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The Herald Scotland
2 days ago
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Despite Trump backlash, DEI rollbacks are slowing. Here's why.
The backlash against DEI gained steam during the 2024 presidential election but hit a fever pitch when Trump took office. His early executive orders aimed at eliminating "illegal DEI" in the federal government and the private sector were the single-largest driving force behind the reforms that swept corporate America, Gravity Research found. "President Trump's return to office created a seismic shift in the risk calculus for companies with DEI commitments," said Joanna Piacenza, vice president of thought leadership with Gravity Research, which advises companies on social, political and reputational risks. "Unlike earlier backlash driven by online activists which focused on reputational and social media pressure, Trump's administration brought policy levers and legal authority." Most of the policy shifts - 80% - tracked in Gravity Research's study of Fortune 1000 companies and sports leagues between June 2024 and May 2025 occurred after Trump's inauguration. But the rate slowed significantly following the post-inauguration push, Piacenza said. For example, 11 companies publicly announced in February they would make major changes to diverse hiring targets and workforce and executive representation goals, but only two made those changes in May. "The slowdown appears to reflect a 'wait-and-see' posture from companies," Piacenza said. "With those initial policy adjustments now set in motion, companies appear to be reassessing further changes." Corporations made these DEI changes Corporations that rushed to make changes following the inauguration were those with the most to lose: federal contractors and companies in highly regulated industries. Nearly three-quarters of the corporations that made post-inauguration DEI changes were federal contractors, the study showed. Of the DEI changes corporations made, the most significant was around hiring and representation goals, according to Gravity Research. Corporations also rebranded DEI efforts with more anodyne names such as "inclusion and belonging" and changed the chief diversity officer title to "vice president of talent strategy" or "head of people engagement" after Trump's inauguration. Mentions of "DEI" and related terms also vanished from corporate reports, regulatory filings and websites. Few companies dismantled employee resource groups but emphasized they are open to all employees and are aligned with business priorities such as professional development and networking. "With federal agencies signaling that ERGs could be investigated as discriminatory, this issue may resurface as a reputational risk in the months ahead," the Gravity Research study said. DEI retreat or 'head fake'? The Gravity Research study found that corporations are reframing but not retreating from DEI, with 80% affirming ongoing commitments to "inclusion," "belonging," or "accessibility." Business leaders are gaining confidence from pro-DEI shareholder votes and from the challenges faced by companies that have retreated on DEI, including declining sales, shrinking market caps and struggles attracting and retaining talent, said Carissa Romero, co-founder and managing director of the culture and inclusion platform Paradigm. Guidance issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in March also reassured corporations that the Trump administration would not view their strategies as "illegal DEI." Corporations are also facing growing pressure from pro-DEI activists who have mounted a string of boycotts protesting DEI rollbacks. It's unclear how much of an impact these boycotts are having on the bottom line, but Target cited its decision to end some diversity policies as a contributor to a sharp first-quarter pullback in consumer spending. "Most companies know creating diverse workforces, fair processes that advance the best talent and inclusive environments where people who are different from one another can collaborate effectively is essential to long-term business success," Romero said. "These efforts aren't a 'nice to have,' they're strategic levers for innovation, performance and resilience." Corporations could quickly change their tune if the Trump administration ramps up DEI enforcement, Piacenza said. Last week the Labor Department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs issued a letter inviting federal contractors to voluntarily disclose what steps they have taken to "wind down" DEI programs. DEI critics like shareholder activist Paul Chesser accuse corporations of ducking Trump administration oversight and "snookering" customers and shareholders by making superficial changes to their policies while maintaining their commitment to diversity programs behind the scenes. Chesser, director of the National Legal and Policy Center's Corporate Integrity Project, calls it "the head fake across corporate America to give the impression - with little or no evidence - that companies are eliminating DEI." "Companies that outside parties perceive as having made only cosmetic changes could face renewed scrutiny," Piacenza said.
