In the wake of President Bidens State of the Union Address, much of the focus was on the political division in Congress, and whether a Republican-controlled House will go after Social Security. Biden also covered a gamut of other crucial issues, including one I have focused on for years: paid leave for caregivers. 

Lets make sure working parents can afford to raise a family with sick days, paid family medical leave, affordable childcare, the president said. Thats going to enable millions more people to go and stay at work.

On paid leave, there may be reasons for hope. There has long been a great chasm between what Americans want and what the federal government gets done in this respect. Numerous surveys show large majorities of Americans support paid leave across political lines. In one survey, 90% of Democrats expressed support. Another survey found that 62% of Republican women and 56% of Republican men support parental leave.

Despite all this, Congress has failed to act. Most recently, Democrats tried to get paid leave established through the Inflation Reduction Act but ended up having to abandon this measure, along with some others, in order to win passage.

A new political landscape

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, some Republicans began working to win over voters on issues involving support for families, the Washington Post reported. Then came the midterm elections, a major disappointment for Republicans as the red wave failed to materialize.

The GOP has the incentive to show voters that it is ready to act on issues that make a difference in their livesand deliver tangible results. And given the narrow GOP majority in the House, it would not take many Republicans in the chamber to support paid leave for a bill to advance to the Senate, where the bill might win passage this time, with a larger Democratic majority than in the previous Congress.

Recent months showed that support for modern families can bring Democrats and Republicans together in Washington. Fearful that the Supreme Court might overturn the decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, lawmakers put forward a bill to codify such marriages into law. Twelve Republicans joined all the Democrats to pass the bill.

While same-sex marriage is very popular, with 71% of Americans supporting it, support for paid leave is even higher. Its especially popular among women, who played a major role in Democrats midterm victories. The GOP needs to win over women.

However, its also crucial to recognize that paid parental leave is not just a womens issue. Its an issue for all parents and for everyone who understands the importance of caregiving, including men and fathers.

Research has shown that fathers want more time at home to care for their children. Some 79% of U.S. fathers said they would do anything to have more time at home to care for their children, a survey by Equimundo (formerly known as Promundo) and Dove Men+Care found. Financial pressures and social stigmas prevent men from taking time to care for their children. (I partner with the brand to advocate for parental leave through legislative and cultural change, including the Pledge for Paternity Leave.)

In writing my book All In, I found that these problems often make it impossible for men to take paternity leave, even when its available to them. Public paid leave programs go a long way in fixing this. Covered by small payroll deductions, they create a fund that pays parents when they need the time off. As a result, people stay in the workforce, productivity and corporate profits go up, the economy grows, and theres more equity at homewith more parents taking time for caregiving regardless of their gender.

This explains why states have been passing their own paid leave laws, with bipartisan support. Its time to make this policy a reality nationwide.

As lawmakers look ahead to 2023, they need to think hard about deliverables. Americans have made clear that they care about paid leave. Anyone who takes action to make it happen Democratic or Republicanwill reap the rewards in 2024.

Its up to all of us to end Americas status as the only developed nation that does not ensure that when a baby is born, they have a parent at home for at least a block of weeks. Only paid leave can achieve that.

Josh Levs is the author of All In and a business consultant changing the role of men in gender equality efforts.

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.

More must-read commentary published by Fortune:

Learn how to navigate and strengthen trust in your business with The Trust Factor, a weekly newsletter examining what leaders need to succeed. Sign up here.

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, ChatGPTthese advanced technologies are becoming part of the conversation about the future of business. But what are CFOs saying?

To find out, I had a chat with Alexander Bant, chief of research for CFOs at consulting firm Gartner (NYSE: IT). Finance chiefs know that autonomous A.I. applications are an inevitable part of their future, Bant says. But only a third of finance teams who Gartner spoke with are experimenting with or implementing A.I. this year, he says. CFOs are on a five-year roadmap to see returns from their artificial intelligence investments in finance, he says.

A big thing holding finance teams back? Finance professionals dont fully trust A.I. A lot of finance teams are experimenting with it, Bant explains. Theres still a lot of old school, traditional thinking, of running models and having a constant verification process, Bant says. And that holds finance teams back from unlocking the actual benefits of artificial intelligence, he says.

