Dubai's Robocop rolls onto streets to fight real crime

The Bob Pritchard Column 

A robotic policeman which can help identify wanted criminals and collect evidence has joined Dubai's police force and will patrol busy areas in the city, as part of a government program aimed at replacing some human crime-fighters with machines.  Dubai Police wants the unarmed robots to make up 25 percent of its patrolling force in the near future.

 

Clad in the colors of the Dubai Police uniform, the life-size robot, which can shake hands and perform a military salute, is part of a plan to use technology to improve services and security ahead of Dubai hosting Expo 2020.  These robots can work 24/7. They don’t require leave, sick leave or maternity leave. They can work around the clock,

 

The first automated policeman in the Middle East, the robot on wheels is equipped with cameras and facial recognition software. It can compare faces with a police database and flag matches to headquarters. It can read vehicle license plates and its video feed can help police watch for risks such as unattended bags in popular areas of Dubai, a financial and tourism hub.

 

Members of the public can also talk to the robot to report a crime or communicate with it using a touch screen computer embedded in its chest. Most people are not nervous about talking to a robot and some prefer it.  New generations who are using smart devices love to use these kind of modern tools.

Victor Dominello inspires at a pre budget breakfast

NSW Finance Minister, Victor Dominello shared with  us the 7 D's, at a pre-breakfast NSW budget launch (where the government posted a $4b surplus, wiped out debt and has budgeted massive spending on developing infrastructure, education and health)... saying that to survive and thrive, we need to make sure we take a grasp of the technologies that will drive us to 2050 and beyond.

 

• Data - knowledge and big data is key. Your decisions should be  evidence based 

• Digital - you need to be in 21st century

• Direct -  things need to happen in  real time 

• Display - present it in an easy way - display tools - make it easy to digest knowledge

• Dissection - analyse it - operationalise those insights 

• DNA - culture - needs to be in 21st century - or you will be left behind quickly

• 3rd Dimension - mobiles will be toast,  its  2 dimensional  - you will have glasses or contacts - giving you a 3D - augmented reality experience. digital morphing - where we will be unable to distinguish what is digital and what is real. This is the future - and we (our government) should embrace this and be at the forefront of this wave. 

It's great to see that our NSW government has a solid vision, with the motivation , authority and desire to invest in innovation and adopt cutting edge technology. 

 

As a Shareholder and Director of BSI and a number of Innovative Startups, I believe that  this is the sort of leadership and direction that will provide a massive boost to our Country.

Victor Dominello talks about the need for government to place innovation high up on the agenda

Victor Dominello the finance minister of NSW spoke to us about the 7 D's ... saying that to survive and thrive, we need to make sure we take a grasp of the technologies that will drive us to 2050 and beyond.

 

• Data - knowledge and big data is key. Your decisions should be  evidence based -

• Digital - you need to be in 21st century

• Direct -  things need to happen in  real time 

• Display - present it in an easy way - display tools - make it easy to digest knowledge

• Dissection - analyse it - operationalise those insights 

• DNA - culture - needs to be in 21st century - or you will be left behind quickly

• 3rd Dimension - mobiles will be toast its  2 dimensional  - you will have glasses or contacts - giving you a 3D - augmented reality experience. digital morphing - where we will be unable to distinguish what is digital and what is real. This is the future - and we (our government) should embrace this and be at the forefront of this wave. 

How common is a successful intergenerational family succession plan?

Entrepreneurial family businesses

The demographic reality for most family businesses is that the business created and then bequeathed by generation 1 (or G1) has to continue growing to support the needs and aspirations of a larger family in G3. But, you may ask, why would a family business bother when it is regularly claimed that all of them are doomed to go from clogs to clogs or shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations?

Damned clichés

It is odd that ‘clogs to clogs’ is regularly trotted out as evidence of the vulnerability of family businesses. Really? Three generations is roughly 100 years. Few, if any, entrepreneurial start-ups will last this long and many listed companies will cease to exist during this period. If longevity of a particular business is so important, most family owned businesses will outlive their competitors. 

Can families breed entrepreneurs?

We may as well try to start at the beginning and look at the difference between sculptors and gardeners, as parents.

The sculptor has ambitions for the child and will do all he or she can to guide and form the child so that they turn out in a way that complies with the sculptor’s design. In comparison, a gardener tries to cultivate the child, caring for its roots, and with a bit of careful pruning from time to time waits for the right season in that child’s existence for the flower to appear.  A gardener doesn't expect a flower to emerge just because he or she orders it to do so.

The argument is that gardeners are more likely to breed entrepreneurs than sculptors. Gardeners allow space for the child to develop, no matter how occasionally exasperating this is. They acknowledge that life involves making errors that cannot all be avoided by careful planning, due often to factors beyond the gardener’s control. Meanwhile the sculptor is busy trying to mould the heir or heiress and for understandable reasons help them to avoid any of life’s pitfalls that do not serve the goal of achieving the sculptor’s desired outcome.

