The Marketplace

What is really happening inside the industries you sell to the most? Industry insiders from medical, retail, restaurants, government, schools & colleges, and professional services reveal the technology behind the plan to buy now and in the next year. Explore the sessions and openly share ideas as you join roundtable discussions and networking lounges.

Cloud Conventions 2021
May 12-14

View the On Demand Sessions

Navigate the "Next Normal"

The Marketplace On Demand Sessions

The Recovery of the Restaurant Industry
2020 challenged the industry, but there is quite a bit to keep your eye on in 2021 as the industry recovers. Our panel of industry experts bring an interesting perspective on the trends to keep in mind as you work with your restaurant customers.

Using Cloud Services to Support Digital Health Transformation
Today we are delivering hospital-level, patient-centric, individualized care for patients at home via remote patient monitoring.

Technology that Drives Efficiency in Transportation and Logistics
The growth in the transportation and logistics industry has never been stronger as in the past year. Discover technology strategies that are the "next normal" in the industry

View the On Demand Sessions >>

Network & Connect

Ask the Experts

Speakers and panelists joined the Meet the Expert lounges, available after sessions for attendees to take a deeper dive and join the conversation.

View the Meet the Experts

The Networking Lounge

The Cloud Coffee Corner opened each morning and the day ended with a casual lounge & Comedy Night on Thursday.


View the Networking Lounge

The Latest from Cloud Conventions 2021:

All Posts

Search/Sort
Post Subtypes
Topics
The Recovery of the Restaurant Industry The Recovery of the Restaurant Industry

After what is undeniably the most challenging year the restaurant industry faced in 2020 there is quite a bit to keep your eye on in 2021 ...

May 14, 2021 On Demand Sessions
On Demand Sessions
View
0 On-Demand-Sessions-On-Demand-Sessions jplist-topic-restaurants jplist-topic-The-Marketplace 05/14/2021 0 508563 508563 After what is undeniably the most challenging year the restaurant industry faced in 2020 there is quite a bit to keep your eye on in 2021 as the industry recovers. Our panel of industry experts bring an interesting perspective on the trends to keep in mind as you work with your restaurant customers. Join panelists Robb McKerrow, CEO of r*development, a restaurant brand strategist, Efrem Cutler, the VP of R&D, Corporate Executive Chef for Bloomin’ Brands, Michael Cala Head of Procurement and Category Management, for Cheetah Foodservice and Karen Bremer, CEO of the Georgia Restaurant Association as they give you their insights on the restaurant industry in 2021 and beyond. Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » Want to learn about Convey Services Partner Portals? Visit Convey Services »

The Recovery of the Restaurant Industry

On Demand Sessions

After what is undeniably the most challenging year the restaurant industry faced in 2020 there is quite a bit to keep your eye on in 2021 as the ...

View Content
Technology that Drives Efficiency in... Technology that Drives Efficiency in...

The growth in the transportation and logistics industry has never been stronger as in the past year. As we stayed home and locked down, ...

May 14, 2021 On Demand Sessions
On Demand Sessions
View
1 On-Demand-Sessions-On-Demand-Sessions jplist-topic-Transportation jplist-topic-Logistics 05/14/2021 0 508723 508723 The growth in the transportation and logistics industry has never been stronger as in the past year. As we stayed home and locked down, businesses and consumers moved to an online economy ordering everything from groceries to building supplies that needed to be shipped and delivered. With the explosion in demand, technology became the driver to increase efficiency and enable the industry to keep goods moving and deliveries on target. Join our panel to discover the technology strategies that evolved and accelerated during the pandemic that have now become the “next normal” in the transportation and logistics industry. Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » Want to learn about Convey Services Partner Portals? Visit Convey Services »

Technology that Drives Efficiency in Transportation and Logistics

On Demand Sessions

The growth in the transportation and logistics industry has never been stronger as in the past year. As we stayed home and locked down, businesses ...

View Content
Inspiring Your Virtual Workforce Inspiring Your Virtual Workforce

Most of the workforce stayed home last year and many office workers will now be given the choice to work virtually long-term. Without the ...

May 12, 2021 On Demand Sessions
On Demand Sessions
View
2 On-Demand-Sessions-On-Demand-Sessions jplist-topic-virtual jplist-topic-workforce 05/12/2021 0 509666 509666 Most of the workforce stayed home last year and many office workers will now be given the choice to work virtually long-term. Without the day-to-day connections that come from casual conversations in the office, going to lunch with coworkers, or just having that personal touch, a virtual worker can feel isolated and uninspired. Join Michelle Cummings, founder of the Big Wheel and Personify Leadership and Training Wheels, a known leader in the team building field to guide us through strategies to inspire a virtual workforce. Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » Want to learn about Convey Services Partner Portals? Visit Convey Services »

Inspiring Your Virtual Workforce

On Demand Sessions

Most of the workforce stayed home last year and many office workers will now be given the choice to work virtually long-term. Without the day-to-day ...

View Content
Using cloud services to support digital health... Using cloud services to support digital health...

digital

Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » ...

May 19, 2021 On Demand Sessions
On Demand Sessions
View
3 On-Demand-Sessions-On-Demand-Sessions 05/19/2021 0 511642 511642 Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » Want to learn about Convey Services Partner Portals? Visit Convey Services »

Using cloud services to support digital health transformation

On Demand Sessions

Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » ...

View Content
Using cloud services to support digital health... Using cloud services to support digital health...

Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » ...

On Demand Sessions
On Demand Sessions
View
4 On-Demand-Sessions-On-Demand-Sessions jplist-topic-cloud jplist-topic-health jplist-topic-services 0 511474 511474 Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » Want to learn about Convey Services Partner Portals? Visit Convey Services »

Using cloud services to support digital health transformation

On Demand Sessions

Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » ...

View Content
Inspiring Your Virtual Workforce Inspiring Your Virtual Workforce

Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » ...

On Demand Sessions
On Demand Sessions
View
5 On-Demand-Sessions-On-Demand-Sessions jplist-topic-virtual jplist-topic-workforce 0 511476 511476 Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » Want to learn about Convey Services Partner Portals? Visit Convey Services »

Inspiring Your Virtual Workforce

On Demand Sessions

Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » ...

View Content
Technology that Drives Efficiency in... Technology that Drives Efficiency in...

Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » ...

On Demand Sessions
On Demand Sessions
View
6 On-Demand-Sessions-On-Demand-Sessions jplist-topic-technology jplist-topic-Logistics jplist-topic-effi 0 511482 511482 Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » Want to learn about Convey Services Partner Portals? Visit Convey Services »

Technology that Drives Efficiency in Transportation and Logistics

On Demand Sessions

Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » ...

View Content
The New Workplace Strategies for Professional... The New Workplace Strategies for Professional...

Senator John Albers, Adam Moleski, Kris Dobbins

Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » ...

On Demand Sessions
On Demand Sessions
View
7 On-Demand-Sessions-On-Demand-Sessions jplist-topic-marketplace jplist-topic-Insurance jplist-topic-legal jplist-topic-accounting 0 511458 511458 Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » Want to learn about Convey Services Partner Portals? Visit Convey Services »

The New Workplace Strategies for Professional Services Organizations

On Demand Sessions

Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » ...

View Content
Recovery of the Restaurant Industry Recovery of the Restaurant Industry

Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » ...

On Demand Sessions
On Demand Sessions
View
8 On-Demand-Sessions-On-Demand-Sessions jplist-topic-restaurants jplist-topic-The-Marketplace 0 511480 511480 Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » Want to learn about Convey Services Partner Portals? Visit Convey Services »

Recovery of the Restaurant Industry

On Demand Sessions

Interested in learning more about Cloud Conventions Virtual Events? Visit Cloud Conventions » ...

View Content
Trends in the Commercial Real Estate Marketplace... Trends in the Commercial Real Estate Marketplace...

Ronnie Cannon, the WM Leonard Company

Most businesses had to make the hard pivot to a virtual work environment as states imposed regulations and lockdowns during the Pandemic of ...

On Demand Sessions
On Demand Sessions
View
9 On-Demand-Sessions-On-Demand-Sessions jplist-topic-The-Marketplace jplist-topic-commercial-real-estate 0 511321 511321 Most businesses had to make the hard pivot to a virtual work environment as states imposed regulations and lockdowns during the Pandemic of 2020. Now that the workforce is getting vaccinated, companies are thinking about how to manage their workforce and office strategies. Ronnie Cannon, Managing Director of the William Leonard Company, leads a commercial real estate team focused on high technology clients. Join Ronnie and his panel for a discussion on what companies are likely to do as they return to the office. Ronnie explores the migration plans of companies to regional offices, what industry segments are likely to come back to the office or stay virtual, and what you should know about the return to the office.

Trends in the Commercial Real Estate Marketplace for 2021 and Beyond

On Demand Sessions

Most businesses had to make the hard pivot to a virtual work environment as states imposed regulations and lockdowns during the Pandemic of 2020. Now ...

View Content
Justin Moritz-Pahde Justin Moritz-Pahde

Director of Sales Strategy at The FSL Group

Click here to request a meetingI am passionate about integrating creative, innovative techniques with proven processes to produce ...

Speaker Profile
Speaker Profile
View
10 Speaker-Profile-Speaker-Profile jplist-topic-Justin-Moritz-Pahde jplist-topic-FSL-Group 0 509357 509357 Click here to request a meetingI am passionate about integrating creative, innovative techniques with proven processes to produce evolutionary & effective results. This hybrid approach allows me to address all aspects of day to day freight and logistics operations as well as the "bigger picture" of how your supply chain affects you, your company, and business-to-business relationships. I want to hear about YOU, your current experiences and processes, and have a conversation to determine how we can come together to tailor your freight program to be cost and time efficient, well-organized, and dependable

Justin Moritz-Pahde

Speaker Profile

Click here to request a meetingI am passionate about integrating creative, innovative techniques with proven processes to produce evolutionary ...

View Content
Jeffrey Fischer Jeffrey Fischer

Owner, The Whole Business, LLC LLC (Logistics, Process Improvement, and ...

Click here to request a meetingJeff Fischer has over 35 years of experience in the Global Supply industry with the final 25 at UPS. ...

Speaker Profile
Speaker Profile
View
11 Speaker-Profile-Speaker-Profile jplist-topic-UPS 0 508581 508581 Click here to request a meetingJeff Fischer has over 35 years of experience in the Global Supply industry with the final 25 at UPS. During his UPS career, Jeff developed innovative and integrated logistics solutions for the world’s largest Fortune 100 companies. During his tenure he also was a member of the Mailboxes Etc. (MBE) acquisition team that converted the 3,200+ shipping retail network into today’s UPS Stores. Jeff also led management teams within UPS’s sales training, business development, operations, product development, and customer experience divisions. Prior to joining UPS, Jeff worked for Fuji Photo Film and Lever Brothers in New York City. Jeff has written and published dozens of articles within a variety of trade magazines and has been a guest columnist to the Cambridge Information Network and the Global Business Network. He was an adjunct professor in New York and Georgia colleges teaching logistics, international management, thesis research and writing, and organizational management. After retiring from UPS in 2018, Jeff started a consulting service, The Whole Business, that takes a holistic approach examining for profit and non-profit organization’s order-to-cash cycle to determine the root causes that create unnecessary cost, impede growth, and inhibit a positive customer experience. He has expanded his support, due to the pandemic, with non-profits seeking fundraising assistance and guidance by leveraging his communication, writing, and teaching skills; aligned with his co-ownership of a Roswell, Georgia restaurant.

Jeffrey Fischer

Speaker Profile

Click here to request a meetingJeff Fischer has over 35 years of experience in the Global Supply industry with the final 25 at UPS. During his ...

View Content
John Albers John Albers

State Senator, Georgia

Click here to request a meetingJohn Albers background spans roles as a CIO, CISO, CMO and COO. John has a proven record of leading ...

Speaker Profile
Speaker Profile
View
12 Speaker-Profile-Speaker-Profile jplist-topic-John-Albers 0 508590 508590 Click here to request a meetingJohn Albers background spans roles as a CIO, CISO, CMO and COO. John has a proven record of leading large teams, growing and managing clients from SMBs to Fortune 500 companies. As a current Georgia State Senate, John Albers was first elected in 2011. He represents the 56th District, which includes portions of Fulton and Cherokee County. He serves as Chairman of the Senate Public Safety Committee. Senator Albers also serves as Vice Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and as a member of the Senate Appropriations, Rules, Regulated Industries and Utilities, and the Veterans, Military and Homeland Security Committees. Senator Albers is a fourth-generation firefighter serving as a volunteer in Alpharetta and member of the Georgia Firefighters Association. Albers earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Leadership from the University of Louisville. Albers also completed graduate programs from the University of Georgia and Harvard University. When not attending to state business, Senator Albers is an executive, business owner and entrepreneur.

John Albers

Speaker Profile

Click here to request a meetingJohn Albers background spans roles as a CIO, CISO, CMO and COO. John has a proven record of leading large teams, ...

View Content
Ronnie Cannon Ronnie Cannon

Managing Director, Wm. Leonard & Co.

Click here to request a meetingRonnie Cannon has been active in the commercial real estate advisory industry since 1997 and has ...

Speaker Profile
Speaker Profile
View
13 Speaker-Profile-Speaker-Profile jplist-topic-commercial-real-estate jplist-topic-WM-Leonard---Co 0 506619 506619 Click here to request a meetingRonnie Cannon has been active in the commercial real estate advisory industry since 1997 and has significant expertise in the development and implementation of real estate and workplace strategies that helps organizations drive greater profitability and avoid the unforeseen risks associated with real estate decisions and agreements. For the last 6 years, Ronnie has served as the Managing Director of the William Leonard & Co, an Atlanta-based commercial real estate firm specializing in representing hundreds of tenants over the years align their real estate strategy with their company’s business plan. Prior to joining the Wm. Leonard & Co team, Ronnie was a principal for 15 years at Cresa, headquartered in Washington, DC, an occupier-centric commercial real estate firm with over 80 offices serving 2,000 clients nationwide.

Ronnie Cannon

Speaker Profile

Click here to request a meetingRonnie Cannon has been active in the commercial real estate advisory industry since 1997 and has significant ...

View Content
Kris Dobbins Kris Dobbins

CPCU, Marketing, SecureRisk, LLC

Click here to request a meetingKris Dobbins directs the marketing activities for SecureRisk the 4th largest insurance agency partnership ...

Speaker Profile
Speaker Profile
View
14 Speaker-Profile-Speaker-Profile jplist-topic-SecureRisk 0 506621 506621 Click here to request a meetingKris Dobbins directs the marketing activities for SecureRisk the 4th largest insurance agency partnership in the United States with over 100 agency members across the Southeast. Kris focuses on bringing value to the owner-member agencies by providing various tools and resources to help agencies streamline their sales process, market their solutions and grow their agency revenue. Kris helps bridge the relationships between the agency members and over 85 partner carriers and service providers endorsed by the SecureRisk network to ensure that the producers and owners have a full view of the insurance products available for commercial and personal lines as well as technology and services needed to run the agency. Prior to joining SecureRisk eleven years ago, Kris had first-hand experience in the insurance carrier world in various roles within the property and casualty insurance industry as a commercial lines specialist, senior marketing underwriter and commercial lines broker.

Kris Dobbins

Speaker Profile

Click here to request a meetingKris Dobbins directs the marketing activities for SecureRisk the 4th largest insurance agency partnership in the ...

View Content
Gene Theslof Gene Theslof

Chairman & CEO, My Health Connection, Inc

Click here to request a meetingTheslof is the founder of My Health Connection, Inc. (MHC), a global telehealth services provider. ...

Speaker Profile
Speaker Profile
View
15 Speaker-Profile-Speaker-Profile jplist-topic-Gene-Theslof jplist-topic-My-Health-Connection jplist-topic-Inc 0 509346 509346 Click here to request a meetingTheslof is the founder of My Health Connection, Inc. (MHC), a global telehealth services provider. Theslof previously built and sold the nation’s first large telehealth company and sold it to Stryker, now Stryker Communications, currently a $400M business. Mr. Theslof is one of the fathers of telehealth having built a national hospital network prior to the Internet’s existence. Mr. Theslof built an integrated set of SMARTCOM Telehealth Platforms for MHC that are being used by hospitals, practices and health care companies today. Theslof included eight modules to the HIPAA complaint Platform including a multiplicity of remote patient monitoring tools and portals including a game changing noninvasive FDA and CE approved cardiovascular monitor known as, MyNICaS. This portable device tests a patient’s hemodynamics and provides17 actionable data items to physicians enabling them to titrate the patient wherever they may be. Using this portable device has dramatically cut readmissions for skilled nursing facilities and HCAs. MHC currently has systems in 23 states. MHC's tools enable any participating medical provider to treat their patients in place (for example at home or in a skilled nursing facility ) without admitting them back into emergency rooms or hospitals

Gene Theslof

Speaker Profile

Click here to request a meetingTheslof is the founder of My Health Connection, Inc. (MHC), a global telehealth services provider. Theslof ...

View Content
Gary Yates Gary Yates

Principal, Hickey & Associates

Click here to request a meetingGary Yates is a Principal in Hickey & Associations, a global leader in site selection, location ...

Speaker Profile
Speaker Profile
View
16 Speaker-Profile-Speaker-Profile jplist-topic-Gary-Yates jplist-topic-Hickey---Associates 0 509663 509663 Click here to request a meetingGary Yates is a Principal in Hickey & Associations, a global leader in site selection, location strategy, credits & incentives advisory, and labor analytics with active projects in the Americas, Asia, Europe, Australia, and Africa. HICKEY assists businesses with the critical data capture and strategic vision to navigate a global real estate footprint. Gary is a highly accomplished and enterprising location selection executive and has both domestic and international experience in project management, sales, analysis, and strategy. In his position at HICKEY, Gary ensures that his clients have optimal geographic locations for their businesses across varied industries, with focus on workforce issues and demographic trends. Prior to Hickey & Associates, Gary served as Vice President of Consulting for JLL, a leading professional services firm that specializes in real estate and investment management and as Director of Site Selection for the Staubach Company

Gary Yates

Speaker Profile

Click here to request a meetingGary Yates is a Principal in Hickey & Associations, a global leader in site selection, location strategy, ...