Building that trust will take time. It may take a continuous feedback loop, where youre iterating and experimenting with A.I., Bant says. Another piece is having the right talent to understand the A.I. applications. A recent Gartner survey found only 10% of finance departments can attract A.I. talent that CFOs believe they need, he says.

ChatGPT, an example of generative A.I., is a chatbot launched by OpenAI in November. It can answer questions and write everything from complex computer code to an essay on best gardening practices to a legal brief. But it will be a while before CFOs reach a trust level with something like ChatGPT, Bant says. Right now, the data is based solely on historical records, and not necessarily certified, he says. Mira Murati, chief technology officer at OpenAI, told Time in an interview released last week that regulators will need to get involved with ChatGPT and govern the use of A.I. in a way thats aligned with human values.

So are there any areas where CFOs and their teams are leaning into A.I.?

Accounting processes like travel and expense (T&E) reporting, Bant says. In the process of T&E, they can apply [A.I.] to a set of data to find savings opportunities and flag risks, he says. Finance teams also feel more comfortable using A.I.-driven forecasting models in the financial planning and analysis (FP&A) space, like cash flow forecasting, Bant says. They can actually be predictive and offer more accuracy, speed, and explanations behind how theyre planning, he says. And thats of big interest, especially in this volatile economic environment, he says.

Over time, in the accounting components of finance and transaction processing, there will most likely be a reduction in headcount due to the application of robotics, machine learning, and A.I., Bant says. On the other hand, FP&A teams will hire more staff, not only to implement A.I. but then use a lot of the insights that will come out of the artificial intelligence in order to guide and steer the business, he says.

But to fully unlock the benefits of A.I., Our research really shows that the mindset of the entire finance function needs to change, Bant says. There are four ways leading organizations do this, he says:

Hire individuals with A.I. technology experience for specific roles. For example, statistics, programming, and business process understanding around A.I. Companies that hire new employees with these advanced skills are more likely to become leading A.I. finance organizations, according to Gartner.

Use software to experiment with A.I. Also make sure any outsourcing firms or consulting firms that youre working with have a roadmap for A.I. and are making strong investments in those areas.

When you experiment with A.I., run more broad experiments across the finance function, which is what top finance A.I. organizations do. A lot of companies, especially in this environment, are being conservative in the technology experimentation that theyre doing, Bant says.

Choose the right person to head A.I. deployments, like the head of FP&A or finance analytics. This leader would also need to emphasize to the organization the A.I. journey. That practice may include discussing it during new hire orientation or even in town halls, for example.

Although trust is an issue right now, A.I. will seemingly find a permanent place in risk-averse finance teams.

See you tomorrow.

Sheryl Estrada
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Big deal

A new Gallup report finds that, on average, half of Americans surveyed say they're worse off financially than a year ago, the highest percentage since 2009. Sixty-one percent of lower-income Americans say their financial situation has deteriorated over the past year, while 26% say it has improved. Middle- and upper-income Americans are also more likely to say they are worse off than better off, but by much narrower margins than seen among the lower-income group.

Courtesy of Gallup

Going deeper

There's many people who have workplace Valentines. A new survey from the Society for Human Resource Management found that out of U.S. workers who are currently in a workplace romance or have been in one before, more than half (57%) said love was their primary motivation for beginning their romance, while only 1% said it was job-related. About 2 in 5 U.S. workers know of someone who is currently in a workplace romance or who has been in one before, according to the report. 

Leaderboard

Kelyn Brannon was named CFO at DigitalReef, a technology company. Brannon has served as EVP, CEO, and CFO of a variety of national and international companies. She was the first chief accounting officer, VP of finance, and International CFO at Amazon.com. As part of the executive team, Brannon will play a leadership role in developing and implementing the companys corporate vision. She will also be responsible for all DigitalReefs financial, compliance, audit, and investor relations teams.

Sarah OConnor was named SVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Rocky Brands, Inc. (Nasdaq: RCKY), a designer and manufacturer of footwear and apparel. Before joining Rocky Brands, OConnor served as director, and later as VP of financial planning and analysis and treasurer at MedVet. Before MedVet, OConnor held the role of treasury lead at Columbia Pipeline Group ahead of its acquisition in 2016. Previously, she held various finance and treasury roles at L Brands, the former parent company to leading retail brands including Victorias Secret and Bath & Body Works.

Overheard

The good news with Valentines Day is that there are so many creative things you can do that dont cost you any money that can be a really big hit."

