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The future of work is discussed in academic literature and reports starting with 2014. Various studies have identified artificial intelligence, robots, big data, globalization, population pressures, and changed demographic profiles as the main drivers for change in the future of jobs. Also, international organizations did comprehensive analyses of the professions' rapid technology changes. In contrast to the number of consultancy documents, there are not numerous scientific articles on the topic of the future of work. Research performed on the reputable scientific databases return a much larger number of scientific articles on the broader topic of Industry 4.0 (I4.0), including several systematic literature reviews, with 31 scientific articles on the topic. Still, the specific goal of this review is to explore the impact of job automation on the IT professions in Romania's IT industry. Consequently, the present paper is designed as a semi-systematic literature review, building on over one hundred papers written on the topic of Industry 4.0, studies that were done on the particular subject of the future of work, research papers done on the IT industry, and available studies on the IT industry in Romania. The findings are analyzed via various criteria which are meant to provide an accurate image of the state-of-the-art on the topic of interest.
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This body of knowledge focuses on the impacts that Covid-19 has had on Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics of global organizations and their supply chains or logistics mechanisms through deep learning approaches (Queiroz et al., 2020). The authors of the current study detail it out to define Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics to help further understand and quantify the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on broken supply chains and small businesses (Naude, 2020;Vaishya et al., 2020). Going into further discussion on how the after-effects changed technologies and data analytics for companies, we also point out that organizations require the support of innovation technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data and Machine Learning (Moosavi, Fathollahi-Fard, & Dulebenets, 2022) to fight and anticipate against new infections (Queiroz, et al., 2020). The study concludes that COVID-19 has not only devastated the critical thinking, innovation, and sustainability capabilities of scientific organizations but has also deteriorated the in-root causes of future successes of brilliant and extraordinary minds (Jamshidi et al., 2020).
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Author Note Regarding person-first language: Members of the Deaf community prefer to be referred to by their identity as a Deaf person rather than a person who is deaf. This article uses the phrase "Deaf and hard of hearing individuals." Opportunities to present to remote audiences require access for people with disabilities. The COVID-19 pandemic, with an imperative of social distancing, provided access challenges. Innovative tools, such as artificial intelligence (Al), as used in Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), became available in many applications. Some community information and higher education programs considered supplying access through ASR text produced by Al software tools. This article's contribution to the field is a comparative analysis of some ASR software used as speech-to-text accommodations for Deaf and hard of hearing individuals in informational and educational settings. Some nuances of ASR and human Speech-to-Text-Services (STTS) practices are included. The concept of use cases for low-stakes settings and high-stakes settings are introduced. This article also provides a framework for future studies of the efficacy of ASR software used as an accommodation and best practices for using ASR software in informational and educational remote sessions.
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Purpose>This paper attempts to provide significant information on the increased growth of literature of chatbots and virtual assistants. Technological changes are dynamic and keep changing at regular intervals. Therefore, it becomes highly crucial to review the performance of chatbots and virtual assistants. This paper aims to review the literature by eminent researchers in the form of authors, keywords and major contributing organizations.Design/methodology/approach>Systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis is used to analyze the growth of literature on chatbots. A sum of articles has been extracted from Scopus database with selected keywords and with certain filters. VOSviewer software is used for analysis of data. A total of 130 documents are extracted from Scopus database from 2017 to 2021 (31st August).Findings>This study provides a significant contribution to an existing literature and provides the understanding of research in the area of chatbots and virtual assistants. The authors with maximum number of citations are Yan, Zaho, Bengio, Weizenbaum, Song, Zhou and Maedche with jointly 180 citations. Research is been contributed by different countries where the United States is the country with highest number of documents published. The United States contributes 17% of the total production in the area of chatbots and virtual assistants. The analysis shows that the area is gaining momentum as contribution in this area is been increasing in last few years.Research limitations/implications>The study shows that several branches of chatbots are also in mainstream like natural language processing, e-learning, behavioural research, conversational agents, virtual assistants, human–computer interaction, natural language and so on. It provides a wider scope to authors and researchers to gain useful insights. The bibliometric study will provide a broader spectrum in this area.Social implications>The developments in technology and also the effect of COVID-19 pandemic is boosting the adoption of technology in different sectors. Deployment of technology will uplift the economy and social infrastructure. Society can avail different services from their comfort area and also in real time. This will help in reducing wastage of resources like people visiting offices for routine jobs which can be easily availed from their workplace. Society may access better services without much human interaction.Originality/value>This paper adds significant contribution to the existing literature by analysing the published papers from Scopus database. The study contains new and significant information as this study covers all industries where chatbots and virtual assistants are being applied whereas in previous literature only specific industry has been taken into consideration.
