future declines of batteries. Basically, for every cumulative doubling in production, you get a corresponding reduction in cost. We actually think that Tesla’s gross margins could go from say around 20 percent today, if you take out credits, to up to 40 in the best-case scenario. They also have not lost share in the electric vehicle market.
They’re sitting right around an 18 percent share. We think that they’re at least three years ahead of other automakers on a battery efficiency standpoint. That’s dollar per range that you get out of the car. Then on autonomous driving, they’re the only automaker that’s collecting data from their vehicles. This gives them a massive advantage in terms of training their machine learning algorithms to get the car to drive.
Our Case Is Really Driven By Autonomous Driving
We’ve devised a probability matrix where we’ve looked at the past year. We’ve seen what Tesla’s done in Shanghai and It’s amazing. They’ve built the factory in less than a year, and they’re right now shipping cars. Tesla’s shown that they can scale in a capital-efficient manner. We look at a few key variables. We look at capital efficiency, gross margins based on our Wright’s Law work, and autonomous driving. We set probabilities to each of those that help us arrive at that $7,000 mark.
Our bulk case is really driven by autonomous driving. This could be a huge opportunity for Tesla. It’s going to totally transform the business model if they pull it off. They’re going to get software like margins in a market that we think could be worth trillions of dollars globally.
Tesla’s In a Great Position To Be the Leader of the Future
Tesla’s been misinterpreted for a long time. One, on the autonomous driving front. You can’t value it like a traditional automaker because the future of the auto industry is changing. Electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles are going to make this a more consolidated market. A lot of automakers are going to go out of business and Tesla’s really in a great position to take advantage and be the leader of the future.
So again, if you look at autonomous driving that means software like multiples because we think they’ll get software like margins off of that business.
Report: Potential Tesla Valuation of $2.7 Trillion by 2024
In a press release issued today, the National Retail Federation (NRF) announced that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is scheduled to deliver the opening keynote at the federation’s 109th annual convention.
Microsoft has supported the NRF’s annual convention for over 20 years, leveraging their IoT, cloud, data, AI, modern workplace and mixed reality solutions to help retailers digitally transform and embrace intelligent retail.
“At NRF 2020, we’re bringing together the brightest and most influential leaders from around the world who have a clear vision for the retail industry’s future,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Satya Nadella will kick us off with an inspiring session on how Microsoft’s success is built around a purpose-led culture and business model.”
Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (2015-2019) Paul Ryan
Additional details for sessions and speakers at NRF 2020 Vision: Retail’s Big Show can be accessed here.
Complimentary registration is available to editorial members of the news media and discounted registration is available to accredited retail analysts. For more information, visit the NRF 2020: Retail’s Big Show media registration page.
About NRF
The National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail trade association, passionately advocates for the people, brands, policies and ideas that help retail thrive. From its headquarters in Washington, D.C., NRF empowers the industry that powers the economy. Retail is the nation’s largest private-sector employer, contributing $2.6 trillion to annual GDP and supporting one in four U.S. jobs — 42 million working Americans. For over a century, NRF has been a voice for every retailer and every retail job, educating, inspiring and communicating the powerful impact retail has on local communities and global economies.
Facebook released its quarterly results Wednesday and it was not good news for investors, according to ABC News.
The company posted ongoing growth, slightly beating analyst predictions, but its earnings were plagued by high expenses and legal settlements. In particular, the company has tentatively agreed to a $550 million settlement in an Illinois class-action lawsuit.
According to ABC News, CFO David Wehner said the expenses were “largely driven by higher legal fees and settlements.”
“This includes charges related to a $550M settlement in principle we reached this month in connection with the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act litigation,” he continued.
The Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act stipulates that users must be informed when their data is stored, why it is being stored and for how long. Facebook was sued because accusers say its photo tagging feature violates the law.
The stock price was down approximately 7% in Thursday morning trading following the revelations.
FedScoop is reporting that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will soon close its last data center as it finishes moving its data and applications to AWS.
ATF CTO Mason McDaniel told FedScoop the goal is to completely transition users to its AWS cloud environment by the end of the year. The last remaining data center will then be converted into office space.
The transition has been a long time coming, as the agency has worked to modernize its IT after shutting down its disaster recovery data center in 2013. From that point forward, the agency was operating without a safety net, a situation it put to the test in 2016 when it had to evacuate its data center for two days as a result of weather. With no disaster recovery plan in place, the agency had to hope for the best that nothing catastrophic would happen during those two days. Moving to AWS will provide the safety and redundancy the agency needs.
