Are blockchain oracles heralding a new era of smart contracts?
How external data can be securely brought onto the blockchain
With the dominance of Airbnb, Booking.com and other accommodation-sharing platforms, we live in an age where you often need to be your own travel agent and concierge when it comes to finding, booking and getting into your place in the sun.
But one part of the process often leaves much to be desired. More often than not you’ll find yourself punching a four-digit code the host has sent you into a lockbox to retrieve a key with which to let yourself in. Such an old-school link in an otherwise digital chain hardly makes for a seamless experience.
One alternative is smart lock – a minicomputer which can fully automate the check-in process with the help of the guest’s smartphone. But even if the transaction itself took place on the blockchain – a distributed ledger reputed for its immutability and security – these provide swathes of new attack surfaces that can serve as both digital and literal backdoors for hackers to access a property.
Smartphones can be stolen or hacked, while smart locks are IoT devices that have much weaker inbuilt security controls than IT systems.
Some second-generation blockchains can already enable smart contracts, which, once their secure integration with external data sources is solved , can revolutionise the way we collaborate or trade with each other.
Smart contracts are computer programmes that can self-execute on the blockchain when specific conditions are met. Data proving the fulfilment of these pre-set conditions can be fetched into the blockchain from online sources such as weather apps, flight delay data and price feeds – or payment data as in the example above.
But the execution of the contract can also be conditioned upon information coming from the physical world via movement and temperature sensors or RFID tags. The question is how these external data sources will get fed into the blockchain.
The most obvious route is via an API – a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other. Using only APIs as data sources, however, would mean that each node of the blockchain would have to contact the API individually, and – as data changes in real time – they would get different results.
This would throw a spanner in the works of the blockchain’s consensus-making mechanism, based on all nodes receiving identical data to approve a new block.
Third- and first-party oracles
Enter oracles – middleware that can mediate between blockchains and off-chain data sources (APIs) and post external data on the blockchain, thus enabling smart contracts to execute.
But centralised oracles not subject to the blockchain’s underlying security mechanism can provide backdoors to decentralised ecosystems. Therefore, a blockchain can be only as secure and trustworthy as the off-chain data it relies on for a trigger.
So far there are two different approaches to addressing the oracle problem. The first involves fetching the data on-chain after it has been verified either by third parties or by reputable and trustworthy API providers themselves.
Although it can be a good way of guaranteeing data authenticity and accuracy and increase the accessibility of real-time data on the blockchain, this approach is still somewhat foreign to the original concept of a distributed public ledger designed to bypass any central authority.
The other way of tackling the oracle problem is to leave data off-chain while creating a decentralised oracle network (DON). In this scenario, blockchain oracles retrieve data from external sources independently and bring it on-chain following a data validation and consensus procedure to make sure the data triggering the contract is reliable.
In the second scenario, blockchain oracles are more than just data feeds. They also serve as autonomous auditors of the information they fetch onto the blockchain.
However, being a decentralised system, oracle networks, just like blockchains, need to ensure that nodes aren’t hoarded by one individual or a group of hackers until, thanks to owning the majority of them, they are able to compromise data to serve their own needs. For example, they can feed false data into the blockchain that will trigger smart contracts they can cash in on by playing the system.
There are several hurdles that blockchains – both public and private – and smart contracts need to clear before they can be implemented for use cases beyond crypto and prediction markets – such as their legal enforceability and energy consumption. Finding ways of getting accurate and timely data to them without compromising blockchain security, however, needs to come first.
Zita Goldman
The top 3 skills needed to do a PhD are skills employers want too
More and more people are applying to do a PhD. What many don’t know is it takes serious skills to do one – and, more importantly, complete it.
We analysed the selection criteria for PhD candidates on a platform that advertises PhD programs. Our analysis of thousands of these ads revealed exactly what types of skills different countries and disciplines require.
Why do a PhD in the first place?
People pursue a PhD for many reasons. They might want to stand out from the crowd in the job market, learn how to do research, gain a deeper expertise in an area of interest, or pursue an academic career.
Sadly, too many PhD students never finish. The PhD turns out to be too hard, not well supported, mentally taxing, financially draining, etc. Dropping the PhD often means significant financial loss for institutions and individuals, not to mention the psychological costs of other consequences such as low self-esteem, anxiety and loneliness.
Our society and economy can only benefit from a better-educated workforce, so it is in the national interest to manage PhD intakes and be clear about expectations. The expansion of doctoral education led to a more competitive selection process, but the criteria are opaque.
To clarify PhD expectations, we turned to a European research job platform supported by EURAXESS (a pan-European initiative by the European Commission) where PhD programs are advertised as jobs. Required skills are listed in the selection criteria. We analysed 13,562 PhD ads for the types of skills different countries and disciplines require.
We made three specific findings.
1. Top 3 skills needed for a PhD
It turns out that it takes many so-called transferable skills to do a PhD. These are skills that can be translated and applied to any professional context. The top three required skills are:
- communication – academic writing, presentation skills, speaking to policy and non-expert audiences
- research – disciplinary expertise, data analysis, project management
- interpersonal – leadership, networking, teamwork, conflict resolution.
Trending skill categories are digital (information processing and visualisation) and cognitive (abstract, critical and creative thinking and problem-solving).
Previous research shows transferable skills are requested for post-PhD careers, including both academic and non-academic jobs. Our research shows such skills are already required to do a PhD. Those keen to do a PhD are well advised to provide strong evidence of such skills when applying.
2. Skill demands vary by country and discipline
Skill demands significantly differ by country and discipline. For example, 62 per cent of medical science ads mention interpersonal skills. This is twice as often as in biological science ads. Digital and cognitive skills score much higher in the Netherlands than in other countries.
Our research article reports on 2016-2019 data and the top five represented countries (Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain and the UK) and the top five represented disciplines (biological sciences, physics, chemistry, engineering and medical sciences). However, you can use this tool for granular detail on 52 countries – including non-European countries like Australia, New Zealand, the US, etc. – and 37 disciplines included in the data sample. For continuously updated data, please visit https://www.resgap.com/.
3. PhD expectations are rising
We see a rise in PhD expectations over time (2016-2019) as more skills are listed year on year. The publish or perish culture prevails and rising demands on academics have led to calls for more engaged research, collaborations with industry, and research commercialisation.
