Dancing Over the Technology Stack

September 30, 2022

Nihil novi sub sole

Technological inventions have always been the trigger for new business ideas. First came a new opportunity, resulting from the innovation of a technological solution, which then turned into better or more accurate information. Only the information made it possible to increase efficiency, respond earlier than the competition, or better manage risks.

Take, for example, the construction of a telescope by Galileo Galilei, in the early seventeenth century. This invention was made for his primary occupation, namely astronomy. However, Galileo was also an entrepreneur. He was able to finance his research by selling these instruments to Venetian merchants. The merchants, with the help of this innovative technology, were able to observe approaching trading ships much earlier than their competitors. The technology enabled them to gain a competitive advantage. But did technology directly deliver business value? Of course not. Success required adapting the way they did business, or what we would call today the operating and business model, to the new technological capabilities.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is based on many new technologies. The internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), cloud solutions of all kinds, blockchain technology, or augmented reality (VR, AR) are technologies that, like Galileo’s telescope, are innovating and giving their users an information advantage. Similar to the Venetian merchants of centuries ago, today’s entrepreneurs have to invest in newer and bolder technologies, which are almost immediately replaced by even newer and better ones. At the same time, they must also modify their operational processes and business models. This constant change, often referred to as digital transformation, is a never-ending battle against the resistance and dissatisfaction of people accustomed to the status quo. What is at stake, however, is survival in an increasingly competitive market.

One could say that everything has already been done. But there are fundamental differences between the introduction of innovative technologies over the last 400 years, starting with the Renaissance and going through all of the industrial revolutions, and what we see today.

Knowledge as a service

Todayʼs primary differentiator is the widespread, mass availability of emerging new technologies. Whether dedicated to the individual consumer, changing customer behaviour, or entire industries, they all have one thing in common. They are all based on the provision and processing of increasingly large data sets and the delivery of business information that can be monetised. If you measure in real time and can correlate these measurements with historical data fast enough, you can accurately predict future events. If the system of such measurements is large and cross-sectional enough, then your knowledge derived from the measurements is greater than that of the best specialists that is based only on previous theoretical models and experience.

Today, the problem is becoming the narrow specialisation of experts and the dynamics of new technological solutions and their implementations.

I will give the trivial example of a cab driver who knows the city very well and has been building his professional experience for years. Let him compete with an Uber driver who arrived here a week ago. Equipped with a navigation system with an active map showing traffic congestion on the road, a system for ordering rides, and cashless billing, he wins over his “traditional” colleague in practically all aspects. It’s faster, easier, and cheaper.

An experienced engineer who knows his plant and machinery will be no more effective than a computerised diagnostic system that monitors machine operation in real time through a network of interconnected sensors.

The mere knowledge of the operation of equipment or the actual process flow in one’s own plant is already a great differentiator and competitive advantage, but the real change is that it can be enhanced by buying the knowledge and experience of experts and users. Instead of organically building your own knowledge, based on individually accumulated experience, you can have it here and now. Of course, it becomes legitimate to ask whether we are becoming too dependent on the providers of this knowledge and technology, and who is really driving our business.

Democratisation of competitiveness

Carefully protected knowledge, acquired over years in specialised training courses that are available only to a few, is a thing of the past. Today, training in almost any speciality can be done in a matter of weeks, without moving from home and, if not free, it is certainly available to everyone. Today, the problem is becoming the narrow specialisation of experts and the dynamics of new technological solutions and their implementations. This is causing a surge in demand for experts with certain competencies and, as a result, their limited availability.

Since traditional knowledge, new technologies, and dedicated specialists alone do not guarantee a competitive advantage, how can companies use them to build such an advantage?

This is where another previously unknown element becomes the answer. Earlier technological innovations were created and developed in silos. They then went through a multi-year process of formal standardisation so that they could work together at all. The dynamics of the Fourth Revolution’s technological development has meant that emerging solutions are created virtually from the start with the assumption of their convergence and synergy. Smart-city solutions are a case in point. Smart cities, after all, are not built from scratch. New solutions penetrate the existing infrastructure and ensure the functioning of the new one. The element that binds them together into a unified whole is, for example, social media platforms. Many residents and visitors use them on a daily basis for communication, information on weather, services, air pollution, etc. They plan their activities based on this data. Technology that is not individually cost-effective even for a large city ensures the functioning of the entire ecosystem when used as a service. The simplicity of use and the community-assured reliability of the information avoids the expenditures that would be necessary to achieve the same effect in
other ways.

The democratisation of access to technology and knowledge has created a new kind of partnership and entrepreneurial ecosystem-building. Thanks to the networked (i.e., multidimensional relationship without hierarchy) nature of partnerships and open-source models, it is now possible to build new and complex innovations extremely quickly and efficiently. This lowers the initial investment required to launch a solution. Each partner adds to what they already have, reaping the benefits of the whole. As a result, many times there are partnerships built for one product or one service.

Economy of scale

Practically all Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies involve the acquisition, transmission, and processing of huge amounts of data. Therefore, their true value is revealed in complex and extensive applications. The interconnection of devices and people through a common internet network has created an environment in which we have at least as many recipients of data as people and devices generating it. The scale we face in exchanging this information is difficult to imagine, yet we have the technologies to harness it.

The previously mentioned lack of initial investment for new solutions is supported by another common and new phenomenon: users of products and services are themselves investing in the devices through which they can use these products and services. We are talking here primarily about mobile devices. In addition to the initial investment (purchase), the user pays a subscription for its use, supplies it with energy, replaces it with a new model on a fairly regular basis, and even takes care of its self-service. This phenomenon makes the vast majority of new solutions profitable for providers in general. What’s more, the unification of the technologies used makes this ecosystem easy to manage. Just 10 years ago, an average investment in a new product or service (connected) for 10 million users would have been beyond the financial reach of the world’s largest corporations. Today, reaching hundreds of millions in single months is commonplace.

Opportunity or threat?

