Sales is one of the most important functions of any business. If your sales team is not doing that great, it is a sign that you need to recalibrate your strategies and think something out before it is too late. One of the heartless ways to go about improving your sales team, as some managers would accept, is the termination of employees who underperform.
The term big data has been doing the rounds quite often these days. That is solely because of the endless amount of potential it holds. Big data is, quite commonly, associated with the internet. It basically is extremely large sets of data that may be analyzed by advanced computing to uncover patterns and trends that would otherwise go unnoticed.
Designing is an art. And art, unlike most things, is not supposed to be the same. It needs to be varying, dynamic, adaptive and appealing. The norm of compliance to rules is something that does not apply to designing.
Virtual Reality technology has provided the much needed visual impetus to have a second look at products or services. It comes as no surprise at how companies these days are vying to incorporate VR tech considering the number of possibilities and the revenue markets this technology opens up.
One of the prime reasons estimated behind the immensely popular VR tech is the freedom it renders to the person using it. You no longer are bound to where the camera angle goes or what your physical environment is. VR has the power to transport you to an altogether new world that transcends the boundaries of the real world.
In this post, you will get to know how and which industries are benefiting from VR.
Retail showrooms are all about the glitz and the finesse of visual appeal. How about having something that gives the same impression but at half the cost? VR makes that possible for retail outlets everywhere.
Showrooms can now play to their strengths and display things in every shade possible and offering combination suggestions would not be that difficult a process now.
This would also give retailers an insight into what is it that pleases their customers the most and then make necessary changes.
The one thing you visualize when you hear the word architecture or architects is them working on huge blue sheets with scales and high-end pens etc. With the insurgence of VR, this would be far less a hassle.
It also allows them to experiment with the various fundamentals of erecting towers by using visual layouts and lighting and discuss the various outcomes of it all. This, in turn, saves building companies a lot as they come to know of problems before the actual construction takes place.
Visualising the corners of the world would no longer require going there. And that explains why this technology is a phenomenal boon to travel & tourism companies.
The tourists get to virtually visit the location even before they actually travel there, thus aiding their planning. Tourists can finalize accommodations based on the proximity of where they’d want to stay, what view they’d prefer, etc.
Out of all the sectors that rely on visualization for accuracy, the education sector would be considered to be the most important. It could be any branch of education for that matter.
From engineering to medicals, from linguistics to humanities to history and even geography. Bringing in VR would aid better understanding and recollection of concepts, thus making learning a wholesome experience.
Not only would VR aid learning about the human anatomy, but it would also benefit healing it. Getting to the root cause of the matter would bring in better treatment.
Accurate VR-oriented diagnosis brings about better prognosis and this itself would improve the quality of medicine and healthcare all over the globe. This explains why the value of the virtual reality healthcare market in the U.S. has grown from $525 million (2012) to $976 million (2017).
The benefits that VR technology imparts are multifarious and more than what could be enlisted in one article. It is a wonderful era to live in and VR adds essence to existence.
According to an article in The Globe and Mail, the research firm Gartner estimates that there were around 3.8 billion devices and products connected last year. Gartner estimates that by 2020, this number will increase to 25 billion.
Statistically, the projected market for the Internet of things is estimated to be one million U.S dollars annually since 2017.
Evidently this means that the number of players in the IoT development space too would increase to cope with the rising demand from enterprises and customers alike.
Here is how you can use IoT to make your business stand out and to show it to your customers that you have the ability to bring imagination to reality.
The key to a successful product design is less about the technology and more about the design of the product – design that customers can use and leverage IoT to the maximum. The environment and user context can provide a lot of information about how the user will use the product.
Relentless prototyping is the key to ensuring that the time to market is the most opportune rather than the fastest. It is important to understand how the product will fit into the people’s lives and how you can ensure that this transition of the IoT product into their lives happens in the smoothest way possible.
IoT is great at working quietly in the background. Take for instance, the low powered long life sensors or actuators. They stay away from the limelight and continuously deliver data for additional analytics. The hardware needs to interact with it seamlessly and the overall user experience needs to be stellar
IoT goes way beyond adding a chip to connect machine to machine interactions. It needs to address a specific need of the end customer. All solutions (hardware, software, and connectors) need to be designed keeping this end need in mind. Only when the IoT product pays attention to customer behaviour during the product design and development, does it stand the chance to succeed in today’s intensely competitive times.
