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☆ Tech Spending Pressures Fuel Demand for Specialized Industry Clouds
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CIO Journal The Morning Download delivers daily insights and news on business technology from the CIO Journal team. PREVIEWMost industry clouds began to hit the market early last year, in part sparked by demand for better healthcare data systems during the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020. Though Oracle doesn’t break out revenue from industry cloud sales, its industry cloud offerings are a “multibillion-dollar business,” Mr. Sicilia said. Microsoft last year rolled out industry clouds for retail, financial services, manufacturing, sustainability and nonprofit businesses, according to Kees Hertogh, Microsoft’s general manager for global industry product marketing. A Microsoft-developed industry cloud helped Tarrytown, N.Y.-based MVP Health Care implement a system to streamline its healthcare data, according to CIO Michael Della Villa.

☆ This New App Wants to Pay You to Share Your Data For Advertising
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Megan Graham | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

The amount of compensation will be determined by a “data score” reflecting factors such as whether consumers answer demographic survey questions and which apps and services’ data consumers are sharing. Caden’s app, which will let consumers share their data in exchange for cash. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS Would you share your data with an app like Caden? She said if consumers’ data is used in ways they don’t expect, they could be turned off and abandon such platforms. Some other players that offer compensation for data have required consumers share their entire profile with all brands.

☆ Edgy Campaigns Are Out, TikTok Won’t Stop and Other 2023 Predictions for Marketers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Patrick Coffee | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +11 min

Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CMO Today CMO Today delivers the most important news of the day for media and marketing professionals. Most campaigns will focus on discounts to customers or showcase the usefulness of a company’s products, he said. Under this form of marketing, ad firms generally get paid upon completion of a desired end, such as a sale or download. In short, consumers should expect less “vacuous virtue-signaling” from marketers in the coming months, according to Mr. Proulx. But these platforms’ very struggles could result in ad bargains for marketers, said Mr. Solomon of Therabody.

☆ Bunge to build $550-mln soy processing facility in Indiana
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 15 (Reuters) - Agriculture commodities trader Bunge Ltd (BG.N) said on Thursday it would invest about $550 million to build a soy protein concentrate facility in Indiana to cater to a rising demand for plant-based food products and processed meats. The new facility, which is adjacent to the company's soybean processing plant in Morristown, is expected to process an additional 4.5 million bushels of soybeans. Soy protein concentrate is used to make meat alternatives, but also helps to increase nutritional value in existing meat and poultry products. The global plant-based meat market size, according to a report by Grand View Research Inc, is projected to reach $24.8 billion by 2030. Bunge also operates a soy protein concentrate operation in Bellevue, Ohio.

☆ Amazon’s Security Chief Keeps Focus on Recruiting and Retaining Talent
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

The cybersecurity talent gap grew by 26.2% over the past year to around 3.4 million unfilled jobs worldwide, according to professional group (ISC)2. Amazon recently announced a companywide hiring pause and expects to lay off up to 10,000 workers, but Mr. Schmidt said he plans to boost Amazon’s security team. He oversees information security, personnel security and physical security, and was previously chief information security officer of Amazon’s cloud unit Amazon Web Services. Amazon’s customer-service department serves as a “great feeder” for cybersecurity talent, Mr. Schmidt said, because those individuals have an existing focus on solving customer needs. He declined to name the size of Amazon’s security team, but estimated 25% of its staff are internal hires it has trained.

☆ Zacks Executive Put Earnings Estimates at Investors’ Fingertips
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Bob Tita | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Benjamin Zacks and his brother started a financial-data firm that would help change the way the stock market evaluates public companies. Mr. Zacks and his older brother, Len, collected Wall Street analysts’ predictions for companies’ quarterly profits and distilled them into consensus estimates. Zacks Investment Research Inc., the company they started, said it was the first in the U.S. to distribute the quarterly consensus estimates to investors in the early 1980s, though another company had earlier started compiling estimates for companies’ annual income. Zacks’ calculations for per-share profits or losses gave investors a handy comparison to actual results and provided a catalyst for stocks to rise or fall in the aftermath of quarterly results.

It’s a seemingly simple calculation, but supply-chain experts caution that shipping from stores can be more challenging than filling orders at fulfillment centers that are set up for the job. It now packages orders at 116 of its approximately 1,350 stores, said Amiee Bayer-Thomas, the company’s chief supply chain officer. The chain said it has converted areas in 35 stores to serve as semi-automated miniature distribution centers. That is one reason department store Nordstrom is pulling back on shipping orders from stores for its discount brand Nordstrom Rack. The company will continue using Nordstrom stores to fulfill online orders for that brand.

