Michael Bernard

Vancouver

Contributor at Vancouver Sun

Freelance Writer at Freelance

Articles

The Price of Tomorrow

3 weeks ago | medium.com | Michael Bernard

Member-only storyWhy Individual Creators Are Being Left BehindMichael Bernard·Follow5 min read·--Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco 2019, Day 2. America’s deep in the race for artificial intelligence (AI) supremacy against China. The hundreds of billions being invested in OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI, or allocated by Google and Meta are testaments to how much this battle means to the precious few with plans for dominating the world.
Decoding Retail Digital Banking Platforms

1 month ago | celent.com | Michael Bernard |Alenka Grealish |Bob Meara

6 March 2025Spotlighting Functionality and Technology Innovation This is the preamble report to our series, Retail Digital Banking Platforms: 2025 XCelent Awards, Powered by VendorMatch. Powerful market and technology forces are converging to influence the digital channel strategies of financial institutions. Digital banking platform (DBP) vendors are responding with innovative new offerings to meet these needs.
Decoding Small Business Digital Banking Platforms

1 month ago | celent.com | Michael Bernard |Alenka Grealish |Bob Meara

5 March 2025Spotlighting Functionality and Technology Innovation As we undertake extensive research on digital banking platforms, we have compiled this preamble report to our series, Small Business Digital Banking Platforms: 2025 XCelent Awards, Powered by VendorMatch. Forces similar to those impacting retail digital banking are converging to set a new bar in small business digital banking. Digital banking platform (DBP) vendors are responding with innovative new offerings to meet these needs.
The Clash: A Black Perspective

1 month ago | medium.com | Michael Bernard

Michael Bernard·Follow6 min read·--The Only Band That MattersJoe Strummer, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon in concert with the Clash in 1980. Photo by Helge Overas. LinkHard to write about the Clash without first recognizing they shot some of the most iconic album covers in the history of punk rock. It’s accurate to say the history of music. Back when I couldn’t have named five songs by the band, I still had a clear image of the London Calling album cover in my mind.
The DEI Witch-Hunt Energizes Conservatives

2 months ago | medium.com | Michael Bernard

Member-only storyPresident Donald Trump Reignites McCarthyismMichael Bernard·Follow6 min read·--Senator Joseph McCarthy (1954). Library of Congress (no copyright on this image). The Conservatives are coming for you. They spelled out what policies they want to enact with Mandate for Leadership 2025: The Conservative Promise (better known as ‘Project 2025’). The only thing they didn’t explicitly state or expect with Project 2025 was gaining immense help from the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.
Bluesky Social: The Choice Is Yours

Jan 23, 2025 | medium.com | Michael Bernard

Michael Bernard·Follow6 min read·--Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay. The swift rise of Bluesky Social (“Bluesky”) can be linked to a couple dates. October 27, 2022: Elon Musk assumes ownership of Twitter for $44 billion. July 13, 2024: Musk publicly announces his support for Donald Trump. Bluesky leaped from 5 to 30 million users in roughly six months since the second date. It’s a certainty that recent business shifts by Meta CEO and owner Mark Zuckerberg will bring new waves of users.
Review: Hook Point

Jan 16, 2025 | medium.com | Michael Bernard

How to Stand Out in a 3-Second WorldMichael Bernard·Follow5 min read·--Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay. A cottage industry has taken root in the production and publication of marketing books. This goes back to the emergence of Web 2.0 at the start of the millennium. Most of the authors churning out ‘cottage industry’ marketing books are bad writers and many bad marketers. Regardless, the shift away from traditional marketing to digital marketing opened doors.
The Pulse of Retail Debt Collections, 2025

Nov 25, 2024 | celent.com | Michael Bernard |Craig Focardi |Kieran Hines

25 November 2024Insights from a US Industry Survey: Challenges and opportunities for data acquisition, enhancing consumer engagement, and increasing automation, and Consumer Engagement What are the current loan collections industry paint points, business challenges, and technology needs? How might those challenges differ between first party and third-party collections organizations? What are the industry’s expected investment priorities in the next year?
Transforming Digital Banking at Fifth Third Bank with AWS

Nov 25, 2024 | celent.com | Michael Bernard |Colin Kerr

25 November 2024A Celent Case Study Celent analyzes a digital transformation. Fifth Third Bank adopted an agile mindset and modernized its internal architecture, positioning the bank to innovate rapidly and setting up a significant competitive advantage. Key components of modernization include the adoption of cloud technology from Amazon Web Services (AWS), shifting software development efforts toward microservices delivery, and a restructuring of the product organization.
Top Technology Trends Previsory: Retail Banking, 2025 Edition

Nov 18, 2024 | celent.com | Zilvinas Bareisis |Michael Bernard |Craig Focardi |Kieran Hines

19 November 2024 2025 will be another year of change and opportunity for retail banking. Technology budgets are expected to increase by over 5% on average, as institutions look to push ahead in unlocking efficiency improvements across their estates, while also delivering enhanced products and experiences to customers.