Market Watch

A Purple Line construction site in Riverdale in January 2022. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post) The Purple Line has been a fiasco, and the Jan. 28 editorial “ Yes, another Purple Line editorial ” noted many of the problems. But one issue it did not note is that by devoting the resources we are to this rail line, we are not able to use those resources for other purposes. Economists call this “opportunity cost,” but the concept is simple. Maryland has limited resources to spend on public transit. Instead of paying the concessionaire a net of close to $300 million a year for 30 years to build and then operate the line (assuming fares are as forecast and that costs do not rise further — neither a good assumption — and excluding federal grants), Maryland could instead support greatly expanded bus services to all of Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. For the funds the state will spend on the Purple Line, it could pay to double the services on the county-run bus systems (doubling the routes, doubling the service frequency on the routes or some combination). Plus, it could permanently end the collection of fares on those buses. The […]

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WALLDORF & MUNICH — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced that BMW Group will expand its strategic partnership with SAP to accelerate its digital transformation. On January 25, 2023, this was sealed by both companies. Using the RISE with SAP solution, BMW Group will move its entire SAP software landscape. The company will merge its cloud strategy with its existing SAP S/4HANA systems, allowing for joint innovation for critical business areas, including finance, parts supply, warehousing, supply chain and production. This will help BMW Group to digitalize faster, more comprehensively and more efficiently in the future. Expanding a Long-Standing Strategic Partnership BMW Group and SAP look back on a long-standing strategic partnership. As part of RISE with SAP, BMW Group will have access to a cloud platform for end-to-end business processes. Alexander Buresch, CIO and Senior Vice President, BMW Group IT, said: “This strategic decision will help us to drive our digitalization leadership even faster forward. We are increasing the flexibility of our infrastructure and creating maximum global scalability. And most importantly, it allows us to bring business innovations to our customers and users much faster than before. That’s why I’m very much looking forward to the next steps […]

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Mr. Mustafa O. Vazayil, Managing Director, Gargash Insurance Services LLC – Mr. M. Rajendran, Deputy Managing Director, Gargash Insurance Services LLC If the first leg of technology transformation, the insurance industry focused on enhancing internal efficiencies, the next leg is laying emphasis on improving customer experience and bolstering data and analytics capabilities, say top management executives at Gargash Insurance Services LLC. Gargash Insurance has been investing significantly in its digital capabilities to become increasingly agile, innovative, and customer-centric. "We are looking to give customers a total solution on our website and decreasing the time lag between choosing a policy to buying one. The customers will not have to wait for a quotation; they will be able to choose a policy online and buy it on the website in just a few clicks. A few insurers are ready with the capability and others are onboarding with us. By the end of March, we will have providers giving customers more choices on our website," said Mustafa O. Vazayil, Managing Director, Gargash Insurance. "There is no better way than to invest in technology to improve efficiencies and match the aspirations of customers." Talking about trends in the industry, M. Rajendran, Deputy Managing […]

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The Big Picture Crowdsource Innovation After a turbulent few years, we’re entering an economic downturn with a slowdown in the investment market, as growth for the sake of growth is no longer viable, and profitability returns as a priority. Digital innovation is still necessary, as plenty of untapped opportunities exist to solve actual problems, particularly in sectors like agriculture, education and energy. Using a new approach to innovation called digital acceleration, companies can continuously leverage a little bit of technology to make a huge difference. The tech industry is at a transition point. Investors and market incumbents have been typically attracted to growth, however, the media has been awash with tech business scandals that suggest it will take more than rocket-ship advances, as seen during the big tech boon of earlier years, to launch a viable and sustainable tech outfit. Simultaneously, the ambition to build a new and decentralized internet has seen vast amounts of money go into cryptocurrency and NFT markets, yet sufficient safeguards have not been able to match this wave, making them susceptible to scams. The problems with such a religious commitment to growth as seen previously are not lost on investors and C-suite executives either […]

