As our world becomes increasingly connected, IoT devices are emerging seemingly everywhere. With the total number of IoT connections projected to reach 83 billion by 2024, it’s time to start talking about technological changes that are necessary to accommodate continued IoT scalability and growth.

Currently, most IoT devices require stable and constant internet connections to sync their data to the cloud. The issue is that this level of connectivity is not always viable, and it comes with cyber risks. Hardware failures and bandwidth overloads happen, and they have the potential to wreak havoc on continuously connected devices.

For IoT to have continued scalability and evolve, taking its place in the digital mainstream — it’s essential to rethink the way devices are designed and secured

“The pace of innovation has generated requirements for millions of devices, most network (primarily wireless) connected in some capacity,” writes Earl Perkins, a VP at Gartner. “Unfortunately, most of these devices have little or no protection at the software and infrastructure levels.”

Engineering intermittent connectivity into IoT devices is a technical solution that is bound to drive increased adoption. Here’s how it can solve some of the current challenges IoT devices face.

Better power management for Continued IoT Scalability

While the technology is impressive, IoT devices are often hobbled by something as simple as a limited power supply. Constantly connected IoT devices have to be connected to a stable power source. As a result, they aren’t the most practical solution to use over long distances or in hostile conditions.

A lithium-ion battery helps

In many cases, the most practical power source is a lithium-ion battery. Once the battery runs out though, data transmission stops, and the IoT device is as useful as a brick. Consumer-facing IoT devices, such as those in appliances don’t face this problem since they’re built into the device and use the power source it’s connected to.

However, this isn’t possible in industrial use cases. The easiest way to reduce power consumption is to eliminate the need for constant data transmission. “If it didn’t take as much energy to transmit and receive wireless data, IoT devices would last longer,” explains Emily Newton of IoT Times.

What about the use of 5G for continued IoT scalability?

“5G New Radio (NR) will be far more energy-efficient than LTE networks,” she adds. “In an LTE network, base stations can only sleep for less than a millisecond before transmitting since they require many always-on signals. 5G NR can rest for 20 milliseconds between notifications, leading to lower-power sleep modes.”

What’s more, the rise of push paradigm IoT devices is a sign that product engineers are taking steps in the right direction to deal with the issue. Under this protocol, data is sent only when necessary (at a push of a button). XML and JSON payloads make sure that databases remain on track between transmissions.

The result is low battery use, and almost no energy wasted unnecessarily.

Less network strain

When analyzing IoT use cases from a business perspective, it’s obvious that in almost every case, there isn’t a need for a constant transmission of data. Sending a constant firehose of data back to central servers only increases network strain and makes it more likely that they’ll fail or get intercepted at critical junctures.

Here’s how to provide less network strain

The logistics industry provides a good example of how intermittent connectivity can ensure safer product delivery. IoT use has risen in the logistics industry thanks to the conditions under which the COVID-19 vaccine is being shipped.

These vaccines are stored and transported at far below-freezing temperatures in packets of dry ice. Traditional RFID condition monitoring tags that rely on radio waves cannot be used in air freight situations.

IoT devices have become a go-to solution. But what about product condition monitoring?

Always-on IoT devices have become a go-to solution, but the strain they place on the network jeopardizes product condition monitoring.

In such situations, solutions such as QR code-based data loggers are a better option. Employees can scan QR codes using their smartphones and transmit data to central servers as needed. The result is less network strain, lesser chances of network outages, and better condition monitoring.

“Data transfer reliability is what makes or breaks supply chain analytics,” notes Niko Polvinen, a co-founder of Logmore. “When you can have confidence in the quality of your data and your ability to obtain it, you will get the insights you need to make crucial supply chain improvements.

Efficient data retrieval

A constantly connected IoT device will transmit huge amounts of data to servers, causing server-side strain. Indeed, data generated from IoT devices is predicted to reach 73.1 ZB by 2025. All that data can give teams a wealth of information, but sifting through and running analytics on them is challenging.

Here is how to mitigate the data retrieval issues with IoT scalability

One way of mitigating this problem is to combine data mart storage with intermittent transmission. Data marts are a collection of relevant data related to a specific activity that an organization is interested in monitoring. For example, a retailer can create data marts for all of their departments or even product lines.

Central warehouses can store large datasets that are relevant for the entire organization, while data marts can provide teams with a quick view of important, product-specific data. With IoT devices transmitting data intermittently at relevant times, searching for and organizing data becomes simple.

Intermittent connectivity is the key to capturing relevant data without risking network overload. When combined with data marts, IoT use cases across all businesses grow exponentially.

Growing use demands new approaches for continued IoT Scalability

As IoT devices continue to proliferate every part of our lives, it’s time to rethink their design to prevent infrastructure failures.

Intermittent connectivity is the best solution thanks to the important issues it eliminates. Embracing it is the key to realizing greater IoT scalability.

Image Credit: Provided by Author; Thank you!

The post Continued IoT Scalability Requires More Devices with Intermittent Connectivity appeared first on ReadWrite.

Customer trust is crucial for driving sales and revenue, but it’s also near an all-time low. Look no further than the approximately 40% of Americans who don’t trust the last presidential election results. COVID-19 vaccine skeptics are choosing to ignore healthcare advice because they don’t trust public health bodies, elected leaders, or scientists, in another prime example of today’s trust crisis.

The Edelman Group has been publishing a Trust Barometer study for 20 years now. This year, they report that trust scores dropped for every societal leader – including religious, political, media, and business leaders.

The general breakdown in trust didn’t come out of nowhere. It’s a storm that’s been brewing for years, fueled by political scandal, “golden handshake” payments to businessmen walking away from companies that lost shareholder money and fired hundreds of employees, and data breaches and fraud cases that drove suspicion about who you can trust with your personal details.

COVID-19 was the nail in the trust coffin. It was a chance for leaders to regain public faith, but most of them muffed the opportunity, perceived as locking down too late, too hard, and/or flip-flopping over regulations and restrictions.

And yet, brands have to find a way to build and strengthen consumer trust if they want to turn a profit. When asked how they make purchase decisions, 38% of consumers said that trust in the brand is the leading factor.

Fortunately, there are still some things your brand can do to help lift consumer trust.

Speak out about brand values

Executives can be nervous about expressing their brand values, fearing that they might alienate somebody with a differing perspective. But articulating your values expresses your authenticity, which drives trust both online and offline. Like with everything in life, if you try to please everyone by remaining on the fence, you’ll end up pleasing no one.

“Showing your customers that your brand values align with theirs is possibly the most important step for businesses to build trust,” says Cori Widen, a product marketing manager at Boosted by Lightricks. “Brand values are more than just a mission statement – your brand values help define your business’ personality and let your customers know more about your purpose, besides just making sales.”

The aforementioned Edelman study found that 86% of consumers believe that CEOs should speak up publicly about key issues of the day, even though it can be risky. We all feel more trust towards people — and brands — that share our views, so staying silent can make it hard for consumers to identify with your brand.

Care for your employees

Customers pay attention to your employee-employer relationship. If you’re seen to treat your employees with care and respect, and employees express positivity about their workplace, it encourages consumers to trust you, too.

COVID-19 saw consumers publicly warning each other away from companies that mistreated employees, while warmly recommending those that went beyond the call of duty to care for workers’ financial, physical, and mental health.

This is particularly important for companies that rely heavily on in-person interactions, like brick and mortar retail, hospitality brands, or leisure centers that need to encourage customers back through their doors.

People are still nervous about health and hygiene, and they’ll take their cues from your employees. Jodi Watson, former CMO at Petco and Wolverine Worldwide, notes that “If your employees feel safe and confident, that’s going to translate to consumer confidence.”

Place consumers’ best interests center stage

While trust crumbled right and left, faith in financial institutions has flourished. Globally, 82% of consumers say they are happy with their bank, the highest number for a long time.

It’s possible that this figure can be attributed to the speed with which banks and other financial institutions responded to COVID-19, rapidly rolling out digital services, loan relief, and mortgage vacations.

“Consumers expect companies to respond to crises and help solve problems — and in this case, financial services organizations mobilized quickly and stepped up to the plate,” explains Philip Guiliano, partner at BrandActive. “By offering relief-oriented solutions (such as mortgage deferral programs for those negatively impacted by the pandemic), they proved to their customers that they had their backs.”

Regardless of the industry you’re in, you can learn from banks by replying extra quickly to consumer questions, developing features that make life easier for consumers, sharing trustworthy and useful content, and generally delivering an excellent customer experience.

Listen to your customers

Trust is a feature of a relationship, and a real relationship has to work both ways. Simply broadcasting your values or beliefs isn’t enough to build a trust-based relationship.

You need to ask for feedback too, and most of all, to listen to and act upon it.

Mackenzie Caudill, editor of What’s Next Labs, is a big proponent of listening to customers, asserting that “Trust is built when a company listens to its customers, takes action accordingly, and keeps its promises.

If organizations invite feedback but take no action, customers feel that their trust has been betrayed for lip service. They see the company as being dishonest and disingenuous, which diminishes the hope for a lasting relationship.”

Show your humanity

In times of crisis, people seek empathy and support. Your brand needs to find its human face so you can connect with consumers on an equal level. It’s a good time to share your own challenges while expressing genuine empathy towards partners, consumers, and employees alike.

In April 2020, Rachel Diebner, consultant at McKinsey, advises that “Particularly in times of crisis, a customer’s interaction with a company can trigger an immediate and lingering effect on his or her sense of trust and loyalty.” When emotional stakes are high, the potential to win a customer for life is greater, but it isn’t going to work if you project faceless infallibility.

Make sure to share real behind-the-scenes images of your struggles on social media, being honest about unexpected delays or changes to your products or services, and amplifying the voices of actual employees.

All is not lost for consumer trust

Even when consumer trust is crashing, there are still ways for brands to increase their trustworthiness and improve their relationship with consumers. By listening to customers, expressing empathy, caring for employees, articulating brand values, and focusing on customer needs, brands can raise their trust profile even when everyone else’s is low.

Image Credit: provided by the author; depositphotos; thank you!

The post Why Gaining Customer Trust is so Challenging Nowadays – and What to Do about It appeared first on ReadWrite.

As we enter 2021, employee training is more important than ever. COVID-19 forced the pace of digital transformation, leaving many enterprises with skill gaps, and at the same time, there’s a global lack of talent in key fields like data science.

Meanwhile, mass layoffs left many companies needing to restructure, as changes in consumer demands and other market forces are driving businesses to pivot their products and service offerings. As a result, many companies are currently undertaking major reorganization overhauls.

But skill gaps and the need to retrain are nothing new. Employers were already struggling with them before the pressures of the pandemic — note that in 2019, PWC reported that 55% of executives faced skill gaps that prevented them from innovating efficiently. Sure, 46% intended to use employee training to bridge the gap, but by the following year, only 18% had made significant progress with upskilling.

The evolution of business tech, meanwhile, marches on, which sharpens demand for training.

In any overview of their employee training manual, WalkMe points out — “In the coming years, digital technology will continue to advance and propel change within the workplace. On the one hand, these changes will require employees to commit more time and energy to learning. On the other, those same advances will offer up new training solutions that are more efficient and effective.”

Indeed, new tech comes to improve existing training programs and help create new ones, through innovative methods and media. New training methods will require thought and time investment both by employers and employees, but the end results are likely to be worth it.

Here are three key trends that businesses need to make the most of in the year ahead.

Micro-learning moves training into the flow of work

With traditional programs, training is something that occurs separately to employees’ workflows. Employees need to log out of their work tools and enter a different training platform to complete discrete units, thereby disrupting the flow of work.

But that’s not the case with microlearning. Microlearning breaks up training sessions into bitesize segments that are integrated within the workflow.

“While our intentions may be to put together a thoughtful, engaging training session, it could look like just another virtual meeting on their overpacked schedule,” notes Jared Douglas, a facilitator at the Association for Talent Development. “Using a blended approach to learning can help not only manage our learners’ virtual fatigue but can also provide an overall better learning experience.”

By avoiding lecture formats and using conversational AI through chatbots, for example, employers can embed training into work platforms, blurring the lines between work and training. Microlearning makes training smoother and more streamlined so it doesn’t disturb the workflow.