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Business Standard
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Centre to issue new framework to expand GCCs beyond metro cities
Talks ongoing with Fortune 500 firms to set up new centres New Delhi Listen to This Article The central government will soon come out with a framework to guide states in setting up global capability centres (GCCs) in their respective geographies, especially Tier-II towns and cities, a senior government official said. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is in discussions with senior executives from global Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies, mid-tier firms, and Indian state government officials on a three-pronged approach to setting up new GCCs in India, another official said. The first approach involves addressing the talent pipeline by understanding the requirements, such as the type of technical degree and expertise needed by a
Forbes
25-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
5 Mental Models For CISOs To Sharpen Their Cybersecurity Strategy
Dr. Aleksandr Yampolskiy, Co-Founder and CEO of SecurityScorecard, is a globally recognized cybersecurity innovator, leader and expert. As a competitive chess player, I've learned that success comes from recognizing patterns quickly. You centralize your king in the endgame, but never during the opening. You don't spread your queen too thin by making her guard too many pieces at once. The same principle guides the best chief information security officers (CISOs) I've interviewed at Fortune 1000 companies. They lean on mental models—simple frameworks that turn complex situations into clear decisions. Here are five mental models I've found CISOs can immediately use to sharpen their decision making: 1. Pre-Mortem And Pre-Parade Work backward from outcomes. In a pre-mortem, imagine your security strategy has failed spectacularly. Was it a breach? Budget cuts? A leadership shake-up? Identify what specifically went wrong in these scenarios: Did patching cadence falter while you addressed other priorities? Did your boardroom lose confidence in your abilities? Why? Now proactively address those issues and inoculate yourself. Pre-mortems can help you and your teams find blind spots before reality does it for you. Don't stop at imagining worst-case scenarios; imagine your wins, too. A pre-parade involves imagining great success—perhaps you've just been promoted, or your team successfully shortened the time it takes your organization to detect a cybersecurity incident. Maybe you and your team are surpassing your vulnerability management goals. What did you do right? Which teams collaborated seamlessly, and what steps did it take to get there? Identify the key components of success and break it down into specific steps you need to take over the next 10, 30, 60 and 90 days to make that vision a reality. 2. 5x5x5 Experimentation If you knew precisely what would work, you'd already be doing it. Good ideas and bad ideas can look very similar in the beginning, and you can't tell them apart until you test them. The 5x5x5 framework by Mike Schrage is a fast, effective way to experiment without risk. It's radically simple and, if done right, it could have an immediate and profound effect on your team's direction. Start by launching experiments that meet three requirements: 1. Five people 2. $5,000 3. Five days Instead of overanalyzing or running 100 miles per hour in the wrong direction, test quickly and incrementally. If your IT team isn't fixing vulnerabilities fast enough, try five simple, testable solutions within a week. Offer small bonuses or alert management when tickets exceed the service level agreement (SLA). Focus on speed, learning and iteration—not perfection. 3. Local Maximum Versus Global Maximum Excelling as a CISO means more than just working toward your local maximum (in this case, securing the organization). You must also ask how you can deliver a global maximum: broader business value. Think like a CEO and do both. Can you create a security trust center to streamline your sales team and security contract reviews? You could make your security ratings a selling point for consumers, not just a metric. Could automating third-party risk reviews reduce costs? Good CISOs protect business, but great CISOs grow it. If you're not tying security to revenue generation, customer trust or speed of execution, you're likely thinking too small. 4. Semaphore (Red/Yellow/Green) Parallel key performance indicators (KPIs) and objective measures to the colors of traffic lights to understand your true progress on security metrics. Too many teams live in the land of "all green," where everything is fine. But that's not visibility—that's denial. Encourage your teams to highlight areas for improvement that may fall in the yellow or red categories to stress-test your current approach. Quantify security decisions using clear metrics for every program, from access reviews to vulnerability management. Clearly identify costs, risk reduction and improvement over time. Security ratings can serve as a useful barometer for benchmarking against your industry peers—and can help highlight when an "all green" assessment is masking risk. 5. Domino Effect Prevention The domino effect prevention model suggests accidents