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The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has wrapped up its cuts to federal job roles and completed its push against consulting firms. Next on the list: IT service providers supplying systems and services to federal agencies. Following a directive from DOGE, the General Services Administration (GSA) sent letters to Dell, CDW, and other IT vendors, asking for evidence that their contract pricing is competitive and that their services cant be performed by government employees. The GSA argues that federal tech needs are often less complex than what vendors deliver, and not everything needs to be outsourced. The move marks a shift toward bringing more digital services in-house. Im fully in alignment with the need to in-house government capacity and government services, says Merici Vinton, a former U.S. Digital Service official. But, Vinton adds, with the situation right now, I have not seen DOGE build anything or actually do anything in-house. DOGE may have ambitious goals, but a working model could come from an unexpected source: one of former DOGE chief Elon Musks least-favorite countries: the U.K. Before 2010, the U.K. governments digital services were fragmented. A 2010 report recommended a unified online platform. Two years later, the beta version of GOV.UK launched and has since won multiple awards. Digital is a core function of a modern state, says Richard Pope, author of Platformland and one of the original architects of GOV.UK. That’s as true now as it was in the 2010s when GOV.UK was built by an in-house GDS team. Its a model the U.S. could follow. Whether it will is another question. Ann Kempster, a U.K. consultant with experience delivering digital services both inside and outside of government, notes that while DOGE wants to mirror the U.K. model, it also laid off the very staff who could have made it work. They had things like the U.S. Digital Service and 18F, the internal consultancy, that were born out of Government Digital Service and all of the work that we did here [in the U.K.], she says. Both teams were early casualties of DOGEs cost-cutting. They had that expertise in house, and they sacked them all. You have to wonder why they’ve done that. A recent report from the Niskanen Center, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, echoes that concern, advising against slashing consulting contracts without first ensuring adequate in-house expertise. The U.S. is hardly alone in rethinking digital public services. It’s a pattern that’s visible around the world, says Pope, from India and Ukraine, who have been investing heavily in digital public infrastructure, to Germany and South Africa, who have recently announced similar efforts to build state digital capacity. Having governments, not outside vendors, build and maintain digital infrastructure is not just smart policy, Pope argues; its essential. To outsource digital public services and infrastructurethings like data exchange, welfare systems, and healthcareis to outsource the capacity to govern. Vinton shares that concern, pointing to the federal governments deep reliance on contractors. The vast majority of systems are built, run, and maintained by vendors, she says. I think that is a threat to our government capacity, our national security, and our economic security. Still, she cautions, bringing services in-house won’t work unless the government builds the teams to do it well.
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E-Commerce
While top business leaders are increasingly investing in AI and other advanced technologies, many are not seeing anticipated returns. In fact, a survey published in May 2025 by the IBM Institute for Business Value found that only 25% of AI initiatives have delivered expected ROI over the last few years. This is not surprising among those who have seen their share of tech implementations. Organizations have long struggled to add and integrate the most advantageous new platforms without losing time, momentum, and often market share. Among adoptions that do come in on time and on budget, relatively few yield the intended big-picture results. Integration lapses This reflects the tendency of leaders to separate their IT and people needs into separate categories when tech adoptions require them to focus on both simultaneously. Even the most forward-thinking executives who invest in robust change management often completely delegate this responsibility, detaching themselves from their peoples implementation experiences. These lapses are becoming increasingly hazardous as individuals across generations internalize adverse views of AI and even act on them in alarming ways. For example, a March 2025 study by generative AI platform Writer found that 31% of employeesincluding 41% of Gen Z workersadmit to sabotaging their companys AI strategy by refusing to adopt AI. As a result, roughly two-thirds of executives say adoption efforts have led to tension and division within their organization, with 42% suggesting its tearing their company apart. New perspective To fully harness the power of todays most innovative tools, leaders must adjust the lens through which they view technology and recognize the outsized influence their people will have before, during, and after implementation processes. This shift in thinking will make it possible for them to fully embrace proven, though underutilized, people-first tech adoption strategies that help drive meaningful returns. These strategies include: 1. Meet your people where they are While top leaders spend extensive time and energy contemplating the wisdom of changes before driving them forward, their people are granted little such runway. Intellectually and emotionally, theyre playing catch up, and thus require patience on the part of leaders as well as highly tailored communication and direction that creates and enhances alignment. 2. Emphasize the why To help team members believe, comprehend, and appreciate the rationale behind AI and other tech implementations, leaders should deliver a compelling, authentic, consistent narrative. Done well, such effort will help employees understand the all-important why, a key first step toward internalizing, accepting, and fully utilizing new technologies. 3. Consider systemic impact While some technologies lead to groundbreaking efficiencies, many create new, unforeseen challenges, especially at the people level. Organizations should be proactive about identifying such risks, addressing potential and emerging issues through a variety of tools, from workstream design to communications and training. 4. Foster change agility The AI technology of even six months ago is very different from today, and will be different again in another six months, necessitating that leaders prepare their organizations for future and ongoing tech adoptions. This will require companies to shed legacy cultures of change resistance in favor of change agilityefforts that are especially important in historically change-adverse industries, like healthcare. 5. Stay focused on leading With countless competing priorities, its tempting for top leaders to delegate their organizations tech implementation efforts. Yet the gravity of todays AI evolution requires their active participation and leadership across all stages of the adoption work, from shaping the narrative to outlining critical success factors, to communicating the importance of the change. Keeping ahead Fundamentally, todays AI era is as rooted in people issues as it is in technology issues, necessitating human capital-oriented approaches. Leaders that internalize this reality can best harness the power of novel technologies as a means of driving transformational, profitable, and sustainable improvements, staying ahead of the competition and generating returns on AI investments.
