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Posted on Posted in Digital transformation, General topics Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

PET is a major industrial polymer used to manufacture the polyester fibers used in clothing, plastic bottles, and much more. As such, it is the most widely recycled plastic in the world. As a global chemical company and producer of PET, Indorama Ventures Limited (IVL) has made sustainability a priority for over a decade, from energy and greenhouse gas reductions to increased renewable energy and recycling.

To illustrate, from 2011 to 2021, IVL collected over 72 billion post-consumer PET bottles for recycling, which prevented 1.6 million tons of plastic waste from going to landfill and reduced 2.4 million tons of carbon footprint in the product life cycle. And IVL is experimenting with recyclable plastics as part of a circular economy model. 

The company received the Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards 2022 for circular economy leadership, which recognized IVL’s successful PET Bottles Recycling to Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) Distribution project. Their medical-grade PPE suits — reusable and washable up to 20 times — are certified by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

To bring sustainability home, IVL sought to maximize the efficiency of its plants through digital transformation by replacing data silos with a single data source that would revolutionize enterprise asset management (EAM). Taking digital transformation to the next level, IVL’s Oxides and Derivatives Division applied the concept to their risk-based inspection program at the Port Neches Operations (PNO) Facility.  

“Based on our rapid growth trajectory, we were looking for a solution that could scale and assist us in realizing maximum efficiencies in various business processes,” explains Joel Presley, PNO, inspection team leader. “Additionally, striving for continuous improvement, we were looking for a solution to take our existing mechanical integrity program and strategies and integrate them with our maintenance and business processes.”

Indorama Ventures Limited

Making the expansion of risk-based philosophy a reality

“A critical work process for mechanical integrity is risk-based inspection, which allows us to prioritize asset inspection planning based on the consequence and likelihood of failure versus traditional time-based interval planning,” explains Adam Wallace, PNO RBI coordinator. 

Core challenges included complex and siloed business processes with a lot of customizations, out-of-sync data and processes, disparate and niche applications with inconsistent data and assets, and expensive and unsustainable data and risk management that lacked innovation and adaptability.

About four years ago, IVL expanded the use of risk acceptance at its PNO facility in Texas to establish next-inspection plans. By doing this, they could move away from the arbitrary inspection intervals prescribed by their previous software and use the efficiencies of the relative risk ranking process defined in American Petroleum Institute (API) 580.

“While this new practice helped us realize significant improvements in the inspection program, the software was incapable of automating the process, which meant that significant manual effort was required to run multiple what-if analyses to reach the conclusions needed,” adds Presley.

Instead of a holistic view, plant operators had to access data silos — outside of the EAM system — from disparate software solutions developed to manage inspection, maintenance, risk, pressure relief, safety instrumented systems, and other critical functions, like hazard and operability (HAZOP). This disparity could lead to minor or even catastrophic chemical releases.

“In 2020, our facility decided that we would be moving away from the previous software to the SAP Intelligent Asset Management with AsInt’s native SAP Risk Based Inspection and Inspection Database Management software solution,” says Joel Presley, IVL PNO.

During the implementation, it was clear the flexibility of the software made it possible to fully utilize the concepts of API-580 by automating IVL’s new, risk-based inspection strategies. Adam Wallace (IVL PNO) adds, “With AsInt/SAP, we can take it to the next step by integrating transitional risk evaluation to maximize the efficiency of the inspection program.”

Managing asset integrity on a scalable, sustainable platform

With the new platform linking inspection mitigation plans and maintenance workflows, IVL has reduced the IT cost of ownership by 30%. Plant operators have a holistic view of both the physical and virtual assets needed to address high-risk equipment in order to prevent, for example, a loss of containment. Productivity has quadrupled while maintaining the overall risk of the facility to approved levels, and both scalability and sustainability have been served. IVL expects ROI at the PNO facility to total 5 to 20 times the cost of implementation over the next five years.

Indorama Ventures was a finalist in the 2022 SAP Innovation Awards Program. Learn how they built the new integrated platform in their pitch deck.

Data Management

Posted on Posted in Digital transformation, General topics Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

Banking as a Service (BaaS) is revolutionising the finance sector. BaaS enables non-financial companies to provide customers with financial products and services such as personal loans, credit cards and digital savings accounts. It leverages the expertise and experience of trusted banks, such as Standard Chartered, so they can offer a wider range of services to existing and new customers.