result from interconnected events, each like a falling domino that sets off the next. Remove one domino, and you prevent the cascade before it even begins. To make this framework work, be proactive and resilient. Deploy an enterprise secure browser to stop phishing at the source, implement supply chain detection and response (SCDR) to continuously monitor vendors for security risks and invest in endpoint protection solutions like CrowdStrike or SentinelOne. Focus on stopping threats before they trigger the chain reaction. Don't Wait For Checkmate Leadership in cybersecurity is about thinking clearly under pressure and planning to prevent a crisis before it hits. These models can help you cut through the noise and get razor-sharp on where you stand and where you need to be. When I became CISO at Gilt Groupe, I ran a pre-mortem and asked myself a blunt question: What would get me fired? The answer was clear—a breach that compromised credit card data and cost us our PCI DSS compliance, threatening both our reputation and our ability to process payments. That fear pushed us to redesign our entire architecture, isolating payment data in a hardened, bulletproof environment. We also implemented layered encryption so that no single person and no single point of failure could unlock access. That kind of clarity—seeing the worst-case scenario and planning backward from it—forced us to confront the unimaginable and design for it. Without that mindset, we would've never built such a resilient architecture. Just as elite chess players might recognize signs that an opponent is preparing an attack on their king and reposition their pieces in advance, cybersecurity leaders must proactively identify and eliminate blind spots before they spiral out of control. Stop reacting to what's in front of you and start seeing the board five moves ahead. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Grid Dynamics Announces AI-Powered Engagement Model Enabling Accelerated Business Transformation for Fortune 1000 Enterprises
Key Takeaways: Grid Dynamics introduces an AI-powered engagement model for software delivery. This engagement model expands Grid Dynamics' offerings by providing a fundamentally new way of delivering value—enabling clients to achieve superior outcomes by providing the next level of agility, quality, and accelerated time-to-market. The model is based on the Grid Dynamics AI-Native Development Framework (GAIN Development Framework)—a combination of proprietary processes, human capital, and an AI-Enabled Development Platform. This framework is designed specifically to support the scale and complexity of Fortune 1000 enterprises. Based on internal benchmarks, we expect this model to accelerate project delivery by achieving over 30% productivity improvements. Progressive credit-based pricing directly tied to performance and value is the basis of the new engagement model. SAN RAMON, Calif., June 23, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Grid Dynamics Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: GDYN) (Grid Dynamics)—a prominent technology consulting and digital services provider specializing in AI, platform and product engineering, and digital engagement services—today announced the launch of an innovative AI-powered engagement model for its software engineering services. This new model is specifically engineered to deliver the next level of agility, quality, and accelerated time-to-market for Fortune 1000 enterprises. Grid Dynamics' innovative approach expands its engagement offerings beyond traditional Fixed Price, Time and Materials, and Capacity-based engagements. Key features include: Prompt-driven incremental output: Delivering value through iterative, prompt-guided development. Credit-based service consumption: Pricing aligned with desired outputs rather than effort—offering cost efficiency. AI-benchmarked code quality: Continuous evaluation against industry and client standards—ensuring code quality. Centralized client portal: A single, secure platform for clients to manage their engagement. At the center of the new engagement model is the Grid Dynamics AI Native Development Framework (GAIN Development Framework), which represents a shift from the traditional effort-based development model to an AI & Human collaboration model optimized for global, enterprise-scale delivery. The GAIN Development Framework is lean, with an emphasis on domain specialists, software architects, and experts in emerging technology, while leveraging Grid Dynamics' AI-Enabled Development Platform to automate routine coding and testing tasks. This structure helps ensure that our clients' investments are focused on creative, high-impact engineering that solves their most complex problems. "We are redefining how software is built," said Valery Zelixon, SVP of Sales at Grid Dynamics. "The GAIN Development Framework is not just about automation—it's about unlocking the full potential of engineering teams. By streamlining repetitive tasks and accelerating innovation cycles, we're helping our clients bring high-impact products to market faster, with greater precision and affordable cost. This marks a major shift in how organizations scale technology." "The combination of AI-enabled software development and enterprise-scale delivery creates unprecedented