5 items tagged "Europe"

  • Data Protection Day in tijden van verandering

    5688929Voor het tiende jaar op rij is 28 januari een belangrijke pijler in de Europese kalender, want vandaag is het Data Protection Day. Vandaag is ook de verjaardag van het verdrag van de Council of Europe die oproept tot de bescherming van individuen met betrekking tot het automatisch verwerken van persoonlijke data.

    Dit verdrag heeft tot doel de stroom van persoonsgegevens over de grenzen te reguleren en biedt garanties met betrekking tot het verzamelen en verwerken van 'gevoelige' persoonsgegevens. Het verdrag bekrachtigt ook het recht van het individu om te weten waar persoonlijke informatie wordt opgeslagen en dit te kunnen corrigeren indien nodig.

    Vandaag valt Data Protection Day middenin veel discussie en in de afgelopen jaren, met de opkomst van internet-gebaseerde diensten, hebben we gezien dat persoonsgegevens van individuen steeds moeilijker toegankelijk werden en moeilijker te verwijderen. Als gevolg daarvan bestaat een algemeen gevoel dat de huidige regelgeving inzake gegevensbescherming slecht is uitgerust om een ethisch proces te kunnen waarborgen en onze hedendaagse data-footprint te beschermen.

    Safe Harbor
    In lijn met deze twijfels zagen we eind 2015 de ongeldigverklaring van de Safe Harbor-overeenkomst, als gevolg van het fundamentele filosofische verschil tussen de verwachting van de EU wat betreft privacy en de ambitie van de Verenigde Staten om de wereldwijde markt te vergroten en tegelijkertijd de nationale veiligheid te verbeteren, ondanks het mogelijke negatieve effect op de bescherming van persoonsgegevens van individuen. Jarenlang trad Safe Harbor op als enige nalevingsmechanisme voor veel Amerikaanse bedrijven en dit heeft organisaties gedwongen hun benadering van gegevensverwerking te heroverwegen.

    Er bestaat nog steeds onzekerheid nu we op een mogelijke Safe Harbor 2.0 wachten en op eventuele wijzigingen in de EU-regelgeving later dit jaar. Hoewel de fijnere details van de regelgeving nog moeten worden bekeken komt het er op neer dat organisaties nog meer zullen moeten evalueren wat de risico’s zijn in het omgaan met data en zich zullen moeten beschermen tegen het per ongeluk verliezen van data. Het zal alleen nog mogelijk zijn voor organisaties om gegevens te verwerken indien de betrokken persoon instemt of als de verwerking strikt noodzakelijk is. Als een bedrijf meer dan 250 mensen in dienst heeft zal het worden verplicht een data protection officer in dienst te nemen om de rechtmatige verwerking van gegevens te waarborgen. Daarnaast kunnen mensen vragen hun gegevens te laten verwijden onder de ‘Right to be Forgotten’-clausule.

    Wereldwijd wachten bedrijven de uitspraak met betrekking tot regelgeving af en beginnen ze de mogelijke impact en het bereik daarvan te begrijpen. Ze kunnen in ieder geval zeker zijn van één ding: in de toekomst zal de naleving van regels omtrent privacy van data over veel meer gaan dan alleen het bieden van zekerheid. Voor degenen die niet voorbereid zijn op veranderingen in de wetgeving en deze niet naleven is er een fikse boete van 5 procent inkomsten te betalen.

    Wetten en regels
    Om in lijn met de regelgeving te blijven en een straf te voorkomen zullen bedrijven ervoor moeten zorgen dat ze een effectieve data management infrastructuur hebben geïmplementeerd. Waar de data ook worden opgeslagen, lokaal of extern, bedrijven zullen zowel medewerkers als klanten moeten kunnen verzekeren dat data worden verzameld, verwerkt, toegankelijk zijn, gedeeld, opgeslagen, overgedragen en beveiligd worden in overeenstemming met alle wetten en regels en dat de gegevens alleen worden gebruikt op een vooraf overeengekomen en legale manier.