When your devices hold the ability to self-test, solving problems don’t eat up a lot of time or valuable resources. IoT serves as a bed for AI to comfortably be placed into products and devices which would soon be able to think and act by themselves (just like self-healing process in case of a connection fault).
Investing in the future has been the sole motive of a business and you just cannot ignore IoT when you look at the future from a tech expert point of view. Make sure to keep these considerations in mind so that you can develop a truly distinct IoT product that adds tremendous and tangible value to your end customers’ lives or work.
The blockchain is rapidly emerging as a hot tech trend. It has the capability to disrupt multiple industry sectors and offer endless possibilities and ventures that were once impossible but now are quite the opposite. It is also promising fruitful outcomes through mergers with other technologies
When it comes to mergers, let’s talk IoT (Internet of Things). The technology that is said to connect every device that consists of an IP address and can receive or transfer information is revolutionary in every perceivable sense. But there are challenges IoT seems to face before changing the face of technology. And if experts are to be believed in this arena, Blockchain seems to have just what it takes to address those issues and get the tech rolling.
One of the major challenges IoT faces is its reliance on centralization. This is done via the server/client model. The problem here is that since all devices are connected through cloud servers, in order for devices to be connected, they have to travel a long, long way even if the devices are at an arm’s length.
Yes, there is no denying the fact that cloud computing has revolutionized the tech industry, but looking at how much of data would be generated in the years to come, this system looks vulnerable to an electronic cloud-burst. It is imperative to find a surefire way to overcome this as industries like Healthcare and other very important aspects of human life will soon depend on IoT for its functioning.
This is where the decentralizing approach to IoT comes in handy, as per tech experts. Decentralizing IoT networks across the billions of devices that constitute IoT overall would ensure the absence of a weak spot. In case there ever would be a single spot of issue, it would still not pose enough threat to the entire network and the network would function just like it always did, without a glitch.
Blockchain, primarily, is a technology that allows the formation of a distributed network of transactions that would not rely on storing information in central servers but rather function on the shared nodes of a network. Blockchains use cryptography to authenticate and spot out nodes that enable them to safely add transactions.
What’s the best part about blockchains is that it is totally tamper-proof and cannot be messed or manipulated with.
The fascinating bit about this is that the merger of IoT and Blockchains is already making all the news. Being backed by start-ups and corporate tech giants alike, this IoT-Blockchain merger is riding on a high wave.
Companies like Ethereum and Filament are putting the IoT-Blockchain merger to use and are finding some interesting implications of it.
Though there may be a lot counting on IoT to click for the good of all humanity and though Blockchains pose a genuine solution to most of them, it is far too early to say that IoT-Blockchain is the ultimate solution to it all. It isn’t yet the perfect option but it sure is promising. And for the moment, that’s enough to consider.
Computers have taken up, quite so efficiently, a major chunk of all that we do every day. They’ve made life simpler. Not just that, but they’ve also thinned down the margin of error which rules out the scope for “human error.” This makes us go beyond the conventional uses of computing and helps us achieve far more than what we’re already doing.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a buzzword that is taking the globe by storm. It helps machines to mimic human intelligence, in the sense that it can recognise speech, interact, even respond sarcastically (like SIRI) through the analysis of visual and audio cues.
Using AI to enhance the field of sports is an idea that would change the way we look at sports. Let’s look at a variety of ways in which AI has proven to be a boon to sports and how it is ensuring better conduction of sporting events worldwide.
Sacramento Kings, one of the NBA giants, thought of integrating AI in order to get closer to their fans. In partnership with Sapien, who are masters in the development of custom bots, the Kings have come up with a chat-bot, KAI (Kings Artificial Intelligence). KAI answers an endless array of fan queries regarding team stats, player information, team roster, etc.
When it comes to a sport that concerns itself with revving engines and speeding cars, safety is always a topic of discussion. Leaving no room for human errors in a sport where life hangs precariously, AI comes as a beacon of hope. Ford has partnered with Argo AI in devising cars that are far safer and would enable making speed car racing a far less bloody sport.
Donning a smartwatch that could detect your pulse and heartbeat is now a thing of the past. Banking on the accuracy of wearable devices, Boxing has now gone the AI way. A French robotics company PIQ aims at making devices that hold the capacity to track and analyse “microscopic variations in boxing movements” as Techmergence would put it.
Boltt sports technologies, an India-based company aims to launch AI-powered sneakers. Connected Sneakers, as they would call it are decked with sensors which can be synced to the company’s app via Bluetooth. This would then track performance details and provide recommendations based on the goals set by the user.