LendingTrees chief credit analyst Matt Schulz told CNBC. 

In countries around the world, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are poised to change the way average citizens use money. In the coming decade, billions of people are likely to use CBDCsa new type of currency run on a centralized ledgerto do everything from pay taxes to buy groceries to receive welfare checks.

Once seen as a technology of the future, CBDCsalong with other digital payment innovationsgarnered new attention during the pandemic as governments explored how they might better exchange money with banks and consumers. But unlike Bitcoin and other private cryptocurrencies that promote ideals of decentralization, CBDCs are intended to leave the state very much in control.

Already, the U.S. is moving forward with tests of CBDCs, the UK is hiring a Head of Central Bank Digital Currency and testing out a digital pound, and China has launched its version of CBDCs in the real world. We are closer than ever to a world of centralized digital currencies reshaping the financial sector. This raises the question of whether we are entering a new era of financial efficiency or, as critics fear, one of dystopian surveillance. 

What is a CBDC? And who is creating them?

A CBDC is a new form of digital currency created, issued, and controlled by a central bank such as The Federal Reserve. 

Digital payments that we use today (i.e. Venmo, CashApp, etc.) are typically a liability of the institution providing the accountoften utilizing commercial bankswhereas CBDCs are directly a liability of the central bank, not too dissimilar from physical cash. However, unlike cash, CBDCs equip the central bank with more direct tools to monitor and control the economy.

Its helpful to realize that, in discussions of CBDCs, there are two proposed uses: retail and wholesale. The latter is simply an improvement on the current system that enables banks to send money to each otherwhich shouldnt affect the average citizen much. On the other hand, CBDCs in the case of retail entail ordinary consumers interacting directly with a central bank ledger to conduct everyday transactions. This offers the potential for cheaper and faster payments, including for things like government stimulus or social programs, but also poses new types of risks.

The most obvious of these risks relates to privacy. At a time when public confidence in government and institutions is at an ebb worldwide, there are legitimate fears that authorities may use CBDCs for new forms of surveillance and control. 

Central banks could freeze the accounts of actors opposing the countrys agendasuch as when Canada froze the accounts of protesting truckers. Or even prevent you from purchasing junk food if they deem your diet to be too unhealthy.

Nonetheless, 114 countrieswhich represent 95% of global GDPare exploring a CBDC (according to Atlantic Council). Of those 114, 57% are in the research or development stage, 16% are piloting, and 10% have launched their CBDC.

While the U.S. and Europe are still exploring the potential deployment of CBDCs, China, and India have already deployed their own versions in the real economy, while Nigeria and Jamaica have likewise launched projects of their own.

The reason we are seeing diverging approaches on CBDCs is due to each country considering its own unique country context, economic model, and social constructs when seeking to advance a CBDC, Gabriella Kusz, CEO of the Global Digital Asset and Cryptocurrency Association said. 

While each country has its unique societal challenges, every major power wants to at least dip its toes into the waters of digital currency due to the fear of being left behind.

You could call it FOMO or you could call it geopolitics, Kusz told Fortune. Some of this is about positioning, ensuring that they are included in where the world is going.

Are CBDCs too dangerous?

The idea of central banks using programmable currency to flex control over how citizens spend their money feels dystopian. But not all CBDCs will have such limitless capabilities.

Johnathan McCollum is at the forefront of efforts to create a CBDC in the U.S. As Chair of Federal Government Relations for Davidoff Hutcher & Citron, McCollum works closely with members of Congress to help amend federal laws for America to move towards a safe digital currency.

Privacy is a primary concern here in the U.S., McCollum told Fortune. I think a lot of those things are really spelled out in our financial laws. There are protections for individuals that need to be transferred if we move forward to a digital form of money.

He specifically points to the protections laid out in the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 to be applied to digital currency.

People dont want the government to look at their banking information and their transactions, McCollum said. I think that its important that we use intermediaries, so a CBDC would function in the same way that cash does through commercial banks and different payment providers.

In authoritarian China, meanwhile, there are unsurprisingly fewer concerns about privacy.

Zennon Kapron, director at Kapronasia, has been focused on helping organizations strategize around the implementation of CBDCs in Asia. Hes seen how the pilot of Chinas e-CNY has been received by the public.