What’s more, embedded wizards and popup suggestions support active learning in experimental sessions. Employees learn faster this way, too, since they can complete tasks for themselves and then practice again immediately afterwards by doing the task “for real,” so the learning is reinforced.

Soft skill training comes to the fore

Employee training is swinging its focus round onto soft skills, like management, leadership and listening skills, at least in part because hard skills are being taken over by automated workflows, making human interactions more prized.

However, it’s far harder to train in soft skills than in hard skills. It can take a long time and requires direct human mentorship, which means taking a superior away from their work as well as disturbing a trainee.

But AR and VR are changing everything. Employers can use the technology to create immersive, simulated training scenarios that enable active learning. VR/AR simulations can convey genuine impressions of tone, nuance, and body language, helping trainees practice even tricky situations like delivering criticism to an employee.

A PWC study into VR for employee training found that people using VR can learn up topwc 4x faster than classroom learners. VR learners gained 40% more confidence than classroom learners and 35% more than e-learners, and were found to be 4x more focused than e-learners and 1.5x more than classroom learners.

Overall, VR enabled a greater improvement in soft skills in a shorter space of time than alternative methods, which is probably why CCS Insights predicts that over 50% of medium and large businesses will adopt AR/VR by 2025.

“VR is already known to be effective for teaching hard skills and for job skill simulations,” says Vicki Huff, vice chair of PwC United States and Ventures and Innovation. “But we also expect to see companies starting to adopt this technology to help employees learn soft skills, such as leadership, resilience, and managing through change.”

Remote training becomes non-negotiable

COVID-19 emphasized that training that relies on human mentorship, classroom learning, or face-to-face interaction isn’t viable — and not available right now, anyway. Since many employees loved the shift to remote work and employers have found that it’s not as apocalyptic as they feared, the need for effective remote training is likely to endure for the foreseeable future.

AR and VR can help here too. With AR/VR technology, employers can deliver complex training scenarios remotely, at scale and at reasonable prices. VR learning reaches cost parity with classroom learning at 375 learners and with e-learning at 1,950 learners, while being more effective than both approaches.

We’re also seeing a rise in mobile-first solutions that are designed primarily for use on smartphones or tablets and then converted to desktop, rather than just mobile-ready programs developed with desktops in mind.

Quality mobile training experiences can be accessed from anywhere, anytime.

It’s time for employee training to enter the digital era

The extreme experiences of 2020 have only highlighted the need for improved employee training that makes the most of the possibilities of digital tech. By using tech like conversational AI, AR, and VR, enterprises can deliver remote virtual learning experiences, microlearning that’s integrated into the flow of work, and effective soft skills training, to fill their skills gaps and support ongoing innovation and business growth.

The post 3 Ways Employee Training Will Change in 2021 appeared first on ReadWrite.

It’s been a long time since you could assume that the majority of your team is at it from 9 to 5. The “global village” means that work doesn’t end when the sun sets or markets close in your time zone, and the rise of flexible working patterns made it even more complex to coordinate employee schedules.

The best employee scheduling strategies consider employee preferences as well as employer needs and consumer demands, but the enormous number of moving parts – operational needs, budget, regulations and compliance – can make it all very difficult to manage.

COVID-19 has only exacerbated the situation in many industries. Employees who are high risk may be unable to work, or can only take shifts with little contact with the public or when only a skeleton staff is present. Workers grappling with unpredictable childcare needs and unreliable transport can cause even more last-minute changes than usual.

Scheduling conflicts can cause bad feeling in a company, but it doesn’t have to be that way. New advances in tech and better communication between employees and managers help enterprises get employee scheduling right, which improves employee experience and in turn pushes up employee retention and satisfaction.

The exigencies of COVID-19 pushed new trends in employee scheduling, which may be worth continuing even when the pandemic fades into memory. Here are a few scheduling trends from 2020 that are worthy of sticking around.

Scheduling is becoming more flexible

Scheduling that is more flexible is also more complex, but flexibility is crucial for a happy, motivated workforce under pandemic conditions. Employees with more flexible scheduling arrangements report higher wellbeing, more engagement, and more effectiveness at work than those stuck in inflexible scheduling.

For example, mothers working remotely with flexible, efficient schedules that match their availability are three times more likely to have positive wellbeing than those with inflexible, inefficient scheduling.

Although employees may be coping, everyone has their own challenges. “In driving new mindsets and behaviors (such as adapting to a new virtual-working model) at scale, it’s important to engage employees in a continual two-way dialogue that takes into consideration their specific needs, allows them to configure their own journeys,” says Jonathan Emmett, associate partner at McKinsey. Even people who love their jobs need accommodation for whatever else is going on in their lives.

Self-scheduling software invites employees to choose their own shifts, make last-minute changes, book vacation days, and check their schedules independently and remotely. This helps employees to feel more in control, which is especially important during such unstable and uncertain times, increasing employee engagement and satisfaction.

AI is bringing intelligence to scheduling

AI is stepping into many more HR use cases. Now managers can use AI tools to predict changes in consumer demand, and plan ahead to meet altering workforce needs.

For example, surging customer numbers in the winter holiday shopping season can require more retail assistants; a sunny day could tempt more diners to a cafe in the park, needing the addition of more waiters; rolling out a new product version might prompt you to increase customer service agents to answer user questions, etc.

With AI and machine learning, HR teams can analyze employee strengths and weaknesses to understand which employees work best together. With these insights, you can construct the strongest possible on-schedule teams for every situation and place the right person on duty at the right time.

Employees expect remote and mobile scheduling

Managing employee scheduling manually, even with an Excel spreadsheet, has long been a joke, but today, employees and HR managers simply can’t live without remote and mobile access to cloud-based scheduling tools that sync automatically to allow use anywhere.

The COVID-19-driven shift to WFH only underlined the importance of cloud-based systems for scheduling. We live our lives on our phones, from ordering dinner to taking out a mortgage, so it’s understandable to assume that scheduling software would include a mobile app.

“You want to make it easy for your staff to access their schedules from anywhere. This isn’t possible with desktop software,” writes tech expert Neil Patel in his scheduling tool drill-down. Beyond mobile-friendliness, he continues, “The best tools will also have shift swapping, employee self-service tools, HR features, labor cost management, leave management, attendance tracking, team messaging, overtime control, time clocks, etc.”

In today’s dynamic work environments, HR needs the ability to respond to scheduling changes on the fly, ensuring that they don’t cause your entire month-long schedule to fall apart, and requesting that someone else to step in without breaking your own rules or creating a sense of injustice among your workforce.

Employers are upping the ante in communication

Employee scheduling flows more smoothly with excellent communication that increases trust relationships, creating a virtuous circle where efficient scheduling itself raises trust.

Employee trust is high at the moment, with “my employer” as the most trusted institution and 73% of workers agreeing they trust businesses to protect them by adapting scheduling and sick-leave policies as necessary. But you can’t take this for granted.

Employers need to keep up and even improve employee communications. “Given the present state of low trust, business will have to fill a further void, that of credible information,” says Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman Holdings. “For CCOs, it is time for you to initiate regular briefings for employees by your chief scientist or medical officer, to provide trustworthy content that can be shared with employee families or community.”

Enterprises should continue communicating around scheduling, asking how employee needs may have changed (e.g. working parents may prefer a night shift now) and accommodating them as much as possible.

Encourage employees to share their concerns; create more channels for communication between employees and managers and among employees themselves; and open up the conversation around mental health and anxiety, to reinforce trust and improve your understanding of factors that may influence scheduling.

Not all scheduling changes prompted by COVID-19 should fade away

Employee scheduling has never been easy, and with more moving parts, increasing globalization, and the new stresses of COVID-19, it’s only gotten more complex. But necessity is the mother of invention, and so we’ve seen new tech and trends emerge of using AI for intelligent scheduling, supporting scheduling on the hoof, enabling flexible scheduling, and building communication into schedule planning.

Holding onto these new best practices after the crisis of coronavirus has passed can make companies stronger and more resilient in the long term.

Image Credit: depositphotos _19

The post Employee Scheduling Trends that Deserve to Continue Even After the Pandemic appeared first on ReadWrite.

The world of work is transforming. Although it’s tempting to blame it all on the coronavirus situation and its formidable ripples, the pandemic only accelerated the processes of globalization and digitization that have been underway for decades.

Among its many implications, the digital office means that jobs don’t necessarily need to be done in-person, and today’s startup leaders are realizing that many projects can be done at a lower cost remotely, without any drop in quality.

Still, COVID-19 helped tip the balance towards a globally distributed model.

Factors that are tipping the scales

Government restrictions and fears of infection pushed companies that had previously held out to accept remote working, and many discovered that it’s more manageable than they had expected. Managers realized that there’s little difference between employees working from home on the other side of town and employees working on the other side of the world.

What’s more, outsourcing projects and ongoing operations to offshore teams on a contract basis is a more flexible model that’s easy to scale. A flexible model is especially helpful for startups that can’t always predict what talent they will need when, and have low budgets that force them to hire for project work instead of filling in-house positions.

Given the economic fallout from COVID-19, more and more companies are falling into this category, with an estimated 41% of startups nearing the end of their funding runways, according to Startup Genome.

And finally, running subsidiaries and offices in numerous countries push business owners into overcoming mental barriers to global expansion.

A globally distributed business model allows you to hire the best talent wherever in the world it is. For example, the best R&D teams for your needs might be based in the Ukraine, whereas the best designers may be in Germany.

Transitioning to and managing a globally distributed model isn’t plain sailing. Obstacles to success include enabling collaboration and communication between geographically and culturally distant teams, handling multiple HR and tax requirements, and managing multi-faceted operations around time zone differences.

As with everything in startups, making this change is easier when you plan ahead, but companies that had globally distributed working forced upon them by COVID-19 can still make life easier by following these suggestions.

Automate as much as possible

When you’re running a globally distributed business, you have to adhere to multiple regulations. Each country has different requirements for healthcare and social services contributions, tax obligations, and classifications for types of companies and their obligations to others. Some of these differences are dramatic, while others are nuanced.

For example, you may think you’re hiring a freelance outsourced team that doesn’t receive health benefits, but in your new worker’s home country, she may be considered a contracted employee, with all the rights that go along with that relationship.

In these complex situations, the more you can automate, the better. “Moving to remote work is more than simply changing from an office environment to a distributed workforce,” Papaya Global’s Alex Margolin reminds us. “In the long run, taking advantage of the opportunity remote work offers means building a global vision. This starts with implementing automated tools that will allow your company to grow.”

Automation also helps overcome the dreaded impact of time zones on scheduling. Automated scheduling platforms and smart shared calendars convert meeting times into local time for each participant – and help you check the time in different time zones before you accidentally schedule a meeting for 3am in India.

Create a cohesive team

Whether you’re hiring workers for a short project, setting up a long-term outsourced team, establishing an international partnership, or connecting with a third-party vendor or supplier, it’s vital to support effective communication and collaboration. The various branches of your business can have different work practices and cultural assumptions that can lead to clashes unless you facilitate a smooth working relationship and personal interaction.

As IBM CIO Fletcher Previn puts it, “Some of the biggest challenges for employees revolved around simple human-to-human interaction. When you’re working in an office, it’s easy to have impromptu interactions with colleagues and build friendships.”

You need to help everyone connected with your company to feel part of a global team instead of a group of collaborating clusters and individuals. People crave a sense of belonging to something larger than themselves – this depth of cross-functional engagement boosts satisfaction, decreases churn, and increases productivity across the organization.

Previn’s recommendations are to “Define clear guidance, rules, and policies. Train employees on remote etiquette and provide tools for teams to collaborate and contribute.” And no, email is not enough; you’ll need many communication and collaboration channels, including messaging apps and video-conferencing platforms.

Establish policies that promote connection, like a virtual happy hour or fun conversations. Celebrating every holiday in every culture and country where any of your workers are located can also strengthen the sense of being part of a diverse, global team.

Open up access to information

When business lines stretch across countries, time zones, and continents, data can easily get lost along the way.

Remote workers, outsourced teams, distanced managers, suppliers, and more can all struggle to access the information they need at the right time. Time differences can leave knowledge workers waiting 24 hours or more just to get access to one file.

Data is the lifeblood of every business, so it’s vital to set up practices and platforms that enable everyone to get timely responses to questions, find documents, and more. Embed data and analytics in a way that allows all employees, workers and partners to access them and draw actionable insights, without compromising on security, and data protection compliance.

