These days ancient cities are being modernized by transforming the old technologies and introducing new techniques in an efficient way. This is not only limited to introducing new technologies, but using the old systems in a systematic and organized way, which makes the development and transition cheaper. For example, in Barcelona the old lamp posts are being used as the access points for Wi-Fi signals. Another instance is that previously the city of Barcelona had 108 bus routes which made the traffic and peoples' movement slow and to make it efficient now it has been divided into 28 different lines. So, ancient cities can be modernized just by incorporating the organized and redesigned framework. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/can-ancient-cities-become-smart

There are endless lists of applications that leverage networks’ data provide businesses with actionable business intelligence and qualified leads. In small and medium businesses, companies jump into social media through isolated initiatives that are not a part of consistent plan towards a given goal.

Moreover, maximum businesses use social media to amplify customer experiences with their products beyond the moment they’re being used.

The extent of how this is happening in specific businesses depends on the priority social networks have been given at strategic level and on the basis of teams, tools and processes that have been put in place to accomplish this.

This changes the way businesses connect with each other, just like social networks made for individuals before them.

Read more at : http://socialmediaexplorer.com/content-sections/tools-and-tips/social-networking-tips/

Budapest-based Hungarian start-up UXstudio has created a chatbot called Nuru. The app can help smartphone users in Kenya and Ghana in four different ways: agriculture, classified ads, finances, and healthcare. Ghanan start-up Esoko offers text-based market price information for farmers, so they can sell their crops at a fair price. The Kenyan TotoHealth service helps women with text message notifications and advice during their pregnancy. Nuru will ask you whether you have seen a doctor and If you have not seen one, it can suggest doctors in your area. If the user asks for job suggestions, the app will list all the opportunities nearby.

Since chatbots work like the current services already in use in Africa, the technology can streamline solving day-to-day problems and make information more accessible for users. Read more at : http://www.zdnet.com/article/nuru-ai-chatbot-helps-to-solve-day-to-day-problems-in-africa/

A virtual private network (VPN) is a network that is constructed using public wires - usually the Internet - to connect to a private network, such as a company's internal network. There are several ways how business benefits from VPN implementation. First, regarding defense against malware, a VPN can be installed in unprotected office devices to keep the communications private, secured and anonymous, i.e. it improves security. The VPN service enables role-based access to data, meaning, it enables one to limit sensitive data flow to only the authorized personnel. Third VPN helps to go anonymous online so that internet censorship can be bypassed and foreign contents can be accessed. The anonymity quotient also means a robust wall against the hackers as no longer they would be able to track the actual IP. Fourth, a VPN can remote access to vital data this way, one can assure the smooth reach to mission-critical business data. And finally, VPN services assure low maintenance costs post implementation. Although there is no dearth of VPN service providers today, yet not all would be perfectly compatible. Read more at: http://www.datasciencecentral.com/profiles/blogs/how-does-vpn-can-help-your-business

Chatbots are fast becoming a business imperative for businesses that want to engage with their customers. , with artificial intelligence and natural language processing, online chat is becoming the preferred way to communicate with the brand for many users who want an on-the-spot answer to their query. It partnered with enterprise-focused chatbot developer SmallTalk to provide tailored insurance policies for small businesses via a social channel. 

Chatbot technology is redefining the way we view and engage with some of the largest and most traditional industries, including insurance. Palo Alto, Calif.-based start-up Next Insurance has launched an insurance chatbot to enable small businesses to quote and buy insurance via a Facebook Messenger chatbot. Thus bringing simplicity, transparency, and easy access while buying insurance.

Read more at : http://www.zdnet.com/article/next-insurance-launches-facebook-messenger-chatbot-to-replace-the-insurance-agent/

Web technology has greatly impacted education. Following are the ways in which technology can benefit the students. One of the most effective tools students can use to communicate is an infographic which helps to present dense information through graphics. Students might need to create surveys to strengthen the point of a paper they are working on. Here polling comes in handy which helps share to thousands of people throughout the country. Then comes spell check which helps the students concentrate on the important things. Technology now plays an important role in communication, making it a lot easier. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/understanding-crm/the-role-of-information-technology-in-education-76589

Lean manufacturing techniques can be employed to supply chain management as well. Before that we need to have an overall view of priority and inefficient areas. Maintaining a minimal level of inventory by cooperating with suppliers and having accurate forecasts is the key. Efficient transportation system through long term contracts and shipping agreements is needed. Keeping up-to-date with latest Warehouse Management System (WMS) software to store and evaluate data.  Picking processes constitute a major portion of overall expenses thereby optimizing it would trigger shortened lead times and improved quality. Returns need to be managed properly in the supply chain management, especially for e - retailers. Lean requires discipline, potential investment in technology, and a continued commitment to its principles and approach.Read more at: http://www.sdcexec.com/article/12336165/eight-tips-for-running-a-lean-supply-chain

Now a days we are receiving phishing emails. Security experts have discovered that these phishing emails contain Pony malware which when downloaded and opened, crashes the system moments later. In the background the infected attachments start invading the system and give access to all important credentials to the hackers. Now follow these tips to avoid becoming a victim to phishing emails:

• Note that publisher is not used for file sharing or word processing. If you receive these type of file, just be cautious of phishing attack.

