Featured Articles Blog

GUS Announces Restoration Service Expansion in Ottawa Area 0

Uncategorized

GUS Announces Restoration Service Expansion in Ottawa Area

GUS Announces Expansion of Property Restoration Services by Nettoyage Sinex/Les Entreprises Mila to Ottawa and Surrounding Areas Gatineau, QC (July 10, 2024) – GUS, Canada’s largest 100% Canadian-owned and operated group of property restoration professionals, is thrilled to announce the expansion of its franchisee Nettoyage Sinex/Les Entreprises Mila to the Ottawa area and surrounding regions. A leader in property restoration services in the Outaouais region, Nettoyage Sinex/Les Entreprises Mila is proud to extend its high-quality expertise and services beyond the province of Quebec. Since its inception, Nettoyage Sinex/Les Entreprises Mila has been committed to delivering premium property restoration services to satisfied policyholders. With their expertise, professionalism, and meticulous attention to detail, the Nettoyage Sinex team has earned the trust of numerous clients throughout Quebec over the years. The company offers a comprehensive range of services, including emergency mitigation, renovation, and reconstruction. By relying on an experienced team and proven methods, Nettoyage Sinex ensures the highest levels of customer satisfaction. “We are excited and ready to now offer our professional, quality restoration services to communities in the province of Ontario,” said Richard Miron, founder and owner of Nettoyage Sinex/Les Entreprises Mila. “We take immense pride in our work, and expanding our...

Majority Prefer Companies Not To Use AI For Customer Service: Gartner 0

Uncategorized

Majority Prefer Companies Not To Use AI For Customer Service: Gartner

Gartner Survey Finds 64% of Customers Would Prefer That Companies Didn’t Use AI For Customer Service Customers’ top concerns include difficulty reaching an agent and AI displacing jobs Stamford, CT (July 9, 2024) – Sixty-four percent of customers would prefer that companies didn’t use artificial intelligence (AI) in their customer service, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc. Furthermore, 53% of customers would consider switching to a competitor if they found out a company was going to use AI for customer service. A Gartner survey of 5,728 customers conducted in December 2023 revealed that while customer service leaders are eager to adopt AI, customers remain concerned about its use within the customer service function. “Sixty percent of customer service and support leaders are under pressure to adopt AI in their function,” said Keith McIntosh, Senior Principal, Research, in the Gartner Customer Service & Support practice. “But they can’t ignore concerns about AI use, especially when it could mean losing customers.” Difficulty Reaching a Person is Customers’ Top AI Concern The top concern that consumers have about AI in customer service is that it will get more difficult reaching a person (see Figure 1), followed by AI displacing jobs, and AI...

0

Uncategorized

Vermonters Assess Beryl Damage, Begin Cleanup One Year After Major Flooding

Article 0 Comments PLAINFIELD, Vt. — Volunteers, some with heavy equipment, shoveled river silt and mud from roads, homes, yards and driveways and removed flood-ravaged items from homes Friday in one of the Vermont communities hardest hit by flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl. Former students of a now retired school principal, whose home and yard were among those damaged, showed up to help. “I think as a community we all got to come together and give a hand and receive nothing but just giving the love back that he’s given the community and to the school,” said Dillon Mears, 33, of Owen Bradley. Some wore t-shirts emblazoned with the word “love,” a message that Bradley and his wife Jane spread. The couple’s son flew in Friday morning on a red eye from Oakland, California, and quickly went to work with others. “This is how we are. You know, there’s people over there helping out, as soon as we’re done here, we’re going to help everybody else out,” said Adrian Bradley, 35. “That’s Vermont. It’s a small state, 600,000 people, we know everybody, you help your neighbors.” Gov. Phil Scott said Friday it’ll take several more days to fully...