Support agile working practices

Succeeding with a globally distributed business means decentralizing the hierarchy into a flatter organization.

The fast-paced business world favors small, nimble teams that support agile decision-making. C-suite executives must devolve responsibility onto team managers and experts on the ground, giving them the authority to take the initiative and make decisions – otherwise, your global business will be stifled by bottlenecks.

This intersects with the need for good communication to build trust relationships and remove the urge to micromanage. In the words of Owen McGab Enaohwo, CEO and co-founder of SweetProcess, “Micromanagement derails active and ready-to-work employees — ensure that you maintain a certain level of trust, and you randomly check in on your team from time to time. This will help them perform efficiently and productively.”

Delegating authority to your distributed workers makes them more productive and happier. Slack found that 86% of people who enjoy working remotely say that they have a great deal of autonomy at work, while 77% of people who don’t like remote working say they lack autonomy.

A globally distributed model is attainable

Invest in advanced tech to automate awkward processes and improve communication and trust; support free access to the necessary data; and give all participants in a globally distributed business the responsibility they need to do their jobs effectively.

Globally distributed companies are the future for business, but they require the right mindset.

Image Credit: ketut subiyant; pexels

The post How Today’s Startups Can Adapt to a Globally Distributed Model appeared first on ReadWrite.

Bitcoin has always had the potential to become a world standard for money. Even if the blockchain that powers Bitcoin lacks the bandwidth to handle the required transaction volume, and even if the world wasn’t ready 11 years ago for non-governmental e-money to go mainstream, the potential was always there.

Indeed, Bitcoin enthusiasts and developers have long insisted the day will come when Bitcoin will stand alongside gold. Back in 2018, Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, emphasized that Bitcoin would become the world’s single currency.

What the visionary, Milton Friedman, predicted about Bitcoin in 1999.

Even before Bitcoin became a reality, visionaries like Milton Friedman were predicting the rise of an internet-version of cash, as long ago as 1999. “The internet is going to be one of the major forces for reducing the role of government,” he said at the time. “The one thing that’s missing but will soon be developed is a reliable e-cash, a method where you can transfer funds on the internet without A knowing B or B knowing A.”

The statements of Milton Friedman are precisely why finance commentators like Vice News producer and The Wisdom of Crowds author James Surowiecki have been so skeptical about Bitcoin going mainstream. “Our economies and financial systems are built around fiat money, and they rely on the central bank’s control of the currency (and the government’s ability to issue debt in that currency) to help manage the business cycle, fight unemployment, and deal with financial crises,” Surowiecki wrote in spring 2018 when Bitcoin hype was peaking.

Can Bitcoin be the dominant economic currency?

“An economy in which Bitcoin was the dominant currency would be a more volatile and harsher economy, in which the government would have limited tools to fight recessions and where financial panics, once started,” he continued, “would be hard to stop.”

Yet, two years later, the signs are positive that the significant disruption of the novel coronavirus could do what nothing else has done so far: give Bitcoin the extra push to become accepted as a reserve currency.

The macroeconomic moment we’re currently in represents a serious opportunity for Bitcoin use cases. Let’s take a look at a few key reasons why.

Corona is leveling the playing field

Set against long-lived currencies like the dollar and the pound sterling, Bitcoin seems new and untested. But venerable fiat currencies are crumbling.

Currency collapse, of course, is nothing new – this all has happened before. As recently as 2017, when the Bolivar collapsed, many Venezuelans went on to adopt cryptocurrency for their transactions. Before that, the Zimbabwean dollar and Argentine peso saw hyperinflation that prevented them from serving as valid currencies. The Icelandic krona suffered a similar fate after that country’s financial collapse in 2008.

In hindsight, 1971, when the gold standard was finally abandoned, was the beginning of the end for fiat currencies. For decades, central banks have reacted to economic threats by printing money and lowering interest rates, slowly creating a massive debt bubble that eventually caused the 2008-9 crisis.

Despite warnings, their strategy hasn’t changed, leaving fiat currencies over-inflated and ready to pop.

The coronavirus crisis brought a substantial economic shock that these currencies can’t withstand.

We are seeing sudden slashes to both supply and demand and cuts to international trade that has brought the global economy almost to a standstill. In response, the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, and the European Central Bank (ECB) all increased their quantitative easing plans and brought interest rates down even further to 0% (or below, in the case of ECB and Japan).

In the absence of the gold standard, it’s unclear what fiat currencies have reduced value against.

We can even argue that they reduced value against Bitcoin since it reflects the true market value of currency at any given time. Some hardcore proponents, including the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, claim that it’s the only true hard money.

CORONA CRISIS great for GOLD SILVER BITCOIN. US gov printing $10 trillion in FAKE US $ to save US. FED printing $10 trillion to save SHADOW Banks. Dollar in BULL market for now. When $ BEAR market begins GOLD SILVER BITCOIN parabolic. Best investments today. DO NOT MISS OUT.

— therealkiyosaki (@theRealKiyosaki) April 15, 2020

While that insight into the issue is hardly accepted universally, Bitcoin is increasingly seen as “harder” than fiat currencies which are manipulated by central banks.

Indeed, if Bitcoin’s resistance to central bankers’ manipulations is what once made it seem impractical, today, that stand seems like much more of a feature than a bug.

With fiat currencies in disarray and central banks on the back foot, we’re likely to see either a return to old financial ideas perceived as safe and stable, such as the gold standard, or the acceptance of radically new ones like Bitcoin which no longer appear unattractive.

When the internet rules, e-cash is king

Up till now, the decentralized nature of Bitcoin was one of its disadvantages. It was seen as chaotic, disorganized, and unreliable with no one officially “in charge.” The current period shows the manipulation of interest rates and quantitative easing measures — together with the effects of the coronavirus. All of these produce a prolonged period of artificial deflation, or worse, stagflation, decentralization could become an asset rather than a drawback.

Friedman, whom I quoted above, presciently linked the rise of e-cash with the central role of the internet in governing our lives. Once the internet rules, his argument goes, we will trust the currency which it manages.

It’s similar to the slow rise of email, which existed as a medium for communication since 1971 but wasn’t widely adopted until the mid-1990s. Suddenly, trust rapidly increased until it became ubiquitous.

Bitcoin occupies a similar space. It’s an internet-based tool that’s been awaiting its time. You could say that 2009-2020 were Bitcoin’s shadow years, just as 1970-1990 was that era for email. And we’re already seeing the tide start to turn.

The critical role that Bitcoin plays.

We can see this from the increasingly important role that Bitcoin plays, not just as a currency, but as a trustworthy agent in online interactions. The concept has been building and maturing slowly. And, UX has improved with time.

As digital currency spreads and becomes more stable, it’s turned into the foundation for dapps. RSK, for example, uses Bitcoin as the foundation for a smart contract platform, easing people’s ability to use it for transactions. RSK is the first open-source smart contract solution to have been built on Bitcoin’s network, and the platform has also rolled out powerful interoperability capabilities.

Bitcoin’s benefits to Ethereum.

“We believe being able to offer Bitcoin’s benefits to Ethereum users and to connect these respective developer communities is a crucial step for the blockchain ecosystem as a whole,” RSK Strategist Adrian Eidelman told the press in February.

Another example is the recent acquisition of the popular Taringa! Social network by IOV Labs, the company behind RSK. There are ambitious plans on the table to introduce Bitcoin transaction capabilities, to decentralize social media data storage, and to reduce the monopoly of global internet corporations such as Facebook.

The decentralizing move has a lot in common with Dorsey’s recent statements about his goal to decentralize Twitter’s tech infrastructure over the years ahead, through a project codenamed Bluesky.

At the same time, Atomic Loans is investing in building a decentralized finance marketplace for Bitcoin DeFi-backed loans. Such advances are fast bringing Bitcoin to be a versatile, widely-accepted currency.

Success breeds success

Bitcoin is standing on the threshold of widespread adoption as a reserve currency, and its diversifying use cases attest to this.

The currency is increasingly used for P2P lending and has improved cross-border trade as it removed the need to go through exchange middlemen. Dorsey is among the recent investors in Lightning Labs’s project to build a new protocol layer to speed up and lower the cost of Bitcoin transactions, while his Square Cash App is rolling out payments in Bitcoin, and Money on Chain is building a DeFi platform to serve as the foundations of a DeFi ecosystem for direct financial interactions.

We’re looking the future hard in the eye.

These and other important steps are establishing Bitcoin as a viable, stable means for payment. We anticipate that it will soon be adopted by central banks as a reserve hard currency, alongside their existing fiat currencies and gold stocks. In the short term, governments may even create their own Bitcoin to maintain control over the currency, but Bitcoin relies on decentralization, and in the long term, it will continue to evade governmental control.

A new bitcoin utopia could be on the way.

We still haven’t reached Bitcoin nirvana, but the signs are promising for long-term Bitcoin believers. Fiat currencies have long been losing their appeal, after decades of overprinting money and dragging down interest rates. As they crumble, Bitcoin’s star rises.

The corona-triggered recession is merely the pin that popped the fiat currency bubble.

Simultaneously, the more projects and platforms built on the back of Bitcoin DeFi, the more trust in and familiarity with the currency increases, setting it up for adoption as a reserve currency in 2021 and beyond.

The post Bitcoin Emerges as New Standard in Post-COVID Economy? appeared first on ReadWrite.

If you consider yourself as having a “super hardcore work ethic, talent for building things, common sense and trustworthiness,” then great news. You just met all of Elon Musk’s criteria for stellar career-building spaceships, proving it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to get a job at SpaceX.

The outspoken entrepreneur recently posted a tweet announcing a career day at the aerospace firm, in which he also promised that “the rest we can train.”

It’s a significant promise and one that ensured SpaceX career day would have candidates lining up out of the door. But the fact is that making the most of employee training is an area where many companies struggle.

A 2019 training industry report stated that 37% of companies surveyed wanted to increase the effectiveness of their training programs, in a year when training budgets had also increased by nearly 42%. But, in the same way that gaining a foot in the door at SpaceX isn’t rocket science, neither is improving the quality of your employee training programs. Feedback loops exist everywhere.

Future-ready business leaders who can learn to leverage these feedback loops in the context of employee development will find it easier to implement more agile, fit-for-purpose, and engaging training programs.

Recognize the challenges

Perhaps one of the most critical challenges facing today’s talent development teams is the move to digital adoption.

A new employee joining your organization faces dozens of systems and tools, some of which may already be familiar to them, while others may be used for the first time. A report from the Cloud Security Alliance survey found that the average enterprise runs 464 applications, of which employees use around 260.

Furthermore, the shift to digital also means organizations are increasingly leveraging automation for routine tasks, using software that connects platforms, robotics, and artificial intelligence. This shift means that employees are increasingly valued for their soft skills. So much so that participants in a Workplace Learning report commissioned by LinkedIn cited soft skill training as the most critical area of focus.

These training demands also have to be balanced against the need for employees to become productive as soon as possible after joining.

While a structured learning program is known to be beneficial in long-term retention, there’s also the challenge of keeping employees engaged through the right balance of on-the-job versus classroom-based learning.

Feedback is a gift

In management contexts, the concept of feedback is often limited to discussions around the annual performance review. But the traditional performance review model is outdated and doesn’t work.

According to a survey by Gallup, only 14% of employees strongly agree that their performance review inspires them to improve. In general, the annual performance meeting is a one-directional feedback process that can be uncomfortable and draining – for managers and employees alike.

However, this unfortunate outcome is the result of the contrived manner in which the annual performance review mandates the delivery of feedback. It doesn’t apply to the concept of feedback itself, which works successfully in many other contexts.

Feedback loops exist everywhere.

For example, when we get cold, our bodies trigger a series of reactions, such as shivering, that tells us to move somewhere warmer. Artificial intelligence algorithms are trained using feedback loops that tell them whether their output was correct, or not. So why don’t we apply the concept more to our employee communications and development?

Introducing feedback loops to employee training models

Using feedback loops in employee training doesn’t need to involve implementing new policies or learning management systems. In fact, doing so risks the same pitfalls as the dreaded performance review.

Instead, you can incorporate feedback loops more holistically and naturally, ensuring that they become woven into the cultural fabric of your organization.

Here are a few pointers.

