According to Bart Schouw, Director of IBO Solutions for Germany-based Software AG:

“The Internet of Things is a revolution. There will be serious threats to those who are not prepared and profitable opportunities for those who are issues such as security and governance will need to be addressed as IoT begins to impact more and more of our daily lives.”

In his report, eight insights on IoT are listed, that must be taken into consideration. Some of them are:

• Don’t Gamble
• Tap Analytics
• Pay-As-You-Go
• Expect More Regulation

To know more, please read this interesting article by David Roe, at cmswire.com:

http://www.cmswire.com/internet-of-things/the-iot-challenge-make-use-of-the-data/

Each human is unique in his own ways. For treatments to be effective, it can't be based on what the averages are. "Biotech has progressed to the point where we're actually able to edit or code DNA …," said Andi Karaboutis, Executive VP of Biogen, who was detected with Greaves disease a decade ago and undergoing iodine ablation treatment. The doctors then did some stratification to the normal range to suit her body needs and within three weeks she was back to normal. "Internet of me", the combination of computing power and health research, can lead to treatments being personalized improving the healthcare benefits. Read more at: : http://www.informationweek.com/strategic-cio/executive-insights-and-innovation/the-internet-of-me-is-getting-real-in-healthcare/d/d-id/1320348?

Micro lending is a way through which micro finance institutions (MFIs) provide micro credit to support entrepreneurship in rural areas. According to a Wall Street Journal report, experts have come up with ways that would make micro lending more effective. Instead of providing loans solely for investment purposes, MFIs could also lend for personal expenses if the borrower has the ability to pay back the loan with interest. Also, lenders should employ research to measure the success of the financial programs, making sure that the client not only returns the debt but does so while making a profit and not by selling his assets. Another way to make micro lending effective is to take up a holistic perspective. Quoting Iskenderian “Micro lending will be more effective if there are other safety-net and asset-building products in place—like insurance, savings and pensions—so that families can be secure and repay that loan.” Last but not the least is to make use technology for money transfer and big data analysis of mobile phone usage thereby easing out the whole process and saving time. Read more at: http://online.wsj.com/ad/article/mlf-5-ideas-to-make-microlending-more-effective

Digital media publishers have taken their time to incorporate big data tools into their businesses. There have been marked improvements in clarity on use cases for big data and toolsets have also grown accordingly. Big data helps in the content creation side catering to the readers and the advertisers. Keeping the target audience in mind,big data tools optimizes decisions and effectively monetizes generated traffic. Relying on editorial expertise and sound journalistic judgements are fast becoming things of the past. However web analytics softwares like Google analytics, Webtrends also help in tracking content consumption patterns.To know more, please follow:

http://www.dataversity.net/big-data-tools-for-publishers/

In a saturated market, even the powerful brands have a hard time achieving growth targets. Big companies can do so by entering into new categories, which would increase the brand strength across markets. An established brand name would endorse itself in the new market. A classic example is National Geographic Society's shift from magazines to television channels, expeditions, and retail stores that sells books, clothes, and travel gear. The first step to go about brand extension is to look out for the categories that can be entered into, the target markets. The next step is to define how well your brand would fit into those markets, which would require assessing a new market like a start-up would. The third step is to design a prototype and test it against failures. Finally, prepare your response to the competitor's reactions; make sure the organization in ready to go. Successful brand innovation would harness the potential of the brand, all the while serving consumers better and bigger. Read more at :http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/incumbents_as_attackers_brand-driven_innovation

Most companies don’t get rid of the currently unused data, with the expectation it may be required to forecast trends in the future. This data becomes ‘dark’ data when the company completely forgets its existence and it becomes difficult to locate it and interpret it or interact with it. However, this ‘dark’ data can be restored or ‘lightened’ up by the following steps:
1. Data filtration, that can isolate the required information in the means of filtering the data feeds, to prevent the accumulation of excess unnecessary data, but is only useful when the data center manager can identify the data, expected to be valued in the present or future times.
2. In case of any future requirement, it is always better to export the data (instead of deleting it) to a cloud-based storage system, from where it is possible to import the data into the company’s data system, whenever required.
3. It is important to properly define, data withholding policies in order to facilitate data center management.

