With global revenues from artificial intelligence (AI) software expected to top $62 billion by the end of this year, companies across industry sectors are finding increasingly innovative use cases for the technology. AI brings with it the ability to automate many administrative-intensive functions at scale. When it comes to marketing, AI can help identify new audiences while optimizing spend on campaigns.
“Organizations and agencies are looking for increasingly inventive ways to get the most value possible from their marketing investments. Budgets are tighter than ever in the post-pandemic market. Optimizing return on investment is something most organizations have prioritized. This is putting pressure on the marketing function to not only target the right customer segments, but also do so in ways that yield the best results. This is where AI becomes an enabler for optimization and growth,” says Frik van der Westhuizen, Marketing Director at leading independent customer relationship management company, LoyaltyPlus.
Much of marketing is built on effective data analytics to understand customer segments and develop the most relevant campaigns for those segments. AI brings with it the capability to analyze the exponentially expanding data real estate faster than what human operators can do. This provides users with a platform to apply insights more holistically. It also delivers the means to discover audiences that might have been overlooked in the past and identify existing audiences that have become irrelevant.
Continue reading: https://www.itweb.co.za/content/dgp45MaB6GRqX9l8

For the past few days, I’ve been playing around with DALL-E 2, an app developed by the San Francisco company OpenAI that turns text descriptions into hyper-realistic images.
OpenAI invited me to test DALL-E 2 (the name is a play on Pixar’s WALL-E and the artist Salvador Dalí) during its beta period, and I quickly got obsessed. I spent hours thinking up weird, funny and abstract prompts to feed the A.I. — “a 3-D rendering of a suburban home shaped like a croissant,” “an 1850s daguerreotype portrait of Kermit the Frog,” “a charcoal sketch of two penguins drinking wine in a Parisian bistro.” Within seconds, DALL-E 2 would spit out a handful of images depicting my request — often with jaw-dropping realism.
Here, for example, is one of the images DALL-E 2 produced when I typed in “black-and-white vintage photograph of a 1920s mobster taking a selfie.” And how it rendered my request for a high-quality photograph of “a sailboat knitted out of blue yarn.”
DALL-E 2 can also go more abstract. The illustration at the top of this article, for example, is what it generated when I asked for a rendering of “infinite joy.” (I liked this one so much I’m going to have it printed and framed for my wall.)
What’s impressive about DALL-E 2 isn’t just the art it generates. It’s how it generates art. These aren’t composites made out of existing internet images — they’re wholly new creations made through a complex A.I. process known as “diffusion,” which starts with a random series of pixels and refines it repeatedly until it matches a given text description. And it’s improving quickly — DALL-E 2’s images are four times as detailed as the images generated by the original DALL-E, which was introduced only last year.
Continue reading: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/technology/ai-technology-progress.html

Leaders face more complex decisions than ever before. For example, many must deliver new and better services for their communities while meeting sustainability and equity goals. At the same time, many need to find ways to operate and manage their budgets more efficiently. So how can these leaders make complex decisions and get them right in an increasingly tricky business landscape? The answer lies in harnessing technological tools like Artificial Intelligence (AI).
What is AI?
AI can help leaders in several different ways. It can be used to process and make decisions on large amounts of data more quickly and accurately. AI can also help identify patterns and trends that would otherwise be undetectable. This information can then be used to inform strategic decision-making, which is why AI is becoming an increasingly important tool for businesses and governments. A recent study by PwC found that 52% of companies accelerated their AI adoption plans in the last year. In addition, 86% of companies believe that AI will become a mainstream technology at their company imminently. As AI becomes more central in the business world, leaders need to understand how this technology works and how they can best integrate it into their operations.
At its simplest, AI is a computer system that can learn and work independently without human intervention. This ability makes AI a powerful tool. With AI, businesses and public agencies can automate tasks, get insights from data, and make decisions with little or no human input. Consequently, AI can be a valuable problem-solving tool for leaders across the private and public sectors, primarily through three methods.
1) Automation
One of AI’s most beneficial ways to help leaders is by automating tasks. This can free up time to focus on other essential things. For example, AI can help a city save valuable human resources by automating parking enforcement. In addition, this will help improve the accuracy of detecting violations and prevent costly mistakes. Automation can also help with things like appointment scheduling and fraud detection.
2) Insights from data
Another way AI can help leaders solve problems is by providing insights from data. With AI, businesses can gather large amounts of data and then use that data to make better decisions. For example, suppose a company is trying to decide which products to sell. In that case, AI can be used to gather data about customer buying habits and then use that data to make recommendations about which products to market.
3) Simulations
Finally, AI can help leaders solve problems by allowing them to create simulations. With AI, organizations can test out different decision scenarios and see what the potential outcomes could be. This can help leaders make better decisions by examining the consequences of their choices. For example, a city might use AI to simulate different traffic patterns to see how a new road layout would impact congestion.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/benjaminlaker/2022/08/24/how-leaders-are-using-ai-as-a-problem-solving-tool/?sh=2e8684e46053

