Digital Planet

• JAKARTA, Indonesia, Dec. 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, graced the inauguration of BRI's UMKM EXPO(RT) BRILIANPRENEUR 2023, held at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) on December 7, 2023.
• Under the theme "Crafting Global Connection," 700 MSMEs participated in the three-day event, marking the prestigious 5th edition of this expo.
• With BRI's support, MSMEs displaying strong performance reflect positively on real business activities within society, fostering economic growth.
• The BRI UMKM EXPO(RT) BRILIANPRENEUR 2023 endeavors to connect Indonesian MSMEs with global markets, nurturing their expansion and bolstering national exports.

• The route to this economic transformation is through the workplace.
• The consulting firm McKinsey released its own study predicting an AI-powered boost of US$4.4 trillion to the global economy every year.
• But if the history of the future of work is any guide, we should be prepared for some surprises.

The IT revolution and the productivity paradox

• Said another way, higher productivity is expected to lead to higher wages.
• Generative AI products are capable of producing written, graphic and audio content or software programs with minimal human involvement.
• Professions such as advertising, entertainment and creative and analytical work could be among the first to feel the effects.
• Interestingly, productivity growth slowed in the 1970s and 1980s, coinciding with the introduction of computers and early digital technologies.
• Again, there were disagreements about what was really going on, further muddying the waters as to whether the paradox had been resolved.

Early 2000s: New slump, new hype, new hopes

• Yet labor productivity growth started stalling again in the mid-2000s, ticking up briefly in 2009 during the Great Recession, only to return to a slump from 2010 to 2019.
• AI and automation were becoming all the rage and were expected to transform work and worker productivity.
• AI and automation were projected to push productivity growth above 2% annually in a decade, up from the 2010-2014 lows of 0.4%.

The pandemic productivity push – then bust

• Devastating as the pandemic was, worker productivity surged after it began in 2020; output per hour worked globally hit 4.9%, the highest recorded since data has been available.
• Companies in industries ranging from meat processing to operations in restaurants, retail and hospitality invested in automation, such as robots and automated order-processing and customer service, which helped boost their productivity.
• In parallel, with little warning, “generative AI” burst onto the scene, with an even more direct potential to enhance productivity while affecting jobs – at massive scale.

Looking ahead: Social factors on technology’s arc

• Black and Hispanic workers are overrepresented in the 30 occupations with the highest exposure to automation and underrepresented in the 30 occupations with the lowest exposure.
• On top of that, recognition of the astronomical computing and environmental costs of generative AI could limit its development and use.
• Also, “jobs affected” does not mean jobs lost; it could mean jobs augmented or even a transition to new jobs.
• It’s better, in my view, to then proactively brainstorm the many factors that could affect which one actually comes to pass, look for early warning signs and prepare accordingly.
• The history of the future of work has been full of surprises; don’t be shocked if tomorrow’s technologies are equally confounding.

• UPSTACK , the fast-growing platform that combines the industry's leading advisors, advanced technology and dedicated customer support resources, announced today that it acquired Digital Planet Communications Inc. , a telecom and technology agency based in St. Paul, Minnesota.
• "Digital Planet has been a trailblazer in the technology channel for more than two decades," said UPSTACK Founder and CEO Christopher Trapp.
• Digital Planet was founded as a telecom agency and adapted its business model to meet customer needs.
• About Digital Planet Communications Inc.
  Digital Planet Communications is a technology solutions provider serving businesses of all sizes.

• SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- OptraSCAN , a leading end-to-end digital pathology solution provider, today announced that Karkinos Healthcare has begun using the high-performance OptraSCAN Digital pathology platform to enhance care for their patient population.
• The capabilities of this digital pathology platform improve accessibility to healthcare and the distributed care model.
• Digital pathology facilitates remote consultations and second opinions to arrive at a diagnosis and initiate cancer treatment more rapidly.
• Dr. Ajit Nambiar, Director & Head, Pathology and Lab Medicine at Karkinos Healthcare,explained, "We plan to provide the best possible care to our patients and adoption of OptraSCAN digital pathology solution is an important step in that direction.