McDaniel believes the upgrade to the cloud should result in significant efficiency gains as well.
“What they’re going to see soon after that, once we finish this part, is a focus back on the actual processes themselves,” McDaniel told FedScoop. “Many, many of the processes that our users and analysts and agents have to go through require them to go from system to system to system because of how we built things in projects over time. Every time something new was needed, the teams that developed the old ones were gone. And over time, we’ve got all the tiny little disconnected systems so the users have to manually go back and forth between them to do stuff.”
This, in turn, should reduce by “half or more the amount of time it takes them to do a lot of their daily activities,” McDaniel said. “That’s when they’re really going to start seeing the benefits.”
In a recent Brookings Institution report, authors Mark Muro, Jacob Whiton and Robert Maxim make the case that better-paid, white-collar professionals are most at risk of losing their jobs to artificial intelligence.
As the report points out, past studies have had little actual data to go on and have, instead, relied on case studies and subject assessments to predict which jobs and industries were most vulnerable.
“What’s more, most research has concentrated on an undifferentiated array of ‘automation’ technologies including robotics, software, and AI all at once,” the report says. “The result has been a lot of discussion—but not a lot of clarity—about AI, with prognostications that range from the utopian to the apocalyptic.”
In contrast, a new method devised by Stanford University Ph.D. candidate Michael Webb compares job descriptions with AI-related patents, giving a higher degree of accuracy.
The new data shows that low-wage jobs will continue to be heavily impacted by automation and robotics. When it comes to true AI, however, “the present analysis suggests that better-educated, better-paid workers (along with manufacturing and production workers) will be the most affected by the new AI technologies, with some exceptions.”
Professions that have a high amount of predictive work, or pattern-oriented tasks are the kind of jobs AI is particularly well-suited to take over.
“At the high end of AI involvement, for example, are numerous well-paid occupations that had relatively low exposure in our earlier, all-encompassing automation analysis. They range from market research analysts and sales managers to programmers, management analysts, and engineers. Often analytic or supervisory, these roles appear heavily involved in pattern-oriented or predictive work, and may therefore be especially susceptible to the data- driven inroads of AI, even though they seemed relatively immune in earlier analyses.”
In addition, individuals “with graduate or professional degrees will be almost four times as exposed to AI as workers with just a high school degree.” The data also shows that high-tech metro areas will be more susceptible than most rural areas.
The original, in-depth report is 46 pages long and is a fascinating read, providing some all-new insights into the far-reaching impacts AI will have on all economic sectors.
Business Insider is reporting that RBC Capital Markets Managing Director Alex Zukin believes Microsoft could unseat AWS as the dominant cloud player.
AWS currently holds a commanding lead in the market, with some 47.8% market share. In spite of that, Amazon’s status as a leading retailer is proving to be a handicap, especially when trying to win business from companies that compete with it.
“There’s the perception that Amazon has access to all your data and owns all your data,” Zukin told Business Insider. “That perception does sometimes get in the way of signing large long term strategic engagement in some industries that Amazon is particularly competitive with.”
Zukin cites the example of Walmart, one of Amazon’s biggest competitors, who is using Microsoft’s Azure primarily because it’s not AWS.
In addition to the competitive factor, there’s also the barrier-to-entry many developers experience with AWS. AWS is one of the most comprehensive cloud platforms available, but it also has a reputation for being difficult to use. Often its tools are better suited to hard-core programmers than business IT departments. In contrast, Microsoft has deep roots in the consumer and business industries, with a heavy focus on making things as easy as possible for non-programmers. This gives it a major advantage over AWS.
There have been multiple reports recently that Microsoft is gaining significant ground in the cloud market. There have also been previous reports that this is, at least in part, because companies trust Microsoft more than a company they routinely compete with. As a result, Microsoft’s momentum seems to be picking up speed at a rate that should be alarming to Amazon, as well as others. If Amazon wants to retain its spot as the dominant cloud player, it will need to address the issues threatening to unseat it.
In the wake of a U.S. strike that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, Quds Force Commander, analysts and former officials are warning that a cyberattack may be imminent, according to The Washington Post.
