Almaco: Helping Clients Sail through Dynamic Tradewinds

Digitalization is making foray into the maritime industry rigorously in the same way that it was brought into the car industry not too long ago. Ship operations are followed carefully with smart solutions, IoT and AI, although different segments of the industry have reached different degrees of adoption. The areas where they are most developed are in safety, navigation and avoiding human errors.

When it comes to hotel areas, we see most progress in the service and maintenance operations. Smart solutions in service applications are typical, like automatic shutdown of equipment when not in use, galley management systems, intelligent scheduling and cooking pattern mapping, preventive and condition-based maintenance, and IoT. Besides from operational smart solutions, the technology could be used for automating some parts of the sales, engineering, and construction processes as well, minimizing human errors, improving service, and ensuring time schedules are kept.

“Our company has come far in the development of smart solutions for ships, especially in catering operations, and we have seen that the best results are achieved when the systems are developed together with the customer, considering their needs and degree of digital maturity,” says Björn Stenwall, President & CEO of ALMACO Group.

Björn is respected and well-known in the maritime community with a total of 30+ years of experience in the industry. His roots come from MacGregor where he was in charge of its Global Service Division, after which he was headhunted by ALMACO to run the Catering Division and hold the COO position on Group level. This year in January, Björn was appointed President & CEO of the company.

Enabling ‘Turnkey’ Solutions

ALMACO is a full turnkey provider of all hotel, and catering areas including laundries in the marine and offshore industry. Its motto is to manage large-scale full turnkey projects and make it look easy. It provides a comprehensive design, engineering and project management ranging from guest to crew and backend areas.

The company’s catering solutions include galleys, bars, pantries, provision stores, refrigeration machinery and various smart solutions for operating, maintaining and optimizing the galleys. ALMACO is the only company that truly provides complete hotel areas including everything from cabins to public areas such as SPAs, gyms, lobbies, and restaurants. ALMACO is known for providing the widest portfolio on the market, but also for being able to manage large-scale turnkey projects while making it look easy. It’s all about having big dreams and making the impossible possible.

Key Differentiators

ALMACO has three things that separates them from their competition, especially when you consider that all these three things co-exist in the same company.

  • ALMACO has a wide product portfolio. There is no other company in this industry that can deliver every single aspect of complete hotel and catering areas to the extent that ALMACO can. And, it’s not just limited to planning the project, it also involves building and delivering the material along with equipment.
  • It’s a never-ending cycle of companionship and support throughout the lifespan of the ship or offshore platform. “Our aim is to make our customer’s lives easy so that they can concentrate on their core business,” says ALMACO’s team. When the ship sails off, ALMACO doesn’t stay at the port waving goodbye – on the contrary – it ’sails’ along-side its customers throughout the journey from the first drawing of the ship areas, to the engineering and construction phase, and all the way to providing maintenance and spare parts during operation, and eventually to complete refurbishments.
  • ALMACO is able to provide for and manage all aspects of the interior projects as full turnkey deliveries globally. This means time schedules are easier to keep and costs and risks can be minimized. Too many cooks spoil the broth, and this is especially true when it comes to project management.

Therefore, ALMACO takes a lot of pride in being the best-known full turnkey provider of hotel and catering areas in the maritime industry.

ALMACO’s Dynamics

ALMACO can deliver any area of the ship or offshore platform interior. Its global presence and a global network of suppliers and sub-contractors are easy to move which helps in scaling fast.

ALMACO only works with partners that provide high quality and have a proven track record. “We are able to sign supplier contracts based on big volumes, which means the terms and the service provided are excellent and the prices are competitive,” describes Björn.

ALMACO is very actively involved with neutral organizations such as research and educational institutes, regulation authorities and different local and global maritime clusters. “We have found that the absolute best research there is still involves discussions with our customers in different forums,” shares ALMACO’s team.

Staying in close contact with owners, yards, subcontractors, suppliers and other customers and partners is the best way to follow the needs of the market. It is their approach wherein the company gets a chance to be able to react and develop its offerings quickly in the right direction.

To wrap it up, ALMACO can provide any interior area, anywhere in the world, while managing all aspects of the project so that it is delivered on time, cost-efficiently and with high quality globally. “These differentiators make me, and our whole company, very proud of what we do,” concludes Björn.