View Content
Chef Efrem Cutler Chef Efrem Cutler

VP of R&D, Bloomin’ Brands International

Click here to request a meetingChef Cutler develops and engineers the core menu recipes for Bloomin’ Brands International, Fleming’s ...

Speaker Profile
Speaker Profile
View
17 Speaker-Profile-Speaker-Profile jplist-topic-Bloomin----Brands-International 0 504898 504898 Click here to request a meetingChef Cutler develops and engineers the core menu recipes for Bloomin’ Brands International, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, Outback Steakhouse, Bonefish Grill, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, and Aussie Grill. He also populates a pipeline of products for future markets, collaborating with manufacturers on formulas and recipes that differentiate the brands. He has over 35 years of culinary experience, including training and product development for companies such as Ritz-Carlton, Occidental Grand Hotel’s Chef for Café Opera, and Rochester Meat Company. He also owned a successful café and bakery in Roswell, Georgia and served as a Chef Instructor for the Art Institute of Atlanta, where he pioneered a new curriculum for the graduating class of International Food and History. Chef Cutler holds a degree from Baltimore International Culinary College and has traveled the world promoting and teaching the cooking techniques of his Southern heritage.

Chef Efrem Cutler

Speaker Profile

Click here to request a meetingChef Cutler develops and engineers the core menu recipes for Bloomin’ Brands International, Fleming’s Prime ...

View Content
Michael Cala Michael Cala

Head of Procurement and Category Management, Cheetah Foodservice

Click here to request a meetingMichael Cala directs the procurement and category management for Cheetah Foodservice, an e-commerce ...

Speaker Profile
Speaker Profile
View
18 Speaker-Profile-Speaker-Profile jplist-topic-procurement jplist-topic-category-management jplist-topic-Cheetah-Foodservice jplist-topic-e-commerce jplist-topic-restaurants 0 504899 504899

Michael Cala

Speaker Profile

Click here to request a meetingMichael Cala directs the procurement and category management for Cheetah Foodservice, an e-commerce platform ...

View Content
Rick Strobridge Rick Strobridge

CEO, Rx.Health

Click here to request a meeting Rick is an award-winning digital health CEO and successful inventor with proven expertise in start-up ...

Speaker Profile
Speaker Profile
View
19 Speaker-Profile-Speaker-Profile jplist-topic-rick-strobridge 0 504655 504655

Rick Strobridge

Speaker Profile

Click here to request a meeting Rick is an award-winning digital health CEO and successful inventor with proven expertise in start-up development ...

View Content
Phillip Hancock Phillip Hancock

Technology Leader and Enterprise Architect, Shred-it

Click here to request a meetingShred-it is the largest document destruction provider in the world. In 14 countries and in 170 markets, ...

Speaker Profile
Speaker Profile
View
20 Speaker-Profile-Speaker-Profile jplist-topic-Phillip-Hancock jplist-topic-Shred-it 0 509361 509361 Click here to request a meetingShred-it is the largest document destruction provider in the world. In 14 countries and in 170 markets, we’ve become the world-standard and industry best-practice for information security and workplace privacy. In the more than 30 years since our inception, we have developed proprietary technologies, exclusive protocols and practices, and innovative products and services, designed exclusively to protect businesses of any size from the ongoing threats and risks of workplace privacy breaches. As the trusted choice of both small businesses and large organizations, you will find Shred-it is the preferred partner across almost every sector – from government and healthcare, universities and colleges, banks and financial institutions, to police forces, military, and intelligence agencies.

Phillip Hancock

Speaker Profile

Click here to request a meetingShred-it is the largest document destruction provider in the world. In 14 countries and in 170 markets, we’ve ...

View Content
Mike Evans Mike Evans

Founder of Box Line Box, Inc.

Click here to request a meetingMike is the founder of Box Line Box, Inc., he brings his expertise in telecommunications, healthcare ...

Speaker Profile
Speaker Profile
View
21 Speaker-Profile-Speaker-Profile jplist-topic-Mike-Evans jplist-topic-Box-Line-Box jplist-topic-Inc- 0 509347 509347 Click here to request a meetingMike is the founder of Box Line Box, Inc., he brings his expertise in telecommunications, healthcare information technology, medical imaging systems, and integration to the stage. Michael has spent over 20 years dedicating himself to enhancing the world of medical education with technology. He is a pioneer in the development of the integrated operating room. He was a co-foundeder of InfoMedix Communications Corporation, which was acquired by Stryker Corporation (NYSE: SYK) in 1999 and is now the Stryker Communications Division. After working with Stryker for several years Mike founded Box Line Box, Inc. to continue pushing the boundaries of live surgery as it is applied to medical education. He is an expert in clinical telecommunications and telemedicine with experience in remote locations and disaster zones. He brought the first-ever live surgeries from a forward operating hospital in Afghanistan as well as the rural countryside of Haiti.

Mike Evans

Speaker Profile

Click here to request a meetingMike is the founder of Box Line Box, Inc., he brings his expertise in telecommunications, healthcare information ...

View Content
Karen Bremer Karen Bremer

CEO, Georgia Restaurant Association

Click here to request a meetingWith over 44 years in the hospitality industry, Bremer is the CEO of the Georgia Restaurant Association ...

Speaker Profile
Speaker Profile
View
22 Speaker-Profile-Speaker-Profile jplist-topic-Georgia-Restaurant-Association jplist-topic-GRA jplist-topic-GRC 0 506616 506616 Click here to request a meetingWith over 44 years in the hospitality industry, Bremer is the CEO of the Georgia Restaurant Association (GRA), representing one of the largest industries in the state. The GRA serves as the unified voice for over 18,500 foodservice and drinking places in the state of Georgia with total sales in excess of $20 billion which provides more than 476,000 jobs. Bremer was the former owner of Dailey’s and City Grill restaurants and was a top executive with the Peasant Restaurant Group, starting out as a manager andultimately being named its president. Bremer is a founding member of the GRA and the past president of the GRA Board. She serves on the executive committee for the National Restaurant Association, board of directors for the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACVB), and serves as vice president for the Council of State Restaurant Associations. She also sits on the Industry Advisory Board of Georgia State University's Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality Administration and is a trustee of the Arby’s Foundation. She is a member of Les Dames d'Escoffier International and the International Women's Forum. Bremer has garnered numerous awards including the ACVB Member of the Year Award in 2002 for her role in founding Downtown Atlanta Restaurant Week. In 2015, she was inducted in the ACVB Hospitality Hall of Fame. In 2009, Bremer received the Lifetime Achievement GRACE (Georgia Restaurant Association Crystal of Excellence) Award for her outstanding contributions to Georgia's restaurant industry. In 2016, 2017 and 2018 Bremer was named one of Georgia Trend Magazine’s “100 Most Influential Georgians of the Year” in addition to being listed as a notable Georgian by Georgia Trend Magazine in 2013, 2014 and 2015. She was also names as one of the Top Registered Female Lobbyists in 2017 by James Magazine.

Karen Bremer

Speaker Profile

Click here to request a meetingWith over 44 years in the hospitality industry, Bremer is the CEO of the Georgia Restaurant Association (GRA), ...

View Content
John Wichmann John Wichmann

Co-Founder and COO, Maptician

Click here to request a meeting John Wichmann is COO and co-founder of Maptician. Maptician is a cloud-based workplace enablement ...

Speaker Profile
Speaker Profile
View
23 Speaker-Profile-Speaker-Profile jplist-topic-John-Wichmann jplist-topic-Maptician 0 509360 509360 Click here to request a meeting John Wichmann is COO and co-founder of Maptician. Maptician is a cloud-based workplace enablement solution that helps companies streamline the return-to-office and a shift to a hybrid or other flexible work model.  Maptician provides companies with predictable cost savings related to their use of office space and equips them to use their space in a more intentional way; supporting their employees’ desire to connect, collaborate, innovate, and help new team members feel connected sooner.  John has spent the past 20 years leveraging software solutions and consulting to help organizations gain new visibility, make better decisions, and unlock value.  Most recently, John led consulting practices at both Teradata (TDC) and Fiserv (FISV). At Teradata, John led a $25M consulting practice responsible for selling and delivering analytics software and consulting services to some of the largest and well-known companies in the world. At Fiserv, the practice area John led implemented and configured SaaS and installed software for hundreds of clients per year, including banks, credit unions, and mortgage providers, with implementation durations ranging from one week to over 6 months.  John received his degree from Georgia Tech in Industrial and Systems Engineering. John lives in Alpharetta and he and his wife have three sons ranging in age from 10 to 19. 

John Wichmann

Speaker Profile

Click here to request a meeting John Wichmann is COO and co-founder of Maptician. Maptician is a cloud-based workplace enablement solution that ...

View Content
Robb McKerrow Robb McKerrow

Restaurant Design & Branding Expert, r*development

Click here to request a meetingFor the last 11 years Robb McKerrow has lead r*development, a design and branding consultancy with a ...

Speaker Profile
Speaker Profile
View
24 Speaker-Profile-Speaker-Profile jplist-topic-robb-mckerrow 0 504654 504654 Click here to request a meetingFor the last 11 years Robb McKerrow has lead r*development, a design and branding consultancy with a strong track record of developing concepts that resonate with the consumer and bring strong economic returns for the ownership. By understanding the competitive landscape and trends in consumer behavior, they create branded designs that are operationally sound and lay a foundation for concept success, as well as a strong visual appeal. A particular specialty and focus is on retooling existing brands that have lost their relevance and competitive edge bringing them back to life. Robb’s design work is distinctive yet budget-driven and very “cool”. Robb has overseen the design and development of over 1000 restaurant locations for regional and national chains, as well as creating many strong local independent locations such as Cabernet, Pampas Steakhouse, Frankie’s Steakhouse, Fresh to Order, Tara Humata, Del Frisco’s, Canoe, Giorgio’s Family Kitchen, Taffer’s Tavern, Twisted Fork and Nick & Jake’s. Branded restaurant & retail prototypes developed by Robb over the years have included Longhorn Steakhouse, Lone Star Steakhouse, Tanner’s, Arby’s, Mrs Winners, Shane’s, PJ’s Coffee, Doc Green’s, Bonehead’s, Planet Smoothie, Flying Biscuit, Flip Flop Shops, Appleton Learning, Twin Peaks, 5 & Diner, Buffalo’s Café, Ted’s Montana Grill, Golden Rule BBQ, Shoney’s, Atlanta Bread Co., The Grape, Miller’s Ale House, O’Charley’s & Surchero’s Fresh Mex. On the boards is a new high-end Steakhouse to be named H&W in Peachtree Corners, GA being operated by The Norsan Group. From 1989 to 2000, Robb owned and operated RDM Design, an Award-winning A&D firm focused on the multi-unit restaurant industry. Robb headed a 25-man team of designers, architects and engineers for 10 years designing prototypes and rolling out hundreds of locations across the US and Puerto Rico for national brands in QSR and Casual Dining.

Robb McKerrow

Speaker Profile

Click here to request a meetingFor the last 11 years Robb McKerrow has lead r*development, a design and branding consultancy with a strong track ...

View Content
Ryan Crandall Ryan Crandall

Director of IoT & Mobile Solutions, MetTel

Click here to request a meetingRyan Crandall directs the IoT and Mobile Solutions for MetTel, a leading provider of customized, ...

Speaker Profile
Speaker Profile
View
25 Speaker-Profile-Speaker-Profile jplist-topic-Ryan-Crandall 0 509665 509665 Click here to request a meetingRyan Crandall directs the IoT and Mobile Solutions for MetTel, a leading provider of customized, integrated and managed communications solutions for enterprise customers. MetTel offers IoT [Internet of Things] fleet management technology to help customers automate their fleets for greater efficiency, insight and control. In addition to developing the transportation and logistics industry and offerings for MetTel, Ryan has also served as the VP of Sales for North America for Retriever Communications, a provider of field service management software, Director of Sales for LoJack Corporation and Director of Enterprise Sales & Strategy for Navtrack, now a Verizon company. MetTel’s fleet management automation technology provides visibility and helps organizations manage their entire fleet and mobile workforce providing “one pane of glass” that helps eliminate paperwork so that mobile workers have the tools at hand to do their work more efficiently. Connecting the vehicle and the workforce automation mobile applications using the SingleSIM solution, assuring coverage at any time for the field worker, equipment and vehicles, enables real-time access to information regardless of the cellular coverage in known dark areas of the city by enabling the best carrier signal is used at any time for data transmission.

Ryan Crandall

Speaker Profile

Click here to request a meetingRyan Crandall directs the IoT and Mobile Solutions for MetTel, a leading provider of customized, integrated and ...

View Content
Adam Moleski Adam Moleski

Chief Information Officer, Frazier & Deeter, LLC

Click here to request a meetingAdam is the Chief Information Officer for Frazier & Deeter, LLC, a top 50 accounting firm ...

Speaker Profile
Speaker Profile
View
26 Speaker-Profile-Speaker-Profile jplist-topic-Adam-Moleski jplist-topic-Frazier---Deeter 0 508510 508510 Click here to request a meetingAdam is the Chief Information Officer for Frazier & Deeter, LLC, a top 50 accounting firm headquartered in Atlanta, GA with offices in Charlotte, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Nashville, New York, Philadelphia, Tampa, and London. Prior to his time at Frazier & Deeter, Adam was a Snr Citrix architect for Cenveo, Inc. (CVO), a leading global provider of print supply chain solutions for mid to large sized enterprises.

Adam Moleski

Speaker Profile

Click here to request a meetingAdam is the Chief Information Officer for Frazier & Deeter, LLC, a top 50 accounting firm headquartered in ...

View Content
The New Workplace Strategies for Professional... The New Workplace Strategies for Professional...

Senator John Albers, Adam Moleski, Kris Dobbins

Professional services organizations are traditionally an office-bound workforce, but in 2020 they had to go against tradition and field a ...

May 13, 2021 Panel Discussion
Panel Discussion
View
27 Panel-Discussion-Panel-Discussion jplist-topic-Insurance jplist-topic-legal jplist-topic-accounting jplist-topic-The-Marketplace 05/13/2021 0 508556 508556 Professional services organizations are traditionally an office-bound workforce, but in 2020 they had to go against tradition and field a virtual workforce. Lockdowns restricted staff to their homes, slowed down client projects and impacted billable work. Economic uncertainty impacted client budgets leading to the need for cost and operational efficiencies. Join our expert panel from the accounting, legal and insurance industries to navigate how changes they were forced to make in 2020 are impacting their workforce strategy for 2021.

The New Workplace Strategies for Professional Services Organizations

Panel Discussion

Professional services organizations are traditionally an office-bound workforce, but in 2020 they had to go against tradition and field a virtual ...

View Content
Trends in the Commercial Real Estate Marketplace... Trends in the Commercial Real Estate Marketplace...

Ronnie Cannon, the WM Leonard Company

Most businesses had to make the hard pivot to a virtual work environment as states imposed regulations and lockdowns during the Pandemic of ...

May 12, 2021 Panel Discussion
Panel Discussion
View
28 Panel-Discussion-Panel-Discussion jplist-topic-commercial-real-estate jplist-topic-The-Marketplace 05/12/2021 0 508554 508554 Most businesses had to make the hard pivot to a virtual work environment as states imposed regulations and lockdowns during the Pandemic of 2020. Now that the workforce is getting vaccinated, companies are thinking about how to manage their workforce and office strategies. Ronnie Cannon, Managing Director of the William Leonard Company, leads a commercial real estate team focused on high technology clients. Join Ronnie and his panel for a discussion on what companies are likely to do as they return to the office. Ronnie explores the migration plans of companies to regional offices, what industry segments are likely to come back to the office or stay virtual, and what you should know about the return to the office.

Trends in the Commercial Real Estate Marketplace for 2021 and Beyond

Panel Discussion

Most businesses had to make the hard pivot to a virtual work environment as states imposed regulations and lockdowns during the Pandemic of 2020. Now ...

View Content
Legal Technology Trends to Watch in 2021 Legal Technology Trends to Watch in 2021

What will it take to be a successful lawyer in 2021? With the world becoming increasingly digital in response to the COVID-19 ...

Professional Services Trends
Professional Services Trends
View
29 Professional-Services-Trends-Professional-Services-Trends jplist-topic-legal jplist-topic-services jplist-topic-trends jplist-topic-2021 0 503960 503960

Legal Technology Trends to Watch in 2021

Professional Services Trends

What will it take to be a successful lawyer in 2021? With the world becoming increasingly digital in response to the COVID-19 pandemic—and with ...

View Content
THE FUTURE OF FINANCIAL CLOSE IS HERE: 2021... THE FUTURE OF FINANCIAL CLOSE IS HERE: 2021...

There are some people that think that COVID-19 changed the accounting world forever. In reality, it’s not so much that it changed the way ...

Professional Services Trends
Professional Services Trends
View
30 Professional-Services-Trends-Professional-Services-Trends jplist-topic-finance jplist-topic-accounting jplist-topic-trends jplist-topic-2021 0 503969 503969 There are some people that think that COVID-19 changed the accounting world forever. In reality, it’s not so much that it changed the way we do things.  We still balance the books, reconcile transactions and put a lot of effort into our month-end close. It did, however, thrust us into the future, pushing us further along the path we were already on.  We’re a few years ahead of schedule so instead of predictions for 2025, here are the upcoming accounting trends for 2021:Click here to view the article

THE FUTURE OF FINANCIAL CLOSE IS HERE: 2021 ACCOUNTING TRENDS

Professional Services Trends

There are some people that think that COVID-19 changed the accounting world forever. In reality, it’s not so much that it changed the way we do ...

View Content
30+ Key Real Estate Statistics for 2021 30+ Key Real Estate Statistics for 2021

April 8, 2021 by Smiljanic Stasha

Report posted on PolicyAdvice.net homepage. Written by Smiljanic Stasha and last updated April 8, 2021. Billions of dollars are invested ...

Commercial Real Estate Trends
Commercial Real Estate Trends
View
31 Commercial-Real-Estate-Trends-Commercial-Real-Estate-Trends jplist-topic-real-estate jplist-topic-cre jplist-topic-commercial jplist-topic-rent jplist-topic-lease jplist-topic-city jplist-topic-building jplist-topic-office jplist-topic-WFH jplist-topic-remote 0 506518 506518

30+ Key Real Estate Statistics for 2021

Commercial Real Estate Trends

Report posted on PolicyAdvice.net homepage. Written by Smiljanic Stasha and last updated April 8, 2021. Billions of dollars are invested into real ...

