Monthly Archives: September 2022

SANDY, Utah As teachers and students look for ways to balance the use of technology in the classroom, one school in Sandy starts the week off by getting back to the basics with Mindful Mondays.

Our school community council wanted to look at a way to, not limit the technology use, but focus in on appropriate use of it, said Doug Graham, principal at Indian Hills Middle School. So we came up with this idea lets come up with one day a week and take a rest from it, take a break.

Graham said Mindful Mondays came as a response to the challenges students faced in the classroom after the COVID pandemic, when online learning became a daily necessity. Now, every Monday, students at Indian Hills put their cell phones and chrome books away and teachers look for opportunities to reduce technology use in their classrooms.

For some, its getting back to the basics of using pencils and paper, work books, and having group discussions.

We really need to start pulling back and make much more of a blended model of learning again, Graham said.

In Katie Buffingtons 7th grade Language Arts class, Mindful Monday started with fixing sentences the old school way on paper with a pencil, and not relying on Microsoft Word to do it.

Im part of the iPad generation. I cant imagine what this generation is; theyre iPad to the extreme, Buffington said. So its just part of their everyday life theyre not really exposed or used to not having those instant technology responses.

Buffington said for some students, taking a break from the technology is a struggle, which makes Mindful Mondays even more critical to their educational development.

Our brains remember what we write down way better than what we type or read, Buffington said. So I try to get them to see, listen, then write as much as possible on Mondays, and then we apply those later through the week either with technology or both, or whatever works best.

Students in Buffingtons class say they miss using their chrome books but like Mindful Mondays.

I kind of like Mindful Monday because it helps me learn more, said Darian Gutierrez, a 7th grade student at Indian Hills Middle School. But I also like using my computer because it helps me catch up faster than writing.

Last year, all we did was computer, canvas, canvas, canvas, and now, were actually back to paper, back to being able to write, getting our handwriting better, said Madeleine Thaut, a 7th grader. I think its helping our brain develop more.

Thaut said students at Indian Hills Middle School are more engaged during lunch time thanks to Mindful Mondays.

On Mindful Monday, youre able to sit down, eat your lunch, actually talk to them say, Hi, how was your weekend? What did you do? instead of texting them, Thaut said.

Graham said he too has noticed more interaction with students in the lunchroom on Monday, which was another goal for Mindful Monday.

We just want kids to be interacting, like in the lunchroom. One day a week, its nice to go in there and see the face-to-face interaction and kids going outside and playing again. And, you know, within a 20-minute period, it may not be that dramatic of an effect, but its just helping them understand that, hey, this is important, and you need to pay attention to the amount of time on your phones, he said.

There are no set rules for teachers on Mindful Mondays, just a hope that theyll reduce the use of technology in their classrooms and set a good example to their students.

At the end of the day, you want the students to have the best experience possible, and sometimes, thats with technology in their hands and sometimes its not, Graham said. And we just really have to get back to that balance.

For Buffington, Mindful Monday is an important reminder that there are many ways to educate, and technology is just one of them.

I think the world we live in now is all about balance, Buffington said. We had nothing but screens in front of us for two straight years for education and everything like that, so its going to be hard, and its going to be an uphill battle, but I think in the end, having that balance pays off educationally and personally.

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Students get back to the basics, reduce technology use on Mindful Monday - KSLTV

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 19, 2022 NTT Research, Inc., a division of NTT, today announced that it has named Takashi Goto as head of its Technology Promotion Team, a group set up to help productize well-developed research concepts. Mr. Goto was previously a director in the NTT R&D Planning Department and before that a senior manager and senior research engineer at the NTT Information Network Laboratory Group. He joined NTT Research on July 1, 2022, succeeding Dr. Kei Karasawa, who has taken an executive position at NTT R&D in Tokyo.

Mr. Goto will join the executive team at NTT Research, where he will be responsible for exploring the market potential for technologies under development at NTT Research, as well as NTT R&D. One of the first targets for commercialization is attribute-based encryption (ABE), a form of cryptography that allows for sharing data while preserving the data owners privacy.

The mission of NTT Research is to conduct basic research tied to long-term goals, rather than specific product or service roadmaps. Yet along the way, the companys researchers may generate technologies that have market potential. The purpose of the Technology Promotion Team is to test that hypothesis by interacting with a range of stakeholders involved in the commercialization of invented technologies or byproducts. Mr. Gotos task will be to interface with NTT operating companies, potential end users, possible third-party partners and standardization bodies. Technology promotion also involves feasibility studies, use-cases, competitive analysis, proof of concept (POC) demonstrations and related efforts.

We are very pleased to welcome Takashi Goto to our team in Sunnyvale, said Kazuhiro Gomi, NTT Research President and CEO. He is a talented engineer and manager with significant experience at NTT R&D and a keen interest in technology promotion, making him a perfect fit for this important role.