Read more at:http://www.techrepublic.com/article/clear-out-dark-data-to-make-room-for-useful-big-data/

With increasing complexity in the sales environment, improvement in growth and retention of customers is required. Prescriptive guidance can provide answers to these. It is predicted that implementation of analytics tools and strategies will increase. So, B2B companies will reinforce a position for Chief Growth Office (CGO) who will require analytics tools to implement their ideas.
Thus, a step towards Prescriptive analysis and effective implementation plan will help B2B companies to improve their financial performance.
To know more about prescriptive analytics, follow the article written by Javier Aldrete (senior director of product management at Zilliant) at: http://www.inddist.com/articles/2015/05/rise-prescriptive-analytics-b2b-environment

The mission of Matt Morgan, the vice-president of global product marketing of Hortonworks is to establish Hadoop as the foundational technology of modern enterprise data architecture. Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP 2.3) is the only enterprise Hadoop-based platform that is made up of 100% Apache open source components. Enhanced security and data governance have been added to HDP 2.3 including new encryption of data, and the extension of the data governance initiative with Apache Atlas. But many doubt that skill shortage is one of the barrier to Hadoop adoption. Read more about this article at:  http://www.cmswire.com/big-data/is-hortonworks-paving-the-way-for-pervasive-hadoop-adoption/

Providing good customer service is a challenge for most businesses and the trends are ever changing. Customers embark on an online journey whenever they buy something. The customer data - a string of emails, conversations across the web and social channels, leave a large digital footprint. Measuring and analyzing this information can help brands narrow down their marketing efforts and investments. Irrespective of the nature of the website, sentiment analysis is crucial. It can tell you whether your customers are frustrated, indifferent, or impressed and suggest measures to that accord. Monitoring customer engagement, referral traffic and time spent on pages can help in understanding the buyers’ journey. Thanks to Big Data, we can work based on intelligence rather than guesswork. Read more at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2015/06/09/big-data-and-the-buyers-journey-measuring-the-invisible/

Lean Manufacturing is a business improvement philosophy which focuses on the needs of customers. Lean Manufacturing originated from the Toyota Production System. When a company reduces wastes, many other benefits are achieved. One of the basic advantages of implementing lean is that it helps in getting more work done with less people.
Lean manufacturing helps to reduce costs, eliminate waste, increase productivity, maintain high levels of quality and thus increase profit.
Read more at: http://www.processexcellencenetwork.com/lean-six-sigma-business-transformation/articles/why-does-your-business-need-lean/

The factors currently stressed by predictive analytics, in talent management are:
1. Recognition of potential employees with a flight risk.
2. Recognition of selection factors which can predict the performance of the newly hired employees.
3. Prediction of the productivity initiation time of employee studies.
With the evolution of predictive analytics, new factors that can be expected to be focused on, in the near future include:
1. Projection of the revenue pay-off of a company’s talent programs.
2. Projection of the company’s corporate revenue and labor cost ratio.
3. Projection and comparison of performance indices of a company’s managers, teams and employees.
4. Projection of employee replacement costs.
5. Prediction of upcoming productivity issues and opportunities in the firm.
6. Prediction of the feasibility of new technology solutions.
7. Prediction of diversity bottlenecks.
To know more, visit:

http://www.ere.net/2015/03/09/the-future-of-predictive-analytics-the-next-generation-of-talent-metrics-to-consider-part-1-of-2/

The sale of insurance and other similar products through a bank to help it customers at situations is known as Bancassurance. Development of Bancassurance in India began to improve the channels of insurance policy so as to reach the hands of the common, to widen the area of working of banking sector, to improve the services of insurance. The Reserve Bank of India and the insurance development and regulatory authority have a set of guidelines for companies to form Bancassurance. It basically encourages people to buy insurance policies increasing the number of providers. It also has demerits such as interest conflict of bank and insurance policies, compromising on data security, etc. Read more about this article at: http://tips.thinkrupee.com/articles/bancassurance-in-india.php

Cyber security breaches have become common these days. Be it a large company or a small firm all seem to be vulnerable to this risk. So, the question that disturbs these organizations where data is the biggest asset is – What steps should we take to protect from such security breaches?

Matt Cullina, CEO of IDT911, gives a simple answer to this big question – Cyber Liability Insurance and provides following advice on this topic:

• Yes, you need cyber-liability insurance
• But probably not a cyber-liability policy
• You need less coverage than you think
• You'll pay less for it than you'd expect
• Knowledge is more valuable than cash

To understand these in detail and know more about Cyber Liability Insurance, please read the following article byMinda Zetlin, Co-author, 'The Geek Gap', at inc.com:

http://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/5-surprising-things-you-need-to-know-about-cyber-liability-insurance.html

Internet of Things has taken the world with a storm. It has delivered opportunities to almost every industry and function. Supply chain is not an exception to this. With the increasing number of online businesses, the importance of this function of management has increased multifold. Combining internet of things with this has introduced us to a vast expanse of opportunities and made the supply chain smarter.

