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Yana Paskova/Getty Images Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who urged world leaders to prepare for a pandemic in a 2015 TED talk, penned an op-ed for The Washington Post on how the US could emerge victorious in the first against the coronavirus pandemic. Gates introduced a three-point plan based on expert consultations he had through his work with the Gates Foundation, which is funding research for a coronavirus treatment. The first point in Gates' plan is calling for a "consistent nationwide approach" to lockdowns that are being imposed to contain the spread of the disease in the country. The Microsoft founder also called for the federal government to ramp up testing and establishing a clear prioritization on who will be tested first, with the highest priority going to medical workers followed by highly symptomatic and at-risk patients. The final step, as Gates outlined, would be to take a "data-based approach to developing treatments and a vaccine," urgin...

Business Insider Intelligence   This is a preview of the Accounts Payable Automation research report from Business Insider Intelligence. Purchase this report. Business Insider Intelligence offers even more consumer coverage with Payments & Commerce Pro. Subscribe today to receive industry-changing payments and commerce news and analysis to your inbox. The $22 trillion business-to-business (B2B) US payments market is facing a paradox. High invoice volume (a business can see anywhere from hundreds to tens of thousands of invoices per month) and small departments that still use largely analog process are driving a desire to digitize: Enterprises using digital payables platforms can see 81% lower processing costs and 73% faster processing cycle times, per Kofax. But accounts payable is a complex process, and entrenched habits and limited resources have stymied digitization and kept companies set in their ways. See the rest of the story at Business Insider See Also: W...

In March, the virus gripping the world — COVID-19 — started to spread in Africa. In short order, actors across the continent’s tech ecosystem began to step up to stem the spread. Early in March Africa’s coronavirus cases by country were in the single digits, but by mid-month those numbers had spiked leading the World Health Organization to sound an alarm. “About 10 days ago we had 5 countries affected, now we’ve got 30,” WHO Regional Director  Dr Matshidiso Moeti said at a press conference on March 19. “It’s has been an extremely rapid…evolution.”  By the  World Health Organization’s stats Tuesday there were 3671 COVID-19 cases in Sub-Saharan Africa and 87 confirmed deaths related to the virus — up from 463 cases and 8 deaths on March 18. As the COVID-19 began to grow in major economies, governments and startups in Africa started measures to shift a greater volume of transactions toward digital payments and away from cash — which the World Health Organization flagg...

BI Intelligence This is a preview of a research report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about Business Insider Intelligence, click here. In the US, the in-store mobile wallet space is becoming increasingly crowded. Most customers have an option provided by their smartphone vendor, like Apple, Android, or Samsung Pay. But those are often supplemented by a myriad of options from other players, ranging from tech firms like PayPal, to banks and card issuers, to major retailers and restaurants. With that proliferation of options, one would expect to see a surge in adoption. But that’s not the case — though Business Insider Intelligence projects that US in-store mobile payments volume will quintuple in the next five years, usage is consistently lagging below expectations, with estimates for 2019 falling far below what we expected just two years ago.  See the rest of the story at Business Insider See Also: Pay...

Just three months after capping what was the best year for Indian startups, having raised a record $14.5 billion in 2019 , they are beginning to struggle to raise new capital as prominent investors urge them to “prepare for the worst”, cut spending and warn that it could be challenging to secure additional money for the next few months. In an open letter to startup founders in India, ten global and local private equity and venture capitalist firms including Accel, Lightspeed, Sequoia Capital, and Matrix Partners cautioned that the current changes to the macro environment could make it difficult for a startup to close their next fundraising deal. The firms, which included Kalaari Capital, SAIF Partners, and Nexus Venture Partners — some of the prominent names in India to back early-stage startups — asked founders to be prepared to not see their startups’ jump in the coming rounds and have a 12-18 month runway with what they raise. “Assumptions from bull market financings or even ...

This is a preview of The Buy Button research report from Business Insider Intelligence. Purchase this report. Business Insider Intelligence offers even more consumer coverage with Payments & Commerce Pro. Subscribe today to receive industry-changing payments and commerce news and analysis to your inbox. Payments firms have introduced buy buttons to streamline the online checkout process, but so many have done so that it can have the opposite effect. Business Insider Intelligence This led companies to introduce buy buttons so consumers could skip the cumbersome, labor-intensive steps required to input contact and payment information online, and to allow them to shop online more freely. See the rest of the story at Business Insider See Also: TOP 10 US ECOMMERCE COMPANIES 2020: Walmart and Target Climb Rankings on Click-and-Collect Gains The best diaper bags 7 charts that show the glaring gap between men's and women's salaries in the US from Feedburner ...

This is a preview of The Stories Report from Business Insider Intelligence. 14-Day Risk Free Trial: Get full access to this and all Digital Media industry research reports. Stories are on track to become the main format for social media consumption, providing brands with a massive and vital opportunity to reach consumers.  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg claims the format will supplant News Feed use as soon as mid-2019, a much quicker pace than the social network anticipated. Combined, Stories features on Facebook-owned platforms command a whopping 1.5 billion daily active users (DAU), though some may be double-counted. Snapchat's audience is significantly smaller, though still sizable at 190 million DAU as of Q1 2019. Stories-centric features have also emerged on several other platforms, including YouTube, Google search results, and even LinkedIn. See the rest of the story at Business Insider See Also: How the US government's $2 trillion stimulus package could impact adv...

This is a preview of The Smart Speaker research report from Business Insider Intelligence. Purchase this report. Business Insider Intelligence offers even more technology coverage with Connectivity & Tech Pro. Subscribe today to receive industry-changing connectivity news and analysis to your inbox. The smart speaker has been a runaway success in the handful of years since it hit the market, catapulting from obscurity to the peak of sales lists and cementing itself in the public consciousness. Business Insider Intelligence According to primary survey data from Business Insider Intelligence, as many as half of US respondents reported living in a home with a voice-enabled AI device. See the rest of the story at Business Insider See Also: As China factories reopen, production may be hampered by ongoing measures to combat the pandemic Reducing prepaid prices now will help network operators unlock long-term revenue opportunities Wireless tools tracking the spread of the c...

Tom Brenner/Reuters President Donald Trump on Tuesday essentially admitted that he downplayed coronavirus at the start.  "I knew everything. I knew it could be horrible, I knew it could be maybe good," Trump said. "I don't want to be a negative person." Trump said he wanted to be a "cheerleader" for the United States and give people "hope," and that's why he downplayed the threat.  But public health experts have slammed Trump's handling of the pandemic, stating that his efforts to diminish the potential impact robbed the US of vital time needed to prepare.  Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories . President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he knew from the start that thousands of Americans could die from the novel coronavirus, but that he continued to downplay the threat because he wanted to stay positive and be a "cheerleader" for the country. At Tuesday's White House press briefing, Trump was asked...