In addition to ABE, other NTT Research-related technologies with potential commercial byproducts include applications of multiparty computation (MPC), another area of research for CIS Lab cryptographers, and implementations of the coherent Ising machine (CIM), a quantum computing-related technology that is an area of focus for the NTT Research Physics & Informatics (PHI) Lab. Supporting Mr. Goto at NTT Research are Mr. Fang Wu, a consultant and technology veteran, formerly with NTT Global Networks, NTT America, Lucent and Bell Labs; and Dr. Yannis Rouselakis, a software architect specializing in cryptographic technologies. To advance NTT Researchs core scientific mission, the company, unique among industrial laboratories, has advanced an open lab vision and over the past three years has established more than 20 relationships with premier research organizations in the U.S., Japan and around the world.

About NTT Research

NTT Research opened its offices in July 2019 as a new Silicon Valley startup to conduct basic research and advance technologies that promote positive change for humankind. Currently, three labs are housed at NTT Research facilities in Sunnyvale: the Physics and Informatics (PHI) Lab, the Cryptography and Information Security (CIS) Lab, and the Medical and Health Informatics (MEI) Lab. The organization aims to upgrade reality in three areas: 1) quantum information, neuroscience and photonics; 2) cryptographic and information security; and 3) medical and health informatics. NTT Research is part of NTT, a global technology and business solutions provider with an annual R&D budget of $3.6 billion.

Source: NTT Research

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NTT Research Names Takashi Goto Head of Its Technology Promotion Team - HPCwire

The beauty industry and shared values - transparency, sustainability, naturality

The need to connect brands and consumers through a more responsible lifestyle is more and more imperative, according to a 2022 report by Mintel highlighting the necessity for brands to have ethical progress reports. Many web3 projects have been thought around sustainable engagements, like the one by Guerlain, When Material Becomes Art that merges futuristic, ecological, and artistic approaches, through 4 digital artworks. The project The Reaverse perpetuates the brands sustainable values the digital world comes to rescue the real world, through a collection of 1828 cryptobees sold to protect real bees and to finance the development of a natural reserve. These endeavors are greatly appreciated by the consumers and widely shared on social media.

Furthermore, the interest has shifted towards green makeup or a form of naturality, as we can see through beauty social media trends, with concepts like the No make-up Look, the Dewy Look or the Glow Up (the expression reminds us of the Netflix show which celebrates diversity). The beauty sector is often associated to others, like spirituality and well-being: lately Kate Moss has launched her beauty and wellness brand, bringing to light a healthy lifestyle, beauty products, and well-being ones, like tea, to be accompanied by a daily ritual.

More than ever, the bond between reality and the digital universe allows consumers to express themselves in plural ways. Besides cyborg-like filters (poreless skin, high cheekbones, catlike eyes, big eyelashes a look coined Instagram Face), the digital world allows people to be different and free. Shopping is easier and encouraged by virtual try-on, widely developed in the beauty sector to visualize a product on oneself. The use of technology also enriches customer experience, personalization, and brand engagement. A recent study informs that 92% of Gen Z consumers are interested in augmented reality during a shopping experience. Yves Saint Laurent offers three tools to try augmented reality within the comfort of ones home Dress your lips for lipstick makeup, Master your gaze for the eye, and Face your style for the skin.

Today, many brands multiply the touchpoints during product launches, with virtual popups, immersive screens, augmented reality filters It is a way to expand the brands notoriety and universe and to create a link with the consumers. The latest example by Prada Paradoxe shows how the barriers between reality and the digital field have erased the brand asked its followers whether a fragrance could exist in a digital space, and they are invited to explore a multi-dimensional self and identity evolving constantly.

What is beauty? On social media, the concept is more inclusive and universal, advocating happy beauty. The launch of Cliniques first NFT, named Metaoptimist, is inscribed within this positive attitude. Another campaign by the brand aims at including more diversity in the metaverse, with NFP (non-fungible people), and looks for people with various skin colors, face shapes, hair styles and makeup. A TikTok report insists on the increase of beauty videos globally and of content that celebrates beauty and flaws, inclusivity and difference. Only communities contribute to redefining what is beauty and what are their expectations.

Some brands are inspired by the virtual world in the creation of their products, offering a new space to consumers similar to the gaming industry. MAC Cosmetics has thus created 12 makeup looks within the game The Sims 4 and has launched a collection inspired by the game Honor of Kings. The gaming market paves the way for more freedom in the aesthetic world, allowing users to express their identity through their personalized avatars. Bridges, experiences, and emotions are created.

In an ever-changing world, links between the digital and real worlds, eccentricity and naturality, self-identity and others, are countless. The future of beauty is shaped by the consumers themselves and by the increase of digital experiences that are more authentic and community focused. In this context, it is necessary to reconsider customer experience to produce engagement and bring together communities around shared values. These evolutions leave room for creative evolutions for both brands and consumers.

