New Florence. New Renaissance.

A Costco model for luxury fashion?

E-commerce site Italic caters to the latter set—and those who never before could afford either. It began in 2018 with $13 million in venture funding as yet another millennial-­targeting, direct-to-consumer disrupter. The site offers unbranded ­women’s and men’s clothes, shoes, bags, and home decor produced by the same factories that Burberry, Fendi, Stella McCartney, and other bona fide luxury brands use. And all sold at cost.

Bloomberg

Lighting in the Operating Room

From the WSJ (sub required)

"Operating-room lights have barely changed in decades. Mayo Clinic and Zeeland, Mich.-based automotive electronics supplier Gentex Corp. are creating overhead lights that use cameras and machine-vision algorithms to alter the intensity and direction of light, minimize glare and eliminate shadows.

Eventually, surgeons may be able to set the lighting based on the type of procedure and the person performing it, simply by asking the system to adjust. Beyond that, the lights may have an ultraviolet setting that would sanitize the room overnight."

Here is a video on Gentex 

 

Clorox Classroom Device

The new device from Clorox will alert schools when a classroom has surpassed a predetermined symptom threshold developed by Dr. Saskia Popescu, epidemiologist research partner and infection preventionist. The end result is an ability to harness these illness indicators to help schools make informed decisions about prevention and keep classrooms safe.

• Using specialized thermal sensors, the device identifies potential spikes in body temperature.
• The proprietary software also recognizes upticks in coughs and sneezes.
• When the device detects an increase in symptoms that surpass a predetermined threshold, educators receive real-time notifications.
• Schools can then evaluate the classroom's risk level and take actions to help prevent the spread of illness-causing germs following their own internal healthcare protocols.

Clorox

 

Robotic Farming

Successful Farming has an article on " ways to automate chores such as clearing a field of rocks and maneuvering a grain cart."

This video has more 

 

V2X - Vehicle-to-everything

Here is how V2X works: Cars equipped with special radios emit a constant stream of anonymized data—speed, tire traction level, windshield-wiper status and much more—up to 10 times a second. Roadside sensors suck up all the data, so it can be analyzed to see what is happening with individual cars and on the road generally. The system then issues alerts that can appear on dashboard screens, or perhaps on people’s smartphones, in time for drivers to slow down, change lanes or take other action. A tiny number of cars already come with these radios.

“The message can be displayed to the driver: ‘Watch out, there’s a crash ahead,’” says Chris Armstrong, vice president at Panasonic Corp. of North America.

The company has partnered with UDOT on a phased, five-year project to demonstrate V2X capability using its Cirrus cloud-computing platform. About 70 roadside units installed by Panasonic are listening for data from passing cars in the Salt Lake City region, including in Big Cottonwood Canyon, along Interstate 80 and near Park City.

Fox Business

 

21 HR Jobs of the Future

The Cognizant Center for Future of Work and Future Workplace jointly embarked on a nine-month initiative to determine exactly what the future of HR will look like. We brought together the Future Workplace network of nearly 100 CHROs, CLOs, and VP’s of talent and workforce transformation to envision how HR’s role might evolve over the next 10 years. This brainstorm considered economic, political, demographic, societal, cultural, business, and technology trends.

The result was the conception of over 60 new HR jobs, including detailed responsibilities and skills needed to succeed in each role. We then created a ranking of each job by its organizational impact, allowing us to narrow the list to an initial 21 HR jobs of the future.

Harvard Business Review

 

Burning Platform Series on hot enterprise topics

Update - after Brian and I did the first 12 episodes, I have been inviting other market observers and practitioners to the series.

Brian Sommer and I go back nearly 30 years. We look at issues from very different perspectives but have a healthy respect for our differences. We have been called the "Penn and Teller" of Enterprise Technology because we tend to be both educational and entertaining about trends in software, outsourcing and many other issues that affect C level execs in enterprises.

We collaborate on a number of advisory projects and talk on a regular basis. During the COVID-19 pandemic, our conversations have moved to Zoom. We thought it would be fun to share some of our on-going conversations about enterprise technology. 

Notice on the cover of each episode how cool the man is, even in the face of the raging fire. That is a good metaphor for how we approach enterprise problems. We will share these on a regular basis, minus much of the snark, family talk and politics that creeps into our conversations. We expect to average 1-2 a week. It is a roughly 10-20 minute format. Below are links to each episode. 

Look forward to your feedback, and the opportunity to help you through complex enterprise issues. And do so with much needed humor in these crazy times!