“At this point, a cyberattack should be expected,” Jon Bateman, former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst on Iran’s cyber capabilities, and currently a cybersecurity fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told The Post.
Iran’s cyber troops are some of the best in the world and the country has a long history of successfully attacking Western targets. Between 2011 and 2013, Iran was responsible for ongoing attacks on U.S. banks. Similarly, Iran is believed to be responsible for an attack on the Las Vegas Sands casino in 2014 that resulted in data being wiped.
Quds Force, the unit Soleimani commanded, specializes in unconventional warfare, including cyber warfare. The fact it was the Quds Force commander who was killed will likely add to the desire for revenge by a unit uniquely qualified to exact it.
Philip Ingram, a former senior officer in British Military Intelligence, told Forbes that we can expect something “immediate and spectacular.” He went into sat the killing of Soleimani “cannot be underestimated.”
According to new data by The NPD Group, $1,000 is too expensive for the overwhelming majority of phone buyers.
NPD’s research shows that just under 10 percent of buyers are willing to pay $1,000 or more for a phone. This could pose a significant challenge for 5G adoption. On the one hand, 5G awareness and purchasing potential is very strong, especially for a technology that has not been widely deployed yet.
“In fact, awareness has reached nearly 3 out of 4 consumers, totaling 73 percent, at the end of the first half of 2019,” according to NPD. “This is up from 44 percent at the end of the first half of 2018. Alongside increasing awareness, 33 percent of smartphone owners report interest in purchasing a 5G-enabled smartphone.”
Unfortunately, however, most 5G phones are falling in the $1,200 price range, limiting how many customers will be able to make the jump.
“Overall awareness and purchase intent reported by consumers is high, but only a small segment of the market can afford these $1,000+ devices,” noted Brad Akyuz, executive director, industry analyst, NPD Connected Intelligence. “This provides an opportunity for both carriers and manufacturers to focus on diversifying their 5G portfolios by introducing more affordable mid-tier 5G models to enjoy faster adoption rates.”
It will be interesting to see if the revolutionary speed increases offered by 5G change the public’s perception of an acceptable phone price point, or if manufacturers will need to come out with cheaper models to entice buyers.
Lowe’s slogan is “do it right for less.” While that primarily applies to home repair and improvement, the company is also applying it to the world of software development.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Lowe’s is looking to retool its e-commerce solutions. The goal is to have 80% of the applications it uses be built internally by 2020. This will involve looking at their application portfolio and replacing commercial, off-the-shelf applications with custom replacements. This will involve hiring as many as 2,000 software engineers, data analysts and infrastructure specialists.
As Mark Driver, research vice president at Gartner, Inc. told the WSJ, “we’re in an age where people have their clothes custom fit. The same thing goes with software; it’s about gaining that advantage.”
This is just the latest move on the part of the home-improvement giant to modernize its IT infrastructure. Shortly after being hired as CIO, Seemantini Godbole told analysts and investors the retailer’s technology was “well behind leading retailers in terms of strategy, architecture, process maturity and capabilities.” Ms. Godbole helped unveiled a plan to invest $500 to $550 million per year through 2021, in an effort to modernize the retailer’s decade-old e-commerce system.
The announcement by Lowe’s is just the latest in a solid growth trend for the custom software development market, as companies increasingly turn to custom solutions to achieve tighter integration, better performance and lower cost.
Few technologies have sparked as much debate, held more promise or terrified more people than artificial intelligence (AI). Depending on who is talking, AI promises to usher in a new technological era or precipitate the demise of humanity.
Notable individuals such as Mark Zuckerberg, Ray Kurzweil and Sam Altman have been strong proponents of AI development, even going so far as to believe the potential benefits create a moral imperative to pursue AI research. Others, such as Elon Musk, Clive Sinclair and the late Stephen Hawking, believe true AI may represent the greatest existential danger to the human race.
With so much controversy, governments are getting drug into the middle of the debate, trying to navigate what role they should play in regulating AI, with Germany the latest to wade in on the topic. In 2018, the German government formed the Data Ethics Commission to “develop ethical benchmarks and guidelines as well as specific recommendations for action, aiming at protecting the individual, preserving social cohesion, and safeguarding and promoting prosperity in the information age.”
Last week the commission released an opinion on AI development, recommending more regulation and government involvement.
