Exchanging business cards was an important part of the customer/client relationship. Since COVID, there are less face to face meetings and less cards being exchanged. Couple that with evolving communication technology and a person can wonder if the business card is past its prime.
This video discusses the potential demise of the business card and provides a full tutorial on making your own NFC business card (you are going to need these blank NFC cards).
The tutorial offers a solution that is significantly cheaper than Linq or Popl.
Over the last six months, several technology companies announced job eliminations. Recently, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) companies were hit hard…
Pegasystems, a software company that specializes in CRM, announced a 4% reduction of its workforce. The company cited the need to “streamline its operations” and focus on key growth areas such as artificial intelligence and cloud computing.
CRM giant Salesforce announced the elimination of about 8,000 jobs worldwide as well as closing some offices. The reductions seemingly focused Tableau employees and there are rumors of more reductions in Salesforce sales teams.
Additional job eliminations in the last 6 months:
Amazon to cut 18,000 jobs or 6% of their workforce focusing mostly on the company’s e-commerce, devices, and human resources organizations
Update (2): Google also announced 12,000 job eliminations on January 19th (6.4% of their workforce)
As companies reduce their workforce and thus their redundancy, how does that impact their ability to support their customers?
According to Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, layoffs don’t work to improve company performance. Academic studies have shown that time and time again, workplace reductions don’t do much to reduce costs:
Severance packages cost money
Layoffs increase unemployment insurance rates
Cuts reduce workplace morale and productivity as remaining employees are left wondering, “Could I be fired too?”
The trend of recent tech layoffs highlights the post-pandemic economic reality of labor shortages and the disappearance of cheap money. As organizations focus on streamlining their operations and redirecting resources towards key growth areas like automation, digital, and AI – layoffs and cost reductions will continue to be the reality.
Tools like Dall-E and ChatGPT are scrubbing the internet and producing AI-generated artwork, scripts, and stories.
Not only is the creative community upset, there are ramifications in the business word. Some courts are ruling that AI-generated content cannot be copywritten.
This could have a major impact on corporate intellectual property policies and impede the ability to implement AI tools.
Poorly Designed Curfews Are Wreaking Havoc on Cities
The problem stems in part from the litany of exceptions and caveats embedded within the curfew policy. Essential workers are allowed out past curfew as long as they are going from work to home. But they are allowed to stop at a deli for a meal. But then they have to go right home. Unless they need medical supplies, then they can get those too. Food delivery workers can also be out, as can media, but only if they’re working. If you’re stopped, there are “no specific requirements for ID.” It is, in short, up to whether the police officers believe you or not.
Plus, the guidance that “transportation infrastructure such as bus, rail, and yellow and green taxis will be operating normally” proved not to be the case. At Columbus Circle, Gothamist reporter Jake Offenhartz tweeted a photo of police in front of the subway entrance 13 minutes prior to curfew. “Uber and Lyft have been ordered shut at 8. Citi Bike and Revel are already deactivated in the neighborhood,” Offenhartz added, referring to the city’s bike and moped share systems. “When curfew hits in 10 minutes, how the hell are people supposed to get home???”
On-demand delivery workers are now caught between the protests and law enforcement, as on-demand apps like Caviar, DoorDash, and Uber Eats informed them that they could continue taking orders as essential workers in certain cities despite the curfew. In some locations, like San Francisco and Washington, DC, Uber and other apps ceased operations during curfew hours. But in New York City, the apps assured their contractors, many of whom rely on the apps for income during the pandemic and yet receive no other form of financial assistance, they could continue working.
“Our teams on the ground are working closely with cities on how to best support them based on their needs and the local situation,” an Uber spokesperson told BuzzFeed News earlier this week regarding its inconsistent approach to city curfews. “Some cities have requested that we suspend operations during curfew hours while others want to ensure Uber is available for essential services.”
What should schools teach? Now is the moment to ask
Google outlines plan to get some employees back to the office
Google will begin opening some of its office buildings in various cities starting on July 6, allowing a small amount of its employees who need a physical workspace “the opportunity to return on a limited, rotating basis.” The idea is to rotate employees in for a day every few weeks to keep facilities at only around 10% occupancy.
If all goes well in its initial efforts, Google will scale that 10% up to 30% around September “which would mean most people who want to come in could do so on a limited basis, while still prioritizing those who need to come in,” according to Pichai.
As a result the company is providing a $1,000 allowance to staff to help them buy computers, office furniture and other equipment needed for remote work. While that might not cover everything, it should ease the burden for workers who don’t have everything they need.
Zoom and other video-conference services present many communication pitfalls—an inability to read body language, faces that move into different spots on the screen, a chat feature to accommodate side comments and transmission delays that hinder turn-taking. “You are always making a judgment about how much to speak and when it’s appropriate,” says Steve Harrison, associate professor at Virginia Tech and director of its Human-Centered Design Program.
With so little non-verbal and real-time feedback, it’s difficult to tell if people on the other end of the video line are with you. “Ask a question and there’s silence. You feel like you’re talking to empty air,” says Keeley Sorokti, director of knowledge sharing at the Chicago-based nonprofit Ounce of Prevention Fund.
Another source of stress, researchers have found, is that a mirror or video camera trained on study subjects causes them to see themselves the way they think others do. “When you look in a mirror, what you tend to see is your objective self,” says Amy Gonzales, assistant professor at UC Santa Barbara who studies media and identity. “I guess my nose is kind of big. Maybe I do need some wrinkle cream.” Zoom says it offers a control to block the mirror image.
