Johnson Conley

Leadership is a Matter of Performance

Author: Dennis Conley

Automation

Artificial Intelligence’s Impact on Debates

Oct 15, 2020 #AI, #NLP by Dennis Conley

A fascinating AI development in the world of debates that leverages crowdsourcing, natural language processing (NLP), natural language understanding (NLU), sentiment analysis, idiom understanding and language generation. See Project Debater.


Here are the results from the first debate hosted by Bloomberg and IBM that featured former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers, former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Allison Schrager.

Automation

Automation Déjà Vu?

Oct 8, 2020 #AI, #Artificial Intelligence, #Low-Code, #No-Code, #Robotic Process Automation, #RPA by Dennis Conley

One facet of digital transformation that is currently under intense discussion is the utility of citizen development technologies such as low-code, no-code, RPA, etc. The argument against using these technologies is that these tools and products lack the industrial strength of other technologies. The best way to automate is not to use these easy-to-use technologies or at best use them in a transitional fashion. We find this argument reminiscent of the early days when advocates of low level languages, like assembler, dismissed the high level languages, like COBOL, as inefficient and not suited for high volume work. All of us from that era knew how that worked out – improved compute performance and the ease-of-use of high level languages led to the first digital transformation across industries. The focus of the current arguments are misplaced. Firms should employ technologies that are fit for purpose. Citizen developed solutions may be the perfect solutions in a variety of situations. The important decision has always been to determine the needs and map those needs against the near-term and long-term use of any technology. If it works today, but does not scale – and scale is a requirement, that is a problem. If the solution adds unacceptable complexity or severe maintenance risks, that is also a problem. If the technology will not deliver results to market-based timelines, you may not be using the correct technology solution. If the technology does not have the required flexibility, that is a problem. This all boils down to making informed decisions when deploying technology. There’s nothing new here. It’s also important to note that in some cases not using technology at all is the right course of action!

Automation
Automation
Security

“COVID-19 Has Been a Phisherman’s Friend”

Jun 3, 2020 #Cyberdefense, #Cybersecurity, #Cyberwarfare, #Global Policies, #Security, #Security Risks by Dennis Conley

A recent article in The Economist titled, “Policing the Wild West,” details a number of cybersecurity challenges. With the widespread actions of nation actors, proportional responses and the avoidance of civilian impacts need to be evaluated in the context of the existing laws of war. Inconsistent and fractured global and government cybersecurity policies and programs only complicate the matter. What is needed are clear norms of acceptable behavior and consequences for failing to meet those norms.

Security

How Secure Are We?

May 11, 2020 #Cybersecurity, #Global Supply Chain, #Security, #Supply Chain by Dennis Conley

In a recent development, semiconductor fabrication may be making a comeback in the United States according to this article in the Wall Street Journal. The chart above confirms concerns reported in the article about the high concentration of chip manufacturing suppliers in Asia. This is a example of the risks associated with our technology supply chain – highlighted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A few years ago I published an article on the subject titled, “Security Risks and Exposures”. The article is as pertinent today as it was when it was first published.

Strategy

Incremental Digital Transformation

May 5, 2020 #Digital Strategy, #Digital Transformation, #Legacy Applications by Dennis Conley

In a recent Harvard Business Review article titled, “Discovery-Driven Digital Transformation,” the authors provide excellent insight into the challenges and opportunities established firms face trying to become digitally relevant. Important takeaways include:

  • Don’t approach digital transformation as a big bang initiative. It’s far better to approach digital change incrementally.
  • Established firms have an advantage in digital transformation as they have an intimate knowledge of existing customers and customer experiences. Firms also possess intimate knowledge of their processes as well as the strengths and weaknesses of their offerings.
  • Think like born-digital companies and expand your thinking to non-traditional competitor offerings and markets.
  • Focus on the business outcomes for each of your incremental digital improvements. Over time, the knowledge learned (successes and failures) through incremental digital transformation will be invaluable.

By starting small, the authors provide hope for companies unprepared for digital transformation. The approach presented also provides an opportune way to embrace digital transformation without huge budgets and the associated risks.

Business Resilience

Is Radical Localism the Answer?