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MariApps: Providing Digital Direction to the Maritime Industry

From the onset, the digital sector has been transforming the global business landscape on every front. Data is generated, shared, stored, and analyzed in large quantities and at speeds that are increasing exponentially each year.

Today, the data we create, navigate, and the monitor has a direct impact on both how we work as individuals and how businesses work collectively. This digital information flow drives processes and task automation and consequentially have a significantly positive effect on security, the efficiency of business operations, and the environment.

Digitalization and data use has had an immense impact on the maritime industry gradually over the years. Ships have had to become sophisticated hubs for sensors and data generators that produce and transmit data in real-time and often expected to do so from anywhere. Concurrently, satellite communications advances have improved connectivity, which allows for a substantial increase in the volume of data transfer at diminished costs.

The integration of data streams from multiple sources enables the maritime industry to make effective and critical decisions, more efficiently. The way the industry handles knowledge and how ships and components are planned, constructed, and tested, is beginning to have a significant effect on emerging cloud-based technology such as BMPs and digital twin technology.

Recognizing the significance digitalization plays within the marine industry, we see it only fitting to start off this special issue, Top 10 Most Disruptive Maritime Solution Providers-2020, with MariApps, a pioneer in providing digital solutions to the marine industry.

MariApps Maritime Solutions is a young and passionate company committed toward developing the best solutions for the marine industry. The company’s vision is not to be the largest solutions provider in the marketplace but to be the best in providing niche solutions to clients.

The Core Philosophy

MariApps’ flagship product smartPAL, has been connected on over 1500 vessels and provides quality services to some of the leading names in the shipping industry.

According to the team at MariApps, the ship operation systems and digital solution applications are available in different forms of more comprehensive and effective modules. Consequently, MariApps not only offers solutions, but rather goes the extra mile in offering the customers an opportunity to form partnerships. MariApps follows through in overseeing organizational changes, communications, project management, and implementation.

Training is also an important aspect in the service MariApps provides and it will continue to serve the customers, by ensuring that the service offered is extended in training all the departments within the organization of their clients.

Comprehensive Services

MariApps provides users with the possibility of monitoring ships, retrieving real-time financing, results, access to crew-information and activities, assets and operational data in order to ease decision-making, especially in times of crisis. The flagship maritime digital solution is the right choice for all ship management and ownership needs.

With extensive research and the delivery of end-to-end digital solutions covering all facets of modern marine fleet management, MariApps has advanced rapidly into the market. Leveraging the technical expertise of a talented pool of mobile developers, it has built marine applications that can run on various mobile platforms such as Android, Windows, and iOS, thereby equipping customers with the accessibility to their vessels’ operational data as well as the convenience of attending to any situation anywhere and anytime.

MariApps’ expansive portfolio of solutions includes, Maritime Application Development, Mobile Application Development, Project Management and IT consulting, Business Intelligence, and the MariApps Innovation Hub.

This broad product range allows MariApps to provide the foundation for potential maritime applications through the incorporation of technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning that simplifies and substantially reduces errors in processes. The organization also has its R&D department, exploring the full spectrum of technical opportunities and incorporating them in the smart PAL suite.

MariApps’ LiveFleet module is a central platform for efficient monitoring of information related to vessel, expenses, performance, and voyage on one comprehensive display. The desktop module and mobile application are designed specifically for ship-owners to access significant vessel information concurrently. In the interest of saving time, owners can be updated and track vessels in near real-time on the go, with all the following key parameters highlighted to them: financial reporting, vessel position, crewing, operational performance, environmental performance, maintenance reporting, purchasing, and ship certificates.

The Business Intelligence module (BI) is powered with intelligent analytical tools to scan, monitor, and showcase trends of the near real-time data managed by the application, gathering data from across the smartPAL suite as well as external data. MariApps develops business intelligence solutions with a team of experts in the industry and the extensive data shared by customers allowing customers to look into analytics, prediction of OPEX, breakdowns, and how to continually reduce costs.

Keeping up with the Industry and Fluidity of the Times

MariApps’ comprehensive digital tools offer efficiency and expertise for maritime professionals to succeed in a business environment that is increasingly demanding. MariApps has set in place an integrated business continuity strategy to reduce disruptions, even for their customers.

The extensive continuity program is a contingency plan to keep the services in operation in the event of unforeseen setbacks like COVID-19, with minimal disruption. This program involves remote teams, core distribution team meetings, Azure facilities and other network management tools online, support for ships, and a workforce situated worldwide to better serve their customers.

