Tech Sector Job Bloodbath Continues

 The head economist at Moody's was recently quoted in a Washington Post article as saying, roughly, "The American form of capitalism is ruthless in how it reallocates resources."

That means layoffs. Means lives destroyed so shareholder value can be maximized.

Since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates to battle inflation the business calculation to invest in tech and speculate has shifted and now the companies who employed those workers have to adjust to meet the numbers Wall Street expects of them. Executives, heavily incentivized to meet Wall Street demands, are culling the work force at these companies to cut costs--the only avenue remaining when growth options are limited. The U.S. lags behind other western democracies in protecting workers--read, people who don't hold enormous loads of capital, money--so these kinds of wave layoffs are only possible in this country.

The bloodbath started early in 2023 and continue.

Here is an article detailing how ex-Googlers are handling it:

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/tech-workers-layoffs-job-cuts-careers-rcna141735

Here is a snippet from that piece:

“There was a time when working in tech seemed like the most stable career you could have,” said Ayomi Samaraweera, who was laid off as chief of staff at the content creator platform Jellysmack in December 2022. After about 10 years in the industry, she said, “tech does not seem safe and secure.”

Here is an article announcing yet another round of layoffs at Google:

https://siliconangle.com/2024/04/17/google-announces-second-major-round-layoffs-year/ 

Here is an article tracking the major layoffs in tech:

https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/07/tech-layoffs-2023-list/

Here is a snippet from that piece:

The tech layoff wave is still going strong in 2024. Following significant workforce reductions in 2022 and 2023, this year has already seen 60,000 job cuts across 254 companies, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. Companies like Tesla, Amazon, Google, TikTok, Snap and Microsoft have conducted sizable layoffs in the first months of 2024. Smaller-sized startups have also seen a fair amount of cuts, and in some cases, have shut down operations altogether.

If you are fortunate enough to have a chair during this gigantic game of musical chairs, where more than a half a million are outside looking in trying to survive, please consider others.

The society we live in is a choice. We can choose to stay on the current path, or deviate. The evidence strongly suggests the current path only benefits a very small portion of society and is creating waves of destruction for the majority of society. We should consider the alternatives.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

The End of Neoliberalism May Be Dawning

The market should be trusted and knows all.

That has been sold to the people of the U.S. for decades, half a century or more now, since at least the Reagan revolution.

How has that worked out?

The middle class has been squeezed almost out of existence, the wealth gap has grown incredibly high, CEOs now make more in a day than the average employee makes in a lifetime, etc. The list goes on.

One economist writing for the Washington Post says our democracy requires a change to our economics.

captialism-economics-democracy-book/

Here is a snippet from the piece:

We’ve now had four decades of the neoliberal “experiment,” beginning with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. The results are clear. Neoliberalism expanded the freedom of corporations and billionaires to do as they will and amass huge fortunes, but it also exacted a steep price: the well-being and freedom of the rest of society.

Interesting read. His opinion is growing massively in this country.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD Entry 0268 - The Looming Social Upheaval from AI

Best Reading of the Day

The article frames the discussion as a lack of preparedness by politicians for the coming AI revolution, that some refer to as the third industrial revolution.

The U.S. is a democracy with a system of laws for governing. Free market people will say it is as it should be. Keep politicos and their regulations out.

What will come of it?

Here is the complete article:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/13/investing/premarket-stocks-trading/index.html

Here are a few snippets from the piece, that is a lengthy interview with economist Glenn Hubbard.

Glenn Hubbard is worried the United States isn’t ready to accept the disruptions that come along with [the coming AI revolution] 

...

Over the past three or four decades, technological change and some globalization has caused a slow-mo disruption of the job market and communities around the country. Now look at AI, we’re going to have that same disruption except it’s going to be much faster. We’re talking about five years, not 30.

...

Social support for our system is unraveling and it’s been unraveling for a while. There are many communities and many groups of individuals who don’t really feel like contemporary capitalism is serving them well. And the longer we let that go, we’re really running the risk of killing the golden goose.

That last part really struck me.

