Not long ago, 4G LTE arrived in Arizona and unleashed the power of our mobile devices with a massive boost in wireless speeds. Businesses seized on this revolution as LTE allowed them to grow and streamline their operations in ways never imagined before. Now it’s the start of a new era. 5G is the next leap in mobile technology. It promises to ultimately transform the way … [More]
Web vs Internet
The Web needs the internet to work, but the internet needs the Web to be useful. While the Web is probably the largest service on the internet that most people use, it's not all of the internet. The two overlap and interconnect; the Web would not exist without the internet, but, similarly, the internet would not have grown into the amazing and powerful tool it is without the … [More]
Two Board Additions Bring Experience in Innovation
The Arizona Technology Council has appointed Kerri Zunkowski, vice president of People Operations at Infusionsoft, and Ken McMahon, senior vice president of Client Operations at Vonage, to its board of directors. The two technology executives were elected unanimously at the quarterly board meeting in January to serve three-year terms. “Kerri and Ken bring expertise, … [More]
Walmart Launches Cutting-Edge Innovations
2018 saw Walmart — which has 127 retail units throughout Arizona — roll out and expand several in-store and online innovations for shoppers as well as increase support for its more than 34,000 Arizona associates through increased training, new handheld apps, robotics and other technology designed to make their daily tasks easier. Customer-focused innovations launched or … [More]
SRP Is Leading the Charge for Electric Vehicles
Electric vehicle ownership has increased dramatically in the last seven years, according to Salt River Project, which has seen the numbers grow from four electric vehicles registered in Arizona in 2010 to more than 14,000 as of July 2018. In fact, after leveling out from 2014 to 2015, the adoption rate increased over the next three years by about 8,000. And now, as more drivers … [More]
Smarter Logistics for the Construction Industry
A multisided, cloud-based platform providing a marketplace that connects truckers, contractors and material producers throughout North America, TRUX recently launched in Phoenix as its third major metropolitan area in its planned rollout of 45 markets nationally this year. “We are excited to be launching the TRUX platform in the Southwest, a region that is experiencing a major … [More]
Enhanced Marketing through Augmented Reality
The UltraStar Multi-tainment Center at Ak-Chin Circle, an enterprise of the Ak-Chin Indian Community, is implementing a new, futuristic, augmented reality campaign from Imagination Park that will help change the theatrical experience and social culture within the one-of-a-kind world-class facility. The Augmented Reality from Imagination Park enables UltraStar customers to … [More]
Remote Tech: Innovative Solution for Legal Document Review
The traditional legal document review process has long been ripe for change. Just ask any attorney who has spent countless hours examining thousands of emails, memos, letters, PowerPoint presentations, spreadsheets and other electronic documents associated with the litigation of a document-driven case. The task of looking through thousands of records for the “smoking gun” can … [More]
Humans Wanted, Robots Need You
Robot workers replacing human jobs — the debate of the decade. In reality, however, the opposite looks true. ManpowerGroup’s report “Humans Wanted: Robots Need You” found that more employers than ever — 87 percent — plan to increase or maintain headcount as a result of automation for the third consecutive year. ManpowerGroup surveyed 19,000 employers in 44 countries on the … [More]
IT Challenges for Growing Enterprises
Rapid business growth is a universal goal, but the inability to scale infrastructure and resources can easily become a growth inhibitor. Whether it’s e-commerce, CRM or deploying and managing employee devices, growth places strain on IT resources, with employees, endpoint devices and operating systems growing faster than IT staff. With every new period of growth or … [More]
IT Challenges: When to Lean on Automation
In every business, there are repetitive processes that take valuable time away from supporting growth or, worse, lead to burned out IT staff, frustrated employees and unhappy customers. The first step is to identify where these repetitive processes live in IT, which could be: Deploying new devices, operating systems or patches Tracking or managing software licenses … [More]
Rewiring Hiring: The AI, Tech Takeover of HR
Hiring the right people is one of the most important decisions a business can make. Regardless of industry, most companies require the following attributes of future hires: necessary hard skills, soft skills and experience to fill a given position. Hard skills and experience are, for the most part, quantifiable. Soft skills are more difficult to capture. Research suggests … [More]
Local Motors’ Autonomous Shuttle
Phoenix-based Local Motors — a ground mobility company that, in the decade since its founding in 2007 has debuted the world’s first 3-D-printed car, the world’s first co-created vehicle and the world’s first co-created self-driving, electric vehicle — is now close to deploying a fleet of autonomous shuttles in the Phoenix area as part of a global fleet challenge it launched in … [More]
JDA’s Brave New World of Retail
JDA Software’s supply chain software is changing, if not the face of retail, then its behind-the-face. Seeing is believing, as the saying goes, and if a picture is worth a thousand words, how much more is a physical, in-person demonstration worth? JDA recently unveiled a world-class JDA Customer Experience Center, located at its global headquarters in Scottsdale, that will … [More]
Product Marketing Platform Disrupts
It’s estimated that 94 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have yet to adopt product information management systems. Product information management tools (PIMs) act as an umbrella, enabling businesses to manage information required to market and sell products through numerous distribution channels; a huge number of small retailers are still relying on Excel to … [More]
Personal Assistant App Launches in Phoenix
On-demand personal assistant app ZINKN launched last August, providing Valley residents an easy-to-use tool to request on-demand or scheduled help with a wide range of personal services such as errands, household tasks, transportation and family care. The app also provides contract jobs for workers, called “People Share™ Providers,” looking to supplement their income. ZINKN … [More]
Arizona on the Threshold with FinTech Blockchain
Blockchain, if used to its potential, allows communities and innovators to create economic games that no one controls or commands through incentive design that rewards good actions. In financial services, that can allow decentralized networks to create protocols or tools to enable low-cost, low-overhead loans, settlement, peer-to-peer payments and even alternatives to debt or … [More]
Online Shopping Serves the Disabled
Alexandra Connell, her own experience making her keenly aware of how disabilities and looking or acting differently can impact a person’s life, launched PATTI + RICKY LLC, offering an online shopping destination that caters to people with special needs due to disability, disease or stage of life. “Most people with physical disabilities have no choice but to tailor clothing … [More]