The company continues to focus on incremental improvements and enterprises in the process of improved maritime effectiveness and standards, connecting maritime workers, ship managers, and employees around the world.

Meet smartPAL: Leading-edge Maritime Solutions from Mariapps

The maritime flagship digital solution suite is the right choice for all involved in the operation of a ship. It helps maritime staff, ship owners, stakeholders, and ship managers with resources, automated supplies and financial systems, timely PO cycle purchases, effective invoice processing by automated bots, full travel performance analysis, business information, detailed intelligence and analysis of all transactions, processes, and day-to-day businesses.

It provides personalized creation of maritime solutions, consulting, data building, application testing and project management, which can work on all mobile devices, desktops, and tablets.

The ‘Visibility’ concept for the management of the vessels and shipowners has also been implemented by MariApps. SmartPAL digitizes all ship management features and has increased stakeholder engagement alongside apps such as Business Intelligence, LiveFleet, and eConnect.

MariApps is currently creating a digital platform that incorporates smartPAL and telemetry data, propelling their customers forward in the digital world.

From a Startup to one of the Leaders in the Industry

Sankar Ragavan, CEO of MariApps managed to take MariApps from 30 people in the company with 1 client to a 500 strong team with over 40 clients within the short span of 5 years. With offices existing in 6 countries to date, MariApps is making its presence strong by gradually acquiring market shares in various key geographic locations. MariApps will expand expand more actively into offshore, cruise, yacht, and seafarer travel with new solutions that have already been developed.

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An update on the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine | CIO Look

In the latest coronavirus vaccine latest update, the US-based biotech company Moderna released new data on Monday which conclusively strengthens its case for the covid-19 vaccine. The study stated that the moderna vaccine is 94% effective, and causes the human immune system to produce potent antibodies that endure for at least three months.

Moderna Inc said that it expects between 100 million to 125 million doses of its experimental covid-19 vaccine available globally in the first quarter of 2021, in this latest covid-19 vaccine update USA. The company added that around 85 million to 100 million of those doses would be available in the United States, while 15 million to 25 million available outside the country.

The first-quarter doses are within the 500 million to up to 1 billion doses the company expects to manufacture in 2021, as per the covid-19 vaccine tracker.

The vaccine, mRNA-1273, achieved high levels of binding and neutralizing antibodies in its test subjects. Although these high levels of antibodies produced due to this covid-19 vaccine declined slightly over time, by introducing a booster vaccination the levels could be maintained high, for up to three months in all participants.

The COVID-19 vaccine race:

The Moderna vaccine built on the company’s previously reported findings, based on its study of about 30,000 volunteers. In the study where both placebo and active shots were given to volunteers, only 11 of the active volunteers reported cases as opposed to the 185 cases in the placebo team.

In other covid-19 vaccine news – Pfizer, which has developed a similar vaccine, reported similar findings. Both Moderna and Pfizer vaccine showed promise in preventing severe cases.

Based on these findings and the analysis of the vaccine’s safety and side-effects, Moderna has submitted an application for emergency use authorization to the food and drug administration(FDA).

Pfizer applied for the same for its covid-19 vaccine on November 9. The FDA is set to hold an advisory committee to discuss the application on December 10.

The FDA has the paramount responsibility to review the data, develop an independent perspective on the new coronavirus vaccines. It needs to take tests to ensure that the drugs are both safe and effective.

The agency recently stated that they are not cutting corners for the tests, as the new vaccines will potentially be delivered to millions of healthy people.

Pfizer and Moderna covid-19 vaccines may soon start to become available in mid to late December, is the FDA gives either of them the thumbs up.

The coronavirus vaccine tracker

The technology used in these vaccines is quite original. The common strategy for vaccines is to inject a weakened or dead virus in order to prompt the human immune system to produce antibodies to fight them.

But the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines both are stuffed with small pieces of genetic material. When injected into a person, the cells in the immune system are alerted. The cells then read the genetic code and produce a protein that is actually a key fragment of the coronavirus, using the small genetic material bits.

The body then builds antibodies that latch onto that fragment, so that when the actual coronavirus attacks the body, it is primed to fight the virus off with antibodies.

