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The Morning Download: Tech Leaders as Turnaround Artists; Smart Robots are People Too
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Good morning, CIOs. Bankruptcy proceedings may be the business equivalent of pulling teeth, but for technology experts like Michael Bailey, chief technology officer at Catalina Marketing Corp., it's “a great time for innovation.”
The C in CIO stands for comeback. With restructured companies looking to jump-start growth, tech leaders are in a unique position to boost productivity, drive down costs, streamline operational efficiency and create new sources of revenue, CIO Journal's Angus Loten reports.
Catalina, a pioneer in data harvesting, named Mr. Bailey as CTO in February, as it was coming out of bankruptcy, charging him to “efficiently transform the business.” The restructuring removed budgetary constraints that were slowing IT progress, allowing the company to think more broadly about its use of technology. “These are exciting times,” he said.
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DANIEL HERTZBERG
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Smart robots are people, too. Many of the world’s largest companies are investing heavily in artificial intelligence and robotics. And many expect to increase spending significantly in the years ahead—much of it on real people, according to a report this week by accounting giant KPMG.
The report, which consists of interviews with executives at 30 Global 500 companies, found that 30% are using artificial intelligence or machine learning in selective functions, while 17% said they have deployed AI and ML at scale across the enterprise.
High-priority plans for AI over the next two to three years include gathering customer and market insights to drive sales through improved personalization, back-office and shared services automation, and streamlining finance and accounting functions to boost efficiency and compliance.
Another 26% of the companies interviewed are using robotic process automation for key workplace functions—or even companywide—and more than 80% expect to have deployed RPA at scale within the next three years, the report said.
But none of this comes cheap, especially in the area of recruiting.
KPMG researchers found that companies with the most advanced AI initiatives have an average of 375 full-time workers overseeing these efforts, including data scientists, engineers and analysts, among other costly specialists. Companies across the board said they expect spending on AI-related recruiting to increase by up to 100% by 2022.
A separate analysis of job postings by a larger group of Global 500 companies identified 188 firms that are running AI tools and together have posted a total of roughly 3,500 AI-related jobs in the past year.
All told, these companies are spending a combined $75 million on AI talent, the report said.
—Angus Loten
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Though Google has long bragged about a workplace culture encouraging open debate, current and former employees have said they were retaliated against for airing concerns about equality and freedom of speech. PHOTO: ALY SONG/REUTERS
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Government orders Google to let employees speak out. Federal regulators have ordered Google to assure employees they are allowed to speak out on political and workplace issues. The move from the National Labor Relations Board comes as part of a settlement of formal complaints that the search giant punishes those who do just that. (WSJ)
More Google. The Alphabet Inc. unit was subpoenaed for details on its ad business, the same day a coalition of state attorneys generals announced they were investigating Google's business practices. (WSJ)
And more. Google is paying more than $1 billion in fines and back taxes to settle a pair of tax disputes in France, where it has faced years of investigations into whether it has properly declared all of its activity in the country. (WSJ)
California looks to ban facial recognition in body cameras. The state is close to approving a bill calling for imposing a multiyear moratorium on the use of facial recognition technology in law enforcement body cameras. A bill was written by state assembly member Phil Ting, who called the AI technology immature and a possible threat to police-community relations. (Washington Post)
FTC to clarify its power to regulate big tech. The Federal Trade Commission plans to lay out exactly how U.S. antitrust laws apply to big technology companies, helping clarify whether limitations exist in current laws that prevent it from policing anticompetitive behavior in the sector. by the technology sector. (WSJ)
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““You see the same identical recurring issues around the world—they’re around congestion, driver pay, environmental impact.”
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— Meera Joshi, former head of NYC agency regulating ride-hailing and taxis
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Broadcom offices in California. PHOTO: MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS
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Broadcom says core chip business has bottomed out. Hard hit by U.S.-China trade tensions and export restrictions to Huawei Technologies Co., Broadcom Inc. on Thursday said it believes its core semiconductor business has bottomed out but isn’t quite in recovery mode yet. The company last month struck a roughly $10.7 billion deal to buy Symantec Corp.’s enterprise security business, part of a big—and costly—bet around infrastructure software. (WSJ)
Drone-o. U2 frontman Bono is now on the board of drone company Zipline, which has established a delivery service for lifesaving medicine and blood in Rwanda and Ghana. (Fast Company)
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Someone has watched one Apple presentation too many. "What started as a Steve Jobs TED talk has become a parody—a decadent pageant of Palo Alto executives, clothed in their finest Dad Casual, reading ad copy as lead-ins for vaguely sexual jump-cut videos of brushed aluminum under nightclub lighting." (New York Times)
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CEO, bug fixer in chief. Add software quality to the CEO remit. Few chief executiveshave an understanding of their critical software systems, leaving their company unprepared when a software bug, seemingly out of nowhere, ends up crippling operations. (Harvard Business Review)
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How does he do it? Daniel Dines, co-founder and CEO of robotic processing automation giant UiPath has an unusual (and enviable) morning routine, reading for an hour after waking up, taking a nap, and finally logging on at around 11 a.m. “I work really hard at the company, but only at things I like," he says. (Forbes)
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Everything Else You Need to Know
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Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders clashed sharply over the role of government in the nation’s health-care system as the three front-runners in the polls faced off for the first time in the third Democratic presidential debate. (WSJ)
Beijing wants to narrow the scope of its negotiations with the U.S. to only trade matters, putting thornier national-security issues on a separate track. (WSJ)
State and local governments, along with universities, are joining companies in a dash to issue debt and lock in low rates, sometimes for up to 100 years. (WSJ)
Gap’s Old Navy brand plans to open hundreds of stores as it prepares to split from its parent company at a time when slower sales and online rivals are challenging many bricks-and-mortar chains. (WSJ)
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