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Research Question: Is there a gap in research preferences on disruptive technologies between academia and practitioners? Motivation: Disruptive technologies in accounting represent a new evolutionary phase of accounting impacted by emerging technologies that are part of industrial revolution 4.0. The relevance of emerging technologies, their potential, and the opportunities they offer for the accounting profession attract both academia and professionals with accelerated research efforts. Academia and scientific researchers must research and provide an appropriate theoretical basis to help practitioners better adapt and increase their awareness and trust in technology. Idea: This paper provides early quantitative research data on publication trends related to most disruptive technologies in accounting such as big data, data analytics, cloud, artificial intelligence, and blockchain. Data: The data were collected through detailed analysis and research of websites and publishing platforms on Big Four accounting firms, professional accounting associations, and institutes, and selected high-ranking journals for the period from 2016 to 2020. Tools: The research was conducted using bibliometric analysis to identify how many articles were published by individual parties. Findings: The results highlight that there are no significant discrepancies or different views of academia and practitioners. It is a positive result indicating that academia and scientific researchers exploit in the same direction as practitioners, thus providing support for adaptation and alignment to technology trends. Contribution: The significance of the results of such research is important for obtaining directions in which the academy should research in the future but also for the regulators as well.
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Research Question: What are the impacts of digital transformation of accounting practices and behavior following the COVID-19 pandemic? Motivation: The outbreak of the health crisis linked to COVID-19 pandemic has turned massively the companies to adopt digital platforms for accounting function in order to keep concurrent pace with the emergent crisis at all levels (Begum, 2019). Many tools have emerged in terms of accounting procedures such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, eaccounting, and its adoption impacted accountant's behavior (Damerji & Salimi, 2021). Key stakeholders of this study include accountants and companies. Idea: We examine the impact of level of digitalization and changes caused by COVID-19 on accountant's behavior throughout multiple items. The independent variables utilized were, firm size, sector and position within companies. Data: We surveyed and analyzed a sample of 568 accountants operating in private companies in the MENA region, between February and April 2021, using SPSS software. Tools: A quantitative approach is adopted through a questionnaire-based survey. A sample of accountants in the MENA region was surveyed. Findings: Results show that changes caused by COVID-19 have a negative effect on accountant's behavior in terms of attitude, effort, expectancy, and adaptation. Otherwise, the level of digitalization, position occupied by the accountant and firm size have a positive effect on accountant's behavior in MENA region. Contribution: This paper contributes to literature by finding a concept foundation in order to help accounting profession in MENA region to digital transformation many processes. This paper helps accountants to adapt to changes engendered by COVID-19.
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The conference saw a line-up of experts which among others included The Honourable James Shaw, Minister of Climate Change in New Zealand, who promoted the incorporating of climate change information as a part of the New Zealand financial reporting framework;and Distinguished Professor Paul Spoonley who shared his knowledge, experiences and thoughts on diversity and ethnicity. Impact of technology on the required skills of tomorrow’s accountants The adoption and use of new technology such as intelligent automation, big data, blockchain and cloud-based software have brought about significant changes to the accounting profession (Qasim and Kharbat, 2020). The authors find a climate of positive attitude towards new technology and accompanying actions in the Big-Four firms and that financial auditors are providing deep business insights through data visualisation. The manuscripts on the technological influences on accounting suggest that digital transformation has radically changed the nature of accounting practices and for accountants to be ready to leverage the potential of digital tools, they need to focus on developing their core competencies through lifelong education and skill development training.