View Content
State of the Restaurant Industry report measures... State of the Restaurant Industry report measures...

January 25, 2021

Report published by Restaurant.org on January 25, 2021The National Restaurant Association’s 2021 State of the Restaurant Industry ...

Restaurant Trends
Restaurant Trends
View
32 Restaurant-Trends-Restaurant-Trends 0 506523 506523 Report published by Restaurant.org on January 25, 2021The National Restaurant Association’s 2021 State of the Restaurant Industry report addresses the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the restaurant industry, documents the altered operational landscape, and captures consumer sentiment, influences and intentions for the coming months. It also explores several crucial areas in which the pandemic forced restaurateurs to pivot and adapt, quickly adopting contactless technology, shifting most service to off-premises and outdoor dining, and adjusting labor levels and menus. Based on data from responses to the Association’s survey of 6,000 restaurant operators across all industry segments, and a survey of 1,000 adult consumers, the report delivers impact data on sales and traffic, operational trends, food and menu trends, and workforce trends along with consumer purchase preferences and intentions. The report offers a comprehensive and sobering look at the damage the pandemic caused the industry and millions of its employees nationwide. Several key findings: The restaurant industry ended 2020 with total sales that were $240 billion below the Association’s pre-pandemic forecast for the year As of Dec. 1, 2020, more than 110,000 eating and drinking places were closed for business temporarily, or for good The eating and drinking place sector finished 2020 nearly 2.5 million jobs below its pre-coronavirus level. At the peak of initial closures, the Association estimates up to 8 million employees were laid off or furloughed The report offers extensive analysis on trends in several areas: Operations. Restaurants looked at a number of different ways to retain traffic and generate revenues. Operators focused on building off-premises business, especially in the fullservice segment, with roughly half of restaurateurs devoting more resources to expanding that side of their business since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in March.Adding curbside pick-up, inhouse and 3rd party delivery and if possible, drive-thru capacity, and upgrading takeout and delivery packaging were just a few of means they used to sustain business. Service styles also changed. In addition to the off-premises focus, a big portion of on-premises dining moved outdoors for as long as the weather permitted. Tech adoption accelerated. Contactless and mobile payment options became crucial. Across all 6 segments—quickservice, fast casual, casual, family, fine dining, and coffee and snack—some 40% of operators said they added tech solutions to their businesses. Food & Menu. With a slowdown in business, and on-premises dining restrictions, many operators reduced inventories, streamlining menus and developing menu items they could make well with smaller crews. Operators also began selling meal kits, bundled meals and even groceries—whatever customers needed and were willing to buy. Customers sought out comfort foods, including burgers, pizza, pasta and Mexican specialties. The report lists best-selling items by fullservice and limited service venues. Workforce. Before the pandemic, the restaurant and foodservice industry projected it would provide 15.6 million jobs in 2020, or 10% of all payroll jobs in the economy. But the impact of the coronavirus caused staffing levels to fall across all restaurant and foodservice segments, with restaurant employment below pre-pandemic levels in 47 states and D.C. The report emphasizes these three key findings: 62% of fine dining operators and 54% of both family dining and casual dining operators say staffing levels are more than 20% below normal. There are nearly 2 million fewer 16-to-34-year-olds in the labor force, the most prominent age group employed in the restaurant industry workforce. Restaurants got hit harder than any other industry during the pandemic, and still have the longest climb back to pre-coronavirus employment levels. Consumer sentiment and intentions. Despite the pandemic, pent-up demand for restaurants remains strong. Customers have become used to ordering takeout, but indicate they really crave in-restaurant dining experiences. Nearly 8 in 10 adult consumers said their favorite restaurant foods delivered flavor and taste sensations that couldn’t be duplicated at home, and 6 in 10 said restaurants are an essential part of their lifestyles. “Our research shows a clear desire among consumers to enjoy more on-premises dining at restaurants than they have been able to get during the pandemic,” says Hudson Riehle, the Association’s senior vice president of Research. “We’ve also found that even as the vaccine becomes more available and more customers can return to restaurants, they’ll continue to want the expanded off-premises options going forward. Both will continue to be key for industry growth.”

State of the Restaurant Industry report measures virus' impact on business

Restaurant Trends

Report published by Restaurant.org on January 25, 2021The National Restaurant Association’s 2021 State of the Restaurant Industry report ...

View Content
Advice for the ‘New Restaurateurs’ of a... Advice for the ‘New Restaurateurs’ of a...

April 1, 2021 by Marlo Fogelman

Report authored by Marlo Fogelman. Published to QSR Magazine on April 1, 2021. Just as the dot-com bubble burst of the early 2000s ushered ...

Restaurant Trends
Restaurant Trends
View
33 Restaurant-Trends-Restaurant-Trends jplist-topic-commercial jplist-topic-restaurant jplist-topic-trends jplist-topic-2021 jplist-topic-new jplist-topic-entrepreneur jplist-topic-dining jplist-topic-coronavirus jplist-topic-pandemic 0 506521 506521

Advice for the ‘New Restaurateurs’ of a Post-Pandemic World

Restaurant Trends

Report authored by Marlo Fogelman. Published to QSR Magazine on April 1, 2021. Just as the dot-com bubble burst of the early 2000s ushered in more ...

View Content
What The Future Of Restaurants Will Look Like... What The Future Of Restaurants Will Look Like...

April 12, 2021 by Garin Pirnia

HuffPost report posted on April 12, 2021 and written by Garin Pirnia.It’s been a year since the coronavirus pandemic upended the U.S. ...

Restaurant Trends
Restaurant Trends
View
34 Restaurant-Trends-Restaurant-Trends jplist-topic-restaurant jplist-topic-food jplist-topic-beverage jplist-topic-2021 jplist-topic-covid jplist-topic-coronavirus jplist-topic-trends jplist-topic-adapt 0 506520 506520

What The Future Of Restaurants Will Look Like Post-Pandemic

Restaurant Trends

HuffPost report posted on April 12, 2021 and written by Garin Pirnia.It’s been a year since the coronavirus pandemic upended the U.S. restaurant ...

View Content
6 restaurant trends that will shape 2021 6 restaurant trends that will shape 2021

Review from January 4, 2021 - Restaurant Dive

Article written by Restaurant Dive staff members, Emma Liem Beckett and Julie Littman. Published on January 4, 2021.Though 2020 has been ...

Restaurant Trends
Restaurant Trends
View
35 Restaurant-Trends-Restaurant-Trends jplist-topic-restaurant jplist-topic-food jplist-topic-beverage jplist-topic-take-out jplist-topic-diners jplist-topic-cafe jplist-topic-delivery jplist-topic-carry-out 0 504145 504145 Article written by Restaurant Dive staff members, Emma Liem Beckett and Julie Littman. Published on January 4, 2021.Though 2020 has been a year of incredible disruption and instability, the trends that dominated the restaurant space were already in motion long before the pandemic struck. With no end in sight for widespread dining room restrictions or consumer wariness of traditional restaurant experiences, analysts expect these trends to further crystallize in 2021. Unsurprisingly, all of these movements are rooted in digital technology, reflecting diner demand for contactless and mobile-enabled restaurant engagement. "Digital technology is really what's going to drive value creation going forward," Lauren Silberman, senior analyst at Credit Suisse, said. "It's really the combination of consumer-facing technology with … curbside, drive-thru, delivery, and also plays into the real estate and labor piece as well, because it's all interrelated. What you're seeing is this permeation of a holistic digital infrastructure."That value creation is crucial as the pandemic wanes on, especially for restaurants without deep pockets. "COVID is a liquidity event, in a sense," Bill Fahy, senior analyst at Moody's, said. "There's not a competitive response to what’s happening. If you’re a small business, you only have six weeks of liquidity. We’re going to see a lot of them go bankrupt."Analysts predict some of these trends could help restaurants grow sales even in a tumultuous market environment. Curbside will become a powerful digital tool for restaurants without drive-thrus. Restaurants are increasingly interested in white label deals with third-party aggregators as a way to retain customer data while some are eyeing smaller locations and ghost kitchens to cater to off-premise demand. Even with these opportunities, restaurants will continue to juggle labor costs and rising minimum wage, which will only become more of a challenge. Learn more about the six trends predicted to define the restaurant world in 2021:Diners will seek out digitally integrated curbside channels as a faster, cheaper alternative to deliveryCurbside has proliferated because it is a relatively low-cost way for restaurants without drive-thrus to launch their own off-premise channel. It also offers a key benefit to diners and restaurants: unlike third-party delivery, it provides convenience at no extra cost per order. Curbside is a powerful option for restaurants that don’t have drive-thrus, Silberman said. This is part of the reason fast casuals had higher digital mixes even going into the pandemic, she said. Generally, consumers are willing to pay $4 in delivery fees, Jean Chick, principal and U.S. restaurant & food service leader at Deloitte, said. Diners are also more interested in curbside pickup if the restaurant is within a 10-mile radius of the home because it could potentially be faster than having their food delivered, she said. The category is still much smaller than drive-thru, and analysts agree that it is unlikely to ever drive the same volumes as that channel — and especially not in 2021, because diners haven't fully acclimated to the experience yet. Customers are more familiar with queuing up in a drive-thru and ordering on the spot, Andrew Charles, a director at Cowen focused on the restaurant segment, said. Some diners may even see designated curbside parking spots, assume they are 15-minute parking spots and then order takeout inside the restaurant, he said. But as curbside becomes more widely adopted, there will be opportunity to make it a solid percentage of sales. For example, Target makes about 4% to 5% of its sales from curbside. The channel also comes with the added benefit of being a digital transaction, which tends to be 20% to 25% higher than an in-store purchase, Charles said. "You're going to have a much bigger focus on takeaway," Fahy said. But because COVID-19 has also accelerated consumer adoption of mobile apps and technology for reservations, menus, payments and tipping, diners will expect curbside to be digitally integrated as well. "We're seeing a huge investment in digital on the restaurant side for 2021 to enhance that customer experience, because if that is the only experience that they get, they want it to be a positive one because they can’t control the third-party deliveries," Chick said. "If it's a curbside pickup, it's a very quick interaction [for] customer experience and so they want the digital experience to be far and above the best experience that customers have so they'll have a repeat customer."Chains will more easily adopt the curbside channel as a result of the technology investment required to make the channel as efficient and polished as possible, Charles said. Legacy brands like Dunkin' and Starbucks offer sophisticated technology that allows customers to click on their mobile device to alert the restaurant that they have arrived. Panera, for example, adopted geofencing technology during the early days of the pandemic. Chains can integrate curbside pickup with their loyalty programs as well, he said. Independent restaurants will likely have customers call to have their orders brought out to them since they may not have the budgets for similarly robust technology, Charles said. Curbside could also prove to be disruptive when it comes to competition between fast casual and QSR chains, though analysts are split on how much of a threat a fast casual with a digitally enabled curbside offering could pose to a restaurant with a drive-thru. Chick believes that curbside capabilities can "absolutely" help fast casuals challenge fast food rivals if the customer experience is digitized, whether through QR codes for menus or contactless payments, to compete with QSR convenience. "Customers want convenience, they want an enhanced digital experience, they want contactless payments," Chick said.But Silberman is skeptical because these segments attract different consumer types. And QSR investment in new double-drive thrus, personalization at the digital menu screen and other efficiencies will keep the channel a step ahead of curbside growth, Chick said. "QSRs have focused on getting their drive-thru times down. … If that happens, your curbside pickup is not going to be growing at the same rate that it has in 2020 because if you’re going to drive to the restaurant anyway, you might as well just go through the drive-thru," Chick said. Despite high unemployment, labor costs will rise amid wage hikes and changing labor poolsLabor and rising minimum wage costs will be a challenge for restaurants in 2021. Before the pandemic, labor inflation was 3% to 5% per year, Fahy said. Florida recently approved a $15 minimum wage, and Chick thinks the restaurant industry will be looking to see how Florida restaurants react and how they manage those new labor costs. In late 2020, Starbucks committed to providing at least $15 an hour within three years, further illustrating the momentum to increase wages. But a $15 minimum wage wouldn't necessarily work in all states, especially ones like Alabama where the cost of living is much lower than places like New York and California, where wages have been going up, Fahy said. A lot of QSRs are still struggling to staff their restaurants as well, Chick said. Historically, restaurants would draw from a labor pool made up of high school and college students, and that has dried up over the years. So restaurants are struggling to adapt to that labor drought and this will be even more challenging if a $15 minimum wage comes to other states. Restaurants are also having to pay more for personal protective equipment, health insurance and wages that would retain good employees, Fahy said. Chains will shift their focus from urban markets to suburbs and seek smaller footprintsWith over 110,000 restaurants closed, real estate site selection and leases will experience changes in 2021. The restaurant industry will also continue to see new prototype expansion as restaurants try to optimize their portfolios after closing underperforming locations during the pandemic, Silberman said. Taco Bell, McDonald's, Arby's, Del Taco and Burger King have all said they are looking into restaurants with smaller dining rooms and larger drive-thrus. Pre-pandemic, rent was 95% fixed with a 5% variable cost, but landlords are more willing to increase the variable percentage based on revenue, which has been limited with dining room closures, Fahy said. Landlords have also been favorable to deferrals, but not necessarily abatements. This means rent that might not have been paid from April to June is just tacked onto the end of a lease with the addition of three months, for example, or spread the costs over time, Fahy said. Some landlords may be incentivized to keep current tenants instead of trying to fill an empty space during a down economy, Fahy said. But experience overall will depend on how many properties a landlord owns. Landlords are less likely to be accommodating if they own one or two properties and this is their only source of income, Fahy said. At the same time, restaurants that are looking into new locations are shifting their appetites. Chick believes there will be a decrease in demand for restaurant real estate overall, especially in urban areas around offices. Chick predicts those workplaces won't ever return to 100% capacity after the pandemic, and hybrid work models that offer virtual work will hurt foot traffic. "We're seeing almost all of our restaurant clients look at different real estate footprints for any new location … and whether they'll have any dine-in or whether it will be only takeout and delivery or it will be a very small, limited dine-in experience," Chick said. "We're seeing that cross QSR and fast casual, not as much in fine dining because fine dining is a [premium] experience."While many chains and restaurants have generally slowed down building new sites, access to Class-A sites will likely get easier, especially for bigger brands, Fahy said, because restaurants in prime locations are going out of business. Many casual chains are looking for better sites, many of which weren’t available until now. Brands are now focusing on suburbs and lifestyle centers, Fahy said. Third-party partnerships are here to stay, but white label deals will rise amid fight for diner dataPrior to the pandemic, delivery only made up around 8% of sales for the industry, so there is plenty of opportunity to grow this channel on the other side of COVID-19, Charles said. "We're going to enter 2021 with dire restrictions," Charles said. "So delivery is going to be a critical component in a quarantining world."Free delivery promotions will likely continue to be a tool to market these offerings, especially since sales tend to be higher even after the promotion ends as awareness grows and people stick to the behavior of ordering delivery, Charles said. "The question that ultimately comes into what we're looking at in 2021 and 2022 is about the stickiness of the consumer because you are seeing delivery menu prices inflate," Silberman said. In many places, delivery and service fees are increasing, brought on by restaurants and third-party companies, Silberman said. But for QSRs and many public restaurants that appeal to customers' desire for value, delivery can undermine that offering because of the extra fees, Silberman said.The number of restaurants that have traditionally done their own delivery, with some like Jimmy John's vowing to never team with a third-party platform, now partnering with aggregators also reflects the growing power of this segment, Silberman said. Self-delivery is expensive and operationally taxing, and it makes sense for a restaurant to outsource that part of their business, she said. But restaurants will still want to keep control of the brand experience and of consumer data, so she predicts that 2021 will see an increase in white label partnerships where customers journey through the restaurant's website to access delivery. Using that data can provide restaurants the means to better incentivize customers to keep coming back, which has been a challenge for many restaurants since they don’t necessarily have the infrastructure in place to do that, Silberman said.  "How will these restaurant companies get a delivery transaction and try to ultimately convert that to a more creative pickup transaction or otherwise? Maybe that's not 2021, maybe that's 2022, but I certainly think that that's going to be an important part of the story and to do that they really need to integrate delivery in their apps in order to get the customer information," Silberman said.White label relationships offer the best of both worlds, Silberman said, allowing restaurants to retain customer data while outsourcing delivery. Shake Shack began testing app-based delivery late in 2020 at three locations in the Miami area. "So that's the first step and then the second step of that is, okay we now have a digital customer, how do we then decide where that customer actually … makes the transaction," Silberman said.Virtual brands will benefit chains that have the bandwidth to balance brandsBased on the success companies like Brinker International — which expects It's Just Wings to generate $150 million in annual sales — have seen from their virtual brand concepts, Silberman predicts that major chains will continue to experiment with online-only offerings. While there will be more virtual brands popping up over the next year, the biggest challenge for restaurants will be making both a virtual brand and a regular restaurant co-exist, Charles said. This will be especially true five years from now, when the market recovers to pre-COVID-19 volumes, Charles said. Restaurants are already reaping the benefits of increased sales from adding virtual brands, so they won't likely want to remove that channel when dining rooms go back to full capacity, he said. But restaurants will have to balance maintaining a high level of customer service expected from dine-in guests with their virtual brand, Charles said. That could mean that restaurants will have to increase labor in the back of the kitchen when dine-in business picks back up. "If you're juggling balls, you can juggle two balls pretty easily," Charles said. "By the time you get to four and five balls, you're going to need another hand to help you do that."Ghost kitchens will benefit brands that are mature enough to have robust delivery channelsGhost kitchens have become an increasingly popular model for chains to expand their footprints and offer new menus without investing in more brick-and-mortar real estate.  These concepts also require less labor than a traditional restaurant, often requiring only two to three employees, Charles said. Benefits like this will continue to drive restaurants big and small to the channel in 2021 as operators look to grow their digital sales and reach new customers online, and the trend will likely take hold in cities. "The explosion of ghost kitchens in more urban areas [is] going to happen first and then potentially spread out to the lower-cost real estate areas that are more suburban and more rural," Chick said. "Ghost kitchens really kind of generated their first concepts in the San Francisco area because the real estate cost is so high."There is some concern over how consumers will react to a spike in restaurant brands that only exist online or via third-party delivery marketplaces, Chick said. "The business model is there, it's just a question of whether or not the consumer will accept it. … For a new brand … something that’s not as well-established that just opened a ghost kitchen and has not created a digital presence or [digital customer base] and is trying to do that in a ghost kitchen, I think it will be harder," she said. Restaurants that already have robust delivery sales and a strong digital presence will perform well at ghost kitchen outposts, Silberman said, but it would be a challenging environment for an independent or a chain that isn’t digitally savvy to put down roots and grow. It's unlikely that ghost kitchens will "take over the entire restaurant industry in 2021," Chick said, but she expects to see strong growth in the market based on 2020 investment in the space and diner demand for delivery and digital accessibility.