PhD students get accustomed early to competitiveness and high expectations.
Research-based learning needs to start early
These insights have implications for pre-PhD education and pathways. Undergraduate and postgraduate degrees can further promote PhD readiness by embedding authentic hands-on research with academic or corporate partners, either as part of the curriculum or as extracurricular activities.
Many postgraduate degrees offer authentic research project work opportunities but are shorter. Those entering the PhD without a postgraduate degree miss out on developing essential research skills.
Authentic research experiences need to happen early on in higher education. Organisations like the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR), the Australasian Council for Undergraduate Research (ACUR) and the British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR) are designed to support institutions and individuals to do this effectively. They showcase great models of undergraduate research.
To get a good idea of what undergraduate research looks like, start with this comprehensive paper and catch up on undergraduate research news from Australasia.
We know research-based learning develops employability skills such as critical thinking, resilience and independence.
Embed career development in PhD programs
Doctoral training needs to take note, too, if it is to further build on the skill set that PhD applicants bring with them.
The good news is doctoral education has transformed in recent decades. It’s catching up to the call for better-skilled graduates for a range of careers. The training focus has shifted towards generating practice-based and problem-solving knowledge, and engaged research with other sectors.
Some institutions now offer skill and career training. Generally, though, this sort of training is left to the graduates themselves. Many current PhD candidates will attest that the highly regulated and tight PhD schedule leaves little room for voluntary activities to make them more employable.
Most PhD candidates also know more than half of them will not score a long-term academic job. Institutions would serve them better by formally embedding tailored career development opportunities in PhD programs that prepare for academic and non-academic jobs.
It’s not only PhD graduates’ professional and personal well-being that will benefit but also the national economy.
Lilia Mantai, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead, University of Sydney and Mauricio Marrone, Associate Professor, Macquarie University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The top construction trends – and how to benefit from them
The most competitive construction companies know which trends will change the industry and which ones will be a passing fad. We’ve analysed the five construction trends currently shaping the industry’s future and how you can use technology to future-proof your business.
1. Automated equipment
Automated equipment such as self-driving vehicles will transform the industry by executing repetitive tasks and allowing employees to focus on more skilled, specialised work. Relying on autonomous equipment to make calculated, optimised movements can improve efficiency, productivity and safety, which in turn can decrease overhead costs without displacing jobs.
The key to seeing an ROI in automated equipment is good data – so now is the time to prepare if you want to jump ahead of your competition on this trend. Before implementing automation, generate solid baseline data so you know how to most effectively deploy equipment and prepare your operators. Utilise telematics data to know where your equipment is in real-time, track meter readings and set up low inventory alerts. This allows you to spot issues before they arise, identify trends and ultimately determine which equipment is currently making or losing you money and where you can automate your fleet.
Read more about automated equipment and an HCSS customer’s response here.
2. Automated payments
Transitioning to automated payments such as smart contracts, blockchain and cloud-based technology can save time, improve communication, reduce risk and simplify the payment process.
Prepare your company for automated payments by fully understanding your job site costs in your current systems. When your software can account for every detail of the job, you can analyse costs comprehensively to gain visibility into cash flow, make more informed on-the-go financial decisions and analyse how job site conditions affect your margin. Automated payments need to be part of a larger process analysis to ensure your payments are accurate and on time.
Find out what else our HCSS customer had to say about automated payments here.
Members of the HCSS team give their take on the future of construction.
3. Supply chain
Recent supply chain issues have tested every industry and their digital ordering process. Being nimble in the field can put you one step ahead.
Protect precious time and materials by having software that integrates your bidding and project management processes so you know exactly what to expect and when. Knowing that everything your job needs will be harder to find, slower to arrive and more expensive than it’s been in years past, a digital planning tool that integrates with your project management is also key so you know exactly what’s been performed and can plan ahead.
Learn how to stay ahead of the supply chain with advice from an HCSS customer here.
4. Sustainability
Building sustainably while implementing reliable, safe and cost-efficient processes that comply with government regulations is one of the biggest challenges for the industry – and it’s only going to become more and more prevalent.
Lean into the sustainable solutions that are also beneficial to your business. Swapping paper timecards, plans, payments, bidding documents and notes for their digital equivalent not only reduces waste but also increases efficiency, improves collaboration and provides transparency on the job. Digitally tracking fuelling helps companies find places to reduce their fuel consumption – a win for sustainability and the bottom line. As more and more partners look for environmentally friendly firms to work with, companies that embrace sustainable practices will pull ahead of their competition.
Hear our client’s take on how you can build greener (without sacrificing practicality) here.
5. Trust
Introducing new technology into your business is a risk that requires time, money, resources, and training, but the biggest hurdle construction leaders face is actually feeling they can trust their own people with the tools. Companies that are able to entrust field employees with software, with greater transparency into the business, and with profit-impacting decisions find they have more reliable data, better efficiency, stronger employee retention, and ultimately a more profitable business–but getting to a place where you can invest that trust in your people is no easy task.
If you’re just dipping your toe into empowering the field crew with technology, lean on software that provides a very simple experience for users and allows you to build in automated checkpoints for the data that comes in. Expand into providing more feedback to the field about how they’re performing against estimates and project plans. Eventually, building up the software toolbox that each employee has access to can help you better engage younger employees, get more efficiency from all your people, improve accountability throughout the company, and even identify rising stars who can innovate and propel your business forward.
Learn how one of HCSS’ customers is empowering its team here.
Click here to read about four more trends and a deeper dive on these from HCSS, where we use our 35+ years of experience leading construction technology to analyze these top trends and how you can take advantage.
INDUSTRY VIEW FROM HCSS
Digital transformation is driving success in a physical world
The adoption of cloud services and robotic process automation can have many benefits for companies ready to progress
Adapting to new technology is essential for any organisation that wants to keep up with competitive market pressures. This is as true for organisations operating in physical worlds such as mining and manufacturing as it is for software and technology companies.
As digital transformation (DX) takes place across industries, it means different things to different people. Mark Leach, Vice President of Business Technology Services at Cameco Corporation, a Canadian clean fuel provider, suggests that there are two major areas of DX: market transformation (the development of new product lines and markets) and operational transformation (using technology to optimise business processes).