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Purpose>This study defines a three-angled research plan to intensify the knowledge and development undergoing in the retail sector. It proposes a theoretical framework of the customer journey to explain the customers' intent to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) as a protective measure for interaction between the customer and the brand.Design/methodology/approach>This study presents a research agenda from three-dimensional online search, ML and AI algorithms. This paper enhances the readers' understanding by reviewing the literature present in utilizing AI in the customer journey and presenting a theoretical framework.Findings>Using AI tools like Chatbots, Recommenders, Virtual Assistance and Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) helps create improved brand awareness, better customer relationships marketing and personalized product modification.Originality/value>This study intends to identify a research plan based on investigating customer journey trends in today's changing times with AI incorporation. The research provides a novel model framework of the customer journey by directing customers into different stages and providing different touchpoints in each stage, all supported with AI and ML.
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The multinational firms also started setting up manufacturing clusters for Indian small business. * Proliferation of social enterprises * Acceleration of digitization and increased adoption of digital services - logistics, education, healthcare and food being the major sectors * Adoption of emerging technologies to serve needs in the education and healthcare sectors * Multi - sector collaboration The new generation entrepreneurs looked at the accelerated adoption of digital technologies, the flexibility of remote work and saw opportunities to create their own business. Able to read printed text across multiple Indian languages (providing support to visually impaired people) KIBO Desk & KIBO App: Offers immersive learning experience with smart navigation and reading Akhil Battula (Akhil), a software engineer working at Infosys, was one of the key team members at Trestle Labs that developed the KIBO platform. Testing the software developed to provide an immersive learning experience to the visually impaired, since apps on different devices would work differently. [...]testing a software thoroughly is time consuming.
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Purpose>This paper aims to review and explore the adoption of Metaverse as a training ecosystem. The paper focuses on the current debate on the relevance of Metaverse for training.Design/methodology/approach>This paper reviews the recent articles and interviews and then critically discusses the future of training in Metaverse.Findings>Recent reports, studies and developments show that immersive training holds much potential. The future for training in Metaverse seems to be bright with benefits for both employers and employees.Originality/value>This viewpoint paper is easy to read and comprehensive.
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Purpose>This paper investigates the relationship between agricultural entrepreneurship (AE) and new technologies using academic and practitioners' perspectives to understand how new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and augmented reality can promote agri-businesses.Design/methodology/approach>The paper adopts a content and thematic analysis of 325 academic sources extracted from the Scopus database and 683 patents retrieved from the European Patent Office (EPO) dataset. Additionally, the research applies the Kruskal–Wallis test as a non-parametric test for evaluating differences in the main concepts discussed in the two sources.Findings>The academic and practitioners' debate highlights a trading zone among the two streams. patents' analysis from the EPO reveals four main common themes as a new business that benefits from AI in weather predictions, new smart and intelligent ways to monitor crops, new businesses that use clouds to control plant's humidity. The analysis of Scopus's sources demonstrates theoretical approaches related to the technology acceptance model (TAM) and practical strategies in terms of entrepreneurial skills to support the agricultural sector. However, barriers among the two streams of sources exist in innovation management and scale-up entrepreneurial initiatives.Research limitations/implications>Regarding implications, the authors aim to connect academic and practitioners' views by understanding the new potential innovation applications and the connected new research avenues. Limitations might arise from the sources used to develop our analysis.Originality/value>The paper is novel because it investigates the issues arising from the relationship between AE and new technologies by examining original validated patents released by practitioners and approved by the EPO, rather than reviewing blogs or the financial press. This leads to a holistic understanding of the impact of tangible practices among agricultural entrepreneurs. The results support the view that new trading zones and case studies are needed to highlight and show the positive impact of technologies in this field. The authors argue that practitioners require scholars to reduce the ambiguity between AE and its expected results, leading to investments to boost new agricultural business ideas.
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The paper presents the current state of using augmented reality (AR) in the sectors of food analysis and food promotion through products and orders. Based on an extensive literature review, 34 indicative augmented reality applications of various purposes, target audiences and implementations have been selected and presented. Applications are research-based, commercial, or oriented just for entertainment. Eight classification criteria are defined, especially for these applications, and used for presenting them, including content, context, execution scenario, markers, devices supported, implementation details and appeals based on evaluation, downloads, or sales. Additionally, 16 implementation and supportive platforms that have been used in the presented applications are described. The paper discusses advantages and limitations of current applications leading to proposals of further use of augmented reality in these food sectors towards a uniform handling of all parameters related to food processing, from production until consumption. These parameters include content use, design considerations, implementation issues, use of AR markers, etc.
