Gig Work Is Risky for Apps, Too

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/11/technology/gig-work-business-model.html
September 11, 2020 at 08:19PM

New and proposed laws and regulatory challenges threaten the business model of apps like Uber and Handy.

RPA Redux

Source: https://gigaom.com/2020/09/04/rpa-redux/
September 05, 2020 at 01:00AM

It was just over a year ago when former GigaOm Analyst JP Morgenthal published an in-depth Key Criteria/Market Landscape report, titled “Robotic Process Automation in Digital Transformation.” In it, JP detailed both the benefits and challenges awaiting enterprises seeking to digitize and automate manual processes, and the tooling available to help do so. He also wrote this:

“As for the longer-term prognosis for RPA tooling, adoption will depend on enterprises adopting RPA to support their needs for automating end-to-end processes inclusive of long-running transactions. As illustrated in Figure 1 below, the RPA market currently overlaps with the aspects of Integration Platform-as-a-Service (iPaaS) and low-code development tooling.”

Figure 1. Confluence of RPA, IPaaS and Low-Code Development

JP in his report contended that enabling full end-to-end process management would require consolidating these three aspects into a unified platform. So when RPA provider UiPath this week announced the launch of UiPath Apps, a low-code app builder that integrates IPaaS capability, it rang a few bells here at GigaOm.

I asked JP about the call he made a year ago and what IT decision makers should take away from this latest development.

“RPA is great for gluing together disparate applications that were never intended to work together, and for which the business world would never see enough return integrating as a formal project within IT,” JP told me in an email interview. “However, not everything can be relegated to a black box. There’s still plenty of need for human intervention to derive end-to-end automation whether it be approvals, escalations, corrections, etc.”

Low-code development tools step in right here, enabling companies to provide user interfaces for human interaction—be it on a PC in the office or a smartphone in an airport. The other component, of course, is data. As JP notes, much of the data used to drive processes is stored in “disparate systems of record,” and that means RPA tooling needs a way to aggregate and transform data as part of the end-to-end automation activities. Enter iPaaS, which provides tooling for data mapping and restructuring.

JP notes that UiPath is not the only outfit working toward an integrated platform that comprises RPA, IPaaS, and low-code development. As vice president and CTO for the Americas at RPA provider Automation Anywhere, he’s had a hand in his company’s partnership with Mulesoft to enable connectors for data aggregation and transformation. And he touts the progress his company is making with “human bot collaboration technology,” which he says manages the handoff in complex processes between bots and humans.

As the race continues to provide more robust, intuitive, and intelligent automation platforms, the compelling value of a unified platform seems clear.

“When I wrote the report, it wasn’t obvious that the RPA market was positioned to move in this direction [toward consolidation],” JP says. “But having delivered solutions for a number of years, it was obvious to me that the audience for these types of products were not going to be interested in a best-of-breed approach. They don’t have the technical support to make that work and it was clear to me that it was not going to take customers long to come back and ask for these features so they could continue their automation journey with a single vendor.”

False Rumors That Activists Set Wildfires Exasperate Officials

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/us/antifa-wildfires.html
September 11, 2020 at 04:18PM

Law enforcement agencies said claims on social media that antifascist activists had set fires on the West Coast were unfounded.

False Rumors That Activists Set Wildfires Exasperate Officials

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/us/wildfires-misinformation-arson-activists.html
September 11, 2020 at 06:52AM

Law enforcement agencies said claims on social media that antifascist activists had set fires on the West Coast were unfounded.

Russian Intelligence Hackers Are Back, Microsoft Warns, Aiming at Democrats and Republicans

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/us/politics/russian-hacking-microsoft-biden-trump.html
September 11, 2020 at 03:49AM

China is also growing more adept at targeting campaign workers. But contrary to Trump administration warnings, Beijing is mostly aiming at Biden campaign officials.

Russian Intelligence Hackers Are Back, Microsoft Warns, Aiming at Officials of Both Parties

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/us/politics/microsoft-election-hacking.html
September 11, 2020 at 12:14AM

China is also growing more adept at targeting campaign workers. But contrary to Trump administration warnings, Beijing is mostly aiming at Biden campaign officials.

Are Gender Reveals Cursed?

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/style/gender-reveal-parties-cursed.html
September 10, 2020 at 11:06PM

Several parties, meant to mark a milestone in the journey of pregnancy, have resulted in devastation. Is it time to temper the spectacle, or embrace the celebratory spirit?

Return of the King: Ninja, a Video Game Star, Goes Back to Twitch

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/business/ninja-stream-twitch.html
September 10, 2020 at 08:50PM

After months of speculation, one of the world’s most famous video gamers announced his next move.

Social Media Shaming Your College

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/technology/coronavirus-quarantines-college.html
September 10, 2020 at 07:54PM

Students are using apps to shame their schools into better coronavirus plans.

Chinese Ambassador Liu Xiaoming ‘Likes’ an X-Rated Video. Awkward.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/world/asia/liu-xiaoming-twitter-video.html
September 10, 2020 at 11:58AM

China demanded that Twitter investigate, suggesting that Liu Xiaoming’s account had been compromised. But the account has a history of unusual likes.