IBM Project Debater AI debate system; IBM earnings and AI future; career insights on culture fit and innovative disciplines; leadership tips on stay interviews and delegation; modernization challenges for legacy applications; open‑source updates for IBM i, including RPM and YUM; trends in cognitive computing and its business impact.
Have you heard of IBM Project Debater?
It’s an AI system that can debate humans. It goes beyond an AI system, like Watson answering open-ended questions towards Free-Form debate. IBM Project Debater can take in massive amounts of data and then create a presentation on a given topic. Apply this to business, plug-in company historical data and imagine what a company board meeting would sound like. It will be interesting to see where this will take us.
Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly
- News: IBM earnings and the future of AI.
- Career: Culture fit and discipline, what do they have in common.
- Leadership: Why more leaders should conduct Stay Interviews.
- Modernization: Security for legacy applications.
- Open Source: RPM, YUM, and open source updates for IBM i.
- Trends: The future for Cognitive Computing.
News
Roundup from the Four Hundred Monitor, July 18th Here is a roundup of IBM i related news for the past week from IT Jungle. There is a lot going on. Everything from blockchain, robots, IoT and automation. Pay attention to these trends and think about how it relates to the future. Also, IBM reported a beat on earnings, marking its third quarter of growth after years of decline. AI will take jobs, but also create new ones “A majority of people think that artificial intelligence will steal jobs away from human workers. They’re not wrong, but that’s not the whole story.” A new pledge to help workers worried about jobs Technology is moving at lightning speed. Here is a new initiative that will help “promote high-tech retraining for workers — preparation for a workplace that’ll increasingly be dominated by data and automation.”
Career
For job satisfaction, culture fit is important Finding the right fit is important. I see this all of the time. At great company with a great culture is turned upside down by an acquiring company. Employee’s don’t have a choice but when you are looking for a new position, you do. The twelve disciplines of innovative organizations Do you ever wonder why some companies outperform others? It’s because they are disciplined. There are “twelve disciplines that businesses – if they are to be consistently successful at innovation and market leadership like these businesses – must develop and use persistently.” Is your company disciplined? Take it a step further as it relates to your career. Do you consistently use any of the disciplines outlined in this article?
Leadership
Retain more employees with stay interviews “Employee retention is easier than recruiting.” But, it’s interesting why so many companies neglect it. Leaders need to pay attention to this and ask their staff “why do you stay here?” Build your team’s culture of shared responsibility “Effective leaders delegate. Because healthy teams learn and grow when challenged with new tasks—and in order to take on new work without a change in staffing—teams must find ways to be more efficient and productive (or stop doing something that is no longer as important as it once was).” The ability to delegate is not easy. I struggle with this myself. But, it’s necessary for growth and the success of the team. Can you relate?
Modernization
Another way to Application Modernization “Enterprise leaders must find a way to respond, or they will find themselves unable to compete as their legacy application architectures tie them down and leave them unresponsive to changing marketplace demands.” No excuses for leaving legacy applications unprotected “When you have custom or legacy applications that don’t support standard authentication protocols, it can feel like you’re facing an impossible choice: Keep the apps you depend on, or keep your organization secure.”
Open Source
IBM i: Open Source Technology Updates This is a page you should bookmark. It will help you understand what open source technology is “available today, how do you get access to it, as well as links to additional details and documentation.” Solution providers and business partners are the main drivers for open source technologies for the IBM i. RPM and YUM are very important for the IBM i, here is why The IBM i community just keeps making it easier with RPM and YUM. RPM (distributes open source software) while YUM (updates and manages it). Together, they offer an easy process to deliver open source software. Example, “users who previously struggled to get Python working on the IBM i will find the process tremendously streamlined.”
Trends
Why Cognitive Computing Is the Next Big Thing for Business Growth Watson, “a cognitive system that enables IT departments to data mine and analyze unstructured content. It’s structured to enhance active learning and results in more effective business decision-making for the organization at-large.” Can you think of an example of how this could be used in your organization?
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