DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ SVB Collapse Could Trigger More Corporate M&A, Tech Leaders Say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Isabelle Bousquette | Steven Rosenbush | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Silicon Valley Bank offered banking services to startups that often weren’t profitable and would otherwise have a hard time getting a line of credit or a loan. The increasing pressure on venture capital investing from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and other macroeconomic factors could spur a pick up in technology-focused corporate M&A, according to business technology leaders. This could present both opportunities and challenges for chief information officers.

☆ IT Leaders Reassess Vendor Risks After Silicon Valley Bank Collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Corporate information technology leaders say they are reassessing vendor relationships and putting greater emphasis on risk management as they navigate the aftermath of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse. “You can be proactive all you want, but the response to a crisis, the response to a disruption no one saw coming, is just as important,” said Sineesh Keshav , chief technology officer and chief information officer at logistics real-estate company Prologis Inc. He and other executives spoke Tuesday at The Wall Street Journal’s CIO Network Summit in Palo Alto, Calif.

☆ Silicon Valley Bank Bailout Relieves Pressure on Enterprise Technology
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Steven Rosenbush | Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

People lined up outside of the closed Silicon Valley Bank headquarters on Friday in Santa Clara, Calif.Now that federal emergency measures are in place to protect all the depositors of failed Silicon Valley Bank, the damage to tech startups that relied on the lender has been contained. But a more cautious investment environment for enterprise technology could still materialize. The federal emergency measures that were announced Sunday to protect uninsured depositors of Silicon Valley Bank relieved pressure on corporate technology leaders who scrambled over the weekend to assess the health of their vendors.

☆ A Trans-Arctic Cable Poses New Challenges for Subsea Operators
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The techniques for laying undersea cable have largely stayed the same for the past 70 years, but an effort to lay cable through the Arctic could require cable-layers to reimagine some parts of the decades-old process. A joint venture of Alaskan, Finnish and Japanese telecommunications carriers has contracted Alcatel Submarine Networks to lay a cable that will go west from Europe, through the Northwest Passage in Canada, and land in Japan—a new route enabled in part by the region’s melting due to climate change.

☆ What Will It Take to Connect the Arctic? $1.2 Billion, 10,000 Miles of Fiber-Optic Cable and Patience
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Utqiagvik, ALASKA—Nestled between the whalebone-marked graves of long-dead whaling captains, an arctic fox den and a snow-covered beach, a series of satellite dishes point at the horizon from this northern Alaskan town. Far from the superfast fiber-optic cables that provide internet connectivity to other parts of the world, Arctic towns like Utqiagvik have typically relied on more limited, less reliable satellite connections. It means that students can rarely stream educational videos, hospitals spend hours uploading medical scans and scientists sometimes struggle to simply open emails.

☆ Satellite Boom Fuels Growth in Arctic
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The fiber also serves the nearby town of Longyearbyen, mostly inhabited by scientists who move there for a few years at a time. The 2,400-some residents are required to carry guns with them outside of town limits in case of polar bear sightings. Photo by Isabelle Bousquette/The Wall Street Journal

☆ Rise of AI Puts Spotlight on Bias in Algorithms
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Bias is an age-old problem for AI algorithms, in part because they are often trained on data sets that are skewed or not fully representative of the groups they serve. The hype around ChatGPT and other generative-artificial-intelligence technology is highlighting a continuing challenge for businesses: how to keep bias out of their own AI algorithms. Businesses are putting huge amounts of time and money into reducing bias in the algorithms they have deployed. Tech leaders say it is easier and cheaper to address bias from the beginning than try to remove it later, but many companies lack systems, processes and tools for doing that.

☆ In the Whirl of ChatGPT, Startups See an Opening for Their AI Chips
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Generative AI and large language models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT require massive amounts of computing power to run, and typically rely on chips like Nvidia’s graphics-processing units, or GPUs, that are specialized for these types of calculations. Graphcore sells primarily to AI startups looking to build and train models at lower cost, he said, and the company is benefiting from the proliferation of those startups. Shane Rau, who leads International Data Corp.’s semiconductor research, said chip startups are increasingly pivoting to focus their products on supporting large language models. Still, he added, “you’re going to see a combination of real adaptation and marketing.”“There will be the pressure to say: ‘Hey, we’re already relevant, our AI chip technology’s already relevant to generative AI’,” said Mr. Rau. Some chip makers say they expect yet another surge in demand once businesses more widely adopt generative AI.

☆ Pressure Mounts on CIOs to Build More AI Apps (and Faster)
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Magesh Sarma, chief information and strategy officer for AmeriSave Mortgage Corp., said his team has been inundated with requests to build AI apps aimed at tackling various cost issues. But the AI team, which consists of 76 employees, has been one of the least affected because of its business value. Ms. Anderson has a system for evaluating the priority level of different possible machine-learning projects that come to her department via a request pipeline, she said. Photo: ERIC GAILLARD/REUTERSOne area she hasn’t been able to fully tackle is machine-learning algorithms to help with customer retention. “With AI, it’s an incremental sort of approach.”Adding to the pressure is the exploding popularity of ChatGPT and other generative AI applications.

