Over the next several weeks/months we will be releasing in-depth industry outlook guides in order to provide additional value to our audience.
Yes, there are many industry outlooks out there already, most of them created by highly funded teams and experts with lots of resources to leverage. However, because of that, their focus typically remains at a very high and unapproachable level as they try to be relevant to too broad a target audience. Besides, we will be aggregating many of the most well known reports and curating them to extract the insightful, thought-provoking, and most importantly, call-to-action oriented data and trends that help move the needle in your business.
Whether you’re currently working in these industries, are service provides to clients in the space, or simply strive to remain knowledgeable about what lies ahead in the macro-economic environment, we are committed to making sure they provide tremendous value.
The initial roll out will include the following industries:
Healthcare
Commercial Real Estate
Legal
Accounting & Finance
Sports
Technology
Non-Profit
Startups
Each will also include a localized angel from our various locations, including Charlotte, Miami, and Southern California.
As we begin to launch this initiative what would you like to see in such an industry outlook? What would be most relevant to you?
The accounting industry is being disrupted by a range of technologies including machine learning, Artificial Intelligence, and the blockchain. The sources below highlight trends across marketing, human resources, and cybersecurity with implications across the accounting and financial services industry.
Major changes are coming to the workplace as technological disruptions alter where work is done, the speed of workflow, and the role of the employee within the mission of the firm. These new trends are shaping the core principles of work across all industries including how workplace meetings are run, how financial transactions are handled, and change the necessary skills sets a competitive workforce has. From webinars to speakers at industry conferences blockchain technology is a disruptive technology which continually is discussed.
The chart below, from Robert Half, highlights survey results from over 2,000 financial leaders on blockchain technology and how it will shape the financial services industry.
The results from this survey show how finance leaders have a range of thoughts on how cryptocurrencies and the blockchain will affect the overall industry. Only 13% of those surveyed believe that cryptocurrencies will not be common while 50% believed that cryptocurrencies will either be Somewhat Common or Very Common. Since most of these finance leaders believe that cryptocurrencies will have some impact on their business they are planning for a future where cryptocurrencies shape strategic decisions across the firm. Some ways that companies are addressing the growth of cryptocurrencies include training staff on cryptocurrencies, increase investment in specialized accounting including forensics accounting, and increased cross-departmental collaborations. These changes can be met through focusing on internal growth and development while also seeking outside partners to increase marketing, business development, and employees training.
The
accounting industry is at an exciting place. The last decade has seen some of
the most drastic changes improving the efficiency of the industry. Some
technological advances include the growth of blockchain technology and machine
learning. Industry leaders are making investments in training their workforce,
increasing their marketing presence through digital campaigns and brand
journalism. Through partnering with marketing firms and investing internally on
training and retaining top talent, accounting firms can position their brand
favorably in the industry while growing their service offerings.
The New Year is well underway and here in Charlotte the past week actually feels like winter. The warm Spring-like weather that started the year is a fleeting memory. The beginning of the year is a good time to think warm thoughts of a beach somewhere or the fact that spring is coming. It is also a good time to think about some goals and steps to make 2019 a more productive year.
I am sure many of you have seen your fair share of articles on life hacks and ways to increase productivity to make 2019 the best year of your life on social media, another blog, or an online publication. I think the best way to move through these articles is to focus on some smaller changes that can be made to improve your outlook on life, productivity, and health. I might suggest you check out “Your Future Self”, Fast Company’s series on improvements that can be made, some simple and others more time intensive to improve your life.
These articles are worth exploring since they include topics that are relevant to growth across professional and personal skills. For the entrepreneurial spirit, might I suggest reading “Your 12-month guide to building your side hustle this year” by Lindsay Tigar. Tigar uses this article to highlight some specific monthly calls to action over the next 12 months from building your side hustle. For example, January begins the year long journey with a period of Self-Assessment. The beginning of the year should serve as a time to outline and consider what exactly having a side hustle means for you and how it will affect your loved ones, taxes, and full-time job. Having a side hustle is hard work but by following some self-evaluation during the first three months of the year this will help build the foundation for a new side hustle or improve your existing strategy before heading into April and Q2 with an improved idea and the right attitude to succeed.