Maha Muzumdar, in his article at Industry Week has shared a list of supply chain opportunities that companies can exploit by leveraging IoT technology. They are:

• Better Predictability of Demand & Inventory Visibility
• Better Tracking & Efficiency
• Accelerated Innovation & Product Support
• Improved Alignment & Collaboration
• Sustainability & Quality

He has also stressed upon the fact that supply chain executives must adapt IoT in their processes as soon as possible to gain its maximum benefits.

To know more, please visit the following link:

http://www.industryweek.com/supply-chain/internet-things-iot-opportunities-smarter-supply-chains?page=1

Like any other industry today, technology has become a must have feature of insurance industry. It not only adds value to the business, but also acts as a differentiating factor that provides competitive advantage to insurance companies. The better you make use of this valuable resource, the higher you stand on the competition ladder.

Anand Vyas, Head, Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, SQS Software Features, in his article at itproportal.com, has shared 5 best practice guidelines to ensure the technology is ultimately meeting the business need. They are:

1. Understand demand and business requirements

2. Create a strategic roadmap and business case

3. Analyze applications and business capabilities

4. Adopt a risk-based testing approach to implementation

5. Take an agile approach

To understand them in detail, please visit the following link:

http://www.itproportal.com/2015/06/08/technology-is-the-key-to-the-insurance-sector-and-heres-why/

The success of the startup is not dependent on the idea, but it depends on getting the customers. As a startup, getting customers is one of the biggest challenges. 
Jeff Foster (Co-Founder and CEO of Tomoson), discussed about few tips to get your first 1000 customers. Some of them are:
• Setup a waiting list
• Use personal network
• Target online publications
• Get bloggers on your side
• Build suspense
• Work with early adopters
• Create high quality content
• Offer a free product option
• Incentivize customers to sell your product
• Online advertising
Read more at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/247049

According to the recent survey by ING, 81% of PR professional feel that they can't do their jobs without social media and 58% of them admit that they feel safe in using social media. This shows how much social media impact public relations. Ronn Torossian (Public Relations Executive and CEO of 5W Public Relations), discussed about how social media is changing the working of PR. They are:

• More direct contact with people
• Creating unique and engaging content
• Integrating services
Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/public-relations/impact-social-media-pr-01245327

Big Data and Predictive Analytics are booming and Indian recruitment agencies are jumping on board to hire more and more Data Analysts. According to a TeamLease report, the key trends that will dominate the recruitment industry over the next six months include Information Technology (IT), engineering. It is also predicted that startups will be key hirers and adoption of Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) will increase. The nation is quickly realizing the importance of Big Data and Predictive Analytics and both large companies and start-ups are beginning to employ Data Analytics into their workings. The fields where Data Analytics will primarily be required include market risk analytics, facility management and mobile applications employing data sciences. Read more at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Big-data-and-predictive-analytics-likely-to-dominate-recruitment-TeamLease-report-says/articleshow/47588357.cms

Flipkart , an e-commerce co., has decided to focus on social media, mobile interface and data mining to boost its position in the online retail market.  Data mining and technology improvements are going to take up a major role in the coming days. Up gradation in infrastructures and data centres are essential to maintain its position in the market.  The company also expects to achieve $8 billion dollar sales thus utilizing every resource at its disposal.  To know more, please follow:

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-04-13/news/61102918_1_mukesh-bansal-binny-bansal-billion-day

Technology + Informatics = Telematics

Vehicle telematics has been in existence since long. But, its use in our daily lives is a recent phenomenon and this concept is still in its development stage.

In last few years, insurance companies have banked upon this concept to know more about the driving habits of their customers and charge premiums accordingly. Craig Thomas, Managing Director, Redline Content Ltd, in his article at express.co.uk has explained the concept of insurance telematics and has also answered questions such as how it works, what are its advantages, etc.

According to him, the insurance companies install black box in their customers’ cars and monitor their driving. The better the driver, the lesser is the insurance premium charged and vice- versa. Apart from this, telematics insurance also has following benefits like:

• Helps determine liability
• Reduces instances of fraud
• Alerts the insurer in case of emergency and thus, helps in providing timely emergency services
• Helps customers in improving their driving skills

Although it’s an interesting concept, but still, people are apprehensive in trying it out, especially rash drivers. Nevertheless, insurance companies are tying up with car manufacturing companies to make this type of insurance a usual phenomenon, because of its benefits to all the parties involved.

To know more, please visit the following link:

http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/581418/insurance-telematics-cars