The focus of many companies, including Cameco, is on the latter – using digital technology to meet business objectives. For Cameco, these objectives include efficiency, safety and sustainability.
However, only about 30 percent of companies navigate DX successfully. Complexity and constant change provide major obstacles. A key challenge of DX is trying to establish and follow best practices while simultaneously finding ways to implement improvements and innovations. Here, Cameco has found an answer in identifying and working with “best in class” partners that have developed proven approaches to take the trial and error out of DX and change management.
The benefits of digital transformation
An understanding of the potential benefits is central to any successful DX program. To many, the benefits are simple: increased efficiency, often in the form of reduced employee headcount. But this is to misunderstand the extent of opportunity DX provides.
Indeed, a company that takes full advantage of digital technology is more likely to increase headcount (and profits) than lay off workers. One-third of new jobs created in the US over the past 25 years were types that barely existed before, in areas such as IT development and digital hardware manufacturing. In France, a McKinsey study found that the internet destroyed half a million jobs between 1996 and 2011 but created 1.2 million new positions.
This growth in employment opportunities is because DX offers significant advantages beyond efficiency. These include greater flexibility, employee enablement and support and knowledge management.
Moving towards flexibility
A central part of Cameco’s strategy is to move towards greater flexibility. Mining is a highly cyclical market and downturns can cause hardship if people are made redundant, something that is particularly problematic for residents of northern Canada. DX enables Cameco to provide greater job security, scaling up without the need to find more good employees and scaling down when necessary without having to lose people taken on earlier.
DX also enables people to work remotely. Cameco’s adoption of the modern workplace means that people in areas outside cities can still be employed in well-paid corporate jobs. In this changing landscape, Cameco was able to unlock new levels of workflow productivity and employee enablement simply by using the technologies it was already invested in – namely Microsoft 365.
Employee enablement and support
Remote working technology can be adapted to provide employee support. For example, setting up IT support teams in several locations around the world means that advice can be provided 24 hours a day, wherever your staff are.
There were additional challenges arising from remote workers being pulled away from their usual desk-based support resources, but these became a source of innovation for Cameco. Collaborating with its IT solutions partner, WBM Technologies, Cameco was able to embrace the proven best practices of adoption and enablement and come up with a new support innovation: the Power Bar.
Using Microsoft Teams, the Power Bar provides single-click, instant answers to “how to” questions via live video chat with experts. These Power Bar sessions are recorded and stored in a digital learning centre where all staff can access them on demand.
This innovative use led to WBM winning the 2021 Microsoft Modern Workplace Impact Award in Canada. As one staff member stated, “This level of technical support is unlike anything I have ever experienced in more than 20 years working at Cameco.”
Digital technology can also be used to deliver information more effectively. For example, processes normally shown as 2D flowcharts can be shown more effectively in 3D. Branches and feedback loops are made clearer. It’s easier to see where bottlenecks happen and where there are unnecessary dependencies or tasks.
Virtual reality (VR) can also be used to deliver information. Training can take place in a safe environment before people are exposed to hazardous situations, and workers can be given realistic information about new sites.
Knowledge management
DX technology increases the opportunity for collaboration, but at the same time it increases the need for robust document management (such as the ability to audit the lifecycle of documents that are handled by multiple people).
By facilitating document management, DX technology supports people as they work, such as allowing changes to documents made by team members to be surfaced to the rest of the team. New documents that team members might not have known about can be brought to their attention when they are published or become relevant. Metadata can be used in document searches. And all of this can be done with security playing a part in the background so that people don’t get access to documents they shouldn’t have access to.
Increased efficiency is also a central benefit of any DX program, including automation. This includes physical automation, such as the use of robots, cobots and drones, and software automation or robotic process automation (RPA).
Mining robots are important to Cameco. But the company has also engaged with software automation, and RPA paid off in less than nine months. Even in that short time, the work equivalent of four full-time employees was saved: fractional time savings were made across multiple roles, saving time on routine jobs and freeing employees up for tasks where they could deliver greater value.
The importance of culture
Managing culture is a very necessary part of managing digital transformation. Adopting digital technology requires a huge learning curve, so encouraging employees to be open to learning and to embrace constant change is essential.
It’s likely that at the start of any DX process there will be some cynics, often noisy ones. But most people are eager to learn new skills and try new ways of working. “Some of our biggest adopters are the people you think would be the slowest,” explains Mark Leach. “They’re finding new ways to use the technology. As people get more comfortable, as they shift from doing digital to being digital, we’re going to see an increase in adoption, and so we can then turn on and unlock more of the technology capabilities we’ve already invested in. We need to think of it as a journey, not a destination.”
Strengthening internal communications channels is also a part of cultural change, helping to build and reinforce team dynamics. This is especially important as remote working increases and onboarding new people effectively becomes a key concern for organisations.
Better internal communication also means that organisations can get knowledge from people who previously might not have said anything, including less confident people, introverts or more junior staff. With online technology, these people can be given a far stronger voice, to the benefit of the whole organisation.
Innovation drives success
One result of the cultural changes associated with successful DX programmes is enhanced innovation. This is partly a function of the better communication that digital technology enables. It is also a function of improved knowledge management and unlocking the creative problem-solving of all staff.
A “no blame” culture should be at the heart of innovation. People should be encouraged to try new ways of working, with failure treated as a learning opportunity. Cameco’s experience proves that you just need to give people the opportunity – the freedom to try and sometimes to fail – and they will embrace the challenge. In fact, the only area where Cameco remains very risk-averse is safety.
To be truly effective, innovation must be democratic, with ideas considered equally seriously irrespective of the seniority of the person making them. Cameco uses an opportunity identification process that means that anyone can submit an idea to solve a problem; these will be considered at a senior level, and if the idea is successful the person who submitted it will be involved in trialling it.
Using the collective brain power of the company in this way isn’t only about big opportunities for change. It’s just as much about the collective effect of many small changes, which taken together can have a huge effect. Mark Leach admits that not every proposed change works, but it’s worth it “as long as we are moving forward… and we are!”
Success with DX
What is notable about Cameco is the way that the company has adopted DX across the organisation and the number of different initiatives taking place as a result. One example is the way that it is using technology to engage with northern communities. Using the remote enablement team from the Power Bar, Cameco is now delivering upskilling and workplace readiness training to residents of the northern communities it operates in, generating a new funnel of potential new hires in an otherwise difficult-to-hire market.
