XPRIZE, an organization that creates competitions to solve humanitarian challenges, launched the Pandemic Response Challenge on Tuesday in partnership with Cognizant.

“Hotels use legacy systems for their back-office operations and it often limits the efficiencies they can achieve,” says Cognizant’s Vice President of Travel and Hospitality Joseph Rajadurai.

Cognizant’s recent ‘From Eyes to Ears: Getting Your Brand Heard in the New Age of Voice’ report says that brands not paying attention to voice could already be losing out on millions yearly. And while the vast majority of companies agree that voice will become essential to their success, only 20 percent have a formal voice strategy in place.

Technology has become central to keeping people connected during extended periods of forced social isolation. Whenever people get back to their routines in the physical world, it will merely be an effort to catch up, not be free from the virtual world.

There's a new way to borrow at the checkout counter, and it's finding favour with shoppers on a tight budget. Termed "buy now, pay later" (BNPL), these interest-free, short-term payment plans have captured a sizeable audience in credit-starved, cash-strapped millennials and Gen Zs.

COVID-19 has upended life as we know it. The potential effect of this viral disease on mortality and public health, as well as the lasting socioeconomic repercussions of the crisis, is still unfathomable.

When we look back at the Covid-19 pandemic, one of the unsung victims of the devastating virus is the touchscreen. While the virus made us wary of unhygienic surfaces, the lockdown and social isolation revived our interest in interacting with a human-sounding voice, catalysing the large-scale shift towards the voice interface.

For some years now, drone technology has been billed as the next big thing. For many, the associations that spring to mind when thinking about the technology are their uses in military defense, surveillance, awe-inspiring landscape photography, and wedding videos.

Businesses are bullish on the future of voice technology like Amazon, Apple and Google's digital assistants, with consumers relying on the contactless tools more than ever during the pandemic, according to a study by professional services company Cognizant. Exclusive local data shared with Which-50 from Cognizant’s Centre for the Future of Work shows Australian brands lead the region in voice strategy but still face privacy and skills challenges.

Nasdaq-listed Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. is strengthening its leadership team with a mix of internal promotions and external hires in a bid to return to growth.