In the fifth of our 'On the Horizon' articles - a series of posts exploring future business and society trends - we explore Quantum Computing and the potential impact on business and society.

​Denis Yordanov

Throughout the 'On the Horizon' series so far, we have looked at various technologies and innovations that can have a profound impact on business and society. There is one thread that runs through the four topics mentioned so far (self-driving cars, blockchain, industry 4.0, and AI) that serves as the foundation for those innovation, without which they would have been impossible, and that is computing. Computers have arguably shaped and reshaped our way of life in the last 20 years more than anything else has in that period of time. They are at the core of so many aspects of our lives that listing them will be pointless. Given the direction of development it stands to reason that the role computers play in our lives will continue to grow in the future. It's all possible because of computing.

​Computing can essentially be broken down to mathematical problems. Every action that a person executes at a computer is interpreted and resolved as maths problems by the computer. Traditional computers understand and store information through transistors, which can be either on or off. In programs this is represented by 'bits', which can be either 1 or 0. Simply put, 'the language' of our current computers is comprised of series of bits that are either 1s and 0s.  However, if those transistors are reduced to extremely small sizes they begin to exhibit quantum physics effects, such as 'superposition'. 'Superposition' means that those bits can be both 1 and 0 at the same time, and in such state are called qubits. How is it possible for a qubit to be a 1 and a 0 at the same time? No one really knows definitively. But the implications of this 'superposition' state for computational power are astounding. If one qubit can store both 1 and 0 at the same time, then two qubits can store four values, three qubits can have six values, and so on, resulting in computing power ramping up exponentially. 

The idea of quantum computing and the value that it holds have been around for a while. But more recently some organisations have been successful in reaching the elusive quantum computing state and have begun to harness its power. For example, IBM announced that it now offers free public access to its cloud-based 5 qubit quantum computer IBM Q, and also has plans to offer ~50 qubits systems commercially. Another example is D-Wave's quantum computer that Google and NASA have been testing since 2013.

 How might Quantum Computing impact business and society?

More than 1 trillion unique devices are connected to the Internet and used by consumers for various tasks, ranging from paying bills online to communicating with other people. As digital becomes even more ingrained in our lives, the importance of cyber security grows exponentially. The privacy and protection of our data is currently based on traditional cryptography, which is the practice and study of information protection. Quantum computing presents a serious challenge for cyber security. The overwhelming computational abilities of quantum computers could potentially quickly unravel most of the encryption methods used today, making the current cryptography practices and standards obsolete and exposing valuable and sensitive information. Clearly, both businesses and customers can become vulnerable in such a scenario. However, there is good news as well. Research into post-quantum cryptography is underway and quantum computing presents an opportunity to improve existing cyber security practices. For example, USA's National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) and the European project PQCRYPTO are working on post-quantum algorithms aimed at solving the threat of quantum computing to tradition encryption.

The computational power of quantum computers could also be applied to medicine, chemistry, and pharmaceuticals. Quantum computing could help scientists to map the proteins the DNA codes for, providing more information about the human biology. Furthermore, D-Wave have also put their quantum computer to the task of analyzing entire genomes, which might make the case that quantum computing can help in the provision of better and more accurate therapies to patients. Quantum computing might also be used for improved drug discovery. It can facilitate innovation by helping researchers to simulate entire human bodies and generations to explore the effects of drugs in development, thus exponentially accelerating the drug discovery process. These complex drug interactions are currently not easily simulated or observed with the contemporary traditional computers. Based on what we currently know about quantum computing it seems that the medicine and pharmaceutical industries might stand to benefit tremendously from it, and by proxy so will the patients.

From solving logistics problem, such as route and cost optimisation, to financial portfolio analysis and maximising profits, quantum computing's promise of faster and better results for businesses is something to be paid attention to. Although still quite early in development to make any concrete predictions, quantum computers will undoubtedly be one of the technological innovations that have the potential to disrupt our lives in a profound way.

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A strong brand strategy lets you influence how your company is perceived in the outside world. New businesses who spend the time crafting their brand strategy from the outset have a distinct advantage over the rest. 

