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The Morning Download: Low-Code Rises to Remote Work Challenge
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Good morning, CIOs. The shift to remote work has led some companies to come up with quick digital solutions for tasks that have become hard to tackle during the coronavirus pandemic. As CIO Journal's Agam Shah reports, a number of companies are using low-code to address these challenges, often enlisting non-developers to build out applications.
Stopgap solution. Forms of low-code have been around for decades, but its adoption has grown during the pandemic in the rush to quickly develop applications, said Jason Wong, vice president and analyst at research and advisory company Gartner Inc. “Pre-Covid-19, low-code didn’t really get to the CIO level. The pandemic has elevated it to a more strategic position,” Mr. Wong said.
Quick and easy. Supply-chain logistics firm Globaltranz Enterprises Inc. created an app to track computer equipment taken home by employees within a few days after the company’s mid-March shift to remote work. “There’s plenty of software that does this. But to buy, negotiate and implement it, no way we could have done that in two days,” said Russ Felker, chief technology officer at the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based firm.
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Ahold Delhaize's AI and robotics experts are fine-tuning a robot arm to operate safely around employees and be able to identify and hold a large variety of products. PHOTO: AIRLAB/CORRADO PEZZATO
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Ahold Delhaize accelerates automation. Grocer Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize NV says it is accelerating development of a robotic arm because Covid-19 created an urgent need for technology to help workers clean stores and process orders. The robotic arm is connected to a mobile base that eventually will be able to navigate around shops.
Urgency to automate. “All the researchers said this Covid situation is so urgent, we see a direct application for our work right now because there’s scarcity of people who can work in stores,” Bart Voorn, the Dutch grocery giant’s director of data, artificial intelligence and robotics tells The Wall Street Journal's Catherine Stupp.
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“Hyper automation is coming.”
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— Paul Daugherty, Accenture's group chief executive for technology
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Don’t stand so close to me. Artificial-intelligence-powered sensors designed to monitor office spaces are now being repurposed to meet a surge in demand from employers eager to comply with government guidelines on social distancing.
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In January, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. outlined capital expenditures of between $15 billion and $16 billion for this year. PHOTO: RITCHIE B TONGO/SHUTTERSTOCK
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TSMC to build advanced semiconductor factory in Arizona. The plan by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract manufacturer of silicon chips, comes as the Trump administration seeks to jump-start development of new chip factories in the U.S. due to rising fears about the U.S.’s heavy reliance on Taiwan, China and South Korea for key technologies. (WSJ)
Apple buys virtual-reality streaming upstart NextVR. The Newport Beach, Calif.-based company broadcasts live and recorded events, such as sports games and music concerts, for virtual-reality headsets. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. (WSJ)
Facebook pushes ahead with Africa internet cable project. The 23,000-mile network is designed to provide more capacity than all of Africa’s existing submarine cables combined, more than doubling the continent’s potential bandwidth. Organizers aim to finish construction by 2023 or early 2024. (WSJ)
Apple supplier Foxconn’s profit plunges 90%. The company had earlier warned of a hit to sales from extended factory shutdowns during the past quarter, when Beijing directed most workplaces to suspend operations to contain the public-health crisis. (WSJ)
TikTok targeted by advocacy groups. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and other groups accuse the social media company of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act alleging that TikTok makes it too easy for children under 13 to join the app without their parents’ permission. (WSJ)
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Everything Else You Need to Know
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U.S. consumers have continued to pull back by record amounts on shopping and eating out due to coronavirus lockdowns aimed at containing the pandemic, April retail spending figures are expected to show. (WSJ)
China’s economic activity showed some signs of improvement in April as the first country hit by the coronavirus began returning to work, though rising joblessness continued to weigh heavily on consumer spending. (WSJ)
Rick Bright, a government vaccine specialist, testified that Trump administration officials resisted his warnings about coronavirus dangers and said he was reassigned for objecting to the promotion of an antimalarial drug backed by the president. (WSJ)
Growth in service professions has allowed women to overtake men as a proportion of the U.S. labor force. But it has also made them more vulnerable to job losses, because sectors such as education, leisure and hospitality have been hardest hit by social-distancing measures. (WSJ)
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