0

Uncategorized

Research Affiliates CIO Raises Private Credit Concerns

Que Nguyen, partner and chief investment officer, equity strategies, at Research Affiliates, joined the firm in 2021 after seven years as a managing director of portfolio strategy and analytics at Willett Advisors. Nguyen leads cross-sectional equity research and strategy design at Research Affiliates, working with the firm’s academic advisors and with the PIMCO subadvisor’s portfolio managers. Her work supports Research Affiliates’ systematic active portfolios and smart beta indexes. Nguyen’s career also includes several years as managing director, strategy, in the University of Chicago’s investment office, and leadership posts at other financial services firms. In May, she wrote a post on the Research Affiliates website noting that the firm believes that generative artificial intelligence has transformative potential and could be in the early stages of becoming an investment bubble. Nguyen recently responded by email to several questions from ThinkAdvisor about her market insights. THINKADVISOR: What is your current take on the markets, a segment or sector that you think is really interesting now, and why? What does this mean in terms of specific holdings? QUE NGUYEN: U.S. exceptionalism has been the mainstay of markets in the last few years, and especially so in the technology ecosystem. As a result, valuation dispersion...

0

Uncategorized

Allstate Seeking 34% Rate Hike on California Homeowners Insurance

Article 0 Comments Allstate is seeking an increase in its California homeowners insurance premiums by an average of 34%. According to the California Department of Insurance, the Allstate homeowners filing was received by the Department on April 14, 2023. The initial rate request was 39.6%. Consumer Watchdog petitioned to intervene in July 2023. In January of this year, Allstate amended their rate request to 34.1%. According to a reports, it would be the largest rate increase this year and would impact more than 350,000 policyholders. “This is a complicated rate filing where Allstate is switching complex wildfire models and introducing its wildfire mitigation discounts in compliance with the commissioner’s Safer From Wildfires regulation,” a CDI statement reads. “The rate filing is currently under review by the Department.” The state’s insurance commissioner and other stakeholders have responded to a growing crisis in the state’s insurance market, one that seems to be driven in part by consecutive severe wildfire seasons in California, with myriad proposals. Modeling could be used in ratemaking under a proposal being considered by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, which is being supported by the insurance industry. It is among several steps proposed to help the state’s homeowners insurance crisis,...

0

Uncategorized

Larry Fink Works to Prepare Next Generation of BlackRock Leaders

What You Need to Know The 71-year-old CEO says he is ready and willing to give up his role when younger leadership is ready. Fink and BlackRock raised concerns about the U.S. retirement system earlier this year. He questioned whether 65 should still be the conventional retirement age. BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said he’s working to prepare the next generation of leaders of the world’s largest money manager and doesn’t intend to stand in their way. “I don’t want to be somebody there sitting there just blocking and tackling,” Fink, 71, said Wednesday in Washington at an event about retirement that was organized by Axios. “When I do believe the next generation is ready, I’m out.” “I may be out as a CEO, I may stay as a chairman, but I’m not going to be a blocker,” Fink said. “As a founder of my company, I am passionate about having the next generation running it.” Asked how President Joe Biden should think about the question of retirement, Fink called it “a personal decision.” Biden has faced increased calls from within his own party to step aside after a shaky debate performance on June 27. “He has to...

0

Uncategorized

Wealthspire Launches Trust Company to Support Wealthy Clients

Wealthspire Advisors, an independent RIA with nearly $26 billion in assets under management, is launching a new trust company based in Tennessee, dubbed Wealthspire Trust. The development will help Wealthspire’s advisors offer personal trust administration solutions, according to the announcement, powered by integrated technology and coupled with Tennessee’s “favorable trust laws.” The firm has appointed Jonathan Connolly as president of Wealthspire Trust. Connolly previously held leadership roles at UBS AG, Comerica Bank and Trust, and RBC Wealth Management. “As we set out to build the trust company of the future, we know clients expect real-time access to their information and answers to their questions because multigenerational trusts are complex,” Connolly said.

