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why Coles has just hired US defense contractor Palantir

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What does the Australian supermarket chain Coles have in common with the CIA? They have each been customers since last week Palantir TechnologiesAmerican technology company “focused on creating the world’s best user experience with data.”

As a part of the three-year deal, Coles plans to roll out Palantir’s tools in greater than 840 supermarkets to cut the prices and “redefine the way we think about our workforce.”

The technology company, named after the magical seeing stones from The Lord of the Rings, offers end-to-end software that collects, organizes and visualizes customer data into “one platform to rule all of them“. In the case of an intelligence agency, Palantir’s tools could also be helpful discover a terrorist cell through telephone calls and financial transactions; in a health care organization, they’ll find ways to lower your expenses shortening stays in emergency departments.

For Coles, goal is to “optimize your workforce” by analyzing “over 10 billion rows of data covering every store, team member, shift and allocation across all time slots, every day.”

The announcement is here connected according to Coles’ plan to avoid wasting $1 billion over the following 4 years and beyond 2019 Big Data agreement with Microsoftconstructing effort robotic delivery centersand introduction cameras tracking customers and other technologically advanced security measures.

Palantir trial

What might Palantir-Coles cooperation appear like in practice?

Typically, Palantir first sends “deployed engineers” to start out working with the organization’s data, which is commonly messy, incomplete and fragmented. These engineers work with various departments and stakeholders to mix data into one compatible whole called “Ontology”, which comprises all information deemed relevant.

Then the info will be entered into the Palantir platforms – on this case, configurable software called Foundry and Artificial intelligence platform.



Platforms enable customers to explore data dense yet user-friendly interfaces crammed with columns and rows, fields and contours. The AI ​​platform also introduces language models just like ChatGPT.

Users can compare earnings between branches, flag a store that appears inefficient, or discover an upcoming high-spending period based on historical patterns.

This all probably seems trivial, even boring. It’s actually less overtly problematic than Palantir’s work with governments and law enforcement, which has been heavily criticized for enabling deportation based on data Or racist policeand I saw an organization described as “evil“.



However, a contract doesn’t should be overtly sinister to be significant. The surveillance and control technology is silent becomes infrastructure, moving from front-page news to something quietly ticking within the background. In this sense, Palantir is moving from the visible to the operational, unnoticed but powerfully shaping the lives and livelihoods of Australian supermarket staff and customers.

Workforce optimization

We can briefly outline three implications of this agreement.

Firstly, by signing this agreement, Coles is presenting itself as forward-looking and logistically oriented. Grocery and food market jobs are increasingly becoming data, as are hedge funds, health care, and immigration, which other Palantir clients coordinate.



Last yr, supermarkets were under fire increasing profit margin by the pandemic and the fee of living crisis and accused of underpaying employees.

The Palantir deal continues this mining trajectory. Instead of paying staff more or passing the savings on to customers, Coles has chosen to speculate thousands and thousands in technology to “solve workforce costs” as a part of this system greater effort to scale back costs by $1 billion over the following 4 years. Food (and the labor needed to grow, package, and ship it) is transformed from a human need into an optimization problem.

Garden surrounded by a wall

Secondly, dependency. How I discovered my very own research, Palantir customers enjoy comprehensive data and recent features, but in addition they turn into depending on them. Data is growing; recent servers are needed; License fees are high, but they need to be paid.

The agreement between Coles and Palantir covers a three-year program of planned works.
Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Like Apple or Amazon, Palantir’s services excel at making a “seller lock,” an ideal walled garden that is hard for purchasers to depart. This pattern suggests that over the following three years, Coles will increasingly depend on Silicon Valley technology to know and manage its business operations. An organization that sells 1 / 4 of Australian groceries could turn into operationally depending on the US tech titan.

Way of seeing

Finally a vision. What Palantir sells is actually a way of seeing. Its dashboards promise view through God’s eyes that may span your entire organization or zoom in on granular information to locate that “needle in a haystack” knowledge.

It has been claimed that this data-driven view is a shortcut to total knowledgea option to map every operation, expose every necessary element, and discover every inefficiency.