Blockchain has many advantages: decentralized storage, strong security and sharable and traceable yet unmodifiable data. For these and many other reasons, blockchain is growing in popularity across industries like healthcare, supply chain, and even entertainment.  Darian Wilkin, senior solutions engineer at DigitalOcean, says, “There are currently many blockchain businesses building secure and decentralized products and services on public clouds.
He shares his insights about blockchain and cloud and how developers can build and manage these projects effectively.
What are some common use cases for blockchain cloud solutions?
Wilkin: Cloud technology is currently being used to build everything from blockchain APIs for business applications to supporting popular Proof of Stake networks such as Elrond. In its current form, blockchain technology is most useful for ensuring consensus and resilience in a transaction system, which makes it useful for businesses that want to reduce costs, increase transparency, and increase speed in their transactions with other businesses. This is why the majority of use cases of blockchain and the cloud outside of finance and cryptocurrency lie in supply chain, logistics, healthcare, and other regulatory and compliance-heavy industries.
Cloud-based blockchain technologies can help secure the exchange of medical data or provide traceability to the global supply chain of goods.
Do you anticipate more blockchains in the cloud in the future?
Wilkin: In the future, some blockchain experts have suggested that we’ll start to see blockchain-based decentralized cloud solutions, where data will exist on multiple compute nodes. These blockchain-based clouds would be particularly suited for industries such as logistics or financial services, where ongoing monitoring and record-keeping are essential.
Continue reading: https://www.devprojournal.com/technology-trends/blockchain/what-to-consider-with-blockchain-cloud-solutions/

CRYPTO MIGHT BE in winter, but blockchain technology in the hospitality space keeps growing and evolving. There is an increasing number of opportunities that blockchain technology provides the hospitality industry — notably the restaurant world. 
Blockchain and NFTs could revolutionize supply chain transparency. There are companies, like EZ Labs, that only focus on blockchain solutions — with no cryptocurrency — that give ways of tracking the exact origin of sourced parts in the supply chain to offer security in the finished project. This is tracked on the blockchain so it can’t be falsified. Penfolds is already using this technology for its export of wine to China; wine can be traced on the VeChain blockchain platform. EZ Labs is another example of a blockchain wine-tracking company.
Almost like a certificate of authenticity (but one that can’t be faked), blockchain technology can track and monitor every part of the process, from when it’s picked, bottled and shipped to when it arrives. The touchpoints it moves through are all followed on the blockchain. This is a way of really making sure that the process is secure every step of the way. With 25.8 percent of bottles suggested to be fake according to the Euromonitor 2018 global study on illicit alcohol, it is even more important than ever to make sure the product is genuine. But I think this can go even further.
There are some areas of wine investment that are still woefully behind the times in terms of systems and processes. Legacy systems tend to remain very old-school with big companies doing trading for you. Your wine holding really only exists on paper with faith to the holder. Blockchain technology could give individuals more transparency on their holding and help reduce the risk of fraud. 
Continue reading: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture-council/articles/how-blockchain-technology-changing-the-face-of-hospitality-1234579479/

Blockchain technology has the potential to trigger a new era of digital marketing accountability that will revolutionize the industry.
Blockchain and cryptocurrency have become buzzwords far beyond the worlds of digital marketing and technology. Experts predict the blockchain market will grow to nearly $40 million by 2025. But while crypto-related buzzwords have become impossible to avoid daily, not everyone is fully aware of what the shift toward blockchain technology will mean for brands, consumers and digital marketers.
What is blockchain, and how does it work?
Blockchains are electronic ledgers or databases. They are shared between different connections in computer networks and store information in a digital format. Blockchains differ from other databases because the technology at their core guarantees that records are kept secure.
Another difference between a blockchain and other databases is how the data is structured in the ledger. As the name suggests, blockchains group data together in blocks. Think of them as the individual rooms or compartments of a storage facility. Once one block reaches its capacity, it is closed and linked to the previous block.
This is how a chain of blocks is created. Any information added once a block is closed must be stored in a new block. Once that new block is complete, it is added to the existing chain, and so on. Besides creating a chain, blockchain storage also creates a chronological timeline of when data was added.
A few years ago, blockchains were far from being a household name. That changed with the advent of cryptocurrencies. Since the likes of Bitcoin have grown in popularity, so has the use of the blockchain as a ledger for transactions. One of the most significant differences from other databases is that blockchain-based data is held by all users collectively rather than in one centralized organization.
Continue reading: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/433245