Although the vaccine has shown some notable side effects like a sore arm, mild body aches, fever, and flu-like symptoms, the vaccine is still very useful in the fight against the ongoing pandemic.

With nearly 2,000 deaths in the US per day, the whole country is austerely eyeing new coronavirus vaccine news. Developing effective and side-effect-free covid-19 vaccines is of primary importance.

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Ángela Álvarez – Tech Trends In The Financial Sector

– By Ángela Álvarez, Founder & CEO Aglaia Capital

It is said that the growth of human beings is at its highest when they face new challenging situations and go out of their comfort zones. And that is where we can express our nature better as human beings and achieve our highest potential. The ability to do so also defines us as human beings as we are a product of constant changes and selective evolution.

In the recent few months, a new reality has shaken us challenging our way of dealing with our day-to-day world and accelerating many of the technological evolutions that may have happened in the following years.

We are living a new industrial revolution shaped by Emerging Technologies such as artificial intelligence, inter-connectivity, and digitalization, through a new generation of financial infrastructure driven by Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT)/ Blockchain, digital assets and digital currencies.

In a world in continual changes with alternative options moving fast, innovation driven by emerging technologies has been converted more than ever in the difference that will make the companies to stay longer in the corporate world.

Banking system and capital markets are tied to the emerging technologies. Financial service is one of industries where their adoption will transform mostly of the tasks and the way that the industry is conceived. Embracing them can make a difference for a selective evolution of institutions, in an environment of boosting efficiencies, and scalability, driven by the consolidation and reinforcement of the institutions, as well as improving the consumer experience, and facilitating financial inclusion as a fuel for economic growth, allowing the unbanked population to participate in the economy.

Emerging Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Distributed Ledger Technologies/Blockchain will play a key role in making a sounder and more efficient financial industry, and help to improve some of the main challenges of the global financial industry such as effective tools to provide liquidity to the markets, to increase the speed of processes and transactions, measure better the small and medium companies credit risks, manage more efficiently the Assets and Liabilities of the Financial Institutions as well as their assets under management, or facilitate the financial inclusion of the unbanked populations areas.

The key role of emerging technologies such as DLT/Blockchain for the evolution of the world’s financial infrastructure is considered as an essential catalyst, making it more efficient, resilient and reliable, and becoming the foundation of the next generation of technologies for the financial services industry, particularly in the multi-trillion value transactional, payments, and asset management areas. Among their main benefits, DLT enables disintermediation and considerable cost savings, facilitate access to new markets by automating low value-added tasks, and provide a standardised and immutable method to interconnect financial institutions, and the trillions market of financial assets that they have under management.

DLT are databases set up and maintained by multiple independent participants, called nodes. The nodes record, share and synchronize transactions in their respective electronic ledgers, and synchronously maintain the latest version of the database. The participant at each node of the network can access the recordings shared across that network and can own an identical copy of it. Any changes or additions made to the ledger are reflected and copied to all participants in a matter of seconds or minutes. The database is append only and all the new entries are linked to the previous ones. Blockchain is one type of a distributed ledger for which new entries are stacked in blocks to be appended. Blockchain is a type of distributed ledger used by bitcoin.

A distributed ledger solves the failure issues found in centralised systems, which is the type of ledger that most companies use, more prone to cyber-attacks as they have a single point of failure. Its decentralised nature and cryptographic algorithm make DLT very robust to any type of manipulation or cyber-attack. This makes the data contained within DLT virtually immutable, being ideal for organisations which require a single source of trust shared between various stakeholders.

Remarkable is the impact of Emerging technologies on financial inclusion, improving the access to finance for unbanked populations without an access to a bank account. With the increased penetration of mobile and Internet, the primary focus would be to accelerate technology enabled digital financial inclusion to capture that non-official economy. The increasing interest of the Central Banks on the development of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) shows the impact of the new emerging technologies and Blockchain on the evolution that the financial sector is experimenting.

Tied to this current challenging business environment, lies also a continuous flow of increasing opportunities for the expression of our creativity to solve the challenges that we are facing, where emerging technologies as well as entrepreneurs play a key role to boost the engine of evolution.

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Mike Konstantinidis – Artificial Intelligence to Revolutionize Shipping

Shipping is an industry that never settles. Major parameters are changing randomly over time, parameters that have to do with Regulatory Compliance Obligations (IMO 2020), fluctuation of F.O. price, generic fuel uncertainty (HFO, LSFO, LNG, LPG, Ammonia, etc.) as well as turbulence in global Trade and Economic Environment. Industry needs rapid adaptability and ship owners have proved that can adapt quickly.