1. Set objectives

Every training activity should have clear objectives. What knowledge, skills, or understanding should your employees have gained at the end? How will these help them in their new roles and help achieve the goals of the company?

Use these outcomes as a way of gauging the success of the training. If the desired results aren’t there, make adjustments accordingly.

2. The structure is essential – but avoid being prescriptive

Focusing on objectives and outcomes enables you to take a more flexible approach to employee training programs. Just because an organization uses 200 different systems doesn’t mean every employee needs training in all of them. You can use a template or high-level plan to categorize various activities and maintain some structure. For example, compliance-based training is generally essential, but software training can be undertaken on a need-to-have basis.

Tailoring a structured program to an employee’s individual needs allows them to get up and running more quickly. At the same time, the organization saves on training budgets for skills the employee may already have learned elsewhere.

3. Solicit feedback on progress and engagement

Employees should be encouraged to provide feedback as an integral part of their on-boarding. Feedback could be formalized, perhaps as a survey at the end of a training exercise. But there are always opportunities for informal, qualitative feedback. During training sessions, whether on the job or elsewhere, take regular breaks to check to understand, offer opportunities for questions, or ask how participants think the training is going.

Feedback doesn’t need to be formalized into performance reviews or employee satisfaction surveys to be meaningful. Creating a culture of open communication means that feedback loops become incorporated into the mindset of employees and managers. In this way, the organization becomes more resilient to feedback and more easily able to make minor adjustments on the fly.

4. Measure return on investment

There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach here. However, some metrics can help to measure the effectiveness of training programs.

Retention is the most universally popular among executives, managers, and talent developers, but performance measurements and qualitative behavior changes can also be effective.

Getting looped in on training

It’s time to consign the dismal annual performance review to the past. Feedback loops offer a way to ensure that your approach to training employees is agile enough to develop, along with the needs of the organization as a whole.

Establish an open feedback culture from day one of onboarding and create the best possible chance for enduring and fruitful employee relationships.

The post Why Future-Proof Employee Training Always Includes Feedback Loops appeared first on ReadWrite.

The question has been asked, “Is data the next front in the Trade Wars? Will our data threaten Global Commerce? What will become of data in this simmering conflict?” These, indeed, are vital questions — for all of us in the world.

What are the ramifications of the tit-for-tat tariff strategy?

Every week a new headline emerges concerning the state of US-Chinese trade negotiations, reflecting either the optimism or pessimism of a deal being concluded between two of the globe’s largest economies.  The ramifications of the tit-for-tat tariffs strategy has been nothing short of disastrous for a range of industries awaiting an expedient resolution from this conflict. From agriculture to industrial equipment and technology, the trade war has taken its toll on bilateral commerce and threatens to capsize the global economy as well.

Even though recent progress has satisfied global investors to an extent, the optimism belies the next brewing conflict front.  Just like the fact that most of a floating iceberg lies below the surface, the extent to which our personal data is prized still feels distant for many people. Personal data has long been a battlefront for the dominant technology powerhouses eager to refine their offerings — but now the battle is moving from the purview of the private sector to the public sector. 

With the US government increasingly emboldened in its efforts to thwart Chinese acquisitions of American companies and blocking technology deals under the guise of national security concerns, the unambiguous importance of our data is undeniable. The question that eventually arises is who you trust with your data, and to what extent?

Data Mining Takes an Orwellian Turn

China has made many advances over the last few decades, transforming the entire country and its role within the global economy.  On a domestic level, standards of living have improved drastically and the post-2009 crisis focus on building a more balanced economy that promotes consumption instead of strictly exports has helped fuel growth to an extent.  Yet, all these advances have been carefully overseen, approved, and reviewed by the state itself.

This state-sponsored hierarchy has extended well past the economy and into the social purview.  Nowhere has the intrusion into personal matters become more evident than the recent introduction of the “social credit” system.  Calling it Orwellian is putting it mildly at best. The social credit system basically ranks individuals based on several data points and is designed in large part to observe and eventually influence people’s behavior. 

With the state as the ultimate purveyor and consumer of this data, mining it for insights that they can use to determine someone’s social credit, the issue then becomes one of how these state apparatuses mine the personal data of individuals who don’t live within the country’s boundaries. Could this data — conceivably — be used as leverage or blackmail material against foreign government officials? Would it be employed to spy? Might it be abused for the purpose of corporate espionage and other nefarious activities? The answer quite possibly lies in recent US policy decisions.

Concerns Extend To China’s Overseas Ambitions

Large Chinese companies spent many of the post-crisis years on an acquisition spending spree across the globe.  Between buying up fancy real estate to stakes in some of the globe’s most famous companies, the extent of their investment reach is noteworthy.  Furthermore, local companies competing in global markets has been wholly supported by the Chinese state, much to the chagrin of market-economies that do not provide the same sort of interwoven economic support structures as China.  Over the last few years, the backlash against these companies’s has grown tremendously.

Take, for example, the recent Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) decision to force Chinese company Beijing Kunlun Tech to divest from dating app Grindr which they acquired in full back in 2018.  Despite CFIUS initial mandate to avoid politicization of foreign investment in the US, lately the government body has been used as a cudgel to fight foreign acquisitions of American companies on the grounds of national security risks.  The biggest risk according to CFIUS? The national security threat arising from compromised data privacy.

The line in the sand has clearly been drawn after steps were taken to prevent Huawei from implementing wireless 5G hardware in the US. The ban stems from concerns that the 5G network could be used to and spy on citizens and farm their data.  Considering the coziness of Chinese telecom companies with Chinese state intelligence apparatuses, this is not too far a stretch of the imagination.

Although the Equifax blunder has shown that personal data integrity may not be highly prized by the private sector, the US government is taking a much harder line, with CFIUS blocking more transactions over the last seven years than the previous 37 years combined.  This is also evident from the body’s decision to block Ant Financial from acquiring US-based MoneyGram International over fears that it would misuse personally identifiable data of US customers. 

To CFIUS’s credit, China does not have a sterling reputation when it comes to lawful acquisition and use of data.  Yet, not all countries have exhibited the same degree of wariness towards Chinese acquisitions.  For instance, despite recent criticisms of Huawei technology and its flaws, the UK has not formally banned the Chinese company from operating within its borders. 

However, for the tens or hundreds of thousands of clients from UK-based money transfer company WorldFirst who was recently acquired by a Chinese conglomerate, the misuse of their personal data remains a distinct possibility considering the deep connections between the Chinese state and private sector.

Data as The Next Battlefront

While tariffs may be the focal point of the ongoing trade war, a brand-new front focused on data is opening amid growing concerns about the reach of the Chinese state and its accompanying private sector companions.  Whether for security, espionage, or social credit, the Chinese state has shown very little inclination to respect the privacy of personal or commercial data.

Although the US is at the vanguard of this new privacy-oriented anti-China front, whether under the guise of national security or otherwise, the issue of data is one of global importance.  As individuals truly begin to recognize the value and power of their own personal data and how it can be used against them, data is emerging as the new commodity at the heart of a global battle for economic and social domination.

The post Is Data the Next Front in the Trade Wars? appeared first on ReadWrite.

 Blockchain is seemingly forever on the cusp of mainstream adoption, but not for long. For those who have a broader perspective on the technology’s current capabilities and history, the idea that blockchain is anywhere close to reaching critical mass is laughable.

Despite retail investor interest in cryptocurrencies, the things that blockchain technology can do are less limited. But the world still needs a prevalent blockchain app — even a decade following its introduction alongside Bitcoin.

There’s no doubt blockchain is slow to deliver value, but its enormous potential gives enthusiasts and the cryptocurrency market justification for their hope. The crown jewel of blockchain in 2019 is its nascent application ecosystem, nurtured via a sparse array of upstart decentralized computing networks including Ethereum, NEO, and EOS.

We’re still in the dawn of decentralized applications, but it has become apparent that these dApps—and their developers—are the best bet for blockchain’s eventual ascension to the retail market.

Dev Access Unlocks Blockchain for All

Given that networks like EOS and Ethereum are ground zero for blockchain progress making it easy and inexpensive for developers to create things on these blockchains is paramount. This is a notion that’s been embraced by the blockchain community more in recent years. Major projects now focus the bulk of their efforts on making development a welcome and familiar experience, but also ensuring that any successful dApps are able to effortlessly scale with demand.

The latter issue was contentious in the community at the peak of the previous cryptocurrency bubble. At that time it became apparent the market’s legacy ecosystems were incapable of supporting demand for their dApps. Trusted blockchains such as Ethereum had reached a point where they had accommodating virtual machines and other accessible dev tools, but the market did not react optimistically when the network couldn’t handle traffic on the first favorite apps (Crypto Kitties is the most representative example).

Even if the “killer app” of blockchain was created now, networks wouldn’t be able to handle the herd of users. In the post-bull market, the community’s optimism hinges solely on blockchain’s ability to produce tangible and reliable value via applications, not on the idea that it can do so marginally or sometime in the future.

With a more mature industry this time around, the best way to help developers deliver on these ambitions is second-layer solutions being amalgamated to the most popular blockchains.

Second Layers Accommodate Developers

EOS itself was created as a response to Ethereum’s sluggish transaction speeds. and It’s now waving the banner for blockchain scaling with internal, but also external endeavors to make it the fastest chain around. With a quicker DPoS (Delegated Proof of Stake) consensus model the blockchain’s transaction speeds are faster, and a multi-threaded developer environment makes it possible to run apps on multiple computer cores. Even with these groundbreaking developments, promising second-layer upgrades to EOS are just as powerful.

An exemplary project is called LiquidApps, which slides into the EOS software stack seamlessly to provide increased memory to resource-hungry applications on the network. Knowing that EOS is limited to 90MB of RAM and is therefore sometimes expensive, with 58 EOS required for a single 1MB block.

The development platform makes it possible for EOS users to also take advantage of vRAM and therefore lower hosting costs. This simulated storage is connected to EOS and is integrated effortlessly with the underlying blockchain, making it easier to support more and better apps, wider audiences, and faster transfers of value.

Even Bitcoin rests its hopes on the second layer, with the Lightning Network a “household name” among off-chain solutions for its yet unfulfilled ability to drastically increase the speed of transactions among participating Bitcoin nodes.

By storing the bulk of a data on completed blocks of transactions off-chain, the main Bitcoin blockchain will eventually be used as a reference layer upon which nodes can quickly validate transactions without needing to store the entire chain. Ethereum may use a similar proposed model called Counterfactual, which also moves transactions off the blockchain, but for now, is anticipating a long-awaited move to Proof of Stake for the purpose of better scaling.

AWS Becomes BWS

If blockchain is the “internet of value,” then second-layer solutions are the infrastructure supporting it. dApps are the platforms perched on top of it all—used by people to finally create and transfer value. From the inside out, blockchain is evolving into a more mature system, and slowly making it easier for people with less expertise to get involved.

After high-quality development tools come reliable application support, comes interfaces for building applications, reaches retail-level creators and then finally retail-level consumers. The most significant inventions coming from blockchain right now will soon resemble Amazon Web Services.

We’re close to a “Blockchain Web Services,” which would resemble dashboards with blockchain-connected utilities that are currently being perfected, which help developers create and run applications, build and host websites, rent storage and bandwidth, and reach decentralized audiences worldwide.

These connected services may not come from a single company like Amazon, but that’s the point of blockchain—to give free, equal access from anywhere and to everyone. And each company wants the most cost-effective price charged by the most consolidated firms.

A “snowball effect” is occurring. Even on a mostly volunteer basis, blockchain is getting easier to manipulate. This ability to attract developers and infrastructure project who multiply these efforts, we get closer to the point where it’s easy to make applications that encapsulate the best of decentralized technology.

The post Blockchain’s Mainstream Debut Awaits Dev Ecosystem Evolution appeared first on ReadWrite.

One can argue that even the most innovative banking institutions are bureaucratic enough, and their slow decision-making causing banks to lose their premium over fintech applications, peer to peer lending marketplaces, and payment processors.

We already saw the expansion of mobile app payment services, offering to their customers’ wealth-management products that give higher returns compared to banks.

At the same time, many expanded into the business of micro-lending. Banking services are no longer a monopoly of banks, and traditional financial institutions have to innovate in order to survive.

The era of non-traditional financial services providers such as Amazon Payments, PayPal Payments and PayU, has risen. The launch of the Payment Services Directive II in Europe unlocks new dynamics for FinTech and Payment Services.

