Archive for January 28, 2021

TransferWise & Visa Announce Global Partnership

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 28, 2021 by itnerd

Visa and TransferWise today announced a global partnership and the first use of Visa Cloud Connect, a new way for fintechs and partners to securely connect to VisaNet, Visa’s global processing network, through the public cloud. Visa Cloud Connect underpins a new global agreement between Visa and TransferWise that will enable the expansion of TransferWise’s multi-currency debit cards in Asia Pacific, Europe, LAC, the Middle East, U.K. and U.S.  

The TransferWise multi-currency account allows consumers and businesses to hold and convert 55 currencies at the real exchange rate. The multi-currency debit card lets customers spend and withdraw directly from any of the currency balances. Expanding the offering into new markets would have previously required significant investment in local data centers, telecommunications infrastructure and specialized payment hardware. With Visa Cloud Connect, TransferWise can quickly establish a secure connection to VisaNet through its cloud provider, eliminating the need for costly local connectivity and speeding up TransferWise’s roll out plans.

Connecting Visa’s state-of-the art infrastructure with the cloud 

Today, global card programs expanding into multiple countries require investment in local data centers using specialized hardware and telecommunications infrastructure as well as coordination with local partners to adhere to regional standards. This can slow down new rollouts and delay customer adoption. Visa’s new Visa Cloud Connect platform provides a secure cloud-based connection to VisaNet, including a unified certification and testing framework, Visa-hosted security services such as transaction encryption and PIN key management, and simplified settlement in local markets. 

This combination of technology and services simplifies global connectivity and testing, lowers IT costs through cloud integration, and speeds time to market for launching programs in new geographies. This is particularly beneficial for new types of clients like TransferWise who have been operating on cloud-based systems from their inception.  

Visa Cloud Connect is currently in pilot phase with TransferWise and is slated for global availability for other clients in August 2021. 

TransferWise Multi-currency Account

TransferWise, now 4-years profitable, serving 10 million customers and moving $6 billion in cross-border transactions every month, will be the first company to integrate globally with Visa via a single integration. This will dramatically speed up TransferWise’s plans to rollout to customers the debit cards that accompany its multi-currency account in a host of new markets. 

Since launching the TransferWise multi-currency account in 2018, the company has issued more than 1 million debit cards through existing processors and partners. The account and card help people and businesses avoid high foreign transaction fees and costly exchange rates when travelling, managing their money in multiple currencies, or doing business across borders.

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OpenText Will Showcase Next-Generation Early Case Assessment During Legalweek(year) 2021

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 28, 2021 by itnerd

OpenText™ will highlight the recently launched OpenText™ Axcelerate™ Investigation platform during Legalweek(year) 2021. Launched as part of OpenText Cloud Edition 20.4, Axcelerate Investigation expedites early case assessment (ECA) and investigations, helping to improve efficiency and reduce costs by providing rapid access to the facts.

Typical ECA tools collect, process and cull data. For analysis, legal teams must transfer the data to an eDiscovery platform for a full review, use standalone analytics, or both. Axcelerate Investigation helps eliminate potentially error-prone data transfers, time-consuming and costly document reviews and multiple point solutions by combining robust collection, processing and culling with powerful front-ended analytics in a single solution. When full review and production is needed in a case, all data and work product can be seamlessly and automatically uploaded directly from Axcelerate Investigation to Axcelerate Review & Analysis OnDemand in the cloud.

Purpose-built to quickly find the facts, Axcelerate Investigation features:

  • Visual analytics, including Hypergraph Communications Map, which helps make complex information easier to understand and uncover relevant data with greater speed and precision.
  • Predictive searching and filtering—technology-assisted review on the fly without the workflow—which aids in delivery of rapid insights and identifies unknown unknowns.
  • Concept, phrase and sentiment analysis, automated summaries and entity extraction for a faster and deeper understanding of data
  • Analytics to identify sensitive, confidential and privileged data


The launch of OpenText™ Axcelerate Investigation comes as the legal community will gather together during Legalweek(year), held virtually beginning February 2 – 4, 2021. Legalweek(year) brings together thousands of legal professions for a series of events on emerging trends, cutting edge legal technology and expert analysis of the tectonic shifts in the industry.

OpenText is leading an educational track at Legalweek(year) on February 2: “When an Investigation Hits: Strategies for Effective and Rapid Resolution When Your Team is Remote,” and will be showcasing Axcelerate Investigation at the OpenText virtual booth on February 4, 2:30-3:30 p.m. EST and in private virtual meetings.

To book a meeting, visit: https://www.opentext.com/info/legalweek. For more information on OpenText Legal Tech solutions, visit: www.opentext.com/discovery.

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“Future-Ready” Organizations Leveraging Digital To Operate Faster & Smarter Could Help Unlock $200 Billion In Economic Growth In Canada: Accenture

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 28, 2021 by itnerd

The pandemic-driven acceleration of digital adoption and the resulting new, agile ways of operating could unlock $200 billion in profitable growth in Canada if applied broadly, according to a new report by Accenture.

