QBE North America has announced two key executive appointments. Rachel Pollack has been named chief people officer, while David Mulligan has been appointed chief operating officer. In her new role, Pollack will lead the development and implementation of the company’s North American people strategy. Pollack joined QBE in 2008 and has held a variety of roles in change management, human resources, culture and business transformation. She most recently served as group people director, global corporate functions. Prior to that, she served as the company’s first group head of enterprise culture. From 2014 to 2015, she served as vice president and head of HR change for North America. In that role, she spearheaded several transformation initiatives, including organizational design, restructuring and HR systems. In his new role, Mulligan will be responsible for identifying, planning and executing large-scale change projects to improve process efficiency, reduce complexity and increase cost savings for the company while improving workforce capability and customer experience. Mulligan will head up QBE North America’s business delivery teams, including digital transformation, business process engineering, automation and robotics, and the offshore transition team. He will also oversee underwriting operations, program onboarding and services, billing, collections, accounts payable, production automation support, […]

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Mario Foster is an experienced CIO who has been in the industry and the region for over 15 years. Before joining Al Ghurair Group, he worked for Saeed & Mohammed Al Naboodah Group based in Dubai for seven years leading the digital charter of the organization by exploring the business potential of new technologies such as RPA, AI, IoT, 3D printing and others. What was your first job in the IT industry? I was a technical support engineer in Canada. I always liked electronics in general, and I still remember my teenage days when I used to watch my older brother (who is an electrical engineer by profession) repairing our stereo cassette tape recorder and other old home electronics, and trying to learn from him. I even managed to repair some, but I never knew that I would be in IT specifically. I was more interested in electronics engineering. What was your education? It was initially in electronics engineering and then moved into computer science. I’ve also completed my MBA in technology management. As for the many technology certifications I hold, my first was MCSE [Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer] more than 20 years ago. I also have multiple Cisco […]

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bau-muenchen.com Experience the construction industry of the future at BAU 2023 Construction 4.0 and the digitalization of the construction industry: The latest technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning or robotics are increasingly being used in the construction industry. Digital tools are gradually establishing themselves in the construction industry. But this is just the beginning of the transformation, because the future of construction is digital. At the BAU 2023 trade fair, experience how promising and efficient the future of construction is being shaped by new, state-of-the-art tools and aids. What does digitalization in construction mean? Digitization in the construction industry is multi-faceted: it involves digital tools, process automation and digital project communication. Thanks to the wave of digitization, the immense volumes of data from construction processes are now also being efficiently organized and structured via cloud computing. But these developments are not just about collecting, providing and processing digital data. Social networks, for example, play an equally central role, as all industrial sectors now communicate their activities transparently and digitally. Thus, the digitization of the construction industry defines universal processes on the Internet, ranging from planning and execution to documentation and communication. Today, time- and location-independent communication channels and […]

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Digital transformation remains the big buzz word in business—and it’s not going away. But digital transformation isn’t really a new thing, just a new phrase. Technology has been a part of business operations for decades. At Hornbill, we know this. There’s a well-documented history of technology in business. It started with managing stacks of data with mainframes (do things with data). Networking drove expansion into enterprise apps (do digital things for employees). Then the internet and mobile came along and the whole thing blew up (do digital things for customers). What does digital transformation mean to you? Organisations still struggle to define what digital transformation means to them. They know that technology has the power to accelerate everything: customer interactions, business processes, data processing, reporting and insight, and more. Digital transformation is a mindset: a lens through which to look at your organisation to identify where digital technologies can deliver efficiency, convenience, and visibility. The real question is this: What do we digitally transform next? And why? Digital transformation is difficult to define because it is both unique to the organisation/market and it’s a moving target. Every starting point is different. Each organisation has different priorities. There’s no cookie-cutter […]

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Cyber attacks against critical infrastructure are becoming more frequent, with knock-on impacts for everyone In December 2015, just a few days before Christmas, the world witnessed one of the most devastating cyberattacks it had ever seen. Over 230,000 citizens in Ukraine were plummeted into freezing temperatures and darkness after Russia launched a cyberattack on the country’s power grid. The attack completely shut down electricity for over six hours, and it demonstrated what many in the cybersecurity industry had been fearing for many years – cyber / physical attacks were becoming a reality. Fast-forward seven years, and devastating incidents affecting Colonial Pipeline, JBS Foods and Oldsmar Water have each demonstrated that cyberattacks have shattered through their traditional digital perimeters and can now directly hit society in the way of food, oil and gas and water shortages. Criminals have come to understand that if they want to cause damage to a country, they no longer need to have a physical presence in the state, instead they can launch a cyberattack on the country’s Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) from a far-off location and cause massive destruction remotely. Yet, the bad news is, these types of assaults are going to continue, particularly as […]

