Summaries
Week in review: 18-24.10: overtime for part-timers; more troubles for Google
The Court of Justice of the European Union has issued a groundbreaking ruling on overtime for part-time employees, and Google has more trouble - this time in Japan. Read more about business, technology and startups in the new Digitized weekly review.
From the Editorial Board
The Court of Justice of the European Union has issued a groundbreaking ruling. According to it, part-time workers are discriminated against by employers when they receive overtime pay only after working a full eight hours of a given day, not as many as they have in the contract. This ruling may also have consequences for Poland. What kind? You will read about it below.
Google may also have more trouble. The company has recently been under the scrutiny of the American justice system in the context of monopolistic practices, and the European Union and other countries, including Japan, are also beginning to take an interest in this issue. However, this is not the only news from the world of technology. In the latest issue of Digitized Review, we also write about strategic trends for 2024 and the implementation of cloud services in companies.
Welcome!
Weekly news review
Labor market in Poland
Groundbreaking CJEU ruling. Part-time workers can apply for overdue overtime pay
Additional remuneration for work in overtime should take into account the working time of the employee -
ruled the Court of Justice of the EU in a case concerning a German Lufthansa pilot working part-time. However, this ruling may also apply to Poland. Our labor code provides that the issue of additional remuneration for overtime with part-time employment is regulated by an agreement between the employee and the employer. However, if the parties do not determine this at the stage of concluding the contract, additional money is due to the employee only after exceeding eight hours of work in a given day. The CJEU ruling may therefore be a basis for employees to assert their rights.
Global Remote Work Index 2023: Poland in the world lead
In 2023, Poland ranked high eighteenth in terms of the quality of conditions for remote work, according to the
Global Remote Work Index by NordLayer. However, this is a drop of five positions compared to last year. Our country was best rated in the area of
digital security (eighth place, index 0.914), and worst -
in the area of digital and physical infrastructure (thirty-sixth place).
Digitization of services
Cloud services. Why do companies implement them slower than they could?
As indicated by the "2023 Cloud Security Report" published by Fortinet, over half of the data of nearly 40% of surveyed companies is already in the public cloud. This percentage will increase to 58% within the next 12-18 months.
However, companies are slowing down their infrastructure change plans due to rising cloud service costs, compliance requirements, and the complexity of hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
Most SMEs from the trade and service sector do not plan to digitize their operations
Over 73% of small and medium-sized companies from the trade and service sector do not plan to digitize any areas in the coming months -
according to a study commissioned by Fiserv Polska. The most frequently declared reason for such a decision is that they do not need it (almost 60%), or their business is too small (27%). Meanwhile, the most companies planning digitization announced that it will concern communication with customers (55%).
Digital visas in Schengen are getting closer. The European Parliament supported new procedures
Customer service
Premiere of the new Customer Experience 2023 report "Era of new experiences"
PZU presented another edition of the report on customer experiences. The latest installment titled Customer Experience 2023 "Era of new experiences" focuses on technologies supporting trends in CX, citing examples of specific actions of brands that have revolutionized the customer service area thanks to the use of breakthrough tools.
The report is available on the PZU website.
Polish consumers demand more and more from brands
52% of consumers declare that the most important thing in a brand for them is a good quality-to-price ratio -
according to the TrendKey report by GfK, presenting the most important consumer trends of 2023. Polish consumers are becoming more and more demanding and highly appreciate personalized, individual approach from sellers. Since 2020, the strength of this trend has increased from 13 to 22%. At the same time, nearly half of Poles prefer to have fewer products, but of higher class.
Startup market
Startups with patents and trademarks find it easier to raise funding
There is a 4.3 times higher probability of receiving funding for startups that have filed a trademark, and a 6.4 times higher chance for those who have filed patent applications - according to a
report "Patents, trademarks and startup financing" published by the European Patent Office and the European Union Intellectual Property Office. According to the study, 10% of startups in which high-risk capital was invested in their seed phase filed a patent application. However, this number increases at an early stage of growth to 28% of startups and 44% in the next phase.
Poland is one of the worst countries for setting up environmentally sustainable startups
In a new
study by analysts from the British consulting firm Utility Bidder, Poland was classified as the third worst OECD country in terms of sustainable business startups. The low position of our country was primarily determined by the small share of green energy in the energy mix and the relatively high CO2 emissions per capita.