The directive facilitates the emergence of common technical standards and supports interoperability within payment providers.

Among the fundamental changes PSD2 brings to the table, is that banks are now obligated to open up their IT infrastructure to Third Party Providers. This regulation constitutes payment services companies as direct competitors of banks.

As identified Account Information Service Providers can now get access to a customer’s account information to aggregate his financial information.

This opens a whole new world of opportunities for consumers to track their spending, optimize their finance, understand better their investment products, control the risk of their investments and more.

Fintech startups and banking institutions conceptualizing a whole new era of products for both retail consumers and enterprise clients. The most popular are: budgeting tools, Robo-advice, AI purchase recommendations, expenditure optimization, savings recommendations, and revolutionary payment ways.

Further to the value of financial products themselves, banks are losing access to customer’s data as they switch to non-banking channels and resources. 

Integration with AI

According to a 2017 report by PWC, AI-focused FinTech start-ups have attracted investments with an average of US$1 billion. Until recently, the most common use of Artificial Intelligence in the financial sector has been the operations of virtual customer services — aka Chatbots.

Of course, chatbots are only a small fraction of what AI brings to fintech: robot-trading, anti-money laundering, fraud prevention algorithms, predictive analytics, risk management, credit scores analysis from multiple layers, consumer behavior traction, and customization, are promising to change forever the future of finance.

The potential of insights that could be gained from analyzing the huge amounts of data generated in the Banking and Finance Industry is quite exciting. Of course, if we aim to maximize the performance of AI and Machine Learning algorithm. We need to aggregate data by different sources, argues Quadrant Protocol’s Senior Data Consultant, Glenn Harrison.

The key results from the utilization of AI are the minimization of costs, the swift customer service, automation in the business processes, and most importantly the risk reduction of human error or intentional harm.  

Like every new technology, one can wonder if the adoption is for real or there is hype. According to a survey conducted by Financial Times, the current exposure of financial institutions is mainly “narrowed to programs that perform more basic functions that involve logical reason, learning and self-correction without being explicitly programmed, to a vision of AI that includes all automation.”

The same survey warns that “there is a danger that too much investment flows into “hyped” areas such as chatbots at the expense of investment in behind-the-scenes processes where banks could make more significant gains.”

It’s interesting to examine which banks have already implemented AI technologies and examine the level of adoption. JP Morgan is utilizing AI to analyze legal documents and extract critical data points as presented in this video tweet. COin, as they’ve named their AI tool, can proceed within a few seconds 12,000 commercial credit agreements, which would require approximately 360,000 human hours.

Wells Fargo has invested in an AI-drive chatbot which operates through the Facebook messenger. Customers can ask their account balance, the most recent transactions, how much they spent on entertainment last month, and the location of the nearest branch, among others. Bank of America has launched Erica – an intelligent virtual assistant, which serves clients 24/7 and support “day-to-day transactions.”

Bank of NY Mellon Corp. announced they’ve put into force more than 220 bots handling repetitive tasks range from automated programs that respond to data requests from external auditors, to systems that correct data mistakes in requests for funds transfers.

What’s next?

From fully automating manually intensive repetitive tasks, identifying quickly fraudulent transactions, and adopting fast, accurate credit scoring policies AI Technology is expected to shape the future of finance. Accenture’s “Redefine Banking with Artificial Intelligence” report concludes that “AI advances will be so all-encompassing, and so fast-paced, that high-performing organization will inevitably accelerate away and leave the slow movers far behind.”

The transition from chatbots and “virtual customer agents” is bringing a whole new ecosystem with creators building solutions to transform finance. Let’s see who is building and what in AI at the moment.

Endor

Source: Endor World Economic Forum Report ‘Revolutionizing Predictive Analytics for Financial Service”

Endor, which has been called ‘Google for predictive analytics’ is an encrypted data prediction system, that enables predictive analytics while cutting cost & time, providing high-quality results in minutes instead of months. The highlight which positions Endor as a revolutionary innovation, is the ability to offer predictions on encrypted data- without having to decrypt it- which gives a powerful competitive privilege to banks, and no data science expertise is required.

Predictive analytics platforms usually require up to two months to provide the desired results. Endor is using social physics to create a prediction engine which is agnostic to encrypted data – making easy to serve as a model for every prediction. Endor can be used in many domains of banking and financial services to forecast any area of their business: Sales, Marketing, Operations & Risk or Strategy.

SAS AI for Banking

SAS is a trusted analytics powerhouse for organizations seeking immediate value from their data. Across it’s solutions SAS is offering tools from detecting and preventing fraud and financial crimes to managing credit and regulatory risk, to enhancing the customer experience, to generating sufficient capital, SAS solutions with embedded artificial intelligence enhance the speed, precision and effectiveness of human efforts, resulting in a more responsive, more profitable bank.

YITU

Yitu among else is offering an application of facial recognition technology to ATMs in China, in lieu of PIN numbers or fingerprints. Yitu is a Chinese startup that uses artificial intelligence to produce facial recognition data on a wide scale, and has penetrated industries like automotive, healthcare, and are even in the midst of developing chip hardware for AI algorithms.

CAMBRICON

Cambricon is a pioneer in the development of smart chips and processors with high performance, yet low power consumption for AI-related R&D, and have produced a few versions of its AI chip since its launch.

Cambricon Technologies has secured hundreds of millions of dollars in its Series B funding round which sets its valuation at US$2.5 billion, with investments from China’s State-owned Capital Venture, SDIC Venture Capital, China Capital Investment Group, TCL Capital, CITIC Securities, Alibaba VC, Lenovo Capital & Incubator Group and others.

AI is definitely bringing a whole world of new opportunities in the banking sector, with excitement to be translated into investments in AI startups from leading financial institutions.

On the other hand, AI is scaring bank employees which understand the risk that this technology will reduce the need for actual human workers. It is clearly expected that if a bank can fully automate a process through virtual robots, they won’t occupy the expensive time of a human to provide that service.

Non-AI technologies are already digitizing customer services of banking institutions and decreasing the need for in-house staff in banks. The fintech revolution with the rapid expansion of fintech applications is a fundamental threat to the dominance of banking institutions.

Banks offer fast transactions, less expensive, and usually with less hustle compared to traditional banking institutions. Investment in AI is definitely a chance on behalf of the banks to speed up and compete fintech applications.

The post AI-Driven Predictive Analytics: New Opportunities for Financial Institutions appeared first on ReadWrite.

Finance is a central tenet of business and a pillar upon which any successful company stands. After all, the point of capitalism is to create organizations which not only do something useful but those which ultimately monetize their plans and bring value to shareholders.

Many economic ideas exist to help businesses launch, grow, measure, and manage themselves.

The introduction of new technologies for the finance sector has, therefore, had an appropriately uplifting effect on business. This trend has accelerated with increasing intensity, and businesses today are looking at a drastically different environment than they were just a decade ago.

From lending to payrolls, fintech — the intersection of finance and technology—has revolutionized the traditional landscape of payments and changed the lives of business owners in various ways. This innovation explosion has led to massive proclamations and ambitious new projects, but the real impact is felt mostly on a smaller scale.

New digital financial platforms lighten the load for small- and medium-sized businesses primarily, helping them focus on honing their product or service rather than juggling financial loose ends or wasting precious resources on runaway financial management.

Agile lending makes SMBs bloom.

Banking is by far the most adjacent of the many financial disciplines to business as banks represent the traditional template by which a new company comes to be (if it needs to source working capital). However, banks are being challenged by a new breed of leaner, digitally enabled fintech firms which can offer smaller businesses a faster and more cost-effective path to funding.

Helped by new regulations like the MiFID II and GDPR, banks are mandated to “open the books” on customers’ financial data to create safer and faster flows of information.

The new regulations have also created opportunities for upstart digital lenders, practiced in advanced data science and AI techniques, to better mobilize customer information and therefore pass them greater cost savings. Online-only lenders are part of a trend called LaaS—or Lending as a Service—which uses cutting-edge technology to identify patterns in customer financial behavior automatically and to match them with a loan that has terms fitting their individual needs.

Traditional lenders typically look at over 20 data points when determining how creditworthy an applicant is and letting an algorithm make these decisions result in a process to mere seconds rather than days or even weeks. Based on qualifiers that customers input and verify via thorough yet quick online applications, LaaS leaders have enabled access to money for SMBs and torn down the more significant obstacles that the financial crisis erected in the way of these loans.

Operations optimized with fintech

Once a business is up and running, fintech helps to keep the momentum moving forward as well. The average small company must manage countless financial ideas as it grows: payroll, payments and invoicing, pensions and wealth management, supply chain logistics and much more.

Thankfully, the digitization of services has meant that any small company can build a stack of fintech platforms that can scale with it as it grows. Managing payrolls, for instance, is a high-overhead process that becomes much more complicated as a business adds employees.

Several online companies have deployed a range of technologies to their platforms which assist businesses to exercise better control over their payrolls. This idea gets expensive and unruly as a business expands, and negligence in organizing salaries can mean compliance violations (which vary by country), budgeting mistakes, taxation problems and other costly issues.

These outside payment companies have available data points and can achieve your goals from your automated payroll, real-time. Most will even help you with payroll to your global workforce. Armed with these insights from a financial company, employers can reduce payroll inputs significantly and optimize their hiring and retention practices in all their various geographies as well.

Opening new payments portals

Fintech’s role has also been to make payments for goods and services faster, easier, more convenient, and more cost-efficient for customers who choose to pay with a wider array of methods that now include cryptocurrency, loyalty points, and other digital cash alternatives.

Whether online or in person, a business shouldn’t be turning away customers based on how they want to relinquish their money, so companies like Square and Stripe have created innovative, ultra-portable Point-of-Sale systems that take minutes to set up. They can instantly read and process touchless payments like Apple Pay, but also credit cards, and even some mainstream cryptocurrency wallets.

Consumer-focused fintech solutions usually make payments a priority, because this is the area where customers want the greatest flexibility. Businesses are able to answer this demand if they use various payment solutions like Venmo, Paypal, and many others which acts as a middleman that immediately pays retailers.

Fintech platforms are delivering more convenient and cheaper solutions across a large range of payment channels and radically redefining how money moves from customers to businesses.

A core concept to any new fintech product is transparency, and though it’s difficult to tell if transparency is the result of fintech’s onset or the catalyst which began it all, there is no arguing that it’s healthy for consumers. Businesses that deploy a well-balanced assortment of fintech solutions can reach wider audiences, lower their costs, and discover key insights using the data available in this more transparent environment—a rising tide that lifts all boats in industries both near to and far from finance.

The post Fintech Boom is Disrupting the Way Companies are Run appeared first on ReadWrite.

Zero-day vulnerabilities can seriously threaten all affected systems since there are no available fixes at the time of discovery (DepositPhotos)

Cybersecurity threats are rampant, and attackers are showing no signs of letting up. According to the 2018, Cyber Security Breaches Survey released last April, over forty percent of UK businesses fell victim to cyber attacks over the span of twelve months from 2017 to 2018.

Hackers can gain access to target devices through vulnerabilities that can be found across the many layers of a company’s IT infrastructure including software and applications.

Serious flaws in operating systems, for instance, could be exploited by attackers for them to take full control over compromised devices.

Some of these flaws may not even be known to developers. Known as zero-day vulnerabilities, these flaws can seriously threaten all affected systems since there are no available fixes at the time of discovery.

Even if these zero-day vulnerabilities become known, it can take some time for official fixes to be released by developers.  According to Ponemon, zero-day vulnerabilities are the biggest threat to organizations with 64 percent reporting to be compromised through such flaws in the last 12 months.

The massive breach of credit reporting firm Equifax is often cited as an exemplary case of the threat of software vulnerabilities. The Strutshock flaw that was used in the attack was a zero-day vulnerability discovered in February 2017 and fixed in March 2017. However, the flaw remained allegedly unpatched in Equifax’s servers months after the fix was released, with the breach pegged to have occurred sometime in May 2017.

Hackers can take advantage of the lull between the discovery of the flaw and the application of the fix to attack. Companies can take an average of 100 to 120 days before applying patches to their systems. During this time, attackers can even automate the detection of vulnerable systems and write malware to exploit the flaw specifically.