WANDS, global communication agency, tells stories & brings to light in a strategic & innovative way brands that are sensitive to excellence, luxury & premium. The agency adapts itself with agility & sources the best experts/technology. At the service of emotion, it is all about impactful & engaging ideas, a custom-made service.

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The influence of technology and new uses on the future of beauty - Premium beauty

NEW YORK CITY, NY , Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), in addition to facing fierce competition, often struggle to grow fast. They have to be innovative to entice customers but need inexpensive solutions to operate swiftly. That's where the latest technology, like cloud computing, comes in handy. Cloud technology provides the speed and agility that SMBs need to stay competitive. But many businesses are still unaware of the benefits and advantages of this next-generation technology.

Austin Rotter explains about the Cloud Technology,

"Growth is associated with additional costs as it increases the expenditures, that's why I suggest SMBs opt for cloud computing because it requires fewer resources.

He further says,

Instead of investing in infrastructure, SMBs can utilize virtual servers to store their data without compromising security. Cloud technology can help their teams access data from any location through the internet from any device."

Related:Improve Your Business with Cloud Computing

Cloud technology reduces the workload and employee expenses of a business by automating its data system. For instance, your staff doesn't have to waste time finding the documents as they can access data after a quick search on the cloud. Thus, it improves the overall efficiency of a company and allows employees to work on more productive tasks.

SMBs can lessen their costs and ensure rapid growth by acquiring customizable cloud solutions. This is a technology that offers flexible access to data and makes collaboration between employees and teams easy. Furthermore, the cloud saves businesses from monotonous and time-consuming tasks like infrastructure maintenance and system optimization. Your team can focus on improving customer behavior instead of wasting time patching servers.

About Austin Rotter

Austin Rotter is an entrepreneur and PR pro who helps small and medium-sized businesses with their growth strategy. He has established himself as a thought leader in the industry thanks to his online branding and media relations skills.

Furthermore, Austin Rotter, has helped several established and up-and-running businesses grow sustainably, explained why cloud technology is the future. He has assisted promising startups, tech companies, and Fortune 1000 brands see hyper-growth on a shoestring. Austin has honed his industry knowledge and is furthering his talents to provide SMBs with the best possible solutions and strategies.

To learn more about Austin, visit the following links:

Website ||YouTube

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Austin Rotter introduced a new facility of Cloud Technology for small and medium sized businesses growth. - GlobeNewswire

Ford Motor Company is researching new smartphone-based communications technology that could potentially help warn drivers of pedestrians, bicyclists and moreeven those approaching a vehicles path but blocked from a drivers view.

The concept smartphone app, which would run on a pedestrians phone, uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) messaging to communicate the phones location to a connected Ford vehicle. If the vehicle calculates a potential crash risk, Ford SYNC can alert drivers by the in-vehicle screen showing graphics of pedestrians, bicyclists or more with audio alerts sounding.

Ford, Commsignia, PSS, Ohio State University, T-Mobile and Tome Software are demonstrating the technology at the Intelligent Transportation Society of Americas World Congress in Los Angeles this week.

Newer Ford vehicles already with Ford Co-Pilot360 Technology can detect and help warn drivers of pedestrians, bicyclists, scooter riders and others and even apply brakes if drivers do not respond in time. We are now exploring ways to expand vehicle sensing capability, for areas drivers cannot see, to help people drive even more confidently on roads increasingly shared by others using their two feet or two wheels.

Jim Buczkowski, Executive Director, Research and Advanced Engineering

Ford is a founding member of the Vulnerable Road User Safety Consortium (VRUSC), a consortia program of SAE Industries Technology Consortia Programs (SAE ITC), an affiliate of SAE Group. The VRUSC was formed by vehicle, bicycle, ridesharing and technology companies to find technological solutions to rising crashes with pedestrians, bicyclists and others. Royal Oak, MI-based Tome Software founded the Bike-to-Vehicle Advisory Board that grew into the new consortium.

National Highway Transportation Safety Administration data estimates traffic fatalities increased 13% to 7,342 in 2021 versus the prior year, while bicyclist traffic fatalities increased 5%to 1,000during the same window.

BLE connectivity technology creates wireless personal area networks using radio waves in the 2.4-gigahertz band to communicate with other similarly equipped devices. It is already widely available in smartphones and is compatible with SYNC connected vehicle technology without any hardware changes to the vehicle.

BLE could complement other technologies by communicating with other similarly equipped devices with sufficient range for alerts with the potential of advancing safety through awareness of pedestrians, bicyclists and more. BLE also does not rely on line-of-sight detection such as cameras or radar, which means pedestrians and others can be detected while hidden behind obstructions such as buildings. This is especially relevant to the stress of big-city driving on shared roads.

BLE is widely used technology in personal electronics devices, including smartphones, fitness monitoring devices, location-based services, entertainment and much more. It uses very low power with batteries as small as dimes to operate for a very long time. Consumer BLE applications commonly involve pairing two devices. But Fords concept uses BLE as a beacon capable of sensing multiple other similarly equipped devices in range without pairing.