“The Data Ethics Commission holds the view that regulation is necessary, and cannot be replaced by ethical principles. This is particularly true for issues with heightened implications for fundamental rights that require the central decisions to be made by the democratically elected legislator. Regulation is also an essential basis for building a system where citizens, companies and institutions can trust that the transformation of society will be guided by ethical principles.”
AI proponents and tech experts are already speaking about against the commission’s findings, voicing concern that the focus on regulation will stifle innovation.
“Europe wants to be more competitive in the digital economy,” wrote Eline Chivot, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Data Innovation in Brussels. “But it cannot substitute regulation for innovation. Rather than trying to achieve competitiveness in AI through policies designed to disadvantage foreign providers and promote European digital sovereignty, European policymakers should instead focus on developing an AI strategy that invests in people, data, and digital infrastructure, and creates a more innovation-friendly regulatory environment, so that European firms can better compete with China and the United States.”
One thing is certain: The debate about AI, its future and the best way to safely develop the technology is far from over.
Verizon Communications, Inc. reported a strong Q3 2019 driven by solid gains in wireless customers.
The telecommunications provider reported the “most third-quarter phone gross additions in five years.” In particular, Verizon saw significant growth in postpaid phone subscribers, the most lucrative and sought-after type of customers that wireless companies work to attract.
Verizon also saw an increase of 2.1 percent in customer wireless revenue thanks to customers upgrading to higher-tier plans. This was no doubt encouraged by the company announcing new unlimited data plans in August, with each tier being $5 cheaper than on the previous plans.
“Verizon continued its momentum in the third quarter by driving strong wireless volumes in both our Consumer and Business segments, while delivering solid financial results, highlighted by continued wireless service revenue growth, increased cash flow, and EPS growth,” said Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg. “We are focused on our 5G rollout strategy, looking to deploy next-generation networks while enhancing our industry-leading 4G LTE network. Going into the fourth quarter, we are energized by the strong performance of the business and we are confident in our strategy to drive value for our customers and growth for our shareholders.”
According to the report, “for third-quarter 2019, Verizon reported EPS of $1.25, compared with $1.19 in third-quarter 2018. The company’s reported earnings include a minimal net impact from special items: a net pre-tax gain of $261 million from dispositions of assets and businesses that was offset by a pension re-measurement pre-tax charge of $291 million. On an adjusted basis (non-GAAP), third-quarter 2019 EPS, excluding special items, was $1.25, compared with adjusted EPS of $1.22 in third-quarter 2018.
“In third-quarter 2019, Verizon’s results included the effects of a reduction in benefits from the adoption of a revenue recognition standard, primarily due to the deferral of commission expense, and the adoption of a lease accounting standard. The combined net impact was a 4 cent headwind in third-quarter 2019, and 13 cents year-to-date, which is included in the year-over-year increase in adjusted EPS.”
Data science is one of the fastest growing segments of the tech industry, and Alteryx, Inc. is front and center in the data revolution. The Alteryx Platform provides a collaborative, governed platform to quickly and efficiently search, analyze and use pertinent data.
To continue accelerating innovation, Alteryx announced it has purchased a startup with roots in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Feature Labs “automates feature engineering for machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) applications.”
Combining the two companies’ platforms and engineering will result in faster time-to-insight and time-to-value for data scientists and analysts. Feature Labs’ algorithms are designed to “optimize the manual, time-consuming and error-prone process required to build machine learning models.”
Feature Labs makes its open-source libraries available to data scientists around the world. In what is no doubt welcome news, Alteryx has already committed to continued support of the open-source community.
From the Press Release:
“Feature Labs’ vision to help both data scientists and business analysts easily gain insight and understand the factors driving their business matches the Alteryx DNA. Together, we are helping customers address the skills gap by putting more powerful advanced analytic capabilities directly into the hands of those responsible for making faster decisions and accelerating results. We are excited to welcome the Feature Labs team and to add an engineering hub in Boston,” said Dean Stoecker, co-founder and CEO of Alteryx.
“Alteryx maintains its leadership in the market by continuing to evolve its best-in-class, code-free and code-friendly platform to anticipate and meet the demands of the 54 million data workers worldwide2. With the addition of our unique capabilities, we expect to empower more businesses to build machine learning algorithms faster and operationalize data science,” said Max Kanter, co-founder and CEO of Feature Labs. “Feature engineering is often a time-consuming and manual process and we help companies automate this process and deploy impactful machine learning models.”