In a place like China, where privacy protections havent always been there, theres probably been a little bit more acceptance that the government is going to look at [your] transactions. Kapron told Fortune, but in many markets, thats not the case.

Another complaint about CBDCs is the level of IT literacy that may be required to use this new financial system. However, governments are adapting to their populations abilities to spur adoption.

In the case of Chinas e-CNY, the mobile app will allow you to pay for transactions via QR codea similar system to AliPay which has 1.2 billion Chinese users. A card payment system is now also being trialed, which works like contactless debit cards, with the potential to merge with national IDs in the future.

One of the biggest challenges was user habits. Theyve tried the carrot approach, in pilot areas, where they had lotteries for people that were using it, Kapron said. Eventually, to really get the long tail of people adopting CBDCs, itll have to be the stick to move people over. China is in a good position to do that, theyll tell people this is the future, were eliminating cash, and you must use your ID.

The U.S. doesnt have the same history of digital finance and combined with the nations skepticism of CBDCs due to privacy concerns, the transition wont be so smooth. 

CBDCs have the potential to escalate privacy, control, and tech adoption issues but there are workarounds for it. The technology isnt inherently evil but do we trust our central banks to not take advantage of this opportunity?

To me, theres a question of who should be making the decisions about currency? And historically, people made pretty independent decisions about what currencies to use, Christopher Anoma, co-founder of Anoma, told Fortune. Recently weve moved to a world where control over issue and surveillance of payments is more and more centralized. Not only is it sort of concerning, but its also kind of incompatible with democracy.

Anoma, who is well-known for developing the communication protocol behind Cosmos (IBC), suggests that democracy isnt legitimized by our electoral votes every four years but by our everyday choices to support different businesses, currencies, etc.

When CBDCs are rolled out, be conscious that your use of them is a vote of confidence for the new standard of digital currency. If you arent more aware of where you place your votes, our financial democracy could end up being a financial dictatorship controlled by our central banks.

A shiny new car in the driveway has been an emblem of middle-class prosperity for generations. But for the typical American family, its now a distant dream.

The average monthly payment for a new car has soared to a record $777, nearly doubling from late 2019, according to Kelley Blue Book owner Cox Automotive. Thats almost a sixth of the median after-tax income for US households. Even used models have climbed to $544 a month on average. 

The sticker shock extends well beyond the US, where inflation is a thorny a political issue for President Joe Biden as the 2024 election looms. In Europe, prices are flirting with records. Used-car prices soared in Japan last year, and in China, a rapid push to electric vehicles means consumers will have to pay more in some cities.

At the root of the problem is automakers new mantra: Keep inventory lean and price tags fat. Three years after the pandemic triggered a global shortage of semiconductor chips and crippled car manufacturing, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and their overseas rivals are notching big profits. Even as the chip crunch shows signs of easing, theyre pledging to keep production in check. 

And because electric vehicles cost about 25% more than the average car, the shift to plug-ins is about to make the affordability crisis even worse. Add soaring interest rates to the mix, and new cars like home ownership and a college education are fast becoming the domain of the rich. 

The idea of a new car in every Americans driveway is not the world we live in, said Charlie Chesbrough, a senior economist at Cox.

Sky-High Payments

For a decade, the average new-car payment in the US bumped along at roughly $400 a month. Thats about as much as the typical American household can shell out and still meet other major expenses, said Jonathan Smoke, chief economist at Cox. But it crossed that mark in November 2019 and has been soaring ever since.

The average price for a new vehicle in the US has jumped to almost $50,000, up 30% since 2019, according to JPMorgan. Though prices have retreated somewhat in recent weeks as production recovers, the pullback isnt enough for most consumers to comfortably buy a new car. The average price of a used car, meanwhile, now stands at about $27,000, Cox data show. 

Manufacturers are reaping the benefits of selling fewer but more expensive cars. Last year, automakers sold about 13 million vehicles in the US, down 8% from 2021 and the lowest in a decade. But Fords gross profit rose 4.4% in 2022 from a year earlier, while GMs adjusted earnings grew by about $200 million to reach $14.5 billion. Margins for some manufacturers are expected to narrow this year amid global economic weakness.

In Europe, meanwhile, new-car prices are at all-time highs and still climbing, according to data from ING Research. Vehicle shortages drove used-car prices up in Japan through most of last year. Chinas economic slump has kept prices at bay, but major cities are making it difficult to register internal-combustion vehicles amid a push toward EVs, which tend to be more expensive.

