2019 has not been a banner year for Minnesota’s M&A market. After a half-decade of record-setting activity, the local M&A scene has cooled significantly, with the lowest reported deal volume and dollar values since 2013. According to Pitchbook data, total deal count for Minnesota companies for the first half of 2019 was 35% lower than over the same period in 2018.…
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Although it’s been a conversation in the industry since 2014, the dialogue around sun-setting Libor (London Interbank Offer Rate) is intensifying. Published daily, Libor is the interest rate benchmark upon which many other interest rates are based. With its replacement, SOFR (secured overnight financing rate), widely agreed upon, Libor’s planned retirement in 2021 has made advice from...
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A Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) is now virtually a requirement to support daily operations for labs that support any type of testing, from R&D to commercial. The global LIMS market is currently over $500 million and is projected to reach $750 million in the next few years. A LIMS can take many forms, ranging from custom-built software to an off-the-shelf vendor-configured...
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Blockchain has been touted as the great connector to integrate businesses under consortium networks. It’s ability to verify data using smart contracts and provide transparency across network participants through immutable shared data has people talking about a technical revolution. However, this benefit has been a double-edged sword because the enterprise world is skeptical about sharing...
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This week brought another set of headlines about a large data breach—this time at Capital One. In this case, the alleged attacker is domestic and the federal indictment provided some details of how the breach occurred. In this case, a misconfigured firewall allegedly allowed Paige Thompson to remotely execute commands against an Amazon Web Services (AWS) server.…
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One challenge a growing organization faces involves sustaining a team of skilled professionals that can meet the growing expectations and needs of the business. Even more difficult is the task of filling less-desirable roles, such as shifted positions, where employees endure difficult hours and see less room for opportunity. One way to address these challenges involves adding more value to the...
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Despite the escalated rate and severity of cyberattacks, leaders at most companies have not changed their approach to cybersecurity in the past few years to adapt to the increasingly challenging environment. The goalposts have changed. And the question leaders should ask themselves is not, “is my data secure?” but “how prepared are we to minimize operational downtime in the likely event of a...
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From vehicles, to beauty supplies, to food production, the manufacturing industry’s 8,343 employers provide jobs for over 300,000 Minnesota workers. The industry contributes the largest share of the state’s gross domestic product (16%) and nearly half of the Fortune 500 companies in Minnesota are in manufacturing. Manufacturing has historically been Minnesota’s largest private-sector industry...
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SharePoint has always been a great tool for quickly solving business problems. Microsoft’s “Power Platform” is a potent solution that can enable business processes at a speed that’s hard to match and without hard-to-mitigate limitations. It’s a set of tools built on top of Office 365 that enables rapid creation of apps, data visualization and process automation...
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Steve Knutson is executive director of Neighborhood HealthSource (NHS) in Minneapolis – a non-profit, multi-location, full service primary care clinic organized as a Federally Qualified Health Center. Neighborhood HealthSource has provided quality, affordable care to the community since 1971. Knutson, who was appointed executive director in 2009, has served in executive positions with a...
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Malware attacks are wreaking havoc on the international economy and costing businesses billions of dollars in lost revenue, operational shutdowns, and reputational damage. It’s likely that you may have even experienced an episode like this at your firm. The latest industry research indicates that 50% of surveyed executives experienced disruptions from malware 6-10 times over the past five...
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Robotics Process Automation (RPA) is a technology that has recently been top of mind for business leaders. This software, which facilitates the automation of highly manual and repeatable processes, has had notable success in the financial services industry. Given that 3 out of 4 hospital and health system CEOs reported cost reduction and efficiency as one of their top two financial priorities...
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