“Retailers and brands took advantage of the buzz, the demand, the awareness, that Amazon has created and really rode that wave for great growth,” says Rob Garf, VP of Industry Strategy and Insights for Salesforce. “Retailers didn’t just ignore Prime Day, but they leaned into it. They really recognized this manufactured holiday, recognized the demand that was being created, and really took advantage of the consumers and their willingness to look for a good deal.”
Rob Garf, VP Industry Strategy and Insights for Salesforce, discusses how retailers “leaned into” Amazon Prime Day, taking advantage of the buzz and overall consumer interest, to initiate their own Prime marketing. Rob was interviewed by Owen Milbury, Senior Manager, Analyst Relations for Salesforce:
Retailers Didn’t Just Ignore Prime Day, They Leaned Into It
What we saw is that this manufactured holiday, Hallmark has to be proud, really rose all ships if you well. The tide has risen where we saw 37 percent year over year growth for global retailers other than Amazon. What’s really interesting is that it just didn’t take place over those two days, but rather the entire month of July. We saw July having a ten percent higher growth rate than any typical month. Retailers and brands took advantage of the buzz, the demand, the awareness, that Amazon has created and really rode that wave for great growth.
Retailers didn’t just ignore Prime Day, but they leaned into it. What we found was that emails were at a heavy double-digit increase week over week. The other really interesting thing is our team stepped back and we actually looked at the Internet Retailer 500. We subscribed to all of their email lists and we went to their homepages over the last week. What we found was 51 percent of the IR 500, more than half, did some sort of promotion either on their home page or through email.
They just didn’t ignore it, they leaned into it. We found that 17 percent of the IR 500 mentioned either Prime Day or Black Friday in July as part of those promotions. They really recognized this manufactured holiday, recognized the demand that was being created, and really took advantage of the consumers and their willingness to look for a good deal.
We Saw Two Breakouts, Apparel, and Footwear
Consumer electronics was certainly big. But we also saw two breakouts, apparel, and footwear. That’s really important because Amazon is leaning into their own private label. So these brands need to think how to differentiate. They didn’t just go to market and give deals. They also promoted limited edition products, special assortments, customizable merchandise, and even looking for subscriptions to be able not only to attract but to retain them over time.
The other one was consumer product goods. What was interesting about that was typically what you find in a grocery store they use the retailer as the intermediary, they’re looking generally to leapfrog these retailers. According to Salesforce research, 99 percent have some sort of active direct to consumer (D2C) type of initiative underway. That was no different this Amazon Prime Day. They were taking advantage of the buzz and really looking for ways to engage the consumer directly.
49 Percent of Orders For Non-Amazon Retailers Were On Mobile
When you think about the time of the year, most of Europe was on holiday, most of the US was taking time off as well, they’re not tethered to their computer. They don’t have the luxury of sitting down and searching that way. That showed in our data. In fact, 49 percent of orders for all non-Amazon retailers were done on a mobile device. This just speaks to the fact we’re on the go, the phone is the remote control of our daily lives.
We’re using it to break through the friction that usually exists between inspiration—I like something and I want to buy it—and then actually purchasing. Just for a point of context, that was a 20 percent increase year over year. It’s become a bellwether for shopping not only during the rest of the year but in particular on Prime Day.
Retailers Saw Prime Day As a Test Run For Holidays
Retailers are seeing this as really the test run for the holidays. They’re looking at their mobile strategy. How are they going to breakdown their friction? They want to make sure that they have mobile wallets so that they can really get through the checkout process. They are incorporating artificial intelligence so not forcing the consumer to swipe five times down the phone to find if you like this you might like this. Instead, putting it right above the fold.
They are also looking for fulfillment as well. As you are thinking through towards Cyber Week and the overall holiday season, and with it being five or six days shorter between Thanksgiving and Christmas, how are we going to use the store as a fulfillment center? You really bump up against that shipping deadline and need to also be able to fulfill that for several days after. Retailers are really cutting their teeth. They’re really bearing down. They’re looking at Prime Day as a way to get ready and gear up and go full force to back to school, Halloween, and through the holiday season.
https://youtu.be/JHm8PZ2z1xU
How Non-Amazon Retailers “Leaned Into” Prime Day To Increase Sales – Salesforce Execs Explain