1. Eulogy for On-Premise Apps 
2. Bumper Quarter 
3. School buses or RVs 
4. The WTF about WFH 
5. Analytics, new management science
6. The Post-Pandemic world of the CFO
7. The Post-Pandemic world of the CHRO
8. The Post-Pandemic world of the CIO
9. Software - Feast or Famine
10. Why does my software not have its own passport?
11. COVID morphing of digital transformations
12. Career advice for new tech world
13. Wall Street and Enterprise Software with guest Rob Kugel
14. Mediocre, Myopic or Merry? with guest Josh Greenbaum
15. Project Management in the age of COVID with guest Bonnie Tinder of Raven Intel
16. A Curmudgeon Christmas Greeting Card with guests Frank Scavo of Avasant and Dennis Howlett of Diginomica
17. Diversity Trends in Tech with guest Cindy Jutras of Mint Jutras
18. Services and other Industry solutions with guest Dave Hofferberth of SPI Research
19. Architectural Trends in Enterprise Software with guest Holger Mueller of Constellation Research 
20. Digital Acceleration with guest Tamas Hevizi of Automation Anywhere
21. Supply chain resilience and renewal with Bob Ferrari of Supply Chain Matters
22. Pandemic and Tech AR/PR with Sabrina Horn of Horn Strategy Consulting
23. A Christmas Carol with Sandy Lo of Zoho
24. Cloud Wars! with Bob Evans of Evans Strategic Communications
25. SAP Projects in Asia Pac with Paul Coetser of Big Blue Ventures
26. Business Continuity with Mark Smith of Ventana Research 
27. A review of RISE with SAP with Dennis Howlett of Diginomica
28. Exciting world of Citizen IT with Amit Zavery of Google Cloud
29. More on RISE with SAP with Geoff Scott of ASUG
30. Evolving expectations of CX with Mark Taylor of Cognizant Digital Experience
31. Developers, developers...with James Governor of Redmonk
32. Modern Decisioning with Bret Greenstein of Cognizant
33. Global Grand Challenges with Jyoti Banerjee of North Star Transition
34. Startup Communities with Brad Feld of Foundry Group and Ian Hathaway of Techstars
35. Entrepreneurial Trends with Brad Feld of Foundry Group and Ian Hathaway of Techstars
36. Relentless Amazon with Simon Gaster, author Behemoth, Amazon Rising
37. Amazon, automation and society with Simon Gaster, author Behemoth, Amazon Rising
38. Digital Nomads with Mark Brooks of Courtland Brooks
39. 25 years of "As a service" with Phil Wainewright of Diginomica and Jeff Kaplan of THINKstrategies
40. The future of "As a service" with Phil Wainewright of Diginomica and Jeff Kaplan of THINKstrategies
41. More work from Anywhere with Tammie Hilend of Maxar Technologies
42. Work anywhere: Tertiary Towns and Rural Revival with Raju Vegesna of Zoho Software
43. Industry Clouds with Jujhar Singh of Salesforce
44. Workday Nation with Webb Armentrout of Workday
45. Data-infused apps with Pete Schlampp of Workday
46. More work anywhere with Monty Hamilton of Rural Sourcing
47. The end of ERP? with Patricia Harris of Workday
48. Not your grandpa's service economy with Peter Bendor-Samuel of Everest Group
49. Leading with authenticity with Sabrina Horn of Horn Strategy
50. Ecosystems Galore with Tyler Prince of Salesforce
51. Labor Shortages, Mindsets and other Talent Trends with Fred Goff of Jobcase
52. Customer Service as Competitive Advantage with Sarah Nicastro of IFS
53. AI in the Enterprise with Roy Altman of Peopleserv
54. Servitization Trends - Part 1 with Marne Martin and Mark Brewer of IFS
55. Servitization Trends - Part 2 with Marne Martin and Mark Brewer of IFS
56. Acronyms, Buzzwords and Customer Realities with Jon Reed of Diginomica
57. Flashing Red Lights around Green Policy with Kurt Marko of MarkoVision
58. HR: what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger with Stacey Harris of Sapient Insights
59. Supply Chains: the good, the bad and the ugly with Bob Ferrari of Supply Chain Matters
60. Generational shift in Content creation, distribution and consumption - Part 1 with Paul Greenberg of The 56 Group
61. Generational shift in Content creation, distribution and consumption - Part 2 with Paul Greenberg of The 56 Group
62. Curmudgeon Christmas - Part 1 with Dennis Howlett
63. Curmudgeon Christmas - Part 2 with Dennis Howlett
64. Innovations and Verticals Trends in ERP for SMEs with Rainer Zinow of SAP and Jory Lamb of VistaVu solutions
65. Analyzing the Analysts with Duncan Chapple of Analyst Observatory, U of Edinburgh
66. Christmas Musical Card with Bonnie Tinder of Raven Intel

 

Digital home-buying

Miami-based Lennar Corp. said yesterday that it’s now allowing people to purchase a home completely remotely with the option for “a personal and private tour” prior to closing.

These measures include the implementation of a virtual new home orientation process by which homebuyers can walk and review their completed home from anywhere via FaceTime. Lennar’s title company has also upped the number of digital closings and created an express drive-thru for customers to get documents notarized from their vehicles.

Forbes

Here is an interesting keynote on other digital trends in residential real estate

Fello'fly

In the animal world, migrating geese have been benefiting from the flight technique of wake-energy retrieval—or surfing the air upwash of a leader bird—since time immemorial. And the benefits are obvious: free lift means staying aloft for longer distances with a lot less energy expenditure—pragmatic reasons that persuaded Airbus engineers to take a closer look at applying the same technique to aircraft to help airlines reduce fuel consumption.

At Airbus, this demonstrator project is called fello’fly. But while initial flight tests have yielded the prospect of 5-10% fuel savings per trip, many have wondered: how can two aircraft fly sufficiently close together to safely carry out a fello’fly operation?

Airbus

 

 

Cemex Instant Hospitals

When COVID-19 struck Mexico, Cemex’s response was concrete: The cement giant speedily created prefab facilities to tend the sick. Its “turnkey hospital modules” each contain up to 45 beds and can be built within 15 days, at a cost the company says is 70% lower than traditional construction. The mini-hospitals, in place in 12 cities so far, are outfitted with antibacterial concrete and ultraviolet-light-based air filtration systems to curb the spread of infection. Cemex expects to build far more of them, as Mexico plans to install nearly 300,000 new hospital beds by 2030.

Fortune