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David Shrier and Professor Chris Tucci with attendees The need for digital currency to help solve societal challenges in Africa was among the key issues discussed by Imperial experts at Davos 2023. In a discussion hosted by the Business School’s Centre for Digital Transformation , experts from the private sector, academia and government gathered to discuss how Africa can develop digital currency alternatives to address critical issues facing the continent. They discussed the best ways to help a developing economy using digital finance, drawing not only on the participants, but also prior work by Imperial College Business School in Tanzania. The discussion looked at the value of stablecoins – cryptocurrencies which aim to provide an alternative to the high volatility of more popular cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Stablecoins are especially helpful in Africa as they can help to offset inflation and avoid the devaluation of national currencies. Professor of Practice AI & Innovation, Business School The discussion also touched on the need to incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) and marry biodiversity within financial inclusion, how to manage the risks associated with central banks, the need to safeguard citizens and to effectively maintain monetary policy. Driving finance for climate […]

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Abdullah Alswaha, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, talks at the opening of Leap in Riyadh on Monday. Photo: Leap Saudi Arabia has announced more than $9 billion investments in its technology sector, as part of efforts to bolster digital transformation in preparation for the future economy. The investments are led by a $2.1 billion commitment from Microsoft , which will build a super-scaler cloud in the kingdom, Abdullah Alswaha, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, said at the Leap 2023 conference in Riyadh on Monday. They also include Oracle’s plans to invest $1.5 billion to boost the kingdom’s cloud-computing capacity and $400 million from China’s Huawei to enhance Saudi Arabia’s cloud infrastructure, he said. An additional $4.5 billion has also been invested in global and local assets across a number of technology sectors, the minister said. The investment was announced by the Arab world’s largest economy surpasses the $6.4 billion announced at the inaugural Leap last year . They are part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plans for the "empowerment of the technology sector, which is one of Saudi Arabia’s most promising sectors amid unprecedented growth in the kingdom’s digital economy", Mr Alswaha […]

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Blakely Borough, PA, Feb. 06, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — A transition from paper to digital processes is underway in Blakely Borough, Pennsylvania where local officials have sought greater efficiency in municipal operations and constituent services. The city recently partnered with GovPilot , a New Jersey based provider of cloud-based government management software. Officials from Blakely Borough are working with GovPilot to implement a number of digital capabilities and public facing forms that aim to make operations more efficient and services more convenient for constituents. The municipality, with a population of 7,000 is initially utilizing GovPilot to digitize forms and processes for Land Development, Zoning Permits, Construction Permitting, Landlord Registrations, Park Reservation, Zoning Variance, Business Occupancy Use Permits, Dumpster Permits, Employment Applications, and non-emergency constituent concern reporting. Officials from Blakely Borough have deployed GovPilot’s Report-a-Concern feature which enables residents to report non-emergency concerns such as potholes or general code violations directly via a digital form on the township website, or through an app on their phone, called GovAlert. The app, available to residents on Android and iOS devices is easy to use, and routes citizen concerns directly to the relevant municipal department so that the issue can be resolved quickly. […]

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CommerceHealthcare® has released its fifth annual Healthcare Finance Trends for 2023 report. The report includes an in-depth analysis of research combined with practice experience and identifies consideration for the industry given multiple intersecting challenges in the year ahead. The report’s key insights range across regulatory, financial, technological and supply chain considerations. The full article is accessible at CommerceHealthcare.com , but one trend that will continue to carry importance for healthcare leaders is the need for a digital transformation. Digital transformation is fundamental to healthcare’s business and care delivery model changes. IBM’s website succinctly captures the goal, “Digital transformation means adopting digital-first customer, business-partner and employee experiences.” A leading forecaster believes 70% of healthcare organizations will rely on digital-first strategies by 2027. 1 Transformation efforts need to accelerate. One study showed that “digital, technology and analytics strategies exist for nearly all organizations, yet only 30% have begun to execute on those plans.” 2 One functional segment ramping up digital transformation is finance. According to a recent survey, 94% of CFOs and senior leaders stated that such efforts will be at the forefront of financial operations and strategy for 2023-2024, and 79% described it as an “absolute need” for “commercial stabilization […]

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The Ministry of Defence (MoD) must transform itself to successfully execute its digital strategy, according to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). A report by the committee said that the department is “not well setup to implement digital change at pace and scale” and that change is needed. The MoD published its 10-year digital strategy in June 2021, aiming to invest an additional £1.6bn in digital , including establishing a “digital foundry”, a federated ecosystem of digital innovators and developers, and a defence-specific artificial intelligence (AI) centre. The strategy also aims to place a digital backbone at the heart of its approach, which will be the enabler for digital transformation. However, as a National Audit Office (NAO) report highlighted in October 2022, the department has yet to come up with a delivery plan for the strategy. The PAC report said that while the department is now working on a delivery plan, the committee is not optimistic that the strategy will succeed. “Despite the urgency and ambition of its digital strategy, the department does not yet have a delivery plan to measure and track progress. The department’s digital strategy sets out how it wants to share and exploit data effectively for […]

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