Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is the use of software that interfaces with computer systems in the same way as humans would. It uses AI and machine learning capabilities to handle high-volume repeatable tasks that used to require humans to perform. Such tasks can include calculations, queries and maintaining records and transactions. The software agents that perform these tasks are known as software robots or bots.
On May 25, 2018 a raft of European Union data norms will come into effect which constitute the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). Despite the acronym’s resemblance to that of a defunct nation, GDPR is Europe-wide, and indeed global when its ramifications are followed to their conclusions. And whereas in old East Germany people’s data belonged to the state and private business was frowned upon, now we have a world in which private business is getting its hands on more and more of people’s data and governments are stepping in to protect their citizens.
In the current business environment, changing customer purchasing behaviours and technological innovations are changing the business landscape for food producers and the food supply chain. New value creation and delivery models are redefining growth and profitability across the globe. In order to stay competitive in this changing environment, all operators need to stay up to date with their knowledge.
Despite lavish-sounding marketing gush from franchises who want to attract new franchisees, there is no guarantee that you will turn a profit at all, let alone run your business from a laptop in the Bahamas as you soak up the sun. Some franchises are genuinely great propositions (if you run them well), and others look good on paper but are minefields in reality. An aspiring franchisee’s mind should be buzzing with questions.
It’s understandable for a Westerner to assume that Chinese is terrifyingly difficult to learn. With its impenetrable written characters and unfamiliar sounds, at first sight it can seem like a complex machine that only highly skilled experts are capable of understanding and using.
But when you take a little time to scratch the surface and pick up its principles one step at a time, not only is it quite similar to English but also refreshingly logical and simple. For example, here is an introduction to Chinese characters from the British Council:
Blockchain is one of the most disruptive technologies to impact business in recent years. Its significance is such that understanding its ramifications is an interdisciplinary subject spanning technology, business, law and education. Its applications extend far beyond the cryptocurrency applications – Bitcoin, Ethereum and others – for which it is best known. Blockchain’s ability to generate a distributed ledger of events and transactions that cannot be retrospectively altered makes it ideal for academic records, for example.
If we really want the cool stuff we see in Science Fiction Movies, we are going to have to train more people in nanotechnology: the manipulation of matter on an atomic, molecular and supramolecular scale. We’ve already got graphene, bendy screens, hydrophobic coatings and bandages infused with silver nanoparticles to help heal wounds faster. Those are cool. But where is Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak? Where are the sci-fi chairs that grow out of the floor and disappear when you stand up?
In 2010, Katy Perry walked into the MET Costume Institute Gala wearing a dress that constantly changed colour. 3000 shimmering LEDs created the effect, with Perry lighting up like a rainbow in the couture dress designed by wearable tech company CuteCircuit. Back in 2009, Sony Ericsson and the London College of Fashion ran a contest to design digital clothing, and the winner was a Bluetooth-enabled cocktail dress that lit up when a call was received.
When we go into a restaurant, we put our trust in its staff to give us food that’s in tip-top shape. Our health and happiness depend on procedures like maintaining the cold chain, cleaning surfaces, sterilizing utensils, checking cooking temperatures and a lot of other details that can make the difference between healthy and dangerous. A chef can kill a customer with a bad scallop, and even if everything is impeccably clean, you can still kill an allergy sufferer with a fragment of peanut. Hence the need for a tightly-regulated catering industry.
The macros function within Excel is such a powerful feature that only the initiated can handle it. You are ready to enter the realm of Excel macros when you are a confident and experienced use of Excel and comfortable creating formulas and manipulating spreadsheet data. A little experience in Visual Basic won’t go amiss, either. You will have mastered most of the functions that come as standard with Excel and be ready to create your own.
If you are into comic books, it can seem that their creators are so far beyond the rest of us in skill and imagination that only they have the divine right to produce comic books. The fantastic epics that roll off the presses and into comic book stores seem to be born in another realm to which mere mortals have no access. Yet if you stop to think about it, those people had to start somewhere and were once shaky novices producing forgettable work.
