The Economist (February 6)
Wall street is undergoing revolution. “Information technology is being used to make trading free, shift information flows and catalyse new business models, transforming how markets work…. And, despite the clamour of recent weeks, this promises to bring big long-term benefits.”
Tags: Business models, Clamour, Information flows, IT, Markets, Promises, Revolution, Trading, Wall Street
Newsweek (February 16)
“We’re on the cusp of a fourth industrial revolution. First came the steam trains, followed by electricity and after that, information technology—each transforming our working practices and automating jobs previously performed by humans. These days of course, it is robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning driving the change.” Not only are these being employed to complete routine tasks, “but they are increasingly capable of accomplishing tasks requiring cognitive abilities.”
Tags: AI, Cognitive abilities, Electricity, Industrial Revolution, IT, Jobs, Machine learning, Robotics, Steam trains
The Economist (June 3)
“It is the fourth time in a year that BA’s computer systems have suffered a major crash. And debilitating IT breakdowns are becoming increasingly common” across an industry with particularly high IT demands. “The sheer quantity and complexity of the data they handle make airlines particularly vulnerable to IT disasters.” And yet, “in 2015 airlines spent 2.7% of their revenues on IT, half the norm across all industries and a lower share even than hotels.” The pressure to pressure to cut costs is strong, given the industry’s harsh competition. The cost of an IT melt down, however, is much greater. Airlines must “refrain from pruning investment in IT too far.”
Tags: Airlines, BA, Complexity, Computer, Crash, Data, Investment, IT, Quantity, Systems
New York Times (May 24)
For today’s dictator, “soaring approval ratings are a more cost-effective path to dominance than terror.” While a few violent dictators still remain, there has been a sea change in methods. “A new brand of authoritarian government has evolved that is better adapted to an era of global media, economic interdependence and information technology.” So-called ‘soft’ dictators like Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Peru’s Alberto Fujimori and Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad “concentrate power, stifling opposition and eliminating checks and balances, while using hardly any violence.”
Tags: Approval, Authoritarian, Cost-effective, Erdogan, Fujimori, Government, IT, Mahathir, Malaysia, Media, Opposition, Peru, Soft dictators, Terror, Turkey, Violence
Institutional Investor (October Issue)
“Atsushi Saito has reinvigorated the Japanese exchange world with a merger and a technology overhaul. Now comes the hard part: winning back market share in Asia.” Following the merger of the Tokyo and Osaka exchanges, the Japan Exchange Group ranks third behind only the NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX. “JPX now controls more than 90 percent of all equity-and derivatives-trading volume in Japan.” Yet, “despite its lead in listed companies, JPX trails in foreign listings. It’s also weak in terms of options, futures contracts and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), compared with the big U.S. exchanges”
Tags: Asia, Atsushi Saito, Derivatives, Equities, ETFs, Futures, IT, Japan, JPX, Market share, Merger, Nasdaq OMX, NYSE Euronext, Options, Osaka, Tokyo, Trading volume, U.S.