6 restaurant trends that will shape 2021

Restaurant Trends

Article written by Restaurant Dive staff members, Emma Liem Beckett and Julie Littman. Published on January 4, 2021.Though 2020 has been a year of ...

View Content
Future stores: Emerging tech and trends will... Future stores: Emerging tech and trends will...

Article posted in The-Future-of-Commerce.com on December 16, 2021

From the article: Future stores: Emerging tech and trends will change how we shop Future stores: Emerging tech and trends will change ...

Retail Trends
Retail Trends
View
36 Retail-Trends-Retail-Trends jplist-topic-retail 0 503871 503871

Future stores: Emerging tech and trends will change how we shop

Retail Trends

From the article: Future stores: Emerging tech and trends will change how we shop Future stores: Emerging tech and trends will change how we ...

View Content
14 examples of digital technology in retail stores 14 examples of digital technology in retail stores

Article posted in Econsultancy.com on March 4, 2021

From the article: 14 examples of digital technology in retail stores 14 examples of digital technology in retail stores After the shock ...

Retail Trends
Retail Trends
View
37 Retail-Trends-Retail-Trends jplist-topic-retail 0 503859 503859

14 examples of digital technology in retail stores

Retail Trends

From the article: 14 examples of digital technology in retail stores 14 examples of digital technology in retail stores After the shock of the ...

View Content
Retail technology: The path forward Retail technology: The path forward

Article posted in Retailcustomerexperience.com on February 15 , 2021

From the article: Retail technology: The path forward Retail technology: The path forward Andre Hordagoda, co founder of Go Instore, ...

Retail Trends
Retail Trends
View
38 Retail-Trends-Retail-Trends jplist-topic-retail 0 503850 503850

Retail technology: The path forward

Retail Trends

From the article: Retail technology: The path forward Retail technology: The path forward Andre Hordagoda, co founder of Go Instore, shares ...

View Content
Tech Trends for 2021: The Future of Retail Tech Trends for 2021: The Future of Retail

Article posted in Mytotalretail.com on March 8, 2021

From the article: Tech Trends for 2021: The Future of Retail Tech Trends for 2021: The Future of Retail Credit: LightspeedWhile we've ...

Retail Trends
Retail Trends
View
39 Retail-Trends-Retail-Trends jplist-topic-retail 0 503824 503824

Tech Trends for 2021: The Future of Retail

Retail Trends

From the article: Tech Trends for 2021: The Future of Retail Tech Trends for 2021: The Future of Retail Credit: LightspeedWhile we've entered a ...

View Content
7 Retail Technology Trends to Watch in 2021 7 Retail Technology Trends to Watch in 2021

Article posted in Risnews.com on March 8, 2021

From the article: 7 Retail Technology Trends to Watch in 2021 7 Retail Technology Trends to Watch in 2021Justin HonamanJustin Honaman ...

Retail Trends
Retail Trends
View
40 Retail-Trends-Retail-Trends jplist-topic-retail 0 503818 503818

7 Retail Technology Trends to Watch in 2021

Retail Trends

From the article: 7 Retail Technology Trends to Watch in 2021 7 Retail Technology Trends to Watch in 2021Justin HonamanJustin Honaman is a member ...

View Content
15 Mistakes Instructors Have Made Teaching with... 15 Mistakes Instructors Have Made Teaching with...

Article from campustechnology.com published on April 5, 2021

15 Mistakes Instructors Have Made Teaching with Technology in the Pandemic From the article published in: 15 Mistakes Instructors Have Made ...

School and College Trends
School and College Trends
View
41 School-and-College-Trends-School-and-College-Trends jplist-topic-School-and-College 0 503809 503809

15 Mistakes Instructors Have Made Teaching with Technology in the Pandemic

School and College Trends

15 Mistakes Instructors Have Made Teaching with Technology in the Pandemic From the article published in: 15 Mistakes Instructors Have Made Teaching ...

View Content
Hybrid Helpers: School Districts Successfully... Hybrid Helpers: School Districts Successfully...

Article from edtechmagazine.com published on March 24, 2021

From the article published in: Hybrid Helpers: School Districts Successfully Navigate the New Normal Hybrid Helpers: School Districts ...

School and College Trends
School and College Trends
View
42 School-and-College-Trends-School-and-College-Trends jplist-topic-School-and-College 0 503806 503806

Hybrid Helpers: School Districts Successfully Navigate the New Normal

School and College Trends

From the article published in: Hybrid Helpers: School Districts Successfully Navigate the New Normal Hybrid Helpers: School Districts Successfully ...

View Content
4 Ways Institutions Can Meet Students'... 4 Ways Institutions Can Meet Students'...

Article from campustechology.com published on April 5, 2021

From the article published in : 4 Ways Institutions Can Meet Students' Connectivity and Technology Needs 4 Ways Institutions Can Meet ...

School and College Trends
School and College Trends
View
43 School-and-College-Trends-School-and-College-Trends jplist-topic-School-and-College 0 503797 503797

4 Ways Institutions Can Meet Students' Connectivity and Technology Needs

School and College Trends

From the article published in : 4 Ways Institutions Can Meet Students' Connectivity and Technology Needs 4 Ways Institutions Can Meet Students' ...

View Content
Why Cloud Infrastructure Matters to K–12 Why Cloud Infrastructure Matters to K–12

Article from edtechmagazine.com published on February 17, 2021

From the article published in: Why Cloud Infrastructure Matters to K–12 Why Cloud Infrastructure Matters to K–12 Infrastructure as ...

School and College Trends
School and College Trends
View
44 School-and-College-Trends-School-and-College-Trends jplist-topic-School-and-College 0 503793 503793 From the article published in: Why Cloud Infrastructure Matters to K–12 Why Cloud Infrastructure Matters to K–12 Infrastructure as a Service is a cost-efficient and secure solution for districts managing hybrid learning. Even if every school around the nation reopened classroom doors tomorrow, remote learning — in some form or fashion — seems likely to remain a permanent fixture in education. Knowing this, school systems increasingly recognize a need for cloud infrastructure that can support the evolving demand for distance education technology. Choosing the right solution, however, may seem intimidating and, in some cases, cost-prohibitive, especially for school districts that aren’t yet ready to invest in a full overhaul of their network environment. This is where the benefits of Infrastructure as a Service come into play. IaaS uses a cost-efficient, pay-as-you-go model. Schools can access their data wherever there’s an internet connection, eliminating the need for complex hardware or a full data center. Customers benefit from a cloud-based data center with the highest security capabilities, impressive efficiency and flexible, on-demand services. Is Your School Ready for IaaS? When it comes to adopting cloud solutions, not all school districts are ready to invest. There’s a significant knowledge gap surrounding the concept of IaaS, including how it affects a school’s existing IT workforce. School systems typically have established teams to maintain their physical infrastructure and data center. Moving to the cloud can potentially change how their IT teams operate. Steps must be taken to ensure the district’s existing IT staff is ready to function in a cloud environment. With the right approach, IT staff can work more closely with students and support their increased technology needs in the classroom. Additionally, staff can become cloud certified to expand their skill base and eliminate knowledge gaps. READ MORE: How to create an infrastructure for a remote-ready school. Significant Advantages Offered by IaaS In districts that are ready, Iaas could prove incredibly valuable for K–12 administrators, educators and students alike. Here are the top three benefits of Infrastructure as a Service in K–12 education. 1. PAY-AS-YOU-GO SYSTEM PROMISES COST SAVINGS With a traditional data center, the school bears the responsibility of building and maintaining physical infrastructure. Hundreds of thousands — in some cases, even millions — of dollars are invested into robust equipment to support the maximum capacity needed, yet it’s often used at only 10 to 20 percent of its capability. With IaaS, customers pay only for what they use. The pay-as-you-go model ensures schools get the most out of their investment without sacrificing their budget. 2. CLOUD-BASED DATA CENTERS ARE SECURE AND EFFICIENT Security is a major advantage of IaaS offerings. These cloud-based data centers are designed to uphold the highest level of security for organizations of all types. School districts benefit from premium security and robust efficiency at a lower cost compared with traditional options. 3. ON-DEMAND, VERSATILE SERVICES GIVE EDUCATORS ENHANCED FLEXIBILITY In the cloud, schools have access to a series of comprehensive, on-demand services. If teachers want to try out new software in their remote classroom, their IT departments don’t have to invest in new equipment or build out additional infrastructure. Instead, IaaS gives educators the flexibility to try new services with the click of a few buttons. This article is part of the “ConnectIT: Bridging the Gap Between Education and Technology” series. .

Why Cloud Infrastructure Matters to K–12

School and College Trends

From the article published in: Why Cloud Infrastructure Matters to K–12 Why Cloud Infrastructure Matters to K–12 Infrastructure as a Service ...

View Content
8 Higher Education IT Trends to Watch in 2021 8 Higher Education IT Trends to Watch in 2021

Article from edtechmagazine.com published on February 01, 2021

From the article published in 8 Higher Education IT Trends to Watch in 2021 8 Higher Education IT Trends to Watch in 2021 Technology is ...

School and College Trends
School and College Trends
View
45 School-and-College-Trends-School-and-College-Trends jplist-topic-School-and-College 0 503789 503789

8 Higher Education IT Trends to Watch in 2021

School and College Trends

From the article published in 8 Higher Education IT Trends to Watch in 2021 8 Higher Education IT Trends to Watch in 2021 Technology is shaping ...

View Content
School Support During The Pandemic With The Help... School Support During The Pandemic With The Help...

Article from elearningindustry.com published on April 4, 2021

From the article published in: School Support During The Pandemic With The Help Of EdTech In the pandemic world, it is highly important ...

School and College Trends
School and College Trends
View
46 School-and-College-Trends-School-and-College-Trends jplist-topic-schools-and-college 0 503781 503781 From the article published in: School Support During The Pandemic With The Help Of EdTech  In the pandemic world, it is highly important to do everything to help children receive qualitative education. One of the ways to help is the integration of EdTech. VectorMine/Shutterstock.com Impact Of The Pandemic On Education The number of children and adults not attending schools or universities due to the COVID-19 outbreak is skyrocketing. Governments around the world have decided to close educational institutions to contain the global COVID-19 pandemic. More than 100 countries have implemented nationwide school closings, affecting more than half of the students, according to UNESCO. Several other countries have implemented local school closings, and if those countries also order the closure of schools and universities nationwide, it would disrupt the learning process for millions of other students around the world. It is also worth noting some other aspects of the negative impact of the pandemic on the learning process. Needless to say, school is an important institution of socialization for children. The process of self-isolation and separation from society negatively affects not only the physical but also the psychological state and development of children. It is also important to note that the remote learning process is not available to everyone. Children from low-income families studying at schools not only had food benefits, which positively influenced their state of life, but also access to computers and the internet to complete their homework. During a pandemic, access to technologies became difficult and, as a result, the quality of their education has deteriorated. Don't forget about the disadvantages of distance learning for teachers. The inability to effectively measure the learning process leads to the fact that teachers cannot fully tell whether their students have mastered the material and how effective the distance education process is. What Is EdTech And Why Is It important? According to Investopedia, EdTech (a combination of "education" and "technology") refers to hardware and software designed to enhance teacher-led learning in classrooms and improve students' education outcomes. EdTech is most commonly associated with online education. But in reality, this concept is much broader, it unites all ways of using technology in the educational process, from interactive blackboards to Virtual Reality simulators for modeling surgical operations. But studying via the internet is the most popular EdTech direction, which has already firmly won its place in the market.The scope of EdTech includes a large number of applications that perform various functions to improve and speed up the learning process. Here are several examples of such functions:Creating And Completing TasksThese kinds of programs can be used to create interactive learning tasks. Software suppliers can also partner with schools to provide their users with lesson templates that relate to the assessment criteria that most teachers use. These types of tasks are updated online, which is very useful because when teachers assign them to students to complete, they can get updates on how each person is doing.Video CommunicationWith the help of such applications, it becomes possible to conduct lessons online. If schools don’t use this method of teaching lessons but only send materials by email with regular checking of homework, then video calls will become an indispensable assistant if a student needs individual lessons.Tools For InteractionEdTech apps, like Classroom.Cloud, provide teachers with tools to collaborate in the classroom, monitor interactions with their students, and provide support. It also means that every student in the class still has an opportunity to express their thoughts. Moreover, this software has a “poll” feature, which means that students can vote whether they understand something or not.Help In Maintaining Attention And Improving BehaviorThe remote learning process can be difficult for students because it is tempting to be distracted during the lesson since the teacher's control weakens a lot. For example, they can look at something in other tabs on the computer. For such purposes, some programs are able to not only monitor but also control what is happening on the computers of their students during the lesson. Also, such tools are capable of blocking certain websites or the mouse cursor during the lesson, which undoubtedly helps teachers.Why EdTech Is Responsible For SchoolsIn a pandemic, in order not to threaten the health of either children or their families, schools are forced to operate in remote conditions. eLearning is the most successful solution in this case. That is why many EdTech service providers have greatly benefited from the situation, as the market for this kind of software has grown significantly and rapidly. That’s why it is very important for EdTech service providers to understand the importance of their contribution to education and do their best to help schools in ways that are not aimed at making a profit for themselves. By acting in such a way, they may even solve some other problems caused by the pandemic.How EdTech Service Providers Can HelpSo how can EdTech developers help the education sector? Let's look at some options:Help With Software ImplementationInitially, EdTech service providers can help schools successfully implement eLearning techniques. Without any help, it is difficult for schools to independently adapt to a new way of teaching. It is also worth noting that most older teachers are not as tech-savvy as the younger generation, so it is important to have instructions be as detailed as possible for them. Also, a big plus is the ability to conduct webinars on working with learning platforms, which will allow teachers to interact with them more effectively.Help For Students In NeedAs mentioned earlier, there is a category of students who cannot access the internet or do not have computers at all. In such cases, EdTech service providers can provide technical support to students with financial problems for free or for a nominal fee.AccessibilityWe all understand that everything cannot be free. However, if the applications developed by EdTech service providers have a free set of features that will allow you to perform basic actions to enable remote learning, this would help to reach more schools. Of course, everyone who has the desire and ability can connect additional functions to get the benefits that are not possible with the basic service package. However, this base should be enough to study in remote conditions successfully, given the pandemic.ConclusionNo one can overestimate the meaning of education in the lives of children, especially in the world of a pandemic. At this time, it is highly important to think about the ways of improving teaching methodologies and adapting to remote conditions. One of the ways to help the education industry is to hire educational software developers for designing a custom solution. Qualified professionals can help you to make a product that will perfectly suit your needs and advise how to do it even better. Given the situation in the world, this solution wouldn’t be excessive. Keep in mind that it may happen that your innovative solution will change the game one day. Distance Learning

School Support During The Pandemic With The Help Of EdTech

School and College Trends

From the article published in: School Support During The Pandemic With The Help Of EdTech In the pandemic world, it is highly important to do ...

View Content
Speeding Towards Transformation: 2021 Trends In... Speeding Towards Transformation: 2021 Trends In...

We are approaching the end of 2020, a year unlike any other in the history of finance and accounting. The Covid-19 pandemic and its ...

Professional Services Trends
Professional Services Trends
View
47 Professional-Services-Trends-Professional-Services-Trends jplist-topic-finance jplist-topic-accounting jplist-topic-trends jplist-topic-2021 0 503968 503968

Speeding Towards Transformation: 2021 Trends In Finance And Accounting

Professional Services Trends

We are approaching the end of 2020, a year unlike any other in the history of finance and accounting. The Covid-19 pandemic and its economic, social ...

View Content
Predictions For The Accounting Industry For 2021... Predictions For The Accounting Industry For 2021...

There's not a single industry that hasn't experienced dramatic change in 2020, and that very much includes accounting. We count thousands ...

Professional Services Trends
Professional Services Trends
View
48 Professional-Services-Trends-Professional-Services-Trends jplist-topic-accounting jplist-topic-trends jplist-topic-2021 0 503966 503966 There's not a single industry that hasn't experienced dramatic change in 2020, and that very much includes accounting. We count thousands of accounting practices as clients, and thus have had a front-row seat to these changes. Based on what we've seen and heard from our clients, these are the most important trends the accounting industry will experience in 2021. Clients will increasingly expect accounting and tax professionals to become 'holistic advisers' rather than simply being transactional accountants.Click here to view the article

Predictions For The Accounting Industry For 2021 And Beyond

Professional Services Trends

There's not a single industry that hasn't experienced dramatic change in 2020, and that very much includes accounting. We count thousands of ...

View Content
2021 professional services trends 2021 professional services trends

Lori Rubin, Partner at Odgers Interim US, discusses the five key trends expected to play out in the professional services space in 2021 ...

Professional Services Trends
Professional Services Trends
View
49 Professional-Services-Trends-Professional-Services-Trends jplist-topic-professional jplist-topic-services jplist-topic-2021 0 503963 503963 Lori Rubin, Partner at Odgers Interim US, discusses the five key trends expected to play out in the professional services space in 2021  Last year was a momentous year globally. Although the disruption faced was a great challenge for many, it has propelled professional service firms forward and driven great change in the sector - far beyond what was ever expected in the space of just a few months. Over the course of the next 12 months, we will continue to see the sector reshape and take on a new lease of life, focused on the areas of growth highlighted by the pandemic crisis and driven by technology.  Here is a review of the expected trends and forces set to shape the professional services industry in 2021: Click here to view the article

2021 professional services trends

Professional Services Trends

Lori Rubin, Partner at Odgers Interim US, discusses the five key trends expected to play out in the professional services space in 2021 Last year ...