The shipping industry is at a time of major change since a new revolution, the one which has to do with the digital transformation is about to take place. A transformation that will be boosted by technologies powered by Machine learning and Artificial intelligence (A.I.).

A revolution that will lead to safer vessels, easier to manage and more efficient, providing the crew and the shipping company with a clearer perception of the environment in which they operate. This new reality, which is still “challenged” by a portion of traditional shipowners, will be a key criterion, to the extent that it will be exploited, for the survival against the constantly increasing competition, as pointed out, by Mike Konstantinidis, CEO & Co-Founder at METIS Cyberspace Technology SA, a Greek high-tech company, specializing in the development of innovative solutions for the global shipping community.

He adds however, that so far shipping companies are at the state of being able, at best,  just to collect and store all those data produced onboard the vessels without having found a way to extract the intelligence that is hidden well inside them. It seems that the management of the maritime data will be the field on which the new era of the industry will be built upon, giving significant competitive advantages to those who will perceive it promptly, prepare and adjust their operations accordingly.

As Mr. Konstantinidis explains, the volume of data produced by all kinds of equipment is so large at the time being that specialized techniques and methodologies have been implemented in order to handle, process and utilize them.  Machine Learning, as the dominant technology that represents the concepts of Artificial Intelligence, consists of a set of algorithms, tools and techniques, optimized to handle big data in a way that mimics the human learning process in order to solve specific problems.

More specifically, the process involves the analysis of existing datasets in order to learn how to recognize trends and predict future events that couldn’t be noticed with other methods. The combination of multiple data sources and the analysis with Machine Learning and A.I. techniques will provide to the Shipping Industry increased safety, manageability and efficiency while the shipping companies and the crew will have a clearer overview of the environment on which they are required to operate.

Innovative Solutions

METIS, a company of high technological caliber and with great experience in shipping, is specializing in the development of innovative solutions for the global Maritime

Community and applies on a large-scale Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence techniques on its solutions. METIS’ objective is to ensure an integrated and reliable process of data collection, real-time performance monitoring and intelligent analysis, providing useful and actionable information, on an innovative way, addressing the needs of various roles, in a shipping company.

Apart from Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, METIS, utilizes additional technologies in the areas of wireless networks, Cloud computing and smart devices, providing to the shipowners the possibility to monitor the operations of their vessels in real-time when at office, without any intervention from the crew.

In practice, the solutions provided by METIS essentially set the artificial intelligence in the service of the shipping community. METIS monitors in real time a wide range of vessel parameters, records thousands of signals, and is able to provide a “virtual personal assistant” in the service of employees in various departments of a shipping company at the office, as well as to the crew onboard.

Significant part of the process, as pointed out by Mr. Konstantinidis, is the fact that using Machine Learning and A.I., METIS is on a constant process of shelf-improving. METIS learns the particularities of each vessel and every machinery equipment which is installed onboard and adjusts itself in order to be able to sense and diagnose promptly any possible, future malfunction event. METIS is of great help towards the proactive management of a fleet with a direct relationship to the relating profitability.

Significant Challenges

The overabundance of data which are available to the shipping industry, creates indeed significant challenges.

In such an environment, factors such as the assurance of the integrity and the quality of the collected data, the choice of the specific tools to be used for the analysis and the proper implementation of the scientific principles are of paramount importance.

METIS combines in the most comprehensive way, maritime know-how, naval engineering expertise and modern digital technologies to provide a powerful, integrated system that ensures the reliability of the data collection process, the monitoring of the performance in real-time and the optimization of the maintenance process, Mr. Konstantinidis mentions and concludes by stressing out that Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are expected to affect drastically the operating model of the global maritime.

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ELLEN VOIE – Leading Women towards the Future of Trucking Business

The future of business is uncertain, and it is evident, as we have observed it changing day-by-day in these pandemic times. The only way to keep up with the ever-changing dynamics of business is to keep innovating. Some say innovation is a muse to persistence and leveraging it in business is the ultimate way to enhance one’s operations. It helps fill the gaps in the market, but it also provides an edge over the competition.