This is how digital communication is increasing flexibility. Knowledge management is enhancing performance. Technology is being taken out of the office and into traditionally non-digital areas such as mines. Drones and robots are being used to increase safety, alongside better training provided through VR.
A huge effort in corporate learning and culture management is required to adopt these opportunities. And there is no doubt that DX would have been far less effective for Cameco had it not had access to the specialist knowledge and experience of local partners such as WBM.
But the company’s own culture is also central to its success. It doesn’t expect change overnight or get disheartened when some of the benefits prove to be quite small. As Mark Leach puts it: “True transformation is not a sprint: it’s a marathon.”
Learn more about Cameco’s path to digital transformation and the results it’s achieved at wbm.ca
Mark Leach
Vice President of Business Technology Services at Cameco Corporation
INDUSTRY VIEW FROM WBM
Why a greater number of ethical hackers are transitioning to full-time bug bounty careers
Intigriti’s second annual Ethical Hacker Report gets the views of 1,700 ethical hackers about cybersecurity career preferences and more.
If you were to ask your average person ten years ago to define a hacker, their answer would likely associate with something criminal. But the world is finally waking up to the fact that not all hacking activity is malicious – and some are actively fighting against the assumption.
Today, millions of professionals are operating in a thriving ethical hacking industry. However, some are moving faster than others.
What is an ethical hacker?
Like malicious hackers, ethical hackers have extensive knowledge of systems, codes and programming. They’re also driven by the same overriding goal: to break through a target’s defence systems. However, as the name suggests, ethical hackers operate within the law, and disclose vulnerabilities to the relevant parties with good intentions.
A bug bounty programme is a secure way for businesses to invite crowdsourced ethical hackers to test the security of their systems, products and platforms. If a hacker finds a genuinely unknown and unique vulnerability, the company will receive a confidential report outlining what needs fixing.
According to Intigriti’s survey of more than 1,700 ethical hackers, bug bounty hunting is becoming one of the most desirable paths for cyber-security talent today. The survey reveals that 96 per cent of those already putting their ethical hacking skills to use would like to dedicate more time to bug bounty hunting in the future. Additionally, 66 per cent are considering it as a full-time career.
What has driven the increasing popularity of bug bounty hunting?
Responses to the pandemic, such as social distancing rules and temporary job retention schemes, opened more time for people to pick up the hobby they always wanted, or to tackle the tasks they never had time for. In the case of many cyber-security professionals, that hobby was ethical hacking.
According to Intigriti’s survey, the most significant appeal of full-time bug bounty hunting is the money, with 48 per cent declaring this as their number one attraction. The average base salary for a penetration tester in the UK is £38,624 (€46,060/$50,903) per annum, according to PayScale, and an additional 25 per cent increase would be significant for part-time bug bounty hunters.
The desire to be their own boss and ability to work their own hours closely follow, with 45 per cent of respondents listing both points as appealing aspects.
The educational benefits of bug bounty hunting are another key driver in this trend. The survey results indicate that this generation of tech talent isn’t getting what they need from employers to keep their skills and knowledge up to date, despite rising cyber-security threats. For information security, for example, 50 per cent of respondents say they turn to bug bounty hunting to learn the most relevant and valuable knowledge. However, just 11 per cent of respondents voted that their jobs were the best avenue to learn.
Should businesses care about this trend?
When combining cyber-security skills shortages with the ongoing war for talent, organisations must pay attention to this trend. It’s the responsibility of security teams to protect their organisation’s networks, information, systems and assets while also managing defences against potential cyber-threats. It’s no secret that this is an arduous task, especially since cyber-threats are constantly evolving and increasingly sophisticated.
Ethical hacking communities are often the first discoverers of evolving security threats. For example, since May 2021, 64 per cent of Intigriti’s ethical hackers have encountered a vulnerability they’ve never seen before. Of this group, 33 per cent don’t believe the vulnerability had the potential to be picked up through traditional security testing methods, such as penetration tests. This is likely one reason why a staggering 90 per cent of respondents agreed that “a penetration test cannot provide continuous assurance that an organisation is secure year-round.”
Considering that an organisation’s security posture will change with each new feature release or update, it’s not only a logical step to implement more security testing but also critical. As attackers shift tactics, cyber-defences must too. The only way to test their effectiveness is to apply continuous pressure against them.
Get more insights and statistics from Intigriti’s second annual Ethical Hacker Report by downloading it today.
About the author:
Inti De Ceukelaire, Head of Hackers at Intigriti, is an established bug bounty hunter and media personality in Belgium. He was one of the first members of Intigriti’s US competitor platform, HackerOne, and has been recognised by various social media companies and the US Department of Defense.
In 2018, after a five-day hacking competition in Las Vegas, Inti was presented with the “Most Valuable Hacker” award. Inti has also featured in national and international media as a subject matter expert and for his cyber-security awareness stunts.
INDUSTRY VIEW FROM INTIGRITI
Quantum physics offers insights about leadership in the 21st century
It may seem strange to look to the discipline of quantum physics for lessons that will help to create future-fit leaders. But science has a lot to offer us.
Like scientists, business leaders need to be able to manage rapid change and ambiguity in a non-linear, multi-disciplinary and networked environment. But, for the most part, businesses find themselves trapped in processes that draw on the paradigm of certainty and predictability. This approach is analogous to the Newtonian physics developed in the 1600’s.
The ambiguity that business leaders operate in is encapsulated in mathematical models developed by the advances in Quantum Physics developed in the early 1900’s. These advances culminated in massive progression in technology. And they can accommodate the complexity and uncertainty archetypes found in nature – and now by extension human behaviour.
These mathematical models allow for improved scenario and forecasting. They are therefore very useful in vastly improving decision-making, as pointed out by the author Adam C. Hall.
Quantum physics and quantum organisations
Throughout history, scholars have tried to make sense of human behaviour and, by extension, leadership attributes by studying natural phenomena.
According to complexity economist Brian Arthur and physicist Geoffrey West human social systems function optimally as complex adaptive systems – or quantum systems.
The newly developed field of quantum leadership maps the human, conscious equivalents onto the 12 systems that define complex adaptive systems or quantum organisations. These are: self-awareness; vision and value led; spontaneity; holism; field-independence; humility; ability to reframe; asking fundamental questions; celebration of diversity; positive use of adversity; compassion; a sense of vocation (purpose).