When Indonesian e-commerce company Bukalapak wanted to provide their customers with access to financial services, they partnered with Standard Chartered to launch BukaTabungan, which is powered by Standard Chartered nexus (SC nexus) BaaS platform. While SC nexus already had a footprint on AWS Asia Pacific (Hong Kong) region, it had not yet migrated to AWS Asia Pacific (Jakarta) region.

Sourced Group an Amdocs Company (Sourced), migrated SC nexus’ digital banking platform from AWS Asia Pacific (Hong Kong) to AWS Asia Pacific (Jakarta) within a tight timeframe. SC nexus was planning to make that migration by 2025. But to meet the needs and regulatory compliance of Bukalapak, that migration was brought forward. And while this migration typically takes about a year, Sourced completed the migration of the workload which was spread across four AWS EKS clusters coordinating 103 EC2 instances across three availability zones in just nine months. The accompanying data migration included eight PostgreSQL clusters and data sync for a Cassandra cluster and two Amazon S3 buckets.

As well as enabling Bukalapak to achieve its objectives, being able to offer BaaS from Indonesia broadens SC nexus’ market reach.

The migration was complex as not all the required AWS services were available in the AWS Asia Pacific (Jakarta) region. At the time of migration, Sourced needed to develop robust and compliant solutions as Kinesis Analytics, AWS Transit Gateway, AWS EKS and GPU instances were not available in the AWS Jakarta region.

Sourced’s expertise and deep knowledge of cloud services was a valuable asset in this complex migration. For example, the company was able to architect an automated solution for the data migration. This was a crucial factor that enabled the migration, that took nine months of preparation and planning, to be successfully completed in just eight hours.

The partnership between Sourced and SC nexus has supported and enabled Standard Chartered’s strategic priority of scaling up its mass retail presence through innovative partnerships and generating new revenue streams through digital initiatives. Being able to meet customers’ needs, such as those of Bukalapak proves that it is possible to offer reliable, robust and secure BaaS offerings that take into account the needs for data sovereignty and differing regulatory requirements.

Sourced has expertise in most major cloud platforms offered across the world. The partnership with SC nexus, which has grown over several years, has given SC nexus first-mover advantage in several countries. For example, Indonesia is one of the world’s largest emerging markets with almost 200 million internet users. The partnership with Sourced means SC nexus can offer BaaS in country with onshore services through AWS Asia Pacific (Jakarta) that are compliant with local laws and regulations.

Similarly, it can also do the same in Singapore as well as many of the over 30 markets Standard Chartered already operates in. With a proven track record in making SC nexus available in multiple regions through the partnership with Sourced, Standard Chartered has a platform that can grow beyond the Asia Pacific region and offer compliant BaaS across the world.

BaaS gives businesses that are looking for new services they can offer to customers a high-value service. And while banking has been extremely difficult to break into because of the high cost of establishing systems and licensing and maintaining regulatory compliance SC nexus enables businesses to offer banking services through a trusted banking partner. Sourced has enabled SC nexus to expand its reach across the Asia Pacific region and beyond.

Read the full case study here

About Sourced Group

Sourced Group an Amdocs company is an award-winning global cloud consultancy that enables enterprises to make the most of cloud services with a focus on security, governance and compliance. With offices globally we provide professional services for securing, migrating and managing the cloud infrastructure of large enterprise customers. We specialize in configuration management, automation, cloud computing and data management for a wide range of industries, including financial services, media, transport and telecommunications companies. By utilising our proven deployment frameworks, and trusted design patterns, we work with the largest and most security conscious organisations to unlock innovation through cloud computing.

About Amdocs

Amdocs’ purpose is to enrich lives and progress society, using creativity and technology to build a better connected world. Amdocs and its 27,000 employees partner with the leading players in the communications and media industry, enabling next-generation experiences in 85 countries. Our cloud-native, open and dynamic portfolio of digital solutions, platforms and services brings greater choice, faster time to market and flexibility, to better meet the evolving needs of our customers as they drive growth, transform and take their business to the cloud. Listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, Amdocs had revenue of $4.2 billion in fiscal 2020. For more information, visit Amdocs at www.amdocs.com.

Managed Cloud Services

Posted on Posted in Digital transformation, General topics Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

Banking as a Service (BaaS) is revolutionising the finance sector. BaaS enables non-financial companies to provide customers with financial products and services such as personal loans, credit cards and digital savings accounts. It leverages the expertise and experience of trusted banks, such as Standard Chartered, so they can offer a wider range of services to existing and new customers.