• Install antivirus or anti-malware which will detect these types of files and alert you if any suspicious activity is running in background.

• Continuous changing of password and having a strong password will help you from hackers from hacking or accessing all your important credentials.

So, continue using these cybersecurity tips to be protected from these malicious activities.

Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/cybersecurity/phishing-emails-spread-pony-malware-01783728#ifY3P7jKyFeVx4Y7.97

What is cloud computing?? It refers to a broad set of policies, technologies and controls deployed to protect data, application and associated infrastructure. Its sub-domain is computer security, network security and information security. Working on a cloud or not is a basic question asked to every employee. For instance, people working in hospitals are generally blamed for disclosing health records of their patients. Talking to a layman, it is a group in an organization connected through networks, but even if the hackers are good at hacking, the data will remain safe within the company boundaries. Therefore, cloud computing is very wonderful stuff to work upon, but only in a secured way. To know more please read the following article by Dennis Stevenson (author): http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/original-thinking/cloud-computing-must-be-securre-75892

Cost- per -contact should be metric that should be used by customer contact centers'  to judge efficiency .Skill- based routing(SBR) can directly connect the caller to the agent reducing time taken per call. Average abandon time (ABT) can be used as a metric also. Workforce management tools forecast the amount of calls in the future and agents' work schedule throughout the day. Workforce Intelligence deals with division of agents according to their specialization in terms of skills so that lesser time and cost are spent. Last but not the least self-service options would benefit in terms operational efficiency and overall customer satisfaction.Read more at: http://www.incontact.com/blog/reduce-cost-per-contact-5-tips/

 Swiss exports have fallen for the third year in a row. This hasn’t happened since 1930, in the depths of the Depression.Experts attribute the fall to a few factors. First, American imports have fallen 28% as more and more people abandon watches or settle on Apple Watches. Younger people don’t want to buy watches at official sellers, instead choosing to go online.Watch sales have fallen before. The recent recession flattened new sales as traders sold their fancy Rolexes and Pateks at a discount just to get liquid.The Swiss can fix this. They need  to educate the next generation about the history of the things they want them to love,and they also need to make including some techy stuff which would attract young generation. Read more at : https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/17/swiss-watch-exports-dropped-for-a-third-year-in-a-row/

Everyone wants to improve in their life. This is possible when they think and imagine as imagination is a step towards innovation. This can possibly happen when you start asking innovative questions. This will help you to rethink what is the solution to a problem and how to tackle that. Some questions that will help you, your organization towards achieving success. 1. Questions that help our dream, 2. Questions that help us to think differently, 3. Questions that helps us in travelling in our past, present and future. Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/business-innovation/what-drives-innovation-01774400#AHBeYOy3QQXA3hHA.97

Getting people to visit your website is not so easy especially today. If you are using the payment the third party or payment redirection then you are giving opportunity to your customer to go away and never come back. This article by Sandra Wrobel-Konior(Content marketing manager) discusses about the cons of payment redirection. Cons of Payment redirection:

1. Client’s reaction: When a customer adds some product to the cart and goes to payment button and then if it is redirected to an external website with different logo and URL, then it may discourage, creates a confusion and frustration.

2. Control and customer support: In case the payment process goes wrong, then due to third party you may have limited access over what is happening and you can’t fix it immediately.

So, for customer satisfaction, attraction and retention you should create your payment gateway and ensure the security, seamless and hassle free operation. Read more at:

http://www.business2community.com/cybersecurity/payments-redirection-affect-business-01744133#I2bbOtz6T6YdoQ6G.97

Nowadays, Internet is everything to us. But, there are some security problems too, and these costs companies millions of rupees. So, companies can create a data security solution and this article explains the steps of creating data security solutions.