Quantum leadership is essentially a new management approach that integrates the most effective attributes of traditional leadership with recent advances in both quantum physics and neuroscience. It is a model that allows for greater responsiveness. It draws on our innate ability to recognise, adapt and respond to uncertainty and complexity.
My academic work has been in nanophysics. This is an study where the laws of physics become governed by quantum physics as opposed to the rigid and deterministic Newtonian approach.
When entering the corporate world my interest was piqued on how leaders should respond to complexity, ambiguity and non-liniearity. This complimentarity extended my curiosity. In turn this led me to navigate several disciplines dealing with complex systems.
Quantum Mechanics has been confirmed by scientific evidence. The most popularly cited experiment was the Nobel winning theoretical development by Louis-Victor Pierre Raymond de Broglie explaining the wave-particle duality of light illustrated by the double slit experiment of Thomas Young. This showed that the outcome of any potential event is multi-fold and dependent on the vantage point of the observer.
This doesn’t imply the correctness or incorrectness of any outcome. It just highlights how vantage point can – and does – influence behaviour and decision-making.
To come to grips with the vast change precipitated by the fourth industrial revolution businesses have to acknowledge that outcomes are vantage point dependent and random. This industrial revolution provides the potential to precipitate fundamental and positive changes in the way in which societies and work are organised.
Disruptive technologies such as mobile banking, practices such as remote working, and dramatic changes in consumer behaviour are inevitably rousing leadership from a linear mindset as they uncover non-linear opportunities.
The imperative of developing leaders that can deal with pervasive disruptions has being recognized by leading business schools. Examples include INSEAD’s programme in Executive Education. One course covers developing effective strategies and learning how to innovate in a disruptive, uncertain world.
Defining the quantum leader
The concept of a quantum leader is gaining traction in behavioural studies.
Quantum leaders, like the systems they have to manage, are poised at ‘the edge of chaos.’ They thrive on the potential latent in uncertainty. They are also:
- vision and value led
- adapt quickly,
- are unafraid to play with the boundaries and reinvent the rules, and
- celebrate diversity.
In this way, they are precipitating a radical break from the past.
Practically, quantum leadership is informed by quantum thinking and guided by the defining principles of quantum physics. Quantum leaders think ahead by formulating many scenarios for what the future might hold, encourage questions and experiments, and thrive on uncertainty.
Quantum leaders are guided by the same principles that inform complex adaptive systems. They can also operate effectively outside the direct control of formal systems. They have the ability to reframe challenges and issues within the context of the environment. And develop new approaches through relationships.
In short, they are curious, adaptable and tolerant of ambiguity and uncertainty.
The charismatic and forceful leader like the iconic Lee Iacocca led Chrysler to the company to great heights. Yet he failed to anticipate the dominance of Japanese automotive manufacturers. Lionised leaders who consult only as a matter of form but impose what they believed to be their superior way of thinking are the antithesis of what a quantum leaders represents.
The ingrained categorisation or divide between ‘hard, such as Physics’ and ‘soft, the Humanities in general’ sciences is self limiting. It creates unnecessary chasms between creativity and innovation. The quantum management paradigm recognises that analytics, design, creativity and human behaviour has to be integrated into the mindsets of future leaders.
Where to from here?
The World Economic Forum estimates that digital transformation will transform a third of all jobs globally within the next decade. In addition billions of people will require reskilling. This trend will hit developing nations particularly hard. They have limited access to technology, remain locked into traditional teaching methods, and still practice top-down models of management.
In seeking solutions to this scenario, intellectuals across all disciplines need to come together to explore a more agile, multi-disciplinary approach to social and business management. Drawing on quantum theory concepts, we need to create a different way of looking at probability and possibility in the business world.
Business schools need to develop a new kind of business leader that can consider all possible outcomes. They need to be adaptable enough to function in a world in which outcomes may well be counter-intuitive. This is the way of the future.
Randall Carolissen, Dean Johannesburg Business School, University of Johannesburg
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Many European cities suffer from a low digital skill base
Dispersed skill clusters across Europe’s cities and regions require tech and business leaders to establish where to source the skills needed for the future of work. The Forrester report “Leading Skill Clusters In Europe” outlines where business leaders can find the leading 50 talent hotspots on the continent.
Business leaders face new skill and talent challenges
Business leaders need to readjust their workforce composition to adapt to changing skill and talent requirements. The demand for digital skills had been building for some time before the pandemic. However, the lessons learned during it have called into question several fundamental business assumptions. This environment necessitated a new approach to team and employee management. New skills and talents are required of employees, and how you go about attracting and retaining talent is transforming.
A classic pre-pandemic business assumption was that people don’t like to pay for digital products and services and that digital was only an add-on to physical products. The reality suggests that there is a much greater willingness to pay for digital offerings. Another pre-pandemic assumption was that great customer experiences depended on the human touch. The reality is that automation frequently supports great customer and employee experiences.
Another assumption was that IT teams were slow and inflexible. The pandemic has shown us quite the opposite. It was also taken for granted that a fast-follower approach was the safest bet regarding innovation. Today, we know this approach can be very risky and that businesses need to move towards continuous experimentation and embrace failure as a learning technique.
Digital transformation initiatives require adjustments to your talent management
Digital skills are the be-all-and-end-all for preparing European workers for the future. However, your customer experience activities must balance the empathetic human touch with data analytics capabilities. Your employee experience initiatives need to balance the need for attracting employees who possess true craftmanship and experience with automation considerations, such as the collaboration between man, machine and algorithm. And your operational and cultural transformation efforts must tally a scalable workforce with decision-making autonomy. Your business model, meanwhile, needs to balance traditional product sale competencies with the ability to sell outcome-based and subscription offerings.
Future-fit skills are centred In Northern and Central Europe
In our report we focused on five high-level evaluation criteria for each city: educational attainments, composition of the workforce, economic conditions, availability and quality of soft skills and a framework for free movement of labour. All data used in the analysis is publicly available from a broad range of European institutions and organisations.