The final article, “How to redesign your days to give you back a few extra hours every week” by Elizabeth Grace Saunders outlines what steps to take to get more out of your time during 2019. While this sounds like a lofty concept, the steps to follow are quite simple. Saunders breaks down how to gain time into these categories quitting something, limiting something, pausing something, delegating something, adding something. I have chosen to limit my time on social media while filling that time with the addition of re-reading some of my favorite books to get a new perspective on them. I urge you to take a step back and see if there is an aspect of your life where you could add, delegate, limit, or pause tasks to make your overall week more rewarding and fulfilling.
As 2019 is already two weeks old which is hard to believe. In this New Year, taking a few minutes each day to focus on personal or professional development can reap many benefits. Instead of trying to stick to rigid resolutions see if making a few small changes will help improve your mindfulness and productivity going forward.
I want to take some time and walk you through an interesting interactive project about Blockchain from the Reuters Graphics department with sponsorship from Barclays. This post is from June 2018 and I came across it while scrolling through a 2018 Reuters Graphics Best of List. This article shows where the news industry is heading, merging visual interactive content, with narratives to tell a story. The blockchain follows a story where information is shared on a shared ledger.
This article shows how to easily understand what the blockchain is and how the technology can be harnessed through words and infographics. The piece begins by discussing how the blockchain, at its core, is a database where no one entity holds ownership of the information, be it a banking record or information on the tracking of a tomato through a supply chain. This decentralizing of record keeping is the core of what the blockchain is. Since the information on the blockchain is held on a network that is shared changes are noticeable and it is difficult, not impossible, to distort the information.
For most of history information was controlled and distributed by organizations who could sway decisions and make a good sum of money through being the only forces involved in selling and distributing goods or services. When information is placed on the blockchain, the system is constantly scanned for any changes making sure that all copies of members on the blockchain have the same accurate information. This means as the scale of the blockchain network increases the necessity of scanning and accurately identifying the information across the system also grows and becomes more complex. While much of the media hype surrounding blockchain surrounds bitcoins and the changes in bitcoin prices other useful applications of blockchain range of monitoring food supply to helping make the energy grid smarter.
Now that the foundations of blockchain technology has been outlined the Reuters article walks through a scenario where blockchain can be used to track a transaction. The core of the blockchain, as alluded to earlier, is the database with information on it. This is implemented by having records added one after another to the chain.
Here is a case study where the blockchain would be used across a supply chain. In this example a restaurant owner makes a deal for a restaurant company to purchase tomatoes from a large farm. The structure can be summed up as the record holds the information on the transaction.
If a restaurant wanted to track the location and quality of food through its supply chain the record would be the deals made with suppliers while the block is the collection of records involved and the chain is the link of the blocks. If a restaurant in North Carolina wanted to purchase an order of tomatoes, the order would be placed on the record showing that an exchange was initiated. This is followed by having the system go ahead and scan to ensure the record is authentic. This is followed by having accepted records added to a block which contains a unique hash as well as the prior hash in the system in a specific order.
With all this protection the tomatoes in the salad are ensured to be of high quality as they move along the system. The hash codes along the blockchain serve as an encryption where the information is not control by any one individual and a key is needed to access the information of the transaction. With possible uses from healthcare record keeping to tracking that diamonds are mined without blood diamond warlords and move through a supply chain without forced labor. The blockchain is much more than a cryptocurrency fad and should be something on your radar during 2019.
I might be a little late to the game, but I want to start off and wish everyone a Happy New Year! By now most of you will be back to work after what I am sure was some much-needed time with family and friends. Instead of the typical Resolutions or Trends for 2019 I want to share something different with you. A look at some perspectives of what will happen over the next 12-months with a focus on events ranging from local developments with an impact on the Charlotte area to national factors.
Instead of making predictions I want to outline a few important issues which I think will generate news throughout the year and define the year for countless households. These topics are by no means definitive and I think it will be interesting for me to look back at the end of the year to see how this post holds up after a year. Some of these includes events that will create economic impact in Charlotte including the hosting of the NBA All-Star Game. Financial topics are sure to be discussed often and I see student loans as a topic which will continue to impact the purchasing power and economic decisions of millions of Americans.
This is first year that I can remember when I will not be in a traditional classroom. After years of having classes through the winter months and spring I am now entrenched in the working world where January begins an exciting new year. In this aspect it is like how September begins a new and exciting chapter for students and teacher alike. My friends from college have graduated and are either continuing their education and working in research labs or beginning their careers. Not everyone has successfully found a career that uses their degrees and college skills.