    Wanneer bedrijven hun toekomstige storage-infrastructuur en -processen bekijken zouden ze moeten bekijken of deze flexibel genoeg zijn om data te integreren, managen, repliceren en te verplaatsen tussen verschillende storage-systemen en cloud-partijen. Het voordeel van deze data management-aanpak is dat service providers in staat zijn te lokaliseren waar de gegevens worden opgeslagen en deze gemakkelijk kunnen verplaatsen of verwijderen indien nodig.

    Er bestaat geen twijfel over: dit jaar herinnert Data Protection Day organisaties aan het belang van correcte afhandeling van data en bescherming van persoonsgegevens van individuen. Het wijst ook op de onzekerheid over hoe deze voorschriften kunnen veranderen en ontwikkelen in de komende maanden, als de beslissingen worden bereikt om toekomstige wetgeving aan te passen met onze moderne data footprint. Behoud van volledige controle over de gegevens plus de flexibiliteit om aan te passen aan toekomstige ontwikkelingen in de wet zijn daarbij van cruciaal belang voor bedrijven.

    Source: Computable

  • How small European businesses transition to an online environment due to covid-19 measures

    How small European businesses transition to an online environment due to covid-19 measures

    From the beginning of the crisis, the online space became the main market for entrepreneurs and especially small businesses. But the countless 'freebies' made it nearly impossible to make a profit.

    Since early 2020 when countries across Europe and beyond started to introduce lockdowns, entrepreneurs working primarily in-person — e.g. workshop facilitators, trainers, coaches and many others — lost access to their local face-to-face market. To keep afloat and save their business, most of them decided to quickly develop or adapt a service to sell online. The large inflow of new online offerings made it hard for both: entrepreneurs who were online already and the ones who just decided to join. 

    Imagine every Saturday you go to a big market (not something we do anymore, but you might still remember it). It has everything: food, clothes, white goods, antique items, books. It is not easy to know where is what, but it has a great atmosphere, it’s lively and interactive. You often meet your friends there and you spend hours walking around together. Sometimes you come there for an item you know you need and sometimes just to see what calls your attention. 

    One Saturday when you arrive at the market, you see that it became much bigger than before. Half of the stalls seem to have a sale on, while the other half is simply giving everything away. Fruits, vegetables, shoes, dresses, fridges and microwaves — anything you see has its free twin. At first look, they all seem the same. Naturally, you wander into the part of the market with free items. Since they are the same quality it doesn’t make sense to waste your Saturday budget on things you can get for free. 

    You spend an entire afternoon walking from one stand to another looking for more things to get. By the end of it, you are tired, your hands are full, and you saw that some of the items are not exactly top-quality but you can’t be bothered to go through yet another 20 stalls of the same product in the paid area. So you call it a day and go home. You and thousands of other market visitors that came there.

    What about the sellers? 

    None of them made any profit. One half didn't because they were giving their products away at no cost. The other half didn't because they still tried to sell but could not compete with the "freebies." Arguments such as “we have better quality” were too weak against something that was completely free. 

    A few Saturdays later, after this happened, again and again, the market shut down. The sellers with free items got exhausted from not having any return on their investment and lost interest in their trade. The others that still tried to sell went bankrupt and had to get a job to support their families. The customers stopped coming as well because of how aggressive everything was advertised and how difficult it was to make sense of what was on offer. 

    Now imagine that the "Saturday market" is actually the world of online services and the situation described is what has been happening since the beginning of the crisis. Here are the issues with what transpired:

    Oversaturation

    Let’s say before 2020, only 20% of all services from small businesses were offered online. Suddenly, with the lockdowns, the remaining 80% of face-to-face services got transferred into the online market. Not surprisingly, it started to overflow with offers. 

    On top of that, the offers were quite similar. The only difference was in the price: from low to mid-price to unbelievably expensive. The channels used to advertise and sell them became even more diverse than before. That made it almost impossible for potential customers to find what they were looking for and compare options. The online market became oversaturated. 

    Drop in quality

    The average quality of services offered online deteriorated. It was not enough to move what was done in-person into an online form and expect it to give the same results. 

    Recognizing that, many entrepreneurs and companies started testing their services by offering them completely for free. That in turn ‘cannibalized’ the market for the ones who were building their online business model long before the crisis. 