Apr 23, 2020 #Business Continuity, #business resilience, #Disaster Recovery, #Resilience by Dennis Conley

The pandemic has impacted all firms – some positively and other negatively. Firms that planned in advance for resiliency have better chances for survival. Supply chains have been strained and suppliers have had mixed results in their ability to deliver. We’ve already seen some companies fail and some leaders lose their jobs due to the lack of preparedness for the pandemic. In addition, the pandemic has proven the importance of effective supply chains as a factor for business resiliency. The question remains – is radical localism the answer?

We recently conducted a survey of business leaders to understand what firms plan to do regarding business resilience, post pandemic. Our survey confirmed that business leaders plan to revisit business resilience and their supply chains once the pandemic abates. Our survey also confirmed the likelihood of third party auditors expanding their focus to include supply chains and business resilience in their reviews, especially in rendering going concern opinions. In all cases, firms are planning to review and adjust their supply chains. None expressed plans for radical localism.

In the article, “Putting Values Above Valuations,” (complimentary access available) Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, provided his insights and observations:

  • Local resilience will be more important than global efficiency.
  • Supply chain failures have negatively impacted cash flow.
  • Companies will change how they balance risk and resilience.
  • There will be lasting consequences from unemployment and a lack of accessible healthcare.

When we exit the pandemic, firms will need to institutionalize the changes they’ve made and recalibrate their supply chains. Expanded geographic diversity, deploying alternate processes and increased use of automation will all be considered as supply chains are retooled to minimize risk and to improve business resiliency.

Radical localism is a knee-jerk response. We live in a global economy and a global solution will prevail. That said, supply chains must be recalibrated as firms address risk and resiliency.

Be safe and be well!

p.s. We’ve developed a diagnostic to assess business resiliency. This assessment could be a valuable addition to your after action review. Please let us know if you’d like to learn more.

Business Resilience

COVID-19 – What you can do now

Apr 3, 2020 #Business Continuity, #business resilience, #coronavirus, #COVID-19, #Disaster Recovery by Dennis Conley

We hope this communique finds you safe, albeit struggling with what COVID-19 has wrought. Our prayers go out to those who are suffering. We’re working from home, practicing social distancing and limiting our physical contact with others. People and firms are facing issues they never anticipated. These are unprecedented times – but we will all make it through this pandemic.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been talking with a number of firms. What we’ve heard is that companies have faced many unanticipated challenges. We’ve also learned that through it all companies are doing their very best to accommodate this new abnormal. While it’s premature to start our after-action planning, we want to share with you something that you can do now. Take notes. Keep a diary of issues you’re running in to. This information will be valuable when we exit this crisis. Your journal should include:

  • Document how your workforce responded to the crisis. Were there insurmountable staff issues? What lessons did you learn about the most important resources for your firm – people?
  • Document how effective your work from home program is. What did you learn? We’re you prepared to deploy? What surprises did you encounter? How were you able to convert your remote workforce back to an office setting (when that occurs)?
  • Document how your supply chain (products and services) performed. What interruptions did you encounter? Who rose to the occasion and who answered beyond the call? How did you adjust?
  • Document how your policies and processes supported your pandemic response. What policies and procedures did you use? What processes and methods did you have to replace or discard?
  • Document where you had to increase your spending. Were the increases reasonable? Did you come up with ways to avoid increased spending?
  • Document the impacts to your brand, image and reputation. How did you respond?
  • Document what regulatory hurdles you’ve encountered. Did you face fines, penalties or sanctions?

This information will be valuable input for your after-action planning. If you’re like me, taking notes is the best way to recall situations of the past.

These are tough times, but we’ve shown extraordinary resilience in the past and – our response is and will be no different this time!

Stay safe and be well!

Automation

A Novel Use of Natural Language Processing (NLP) in Scientific Research

Mar 27, 2020 #Natural Language Processing by Dennis Conley

A fascinating article on NLP was recently published in Patterns. The article describes the use of NLP to perform sentiment analysis of 4,313 scientific abstracts to determine the successes and failures of species reintroduction. For comparison, a similar manual research effort against 361 published articles “required months of effort from highly trained experts just to obtain the raw data, which they then had to analyze.”

This is another example of how AI can achieve remarkable results. The good news is that the AI analysis shows improvements in the endangered species populations!