opportunities," said Leonard Livschitz, CEO of Grid Dynamics. "And our position at the intersection of innovation and scale, along with our deep AI expertise, enable us to consistently solve complex business challenges and deliver client value at an accelerated pace. We expect this new engagement model to be a significant growth driver as more Fortune 1000 enterprises seek our expertise to harness AI's potential." Visit this page to learn more. About Grid Dynamics Grid Dynamics (Nasdaq: GDYN) is a leading provider of technology consulting, platform and product engineering, AI, and digital engagement services. Fusing technical vision with business acumen, we solve the most pressing technical challenges and enable positive business outcomes for enterprise companies undergoing business transformation. A key differentiator for Grid Dynamics is our 8 years of experience and leadership in enterprise AI, supported by profound expertise and ongoing investment in data and ML platform engineering, cloud platform and product engineering, IoT and edge computing, and digital engagement services. Founded in 2006, Grid Dynamics is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices across the Americas, Europe, and India. Follow us on LinkedIn. Forward-Looking Statements This communication contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that are not historical facts, and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results of Grid Dynamics to differ materially from those expected and projected. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the words "believes," "estimates," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "may," "will," "potential," "projects," "predicts," "continue," or "should," or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, quotations and statements regarding the expected benefits of our capabilities and our company's future growth including with customers, the AI-Enabled Development Platform, and the Grid Dynamics AI-Native Development Framework. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results. Most of these factors are outside Grid Dynamics' control and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to our ability to achieve its expected benefits, the expected performance and functionality of our software offerings, as well as any factors limiting our capabilities, the benefits of our services and products, and our company's growth strategy. Grid Dynamics cautions that the foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. Grid Dynamics cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Grid Dynamics does not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based. Further information about factors that could materially affect Grid Dynamics, including its results of operations and financial condition, is set forth under the "Risk Factors" section of Grid Dynamics' annual report on Form 10-K filed February 27, 2025, and in other periodic filings Grid Dynamics makes with the SEC. View source version on Contacts Media Contact: Cary Savas+1 (650) 523 5000csavas@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Hamilton Spectator
16-06-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
VERSES® Signs Soothsayer Analytics As First Genius™ Reseller and Fortune 500 Integrator
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — VERSES AI Inc. (CBOE: VERS) (OTCQB: VRSSF) ('VERSES'' or the 'Company'), a cognitive computing company specializing in next-generation agentic software systems, has selected Soothsayer Analytics ('Soothsayer') as the first Certified Genius reseller and implementation channel partner for global enterprises. Soothsayer is an AI consulting & training, and certification firm trusted by many Fortune 1000 and Global 2000 clients globally, such as the Ford Motor Company, GEA, Dow Chemical Company, AD Ports and Dun & Bradstreet. Enterprise AI spending is projected to rise from US$58 billion in 2025 to US$474 billion by 2030—a 52% compound annual growth rate (CAGR)—as companies pursue automation, cost savings, and predictive insights to maintain a competitive advantage. This channel partnership aims to meet that demand by pairing Genius, with its enterprise intelligence, and Soothsayers' expertise to drive rapid global adoption through sales, deployment, and training. This channel partnership enables Soothsayer to: 'We believe that Genius delivers many of the missing AI capabilities enterprises require, while Soothsayer ensures those capabilities are deployed swiftly and effectively,' said Gabriel Rene, Founder & CEO of VERSES. As part of the agreement, Soothsayer Analytics has also agreed to become a Genius Enterprise customer. 'Appointing Soothsayer as our first Certified Genius Reseller is a pivotal step in scaling our go-to-market strategy,' continued Gabriel René, Founder & CEO of VERSES. 