Gender balance in tech is lower now than it was in 1984 (35% vs 32%) and despite there being more tech roles for women and a greater awareness of gender equality, women only represent 17% of leaders. Women, on average, earn €400,000 less than men during their careers – even though gender-diverse companies increase financial returns by 15% – and one out of two leaves tech by the age of 35.
Caroline Ramade – ex-head of innovation and chief digital officer for the mayor of Paris, and founder and CEO of social startup 50inTech – is dedicating her career to fixing tech's big problem of female retention.
"We know that inspiration for little girls comes from the first network," says Ramade. "We can work on education, but we first need to focus on retention of talent in the tech industry…If your mother, sister or friends are happy in tech, you can inspire a lot of women."
Ramade, a UN Woman board member, is committed to gender equality. At the Paris Mayor's office under Bertrand Delanoë, Ramade used tech to engage the startup population at a time when €1bn was being poured into innovation and incubators were emerging across the city. Encountering Paris Pionnières, the first incubator for female entrepreneurs in tech, was life-changing and Ramade left the Mairie in 2015 to become the organization's MD (it was subsequently rebranded to WILLA).
She noticed that WILLA was not like the other male-dominated incubators. "There were 50% women, it was a really inclusive place, so we had gender balance, but it was also diverse in terms of age and background," she says. "It was a different atmosphere, another way of operating and it inspired me."
Continue reading: https://www.zdnet.com/article/as-the-great-resignation-continues-meet-the-entrepreneur-battling-to-keep-women-in-tech/

Women's Equality Day's first observance on Aug. 26, 1973, commemorated a 20th-century milestone in women's rights: Legal recognition of their right to vote. 
Women's Equality Day recognizes the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That milestone occurred on Aug. 18, 1920. 
However, finalizing women's right to vote required a man, U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby, to certify the change by signing one last document. He carried out this duty in his home without fanfare on August 26, 1920.
More than 50 years later, then-U.S. Rep. Bella Abzug of New York led the initiative to formally recognize this historic moment by designating August 26 as Women's Equality Day. The measure became law in 1973, and the observance continues annually on Aug. 26.
Continue reading for insight and ideas on how tech companies can honor the spirit of Women's Equality Day.
A snapshot of women in America's new normal
More women than men live in the U.S. Nearly 51% of America's approximately 331 million residents were women in 2021, according to U.S. Census data. And 57.4% of women were in the labor force in 2019, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), as compared to 69.2% of men that same year. 
American women are still recovering from jobs lost during the pandemic. Women held 100,000 fewer jobs in July than in February 2020, according to an analysis of BLS employment data by the National Women's Law Center. Men held 132,000 more net jobs during the same time frame. 
In addition, the law center's report notes that many women, "especially those with caregiving responsibilities, disproportionately shifted from full-time to part-time work during the pandemic."
Continue reading: https://www.zdnet.com/education/business-management/womens-equality-day/

Hannah Alexander, Junior Data Scientist at Ascent, shares her journey into data and gives insight for young women to join the tech movement early on and revolutionize female data science
I remember reading an article in Harvard Business Review back in 2012 where data science was dubbed the “Sexiest Job of the 21st Century”. It comes as no surprise that, with booming investment in AI development, the demand for highly-skilled data scientists has risen dramatically in the past 10 years. However, for the majority of my peers who are pondering GCSE, A level or university options, data science is not an attractive career choice – nearly 50% of female STEM students think data science is too theoretical and low-impact, whilst only 55% are well- informed about various opportunities within the field.
Sadly, the gender gap in STEM is not closing fast enough. According to the latest research by PwC UK, 3% of females say a career in technology is their first choice, whilst only 16% of females have had a career in technology suggested to them, compared to 33% of males.
This is a statistic that really resonates with me, as at the beginning of my career, I had no idea what I wanted to do after my A-levels. I thought I could be an architect, and, through various trials, that path eventually led me to data science. I ended up studying Civil Engineering at the University of Bath, where there was a 40:60 female/male ratio, so companies that are looking to hire fantastic data scientists need to invest in this talent pool as early as possible!
What is data science and how to break into it?
Data science may not sound particularly exciting. However, there is much more to it than meets the eye! It’s all about solving real-world problems with data, and despite many people assuming that in order to become a data scientist you have to master deep learning, linear algebra or complex programming, that’s not the case.
Continue reading: https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/girls-in-data-inspiring-the-future-of-female-data-science/142235/

