The Government of Canada has reached an agreement with Kinder Morgan to purchase the company's Trans Mountain Expansion Project and related pipeline and terminal assets for $4.5 billion. The transaction is expected to close in August 2018.
The Trans Mountain Expansion Project involves building a new pipeline
along the existing Trans Mountain Pipeline running from Edmonton, Alberta to Burnaby, British Columbia, and expanding the capacity of the terminal in Burnaby.
This expansion will increase daily capacity from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels, while improving market access to the US Pacific Coast and Northeast Asia.
In the course of the federal review of the project, the Government consulted 117 potentially affected Indigenous rights holders for four additional months, marking the deepest federal consultations ever done on a major project.
Staying relevant is no easy task given the multitude of underlying forces now continuously shaping a new world of commerce. The speed of thought, coupled with its ever more connected consumer means relevancy is a very desirable element of the Customer Satisfaction Strategy. To address this need, Oracle and Euromonitor International partnered to examine key drivers along the customer journey.
Alberta's Financial Services Company Chooses a Cloud Based Strategy for Operations
Early in March, TechRepublic published a story which bears reading for any organization that isn't using cloud based IT Infrastructure. The story caught our attention because The Paradigm Corporation has been using the G-Suite platform internally and for clients since 2011. There are so many benefits for large and small organizations it would be impossible to illuminate them all in a single InfoStream article. However, suffice to say, it was the easiest and most beneficial transformation ever made in IT Infrastructure by the small Paradigm team. Routinely, we hear from former contractors and employees who now use the Google Enterprise infrastructure to support their daily activities. By July of 2018, ATB Financial will have completed the conversion of the entire 5,000 member team and the first year of operations. The TechRepublic article features the story of this transformation from two perspectives: Chief Transformation Officer, Wellington Holbrook and Chief Evangelist, Lorne Rubis, discuss the implementation strategy and tactics as well as the experience of moving ATB Financial to G-Suite.
"We're excited to support entrepreneurs and innovators in creating new products and services that deliver on our purpose: 'A Better World for Pets,'" said Poul Weihrauch, President, Mars Petcare. "The extraordinary opportunities of connected technology and data are open to all. Match them with the expansive reach, resources and core capabilities of a company like Mars, and together we can create a powerful force for change."
These programs are new ways of reaching innovators and entrepreneurs whose companies are at various stages, from ideation to execution to scale.
"Our ambition is to become a partner of choice for everyone willing to change the rules of the game in pet care. Mars Petcare is leveraging our own success stories, Whistle and Wisdom Health, to identify and support the next wave of industry disruptors," said Leonid Sudakov, President of Connected Solutions, the global ventures, consumer technology, data and analytics division of Mars Petcare. "Mars Petcare's unique global scale and network of connected businesses will support the founders in taking their ideas from whiteboard to pets and their owners' homes."
About Companion Fund Companion Fund is a $100 million venture capital fund managed by Digitalis Ventures. Companion Fund will provide startup capital and support to entrepreneurs addressing the needs of pets, pet owners and vets. The fund will focus primarily on the investment opportunities in Digital Health, Diagnostics, Nutrition and Services, but is excited to explore new areas of need with exceptional entrepreneurs. Digitalis Ventures has offices in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and London. About Leap Leap is the first startup accelerator focused on pet care innovation, led by Mars Petcare, R/GA and Michelson Found Animals. Leap is based in Portland, Oregon, at R/GA's office in the heart of the innovation-centric Pearl District. Leap is targeting early stage startups and will be split into two cohorts of six companies each. A customized team of R/GA's award-winning strategists, technologists, designers and consultants will collaborate with the startups to help execute their business plans and prepare them for future milestones, including fundraising, pitching and business development. The startups will receive mentorship from industry executives and access to world-class partners.
Amazon's Transparency Program to Prevent Counterfeit Merchandise Seeks to Add 1,000 brands in 2018
Amazon Transparency Program
In the spring of 2016, Amazon began trialing a new approach to eliminating counterfeit product. The program was tested on Amazon products for the first year. It expanded to a few select vendors in mid 2017 but in 2018 Transparency is expanding to hundreds of other brands. According to Amazon, there are three types of brands that need this protection:
Brands that value the authenticity of their products and can be negatively impacted by counterfeit merchandise.
Brands with product manufactured through “3rd shift” or secondary factories.
Brands launching new products likely to attract counterfeit copycats.
This cool program uses the Amazon app to provide consumers with information about where the product was manufactured and other details that validate the authenticity. The consumer uses the Smartphone app to take a picture of the 2D barcode and automatically sees the information associated with that SKU.
