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3/6/20, 3(27 PMJack Dorsey Drops Out Of SXSW Amidst Pandemic Panic
Page 1 of 9https://www.forbes.com/sites/martineparis/2020/03/02/jack-dorsey-drops-out-of-sxsw-amidst-pandemic-panic-clinton-added/#3bec386724c3
AI
Jack Dorsey Drops Out Of SXSWAmidst Pandemic Panic
845 views | Mar 2, 2020, 03:31pm EST
Martine Paris Contributor
Jack Dorsey GETTY IMAGES
The COVID-19 outbreak continues to wreakhavoc on tech gatherings around the world.Following the cancellation of Mobile WorldCongress (MWC), Game Developers Conference(GDC), and Facebook’s F8 conference, all eyesare now on Austin to see if South By Southwest(SXSW), one of the world’s largest ideas festivalsscheduled to kick off next week, will follow suit.
SXSW has held steadfast in asserting that the show is proceeding as planned, despitea petition of nearly 20,000 signatures to cancel it. Over the weekend, Twitterannounced that it is suspending all non-critical business travel and events, followingsimilar actions by Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Twitter has sincepulled CEO Jack Dorsey’s keynote and their popular activation, #Twitterhouse, fromthe show.
In their March 2 press release, not only did SXSW make no mention of COVID-19rumblings, but boldly announced that they were adding more speakers to their star-studded roster including Hillary Rodham Clinton, Beto O'Rourke, Rahm Emanuel,Gretchen Carlson and Andrew Yang, among other political notables. Celebrities
3/6/20, 3(27 PMJack Dorsey Drops Out Of SXSW Amidst Pandemic Panic
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expected to be at the show include Stephen Colbert, Judd Apatow, Will Wheaton, KimKardashian West, Reggie Fils-Aimé, M. Night Shymalan, Michael Moore, ShaquilleO’Neal, Roger Waters, Julianne Moore, Phantogram, The Struts, White Denim, SofiTukker, Angel Olsen, Eliza and the Delusionals, Japanese Breakfast, Diplo, NileRodgers, Britt Daniel, St. Vincent, Michelle Pfeiffer, Brooklyn Decker, Krewella,Erykah Badu, Janelle Monae, Cheech Marin, Stewart Brand, Brene Brown, KatieCouric, Sophia Bush, Tommy Hilfiger, Guy Kawasaki, Laurene Powell Jobs, AnnaWiener, David Rohde, Mike Isaac, Nicholas Thompson, Noam Chomsky, Anita Hill,Steve Ballmer, Jim Belushi, Parker Posey, Shelley Duvall and Crocodile Dundee.
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It’s understandable why SXSW would be loathe to cancel. It’s a massive undertakingthat brings together some of the most respected thought leaders in the world todiscuss the most pressing problems of our time and has thousands of moving parts.(Read more about why the show is considered so compelling in my SXSW 2020preview). For that very reason people are concerned. Over 417,400 people attendedSXSW 2019 with 26% visiting from outside the U.S. The show is all about makingvaluable connections and that’s going to be challenging as fears continue to mountover the spread of this novel coronavirus.
As France grapples with bans of large gatherings which have shutdown the Louvreand Japan talks about cancelling the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, one has to wonderwhether the world has gone mad or SXSW has.
For peace of mind, several travel companies are waiving cancellation fees includingAirbnb, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue and American Airlines. For now, SXSW is notwaiving their $50 hotel cancellation fee, but some hotels booked through SXSW arestill allowing cancellations through mid-week. Those concerned should check withSXSW Housing for policies that apply.
3/6/20, 3(27 PMJack Dorsey Drops Out Of SXSW Amidst Pandemic Panic
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Update March 3: Mashable cancels SXSW Mashable House and MashBash 2020citing COVID-19 concerns. Tim Ferris cancels SXSW 2020 appearance. Googlecancels Google I/O.
Update March 4: FAANG IS OUT! Netflix drops out of SXSW following withdrawalsof Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Google. Panasonic, Intel, Audible (owned byAmazon) and Arlan Hamilton have cancelled SXSW as well. Petition to cancel SXSWgrows to 45,000. SXSW remains defiant announcing a star-studded comedy slate withthree sponsors remaining: White Claw, American Express, and The Austin Chronicle(Kia and Audible no longer listed as sponsors). Austin Public Health expressessupport for SXSW to proceed. MIPtv is cancelled. TEDTalks considering postponing.
Update March 5: WarnerMedia HBO and CNN pull out of SXSW. Capital FactoryHouse at SXSW is cancelled. LinkedIn cancels SXSW LinkedIn Studio. Celebrityfallout continues from studio withdrawal.
Update March 6: Tech conference cancellations continue with Collision 2020moving its physical conference, announcing its move online. The show hosted 30,000attendees last year with headliners including Justin Trudeau and Seth Rogen.
Update March 6, 1:59pm PT: SXSW has been cancelled following a directive bythe City of Austin and a slew of speakers and activations dropping out since JackDorsey’s announcement on March 2. Celebrity exodus included Trent Reznor, SpikeJonze, Pharrell, Reggie Watts, Ozzy Osbourne, Chance The Rapper, 50 Cent, AdamSavage, Samantha Bee, Kumail Nanjiani, Bob Odenkirk, Vince Gilligan, Jake Tapper,W. Kamau Bell, Tim Ferriss, Mike Isaac, Arlan Hamilton, and Dan Primack. Moredetails here:
City of Austin Cancels SXSW March Events
SXSW
3/6/20, 3(27 PMJack Dorsey Drops Out Of SXSW Amidst Pandemic Panic
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Martine Paris
Silicon Valley freelance tech reporter covering AI, robotics, consumer tech, connected home,
autonomous vehicles, gaming, retail, e-commerce, security, surveillance, privacy, payments and
fintech for Fast Company, VentureBeat, San Francisco Business Times and other top outlets.