Keeping Inventories Low

Its a sea change from the business model that defined car manufacturing for decades: Run plants at full tilt and then use deep discounts to move the metal. In the US, automakers customarily carried 60 to 100 days of inventory. These days, manufacturers are targeting about half that much to lower overheads and keep prices high.

Well never go back to the inventory levels that we were at in the past, GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra told investors last year.

Her rival, Ford CEO Jim Farley, has said he doesnt want to pay for billions of dollars in inventory or offer discounts and other incentives to offload it. Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. have vowed to attempt the same strategy.

Youre not going to see most manufacturers go back to where it was three or four years ago, Judy Wheeler, vice president of US vehicle sales for Nissan, said in an interview. Well keep that supply and demand in a level state.

There are some signs, though, that consumer pain will ease slightly as supply-chain snarls abate. Ford Chief Financial Officer John Lawler said this month that he expects new-car prices to fall 5% in 2023 as automakers dial up the discounts, while Nissans Wheeler predicted prices will drop toward a more normal level. Tesla Inc. and Ford slashed prices on electric vehicles.

Short-Lived Relief

Dealers are skeptical that automakers will keep inventories in check, said Rhett Ricart, whose Columbus, Ohio-based Ricart Automotive Group is a major dealer of Ford, Nissan and Chevrolet models. 

They all talk about 30 to 45 days supply of cars. They wont do it, Ricart said in an interview. These chips arent a big issue any more. Car wars is back.

But any recovery in supply is likely to happen in fits and starts. Barra and Jack Hollis, executive vice president of sales for Toyota Motor North America, see the industry getting enough chips to sell 15 million vehicles in the US this year, which is about 12% below where sales were three years ago. Hollis said there could be more than 4 million vehicles worth of pent-up demand from the chip shortage, keeping prices from falling fast.

We will have another year with a supply-constrained sales number, Hollis said. Prices keep rising. Its clear that demand is still outstripping supply.

For used cars, Coxs Smoke sees prices falling only 4% this year, in part because automakers have not been leasing as much. That translates to fewer recent-model cars coming back to market. 

Sercy Sanders has been riding the bus in Pittsburgh ever since the transmission blew on his 2006 Acura TL in early January. When the cost of repairing it was more than the car was worth, Sanders got pre-approved for a loan from his credit union and set out to find a 2016 Honda Accord for under $17,000. But he found nothing for less than $19,000 and now is looking at models that are over a decade old. 

Thats just the way it may have to be if I want to stay in my price range and not have too high a monthly car bill, said Sanders, 48, a customer service representative and single dad of two high schoolers. Its very frustrating. I wanted a newer vehicle that I felt would be more reliable. With an older used car, you just never know what youre going to get.

And for those looking for a new car at a budget price, the options are limited. Domestic automakers stopped building compact cars in the US because they couldnt make money on them. 

The dearth of cheaper models means more new cars are being snapped up by affluent consumers. Nearly 30% of the market is from households with annual income of more than $150,000, up from 22% in 2016, said Mark Wakefield, managing director at consulting firm AlixPartners. 

Youve seen a move to more wealthy people buying cars, Wakefield said. The bottom part of the market sort of fell out.

The burden of constraints on any business team trying to leverage data to drive business impact has never been greater. While the ongoing threat of cookie deprecation has sent the advertising industry reeling, theyre far from the only sector impacted. From finance to e-commerce, increasing demands for transparency from digitally savvy consumers have evolved legislation from HIPPA to GDPR to set a high bar for customer protection, which has led to limitations.

Few fields have had to evolve as publicly as martech, where high-volume conversion and data-driven personalization have become table stakes, and data-wise millennial and Gen Z consumers have made demands for transparency central to the conversation about ad-supported media, from addressable TV to Instagram.

The marketing ecosystem, never short on ideas, is abuzz with proposed solutions and workarounds. Platforms across the ecosystem are creating their own alternate identifiers to replace cookies, though time will tell if these may follow the same fate. Others are relying solely on the targeting abilities of their programmatic networks, then struggling to tie third-party reporting to their first party-data. None of these solutions, however, show as much promise for collaborationor as much cross-functional business opportunityas clean rooms.

