Amazon will start letting some shoppers pay for in-app and online purchases using Venmo this week, and the feature is slated to roll out to all US customers by Black Friday. The e-commerce giant has other payment options beyond credit and debit cards, and last year, it launched a partnership with installment payment service Affirm.

Maintaining productivity at distribution centers is a concern for roughly 75% of warehouse leaders polled by ProGlove, but among warehouse workers, 76% say productivity requires having sufficient staffing and 42% say they and their co-workers struggle with fatigue and exhaustion. "The findings in our survey lay bare the pressing need to embrace human-centric technology products to deliver better working conditions, higher productivity and improved customer service," ProGlove Chief Product Officer Ilhan Kolko says.

A survey of 600 executives by MIT Technology Review showed that more than 7 of 10 cite data issues as holding back efforts in artificial intelligence. But those same executives seem to think the situation will improve, with over half expecting AI to play a vital role in specific areas of business over the next three years.

Sales efforts, especially those that aren't linear, require sales leaders to perform frequent checks to ensure potential deals are progressing. If a deal has been withering on the vine too long, the sales leader can remove it or return it to an earlier sales phase for more effective germination, sales consultant and blogger Anthony Iannarino writes.

Business-to-business marketers can generate leads more effectively by opting for email marketing instead of cold calling and using the right content formats for different stages of the buying journey, writes Dmitry Chervonyi, chief marketing officer at Belkins. Chervonyi advises using social proof such as customer video testimonials and describes how to delegate lead gen work across various teams.

Employees want to be recognized for the work that is less evident, such as solving a challenging customer problem or working extra hours to meet a deadline, writes Christopher Littlefield, founder of Beyond Thank You. Try practicing "reflective recognition," which urges employees to tell you about the work they're proud of and responding with a "thank you" or positive feedback, Littlefield suggests.

Leaders can help employees build social capital -- strong and weak connections to their colleagues -- by modeling its importance, creating sponsorship opportunities between senior and junior employees and making it part of performance management, says McKinsey partner Brooke Weddle. "Incenting leaders to think that way and to build connections accordingly is a helpful lever in terms of increasing motivation," Weddle says.

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