When Indonesian e-commerce company Bukalapak wanted to provide their customers with access to financial services, they partnered with Standard Chartered to launch BukaTabungan, which is powered by Standard Chartered nexus (SC nexus) BaaS platform. While SC nexus already had a footprint on AWS Asia Pacific (Hong Kong) region, it had not yet migrated to AWS Asia Pacific (Jakarta) region.

Sourced Group an Amdocs Company (Sourced), migrated SC nexus’ digital banking platform from AWS Asia Pacific (Hong Kong) to AWS Asia Pacific (Jakarta) within a tight timeframe. SC nexus was planning to make that migration by 2025. But to meet the needs and regulatory compliance of Bukalapak, that migration was brought forward. And while this migration typically takes about a year, Sourced completed the migration of the workload which was spread across four AWS EKS clusters coordinating 103 EC2 instances across three availability zones in just nine months. The accompanying data migration included eight PostgreSQL clusters and data sync for a Cassandra cluster and two Amazon S3 buckets.

As well as enabling Bukalapak to achieve its objectives, being able to offer BaaS from Indonesia broadens SC nexus’ market reach.

The migration was complex as not all the required AWS services were available in the AWS Asia Pacific (Jakarta) region. At the time of migration, Sourced needed to develop robust and compliant solutions as Kinesis Analytics, AWS Transit Gateway, AWS EKS and GPU instances were not available in the AWS Jakarta region.

Sourced’s expertise and deep knowledge of cloud services was a valuable asset in this complex migration. For example, the company was able to architect an automated solution for the data migration. This was a crucial factor that enabled the migration, that took nine months of preparation and planning, to be successfully completed in just eight hours.

The partnership between Sourced and SC nexus has supported and enabled Standard Chartered’s strategic priority of scaling up its mass retail presence through innovative partnerships and generating new revenue streams through digital initiatives. Being able to meet customers’ needs, such as those of Bukalapak proves that it is possible to offer reliable, robust and secure BaaS offerings that take into account the needs for data sovereignty and differing regulatory requirements.

Sourced has expertise in most major cloud platforms offered across the world. The partnership with SC nexus, which has grown over several years, has given SC nexus first-mover advantage in several countries. For example, Indonesia is one of the world’s largest emerging markets with almost 200 million internet users. The partnership with Sourced means SC nexus can offer BaaS in country with onshore services through AWS Asia Pacific (Jakarta) that are compliant with local laws and regulations.

Similarly, it can also do the same in Singapore as well as many of the over 30 markets Standard Chartered already operates in. With a proven track record in making SC nexus available in multiple regions through the partnership with Sourced, Standard Chartered has a platform that can grow beyond the Asia Pacific region and offer compliant BaaS across the world.

BaaS gives businesses that are looking for new services they can offer to customers a high-value service. And while banking has been extremely difficult to break into because of the high cost of establishing systems and licensing and maintaining regulatory compliance SC nexus enables businesses to offer banking services through a trusted banking partner. Sourced has enabled SC nexus to expand its reach across the Asia Pacific region and beyond.

Read the full case study here

About Sourced Group

Sourced Group an Amdocs company is an award-winning global cloud consultancy that enables enterprises to make the most of cloud services with a focus on security, governance and compliance. With offices globally we provide professional services for securing, migrating and managing the cloud infrastructure of large enterprise customers. We specialize in configuration management, automation, cloud computing and data management for a wide range of industries, including financial services, media, transport and telecommunications companies. By utilising our proven deployment frameworks, and trusted design patterns, we work with the largest and most security conscious organisations to unlock innovation through cloud computing.

About Amdocs

Amdocs’ purpose is to enrich lives and progress society, using creativity and technology to build a better connected world. Amdocs and its 27,000 employees partner with the leading players in the communications and media industry, enabling next-generation experiences in 85 countries. Our cloud-native, open and dynamic portfolio of digital solutions, platforms and services brings greater choice, faster time to market and flexibility, to better meet the evolving needs of our customers as they drive growth, transform and take their business to the cloud. Listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, Amdocs had revenue of $4.2 billion in fiscal 2020. For more information, visit Amdocs at www.amdocs.com.

Managed Cloud Services

Posted on Posted in Digital transformation, General topics Tagged with , , , , , ,

By Milan Shetti, CEO Rocket Software

As a leader, setting the culture of an organization is a massive undertaking, especially if the task is to change the culture at a company that has been around for decades. How a culture is implemented in an organization oftentimes comes down to the idea of the company having a “fixed mindset” or a “growth mindset” – one will help the company get ahead, while the other can create a hostile, stagnant organization that falls behind the competition.