Tennis uses AI to fine-track where the ball lands using the “in/out” technology. This determines if the ball was in the court bounds or not, thus giving the necessary information that aids in keeping score. This has saved quite a few important decisions from going in the wrong favor.
And though it is a matter of fact that a lot of the application of AI in sports is currently in the “test” phase, one thing that we can be certain of is the fact sports is going to change drastically, sooner than most people assume it will.
The Internet of Things has revolutionized our generation, blessing us with products that simplify our day to day lives. Ever since IoT became a success, all major brands want to launch their own IoT products into the market and compete with rivals to determine whose device is the best.
Take the case of Google and Amazon who are competing over which smart home device works the best; the Google Home or Amazon’s Alexa. Both have similar functions and usability but are always at loggerheads about efficiency and quality.
There are many components that go into a viable IoT product design. Right from embedded electronics and software, to sensors, actuators, and connectivity, the overall product design needs to account for a lot of aspects. This way, they can work well with human-to-machine and machine-to-machine interactions. Want to know what these key aspects are? Then read on and find out more
Emphasis should always be on quality research data before anything else. The research team needs to dig deep into user behaviors and patterns in order to come to conclusions. If the designs are groundbreaking, they reach an unbeatable quality that will become hard to match, thus delivering a well-crafted product to the market. And if R&D is done well, your product design has a higher likelihood to stand out from other similar products.
Since IoT functions in real-time, developers need to keep security at the utmost priority. Because these devices are dealing with private user information like addresses, payment information, real-time locations and phone numbers.
If there happens to be a data breach or a hack into the device software, all this private information can go public or in the wrong hands, thus endangering the user as well as tarnishing the company name.
An IoT device is such that it works around the clock. So it should be designed to perform well in the background rather than being in front of the user because it can be quite annoying at times. Commands given through digital boundaries may produce real-world effects, but unlike digital commands, the actions happening in the real world cannot necessarily be nullified.
IoT devices should also be of weatherproof design. Come rain or sunshine, the device should be able to sustain in any climate. Having a robust IoT design will give the product a cutting edge over competitor’s products.
As a device connected to the internet, it is obvious that a lot of data will be generated over time. But, it is important not to pile up that data, instead generate data that is relevant to the user. It is essential for a designer to keep in mind the prowess of data science and what to do to generate the relevant actionable insights for stakeholders.
Data science offers a lot of opportunities to make sense of the patterns and trends behind the numbers and separate the valuable insights from the seemingly mind-numbing data deluge.
If these 4 points are taken into consideration, one can surely succeed at launching a successful IoT device into the market. The prospect of IoT and the role that digital design will play is about empowering users to find data in ways that previously required a lot of effort to find out. Developing an IoT product is not about being economical but about gaining a level of proficiency that will benefit everyone.
As businesses and business transactions are growing so are the threats of cyber crimes. There used to be a time when if someone wanted to steal from a bank, they had to go through an elaborate planning montage featuring eleven people which included a small Chinese gymnast.
But, today the game has changed quite a bit. Today the only bank robbery montage you have to go through is that of a socially awkward guy in a hoodie sitting in a coffee shop with his laptop. Whoever thought that would be a ‘cool’ thing to do? Well, the answer is pretty much anyone with a laptop, an internet connection and a basic knowledge of Kali Linux. The cavalier approach to this very much real threat which is seasoned with the occasional media outburst is quite understated but justified.
The reason is that there is only so much that can be done to stop cyber crimes. Which is also true for real crimes. So, the only thing that can be done is beef up security by using newer and more advanced systems. But, let us not forget the fact that for every new security feature that professionals come up with, there is a hacker somewhere trying to counter it.
One of the most interesting developments and reasons for debate on this topic is Big Data. As we have seen in recent years, Big Data has opened up several opportunities for all industries and it is being used in every which way conceivable. The argument with big data in cybersecurity is that it is capable of hurting security systems just as much as it is helping it. For something as sensitive as cybersecurity this is not a gamble we could afford to take. So, let us explore whether this argument holds water.
Every year for the past decade we have had this incident where a massive breach of security has the whole world in an uproar. The past two years, in particular, have been filled with such incidents, from the alleged incident of Russians Hacking the U.S. elections to the Worldwide WannaCry malware. The more recent Cambridge Analytica scandal is a good example of how data breaches don’t necessarily have to involve hacking.