Gardeners, in other words, are more of the view “go out and see if you can make it”, whereas sculptors tend to the view “see what I’ve made you in to.”

Backing the talent in your lineage

After a family business has passed through the start-up phase the challenge becomes how to maintain an entrepreneurial attitude, when at the same time trying to run a maturing business.

One way of doing this, if resources allow, is to set up a new venture fund to support family members who want to start a new business. Family members can be encouraged to present business plans and whoever is in charge of the fund (family members, advisers, experienced business people) decide which to back, much as would happen with a conventional private equity or business angel fund.

Usually investments will be made on broadly commercial terms, maybe a bit softer to reflect kinship bonds, but the key driver for many families is to encourage entrepreneurship by backing the talent in their lineage. In so doing they are also wise to the fact that this can lead to successes that diversify the family’s wealth, thereby managing the risk of families having too many eggs in one business basket.

Don’t overlook history

Families who create great dynasties over generations are good at telling the next generation the stories of past success and failure. The key here is to focus on how each generation has contributed to the story of the family’s continuing entrepreneurial success. This encourages the next generation to take up the challenge of becoming the authors of the next chapters of the family’s continuing story of entrepreneurship.

This approach, however, is in stark contrast to the accounts of entrepreneurship that venerate the greatness of individuals, who are blessed with talents that are beyond other mere mortals. In a family business this comes across to the next generation as ‘you’ll never be as good as your ancestors, so why bother?’

Other things that get in the way

Entrepreneurs take risks that carry the imminent risk of failure. While it is understandable for families to create structures, like trusts, to preserve wealth as it passes down the generations, the idea of preserving what we have is inconsistent with taking the type of entrepreneurial risks that created the business in the first place. So the final word is a warning to be careful about using risk averse structures if the family’s aim is to continue being entrepreneurial.

Venture Capital in Australia: Our call for Investment in Startups in 2002.... 15...

Venture Capital in Australia: Our call for Investment in Startups in 2002.... 15...: Our call for Investment in Startups in 2002.... 15 years on... the time has come!! from Ivan Kaye

7 Industries that will boom in the next decade

HERE’S WHERE THE BIG TECHNOLOGY-DRIVEN OPPORTUNITIES WILL BE OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL YEARS.

Everyone’s looking toward the future, eagerly anticipating what promises to be a long line of innovations due to rapidly evolving technology. Consumers know these inventions will change the way they work and play. Not only will they make some aspects of life easier, they could quite possibly empower people to do more with less money. 

This means that, on a wider scale, many fields will see serious growth. And with growth comes opportunity.

Here are seven industries that are most likely boom in the next 10 years thanks to advancements in technology.

1. The Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) has forced manufacturers to rethink the way their products function. This will continue over the next several years, as everything from refrigerators to toasters become more sophisticated. Even children’s toys will eventually utilise  IoT technology to entertain, educate and even keep kids safe. For example, tablets made for toddlers may  let you monitor your child from the other side of the house through the device’s camera while they’re learning to spell. 

2. 3-D Printing

As retailers compete to get products into the hands of consumers quickly, a new type of technology stands to change everything. 

Once 3-D printers go mainstream, consumers will be able to select and manufacture the items they want, reducing the need to ship the item to them. This also brings custom design into play, allowing consumers to personalize an item like clothing or jewelry, then print it out immediately.

3. Finding Trust in the Sharing Economy 

In the past few years, consumers have embraced services such as Airbnb and Uber, creating opportunities for themselves and the many workers who provide these services. Consumers will continue to seek services this way, but it will also be important for businesses to build trust by adding protections for both their customers and contractors. 

Once those are strongly in place, these services can continue to grow. The sharing economy will continue to spread into other markets or industries, such as services in which people may be able to offer or trade skills with each other.

4. Wearables in Health Care

Technology will take health care in exciting new directions over the next decade, thanks in large part to devices such as health trackers. Instead of merely counting steps and monitoring heart rate, sensors will be able to track glucose levels and detect signs of cancer, while also allowing elderly patients to stay safely at home. 

This in many cases will allow medical professionals to focus less on diagnosis and more on finding the best courses of treatment.

5. Virtual Reality

Today’s consumers may think of virtual reality (VR) in the gaming and recreation context. However, there are real-world applications for the technology, especially in training. The technology is already being used to train medical professionals, giving them hands-on experience in a medical school setting. Once a professional is fully trained, VR can help them experiment with new surgeries or get a better look at certain tissues to create improved treatment.