'We believe that their proven sales and integration expertise to Fortune 500 and other companies, will enable enterprises worldwide to unlock Genius's capabilities more quickly, accelerating adoption and driving revenue growth.' Gaurav Agrawal, the Founder and CEO of Soothsayer, said 'Our Fortune 500 clients want AI that speaks their language, respects their rules, and delivers results they can trust. Off-the-shelf platforms rarely meet those standards. We believe that Genius lets us generate reliable, domain-specific predictions in weeks instead of months, and our team provides the know-how to take those models live. Becoming the first Certified Genius Reseller allows us to bring VERSES' next-generation capability to enterprises worldwide.' About VERSES VERSES® is a cognitive computing company building next-generation agentic software systems modeled after the wisdom and genius of Nature. Designed around first principles found in science, physics and biology, our flagship product, Genius, is an agentic enterprise intelligence platform designed to generate reliable domain-specific predictions and decisions under uncertainty. Imagine a Smarter World that elevates human potential through technology inspired by Nature. Learn more at , LinkedIn and X . About Soothsayer Analytics Soothsayer Analytics is a global leader in AI strategy, solutions, and training—helping forward-thinking organizations decode complexity, anticipate the future, and build lasting digital capabilities. With over a decade of experience across the U.S., Middle East, Europe, and India, we deliver bespoke AI solutions, scalable ML pipelines, and AI Centers of Excellence. Our interdisciplinary team of data scientists, engineers, and domain experts brings deep expertise in generative AI, computer vision, statistical modeling, and real-time forecasting. We have delivered 100+ AI-powered solutions across industries such as manufacturing, energy, automotive, healthcare, insurance, and retail—driving measurable ROI and efficiency for Fortune 1000 and Global 2000 clients. To learn more, please visit On behalf of the Company Gabriel René, Founder & CEO, VERSES AI Inc. Press Inquiries: press@ Investor Relations Inquiries James Christodoulou, Chief Financial Officer IR@ , +1(212)970-8889 Notes to editors Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains statements which constitute 'forward-looking information' or 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company with respect to future business activities and plans of the Company. Forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are often identified by the words 'may', 'would', 'could', 'should', 'will', 'intend', 'plan', 'anticipate', 'believe', 'estimate', 'expect' or similar expressions. More particularly and without limitation, this news release contains forward–looking statements and information relating to the ability of Soothsayer to (i) act as a certified Genius reseller, (ii) operate a Genius training and certification program, and (iii) sell Genius implementation services for new and existing VERSES customers., as well as whether Soothsayer will be an ideal channel partner for VERSES, that channel partnerships will be a critical path to accelerating VERSES growth, and that VERSES' partnership with Soothsayer will help the Company accelerate commercialization and create value for customers; and other statements that are not historical facts. The forward–looking statements and information are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the management of the Company. As a result, there can be no assurance that such plans will be completed as proposed or at all. Such forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions of management, including, without limitation, that Soothsayer will (i) act as a certified Genius reseller, (ii) operate a Genius training and certification program, and (iii) sell Genius implementation services for new and existing VERSES customers., as well as that Soothsayer will be an ideal channel partner for VERSES, that channel partnerships will be a critical path to accelerating VERSES growth, and that VERSES' partnership with Soothsayer will help the Company accelerate commercialization and create value for customers.. Although management of the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements and information are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward–looking statements and information since no assurance can be given that they will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about the current expectations and plans of management of the Company relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such statements and information may not be appropriate for other purposes, such as making investment decisions. Since forward–looking statements and information address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. These include, but are not limited to, that Soothsayer not be able to (i) act as a certified Genius reseller, (ii) operate a Genius training and certification program, or (iii) sell Genius implementation services for new and existing VERSES customers., or that Soothsayer will not be an ideal channel partner for VERSES, or that channel partnerships will not be a critical path to accelerating VERSES growth, or that VERSES' partnership with Soothsayer will not help the Company accelerate commercialization and create value for customers Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward–looking statements and information contained in this news release. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. The forward–looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and no undertaking is given to update publicly or revise any forward–looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.