The system interprets a person is using the device, differentiates pedestrians from bicyclists and others based on their traveling speed, and further evaluating risk by their direction. BLE devices rapidly change communications channelsi.e., frequency hoppingin the 2.4 GHz radio band to minimize interference.

Ford and T-Mobile also will demonstrate the Ford app replacing BLE communication with T-Mobiles 5G Advanced Network Solution combined with hyperscale computingwhich adds resources from across a distributed computing network as demand increasesto help create more reliable communications.

T-Mobiles 5G network helps minimize the round-trip data travel time, allowing detection alerts to quickly be delivered to the vehicles SYNC screen.

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Ford exploring use of smartphone technology to alert drivers to pedestrians, bicyclists; BLE and 5G - Green Car Congress

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (FOX 5 DC) - Technology is taking over the farming industry in a northern Virginia community as Beanstalk Farms opens up shop in Herndon.

The new business is touting its one-of-a-kind technology that enables massive amounts of produce to grow indoors without sun, and with minimal overhead.

This all comes at a time when record inflation is curbing grocery shopping habits nationwide.

READ MORE: Is inflation cooling off? It depends where you live

Beanstalks newest location, formerly a data center, is now home to the agricultural industries newest trend vertical farming.

The mixture used is proprietary, but the outcome is all the same greens, herbs and plenty of vegetables. The founders say theyre using hydroponic technology.

Brothers Jack and Michael Ross are the masterminds behind the creation and say it can produce more than double the production of traditional farming.

"This is important because we need to have more nutrition in our food system," says Michael Ross.

READ MORE: USDA to invest $300 million in push for organic farming

So far, Ross says its been overwhelming, starting at the top. This is their second location. The first opened back in Springfield four years ago.

Virginia Governor Glenn Younkin is a fan and participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for this new location last week.

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Vertical farming uses technology to grow produce without sunlight - FOX 5 DC

BANGKOK, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Southeast Asian countries are looking at China's digital technology, as they are engaged in post-pandemic economic recovery and national digital transformation.

During the Huawei Connect 2022 on Sept. 19-21, an event gathering global ICT (Information and Communications Technology) industrialists, Thai Minister of Digital Economy and Society Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn said Thailand should turn to a knowledge- and innovation-intensive economic model that prioritizes digital transformation as a key driver of economic growth in the post-pandemic era.

Among Southeast Asian countries, Thailand's digital transformation started early and achieved rapid development. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic period, the penetration rate of major digital technology applications, such as mobile payment, e-commerce, cloud applications, has increased by more than 20 percent, according to Chaiwut.

From the installation of 5G stations to smart hospitals and floating solar farms, Chinese technologies can be seen in many aspects of the country's digitalization journey.

Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy Supattanapong Punmeechaow thanked Huawei for its contribution in the country's transformation, especially with regard to 5G and cloud applications, and expressed his hope for comprehensive collaboration to achieve a better and greener Thailand.

To better facilitate the digital development of the region, Huawei launched its latest "Go Cloud, Go Global" Plan at the 3-day event, aiming at expanding their partner network to deepen the company's position in areas such as 5G, cloud and artificial intelligence (AI).

Thailand is aiming for the digital economy to account for 30 percent of its GDP by 2027. Other Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, similarly raised the priority on digital transformation as part of the national development strategy.

Indonesia has made digital transformation one of the key priorities of this year's G20 summit, and aims to achieve a more inclusive global economic recovery mainly through digitalization of SMEs and focus on building digital infrastructures, said Airlangga Hartarto, the Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs.

Huawei addresses the regional requirement for digital infrastructure by operating data centers in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, as well as by launching new data centers in Indonesia later this year.

While the development of the digital industry offers opportunities to boost economic growth, it also creates an unprecedented demand for digital skills, especially among young people, according to Yang Mee Eng, executive director of the ASEAN Foundation.

She mentioned the Seed for the Future Project, launched this year by the foundation in partnership with Huawei, which is meant to unlock local potential in the ICT sector by training and knowledge transfer.

Huawei's Rotating Chairman Hu Houkun has committed to train an additional 500,000 ICT professionals in the next five years through the project and other company initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region.

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Southeast Asia eyes on Chinese digital technology to boost recovery - Xinhua

(Photo by Brian Sommer)

This years HR Technology Conference (HR Tech) was impressive. The number of exhibitors alone had to have broken a record. By my (unscientific) estimate, there were over 400 HR vendors in the expo hall, with numerous firms occupying huge booths.

I personally conducted approximately two dozen 30-minute interviews with software executives and also informally chatted with approximately one dozen industry analysts.

While an attendee could score some swag at this show, vendors were clearly focused more on discussing their offerings and not handing out stress balls, tote bags, etc. For me, my only swag indulgence was a deck of playing cards.