A composite diagram illustrating Palantir's
Palantir guarantees a “total picture” of the organization that allows full control and optimal decision-making.
Palantir

However, this data inevitably excludes necessary social, financial and environmental information. The sweat of staff attempting to pack at pace, the belt-tightening of consumers attempting to make ends meet, and the struggle of farmers to survive unexpected climate impacts will remain.

Details like these never appear on the platform – and if they are not data, they do not matter. Will Palantir’s data-driven myopia impact the best way Coles views its employees and customers?

By placing Palantir at the middle of its business, Coles is quietly sneaking in several key assumptions: that food is a commodity that should be optimized, that paying for work is a risk slightly than a responsibility, and that data can capture all the pieces that is necessary. In time increased food insecurityAustralians should definitely ask themselves whether that is the direction one in all our major grocery suppliers should take.

This article was originally published on : theconversation.com
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David Shands and Donni Wiggins host the “My First Million” conference at ATL

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December is the birth month of David Shands and Donnie Wiggins, friends and business partners. Most people have fun by throwing a celebration. Others imagine it must be catered for. The chosen ones spend the day relaxing in peace and quiet.

Then there’s Shands and Wiggins.

The two decided that the best birthday gift can be to offer individuals with resources for generational wealth through a conference called “My first million”in Atlanta.

It’s a compromise between how their families and family members need to honor them and their desire to proceed to serve others. Shands acknowledges that almost all people won’t understand, and he unapologetically doesn’t expect them to.

“It’s not up to us to convince anyone why we do what we do,” admits Shands.

“I think everyone does what they do for different reasons, and I would just attribute it to a sense of accomplishment that I can’t explain to anyone else.”

He doesn’t need to clarify this to Wiggins because she understands his feelings. Wiggins has had a passion for serving others for so long as she will be able to remember.

“When I was in middle school, there were child sponsorship ads on TV featuring children from third world countries. I was earning money at the time and I asked my mother to send money,” she says BLACK ENTERPRISES.

She recalls how sad she felt for youngsters living in a world with so many opportunities, but at the same time going hungry. Her mother allowed her to send money, and in return she received letters informing her of their progress.

“It was very real to me,” Wiggins says, now admitting she’s undecided the letters were authentic. “I received a letter from the child I sponsored, a photograph and some updates throughout the 12 months. It was such a sense of being overwhelmed and it was something I felt so good about. I didn’t even tell my friends I used to be doing it.”

She carried this sense throughout her life, even when she lost every little thing, including her house, cars, and money. She still found ways to serve and give back, which is the basis of her friendship with Shands.

They each love seeing people at the peak of their potential, and that is what “My First Million” is all about. There can be no higher birthday gift for them than helping others create generational wealth.

What to expect during the “My First Million” conference.

They each built successful seven-figure empires, then train others, write books about it, and launch an acclaimed podcast Social proof.

Now they’re imparting that knowledge through the My First Million conference, an event for aspiring and existing entrepreneurs. Shands and Wiggins need to prove that being profitable is feasible and encourage people to bet on themselves.

“David and I, on paper, are not two people who should have made millions of dollars. Number one, we want (people) to see it,” Wiggins says. “Then we want them to actually get out of that room with practical and actionable steps.”

Both are clear: this just isn’t a motivational conference. This is a conference where people, irrespective of where they’re of their journey, will come away with clarity about their business and what they must be doing as CEOs. Shands and Wiggins want individuals who do not have a transparent marketing strategy or are considering starting a business to also attend the meeting.

“A few areas we will cover are inspiration, information, plan and partnership,” adds Shands. “We will give you 1-2-3 steps because some people get depressed and uninspired. Even if they know what to do, they won’t leave, go home and do it. So we have to really put something into their heads and hearts that they come away with.”

Sign up and enroll for My First Million Here. The conference will happen on December 13 this 12 months. but Shands and Wiggins say it definitely won’t be the last for those who miss it.


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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Operation HOPE on the occasion of the 10th annual world forum

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Operation HOPE Inc. takes over Atlanta for the biggest game in the country dedicated to financial literacy and economic empowerment, Saporta reports.