Technological innovations have always had two faces. On the one hand, they delighted, they were magical. Imagine the reactions of a nineteenth-century peasant who came to town and saw a car or an electric light bulb. But on the other hand, technology has always caused fear – fear of change, but especially of health and safety. Often this fear has been used to delay the popularisation of new solutions by those interested in maintaining the status quo.

New challenges are also emerging: the need to protect the climate and environment, issues of technological dominance in the geopolitical dimension, and ethics in cyberspace, to name just a few.

The Fourth Revolution is all about data. Already, during the great computerisation and robotisation of the late twentieth century (the Third Industrial Revolution), the need to secure and protect it began to be recognised. For it turned out that what constitutes a competitive advantage can easily be lost through unauthorised access to computer systems. Even worse, data can be illegally altered, leading to production losses and even damage to production lines.

However, while in the Third Industrial Revolution we could contemplate the failure of production lines without IT support, in the Fourth it is simply impossible. Thus, cybersecurity has become one of the most important challenges for virtually every area of life in developed countries.

Clearly, data protection risks have touched all areas of our lives. Privacy, identity protection, intellectual property, falsification of financial transactions, and testing of artificial intelligence algorithms are nowadays challenges not only for users or technology manufacturers, but also for regulators or government agencies.
New challenges are also emerging: the need to protect the climate and environment, issues of technological dominance in the geopolitical dimension, and ethics in cyberspace, to name just a few. The fundamental issue is the place that humans occupy in this ecosystem. We must not forget that technology is for people, not the other way around.

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About the Author

Dr. Aleksander Poniewierski is the Global Digital and Emerging Technologies Leader at EY, one of the largest international professional services organisations. His focus is on the development of strategy, design, implementation, process optimisation, business model innovation, security and protection for global clients.

Aleksander has a deep understanding of the evolving technology sector and knows how to help companies use it to improve their operations and the world around them.
Aleksander was recognised by IoT World as IoT World Leader of the Year 2020.

Aleksander is a renowned keynote speaker at international conferences and visiting professor at leading universities around the globe. He graduated with a master’s degree in Information Technology from Upper Silesian University and received his PhD in Economics from Poznan University of Economics.

You may also check out Dr. Aleksander Poniewierski’s book entitled, “SPEED: No Limits in the Digital Era” which offers great insights to enhance your business in emerging trends: www.speednolimits.com

Putting Voice to Work When Innovation Falls Behind

September 30, 2022

By David De Cremer and Patrick Mancel

Steering your company into the future requires you to be clear about the goals the organisation wants to achieve and to understand what means are needed and available to attain those goals. Putting this knowledge into action shapes the strategy of any effective company. Part of an effective strategy is, however, also to know and understand the threats that the external environment poses to the workings of your company. This way, you can predict what specific actions are required to ensure that the goals that one wants to achieve will be reached. External threats are market-driven and competitive in nature, which means that these are not easy to control or influence. Therefore, it’s important that companies succeed in shaping an agile mindset for their leaders and employees. As external threats can be unexpected, hard to control, and often unpredictable, your workforce needs to be prepared and trained in ways that allow them to be able to deal with any kind of curveball thrown at them and find solutions that help to adapt to or neutralise the external threat.

Agility requires bottom-up communication

Creating an agile workforce is a much-debated topic these days in the management and strategy literature but, despite this heightened interest in the topic, it remains difficult in practice to shift people’s mindset so that organisations are confident in dealing with sudden changes, challenges, and possible new ways of working that they will need to adapt to. Often, companies promote an agile mindset via awareness sessions and well-defined and outlined steps of decision-making procedures. What is common in this approach is that essentially it is still a top-down approach where the workforce is told how to act when environmental stressors are encountered. While this approach definitely has value, it does miss the point that, when talking about an agile mindset, we talk about the abilities of the workforce itself to deal with threats in ways that are different compared to the past. Hence, an agile workforce requires that a bottom-up sphere of influence exist within the company. This way, employees can bring their best ideas to the table when change occurs. So companies have to realise that their strategies in uncertain and volatile situations require that goals will have to be pursued by tapping into resources not used before. Indeed, what makes for an agile workforce is that, under situations of threat, communication will be less hierarchical and ideas travel both top-down and bottom-up, thus basically levelling the playing field within the organisation when it comes to writing an effective strategy to deal with the encountered threat.

Innovation is not only a function of the amount of cash one pours into research and team projects. In fact, creative ideas do not emerge more quickly the more money one invests.

Of course, stimulating an environment of bottom-up communication and, hence, having employees share ideas upward in the hierarchical chain is not an obvious thing to achieve, and especially not in high-power-distance countries. Asian companies in particular display a strongly hierarchical culture of this kind and, consequently, many managers at lower and middle levels do not feel empowered to voice their opinions and suggestions. But, could times perhaps be changing? In fact, a very recent example of an Asian company deciding to move its attention to exploring effective bottom-up communication to create a more innovative work climate is Huawei. Huawei is a Chinese telecom giant, founded by Ren Zhengfei in 1987 in Shenzhen. Within three decades, the company had moved into the super-league of telecommunications organizations when it surpassed the (then) world leader Ericsson in 2012 in terms of sales revenue and net profit (Tao, De Cremer, & Chunbo, 2017). It seemed as if the company would keep innovating (submitting more patents every year) and growing (higher profits every year) without limits. However, all of this came to a stop when the company was drawn into the US-China trade war when the founder’s daughter, Meng Wanzhou, was arrested in December 2018 in Vancouver (on 24 September 2021, prosecutors in the New York federal court announced that she would be released). An international warrant, issued by the US government, charged Meng and Huawei with bank and wire fraud in violation of American sanctions against Iran (De Cremer, 2021). In addition, the US took forceful action against Huawei and, in 2019, American companies were prohibited from transferring technology to the Chinese company without a government licence. As a result, Huawei lost its licence to use Google’s commercial components for Android, which initiated their current decline in the global smartphone market. Indeed, in 2021, the company reported that their consumer business, which includes smartphones, had declined by 50 per cent. This radical change in the hitherto increasing success of the company represents an interesting situation with respect to how to use a workforce in times of crisis. How?