Technological and business news from around the world
USA tightens sanctions against China. AI chip supplies limited
The United States
will take further steps to prevent American integrated circuit manufacturers from
selling semiconductors to China - Reuters reported, citing its own sources in the Biden administration. It will be harder for US companies to bypass technology supply bans to China. As the agency reports, in the new package of restrictions, the USA also wants to
extend the ban on exporting AI chips and equipment that allows for the production of their own circuits. The new restrictions are expected to come into effect in October 2023.
Another antitrust lawsuit against Google is underway. This time, Japan will scrutinize the company
The Japanese Fair Trade Commission has announced that it will initiate an investigation into possible violations by Google of antitrust laws in internet search services -
reports Reuters. The giant was supposed to, among other things, return part of its revenues to Android smartphone manufacturers on the condition that they do not install competitive search engines.
Hello, Ernie. China has shown its answer to ChatGPT
Chinese tech giant Baidu
presented the latest version of its generative artificial intelligence model, Ernie 4.0, claiming that its capabilities match the pioneering GPT-4 model from OpenAI. Analysts were not impressed, however. During the product premiere, its main capabilities were not presented.
Decrease in 5G investments and Nokia's troubles. The company is preparing for mass layoffs
The slowdown in development and investment in the 5G network in the USA and the European Union has caused problems for telecommunications technology manufacturers. This can be seen in the case of, among others,
Nokia, whose adjusted operating profit in the third quarter was
424 million euros - over
120 million less than expected.
The company's poor results will affect its employees. About
14,000 people or more are set to lose their jobs, if the staff reduction includes part-time employees. In total, Nokia will reduce its staff by
16%.
Web Summit CEO resigns. Giants boycott the event
Paddy Cosgrave, the former CEO of Web Summit,
resigned from his position after his remarks following attacks on Israel caused well-known participants, including Alphabet and Meta, to withdraw from the event - reports Bloomberg. Web Summit will appoint a new CEO as soon as possible, and the event, which is set to begin on November 13 in Lisbon, will proceed as planned - the organizers assured in a Saturday statement.
Digitized Editorial Team recommends
"I have turned off the fear of change". Profile of Jowita Michalska
Jowita Michalska is the founder and president of Digital University, a foundation and company that support the development of technological skills and digital competencies. Every year, she organizes the international Masters&Robots conference, which has hosted guests such as the world's most famous futurist Amy Webb, humanoid robot creator David Hanson, and marketing guru Seth Godin. Michalska is an exceptionally active promoter of technology: she runs the Digitalks podcast, reviews books about the future and innovations on her Instagram, which is followed by over 16.5 thousand people, and writes about self-development.
– I love Jowita for her authenticity – says Eliza Kruczowska, Director of Innovation at the Polish Development Fund about her. – Image experts praise her for her consistent brand. The best thing is that she is just like that, it's not some planned strategy.
Read more about Jowita Michalska, one of the most popular technology popularizers in Poland, in the text by Ewa Drygalska.
Couch Stanford. Free technology courses from the best universities in the world
Machine learning, big data and databases, artificial intelligence, internet of things, algorithms, programming languages, large language models – behind each of these terms stands modern technology that will shape the job market and change everyday life in the coming years. Understanding these concepts may also prove to be an indispensable element of expanding professional competencies or a completely new career idea.
However, to achieve these goals, specialized academic knowledge is necessary. In the modern information age, access to it is easier and more democratic than ever in human history. You don't have to graduate to acquire it – all you need is a computer, an internet connection, and at least a moderate knowledge of English to reach almost unlimited resources. Where to look for them? And how to verify their reliability and truthfulness?
We recommend our guide to the most reliable sources of specialized knowledge in the field of new technologies on the internet.
10 strategic technology trends in 2024 - Gartner agency report
These strategic technology trends will be considered when making business and technology decisions over the next three years. The Gartner agency in its analysis encourages the assessment of the impact and benefits of each of these technology trends to determine which innovation will have the most significant impact on the success of the organization. Here are the 10 strategic technology trends in 2024:
- Managing trust, risk and AI security
- Managing exposure to continuous threats
- Sustainable technology
- Platform engineering
- AI-assisted development
- Industry cloud platforms
- Intelligent applications
- Democratic generative artificial intelligence
- Connected workforce
- Machine customers
Apple wants to introduce generative artificial intelligence to all its devices. Here's how the company wants to do it
Among the global technology giants joining the race for dominance in the AI sector, Apple's name is the least frequently mentioned. Not without reason. The Cupertino giant missed the moment of the explosion of artificial intelligence popularity and currently lags behind OpenAI and other companies. However, this may change. Apple has a plan on how to catch up with the competition and in the near future introduce generative AI to all its devices.
You can read about the details of this plan in Bloomberg's report.
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