Walmart and Microsoft will lead the third day of the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show

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Microsoft president Brad Smith yesterday condemned the large-scale cyberattack called SolarWinds, for which Russia was held responsible, calling it “a massive and arbitrary global attack on the technology supply chain that we all need to protect.”

“What have some people used the pandemic for? To launch cyber-attacks against hospitals, against the public health sector, against the World Health Organization, against the first line of critical response, ”said Smith. “We have to come together as an industry and use the collective voice to declare that this is not acceptable.”

Smith was one of the main speakers at the third day of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which is being held virtually in this edition due to the pandemic.

Another top executive on the agenda yesterday was Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart, who discussed how the company has addressed the myriad health, logistics, supply chain and economics challenges posed by the pandemic. “There have been more changes during this time than in my 30 years at Walmart,” the executive acknowledged, referring not only to the pandemic but also the technological changes that needed to accelerate.

McMillon stated that the company simultaneously has aggressive goals to improve racial equality across its supply chain and internal policies. He said one of the concrete steps should be to choose more companies as partners or suppliers that are owned by black entrepreneurs. In the meantime, a committee has been appointed internally dedicated to identifying policies that need to be amended.

“This year should yield more results,” he said. “Inclusive environments are more successful.”

As for the digital store membership program, Walmart + announced its goal is to expand the scope and number of benefits it offers, but at a manageable rate to build capacity and meet customer expectations. And, in an indirect allusion to competitor Amazon’s Prime program, he assured “it will be unique. We are not going to copy anyone else ”.

Today CES continues in its 100% digital format.

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