5G is Becoming a Reality

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5G, the fifth generation of wireless networking technology, is the latest generation of cellular mobile communications. 5G will be able to surpass 4G LTE by targeting on high data rate, reducing latency, reducing cost, and increasing system capacity. As 4G can maximally reach its speed to 16.9 megabits per second (Mbps), 5G is able to deliver in Gigabit speeds (>1Gbps). Latency is the time interval between the stimulation and response. 5G targets on lowering latency from 9 milliseconds to 1 millisecond. The reduced latency will improve users experience to a large extent when they explore the virtual world. Moreover, since 5G has relatively low latency, it makes remote control of heavy machinery possible. 5G isn’t all about speed. It’s also about standard. Today’s networks rely on 200-foot towers to blanket large areas with signal. 5G will add more cell sites to cover more smaller areas, which enables multiple networks and devices to be connected at once. That’s the best part of 5G because it will not only connect people but also everything around. In the future, our cars will communicate with other vehicles about road conditions and helpful information on the road. If a car brakes up quickly in front of you, your car can detect that immediately and then brake as well.  5G will make billions of new connections possible within various industries such as autos, healthcare, manufacturing and distribution. The security of 5G might be a major concern of the public. A lot of emerging technologies are following the fast development of 5G to secure it. For example, Smart homes will require stronger methods of authentication, such as bio-metric identification. Other security installations such as firewall are necessary as well to protect our experience under the high-speed network.

When it comes to when can the 5G network officially meet the public, “it has been nearly a decade in the making, but 5G is finally becoming a reality. Carriers started rolling out fixed 5G to select cities in 2018, and mobile 5G will start making appearances in cities around the U.S. in 2019, with much more comprehensive roll-outs expected in 2020” (Fortune). The incoming 5G era will definitely be a big hype to the world.

Sources:

https://www.sdxcentral.com/5g/definitions/top-5g-security-challenges/

http://fortune.com/2018/10/08/what-is-5g/

Business Automation within the Business World

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Business Process Management is a discipline in operation management where people use different methods and tools to measure, improve, optimize and automate complex business processes. It can help companies simplify their business processes, achieve digital transformation, and improve their service delivery. Business process automation (BPA), the most practical technology to optimize working process, can be implemented within various field including accounting, marketing, and supply chain management. BPA benefits one’s organizations from several aspects. Firstly, it frees up companies’ workforce from many repetitive actions that do not need much human intervention. After reducing human workforce, companies would have a chance to reduce the overall operation cost. Secondly, BPA also helps to improve collaboration. By tracking project process, updating different teams, and setting project deliverables, BPA can collaborate employees efficiently. In addition, BPA improves organizations’ working efficiency to a large extent. A well-designed automation process can finish all inputting and updating work by a sitting, which will reduce the time used in discovering and correcting human mistakes. Without the distraction of redundant working processes, employees would have more time to focus on things that matter the most.

A lot of tools in automation have been developed in recent years. PandaDoc is a Google Docs add-on program that helps busy entrepreneurs create, deliver, and sign sales documents. One can easily put their electronic signatures on all types of contracts and proposals and organize all of your documents in one easy-to-manage platform; Tracking expenses is perhaps one of the most time-consuming parts of running a business. The Expensify app enables entrepreneurs to track their expenses and create automatic expense reports. Managers can even scan receipts for expenses and the program will extract information, such as where the purchase was made and put it into the database for you. This means less time calculating and organizing receipts and expenses and more time growing business. Due is an accounting tool designed to help business owners keep track of their finances, especially when tax season rolls around. This program is meant to be a complete accounting solution and is filled with features that take care of automating virtually every part of the business’s financial record.

Business process automation is definitely a forward-thinking strategy that should be applied to our business world. With the help of business automation tools, business owners would be able to save time and cost within every single aspect of their businesses.

Sources:

https://www.inc.com/drew-hendricks/10-tools-that-entrepreneurs-can-use-to-automate-their-business.html

http://www.bitmascot.com/business-process-automation-benefits/

Businesses Brace for Brexit

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In two months, Great Britain is scheduled to depart from the European Union, and no deal has been solidified to ensure a soft exit where trade deals can remain intact, and British businesses do not get harmed in the process. Some consider this exit better than remaining in the European Union at all, but businesses are acting more skeptical of the procedure.

On the surface, employment in Britain is higher than it has ever been, and so far, it has been hard to tell the outcome of Brexit. However, the way businesses are behaving suggests they may be more worried than initially presumed.  Banks such as Morgan Stanley are creating jobs in other European countries as a possible contingency, we still are unsure if these jobs come at the expense of British jobs. while this movement is smaller than initially predicted, the concept is still worrisome.

In terms of jobs on real terms, job growth has continued throughout the Brexit negotiation process, and it has been a boon to public sector jobs and the like. The British government has awarded £95 million in contracts and hired 20,000 new civil servants. Private sector jobs have also increased.

However, business investment has remained stagnant, and the uncertainty of the deal is only contributing to this stagnation. Businesses are holding onto existing workers and some have begun stockpiling resources in the event that a hard Brexit occurs in which tariffs could dramatically increase. In addition, companies such as Sony are moving their HQ to the Netherlands to avoid possible customs problems, and to avert future trade problems that could arise because of a poor trade deal.

A “no deal” Brexit could have huge implications for the country in an even more macroeconomic scale. This hard exit from a multinational trade agreement that could affect current trade deals with 70 different countries including South Korea, Mexico, and Canada to name a few. The key point here is that this kind of abrupt exit from the EU could affect trade deals with more than just EU member states, because some countries give the EU preferential treatment.

The impact of Brexit could ripple throughout the world in terms of trade. Increasing trade prices in Britain can cause businesses to relocate, and a poor relationship with the European Union can cause strenuous future politics between the two entities.

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47130189?

intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cv0kerlpjwvt/economic-effects-of-brexit&link_location=live-reporting-story

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47063405

Trade Talks with China Set to Resume

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On March 1st of this year, United States’ tariffs on Chinese goods are set to increase from 10% to 25%, marking an important escalation in the current Trade War between the two countries. This week Mr. Trump and Chinese officials are set to meet to discuss ways of possibly avoiding this escalation. Last year, the United States slapped an estimated total of $250 billion of tariffs on Chinese imports, while the Chinese responded with $110 of tariffs on United States goods. These tariffs have primarily provided the agricultural sector of the Midwest with the heaviest economic burden, and China has displayed a slower economy since the tariffs took effect.

However, critics of the Trade War claim that an increase in tariffs can escalate the trade war and put farmers out of business. Perhaps reaching a deal with China could help Trump’s political standing, after emerging from a 35-day shutdown with a low approval rating. His advisors seem to be divided on the issue, therefore it is almost entirely up to Trump himself which way he wants to go.

These tariffs have had, and will further have, major implications for American Businesses. At the most basic level, all of the tariffed goods will become more expensive to compensate for the newly imposed duties. As these goods become more expensive to Chinese consumers, supporters of the tariffs argue, the producers of these goods will become more profitable in the end. Indeed, American consumers will also be faced with the predicament of more expensive goods on the market, hitting their wallets pretty hard. When a product becomes more expensive, consumers have to pay more in literal terms, but also some forgo purchasing the product they otherwise would have (without an increase in price), therefore both parties are affected. Clearly, these tariffs are not just affecting the agricultural sector, but the retail sector as well. The broader economic impact of these tariffs remains to be seen, but certainly the business environment will not be the same.

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47047289

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-trade-war-tariffs-china-effect-2018-10