(This post originally appeared on Forbes)
Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?
1 — Now Facebook says it may remove Like counts.
Facebook announced that it may begin hiding “Likes” on its News Feed. Instagram – which is owned by Facebook – is currently testing a similar approach in 7 countries, with the idea to keep users from comparing themselves to what they see and potentially feeling less-than if their posts don’t measure up in Likes, although Facebook has not confirmed a particular motive. Experts believe—however— that if usage or ad revenue are negatively impacted by removing Like counts, that Facebook would likely think twice. (Source: TechCrunch)
Why this is important for your business:
Would having less likes on your Facebook or Instagram posts impact your business? For most, probably not. But if your business relies on social media and you use likes as a metric to demonstrate the engagement results of your campaigns and activities this could be a big deal. My prediction is that the future of “likes” is seriously in doubt.
2 — Google is planning big changes to the way Chrome tabs work, but you might not notice.
Google has announced plans to drastically change the tab options that are currently available to users in their Chrome browser. In its latest preview build, Google has gotten rid of the following tab features: new tab, close other tabs, reopen closed window, and bookmark all tabs. (Source: ZDNet)
Why this is important for your business:
It’s important to note that not all changes made in preview builds make it to the actual release. In the past, Google has given into pressure from users unhappy with changes, which is always a possibility if these preview changes become a reality. More importantly, let’s hope that Chrome’s developers are spending a little less time on these small tweaks and a little more time on figuring out how to limit Chrome’s drain on my devices’ batteries!
3 — Firefox 69 is primed to squeeze out Flash and set tracking protection on by default.
This past week, Mozilla released Firefox 69, announcing that the new release will bring about important changes. The debut of Firefox 69 means moving closer to getting rid of Adobe Flash once-and-for-all as well as disabling Flash by default, making it more difficult to enable Flash. (Source: ZDNet)
Why this is important for your business:
This means that users won’t be able to select which websites can automatically play Flash content. Instead, they will need to activate it for each site, each time they visit it. Additionally— while over 20% of FireFox users have Enhanced Tracking Protection— the new release is expected to provide protection to 100% of users by default. Firefox remains a popular browser so if you or your company is using it – and Flash – you are going to need to make some adjustments.
4 — Microsoft is set to close licensing loopholes.
This fall, Microsoft is going to start eliminating loopholes in its licensing rules. Essentially, Microsoft is aiming to keep on-premises licenses just that, on the premises. With the closing of the loopholes, customers will no longer be able to take their existing licenses onto the cloud at other competing providers like Amazon and Google. (Source: Computer World)
Why this is important for your business:
Translation: more costs. In the past companies could leverage their on-premise licenses for cloud licenses with Microsoft competitors. Going forward Microsoft will be treating these two types of licenses differently and requiring users and companies to pay for cloud licenses regardless of whether or not they already have on-premise licenses for the same software.
5— Deloitte’s plan for fighting employee burnout is to let AI take over the dreaded HR and IT tasks.
ConnectMe— an A.I.-supported system introduced by Deloitte back in 2016— is helping HR and IT professionals cut down on wasting unnecessary time dealing with relatively simple questions/tasks that often take hours for employees to complete. ConnectMe works off of algorithms that use in-house data. Using the algorithms and in-house data, chatbots are then able to provide quick, simple answers to many obstacles employees may face on a day-to-day basis. ConnectMe also works to take over the mundane tasks of a job in order to free up employees to spend their time and skills on more rigorous tasks that require human thought and innovation. (Source: Fortune)
Why this is important for your business:
It’s the future of HR. Right now big companies are using AI to help reduce their overhead. So when will this great stuff be affordable for us to do the same? Soon, I promise, soon.
