The Weekend Reader: Bad and Absent Advice
This weekend: Some bad advice you can learn from, some half-baked advice you can grow with, and some interesting primers on AI corpora and the monetization of data used to train LLMs.
This is The DX Report’s Weekend Reader. Each Saturday, I’ll highlight some of the best content from the week (or insights I just discovered!). Consider it your weekend reading list! If you’d prefer not to receive this, you can go to your profile and “manage subscriptions” and unselect The Weekend Reader.
In Case You Missed It: This Week from The DX Report
Efficiency, Optimization, AND Transformation? Yes!
How do you balance between efficiency and optimization on one side, and transformation and innovation on the other? You don’t. Do both. Charlie joins the StatusGo podcast to explain.
The Privacy and Platform Wars Taking Place in the Enterprise — and Why a New Browser May Signal a Market Shift
Zoho's recent release of its new browser, called Ulaa, hints at a broader war taking place within the enterprise around privacy and platforms. Plus a video interview with Zoho’s Tejas Gadhia.
Your Weekend Reading List
You may be entitled to financial compensation… for your data
From Politico: Two experts propose in POLITICO Magazine an “AI dividend,” their deceptively simple policy scheme for how the average American could cash out for what they contribute to systems like ChatGPT.
Snap Analysis: Super fascinating editorial proposing a dividend paid to all Americans for our data contribution to LLMs. Not specific to enterprise IT, but broadly applicable as the dust settles around the use of generative AI.
Companies Look to Pay Tech Vendors Based on Business Outcomes, Not Usage
From The Wall Street Journal: Tighter tech budgets and pushback against cloud bills are leading CIOs to question the traditional pay-what-you-use model.
Snap Analysis: This is a wrong-headed, reactionary approach. Any meaningful transformation or business outcome will involve more moving parts than a single piece of tech. Don’t ask for this and don’t fall for it.
Companies Are Drowning in Too Much AI
From The Wall Street Journal: IT sellers are rolling out an avalanche of new generative AI features, leaving CIOs overwhelmed and workers confused.
Snap Analysis: Tech vendors have to have a generative AI something at this point. But it’s already causing issues for enterprise IT leaders. This article doesn’t really have any answers, but it’s always nice to commiserate, right?
What is a “corpus”? And why is everyone in AI suddenly talking about it? Here’s what you need to know
From FastCompany: What is a “corpus”? And why is everyone in AI suddenly talking about it? Here’s what you need to know.
Snap Analysis: This one is pretty much WYSIWYG. A useful primer with a little analysis on how things may play out.
Business’s ‘It’s not my problem’ IT problem
From McKinsey: For IT to function better, the business side of the company has to get more involved.
Snap Analysis: I wanted to love this article, but only ended up liking it. Still worth sharing and reading, but it covers many of the same, long-standing truth that business must understand IT and tech better. Check. But it’s not enough because (a) IT needs to step up and dive way deep into the business. That’s happening more, but still not enough. And (b) what is really needed is better guidance on how to eliminate the gap and really pull everyone together rather than “align” them. I might have to write this myself.