The HOPE Global Forums (HGF) Annual Meeting 2024 strengthens the crucial link between financial education, innovation and community upliftment in hopes of finding solutions to the problems that stifle challenges around the world.

Organized by Operation HOPE founder John Hope Bryant, together with co-chairs Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young, the forums, to be held December Sep 11 at the Signia Hotel, will have fun its 10th anniversary with three days of engagement discussions, observations and forward-looking presentations.

Under the theme “The Future,” Hope Bryant says attendees are looking forward to a “powerful moment in history.”

“Over the past decade, we’ve brought together great minds with daring ideas, servant leaders with voices for change, and other people committed to a brand new vision of the world as we realize it. “‘The Future’ is a clear call to action for leaders to help ensure prosperity in every corner of society,” he said.

The extensive program includes influential and well-known speakers who address business, philanthropy, government and civil society. Confirmed speakers include White House correspondent Francesca Chambers, media specialist Van Jones and BET Media Group president and CEO Scott M. Mills.

“John Hope Bryant and his team have been doing this for ten years, and every year HGF raises the bar,” Young said. “Discussions about the FUTURE are important not only for civil dialogue; they are also essential to bridging the economic divide and solving some of today’s most important problems.”

Atlanta is predicted to welcome greater than 5,200 delegates representing greater than 40 countries.

“I have long said that Atlanta is a group project, and through our partnership with HOPE Global Forums, we are inviting the world to join the conversation,” Dickens mentioned. “From home ownership and entrepreneurship to youth engagement and financial education, HGF will offer bold and innovative ideas to ensure a bright future for all.”

It coincided with the organization’s annual meeting launched one other path to enhance financial knowledge with HOPE scholarships. With three tiers of scholarships – HOPE Lite, HOPE Classic and HOPE Silver – clients could have access to free financial coaching and academic resources.


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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New Orleans’ black business district is marked by history

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New Orleans, Black Business Disctrict


New Orleans has given a historic monument to a Black business district closed for interstate construction.

The marker was a project fulfilled by in response to the initiative of Plessy and Ferguson. Founded by descendants of men involved within the Plessy v. Ferguson case that legalized segregation within the United States, the organization worked with other community groups to put a marker under the Claiborne Viaduct.

Before the upheaval, Black New Orleanians could find stores owned by other members of their community on Claiborne Avenue. Racial discrimination originally limited the power to buy on the famous Canal Street. Given this, blacks as an alternative flocked to the realm to purchase every little thing from groceries to funeral arrangements.

This mall was home to many Black-owned businesses, and emerging and established entrepreneurs had arrange shop for generations. Consisting of pharmacies, theaters, studios and more, it helped maintain a vibrant black culture in the realm. It reigned because the most important street of Black New Orleans from the 1830s to the Seventies.

The street once featured a picturesque cover of oak trees surrounding bustling businesses. However, its decline began with the expansion of roads within the southern state. The first casualty was the oak trees that were cut all the way down to make way for the development of Interstate 10, and shortly thereafter, the district’s thriving entrepreneurs suffered an identical fate.

Many residents do not forget that they didn’t know in regards to the upcoming investment until the trees began falling. Raynard Sanders, a historian and executive director of the Claiborne Avenue History Project, remembered the “devastation” felt by the community.

“It was devastation for those of us who were here,” Sanders told the news outlet. “I was walking to school and they were cutting down oak trees. We had no warning.”

Despite its eventual decline, the district stays an integral a part of Black New Orleans entrepreneurship. Now the town will physically resemble a historic center where Black business owners could thrive. They celebrated the revealing of the statue in true New Orleans style with a second line that danced down Claiborne Avenue.

“The significance of this sign is to commemorate the businesses, beautiful trees and beautiful people that thrived in this area before the bridge was built, and to save the people who still stand proud and gather under the bridge,” also said Keith Plessy, a descendant of Homer Plessy’ ego.

The growth of local black businesses continues. Patrons and owners alike hope to evoke the spirit of Claiborne’s original entrepreneurs, empowering the community.


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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