Several companies developing next generation technologies for drones exhibited their solutions at the fourth annual UAS Public Safety Summit last week. The summit was focused on applications related to public safety that enhance capabilities for law enforcement and first responders.
Solutions presented at the summit included detect-and-avoid technologies, a module that tracks cell phone signals for search and rescue missions, and a platform for public safety officials to publish safety advisories about drone operations.
Hidden Level, headquartered in Syracuse, New York, specializes in low-altitude drone sensing software. The company offers a cloud-based solution, the Airspace Monitoring Service (AMS), to process data from sensors to track drones in real time. According to the company, its technology can detect the movements of more than 95% of commercially manufactured unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Hidden Level’s team has collaborated with NASA’s Ames Research Center to evaluate use of the AMS for drone traffic management applications and advanced air mobility (AAM) services. Hidden Level’s sensors enabled monitoring of both cooperative and non-cooperative low-altitude airspace traffic at Moffett Federal Airfield. The AMS data can also support research efforts related to airspace characterization; enable safe take-off and landing at vertiports; and monitor flight conformance.
Hidden Level is also involved in a partnership with Joby Aviation, developer of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The companies share their expertise in designing scalable airspace operations, relying on data collected by Hidden Level’s sensors installed in dense urban environments.
“We offer drone detection as a service,” explained James Licata, VP of Strategy and Partnerships at Hidden Level. “We build our own sensor technology and install it ourselves on rooftops and cell towers, typically in metropolitan areas, to cover as wide an area as we can,” he told Avionics International during the Public Safety Summit.
The AMS collects data on any drones operating in a given airspace and shares that data with agencies such as local law enforcement or corporate security. Hidden Level installs the technology and maintains it, and provides a data feed to the agency.
According to Licata, the company’s current focus is expanding its network to new cities. He noted that they have expanded coverage in the Northeast, and have installations in Mountain View, California, as well as Dallas Fort Worth. “We’re also working on some FAA initiatives,” he mentioned. “It’s been a lot of growth over the past year—we’ve doubled in size.”
Continue reading: https://www.aviationtoday.com/2022/08/23/new-drone-technologies-emerge-low-altitude-public-safety-applications/

The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has awarded a total of $2.7 million dollars to different universities in order to support research on how drones could support disaster preparedness and emergency response operations.
According to the government agency in charge of regulating civil aviation in the United States, the studies will explore the use of unmanned aerial vehicles to provide effective and efficient responses in a variety of critical situations, both natural and human-made.
The research will address coordination procedures between drone operators in federal agencies, as well as state and local organisations. In total, the Federal Aviation Administration will provide $2,768,070 dollars to six different educational institutions.
The announcement marked the completion of the third round of Alliance for System Safety of UAS grants through the ASSURE Research Excellence. Twenty awards, valued at a total of 21 million dollars, were made this year.
Continue reading: https://www.aviacionline.com/2022/08/united-states-faa-funds-research-on-the-use-of-drones-in-emergency-response/

Dear J.T. & Dale: I’ve been interviewing with a company, and they asked me what salary I would need. Using online sites (Payscale, Indeed, Glassdoor), I’ve been able to identify a range I’m setting as my “walk-away range.” Further, I would want to account for inflation and go above that range by 10%. But, ideally, I would want to increase it by 30%. I’m new to negotiating salary — am I out of my depth here? — Jet
J.T.: The one thing you should remember is the market is going to shift soon. You don’t want to be the most expensive person on payroll for the job. There’s a saying “last in, first out,” which means if I hire you right now for top dollar and the market changes, I’m letting you go first.
DALE: That’s why it’s important to research more than salary. You need to research the industry and the company to see how they’d hold up if we have a bit of a recession.
Continue reading: https://tucson.com/business/jt-dale-talk-jobs-salary-negotiation-how-high-can-i-go/article_05f6385a-1e4b-11ed-99da-cf64dd7d1eac.html