☆ Biden Touts Economic Gains in State of the Union
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Smart Appliance Makers Want More People to Connect Their DevicesThe makers of internet-connected smart appliances, like washing machines and ovens, are betting big on these devices, hoping they will change the scope of their relationships with customers. But many customers leave these devices disconnected from their home Wi-Fi. WSJ CIO Journal reporter Isabelle Bousquette joins host Zoe Thomas to explain why and how the companies are approaching the connection challenge.

☆ Biden Is Heckled Over Social Security Remarks During State of the Union
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ New York Venture Seed Funding Fell in Fourth Quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

The number of seed funding deals for startups in New York fell 30%, from 185 to 129 between the third and fourth quarter, according to a report by VC fund Primary Venture Partners. Photo: Primary Venture PartnersBrad Svrluga, co-founder and general partner of Primary, said that gradual slowing hit the seed market hard during the fourth quarter. He noted that funding for seed-stage companies in the fourth quarter was nonetheless still up more than 100% since the fourth quarter of 2020. Work-Bench tracked 49 enterprise tech seed deals in New York City last year, slightly down from 51 in 2021, but up from 46 in 2020. Between the third and fourth quarters of 2022, enterprise tech seed deals actually rose from nine to 15, according to Work-Bench figures.

☆ Bandwidth Challenges Limit Grocery Chains’ Technology Initiatives
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Grocery chains looking to deploy new technologies are running into internet bandwidth limitations because of aging hardware and remote locations. “The more you put in the store, the more bandwidth it requires,” said Mr. Kosla. Further investment, however, might be required if the company decides to tap more cutting-edge, bandwidth-heavy tech in the future, Mr. Kosla said. There are a couple reasons grocery stores might struggle with bandwidth, one of the biggest being their locations. In other instances, Mr. Watkins said he might work with technology providers to find ways for processing data with less bandwidth.

☆ Capital One Job Cuts Signal Trouble for IT Labor Market
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Technology sector employment overall has remained stable, but job postings for future tech hiring have declined for the second consecutive month, according to IT trade group CompTIA. Companies across industries hired 137,000 tech workers in December, compared with 130,000 the month prior, CompTIA estimates based on an analysis of U.S. Labor Department data. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CIO Journal The Morning Download delivers daily insights and news on business technology from the CIO Journal team. News of the job cuts was reported earlier by Bloomberg. Some employers might be shedding the additional technology workers they hired to ramp up remote-work capabilities during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, said Mark Muro, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution.

☆ LG, Whirlpool Target Customers Disconnected From ‘Smart’ Appliances
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Whirlpool Corp. said that more than half of its smart appliances remain connected, but the company declined to be more specific. Development of these smart devices is a core priority for Whirlpool and LG, the companies said. The smart-home trend began gaining traction around 2014, according to Mr. Kim, and has grown since then. Whirlpool declined to comment on the percentage of its sales represented by smart appliances. According to Murat Genc, Whirlpool’s global data, experiences & transformation officer, smart appliances are generating data from consumers and are producing new revenue opportunities.

☆ Global IT Spending Decreased in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Companies worldwide made deep cuts in enterprise technology spending last year, with tighter information-technology budgets likely to stretch well into the year ahead. Global IT spending contracted 0.2% in 2022, dropping to $4.38 trillion—a rare instance of corporations spending less on digital business tools than in the previous year, according to IT consulting and research firm Gartner Inc.Gartner had initially estimated that IT spending had increased 0.8% last year. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CIO Journal The Morning Download delivers daily insights and news on business technology from the CIO Journal team. Spending on business software and IT services is expected to remain steady year-over-year, together accounting for more than $2.16 trillion in projected spending in 2023, Gartner said. Within IT services, spending on consulting services alone is projected to reach $264 billion, up 6.7% from 2022, Gartner said.

☆ Google Cloud Introduces Shelf Inventory AI Tool for Retailers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Google Cloud said it has developed a new artificial intelligence tool designed to help big-box retailers better track the inventory on their shelves, aiming to improve a technology that has struggled to work well in the past. Google Cloud said Friday its algorithm can recognize and analyze the availability of consumer packaged goods products on shelves from videos and images provided by the retailer’s own ceiling-mounted cameras, camera-equipped self-driving robots or store associates. Google Cloud said its product is trained on a database of over a billion products, including images that are publicly available, licensed and provided directly by manufacturers. He said the Google Cloud product has shown above 90% accuracy during early tests in a Giant Eagle innovation lab, which is designed to replicate store conditions. For now Giant Eagle provides continuous feedback to Google Cloud about where the tool isn’t working so that it can fine-tune, he said.