​Starting a new business is exciting; there’s no doubt about it. But it’s easy to get carried away with the ‘rush to market’ and lots of businesses miss out on valuable time spent at the outset developing a solid brand strategy. And by that I don’t just mean the visual representation of brand, such as your logo, and the colours you use on your website. Your brand identity is much more than that. Here's one of my favourite answers to the question 'What is brand?':

'Brand' is the entire picture of your company as perceived by everyone who interacts with you - either directly or indirectly. Pinpointing your brand strategy – what you stand for, your core message and your vision – is crucial.  Great brands have the power to make people desire, trust and place a value on their services. They are managed carefully to ensure that the core message and values of the company is conveyed through everything they do and is simple, clear and consistent across every touchpoint. Clarifying this information from the very outset can save a lot of time and effort further down the line. A stable brand is your anchor, that should act as a constant reminder to your customers and employees of what your company stands for. If you want to achieve your business goals you need to define your brand strategy clearly.

Where to start?
 
Did you name your business and start sketching your logo from the moment your business idea took hold? Stop a minute…. Before you go anywhere near logo design, naming or tone of voice, there are some crucial components you need to get straight first. Ascertaining these will make all of the foregoing far easier to create, and far more relevant. It will also make the final product closer to your vision, and truly reflective of what makes your business tick.
 
Be clear in your mind about exactly who you want your brand to be - I like to think of brands as people. What are they like? Who are their friends and network (think customers/supporters)? What do they sound like? What do they stand for – and what do they stand against?  I describe this as figuring out what your brand is INSIDE before unleashing yourself to the OUTSIDE.
 
What defines a brand?

• Mission: what does your company stand for? What's the core message that you want to express to the world?
• Values: what do you care about? What are your beliefs?
• Customers: who are you trying to resonate with? What do they care about? What are their goals?
• Products: What do you offer your customers to improve their lives?
• Behaviours: how do you conduct yourself?
• Culture: what does it feel like to work there?  Who are the people that represent your business?
• Competitive Edge: what makes you different from the rest? How do you stand out?
• Experience: how will your customers work with you and use your products/services?
• Channels: where will you conduct your business and where can people find you and interact with you? 

Take some time to really explore these facets of your business. Do all of these areas align to your core message? And if not; why? What needs to change to ensure that they do? The time you put in at this stage of the planning process is time well spent. It’s far easier to design your brand with a blank canvas than it is to attempt this feat further down the line. People tend to be good at imagining things but not so good at reimagining them. 

Creating Your Visual Brand Identity
 
OK, so now you’ve done your homework and laid out your strategy (the what and the why – your core message) – it’s time to work out how to bring it life . What will your brand look, feel and sound like?

• Name: what are you going to call yourself and what associations does this name elicit?
• Logo: what icon, colours and typeface will you use, and how will these be perceived?
• Style: what identifiers, aside from your logo, will you have, such as imagery, site design and typography?
• Tone: how do you want to sound – cool and hip? Wise and experienced? Corporate and classy?

 
If you’re not a designer, outsourcing your visual brand is something you can and should do. A word of warning  - vague, incomplete or generic briefing is dangerous and could waste you money, resulting in a number of false starts.
So before you start, think. Do your research, outline your strategy, study your competitors, identify what drives you and forecast your future. If your business plays out the way you imagine it should, will the same branding still fit your company five years from now?
 
This might seem like a lot to factor in when you’re probably more concerned with getting your business off the ground. But take it from me, when it comes to devising marketing campaigns, pitching to investors and presenting to industry leaders further down the line, you’ll be grateful you nailed your brand strategy before so much as a Photoshop logo was mocked up.
 
One of the things we love to do at This is Milk is help companies articulate and visualise their brand. Before we delve into plotting social media strategy, re-marketing campaigns, web design and umpteen other tasks, branding is the first thing we look at.
 
Struggling to define your brand? Get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.