We have literally seen the populace of the U.S. rise up with pitchforks and torches to overthrow our current system (January 6 Capital Riots). Income inequality and wealth disparity, inherent in capitalism, have been growing rapidly for decades and is well-known to be a source to destabilize a society. 

When will the people of the U.S. wake up? The younger generation is already moving rapidly anti-capitalist and pro-socialism because of where we are. A sea-change is coming. I see tumultuous times ahead.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Crowd-Source Video by You

Crowd sourcing is where a platform gathers from a crowd or crowds of people, enabled virtually most of the time.  The product is the result of the crowd.

Kickstarter is one example.  Crowds of people have the ability to "support" a project that can then go to production and release an actual product.

Streaming video is being crowd-sourced in a suddenly pervasive way without the knowledge or explicit permission of those capturing the video.

If you install a "Ring" door camera and system you may be providing your video stream to local law enforcement without being aware of it.

Read more here:

https://xconomy.com/seattle/2019/08/28/ring-confirms-report-revealing-firm-works-with-400-police-agencies/

Should this alarm you?

I don't care for anything I pay for being used without my permission.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Can Only Top-Tier Retailers Compete?

Figuring out the space for retailers that are not a part of the "super tier" as I have dubbed them, those retailers very good at physical retail and ecommerce and mobile and the digital experience, has been a question I've been interested in for some time.

The bankruptcy announcement by Barneys in New York is interesting to me for this analysis speaking to the competitors Barneys was dealing with:

Scale allows these competitors to invest significantly in long term growth initiatives around customer-facing elements like websites and store remodels, and infrastructure like robust supply chains.

Barneys was at about $800 Million while those competitors were at the Billions level.

I think there is a lot of space for B2B companies providing these services the Barneys of the world cannot afford on their own.

Read the whole story here:

https://www.retaildive.com/news/how-barneys-new-york-lost-its-cool/560356/

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Tech to Help Loyalty

I had a number of discussions this last year, sometimes pushing a boulder up hill, trying to help business side digital interests understand what technology could and could not do for them.

The real key to these discussions is value.

If something can move the needle on revenue it will get attention, and some dollars behind it to enable action.

Here is a snippet from a piece that might interest you:

Research published in the Nielsen Global Consumer Loyalty Survey has found that 33% of European consumers (36% in the US) say they love to try new brands, while a further 56% – although more loyal – also admit that they can ‘be moved to experiment.’

This trend for brand-hopping among consumers is a relatively modern phenomenon. 40% say they are more likely to try something new than they were five years ago. Brand loyalists are a shrinking minority and companies are having to double down on enticing exploratory consumers and – crucially – retaining them.

Here is the full article:

https://www.clickz.com/martech-stack-customer-loyalty/252627/

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

New Film-making Using VR

This is just bonkers level film-making.

Motion pictures have gone through quite a few developments over the decades in how they are made but this one has really transformed it all, and I'm unsure if it is for better or worse.

The Lion King was released recently and billed as a live-action remake of the animated original.

What is real and what isn't in the new film is a whole new question though and begs a basic question around that.  What is "animated" today and what isn't?  When you read this story on how this new version of the classic animated original was made you have to think this is really more of an animated film than live-action.

Color me confused.

Here is a snippet from the piece, and the whole article is worth your time:

On December 7, 2017, myself and a group of journalists traveled to Playa Vista, California to visit the “set” of The Lion King. I put “set” in quotes because, really, there were no sets. There was no grass or trees or animals in this building. The building is about three miles from the Pacific Ocean and so non-descript you could drive by it every day for your entire life and have no idea what was going on inside. It could be an Amazon distribution center or have the Ark of the Covenant in it. You’d have no idea unless you were allowed inside.

This particular building had one purpose only: remaking The Lion King. Every step of the process, from the story, to the design, all the way through the edit, visual effects, sound and more took place here. In fact, 90 percent of The Lion King was made in this building by about 150 people. (Outside visual effects houses helped too.)

Here is the whole article:

https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-lion-king-set-was-a-bunch-of-vr-headsets-in-a-gia-1836736857

In the Information Age we are just entering all aspects of our lives will change.  How we do basic things will take on a whole new look.