Even devices with existing security systems can fall prey especially if users or administrators aren’t aware of the exploits or fail to apply stop-gap measures to prevent attacks.  While not technically in its zero-day period during the Equifax breach, the event illustrates how slow reaction by companies to such vulnerabilities could lead to catastrophic results.

Businesses slow to act.

Once hackers have access to their target devices, they can steal data, implant malware, and even take over systems for use in other attacks. According to the same breaches survey, these attacks can cost organizations thousands of pounds a year in the form of stolen assets, downtime, and recovery efforts.

Despite this potential impact to their bottom line, businesses often find it challenging to act on these threats promptly. Many smaller operations are ill-equipped to manage their IT effectively. Even those with dedicated IT teams are only able to respond if they are made aware of the threats. For larger operations, infrastructure size and complexity can even increase the time needed to secure their systems fully.

“Companies, even small to medium sized ones, can have dozens or hundreds of endpoints in their networks,” says Robert Brown, Director of Services at Cloud Management Suite (CMS). “If an exploit is found, they have to make sure that all affected devices are properly patched. With limited resources, IT staff can take hours or days to apply fixes. This could give hackers enough time to successfully launch attacks.”

Developers and vendors of vulnerable systems often try to take prompt action but fixes often don’t come out overnight. For example, a zero-day flaw that affected various Windows operating system versions was revealed last August, but it took Microsoft two weeks to release the official fix. The flaw, which affected Windows’ task scheduler, can be used by attackers to gain system-level access to target devices, allowing them to install software, delete files, and execute programs remotely.

Inertia also an issue.

End users can also simply suffer from inertia. Users often overlook to update and upgrade their software even if it is considered one of the fundamental practices in IT security. Users tend to ignore update warnings and almost half of them are frustrated by the experience.

One only has to look at the market share of operating systems to see how resistant users are to change. Windows 7, which was released back in 2009, still accounts for over 40 percent of the market. Users chose to stick with the older version even when Microsoft offered free upgrades to Windows 10 to existing license holders. Microsoft already ended mainstream support for Windows 7 in 2015 though the developer will provide extended support until 2020.

Interestingly, 4.23 percent of desktops still run on Windows XP. Microsoft officially abandoned the defunct operating system in 2014. This continued use forced the company to release an emergency patch during the WannaCry ransomware outbreak of 2017. It was the same outbreak that crippled the National Health Service (NHS). The ransomware was able to infect some NHS computers that ran on the outdated Windows software.

What can be done?

Putting in place preventive measures such as anti-malware applications, firewalls, and automated updates should provide users and organizations with a level of protection. However, vigilance is key when it comes to vulnerability-based attacks. Zero-day flaws can be beyond the scope of protection provided by these measures.

Knowledge is critical. IT staff have to know about threats as they emerge so that they can perform the necessary steps to minimize risks. Sites and social media feeds of security portals like StaySafeOnline can provide timely information about emerging threats and trends.

Fixes must also be deployed with urgency. IT expert Bruce Schneier remarks that patching will continue to become a challenge since computers are becoming more embedded. He writes, “This gets us back to the two paradigms: getting it right the first time, and fixing things quickly when problems arise.”

Software developers should take responsibility for their products and services. These threats should compel them to put better engineering and quality assurance practices in place.

Fortunately, IT management and security solutions providers are also making strides to streamline software deployment. Services like CMS are even introducing mechanisms that allow administrators to use plain language instructions to run tasks such as software updates and patch deployment. These solutions could greatly enhance IT management especially since only a third of security professionals update their software automatically.

What remains essential is for all stakeholders to act in a timely manner in order to minimize the risk that these threats pose.

The post Hackers are Ready to Exploit Zero-Day Flaws; Companies are Slow to Act appeared first on ReadWrite.

We live in an increasingly digital world. We shop, make appointments, order food and taxis, and document our lives online. Approximately 70 percent of us use social media to connect and share content, and most spend an astonishing four hours per day interacting with our smartphones. Deep learning and AI are changing the ways we consume and create media, and over the coming decade will completely transform how we drive, how we bank, what types of medical treatments we receive, and more.

Most businesses know that the digital revolution arrived long ago and that the deadline they needed to hit for upping their digital presence was yesterday. However, with so many digital trends and buzzwords being bandied about, even firms with the best intentions may be at a loss for what tools they need, but more importantly how to integrate these tools with their business. Onboarding new technologies doesn’t have to be a gargantuan task. You just need the proper template: a sound digital adoption strategy.

Exploring Digital Adoption

Digital adoption is what happens when digital tools are deployed by companies in pursuit of common goals, such as reinforcing relationships with customers, reducing human capital expenditures, and pursuing automation strategies. It’s no longer enough for businesses to have access to the most cutting-edge technologies.

If your staff or customers are unsure of how to use these technologies or reluctant to use them, you won’t derive any of the benefits these tools promise. Correct digital adoption sees users guided through the ins and outs of the technology so that they not only feel comfortable but fully embrace it, and in the case of employees, universally incorporate it into their workflow.

A basic example of digital adoption is Google’s G Suite business applications. The paid version of which is gaining traction with corporations like Airbus, Verizon, and Whirlpool. Poor digital adoption would be an employee writing a document on the Google Docs app, downloading it as a Microsoft Word document, and then emailing the document to a colleague. In the ideal scenario, the employee writes a document directly on Google Docs, then shares it through the app interface with several colleagues so that they can all edit it in conjunction, ensuring that everyone has access to the most up-to-date version.

In the first case, the employee used Google Docs but didn’t maximize its potential in terms of time and efficiency. In the second scenario, the employee fully adopted Google Doc technology and was able to deploy it to reduce wasted time while simultaneously boosting her and her teammates’ productivity.

Solving for EX and CX

In the second example, the employee experience (EX) was much smoother and less stratified than the EX described in the first scenario. As companies begin to understand that EX is intrinsic to employee motivation and retention, getting digital adoption right will become even more critical. Working to minimize superfluous technologies that overburden employees is a good start.

The next step is choosing a system that takes employees on a personalized training journey, adapting itself to each person’s pace, strengths and weaknesses. Once employees are comfortable with the platforms critical to company operations, they’ll be more satisfied, have a greater context for their own work, and be more likely to relinquish their grip on the old way of doing things.

Introducing customers to your newest digital offering is just as straightforward. While you can’t force them to undergo training sessions like you might an unenthusiastic or stubborn employee, you can utilize your marketing department to prepare and disseminate outstanding educational materials. It’s possible to both explain to customers how to use your new technology and convince them that this technology is something they want. With an extraordinary customer experience (CX) in mind, customers will buy into the new tools but also remain engaged with them.

Generating a Positive ROI on Digital Assets

The underlying purpose of digital adoption is to drive efficiency for business. In the internet era, the best tech to embrace often comes in the form of comprehensive business software. Content management systems (CMS), customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, and other software suites blend together business flows in a way that makes it easy to visualize what’s happening, implement sweeping changes, and address issues like bottlenecking or low customer retention rates proactively.

Accordingly, the B2B enterprise software industry is on a tear and took in over $369 billion in 2017—a figure that is forecast to grow to $439 billion in 2019. More than improving efficiency, however, digital tools allow businesses to measure precisely how and why the changes they’ve made produce specific results.

ROI from technologies is difficult to measure when a firm uses several different solutions, but many software platforms bring everything “under one roof” by outright replacing single-purpose technology or helping to plug it into the new interface. This brand of digital adoption allows businesses to see which key performance indicators (KPIs) work well, and why, whereas before this was difficult to quantify.

Businesses can delve beneath surface level and, instead of paying attention to shallow metrics like the number of users per platform, can measure how employees and customers are interacting, how they benefit, and where they can squeeze more out of the technology. Ultimately, investing in a digital adoption strategy empowers businesses to determine which technologies are working, which are worth investigating, and which need to go.

Tying Tech Together

Whether we like it or not, the digital age is here to stay. Instead of playing catchup with continually evolving technologies, hands-on businesses can stay ahead of the curve by driving digital adoption and making it a top priority. By helping your teams and customers properly use and acclimate to any new technology you acquire, you’re setting your business up for success.

With digital adoption, you improve time usage and productivity, keep employees and customers happy, reduce churn, and overall generate a positive ROI on your digital investments. The bottom line is, digital adoption keeps you competitive. If you haven’t yet, it’s time to get your head in the game.

The post Here is Why Your Business Should Take Digital Adoption Seriously appeared first on ReadWrite.

Big data has been big news for businesses in recent years. The rapid rise in internet use and smartphone technology means we are now generating vast quantities of data every minute. According to one 2016 estimate from IBM, 90 percent of the data in the world was created within the last two years.

When done right (blockchain) big data can provide deep insights enabling faster and more accurate decision making.

Having access to such unprecedented volumes of data comes with both opportunities and challenges. This data can accelerate growth and success for businesses. For example, one telecom provider uses customer location and travel data to create targeted real-time promotions, advertising, and up-sells of its services. In the finance sector, big data analysis can be used to identify and prevent fraud.

Handling such vast volumes of data is not without challenges.

Big data requires enormous storage capacity and processing capability. It must also be readable by humans and not just computers. Perhaps most critical -the data being used must be correct in order for it to provide meaningful insights.

Barriers to Entry

Companies such as Google and IBM have developed solutions that address these issues. However, the costs of overcoming big data challenges often put big data out of the budget reach of SMEs. This limits the use of big data to sectors featuring large global players that can afford to invest in solutions with more fragmented industries with smaller players getting left behind.

The emergence of blockchain provides many benefits for big data. Distributed computing eliminates the need for centralized servers to take all of the storage and processing load which reduces the cost of big data, making it more accessible to a broader audience of smaller businesses and enterprises.

Through consensus protocols, a blockchain network can also perform the essential task of validating data for accuracy before it is entered into a database. This ensures that the data can be trusted, and the information is more likely to be adopted by businesses as a decision-making tool.

Opening Up Big Data

In Finance

As the financial sector is one of the leaders in the adoption of big data, it is unsurprising that banks are among the first to start leveraging the power of blockchain in their big data efforts. At the end of 2017, a consortium of 61 Japanese banks signed with blockchain company Ripple to develop real-time authentication and verification of interbank transfers. With transactions stored in realtime, the banks use big data analytics to examine consumer spending patterns and identify risks such as fraud and money laundering.

In Real Estate

Real estate is one example of a sector that has been slow to adopt big data due to its fragmentation and a large number of smaller players in the field. Due to its fragmentation, most data currently bought has no way of being verified by the buyer.

All parties to a real estate transaction are dependent on data to enable it — whether they be buyers, sellers, mortgage providers, insurers or realtors. With no easy way of verifying data available to them, parties are forced to rely on the reputation of the data provider. These issues have serious economic repercussions, as the availability and trustworthiness of data can make or break a real estate deal.

Rebloc aims to use consensus protocols to overcome this issue, by developing a blockchain-based data marketplace for the real estate sector. Rebloc operates using secure smart contracts, when a consumer requests access to a set of data, a smart contract is opened between the seller and buyer and the data is then checked by a validation protocol which compares it against multiple other datasets. Once the data has been verified to be accurate, the smart contract releases it to the buyer and sends money to the seller automatically.

Rebloc foresees that its network will be able to accommodate the vast number of parties in the real estate business, from large mortgage and insurance brokers to smaller realtors and even homeowners. Blockchain allows for the real-time availability of data, ensuring speedier real estate transactions with up-to-the-minute visibility of the data needed to close a deal.

In Biomedical Research

There is a massive amount of data generated by clinical trials and biomedical research. The accuracy of this data is paramount in ensuring that the drugs that make it to market are safe for use. Chinese and US researchers have now released a paper detailing their study into using blockchain for the validation of data integrity from biomedical studies.

This process makes use of public validation using the Ethereum blockchain.

Among their concluding statements, the group reported that “Given the high value of biomedical data and need for verifiability of data assets in clinical trials, blockchain technology provides a reasonable solution that can be rapidly integrated into existing infrastructure to provide a publicly-verifiable audit log.”

In Marketing

Individuals on social media will often provide unsolicited praise to their favorite brands, which is essentially a free endorsement. Adscot is a company that works to find these mentions on social media and connects brands to the individuals who made them. The idea is that the brands may wish to work with the individual in the capacity of a social media influencer who could create further such promotions on a paid basis.