One person who is persistent in her daily life in achieving great things is Ellen Voie – CEO of Women In Trucking Association, Inc. This article will take you through her journey as a pioneer in the trucking business for women in an exclusive interview with CIO Look:

Kindly take us through your journey to becoming a proficient business leader.

As a young girl, I was always encouraged to try new things and to keep learning. I took industrial arts class instead of home economics because I wanted to learn woodworking, welding, drafting, and auto mechanics. This led me to a job at a steel fabricating plant where I was hired to draw material handling equipment. I was offered a promotion and moved to the shipping (traffic) department. I completed a course in Traffic & Transportation Management and was later promoted to Traffic Manager. I asked a lot of questions, but I also had a quest to learn new things. This started my career in the supply chain.

How do you diversify your organization’s services to entice the target audience?

Our organization is a nonprofit association with over 5,000 members. We ask our members for feedback all the time. We need to understand better what challenges they are facing as women in a maledominated environment. The more insights we receive, the better prepared we are to address any obstacles that might keep women from either entering the trucking industry or succeeding in her career in transportation.

What roadblocks or challenges were faced by you in a corporate business? How did you overcome them?

The biggest roadblock I experienced is similar to any woman working in a male-dominated environment, proving your capabilities. I had to show that I could work as hard, as smart, and as quickly as my male peers. In fact, women often feel they need to exceed expectations, and by doing so, we show others that we are dedicated to ensuring ourselves and our companies’ success. I kept asking questions and pursuing more education to enhance my reputation as a supply chain professional.

According to you, what are the vital traits that every CEO should possess?

Every CEO should possess tenacity. My dictionary defines tenacity as ‘the quality or fact of being very determined; persistence.’ We need to keep going, even when we are facing difficult challenges or personal obstacles. We can’t give up easily. A CEO has to set the tone for the entire organization by showing her team that she is determined and dedicated to the people’s success.

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Fred d’Alessandro – Redefining the Benchmarks of Leadership

Fred D’Alessandro, the Founder and CEO of Diversified knows both and has learned how to deftly maneuver the unpredictable waters of the business world.

Formative years in business

In the early 90s, Fred D’Alessandro abandoned his comfort zone in pursuit of a new challenge, leaving his job as a broadcast engineer to venture out as an independent business owner and primary salesperson. Operating initially with a broadcast manufacturing business model, the modest team began shifting their focus more towards integration, an area of great interest for Fred and where he discovered his true passion for service.

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However, this desire to shift direction was not widely supported among the rest of the team who soon walked away from the endeavor, leaving Fred as the sole owner of a technology start-up in an industry surrounded by long-standing competition, where he had very little business experience and even fewer resources.

However, failure was not an option for him. Quite the contrary actually—as the odds stacked up against him, so did Fred’s personal drive to beat them. With a new team that wore every hat imaginable, they slowly started chipping away at the competition to develop a name for themselves amongst broadcast systems integrators. But that wasn’t enough.

Diversification in the new millennium

Witnessing the vast array of technology requirements his customers had, Fred knew he had to diversify their offerings. “I knew that in order to be the best, we had to provide more than just one piece of the puzzle,” he said. This set him venturing into audio-visual (AV) integration opportunities around the beginning of the new millennium.

Over the next twenty years, Diversified continued to grow and expand their capabilities and expertise, which now encompasses media and entertainment as well as AV, electronic security, IT, digital signage, medical integration, mission critical, emerging technology, managed services and more.

With an enhanced portfolio of expansive solutions and services and a growing global footprint to support a dynamic clientele around the world, Fred and his team set the stage for Diversified to deliver unparalleled offerings to the market.

Innovation, the new paradigm

The future is digital in practically all matters relating to information, communication and entertainment. Diversified’s mission is to enable that digital future—connecting people, technology, and experiences, where and when it matters most. Given the diversity of markets served and the different business drivers for each, Diversified partners with clients and specializes in the technology solutions needed to help drive their operations.

From connecting global enterprise teams to elevating brands with shoppers and enabling breaking news broadcasts and supporting crises management, the company today offers an unmatched and endless range of services that address needs using an array of innovative solutions and services.

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Coronavirus Deaths Reach Threatening Levels Unseen Since Early in the Pandemic

Daily Covid-19 related deaths in the USA have reached levels unseen since the early phases of the pandemic following an increase in the number of those hospitalized, a threatening sign that the present rise in cases is beginning to take its dangerous toll and that more tough months lie ahead.