Not too long ago a movie could only be made with someone pointing a camera at people or things in the real world.  No more.  Now we can craft whole worlds without leaving a room.

Bonkers, but really cool to look at.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Facebook to Change After $5B Settlement With FTC

Wow.

Well, then, $5B is what a month to Facebook?  Still.

Agreeing to oversight after the big payout is still some significant news.

Here is the full story:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/24/technology/ftc-facebook-privacy-data.html

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

How Amazon Competes and How to Compete With Amazon

This will be a short article that may lead to a deeper investigation and white paper.

What is Amazon doing besides just selling stuff online that competes with other players?

How are other players competing with Amazon in ways that may or may not include selling online?

Let's take a look at a few examples.

First Amazon.

They are masters at taking something they already do and monetize it in a new way.  They had massive data centers providing web service to Amazon.com that was mostly not in use.  They needed the massive power for their busy times.  Why not sell it as a service?

Amazon Web Services was born and now you too can host anything you can dream of in "the cloud".

This was quickly followed by others.  Microsoft Azure has found its place and there are countless players in the space now.

Here is one way Amazon is vertically integrating, taking some upstream or downstream product or service and creating a way to do it themselves.  Package delivery.

Amazon Orders Vans for Prime Delivery

Next are a couple of players that took Amazon eCommerce ideas and started providing the same solution for others.

This company is called Mirakl, a Paris based company, that has created a platform for other eCommerce sites to add resellers, just like Amazon.com does. They're the only player in the space and are big already, especially in B2B, and will be growing dramatically in the years ahead.  I promise you.

https://www.mirakl.com/

Next is a similar concept.  The product reviews that worked so well on Amazon.com became something you can add to your own eCommerce site.  Now there are multiple other players in this space but the original may still be the best.

https://www.bazaarvoice.com/

I think these responses are the correct path for all but the largest retailers.  I used to refer to retailers in a Tier level segmentation, Tiers 1 to 5.  Tier 1 was Walmart while Tier 5 was the local YMCA Christmas Tree sellers. I think there is now a super-tier reserved for those who do brick & mortar well, digital well, and eCommerce well.  How can smaller and regional players compete?  Third party providers.

Here is a great example:

https://www.retaildive.com/news/perfect-corp-rolls-out-makeup-ar-tool-for-small-businesses/559242/

Hope this gave you some food for thought.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Digital Transformation for CIOs

Great little read over on CIO.com.

Is your legacy company in need of a digital transformation?

I have seen first-hand how many missed opportunities reside at legacy companies that don't understand digital having identified $1.6 M in annual revenue just sitting at the table for a recent client.  Is digital transformation on your IT roadmap?

Read this article:

https://www.cio.com/article/3256045/digital-transformation-trends.html

Here is one piece from the article:

Inevitably, when they talk trends, IT leaders discuss their efforts to modernize legacy systems and expand on data lakes to create one version of the truth. This enables them to mine insights that help deliver value and create better solutions for clients, they say. But certain trends have emerged along the way while others have started to fizzle.

Here is a look at what CIOs and other IT leaders and observers are seeing.

Need help in this area?  Give me a call or reach out to your favorite consulting team.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Best App for Movie Lovers

This made me laugh so hard I decided I had to share it and blog about it.

An app to help you know the best time in a movie to go to the bathroom.

Yeap.

https://appadvice.com/app/runpee/450326239

It is just one of the many apps listed in this fine little article to assist you with your movie viewing needs:

https://appadvice.com/collection/movie-apps

Happy Reading (and movie watching),

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0259 The TV Bundle

Best Reading of the Day

One of the more interesting ongoing stories in the Age of the Customer is the ongoing revolution in "Television".

Can we call it TV if we watch a streaming video on our phone?

Anyway ...

This great read tell the history, the current situation, and where we are headed.  Well worth your time.

https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/5/2/18518666/bundle-tv-hbo-disney-netflix-apple-amazon-war

Here is a snippet from the piece:

Now you have more TV than you could possibly watch, for less than $50 a month, and we haven’t even gotten to the free stuff yet. The only people who will feel truly left out here — besides people who work in the Television Industrial Complex — are the ones who want to watch live major league sports or live news from traditional TV networks.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0258 Facebook's Next Move

Best Reading of the Day

The wonderful narration of the opening paragraphs had me completely drawn in.