Choose your privacy-safe, data-driven adventure

As companies navigate todays tough economic and regulatory business environment, unlocking customer intelligence in a privacy-safe manner may be the key to survival. With access to data, businesses can really get to know their customer, reach them, and impact outcomesincluding the ever more aggressive business goals for revenue, customer acquisition, and retention that any chief revenue officer faces.

Companies often sit on a good deal of proprietary, first-party data, but they need to fill in gaps to make it actionable. Today, figuring out a safe way to do that can take months of meetings with a dozen experts across legal, data, and compliance teams every time you need to share data. But once its in a clean room in the cloud, that red tape can go away, allowing teams to enrich, segment, and deploy their data knowing their customers personal identifiable information is safe.

Even at companies with access to clean room technology, it is only widely used by data scientists, who query it via SQL. Any other business teams must lean on data teams for any insights they need, creating bottlenecks and preventing scientists from doing higher-leverage work. However, with the new interoperability of large platforms, using clean rooms requires less heavy lifting on the back end. The goal? Data self-service on the user end as well.

With clean rooms, marketers can stop relying on walled gardens to make privacy-safe data actionable. Instead of drowning in spreadsheets trying to align siloed insights to other customer data, or proposing new data partners only to be rejected for fear of legal hassle, marketers can focus on what matters most to them: creating meaningful connections with their customers. Creative brainstorms will be unencumbered by data and legal constraints, and marketing strategies that were once a dream can now be free to drive revenue.

Unlocking the power of data is a critical element in a successful business strategy, and the regulation will only become more complicated with time. Investors will want to know how you plan to overcome the challenge. What are you doing now to test and learn? By doing nothing, businesses risk losing the data they will need to drive customer conversions, effectively expand their prospect funnels, and create efficient systems that drive business results.

Pros and cons of clean rooms

A data clean room is a specialized digital space designed to provide a secure and controlled environment for handling sensitive data and data collaboration. Inside the clean room, all data is carefully screened and any personally identifiable information is removed or anonymized, making the data safe to share and use in a way that is ethical, transparent, and compliant with relevant laws and regulations.

This is a game-changer for marketers, agencies, and media companies, whose diminishing access to and ability to monetize customer data has recently been seen as an existential threat to the advertising ecosystem as we know it.

However, the use of clean rooms is not limited to advertising. Every business function today is wary of using sensitive data incorrectly for fear that it could cost them their reputations and customers.

That may be why companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have chosen to invest in building clean rooms. The most recent announcement has come from Amazons cloud computing platform subsidiary, AWS, which recently launched AWS Clean Rooms to make privacy-safe collaboration easily available to the 1.45 million businesses who use its service.  

Companies need to collaborate, Adam Solomon, AWS Global Head of Data Collaboration & Interoperability Solutions, said in a recent interview.

Almost any company, no matter what business youre in, only has a sliver of data and you need partners to help round that out, Solomon said, but you need to do that in a privacy-enhanced manner.

The concept of clean rooms is by no means a new one. Companies like Snowflake and InfoSum have provided these spaces to those with data engineering skills for years.

What is new is the ability for other business teamsand smaller companies without strong data science armsto access insights. With the help of plug-and-play customer intelligence solutions offered in popular cloud platforms, actionable privacy-safe data can be unlocked for all parts of an organization for companies of all sizes. For example, AdPredictive is one of the early third-party intelligence platforms available in the new AWS clean rooma no-code solution we hope will allow more employees within organizations to access data for decision-making. This new interoperability is an important distinction from historical clean room offerings, which have been mostly siloed to either publisher-specific offerings or are limited in reach, usability, and marketer-friendly tools.

While providers like AWS, Google, and Microsofts Azure give marketers the ability to understand and deploy customer intelligence in a wider arc within the industry, this ease is not without a cost. Moving data to a clean room with one of the leading cloud providers further consolidates the reliance on these Big Three for tech and data enablement. This easy win may prevent some companies from building their own, independent tools (and in-house skill sets) to facilitate privacy-safe data collaboration, making industries like advertising, which is already heavily reliant on these providers, even more so.

Businesses who look will find plenty of other clean room options, whether they choose to work directly with media providers or invest in their own in-house solutions. The list of companies with clean room solutions ranges from ad tech platforms like LiveRamp to household-name media companies like Disney, NBCUniversal, and Roku. As more and more solutions emerge, businesses can be confident that they can finally mobilize their data again.