Four of the top five European clusters are in the Nordic countries. Cities here benefit from a comprehensive, solid performance across all evaluation criteria. A surprise was the low ranking of Italian cities. However, rather than following the Italian “north-south” divide, low digital competencies largely explain these cities’ low rankings.
Businesses must collaborate with partners to boost skills on a city basis
For cities to boost their skill and talent base, employers, educational institutions, research organisations, chambers of commerce, employment agencies, local, regional and national governments, and stakeholders from social partners and civil society, should unite forces.
To guide businesses in tapping into these European skill clusters, Forrester provides a 10-point checklist. Elements such as a detailed demand analysis for skills, attribute-based hiring, ambitious diversity, inclusion and equity initiatives, physical office redesign, high-quality training, and tapping into immigration opportunities are all part of getting access to required skills.
By Dan Bieler, Forrester
The metaverse: the new digital economy?
The importance of building the metaverse in an open and decentralised manner.
Imagine a virtual world in which you spend most of your working hours. A world in which you go to work, do your shopping, watch movies, play games, learn, travel, date and live out all the shared experiences you would typically have in a physical world. A persistent, immersive, comprehensive space in which everything and everyone is present.
The metaverse, in one form or another, has long been a staple of science fiction. Neal Stephenson’s 1992 novel Snow Crash gets the credit for the name, and its most well-known definition, although related concepts had been around ever since the 80s in a wide variety of media, ranging from novels to videogames. The technology required was too futuristic back then but, with accelerating development in the relevant fields, a path towards the metaverse finally seems to be forming. The choices we make over the next decade may impact the future of society and technology in ways that are at least comparable to the advent of the internet or smartphones.
Metaverse predictions
It is hard to predict, at this point, how we will interface with this world and whether it will truly present as one instance or a collection thereof. What is clear is that realising this idea is not possible in a world of silos and walled gardens. Metcalfe’s law, which states that the value of a network is proportional to the square of its user count, is critical in this context – there is little point in living in a void.
The challenges underlying the metaverse are immense. Human-computer interaction technology is far from ready, with the metaverse potentially being accessible on existing devices but benefiting from improved and more seamless virtual reality and augmented reality experiences, and potentially brain-computer interaction. The storage, networking and computational requirements may be orders of magnitude above anything today. Security will be critical, as will privacy and intellectual property.
For several of these challenges, the Web 3.0 movement may hold the solution. As philosophical as it is technical, its members have been creating tools for building an open, decentralised and democratic internet for the last decade. Can these tools be used to create a more participatory economy, empowering users to go from mere consumers to purveyors of services and goods in a truly globalised world not subject to country borders and geographical disadvantages?
Is a digital economy in sight?
Blockchain networks, whose defining characteristics are the lack of a central authority, may provide a neutral ledger underlying payment and financial services denominated in a panoply of virtual currencies. Smart contracts may mediate transactions and encode appropriate incentive mechanisms. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), whose market slumped after a Q2 peak in crypto-art transactions, may find their killer application as the metaverse property registry. Tools for decentralised file storage, computation and self-sovereign identity management are already available and undergoing constant improvement.
In parallel, several groups are working on related standards. The adoption of open standards is essential in ensuring that developers can plug their applications into the metaverse, that virtual asset formats can be universally interpreted, and that users can choose which access interface they use.
A fully realised metaverse won’t just be a part of the digital economy – it will be its own worldwide and quasi-independent economy, whose implications may end up reweaving the fabric of society. We must strive to make the metaverse a force for global equality and inclusivity – in doing so, we will also be working towards a better reality.
Jorge Soares
How to find, analyse and resolve data quality issues
Today’s data teams need an integrated platform that creates end-to-end observability to ensure data quality remains trustworthy
The shift to digital automation is accelerating how businesses use data products to automate processes, create innovative products and services and deliver insights and efficiencies.
Built using ever-increasing volumes of data from different sources, data products use data to drive outcomes and transform the way a business operates. The challenge for any organisation is to be able to continuously monitor and manage these data products once they are in production. As these products are fed from an increasing number of data sources, inevitable changes, broken transformation logic and concept drift will all impact the quality, reliability and, inevitably, trust in the data.
As such, today’s data teams need clear, comprehensive workflows to find, analyse and resolve data quality and reliability issues from ingestion through to consumption. They need to be able to automatically alert the right people at the right time to get ahead of data issues before there is a downstream impact on the business.
Soda is data reliability and quality company that provides open-source tools and a cloud platform that together enable data teams to create the observability they need across the entire data-product lifecycle. We believe in bringing everyone in the digital world closer to their data so they can confidently make data-informed decisions.
To empower and include everyone in the mission to establish and maintain reliable data, we provide:
- Automated data monitoring
- Data health dashboards
- Data reliability checks as-code
- Data sharing agreements
- Incident resolution
It is estimated that by the end of 2022, organisations will rigorously track data quality levels via metrics, increasing data quality by 50 per cent to significantly reduce operational risks and costs. Anomaly detection is playing a huge part in this shift. To detect outlier or abnormal data points across large volumes of data, teams can use anomaly detection to apply machine learning algorithms that learn normal patterns over time. Where the behaviour of a dataset is known and predictable, users can (and should!) manually configure threshold-based monitors to define anomalous behaviour. It is important that users – the subject matter experts – can provide feedback to train the algorithm so that it can continue to learn and adapt to seasonality and acceptable variations in data quality.
Operational analytics dashboards provide a standard way of reporting on data quality efforts. With at-a-glance visibility, data teams can answer critical questions about the health and quality of their data, such as: How broad is our test coverage? Are users adopting the data quality solution in their daily work? Are data standards improving, with issues being discovered before there is a downstream impact? Is the data meeting the quality agreements? A dashboard is a compelling way to communicate the business value and impact of data quality, making it clear where data is moving the needle and where it is falling short.
Data engineers and analysts need the tools and means to deliver high-quality, reliable data products that meet the complex and evolving needs of their organisations. Engineers and analysts are often firefighting data issues when reports, dashboards, or machine learning models break, and downstream data consumers are left desperate for a solution. If engineers can test and monitor data as-code, they can efficiently set up and scale intelligent testing-as-code to check data quality across every data workload, from ingestion to transformation to production. Data analysts no longer need to rely on data engineers to implement data checks; they can do it themselves with a readable language to author checks, analyse incidents, and fix issues so that data quality remains trustworthy.