On Wednesday, the USA recorded more than 2,200 new deaths due to pandemic — the highest-single day rise since May 6. The number kept the seven-day average of deaths more than 1,600, a figure close to that during the initial spike in cases and fatalities and brought the USA’s death total to more than 261,000.

Though far fewer people who test positive for the pandemic now die of it, the sheer number of those infected has increased in recent weeks. That, in turn, has heightened an increase in the death toll, and health expert’s opinion the figures could get worse in the coming months, as family and friends travel and gather together to celebrate the holidays, accelerating the virus’s spread.

On Wednesday alone, the USA recorded more than 185,000 new covid cases — a number that is huge in comparison to numbers from May, when at the high point, the nation witnessed a little more than 33,000 new cases in a single day.

That is perhaps due to a significant rise in testing, but there is little doubt that the USA is undergoing its most serious outbreak since the initial surge.

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Why Aligning Your BUSINESS with Latest TECHNOLOGIES Is Important!

If there’s one thing that differentiates the present times from the past, and which with time, shall become ever prominent, it’s the speed at which technology and related products become faster, and at the same time which turns existing technologies redundant and obsolete. Quite akin to a tsunami wave, technology almost overwhelms everything with its sheer size, volume, and abilities! And the one who don’t align with it run the risk of either being run over by it or injured in material ways.

Today we give you some reasons for aligning your business with the latest technology and why doing so is very important.

  • It saves time

What would you prefer, drafting an email or tying a WhatsApp message? Agreed the latter does not give you the kind of bandwidth the former does in terms of using language constructively and conveying a lot more, but given the speed at which the latter operates, and gets messages, pictures, videos and music across, you can’t really turn a blind eye.

If you do, chances are that competition could blind you shortly. There was a time (it still does) when email marketing was the norm. Till WhatsApp came about and blew it away. How? Because of its speed of sending messages and speed of receiving responses. And best of all, it remains so approachable. You just have to open an app and see your messages! And that is precisely what new technology does. It comes on the back of the most convenient and latest of technology and enhances the experience of the user.

  • Increases efficiency (IoT and edge computing)

In the field of automotive component manufacturing, machining, and turning of stamped and forged parts play a major role. Till a while back these were done on different machines with human interfaces. There could be one or more human operator placing the job/piece/part from one machine to another. This arrangement resulted in reduced speed of work with output which had far lesser accuracy.

IoT, edge computing, and robotization has completely done away with the human interface and in the bargain brought in higher speeds of output at higher efficiency and quality. In some cases, with no or very limited human intervention necessary, the size of the equipment too has reduced drastically thus saving space and giving entrepreneurs more area for higher output.

  • Gives more options to do the same thing

Take the example of WhatsApp versus emails, the former is a chat platform that also lets its users use telephony, live face-to-face video chats and even recording in place of just typing and sending message. With the facility to attach files of various kinds, it gives users the ability to do the same activity in different formats which not only increase the chances of getting things done better and faster, but also increases the quality of output!

  • Better & higher work-related output

Till a decade back, the only way to send pictures, drawings, sketches etc was through fax. This meant that both receiver and sender had to have things like a fax machine, thermal paper, telephone line etc. – with no guarantee that the output would be of desired quality. If the telephone lines were busy or down, the communication would invariably get affected.

Then came email attachments and a printer-cum-scanner which changed the whole paradigm! Now there was no need to wait for telephones and telephone lines! With the net being independent of any one medium of accesses, communication became much faster and clearer! The process though is far from over with newer things always on the horizon.

  • Accessibility (cloud)

Older technology is invariably machine specific. Also called legacy system as opposed to the cloud, this stymies the user’s chances of accesses beyond certain means. Most legacy systems being office or space-specific, accesses were through particular places (like offices) and only to specific people. Moving anywhere beyond meant loss of connectivity and all its unintended consequences.

The Covid-19 pandemic and quite some time before it showed the ill-effects of giving limited accesses to important systems- precisely where the new has a healthy edge over the old. No being aligned with the latest thus hobbles the chances of growth because accesses to important things become limited in most old systems.

  • Data security & ease of handling

Data is the lifeblood of any enterprise, and more so, critical tech and finance-related ones. It thus makes immense sense to move out of legacy systems and stay in sync with the latest in data security systems. It’s a given that older systems could be heavily compromised given that their architecture and loopholes would be known to the world of hackers and mischief-makers.

