This Week's 3 Bells
We highlight 3 things from the world of work and business. And ring 3 bells for you.
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Another big bank does the dirty
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What is it with big banks? Sooner or later they all get caught out. Wells Fargo is the latest one. It seems the bank's employees were opening bank and credit-card accounts, millions of them, for their customers - without their knowledge. In the process they would rack up fees for the bank and sales commissions for themselves. Why? To satisfy the bank's crazed cross-selling drive. Wells has now been fined $185 million and has fired 5,300 employees for their part in the scam. CEO John Stumpf earned himself a memorable tongue-lashing from Senator Elizabeth Warren of the US Senate Banking Committee.
It is so sad that the very institutions we trust with our money often turn out to be the least trustworthy. The drive to get sales numbers at any cost unravels many.
Photo credit: Shinya Suzuki / Flickr (adjusted)
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Banking does not need to be this way. There is a place of pride for long-term ethical behaviour. Sadly, too many take the easy path to short-term success, and then the wheels come off.
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The new frontier in computing: voice
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There it sits, discreetly on your kitchen top. It looks like a little circular speaker. You barely remember it's there. Until you speak to it. Then it comes to life, and you realise it's been listening all along...
I'm referring to Amazon's new Echo digital speaker (and the smaller Echo Dot, pictured). It houses Alexa, Amazon's voice activated digital assistant. You can ask Alexa to dim the lights; tell you the weather or the football score; make a note; play a song; or order your shopping. You can watch the video here.
This is the new frontier in consumer computing: just use your voice. Amazon's Alexa, Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana and Google's integrated voice assistants are in a pitch battle to win this one. Amazon's cheap and simple Echo device has set a standard. You can expect to be talking to your virtual assistant on your watch, earphones, car dashboard, kitchen table and many other places in the years to come.
Photo credit: Guillermo Fernandes / Flickr (adjusted)
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Amazon was late to smartphones, and lost out. But it smartly leapfrogged to the next big thing. Don't wallow in your failures; move on swiftly.
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Lawyers embrace artificial intelligence
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Lawyers will be the last to embrace disruptive technology, right? Think again. Venerable global player Slaughter & May just did a deal with artificial intelligence (AI) firm Luminance to integrate the new tech into its practice. Luminance can process and interpret pages and pages of complex legal documents in less than a minute. Slaughters is now helping the system to understand how lawyers think and what to look for. The virtual lawyer is here.
I have been telling professionals for years that the era of repetitive drudge work done by humans is over. Either you will be adding value by analysing and advising, or you will be doing nothing at all.
Photo credit: Whybrow Wayfinding (adjusted)
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As the new tech streams in, those who embrace it early will win out. This race will not be kind to latecomers.
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