The event this week versus pre-pandemic versions of this show differed in some key ways. There were a number of new-ish firms at the show and some of these have grown quite spectacularly since the pandemic. Additionally, you almost needed a decoder ring because of the sheer number of mergers, acquisitions, partner deals and other activities that make determining who really is behind specific products or companies difficult. For example, a number of vendors solutions are now more fully embedded and integrated with other companies products via white label arrangements.

The venture capital world has changed a lot in the last few years. Valuations are more frequently running to unicorn levels (A unicorn is a company whose post capital raise valuation exceeds $1 billion.). The money that some HR vendors raised in recent years often ranged between $70 million to more than $370 million. Access to equity has not been a problem in the HR space. One proof point of that alone is just to see the size and number of new vendors in the expo hall.

On the other end of this capital spectrum though, I did speak with a couple of CEOs who took venture capital money seven or eight years ago. We discussed how venture capital money, like private equity investments, are not permanent. These investors want to see some sort of liquidity event usually within 5 to 7 years of their investment. As a result, readers should expect to see some of the HR vendor crowd to either complete an IPO, be sold and/or merged into another company. Additionally, we should expect some change in leadership in these HR firms as investors may want to remove a founder CEO and install a transactional CEO that will get a liquidity event done.

Likewise, we should expect to see some private equity firms enter the space and acquire two or more HR vendors so as to create a rollup solution. Whether any of these outcomes occur, a material change of control is almost always a reason for software buyers and customers to be concerned. A new owner may change pricing, kill off products, and/or gut the development and support staff of a vendor as they try to gain new economies of scale and/or prepare the company to be flipped once more.

On a different capital note, I got a great education in the capital requirements involved in supporting on-demand or daily pay. Ive known for many years that payroll service providers have made small fortunes off of collecting payroll monies from their customers and investing those funds short-term until they have to pay taxes to federal and state entities. The float that this provides these vendors is quite significant and the importance of which has never been lost on Wall Street.

When an employer offers an on-demand payroll capability, the payroll provider or software vendor may need to acquire a commercial line of credit. This capital is needed because cash must be available instantly to make payroll on behalf of an employer. This line of credit is not insignificant either. One major player in this space has a half billion-dollar line of credit set aside just for this purpose. It goes without saying that the more popular on-demand payroll becomes, the more important this line of credit is and how much larger it may become. Cost to support this line of credit could become an interesting issue as interest rates climb, so will the cost to provide this service.

Lastly, you cant have a discussion about on-demand payroll without also addressing a growing problem in the workforce: a serious lack of personal finance knowledge by many workers today. Any HR and/or payroll provider that does not have a personal finance education capability that comes with their solutions does not have a complete market offering.

During the pandemic, software buyers were often too busy putting out fires, changing business models, completing reductions in force or trying to find talent to work in their facilities to do any kind of major systems projects. Where we saw the most customer interest then was in buying niche solutions that solve a very painful need during the pandemic.

For example, a significant number of new cloud-based, multi-tenant and smart phone enabled payroll solutions got implemented in recent years simply to help work from home employees get paid and schedule time off.

With much of the pandemic behind us today, the question I asked of vendors and analysts alike was whether we would see a return to more firms buying larger suites of application software? While I and others have been fielding calls from HR executives expressing interest in material upgrades of their HR technology, all analysts, myself included, are wondering whether these grand plans may get scaled-back significantly when recession, cash conservation and other competing priorities may affect the budget for such deals.

I even polled a number of software company CEOs on this matter and to the one, they indicated that recession concerns are definitely there, but each was still projecting even stronger 2023 revenues.

Somewhat surprisingly, I did have a number of vendors approach me about integration requirements. I know integration issues are a proverbial thorn in the side of chief HR officers (CHROs). In fact, the HRMS suite of a major employer may often have 100 or more integrations. There may be numerous, country specific payrolls the must be integrated with the financial systems and the HRMS. There may be dozens of benefit providers that must be connected to the HRMS and payroll applications. There may be integrations to custom systems (e.g., a unique college tuition reimbursement application), collaboration software, work management software, training systems, and on and on and on.

Not only are these integrations numerous but few HR organizations have the technical talent within their team to deal with them. As a result, HR is constantly interacting with vendors - and their own IT group - trying to keep this tenuous group of technologies stitched together and interoperating correctly.

Smart HMRS vendors know integration issues are a hot button item. I appreciate vendors who dont want to talk my ear off about how their system is the book of record or book of engagement, or is powered by a great platform, and instead address the integration problem head-on. In fact, I wish more vendors would make the second slide of any pitch deck to address which HRMS or niche solutions they have preconfigured and fully supported integrations with. Additionally, it would be nice if more vendors provided some color as to how the customer can very easily integrate other, non-supported applications to their HR mess products without requiring the need for outside consultants or internal IT.

It was encouraging to see several benefits, verification, performance management and other vendors discuss how they can take this friction point down to a more acceptable state for more and more companies.

Sadly, the payroll to general ledger integration problem still seems mostly unaddressed, unloved and underappreciated by vendors. CHROs would vividly agree.