Most dated systems, despite patches belong architecturally to older versions which by their very nature could have loopholes that are difficult to closely entirely. In the light of these, data can be secured by remaining aligned with the latest technology which into the foreseeable future has systems that are hard to crack.

  • Cheaper (legacy v cloud)

When it’s about technology, the idiom “Old is gold” doesn’t work, simply because a the latter version uses cleaver means to do away with the ills of the old. By owing an older version, one can be open to being swayed and swindled by those who know of loopholes and how to use them. Also, trying to reenforce older systems don’t come cheap. If the system is quite old, either they won’t have adequate or healthy patches, or that exist could be ill-fitting with glaring gaps which could be used to pilfer data or infect it.

Patches for old systems may be known only to select few who might take advantage of their situation as ask for the moon in return for help. In all, an old system, even though very efficient could be very expensive to maintain. Expense could also be in the form of specific hardware on which it runs. As against this, the latest technology invariably runs on the latest hardware and systems which by present standards could be cost-effective in the foreseeable future.

Source:https://bit.ly/3frRshN


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Popular Hobbies of Business Leaders

Being a business leader is extremely time-consuming. At C-suite level, the average working week consumes around 63 hours of work time, about 50% more than the average employee. This can be very stressful, placing a lot of pressure on CIOs and their colleagues.

It is, therefore, vital for business leaders to find hobbies to help them relieve their stress and take their minds away from work.

For a busy CIO, this may seem counter-intuitive, but spending time away from work can make you more effective and more productive. In his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey described a concept he called “sharpening the saw”.

By this, he means spending time looking after yourself physically and mentally to ensure you’re at peak performance. He says we should do this in four areas: physical, social and emotional, mental, and spiritual. Having a hobby can help you sharpen your saw in all four of these areas.

Here are some of the most popular hobbies that business leaders use to sharpen their saws.

Golf

Golf is a stereotypical hobby among business leaders. The golf course is a place where, traditionally, many business deals were negotiated and agreed upon, though the practice has been falling out of favour in more recent years.

Regardless of your ability to sign multi-million dollar contracts in between a few holes, golf is a great hobby as it combines physical activity, nature and socialising, forcing you to concentrate on the game rather than work.

Part of the appeal is that golf can be enjoyed by people of any age, as its low intensity makes it suitable for people of all fitness levels. This low intensity also gives you plenty of time to chat with your golf buddies, as does the clubhouse that you can stop off at afterwards. Other sports like football and tennis don’t offer these benefits.

A study by Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona found that business people who play golf are paid 17% more, on average, than their non-golfing peers.

Examples of business leaders that enjoy playing a few holes include John T. Chambers of Cisco and Virginia Rometty of IBM, as well as all of the US presidents since Ronald Reagan.

Poker

Like golf, poker is a sport that can be enjoyed by people of any age and any physical ability. It’s also a great way to socialise with friends, which is why so many people organise regular poker nights.

Playing poker is an intellectual workout; it requires you to memorise all of the different hands and read the body language of your opponents. The latter could also be useful to you in your work when negotiating deals and managing other people.

Unlike golf, poker offers much more flexibility to players, since it’s possible to play it on the go through a smartphone or other handheld device. For example, PokerStars offers an app for Android and iOS that packs in all of the same features as its desktop version, allowing you to play during your morning commute or while relaxing at home.

Famous names such as hedge fund manager Bill Perkins and tech entrepreneur Tony Hseih are both regular poker players.

Running

To many people, running is just an exercise, but to others, it’s a hobby. Jogging long distances requires you to slowly build up your stamina, which necessitates a strong will and plenty of discipline.

Physical exercise is a good way to relieve stress, and running is something that can be done anywhere and at any time, perfect for busy business people. As well as releasing endorphins, running requires you to clear your mind of other things so that you can focus on your breathing, making it a great way to sharpen your saw.

This is why many business people have running as one of their hobbies, including Dennis Woodside, the former COO of cloud storage company Dropbox, Jessica Herrin, the CEO of Stella & Dot, and even Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.

These are just some of the hobbies enjoyed by business leaders; there are many other popular choices. Regardless, they all have the same attributes: they’re fun, accessible, and help you to clear your mind of the stresses of work.

Source: https://bit.ly/3lZgeYZ

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