We are now all involuntary participants in the seismic disruption shaking the foundations of society, technology, economics, healthcare and more.

The guest experience has always been at the heart of the hospitality industry. As new technology becomes available, we are already seeing hotels across the world embrace innovation to further enhance and personalize that experience, for example, hotels in Singapore are trialling facial recognition for faster check-ins.

In the midst of COVID-19, puppies and kittens have emerged as go-to companions to get us through the extended public healthcare crisis. This is one important reason pet insurance is touted to be the next hot growth segment for personal insurance carriers, as the global market is projected to surpass $10 billion by 2025 and grow 6.7% annually.

Cognizant has hired the former director of technology transformation of the US government, Anil Cheriyan as its new Executive Vice President of Strategy and Technology.

No one could have predicted the global coronavirus pandemic or its impact on business and everyday life. The COVID-19 crisis changed how people work, study, shop and make decisions, affecting every business sector.

The COVID-19 crisis represents perhaps the greatest challenge to the way companies operate in living memory. Almost literally overnight, entire industries were shut down and production abruptly halted or curtailed, as governments across the world implemented "social distancing" rules that limited the number of people who could be together in a single place.

Predict and prevent– that’s what back-office operations managers at buy and sell-side firms preparing for Europe’s Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR) settlement discipline regime are starting to think about so they won’t have to pay hefty financial penalties or endure buy-in requirements if they fail to settle their European trades on time.

Massive change produced by the #COVID19 recession will drive renewed double-digit growth for certain firms and send others to irrelevance says Malcolm Frank via Business Today.

One of the biggest expectations we have of digital transformation is the hope that it will bring fresh impetus, particularly for the industrial sectors. Internet of Things (IoT) or Industrial internet of things (IIoT) is the pillar on which these hopes are built.

Think about this: for decades now, some of the most innovative and game-changing organizations on the planet have operated completely remotely and virtually from day one, releasing product after product, without even paying their participants.

With Industry 4.0 embraced at scale over the past few years, COVID-19 has only accelerated its influence in the manufacturing space.

In addition to responding to changing customer expectations, higher operating costs, new technology, and an evolving regulatory landscape, financial services organizations now also face the uniquely challenging business environment created by COVID-19.

While most of us are content to guess, there are other people who are actively figuring it out and their findings and educated assumptions could help us all prepare for the future. Among them is Ben Pring, IT futurist and cofounder of Cognizant’s Center for the Future of Work, which tracks trends across technology, business and society.

Industry experts discuss the evolution of automation in manufacturing and how it can help the industry navigate the challenges of COVID-19.

Manufacturing stands to make considerable progress through Big Data and AI, but the complex challenges of the industry have slowed uptake.

The anticipated changes to the world of HR will give rise to the emergence of many new roles, which are highlighted in a recent joint report from Cognizant’s Center for the Future of Work and Future Workplace: 21 HR jobs of the future.

“As HR leaders are often consumed with handling impending disruption to jobs due to automation, changing workforce demographics or multi-generational workforces, they have less time to address the key issue of how these massive transformations will impact the organisation – and fundamentally change the role of HR professionals,” said Robert Hoyle Brown, vice president of the Cognizant Centre for the Future of Work.

Cognizant formed its Embrace network to drive and support an inclusive working environment for LGBTQIA+ colleagues. The community has become more important than ever during the pandemic, when employees have not been able to be physically together.

The Boys & Girls Club of Paterson and Passaic says it has been providing local residents with more than 2,000 meals per week using a private donation that originally was supposed to for an after-school program.

Pari Sanghavi, senior director, life sciences supply chain and manufacturing at Cognizant and Jim Lehane, global leader business development at Zenith discuss how manufacturing must change following COVID-19.

Many leaders in large companies are out of sync and out of touch with their workforce, markets, and competitive landscapes. That is according to research, which found that only 12 per cent of global executives feel their business leaders have the right mindsets to lead them forward in a new world of work and credibly transform the business.

COVID-19 has taken a dramatic toll on many industries, most notably retail. Up until now, the retail industry flourished by ensuring higher footfall to boost sales. Today, however, retailers need to tackle the epic challenge of working — within curbs — to manage footfall, while meeting changing consumer demands. Will we ever again look at increasing footfall as a measure to boost sales?

Social distancing was a virtually unknown expression until recently. Today it is a critical prevention strategy for people around the globe. As it becomes a cultural norm – and as consumers seek ensured hygiene, health, security, and trust – how retailers and brands amend their customer experiences today will have implications on future loyalty-building and growth efforts.

Finding new ways to boost supply chain management efficiency is more critical than it's ever been. Robotic process automation -- or RPA -- is one technology that may help.

Jason Oxman is joined on the Download On Tech podcast by Cognizant’s Global SVP Head of Artificial Intelligence Bret Greenstein and Vice President of Government Affairs & Legal Tobi Young. Bret and Tobi cover how Cognizant is responding to the COVID-19 crisis for their employees and for their customers, as well as the ways that technology is being utilized to combat the effects of COVID-19 and ways that the use of technology by individuals, companies, and governments might be different moving forward.