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In the fourth of our 'On the Horizon' articles - a series of posts exploring future business and society trends - we investigate Artificial Intelligence and the possible implications for business and people

One of the most sophisticated structures that humanity has at its disposal - if not THE most sophisticated one - is the human brain. The computational power and decision-making capabilities of the human brain haven't been matched by neither other life forms nor by machines. So far. Recent technological advances should make us wonder if this will be the case for much longer. One of those advances that really stands out and is becoming ever more popular is Artificial Intelligence (AI). And for good reason. AI has the potential to be the apex technology of our age. The future opportunities it can bring to business and society to significantly disrupt the status quo and change our lives are exciting and perhaps a bit scary.
​
The term 'Artificial Intelligence' has become quite mainstream in the last few years but the concept of AI is older and goes back a few decades. At its core, Artificial Intelligence can be described as the ability of machines to exhibit intelligence and to undertake cognitive tasks usually associated with the human brain, such as learning, problem-solving and decision-making. Even though Artificial Intelligence has been around for a while, we have begun to tap into the power of AI only recently. Better algorithms that allow computers to learn from available data without being explicitly programmed to do so (Machine Learning), Big Data, and increased computational power are just some of the recent technological advances that have facilitated the rapid spread of AI.

According to Accenture's research 85% of the executives that responded have plans to invest heavily into Artificial Intelligence and AI-related technologies over the next three years, with 79% believing that AI can help with organisational adoption of technology. Undoubtedly, Artificial Intelligence is an interesting and complex topic and clearly business and technological leaders consider it as an important future factor.

How might Artificial Intelligence impact business and society?

In the short term

Artificial Intelligence is not a thing of the future, it's here now. The AI that we interact with today is known as 'weak' AI and usually has a narrow task. For example, Facebook's face and image recognition and Spotify's discovery playlists are cases of AI that are already being used successfully by organisations to improve their services. In the short term we can expect to see further spread of AI in other organisations.

In the near future, AI might play an even more important role in marketing and user experience. As AI improves, human interactions with AI will become more natural and common. Artificial Intelligence will be able to produce and personalise content for customers by using analytics and machine learning to predict what type of content gains the best traction with consumers. Furthermore, in the future, it might be the case that customers will predominantly interact with AI rather than with people from the organisation. This presents the benefits of standardisation of interactions, and due to AI's learning and decision-making abilities, also the benefits of tailoring interactions to different customers. Think how consistent the customer experience in most cases would be if it was not dependent on whether the employee was having a good or a bad day. Artificial Intelligence can deliver 100% consistent brand experience and can do so with multiple customers at the same time, ultimately improving the customer experience for consumers and driving costs down for businesses. We are seeing the first steps towards this in the likes of Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa but the end goal reaches much further than that.

​Artificial Intelligence might also become a central asset in several huge industries. One of the most obvious being self-driving cars, which we explored in ourfirst 'On the Horizon' blog post. Another one is healthcare. For example, IBM Watson has been involved in cancer research and treatments.
 

​Traditionally, in order to be on top of up-to-date treatments and results, doctors have to read and analyse hundreds of scientific papers. Given that each day, roughly 8,000 medical journals are published, the task of reading them all becomes impossible for any doctor. But not for AI. Watson was able to read 25 million medical papers in one week and provide the doctors with a complete list of everything they needed to know. As AI develops, the same methodology can be applied to other medical fields, providing doctors with latest information and enabling them to make better decisions.

Something similar is happening in the financial industry as well. For example, financial services firm JPMorgan Chase & Co introduced its COIN software, short for Contract Intelligence, that reads and interprets commercial-loan contracts. The result? In a year, the company saved 360,00 work hours by lawyers. Jobs that involve lots of routine tasks reading and analysing information are under direct threat of being made obsolete by Artificial Intelligence.

​In the long term

In the long term no industry is safe. The strive for 'strong' Artificial Intelligence will mean that AI will be able to outperform humans in nearly all cognitive tasks. 'Thinking' and 'creative' jobs will be affected as well. Gathering and analysing data, as well as recommending and making decisions based on the results, will probably become AI territory.

​Some disruptive results might be the pressing need for extensive job redesigns and putting plans in place to retrain the redundant workforce into new roles and reduce unemployment. Another implication for society might be the need to re-evaluate current understanding of jobs and work, as well as the place of humans in production and consumption. So what's left for people? Emotional Intelligence seems to be a popular answer since humans are able to understand, persuade, and empathise with other humans.

One thing is clear. Technological progress has and will continue to improve our lives in various ways, so fighting against is not only counterproductive but also pointless. Instead, we might be better off trying to understand and embrace it, and ensure that technology is for the people, rather than in spite of them. I'll leave you with a song in the style of the Beatles, the melody for which was composed by Sony's AI.

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