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BEIJING, Jan. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — On January 24, 2023, the inception meeting of the "Digital Transformation" task force of the B20 summit under the Indian presidency in the Group of Twenty (G20) was held online. As an important supporting activity of the G20 Summit, it was attended by representatives from over 160 top global enterprises including Google, Microsoft, IBM, Siemens, Wal-Mart and Boston Consulting Group, etc. Continue Reading QAX QAX, as the only Chinese cybersecurity company selected into the task force, attended the meeting, at which, Qi Zixin, Vice President of QAX and Secretary General of QAX Public Welfare Foundation, delivered a speech on increasing the cybersecurity level of critical infrastructures, promoting international communications on cybersecurity and jointly coping with global security challenges, etc. From the perspective of cybersecurity in the digital era, Qi made three suggestions on behalf of Chinese cybersecurity companies. First, increase the level of cybersecurity of critical information infrastructures so as to ensure safe operation of digital public infrastructures. "The issue of cybersecurity of critical information infrastructures should not be overlooked," said Qi. As the first cybersecurity service provider in the history of the Olympic Games, QAX, during the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games […]

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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/2023FinancialTrends , 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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European transformation leaders share fresh perspectives based on their real-world experiences. A unifying principle to drive change and a structured approach to execute and sustain it can boost success. Transformation leaders and other C-suite executives around the world continue to pursue ambitious transformation programs for reasons that have remained consistent over time: they seek to unlock growth potential, accelerate the rate at which they innovate, improve customer experience, build new capabilities, and compete effectively in the future. But the past several years have been marked by sustained uncertainty and unprecedented volatility. Today’s transformation practitioners—each on their own journey and timeline—can draw upon the cumulative wisdom of the many leaders who have completed successful transformation programs and offer fresh perspectives for these challenging times. Against this backdrop, McKinsey recently convened a group of senior leaders in Europe who are currently engaged in transformation efforts, some on a global scale (see sidebar, “About McKinsey’s European Transformation Summit”). This article reflects the insights and experiences shared at the summit by practitioners in attendance. The summit offered an opportunity for these practitioners to discuss the current state of transformation, find common ground across industries, and glean insights to shape their paths forward. As […]

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Union Budget 2023-24 has garnered a positive response from the business community with several experts praising the initiatives announced by the finance minister. The budget, aimed at fostering growth through digital transformation has received praise for its focus on the financial sector, skill development and the start-up ecosystem in India. Prateek Toshniwal , Founder, Director & Advisor at Tosniwal Ventures, says, “The Union Budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year has changed the capital investment landscape in the country. The economy is projected to grow at 7%, the highest among major economies. India is on the right path, despite current challenges. The finance minister’s cap-ex target for 2023-24, at Rs 10 lakh crore is 33% higher than the 2022-23 budget estimate of INR 7.5 lakh crore and represents 3.3% of GDP.” Ashish Singhal , Co-Founder and CEO of CoinSwitch echoes digital transformation, “It’s great to see the financial sector as one of the seven priority sectors in the budget. While we are still reading the fine print, the thrust to improve financial literacy and to build DigiLocker as a one-stop KYC solution are positives for the Wealth Tech Ecosystem. Being an early adopter of DigiLocker, its use has greatly helped […]

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Ammon News – The Cabinet, in its session held Wednesday, chaired by Prime Minister Dr. Bisher Khasawneh, discussed the progress made on Jordan’s digital transformation programs and achievement expected during the next stage in this regard, as part of the services axis within Public Sector Modernization’s Roadmap. The Council of Ministers was briefed by Minister of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, Ahmed Hananda, on achievements made so far within Jordan National Digital Transformation Strategy and its implementation plan, primarily steps that will be taken during 2023 and the coming years and the institutions under this plan for the purpose of fully digitizing their services. Hanandeh also briefed the Cabinet on flagship e-government gateway Sanad app and its e-services, primarily activating digital ID, files, signature and e-payment, pointing out that citizens can benefit from multiple services and issue or use documents through this portal. To date, he announced more than 200 e-services and features were launched on Sanad platform for various police, judicial, customs, land, energy, trade, industry and youth departments and ministries. The minister said approximately 2,400 services provided by 50 institutions and government departments were documented and completed, adding that a total of 700 services were approved for digitization […]

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