Latest news with #techsector
Bloomberg
4 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
US Plans Wider China Tech Sanctions With Subsidiary Crackdown
The Trump administration plans to broaden restrictions on China's tech sector with new regulations to capture subsidiaries of companies under US curbs. Officials are drafting a rule that would impose US government licensing requirements on transactions with companies that are majority-owned by already-sanctioned firms, according to people familiar with the matter.
Forbes
21-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How To Build Belonging And Safety With Remote Teams
Bringing people who work disparately together for a multi-day gathering to ideate, produce, and/or celebrate can accelerate productivity, increase engagement, and strengthen organizational commitment. Many U.S. companies continue with hybrid work models, which, while not impacting productivity, present challenges to connection and cohesion. The solution? Productive team offsites. Some companies, notably giants such as Amazon and J.P. Morgan, are now insisting on a full-time return to the office model. However, such firms are in the minority, and this approach is generally unpopular with many whose jobs theoretically allow the flexibility of some remote working, such as in the tech sector. According to a new McKinsey study, hybrid work models seem to be the new normal, and this brings up unique complications. Specifically, challenges related to innovation and psychological safety. It's intuitive why innovation takes a hit remotely; ideation is not always synchronous, it misses that 'live action' component, people are easily distracted, and the hard-to-describe energy or 'vibe' that makes teams come together just isn't there. Psychological safety is a component of workplace belonging. When leaders can't look us in the eye to tell us that they care, when we can't see and feel the office environment we're a part of, and when we can't observe nonverbal cues in meetings, it's hard to feel safe. In fact, it's isolating. Before we discuss what might help solve for workplace belonging in a remote-first world, let's first define what it's not. Workplace belonging isn't, despite what trite HR programs may say, tolerating underperformance in the name of insincere hyper-inclusivity. In my book, I introduce the four horsemen of the workplace apocalypse, which are the lead-up to a toxic culture: A culture of belonging refers to an organizational environment where employees feel deeply connected to their company or team. In such a culture, employees can show up authentically, are recognized for their contributions, and clearly see how they fit into the larger picture. 'Establishing a psychologically safe environment guarantees that all team members can freely express themselves without worrying about criticism or negative consequences,' I write in my book, The Quest: The Definitive Guide to Finding Belonging. 'It fosters trust, encourages mutual respect, and promotes vulnerability.' Now that we've established that productivity may not suffer when we work remotely, but innovation, safety, and belonging do, let's discuss the solution. Enter offsites and retreats. Offsites are strategic meetings that take place out of the office. Their primary purpose stems from business objectives like board meetings, annual planning, or quarterly reviews. Retreats, on the other hand, may be connected to these but are centered around team-building to promote cohesion, which is correlated with higher performance. Regardless of the vessel, bringing people who work disparately together for a multi-day gathering to ideate, produce, and/or celebrate can accelerate productivity, increase engagement, and strengthen organizational commitment. This is a big reason why I founded my new company: to bring retreat venues to life so that small teams can do big things. Intimate corporate gatherings are the ideal tool for remote team leaders to leverage when they're trying to create innovation, promote safety, and foster belonging.