View Content
What will be the Legal Tech Trends of 2021 (and... What will be the Legal Tech Trends of 2021 (and...

As our CEO recently stated in an op-ed in Forbes, the future looks bright for the legal tech industry. After two record-years for legal ...

Professional Services Trends
Professional Services Trends
View
50 Professional-Services-Trends-Professional-Services-Trends jplist-topic-legal jplist-topic-tech jplist-topic-trends jplist-topic-2021 0 503961 503961 As our CEO recently stated in an op-ed in Forbes, the future looks bright for the legal tech industry. After two record-years for legal tech investments, 2020 dropped a bit in total but ended well. With new vaccines on the market and an economic boost expected just around the corner, 2021 is set to be another record year.Because what 2020 lacked in investments (which wasn't a lot), it definitely had in legal tech adoption. As we have also described elsewhere, the pandemic has forced a digital transformation across all industries, and the legal industry was no exception. Legal tech seems to have reached the slope of enlightenment on Gartner's hype cycle. There is less focus on over-hyped technologies such as robot lawyers, blockchain-enabled smart contracts and fancy AI-tools that never really works.Click here to view the article

What will be the Legal Tech Trends of 2021 (and what will definitely not!)

Professional Services Trends

As our CEO recently stated in an op-ed in Forbes, the future looks bright for the legal tech industry. After two record-years for legal tech ...

View Content
Four BIG Professional Services Trends to Look Out... Four BIG Professional Services Trends to Look Out...

A lot has changed for businesses in the last year. The same is true of professional services organizations that were already reeling in the ...

Professional Services Trends
Professional Services Trends
View
51 Professional-Services-Trends-Professional-Services-Trends jplist-topic-professional jplist-topic-services jplist-topic-trends jplist-topic-2021 jplist-topic-it jplist-topic-engineering jplist-topic-consulting jplist-topic-media jplist-topic-marketing 0 503957 503957

Four BIG Professional Services Trends to Look Out for in 2021

Professional Services Trends

A lot has changed for businesses in the last year. The same is true of professional services organizations that were already reeling in the tech and ...

View Content
3 Trends Impacting Revenue Growth at Professional... 3 Trends Impacting Revenue Growth at Professional...

Biz dev took a hit earlier this year, but these firms learned to adapt and ...

When 7Summits, a firm that helps customers digitally transform their business using Salesforce, tried to land a substantial deal with a ...

Professional Services Trends
Professional Services Trends
View
52 Professional-Services-Trends-Professional-Services-Trends jplist-topic-revenue jplist-topic-growth jplist-topic-professional-services 0 503856 503856 When 7Summits, a firm that helps customers digitally transform their business using Salesforce, tried to land a substantial deal with a global media conglomerate, they didn’t hop on a plane to wine and dine decision makers as many professional services firms have done in the past.  Instead, they turned to their existing private Salesforce community known within the company as The Peak.  “These potential clients opened up the content right away and started posting questions about our proposal on The Peak,” said Paul Stillmank, CEO of 7Summits. “That virtual collaboration automatically provided data and insights that aren’t available in more traditional media and in-person meetings.” For example, Stillmank could see who downloaded a document and posted questions on a forum attached to that document. Those actions signaled an engaged buyer, which informed how they prioritized their next steps and further customized the proposal. 7Summits was ahead of the curve with its virtual business development, but since the pandemic hit in March, other firms have pivoted in this direction. Seventy-eight percent of those working in business development at professional services firms say they’ve had to adapt quickly to new ways of selling, according to data from the recent State of Sales research, which surveyed nearly 6,000 sales and business development professionals worldwide. That finding was among several major trends transforming business development in the professional services industry uncovered in the research.Click here to view the article

3 Trends Impacting Revenue Growth at Professional Services Firms

Professional Services Trends

When 7Summits, a firm that helps customers digitally transform their business using Salesforce, tried to land a substantial deal with a global media ...

View Content
The Future of the Professional Services Industry The Future of the Professional Services Industry

An Age of Disruption

The traditional professional services industry will likely be radically different in ten years. Changing clients’ demands, employee ...

Professional Services Trends
Professional Services Trends
View
53 Professional-Services-Trends-Professional-Services-Trends jplist-topic-professional-services 0 503854 503854 The traditional professional services industry will likely be radically different in ten years. Changing clients’ demands, employee expectations, rapid technology developments, and other external factors will change the nature of jobs and skills required in the future.  Ultimately, these factors, with technology in the lead, may even challenge the very nature of the “practical expertise” that professionals deliver.Click here to view the article

The Future of the Professional Services Industry

Professional Services Trends

The traditional professional services industry will likely be radically different in ten years. Changing clients’ demands, employee expectations, ...

View Content
Office real estate back to normal, in 2025 Office real estate back to normal, in 2025

Published to CNBC.com on September 20, 2020

The article, "Office real estate back to normal, in 2025," is published by CNBC and authored by Korey Matthews.The coronavirus remote ...

Commercial Real Estate Trends
Commercial Real Estate Trends
View
54 Commercial-Real-Estate-Trends-Commercial-Real-Estate-Trends 0 503817 503817 The article, "Office real estate back to normal, in 2025," is published by CNBC and authored by Korey Matthews.The coronavirus remote work experiment will become a permanent trend, but at some point, employees will return to the office in numbers that match the past. When? It could take five years, according to a new forecast from Cushman & Wakefield.Global office vacancies will not return to their pre-Covid peak levels until 2025 and, in all, a net 215 million square feet of office vacancy will have been lost due to the pandemic, according to the outlook from one of the largest real estate services firms in the world. Between Q2 2020, when Covid-19 hit the U.S., and Q3 2021, the net negative office square feet damage will reach 95 million square feet, roughly 10 million square feet more than the financial crisis trough.  The situation will be the worst in the West. During the financial crisis, Canada, Europe and the U.S. recorded a combined loss of 120.5 million of square feet occupancy from peak-to-trough. Including Q2 2020, that will reach over 200 million square feet of “negative absorption” peak-to-trough in the Covid recession, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s analysis. Work from home is ‘very real’ “We know this work from home trend is very real,” Kevin Thorpe, the firm’s chief economist, recently told CNBC.For the study, Cushman & Wakefield surveyed some of largest companies around the world about the future of the office, and attempted to measure both the cyclical impacts of the Covid recession and structural impacts assuming a higher increase in work from home. Thorpe said two key findings emerged. First, office leasing fundamentals will be significantly impacted and vacancies reach an all-time high. But the second find is more encouraging: the office real estate market will fully recover, according to Cushman & Wakefield, largely due to employment growth and the ongoing shift in the U.S. economy’s concentration in certain types of professional jobs.  Synchrony is among the major U.S. corporations moving away from traditional offices to a “hub” model that will enable employees to work from home when they want (or full time) and visit a hub – e.g. a co-working space, Synchrony office, university space or other gathering spots – when they need to meet face-to-face.Thomas Barwick | Getty Images In all, the real estate firm estimates that 82% of the damage will be related to cyclical factors: permanent office job losses and the rise of coworking, while 18% is related to structural factors: primarily assumptions about permanent remote workers and hybrid workers — those who work remotely some of the time.Work from home will double, and hybrid workers will increase. The study estimates that the share of people working permanently from home in the U.S. and Europe will increase from roughly 5-6% pre-Covid-19 to between 10% and 11% post-Covid, while the share of hybrid — also referred to as agile workers — will increase from between 32% to 36% to just under half of all workers.Levi Strauss & Co. CFO Harmit Singh recently told a CNBC @Work virtual event that it pulled the plug on any new commercial real estate during the crisis. “The myth that work from home is not productive has been busted,” the Levi Strauss CFO said. “I believe we will settle into a culture where working from anywhere will be the new norm, with work from home or office or a hybrid arrangement.”Google recently announced it will try a hybrid model of work as most of its employees do not want to be in the office every day.Many younger workers are taking advantage of the Covid remote working shift to travel, embracing a “digital nomadic” lifestyle, a shift which could become permanent for a new generation of labor.Over time, as economy shifts to a knowledge-based, professional services economy, it will offset the flexible workforce trend, Cushman & Wakefield’s study concludes. “But in the near-term, there will be significant challenges for the office sector,” Thorpe said. Many workers still do not feel safe enough to return to office. One study found that only 14% of workers said that they trust their CEOs and senior managers to safely lead them back to work. Global office vacancy will rise from 10.9% pre-Covid crisis to 15.6% by Q2 2022, the study forecasts.Some of the largest companies in the world have been expanding office space in major cities, such as New York, during the crisis.Facebook, which has been acquiring New York real estate for years, agreed last month to a major lease at the old James A. Farley post office building in Manhattan. Amazon has also purchased the Lord & Taylor building on 5th Avenue, and that is even though Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said as much as half of the company’s workers may be remote in the future. In March, just as the Covid crisis hit the U.S., Amazon paid over $1 billion to acquire tha Lord & Taylor building in New York, which includes over 600,000 square feet of space.

Office real estate back to normal, in 2025

Commercial Real Estate Trends

The article, "Office real estate back to normal, in 2025," is published by CNBC and authored by Korey Matthews.The coronavirus remote work ...

View Content
How Cities Are Forging Partnerships to Close the... How Cities Are Forging Partnerships to Close the...

Published in State Tech Magazine on December 10, 2020

From the article, How Cities Are Forging Partnerships to Close the Digital Divide published in the State Tech online magazine by ...

Government Trends
Government Trends
View
55 Government-Trends-Government-Trends jplist-topic-government 0 503803 503803 From the article, How Cities Are Forging Partnerships to Close the Digital Divide published in the State Tech online magazine by author Phil GoldsteinThe coronavirus pandemic has shined a light on the digital divide, exposing a wide gap between those who have access to broadband internet and those who do not. It’s something that smart city leaders are keenly aware of across the country, and they say it has become clearer than ever that equitable access to connectivity is essential for productivity, economic development, education and public health. A report released in February from the company BroadbandNow found the Federal Communications Commission’s estimate that 21 million Americans lack access to broadband actually undercounts the figure by 20 million. This has a cascading effect on students, and an October report from the National Education Association estimates that a quarter of all school-aged children — about 13.5 million in the U.S. — live in households without broadband access or a computer or tablet. Amid the pandemic, cities and counties have continued their efforts to close the digital divide by partnering with nonprofit groups, vendors and schools. They have also used data analytics tools to ensure they are actually achieving equity in their efforts to expand connectivity.Cities Take Steps to Address Digital Equity Cities and counties are taking a variety of measures to help address the digital divide, recognizing the urgency of the issue. The pandemic “pulled back the curtain” on the digital divide in San Antonio, city council member Manny Pelaez said in November during a National League of Cities webinar, StateScoop reports. The city had only really started to look into its digital divide in the months before the pandemic started, he said, and had “launched a survey last December, asking residents whether they had connectivity, digital literacy skills and devices to access government services, schoolwork or health care,” according to StateScoop. As the pandemic unfolded, it became clear in San Antonio that the poorest households needed access to connectivity the most. “We discovered that the determining factor here was income,” Pelaez said. “In very low-income households where the income falls below $20,000, we had 48% of people report they have no internet in their homes.” The city collected its data in an “Equity Atlas” that “visualizes the aggregated education level, income and primary language of different census tracts in the city,” StateScoop reports. The data revealed that when household incomes rose above $60,000 per year, the digital divide started to close; it also showed a sharp divide in digital equity along racial lines. In June, San Antonio announced plans to spend $27 million to connect 20,000 school children via existing network infrastructure and personal Wi-Fi hotspots, as StateScoop notes. “You cannot begin to peel the onion on the problem of digital literacy without having to peel off that layer of race,” Pelaez said. “And it’s an uncomfortable layer to peel off in some places, but you’re not being intellectually honest, you’re not going to solve the problem unless you’re prepared to be comfortable with the discomfort of talking about race.”Meanwhile, in Phoenix, the city is looking to build on emergency efforts put in place earlier this year to make a more lasting impact on closing the digital divide. The city is starting a public-private partnership with schools, technology companies and other city agencies, according to The Arizona Republic. Th plan is currently in the pilot phase and will be rolled out soon “to apartment complexes where there are high numbers of students who don’t have internet connections,” the newspaper reports. The aim is to eventually bring expanded access to connectivity to the entire 250-square-mile Phoenix Union High School District. Students in all districts in Phoenix would eventually be connected to their schools. Christine Mackay, director of the city’s community and economic development department, says the goal is to close the digital divide, give workforce training to residents to maintain new wireless infrastructure and help students prepare for jobs in the new economy, the newspaper reports. “Those students are our workforce of the future … we really succeeded in changing Phoenix into this high-performing, moving economy and we don’t want to go back to the time of low-end call centers as our primary source of economic development,” she said during an October meeting. In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, home to Cleveland, the county in late November issued a request for information for projects and partnerships to help close the digital divide. Specifically, the county is seeking to identify “ready-to-deploy ideas or projects” for expanded access to broadband that range from “new products and pricing, new service options with discounted rates, free Wi-Fi solutions that residents can reach from their homes, or other innovative approaches employing established or emerging technologies.” “While a lack of internet connectivity can be seen in all areas of the County, the County recognizes there are specific cities and neighborhoods where a lack of an internet connection is concentrated,” the request reads. “The goal of this RFI is to identify solutions for all County residents, therefore proposed solutions must address underserved areas and avoid ‘cherry picking,’ or building only to the most affluent areas of the County. If possible, the network should also address problems with service and cost in areas that are currently served.”Cisco Partners with Michigan School Districts Another project to close the digital divide is getting underway in southeastern Michigan. Cisco Systems is partnering with Merit Network’s Michigan Moonshot initiative to provide Wi-Fi hotspots that will extend connectivity outside of schools and public libraries, with 50 sites identified. The goal is to allow students and parents to access the networks in cars and in a socially distant manner during the pandemic. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau cited by Cisco, Detroit’s public schools have the highes number of households in Michigan without internet access, at 82,894, and the Flint City School District has the second highest, with 14,221 households without internet access. Fifty-seven percent of K–12 students in the state’s Washtenaw County do not have high speed Wi-Fi access at home. The project is supported through Cisco’s Country Digital Acceleration program, which works with governments and academic institutions around the world to expand broadband access. Guy Diedrich, a Cisco vice president and global innovation officer for the company, tells StateTech that as governments look to close digital divides around the globe and across the U.S., they need to focus less on turf battles and more on delivering outcomes for those in need. Local and state governments have a clear role to play, he says, because they are closest to the problem and the people. “The government is uniquely suited as — in the best terms — the servant of the people,” he says. “The people of that community are the direct customers of that government. That isn’t necessarily the case for Cisco or academia.” Cisco believes that being connected is “a fundamental human right. Period, full stop,” Diedrich says.The novel coronavirus is not likely going to be the last infectious disease that will spread around the world, Diedrich says, and “this isn’t the last time when being connected will be critical to one’s health, one’s security, one’s safety, one’s education.” “To deny connectivity, to deny access, is at this point immoral,” Diedrich says. Expanded connectivity also should not benefit those who already have a higher place on the socioeconomic ladder, he says, because that will make the have-nots become “invisible.” Expanding access to those who are not connected to broadband will spur a faster economic recovery in the U.S., Diedrich argues. “If nothing else comes out of COVID, what needs to come out of it is an inclusive future,” Diedrich says. “That has got to be the mantra. Not just for every single government, but every single company and every single academic institution throughout the world. CIOs of cities and counties and states should have that as the No. 1 priority of their missions moving forward for at least the next decade."

How Cities Are Forging Partnerships to Close the Digital Divide

Government Trends

From the article, How Cities Are Forging Partnerships to Close the Digital Divide published in the State Tech online magazine by author Phil ...

View Content
How Governments Can Work with Schools to Bridge... How Governments Can Work with Schools to Bridge...

Published in State Tech Magazine on April 1, 2021

From the article, How Governments Can Work with Schools to Bridge the Digital Divide for Students published in the State Tech online ...

Government Trends
Government Trends
View
56 Government-Trends-Government-Trends jplist-topic-government 0 503801 503801 From the article, How Governments Can Work with Schools to Bridge the Digital Divide for Students published in the State Tech online magazine by author Kevin Cucuel The coronavirus pandemic has uncovered large gaps in access to affordable broadband internet, something that local governments have been trying to address for much of the past year. When the pandemic forced schools across the country to quickly transition to remote learning last spring, it also exposed the degree to which students and their families are dependent on reliable broadband connections for their education and well-being. State, county and city governments have been working hand in hand with school districts to deliver funding and get students access to the devices and connectivity they need. Yet what all of those efforts have made clear is that there is no single model that works in every municipality and every school district. State and local government IT leaders, along with their counterparts in school systems, have been working collaboratively in ways they previously hadn’t to solve digital equity challenges.Partnerships with Nonprofits, Vendors and Schools Aid Digital Equity Initially, local governments and school districts set up Wi-Fi hotspots in parking lots at schools and other public buildings. However, that proved to be a stopgap solution in many areas. County governments have been able to use emergency federal funding to help school districts procure devices such as Google Chromebooks, mobile access routers and other devices. As StateTech has reported, in Minneapolis, the city government partnered with the nonprofit PCs for People to obtain 540 computers, including Dell laptops and desktops along with Apple iPad devices, for students in Minneapolis. The city also brokered discussions with internet service providers, and the local provider, U.S. Internet, eventually offered free internet for the school year for families who needed it. In California’s Santa Clara County, the local government was able to allocate $7.1 million in county funding to “help address digital equity issues for the most vulnerable families,” StateTech reports. Ultimately, which entity pays for such devices and connectivity — a government agency or a school district — is not as important as the goal of getting students and their families access to badly needed broadband. Once school districts were able to get devices into students’ hands, where the funding came from didn’t really matter, in many cases. Partners such as CDW•G have helped school districts with managed services for these devices, including setup and cybersecurity protections.How to Close the Digital Divide for the Long Term The pandemic has offered many lessons for government IT leaders, especially at the county and city level, when it comes to the digital divide. The more these leaders are involved in their local communities and connected to their school district leaders, the better off such partnerships will be. Going to school board meetings and fostering regular communication will make the work of expanding digital equity an ongoing, collaborative partnership, and not just an ad hoc initiative needed for emergencies. That will help students and residents in general in the long term. Schools may also be able to take advantage of the resources cities and counties have to offer. For example, schools can leverage Wi-Fi hotspots deployed on public infrastructure and buildings. Public libraries can become destinations for accessing both free Wi-Fi and broadband-enabled devices. Each community will need to determine the best solutions to meet its needs, but knowing what each side of a partnership is doing will help make them more productive. Memorandums of understanding can help delineate responsibilities for each party. The pandemic has made clear that government has a large role to play in providing and fostering access to connectivity. Broadband is the lifeblood of education and the modern economy in the 21st century. Government IT leaders can be instrumental in making sure there is equitable access to such a vital resource.

