Scotiabank Calls Its Head-Office Staff Back in Four Days a Week
Bank of Nova Scotia plans to call head-office employees back to the office four or more days per week starting in September, citing a push for more collaboration as it follows recent moves by other big lenders including Royal Bank of Canada and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Toronto-based Scotiabank said it will require teams with 'real estate capacity' to increase their days spent working in the office to '4+ days per week,' according to an internal memo sent to Canadian banking employees in the Greater Toronto Area last week. The memo, reviewed by Bloomberg News, wasn't sent to branch workers, who are already working onsite full time.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Meet 10 AI trailblazers who are steering their companies into tech's new age
The corporate rush to adopt AI is shifting into high gear. As of July 2024, 78% of companies reported using AI for at least one business task, up from 55% since late 2023, according to a report from McKinsey & Company. From IT automation to personalized marketing, businesses are betting on AI to cut costs and drive growth. But AI adoption isn't without risks, including cybersecurity threats, data leaks, unreliable or biased model outputs, and a rising carbon footprint. For Business Insider's "AI in Action" series, we profiled 10 executives driving AI adoption at companies like JPMorgan Chase, PwC, and BMW. From chief AI officers to HR leaders, they're helping their organizations stay competitive — and safe — in the age of AI. At JPMorgan Chase, Teresa Heitsenrether leads the rollout of the bank's proprietary LLM Suite. The suite has given over 220,000 employees access to AI tools that can summarize internal data. The platform integrates capabilities from multiple leading AI providers and has already saved employees several hours of work a week, Heitsenrether said. "LLM Suite's widespread adoption is driving a cultural transformation across the bank," Heitsenrether told Business Insider. This rollout isn't just about experimentation — it's about execution. JPMorgan tracks every AI use case from ideation to production, ensuring each AI initiative drives business value. That includes cost savings, revenue generation, and risk reduction, Heitsenrether said. Working under this framework helps the bank prioritize projects with the highest potential impact. Additionally, employees across the bank are trained through a mix of in-person and online courses to use AI effectively and responsibly. Joe Atkinson is embedding AI across the firm's operations and services. He led the launch of an internal AI chatbot deployed to 270,000 employees to help them generate reports and assist in project delivery. Under his leadership, PwC also rolled out tools like Code Intelligence, which helps organizations modernize legacy systems through generative AI-powered code conversion, and Agent OS, which was designed to streamline AI-driven workflows. Additionally, Atkinson said he launched a global AI Academy, which has trained 90% of staff in prompt design and responsible AI use. "We're seeing a ton of growth and capability from our people," Atkinson said, pointing to rising usage and more complex tasks handled by AI. He emphasized the importance of trust, governance, and accountability, adding that virtually every function at PwC is expected to be AI-powered in the near future. Bala Subramanian is leading UPS's digital transformation with a focus on integrating AI across operations. Under his leadership, UPS has implemented the Message Response Automation system, which uses large language models to automate responses to customer inquiries and reduce agent handling time. "By alleviating the burden on our human agents, it enables them to focus on more complex and nuanced customer needs," Subramanian told Beyond customer service, Subramanian is overseeing the rollout of AI and automation technologies — like pick-and-place systems and autonomous guided vehicles — across shipment operations. Bloomberg reported that as of April, UPS is exploring a potential partnership with Figure AI, a robotics startup, to implement humanoid robots into its operations for tasks like sorting parcels. UPS is also investing in AI infrastructure, signing a decade-long deal with NTT Data in late March to modernize its data centers — part of a broader strategy to update its logistics network and improve service delivery. UPS didn't respond to BI's request for comment. Johan Gerber is helping Mastercard use AI to strengthen fraud detection across its global payment network. His team oversees cybersecurity, digital identity, and dispute resolution in an effort to protect businesses and card users from scams. With Gerber at the helm, Mastercard launched tools like Decision Intelligence and Safety Net, which use generative AI, machine learning, and data scanning to analyze transaction patterns, improve fraud detection rates, and flag suspicious activity. LLMs have also been integrated into MasterCard's Recorded Future tool, which allows analysts to quickly sift through its threat-intelligence database with queries like, "Tell me about the new malware families you found yesterday." Gerber told BI that combining generative and traditional AI has improved detection accuracy, but he also stressed the importance of rigorous testing and data governance before deploying models into production. He also recommended a method called "silent scoring," which runs new AI models alongside active models before they go live; this helps assess the new model's soundness and vulnerabilities. Suresh Kumar is leading Walmart's AI transformation to boost efficiency and personalize retail experiences. He helped launch "My Assistant," a generative AI tool that helps over 50,000 corporate employees summarize documents, draft content, and streamline onboarding. The company has also invested in developing proprietary LLMs like "Wallaby," trained on decades of internal data, to power customer-facing assistants and personalized homepages. In supply chain operations, Walmart uses AI for product placement, inventory management, and robotic automation. The Wall Street Journal reported that the company is testing autonomous shopping agents that can purchase items for customers. "A standard search bar is no longer the fastest path to purchase, rather we must use technology to adapt to customers' individual preferences and needs," Kumar said in an October press release. Walmart didn't respond to BI's request for comment. Marco Görgmaier is leading BMW's AI integration across production, engineering, and marketing. He said the company's generative AI strategy centers on three pillars: adopting third-party tools, building proprietary applications, and providing in-house tools like the BMW Group AI Assistant, which lets staff create custom software without code. Görgmaier said training programs, development guidelines, and