Fast Company
21-05-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Boom-bust-what's next: Preparing for supply chain instability by learning from our past
The tech sector often produces rapid innovation and growth in waves. A few years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented unpredictability, leading to an initial stall, followed by a massive boom in the SaaS and IT industries driven by the need for remote work solutions, cloud services, and digital collaboration tools. Foundational technologies like enterprise IT networking also saw increased investment as companies rushed to purchase hardware and software to accelerate their digital transformation efforts and support secure, hybrid work. Like other variables during the pandemic, the 'boom' period was short-lived. Instead of sustained growth across the tech market, and the IT networking space in particular, a staggering demand overestimation by more than $120 billion caused a frenetic 'bust' that threatened to paralyze the industry. Supply chain volatility plays a significant role in these boom/bust cycles. Lockdowns and delays during the COVID pandemic dragged raw material supplies down substantially, creating initial pent-up demand and backorders. Tariffs also impact this cycle, with extreme price pressure for raw materials imported from foreign countries causing turbulence, especially in the enterprise hardware technology market. With the 25th anniversary of the dot-com peak and a challenging tariff environment along with a new IT industry buying cycle due to extreme demand for AI infrastructure and compute power, what lessons from the past can inform better supply chain management decisions? THE IMPACT OF TARIFFS ON THE TECH INDUSTRY AND THE SUPPLY CHAIN The potential impact of U.S. tariffs continues to loom large over the tech industry—especially following implementation on April 2nd, and the reciprocal behavior from other countries. Tariffs on imported goods from countries such as China, including the components needed to create fully formed tech and IT hardware, are likely to slow growth and create pricing pressure across the supply chain. For example, enterprise network switches have 300 different components sourced from different countries around the world. Any disruption in the supply chain due to tariffs could make these components costlier to use and import, stunting AI's promise and technological advancements needed to make IT management easier, more efficient, and more effective. Fortunately, the last supply crunch taught valuable lessons about the importance of real-time planning, optimization, transparency, and a pragmatic approach to managing a dynamic supply chain. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the initial rush to adopt new technologies was driven by necessity, but it also led to hasty decisions and overinvestment in some areas. As technology buyers anticipate the potential impact of tariffs, it's essential to take a holistic approach to understanding your supply chain, assessing where pricing pressures will likely be the strongest, adjusting as needed, and replacing suppliers and operations with countries that have a more tariff-friendly environment. ACTIONABLE ADVICE FOR MANAGING SUPPLY CHAIN DURING MARKET CHAOS Taking a measured approach to managing the global supply chain before making significant investments is critical. Be prudent with this process and carefully evaluate the long-term value and sustainability of new technologies and new supply partners, and weigh the impacts of tariffs before making any major decisions. Leveraging technology can help, for example, overhaul legacy and manual supply chain management processes, and implementing automation tools, such as inventory management systems and cloud-based platforms, can support real-time planning, re-routing, and execution across various functions. Throughout this process, technology vendors should prioritize transparency and communication with partners and customers. Being open and honest about supply chain drag and upstream pricing pressure can ease concerns and empower customers to make more prudent decisions when planning for future technology purchases and deployments, particularly for extensive AI networking, infrastructure, and data center expenditures. Additionally, establishing a dedicated team of supply chain and IT experts to drive continuous improvement and innovation in supply chain management is imperative, especially in the emerging environment. ARE WE MORE PREPARED THIS TIME AROUND? In what should come as no surprise, most companies are exploring AI to drive operational efficiencies and employee productivity, though a recent survey found 32% of CIOs and senior IT leaders had not yet seen significant ROI from AI investments nor efficiency improvements post-implementation. As AI matures, it will be used to create better user experiences, necessitating infrastructure upgrades and supply chain improvements to accommodate current applications. Significant investments have also gone into building new infrastructure for AI, leading to the rise of the 'AI factory,' or new data centers purpose-built for AI applications and power consumption. New AI-native infrastructures are seen as future-proof investments, as opposed to retrofitted ones that may not scale into the future. Legacy network systems and conventional supply chain cycles will not be able to support AI unless they evolve from single-purpose to multi-purpose systems, are capable of accelerated computing,and have full software-defined workloads. Companies are already investing in accelerated computing as the foundation of new infrastructure, paving the way for new revenue streams. The question remains: Are we better prepared this time around to help customers navigate the complexities of innovative technology and the potential impact of tariffs? The answers lie in our ability to help end customers understand how to effectively plan to ensure their technology investments deliver real, tangible ROI while also avoiding rushed decisions related to the latest newsworthy developments in AI. By focusing on practical applications of AI, adopting integrated platforms, and leveraging the expertise of Managed Service Providers (MSPs), organizations can navigate the challenges of the future and emerge stronger than ever. The technology boom-bust cycle during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the previous cycle of U.S. tariffs from the first Trump administration, have taught us valuable lessons about the importance of transparency, prudence, and a pragmatic approach to new technologies. As we enter the age of AI in networking, these lessons will be essential in helping us avoid another boom-bust supply and demand cycle and achieve sustainable, long-term growth.