Join Dawn and special guest Jasmine LeFlore, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Greater Than Tech (GTT), as we continue Developing Industry Leaders Month on the Dawn of Drones podcast, sponsored by Skydio.
Greater Than Tech is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to helping create the next generation of innovative technology leaders by introducing girls and underserved students to immersive educational programs at the intersection of STEM and business. Learn how GTT’s diverse and dedicated team of professionals is lifting up the next generation of drone and tech industry leaders through its unique youth drone and STEM educational workshops and demo days to development and training programs – and how you can make a difference too!
Continue reading: https://dronelife.com/2022/08/23/greater-than-tech-on-dawn-of-drones-this-week-developing-future-leaders/

Within just two years, the UK could be home to the planet’s biggest drone superhighway thanks to the plans of a group of technology companies. It sounds like something out of a science fiction movie, but it’s just one of a number of projects in the pipeline as part of the UK government’s drone ambition statement announced recently.
But it’s important not to get carried away. These plans could change British skies and people’s lives. Now is the time to think about whether the noise, safety risk and disruption to family neighbourhoods is worth it.
Right now, UK laws restrict the use of pilotless drones. But the Skyway will allow automated drones, using ground-based sensors installed along the highway. These sensors provide a real-time view of where drones are in the airspace.
The 164-mile “Skyway” aims to connect the airspace above Reading, Oxford, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Coventry and Rugby by mid-2024, and will receive more than £12 million government funding.
Continue reading: https://theconversation.com/drone-superhighways-and-airports-are-coming-lets-make-sure-they-dont-make-life-miserable-187304

Experience is everything. From what we buy to where we work, everyone is seeking a more intuitive, personalized experience surrounding all that we do. The best user experiences feel effortless, offering instant recommendations that give us what we want without requiring us to spend valuable time providing our preferences. Think of any light-touch, data-rich experience leading you where you need to go, offering you something you didn’t know you needed or connecting you to the solution you were looking for. 
Though everyone is familiar with the experience, not all understand what works behind the scenes to make it possible: artificial intelligence (AI).
Artificial intelligence is the oxygen that breathes life into those extraordinary user experiences.  
Why do I say AI is oxygen? Because in all those instances, the AI is invisible — and that’s how you know it’s working. AI takes the data based on user preferences every day and turns it into engaging experiences. 
All organizations exist in an experience market. When it comes to talent, everyone is competing to offer an experience that attracts the best-fit candidates and retains employees. Savvy companies understand that combining AI with people is the winning combination to deliver amazing experiences.
People want personalization 
In the past, we viewed personalization as a “nice to have” feature — a touch as simple as getting the customer’s name right in a marketing email. However, as the pandemic accelerated digital transformation, user expectations rose, too. 
Faced with increasingly digital interactions, users encountered many obstacles: hard-to-navigate sites, incomplete contact pages, and frustrating support processes. They’ve told us loud and clear that instead of a clunky, one-size-fits-none experience, they expect relevant recommendations, customized interactions, and tailored messaging reflecting what they are interested in or applicable to them. 
Continue reading: https://venturebeat.com/ai/why-ai-is-the-differentiator-in-todays-experience-market/

It’s very common to hear the terms “machine learning” and “artificial intelligence” thrown around in the wrong context. It’s an easy mistake to make, as they are two separate but similar concepts that are closely related. With that said, it’s important to note that machine learning, or ML, is a subset of artificial intelligence, or AI. 
To understand these two concepts better, let’s first define each one: 

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI is any software or processes that are designed to mimic human thinking and process information. AI includes a wide range of technologies and fields like computer vision, natural language processing (NLP), autonomous vehicles, robotics, and finally, machine learning. AI enables devices to learn and identify information to solve problems and extract insights. 
• Machine Learning (ML): Machine learning is a subset of AI, and it is a technique that involves teaching devices to learn information given to a dataset without human interference. Machine learning algorithms can learn from data over time, improving the accuracy and efficiency of the overall machine learning model. Another way of looking at it is that machine learning is the process that AI undergoes when performing AI functions. 