Amazon provides a unique 26 digit alphanumeric code related to the authenticity information for each product enrolled in the program. The manufacturer applies the code to the product prior to delivery so the Amazon fulfillment centre is able to validate authenticity during the product acceptance phase. The manufacturer receives global protection by applying the code to each product no matter which channel it sells through. Consumers use the code to verify the product no matter where it is purchased, but will be assured of accredited merchandise when they acquire the product through Amazon. According to Amazon, the program will add between $0.01-$0.05 to the cost of each item depending on the volume. Amazon product acceptance protocols are expected to discover most counterfeit merchandise, however, consumers may also report vendors selling counterfeit product. Once registered, Amazon will notify all sellers that Transparency codes are required and will not accept product whether sold by the brand, a third-party seller or Amazon Retail.
Amazon Marketplace features millions of independent vendors across the globe who list hundreds of millions of items. Since the launch 10+ years ago, Amazon Marketplace accounts for over half the company's e-commerce volume. This rapid expansion has forced Amazon to deal with a surge in counterfeits and unauthorized selling. CNBC recently told the story of Wee Urban owner Holly MacLean. After reaching a peak of $500,000 in baby clothing sales on Amazon Marketplace in 2016, she saw revenue plunge 80 percent in 2017 because of counterfeit and copyright infringement issues.
According to CNBC, Amazon has invited "early adopters" to trial the Transparency program for their products. Bang & Olufsen, Victorinox Swiss Army and 3M are said to be among those invited.
Amazon plans to roll Transparency out across all Amazon marketplaces and any brand by the end of 2018. Those interested in learning more can email Amazon at:
We are pleased to present 12 minutes of viewing curated by InfoStream for your edification:
CIO - Don Tapscott explains why blockchains will rewrite business models and revolutionize industries. (3'11")
GE has invented nanostructured coatings and surfaces that are hydrophobic and delay the accumulation of ice or water on a particular surface. (2'16")
IBM - In 2015, Al Opher, Global Leader & Partner, Digital Operations, looked at the unprecedented number of technologies that are all hitting at once: virtual and augmented reality, embeddables, 3D printing, robotics, and cognitive. (1'33")
Stats Canada - National demographics can often mask major regional differences. (2'51")
Deloitte - We live and operate in a constant state of turbulence. Military planners call it VUCA. Disruptors are intensifying, requiring a decisive focus on Human Capital. (2'33")
We hear cryptocurrency, bitcoin mining and blockchain in many conversations these days. The views seem to range from those who think it is hype, to those who are skeptical of the impact they face, to the very few who are convinced the world has changed forever. At the bottom of this article is a funny video that summarizes three main flavours of sentiment toward cryptocurrency. In this article I hope to stimulate the thinking of colleagues who may be in government, in senior management, on the advisory boards of nonprofits, directors of profit driven enterprises and those who invest. Some 2,600 are connected by LinkedIn and the rest (458K) read this blog. Recently, the feed from CNBC ran the headline 'Secretive Chinese bitcoin mining company may have made as much money as Nvidia last year'. The article went on to say:
"Based on conservative estimates of gross margin of 75 percent and operating margin of 65 percent, Bernstein analysts calculate that Beijing-based Bitmain made $3 billion to $4 billion in operating profits in 2017".
"By contrast, Nvidia's operating profit was $3 billion during the same period, according to Bernstein's U.S. semiconductor team estimates".
So how can this be? Mostly because changes are occurring so rapidly. Of course even the casual observer will understand the implications of Nvidia Corporation profits after 24 years of capital intensive development being overshadowed by a bitcoin mining operation in its infancy. Bitmain was founded five years ago (2013) and is likely a less capital intensive operation. An interesting sidelight to this story is that Nvidia may, in fact, hold an important key to higher computing densities and lower power consumption in bitcoin mining with the SoCs and parallel processing capabilities it owns. Okay, so what? Here's what. The lack of stability and massive speculation evident in cryptocurrency have blinded those who should be paying close attention to blockchain technology in the rest of the economy. Defining the blockchain in detail is beyond the scope of this article, however, several articles have appeared in InfoStream (Use the search feature). A recent InfoStream article featured Ginni Rometty CEO of IBM, was simple and explained blockchain to the US National Governors Association. What is it all about? Will it change anything? When? The main blockchain takeaways for your consideration are these:
Blockchain will convert every existing value chain into an ecosystem of collaborators working to deliver products and services to the customer with full transparency, financial security, lower cost and high levels of trust.