BreakingNews.ie
21-05-2025
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Irish employment in social media companies drops 11% since 2022
Digital Business Ireland has called on the Government to do more to support Ireland's digital and tech sector after new data showed a fall-off in the number of social media companies operating in Ireland and a 11 per cent fall in jobs in the sector. Data provided by the Department of Enterprise in response to a recent parliamentary question shows that the number of social media companies operating in Ireland has fallen by a fifth, from 40 in 2022 to 32 last year, while the number of employees in social media companies has fallen by 11 per cent from 15,478 in 2022 to 13,744 last year. Advertisement DBI said it "welcomes the commitments in the new Programme for Government to make Ireland an EU centre of expertise and a regulatory hub for companies operating across the EU Digital Single Market, while also ensuring that Ireland benefits from the innovation and investment potential of new technologies like AI". However, "DBI believes the Programme for Government's ambition must be matched with a pro-business, pro-growth approach to supporting Ireland's digital and tech sector to balance digital compliance and growth". In particular, DBI is calling on the Government to: Review and enhance the mandate and work of the Data Protection Commission and the State's enterprise agencies to provide enhanced advisory and support services for businesses. Champion an accelerated simplification of EU digital regulation, to boost innovation and growth across the digital and tech sectors, and to seek data transfer agreements with more third countries. Digital Business Ireland chairperson Caroline Dunlea said: 'The fall-off in jobs in social media companies operating in Ireland provides a timely reminder that Ireland must not take the digital and tech sector for granted. 'Government must do more to protect jobs in the digital and tech sectors and to safeguard Ireland's reputation as a supportive base for global digital and tech companies. 'A pro-business, pro-growth approach to supporting the digital and tech sectors must be prioritised by the coalition as part of its competitiveness agenda.'
Free Malaysia Today
19-05-2025
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Alibaba posts 6% annual revenue increase despite spending slump
Alibaba's revenue during the fiscal year ended March 31 totalled US$138.2 billion, up 6% from the previous 12-month period. (Reuters pic) BEIJING : Internet giant Alibaba today posted a 6% increase in annual revenue, the latest positive sign for China's tech sector despite persisting economic uncertainties that include sluggish spending and threatened trade. The Hangzhou-based company is one of the biggest players in China's tech industry, with operations spanning retail, digital payment, artificial intelligence (AI) and entertainment. This year has seen its share price rollercoaster on a wave of investor enthusiasm about Chinese AI capabilities that began in January, followed by a steep drop last month triggered by US President Donald Trump's global tariff blitz. The firm's revenue during the fiscal year ended March 31 totalled ¥996.3 billion (US$138.2 billion), according to results posted to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, up 6% from the previous 12-month period. Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders rose to ¥129.5 billion, the statement showed, a jump of 62% year-on-year according to AFP calculations. In the final quarter alone, Alibaba saw revenue of ¥236.5 billion, narrowly coming up short of a Bloomberg forecast. Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders during the quarter reached ¥12.4 billion, surging 279% from the low base of ¥3.3 billion recorded during the same period last year. 'Our results this quarter and for the full fiscal year demonstrate the ongoing effectiveness of our 'user first, AI-driven' strategy, with core business growth continuing to accelerate,' CEO Eddie Wu said in a statement. The growth is another positive sign for China's tech sector, which has garnered revamped interest from investors since the shock release in January of advanced AI chatbot DeepSeek – apparently developed at a fraction of the cost thought necessary. Alibaba and fellow tech giants Tencent and Baidu are now funnelling large sums into a new race to develop and integrate the most cutting-edge AI applications. Spending slump As the Chinese economy strains under sluggish spending and a tumultuous trade relationship with the US, Beijing is increasingly looking to platforms operated by domestic internet giants as a cushion for employment and consumption. Prospects improved Monday when Beijing and Washington announced plans to significantly scale back sky-high tariffs that had severely threatened trade between the two nations. However, economists say that the Chinese economy may still struggle to achieve the official growth target set by leaders of around 5% this year. Alibaba's announcement today came after Tencent and e-commerce giant posted moderate increases in first-quarter revenue earlier this week, indicating a possible rebound in spending. However, official figures released on Saturday showed that consumer prices remained mired in a slump last month, reflecting continued deflationary pressure. Alibaba was once a key subject of the aggressive regulatory crackdown launched in late 2020 on the domestic tech sector, attributed to worries in Beijing that top firms had become too powerful. Jack Ma, the firm's charismatic co-founder who had spoken boldly about the shortcomings of China's financial and regulatory system, kept a low profile during the lengthy campaign. He reappeared in February during a meeting with President Xi Jinping and other business luminaries – a shock development that suggested a warmer stance from Beijing and sent Alibaba stocks soaring. Ma is no longer an executive at Alibaba but is believed to retain a significant shareholding in the company.