As the name would imply, a growth mindset leads to a better work environment and a better work product than a fixed mindset brings. To have a growth mindset in business means that challenges are enjoyed, people stive to learn new things and employees see the immediate and long-term benefits of continuing to learn and develop new skills.  

Defining a growth mindset

The phrase “growth mindset” was coined by Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Stanford, who spent several decades studying how people react to challenges they face. Dweck’s original quest was to study how students in a classroom learn and perform, but her research has shaped how business leaders think about training employees and the culture of their organization.

Simply put, someone with a growth mindset views intelligence, abilities, and talents as learnable and capable of improvement through effort. People who adopt a growth mindset are more likely to take risks, channel their skills to face new challenges, and are hungry to learn more. On the opposite side of the spectrum, someone with a fixed mindset views their traits as stable and unable to change over time.  

Leaders within an organization often set the culture of that organization. Business leaders that adopt a growth mindset, and encourage their employees to do the same, will foster innovation, growth, and collaboration in their business.

How a growth mindset propels businesses

There are countless reasons why a growth mindset is important for business. There are several iconic brands that have adopted a growth mindset, including Apple, Bloomberg, and General Electric, and are known as innovators in their space. A fixed mindset can hinder growth and stops innovation from flourishing – a major problem for companies looking to get ahead of the competition.

One of the world’s most well-known and successful companies, Microsoft, switched its culture to a growth mindset when CEO Satya Nadella took over in 2014. In his words, prior to this mindset shift, “Innovation was being replaced by bureaucracy. Teamwork was being replaced by internal politics. We were falling behind.” Once Microsoft consciously started examining its work culture and implementing the attitudes of a growth mindset, including valuing innovation even if there’s failure along the way, the company truly transformed. As one employee put it, “The culture at Microsoft changed from ‘know-it-all’ to ‘learn-it-all’.” This ultimately helped Microsoft continue to lead in the technology space.

A growth mindset dramatically improves a company culture, but it must be practiced by senior leadership before junior employees will feel comfortable taking on the same mindset.

Educating employees on the growth mindset

According to one study, employees that are in a company that values a growth mindset are 47% likelier to say their colleagues are trustworthy, 65% likelier to say that the company supports risk taking and 49% likelier to say that the company fosters innovation.To sum it up, employees value working at a company that fosters a growth mindset.

Companies that encourage a growth mindset must communicate what that mindset entails clearly with employees, so they know it’s okay to take risks, try new things, and potentially fail. According to the NeuroLeadership Institute’s Idea Report, “Growth Mindset Culture,” support from top leadership is critical for success in an organization. Sixty-nine percent of organizations used top leaders to communicate, teach, and role model growth mindset throughout the company.

Instilling a growth mindset into company culture is a worthy cause for organizations looking to continue to innovate and stay ahead of their competition. When top leaders within a company embrace a growth mindset, the entire organization will follow suit.

To learn more about Rocket’s culture and growth mindset, visit the careers page on our website.   

IT Leadership

Posted on Posted in Digital transformation, General topics Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Consolidation is happening across industries – even spirits. Acquiring companies gain a myriad of benefits when they add new brands to the fold, but one resulting downside is internal complexity and confusion caused by different systems and processes being used. The Pernod Ricard Group, the producer of premium spirits such as Chivas, Absolut, Martell, Ricard and Perrier-Jouet, experienced that very challenge.

A global company, Pernod Ricard operates 90 subsidiaries across 100 production sites in 80 different countries and employs over 19,000 workers. To track and monitor the entire lifecycle of its spirits, Pernod Ricard used server-based technology. Because of the volume of different products and the complexity in managing associated processes across so many countries and sites, however, it was becoming impractical and unsustainable, creating a disconnect for prospective IT technicians who are accustomed to working with more agile and accessible systems. In order to both compete for better talent and improve its operations, the company made a decision to forge ahead and build a single web- and mobile-based platform that would serve all main production plants, allowing teams to monitor operations from anywhere and on any device and enabling the company to implement automation and standardized data collection and management processes across all its brands.

Upon researching the market, Pernod Ricard concluded there were no solutions that could provide the adaptability and agility its operations would need for competitive advantages and continued future growth.

Buy, build… or modernize?