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E-Commerce
Today, Lego is dipping its toes into a massive world of IP that it hasnt explored in nearly 100 years as a brand: anime. The company is gearing up to release a new line of sets inspired by One Piece, the popular manga and anime series thats now also a live-action show from Netflixmarking the first time Lego has adapted an anime property. The collaboration includes five unique sets inspired by Netflixs 2023 adaptation of One Piece, which was originally published as a manga comic 1997 and made into an iconic anime show in 1999. When Netflixs interpretation of the series, co-produced by Tomorrow Studios, launched its first season in 2023, it spent eight weeks in Netflixs Global Top 10 Shows list, debuting at the top of the charts in 46 countries and amassing 71.6 million views in four months. The second season is expected to drop in 2026. [Photo: Lego] It appears that Lego sees an opportunity to follow up on Netflixs success with its own win. Each of the five new sets, which range from $29.99 to $329.99, are inspired by the most recognizable locations in Netflixs One Piece. The sets are available for preorder today, and will officially become available on August 1. Lego’s foray into the anime world makes sense for a brand that’s increasingly turning its focus from open-world sets to IP-based collections. In recent years, the company has doubled down on partnerships with properties like Back to the Future, Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Marvel, Minecraft, and Super Mario World, to name a few. The strategy seems to be working: In its full-year 2024 report, Lego notched year-over-year revenue growth of 13%, totaling $10.53 billion. For years, fans of both anime and Lego have waited for an eventual crossover of the two worlds; even designing their own Lego interpretations of properties like Naruto, My Neighbor Totoro, and K-On! Now, the dream is finally a reality. [Photo: Lego] A first for both Lego and ‘One Piece’ One Piece follows a young pirate, Monkey D. Luffy, and his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, to find a legendary piece of treasure called One Piece. Netflix and Tomorrow Studios live-action version of the series was created in collaboration with the mangas creator, Eiichiro Oda. The crew used a combination of CGI and practical effects to mimic the cartoony aesthetic of the source material while capturing its whimsical, magic-infused settings. According to Andrew Hugh Seenan, Legos creative lead on the One Piece collection, the show has all the ingredients to make great Lego sets. Its a seafaring world of adventure with a vast range of imaginative island locations, Seenan explains. It has a great range of diverse and unique characters, both good and bad, all with their own visual style, personalities, and abilities. There is also a clear mission and call to adventureto find the legendary One Piece treasure. [Photo: Lego] The effort to adapt One Piece into Lego bricks was a two-year collaboration that involved an ongoing back-and-forth between the shows designers and creatives and Legos design team. Josh Simon, Netflixs vice president of consumer products, says it was also crucial to receive support from Oda himself. Together with Tomorrow Studios and Shueisha, we approached Oda-sensei with a vision to bring the beloved action series adaptation to life in Lego formthe first time in the history of the franchise, Simon says. In a statement posted online, Oda wrote of the collaboration, Even now, I have dozens of Lego boxes piled up at my workplace that I havent even had time to dig into. Theres no cooler toy out there!! For 25 years since the anime started, Ive been asking for a Lego toy, and finally my dream is being fulfilled with a live-action collection! [Photo: Lego]
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