Global Scans · Organizations · Weekly Summary

WHAT'S NEW?: Moves away from traditional, hierarchical, full-time structures towards a gig and shared economy continue apace. New models of virtual working and work anywhere, anytime for anybody are likely to grow dramatically in the coming years.

• [New] UltraFICO-style features will spread across mortgages, cards, and small business lending, and the share of US underwriting decisions informed by bank account data is on track to double within five years. TechBullion
• [New] Microsoft is urging organizations to begin with strategy, ownership, and inventory, while also modernizing protocols and designing new systems with crypto-agility in mind, adding that starting earlier can reduce risk while helping avoid disruptive, rushed migrations later. Campus Technology
• [New] AI could reshape the distribution of jobs within hotels, shifting employment from back-office functions to front-office, customer-facing roles. The Guardian
• [New] There will be an expansion of a British Business Bank programme which provides a 70% government guarantee on some commercial loans to small businesses, to make more firms eligible for funding. financialpost
• [New] Gartner expects agent-software spending to rise sharply and predicts autonomous business will become a net job creator by 2028 or 2029. MarketingProfs
• [New] Almost half of organizations have rescheduled or reduced deployments after costs exceeded expected value, and one-third cite weak understanding of AI economics as a barrier to deploying agents. MarketingProfs
• [New] France headquartered global reinsurance company SCOR has signed a memorandum of understanding with Japanese insurer Japan Post Insurance on the establishment of a reinsurance investment structure, which will feature subject business from both companies and be invested into by Japan Post Insurance. Artemis.bm - The Catastrophe Bond, Insurance Linked Sec
• [New] Nike focused much of its spend through May and June on TV, increasing from 42.9% to 50% of its overall media spending - perhaps an attempt to make up for the brand awareness it might have gained, if it were a sponsor like Adidas. Digiday
• [New] In the U.S. spending on influencer marketing is expected to grow 15.7% in 2026, ultimately reaching $13.7 billion by 2027. Digiday
• [New] Enterprises in the U.K. are turning cybersecurity into a core business discipline, adopting AI-supported detection, continuous assurance and automated evidence generation as threats and regulatory scrutiny intensify. City AM
• [New] The MPA Legal Coalition, comprising 11 organizations, will push the European Commission to take action against several member states that are failing to comply with their legal obligations to protect marine ecosystems, and will support legal action at the national level. Positive News
• [New] Grab has detailed plans to expand its electric vehicle (EV) charging network in Vietnam 15-fold, from around 400 ports today to more than 6,000 by 2028, positioning itself as a brand-neutral alternative to VinFast's dominant proprietary charging system. Automotive World
• [New] Sky, which is owned by the US telecoms company Comcast, will pay £1.2bn in cash initially for ITV's media and entertainment business, which includes its free-to-air TV channels in the UK and ITVX streaming platform. The Guardian
• [New] The Small and Medium Enterprises segment is anticipated to witness the fastest CAGR from 2026 to 2034 due to the democratization of technology and the availability of affordable cloud-based Internet of Behaviour solutions tailored for smaller businesses. Market Data Forecast
• [New] By 2027, Manual Pentesting will likely be a boutique service for niche problems, while 99% of vulnerability assessments will be Agentic. Penligent Security Blog - AI-Driven Hacking Tutorials,
• [New] TikTok Shop is projected to hit $23.4 billion in US ecommerce sales in 2026, a 48% year-over-year jump that would put it ahead of Target, Costco, Best Buy, and Kroger by ecommerce volume. New Engen
• [New] If VCF becomes the standard landing zone for private AI and regulated workloads, Broadcom will have turned a mature infrastructure business into a renewed hybrid cloud growth engine. WindowsForum
• [New] Organizations often combine multiple Proofpoint modules to achieve broader DLP and insider risk coverage, which can increase both cost and implementation effort. Safetica a.s.
• [New] The council, one of the largest unitary authorities in England, will replace outdated legacy applications with a cloud-native ERP system to reduce complexity, improve transparency, and minimise infrastructure dependency. UKAuthority
• [New] The most optimistic scenario for the AI business sees SpaceX overcoming engineering constraints and rapidly scaling orbital data centers to capture 20% of forecast AI computing capacity by 2040. ST
• [New] In an environment where AI-accelerated threats are growing faster than security teams can scale, where the global talent shortage shows no signs of easing, and where the cost of a breach continues to rise, fragmented point solutions are no longer a viable long-term strategy. Simply Data
• [New] The proposed participation of embassy officials, regional representatives, business leaders, and investors from Russia is likely to further deepen bilateral engagement and help transform emerging opportunities into concrete economic collaborations. tripurainfo DOT com
• [New] Spring 2027 is closer than it appears for businesses with complex digital infrastructure. Arnold & Porter

Last updated: 13 July 2026