How Governments Can Work with Schools to Bridge the Digital Divide for Students

Government Trends

From the article, How Governments Can Work with Schools to Bridge the Digital Divide for Students published in the State Tech online magazine by ...

View Content
After Covid-19, Office Leases Largely Come with... After Covid-19, Office Leases Largely Come with...

Published April 6, 2021 on the Wall Street Journal website.

"After Covid-19, Office Leases Largely Come with Bargain Rates" is written by Peter Grant, Editor for the Wall Street Journal. Updated ...

Commercial Real Estate Trends
Commercial Real Estate Trends
View
57 Commercial-Real-Estate-Trends-Commercial-Real-Estate-Trends jplist-topic-commercial jplist-topic-commercial-real-estate jplist-topic-convey jplist-topic-covid-19 jplist-topic-covid jplist-topic-businesses jplist-topic-rent jplist-topic-lease 0 503802 503802 "After Covid-19, Office Leases Largely Come with Bargain Rates" is written by Peter Grant, Editor for the Wall Street Journal. Updated April 6, 2021Big companies are making plans to stick with city-center office buildings, but they are cutting back on space and driving down rent prices for years to come, according to an analysis of U.S. office leasing trends prepared for The Wall Street Journal. The Journal’s leasing information comes from the data firm VTS, which tracks tens of thousands of negotiations across the U.S. between landlords and tenants. Landlord and tenant discussions in seven of the largest office markets offer an early glimpse into the evolving workplace strategies for hundreds of companies after a year of largely remote work. Rent proposals made during the first quarter suggest that many companies in the biggest markets—including New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles—are embracing an emerging hybrid model: maintaining a shrunken office presence while allowing employees to work remotely at least part-time. The terms under negotiation show landlords are offering long-term leases of four and more years at discounts up to 13% below rent rates reached in the first quarter of 2020 when factoring in concessions like periods of free rent, according to VTS. Companies are also seeking on average about 10% less space than they were looking for in the first quarter of 2020. As Covid-19 vaccine rollouts accelerate and more workers feel that it is safe to go back to the office, more companies might look to add office space. But if the current tenor of negotiations persists, it would be setting up building owners for a challenging period.

After Covid-19, Office Leases Largely Come with Bargain Rates

Commercial Real Estate Trends

"After Covid-19, Office Leases Largely Come with Bargain Rates" is written by Peter Grant, Editor for the Wall Street Journal. Updated April 6, ...

View Content
Here's the Technology Government Needs in 2021 Here's the Technology Government Needs in 2021

Published in govtech.com on March 2, 2021

From the article: Here's the Technology Government Needs in 2021 published on govtech.comTech executives from around the country met ...

Government Trends
Government Trends
View
58 Government-Trends-Government-Trends jplist-topic-government 0 503800 503800

Here's the Technology Government Needs in 2021

Government Trends

From the article: Here's the Technology Government Needs in 2021 published on govtech.comTech executives from around the country met online last ...

View Content
Gartner Identifies Top 10 Government Technology... Gartner Identifies Top 10 Government Technology...

Published on gartner.com on March 29, 2021

From the article: Gartner Identifies Top 10 Government Technology Trends for 2021 published on gartner.comGartner, Inc. has identified ...

Government Trends
Government Trends
View
59 Government-Trends-Government-Trends jplist-topic-government 0 503799 503799

Gartner Identifies Top 10 Government Technology Trends for 2021

Government Trends

From the article: Gartner Identifies Top 10 Government Technology Trends for 2021 published on gartner.comGartner, Inc. has identified the top 10 ...

View Content
Is Blockchain the Answer for COVID Vaccine... Is Blockchain the Answer for COVID Vaccine...

Published in govtech.com on April 6, 2021

From the article: Is Blockchain the Answer for COVID Vaccine Passports? published on govtech.comThe public and private sectors are both ...

Government Trends
Government Trends
View
60 Government-Trends-Government-Trends jplist-topic-government 0 503796 503796

Is Blockchain the Answer for COVID Vaccine Passports?

Government Trends

From the article: Is Blockchain the Answer for COVID Vaccine Passports? published on govtech.comThe public and private sectors are both moving at ...

View Content
How a Local Government IT Strategy can Benefit... How a Local Government IT Strategy can Benefit...

Published in govtech.com on November 5, 2020

From the article: How a Local Government IT Strategy can Benefit from Managed Services published in govtech.comAcross the United States, ...

Government Trends
Government Trends
View
61 Government-Trends-Government-Trends jplist-topic-government 0 503795 503795 From the article: How a Local Government IT Strategy can Benefit from Managed Services published in govtech.comAcross the United States, smart city initiatives and digital transformation trends are shaping local governments' approaches to information technology (IT). Meanwhile, state and local government technology is being heavily influenced by connectivity and faster networking, including the adoption of 5G. However, building out a much-needed networking infrastructure can prove difficult for the public sector. Local governments must meet strict requirements with limited budgets. When it comes to local government IT strategy and technology adoption, government leaders should consider tapping into managed services so they can build from a foundation of reliability and robust security. Here's why taking advantage of managed services can be the best option for ensuring network stability and actively identifying and defending against threats while accommodating the budget constraints of the public sector. SMART CITIES AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION DRIVE NETWORKING NEEDS The challenge for those driving municipal government IT strategy is how to transition to a networking infrastructure that can not only provide a foundation for the transformation of existing service delivery but also accommodate emerging use cases. The infrastructure must be supported by strong business continuity planning and capabilities to guarantee service delivery to citizens, especially as systems become more intertwined and automated. Digital transformation is a driving force behind smart city development, which demands reliable connectivity to applications and resources. But as state and local government technology trends also encompass emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G to support smart buildings and autonomous vehicles, there's even more opportunity for threat actors to compromise security. For municipal governments grappling with budget constraints, being innovative and staying secure at the same time is a tall order. Just as the key to smart city development is identifying specific goals and projects with metrics that can be measured, building a network infrastructure should be based on a needs assessment that is tied to desired capabilities and services. The smart cities movement involves a great deal of digitization. This includes the use of sensors and data collection and analysis to better manage a whole host of services, from online portals for paying taxes and applying for permits for water and power delivery as well as traffic management. In parallel, digital transformation is data-dependent, which means it requires a network infrastructure that can support transferring large volumes of information at high speeds. In addition to a strong networking infrastructure, a local government IT strategy that involves significant digitization means a migration from on-premises to cloud-based solutions in remote data centers as well as smaller hubs to support edge computing. Though cloud computing offers many benefits, including better uptime and compliance, building out the infrastructure can be an expensive proposition for a municipality to undertake on its own. Digital transformation involves breaking down silos between departments so that they are no longer maintaining different applications and can communicate seamlessly. This results in better overall efficiency and improved service delivery for citizens. However, assessing and building out a robust networking infrastructure to connect remote data centers, edge computing and IoT devices is not for the faint of heart. Add to that the migration to cloud computing and unifying applications and platforms across the entire municipality, and IT leaders face a daunting task that may not be feasible without outside help. COLLABORATE TO CONSTRUCT A MODERN IT INFRASTRUCTURE Not only is it difficult for a budget-constrained municipality to build its own IT infrastructure, but keeping up with advances in technology while staying compliant is also a challenge, especially as citizens expect the same user experience they receive from private sector companies. Because it can help to quickly establish the secure networking and computing infrastructure necessary to support digital transformation and a smart city agenda, enlisting the help of a managed services provider should be a high priority for any local government IT strategy. A managed service provider is in a strong position to address issues and vulnerabilities before they become a crisis by proactively securing your network and data with strong cyber security policies and procedures. Robust security is enabled by the modernization of a municipality's current IT infrastructure, something a managed service provider can do efficiently and at scale, whether it's providing and managing end-user workstations or upgrading your networking so it's faster and more secure. They don't replace your technology team so much as augment it by making sure your infrastructure is current and compliant. This allows you to focus on more strategic initiatives, such as your smart city agenda—which your managed service provider can also support. From a budget perspective, a provider enables you to pay a predictable monthly fee for your network, computing and data storage needs, without having to make huge capital investments. You can scale up or down as your needs change. A third party can even provide targeted managed services, such as managed security services or managed network services, including wide area network optimization services that can help support the performance of even the most intensive apps, whether in-house, externally hosted or in the cloud. If your local government IT team plans to take the lead on most initiatives, a managed services provider can ensure network redundancy and uptime through business continuity services, including supporting remote collaboration through secure connections in the event of a sudden need to shift to working off-site. State and local government technology trends, including smart city development that leverages IoT and 5G, can be difficult to incorporate into a local government IT strategy. As a collaborative partner, a managed services provider can help maintain regular operations while modernizing infrastructure in a scalable, cost-effective manner.

How a Local Government IT Strategy can Benefit from Managed Services

Government Trends

From the article: How a Local Government IT Strategy can Benefit from Managed Services published in govtech.comAcross the United States, smart city ...

View Content
2021 Commercial Real Estate Industry Outlook 2021 Commercial Real Estate Industry Outlook

Article posted on Dec 3, 2020 to Deloitte.com/us

Written by Jim Berry and Kathy Feucht on Deloitte's outlook for 2021 Commercial Real Estate Breaking inertia, gaining momentum THE ...

Commercial Real Estate Trends
Commercial Real Estate Trends
View
62 Commercial-Real-Estate-Trends-Commercial-Real-Estate-Trends jplist-topic-deloitte jplist-topic-industry-outlook jplist-topic-forecast jplist-topic-commercial-real-estate jplist-topic-covid-19 jplist-topic-impact 0 503794 503794 Written by Jim Berry and Kathy Feucht on Deloitte's outlook for 2021 Commercial Real Estate Breaking inertia, gaining momentum THE impact of COVID-19 on the global economy and the CRE industry has made 2020 the most memorable year in recent history. CRE companies have needed to digitize operations, close physical facilities due to extensive lockdowns, and prepare for reopening, while ensuring the health and safety of employees and occupiers and considering the financial health of tenants and end users. With economic recovery heavily dependent on a vaccine, the length of this downturn remains uncertain. As we write this outlook, economic activity is contracting due to a fresh resurgence of the virus in Europe.1 Large Asia-Pacific (APAC) economies such as Japan and Australia haven’t yet turned the corner to growth, India is facing a severe downturn, and strained relationships between the United States and China are creating significant geopolitical tensions.2 According to Deloitte’s economic forecast, in the United States, it is expected that “a vaccine and/or treatment will allow normal economic activity to begin to resume in mid-2021.”3 As it will take time to deploy the vaccine, our economists expect growth to remain somewhat constrained for a period of time.4 (Click here to read Deloitte’s latest US Economic Forecast.) The CRE macro environment is being impacted similarly. But there is a dichotomy in operating fundamentals among property types—industrial real estate, health care, data centers, and cell towers have been positively disrupted, while offices, hotels, and retail have felt the negative effects. Global CRE deal volume declined 36% year over year (YoY) to US$306B in 2Q20 due to economic stagnation and an uncertain pricing environment.5 Prices are showing early signs of stress across the more negatively impacted property types. 6 For instance, US retail and office price indices declined 4.1% and 0.5% YoY in August. In contrast, industrial property index rose 7.4% YoY.7 Unlike the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), CRE companies had generally strong financials at the start of the pandemic and debt markets remain sufficiently liquid. Yet, troubled loans are rising; banks, fearing higher delinquencies, are tightening lending standards.8 In several sectors, rent collections have remained healthy, but largely because of higher tenant incentives and leasing concessions. Along with the evolving financial landscape, the pandemic has resulted in tectonic shifts in the way people live, work, and play, which has put unique pressures on certain property sectors. With this as the backdrop, we wanted to understand how well-equipped CRE leaders were to weather the current economic situation, how they are planning to recover over the next 12 months, and how they are preparing to remain competitive and thrive in the long term. To do this, we surveyed 200 CRE senior executives—owners/operators, developers, brokers, and investors—in 10 countries during the summer of 2020. (See sidebar, “Methodology,” for more details about the survey.) Overall, most survey respondents felt their companies were unprepared in certain important areas and that the industry continues to struggle to adapt their long-term strategies (figure 1). Some key challenges: Only one-third of respondents agree or strongly agree that they have the resources and skills required to operate a digitally transformed business.Less than 50% of respondents consider digital tenant experience a core competency of their organization.Only 41% of respondents said their company has stepped up efforts to redefine business processes, job roles, and skill requirements to include the use of technology and tools. CRE company leaders have their work cut out. To position their companies to thrive long term, they need to break inertia to move into rapid recovery. As monumental as 2020 has been, 2021 could be even more so; the critical decisions and investments leaders make now could come to fruition over the next 12 months. They should strive to be digital—optimizing business, operating, and customer models for a digital environment. Rapid digital transformation will likely be needed to build operational resilience, maintain a strong financial position, develop and retain talent, and create an enabling culture. Mastering the tightrope For many CRE industry leaders, the pandemic has been an eye-opener. It has tested the resilience of every single leader across the globe, and likely will for many months to come. COVID-19 has forced companies to focus on cost containment and for many, heightened the need for—and pace of—digital transformation. Yet, the importance of empathy and human connection is also coming to the fore. People are increasingly missing human interaction, which was vastly reduced or eliminated due to shelter-in-place orders for a long period of time, and in some regions continues. And people remain anxious about their health and well-being and the health and well-being of their families and friends, which is compounded by growing concerns about climate change and political unrest in many parts of the world.37 Leaders should therefore master the art of walking on a tightrope—balancing business recovery, seizing new opportunities, and tenant and employee engagement. This will likely require a combination of elements: breaking down functional silos, enhancing leadership and organizational agility, increasing levels of collaboration and communication, and engaging in transparent and ethical decision-making. Traversing the tightrope effectively in these ways could differentiate organizations from their less successful competitors in the not-too-distant future.

2021 Commercial Real Estate Industry Outlook

Commercial Real Estate Trends

Written by Jim Berry and Kathy Feucht on Deloitte's outlook for 2021 Commercial Real Estate Breaking inertia, gaining momentum THE impact of ...

View Content
Local Officials Harness Cloud Capabilities for... Local Officials Harness Cloud Capabilities for...

Published in State Tech Magazine on April 8, 2021

From the article, Local Officials Harness Cloud Capabilities for Emergency Management published in the State Tech online magazine by ...

Government Trends
Government Trends
View
63 Government-Trends-Government-Trends jplist-topic-government 0 503790 503790

Local Officials Harness Cloud Capabilities for Emergency Management

Government Trends

From the article, Local Officials Harness Cloud Capabilities for Emergency Management published in the State Tech online magazine by author Tommy ...

View Content
What 2021 Looks Like for the Commercial Real... What 2021 Looks Like for the Commercial Real...

Forbes.com; Published on March 19, 2021

Galit Ventura- Rozen for Forbes.com, writes on What 2021 Looks Like for the Commercial Real Estate Market. Published March 19, 2021.The ...

Commercial Real Estate Trends
Commercial Real Estate Trends
View
64 Commercial-Real-Estate-Trends-Commercial-Real-Estate-Trends 0 503791 503791

What 2021 Looks Like for the Commercial Real Estate Market

Commercial Real Estate Trends

Galit Ventura- Rozen for Forbes.com, writes on What 2021 Looks Like for the Commercial Real Estate Market. Published March 19, 2021.The pandemic ...

View Content
What Impact has COVID-19 had on Commercial Real... What Impact has COVID-19 had on Commercial Real...

A report from the World Economic Forum published April 6, 2021

The article on The Economic Impact of COVID-19 is from the World Economic Forum website and is written by Andrea Deghi, Financial ...

Commercial Real Estate Trends
Commercial Real Estate Trends
View
65 Commercial-Real-Estate-Trends-Commercial-Real-Estate-Trends jplist-topic-covid-19 jplist-topic-commercial-real-estate jplist-topic-real-estate jplist-topic-economics jplist-topic-reports 0 503782 503782

What Impact has COVID-19 had on Commercial Real Estate?

Commercial Real Estate Trends

The article on The Economic Impact of COVID-19 is from the World Economic Forum website and is written by Andrea Deghi, Financial Sector Expert, ...

View Content
Foreign Investment Update: Where Capital will... Foreign Investment Update: Where Capital will...

Published by Commercial Property Executive on March 12, 2021

Published on March 12, 2021 for the Commercial Property Executive; Gail Kalinoski writes on the Foreign Investment Update: Where Capital ...

Commercial Real Estate Trends
Commercial Real Estate Trends
View
66 Commercial-Real-Estate-Trends-Commercial-Real-Estate-Trends jplist-topic-commercial-real-estate jplist-topic-commercial-property jplist-topic-covid-19 jplist-topic-2021 0 503787 503787

Foreign Investment Update: Where Capital will Travel in 2021

Commercial Real Estate Trends

Published on March 12, 2021 for the Commercial Property Executive; Gail Kalinoski writes on the Foreign Investment Update: Where Capital will Travel ...

View Content
The Value of Virtual Care: The Advantages of... The Value of Virtual Care: The Advantages of...

Article from HealthTechZone.com published on March 11, 2021

From the article: The Value of Virtual Care: The Advantages of Telemedicine published in healthtechzone.com:Virtual care became a ...

Healthcare Trends
Healthcare Trends
View
67 Healthcare-Trends-Healthcare-Trends jplist-topic-Healthcare jplist-topic-medical 0 503786 503786

The Value of Virtual Care: The Advantages of Telemedicine

Healthcare Trends

From the article: The Value of Virtual Care: The Advantages of Telemedicine published in healthtechzone.com:Virtual care became a valuable ...