    Lower demand

    It is true that the prolonged confinement moved potential customers online as well. But unlike the supply, the demand side did not move there in full. Many of the prospects were suffering slowdown and losses in their own businesses. They did not require services that were not essential for survival. 

    Short transactions

    There are still things offered online that remained (or became even more) popular: a movie streaming channel, an app for live stream, or another digital tool that people need or love. The majority offered not by small businesses but by large well-established companies. Zoom, Netflix, Disney, Remote Working, and others are self-explanatory and easy to use. Their advantage is that they don’t require a call to explain why you need it. The transaction happens in one click and you can immediately benefit from what you paid for. 

    A revival of all things good?

    But for the millions and millions of small businesses online competing in Europe and elsewhere, offering tailor-made business consulting, educational services, facilitation and workshops, coaching and advice of all kinds — every day it becomes a little bit harder, sadly resembling the “Saturday market.” 

    On the bright side, it is inspiring to see that there are many stories — gathered through the nonprofit United Nations registered initiative Lockdown Economy — among small businesses with tangible products that became more successful online. 

    A little family bakery in the Philippines got endorsed by a celebrity on Twitter and suddenly they had more customers than they could imagine. Or a store in Albania with everything for babies and toddlers that has been around for a decade but never done anything online is now actually selling things through a very simple online account. A home-based crochet studio in Lebanon that started as a hobby, thanks to Instagram and the word of mouth reached thousands of people in a couple of months. 

    This trend looks like a revival of all things good: local, handmade, green, healthy, sustainable. What you can see is that customers are still gladly paying for things that make them happy.

    Author: Julia Skupchenko

    Source: Entrepreneur Europe

  • Meat substitute market | Europe  

    Meat substitute market | Europe

    The market for meat substitutes is booming. The European market is currently valued at €2.8 bn. (€6,3 per capita per year: indicating growth potential) and expected to grow towards €5.3 bn. (€11,9 per capita per year) in 2026, demonstrating an amazing year on year growth of 16.7%¹. More and more food players are discovering the opportunities to enter this market with new propositions. New partnerships arise between leading food companies and meat replacer producers: a remarkable example is the collaboration between Beyond Meat (BYND) and McDonalds (MCD) resulting in the launch of the McPlant™ back in 2021.

    Growth drivers

    The tremendous growth of the meat substitutes market is mainly fueled by the following drivers:

    • Increased number of flexitarians
    • Ethical, environmental and health concerns regarding meat consumption
    • Improved quality and taste of meat substitutes

    Market values & future growth potential

    In this blog, we focus on the meat substitute markets in the Netherlands, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, representing a combined total market value of ~€1.5 bn., representing ~53% of value of the total European market. The largest and fastest growing market in this selection is the United Kingdom, representing €686 M, followed by Germany with €480 M. The selection is completed by The Netherlands (€230 M) and France (€98 M).  

    Next to analyzing the absolute numbers, let’s take a look at the average consumption per capita per country. Looking at the figures, especially France and Germany offer amazing potential for future growth. If the French market would grow to the average European spending per capita (€6,3), this market could grow another ~€320 M in value.

    Strong regional differences

    If we dive deeper into the meat substitute product offerings per country, some remarkable differences become visible. An analysis of ~800 meat substitute products¹ in these four countries² learns us that on average, the price for a kg of meat substitute product is €15,3. In the United Kingdom, being the largest and most mature market, the price for a kg meat substitute is only €12,7. Germany and the Netherlands are very similar with respectively €16,3 and €16,5 per kg. The price for individual products differs in the range from €8 – €25 per kg.

    On average, consumers have around 30 different brands (including private label) in the total retail offering to choose from. Exception is France, being a small and developing market the average number of brands in total retail is only 12.

    The European meat substitute market still offers a huge untapped potential. Knowing where and how to compete is key in crafting a successful market strategy. Hammer performs active market research in this field. Want to learn more? Get in touch!

    Next week we will dive deeper into the Dutch meat substitute market, stay tuned.