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The shift in the public accounting firm model was a reaction to clients having access to the preparation of financial statements, reports, schedules, and analytical data as byproducts of their low-cost accounting programs. Moving away from these traditional services, assisting clients with borrowing (including finance leasing) has become more complex, as has risk measurement including internal controls, budgeting and strategic planning, inventory measurement, cash flow management, cost accounting systems, and personal financial planning. Nontraditional Services Added by Some Accounting Firms * Real estate and facilities management * Back office and supply chain operations * Networked billing and collections * Cost segregation * Research and development tax credit studies * Transfer pricing studies * Tangible and intangible asset appraisals * Forensic investigative services * Business valuations based on long-term value creation rather than projected cash flow and return on investment * Succession planning and training * Investment banking services * Merger, acquisition, and transactions advisory services * Asset and wealth management * Family office services * Insurance and risk management * Human resource management * Employee benefit plan conceptualization, establishment, oversight, and management * Medical practice, hospital and care facilities revenue optimization * Chief financial officer on demand service * Strategic, innovation, and change management planning and implementation * Business management optimization * Cybersecurity and incident remediation * Turnkey web-based commerce sites * Technology and vendor selection, and adaption and implementation * Data privacy, compliance and security, and customer immersion * Government agency regulation compliance risk assessments * Electronic discovery * Sustainability attestation
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The past decade has witnessed a growth in the use of knowledge graph technologies for advanced data search, data integration, and query-answering applications. The leading example of a public, general-purpose open knowledge network (aka knowledge graph) is Wikidata, which has demonstrated remarkable advances in quality and coverage over this time. Proprietary knowledge graphs drive some of the leading applications of the day including, for example, Google Search, Alexa, Siri, and Cortana. Open Knowledge Networks are exciting: they promise the power of structured database-like queries with the potential for the wide coverage that is today only provided by the Web. With the current state of the art, building, using, and scaling large knowledge networks can still be frustratingly slow. This article describes a National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator project to build a set of Knowledge Network Programming Infrastructure systems to address this issue.
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Artificial intelligence (AI) is a powerful technology that can be utilized throughout a construction project lifecycle. Transition to incorporate AI technologies in the construction industry has been delayed due to the lack of know-how and research. There is also a knowledge gap regarding how the public perceives AI technologies, their areas of application, prospects, and constraints in the construction industry. This study aims to explore AI technology adoption prospects and constraints in the Australian construction industry by analyzing social media data. This study adopted social media analytics, along with sentiment and content analyses of Twitter messages (n = 7906), as the methodological approach. The results revealed that: (a) robotics, internet-of-things, and machine learning are the most popular AI technologies in Australia;(b) Australian public sentiments toward AI are mostly positive, whilst some negative perceptions exist;(c) there are distinctive views on the opportunities and constraints of AI among the Australian states/territories;(d) timesaving, innovation, and digitalization are the most common AI prospects;and (e) project risk, security of data, and lack of capabilities are the most common AI constraints. This study is the first to explore AI technology adoption prospects and constraints in the Australian construction industry by analyzing social media data. The findings inform the construction industry on public perceptions and prospects and constraints of AI adoption. In addition, it advocates the search for finding the most efficient means to utilize AI technologies. The study helps public perceptions and prospects and constraints of AI adoption to be factored in construction industry technology adoption.
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We describe self-organizing network (SON) concepts and architectures and their potential to play a central role in 5G deployment and next-generation networks. Our focus is on the basic SON use case applied to radio access networks (RAN), which is self-optimization. We analyze SON applications’ rationale and operation, the design and dimensioning of SON systems, possible deficiencies and conflicts that occur through the parallel operation of functions, and describe the strong reliance on machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). Moreover, we present and comment on very recent proposals for SON deployment in 5G networks. Typical examples include the binding of SON systems with techniques such as Network Function Virtualization (NFV), Cloud RAN (C-RAN), Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), massive Machine-Type Communication (mMTC) for IoT, and automated backhauling, which lead the way towards the adoption of SON techniques in Beyond 5G (B5G) networks.