View Content
Digital, Omnichannel Platforms Modernize Patient... Digital, Omnichannel Platforms Modernize Patient...

Article from HealthTechZone.com published on March 11, 2021

From the article: Digital, Omnichannel Platforms Modernize Patient Access published in healthtechzone.com:When it comes to ...

Healthcare Trends
Healthcare Trends
View
68 Healthcare-Trends-Healthcare-Trends jplist-topic-Healthcare jplist-topic-medical 0 503784 503784

Digital, Omnichannel Platforms Modernize Patient Access

Healthcare Trends

From the article: Digital, Omnichannel Platforms Modernize Patient Access published in healthtechzone.com:When it comes to communicating with ...

View Content
How Surgeons Use VR Technology to Train and Adapt How Surgeons Use VR Technology to Train and Adapt

Article from HealthTechZone.com published on November 25, 2020

From the article: How Surgeons Use VR Technology to Train and Adapt published in healthtechzone.com:Surgical training platforms that ...

Healthcare Trends
Healthcare Trends
View
69 Healthcare-Trends-Healthcare-Trends jplist-topic-Healthcare jplist-topic-medical 0 503783 503783

How Surgeons Use VR Technology to Train and Adapt

Healthcare Trends

From the article: How Surgeons Use VR Technology to Train and Adapt published in healthtechzone.com:Surgical training platforms that leverage ...

View Content
VA, Air Force Test Out 5G in Hospital Settings VA, Air Force Test Out 5G in Hospital Settings

Article from HealthTechZone.com published on March 4, 2021

From the article: VA, Air Force Test Out 5G in Hospital Settings published in healthtechzone.com: In February 2020, the VA Palo Alto ...

Healthcare Trends
Healthcare Trends
View
70 Healthcare-Trends-Healthcare-Trends jplist-topic-Healthcare jplist-topic-medical 0 503779 503779

VA, Air Force Test Out 5G in Hospital Settings

Healthcare Trends

From the article: VA, Air Force Test Out 5G in Hospital Settings published in healthtechzone.com: In February 2020, the VA Palo Alto Health Care ...

View Content
During the Pandemic, Remote Patient Monitoring... During the Pandemic, Remote Patient Monitoring...

Article from HealthTechZone.com published on April 5, 2021

From the article: During the Pandemic, Remote Patient Monitoring Took on New Meaning for Doctors published in healthtechzone.com: When ...

Healthcare Trends
Healthcare Trends
View
71 Healthcare-Trends-Healthcare-Trends jplist-topic-Healthcare jplist-topic-medical 0 503736 503736

During the Pandemic, Remote Patient Monitoring Took on New Meaning for Doctors

Healthcare Trends

From the article: During the Pandemic, Remote Patient Monitoring Took on New Meaning for Doctors published in healthtechzone.com: When the ...

View Content
Kentucky hospital 1st in US to implant Bluetooth... Kentucky hospital 1st in US to implant Bluetooth...

Article from BeckersHospitalReview.com published on October 15, 2020

From the article: Kentucky hospital 1st in US to implant Bluetooth heart device from beckershospitalreview.com: A surgical team at St. ...

Healthcare Trends
Healthcare Trends
View
72 Healthcare-Trends-Healthcare-Trends jplist-topic-Healthcare jplist-topic-medical 0 503738 503738 From the article: Kentucky hospital 1st in US to implant Bluetooth heart device from beckershospitalreview.com: A surgical team at St. Elizabeth Edgewood (Ky.) Hospital recently performed the first implantation of a Bluetooth-connected cardiac defibrillator in the U.S. The device, called the Abbott Gallant, is a biventricular implantable cardiac defibrillator that earned FDA approval in July and is the first to wirelessly pair with a smartphone app for patients.  Mohamad Sinno, MD, a cardiac electrophysiology specialist at St. Elizabeth Edgewood, led the procedure. Learn more here.

Kentucky hospital 1st in US to implant Bluetooth heart device

Healthcare Trends

From the article: Kentucky hospital 1st in US to implant Bluetooth heart device from beckershospitalreview.com: A surgical team at St. Elizabeth ...

View Content
4 Healthcare Technology Trends Expected to Boom... 4 Healthcare Technology Trends Expected to Boom...

Article from healthtechmagazine.net published March 8, 2021

From the article: 4 Healthcare Technology Trends Expected to Boom During COVID-19 published in healthtechmagazine.net: When the pandemic ...

Healthcare Trends
Healthcare Trends
View
73 Healthcare-Trends-Healthcare-Trends jplist-topic-Healthcare jplist-topic-medical 0 503773 503773

4 Healthcare Technology Trends Expected to Boom During COVID-19

Healthcare Trends

From the article: 4 Healthcare Technology Trends Expected to Boom During COVID-19 published in healthtechmagazine.net: When the pandemic hit in ...

View Content
10 emerging trends in health IT for 2021 10 emerging trends in health IT for 2021

Article from BeckersHospitalReview.com published December 28th, 2020

From the article: 10 emerging trends in health IT for 2021 published in beckershospitalreview.com:Health IT adoption skyrocketed in 2020 ...

Healthcare Trends
Healthcare Trends
View
74 Healthcare-Trends-Healthcare-Trends jplist-topic-Healthcare jplist-topic-medical 0 503735 503735 From the article: 10 emerging trends in health IT for 2021 published in beckershospitalreview.com:Health IT adoption skyrocketed in 2020 as hospitals, health systems and patients increasingly relied on digital health technologies for care delivery during the pandemic, setting the stage for continued growth and innovation in 2021. Becker's health IT team has compiled 10 of the top health IT trends on CIOs' radars for next year, from telehealth to cybersecurity and big data. 1. The CIO and IT teams evolution. Health systems relied on technology to swiftly move to virtual care, remote work and more coordinated communication and data management during the pandemic. Cybersecurity was also a new priority as ransomware attackers hit hospitals and health systems. As a result, the CIO's expertise was in high demand in 2020, and that will likely continue in the new year. "At Providence we are seeing firsthand the expansion of the CIO role and its elevated value in the health system," said B.J. Moore, executive vice president and CIO of Renton, Wash.-based Providence. "I now report to our CEO, Rod Hochman, MD, and my role has expanded to include our real estate and operations function. This is in recognition of the future of a modern digital workforce and the evolution of our facilities in the future of modern digitally enabled care delivery." Organizations will continue accelerated digital transformation next year, and the CIO's role will evolve to look more like that of a COO's, overseeing the organization's strategy and risk management. IT teams also are evolving to include more people with clinical backgrounds, data scientists and senior security professionals. 2. A new age of cybersecurity. Hackers stepped up their efforts to attack healthcare providers in 2020 to go beyond phishing attacks and stealing information to sell on the dark web. Ransomware attacks, especially during the second half of the year, shut down IT systems and slowed operations at hospitals and healthcare facilities across the U.S. As a preemptive measure, even organizations that didn't have a security incident cut off external emails and increased screening of incoming emails in October after hackers hit six hospitals with ransomware in 24 hours. The attacks emphasized the importance of strong cybersecurity and investment in secure data storage. IT teams will need to effectively communicate good cyber hygiene to staff members to prevent attacks and troubleshoot vulnerabilities as more work goes permanently remote. In 2021, it won't be surprising to see more health systems investing in cybersecurity technology and talent as a top priority and planning for cyberattacks as a "when" and not "if" scenario. 3. Telehealth and remote care expansion. While CMS and big payers relaxed regulations on telehealth to help providers continue safely offering care during the pandemic, hospitals and health systems will continue addressing how to incorporate virtual care as part of their long-term care strategy after the public health emergency ends. The pandemic also has accelerated advances in remote managed care both for patients with chronic conditions as well as those who have COVID-19 but don't need to be hospitalized. These developments have signaled a shift to a hybrid care model, which will replace mostly in-person visits with a combination of both telehealth and in-person visits for services ranging from follow-ups to urgent care. 4. EHRs evolving with new capabilities. As digital voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Home have secured a place in consumers' living rooms, hospitals and health systems are inviting similar technologies into patient rooms. With tech developments increasingly focused on natural language processing and ambient listening capabilities, EHR vendors Epic and Cerner both inked deals to integrate Nuance's virtual assistant in their software this year, and Epic is working on its own ambient voice tech called Hey Epic! AI startup Saykara launched a new voice assistant this year that operates both ambiently and autonomously, so it can listen to and understand the context of a patient-physician conversation without being prompted by voice commands. The company counts New York City-based NewYork-Presbyterian's innovation arm as an investor, and Seattle-based Swedish Medical Group is a customer. 5. Blossoming of artificial intelligence and machine learning in healthcare. AI is not new in healthcare. Organizations have used artificial intelligence and machine learning in hospital administration and operations for years, specifically in the revenue cycle process. Before the pandemic, researchers began testing AI models to read medical images, yielding mixed results and leaving some wondering whether AI and machine learning would live up to the hype. But in the last year AI became crucial in developing predictive models for COVID-19 cases spreading across the country. Academic institutions and health systems, including New York City-based Mount Sinai; Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins; Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic; and University of California-Irvine developed predictive tools and models to track the virus and estimate the risk of COVID-19 patients developing severe symptoms. The field will continue to evolve and become more integrated with clinical care in the coming years. "A combination of wearables and other biomedical devices, combined with machine learning and artificial intelligence will continue to transform clinical research, treatment protocols and increase the virtual care capabilities of health providers," Eric Yablanka, CIO and associate dean of technology and digital solutions at Stanford Health Care and School of Medicine in Palo Alto, Calif., told Becker's in a September interview. "This will challenge traditional healthcare organizations to compete with emerging retail and virtual providers in ways we have not experienced before. It will also enable healthcare delivery science and bring data scientists to the forefront of improving patient care outcomes." 6. Big data management becomes a need. The digital transformation among health systems was well underway when 2020 began, and the pandemic underscored the need for centralized and efficient data management. Data-gathering and reporting efforts sped up during the pandemic, and even small organizations are eyeing cloud implementations to securely store and coordinate data. Microsoft, Amazon and Google all have healthcare-specific clouds. For academic medical centers, the stakes are higher, as secure research becomes a larger priority. "I really think investment in our cloud-based research platforms around high performance computing, artificial intelligence and the machine learning toolkits and integrating them back into our EHR is really key," said Michael Pfeffer, MD, assistant vice chancellor and CIO of UCLA Health during an interview on the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. "We are continuing to invest heavily in that, from a cost and resource standpoint. We are incorporating our EHR data with genomics data and other kinds of data, such as real-time wait forms and radiological images. "All of these things are so critical to our research mission and improving patient care — that translational aspect of taking research-derived algorithms or other type of technologies and applying that into the operations and patient care-delivery aspects of what we do — that is a real area of investment for 2021." 7. Predictive analytics moves to the forefront. The accelerated digital transformation in 2020 means more health systems now have the technical capabilities to practice precision medicine and inch closer to predictive analytics. Mount Sinai Health System in New York City created machine learning-powered models to identify high risk and likelihood of mortality among COVID-19 patients for more efficient patient management. Pittsburgh-based UPMC has been on the forefront of using data analytics with its clinical data warehouse that provides insights to clinicians and patients. The health system continuously improves upon their system by layering on new tools, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, bringing them closer to predictive analytics. "The use of analytical insights in the healthcare industry is very reactive," said Ed McCallister, senior vice president and CIO of UPMC in an interview with Becker's. "In the future, we envision that the analytic insights will evolve to be used at the bedside during the point of care. We also envision that analytics will enable us to proactively manage care and our patient population to keep them out of the hospital and healthy. We are already doing this today in some parts of UPMC and hope to expand this to all clinical departments and service lines." 8. EHR advances: Interoperability, standardization and the cloud. This year helped pave the way for advancements in EHR interoperability and standardization, with HHS' finalization of its interoperability rules to innovations spurred by the need for record sharing during the pandemic. With the federal government's new regulations, which aim to help patients gain better control of their health data via smartphone apps, interoperability is expected to increase between providers, payers and health tech developers. In November, Google launched its new healthcare interoperability readiness program to help healthcare organizations navigate and prepare for the new changes, and EHR giant Epic reported a sharp uptick in the number of patient records transferred between providers using its Care Everywhere interoperability platform; more than 221 million patient records were shared in November — a 40 percent increase year over year. More hospitals and health systems are also making the transition to cloud platforms and partnering with big tech giants, including Microsoft, Amazon and Google, to host their EHRs and information systems to offer real-time data insights and more storage solutions. 9. Digital front door and the digitization of the consumer experience. The pandemic ushered in a newfound era of social distancing, which has forced healthcare organizations to ramp up their digital presence and capabilities to stay connected to patients. With the "digital front door," serving as the first impression potential patients have of a health system, online experience has become a critical component of their overall reputation. As hospitals and health systems look to the future, many, such as Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health and SCL Health in Broomfield, Colo., are investing in a digital front door, which includes the organization's website and mobile apps that host the online patient portal, scheduling, telehealth visits and educational resources. 10. Clinical IT advancements. Augmented reality, wearable technologies and IoT devices in clinical care are steadily advancing within the hospital's four walls. With COVID-19 limiting direct contact, health systems have turned to robotics for tasks from facilitating video chat communications for patients to virtual reality headsets that display a clinician's first-person point of view from inside patient rooms remotely to the rest of the care team. Robotic surgery developments are expected to continue across the healthcare system, in areas including spine, cardiology and oncology. In October, a surgical team at St. Elizabeth Edgewood (Ky.) Hospital became the first hospital in the U.S. to implant a Bluetooth-connected cardiac defibrillator, which can wirelessly pair with a smartphone app for patients to control. By 2025, the global medical robots market is expected to reach $12.7 billion, up from about $5.9 billion in 2020.

10 emerging trends in health IT for 2021

Healthcare Trends

From the article: 10 emerging trends in health IT for 2021 published in beckershospitalreview.com:Health IT adoption skyrocketed in 2020 as ...

View Content
5 Professional Services trends to watch out for 5 Professional Services trends to watch out for

Article Published in Saxiom.com and updated on March 18, 2021

From the article, "5 Professional Services Trends to Watch Out for" published in Saxom.com:The technology-tycoon Bill Gates has once ...

Professional Services Trends
Professional Services Trends
View
75 Professional-Services-Trends-Professional-Services-Trends jplist-topic-professional-services 0 503732 503732 From the article, "5 Professional Services Trends to Watch Out for" published in Saxom.com:The technology-tycoon Bill Gates has once said, ‘IT and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don’t think one can talk meaningfully about one without talking about the other.’The business industry has seen a massive transformation in terms of work culture, management practices, skill requirements, and so on over the past decade. Technology is the major propeller behind these reinventions. It has empowered and enabled businesses to expand their horizons.For example, telepresence has facilitated employers to recruit from beyond geographical peripheries. The second major example is Automation. It has eliminated the need to spend countless hours on mundane admin work. Employees can now focus and spend time on human-specific business work that demands critical thinking. The list of these instances is endless.One of the major industries that have seen a paradigm shift is the Professional Services Industry.With ever-evolving market trends, there is a radical shift in customer demands, business models, and the way services are delivered to the clients.It’s time for decision-makers to accept and adopt these trends to stay relevant in the long haul.1. What are professional services?Professional services encompass a plethora of occupations that extend support to businesses in the form of consulting, advice, or by performing other tertiary roles.Some of the key services include:Law- Providing legal assistance to the firms to ensure they adhere to the current laws and regulations.Audit & Accounting– Reviewing and assessing financial accounts to ascertain the legality of their financial records.Consulting– Working coherently with the organization to help them maximize their operational efficiencyFinancial advisory- Helping the decision-makers to make sound investments and secure their financesActuarial Science- Predicting and evaluating future financial risks using statistical modelsThe reason behind taking external help from these services is their professional expertise, business acumen, and years of experience. Thus, to keep serving the organizations to the best of their abilities, every professional services firm has to keep up with the trends and adopt a core strategy that aligns with the ever-evolving market.2. Re-evaluate the core strategy to align with the new normsThe two paramount characteristics that set the professional service firm apart from other business are:The bespoke service they offer to every client regardless of the tools and models used.The underlying nature of cultivating and fostering long-lasting client relationships.In order to maintain the competitive edge, it’s imperative to walk along with the new norms that are redefining your industry. For instance, you cannot compete in a technology-driven market with silos of data and legacy tools. You need to equip the advanced and robust software to provide automated delivery and more-accurate insights to the clients.The new norms that are driven by technology and other factors demand a more agile, value-driven, and tech-enabled firm. Thus one has to focus on the proactive and targeted transformation of their core strategy to increase sustainability.These innovative trends that are compelling you to redefine your strategy can be categorized into two sections:Business-centricThe emergence of Automation and Artificial IntelligenceIncrease in globalization and virtual officesA value-driven revenue modelEmployee-centricRecruitment of hybrid talent to fill the skill gapsA tech-enabled work-culture to enhance team engagementHere is a description of each one of these in detail:The trends that will transform the PS industryBusiness-centric trendsAccording to a report by Mckinsey, a leading bank automated about 900 of its back-end operations to relieve 50% of its full-time employees from their admin tasks. Some of these employees were successfully deployed in other meaningful activities within the bank to increase overall productivity.3.3 A value-driven revenue modelProfessional services like Audit & Accounting charge the client on an hourly basis. This billing model does not consider the value generated out of each task. For example, an hour of billable work is leading to 10% of tax savings for the client. However, you are still invoicing the client based on the employee’s charge out rate rather than on the task’s value.This reduces the profit margins for professional services firms and the clients fail to see the benefits of the overall project. To change this, firms are now opting for a value-driven revenue model that will bill the client based on the benefits and profits they make during the course of the project.A client will now pay for the overall gains such as tax savings, ROIs, insurance claims, and so on. This shift from time-driven to the value-driven model allows PS firms to get more clients and increase their profitability. Furthermore, these tools provide real-time visibility of resource schedules and their utilization levels. Managers can leverage this and optimize resource allocation thereby preventing employee burnout.3.5 A tech-enabled work-culture to enhance team engagementTeam engagement is critical to driving business to success. According to Forbes, highly engaged teams show 21% greater profitability. Encouraging team engagement is easy when you are working in co-located offices. However, it becomes a challenge when your team is distributed across different locations.With the advent of highly-advanced collaboration tools and companies investing to foster a tech-enabled work culture, employees can communicate and share important information in real-time. This enhances team engagement and allows quick problem-solving.Moreover, when teams are connected, their productivity increases and gives better results. Professional services firms are therefore indulging in building a tech-enabled work environment that will strengthen their employee’s morale and improve performance.Conclusion- The future of Professional Services The growing trends and technology have provided a historic opportunity for the professional services industry to pivot and change the nature of business. If the firms adapt to these evolutions, how will the future face of PS look like? The project-delivery will be more efficient, accurate, and data-driven. The client-engagement will grow leaps and bounds in the presence of advanced collaboration tools. The ease of sharing real-time data will escalate and simplify performance tracking. Business Intelligence will provide comprehensive reports on varied project metrics that will allow you to predict and plan in advance. In addition to this, automation will improve the productive utilization of resources to a great extent. Overall, the ever-evolving trends will disrupt and change the face of the professional services industry. Are you ready to evolve and grow along with them?