When the company struck out looking to buy, Pernod Ricard turned its focus internally toward a tool it had used previously that was still performing at a high level; however, it had become cumbersome and unsustainable for users. Pernod Ricard determined modernizing that internal application would deliver the flexibility, adaptability, and agility its users needed – and, at the same time, it would be a selling point for retaining and attracting new IT talent.

While web- and mobile-based applications were critical to the project, Rocket Software – which acquired Uniface, the company that had created the original application – started by revamping Pernod Ricard’s 2,500-page ERP, doing away with its outdated and unused pages. A hybrid team of Rocket Software and Pernod Ricard developers then worked hand-in-hand to rethink, reconstruct, and rewrite the entire framework of Pernod Ricard’s application. The team simplified and reduced the application’s components from 4,000 to 2,200 — cutting them nearly in half. To create a uniform platform for managing Pernod Ricard’s many brands, the team built the application out brand-by-brand, deploying new functionalities as they went. In doing so, Pernod Ricard hoped to introduce standardized data collection and management processes while still providing its brands with the freedom to implement into the software the different methods and functionalities specific to their operations.

Creating a better user experience

In less than three years, Pernod Ricard completed its modernization project, cutting the 1.3 million lines of code needed to create the software by 60%, substantially reducing coding times. Since its transition onto a single platform, the Pernod Ricard Group has signed an additional 180 users to its company, a true testament to the solution’s modernization and innovative allure to the next generation of talent.

By automating its barrel reservation and Cognac QA process, employees save two days of work per month on average, which allows teams more time for value-driven tasks. And newly integrated automation is helping to streamline Martell’s cask inventory operations. On the old platform, employees could complete the physical process of “debonding” and content measuring at a rate of 7,000 to 8,000 barrels daily. Since adding automation capabilities, employee workloads have been reduced and teams can now complete between 12,000 to 14,000 barrels per day, saving Pernod Ricard both time and money.

Faced with few options, Pernod Ricard chose to modernize and it’s paying big dividends for its digital transformation efforts. Next time you’re contemplating some combination of new hardware and/or software to address operational challenges in your business, the answer to those challenges may already be in-house.

Read more about Pernod Ricard’s modernization efforts here

Digital Transformation

Posted on Posted in Digital transformation, General topics Tagged with , , , , , , ,

A group of Google employees are yet again speaking out against Google’s defense contracts, this time asking the company to shelve its $1.2 billion Project Nimbus contract for the Israeli government and military. Google partnered with Amazon to bid for the project.

Under employee pressure, Google has previously dropped one US government defence contract (Project Maven), and shied away from another (JEDI).

In a video posted on Youtube, a group of Google employees including Palestinian, Jewish, Muslim, and Arab staff expressed their concerns over Project Nimbus, which they claim will provide surveillance and other forms of powerful AI technology to the Israeli government and military. They are also speaking out against “the anti-Palestinian bias” they have witnessed within the company. 

“By doing business with Israeli apartheid, Amazon and Google will make it easier for the Israeli government to surveil Palestinians and force them off their land,” said the group that calls itself Jewish Diaspora in tech.

While Google said Project Nimbus is a mere cloud computing contract for Israeli government, a report from The Intercept  pointed towards training documents and videos that showed Google is providing the Israeli government with a full suite of machine-learning and AI tools that would give Israel capability to surveil people and process vast stores of data on the Palestinian population.

Google employees’ protest against Project Nimbus has been led by a Jewish employee, Ariel Koren, who resigned from the company this week after protesting for over a year against the project and what she terms Google’s attempts to silence her.

“Instead of listening to employees who want Google to live up to its ethical principles, Google is aggressively pursuing military contracts and stripping away the voices of its employees through a pattern of silencing and retaliation towards me and many others,” Koren wrote in a letter to colleagues explaining her decision to resign.

Koren, who worked in Google’s marketing division, first spoke about the issue in an internal group for the Jewish Google employees, but said she was “put on moderation” by some group members, banning her from posting anything in the group.

She and other employees subsequently started the Jewish Diaspora in Tech group to continue their protest against the company.

As Koren resigned from Google, at least 15 other employees published audio testimonies against the company’s “anti-Palestinian” bias. Many among the activists are also holding press conferences in a multi-city protest across the US.

Tech giants face heat over political disagreements

Political disagreements among employees have been clashing with technology development and making talent shortages an even bigger issue among technology giants who are constantly trying to upend competition with new advancements in AI and other areas.