☆ New CIO Wants Cisco to Be a Model for Hybrid Work
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Fletcher Previn, Cisco Systems Inc.’s new chief information officer, said he is working to help position the networking-equipment maker as a leader in hybrid work. Mr. Previn joined Cisco in 2021 as chief digital officer from International Business Machines Corp., where he was CIO. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CIO Journal The Morning Download delivers daily insights and news on business technology from the CIO Journal team. Cisco CIO Fletcher Previn Photo: Cisco Systems Inc.An IBM veteran of more than a decade, Mr. Previn was named that company’s CIO in 2017. Enabling hybrid work should be a priority for CIOs because it can cut office costs while improving employee productivity, said Bobby Cameron, a principal analyst at Forrester Research Inc.“Priorities for the hybrid work environment continue to be digital tools for meetings and active collaboration,” Mr. Cameron said.

☆ Airbnb Details Road Map to Lower Cloud Costs
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

PREVIEWMany companies that have shifted their enterprise-technology tools to the cloud in recent years are similarly seeking to reduce their cloud costs, especially in the market downturn. Corporate cloud spending will moderate from recent highs, analysts say, as companies seek more discipline in that spending. “That reduced a significant amount of our storage costs right off the bat,” Mr. Nagle said. Airbnb, one of Amazon’s largest cloud customers according to Amazon, also worked with the cloud provider to figure out what it was overpaying for. By putting its spending toward lower-cost cloud services it uses more often, Airbnb is allocating its cloud budget “in a smarter way,” Mr. Bala said.

As recently as August, Lachlan Murdoch described sports betting as "a huge opportunity" for Fox Sports, telling Wall Street it would fuel viewer engagement. The sports betting app Fox Bet is available in four states, with just 0.2% share of the U.S. market, according to researcher Vixio. A free version called Fox Bet Super 6 has attracted some 6 million users whom Fox hopes to eventually convert to gamblers. The growth of Fox Bet has stagnated since market-leading FanDuel's owner, Flutter Entertainment Plc (FLTRF.L), acquired Stars Group in 2020. The matter is the subject of an arbitration case and Lachlan Murdoch told investors a decision is expected imminently.

☆ Cloud Growth Continues Amid Tough Time for Tech
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Steven Rosenbush | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

The growth of cloud computing has slowed a bit this year but remains one of the most resilient sectors in a generally tough environment for technology companies. That outpaces overall company sales growth of 15%. Spending on cloud computing “will fluctuate with the broader economic picture,” Mr. Sustar said. People might want to rationalize their cloud spending, but overall cloud growth will continue and be a larger and larger part of the IT budget,” he said. In other words, cloud growth will continue, but it won’t look like a bubble.

☆ Analysis: Cloud Growth Continues Amid Tough Time for Tech
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Steven Rosenbush | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

☆ Generative AI Startups Attract Business Customers, Investor Funding
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Based on keyword prompts, generative AI platforms can then mimic these sources to produce fanciful stories and pictures of their own. Other generative AI startups offering enterprise applications include Replikr, a New Zealand startup that uses generative AI to create customer-service avatars, and Dutch startup Musico Ltd., which can be used to create original copyright-free advertising jingles. GoCharlie.AI, an early-stage startup based in San Francisco, in May launched a generative AI marketing assistant designed to create promotional social-media posts. By promising to save workers hours of productive time creating promotional materials, the commercial value proposition around generative AI has always been clear, he said. Rowan Curran, an AI and data science analyst at IT research firm Forrester Research Inc., said he expects generative AI to impact enterprises from top to bottom.

☆ Cyberattack on InterContinental Hotels Disrupts Business at Franchisees
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Catherine Stupp | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

A cyberattack on InterContinental Hotels Group PLC disrupted business at franchisees this month, leaving a trail of angry customers, lost income and a class-action lawsuit. Hotel owners complain they received one email from IHG executives explaining that the attack would shut down online reservation systems. We remain focused on supporting our hotels and owners and throughout this period have communicated regular updates to owners and hotel teams,” an IHG Hotels & Resorts spokesperson said. Hotel owners said they dealt with angry customers whose reservations were lost due to the cyberattack. IHG franchisees pay monthly fees to use the company’s reservation technology, the lawsuit says.

Evan Edwards told the officers they were headed to a conference in Texas, but he could not provide any specifics, according to the complaint. The scam and its unraveling stunned their neighbors as well as members of Evan Edwards’ extended family. “We knew we wanted to preach the gospel where it was not preached,” Evan Edwards said in a 2008 radio interview. Joy Edwards, Evan and Mary Jane Edwards, and Josh Edwards. The family moved back to Canada about 10 years ago, and Evan Edwards continued to preach, his cousin said.

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