The news shares many stories of how as the economy has grown many have been forced to work multiple part time jobs to make ends meet. A great deal of time, discussions, and stress is placed on how to payoff student loans among friends. Education is well worth the investment, but I do see some people left behind suffering from the student loans burden and stuck in situations where they face an uphill battle. I will leave the issue of student loans with the following question: Will this be the year when students loans take more of the headlines like the housing bubble did in 2008?
I want to continue with some trends that I think will be greatly talked about from the media to boardroom from a national perspective. One trend which I have increasingly seen is that people are taking a break from social media to start the year off with a different perspective and away from the clutter and mess of social media. I myself have decided to use social media less this year and allocate some of the time I would spend online away from screens and instead read. This brings up privacy and data security, issues which are increasingly important as 2018 progressed and I can only imagine will stay important into 2019. I will be interested in seeing how tech companies’ stocks will perform into 2019 and what this will mean for the stock market. No market predictions on my end but I imagine investors are in store for another roller coaster ride of a wild year. Some other terms that I think will continue to be in the lexicon include sports betting, increasing marketing for Generation Z, and digital detoxes.
I want to highlight a few local topics from the Charlotte area. Basketball is big in North Carolina and the NBA All-Star game is coming next month with expectations of economic impact that could cross $100 Million. While North Carolina lost out on Amazon to suburbs of Washington, D.C. and New York other important economic news made headlines to end 2018 including IBM’s purchase of Raleigh based Red Hat. November also saw news in Charlotte when Honeywell announced moving its world headquarters from New Jersey to Charlotte which will eventually create 750 jobs. Charlotte is a great city to build and grow a company landing on Inc’s50 Best Places to Start a Company at 22 with an emphasis on fintech growth.
I believe that companies will continue to invest in the Charlotte area as building projects through Uptown Charlotte and across the region continue to show the robust economy from new building to the continued need to build affordable housing for all the new employees moving into the area. Charlotte has a chance to show its new design to the world during the All-Star game and this year will see continued development and investment centered in Uptown Charlotte. Like across the country growth is focusing on major metro areas with access to universities and transportation which I believe will shape future investment in 2019 and beyond.
Growth and volatility are not often said in the same sentence but those are two words which I think are two words which will shape the next 12-months. Issues that have been under the surface for years will continue to impact the purchasing power of Americans including student loans and greater need for affordable housing. At the same time growth at companies and investment in education will continue across Charlotte and the nation. As privacy concerns continue Americans will decide to take control of their data which is one of the most marketable and valuable pieces of information they hold. The place social media has in our culture will likely be shaped by how it is used throughout the year.
On December 14th, 2018 a story was broadcasted by freelance reporter Shirley Wang on the public radio sports show Only a Game. The story had a unique title, “My Dad’s Friendship With Charles Barkley”, the heartwarming fourteen minute story took listeners on an unexpected journey about the power of sports and friendship.This story goes beyond the common narrative of sports stars and is a beautiful story of friendship and character with major life lessons.
This is so much more than a sports story. It is a story about the power and impact people can have on one another through friendship. This is also one of the only sports stories where a cat litter scientist is central to the relationship. At the core of this story there is an unlikely friendship born out of a chance meeting at a Sacramento hotel between Charles Barkley, one of the most recognizable basketball personalities, and Lin Wang, a Chinese-American cat litter scientist and basketball fan.
After talking for hours during the initial visit the two men exchanged phone numbers and stayed in touch. The relationship grew as Lin visited Charles on the set of his TNT NBA show while visiting Atlanta and exchanged text messages. The two men connected on a range of topics, even though they undoubtedly came from vastly different upbringing.
Charles Barkley grew up in small town in Alabama and was mainly raised by his mother while Lin grew up in China before immigrating to America to pursue his academic career. The two saw themselves as outsiders who defied the odds to become successful but more importantly men who were valued members of their communities and fathers.
It was the connection as fathers and family men that became the crucial part of this relationship that defined their special bond and the power relationships can have. When Lin’s daughter Shirley called to speak with Charles a question she had was what could her dad and a former NBA player have in common? It turned out that family was the key to the relationship and that the two shared stories and spoke fondly of the successes of their own children.
In 2015 Charles Barkley lost his mother, Charcey Glenn, his friend Lin flew across the country to be with his friend during this difficult time and attended her funeral in Leeds, AL. This was no small feat as Lin heard about the news and flew from his Iowa home to Alabama to be with his friend in a time of need.
