Blue Technologies Blog

The last few years have been a powerful warning to medical labs and health care providers when it comes to cybersecurity. In 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned device manufacturers and healthcare providers about a group of security flaws, called Urgent/11, that could control medical devices and change their function, cause a leak of information, or prevent function altogether. In 2020, a new threat, the Ripple20 malware, was discovered. Ripple20 can infect any number of connected devices, creating vulnerabilities that could compromise health and safety.

The size of the average engineering team is growing this year, with some reports noting a potential 79% increase in team size in 2022. Of course, this team expansion will bring with it the need for better communication and collaboration between team members as well as the need for optimized productivity. Engineering leaders understand this, which is why the focus of more than a third of them is to improve operations, processes, and tooling. In fact, ensuring that teams are focused on mission-critical work is essential for heightened performance and managers are targeting technologies that can contribute positively to this goal. 

Consumers are demanding more businesses become sustainable — either in the products they produce and/or in the way they conduct business. In fact, new research shows that there has been an astonishing increase in online searches related to sustainability — up 71% — in the last five years. The increase in concern over sustainable practices isn’t limited to high-income countries either. Even developing economies like those in Ecuador and Indonesia are seeing a rise in preference for sustainable products and eco-minded businesses.

Customer relationship management (CRM) is the blanket term for a group of tools and techniques that help businesses understand the needs and desires of their customer base to optimize sales and marketing. By collecting and understanding essential information about your customers such as purchase records, buying habits, demographic information, and cross-channel messaging, a CRM can help you provide a better customer experience. 

In our post-pandemic world, consumers have learned to live, work, and shop more locally. In fact, 56% of shoppers are looking to local stores for their needs, moving away from malls and toward more hyper-local choices. In the coming year, 75% of consumers plan to shop locally for their goods and services. For that reason, local marketing is a key component of any business strategy. Local marketing is a way for your business to target people who live within a specific range surrounding your business. It helps to improve sales and conversion rates by targeting nearby customers through digital marketing. 

Even before the coronavirus pandemic caused widespread disruption through supply chains across the globe, manufacturers were targeting cost control as a prime way to increase competitiveness. Controlling costs can help reduce expenses in any of three areas — materials, labor, and overhead. For manufacturers, repairs to office equipment are considered selling, general, and administrative expenses (SG&A) under current accounting guidelines, and printer supplies and purchases can be included in overhead.

The last few years have been difficult for utilities, as they reacted to the challenges of changing weather patterns, higher fuel prices, and legacy equipment. As we move through the aftermath of the pandemic, customers and policymakers alike are taking a keen interest in utility operations. For utility owners and management, this scrutiny should encourage them to look toward creating actionable strategies aimed at increasing resiliency and reliability as well as customer trust. 

The last two years have been fraught with uncertainty for most businesses, regardless of industry. As the ongoing pandemic continues to contribute to supply chain woes and other disruptions, businesses are searching for ways to stay relevant — and get a jump on the competition. In fact, many companies tag greater competitiveness as one of their top goals for the coming year, making brand awareness a key objective. 

Social isolation is a serious problem for the well-being of older adults, especially those who are in nursing homes or assisted living facilities. Nothing brought this into sharp relief more than the recent coronavirus pandemic, where lockdowns kept families from being able to visit their loved ones in care facilities. Social isolation increases risk for several psychiatric disorders and can increase the rate of cognitive decline, depression, and even suicide. 

By the end of the century, the global population is expected to peak at nearly 11 billion individuals, causing many urban planners and politicians to rethink the way development is handled. With so many people, cities must be built with an eye toward environmental sustainability as well as scaled solutions regarding transportation, energy, and access to water.