Based on a global survey of 1,100 top executives and externally validated financial data, the reportassessed the impact of achieving progressive levels of business operations maturity. The higher the maturity, the greater the degree of digital capabilities, such as artificial intelligence (AI), cloud and data analytics.

Accenture’s findings indicate that even amid the current economic uncertainty, a small core of companies globally—about 7%—still achieved nearly twice the efficiency and three times the profitability of peers. These “future-ready” entities are expected to represent 20% of Canadian organizations by 2023 — a five-fold increase from just 4% today.

Future-Readiness in Canada

Future-ready enterprises transform how work gets done by using rich data for decision-making, augmenting people with artificial intelligence (AI) and employing agile workforce models. The survey, which included 50 companies headquartered in Canada, identified organizations’ growing levels of digital and operational maturity. The areas of focus include:

  • Cloud: Four in five organizations (82%) in Canada use cloud infrastructure at scale, and 64% are also exploring new areas to scale and maximize value.
  • Machine Intelligence: With a focus on augmenting people with technology, 52% of Canadian organizations have fully adopted AI and data science capabilities — a nearly 13-fold increase from just 4% three years ago — and 30% of organizations plan to scale AI practices by 2023.  
  • Automate at Scale: Only 6% of organizations have achieved automation maturity. A third (34%) expect to do so by 2023.
  • Smarter Data: One in five organizations (18%) in Canada use analytics at scale—paired with better, more diverse data—to generate actionable insights and inform decision-making. That is expected to grow to 40% by 2023.
  • Agile Workforce: Only 10% of organizations have adopted an agile workforce strategy at scale, enabling them to tap into an expanded talent pool among ecosystem partners to mobilize special talent as needed. That is expected to grow to 28% by 2023.

By assessing what Accenture calls “transformational value” — a concept that factors in financial performance and the differentiated experience delivered — the research found progressing to future-ready achieved average efficiency gains of 13.1% and lift profitability by 6.4%.

In Canada, organizations that advanced operational maturity level in the past three years reported improvements in customer experience (cited by 78%), speed of product and services innovation (72%), operational efficiency (71%), business value generated from data (70%), employee engagement and retention (56%) and employee talent mix and reskilling efforts (50%).

Methodology

Accenture surveyed 1,100 senior-level executives worldwide, 44% of whom were C-suite executives, across 13 industries and 11 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, United Kingdom, United States). The research, conducted in 2020, assessed four levels of business operations maturity — stable, efficient, predictive and future-ready — with each level underpinned by progressing digital capabilities, such as AI, cloud, and data. The business impact was assessed by combining survey responses with externally validated financial data from 810 of the 1,100 organizations surveyed.

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Guest Post: Generation Z Is Most Concerned About Sharing Their Location Data With The Government Says Atlas VPN

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 28, 2021 by itnerd

It is no secret that tech companies have shared their user information with governments in the past. This makes many Americans feel uncomfortable with how their data is handled. 

According to the data presented by the Atlas VPN team, 50% of the adults born in Generation Z feel very uncomfortable sharing their location data, including where they had traveled, with the government. Along with the Baby Boomer generation, of whom 54% are highly insecure about sharing their whereabouts, they are the most concerned about personal data privacy. 

Nevertheless, 15% of adults born in Gen Z and 17% of Baby Boomers still feel confident about the government tracking their location, with 6% in each generation stating they feel very secure with the situation. 

Millennials (1981-1996) and Generation X (1965-1980) are a little more positive about their location data being known to the government. Overall, 13% of Millenials are very confident with sharing their whereabouts, while 40% are strongly against it. In the meantime, 14% of adults born in Generation X are highly comfortable sharing their location data, and 46% of Gen Xers feel the opposite.

However, all adult groups are less against their location data being shared with the government if it is for the purpose of Coronavirus tracking.

Rachel Welch, COO of Atlas VPN, shares her insights on why various generations view privacy differently:

“Each generation is distinct in its own way. After all, every one of them grew up under different historical, economic, and cultural circumstances that shape their outlook of the world. The latter also impacts how protective they are of their personal data.”

Non-college graduates least trust the government with their data

Most people feel uneasy about their personal data, such as their location, being shared with the government. Nevertheless, it seems that higher education levels in adults lead to higher trust in the government with their data.

Overall, 74% of American adults that had not completed a college education feel uncomfortable with the government tracking their whereabouts. While 51% of such adults said they are very insecure with the situation, 23% are somewhat uncomfortable. 

Other adult groups in the US feel slightly less pessimistic about the tech companies sharing their location data with the government. In total, 45% of adults with Bachelor’s degrees feel very unsafe with the government having their location data, while the number drops to 32% in adults with Postgraduate education.

To read the full article, head over to: https://atlasvpn.com/blog/generation-z-is-one-of-the-most-concerned-about-sharing-their-location-data-with-the-government

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