If you are looking to achieve some gigantic HR transformation initiative near-term, dont be surprised if you realize how many non-automated or poorly developed integrations with your different HR, ERP and financial modules exist today. Its hard to transform HR when there are so many integration problems with the status quo.

Several vendors I met with a focus on the small and medium-sized HR software markets. And, to the one, they truly understand the budgetary, staffing and other challenges these companies face with regard to HR solutions and regulatory requirements. In short, these HR software buyers almost always have champagne tastes and beer budgets.

The nature of my conversations with these vendors illustrates this. We talked about an old graphic of mine that showed a pie chart with 13 or more slices. Each slice represented a critical activity that HR personnel are responsible for (e.g., recruiting, performance management, talent acquisition, payroll, regulatory and compliance, etc.). Unfortunately, the typical mid-sized firm rarely has more than one or two HR staff. They just dont have the people to cover all of these functional and business needs effectively.

Of all HR vendors I spoke with, those that cater to this market really understand the importance of providing pre-integrated solutions across their entire partner ecosystem and marketplace. Niche midmarket HR tools (e.g., I-9 verification) talk about their integration with midmarket HRMS suites and vice versa.

A couple of vendors talked about how they can use talent management or talent optimization technology to help a customer, particularly those small and midmarket users, to get the best use and value from each and every one of their employees. Some of these firms cant always attract the best talent but finding the best use for these people within an organization could be a game changer for those firms. (see more below)

Just a couple of years ago, pre-pandemic, business leaders everywhere were talking about the war for talent. The discussions involved a new generation of worker whose career or job needs differ from prior generations and how would companies build compelling employment brands and/or employee work experiences to captivate these new workers.

If businesses werent winning the war for talent before the pandemic, they are still losing it today via the great resignation, quiet quitting and/or forced back to office mandates. So in addition to continuing to lose the war for talent, businesses today dont know what to do with the talent they have left. These are the two biggest issues executives and vendors seem to be discussing privately at this show.

Lets begin our discussion around the difficulty in finding the correct or any talent today.

Finding the talent (or the optimal talent)

Software vendors and software buyers still seem to be confused as to the correct approach or even problem definition on this continuing sourcing issue. Is the issue that businesses cannot find an adequate quantity of skilled personnel or is it a question of the quality of the individuals seeking employment today?

I heard all kinds of pitches as to this issue. Some vendors think that companies need a better skills assessment tool to augment their recruiting/talent acquisition technology. But to do this, a CHRO will also need a skills taxonomy to make the assessment of use.

Other vendors think the answer lies not in skills assessments but rather in personality or behaviors. Of course, their tests will determine whether someone will be a good fit, culturally, for the firm and/or the role or team.

Some vendors believe that demonstrated, verified experience in certain tasks is the key to solving the talent shortfall. Some, like ATS vendors think you only need to look at the last job someone had and see if it aligns with your job description.

Other vendors think that personal attributes, as opposed to skills, are the key to recruiting well. They can help you find someone who is responsible versus skilled in Microsoft Excel.

All of the above may work in some situations but, in the end, recruiters need access to jobseekers. They need either databases of potential jobseekers or tools that optimize their advertising spend to attract applicants. I met with a couple of firms in the programmatic ad management space. These vendors do an excellent job of reviewing where your firm is spending its money on job boards, spot website ad placements and more. They can tell you which keywords in your ads are resonating with jobseekers and how effective competitors ads are at attracting talent to them.

If your firm is spending more than a few dollars on these kinds of advertisements so that you can fill the top of your recruiting funnel and ATS with applicants, you owe it to your firm to ensure you are spending your scarce recruitment marketing budget wisely.

But, you might not need to spend so much money if your firm only considered utilizing your firms alumni to fill its open positions. Not once did any vendor proactively mention how their technology could be used to better understand, reach out and cultivate a new relationship with a prior employee. Personally, I think this is a material failing on the part of many HR software vendors and for the HR executives they attempt to support. Recruiting your alumni is an obvious solution that is right under everyones nose.

I did see some innovation around reference checking. For those of us whove been around a number of years, employers used to expect job seekers to provide employment references. And, employers would call these references prior to extending you a job offer. It appears that reference checking may be making a bit of a comeback albeit digitally. Now there are firms that will compile profile information on jobseekers (think of social media posts, job board responses, payroll history data, etc.) and identify that you did work for a specific firm, when you worked there, at which location and what you were paid. They might be able to identify who you reported to and who reported to you. And, they can contact, digitally, past employers to get a quick assessment of your work, punctuality, etc. I suspect this could get some court challenges re: invasion of privacy but if the information is out there on public databases, then some of this is clearly fair game.

I also heard vendors discuss what an abysmal job HR and line managers do when it comes to interviewing jobseekers. One CEO told me that HR should be focused on finding the right candidates, asking the right questions, and then, see that the right business outcomes occur. While I love this concept, companies and line managers seem to have no idea how to do these things well. In fact, I didnt hear any learning management people offer up courses on So, you want to be a good interviewer. Those might exist but I just didnt hear or see of one last week.