5 Professional Services trends to watch out for

Professional Services Trends

From the article, "5 Professional Services Trends to Watch Out for" published in Saxom.com:The technology-tycoon Bill Gates has once said, ‘IT ...

View Content
13 Big Retail Tech Trends To Watch For In 2021 13 Big Retail Tech Trends To Watch For In 2021

Article posted in Forbes.com on March 8, 2021

From the Forbes Technology Council post in Forbes.com entitled: 13 Big Retail Tech Trends to Watch For in 2021While e-commerce has been ...

Retail Trends
Retail Trends
View
76 Retail-Trends-Retail-Trends jplist-topic-retail 0 503725 503725 From the Forbes Technology Council post in Forbes.com entitled: 13 Big Retail Tech Trends to Watch For in 2021While e-commerce has been on the rise since its inception, the unprecedented events of 2020 caused it to skyrocket as consumers avoided the risks of in-person shopping. As people continue to work and shop online in 2021, retail tech shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon.With that in mind, those in the e-commerce sphere should keep an eye on new and emerging industry trends to stay competitive. Below, the members of Forbes Technology Council share 13 retail tech trends to watch for in 2021.1. AI-Based Inventory Management SystemsThe traditional approach to customer satisfaction focuses on increasing inventory rather than increasing product availability. There is a rising interest in strengthening inventory management systems with AI-based tools that not only make demand forecasts more accurate but also improve a retailer’s ability to satisfy a customer who walks in the door, whether physically or online. - Taresh Grover, mySupplier2. E-Commerce MarketplacesMarketplaces are the natural evolution of the stand-alone Web store. They benefit all parties engaged in e-commerce. Buyers are getting overwhelmed with too many stores and options, and sellers are struggling to get their customers’ attention. With marketplaces, buyers can find and compare products and check out, all while staying within a single platform. Sellers gain access to buyers they might otherwise miss. - Yoav Kutner, Oro Inc.3. Data Analytics For Cost And Safety ManagementStore operations are now a C-suite concern for retailers, from cleanliness to reconfiguring layouts for customer and employee safety. This requires financial discipline, and in 2021 we’ll see a focus on using data to manage and predict costs. Whether it’s maximizing contractor value or documenting sanitation for compliance purposes, data analytics will define store management in the year ahead. - Tom Buiocchi, ServiceChannelMORE FOR YOUUlta Beauty Optimistic About Physical Retail As New CEO Is AnnouncedRetail’s Future: Open-Air, Curbside, And Data-DrivenThe 5 Biggest Retail Trends In 20214. Agile Marketing StrategiesAs some stores remain closed, retailers need to examine how they can enhance the digital customer experience. Multichannel retailers need to convince people to shop both online and in-store. They also must stand out from the competition, especially online-only retailers, which is essential for survival. To do this, retailers must quickly respond to market developments and apply agile marketing strategies. - Mirko Holzer, BrandMaker5. Pop-Up Shops And In-Store ExperiencesPeople are hungry for real-life experiences. Physical retail stores should not be thought of as the primary way to sell or even as a location to warehouse things; instead, they are marketing opportunities. With this in mind, pop-up shops and in-store experiences—tactile, scent and sound-based as well as those featuring expensive tech—will be showcased to drive sales and awareness online. - Joaquin Lippincott, Metal Toad6. Collaborative Analytics E-commerce businesses must contend with Amazon, which has much more information about consumers, enabling them to better serve customers with personalization. To compete, e-commerce companies need to build collaborative analytics systems that rely on data sets across multiple companies to gain insight into the complete customer journey, thereby enabling them to activate personalized customer journeys themselves. - Anneka Gupta, LiveRamp7. AI-Driven OperationsRetailers will begin to discover more ways to use AI to support their e-commerce efforts and provide better online experiences for their customers. We’re going to start seeing AI-driven customization of product descriptions and marketing copy—even crowdsourced product design enabled by AI technology. - Divyabh Mishra, CrowdANALYTIX8. Shopping And Payment AppsRetailers are enabling in-store customers to scan their items and check out using an app, without the need for going through a checkout line. Sam’s Club has already achieved this across all their stores, and Walmart is implementing it in phases. This will provide a safe and contactless experience for those who shop in the store. Consumers will also be able to buy online, schedule pick-up and then collect their purchases in the store or through curbside delivery—all powered by a mobile app. - Selva Pandian, DemandBlue9. In-House Robotic DeliveryWith in-house robotic delivery, retailers will deliver products anywhere, not just to houses or official addresses. You will snap a picture and the delivery service (humans first, then robotics) will deliver your order to the location the picture shows. The standard is no longer last-mile delivery but last-meter delivery. - Ayman Shoukry, Specright Inc.10. Grocery DeliveryOnline grocery ordering, along with instant delivery of fresh food, will explode in 2021. This will lead to more opportunities in logistics, gamification and security regarding the timing of deliveries and ensuring the fresh food gets delivered in a reasonable time to the correct person. - WaiJe Coler, InfoTracer11. Payment Card Cybersecurity SoftwarePayment card cybersecurity software—particularly using AI—is one trend that is already exploding. The surge in e-commerce is also leading to an uptick in hackers trying to steal credit and debit card information via phishing, malware and a variety of other methods. The use of AI cybersecurity software will augment human infosec teams to help combat payment data fraud and theft. - John Shin, RSI Security12. More Retail Mobile AppsI believe we will see more retailers creating mobile apps for their customers in 2021. There are plenty of unique benefits business owners can offer through an app. You can give out exclusive discounts, allow access to beta features and provide exclusive content. Companies across all industries can bring more value to their customers with this strategy. - Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster13. Local E-Commerce2021 will see the rise and acceleration of local e-commerce, as more small businesses “close to home” will shift to platforms such as Shopify. Ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft may introduce courier services that enable these businesses to offer fast delivery. The toolsets of big e-commerce players such as Amazon will finally reach the hands of small, local businesses—and we’ll all benefit from it. - Marc Fischer, Dogtown Media LLC

13 Big Retail Tech Trends To Watch For In 2021

Retail Trends

From the Forbes Technology Council post in Forbes.com entitled: 13 Big Retail Tech Trends to Watch For in 2021While e-commerce has been on the ...

View Content
5 State and Local Government IT Trends to Watch... 5 State and Local Government IT Trends to Watch...

Published in State Tech Magazine on December 17, 2020

From the article, 5 State and Local Government IT Trends to Watch in 2021 published in the State Tech online magazine by author Phil ...

Government Trends
Government Trends
View
77 Government-Trends-Government-Trends jplist-topic-government 0 503682 503682

5 State and Local Government IT Trends to Watch in 2021

Government Trends

From the article, 5 State and Local Government IT Trends to Watch in 2021 published in the State Tech online magazine by author Phil ...

View Content
Technology Trends in Healthcare Today Technology Trends in Healthcare Today

Article from HealthTechZone.com published on October 20, 2020

From the article: Technology Trends in Healthcare Today published in healthtechzone.com:Rapid technological progress has created new ...

Healthcare Trends
Healthcare Trends
View
78 Healthcare-Trends-Healthcare-Trends jplist-topic-Healthcare jplist-topic-medical 0 503681 503681

Technology Trends in Healthcare Today

Healthcare Trends

From the article: Technology Trends in Healthcare Today published in healthtechzone.com:Rapid technological progress has created new tools for ...

View Content
Top Educational Technology Trends In 2020-2021 Top Educational Technology Trends In 2020-2021

Article from elearningindustry.com published on November 19, 2020

From the article published in elearningindustry.com: Top Educational Technology Trends in 2020-2021 COVID-19 has changed the way we ...

School and College Trends
School and College Trends
View
79 School-and-College-Trends-School-and-College-Trends jplist-topic-School-and-College 0 503678 503678

Top Educational Technology Trends In 2020-2021

School and College Trends

From the article published in elearningindustry.com: Top Educational Technology Trends in 2020-2021 COVID-19 has changed the way we teach and ...

View Content
2021 Brings Commercial Real Estate Opportunities 2021 Brings Commercial Real Estate Opportunities

Published on January 5, 2021 by JP Morgan Chase

AL BROOKS, HEAD OF COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE, COMMERCIAL BANKING posted this article: 2021 Brings Commercial Real Estate OpportunitiesThe ...

Commercial Real Estate Trends
Commercial Real Estate Trends
View
80 Commercial-Real-Estate-Trends-Commercial-Real-Estate-Trends jplist-topic-commercial-real-estate 0 503627 503627

2021 Brings Commercial Real Estate Opportunities

Commercial Real Estate Trends

AL BROOKS, HEAD OF COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE, COMMERCIAL BANKING posted this article: 2021 Brings Commercial Real Estate OpportunitiesThe year 2020 ...

View Content
2021 commercial real estate outlook 2021 commercial real estate outlook

Article published by Deloitte Insights on December 3, 2020

In the article, "Rebuilding to Enhance Resilience", Jim Berry and Kathy Faucht surveyed 200 industry leaders to see how these companies ...

Commercial Real Estate Trends
Commercial Real Estate Trends
View
81 Commercial-Real-Estate-Trends-Commercial-Real-Estate-Trends jplist-topic-commercial-real-estate 0 503619 503619 In the article, "Rebuilding to Enhance Resilience", Jim Berry and Kathy Faucht surveyed 200 industry leaders to see how these companies are recovering from the Covid Pandemic.  Here is the section of the report focused on how commercial real estate companies are using digital transformation in the recovery processTechnology: Digital transformation and tenant experience are a business imperative COVID-19 accelerated the use of technology in the CRE industry. In a matter of weeks, most of the CRE workforce moved to remote work, property tours turned virtual, most tenant communication converted to online channels, and more technology was required to manage day-to-day operations.9 Some CRE companies also increased their use of cloud-based collaboration and productivity tools to lower in-house technology costs and increase flexibility.10 While these measures may help improve tenant convenience and ensure business continuity, CRE companies still struggle with defining digital workflows and digitizing key business processes.11 Most respondents (56%) believe the pandemic has uncovered shortcomings in their company’s digital capabilities and affected their plans to transform (figure 2). Additionally, there are growing cybersecurity and data privacy concerns among those surveyed, due to the increase in virtualization, data capture, and data-sharing using cloud and digital tools. Balancing tactical and strategic actions The pandemic has made enhancing agility and nimbleness a top priority for CRE organizations. These goals require companies to focus on digitization of key CRE business processes and the tenant experience. And while many CRE companies have taken a reactive approach to digital transformation, developing a more structured plan, including the implementation of various technologies and data analytics, would likely yield more meaningful results. Along with this, to enhance resilience, companies should double down on their cybersecurity and data privacy investments. Developing the digital strategy and road map According to our survey, many companies plan to accelerate digital transformation, yet only 40% of respondents said their company has a defined digital transformation road map. North American respondents report their companies are farther ahead than their European and APAC counterparts (figure 3): Fifty-three percent of respondents that have a defined digital transformation roadmap consider digital tenant experience a core competency. Further, 47% of European respondents and 44% of APAC respondents, compared to 32% of North American respondents, have started redefining business processes, job roles, and skill requirements to embed the use of technology and tools. CRE companies should assess their digital maturity by reviewing existing capabilities. This could include evaluating the maturity level of technology usage for managing operations, elevating tenant experience, and developing tech talent. Based on this assessment and considering the business vision, CRE leaders should develop a digital strategy that focuses on technologies and initiatives that deliver strategic value. Thereafter, companies should frame the execution plan to work on key initiatives for digital transformation and ensure the transformation team has the right talent and governance structure to implement the digital solutions. Governance structure should focus on effectively managing transformation programs and encouraging innovation.Companies should increase investment in technologies that can serve as building blocks of their digital transformation efforts. However, on average, only 45% of respondents plan to increase their investments in cloud, robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI), and digital channels over the next 12 months (figure 4).Companies can significantly increase tenant engagement by optimizing real-time updates about facilities and developing a sense of community using mobile apps. About one-half (48%) of respondents who said their company is using digital technologies, such as interactive mobile apps, to increase communication with tenants or end users, plan to increase investment on digital channels over the next year. Cloud technology could be the backbone for many new capabilities as it offers scalability, data storage, and ubiquitous access. For instance, companies can leverage cloud-based tools for digital marketing and to connect virtually with tenants to build a digital tenant experience. To expedite implementation of a digital transformation road map, CRE companies should look for strategic partnerships with technology providers or proptechs. REIT respondents seem to acknowledge this and are being more open to collaborating with proptechs. On an average, 58% of REIT respondents have increased their intent to partner, compared to 45% of respondents who are developers. Leverage tenant data and analytics More than three-fifths of companies acknowledge that they are capturing Internet of Things (IoT) sensor data. With more organizations and end users making data-backed decisions, sharing relevant property-related data could help companies build trust and increase tenant/end-user engagement. This might be a great opportunity for organizations: Currently, 49% of respondents share data with tenants (figure 5). Next, companies could use different analytical tools to generate insights and facilitate decision-making. Now more than ever, CRE companies need to capture and analyze high-frequency data to create a meaningful tenant experience. This could include data around how tenants use different amenities, and/or engagement and performance levels. Companies can analyze tenant engagement levels and behavior to understand preferences and provide a more customized experience. For instance, owners/operators can combine and analyze the occupancy, movement, and temperature sensor data and assist tenants in creating COVID-19–safe seating and space utilization decisions. They can also use tenant data to predict lease renewals and devise appropriate strategies for tenant retention.12 APAC companies seem to have a higher focus on data analytics: Fifty-eight percent of APAC respondents expect their companies to increase investment on data analytics in the next year, compared to only 32% of European respondents and 34% of North American respondents. Better data analytics can also build the confidence of investors who are increasingly looking at leveraging alternative data for insight generation and decision-making. Fifty-seven percent of private equity/hedge fund/mutual fund respondents said they are likely or very likely to identify new alternative data sets for insight generation and facilitating investment decisions.Bolster cybersecurity and data privacyCyberthreats are increasing in sophistication and widening the vulnerabilities of CRE companies, potentially exposing them to enterprise or tenant data breach and ransomware attacks. Ransomware attacks continue to increase and are rated as a key cyberthreat for REITs.13 Companies should first assess whether current efforts are sufficient; if they aren’t, they should upgrade their cybersecurity programs to have greater control over both internal and external information flows.14 In particular, they should assess potential cyberthreats from using new cloud-based communication and collaboration tools. Companies should adopt a “security-by-design” approach in which customized controls are built into new solutions. This could include role-based identity and access management, network admission controls, and integration with existing enterprise security architecture.15 To avoid data privacy issues, companies should make sure that any information is captured by consent and stored securely. For instance, while implementing facial recognition technology at its properties, Vornado provided an opt-out option and invested in secured data storage.16

2021 commercial real estate outlook

Commercial Real Estate Trends

In the article, "Rebuilding to Enhance Resilience", Jim Berry and Kathy Faucht surveyed 200 industry leaders to see how these companies are ...

View Content
Precious time and the software to make the most... Precious time and the software to make the most...

Article on February 17, 2021 - National Restaurant Association

From the article published in the National Restaurant Association website on technology and innovation entitled: Precious time and the ...

Restaurant Trends
Restaurant Trends
View
82 Restaurant-Trends-Restaurant-Trends jplist-topic-Restaurant-Technology 0 503618 503618

Precious time and the software to make the most of it when scheduling employees

Restaurant Trends

From the article published in the National Restaurant Association website on technology and innovation entitled: Precious time and the software to ...

View Content
Innovating during a pandemic: Shari’s taps... Innovating during a pandemic: Shari’s taps...

Article on April 2, 2021 - National Restaurant Association

Shari’s boosted sales through outdoor dining, emphasis on comfort, plus a virtual burger brand and pie-of-the-month program. Innovating ...

Restaurant Trends
Restaurant Trends
View
83 Restaurant-Trends-Restaurant-Trends jplist-topic-Restaurant-Technology 0 503617 503617

Innovating during a pandemic: Shari’s taps today’s trends

Restaurant Trends

Shari’s boosted sales through outdoor dining, emphasis on comfort, plus a virtual burger brand and pie-of-the-month program. Innovating during a ...

View Content
New normal inspires new innovations in restaurant... New normal inspires new innovations in restaurant...

Article posted by the National Restaurant Association October 12, 2020

Tech adopters, active safety managers, and creative thinkers prove there are ways to push through the pandemic.Due to COVID-19, the ...

Restaurant Trends
Restaurant Trends
View
84 Restaurant-Trends-Restaurant-Trends jplist-topic-restaurant-trends 0 503616 503616

New normal inspires new innovations in restaurant industry

Restaurant Trends

Tech adopters, active safety managers, and creative thinkers prove there are ways to push through the pandemic.Due to COVID-19, the restaurant ...

View Content
How Tech Helps Restaurants Prep for the Future How Tech Helps Restaurants Prep for the Future

Article on March 23, 2021 - National Restaurant Association

From the article published in the National Restaurant Association website on technology and innovation entitled: How tech helps ...

Restaurant Trends
Restaurant Trends
View
85 Restaurant-Trends-Restaurant-Trends jplist-topic-Restaurant-Technology 0 503615 503615

How Tech Helps Restaurants Prep for the Future

Restaurant Trends

From the article published in the National Restaurant Association website on technology and innovation entitled: How tech helps restaurants prep for ...

View Content

No results found