Promoting innovation beyond financial means: The importance of voice

When Huawei’s 2021 Annual Report was made public, observers immediately realised that, because of the US sanctions, the company had suffered a decline in revenue for the first time in its existence. Specifically, the total revenue of 636.8 billion yuan (US$100 billion) was down 29 per cent from 2020, its worst annual sales performance on record. However, at the same time, Huawei did reach CNY113.7 billion (US$17.8 billion) in net profit, which underscored the company’s ability to boost profitability. Even more, cash flow from operating activities grew by 69.4 per cent, which makes Huawei a cash-heavy company. These numbers motivated Meng Wanzhou, the company’s CFO, to argue that, as the company was a knowledge driven organisation, their immediate goal would be to continue investing significantly in innovation. She said: “We will continue to invest heavily in talent and R&D to ensure long-term innovation” … “We believe that this type of investment will enable us to supply high-quality products and services to our customers.” The numbers also make this commitment to innovation clear. In 2021, Huawei’s total R&D investment amounted to CNY142.7 billion, accounting for 22.4 per cent of its total revenue. Huawei’s total R&D investment over the previous 10 years exceeded CNY845.6 billion and, in 2021, the company had about 107,000 R&D employees, representing about 54.8 per cent of their total workforce. All of these investments are also reflected in the number of patents granted. In 2021, Huawei ranked number 1 at both the China National Intellectual Property Administration and the European Patent Office, and number 5 at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. So, it’s clear that innovation has always been, and will remain, despite all difficulties, a key focus of the company.

Granting voice to your workforce is a good way to ensure that your employees will eventually support the decision that you make, while at the same time they will feel more included than ever.

Of course, having financial resources at your disposal is one thing. It helps to create the conditions to facilitate knowledge generation and application. However, innovation is not only a function of the amount of cash one pours into research and team projects. In fact, creative ideas do not emerge more quickly the more money one invests. More is needed! And this is especially the case in times when it is clear to the company that, in the short term, new sources of revenue will have to be identified to avoid further drops in revenue generation. So, from this point of view, it is necessary to see what other resources – beyond their financial means – the company can easily access. To answer this question, it’s important to keep in mind the most important antecedent of innovation. Right: ideas. So, to keep innovation going, even when financial resources may be lacking, effective use of human resources is needed, because it is people, across all levels in the organisation, who bring new ideas to the fore. Huawei seems to have decided to move in this direction to help encourage and further promote their focus on innovation management. It should not be a surprise that they have decided on this type of strategy, because, even though the company may still be cash-heavy in 2021, the fact that they have recently been diversifying their efforts to a high degree indicates that pressure must exist to create new sources of revenue. Even more, the fact that Huawei has lost the profitability of its once-thriving smartphone business means that alternative sources of revenue will have to be found to buffer that loss and, to achieve this, the company needs to rely on innovation efforts. In a recent internal memo, it also became clear that the intellectual leader of the company, Ren Zhengfhei, has done exactly that by focusing on the role that his employees can play. That is, he expressed the need for Huawei not to have its strategy decided by a handful of people, but that the tens of thousands of experts in the company also need to contribute their ideas (Deng, 2022) – an opportunity that, of course, can more easily be created when the company is still a private organisation, as is the case with Huawei (De Cremer, 2018). In other words, Ren Zhengfei is providing voice opportunities to the many scientists and experts that Huawei employs, and asking them to speak their mind about the direction the company should take.

On the benefits of voice

This request for Huawei’s employees to chip in when it comes to bringing ideas to the fore to help shape the company’s strategy is noteworthy for a variety of reasons. First, as noted earlier, in typical high-power-distance cultures, compliance with directives from above is a must, meaning that upward communication is not encouraged. So, introducing voice opportunities under circumstances of threat in a Chinese company makes for a strong statement. It indicates that innovation is likely to lag behind and that the current ideas are not powerful enough to sustain the level of success that the company has been enjoying in the past. Second, the decision of leaders to give voice to their subordinates is widely regarded as the enactment of a fair procedure. Procedural fairness refers to the perceived fairness (by the subordinates) of the decision-making process that is being used by leaders to achieve a certain goal or outcome (Thibaut & Walker, 1975; Tyler, 1988). As in courtrooms, people in organisations make a distinction between process fairness and outcome fairness when a decision is made (by a judge or company leader). A common finding is that, even if outcomes are not as favourable to oneself as one had hoped, if the decision-making process is seen as fair, people will more easily accept those unfavourable outcomes (Brockner & Wiesenfeld, 1996), and this fair process effect is especially the case in times of crisis and uncertainty (De Cremer et al., 2010). So, for these reasons, Ren Zhengfei’s decision to grant voice to a large number of Huawei employees to help shape the strategy of the company can have clear benefits, as it will pave the way for employees to accept the strategic decisions that the company will eventually make; after all, they were part of the decision-making process. Also, as this kind of decision-making procedure is not so common in high-power-distance cultures, it signals that the company wants to treat its employees in fair and respectful ways, which research has shown will increase commitment and a sense of belonging (De Cremer & Blader, 2006).

Stimulating an environment of bottom-up communication and, hence, having employees share ideas upward in the hierarchical chain is not an obvious thing to achieve, and especially not in high-power-distance countries.

Putting these reasons together, granting voice to your workforce is a good way to ensure that your employees will eventually support the decision that you make, while at the same time they will feel more included than ever. And this is what Ren Zhengfei clearly has in mind when inviting his experts to voice ideas. As he noted in an internal memo: “The transformation from ideas to projects and products will depend on the review by decision makers, and I hope everything the company does is within boundaries and creates short- or long-term value.” So, ideas are being looked for by the decision makers in Huawei but, once these ideas are delivered, those decision makers will take over and decide on the course of action. Obviously, under these circumstances, it is the best outcome if – by means of giving voice opportunities – employees are willing to comply with those decisions and do not feel excluded. So, asking your employees to exercise their voice can, psychologically speaking, be seen as making use of “low-hanging fruit” when it comes to getting support for what you will decide later on. But does the experience of having voiced their idea to the leadership also make the workforce more innovative? The research out there is very clear in that respect. Indeed, a wide range of studies show that voice opportunities and emerging innovation are intrinsically related (Ye, Wang, & Guo, 2019; Zhou & George, 2001). Research indicates that, if employees can exercise their voice, they are more creative in their projects and this effect is enhanced when they work in an environment that stresses the importance of innovation for the organisation (Chen & Hou, 2016) – as Huawei does.

