Strategic Foresight - Insights in Business and Technology

First, what I wrote about ABB's FY23 Results last year.     Update on ABB's Business  ABB's Acquisition Spree - Ongoing Tussle and Drivers Behind it.  My other post on NBN and its Economics

Australia Telecom Industry in Transition - From Four Pillar to Six Pillar Model  Australia Telecom Industry - Fixed Services  Australia Telecom Industry - Fixed Internet Ranking   Australia Telecom Industry - Mobile Services  Australia Telecom Industry - Mobile Internet Ranking   My previous post on the Global Telecom Industry Evolution to date.

 Generative AI - Where is The Growth?  The current state of the Gen AI industry shows that big tech companies, especially hyper scalers, dominate the scene. They are the primary drivers of innovation and growth, focused on achieving long-term sustainability by shifting their focus from selling computing to selling generic and specialised model services with higher margins.  This has led to increased interest from venture capitalists, resulting in numerous startups focused on selling model-based services and integrating with existing apps and services. The low barriers to entry make it easy for startups to grow in the short term, but sustainability is challenging without a unique proposition. Many startups will likely fail, with some being acquired by larger companies.  Software providers such as Salesforce, Oracle, and Workday are also integrating AI services, either by building or purchasing specialised services to defend and survive the industry changes. Future of ...

 Generative AI - Framework to Identify Use Case and Investment Application of Framework - Use Cases for Telecom Gen AI - Use Cases for Telecom

Palo Alto Networks - Leader in Cyber Security   Key Indicators  Market Cap – 73.07 Bn EV – 72.95 Bn Debt - $2.26Bn P/B – 41.79 (Goodwill from M&A)  P/E (Trailing) – 184.99 (Growth)  P/E (Forward) – 44.44 (Growth) Economic Moat: Wide (product, innovative)    Palo Alto Network provides network security solutions. The company's solution offerings spread across network security, cloud-native application protection, security operations, and endpoint security and are available across multiple key industries. Cybersecurity has 5 stage lifecycle - Identify, Protect, Detect, Recover and Restore. This cyclical process is essential for protecting an organisation from cyber threats. It helps to ensure that corporations are constantly prepared and able to respond to evolving threats. Dominating Growth Strategy Since Nikesh Joined as CEO in 2018, Palo Alto Networks has grown with a CAGR of 24.9% with market cap. surging by $48Bn to $73.1Bn. This growth is spurre...

 IBM a Tech Giant - How it Lost its Way Key Indicators  Market Cap – $129.39Bn EV – $173.4Bn Debt - $57.5Bn, Cash - $17.9Bn  P/B – 8.57  P/E (Trailing) – 60.44 (Growth)  P/E (Forward) – 14.3 (Div. Centric,  No Growth) Economic Moat: Narrow (under threat)   Where is the Growth How it Lost its Way IBM a more than 100-year-old company that used to be a trendsetter in the technology space has become a laggard and is struggling to get its Mojo back. It is facing headwinds, and it is not clear how it will modernise its business. Today, IBM has 3 business segments, Infrastructure, Software and Consulting, and all of them are declining YoY. There are multiple reasons why IBM's revenues are declining except for the minor surge in 2021, and 2022. Let's look at the key reasons. Unlike its peer group players like Salesforce and ServiceNow which specialises in providing packaged application software in the Cloud (SaaS), IBM has no application software to offer...

 Generative AI - Changing the World, Key Players and Their Progress - Part One