Around this same time Lin received some somber news. He had cancer and the prognosis did not look good. Although he waited to tell his friend, he did eventually share the news with Charles who in turn told him that it was nothing to hide and that he should have told him right away. This unlikely correspondence continued through June 2018 when Lin passed away right after his favorite team,the Golden State Warriors, won the NBA title. A funeral service was held the following day among family and friends in Iowa was a 6’ 6” former NBA basketball player who was also in attendance and spoke about his friend Lin. The ability to console each other’s families in the time of need connected Lin and Charles forever.
The piece of the story that struck me as most genuine is how both men were able to connect and provide necessary friendship during difficult times. Lin and Charles enjoyed the company and friendship they had. The thing to take away from this friendship is that by speaking up and being open to having a conversation the possibilities are endless. I look at the world today and see constant streams of data through social media, news sources, and longform stories. Sometimes the ability to step back and have a conversation, a genuine one in person, with someone will create a lasting bond and a story that will make you a better person and help create strong bonds within your family and friend groups.
What are some of the most important character traits that you look for in a co-worker or boss? Take the time to think about what types of people you want to work around and spend countless hours with. Do you have different expectations of your co-workers than those in your personal life?
Understanding Trust
When thinking about the relationships across our lives a common trait that continually is brought up as a key to building and sustaining relationships is trust. Trust is the foundation for many key areas of your working life. In the simplest form an employee must trust that their employer will provide a fair salary and maintain the salary expectations. After beginning with a company an employee does not necessarily need to trust in the entire process of the company but should, at the very least, have some trust in the ability of the company to provide some benefit to consumers.
As the workplace becomes more and more dependent on the benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) workers, especially younger workers, are looking for a company which aligns with their own values. This in turn has led companies to focusing on the beneficial social and economic contributions they can make.
While understanding that to build trust with employees the ability to share the vision of the company, take a stand on pressing issues, and outlining standard workflow processes go hand in hand with building trust. Trust is a two-way street. Companies hold their employees to a high standard of keeping material secure. Additional considerations include not using their platform as an employee to take on controversial subjects, or misuse social media or company property.
The power of trust is here to stay. Moving forward, the world will increasingly be shaped by companies utilizing cross-departmental and cross-company teams. These teams will be tasked with solving the difficult and evolving business and social problems. A recent Harvard Business School study shows the importance that trust has to the morale and productivity of a workforce.
Importance of trust quote
“According to the study, people working in high-trust companies reported 74% less stress than those working in low-trust companies. They also report 106% more energy at work, 13% fewer sick days, 76% more engagement, 29% more satisfaction with their lives,and 40% less burnout.”
By understanding the team that you have surrounded yourself with and giving them positive and constructive feedback the system of trust that your business has created will only grow as time progresses.
Investment of culture
Figure 7 from: PMI’s Pulse of the Profession: The Project Manager of the Future Developing Digital-Age Project Management Skills to Thrive in Disruptive Times by the Project Management Institute
The story of Figure 7: Investing in Culture tells
Wide gaps exist in the organizational culture
Innovative companies take the time to create a culture which supports trust and successful project management
Trust and information go hand in hand towards creating more innovative projects which create more value for the company
Trust can be harnessed to help in changes that can revolutionize and improve business processes by having team members on the same page believing in what the company is working on
Hello there, my name is Craig Oliver and I am new to the WIMS, Inc. team. I will be helping with operations and project management in addition to contributing to this blog and other publications with a focus on growth. I graduated from American University in May with a degree in Business Administration. Now as I begin my career, I am applying some of the concepts from my education into practice. I have moved beyond the classrooms of business school of learning through case studies and into the real world.
I have become involved with the Project Management Institute here in Charlotte. I have gained an interest for helping grow business value through a successful portfolio of projects. Every successful organization must be able to work in some capability on teams and delegating work to create a path towards success.
As a sports fan, I have watched my fair share of games decided not by athleticism but by the decisions of coaches on who to put in the game and what plays to run. The implications of running smooth projects goes beyond the play calling of the Rams or Patriots. Project management includes simple decisions made every day including which staffer to put on your audit at work to what to watch on Netflix when you get home.