1. Understand exactly what level of security each customer needs?

2. Create and maintain a security policy with the help of “Data Flow” and remember that.

3. Internal data security staff is not enough so hire every time data security professionals.

4. Test, test and then test some more every time for every single event that takes place.

Read more at:

http://www.business2community.com/cybersecurity/create-data-security-solution-customers-will-love-01783502#55QiyVDK1HSftqTB.97

Let's think of the security infrastructure of your application as its doctor. Let's say you have a cough, sore throat and runny nose and if the doctor assesses external symptoms, then the doctor will prescribe the wrong medicines as he has not done internal test to know what is happening inside the body. This same thing can happen to your application, allowing attacks on account information. A Web Application Firewall (WAF) cannot see what is happening inside the application and that is why it uses "Signature" to determine if the code in the request is threatening. So, the best way to protect your application from vulnerabilities is to combine both external observations and internal tests. Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/cybersecurity/signature-based-security-first-step-01773479#qAVrXsrP3ape3Hb5.97

Ideally, your answer is "No" and aim of this blog is to keep you cyber safe in 2017. There are no ensured that malicious actors won't get to your data, here are some tips which will diminish the likelihood of having your data hacked. 1. Have unique, complicated, difficult to crack password.

2. Reduce the reuse of password.

3. On regular basis update your password.

4. Prevent “Dictionary Attacks”.

5. Keep your security and privacy settings current.

6. Enable two-factor authentication or 2-step verification.

7. Don’t store your password saved in the browser.

8. Have a security program installed.

9. Install software updates.

10. Be suspicious of URLs before you click.

Now play it safe.

To know more please read the following article:

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-business/do-you-know-what-it-feels-get-hacked

Data Science experts spend lots of time solving problems using streaming data processing. There are many misconceptions about modern stream process space . Here are few of them There's no streaming without batch :  These limitations existed in earlier version of Apache Storm and are no more relevant in modern stream processing architectures such as Flink. Latency and Throughput: Choose One : A good engineer software like Flink is capable of low latency and high throughput. It has been shown to handle 10s of millions of events per second in a 10-node cluster. Micro-batching means better throughput : Though streaming framework will not rely on batch processing, but it will buffer at the physical level. Exactly once? Completely impossible: Flink is able to provide exactly one state which guarantees under failure by reading both input stream position and the corresponding state of the operator. Earlier traditional data flow had to be interrupted and stored in applications to interact, but new patterns such as CQRS can be developed on continuously flowing data. As the stream processing further evolves we will have more power computational models. You can read more at : http://dataconomy.com/2017/02/stream-processing-myths-debunked/

The growth and development of digital financial services or modern banking platforms as we see today is a continuous evolutionary project unlike traditional software projects , it doesn’t have a beginning or end.To maintain a competitive edge, an organization must consider the following :

User Experience : Every single cent of investment in well designed customer experience would generate a huge rate of return.

Simple Personal Finance Management : A large proportion of banks still cannot offer 100% online account opening facility which shows the potential in this area. Banks should tread carefully and do not rush just for the sake of winning the competition in market.

Bots and Data :  Bots can hold intelligent conversation with your customers using natural language. Integrating bots on your financial platform would help you to achieve competitive edge.

Context : Banks should aim at varying the channel of their services according to the product.Users are more likely to access content on their mobile phones and  banks must take this fact into account.

Modern day banks need to adapt these changes and at the same time take care of current trends and experience of competitors, Simply cherry-picking best solutions doesn’t guarantee long-lasting success.Read more at : http://dataconomy.com/2017/03/choosing-digital-banking-platform/

Household survey data plays a critical role in sustainable development goals on poverty and hunger. Food constitutes for almost 50% of household budget, especially in low income countries. It was found that about 800 million people were chronically undernourished in 2015-16.Thus a proper measure of food consumption is essential for the well being of any population. Practitioners are guided to improve the design of surveys and minimize the cost of the survey. As the technologies become available a global program of survey methodology research will help the global statistical community to explore the domain. You can read more at: https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/sdgs-1-2-meeting-demand-more-and-better-household-survey-data

How will these emerging technologies and evolving business models be adapted to and used in developing countries? Consider three trends that are rapidly developing, both in the logistics space and elsewhere: the Omni-Channel Approach, the Sharing Economy and Big Data.Shipwire provides a logistics marketplace of value-added services, allowing companies to send inventory to any warehouse and store on demand, by providing integrated order-entry systems that handle the pickup and delivery of goods.In this case, our “learning laboratory” looked at how emerging technologies and evolving business models can transform logistics systems – not just in advanced economies like Singapore, but also in developing countries in the East Asia and Pacific region and beyond.You can read more at:http://blogs.worldbank.org/trade/future-here-technology-trends-currently-shaping-world-logistics