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Purpose>Today, information systems and technology provides a wide set of tools for companies to increase the efficiency of their businesses. Although technology offers many benefits to businesses, it also brings risks as the information systems security breaches. Security breaches and their financial impact is a constant concern of the researchers and practitioners. This paper explores information systems breaches and their financial impacts on the publicly traded companies in different sectors.Design/methodology/approach>After a comprehensive data collection process, data from 192 events are analyzed by employing Event Study Methodology and a comparison of the results between the four highly affected sectors (Consumer Goods, Technology, Financial and Communications) is presented. The abnormal returns on the prices of stocks after the events are calculated with the Market Model. Also, the results of the Market Adjusted Model and Mean Adjusted Model are presented to support the results.Findings>While information systems security breaches have a significant negative impact on the Financials and the Technology sectors for all the event windows in the study ([−5, 0], [−5, 1], [−5, 5], and [−5, 10]), the significant negative impact is observed only on the [−5, 5] and [−5, 10] event windows for the Consumer Goods sector. No significant negative impact is observed in the Communications sector, in fact, the cumulative abnormal returns are positive for this sector.Originality/value>The contribution of this paper to provide evidence about the financial impacts of the information systems breaches for businesses in different sectors. While there are studies that have previously focused on the information systems breaches and their financial impacts on businesses, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that compares this effect between the four highly impacted sectors. With a relatively larger sample size and broader event windows than the past studies in the literature, statistical evidence is provided to managers to justify their investments in information security and build preventive measures to secure the market value of their firms.
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Background: Cutting-edge digital technologies are being actively introduced into healthcare. The recent successful efforts of artificial intelligence in diagnosing, predicting and studying diseases, as well as in surgical assisting demonstrate its high efficiency. The AI’s ability to promptly take decisions and learn independently has motivated large corporations to focus on its development and gradual introduction into everyday life. Legal aspects of medical activities are of particular importance, yet the legal regulation of AI’s performance in healthcare is still in its infancy. The state is to a considerable extent responsible for the formation of a legal regime that would meet the needs of modern society (digital society). Objective: This study aims to determine the possible modes of AI’s functioning, to identify the participants in medical-legal relations, to define the legal personality of AI and circumscribe the scope of its competencies. Of importance is the issue of determining the grounds for imposing legal liability on persons responsible for the performance of an AI system. Results: The present study identifies the prospects for a legal assessment of AI applications in medicine. The article reviews the sources of legal regulation of AI, including the unique sources of law sanctioned by the state. Particular focus is placed on medical-legal customs and medical practices. Conclusions: The presented analysis has allowed formulating the approaches to the legal regulation of AI in healthcare.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has proved that digitization is an imperative in higher education and the ability to adapt to the next normal will represent a powerful competitive advantage in the industry. This paper analyses the possibilities in establishing new practices in transforming higher education by implementing and using disruptive technologies, taking advantage from the collaborative nature between digitization and disruptive innovation. The pandemic is urging digital transformation of higher education institutions, forcing professionals in identifying opportunities, changing value propositions or developing new operating models for the challenges higher education faces. Growing interest in the academic communities for disruptive technologies adoption highlights the need for higher education institutions to become more agile and plan for the post-pandemic future. With a relevant digital strategy, the University is able to drive efficiency, create superior digital offer, enable curriculum improvements and meet students' digital expectations.
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Nowadays, news coverage implies the existence of video footage and sound, from which arises the need for fast reflexes by media organizations. Social media and mobile journalists assist in fulfilling this requirement, but quick on-site presence is not always feasible. In the past few years, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), and specifically drones, have evolved to accessible recreational and business tools. Drones could help journalists and news organizations capture and share breaking news stories. Media corporations and individual professionals are waiting for the appropriate flight regulation and data handling framework to enable their usage to become widespread. Drone journalism services upgrade the usage of drones in day-to-day news reporting operations, offering multiple benefits. This paper proposes a system for operating an individual drone or a set of drones, aiming to mediate real-time breaking news coverage. Apart from the definition of the system requirements and the architecture design of the whole system, the current work focuses on data retrieval and the semantics preprocessing framework that will be the basis of the final implementation. The ultimate goal of this project is to implement a whole system that will utilize data retrieved from news media organizations, social media, and mobile journalists to provide alerts, geolocation inference, and flight planning.