Key Aspects of Artificial Intelligence
Many definitions of artificial intelligence have popped up over the years, which is one of the reasons it can seem somewhat complicated or confusing. But in its simplest form, AI is a field that combines computer science and robust datasets to achieve effective problem-solving. 
Today’s field of artificial intelligence includes sub-fields like machine learning and deep learning, which involve AI algorithms that make predictions or classifications based on input data. 
AI is sometimes broken down into different types, such as weak AI or strong AI. Weak AI, which is also referred to as Narrow AI or Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI), is AI that has been trained to perform specific tasks. It is the most apparent form of AI in our daily lives, enabling applications like Apple’s Siri and autonomous vehicles. 
Continue reading: https://www.unite.ai/machine-learning-vs-artificial-intelligence-key-differences/

Although most consumer-oriented drones are able to land themselves, their automated landing systems require a flat landing site, minimal winds, and low speeds to safely touch down. That’s not always available, so researchers have developed a new landing system that allows drones to land in rougher conditions, even on surfaces sloped as steep as 60-degrees.
It seems inevitable that, one day, the skies will be buzzing with thousands of drones delivering everything from fast food orders to prescription meds. But before that day arrives, these automated delivery systems are going to need robust failsafe systems. That’s especially true when it comes to finding safe places, away from people, when the need for an emergency landing arises. There are lots of risks to a drone simply touching down on the first flat open space it finds, but what if landing options weren’t so limited? What if a drone could land in the places where people fear to tread?
That’s part of the inspiration for a new landing system developed at the Université de Sherbrooke’s Createk Design Lab in Quebec, Canada. Most drone makers assume that landings will be performed in ideal conditions at optimal locations, and so rely on rigid landing gear that doesn’t provide enough friction to steady a drone on inclined surfaces. Current landing systems also tend not to provide enough flex to absorb the impact of of a drone coming in too fast, resulting in it bouncing off or taking considerable damage.
The solution the researchers at the Createk Design Lab came up with was two-fold, starting with equipping a drone with four landing legs that use friction-based shock absorbers to dissipate excess energy as the drone touches down. A small electric motor can actively increase the amount of friction at the moving hinge point where each leg connects to the drone, ensuring there’s no excess energy remaining that could cause the drone to bounce away.
Continue reading: https://gizmodo.com/drones-emergency-landing-steep-roofs-house-rooftops-1849445310

In the future, AI will become even more important in lead generation, enabling companies to automatically target potential customers based on their specific needs and interests. AI will also help companies track the performance of their lead generation campaigns and make necessary adjustments in real time.
How artificial intelligence in sales is changing lead generation
Lead generation with artificial intelligence in sales is constantly changing, and new technologies are constantly being developed that have the potential to completely change the landscape. AI is already being used in a number of ways to improve lead generation. Among other things, it can improve lead scoring accuracy and determine the best time to contact a lead. AI can also be used to create dynamic forms that change based on a visitor’s needs and generate personalized content that is more likely to convert leads into customers. AI is still in its infancy, but it’s clear that it has the potential to revolutionize lead generation. It will be interesting to see how AI is used in the future to further improve the efficiency and effectiveness of lead generation.
11 ways AI is changing lead generation

1. Increase the accuracy of lead scoring
2. Better personalization of lead communication
3. Automation of lead nurturing
4. Generation of new leads through predictive analytics
5. Identification of cross-sell and upsell opportunities
6. Improving website self-service through chatbots
7. Optimizing lead capture forms
8. Increasing lead funnel visibility
9. Automating lead attribution
10. Reducing the cost of lead generation
11. Increasing lead scoring accuracy
    [/LIST=1]
    Automation of the lead qualification process
    Lead management has become a complex process as companies have numerous options for managing leads. The most important aspect of lead management is ensuring that a lead is properly qualified. To qualify a lead, salespeople analyze the lead’s profile and the company’s requirements. Based on the data collected, they then decide whether to forward the lead to sales or discard it. One of the best ways for artificial intelligence in sales is to clean up your email list and keep the relevant leads in your database for marketing or re-marketing. The main purpose of lead management is to optimize the lead generation process and get the most out of each lead. By properly qualifying leads, companies can improve their sales and marketing strategies and grow their sales pipeline.
    Continue reading: https://morethandigital.info/en/3-tips-for-artificial-intelligence-in-sales-the-sale-is-supported-ai/