Named CES 2020 Media Trailblazer by the Consumer Technology Association. Follow her on Twitter @contentnow.
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3/6/20, 3(27 PMJack Dorsey Drops Out Of SXSW Amidst Pandemic Panic
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Uncertainty Underscores CFO’s RoleTo Drive Digital Transformation
12,965 views | Feb 25, 2020, 10:59am EST
Anaplan Contributor Brand ContributorAnaplan | Paid ProgramBRANDVOICE
It’s only month two of the new year, and business leaders are already grappling withan unprecedented level of uncertainty and complexity. An upswing in globalinstability has dampened optimism, and according to Deloitte’s latest CFO SignalsSurvey, while 97% of CFOs do not believe there will be a true recession, they arebracing to address a downward turn which they believe has already begun or willoccur in 2020. With greater uncertainty on the horizon, organizations are leaningheavily on CFOs to be far more predictive, and in turn, develop transformativestrategies that will drive growth, guard against risk and take advantage of thedisruption ahead.
3/6/20, 3(27 PMJack Dorsey Drops Out Of SXSW Amidst Pandemic Panic
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“The convergence of digital disruption and economic uncertainty has elevated themodern CFO’s role,” said Michael Weiss, Global Head of Finance solutions atAnaplan. “With their unique visibility into enterprise-wide data sets, CFOs areexpected to provide a holistic perspective of where the organization needs to pivot,and what efforts can be made to deliver the most value during times of uncertainty.”
These shifting expectations mean CFOs are taking a leadership role in theirorganization’s digital transformation journey. Technology advancements provide newopportunities to optimize existing processes, freeing up time to create more real-timeintelligence, and predictive insights that could impact the company’s performanceagainst their goals.
Research from Accenture identifies that 77% of CFOs surveyed believe it is within
3/6/20, 3(27 PMJack Dorsey Drops Out Of SXSW Amidst Pandemic Panic
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their purview to drive business-wide operational transformation. Yet, a reliance onantiquated tools can stand in the way of digital reinvention, which could lead tomissed opportunities or inaccurate forecasts that undermine performance. To be truecatalysts of digital transformation, many CFOs are leading digital advancementswithin their function first, then replicating these new processes across theorganization to propel the business forward.
Adopting a connected approach to financial planning/forecasting, analytics anddecision support is often the first step. With a connected approach, data fromdifferent sources is automatically consolidated into real-time views, so finance teamscan model and compare nuanced scenarios, spot trends, and develop insight-basedforecasts that enable CFOs to anticipate and react quickly to market changes. Byimplementing a connected approach to financial planning, the finance team of amultinational insurance company was able to remove four months from their annualfinancial planning cycle. That’s four months of time that can now be spent on value-added analysis for the organization.
Once financial processes are transformed, CFOs can turn their attention to the rest ofthe organization to shepherd enterprise-wide digital efficiencies. As Brian Kalish,Principal, Kalish Consulting, notes, “The modern finance function is more thanproviding a report on what happened in the business. It is about helping sales,marketing, operations, and other functions run their business better.”
While CFOs are largely aware of spend and budget across departments, reshapingprocesses across functional areas will require high levels of added visibility andcollaboration. Arming the organization with a modern tool that is easy to implementand can be scaled across marketing, sales, HR, supply chain and finance will helpCFOs successfully continue their journey from traditional financial planning andanalysis to strategic advisor and catalyst of change.
ASK Industries, an OEM of car audio systems, quickly realized the value a connected
3/6/20, 3(27 PMJack Dorsey Drops Out Of SXSW Amidst Pandemic Panic
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approach to planning across the organization can deliver. The company’s Request forQuotation (RFQ) process, which is used to generate bids and evaluate their financialimpacts, is touched by every business function, and having accurate numbers iscrucial to building a financially viable quote. Variables include where to build acomponent and what currency to use in the RFQ. With operations, suppliers andcustomers around the globe, exploring currency options is critical to a successful RFQ.By using a cloud-based planning platform to connect data, people and plans acrossthe RPF process, ‘what-if’ analysis of exchange rates, commodity trends, volumeprices and alternative solutions that used to take a day are now done in seconds.
With a connected approach for sales and finance, ASK strengthened collaboration andimproved finance’s ability to support a growing and increasingly complex business,helping shorten process timelines, reduce errors and manual tasks, and improvequotation accuracy.
“The role of the CFO is being redefined as organizations look to the financedepartment to sponsor digital transformation,” said Weiss. “Delivering impactfulchange will require a new level of synchronicity across departments and having theright tools to break down siloes and consolidate data to create actionable insights canhelp CFOs drive performance and profitability in complex business environments.”
The undeniable need for tighter and low-touch collaboration between finance and theentire enterprise is at the heart of transformation for the organization and for the roleof CFO. By leveraging the right tools, CFOs can lead the charge for agile decision-making and proactive planning across the organization to drive reinvention in anymarket conditions.
Anaplan Contributor
Anaplan is the category-defining leader in Connected Planning. Our platform, powered by our
proprietary Hyperblock ™ technology, connects people, data and plans and… Read More
3/6/20, 3(27 PMJack Dorsey Drops Out Of SXSW Amidst Pandemic Panic
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