    ¹ Not included: falafel, tofu, samosa, tempeh, fish substitutes, cold cuts substitutes, meal packages (incl. meat substitutes), frozen assortment

    ² Three largest (online) retailers per country

    Source: Hammer, Market Intelligence

  • The Cloud’s Biggest Threat Are Data Sovereignty Laws

    CloudThe beauty of the cloud is the promise of simplification and standardization — without regard to physical or geographic boundaries. It’s this “any time, any place, any device” flexibility that is driving rapid adoption.

    However, new government regulations on data sovereignty threaten to complicate the delivery model that has made cloud computing attractive, presenting new concerns for companies with operations in multiple countries.

    While the strike down this fall of the United States-European Union “Safe Harbor” agreement made most of the headlines, I see the recent localization law in Russia (which went into effect in September) as a more significant development. The law mandates that personal data on Russian citizens must be stored in databases physically located within the country itself.

    With this ruling, companies that capture, use and store data must abide by specific laws or face the consequences of falling out of compliance. Russia is a warning bell. With currently 20+ countries also considering similar privacy laws, the landscape will grow increasingly complex for cloud providers, and more costly for customers, thus chipping away at the beauty of the cloud.

    To make the point clear, let’s take a look at what the Russian law portends.

    Your business could likely store data in numerous locations across the globe, but because the software is cloud-based, it’s up to you to re-architect the way it operates, ensuring Russian data lives in Russia.

    There is, however, some leeway that allows a business to process data at runtime in a different country from where the data is persistently stored. For example, your business can have a runtime in Germany, but the Russian employee data gets stored based on local rules in Russia.

    So your cloud provider must have data centers in multiple countries. At SAP, we do, including in Russia, but I don’t think a data center in every country across the globe is a long-term answer.

    So how do you calculate the risk of falling out of compliance? Here are three considerations for preparing for a worsening regulatory climate:

    Create A Roadmap. Know where your company does business, and where it plans to. If expansion is on the horizon, start monitoring legislation in those countries to estimate costs and restrictions early to minimize compliance risk.

    Know Your Cloud. Understand from your cloud providers where the data resides. What is their roadmap? What are the costs?

    Realize How Mission-Critical Compliance Is. Every industry and enterprise is different. Maintaining compliance may be critical to your business, or it may be an afterthought. Understand how your company prioritizes these regulations and how much of your resources you should dedicate. You may decide that it makes more sense to manage data sovereignty on your own, or you may decide to hire a vendor.

    In the post-Safe Harbor era, updates to data sovereignty legislation are likely to occur with greater frequency. If you manage data outside of legislated parameters, you may be fine for a period of time — but the truth is that you will face significant challenges if there is a data breach that can be traced back to your company.

    There’s no United Nations of data; each country is looking at its own specific types of data. The only way to deal with it is to store specific data in-country. It’s expensive. The cloud is helping businesses move forward at an astounding pace by reducing complexity. The demand for simplification will continue to drive this journey.

    Source: TechCrunch

  • The status of AI in European businesses

    The status of AI in European businesses

    What is the future of AI (artificial intelligence) in Europe and what does it take to build an AI solution that is attractive to investors and customers at the same time? How do we reimagine the battle of 'AI vs Human Creativity' in Europe? 

    Is there any company that is not using AI or isn’t AI-enabled in some way? Whether it is startups or corporates, it is no news that AI is boosting digital transformation across industries at a global level and hence it has traction not only from investors but is also the focus of government initiatives across countries. But where does Europe stand with the US and China in terms of digitization and how collective effort could push AI as an important pan-European strategic topic? 

    First things first: According to McKinsey, the potential of Europe to deliver on AI and catch up against the most AI-ready countries such as the United States and emerging leaders like China is large. If Europe on average develops and diffuses AI according to its current assets and digital position relative to the world, it could add some €2.7 trillion, or 20%, to its combined economic output by 2030. If Europe was to catch up with the US AI frontier, a total of €3.6 trillion could be added to collective GDP in this period.

    What comprises the AI landscape and is it too crowded?

    I recently attended a dedicated panel on 'AI vs Human Creativity' as a part of the first day of the Noah conference 2019 in Berlin.  Moderated by Pamela Spence, Partner of Global Life Sciences, Industry leader EY, the discussion started with an open question on whether the AI landscape is too crowded? According to a report by EY, there are currently about 14,000 startups globally which can be associated with the AI landscape. But what does this mean when it comes to the nature of these startups? 