Beyond the medical field, all kinds of ideas are emerging about how we may use VR in the coming years. Whether we’re doing our day-today office work using virtual reality glasses that let us interact with a virtual office, or even relive actual physical experienceswe’ve had in everyday life, the future is exciting and definitely a new frontier.

6. Connected Schooling

The Internet has opened up a wide range of opportunities for education systems worldwide. 

In the coming years, classrooms will use technology like videoconferencing to access resources outside of their physical location. Students also will have access to more personalized learning, thanks to apps and connected classrooms. 

For example, already there are companies producing apps that integrate teacher lectures onto tablets, allowing students to watch brief videos or take short quizzes during the day’s lesson.

7. Digitized Hospitality

Travel is already becoming easier for consumers, with many hotel chains automating check-in. Apps will increasingly become tightly woven into the hotel experience, with consumers using their smartphones to check in, access their rooms, and request services. 

Customer relationship management (CRM) software and marketing automation will increasingly help hotels send you personalized messages. The underlying theme for the future here is that the hospitality industry is working to make its relationships with customers more smooth, informed and beneficial to both sides.

For every industry, user experience will be a top priority as companies strive to win long-term customers. Through the use of technology, businesses can create experiences that flow seamlessly, making the lives of consumers and business owners far easier. The end result is that to remain competitive, businesses will need to invest in order to take advantage of new technologies and come up with innovative ways to deliver products and services to their customers.

Why I disrupted my Role and you should do the same

 

Written by Lance Rubin, CEO and Founder of Model Citizn.

BACKGROUND

12 months ago I became the CFO of a Fintech startup called Banjo, whilst launching my own financial modelling consultancy firm Model Citizn.

It was a perfect match. Banjo only needed a few days a week, sometimes all week, sometimes once a week and I was starting a new business from scratch so had no idea what demands would be made on my time.

However, as my clients grew even a fully dedicated single day a week with Banjo became a challenge for me whilst I was needing to support multiple clients on an adhoc basis.

Being available for my clients at the drop of a hat is every client’s dream consultant but having a permanent part time role was making that dream somewhat unrealistic. Not being able to flex my time was a challenge.

I had both client demands and CFO responsibilities which I needed to deliver on.

WHY DID I MAKE 75% OF MY OWN ROLE REDUNDANT?

I really had no other option but to disrupt my own role and automate my tasks from 2–3 days a week to 2–3 days a month.

I simply couldn’t (and didn’t want to) step away from the CFO duties (which included cashflow modelling, credit modelling and reporting, valuations and assisting on debt and equity raising). I was determined to make my business a success whilst building a portfolio career and growing clients.

Banjo was the best place for me to experiment and it worked like a dream for both of us.

I realised by disrupting my own role it gave me the opportunity to tell the story to clients and help others who were afraid of exploring it.

Being part of the transformation is a learning opportunity which can help you and others do more interesting work whilst creating more value for your employer and most importantly yourself.

Whether we like it or not robots are going to have a profound impact on all key finance processes, posing a threat to those that don’t embrace it, but creating many opportunities for those that do. For example the key finance reconciliation/control processes (e.g bank recons) and basic/standardised management and financial reporting, which is largely still manually performed today. This is driving a big demand for automation skills for key finance processes (hence the rise in demand for financial modelling) and more valued advice in relation to accounting matters and future business performance and less focus on the preparation of historical results.

RELEVANCE FOR THOSE IN FULL TIME JOBS.

At this point you’re probably wondering how this post is relevant to someone in a full-time role.

It’s very relevant. The journey of automation and disruption throws up new opportunities that simple aren’t evident or intuitive in your current role. The natural reaction is to perceive it as a threat, when it’s actually an opportunity (assuming you are willing to adapt).

If you think that your role isn’t going to be impacted, read the 13 future trends that will shape business and society, then perhaps you need to stay closer to reality. Having worked in the corporate world for close to 20 years it’s easy to lose track of what’s really happening outside the 4 walls of a skyscraper.

WHAT TECHNOLOGY WAS I USING?

Given the strategic and highly-customised nature of my CFO role at Banjo, Microsoft Excel provided the most powerful and flexible solution, but very time intensive. I had researched a number of technology applications for automation but nothing is quite like an Excel based content management system in Modano.

Excel is still one of the largest software packages used in the world due to its powerful flexibility. This means as business conditions, laws and your strategy changes so can your Excel model.

Modano (an Excel Add-In) is enabling people to share content, automate financial modelling and systemising spreadsheet processes, as it did for me.

Banjo was one of the first fintechs in Australia to implement Modano’s dynamic rolling (actuals updated each month) 3-way financial modelling and content management technology for Excel.

The deliverables where not straight forward including cashflow modelling (fund/trust and management company), valuations, debt covenant reporting and board reporting including break-even analysis, all completed in a couple of days after each month end cycle.