A key challenge to the integration of new technologieseven those with considerable promiseis setting new standards for best business practice. The existing standard will degrade no matter what. Will businesses be slow to invest in innovation and new solutions in an economy where theyre already strapped for workers, time, and resources? And how will they navigate clean room solutions, choosing from the big three and platform-specific options?

Business-friendly solutions are trying to remove at least one barrier: data engineering or coding skills are no longer necessary to query clean rooms. But the question is whether that will be enough.

All sides of the organization can benefit from access to user-friendly insights, fast, without leaning on Ph.D. colleagues for their data.

As this technology grows ever more accessible, its up to every business function to determine how they will navigate a new era of data privacy.

Kristin Frank is the CEO of AdPredictive.

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.

More must-read commentary published by Fortune:

When it comes to personal finance, simple tweaks in your day-to-day budget can add up quickly. Evaluating your spending realistically can enable you to plug the holes in your bank account you might not even be aware of and mindfully spend on experiences that enrich your life.

Start by looking back on the last three months of credit card and bank statements to see where your money has been going, explained Eden Financial advisor Nycole Freer. This information is a crucial starting point, and can help you build a plan that aligns with your goals and values. Tell your money where to go on purpose, instead of wondering where it went unconsciously, said Freer. 

These are the most common bank account drains that you might not realize are adding up, and what you can do to starting see your savings climb:

1. Watch out for sneaky renewing subscriptions

Subscription based services have skyrocketed in recent years, and now its not just Netflix that bills you monthly. These days a range of businesses use monthly subscription models. There are renewing monthly vitamin subscriptions, grocery subscriptions, and clothing subscriptions. 

Businesses know that people forget about subscriptions and they actually count on it, said Laurie Allen, an advisor at Law Wealth Management. I go through and cancel all my subscriptions regularly (even the ones I use) and only add them back if I feel like I really need them, Allen said. 

Looking at your credit card statements each month and spotting subscriptions you dont needor did not even didnt realize you were paying forcan go a long way in reducing excess spending.  Ive had clients paying for double gym memberships, Weight Watchers and other services they no longer utilize, and these can really add up, explained financial planner Michelle Petrowksi. I always start with Costco, Amazon and dining out when clients arent meeting savings goals. These so-called conveniences create black holes of spending, she added. 

2. FOMO can impact your wallet

The fear of missing out (FOMO) is a powerful force that can cause people to overspend on things they might not even fully be enjoying. Being conscious of the motivations for your spending can prevent you from wasting dollars on experiences or goods that you feel obligated to buy to fit in. When it comes to travel and dining out, FOMO can lead to [people] spending more money than they can afford, or using high-interest rate credit cards to fund their lifestyle without considering all the costs, explained Renee Collins, financial planner at Retire Ready. 

Eating meals out at restaurants can be particularly draining to your bank account, and often adds up to hundreds of dollars per month. Planning meals and grocery shopping regularly can prevent last minute Grubhub or Ubereats orders. 

3. Prioritize paying off high interest debt 

Credit card debt is a particularly vicious drain on your bank account, and getting ahead of the payments is a key way to avoid ending up with a huge bill to pay. With the dramatic rise in interest rates this past year, not paying off credit cards is particularly expensive, explained financial planner Chris Schiffer of Wealth Enhancement. 

Similarly, advisors warn against services that offer monthly payments with interest, even if it may seem more affordable. The thing that gets Gen Z and Millennials into trouble is thinking something is affordable because monthly payments are offered, which is such a trap when you break down the interest rates and length of time youre spending to pay it off, explained Nick A. Covyeau, advisor at Swell Financial Partners.  $300 doesnt seem like a lot today, but when you look at the power that same money has when invested properly and given decades to grow, its staggering, said Covyeau. 

4. Spend in alignment with your values and goals 

Advisors emphasized that encouraging their clients to shift their perspective goes a long way in helping people avoid impulse purchases and buyers remorse. Freer recommended evaluating and choosing the values you want to focus on, such as health, friendship, or community, and use them to reframe your perspective. Put your top 5 values somewhere you will see them daily so that when you go to spend money, you can ask yourself, Is it in alignment with my top 5 values?' Freer explained. She recommended an online quiz that can help you narrow down what values are most important to you.