Conclusion

In conclusion, in times of crisis, it is imperative that companies use all the resources at their disposal to remain competitive and innovative. Even if financial resources are available, it is worth remembering that uncertain and quickly changing business environments will – over time – deplete any organisation’s financial outlook. For this reason, it’s necessary for the organisational leadership to be able to tap into other resources that can promote innovation, especially when the work context changes to one dictated by financial constraints. Promoting creativity by means of giving voice opportunities to one’s workforce is one such strategy that gains value in times of crisis. Under situations of external threats, employees experience a great deal of uncertainty, and enhancing their feelings of being included and listened to will promote a sense of commitment and willingness to comply with the decisions that the company makes to deal with those threats and challenges. In addition, people will not only accept and endorse the decision maker, but will want to contribute their own best efforts, resulting in more innovation at the level of the organisation.

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About the Authors

David De Cremer is a Provost’s chair and professor in management and organizations at NUS Business School, National University of Singapore. He is the founder and director of the corporate-sponsored Centre on AI Technology for Humankind at NUS Business school. He was named one of the world’s top 30 management gurus and speakers in 2020 by the organisation GlobalGurus, one of the 2021 Thinkers50 Radar list of 30 next-generation business thinkers, nominated for the Thinkers50 Distinguished 2021 award for Digital Thinking (a bi-annual gala event that the Financial Times deemed the “Oscars of Management Thinking”) and included in the World Top 2% of scientists (published by Stanford). His recent book Leadership by Algorithm: Who leads and who follows in the AI era? (2020) received critical acclaim worldwide, was named one of the 15 leadership books to read in summer 2020 by Wharton, and the Kindle version of the book reached number 1 at amazon.com. His latest book is On the emergence and understanding of Asian Global Leadership, which was named management book of the month July (2021) by De Gruyter.

Patrick Mancel has been a lawyer for 26 years in the areas of real estate contracts and law, with a specific interest in developing trustworthy and legitimate decision-making procedures enacted by a variety of authorities. He is currently a law entrepreneur assisting and advising the organisation and reorganisation of justice service means to a wide variety
of companies.

References

Brockner, J., & Wiesenfeld, B.M. (1996). “An integrative framework for explaining reactions to decisions: Interactive effects of outcomes and procedures”. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 189-208.
Chen, A.S.-Y., & Hou, Y.-H. (2016). “The effects of ethical leadership, voice behavior and climates for innovation on creativity: A moderated mediation examination”. The Leadership Quarterly, 27, 1-13.
De Cremer, D. (2018). “On the joy of not being a listed company”. The World Financial Review, March-April, 26-9.
De Cremer, D., (2021). “Promoting organizational resilience with a message of hope”. The World Financial Review, November-December, 23-5.
Deng, I. (2022). “Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei seeks employee input on business direction amid struggle to reinvent company under US sanctions”. South China Morning Post. 6 July. Retrieved from: https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3184221/huawei-founder-ren-zhengfei-seeks-employee-input-business-direction
De Cremer, D., & Blader, S. (2006). “Why do people care about procedural fairness? The importance of belongingness in responding and attending to procedures”. European Journal of Social Psychology, 36(2), 211-28.
De Cremer, D., Brockner, J., Fishman, A, van Olffen, W., & Mayer, D.M. (2010). “When do procedural fairness and outcome fairness interact to influence employees’ work attitudes and behaviors? The moderating effect of uncertainty”. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(2), 291-304.
Ye, Q., Wang, D., & Guo, W. (2019). “Inclusive leadership and team innovation: The role of team voice and performance pressure”. European Management Journal, 37, 468-80.
Zhou, J., & George, J.M. (2001). “When job dissatisfaction leads to creativity: encouraging the expression of voice”. Academy of Management Journal, 44, 682-96.
Deng, I. (2021). “Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei vows to recruit more global talent as firm seeks to overcome US sanctions”. South China Morning Post. 15 September. Retrieved from: https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3148734/huawei-founder-ren-zhengfei-vows-recruit-more-global-talent-firm
Tao, T., De Cremer, D., & Chunbo, W. (2017). Huawei: Leadership, culture, and connectivity. Sage Publishing.
Thibaut, J. W., & Walker, L. (1975). Procedural justice: A psychological analysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Tyler, T. R. (1988). “What is procedural justice?”. Law and Society Review, 22, 301-55.

Essay Writing Trends That You Need To Know

September 30, 2022

Essay writing is some of the most interesting work you’ll ever do as a college student. It’s also some of the most stressful times you’ll spend at college. Whether you’re a talented writer or someone who writes essays to get them out of the way, the amount of work you’ll have to put in cannot be understated.

According to published findings, 60% of students experience overwhelming anxiety, with over 40% going through crippling bouts of depression. College assignments are a demanding part of academic life and not everyone deals with them easily.

However, by understanding some of the essay writing trends which are popular around the world, you can make your academic life a bit easier. Here’s what you need to know about essay writing trends and how they can help you make ends meet.

1. Using the Right Essay Writing Structure

Each essay writing assignment you work on will be unique. It’s important to understand the different types of essay writing structures so that you can pinpoint which one is best suited to your current task. Misjudging which structure to use can make your work more difficult for no reason. Here are the four basic types of academic essay writing:

Descriptive writing – presents simple and verifiable facts to the reader
Analytical writing – Analyze a certain topic or phenomenon for the reader
Persuasive writing – Persuade the reader with your point of view on a topic
Critical writing – Similar to persuasive, with the added caveat of “critiquing” something

If you’re unsure of which essay structure to use, you can discuss it with your professor or college friends before starting. Over time, however, you’ll be able to determine which structure to rely on for your writing moving forward.

2. Emphasis on Original Content

Academic writing must always be original, no matter how trivial an assignment might be. Whether you write an essay or work on a case study about something extraordinary like the Instagram spy app, you’ll need to make your topic unique and original. Beyond that, you’ll need to make sure that your writing doesn’t contain any plagiarism whatsoever.

Plagiarism is the bane of academic writing and you don’t want to be caught with plagiarized content in your essays and papers. To avoid plagiarism, you can write your essays and other papers with the help of other published works and research papers that you’ll cite as sources. Or, you can use online plagiarism tools to make sure that your essays are not plagiarized.

Don’t fall into the trap of handing in unverified writing to your professor only for them to tell you it’s been plagiarized. You’ll have a difficult time explaining how it happened without failing the course or receiving a poor degree regardless of the paper’s quality.

3. Quality Over Length in Essay Writing

When it comes to essay length, it’s important to understand the format of the paper you’re writing. Essays are not research papers – they shouldn’t overstay their welcome. Instead of trying to impress your professor with dozens of pages of writing, try to truncate your thoughts.

Say more with fewer sentences and try to be as constructive and succinct as possible. This will give you an edge over other students who might struggle with doing the same. Most professors will also assign certain word count restrictions from the get-go, limiting how much you can write from the start.

Essays are the simplest form of academic writing but they are in no way less demanding than other types of papers. Treat them with equal care and attention as any other paper you’ll write and you won’t run into issues with length or clarity.

4. Properly Formatting and Proofreading the Essay

Making sure that your essay is legible and scannable is very important. Regardless of how good your writing is, it’s important that your essay also looks good at a glance.

This will make it more approachable to both academic and general readers, not to mention improving your overall grade. Once you’re done writing the essay, read it again to find proofreading and grammar mistakes. Fix any mistakes you’ve made, both grammatically and stylistically, before handing the essay in.

The same applies to your sentence structure and formatting of the overall paper. Keep your paragraphs short and don’t be afraid to use subheadings, italics, bolds, lists, and other elements to break up the text. This will further improve your essay’s readability and help you write a much better paper as a result.

5. Getting Professional Writing Help

Academic life is more complex than ever before. You have more options for extracurricular activities, semesters abroad, and other opportunities than any generation before you. This makes it hard for students to focus on their essay writing and ignore all other opportunities to grow.

Instead, you can use the help of a professional writer from a reliable writing service to get everything done on time. You can check out trust my paper reviews to find a suitable writer who will help you with your essays while you tend to other academic assignments or projects. This is a great way for you to use digital technology to your benefit and get even more things done in the same amount of time.

Using Essay Writing Trends to your Advantage

By familiarizing yourself with these and similar essay writing trends, you’ll be able to take back control over your academic assignments. While academic life can get overwhelming at times, it’s important to remember why you applied for college in the first place.

The work you’ve put into getting a degree will pay off in spades once you’re out there on the job market. Keep the bigger picture in your mind as you tackle your essays, papers, and projects and it’ll all be worth it in the end.

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What Is Exolix?

September 29, 2022

Finding a reliable service for swapping your crypto assets might be a tricky task. If you need a fast and secure crypto exchange, Exolix is just what you need. This platform was launched four years ago and has since proven it can be trusted.

The service offers to convert cryptocurrencies on the best terms. Exolix has high standards of confidentiality and data protection. You don’t need to register or reveal your identity in any other way. The conversion of the coins is carried out 100% anonymously.

The security of the services provided by the exchange platform is ensured due to the implementation of numerous data protection features, including:

protection from DDoS attacks;
SSL certificate for information transmission;
strong security protocols.

Therefore, by entrusting your crypto assets exchange to Exolix, you may be calm and confident about their safety.

Finally, you can buy and trade your coins at fixed price rates, which allows protecting your cryptocurrency assets from the crypto market price fluctuations.

How Does Exolix Work?

The algorithm Exolix uses in its work involves searching for the best conversion rates on the largest crypto exchange platforms. This is possible due to Exolix being integrated into some of the best-known and most powerful platforms for crypto exchange.

Once the system detects the most advantageous offer, it starts the conversion process. Typically, it takes 5 – 30 minutes to complete it. So Exolix is not only safe, but it’s also fast.

Exolix: Our Features

Positive customer experience is what Exolix strives to provide. For this reason, the crypto exchange platform boasts the following features:

No KYC verification. Exolix doesn’t require any personal data to fulfill the exchange. It’s enough to comply with the Terms and Conditions of the service.
No limits on exchange amount. You can swap any sum of any kind of cryptocurrency that is listed on the exchange list.
Fixing the exchange rates. Exchanging crypto with floating rates is risky. Exolix offers the fixation of the exchange rate for 60 minutes so that you don’t lose money because of the market volatility.
Anonymity. One of the reasons people invest in a crypto is complete anonymity. Exolix doesn’t violate this principle and offers its clients complete privacy.
Transparency for the client. You can track the exchange process at every stage, thus keeping an eye on everything done by the crypto exchange platform.
24/7 professional support. The customer support service can be reached whenever you need professional assistance converting your money.

Wrapping up

Exolix is a perfect choice for crypto owners who cherish safety and reliability and wants to swap their coins, for example like BTC to ETH, on the best terms.

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What Is an Unsecured Loan?

September 29, 2022

If you have a future project that needs financing, unforeseen bills, or even tuition, you may be able to access financing through unsecured loans. These loans don’t require collateral, such as your home, to get the funds. The standards for qualifying for and applying for one of these loans are typically less stringent than secured loans, and many lenders offer to fund the same or the following business day.

What Is an Unsecured Loan?

These loans can be borrowed without pledging any collateral. They are also referred to as good faith loans or signature loans. Personal loans, student loans, and credit card advances without collateral are common unsecured loans. The application process for unsecured loans is typically less stringent than for secured ones. You can acquire these loans from a wide variety of lenders, including traditional lenders, online lenders, and lenders sponsored by the government.

Pros of unsecured loans

No collateral required
No risk of losing assets
Fast access to funds
Fewer borrowing restrictions
Competitive rates for those with strong credit

How Do Unsecured Loans Work?

You will need to apply to a bank, credit union, or online lender specializing in personal loans to obtain an unsecured loan.

If successful, the funds allotted will be deposited into your account in a single transaction. After then, the loan will be repaid by you in equal monthly installments spaced out over the agreed-upon duration of the repayment term.

In most cases, monthly payments are set, meaning they will neither increase nor decrease throughout the loan’s duration.

How to Qualify for an Unsecured Loan?

You can become eligible for an unsecured loan if you keep a credit score, a borrowing history, and an income that are all satisfactory. To the consumers’ relief, options like seedcash loans for unsecured loans are geared at helping those with poor credit scores.

Loans that do not require collateral to be placed as security are known as unsecured loans. This indicates that you will not be required to give up a valued item to have your application accepted. These loans are made available to borrowers based on their credit history, previous borrowing experience, and commitment to repay the loan. This indicates that an unsecured loan application and approval process may be more stringent. However, this is subject to the particular loan terms and the lending institution.

On the other hand, a loan that is secured by collateral is referred to as a secured loan. Loans from pawn shops, title loans, vehicle loans, and mortgages are some common types of loans. When it comes to these loans, the only way to have your application accepted is to put up some collateral. This indicates that if the borrower cannot repay the loan, the lender has the right to seize the borrower’s vehicle and sell it to recoup the money they loaned.

Take Away

There are still options available if you seek an unsecured loan but have less than excellent credit and want to pursue those options. A personal loan with installment payments is one option that many people choose. Personal loans without collateral are offered to individuals with low credit scores who are in urgent need of financial assistance.

Compared to payday loans, they typically provide a larger amount of money and a longer period to repay the loan. The best news is that even if you have poor credit, you should still have a good chance of being approved for one of these loans.

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The Unstoppable Rise of Gaming in Poland: CD Projekt Red and Co

September 29, 2022

Having generated over $20 billion in revenues in 2020 and forecasted to grow by at least 30% by 2025, online gaming accounts for the biggest share of the global digital media market revenues, boosted by both an ever-increasing demand for games and the notorious pandemic forcing millions of fans of outdoor fun – as well as lovers of online casinos like Maneki Kasyno – look for digital avenues of entertainment.

Surprisingly enough, Polish gaming is one of the strongest in Europe. While COVID-19 was wreaking havoc all over the world, closing millions of brick-and-mortar businesses, Polish game developers were pumping out games – and quality ones – like there’s no tomorrow. With about 500 new releases annually and just as many development studios, the Polish game production employs over 10,000 people and spearheads the European game dev field.

Having postponed press conferences and game releases and switched to remote working models, Polish game developers show impressive numbers. In 2017, online games generated $91 million in revenues; in 2020, the revenues grew to $127 million; in 2025, the numbers are expected to reach $170 million.

But how come Polish gaming is so robust and resilient? To understand it, we may have to dig deeper into the history of game development as well as popular gambling myths in Poland. Before that, though, let’s give some credit to Anna Rosak, the co-author of this piece and a brilliant gambling & gaming writer from KasynoHEX.

CD Projekt Red to Lead the Scene Since 2007

It won’t take long to spot the three undisputed leaders in the Polish game dev market – PlayWay, Ten Square Games, and CD Projekt Red – but that’s the latter that unambiguously leads the pack and that paved the way for all other companies by developing its renowned The Witcher Series (three main series, two expansion packs, and a spin-off) and the most recent Cyberpunk 2077.

Speaking of the latter, the red-hot title was released on 10 December 2020 to become the fastest-selling PC game ever with 13.7 million copies being sold by the end of 2020, generating over $550 in revenues, which is three times more than The Witcher 3’s launch gathered in its first year.

At the time of writing, the top-5 Polish companies are valued as follows:

CD Projekt Red – €8.66 billion.
Ten Square Games – €887 million.
PlayWay – €736 million.
11 Bit Studios – €268 million.
Creepy Jar – €175 million.

The Market Matures and Diversifies

Just like any other young market, the Polish gaming market matured along with the players, changing and diversifying preferences. Over 16 million Polish gamers play all types of games on mobile phones, computers, and consoles, being catered by about 500 development studios and 10 thousand people working in all kinds of studios:

10 large-scale companies employ over 200 people each.
400 small-scale companies employ less than 16 people each.

As for the young game dev talents, they have pretty good prospects. There are over two dozen programming courses in Poland along with annual meetings like Central & Eastern European Game Awards, DD Awards, and Poznan Game Arena Expo and Game Industry Conference.

eSports

Whether it’s just watching eSports on Twitch or doing it professionally, eSports is popular among Poles. The number of professional players and viewers totaled 1.4 million in 2019 and is growing fast, making eSports a decent alternative to classic sports. Wages-wise, the highest-paid professional eSports player, Nisha (Michał Jankowski, DOTA 2), has made close to $1 million in his career, followed by Neo (Filip Kubski, Counter-Strike) and TaZ (Wiktor Wojtas, Counter-Strike).

The Unique Place to Shine

It looks like Poland is a perfect springboard for young developers – and a good place to remain for that matter. On the one hand, the Land of Fields has a few all-star game dev companies with a strong undisputed leader; on the other hand, everyone willing to work in a small team will have this chance as well. To add to that, the export-oriented nature of the market makes it possible to cater to more developed countries and therefore earn more than it would be possible by serving the domestic market only.

Awash with game dev degree courses, game dev universities, and experienced programmers to share their knowledge, it’s no wonder Poland is the cradle of European gaming.

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The Things That Make a Great Online Casino

September 29, 2022

With a plethora of online casinos available, players have a lot to choose from. An online casino operator usually invests in high-end marketing techniques to attract as many people as they desire. And now, what players see online is that they don’t have to go through the conventional process of signing up.

They can easily look for an easy and simplest option to deposit money to get started. Let’s be honest, there are various factors that combine to make a good casino. Below, we have mentioned some of them for you to know:

Design

The design has a strong impact on the audience. After all, an attractive design will easily attract players. On the contrary, if a casino has an off-guard design or doesn’t look that amazing, it won’t appeal to the people approaching it. But why? In reality, online casino games have to look appealing.

Since they aren’t land-based casinos, players look for an overall experience at an online casino. And since the competition is at an all-time high, casino owners are going the extra mile to ensure players have an amazing experience. For instance, if you wish to play blackjack online, you will look for an online casino that has an amazing design and good quality graphics for sure.

Choice of Games

Today, almost every online casino offers a plethora of games for the player to choose from. And why not? Every player wants to have an amazing experience in a gambling game. The more games a casino offers, the easier it is for them to acquire the player’s interest. Secondly, if you have planned to play various games, look for a casino that offers a plethora of online games to place.

Nowadays, it is important that you stay home and try your luck with free money. When you spend some time on a casino platform, they will even provide incredible discounts and promotions. Ideally, you have to sign up and get started.

Easy Withdrawals

This factor is of utmost importance. The less paperwork and time it takes to withdraw winnings, the customers will get more loyal with time. After all, a player will play at a casino that hardly takes a few minutes to withdraw their innings. On the other hand, a casino that requires additional documents will be discarded by the gamblers.

Having that said, the withdrawal procedures should not be neglected under any circumstance. After all, nobody wants to engage with a fraudulent website. This is where customer support of an online casino is pivotal for its success. The compliance teams have to be as responsive as they can.

Variety of Payment Options

Just like any regular game, players should have a choice of payments too. Therefore, the more they offer, the higher the deposit that you will receive. Nowadays, online casinos are going the extra mile to equip players with a plethora of payment options. And rightly so, since it has emerged as the need of the hour. A typical online casino will offer payment through cryptocurrencies, bank cards, and e-wallets.

The more the number of payment options, the easier it is for anyone to join the online casino. However, if an online casino offers a certain mode of payment to the players, they will lose out on a chance to attract other gamblers.

Live Chat Support

Effective support is one of the main reasons for players to come back to online casinos frequently. After all, it is of great service to manage service 24/7 and solve any issues in the easiest ways. Ensure your support managers are always hands-on with the live chat inquiries. They have to be responsive between the first 60-90 seconds. After all, some players can be very demanding.

Thus, it’s important that you choose an online casino based on the quality of its live chat support. Let’s suppose if you don’t find a certain online casino responsive, it’s best to ignore them.

Bonuses and Promotions

Today, there is no casino without free spins and bonuses. Almost every casino will offer free money in the beginning to attract players. And since the competition is at an all-time high, almost every online casino has incredible benefits to offer. Check out new Australian online casino, and you will be astonished to see the plethora of casinos offering free bonuses in the beginning.

So always look for an online casino that offers amazing bonuses and promotions. Now is a good time to check out the options online and make the right choice.

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Gold Prices Hit Two-Year Low In Volatile Drop

September 29, 2022

Gold prices recently fell by over 1.5% to their lowest since April 2020, CNBC reports. Spot gold dipped by 1.6% to $1,643.51 per ounce, following a previous 1.8% drop to $1,640.20 earlier in the year, while U.S. gold futures are now at $1,651, a 1.8% drop. Gold’s fall follows an “unrelenting rally in the U.S. dollar” which comparatively hit a 20-year high as a result of the Federal Reserve’s action to control surging inflation. “This should see (gold) prices trading broadly sideways over the rest of the year,” comments Fitch Solutions.

A vulnerable short-term investment

“We’re seeing relentless dollar strength here and that’s going to keep gold vulnerable in the short term,” said Edward Moya, senior analyst with OANDA. “The economy is clearly heading towards a recession. The risks of a hard landing are elevated and this has been just continuing to drive flows into the dollar, which has been bad news for gold.” Gold is particularly vulnerable to increasing interest rates, which boost the dollar and increase the value of higher-yielding investments, while sending gold lower.

Diversifying portfolios with gold

Despite recent volitarity, gold can still be a valuable addition used to diversify portfolios, which in turn helps lower investment risk. “In general, although each investor’s situation is unique, we believe a 3-5% allocation to gold products would seem adequately sized to capture the benefits of holding gold as an asset class,” advises Imaru Casanova, deputy portfolio manager/senior gold analyst at VanEck. While purchasing physical gold at spot price – the metal’s current base price at this exact moment in time, rather than some future price – usually involves paying a slight premium, investors can take steps to avoid this. Purchasing gold with cash in-person removes the need for pricy middlemen and therefore eliminates the extra premium.

Other precious metals following suit

“Gold and the other semi-investment metals like silver and platinum will likely continue to remain under pressure until the market reaches peak hawkishness,” comments Ole Hansen, Saxo Bank’s head of commodity strategy. Aside from gold, other precious metals also experienced a decline. Spot palladium, in particular, decreased by 4.8% to $2,066.01, platinum by 4.8% to $856.81, and silver by 4% to $18.86 per ounce.

Ultimately, “weakness in bullion is very likely to persist due to monetary tightening that makes gold costlier to hold,” notes Gnanasekar Thiagarajan, director at Commtrendz Risk Management Services. “However, recession fears and any escalation in the Russia and Ukraine conflict could support prices.”

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The Benefits Of Business Expense Cards For Your Financial Strategy

September 29, 2022

Financial management is crucial to your company because it shows the proper allocation and management of acquired funds. This practice gives you a clear direction when planning your finances and helps you invest in organizational growth.

To help manage your business finances, you need to create separate corporate expense cards, so you can monitor income and expenditure. These assets will help you control your monetary spending and avoid issues in the finance department. In turn, you can improve employee productivity, as well as prevent organizational problems, such as excessive spending and personal expenses disguised as business expenses.

Read on to learn about the benefits of using business expense cards for your financial strategy.

• Finance Control

Effective finance regulation significantly contributes to the cash flow implementation of your company. When you have a proper control structure, you can plan the cash inflows and outflows. As a result, you can successfully handle acquired capital and allocate it properly so that operational activities will continue running.

With the help of business expense cards from subscription services, such as Weel, you have the power to set custom budgets. In addition, you can develop spending rules that your staff should follow. Thus, employees will become more mindful of their habits instead of spending on unnecessary items mindlessly.

• Early Fraud Detection

Accounting fraud often happens when your staff tries to manipulate your organization’s financial health. They’ll try to hide profits and consider them as their own or miscalculate the balance to conceal losses. For instance, your employees may commit fraudulent acts, like failing to record expenses or overstating revenue, for their benefit.

To prevent these costly behaviors, you must use tools, such as corporate expense cards with an early fraud detection feature. Instead of letting your internal auditor investigate suspected fraudulent instances, using this tool will allow you to detect suspicious transactions within your organization automatically. In the case of stolen cards, thieves won’t be able to use them because they’ll have to enter two-factor authenticated codes before accessing the card.

• Real-Time Data For The Finance Department

Transparency is essential to your business because it helps you gain your investors’ trust. When you can show them accurate transparency reports, they’ll continue to provide financial support that will aid in business expansion. Aside from this, you can show transparency reports to prospective business partners during project proposals.

The problem with company cards is that recurring and pending payments can be processed later even if you keep track of credit statements regularly. Consequently, keeping abreast of budgets becomes difficult.

So, to activate financial transparency within your organization, you must use business expense cards that will provide you with real-time data. Business expense cards record every payment that’s made, including proof and managerial approval of purchase. Therefore, a financial controller can log in and check all company spending at any moment, which is assorted by expense category, team, and so on.

• Elimination Of Employee Expense Reports

Expense reports are time-consuming and cast doubt on your organizational data. Furthermore, this traditional method puts an unnecessary monetary burden on your staff, especially whenever they have to use their finances for business transactions abroad. Rather than returning to their daily tasks after having a business-related conference abroad, they have to process these audits, which affects their productivity.

To eliminate inefficient employee expense reports, you must provide your staff with business expense cards. Once you do so, they can purchase supplies for your company without using their own money. Rather than waiting for reimbursements, they can use assets for corporate transactions with a set daily spending limit to avoid overspending.

• Paperless Receipt Storage

Keeping official receipts is vital in bookkeeping because receipts serve to legalize your transactions and ensure that your business stays compliant with tax laws and regulations. When you store the original copies of these documents properly, you can protect your organization from abusive vendors that claim you haven’t paid for their services. Instead of paying for fraudulent claims repetitively, you can use files as proof that you completed the transaction and as protection from financial and legal trouble.

With the help of business expense cards, you can easily store the receipts. Most card providers come with a mobile app where you can enable your employees to take images of these documents. After that, they can save the files next to their most recent payment to ease the payment reconciliation process. Then you can also save duplicates of the receipts through cloud storage, so you’ll always have backups in case of file corruption.

Key Takeaway

As an entrepreneur or a business owner, you must always find innovative ways to improve productivity. A reliable approach to achieve greater efficiency is to apply for business expense cards.

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How to Style Demi Fine Jewelry

September 29, 2022

When it comes to styling demi fine jewelry, there are a few things you need to consider. The first is what type of outfit you’re wearing. Demi fine jewelry looks best with casual outfits, so avoid pairing it with formal wear. Let’s take a look at some specific pieces.

Demi Fine Necklaces

There are a few things to consider when styling demi fine necklaces. First, consider the necklace’s overall length. Demi fine necklaces typically fall around or just below the collarbone, so they should be styled accordingly.

You’ll also want to consider the necklace’s width. Demi fine necklaces are typically narrower than other styles, so they should be styled with other delicate pieces. In addition, these necklaces are often lightweight, so the weight of the necklace should be balanced with your overall look.

Finally, consider the necklace’s color and texture. Demi fine necklaces typically have a delicate color and texture, so they should be styled with other pieces that match or compliment those features.

Demi Fine Earrings

Piercing the ears is one of the oldest and most popular forms of body modification. While there are many different styles, there are a few things to consider when styling demi fine earrings.

For example, it is important to consider the type of outfit you are wearing. If you are wearing a casual outfit, then a simple pair of studs is the best choice. If you are wearing a more dressy outfit, then you may want to choose a pair of dangly ones instead.

Finally, it is important to consider the type of occasion you are attending. If you are attending a formal event, then you should choose a more elegant pair of earrings. If you are attending a more casual event, then you can choose a more fun and festive pair.

Demi Fine Bracelets

When it comes to styling demi fine bracelets, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, it’s important to think about the other jewelry you’re wearing. If you’re going for a more subtle look, then demi fine bracelets are a great way to add a touch of personality without going too over the top. You can also use them to add a pop of color to an otherwise monochromatic outfit.

Another thing to keep in mind is the overall shape of your outfit. If you’re wearing a flowy dress or skirt, then you’ll want to choose a bracelet that has a more delicate design. On the other hand, if you’re wearing something more structured, then you can go with a bracelet that has a bolder design.

Finally, it’s all about your personal preference. Feel free to mix and match different designs and colors to create a look that’s uniquely you.

Demi Fine Rings

When it comes to styling demi fine rings, there are a few things to keep in mind. First and foremost, it’s important to find the right ring for your finger size and fashion sense. These rings are typically smaller and more delicate than traditional rings, so finding the right one is key.

If you’re looking for a more fashion-forward look, demi fine rings can also be worn with bolder styles. For example, if you’re wearing a sequin dress, a demi fine ring can add a touch of sparkle and glamour. Or, if you’re wearing a printed dress, it with a simple design can help to balance out the look.

No matter what your style, demi fine jewelry is a great way to add a touch of personality to your look. So, if you’re looking for a simple, elegant piece, or something a little more flashy, these styles are a great option.

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