You’ve heard all about shadow IT, but there’s another shadow lurking on your systems: Internet of Things (IoT) devices. 
These smart devices are the IoT in shadow IoT, and they could be maliciously or unintentionally exposing information. Threat actors can use that to access your systems and sensitive data, and wreak havoc upon your company.
A refresher on shadow IT: shadow IT comes from all of the applications and devices your employees use without your knowledge or permission to get their jobs done and handle their work data. Some examples of shadow IT include departments purchasing and installing their own software, users making unauthorized changes to their endpoints and employees using cloud services that aren’t company standard. 
Add a few IoT devices into the mix, and your security efforts are suddenly and obviously more vulnerable. However, what’s not as obvious is that the shadow IoT phenomenon can include things like multicolored light bulbs, coffee makers and Bluetooth speakers.
These devices pose new security risks for the enterprise, as IoT is typically not as secure as it should be. In 2021, 12.2 billion devices connected to the internet worldwide, with an expected growth up to 14.4 billion active connections in 2022. If you think none of those devices are shadow devices on your network, think again. According to Infoblox, 35% of U.S., UK and German companies have more than 5,000 shadow devices connected to their network on any given day.
Putting IoT to the Test 
TikTok personality and security engineer Jose Padilla (@secengineer) knows how to see which devices might be at risk. His frequent TikTok posts test different IoT devices to determine just how risky they are and examine what kind of network traffic the devices are outputting. 
“The Mirai botnet was created almost entirely by IoT devices,” he said. “That’s what inspired me to start looking more into what these IoT devices are doing on my network. Of course, I want to use smart things. They’re very convenient. I obviously love technology. But as a security engineer, I always have to second guess these kinds of things.”
Padilla has tested almost two dozen devices and explains that he takes each through a rigorous process that requires at least three or four hours of sifting through logs to establish patterns to see if anything stands out.
Continue reading: https://securityintelligence.com/articles/secure-shadow-it-tiktok-secengineer/

Across the world of enterprise and industry, few trends have seen as much rising investment as artificial intelligence (AI). From robotic process automation (RPA) to self-driving cars to AI-powered data analytics platforms, AI can be found almost everywhere you turn.
Indeed, AI boasts use cases in practically every industry, whether it be healthcare, financial services, or business administration.
AI as an industry is growing rapidly. Gartner expects worldwide AI sales to reach $62 billion in 2022. And a report from Grand View Research valued the global AI market at $93.5 billion in 2021 with a projected compound annual growth rate of 38.1% from 2022 to 2030.
With such a broad number of use cases and widespread expansion, there are numerous reasons that a company would use AI for their specific organization. The benefits listed below will offer a solid general primer about the ways AI adoption can bring overall improvements to an organization.
What is Artificial Intelligence? 
In brief, artificial intelligence is, in the words of AI pioneer John McCarthy, “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines.”
In a modern context, AI is typically a computer or computer program that can perform the sort of thinking that humans can. Depending on the AI, this can mean facial recognition, language processing, data analysis, or a number of other tasks and processes.
Like our own minds, artificial intelligence requires data and training in order to learn how to perform these tasks. This training can involve a variety of techniques, including deep learning and natural language processing.
AI’s effectiveness at performing these tasks varies based on:
Continue reading: https://www.eweek.com/enterprise-apps/benefits-of-artificial-intelligence/

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reimagining the business world, boosting innovation and productivity, and helping organizations think bigger. Organizations can use AI to improve their products, processes and decision-making. Using the technology available today, organizations should be able to achieve organizational agility powered by AI.
Organizational leaders need to continuously drive change and evaluate which areas, and at what complexity, AI should be utilized to support company goals and further growth.
The impact of artificial intelligence is being felt across all industries. There are multiple examples of implementing AI in the supply chain, transportation, education, operations, marketing, and pretty much every industry that’s moving toward digitalization, and switching from manual activities to technology-assisted ones. With the help of AI, companies are better equipped to fight disasters using AI decision-making algorithms, detect anomalies and predict future behavior. AI enhances automation and reduces the human-intensive labor and tediousness involved in forecasting and prediction analysis.
The pace of change has increased as a result of the rise of artificial intelligence. In addition, organizations are under greater pressure to respond rapidly to shifting conditions. Because of this shift in perspective, organizational transformation and growth are no longer viewed as one-off projects but rather as ongoing initiatives to which all members may and should contribute.
What is AI and how does it help with decision-making?
Techopedia defines AI well: “Artificial intelligence, also known as machine intelligence, is a branch of computer science that focuses on building and managing technology that can learn to autonomously make decisions and carry out actions on behalf of a human being.” Additionally, it’s important to remember that, “AI is not a single technology. It is an umbrella term that includes any type of software or hardware component that supports machine learning, computer vision, natural language understanding (NLU) and natural language processing (NLP).”
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/08/23/how-artificial-intelligence-can-improve-organizational-decision-making/?sh=770a6b302a1c