Do you love Facebook?

Or hate it?

Read this piece:

https://www.vox.com/2019/4/29/18511534/facebook-mobile-phone-f8

Here is a snippet from it:

Facebook’s core social network isn’t going away anytime soon, but there’s a good chance — probably a great chance — that the way you use Facebook’s products in 10 years will look and feel very different from the way you use them today. The device you use it on? That may change too.

Zuckerberg isn’t just thinking about that reality, he’s already betting on it.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

HBO Game of Thrones Season 8 Visual Effects

Tech.

Tech and more tech.

That has been the game in film-making since Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace.

The digital transformation was complete with Episode II three years later as the "film" was shot completely on digital cameras.  Since then we've seen a complete revolution in film-making and the rise of digital effects houses.

This Sunday past we saw it achieve a new pinnacle on television as The Battle of Winterfell consumed tens of millions of people in the United States alone.

This piece over on ArsTechnica is worth reading if you love technology, digital, film-making or Game of Thrones:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/04/with-its-latest-battle-game-of-thrones-solidifies-its-seat-on-tvs-vfx-throne/

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Apple Wearables for Health

The Apple Watch is ... what?

Luxury?

That door closed pretty quickly.

Fitness?

Sure.  It does fine there.

What about a health device beyond just fitness?

What about all of those simple to use apple devices as health & wellness technology.

How about $300 billion worth of opportunity?

Here's a part of the story:

Apple Inc.’s health-care ambitions go beyond wearables like the Apple Watch, with the company poised to soon emerge as a leader in consumer health, according to Morgan Stanley.

The company’s health-care market opportunity ranges from at least $15 billion to a whopping $313 billion in revenue by 2027, according to estimates from a team of 14 analysts. The wide difference is appropriate given the early opportunity, they said.

Here is the full story:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-08/apple-s-health-opportunity-could-be-triple-smartphone-market?srnd=technology-vp

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

PS  I read somewhere the medical industry is entirely unprepared for the deluge of data it is about to start receiving.  Patients coming in with a dozen metrics calculated daily for the last year since their previous annual checkup and the M.D. does ... what with that?  Exactly.  The Information Age is upon us and every aspect of our lives is being fundamentally changed.

Create a B2B Platform Plan With Help from B2C Practitioners

I am always interested in the startup space.  Ideas that become reality, for a while, and maybe transform in to something else as the team looks to add-value in a meaningful way.

The customer-facing world has seen a massive rise of digital disruption transforming every aspect of our lives.

UBER has transformed the taxi industry.  Facebook is ... well ... something.

The business to business world has also seen some trans-formative moments as we entered the Information Age.  It occurred to me recently we might be seeing a trend of B2B companies learning lessons from the B2C world and looking for that add-value moment.

Here is my latest white paper that covers the subject:

Create a B2B Platform Plan With Help from B2C Practitioners

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

PS  Uber for dumptrucks?  Yeap.  TRUX.  Worth taking a look at.

Buy Directly Through Instagram

In the retail digital world we talk about friction.

Reduce the friction for the customer on their path to purchase.  Make it as easy as possible for them to find something to buy and to buy it.

I have spent a lot of time working in Facebook Pixel (Tags) to ensure the data a customer sees in their social media is relevant to them (following you around?) and helps remind them of products they've considered purchasing.

Now social media doesn't even need to get the customer back to the website.  Nope.  Just buy it right there in Instagram.

Interesting.  Powerful. 

Read more:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-19/instagram-gets-into-the-e-commerce-business-with-checkout-tool?srnd=technology-vp

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Top 10 Worst Technologies

This article by MIT is just ... fun.

I don't know which one I agree with more but their top 10 list of worst technologies so far in this century is well worth reading.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612930/the-10-worst-technologies-of-the-21st-century/

Here is my favorite entry (or least liked product?):

Juul and other e-cigarettes are addicting a new generation to nicotine, through a loophole that allowed them to escape public health regulations meant to discourage cigarette smoking. Plastic coffee pods save half a minute in the mornings but produce tons of hard-to-recycle waste. And as for selfie sticks … need we say more?