Businesses are chewing through potential jobseekers with an incredible speed. Hiring ever greater numbers of people who will not stick around cannot, in any scenario, be an optimal solution. A couple of vendors acknowledged this and related how there are interesting causal factors in different industry verticals. For example, in retail, jobseekers care a lot about the location of the establishment and the potential for working a number of hours each week so that they can achieve a livable wage. In nursing, its the ability of a nurse to have control over a measure of their schedule as well as the ability to work somewhat close to where they live.

If these are indeed major factors in triggering early employment churn, then we should see a greater focus on these concerns in recruiting and talent acquisition technologies. To date, Ive seen little focus here.

Related to this, one vendor wisely pointed out that companies should be more focused on ensuring that a jobseekers first 90 days on the job should be as painless, frictionless and enjoyable as possible. He opined that the first 90 days determine whether someone will stick around with the company or not. If you fix this, then you can reduce the churn going on within recruiting. This could be key to reducing the amount of recruitment ghosting and early quiet quitting or resignation.

Finally, I heard of a recruiting issue that had been quiet for a few years: Fraud. Apparently, with people able to apply and interview for work from home (WFH) jobs digitally and remotely, then there is an opportunity for people to commit employment fraud. Specifically, the person you think youve hired is not actually doing work for your firm while someone else you dont know actually is. Ive seen this problem before when people use freelancers. Its a bait and switch problem that preys on recruiter desperation. This fraud can manifest itself in other ways, too. Your firm might actually be interviewing someone but someone else is actually taking their certification exams, skills test, etc. Caveat emptor recruiters!

Protect the talent you already have

So, if finding jobseekers is the first big challenge in winning todays war for talent, retaining the talent you already have is the other side of the coin. I had a number of conversations with HR technology leaders on this subject, too.

I easily had over a dozen conversations where we discussed bad managers and leaders. Some of these are psychopaths who never shouldve been in positions of authority. Others are simply tone deaf or clueless. Regardless, they are as common as can be and represent possibly the single biggest problem companies have in protecting the talent they have.

Of course, at an HR show, there would be discussions around the return to the office. The justifications for such a move may be stronger for operational individuals than those in back office, support and other roles. Management that dictates a return to the office without fully understanding the potential impact of such a decision on retention is making a grievous error. In fact, it may be the stupidest management decision some people will ever make. Some of these mandates sound like the nostalgic chiding that older parents give their children (Back when I first started work, I had to walk 10 miles in the snow everyday carrying a briefcase, a sack lunch and 40 pounds of product samples just so the boss would see me working near the water cooler. And, I was darn lucky to have this opportunity, too!).

Theres certainly greater awareness that leaders must be more attuned to the needs and wants of a new generation of workers in a post-pandemic work world. For example, I heard how a single annual performance review just wont satisfy people who want more frequent and real-time recognition for their efforts. I would agree with that. Managers may want to learn from an industrial psychologist about how human beings may be better motivated from praise rather than no communication or negativity.

Some vendors tell me that employees no longer want something like a five dollar Starbucks gift card when they really crave time spent with a boss that cares about that persons career advancement or their work/life professional balance. One executive told me that he is not sure how many managers in business today actually know what a moment of recognition looks like. Thats a telling comment.

What I was learning in all of these post-hire insights from HR vendors is that too few firms really know who their top performers are and know how to retain them. They dont seem to take any effort to get these great performers away from bad bosses. Theyre not mindful of the different career velocities and career path needs of these great employees and instead let these assets be recruited away by firms with superior employee experiences.

As I complete this first set of observations, it is clear that the implicit contract between an employee and employer is severely broken. This relationship was already facing a number of challenges pre-pandemic and now is more troubled than ever before. What each party wanted or needed before the pandemic has morphed a dozen times. Employers now must acknowledge that they, their firm, and their workforce have changed. Sometimes these changes have been in profound ways.

This is not business or HR as usual. This is a new world altogether.

When the gap between what an employer wants/expects and what employees will/wont do gets too wide, then attrition, low morale and quiet-quitting will occur. Thats the world that recruiting, HR leaders and operational executives exist within today.

Read more:

HR Tech 2022 in review - the state of HR and HR technology - Diginomica

If youre reading this during work hours, theres a chance your boss knows about it. The market for bossware digital tools that enable managers to keep tabs on what workers are up to is reportedly booming.

News reports recount tales of health-care workers being ranked idle for not typing while counselling drug patients, and hospice chaplains losing productivity points for spending too long with the bereaved or dying.

In the United States 60% of employers with more than 200 workers now use employee productivity monitoring technologies, according to market research firm Gartner.

Once loaded on your computer, these tools (with names such as Clever Control, Time Doctor, Staffcop and Work Examiner) can track a dizzying array of data key strokes, how often you move your mouse, if you are using messaging apps, your search queries and the websites you visit.