A sibling company of Adscot is now developing a blockchain platform that will use actual humans to verify data submitted by its users. Called Avence, the company points to a need for specific data and datasets to be authenticated by humans. It believes the verification of a social media post belonging to an actual human account is one of them.

With so much data in the world now, it is unsurprising that centralized computing incurs such significant costs of dealing with it all. While big data has been a costly field to enter, wrong big data can be even more expensive. Blockchain offers clean and practical solutions for verifying data, as well as its storage and processing. Therefore, it is likely that the partnership between blockchain and big data could be a lasting one.

The post Blockchain Big Data Options will Change Entire Industries appeared first on ReadWrite.

Thanks to the growth of the internet, the rate at which new information is being released is growing exponentially.

Accelerating big data between machines.

We are in an age when communication is not just between human beings. Machines are now the go-to for connections between the people to people space — as well as machine to machine delivery.

IoT and AI

Technological advancements in the IoT and AI have brought us Machine to Machine communication where interconnected devices can exchange data and make faster, better decisions based on larger amount of information than were ever available before.

Think of a smart vacuum cleaner that knows every corner of your house and can operate itself intelligently. The device even drives itself to the docking station for recharging when its battery is low.

Now imagine that the vacuum cleaner can communicate with smart doors in your home to allow it access and lock them after it has finished vacuuming each room. It also knows when its brush head is getting worn out and can order a new one for itself from the best seller it can find online.

All this has become possible through AI and IoT.

Now, with blockchain joining forces to secure these types of devices, there is no doubt that we are on a highway to a world driven by smart technology.

What Does This Mean for Big Data?

Smart devices are a vital data source, and therefore their proliferation will automatically lead to the growth of big data.

According to IBM Big Data & Analytics Hub, a robust growth of IoT can only mean a deluge of new data in the next few years. A new study by the global research firm, software.org, estimates that there will be over 50 billion interconnected devices within IoT by 2020.

Blockchain is beginning to merge with IoT.

But what is even more amazing is that blockchain is merging with IoT. Data from these devices is guaranteed to be secure and highly accurate.  This is because the immutable nature of the technology makes it impossible to manipulate or change data presented by IoT devices.

It is not very often that you can find a highly reputable big data source who’s benefits to the general population keep growing. This is attracting more usage and consequently boosting data growth.

With blockchain security — IoT as a data source becomes self-driving — its benefits far outweigh any flaws. Without this progressive success — the rate of adoption is likely to skyrocket with time as well as the quantity of data it generates.

The power of blockchain-based IoT in big data may sound like a faraway dream, but solutions that marry the two are already in place.

Blockchain and IoT Combinations

One such solution is Steamr, a blockchain based project by the Swiss-based Steamr Network AG using IoT for big data. Steamr’s primary objective is to enable the ordinary person to trade data from their IoT devices with each other and with manufacturers.

Think: Sharing information.

Think of a smart car that can share traffic data with vehicles on other routes. The cars software is notified of the relevant authorities when an accident occurs. These vehicles will also be warned in case of road repairs that can slow the timeframe. The car can also share durability data with manufacturers to help them plan for new brands.

Ecosystems can be built where it is possible to share such data and get rewarded in the process. For instance, through the project, smart car owners can also buy relevant data such as traffic updates.

Owners and user may be look for best pricing charging points or any other valuable information. The purchased data automatically uploads into the autonomous car systems and initiates the required actions.

A project known as IOTW is AnApp Technology. This project is building an ecosystem where data from IoT devices can be pooled and sold with the consent of users to interested parties.

Rewarding your customers for their data.

When consumers get rewarded for the data they provide you — companies can use this data in endless ways. This information can be used for planning smart cities, updating appliances and can help caters to better fill customer needs.

Appliance electricity usage information or any other relevant data is worth collecting. They want to know about IoT appliances and devices.

The project of collecting data is for both consumers and industrial IoT companies. Collected data will be beneficial to manufacturers as well as wholesale and retail businesses.

As blockchain is becoming part of IoT — there is a high chance that the resulting big data will lead to more innovative IoT solutions. This will in turn generate more high-quality data. This will lead to better decision making in all aspects of life, creating more ease and accessibility for all.

The post Emerging Technologies are Banding Together to Accelerate Big Data’s Growth appeared first on ReadWrite.

In 2013, hackers managed to access the AP twitter account and posted a fake tweet implying that there was an explosion in White House and the then President Obama had been injured.

Following the Tweet, the stock market went into panic mode with the Dow plunging over 150 points and the S&P 500 shedding $135.6 billion in a matter of seconds. The flash crash was associated with high-frequency trading algorithms interpreting the tweet as true and executing huge sell orders.

Fake News and Big Data

Fast forward in 2018, and fake news is no longer limited to occasional incidents of hacking. Social media has seen explosive growth in the last few years and with it has come a massive influx of fake news, often used purposely as a tool for business and manipulation. Even worse, as media technology continues to get more sophisticated and available, fake news is becoming hard to detect.

While fake news is a problem for those who seek information online, it is a bigger problem when viewed from a big data perspective. This is because in this age, big data is the core of decision making for governments and businesses alike and when elements of bad data can no longer be sieved from big data, poor decision making is inevitable because the decision is based on faulty facts.

Even when not rampant, fake news has the power to make big data unreliable. Falsehoods and clickbait tend to spread faster than truth and a single piece of misinformation has the power spread like wildfire, hurting the integrity of big data.

Possible Solutions

If big data is to be trusted for decision making, a solution must be found to deal with the fake news menace conclusively. Following the exposure of the part social media played in alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US elections, Facebook and Twitter have introduced a mechanism that enables people to flag news they suspect to be fake. When a good number of users tag a story as fake, it appears less in people’s news feeds and carries a warning that it may contain false information.

While this is a good start, there are many issues with this system, such as people flagging content because they don’t like it, limiting them from seeing news which will contradict their worldview and hurting publications needlessly. This solution also doesn’t address the big data problem because people are likely to identify fake news based on other people feedback not necessarily based on accurate fact checking. The approach of identifying fake news on the basis of users’ feedback may not be very reliable given that people can manipulate the feedback to punish those that they do not like.

Blockchain Innovation 

With blockchain technology, it is possible to trace news directly from the original source and therefore determine if it can be trusted. The distributed ledger technology makes it possible for all parties in a network to identify the chain of an article’s distribution of information from its origin. Apart from exposing the original source, blockchain protects the information from manipulation by ensuring that each party in the network can follow the entire dissemination process.

Another way that blockchain is helping tackle fake news is by incentivizing good content and punishing bad content. Social media platforms such as Ask.fm are leveraging the token economy to reward content publishers based on how their content is received by users. Content that is popular with readers is rewarded with tokens and shown to many readers while unpopular content is hidden.

The more a publisher gets positive feedback on the Ask.fm platform, the higher they rank in earnings and discoverability. This gives them an opportunity to attract brands that need exposure and are paid to mention them in their posts. Given that the publishers’ earnings are dependent on the overall rating, they have to ensure that they only publish high quality and truthful content.

However, while the incentive model may help eliminate fake news to some extent, it cannot be relied on fully either. As mentioned earlier, a well crafted fake story is likely to gain popularity more than the truth given the human innate tendency to share rumors. Also, just like the Facebook approach, the incentive model can be gamed to meet a certain group interest. The incentive model also doesn’t offer a solution for the big data issue given that it does not provide a way for the algorithms to determine the legitimacy of a piece of information.

With the rate at which the blockchain is advancing with, there is hope that better solutions to fake news and big data issues are yet to come. The few available options have already set the roadmap and it is just a matter of time before lasting solutions are found, In the meantime, exercising healthy doses of skepticism and caution is a good idea.

The post Navigating Big Data’s Fake News Problem appeared first on ReadWrite.

Over the past 18 months, we have witnessed a significant shift in the state of the financial markets. Cryptocurrencies, once a niche fascination, have exploded in value. At the start of 2017, digital currencies held collective market cap of less than a $20 billion. They entered 2018 with a head-turning $850 billion market cap – one of the most impressive year-over-year expansions we’ve ever witnessed.

Experts such as Tim Draper, the billionaire investor, have boldly predicted that the price of Bitcoin will soar to $250,000 in four years. Meanwhile, crypto startups are gaining traction like never before.

However, while cryptocurrencies and their impressive prices attract most of the mainstream headlines, there is a growing awareness from industry experts and central governments that its underlying technology, the blockchain, is the foundation and biggest game changer of all.

The Value of Blockchain 

As The New York Times recently wrote, “The Bitcoin bubble may ultimately turn out to be a distraction from the true significance of the blockchain.”

In January, JP Morgan Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon, offered what was, for him, high praise of the technology when he described it as “real.” Putting it more romantically, Mckinsey and Co. describe the blockchain as the technology which could “revolutionize the world economy.”

On March 9th, the president of China’s central bank, Zhou Xiaochuan, supported blockchain technology in his comments to the National People’s Congress. They closely aligned with statements from U.S. officials at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In an official statement on cryptocurrency and blockchain, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton noted, “The technology on which cryptocurrencies and ICOs are based may prove to be disruptive, transformative and efficiency enhancing. I am confident that developers in fintech will help facilitate capital formation and provide promising investment opportunities for institutional and Main Street investors alike.”

That’s not to say that blockchain technology is ready to disrupt the world right now. It’s still a relatively new technology which requires continued development and maturation to be presentable as a commercial enterprise solution.

For instance, research and consulting firm Deloitte, identified blockchain connectivity as a necessary and essential tech trend for this year. In a detailed report on the issue, Deloitte wrote, “With the proliferation of platforms and protocols in the marketplace today, no single solution has emerged as the clear winner.”

In short, while blockchain technology is extremely competent, its disparate and disconnected networks don’t make for easy enterprise solutions just yet. Fortunately, progress is being made.

Enabling Blockchain’s to Communicate With Each Other

Several initiatives are already underway to connect blockchains or adapt their functionality for businesses.

Qtum, a Singapore-based blockchain initiative, connects Ethereum’s smart contracts and Bitcoin’s blockchain, bringing together the two most prominent blockchain technologies available today.

Bitcoin, the preeminent and most valuable cryptocurrency, is the leading candidate for broad implementation, and Ethereum is a long-time favorite of enterprise initiatives.

Using a proof-of-stake verification method, Qtum creates a system that’s adaptable and usable for broad business solutions.

Because Qtum offers ready-made tools, companies can use its platform to integrate blockchain protocols, smart contracts and other features into their current business workflow. As a platform which doesn’t require programming skills, Qtum is an enterprise-level blockchain platform that allows for effective workflows and connectivity.

With job postings in the cryptocurrency space on the rise, a lack of blockchain developers to fill these roles could prove to be a significant holdup for blockchain advancement and proliferation. Platforms like Qtum could be a boon to the industry.

Another emerging platform is the ‘Overledger’ platform by Quant. It’s positioning itself as the ‘blockchain operating system of the future’ and is the first blockchain operating system facilitating the development of multi-chain applications.

First and foremost, the platform aims to facilitate human-to-human and machine-to-machine trust, enabling them to transact with one another safely and securely. In addition, the Overledger platform plans to address many of the primary limitations of current blockchain technology that are limiting its true potential.

One more example of this is the Hyperledger Quilt which is one of the Hyperledger projects hosted by The Linux Foundation. It is a Java implementation of the Interledger protocol (a protocol for making transactions across ledgers). The platform acts as a business blockchain tool that offers interoperability between ledger systems

The purpose of the platform is to act as a connected ledger that makes it easier, cheaper, and faster to transfer value to users on different ledgers or networks.

Other platforms like TenX are striving to connect blockchains by making the value derived from the various blockchains accessible on other chains as well.

TenX uses a debit card payment system to make blockchain assets instantly spendable. By making things like digital currency or decentralized rewards more usable, TenX is improving the blockchain’s ability to function across different platforms.

Enterprise integration will require close integration and reliable communication between the best and most capable blockchains.

Changing the World With Blockchain 

The blockchain has broad use-cases for nearly every industry.

In the finance industry, the blockchain provides a more secure, stable, and speedy payment system that can radically upend the current operation models. Selected as the ‘Global Bank of the Year’ in 2017, Santander recently launched an international payment service based on Ripple’s xCurrent.