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

State of Mobile Report

App Annie is well-positioned to comment on what is happening with mobile apps as they've been crawling the app stores from nearly the beginning.

Their 2019 report is worth reading for a free registration but you can get a quick run-down via Forbes. Basically mobile gaming is a massive business and is still growing at a double-digit rate.

Here is a snippet from the piece:

Global app store consumer spend reached $101 billion in 2018, up 75 percent from 2016. This figure is expected to exceed $120 billion in 2019, according to mobile data and analytics provider App Annie. The company released its annual The State of Mobile in 2019 Report — a comprehensive guide for businesses looking at mobile.
Here is the full article:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2019/01/30/mobile-app-state-of-mobile-2019-report-from-app-annie/#6d3a8eb434ab

Go here to get the full report:

https://www.appannie.com/en/go/state-of-mobile-2019/

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

My Apple Watch and Why I Don't Miss It

I was among the first users of the shiny new Apple Watch when it was released.  My pre-order was successfully entered a few hours after it opened so it took a few weeks before mine arrived.  Since then I've blogged about it with some regularity.

Initial thoughts were quite positive.  I especially liked how I could tailor the notifications to the watch.  My phone would buzz constantly with emails, work emails, and text messages.  If it buzzed at my watch I knew it was important.  Finally, I could set my phone down and forget about it.

The exercise tracking was nice as well.  An always on way to track everything you do.  The results surprised me.  Some of the things I did that wiped me out (snow shoveling) actually didn't burn a massive amount of calories like I thought it did.  However, the simple acts of walking around and doing little tasks like washing the dishes after dinner burned more than I thought.  Really informative.

Then, something happened.

Reports the first version of the watch had an issue with the battery expanding, enlarging, over time resulted in Apple raising the warranty from 1 year to 3.  The battery would get so large it would pop the device apart, never at a convenient time.

At 3 and a half years my watch flew apart during a workout.  That was about 4 months ago and I haven't worn it since.

I don't miss it.

The benefits have mostly run their course and the drawbacks I hadn't really identified while I was wearing it have at last been revealed.

That 15 minute weightlifting workout that I stretched out to ensure I "got credit" for a workout by hitting the 15 minute mark?  Gone.  I do the same work in 10 minutes now.  I don't have to worry about recharging it, or ensuring it is always on so I "get credit" for whatever I'm doing.  I just do it.  If I go on a run I really want to track my times.  My phone is always present so I just use an app there.  It works.

I don't feel I need the Apple Watch any more and I don't really want it.  I do feel it helped me on my journey to get back in shape but that time has passed, I've learned from having its tracking on me all the time, but I no longer see incremental gains from continuing to wear it.

Here is a great little article from 2016 on smart watches, watches in general, and other options such as the little chronos smart attachment for traditional watches:

https://thenextweb.com/plugged/2016/08/24/an-amateur-watch-collectors-thoughts-on-smartwatches-after-wearing-one-for-a-month/

Here's one great little snippet from that piece:

Perhaps the most important factor in deciding whether a watch is worthy of gracing your wrist is whether you miss it when you’re not wearing it. While I found the Pebble to be handy and good at the things it can do, I didn’t mind switching it for one of my analog watches and not receiving notifications or replying to messages with it. Using my phone doesn’t take much longer, and I’m happy to be able to choose a watch that I enjoy looking at.

So the question then changes doesn't it?  Should you buy a smart watch?  Maybe, but not for the reasons you think. If you want to get really extravagant on your spending and buy one of the GPS fully wireless connected smart watches such as the newest Apple Watches then you'll see lots more benefit over my first edition.  That is exorbitantly expensive though and I don't think most people will go that route.  If you aren't really in tune with your body, your movements, your level of activity then pick one up and wear it for a year or two.  You'll learn a lot about yourself. Power users still have some gains to reap from smart watches with the notifications but you can get a lot of that by simple self control.  Limit your screen time.  Period.

Good luck and Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant