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Carbon capture competition in U.S. heats up

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Carbon capture competition in U.S. heats uputsav.roy+1@in…Tue, 02/07/2023 - 11:13

The competition to place a bid in a new U.S. federal program, that seeks to combat global warming with machines that can pull carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, is intensifying after two startups and two universities expressed interest in applying for part of the $3.5 billion in funding to help build four direct air capture (DAC) facilities in the U.S.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) announced the Regional Direct Air Capture Hubs program as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s effort to launch four programs to build “commercially viable, just and responsible carbon dioxide removal industry in the United States.”

The largest program, in terms of dollars the Regional DAC Hubs program will build four domestic regional DAC hubs. Each hub will demonstrate direct air capture technology or a suite of technologies at commercial scale that has potential to capture at least one million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually and store that CO2 permanently in a geologic formation or through its conversion into other products.

Groups participating in the program

According to E&E News, only CarbonCapture Inc., a climate technology company based in California, is interested in submitting a bid. However, other interested parties in applying for funding include Sustaera Inc., a DAC technology startup based in North Carolina, the University of Houston and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

“We are participating in various DAC hub applications,” said Sudarshan Gupta, a spokesperson for Sustaera told E&E News. “We are not allowed to share any names as a part of the agreement.”

The deadline for these groups to submit letters of intent to DOE is Feb. 17, with the full applications for the program due by mid-March.

CarbonCapture Inc. already has a hand in the DAC arena with the plans it announced just last year. Along with Frontier Carbon Solutions, CarbonCapture Inc. announced plans to build a massive direct air capture project, called Project Bisonin Wyoming. It is projected to be operational by late 2023 and remove five million metric tons of atmospheric CO2 annually by 2030.

 

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Reducing our carbon footprint

Building carbon capture facilities is just one example of utilizing hardware to reduce our carbon footprint. Since January 2021, DOE has invested over $250 million in 62 research and development projects and front-end engineering design studies to improve carbon management approaches that include CO2 removal and carbon utilization projects.

In September of 2022, DOE invested $7 billion in carbon capture, transport and storage infrastructure. The funding was authorized and provided through Sen. Joe Manchin’s, D-WV, bipartisan Energy Act of 2020 and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The funding includes nearly $4.9 billion in funding to drive development and deployment of carbon capture systems at American power plants, with the goal of demonstrating the technology on coal and natural gas plants and industry facilities. Additionally, $2.1 billion will be used to support loans, loan guarantees and grants for shared carbon transport infrastructure.

More and more organizations are moving beyond simply recycling at the office to reduce their carbon footprint. Sustainable engineering has been a key component for companies and organizations meeting ESG goals. For example, HCLTech is aiming to be Net-Zero by 2040 and plans to move 80 percent of operations to renewable energy sources by 2030, in part by making energy efficient buildings a key priority. Additionally, to reach these milestones, renewables will be a top priority, followed by , eco-efficiency (water, waste, paper, etc.), EV, reduced emission from purchased goods and services and nature-based sequestering projects.

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Closing the digital divide: Activating technology and innovation for gender equality

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Closing the digital divide: Activating technology and innovation for gender equalitybharath_mbTue, 02/07/2023 - 11:27

Gender inequality pervades almost every aspect of society, including the ever-expanding digital landscape.

Dr Sima Sami Bahous, Executive Director at UN Women, recognized this during a speech to the UN General Assembly last year, saying: “The digital divide has become the new face of gender inequality.”

The digital divide

Sarah Hendriks, Director of Policy and Programme at UN Women, said that “digital tech is rapidly transforming society, allowing for unprecedented growth and unprecedented opportunities for women and girls around the world”.

This has undeniably led to social, economic and political benefits. But the increasing presence of digital technology and platforms in our everyday lives has also presented “new challenges that might perpetuate and reinforce existing gender inequalities”, she continued.

This increasing digital divide is not going under the radar. The UN General Assembly has declared 2023 a year of action on innovation and technology for gender equality, which will “enable the world's governments to look at technology and innovation to see how the normative frameworks in the world can be advanced to support innovation and technology that works for everybody”, added Hendriks.

To succeed in these ambitions and ensure technology serves as a great equalizer that everybody can access, “public and private partnerships are critical,” according to , Global Chief Marketing Officer at HCLTech.

As an example of this in action, Asa Tamsons, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Area Technologies and New Businesses at Ericsson, referenced the company’s Connect to Learn program, which is trying to get affordable devices and access to connectivity at schools.

She said: “To date, we have connected 300,000 children, in partnership with service providers, NGOs like the United Nations, and public and private partnerships. Every investment in this area from the public and private side pays off.”

The blueprint to gender equality

The Gender Equality Forum, set up by UN Women, is an initiative that brings together public and private sector partners in a series of action coalitions, with one of those being on innovation and technology for gender equality.

Microsoft and Women@TheTable are two members of the coalition.

Commenting on Microsoft Philanthropies’ focus, Kate Behncken, Corporate Vice President, said: “We want to make sure that everybody gets access to digital skills...[with a focus] on underserved people and communities.

“If people can't access the internet, then they can't get digital skills. If they can't have digital skills, they don't know how to leverage the internet for education or other opportunities.”

She continued: “One of the advantages of the forum is that it helps us all come to the table and think about the unique strengths that we can bring to help address this issue.”

Caitlin Kraft-Buchman, Founder and CEO at Women@TheTable, then highlighted the forum’s blueprint for how technology and innovation can be used to foster gender equality at a global scale.

She said: “The blueprint has four pillars; access, ecosystem, innovation and online gender-based violence.”

  • Access refers to access to the internet, devices and data.

Looking at this pillar in particular, Tamsons provided insights on why Ericsson is committed to improving access to digital and connectivity.

She said: “You need access to connectivity and devices, because that's the foundation. If you don't have that you're not included...[and] don't have the chance to build even basic digital skills.”

Tamsons continued: “We want to help to bridge the gap...[in the] interest of driving more inclusiveness.”

There’s also an economic incentive. “If we really want to have a prosperous world and continue to drive innovation at large, we need to include everyone,” she added.

  • Ecosystem refers to providing an environment that fosters computational thinking from pre-school to universities, which will help break down the barriers for everyone wanting to learn digital skills.
  • Innovation refers to changing the structures that increase support for women-led technology companies.
  • Online gender-based violence refers to a systemic problem where technology is accelerating the velocity of physical violence against women.

“We need to bring a human rights-based approach to tech and innovation and ensure that a rights-based approach is part of our design of tech and innovation, which is paramount if we're going to look at the world through that lens of equality,” commented Hendriks.

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Change comes from the top and through collaboration

When it comes to delivering gender equality “change needs to start from the top” said Kouri.

She continued: “At HCLTech, we employ thousands of software engineers who are in the trenches every day, working with some of the world’s leading companies. We need to get more women into those software engineering roles and that starts from the top.”

Clients are also demanding change from their partners and providers. “Our clients require ethical and responsible AI for any design and development, and supplier diversity across all the partners we're working with is critically important.

“There's so much interest in doing better, and it's coming from all sides,” said Kouri.

As mentioned, collaboration between public and private organizations is critical to delivering gender equality with technology and innovation.

HCLTech, for example, is partnering with a UN Foundation organization called Girl Up, which aims to get the next generation excited about choosing the area of engineering, digital transformation or digital consulting as a career path.

Commenting on other ways HCLTech is helping improve access to digital skills and promoting equality, Kouri said: “Often, we’re bypassing university, recruiting people right out of high school and training them in house through apprenticeship programs. As they complete those programs, we're offering to pay for a four-year college degree.

“Setting targets is important. We're aspiring for a 50/50 gender split for all entry-level hires who are coming through these programs. You must set purposeful targets, measure yourself and hold yourself accountable.”

She added: “We’re focused on both gender diversity and socio-economic diversity by going into communities where there are high schoolers who may not be able to afford college. It’s important to look across both gender and socio-economic, as well as racial diversity."

Beyond technologists: An inflection in history

Kraft-Buchman said that “technology is too important to be left just to technologists”.

“At this point, this is something that's become part of all our daily lives. We need everybody in the room, coming with their solutions that begin with this untapped resource of women and girls who have been left out of the system.”

Hendriks quoted António Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations, in a report that came out last year called Our Common Agenda.

Guterres said, regarding digital technology, that we are at an absolute inflection point in history. Now is the time to break that cycle of inequality and join forces across partners in order to build what can only be an open, safe and a more equal digital future for generations to come.

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Off the back of their long-standing relationship and involvement in the HeForShe initiative, HCLTech, UN Women and leaders from other organizations discussed how technology and innovation can help level the playing field for women

Engaging youth to build momentum for sustainable development goals

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Engaging youth to build momentum for sustainable development goalsbharath_mbTue, 02/07/2023 - 12:14

When it comes to the younger generations and sustainability, engaging with youth in the right way is critical to achieving Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs.

Global Head of Sustainability at HCLTech, Santhosh Jayaram, and Executive VP, CEO of Zone Latin America at Nestle and Global Alliance for YOUth Chair, Laurent Freixe, discussed how critical it is to engage and enable young people to create more sustainable communities.

“As a matter of fact, half of the population—four billion—is under 30 years of age. At Nestlé, we believe that it is critical to engage and enable the youth to help us create a more sustainable future,” said Freixe.

“I firmly believe that communities cannot thrive if they're not capable of integrating their youth, and there is no better way to integrate the youth than through education, through enabling them digitally and through a formal job. Someone with a formal job will be integrated into the community and will be able to contribute.”

Providing people with opportunities in the field of sustainability and having them accept those roles is different today than it was in the past.

Jayaram noted that in his generation, the job was the purpose, but now youths are looking to take jobs with a purpose instead. He adds that there are two ways to look at engaging with youth on sustainability. One is to see the responsibility we have towards the youth and address them as a beneficiary of what is happening in sustainability today. The second is to channel their energy towards active participations.

Nestle’s journey for accessible economic opportunities

By 2030, Nestle wants to help 10 million young people around the world access economic opportunities through employment and employability, agripreneurship and entrepreneurship. The initiative was in response to the United Nations launching its 17 SDGs to address global challenges.

Freixe noted that the context for the initiative started nearly a decade ago when youth unemployment in various developed countries like Germany and Spain was high and it was impacting an entire generation.

“We were doing it because we have always put a lot of emphasis on training and hiring young people, but I felt that we had to frame it into a program, to bring it to another level of ambition.

“Engaging the entire organization from top to bottom and making a commitment to hire and train more young people and to promote vocational education—the one that combines the theory and the practice. We strongly believe in the power of this model,” said Freixe.

Nestle was able to partner with other like-minded companies today including HCLTech in setting up The Alliance for YOUth and hopefully creating a snowball effect for greater and collective impact.

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Addressing the youth skills gap

After engaging and enabling younger generations to create more sustainable communities, young people must be taught how to do so. HCLTech’s TechBee program is dedicated to helping students pursue higher education and careers in the IT field.

“The TechBee program is an early career program for Class XII students, and what they can do is a one-year training with HCLTech and they will be recruited as full-time employees,” said Jayaram. “And they can also pursue higher studies while in the job with the top universities.”

Another initiative from HCLTech, Jayaram details, is looking into the migration of youth for jobs by opening offices in tier-2 and tier-3 locations to bring job opportunities near where they already live.

Jayaram also mentioned the Sports for Change Initiative of HCL Foundation. The program nurtures sport talents and helps them get the right scholarships to continue studies and sports. The initiative is providing holistic development of youth which in turn creates a sustainable impact.

Skills needed for the future

Digital skills and STEM skills are going to be critical moving forward, as it will be important for the youth to access knowledge, information and be able to connect with communities.

“I really believe in the importance of soft skills. Attitude is everything,” said Freixe. “People with energy, with willingness to change the world will always make a greater impact”.

Freixe added that people will need what he calls “super collaboration” as a skill, saying that “we are in a context where we must collaborate with each other” and that together, we can make an impact.

Jayaram said that curriculum for IT should be updated as technology evolves to not make teachings obsolete after a short period of time. If the teaching is, the youth who learned it will come into the job up-to-date.

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Reimagining the future of work with digital engineering

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Reimagining the future of work with digital engineeringluv.jaiswar+1@…Tue, 02/07/2023 - 12:23

Technology has permeated through almost every business. This in turn has accelerated the need for a reimagined workplace and for the workforce to be skilled to take advantage of the available technology. This is set against the backdrop of a tech talent problem. The current gap of 4.46 million tech professionals will nearly double to 8.04 million by 2026, according to Zinnov.

Developing digital tools through digital engineering can help organizations reimagine the entire work ecosystem by bringing in more flexibility and resiliency that frees the workforce from the physical constraints that existed traditionally.

According to the Institute for Digital Engineering (IDE), the emerging digital engineering capability ‘is the fusion of advanced digital technologies with best-in-class product engineering capabilities, delivering physical resource intensive processes in a digital environment’.

“Engineering new digital tools is enabling the adoption of emerging technologies like AI, VR and cloud, which are redefining work. It helps to bring out the creativity in the workforce by giving them a digital cushion to experiment and innovate,” says Vijay Guntur, President, Engineering and R&D Services at HCLTech.

Organizations recognize this, with digital engineering spend predicted to double between 2025-2030, crossing $2 trillion in value.

To take advantage of the new products and services being developed from digital engineering teams, workers need to be prepared with the skills they need to succeed.

For example, traditionally a field engineer would need to work onsite. Now they can do all the same work in a virtual environment. To operate in this new environment, engineers now need to be trained in different technologies that can support them including using AR or VR to detect and fix problems in a remote setting.

“There's a huge upskilling opportunity and need. One is for firms that are building new products and services. The second is for end user organizations, who can use those skills to make their people and workforce’s more efficient and technically capable,” continues Guntur.

Upskilling, though, is moving beyond teaching technical skills with digital and interpersonal skills taking center stage in data-driven organizations.

Enabling the remote work environment with digital engineering

Remote and hybrid work environments are here to stay.

Digital engineering is an essential cog in keeping this new way of work going by enabling the required connectivity and productivity that are now needed daily.

“Digital engineering is creating the tools and processes for people to come and work together,” says Guntur.

On top of the development of new tools and digital touchpoints that facilitate remote work, leaders are under pressure to create a data-driven culture to make the most of the data at their disposal. Data can totally change the face of the workplace of tomorrow when used correctly for decision-making.

A data-driven culture is one that blends multiple data sources effectively to provide useful insights and instant value. This mitigates the challenges around extracting information from multiple and often complex data sources, identifying the right analytical tools to assess employee needs, working with varied formats and overcoming data privacy and security concerns.

Guntur explains: “When working remotely, we need to be able to generate and collect enough data from collaboration tools to make sure work is consistent and of the high quality our customers expect. Today, traditional working dynamics of face-to-face interactions have been replaced by data.”

He continues: “We've deployed a workplace solution called Nippon, which 100,000 people use regularly to contribute data back into our system. This provides insight into their productivity around certain workloads, products and systems and ensures effective remote work.”

The emergence of new roles

With these new data-driven organizations embracing new technologies, there are going to be new roles and responsibilities.

IoT and machine learning (ML) skills are already in high demand, but this trend will continue for years to come.

According to the 2022 McKinsey Global report, tech industries are leading in AI adoption, while product development and service operations are the business functions that have seen the most benefits from applied AI.

Blockchain, the Metaverse and cybersecurity are the pillars of Web 3.0 and jobs related to these will create opportunities.

Apart from these, cloud computing and data analysis are another important area that will support the entire innovation cycle.

“On top of this, skills that focus on anything to do with user experience and design, including human behavior and interaction, will become a priority. You’ll start to see more people with those capabilities, because face-to-face interactions are being replaced by remote interactions,” says Guntur.

He adds: “More people will also take up the role of product managers, building new technologies and capabilities for customers.”

Avoiding burnout and retaining digital engineering talent

When businesses adopt new technologies, the rate of change can be rapid. This can lead to a significant culture shock for those using the new tools who are not used to them. It will also cause challenges for the people developing these technologies, the digital engineers, who will come under increasing pressure to maintain them.

In this environment, high turnover is a challenge. Setting up the employees for success is the only way to retain top talent in technology.

To do this, organizations need to define the right KPIs for passionate and skilled engineers, while allocating mundane tasks to automated technologies has become extremely important.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and other document automation tech can be leveraged to reduce the burnout in digital engineers. Custom integration and context awareness can lead to exceptional productivity improvement. For example, HCLTech's iDoRAN can operationalize and automate static documentation and manual processes enabling complex data processing for real-time business intelligence integration.

Reducing mundane repetitive work, which provides low value, will allow companies to create efficiencies, enabling employees to focus on more challenging, high-impact work that utilizes their skills more effectively. This will lead to higher employee satisfaction.

According to Guntur, “providing career advancement opportunities can be a long-term strategy to retain high-quality talent. It ensures that employees maintain intrinsic motivation”.

 

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Cross-training and upskilling can also lead to productivity improvements and retention. “Digital engineering provides constant opportunities for people to upskill and do new and better things,” says Guntur.

He adds: “Beyond work, there’s an opportunity for organizations to rethink how they can connect their employees with local communities and the planet, allowing them to participate and contribute to a larger purpose outside of work.”

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On the ground at COP27 – is technology the solution to the climate crisis?

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On the ground at COP27 – is technology the solution to the climate crisis?luv.jaiswar+1@…Tue, 02/07/2023 - 13:42

COP27 felt different. The same climate themes emerged—mitigation, adaptation and resilience—but a palpable sense of urgency emanated from the very diverse sets of stakeholders. In a week when the world’s population surpassed 8 billion, it’s clear that we need solutions and we need them fast.

Technology and collaboration may hold the answer in helping us to continue our way of life and co-exist with the natural world.

Collective solutions

The negotiating parties at this year’s United Nations Climate conference, COP27, needed three extra days to arrive at a deal that has been hailed as a “step towards justice”. A loss and damage fund was created, which ensures poorer nations will receive financial assistance to help them cope with the impact of climate change.

The 30,000 attendees and the world watching on may wonder why the negotiators were not able to go further. The reality is that any deal is a step in the right direction. Civil society, private business and investors all need to continue focusing on the urgency to act, so that that the forward-looking collective solutions, openly discussed outside the negotiation rooms, may take shape at COP28 in Dubai.

The very presence of those multiple stakeholder groups at COP27 is an indication that collaboration is going to be vital in unlocking the key innovations required to change course and address the systematic issues at the heart of the climate crisis.

Brazil’s President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva received a hero’s welcome from the gathered crowds for his pledge to protect the Amazon rainforest. Without the Amazons important carbon capture, the global challenges ahead would be far more demanding. But how will Brazil support its growing population and export demands?

No single factor will be able to solve this crisis alone. From helping the poorest rural communities to be more resilient, to reducing the energy reliance of enterprises, technology solutions implemented in collaboration with all stakeholders have a very important part to play.

Climate resilience in communities

To start building solutions, it is vital to understand the cause of the problem. The corporate social responsibility arm of HCLTech - the HCL Foundation, has spent more than a decade understanding the various needs of communities across India.

The Foundation’s scalable and sustainable ways of working or ‘source codes’ are orientated around the root cause and have been developed through rigorous process, leveraging and harnessing the transformational power of technology.

Everything from reforestation to installing solar panels in rural communities, is based on precise data analytics and predictive trends to maximise the chances of success. Data sharing and cloud capabilities ensure that sharing knowledge and opening source codes to the wider world enables success to be replicated. Through the connectivity provided by cloud, innovative solutions that have been proven to increase resilience to climate change, can be leveraged and augmented through open collaboration.

Enterprise level solutions

Similar to the approach within communities, enterprises large and small need to start by identifying the issue.

As the 4 A’s (Ambition, Action, Advocacy and Accountability) of climate leadership highlight, the issue for businesses begins with ambition. Establishing the basis for ambition must be underpinned by understanding the current enterprise status on issues, such as the precise cause and quantification of carbon (and carbon equivalent) emissions.

In a recent research report, McKinsey pinpointed two areas where technology can have an impact on reducing emissions.

  1. The use of technology and analytics to reduce emissions by:
  2. reducing (improving operational efficiency),
  3. replacing (shifting emission-generating activities to cleaner alternatives) and
  4. reusing (recycling material)
  5. Reducing emissions from the enterprise’s technology estate

The report focuses on the enterprise’s technology estate and begins with a focus on “the facts”. Once IT can see where the issues lie, it is then possible to work across the organization to identify opportunities to reduce carbon emissions. Interestingly, the research concluded that end-user devices emit more carbon than data centres. Furthermore, data centre optimization is a less effective carbon reduction option than migrating to cloud.

In the quest for ways to reduce carbon emissions, attendees and onlookers at COP27 would agree that such insight is fundamentally important. Understanding where and how to start, then measuring progress through a journey to net zero is not possible without technology.

At HCLTech, we believe in the importance of engaging with our clients and partners to channel our collective thoughts and create technology solutions for sustainable impact. From building online platforms for artisans to sell their products to migrating some of the largest companies in the world to the cloud, we are invested in a more sustainable future for all.

 

Act, Pact, Impact - HCLTech publishes its 2022 Sustainability Report

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Prioritizing sustainability and embedding it into your strategy is not just good business, it’s good for business. More sustainable companies will attract and retain the best talent and maintain a better relationship with partners and customers. Reputation matters when it comes to action on climate and sustainability.

Our employees and customers are represented by an increasingly younger demographic, who are depending on us to help them channel their energy towards creating meaningful impact and fulfilling our sustainability pledges. We owe it to them, and they expect us to act.

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How to protect organizations as cybersecurity concerns grow in the United Kingdom

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How to protect organizations as cybersecurity concerns grow in the United Kingdombharath_mbTue, 02/07/2023 - 14:10

After Morgan Advanced Materials reported a cyberattack on its network on January 10, sports and fashion retailer JD Sports Fashion reported another incident on January 30.

While the recent attack saw customer data relating to historical online orders compromised, a similar incident took place earlier in January when the BBC reported that highly confidential documents from 14 schools had been leaked online by hackers.

Cyberattacks on UK companies are becoming increasingly common. According to the UK government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2022, 39 percent of businesses identified a cyberattack in the 12-month survey period.

How secure is moving to the cloud

Gartner predicts that by 2025, more than 95 percent of workloads will be deployed to the cloud.

Cybercrime especially on cloud services has become a global threat that’s constantly increasing in volume and complexity, as hackers—with easy access to new technologies—are attacking governments, corporates, critical infrastructure and applications and individuals.

Besides stealing information and remotely executing commands, cybercriminals themselves have been leveraging cloud technology to frequently spread malware. This malware takes control of environments and abuses cloud services to deliver malicious documents and host malicious payloads on legitimate cloud platforms like MediaFire, Blogger and GitHub.

Ransomware groups extorted at least $457 million from victims last year down from $311 million in 2021 as victims denied paying the ransom amount. At the same time, global cyberattack cases continued to rise, rising by 38 percent in 2022.

Some interesting and alarming facts from 2022

  • Cybercrime cost the UK economy an estimated £27 billion per annum
  • 80.4 percent of UK organizations suffered from a successful attack
  • 73 percent of UK organizations faced ransomware attacks in a year’s time
  • 39 percent of UK businesses have experienced a cyber attack
  • 83 percent of identified attacks on UK businesses was due to phishing
  • 54 percent of UK businesses have acted to identify cyber security risks
  • 43 percent of UK businesses were insured against cyberattacks
  • 4.8 percent fraud in the UK was related to the Coronavirus
  • 11.3 percent of UK IT budgets are spent on security
  • 13 percent of UK organizations ended up paying ransom
  • $1.08 million was the average cost of ransomware attacks in the UK
  • 77 percent of UK organizations have cyber security insurance
  • 6 percent of UK businesses had Cyber Essentials certification
  • 1 percent have Cyber Essentials Plus certification
  • 1.6 percent of spam originates in the UK

“Cyber-attacks and data breaches are one big challenge. Organizations need a better way to protect their sensitive data internally. Legacy security technologies focus on the location of the data (endpoint, server or network), whereas data-centric security identifies sensitive data and applies policy-based protection to secure that information throughout the data lifecycle, irrespective of its location,” says Andy Packham, Senior Vice President and Chief Architect in the Microsoft Ecosystem Unit at HCLTech.

In the UK, Statista mentioned that revenue in the public cloud market is projected to reach $20.03 billion this year and the market’s largest segment is Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) with a projected market volume of $12.66 billion. The revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate of 9.72 percent, resulting in a market volume of $29.03 billion by 2027.

However, what’s alarming is that in 2021 a ransom attack occurred every 11 seconds in 2021 and research predicts that by 2031, organizations will face a new ransomware attack every two seconds, costing its victims around $265 billion annually.

In another report, Statista mentioned that the UK’s revenue in the cybersecurity market is projected to reach $10.36 billion this year with the market’s largest segment’s—security services—projected market volume to reach $6.12 billion.

The revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate of 10.93 percent, resulting in a market volume of $15.69 billion by 2027.

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What to expect this year

As the nature of cybercrime continues to evolve, attacks are becoming more lethal, untraceable and sophisticated. Experts fear attacks will move beyond data hacking and cause significant damage to critical infrastructure, ultimately putting people’s lives in danger.

  • Hospitals: Cyberattacks on hospitals are nothing new, but the intensity of attacks could rise with the increasing use of AI, IoT and IIoT tools that can be used to disrupt the functions of medical equipment, like a pace maker, while stealing patients’ information.
  • Supply chain: In the past three years there has been a 742 percent growth in software supply chain cyberattacks with experts already predicting more severe attacks in the year ahead on open-source and commercial software.

“Insights from data come from combining many sources, some of which may be critical to the success of the business but might be created and owned by an entirely different organization. So, as with challenges in the physical supply chain, enterprises should consider the risks and controls needed to establish a successful digital ,” says Packham.

  • EVs: Among an Electric Vehicle’s vulnerabilities are its electronic control units (ECUs) and onboard diagnostics (OBD) port. Getting access to the former may give control to the EV’s powertrain, brakes and steering, which could cause accidents. Access to the latter may exploit the vehicle’s systems data and sensitive information. A bug in a data tool earlier allowed a teen to compromise 25 Tesla cars.
  • Electric grids: Attacks on electric grids are again not a new thing and have in the past been disrupting, especially the Ukraine power grid incident outage in April last year. With IoT devices being entry point to many such attacks, exploiting supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems and industrial control systems (ICS)—that monitor and control the grid—can be really dangerous.
  • QR codes: QR codes need to be checked before scanning as there is a chance that it can be connected to a malicious website that can steal your credentials and your money without even giving a single hint about it.

How organizations can become more resilient

After carefully studying the nature of cyberattacks, Forbes mentioned that attacks aren’t a single point of failure but a failure of the entire security system, referencing Microsoft’s recent analysis of the BlackCat ransomware.

It laid out three steps to a holistic security approach to counter new age cyberattacks that are increasingly exploiting the cloud.

  • : Using a single-pass cloud engine that can ingest all network flows, security teams can have complete visibility. Adding context to it, applying policies as well as virtual patches in real time can become much easier to manage and monitor security because everything is in one place.

HCLTech cybersecurity consulting group brings decades of subject matter expertise to fulfil this need. Recently, a Dutch global bioscience and wellness company needed to optimize efficiency with a one-stop-shop partner. across domains not only benefitted the company from unified control and total compliance based on BRiCS and SASE frameworks, but it also helped the partner to move toward a complete cloud environment, enhancing operational automation, network security, and process observability with AI/ML.

  • : With a focus on cloud security and a zero-trust security architecture, organizations can shield themselves from cyber threats and get a comprehensive risk assessment of the overall threat surface.

With many accolades, under its belt, the HCLTech approach is designed to maximize business value in alignment with enterprise needs, organizational goals, and unique circumstances.

The help enterprises stay resilient and gain speed, agility within a largely uncertain, volatile business ecosystem, while the and services help clients take your business to the next level.

was delivered by applying HCLTech’s CloudSMART offerings designed for continuous modernization. 

  • Granular visibility: Visibility is imperative in securing an organization, enabling actionable, timely and reliable threat intelligence.

framework enables organizations with a context-intelligent and proactive approach to achieve risk-based vulnerability prioritization for applications, helps enterprises better protect their applications and improve their Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC).

Organizations ultimately need a partner to help protect their data, employees, customers and citizens from cyberattacks. Data security and data privacy solutions can help enterprises control all aspects of security and privacy.

HCLTech , for example, helps organizations rethink, reimagine and reengineer enterprise security for a dynamic business, which stays on top of changing cyber-threats while proactively detecting, identifying and minimizing losses in case of a potential cyberattack.

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Private multilateralism can lead to a sustainable future

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Private multilateralism can lead to a sustainable futurebharath_mbWed, 02/08/2023 - 05:18

Organizations and countries negotiating multilateral agreements often do so under the belief that the public will be more receptive of costly policies if other countries or organizations join the agreement. This approach, known as multilateralism, makes it more likely that important Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are met and that those efforts are viewed as fair.

Private multilateralism, in the context of sustainability multilateralism, is how the private sector can collectively learn and cooperate for a greater cause, such as climate change. This article explores how private multilateralism can spur innovation and generate sustainable communities across the planet.

The private sector’s role in sustainability

The private sector is where innovation and creativity can thrive, as well as a sense of entrepreneurialism to move innovation along. When the United Nations established SDGs, there was an explicit call for the private sector to participate. HCLTech’s Global Head of Sustainability, Santhosh Jayaram, said that at last year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), he saw firsthand how important it is for the private sector to be “more engaged” on policy.

“The majority of the world’s top 100 economies are companies,” Jayaram said. “So, these companies need to be there at the table to decide on and charter future policies as well.”

Chairman and CEO of Pure Storage, Charlie Giancarlo, gave examples of initiatives that his company is using in work with suppliers and consumers to address climate change, including developing products that are 10 times more efficient in powering and cooling most of the data storage today.

“It is really looking forward to how we can achieve the kind of lifestyle that we all want to have, but using far fewer resources, whether that’s energy or materials and waste products to be able to accomplish the same thing,” said Giancarlo.

Jayaram added to Giancarlo’s analysis by mentioning that creating specific use cases with innovations is key, as well as the “social side of the impact.” As an example, he cited the use case in which with companies like Advantech, Intel and Radar Visibility to establish an AI-powered smart surveillance system in Mexico City communities. The system overcame security challenges and improved the perception of safety in the communities where it is active.

“So, you have the technologies, but you can also innovate as to how you put the technologies toward the best results,” said Jayaram.

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Predictions for the future of the private sector

One fundamental question for private multilateralism in terms of sustainability is: can the private sector really step in and step up? Giancarlo says fundamentally, yes, but provided a short- and long-term prediction for the private sector and sustainability.

“The recent energy crisis is caused by the war in Ukraine, and as unfortunate as that is for many of the economies around the world, it’s accelerating the focus around the reduction of energy utilization and sustainability,” said Giancarlo. He added that not long ago, customers didn’t appear to care much about how much energy their solutions required, but that today “it’s a fundamental part of their decision criteria.”

On a longer-term basis, Giancarlo suggests that over the next decade, the private sector will be able to more coherently measure and deliver to their customers an easy way to understand the sustainability of their solutions. Additionally, a common measurement system across all companies could be in place by the end of the decade.

Alternatively, Jayaram would like to see governments change their role to defer investments from defensive sectors to technologies for sustainability. With interest rates going up, money is becoming more expensive, which Jayaram pointed out is when investments tend to drift towards defense spending.

“Currently, when we’re evaluating our decisions, the return on investment is only looked at as a financial return,” said Jayaram. “But if we start looking into the overall sustainability return on investment in the proper valuation of environmental and social benefits, I think the government can be that catalytic tool.”

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Communication and long-term plans necessary for brand perception on sustainability

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Communication and long-term plans necessary for brand perception on sustainabilitybharath_mbWed, 02/08/2023 - 05:37

As sustainability begins to inform business decisions more and more, it’s important to note how it is increasingly shaping brand perception and equity across stakeholders.

Company stakeholders have always kept a close watch on the business reputation of an organization based on its actions and decisions. Brand perception is a fundamental aspect of value and equity from the perspective of both investment allocation and consumer purchasing decisions.

Today, we seek to understand how brands and organizations walk the fine line between communicating sustainability achievements and their goals, while avoiding greenwashing at the same time.

Communicating sustainability efforts

When it comes to comprehending how brands can communicate their sustainability achievements while avoiding greenwashing, Robert Haigh, Strategy and Sustainability Director for Brand Finance, said there is no right or wrong answer. He explained it’s key for brands to be as holistic as possible with their communication

“It’s incredibly important to avoid greenwashing because it’s corrosive to trust—both for the brand and for sustainability claims,” said Haigh. “The answer is also to not cease all communication around sustainability, because that leaves value on the table for that brand.”

What we want, according to Haigh, is to create a peer pressure environment where brands are communicating openly to encourage each other to do more.

“The answer is to be as holistic as possible with your communication,” said Haigh. “You don’t want to selectively communicate about one good thing that you’re doing because that leaves you open to accusations of deflection. It’s important for brands to communicate what they have achieved, what they plan to achieve and what they haven’t quite achieved yet.”

The Director for Group Marketing and Corporate Affairs at Old Mutual, Maserame Mouyeme, added: “There's information democracy, and because of that, companies need to be responsible for what they say in the market and how they say it.”

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Long-term decisions for brands

Brands will strive to meet short-term and quarterly reporting goals with respect to sustainability, but long-term plans especially can help benefit a brand’s perception.

At Old Mutual, Mouyeme said that within their investment business, they encourage their investors to start thinking about green bonds and reduce their involvement in coal. Additionally, signing up for global movements and publicly declaring a desire for transparency are long-term goals set by Old Mutual that are also viable options for other brands hoping to improve their sustainability measures.

“We're also showing commitment to the net zero alliances, both as an asset owner and an asset manager. Those are big commitments, and we hold ourselves accountable to executing what will be in our 2022 climate report for the long term,” said Mouyeme.

Santhosh Jayaram, Global Head of Sustainability at HCLTech, provided examples of long-term decisions that brands can make regarding sustainability: “HCLTech has declared that we will be going net zero by 2040, and that by 2030 we will reduce our absolute emissions by 50 percent. We at HCLTech believe that the convergence of digital tech and sustainability is going to be the biggest driver going forward.”

Further, HCLTech has come up with a school for sustainability that is open to all 220,000+ HCLTech employees, empowering them to be agents of change as well. “It’s very important to create that ecosystem, because when you make employees change agents, it is not just them. It is their community and the clients with whom they interact,” said Jayaram.

Redefining the quantification of brand equity

The current process for quantifying brand equity is working, according to Haigh, but constantly tracking factors that shape perceptions and brand images is “key to evaluating brands.” To help with these efforts, Haigh discussed Brand Finance’s new measurement index.

“It’s very important to realize that sustainability is coming up the agenda and that’s why today we launched our Sustainability Perceptions Index to highlight the value tied up in sustainability perceptions,” he said.

In association with the International Advertising Association, the index determines the relative importance of sustainability as a driver of value for brands—while also evaluating how sustainable each brand is perceived to be—by allocating a Sustainability Perceptions Score to each organization.

“Those that are prepared to make a big investment in building sustainability in their companies are the ones that are going to win,” said Mouyeme.

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HCLTech achieves Application Development Specialization in Google Cloud Advantage Program

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HCLTech achieves Application Development Specialization in Google Cloud Advantage Programabhinay.khandelwalWed, 02/08/2023 - 17:22

HCLTech, a leading global technology company, has earned the Application Development Specialization from Google Cloud for its success in building and managing applications using the best of Google Cloud technologies in both web and mobile environments.

The recognition, which is a key milestone for HCLTech’s Google Cloud Ecosystem business unit, is given to Google Cloud partners for proven customer successes in Google Cloud service practices, leveraging demonstrated proficiencies in a specific industry, solution or product.

As a long-standing Google Cloud partner, HCLTech has achieved 18 Application Development Expertise credentials from Google Cloud, including Hybrid/Multi-Cloud Application Platform, Legacy Application Modernization and Web Application Migration.

“We are incredibly proud to have earned the Application Development Specialization on Google Cloud,” said Ankur Kashyap, Senior Vice President and Global Head of the Google Cloud Ecosystem at HCLTech. “The growth we’ve seen as a Google Cloud Partner and the benefits we’ve been able to deliver to clients are a testimony to our CloudSMART approach to solving organizations’ most complex problems, supporting investments in IPs and our exceptional execution capabilities on Google Cloud.”

“Cloud-based applications have become a key driver of accelerated growth in the cloud for organizations across industries,” said Derrick Thompson, Global Head of Partner Differentiation at Google Cloud. “Achieving this specialization demonstrates HCLTech’s technical expertise and commitment to helping customers leverage Google Cloud technologies to grow in the cloud and deliver exceptional experiences to their end-users.”

HCLTech’s Google Cloud Ecosystem business unit has thousands of highly trained technologists with expertise in implementing solutions leveraging Google Cloud. The Google Cloud Ecosystem is an immersive and integrated partnership that combines cloud engineering, industry solutions and execution capabilities from HCLTech and Google Cloud. This partnership is designed to help enterprises accelerate their digital transformation journey on Google Cloud.

For more information, visit www.hcltech.com/cloud/google-cloud.

About HCLTech

HCLTech is a global technology company, home to more than 222,000 people across 60 countries, delivering industry-leading capabilities centered around digital, engineering and cloud, powered by a broad portfolio of technology services and products. We work with clients across all major verticals, providing industry solutions for Financial Services, Manufacturing, Life Sciences and Healthcare, Technology and Services, Telecom and Media, Retail and CPG, and Public Services. Consolidated revenues as of 12 months ending December 2022 totaled $12.3 billion. To learn how we can supercharge progress for you, visit hcltech.com.

For additional details, please contact:

HCLTech

Meenakshi Benjwal, Americas

meenakshi.benjwal@hcl.com

Elka Ghudial, EMEA

elka.ghudial@hcl.com

Devneeta Pahuja, India and APAC

devneeta.p@hcl.com

 

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