If you aren't in the ecosystem that evolves to serve your customers, you will lose your customer base and likely your business.
Blockchains already exist for food safety, country of origin, manufacturing processes, funds transfer, smart contracts and financial services, to name just a few.
If you move very quickly, there may still be an opportunity to be a driver of the blockchain and ecosystem that is rapidly developing to serve your customers.
According to Gartner, IBM, McKinsey and other analysts blockchain will have a more powerful disruptive effect than did the Internet.
In my lifetime, I have been associated with four major disruptions: Electrical to Electronic; Wired to Wireless; Analogue to Digital; and, the Bandwidth/Capacity of Optical Fibre. The speed at which blockchain is being embraced is beyond anything I have witnessed, possibly because there are so few barriers and such a high degree of benefit for all.
In my advisory activities, I use the term 'digital velocity' to define the acceleration (velocity) an organization must achieve to overcome the cultural and process inertia (gravity) preventing change and therefore future sustainability.
This is going to sound harsh, but I observe that many are ambivalent or ignorant of the consequences they face, while others sit on the deck of their modern 'Titanic' discussing competitive improvements as the ship silently slips below the waves. My intent here is to sound an alarm and to provide a call to action.
Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. Wisdom, she is only a friend to those who act. It's time to get the help you need and act!
ATB Encourages Diversity and Development with E-Centers and a 14 Week Business Accelerator Program
The digital economy is demanding new approaches to banking and financial relationships. Alberta Treasury Branches has taken an innovative approach which could be a model for other financial institutions and provinces. Entrepreneurial Centers in both Edmonton and Calgary are providing new business developers and innovators with a collaborative space and services that are designed to solve the issues they face. The 14 week ATB-X Business Accelerator Program helps new business owners at the market validation stage to sharpen their skills with an intensive program of curriculum, connections and community. ATB X Cohort 4 is completing the program and Cohort 5 is gathering for a launch later this year. Bravo ATB! Perhaps this investment will give rise to the kind of diversification needed in Alberta. Perhaps ATB will be able to integrate these programs with entrepreneurial activities already under way at the University of Calgary to encourage new business development in the province.
Target Pushes Back with New Brands, Remodelled Stores and New Services.
Target CEO Brian Cornell, the former CEO of Sam's Club, arrived to lead the Minneapolis retailer just four years ago. He has piloted the company through a crisis field of icebergs that would have felled many leaders. Cornell has been a proponent of moving faster and becoming more agile. The rapid shift to online, as well as other changes to shopping habits, has been a huge challenge for many retailers. A large number of store closings and bankruptcies took place in the market last year. Target’s sales, which had been in a slump, are beginning to lift. The company saw growth of 3.4 percent in November and December.
“We put a premium on speed and agility, but we also want to make sure we’re making the right choices,” Cornell said during an interview at Target’s bustling Nicollet Mall store, which has a sleeker look following a $10 million makeover.
“We now have more of the proof points in place and we can accelerate. I think there’s been a great sense of urgency for four years now,” he said. “The difference is we’ve been very disciplined. I use the term ‘surgical’ in testing and validating before we roll things out.”
The Q4 Financials Reports have drawn criticism from some analysts. Cornell and other top Target executives revealed more of their strategic road map at the analysts meeting this morning. The CNBC report earlier today discusses this criticism in some detail.
“They have an ambitious agenda,” said Mark Miller of BlueView Investment, who has been following Target for two decades. “They’re starting to see payback from some of their initiatives. The challenges haven’t gone away, but they’re now able to speak more to” how they’re addressing them.
While the retail outlook is looking much brighter this year, Cornell said it will still be difficult for retailers who aren’t investing in their stores, employees and online infrastructure to make it.
“There’s really no place for poorly run and highly leveraged retailers in this environment,” he said. “I think we’ll continue to see some of those retailers unfortunately close stores and potentially move to bankruptcy and liquidation. But for well-run retailers, I think there are significant opportunities in front of us.”
In December, Target bought Shipt and will add home delivery along with curbside delivery to Target stores this year. Shipt features one hour delivery from local grocery stores to your home. The ability to add delivery will help Target compete with the biggest threat to Target's sustainability, Amazon Prime.