We all know the Staples commercial depicting parental glee as they send their children back to school after a (long) summer break. One wonders whether lawmakers -- the Sacramento variety -- experience the same delight once they finish their work crafting and polishing new regulations for California employers. Once again a new crop of complex and sometimes mystifying laws are on the horizon, and one of those laws we may need to harvest is a proposed California law requiring pay scales to be included in job advertisements. I spent a few minutes chatting with Richard Ehisen from the State Net Capitol Journal for their most recent podcast regarding the proposed amendment and what California employers should expect if this amendment becomes law.  Employers (of 15 more more) would be obligated provide employees with the pay scale for jobs they currently hold, and will have to publicize pay scales for all positions in job postings. 
Continue reading: https://www.natlawreview.com/article/most-wonderful-time-year-california-style

The Metaverse as a concept is an attempt to fuse physical reality, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) into one seamless and immersive experience.
The term “metaverse” was first used in Neil Stephenson’s 1982 cyberpunk novel Snow Crash. Stephenson’s metaverse was a virtual place where characters could go to escape a dreary totalitarian reality. Some of the key attributes of the Metaverse include:

Even before the Metaverse became a phenomenon amid the nonfungible token (NFT) craze and crypto market boom, the concept was already in focus with the likes of Facebook, now Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung and several other leading companies investing heavily in AR technology since the early 2010s.
In 2014, Meta acquired Oculus VR in a $2 billion deal with of focus on developing augmented and virtual reality-based games. In the same year, Sony and Samsung announced they were creating their own VR headsets, and Google released Google Glass AR glasses.
In 2020, Apple introduced. Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) to iPhones and iPods, which offered better depth scanning for photos and introduced AR features. The technology is also paving the way for mixed-reality headsets in the future. In 2021, Facebook rebranded itself to Meta to shift from purely social media to leading the metaverse race.
Continue reading: https://cointelegraph.com/news/metaverse-promises-future-of-web3-or-just-a-market-gimmick

Late last year, the market for non-fungible tokens reached a value of $41 billion. Seemingly out of thin air, unique digital objects that are tied to blockchain technology blew up. Naturally, the fashion and luxury industry—known for innovating to speak to the moment and shifts in culture—has decided to go all in. In doing so, breaking out of business-as-usual and into new playing fields has been key. At the moment, Web3 is one of the most prominent new kids on the block. It’s something we’ve helped clients with at Media.Monks.
Web3 represents the next era of the internet. It’s about rewiring the inner workings of the web and changing how information is stored, shared and owned by using blockchain. “In theory, a blockchain-based web could shatter the monopolies on who controls information, who makes money, and even how networks and corporations work,” according to a writer for Harvard Business Review.
In practice, many leading brands are relying on Web3 for their community-building, which is central to the customer journey in the virtual era. We’re seeing more and more fashion brands adding digital layers to elevate their existing collector communities, offering NFTs that consumers can either use to dress up their avatar in the virtual world or to access exclusive drops in the real world. NFTs are targeted at a pool of people, whether large or small, who find value in a specific project or product—essentially creating a new sort of community space for fans, online and offline.
Following a long hiatus from in-person events, I think we can safely say that people are hungry for real-world connections. Many of those working on bringing Web3 to life know it, so they are focusing on creating experiences that can exist in both the virtual and the physical world—and the fashion and luxury industry is getting heavily involved.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2022/08/23/web3-is-here-to-stay-and-the-fashion-and-luxury-market-is-going-all-in/?sh=48ee8de23891

Google Cloud will be retiring its IoT Core service in August next year, citing an inability to properly serve customers with specific IoT needs.
The announcement was made via email to customers, as well as with a banner at the top of the IoT Core webpage.
“Since launching IoT Core, it has become clear that our customers’ needs could be better served by our network of partners that specialize in IoT applications and services,” a Google Cloud spokesperson said.
The announcement has been met with some criticism given Google’s history of suddenly discontinuing services, leaving users to find alternative solutions in a short space of time. One such example is Google’s axing of its Android Things, an Android version for IoT, in 2020.

Google has, however, said it provided a year for this process in light of the anticipated pushback. 
“We have worked extensively to provide customers with migration options and solution alternatives, and are providing a year-long runway before IoT Core is discontinued,” the spokesperson added.
Continue reading: https://www.iotworldtoday.com/2022/08/23/google-cloud-to-shut-down-iot-core-service/