Two-Thirds of CEOs View Sustainability as a Growth Opportunity: Gartner Survey 0

Uncategorized

Two-Thirds of CEOs View Sustainability as a Growth Opportunity: Gartner Survey

Gartner’s annual CMO Spend Survey reveals average budgets have fallen by 15% — to 7.7% of overall company revenue — as CMOs pursue growth in the ‘era of less’ Stamford, CT (July 6, 2024) – Sixty-nine percent of CEOs view sustainability as a leading business growth opportunity in 2024, according to a recent survey of CEOs and senior executives by Gartner, Inc. “As CEOs reset their long-term strategies, environmental sustainability remains one of the leading factors that will frame competition,” said Kristin Moyer, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner. “Despite much corporate greenwash, recent economic conditions could have triggered a reversion to environmental, social and governance (ESG) cynicism and a refocus on profit at all costs. However, the overall commitment of CEOs appears unwavering.” The 2024 Gartner CEO and Senior Business Executive Survey was conducted from July to December 2023 among over 400 CEOs and other senior business executives in North America, Europe, Asia/Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East and South Africa, across different industries, revenue and company sizes. “Sustainability consistently remains a top 10 business priority, surpassing even productivity and efficiency this year,” said Moyer. “Leaders and investors know environmentally cavalier corporate behavior is a mid- to long-term risk to...

Deloitte Launches an AI and Data Accelerator Program With AWS, Aimed at Scaling the Next Generation of Artificial Intelligence Capabilities 0

Uncategorized

Deloitte Launches an AI and Data Accelerator Program With AWS, Aimed at Scaling the Next Generation of Artificial Intelligence Capabilities

Funding, combined with a new Innovation Lab, will deepen the organizations’ relationship to help global clients realize the value of emerging technologies like Generative AI by combining data, analytics and AI/ML capabilities with business intelligence New York, NY (July 11, 2024) – Deloitte is pleased to announce the creation of a multi-year strategic collaboration agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help clients around the world scale their Generative Artificial Intelligence, data and analytics and quantum computing capabilities by using AWS services, such as Amazon SageMaker, Amazon Bedrock, Amazon Q and Amazon Braket. Together, the two organizations will establish an Innovation Lab, helping clients explore future technologies like artificial general intelligence (AGI), quantum machine learning (ML), and autonomous robotics, and work together to help joint clients innovate and solve industry-specific issues using the capabilities that Generative AI has to offer. In addition, the two organizations will make funding available  to support customers taking successful proofs of concept (POCs) into production. The effort is aligned to Deloitte’s IndustryAdvantage™ initiative, a strategic $2 billion investment to co-innovate with eligible clients and alliances to develop industry-focused solutions. The Innovation Lab will allow Deloitte and AWS engineers to collaborate on building industry-specific solutions across...

Generative AI is set to be adopted by 85% of the software workforce over the next two years 0

Uncategorized

Generative AI is set to be adopted by 85% of the software workforce over the next two years

Three in five organizations see innovative work as the biggest benefit of generative AI use in software engineering; software professionals say generative AI will boost their comms with business teams Paris, France (July 10, 2024) – Generative AI (Gen AI) is expected to play a key role in augmenting the software workforce, assisting in more than 25% of software design, development, and testing work in the next two years. According to the Capgemini Research Institute’s latest report “Turbocharging software with generative AI: How organizations can realize the full potential of generative AI for software engineering,” a large majority (80%) of software professionals believe that, by automating simpler repetitive tasks, Gen AI tools and solutions will significantly transform their function, freeing up time for them to focus on higher-value-adding tasks. More than three quarters of software professionals are confident that generative AI has the potential to boost collaboration with non-technical business teams. While the generative AI adoption for software engineering is still in its early stages, with 9 in 10 organizations yet to scale, the report found that organizations with active Gen AI initiatives are already reaping multiple benefits from its adoption – fostering innovation coming first place (61% of organizations surveyed)...