On August 10, 2015 Amazon announced a first fulfillment center in Illinois
Since the initial building’s launch, Amazon has opened eight other fulfillment centers, two Prime Now hubs, an Amazon Fresh site, a sortation center, four delivery stations, an Amazon Books store, and a corporate office in the Prairie State. This expansion has resulted in Amazon investing hundreds of millions of dollars into Illinois’s economy, both in fulfillment infrastructure and compensation to its 10,000 current employees. As a snapshot, according to a report by the company’s Economics team, Amazon’s investments in Illinois from 2014 through 2016 resulted in an additional $200 million to the state’s economy. Using Input-Output methodology and multipliers developed by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Amazon estimates its investments in the state have created an additional 7,000 indirect jobs on top of the company’s direct hires.
Circulation, a ride exchange service announced in December they were adding Lyft to the providers they support with their service. Circulation claims this partnership will expand non-emergency Transportation options for Circulation’s clients nationwide, which in December number more than 1,000 healthcare facilities. Circulation users can schedule Lyft rides directly through Circulation’s on-demand patient-centric digital transportation platform. According to the December Newsrelease by Circulation, the company offers a HIPAA-compliant, digital platform to coordinate convenient and reliable non-emergency transportation for all areas of healthcare. The Circulation platform is designed to seamlessly integrate all transportation capabilities (e.g. outsourced transportation, owned fleets, and other medical logistics services) and places a new focus on patient convenience and satisfaction. Circulation becomes a single access point for scheduling and monitoring transportation by simplifying ordering, improving reliability and efficiency, and reducing transportation spend.
The Circulation team is made up of healthcare experts and the Company is supported by healthcare leaders like Humana, LabCorp, Boston Children’s Hospital, Intermountain Healthcare and BCBS North Carolina and Cambia. Circulation is passionate about improving health outcomes and believes that better transportation is a key factor to shifting how consumers consume healthcare. With the Allscripts/Lyft announcement today, it is clear that non-emergency medical transportation is a sector where Lyft and Uber will compete for millions of rides. The disruption to existing non-emergency transportation services will need to be examined closely. However, it would seem the development of competition between Uber and Lyft will be of benefit to consumers as well as the healthcare system.
Now Clinicians of every stripe and color can book non-emergency transportation with your appointment
Allscripts (NASDAQ:MDRX) and Lyft, the fastest growing rideshare company in the U.S., are joining forces to incorporate non-emergency transportation directly into the physician’s workflow. Leveraging Lyft’s proprietary application programming interface (API) and Allscripts Open platform, the companies plan to integrate this functionality, into Allscripts Sunrise™ electronic health record (EHR), to enable clinicians to order the Lyft service for patients. The press release this morning suggests 3.6 million Americans have transportation issues that prevent them from getting to or from a doctor’s appointment, and 25 percent of lower-income patients have missed or rescheduled appointments due to lack of transportation. Through this partnership, Allscripts and Lyft can reach millions of Americans, to eliminate these transportation barriers and improve access to healthcare.
One of God's Most Humble, Yet Noted Servants, Billy Graham, Was Celebrated and Buried on Friday.
We are honoured to present a video of the funeral and links to other elements of the story as our SABBATH column. Watching the service both inspired and challenged. May you be encouraged on your journey!
In his first live interview since the death of his father, Rev. Franklin Graham speaks to TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb on Saturday morning about the iconic preacher’s legacy and how he affected the world. (4'28")
"The world has lost today a friend of the lost, a bearer of hope, and a voice crying in the wilderness, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand." The silencing of this strong voice is a call to all Believers to step up with integrity and compassion to fill the void left by this great pastor to the world." - Bill & Gloria Gaither (4'52")
Kathie Lee Gifford Reacts To Death Of Prominent Pastor Billy Graham, on TODAY with Megyn Kelly (7'17")
A seemingly unlikely group made Billy Graham's casket: The men at Angola State Penitentiary. Watch the story behind it all. (2'24")
We are pleased to present 25 minutes of viewing curated by InfoStream for your edification:
TESLA Powerwall 2 is a battery for homes and small businesses that stores the sun’s energy and delivers clean, reliable electricity when the sun isn’t shining. Combine Powerwall, solar and an electric vehicle to create a zero emission lifestyle. The sun provides more than enough energy in just one hour to supply our planet’s energy needs for an entire year. (19'03")
Bill Fuessler and Tom Fisher, IBM: Role of Data as a Strategic CFO Asset (2'33")
Research Engineer Dustin Sharber is Enhancing How We Use Drones - GE (2'47")
Spotify IPO Tests the Market Value of a Platform Based Streaming Service
Swedish based streaming service, Spotify is organizing a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange according to a recent F1 prospectus.
