1,500 flights cancelled by Delta Airlines
Delta Airlines made the headlines on Monday (July 8, 2016) after it cancelled 1,500 flights over technical issues. A power outage at the company’s Atlanta operations centre took down the airline’s reservation system. By Wednesday (July 10, 2016) afternoon most of the issues were resolved but delays were still present due to the shear number of flight schedules affected. Delta will be hard pressed to explain how a localized power failure was able to bring down its worldwide operations. Hopefully it will help motivate companies of all sizes to make sure they have appropriate disaster recovery procedures in place. Some were quick to blame aging systems but I suspect we will learn more in the coming weeks.
Walmart acquires Jet.com for $3 Billion
Ecommerce is booming and Walmart is taking notice. Early this week the mostly brick and mortar retailer announced it would be acquiring Jet.com. The latter is an ecommerce site with a twist that rewards clients who purchase more goods with larger discounts. Even though Walmart has a dedicated ecommerce branch it has been struggling to catch up to Amazon. With an established customer and a system that provides an actual incentive for customers to shop online, Jet may prove to be exactly the boost that Walmart needs.
Facebook has made it harder to ad-blockers to block ads on the site
As a company that relies almost solely on advertising to generate revenue, Facebook is really not liking ad-blockers. Since Tuesday (July 9, 2016) the company is making it harder for visitors to avoid seeing its ads on the desktop version of the site. The vast majority of mobile users don’t use the same type of blocker on their phones as what they use on their computer. No one knows how long this trend will last and in my opinion, Facebook is dipping its toes in the water of ad-blocker blocking so that it can react quickly on the mobile side if it needs to.
Russia’s Federal Security Service reveals the existence of malware
The Federal Security Service announced that it found deliberately planted malware on the computer systems of 20 Russian government departments. Russia doesn’t have a history of being very transparent and it seems surprising to me that it would reveal such vulnerabilities so nonchalantly. Many in the media have jumped to the conclusion that the Federal Security Service is trying to dodge a bullet as many have accused Russia of being behind the cyberattack on Hillary Clinton’s emails.
Walmart’s acquisition and Facebook’s announcement points to a realization that no company can survive in the long run if it can’t adapt. Whether this means finding a new way to reach customers or forcing content upon their eyes by disabling ad-blockers it’s important to constantly re-evaluate how your organization is taking advantage of technology. A Mobolo Business Analysis can help you evaluate your current situation.
-Phil Alexandre