Another tip that can help you save is keeping your eye on specific goals, like paying off student debt, saving for you first down payment, or going on a trip. Freer explained that writing down your goal and measuring your progress towards it can help motivate you and be proud of your progress.

5. Pay yourself first

Advisors emphasized that often some of the biggest losses young people take with money is missing out on opportunities to invest. Two common mistakes? Failing to take advantage of 401k matches or investing long-term funds like a 401k too conservatively. Young people have no business owning fixed income in a retirement account, explained Ralph Bender, advisor at Enduring Wealth. 

Setting up electronic automatic payments from your bank account to various savings accounts and investment portfolios is a great way to take the hassle out of investing. It is a simple matter to habitually pay yourself first by regularly using automatic electronic payments to a savings account, starting with 10% of gross income, said Ray Benton of Lincoln Financial Advisors. 

Learn how to navigate and strengthen trust in your business with The Trust Factor, a weekly newsletter examining what leaders need to succeed. Sign up here.

Nine sweet teas. Two packs of butter. Four sides of ketchup. A caramel sundae. These are among the extra items baffled customers have had added to their orders as fast food chain McDonalds continues to roll out its robot ordering system.

The restaurant giants A.I. venture has been a long time in the making. In 2021, it announced a joint venture with IBM to further accelerate the development of its Automated Order Taking (AOT) technology.

Some 14,000 sites are expected to get the technology, McDonalds CEO Chris Kempczinski has said, but some teething problems are already being raised by customers.

One video posted to TikTok by a user named Madilynn Cameron shows two women in a car driving up to one of the automatic screens. Attempting to buy a cup of ice cream and a bottle of water, the pair become increasingly bewildered as the A.I. continues to add unwanted items.

Cream packet? No! I just want a large water and a cup of ice cream. Not a ketchup packet! Oh my god, the customer exclaims to the botwhich can be heard asking questions in the background.

Where did the butter come from? I would just like a large water and a cup of ice cream, she laughs, showing viewers her order on the screen. A companion in the background is heard advising that perhaps the pair should just order inside the restaurant.

The pair drive away after the customer once again attempts to buy a cup of ice cream and is asked what toppings she would like. None, nothing, nada! she says, before sighing when a caramel sundae appears at the bottom of her order.

Other users have posted similar experiences. Three days ago, a video from Ren Adams shows a screenshot of an order with nine large sweet iced teas, a large Diet Coke and a hash brown.

She explains: This morning I tried to go to McDonalds and get my daily dose of caffeine and some breakfast. I was going to get a hash brown, a sweet tea and a coke. So I order and Im at the first drive-thru line and as I order a car pulls up to the second drive-thru line.

At this McDonalds its all robot, theres no person. So she [the robot] adds the Diet Coke from the next line to my screen. Tell me why when I tell the robot that I have no Diet Coke, for some reason, she took it off and made it nine sweet teas. Nine!

I did not ask for this. I pulled out of the drive-thru and drove away.

The videos have now been viewed tens of thousands of times. Commenters weighed in: And this is exactly why a person should take your order. Another added: I dont want to talk to anyone (including robots). I just order from the app. So much easier.

85% accuracy

McDonalds boss Kempczinski previously revealed positive feedback to AOT, saying restaurants using the technology were seeing 85% accuracy.  Speaking at Alliance Bernsteins Strategic Decisions conference in 2021, he added that at the time 10 locations in Chicago were using the technology and as a result staff were taking just 20% of orders.

He continued that the brand may also look to automate some of its kitchens such as fryer and grill station but added that even though it would be possible now, it wont come within the next five years.

McDonalds did not immediately respond when contacted by Fortune for comment.

Learn how to navigate and strengthen trust in your business with The Trust Factor, a weekly newsletter examining what leaders need to succeed. Sign up here.

More Articles ...

  1. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says his rambling 2-hour all-hands meeting about layoffs was a bad idea
  2. T-Mobile customers report outages across the U.S.
  3. Walmart to force hundreds of employees to relocate to keep jobs
  4. This year's Super Bowl was the third-most watched in historyand Rihanna's stunning half-time show did even better
Page 698 of 1160

Newspapers

Spinning loader

Breaking News, data & opinions in business, sports, entertainment, travel, lifestyle, plus much more. IdigNews.com is the leading news source for the internet  users...

           

Business

Entertainment

POST GALLERY