August 2017 – Croixstone

What’s Happening in the Financial Services Sector?

Those of us who live in the Queen City know that Charlotte is the third-largest banking center behind New York City and San Francisco. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, the Charlotte region is home to 16 banking institutions with $2.27 trillion in total assets. So, what’s happening in the USA’s financial services sector overall?

Learn about the future of Financial Services here.

How are tech trends and FinTech affecting the Financial Services industry? Learn how here.

Are technology firms the next Financial Services providers? Let’s see what Forbes thinks here.

Finally, learn about the third way of innovation (AI and machine learning) in Financial Services here.

The Growth of Coworking

The Queen City is continuing to see the growth of coworking space. The coworking concept, paying for access to private and shared workspace, was initially fueled by the rise in mobile technology and the gig economy. More recently, the coworking trend expanded in the corporate and commercial real estate market, with more than one million people worldwide expected to be working in coworking spaces by the end of 2017.

Coworking spaces come in all shapes and sizes and represent the antithesis of yesterday’s corporate offices. With an estimated 14,000 spaces around the world, the spaces are shared by corporate teams, small businesses, tech workers, creatives, entrepreneurs, and more who are looking for the flexibility to be able to expand and add office space as they grow.

Learn more about the coworking trend below:

How Microsoft’s Acquisition of LinkedIn Affects You!

Last year, Microsoft purchased LinkedIn, the world’s largest networking and job search platform, for $26 billion. LinkedIn now has more than 500 million members, and its job platform hit a record 10 million jobs posted. Why did Microsoft buy LinkedIn? LinkedIn provides Microsoft with vast data to fuel its machine learning and business intelligence strategies.

Learn about the benefits of the Microsoft/LinkedIn acquisition here.

Coming soon, a new version of LinkIn’s app that will match you up with a mentor…read about it here.

Dive deeper into LinkedIn’s newer features here.

Ideas Worth Spreading…TEDxCharlotte

With TEDxCharlotte taking place in little over 2 months on October 13th, this is a great time to listen to a TED Talk. TED began in 1984 as a conference resulting from Richard Saul Wurman‘s observation of the convergence among three fields: Technology, Entertainment and Design. Today TED Conferences, TED Talks, TEDx events, TED-ED and many other variations of TED continue to share “ideas worth spreading” (the TED mission).

Learn about the history of TED through a Q&A with Chris Anderson, the Curator of TED, here.

Below are two of our favorite TED Talks:

Simon Sinek’s How Great Leaders Inspire Action (One of the most popular TED Talks ever)
Ric Elias’ 3 Things I Learned While My Plane Crashed (Co-Founder and CEO of Fort Mill-based Red Ventures)

Gaining the Competitive Edge Through Digitized Supply Chain

Just like everywhere else, digital transformation has impacted the optimization of supply chain efficiency. Advances include crewless ship operations, new warehouse automation breakthroughs with robots, development of autonomous-vehicle supply chains, advancements in 3D printing, and the emerging role of blockchain.

Learn more about how a digitized supply chain can give you a competitive edge here.

Demystify 3D printing and its disruption in industry here.

Your roadmap to a digital supply chain is here.