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As the world continues to become more digital, the demands and needs of consumers are changing — and NFTs might be a big part of the future for brands looking to shake up their rewards programs, Adam Brotman, co-CEO and co-founder of Forum3, said to TechCrunch.

“We’re hearing from a lot of other brands, whether they have a loyalty program or not, that what all big brands are contending with right now is that the consumer is changing,” Brotman, who is also the former chief digital officer of Starbucks, said. “It’s not just Gen Z or millennials, but the consumer in general has become more hyperdigitalized and more appreciative of digital goods.”

At the beginning of this month, Starbucks launched a blockchain-based loyalty program and NFT community dubbed Starbucks Odyssey. The initiative was launched through a partnership with Forum3, which helped build out the coffee giant’s NFT project, Brotman said.

In September, Starbucks said it envisioned the program as a way for its most loyal customers to earn a broader, more diverse set of rewards beyond the perks they can get today, like free drinks. Instead, Odyssey introduces a new platform where customers can engage with interactive activities called “Journeys” that, when complete, allow members to earn collectible Journey Stamps — which is Starbucks’ less technical terminology for NFTs.

Aside from Starbucks, web3 customer loyalty-focused Forum3 has been working mainly with consumer brands, retailers (including restaurants), sports leagues and direct-to-consumer subscription companies, Brotman said.

“Odyssey is an extension of the Starbucks loyalty program,” Brotman noted. “It’s an opportunity to innovate and extend loyalty.”

Separately, earlier this year, Nike launched an NFT and metaverse platform, .Swoosh, which will allow shoe fanatics to trade and create digital “wearables and virtual sneakers.”

A loyalty program is often centered around giving something to customers in return for their loyalty to a brand, Brotman said in a blog post. “What does the brand give in return? Discounts and digital convenience, such as remembering your favorite items, address, and payment methods, suggesting items, and letting you order ahead.”

But what if these digital points, or royalty rewards, could actually be owned by customers? That’s where NFTs, or true digital ownership, comes into play — and provides a “much more immersive loyalty layer,” Brotman said. It allows customers to receive points and digital collectibles that they own and could use in ways beyond what a typical rewards program allows today.

Starbucks’ NFT program may drive more digital collectible integrations with big brands by Jacquelyn Melinek originally published on TechCrunch

British newspaper The Guardian has confirmed its systems have been hit by a “serious IT incident,” which it believes is likely a ransomware attack.

The Guardian, whose media editor was first to report the incident, said that the incident began late on Tuesday and has affected parts of the company’s IT infrastructure.

“There has been a serious incident which has affected our IT network and systems in the last 24 hours,” Guardian Media Group chief executive Anna Bateson and editor-in-chief Katharine Viner said in a note to employees: “We believe this to be a ransomware attack but are continuing to consider all possibilities.”

As a result, the publisher said it’s experiencing disruption to “behind the scenes” services, and employees have been told to work remotely for the rest of the week. However, the company says that online publishing is largely unaffected, adding that it was “confident” it could still produce Thursday’s print newspaper.

Further details about the attack remain vague, and it’s unclear how The Guardian’s systems were compromised, whether data was stolen, or whether it received a ransom demand. Ransomware actors typically exfiltrate then threaten to publish a victim’s personal data unless a ransom demand is paid.

It’s also unclear who is behind the attack, and the incident doesn’t yet appear to have been claimed by any major ransomware group.

When reached by email, a spokesperson for The Guardian — who declined to provide their name — would not answer TechCrunch’s questions.

News organizations around have become regular targets for cyberattacks. In September, hackers breached the internal systems of U.S. business publication Fast Company to send offensive push notifications to Apple News users.

The New York Post also confirmed that it was hacked in October. However, the company later claimed that a rogue employee was to blame for the “unauthorized conduct,” but declined to say what evidence the newspaper had to show that the employee was to blame.

British newspaper The Guardian says it’s been hit by ransomware by Carly Page originally published on TechCrunch

The great surge in entrepreneurship following the pandemic resulted in a significant disruption of most industries, which was mainly reflected in significant and widespread adoption of tech, both old and contemporary. Today, technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are being applied across multiple departments and are helping teams work in synergy at a faster pace.

Finance teams are no exception to this trend. The month-end closing process benefits greatly from automation, reducing manual errors, streamlining internal controls, executing recurring events and tasks, and providing real-time insights into the process for quicker decision-making.

However, adopting new platforms and technologies to speed up processes can be overwhelming and time-consuming, especially when you don’t know where to start. So, I’ve put together three main strategies to put you on the path to fully digitizing your business and noticeably improve the closing process.

Automate low-value tasks

There’s an increasing need to remove laborious and recurring tasks from your team’s plate so they can focus on what’s important. But when it comes to the financial closing process, what can and should be automated?

These are a few recurring tasks that, when automated, can help your team check their status or progress at a glance:

The preparation and review of balance sheet reconciliations.
Completion and management of closing checklists.
Balance sheet flux and/or P&L variance analysis.
Data analytics on the health and status of the month-end close.

The data gathered in these steps will allow you to identify your business’ root issues quickly, which will then let you assess what to do next.

Not only will the adoption of automation tools further optimize the closing process, but as technologies continue to evolve, teams that layer these together will substantially improve speed and accuracy. These investments result in financial and operational growth, offering greater analytics and aiding the decision-making process.

Streamline internal controls

How to solve the financial close dilemma: 3 strategies that never fail by Ram Iyer originally published on TechCrunch