Cultivating Cross-Cultural Talent: Learning from Lori and Caleb’s Global Internship Journey in Singapore For most students, a summer internship is a stepping stone to gain hands-on experience and build a resume. For Lori Olga Agbabian, a business student and Caleb Benjamin Kawano, a mathematics major student from the University of California, Berkeley, their six-week internship with Advenz in Singapore became something much more a rare chance to live and work in a region they had never set foot in before, to challenge their worldviews, and to grow professionally in ways that surprised even themselves. This was their first time in Asia. And what started as a professional internship quickly transformed into an experience of personal discovery, cross-cultural appreciation, and insights…
E-Invoicing is at a Turning Point: Europe’s Digital VAT Future Following our earlier look at Singapore’s InvoiceNow initiative and its push for nationwide e-invoicing adoption, we now shift our focus to European Union (EU) where momentum is building under a distinct regulatory and tax environment. Across Europe, e-invoicing is quickly becoming the norm. With the European Commission’s VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) initiative driving major regulatory changes, the region is taking major steps toward full digital VAT compliance. Across the EU, e-invoicing is reshaping how businesses manage their financial operations. Built for accuracy and speed, electronic invoices are processed far more efficiently than traditional methods. As ViDA is accelerating the shift to e-invoicing as a regulatory standard, business leaders…
Meet Mary Ann Pierce, the visionary force behind MAP Digital and its groundbreaking MetaMeetings platform. As an "accidental entrepreneur," she changed the events sector by developing the most flexible and adaptable platform for sales-driven conferences. Pierce shares her journey - where it started, the turning points, the challenges and the growing vision for MAP Digital, Inc. She also gives insights into trends and changes in AI technology and how her life lessons can inspire budding entrepreneurs. Read and explore how her principles and journey have influenced the future of the events industry. How did the MAP Digital journey and transformation start? I consider myself an “accidental entrepreneur, finding myself at the forefront of the World Wide Web in the mid-nineties.…
Image by Michail Petrov on Shitterstock If you've ever wondered how technologies can significantly disrupt existing business models, you're in the right place! In our constantly evolving world, businesses need to stay updated and innovative. The beauty of disruption lies not in the turbulence it creates, but in the novel opportunities it provides for businesses to grow and prosper. This article aims to examine disruptive technologies and their role in fostering business innovation. Before we dive deep, let’s start with an overview of the concept of disruptive technology. "Disruptive Technology", a term coined by Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen in the late 1990s, refers to an innovation that significantly alters the way that consumers, industries, or businesses operate. These…
Rooted Leadership: What Business Can Learn from the Natural World The modern business landscape pushes for relentless acceleration, propelled by an undercurrent of continuous innovation, rapid scaling, and an 'always-on' operational mindset. Leaders are under pressure to deliver continuous growth and chase new milestones which often inadvertently cultivate a "hustle" culture. However, this pursuit of acceleration exacts a heavy toll: employee burnout, resource depletion, and a struggle for sustained relevance. We have collectively fallen for the myth of endless productivity, believing that the more efficient our processes, the more work we can (and should) undertake. This mindset traps us in a loop of constant doing, neglecting the essential value of pause, renewal, and strategic timing. In contrast, the natural world…