The company lost $1.5 billion in 2017 but is well ahead of Apple's streaming service, with 71 million paying subscribers and more than 159 monthly listeners. Recent transactions show the company shares selling at more than US$132 per share.
A direct listing is different and somewhat unique as there is no underwriter of the listing. The Spotify shares will be listed for trade and the market value of the shares will be determined by the number of shares available for sale and the demand from prospective investors.
Spotify was founded in Stockholm, Sweden during 2006. Wikipedia provides the story of this music, video and podcast streaming service. The popularity of Spotify on Amazon's Alexa appears to be high and rising. Platform based offerings have become the most effective business models of the digital economy.
InfoStream is watching this listing with particular interest. It may help determine if the build/own model is sustainable. Partnering with an operator of an existing platform and ecosystem such as Amazon has distinct benefits because of discoverability and the appeal of being listed with a broader suite of products and services. It seems consumers desire to move away from the profusion of single use apps jamming their digital devices to support a smaller number of apps that meet their needs.
Analysts seem to suggest the Spotify shares will have good support since there are a lot of investment dollars on the sidelines. Investors are keenly watching this development to understand the value of a platform based streaming business in the digital economy. InfoStream is watching the direct listing model to understand if it will disrupt the more common route to an IPO requiring underwriters and placement agents.
Amazon Continues to Invest in the Last Mile (Yard) of Customer Access
The Amazon purchase of Ring could cost the company as much as US$1.8B. However, virtually all analysts and observers find it to be a good strategic and tactical move for Amazon. Past InfoStream articles have shown that Amazon wishes (needs) to own the path to the consumer to continue and expand the client ecosystem it has developed. In late December, the ecommerce giant announced the purchase of Blink to enhance the Amazon Key service and devices. Earlier this year Amazon announced it would move to disrupt Fedex and UPS with services for the 'last mile' of home and business delivery. With Amazon Key, Amazon Logistics, Amazon Flex and Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) it seems Amazon is well on the way to accomplish this goal. The reader should not overlook the fact that integrating Ring with Amazon Home services and devices like Amazon Echo, ensures the company is also poised to disrupt the huge field of Home Security. The one aspect of this purchase that analysts don't seem to understand is the price tag. Perhaps they are not pricing into this deal the competitive advantage and cost of time and resources to own and control this last 'yard' of the path to the customer. The one big winner in this transaction aside from the investors who supplied early stage capital to Ring will be the customer. Here are the important story links: The original Reuters article on Wednesday, February 27
Leonid Sudakov, Mars Petcare on 21st Century Brand Connectivity at 2018 IAB Leadership Meeting
Published Feb 13, 2018 (4'06") Mars Petcare is reshaping their business by becoming more consumer centric and daring to dream big. Building a better world for customers and their pets creates a win for everyone.
The IBM C-suite Study Draws Input
from 12,854 Respondents Across
6 C-suite Roles in 112 Countries
Titled "Incumbents Strike Back", this research from the IBM Institute for Business Value, discovers and documents the truth trends of the present state of business under four headings:
Dancing with Disruption
Trust in the Journey
Orchestrating the Future
Innovation in Motion
Yes, I know we published a video featuring Ginni Rometty (IBM's CEO) yesterday and yes, I know we risk being called out as someone indoctrinated by IBM, but - rarely is such valuable research made available free of charge.
Certainly every business stakeholder including C-suite, managers, directors and investors will benefit from spending time with this document. Even small and medium sized businesses will find value here.
"As platforms proliferate, every industry seems likely to feel what’s been called the Amazon effect: the endless evolution and disruption of its markets" IBM C-suite Study
Why am I so taken with this research? Because nearly everyone in the InfoStream global audience is trying to understand when or how disruption and innovation will impact their business. Incumbents feel particularly vulnerable as they watch innovation and disruption surround them and add risk to the legacy they have built.
"What’s required, now more than ever, is the fortitude for perpetual reinvention"IBM C-suite Study
Paradigm 'Right Think' advisory services are applied to gain digital velocity. Developing the velocity to escape the gravitational pull of culture, peers and disruptors is job one. Building ecosystems using a 'platform business model' is the new mandate. IBM has provided a road map.
Larry Evans is a trusted business advisor and ecosystem advocate. He is Principal of The Paradigm Corporation @ Thunder Ridge in Crossfield, Alberta, Canada, and is known for bringing a unique and predictive lens to paradigm shifts in a career that spans 45 years. Now often from his wheelchair, he brings a grounded, tenacious view of business called 'right think'. His perspective and values influence his life, business and ministry.
The Trans Mountain Expansion Project involves building a new pipeline