They can view your screen and record video from your webcam. Work Examiner boasts it can record every second of an employees screen activity.

They then turn this into easily digestable data on a dashboard (for your manager), highlighting your active hours and idle time, awarding you a productivity score, and ranking you against your colleagues.

This may be happening without you even realising. Even if you are informed, its done without your input. Too few mouse clicks? There may be a very good reason, but the software doesnt care.

These technologies are relatively new but the thinking behind them that productivity can be reduced to simple measurements, and that workers must be constantly surveilled and managed for maximum efficiency is relatively old.

Read more: 'They track our every move': why the cards were stacked against a union at Amazon

More than a century ago techniques to observe and control workers movements intensively were developed into a theory of scientific management by US engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor. Tracking mouse clicks remotely is a high-tech version of the same game.

The promises of bossware of better performance and more control are tempting to management. But they are also profoundly wrong.

Taylor, who was born in 1856, developed his management ideas while working at the Midvale Steel Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he rose through the ranks to become chief engineer.

His book Principles of Scientific Management was published in 1911. The fundamental science of management involved intensive surveillance of workers activities, breaking them down into constituent parts, and determining the most efficient way everything should be done.

If workers went about drilling holes in different ways, for example, the scientific manager should time each method and then require everyone do it the fastest way. Even if the manager had never handled a drill, the stopwatch enabled them to judge what was most efficient.

Taylors book went on to become one of the most influential management books of the 20th century. But it has also been blamed for a ghastly sublimation of the human spirit.

So whats wrong with excessive managerial surveillance?

First, it can be harmful to health both mental and physical. This has been well-documented by research on call centres, which pioneered many of the white-collar surveillance techniques now spreading to other workplaces.

Read more: 3 ways 'algorithmic management' makes work more stressful and less satisfying

Second, measurement techniques create misleading accounts of what workers do. We have reviewed 100 years of performance management research and found that performance management systems are far from scientific.

Measurement is not just observation. It requires reducing work to elements that can be categorised and compared.

A productivity score based on measuring keystrokes and mouse clicks illustrates this starkly. It involves a misleading simplification. A stopwatch cannot tell whether a hole was drilled with precision or not. Neither can a mouse tracker capture a workers thoughtfulness and experience.

Third, intensive surveillance can actually decrease outcomes. This has been shown in multiple studies. For example, a 2016 study found intensive surveillance of cleaners prevented them cleaning rooms well. With just three minutes allowed per room, some resorted to scrubbing school floors and bleaching toilets for free on their weekends.

A 2107 study of electronic monitoring of nurses providing home care to the elderly and disabled found a similar loss of work quality.

If they want to improve productivity, managers need to talk with workers. E-surveillance and performance dashboards that allow judgement from a distance, without context, undermine this relationship.

The resurgence of management surveillance is a worrying trend.But the fundamental problem is not the technology. It is managers desire which technology enables to know more than they can, and to trust workers less than they should. Bossware promises managers that illusion.

A different path would be to accept that most people want to work well, and generally know best how to do so. Managers might then measure less, but understand more.

See original here:

3 ways 'bossware' surveillance technology is turning back the management clock - The Conversation

DALLAS, Sept. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- River Logic today announced the successful expansion of a partnership with Phillip Morris International (PMI), a leading international tobacco company working towards a vision of a smoke-free future. To drive a series of its supply chain digitization efforts, PMI leverages River Logic's advanced Digital Planning Twin Technology.

Carlos Centurion, President of River Logic, commented, "We are honored to continue supporting PMI in accelerating data-driven decisions by utilizing the real-world scenarios suggested by our Digital Planning Twin Technology platform. Our team's experience with large global consumer product manufacturing clients enables us to manage the sheer volume and high degree of data complexity that PMI requires. We are excited that our technology is helping PMI visualize optimization scenarios and make decisions that are having a truly substantial impact on operational efficiency and cost savings."

"As PMI continues its transformation journey towards a smoke-free future, we have found River Logic's digital twin technology to be a valuable decision-support tool within our supply chain. By replicating some of our network in this platform, we can accelerate our data-driven decision-making through simulations and scenario planning," said Sunanda Ramakrishnan, Director Strategy Digital & Analytics at Philip Morris International.

To learn more about River Logic, visit http://www.riverlogic.com.

About River Logic

River Logic is a US based technology provider that creates the confidence leaders need to solve complex supply chain planning problems across the enterprise. Purpose-built for business users, River Logic's platform enables end-to-end business optimization via advanced analytics and a revolutionary cloud experience that offers rapid scenario collaboration, data management, workflows, BI reporting, scalability, and more. For more information, visit: http://www.riverlogic.com.

Media Contact:Hila EyalChief Marketing Officer[emailprotected]m

SOURCE River Logic, Inc.

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Philip Morris International Expands Use of River Logic's Digital Planning Twin Technology Solution - PR Newswire