    Minoo Zarbafi, VP of Bertelsmann Investments Digital Partnerships, added perspective to these numbers: 'There are companies that are AI-enabled and then there are so-called AI-first companies. I differentiate because there are almost no companies today that are not using AI in their processes. From an investor perspective, we at Bertelsmann like AI-first companies which are offering a B2B (business-to-business platform solution to an unsolved problem. For instance, we invested in China in two pioneer companies in the domain of computer vision that are offering a B2B solution for autonomous driving'. Minoo added that from a partnership perspective Bertelsmann looks at AI companies that can help on the digital transformation journey of the company. 'The challenge is to find the right partner with the right approach for our use cases. And we actively seek the support of European and particularly German companies from the startup ecosystem when selecting our partners', she pointed out. 

    The McKinsey report too states that one positive point to note is that Europe may not need to compete head to head but rather in areas where it has an edge (such as in B2B and advanced robotics) and continue to scale up one of the world’s largest bases of technology developers into a more connected Europe-wide web of AI-based innovation hubs.

    Growing share of funding from Series A and beyond reflect increased maturity of the AI ecosystem in Europe. Pamela Spence from EY noted: 'One in 12 startups uses AI as a part of their product or services, up from 50 about six years ago. Startups labelled as being in AI attract up to 50% more funding than other technology firms. 40% of European startups that are claimed as AI companies actually don’t use AI in a way that is material to their business'.

    AI and human creativity go hand-in-hand

    Another interesting and important question is how far are we from the paradigm of clever thinking machines? Why should we be afraid of machines? Hans-Christian Boos, CEO & Founder of Arago, compares how machines were earlier supposed to do tasks which are too tedious or expensive and complex for humans. 'The principle of machine changes with AI. It used to earlier just automate tasks or standardise them. Now, all you need is to describe what you want as an outcome and the machine will find that outcome for you, that is a different ballgame altogether. Everything is result-oriented', he says.

    Minoo Zarbafi adds that as human beings, we have a limited capacity for processing information. 'With the help of AI, you can now digest much more information which may, combined with human creativity, cause you to find innovative solutions that you could not see before. One could say, the more complexity, the better the execution with AI. At Bertelsmann, our organisation is decentralised and it will be interesting to see how AI leverages operational execution'.  

    AI and the political landscape

    Why discuss AI when we talk about the digital revolution in Europe? According to the tech.eu report titled ‘Seed the Future:  A Deep Dive into European Early-Stage Tech Startup Activity’, it would be safe to say that Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Blockchain lead the way in Europe. The European Commission has identified Artificial Intelligence as an area of strategic importance for the digital economy, citing it’s cross-cutting applications to robotics, cognitive systems and big data analytics. In an effort to support this, the Commission’s Horizon 2020 funding includes considerable funding AI, allocating €700M EU funding specifically.

    Chiara Sommer, Investment Director of Intel Capital, reflected on this by saying: 'In the present scenario, the implementation of AI starts with workforce automation with a focus on how companies could reduce cost and become more efficient. The second generation of AI companies focuses on how products can offer solutions and solve problems like never before. There are entire departments can be replaced by AI. Having said that, the IT industry adopts AI fastest, and then you have industries like healthcare, retail, a financial sector that follow'. 

    Why are some companies absorbing AI technologies while most others are not? Among the factors that stand out are their existing digital tools and capabilities and whether their workforce has the right skills to interact with AI and machines. Only 23% of European firms report that AI diffusion is independent of both previous digital technologies and the capabilities required to operate with those digital technologies; 64% report that AI adoption must be tied to digital capabilities, and 58% to digital tools. McKinsey reports that the two biggest barriers to AI adoption in European companies are linked to having the right workforce in place.

    It is certainly a collective effort of industries, the government, policy makers, corporates to have effective and impactful use of AI. Instead of asking how AI will change society Hans-Christian Boos rightly concludes: 'We should change the society to change AI'.

    Author: Diksha Dutta

    Source: Dataconomy

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