The opportunities don’t end there. From supply chain management to e-commerce, the possibilities are seemingly endless. In South Korea, you can now use cryptocurrency as a currency to buy products in over 6,000 stores.

Perhaps even more excitingly is the news that Newegg Inc, the e-commerce website that is currently rivaling Amazon for sales in the technical equipment and electronics industry, has recently expanded its payment options to accept Bitcoin from its customers in Canada.

However, the lack of communication between different blockchains still acts as a bottleneck that is slowing the growth of the industry. For significant progress to be made that allows blockchain technology to reach its full potential, the many different blockchains will need to easily be able to  connect to and communicate with one another.

This is a high priority development, and platforms are already working to make it a reality.

Qtum is bringing together the two most prominent blockchains, Bitcoin and Ethereum, while TenX is making blockchain assets usable in the real world. It’s a step in the right direction, and it’s the process that will result in the blockchain achieving its real value proposition.

Revolutionizing the entire world economy would change the world as we know it. And the most exciting part is, blockchains could actually pull this off.  But first of all, they will need to be able to communicate and connect.

The post Cross-Platform Scaling: The Way Forward for Businesses on Blockchain appeared first on ReadWrite.

When businesses fail to make better decisions, they are bound to fail. In fact, studies have shown that most firms fail at strategy formulation and execution rather than product development. Simply put, a business may have the best product in the world, but if it fails to make the right implementation decisions, it is doomed. Better decision making involves teamwork and for a team to be at its best, there is a need for leadership.

Leadership is needed at all levels and they must collaborate to share information and deliberate on every next move. When businesses are small, they have a manageable team and therefore it is easier for the management to make better decisions. However, they must grow faster to keep out competitors and thus must increase the size of their teams.

But when the size of the organization and team becomes big, decision making becomes complex and erratic. This explains why the majority of big corporations spend an enormous amount of money in hiring third-party management consulting firms for strategic advice and implementation. Even with these measures in place, the decision making is still prone to error given the fragmentation of the process.

How Blockchain Can Help

The number one goal of the blockchain technology is to do away with the centralized systems including centralized management. With the technology, all decision making and strategy implementation are automated and enforced through smart contracts.

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) is the name given to the organizations where decisions are made electronically through the blockchain and smart contracts system.When a business operates in such a system, it is governed by rules established through open voting with the weight of each vote being determined by the number of tokens held by the voter.

The tokens are earned depending on the contribution made to the business either in finances or services. Here are examples showing how this concept has evolved since its inception.

The DAO Project

In 2016, an Ethereum based project known as The DAO was introduced with the aim of decentralizing venture capital. The project was designed to allow investors to pool their funds together and then vote on which projects to invest.

Once an investor joined the platform, they would receive awards in the form of tokens. The voting power of an investor would be determined by the number of tokens in their possession. Likewise, businesses would be required to write proposals on the DAO platform and the token holders would vote on which projects they would like to be funded.

The decisions made through voting would then be translated into rules and executed through smart contracts. While the project kicked off well managing to fundraise over $150 million, it later crashed after hackers identified a loophole in its code allowing them to siphon over $70 million from investors.

Even though the attack was stopped and the lost money returned to owners, the incident marked the beginning of the end of the project. The SEC hammered the final nail in the coffin on July 25, 2017, after the ruling that the tokens offered and sold by The DAO were securities and therefore subject to the federal securities law.

A new project known as DaoStack aims to eliminate the security and compliance issues identified in The DAO while enabling collective decision making at scale.

The DaoStack Project

Think of the DaoStack project as a blockchain-powered operating system that provides a comprehensive framework which makes the creation and maintenance of DAOs simpler and more feasible. The goal is to make the decentralized organizations more secure, viable and practical.

With the DaoStack project, parties in autonomous organizations can collaborate efficiently without the need for technical expertise or intermediaries. Businesses can create their own decentralized applications on it with ease and build and manage teams where the contribution of the members to the project determines the value of each.

The goal of the DaoStack platform is to enable smooth decision making in organizations where teams can collaborate and make decisions on an open platform, at a minimal cost, and with high accuracy.

The Future of Business

With the advancement of DAO platforms, the future of business decision making is bright. Organizations in the near future will be able to choose where to place their projects from a variety of options, saving on cost, promoting transparency and driving efficiency. With more DAO innovation, businesses will be able to offer a better work environment for both employers and employees alike.

The post Optimizing Business Decisions With Blockchain Technology appeared first on ReadWrite.

In the past five years, the global financial industry has experienced major disruptions thanks to innovative technologies in AI, Machine Learning, and Blockchain. The rate at which supercomputers are taking over the financial sector is leaving no doubt that the future of finance will largely depend on computer scientists and big data experts rather than the traditional financial advisors and traders.

It is no wonder that the world top financial institutions are now hiring more quantitative analysts and computer scientists than the traditional financial analysts and investment advisors. The CFA Institute, the provider of the world most prestigious professional designation for financial analysts, has realized that it is no longer business as usual in the industry and is now including AI, Big Data, and Machine Learning in its Curriculum.

On the other hand, Blockchain, the technology behind cryptocurrencies, is also having its fair share in the industry with analysts predicting that it will do to the financial system what the internet did to the media. Cryptocurrencies as an investment asset have seen explosive popularity since 2016 with Bitcoin the mother of all cryptocurrencies soaring above 1,500% in 2017 before crumbling 63% in the first month of 2018. Other cryptocurrencies (as of now there are over 2000 of them) are seeing the same level of growth and volatility, creating massive investment opportunity on the one hand and big risk on the other.

As the amount of data on these digital currencies continues to pile up, crypto-traders are finding it hard to find investment insights manually. This has prompted the emergence of AI and Machine Learning driven solutions. The application of computer algorithms driven by AI and Machine Learning to analyze big data and execute stock trades is not something new in the mainstream financial markets.

AI and Machine Learning can be applied in the crypto markets in similar ways to the way it’s used for data analysis. The key advantages of algorithm-driven investment decisions include speed and accuracy, which are the two most vital elements to success in the highly volatile crypto markets.  Also, machine-driven trading does not require the trader to have specialized skills in a certain discipline or to have insider information to compete.

For instance, Signals, a blockchain platform launched on the Ethereum Network, seeks to utilize Machine Intelligence in order to enable crypto traders to make smarter and faster trading decisions and maximize trading profits. With the Signals platform, both the experienced and inexperienced crypto traders can access trading algorithms ranging from traditional technical analysis to the sophisticated machine learning techniques.

Another example is Robo Coin Advisor, a platform that has been work in progress since 2014. The projects, which claims to be the first robo-advisor for cryptocurrencies, combines AI with cryptocurrencies and blockchain to provide investors with daily forecasts and statistics relating to cryptocurrencies and their tokens.

But how can we be assured that the trading algorithms are accurate and will make the right call when subjected to a lot of varying data? The answer can be found in back-testing. The process involves subjecting the algorithm to historical data in order to determine how it would perform in various scenarios. Platforms such as the Quantopian have been providing back-testing avenues for stock-trading algorithms and some are now offering such solutions for crypto trading.

Another aspect of algorithmic investing that is bound to benefit crypto traders is market scanning for tradable news. In high-frequency trading, Computer algorithms equipped with Natural Language Processing are taught to scan and identify tradable news as it develops and execute trades instantly. This approach can be very helpful in crypto-trading given the crypto-markets volatility and sensitivity to emerging issues.

For instance, in the recent past, news on regulatory crackdowns has proven to have a very big impact on the price movement of cryptocurrencies. With an algorithm that is trained to identify regulatory crackdown news as they emerge and instantly execute trades, traders can profit on their crypto holdings both on the bull and bear markets.

As blockchain and cryptocurrencies continue to gain traction in the mainstream society, the amount of data generated from related activities and transactions will keep growing. Long-term investors and day traders must, therefore, be ready to embrace cutting-edge technology if they are to remain competitive in this industry.

The post AI and Blockchain Tech Are The Future of Successful Trading appeared first on ReadWrite.

In the 2006 science fiction thriller Déjá Vu, Denzel Washington plays a government agent who uses novel government technology to fold time and space back onto itself so that he can retroactively prevent a terrorist attack. It’s a creative interpretation of the concept of déjà vu, and, of course, Washington’s character uses this technology only for good. While the idea of literally bending time and space to repeat the past is relegated to science fiction, the film raises important questions about the ethics and prevalence of government surveillance, which are particularly prescient for our modern times.

As part of the natural evolution of technology, the internet of things (IoT) has established itself as one of the most transformative innovations of our time. IoT is a simple process of connecting existing devices to the internet so that they can send and receive data that allows them to act independently. Dubbed “smart” devices, they are becoming incredibly popular. We are connecting billions of IoT devices to the internet, and Gartner predicts that we will connect more than 20 billion IoT devices by 2020. This includes everything from smart home systems to driverless cars. The full range of the ordinary to the extraordinary is represented by the IoT.

Unfortunately, all of these connected devices and the troves of data that they transmit through the internet are fodder for government surveillance. As Shay Hershkovitz eloquently wrote in Wired, “There is little doubt that the web is the greatest gift that any intelligence agency could have ever asked for.” The internet is a place where we willingly provide our personal data to companies and governments in exchange for the pale privilege of surfing the web.

This is especially true with IoT. All of our connected devices continuously broadcast our information, and the collection can be used in unimaginable ways. Former director of national intelligence James Clapper said during congressional testimony that “In the future, intelligence services might use the [internet of things] for identification, surveillance, monitoring, location tracking, and targeting for recruitment or to gain access to networks or users credentials.

Even for people with nothing to hide, this is a concerning statement. With all the data shared through IoT, it’s almost like surveillance projects do have the ability to bend time and space to repeat the past.

Fortunately, we are making progress here with the development of blockchain technology, the decentralized ledger system that’s enabling and securing the most valuable cryptocurrencies in the world, and is also offering security solutions for IoT that may allow the practice to thrive while still preserving privacy and security.

The blockchain decentralizes the network.

One of the obvious but unique aspects of IoT is that all of its devices broadcast their information through the internet. Even two devices sitting directly next to one another will communicate across millions of miles of internet infrastructure. Since these devices broadcast through cloud services housed in centralized servers, there are evident and vulnerable points of attack or surveillance.

The blockchain runs a decentralized ledger system, which distributes information across a network of computers and uses a consensus algorithm to ensure parity. IBMembraces this approach in its IoT for business products, noting that the blockchain “enables your business partners to access and supply IoT data without the need for a central authority or management.”

Moreover, according to Deloitte, IBM and Samsung have put together a proof of concept using the Ethereum blockchain to improve the technical capabilities of IoT and to enhance its security. Their product has secured financing from Verizon Ventures, the investment division of Verizon Communications, which indicates that the security enhancements produced by decentralization are offering promising results.

The blockchain enables tokenized information.

The blockchain was initially conceived by bitcoin developers to facilitate p2p transactions without the use of an intermediary like a bank. It’s been pretty successful so far, and this same concept can be applied to IoT. The creation of unique IoT related tokens can allow individuals to participate in the ecosystem while still protecting their most vulnerable information.

In many ways, tokenized information is the perfect balance between accessibility and privacy. After all, the IoT becomes a lot less compelling if it can’t adapt to your use-cases. In this case, the token acts as a substitute for a person’s actual information. Therefore, IoT can achieve a personal connection without ever revealing any personal information. It’s an ironic scenario, but it’s one that makes all the difference in preserving privacy.

The blockchain is unchangeable.

One of the most troubling aspects of government surveillance is their ability to conceal their actions. Without whistleblowers like Edward Snowden or ironic hacks on government databases, the extent of surveillance is rarely known or understood. The blockchain offers a transparent framework that records activity and ensures that records cannot be tampered with.

The blockchain’s transparency is a hallmark of the platform, and it’s a valuable measure toward ensuring that user’s data is accurate, intact, and secure. There is no slowing IoT development, and that’s a good thing. With the blockchain, IoT can secure users’ privacy before it becomes a commodity of government surveillance programs.

Unfortunately, we know that surveillance programs rarely play the heroic role that they do in films like Déjà vu. In fact, for IoT to ignore this fact would cause some unfortunate déjà vu as it falls victim to the same privacy violations already plaguing the internet.

The post Cybersecurity in IoT: Achieving Digital Security in an Age of Surveillance appeared first on ReadWrite.