The DDC Group

Seems that a great amount of our time at Go Fusion is supporting businesses in their understanding of how to apply Ai, where to focus and what are their first steps?

Senada Aljović Milić is #hiring . Know anyone who might be interested?

Sustainability as one part of your operations is not the same as operating sustainably. Planting trees and reducing single-use plastics have their place. But doing those things for ESG reporting is not the same as building true sustainability into how a business runs. Think efficiency, security, and resilience. Think creating a brand experience that can maintain business continuity, deliver on its promises, and have a positive impact on your publics. To endure, adapt, absorb external shocks, and perform over time takes more than good intentions. It was my pleasure to share this perspective during the opening panel at SAUPO in Atlanta last week, a discussion with Raymond Shelton of YKK AP America Inc. , Dr. Robin Cheramie of KSU’s Coles College of Business, and william strang of TOTO USA , moderated by Dr. Hazem Rashed-Ali of KSU's College of Architecture and Construction Management. I learned a great deal from my fellow panelists. To be honest, I wish we had more time! In practice, this shows up in cybersecurity and data protection, in smarter allocation of time, money, and resources, in responsible AI, and in supply chains designed to reduce idle time, limit waste, strengthen continuity, and keep delivering when disruption hits. It also shows up in whether a society can retain talent, build capability, and reduce brain drain. And yes, it is deeply tied to brand. Customers, partners, and markets know the difference between authenticity and theater, between a company that uses sustainability as messaging and one that has embedded it into its operating model and overall experience. In addition to the topics led by Dr. Rashed-Ali (I was of course quite passionate about the false compromise with profitability), the audience also brought some excellent questions around execution / breaking points, systems and processes, small business guidance / resources, and more. Many thanks, Dr. May Hongmei Gao , my former professor from my undergraduate and graduate studies, for including me in this meaningful, international gathering of leaders and scholars.

Electricity priced off gas made sense when gas dominated the system. That is no longer the case, but the pricing largely still is. The BBC coverage on potential decoupling is a useful prompt for the debate, even if it does not directly address the price cap itself. It is easy to conflate the two, but they are not the same thing. There is also a risk in overinterpreting short-term signals. The price cap reflects a complex mix of hedging, forward positions, balancing costs, and supplier strategy. It is not a simple read-through of wholesale dynamics. The more fundamental issue is visibility. Parts of the system are already doing some of the work people assume is missing. When gas drives up wholesale prices, low-carbon generation under CfDs pays back into the system via the Low Carbon Contracts Company. That should reduce consumer exposure, but the effect is indirect and not easy to see. So in practice, a form of decoupling already exists. It is partial, delayed, and not well understood. Decoupling itself is not anti-market. If anything, it is about credibility. It is difficult to ask consumers to support the energy transition while pricing outcomes still reflect a system that no longer exists. None of this is straightforward. Changes to market design come with trade-offs, particularly around risk and investment. But the direction of travel is clear. This is less about one data point and more about whether the market reflects the system we are actually building. At DDC, we are watching closely, because these decisions ultimately show up in affordability, operations, and customer trust. https://lnkd.in/ee85bptZ Yvez McKenzie Nathan Jones Jade Rogers Zoe Jones Luke Coyle Brett A. J. Kerrie Markou

This was such a wonderful event to raise money for such an incredible cause. Thank you Marie Toller and everyone at The Christie Charity for having us, we were proud to sponsor and support!