This sheds light on a whole new perspective on data security. With big data at the helm of their marketing strategies, many multinational corporations have access to a lot of information. So, let us move from the data we are trying to hide and have a look at data that we are giving away. With the ongoing Facebook scandal, we have learned one thing, that all the data that we are comfortable with sharing is as exploitable as the sensitive stuff we hide. Big Data here plays a huge role as it has become the go-to data analytics tool. On a global scale, this can become a very notorious issue.
The risks of having a corporation tapping into your published data through seemingly legal means have caused such an issue. Imagine the extent of damage that could be caused if such data fell into the hands of real threats like ISIL. Well, you don’t need to imagine that hard to perceive such a scenario as such hacks are a common thing today. Yet again, it is big data that comes to the forefront as a promoting tool for cyber crimes. Before we can go throwing blame around on corporations, we must remember that they have to maintain and secure several exabytes of data. Which means that they have to constantly analyze potential threats as well as breaches. This is by no means an easy task and the introduction of big data-based technologies in this equation only makes things infinitely worse.
Risk management and intelligence that kicks into action when required are common outcomes of a big data analysis. It would always be good to have tools that can analyze and automate data so that it is available easily and the analyzed data is transferred to the right people at the right time is of the essence.
By doing this, analysts get to categorize threats without investing long hours. If the data comes in after a long delay, the response that comes in would be irrelevant to the attack that the company is under.
Big data comes in handy in the manner that it helps analysts to visualize cyber-attacks by considering the complexity of data from a vast network of data and simplifying the patterns that have been understood into visualizations.
Big data is an excellent method of detecting Trojan horses that come from employee devices. It does so by identifying anomalies in employee and contractor devices also. Where big data is impressively useful is when certain tangible steps are taken towards improving cybersecurity.
Big data allows you to automatically respond to threats noticed in the data that comes in and also enables you to trust the accuracy of the data. This is what is said to be the X-factor behind what makes big data security all the more proficient.
In conclusion, it comes as no surprise that now companies are investing heavily in high-end and advanced infrastructure to enhance cybersecurity thereby detecting threats far efficiently and effectively. Some believe that big data will solve the varied issues of the cybernetics industry in a blink of an eye. The truth, however, is that as these attacks keep getting stronger and advanced, the security installed to avoid them are getting stronger too. Considering the many ways in which big data can be leveraged for cybercrime, it is important for corporations to use their resources to this end responsibly.
There was a point in time when lack of data was an issue. Now, times have changed and it is the overabundance of data that seems to be complicating the matter all the more. Especially in the e-commerce sector, where metrics like GMV, CLV, cart abandonment rate, and AOV are tracked diligently by online retail companies to gauge its performance.
Using the traditional methods to organize, store and study data are no longer feasible. Fortunately, Big Data is going mainstream and offers a range of advantages that will aid the data and analytics needs of the e-commerce companies. Here’s how big data is changing the face of e-commerce:
The larger your customer base, larger is the data generated and the more you’d need to invest in infrastructure for storing data. This being the traditional method has been leading to poor customer service and unsatisfied customers overall. This can be easily avoided by using big data.
Big data holds the potential to track not just customer information but also maintain their experience records. Companies can then backtrack each customers experience and see what it is that is going wrong repetitively and strive to improve it.
While paying online, big data has a significant role to play. Big data makes paying over the net a more secure and faster process. Big data integrates various payment platforms into one centralized platform. It aids not only the customers but also keeps fraudulent activities at bay.
Smartphones have turned out to be an extended organ of humanity. An organ so essential that imagining anything over an hour without it would seem impossible. Big data is in favor of mobility simply because anything with an IP address and the ability to transfer and receive data is compatible with Big data. Google also is turning partial towards those sites that are mobile responsive, and we don’t see why it wouldn’t be doing so.
When you combine another buzzword in the IT field such as VR and merge it with big data, you get something that holds the potential to reconstruct the future. This merger not only changes the way a consumer would go about with his/her day but it would also revolutionize the way sellers sell things.
Virtual reality would materialize things right in front of your eyes without the dependence on anything remotely human and for that, big data would be of help. Are we looking at the insurgence of Artificial intelligence here as VR and big data score so high on compatibility charts? It is for us to wait for not too long and watch.
Seemingly the King Midas of the IT sector, big data is changing to gold whatever it comes in contact with. E-commerce companies are increasingly relying on big data to get that much needed competitive edge and enhance the overall customer service experience that they can deliver.