The rise of the data-domain-team approach is evolving toward decentralised data management, where data ownership is shared within a team of data engineers, product owners, scientists and analysts. In this environment of shared data ownership, teams can establish expectations for data quality with their data consumers. They can set up agreements that define what valid, timely, accurate and complete data looks like. And because everyone uses the same data reliability language, an agreements workflow easily aligns data producer and consumer expectations.
The full cost and impact of data downtime can disrupt a business and impact not just revenue, but productivity, regulatory or compliance mandates, customer retention, and employee satisfaction. Teams need a simplified process to detect, triage, diagnose and resolve data quality issues, using solid incident management best practices that include defined roles and responsibilities. Soda’s built-in incident management alleviates the pain of finding out too late that a data quality issue has had a downstream impact.
Organisations that rely on data-informed decisions need an integrated platform that creates complete transparency and provides data teams with the end-to-end observability and control in defining what good data looks like.
About Soda
Soda is the data reliability and quality platform that creates the observability data teams need to find, analyse and resolve data issues. Our open-source tools and cloud platform bring everyone closer to the data to confidently make data-informed decisions. Soda is one of the 2021 Gartner® Cool Vendors™ in Data Management, a recognition that our approach to solving the number one data management challenge faced by modern organisations – ensuring reliable, trusted data is available for all – is valid.
For more information, visit soda.io.
By Maarten Masschelein, CEO and Co-Founder, Soda Data
INDUSTRY VIEW FROM SODA
Location, location, location: how decoding geospatial data is helping innovative businesses get ahead
Business Reporter sits down for a Q&A with the three founders of Echo Analytics, Camille Chelpi (CTO), Adam Ejsmont (COO), and Sebastien Rigoigne (CEO), to talk about the rapidly evolving location intelligence industry
Our world is constantly changing, and understanding new consumer trends is a critical task for any business. This means companies struggle to identify new growth opportunities and adapt to change because they don’t have the right resources to see what is happening around them.
To overcome this, innovative businesses have started to leverage data. Yet most of them still ignore the existence and power of location intelligence and geospatial data.
Echo Analytics provides reliable, secure, and scalable geospatial datasets so companies can thrive in their data-driven projects. Could you tell us more about what geospatial data is?
Geospatial data provides information about the physical world related to places on the Earth’s surface.
This data is usually a compilation of many sources such as satellite imagery, census information, address databases, and business listings. These are combined to provide insights describing physical locations and their surroundings – which we call location intelligence.
Geospatial Data helps to produce insights about the way people interact with places in the offline world and the changes that are happening around us. This makes the world easier to understand and helps companies improve decision-making based on accurate information regarding the latest trends.
Founded in 2021, Echo Analytics is one of the pioneers in the location intelligence field in Europe. What inspired you to found Echo Analytics and what makes it different from competitors?
From left to right: Camille Chelpi (CTO), Adam Ejsmont (COO), Sebastien Rigoigne (CEO)
We’ve been in the data industry for years, and we’re fascinated by data. Currently, companies use data to become more efficient, but we’ve also seen how many organisations don’t understand how to use it.
The biggest problem in the location intelligence industry is that most data products available are hard to use. Either they are extremely standardised, and thus very inflexible, or raw. This raw, unprocessed data, requires a lot of work from data science teams to be usable.
This is where we decided to come in. At Echo, we do all the heavy lifting in terms of data collection and processing so that our customers don’t have to invest hundreds of thousands of euros in data lakes and data storage. We extract all the value there is from raw data itself and provide light, plug-and-play data files so that our customers can innovate and go to market faster.
How can location intelligence be of help to businesses across different industries?
Today, we mostly work with companies in the retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG), insurance, advertising, and real estate sectors.
When it comes to retailers and real estate agencies, we usually provide them with insights to gain competitive intelligence around their locations of interest. In both industries, companies want to obtain data on who they are competing with within an area, which locations are getting more traction, where their [retail] customers go before and after visiting a store, and so on – and these are all questions that our data helps them answer. In fact, with location intelligence, retailers and realtors are not only able to identify where to invest next, but they can also understand what they should actually be selling at their locations.
Our teams also work a lot with consumer packaged goods brands, who will usually use our data for unified point of sales (POS) analysis across different countries. Geospatial data gives them precise insights into where their target audience usually shops, what POS need additional merchandise, where to expand, where their target audience goes before or after entering the outlet, and much more.
Advertising companies are also big clients of ours. They usually leverage geospatial data to run different types of geotargeted campaigns. For them, location intelligence improves their targeting around specific points of interest and provides them with insights about macro audiences at a postcode level – all without using any personal data.
Our services also help insurance companies. Knowing how far a fire station is from a warehouse, for example, helps them improve their risk assessments, allowing them to sell smarter policies.
Working with data has no limits. We could also be talking about CRM (customer relationship management) enrichment or how this data is used by hedge funds, but we would probably be sitting here all day! Each time we talk to someone who is interested in location intelligence we find a new use case. What you can do with this data depends on your imagination as much as the industry you are in.
One question comes to mind here. If this data is so powerful then why isn’t everyone using it? What’s stopping them?
First of all, lots of businesses are still not familiar with what geospatial data is and how great of an impact it can have on improving their business. In fact, a lot of the decision-making that businesses have been dealing with for years, such as site selection, supply chain planning, financial forecasting, and more, are things that can be solved using location intelligence, yet companies are unaware of this.
Geospatial data is like the internet used to be in the 90s: no one understood its potential until one day it became essential. We are at a similar inflection point. Most industries have yet to start working with aggregated insights on a higher scale.
In addition to this, one of the most common barriers as to why businesses don’t get involved with geospatial data right now is because of a lack of data scientists in their companies. Many businesses have yet to uncover the benefits of investing in data science teams, and without them, companies struggle to understand the full power of data because they find it hard to use.
What is Echo Analytics doing to make it easier for companies to work with external data then? What makes Echo Analytics unique?
We make working with data and understanding the physical world easy for our clients. We extract all the value from raw datasets that we collect and offer our clients three data packages: Places, Shapes, and Activity. Places data is about the location of millions of points of interest (POIs) in the physical world. It gives insights into their address, name, opening and closing hours, brand affinity, and so on. Shapes data adds attributes to Places, including insights on the building size, shape, and more. Finally, our Activity data helps to clarify foot traffic trends related to Places and gives insights into consumer behaviour. All three packages are cheap to store, process-light, and plug-and-play.
