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Gallium nitride is disrupting the overall automotive industry with its attractive technology for power electronics used in electric and hybrid vehicles. Electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles are appreciably using power electronics, and GaN is significantly unseating silicon-based power devices in the industry. The companies are targeting gallium nitride-based power devices for EVs because siliconbased devices are imposed on certain limitations of their own. The restrictions that hinder the appli

Regulators love red tape. They may not admit it, but they love it because it allows them to provide evidence that they are effective regulators.

Have a think about what is driving regulators and the response by industry (and check out the industry dynamics figure below). The regulator wants you to deliver on your promises and therefore have happy customers. Otherwise the regulator’s boss, the politicians, get cranky. What makes customers happy? Banks, superfunds and insurers not going bankrupt fo

Organosheets possess outstanding property of translucency which is becoming crucial and desirable for many end user applications such as automotive and building & construction. This is propelled not only by high aesthetic values and design flexibility, but also by environmental concerns. Translucency also ensures more natural daylighting in place of artificial lighting in buildings. Structures including stadiums, shopping centers, libraries, office buildings, and factories benefit from transluce

In a 2014 Deloitte Access Economics report on red tape they reported:

"…self-imposed rules cost $21 billion a year to administer, and generate a stunning $134 billion a year in compliance costs. When combined, the costs of administering and complying with public and private sector rules equate to a quarter of a trillion dollars a year.”

Do you think that cost would have tracked with inflation? My bet is it has beat inflation. And for industries reeling from royal commissions (religious, education,

YouTube uses a recommendation algorithm to help people view things they’d like to see. Recently, the algorithm seemingly encouraged pedophiles (YouTube would have no way of knowing this) to watch videos of children playing at home, videos that the family members uploaded.

A report from the New York Times detailed how YouTube had been exploiting minor children through the automated recommendation system. According to the report, researchers at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at H

Managing regulatory change is a major headache for businesses operating in industries where the regulatory framework fluctuates. The problem is that the regulations define what the business can and cannot do, and when they change, the business must change how it operates. This makes it difficult to make long-term plans and strategies, because there is always a risk that the chosen strategy may no longer be viable if the regulatory framework fluctuates.  

If your business is stuck in a similar qua

Pest control is the first line of defense against bugs and rodents invading home or business, destroying property. These bugs and rodents cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars’ worth of damage. It is not easy to detect certain insects, including cockroaches and termites. These may remain hidden under floorboards and walls for long periods, eating a property's structure and leading to expensive bills for extermination and repair. Since there is no specific way to detect whether a pest carrie

Hackers are making a lot of money thanks to phishing attacks these days, and now they are also focusing on gift card scams. One of the most notorious scam groups, Scarlet Widow, which is out of Nigeria, has been boosting its efforts to scam people with gift cards since 2015. This group generally focuses on people in the UK and US and also is known for tax scams, romance scams, and rental cons.

Are you at risk of getting scammed by Scarlet Widow? The group generally focuses on medium to large US b

Connected Insurance USA Summit (Nov 20-21, Chicago) is bringing together over 700+ senior insurance leaders to redefine the future of insurance.

With over 350 executives already registered to attend, this will be the largest executive gathering for forward-thinking carriers. CEOs, COOs, CMOs, SVP and VPs from Product, Customer, Claims, Technology and Innovation know that this is the time to act and leverage innovative technology to boost efficiency and customer experience or risk survival. This

The constant advancement in technology has raised the expectations of customers in terms of their interaction with companies. This digital disruption is also forcing businesses to develop new capabilities and explore innovative ways and means to deliver improved Customer Experiences.

Organizations can overhaul their Customer Journeys by embracing latest digital insights and practices. To develop a truly exceptional, breakthrough Customer Experience, organizations should work towards adopting 7 ke

Two weeks ago I blogged that influencing is not about you, it’s about them. And last weekI gave another example and a link to the Persuasion Pyramid, my favourite tool for understanding those you wish to influence. Today I want to highlight another favourite tool that is excellent for answering the question, “If it is all about them, what are they thinking and feeling right now?” That is, getting in a position to empathise with their situation. Why is it a good idea to empathise when influencing

Audit management can be a messy business because audit managers do not have the right tools. Most audit managers must use general-purpose software like Excel and Word to accomplish the task, which further complicated the matter. There are many strategies which can be used to streamline the audit management process and it is important for all audit managers to be aware of these strategies and tools. 

Getting the right tools  

The biggest problem being faced by audit managers is that they do not hav

Digital-savvy startups are disrupting markets and threatening conventional businesses.  They are doing this by utilizing technology to offer new products and services and providing tailored yet uncomplicated experiences for their customers.

Likewise, large traditionally-run firms will have to keep evolving their Customer Experience approaches to secure additional avenues of revenue and to stay competitive.  To accomplish this, they will need to develop capabilities to effectively utilize insights

Quest Diagnostics is a US-based company that provides medical testing services, and announced that it used third-party billing collection companies that were hit by a severe data breach. In fact, about 11.9 million Quest customers were affected.

The compromised information could include personal data of the patients, including Social Security numbers, as well as medical and financial information. However, laboratory test results aren’t included in the breach.

What Happened?

The AMCA (American Medic

Managing innovation is an important process only a few organization can master very well.  It is because the innovation process is not fully understood or implemented and the innovation culture is still immature.

While Innovation Management is recognized to bring in results, excellence has not been achieved in terms of managing innovation.  Highly successful companies do not possess a silver innovation bullet.  They do not achieve their results by just doing one of a few things better than others

When organizations go into Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), its future operating state changes. A fundamental question will arise as to what the Target Operating Model (TOM) of the resultant organization will look like.

What is TOM?

The Target Operating Model (TOM) represents a clearly defined target structure in which the relevant unit should operate in the future. It consists of the structural and process organization as well as the assets needed and the contractual regulation required both interna

Forming a team takes time. Companies cannot expect a new team to perform well when it first comes together. Members often go through stages as they change from being a collection of strangers to a united group with common goals.

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success. – Henry Ford”

Team formation needs to take recognizable stages of development. A team’s internal processes usually change over time. Team functioning generally improves after the te

According to Charles Coonradt, a Management Consultant, “The failure to give appropriate and timely feedback is the most extreme cruelty that we can inflict on any human being."

The feedback project can be stressful. Many people feel fear to ask about their performance. Yet, there are strategies leaders can take on to defuse the stress.

The SKS Model

Leaders often focus only on recent events or talk of things that go wrong. As a result, the opportunity to provide a balanced feedback is lost. As lea

Operating a Matrix Organization can be a challenging task. Complex geographical structures, cultural barriers, functional divides, conflicting barriers, and management silos abound.

Matrices are often necessary though this may create uncomfortable ambiguity for employees. Most employees in Matrix Organizations are found to be not terribly engaged with their jobs. Engagement is defined as involvement in and enthusiasm for work. When there are less involvement and enthusiasm, this could have a sign

Document digitization has become more dominant with the emergence of virtualization, cloud computing, and mobile technologies. This trend is specifically noticeable across the insurance industry that has forever been dominated by the prevalence of paper documents. Insurance organizations have a never-ending chain of documents that flow in and across the organizations via a network of agents, channels, and systems.

What is optical character recognition?

Optical character recognition (OCR) deploys t