Four years ago, Google was forced to end its participation in a large US Department of Defense contract, Project Maven, which was supposed to use AI to interpret video information to target drone strikes. Four thousand Google employees signed a petition demanding the company and its contractors stay away from ever building warfare technology.

Seeing those protests, when it came to bidding for another DoD project called JEDI (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure), Google decided to stand down.

Similar calls have been made by employees of Microsoft and Amazon against projects that have political leanings or implications on wars. Technology workers across the industry have been participating in several protests as they stand up and speak out against injustice.

While Google has been on the back foot in earlier protests, this time Google doesn’t seem to be backing off as it slowed hiring and pushed employees to work harder.

In a clear sign that dissent would no longer be tolerated at the firm, Google spokeswoman Shannon Newberry spoke to The New York Times about Koren’s allegations, saying, “We prohibit retaliation in the workplace and publicly share our very clear policy. We thoroughly investigated this employee’s claim, as we do when any concerns are raised.”

Aerospace and Defense Industry, IT Management

Posted on Posted in Digital transformation, General topics Tagged with , , , , , , ,

A group of Google employees are yet again speaking out against Google’s defense contracts, this time asking the company to shelve its $1.2 billion Project Nimbus contract for the Israeli government and military. Google partnered with Amazon to bid for the project.

Under employee pressure, Google has previously dropped one US government defence contract (Project Maven), and shied away from another (JEDI).

In a video posted on Youtube, a group of Google employees including Palestinian, Jewish, Muslim, and Arab staff expressed their concerns over Project Nimbus, which they claim will provide surveillance and other forms of powerful AI technology to the Israeli government and military. They are also speaking out against “the anti-Palestinian bias” they have witnessed within the company. 

“By doing business with Israeli apartheid, Amazon and Google will make it easier for the Israeli government to surveil Palestinians and force them off their land,” said the group that calls itself Jewish Diaspora in tech.

While Google said Project Nimbus is a mere cloud computing contract for Israeli government, a report from The Intercept  pointed towards training documents and videos that showed Google is providing the Israeli government with a full suite of machine-learning and AI tools that would give Israel capability to surveil people and process vast stores of data on the Palestinian population.

Google employees’ protest against Project Nimbus has been led by a Jewish employee, Ariel Koren, who resigned from the company this week after protesting for over a year against the project and what she terms Google’s attempts to silence her.

“Instead of listening to employees who want Google to live up to its ethical principles, Google is aggressively pursuing military contracts and stripping away the voices of its employees through a pattern of silencing and retaliation towards me and many others,” Koren wrote in a letter to colleagues explaining her decision to resign.

Koren, who worked in Google’s marketing division, first spoke about the issue in an internal group for the Jewish Google employees, but said she was “put on moderation” by some group members, banning her from posting anything in the group.

She and other employees subsequently started the Jewish Diaspora in Tech group to continue their protest against the company.

As Koren resigned from Google, at least 15 other employees published audio testimonies against the company’s “anti-Palestinian” bias. Many among the activists are also holding press conferences in a multi-city protest across the US.

Tech giants face heat over political disagreements

Political disagreements among employees have been clashing with technology development and making talent shortages an even bigger issue among technology giants who are constantly trying to upend competition with new advancements in AI and other areas.

Four years ago, Google was forced to end its participation in a large US Department of Defense contract, Project Maven, which was supposed to use AI to interpret video information to target drone strikes. Four thousand Google employees signed a petition demanding the company and its contractors stay away from ever building warfare technology.

Seeing those protests, when it came to bidding for another DoD project called JEDI (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure), Google decided to stand down.

Similar calls have been made by employees of Microsoft and Amazon against projects that have political leanings or implications on wars. Technology workers across the industry have been participating in several protests as they stand up and speak out against injustice.

While Google has been on the back foot in earlier protests, this time Google doesn’t seem to be backing off as it slowed hiring and pushed employees to work harder.

In a clear sign that dissent would no longer be tolerated at the firm, Google spokeswoman Shannon Newberry spoke to The New York Times about Koren’s allegations, saying, “We prohibit retaliation in the workplace and publicly share our very clear policy. We thoroughly investigated this employee’s claim, as we do when any concerns are raised.”

Aerospace and Defense Industry, IT Management

Posted on Posted in Consulting, Knowledge Management Tagged with , , , ,

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one?if not the?key technology of our decade. Technological advances in this field are not only fundamentally changing our economies, industries and markets, but are also exerting enormous influence on traditional business practices, many of which will disappear, while others will be transformed or completely reinvented.