Places, Shapes, and Activity data are unified across all the geographies we cover – Western EU and the USA – which means that companies can scale the data models that they have created in one country and apply them to any other without losing time to recalibrate their data pipelines.
Most importantly, data is our focus. There are a lot of companies out there for whom data is a by-product of their navigation systems or infrastructure they have built. At Echo, we are 100 per cent committed to creating data products, which means we can focus on delivering the best quality.
Today, Echo is working on becoming the leading provider of geospatial data in Europe. Are you planning to expand into additional territories soon?
We started in France, and we have expanded to 15 countries in Europe including the UK, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Now we are moving into the USA, where we are finding a real opportunity to help American businesses combine European and North American data sets. As we move into other regions – we are opening in Australia soon and have plans for Japan – the ability to combine regional data will be a big point of difference. The market is unlimited, and we want to continue driving it forward through innovation.
Where do you see Echo and the location intelligence industry a few years from now?
Echo’s mission is to help organisations innovate faster by using location intelligence. We give companies the right data at the right time to fuel innovation and focus their current resources where it matters most. We are doing this by finding ways to make this data more accessible for organisations to use. By leveraging this data, businesses will have access to a significant new stream of highly valuable business insights.
We are still a start-up, delivering high-quality datasets to help innovative teams who want to do awesome things with data. We have fun doing this. We want to grow but we also want to keep the start-up spirit, so that we can continue to attract the best people to join us in this adventure.
As for the location intelligence industry, we believe it will experience explosive growth in the next couple of years. With the world changing faster than ever before due to a global pandemic, supply chain issues, the war in Ukraine, refugee crises, and rising inflation, maintaining the business status quo is no longer an option. If you want to survive as a business, you need to adjust and look outside your own processes, knowledge, and data.
INDUSTRY VIEW FROM ECHO ANALYTICS
The Fourth Industrial Revolution: a seductive idea requiring critical engagement
Narrative frames are fundamental to unifying ideologies. They frame what is possible and impossible, which ideas can be accepted and which must be rejected. In her book, Digital Democracy, Analogue Politics, storyteller and political analyst Nanjala Nyabola examines the framing of the Fourth Industrial Revolution narrative in this light.
She argues that it is being used by global elites to deflect from the drivers of inequality and enable ongoing processes of expropriation, exploitation and exclusion. During a recent policy dialogue on the Future of Work(ers) she commented:
The real seduction of this idea is that it’s apolitical. We can talk about development and progress, without having to grapple with power.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution’s chief ideologue is Karl Schwab, chair of the World Economic Forum who published an influential book by the same name. In it he argues that digital innovations are transforming the ways in which people live, work and relate to one other. These include artificial intelligence and robotics, quantum cloud computing and block chain technology.
Compared to previous industrial revolutions, he maintains, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is evolving at an exponential pace, reorganising systems of production, management and governance in unprecedented ways.
But there is growing critique, particularly from the global South, of this capital-friendly framing of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Many are questioning whether it should be considered a revolution at all.
The available evidence suggests that the proliferation of digital technologies has been highly uneven, driven by an older generation of technological innovation, and used to reproduce rather than transform unequal social relations.
We share the view that there is nothing predetermined or linear about what digital technology is developed, how it is used, and for what end. The challenge is how to harness digital innovations to improve the conditions of work and life, while holding capital accountable.
Arguments against
Historian Ian Moll questions whether the current myriad of digital technological innovations constitute an industrial revolution. After all, revolutions are not characterised by technological changes alone. Rather they’re driven by transformations in the labour process, fundamental changes in workplace relations, shifts in social relations and global socioeconomic restructuring.
The industrial revolution, for example, gave rise to factories that changed how people worked as well as where they lived. The centralisation of workplaces saw growing urbanisation, deepening class divides between the rich and the poor. It also saw the emergence of trade unions.
It is clear that digital technologies are reshaping the structure of the labour market and conditions of work. They are doing this through automation and labour replacement, the informalisation or Uberization of work, the imposition of algorithmic management and commodification of data.
But they seem to be deepening rather than transforming historic patterns of inequality along the lines of class, gender, race, citizenship and geographic location.
As Nyabola put it:
Data is the new oil … data points which can be extracted for profit.
Despite critiques, the African Union (AU) has embraced the Fourth Industrial Revolution as a “watershed moment for Africa’s development”. The AU describes it as an opportunity to leapfrog into the digital era, increase global competitiveness and generate new sources of employment.
Scholar-activist Trevor Ngwane argues in the edited volume, the Fourth Industrial Revolution: a Sociological Critique, that technological innovation can indeed be beneficial for the working class. It can reduce drudgery, improve working conditions and free up more time for people to engage in other meaningful activities.
The problem is that the fruits of technological innovation are being monopolised by a globalised capitalist class. Take the example of digital labour platforms. Financed primarily by venture capital funds in the global North, they have set up businesses in the global South without investing in assets, hiring employees or paying into state coffers.
This process is being buttressed by a framing that portrays the current terms of innovation as inevitable and thus uncontestable.
As Ngwane reflected during the policy dialogue:
Who can question something which is moving along the laws of nature, of history, of technology?
Setting parameters
For community practitioner Tessa Dooms, there are two potential roads:
We can allow capital to do what it wants. Or we can start imagining a world where we set the parameters for what tech should be.
Dooms agrees that the narrative of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is more aspiration than reality. But it’s precisely because it is aspirational that its terms can be shaped. What is the place of Africans in an increasingly digitised world? How are technologies affecting people’s lives, identities and access to opportunities? How can innovations advance a more just society, where people are freed up to do meaningful work? How can states use regulations and other means to ensure the benefits of technological innovation are more equally shared?
The Future of Work(ers) Research Group at the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand is hosting a six-part dialogue series. The aim is to generate further debate on the relationship between digital technologies, the changing nature of work(ers) and the implications for inequality.
Seipati Mokhema, an Associate Researcher with the Future of Work(ers), contributed to this article.
Ruth Castel-Branco, Research Manager, University of the Witwatersrand and Hannah J. Dawson, Senior Researcher, Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, University of the Witwatersrand
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.