Implementing this type of technology, amongst other automated processes, is the essence of the tech in fintech and why traditional business models are under threat. This can flow onto job losses as those traditional businesses must maintain cash and preserve profits.

WHY SHOULD YOU DO IT TO YOURSELF?

Most importantly it’s better to be part of the journey than merely a passenger to the process.

There is a major risk for passengers / employees desperately holding onto the security of full time jobs.

Security and full-time employment doesn’t exist, in case you missed the newsflash. Traditional businesses faced with disruption and falling revenue have no option but to reduce cost.

This isn’t going to change, just see the CEDA research (which is already almost 2 years old at the time of writing this). More than 5 million Australian jobs will be gone in 10–15 years. Whilst this isn’t going to happen overnight the change has already started.

Can you think of what will happen if someone got rid of 75% of the work you did today (as I did to myself), what will you do? Rather than waiting to face that fact, act now.

There will be 3 million truck drivers in the US displaced by driverless trucks, like Uber which completed its maiden delivery of beers.

The tighter full time employees shut their eyes, the safer they think they might be. This is not only flawed but the rate of change (in the real world) is accelerating and time is running out on missed opportunities that are right in front of you today.

If this hasn’t convinced you let’s summarise the pros and cons of actively driving disruption in the work place.

PROS / CONS (IF YOU’RE STILL NOT CONVINCED)

Pro

1. There is an opportunity to influence and guide the automation process so that you can use it as a proof point in your career, making you more marketable.
2. You have the opportunity to be a leader within your organisation to drive change and thereby increase your chances of retaining full time employment (if you want it).
3. “Free” practical training on the latest tech solutions in the market by being part of the pilot/project team.
4. Might open up new career opportunities or business ideas. This was certainly the case for me. The software company might actually approach you for help if you do a great job. Alternatively, you could help a range of clients achieve similar efficiency as their VCFO.
5. If you are bored with your current role it’s an easy sell without telling your boss you hate your job.

Con

1. You are living in the delusional state of comfort that a full time job won’t change and is secure. I was certainly caught in this for a number of years.
2. The average tenor in roles has dropped significantly. If you don’t change someone will do it for you exposing you to the harsh reality of unemployment with no plan. It’s not a matter of if this will happen, but when.
3. When it does come time to change jobs or careers you would have missed out on learning new skills. Others that haven’t missed the opportunity and who might also be applying for the same jobs you are , will be clearly favoured.

The workplace is changing in many different facets, if you don’t change with it you will be left out in the cold needing to change anyway, but without a job. Think now and act.

PRACTICAL STEPS YOU CAN TAKE TODAY TO GO ON THE JOURNEY.

If you are working on a spreadsheet-based processes (which is still a very large proportion of corporate tasks) then you should consider the following:

1. Is your spreadsheet easy to navigate and understand? Is there a process document or some sort of structure to the logic? If no, then suggest you work on that first. Resisting tidying up the complexity in your spreadsheet isn’t going to save you from disruption. I already use technology that helps decipher spreadsheet content and even the most complex formulas without talking to someone. I have previously extracted business logic from 26 bespoke spreadsheets of a large multinational company without talking to any of the spreadsheet creators. It’s only a matter of time until someone does the same to your spreadsheet based process. Handing over your spreadsheet process creates capacity for you to learn new skills like financial modelling for dynamic decision making.
2. Do you follow some sort of spreadsheet standard or compliance like consistent formulas horizontally and no random hardcoded numbers in formulas. If not take a look at Best Practice Spreadsheet Modeling Standards.
3. Do you know if you have any errors in your spreadsheet? Have you created error trapping or prevention with flags and alerts or data validation? We all make errors, it is just a question of how many and how big the impact might be, not if they exist.
4. Is your spreadsheet being used on a regular basis to absorb new and updated information? Is this easy to follow and replicate via form controls like dropdown boxes and in cell data validation lists? Can it be broken down into a simple copy and paste process? If it’s well-structured almost all spreadsheet processes can come down to just a copy and paste process which is a very short step away from complete automation.
5. Once it’s been left to a simple copy and paste process then using Macros written or recorded you are there. You also now have the opportunity to look at a range of other RPA (robotic process automation) software. Modano still remains the best automation software for rolling integrated 3 way models in Excel.

Don’t be afraid to take that initial step yourself. It’s far scarier and it will knock you far greater when someone throws you overboard or under the bus.

Grab a lifejacket today whilst there are still some left hanging in front of you, there ain’t enough to go around for everyone.

Stay tuned for the rest of the 3-part series of posts to find out about more about the opportunities you can explore.

Follow up posts will explore some of the opportunities in more detail.

Alternatively, reach out to Model Citizn to explore how we can help you automate, streamline and leverage some of the latest technologies.

We also offer training and workshops to help support your staff to develop these skills.

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