It is now mid-December and Thanksgiving has long come and gone. Now the busy holiday season and end of year has arrived. End of the year reports and project planning for 2019 create long hours in addition to the holiday season. Here at WIMS the end of 2018 is an exciting time where the old is meeting the new as projects are winding down while planning for 2019 and new ventures continues to ramp up.
Industry altering advancements in the augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and machine learning space continue to be released at a rapid clip. It’s almost impossible to keep up, even for tech nerds like ourselves. Because of this, the team at Eolian decided it would be worth taking the time to highlight some of the most earth-shattering updates, curate those that are the most relevant in our area of expertise, and even add a little insightful context so you can convert them into action items when appropriate. We’re calling it “The Eolian Report”. This is the first of hopefully many editions and we hope you find tremendous value out of it.
The industry is moving so fast and adoption along with it. It won’t be long before you look around and notice how widespread and rampant AR, VR, AI, and ML use cases are being implemented all around you. Don’t blink or you might get left behind. We would love to convert everyone into believers but for the purpose of this we will do our best to remain objective and hope that the facts and trends will speak for themselves.
Full disclosure: we are also working on developing some incredible applications and have launched a few in our core verticals of military/defense, healthcare, and real estate. So, we may share some of our major milestones as well.
While we are biased on the subject and feel that everyone should at least be exploring the potential implications and use cases for their own businesses we completely understand the delay and skepticism. Because of this we’d love to hear from you all to see where your mindset is on the matter, whether positive or negative. Perhaps you’re a hardcore skeptic. Or maybe you have tried launching an AR strategy and it fell flat or never made it off the ground. Maybe you have been thinking long and hard about it but have yet to pull the trigger. Better yet, hopefully you’ve built and launched a program and it’s been achieving a lot of success and on the way to massive ROI. Either way please reach out and let us know!
-Mike Simmons, CMO
Now without further ado, time to check out some of the latest developments in the space:
General Business
Tesla Patent Application Mentions Augmented Reality Safety Glasses
Healthcare Augmented & Virtual Reality Market: Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecasts 2018–2026
http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/4060124
Global Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) in Healthcare Market Extensive Study of Future Value Chain on Regional, Drivers and Technological Advancements Outlook 2018–2027
Technology Innovation in Virtual Reality in Healthcare Market to See Rapid Growth in Coming Year — Leading Players Are Google, Microsoft, Daqri, Psious Industry Analysis
http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/4053337/
Commercial Real Estate
With Augmented and Virtual Reality, Tour Your Office Before It’s Built [We have a platform called ARRE (Augmented Reality Real Estate) out that can help you do just this and so much more!]
Landlords Look To Curate Tenant Mix So Companies Can Financially Benefit One Another
Meet IntellyDoc (website/platform is going live this week): The platform designed specifically for lawyers that serves all your end-to-end contract management needs, and will soon leverage artificial intelligence (AI) technology as well. IntellyDoc easily solves every lawyer’s greatest problem – time management.
You can manage your contracts – from start to finish – without having to leave the IntellyDoc platform. IntellyDoc empowers you to leverage and take back the greatest commodity in the practice of law – your time. Which means you’ll draft contracts, automate document review and approvals (including e-signature functionality), gain critical insight with contract analytics, and close deals faster and more efficiently than ever before.
On the IntellyDoc platform, you get access to the following powerful capabilities:
Smart Contract Template Design
Automated Contract Review
Custom Workflows
Collaboration
E-Signatures
Data Analytics/Reporting and Extraction
The Real Benefits of IntellyDoc:
Less email traffic
Less legal grid-lock and pressure
Less time in the weeds
More time to practice high value, meaningful work
More efficient workflows
More metrics to inform decisions & ensure compliance.
Here’s how it works:
Create, review, negotiate, execute, and store a document without leaving the cloud-based platform.
The built-in, smart workflows automate document review and approval, enhancing speed and accuracy of your workload.
Collaborate securely within the platform to edit and track changes, manage several versions of documents, and execute documents with electronic signatures.
Gain powerful insight into your contract repository with real-time reporting and analytics.
Why it works:
Our simple set up with on-going, hands-on support means zero installation rigmarole but on-boarding training support is here, if needed.
The platform supports various file types you interact with daily on Macs or PCs including: doc, docx, and pdf.
The secure and compliant cloud-based approach delivers metrics and transparency.
The website is being finalized this week, but if you’re interested in learning more about the platform, please email [email protected] or click here to schedule your demo today.