hands-on support further ensure teams are equipped to navigate the AI shift. "While conventional AI has driven efficiencies in targeted areas like predictive maintenance and quality assurance, generative AI expands the horizon, enabling automation, creativity, and innovation across the entire organization," Görgmaier told BI. He said it's important to start every AI project with a clear business need and ensure cross-functional collaboration and compliance. A key to scaling AI, he added, is a centralized, flexible data platform that supports rapid adoption of new technologies while ensuring cost efficiency and regulatory compliance. Bhavesh Dayalji is guiding efforts to boost productivity through internal generative AI tools at S&P and Kensho, S&P's AI and innovation research division. Spark Assist, for example, is an internal chatbot that helps more than 40,000 employees draft reports, synthesize data, and streamline workflows. Unlike public tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT, these are built on proprietary data and include agentic features for task automation. Another tool is Chat IQ, a chatbot where employees can query S&P's financial datasets with questions like, "What is the price of a certain stock?" 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According to the company, Accenture has committed $3 billion over three years to expand its Data & AI practice and double its AI talent to 80,000 professionals. "We have to ensure that AI solutions have fairness, transparency, and accountability embedded from the start," Chakraborty said. He's also co-leading a $700 million partnership with Telstra. The goal is to help the Australian telecommunications company integrate AI into its workflow processes, including identifying fiber cable defects and faster customer service, AFR reported. Chakraborty told BI the partnership also involves advancing responsible AI capabilities like real-time model monitoring so that Telstra's AI systems are compliant with its internal policies and community guidelines. Building and maintaining the right data infrastructure to scale AI remains a barrier to adoption, Chakraborty added. 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Geek Wire
2 hours ago
- Geek Wire
Starbucks AI assistant, powered by Microsoft, helps baristas focus more on coffee and customers
Starbucks' Green Dot Assist AI-powered tool details how to make a specific drink and offers to a show a barista a quick video tutorial. (Screen grab via Starbucks) AI is coming to your Starbucks. The tech isn't going to make your coffee, but it might make the barista's job easier so they can focus on making your coffee better and faster. The Seattle-based coffee giant revealed a new generative AI-powered assistant called 'Green Dot Assist' that is designed to help baristas find quicker solutions to tasks that can get in the way of customer service. CNBC reported that the feature is powered by Microsoft Azure's OpenAI platform. Using in-store iPads instead of flipping through manuals, Starbucks says its partners can get quick answers related to real-time shift planning, coaching, store performance, standards, troubleshooting and even a refresher on the ingredients for a seasonal beverage. The tech initiative was announced at Leadership Experience 2025 (LE25) in Las Vegas, where Starbucks is bringing together more than 14,000 of its coffeehouse leaders from across North America. The goal of the three-day gathering is to facilitate immersive workshops and connect workers, who can hear directly from company leaders, including new CEO Brian Niccol. Green Dot Assist will pilot in 35 stores, with broader rollout in the company's U.S. and Canadian locations in fiscal year 2026. Niccol, who was named Starbucks CEO last August, revealed plans in September to help the slumping coffee chain boost its brand and sales, in part by investing in technology 'that enhance the partner and customer experience, improve our supply chain and evolve our app and mobile ordering platform.' As GeekWire previously reported, it's worth watching how Niccol handles the company's digital ordering system. Starbucks helped pioneer mobile order-ahead capabilities more than a decade ago. Now about a third of total transactions from Starbucks' U.S. company-operated stores come from its app. But the app has become somewhat of a sore spot due to inaccurate wait times and the congestion it creates inside stores — both for those trying to pick up their mobile orders, and people ordering at the store itself. 'We're returning to what made us iconic: handcrafted coffee, human connection, and a relentless focus on excellence,' Niccol said in Las Vegas. Starbucks also announced a next-gen point-of-sale system designed to reduce training time and drink remakes while enhancing workflow. The system features improved accessibility with removed language barriers as well as customer personalization.
Associated Press
2 hours ago
- Associated Press
BlackBerry to Announce First Quarter Fiscal Year 2026 Results on June 24, 2025
WATERLOO, ON / ACCESS Newswire / June 10, 2025 / BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB)(TSX:BB) will report results for the first quarter fiscal year 2026 at 5:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. The conference call can be accessed as a live webcast using the following link ( here ) or through the events section of the Company's investor webpage ( ) or by dialing toll free +1 (844) 763-8275 and entering Elite Entry Number 52549. A replay of the conference call will be available at approximately 8:30 p.m. ET on June 24, 2025, using the same webcast link (here ) or by dialing toll free +1 (877) 481-4010 and entering Replay Access Code 52549. The following table gives target dates for quarterly earnings announcements for the remainder of fiscal year 2026: * The dates given are for planning purposes only and a press release confirming the earnings date will be issued approximately 2 weeks before. About BlackBerry BlackBerry (NYSE:BB)(TSX:BB) provides enterprises and governments the intelligent software and services that power the world around us. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the company's high-performance foundational software enables major automakers and industrial giants alike to unlock transformative applications, drive new revenue streams and launch innovative business models, all without sacrificing safety, security, and reliability. With a deep heritage in Secure Communications, BlackBerry delivers operational resiliency with a comprehensive, highly secure, and extensively certified portfolio for mobile fortification, mission-critical communications, and critical events management. For more information, visit and follow @BlackBerry. ### Investor Contact: BlackBerry Investor Relations +1 (519) 888-7465 [email protected] Media Contact: BlackBerry Media Relations +1 (519) 597-7273 [email protected] SOURCE: BlackBerry press release