☆ Salesforce Customers Not Swayed by Slack, Analysts Say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Salesforce reported about $402 million in Slack subscription and support revenue in the fiscal third quarter ending Oct. 31. Meanwhile, on Wednesday Salesforce said it would lay off 10% of its workforce as customers take a more cautious approach to spending. “The Slack acquisition by Salesforce has not changed the trajectory of Salesforce up or down,” said Tim Crawford, CIO strategic adviser at Los Angeles-based enterprise IT advisory firm AVOA. “That’s really the struggle for customers, to maintain the pace with a company like Salesforce,” he said. Forrester’s Ms. Herbert said the recent departures of Mr. Taylor and the Slack executives might signal that Salesforce is shifting the focus back to its core products.

☆ CIOs Contend With Pushback on AI Rollouts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Overall enterprise adoption of AI has grown threefold since 2019 as algorithms grow in scale and sophistication, according to International Data Corp. That left executives underwhelmed by the results and disillusioned, according to Todd Lohr, KPMG LLP’s U.S. technology consulting leader. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CIO Journal The Morning Download delivers daily insights and news on business technology from the CIO Journal team. In 2022, organizations spent on average 4% to 6% more on AI than the previous year, according to IDC. Other emerging technologies are more likely to be cut than AI, given its cost-savings potential, she noted.

☆ CIOs in 2023 Want to Know: Who’s Got Talent?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

As the information technology talent gap continues into 2023, chief information officers are augmenting recruiting efforts with new models like upskilling, job sharing and rotations as well as raising salaries and offering perks to retain workers. Some also believe the shifting economy could make it easier to fill vacancies, although the short term talent market remains challenging. “It’s been a source of should we, not deprioritize, but re-sequence the work that we’re doing,” Kroger CIO Yael Cosset said of the talent shortage. Duke Energy is developing certification curricula and joining with software companies on education programs to help internal talent learn new skills, said CIO Bonnie Titone. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS What do you think CIOs can do to find and retain talent in 2023?

☆ Corporate Tech Leaders Untangle Their Cybersecurity Roles
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Information technology and cybersecurity chiefs grew closer than ever in 2022, a dynamic allowing for more comprehensive threat mitigation, but raising new questions over responsibilities. About 50% of the company’s threat planning simulations, in which IT plays an active role, involve ransomware scenarios, according to Ms. Smart. Ms. Allison is retiring at the end of the year, the company said, and will be succeeded by Gary Harbison. Photo: Adobe Inc.Prasad Ramakrishnan, the CIO and former CISO of software maker Freshworks Inc., said IT and security have shared roles in evaluating the cybersecurity resiliency of corporate software purchases. And in securing a hybrid work environment, his joint cybersecurity and IT roles included adding a new cybersecurity layer on top of cloud-based software on company laptops.

☆ Retailers Rethink In-Store Tech as Shoppers Return
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Retailers during the pandemic poured investments into e-commerce, as many questioned whether shoppers would ever return in full force to physical stores. E-commerce is now 16.4% of all retail shopping, down from 18.8% at the height of the pandemic, according to the National Retail Federation. Photo: The Kroger Company“There is an opportunity to remove the friction,” said Mr. Cosset. “It’s never enough.”In addition to cost barriers, Mr. Cosset of Kroger said it is also wise to hold back on some investments based on what the consumer actually wants. But privacy concerns coupled with the cost of large-scale camera installation make it impractical, Mr. Cosset said.

☆ Blockchain Fails to Gain Traction in the Enterprise
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CIO Journal The Morning Download delivers daily insights and news on business technology from the CIO Journal team. Some companies say they haven’t found a compelling enough reason to use it. Many didn’t have digital record-keeping systems and had to make large upfront investments before they could start using blockchain, Walmart said. Walmart is using blockchain to track leafy greens and green bell peppers. Earlier this year, the state of Jharkhand in eastern India began using blockchain to track seed distributions to farmers.

Gary Works, still one of the largest steel mills in the U.S., employs 4,000 people and has 7.5 million net tons of annual raw steel capability. Big River Steel recently installed a slushie machine to help employees cool off. But the algorithms deployed at Big River can’t plug and play in other mills, according to Christian Holliday, senior director of Digital Studio and Big River Steel Integration at U.S. Steel. Bandwidth is notoriously poor in environments like steel mills that are full of concrete and steel. The Big River acquisition hasn’t provided a one-size-fits-all template for modernization at U.S. Steel’s older plants.

☆ IBM Unveils New Chip in Push to Realize Quantum Computing’s Promise
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Quantum computers use quantum bits, or qubits, which represent and store information in a quantum state that is a complex mix of zero and one. Jerry Chow, IBM fellow and director of infrastructure for IBM Quantum, at the Watson Research Center. Since 2016, IBM has been putting their quantum computers on the cloud to enable companies, universities and individuals to experiment with the technology. Jerry Chow, IBM fellow and director of infrastructure for IBM Quantum, said the companies would be able to start using the Osprey chip in the first quarter of next year. Boeing Co. said it is using IBM’s quantum computers via the cloud to experiment with modeling chemical reactions related to corrosion on its aircraft.

Search resuls for: "Isabelle Bousquette"

25 mentions found