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Hello CIO readers,
At Forbes, we’re updating several of our C-Suite newsletters with new features, updated design, more frequent cadence and a new writer. This is the first CIO newsletter with these new changes, and it’s the first time I’ve written it.
My name is Megan Poinski, and I’ll be writing the now-weekly CIO newsletter. I’ve been a journalist for more than two decades, and spent the last seven years writing for execs in the CPG food space at Industry Dive. I’ve always had a deep interest in technology, focusing much of my more recent reporting on the intersection of technology and food. I’ve also studied information technology and user experience from a business perspective, receiving my master’s degree in information management from the University of Maryland’s iSchool.
As I publish this newsletter each week, I strive to include news, ideas and perspectives that are useful to those in leadership in the information and technology spaces. I’m always interested in your feedback and tips. Thanks for reading!
IN THE HEADLINES
The Middle East is not just a hot zone for political conflict. Israel and Palestine are also both home to innovative startups. In Israel, 14% of the country’s workforce is in tech jobs, and tech services and products make up nearly half of its exports. Palestine’s tech sector isn’t as well-developed, but data from Crunchbase indicates it represents 18% of the country’s gross domestic product.
The ongoing war has changed the calculus for startups in both places. Israel’s mandatory military service and reserves system has meant that several founders and employees of tech startups of all sizes are on their way to fight. Meanwhile, in Gaza and the West Bank, the future for Palestinian startups is unclear. Companies say they are trying to keep businesses running, but attacks and shortages of food, water and electricity are posing challenges.
PRIVACY + SECURITY
Drones are nothing new, but companies are working to utilize them in new ways. Forbes’ Thomas Brewster profiles Paladin, a Houston-based startup that uses them for law enforcement purposes. The drones can be controlled from anywhere in the world and are equipped with cameras to search for emergencies, license plates or suspects. But civil liberties organizations are concerned with drones’ impact on personal privacy.
Meanwhile, Amazon plans to use drones to deliver prescription medication to customers in College Station, Texas, within an hour of their placing orders with Amazon Pharmacy. Ahead of Amazon’s drone deliveries, residents in Texas have expressed privacy concerns. Amazon has projected it would complete 10,000 drone deliveries this year. A few other large companies, including UPS partnering with CVS and Intermountain Healthcare, have previously tried drones for prescription delivery.
A new ruling from the U.K.’s privacy watchdog could pave the way for a new understanding of personal data. U.S.-based Clearview AI appealed a £7.5 million fine levied after U.K. law enforcement agencies used the software to search a database of faces to detect matches—which was said to violate GDPR privacy laws because people were not informed and did not consent. In the latest ruling, a judge ruled that sanctioning and fining Clearview AI fell outside the scope of U.K. privacy laws because the data was processed outside of the country.
TECHNOLOGY + INNOVATION
Collaboration software company Atlassian announced it would buy video messaging platform Loom for $975 million. Loom currently has 200,000 corporate users, and the platform enables them to record and share videos securely. It was valued at $1.5 billion in its latest funding round.
The deal, which would add robust video messaging capabilities to Atlassian’s cloud-based productivity suite, shows that the company is betting on more remote work in the future.
DEEP DIVE
Meet The Former Missile Engineer Who Made Billions Outsourcing Jobs — To The U.S.
Outsourcing is big business, but it can be difficult to succeed. Forbes’ Jemima McEvoy talked to Innova Solutions founder and CEO Raj Sardana about how his aggressive acquisition strategy helped the company become the country’s No. 4 largest IT staffing company.
Sardana, who immigrated to the United States from India in the 1980s, got his start working on aircraft engine parts and turbine engines for Tomahawk missiles. But as the Cold War waned in the early 1990s and his colleagues began to be laid off, Sardana struck out on his own, buying small businesses.
He came back to technology in 1998, just as U.S. companies were beginning to worry about the “Millennium Bug.” Sardana started recruiting programmers in India to help U.S. companies take care of the programming issue. The terrorist attacks on the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001 led him to expand his company to become a defense subcontractor, hiring U.S. citizens with security clearances. And after that, Sardana began buying out more staffing firms.
Innova is known for buying firms, then cutting them down to optimize costs, often moving core corporate operations overseas. The company’s most recent major acquisition, Volt, brought about 1,700 new employees to the fold, which is now about 1,000.
“[Sardana’s] mantra has always been if your competitors can do it, we can do it better and cheaper,” longtime Innova executive Brian Sonderholm, now Volt’s chief revenue officer, said. He later corrected himself: “Don’t say cheaper… lower total cost of ownership.”
FACTS + COMMENTS
A recent survey of 800 executives and employees released by online education platform edX captured their opinions of how AI will change the workplace of the future.
56%: The amount of entry level knowledge worker jobs executives think will be eliminated because of AI
47%: The amount of executives that believe their workforces are unprepared for the future workplace
‘They must prioritize supporting every level of the organization’: The study’s introduction’s directive to C-Suite executives. It recommends outcomes-based learning and development programs.
LEADERSHIP + STRATEGY
The construction industry is known for its not-always-accurate projections of timing and feasibility. Kojo founder Maria Davidson talks about the company’s all-in-one construction procurement platform, designed to digitize the procurement and invoicing process and increase efficiency.
QUIZ
X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, has seen many of its user and engagement metrics drop in recent months, since Elon Musk took it over. According to web and mobile analytics firm Similarweb, which metric has increased?
A. Global usage
B. Traffic to Elon Musk’s profile and posts
C. Number of news stories posted
D. Number of advertisers
See the right answer here.
Read the full article here