A light-emitting, transparent and flexible paper has been created by Chinese researchers led by Yu-Zhong Wang and Fei Song (material scientists from Sichuan University) which glows and emits light at room temperature. This paper can be used for phones and tablets to make them lighter and eco-friendly. This material can bring a new thinking on future electronic displays and 3D printing papers.?Read more at:http://www.digitaljournal.com/technology/researchers-develop-light-emitting-paper-for-flexible-displays/article/433850

Companies are recognizing the need of contact center analytics to gain more consumer awareness but problems like cost of hiring new staff and procurement of new equipment are holding back contact centers from investing in analytics. Other factors like funding and prioritization are to be blamed as contact centers are now seen as cost centers but terms like customer experience and customer journey are gaining exposure. Read more at:

 http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/news/4500246053/Contact-center-analytics-still-an-uncharted-frontier

A business plan is a written description of a business's future, a document that tells us what to do, how to do and also tells us where we stand.

And a marketing plan lays out the marketing strategies of the business. If efficiently executed, it brings benefits to the business. Megan Totka, Chief Editor, ChamberofCommerce.com, in her article at business2community.com, has shared five ways to lay the foundation for a solid marketing plan for a small business. They are:

1. Define your objectives.
2. Create a customer profile.
3. Figure out what triggers consumers to buy.
4. Establish a timeline.
5. Identify where customers find details about your products and/or services.

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

http://www.business2community.com/small-business/5-steps-to-a-small-business-marketing-plan-01236176

“Small Changes, Big Impacts” – that’s what hacks are according Kirsten Newbold-Knipp, Research Director at Gartner for Marketing Leaders.

In her article at Forbes, Kirsten has listed 10 digital marketing hacks, that you can implement immediately and see dynamic changes in your marketing activities like:

• Cost Savings
• Time Savings 
• Demonstrable ROI

Some of these digital marketing hacks that were voted the best at Gartner Digital Marketing Conference are:

• Be Your Customer
• Implement Interview Projects
• Fail Fests – Embrace Innovation & Failure
• Steal Ideas from Other Industries or Disciplines

To know more, please visit the following link and make few choices for your organization:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gartnergroup/2015/05/27/ten-digital-marketing-hacks/

Human Resource (HR) is an important function for any business. At the same time, not all businesses can afford to have a dedicated HR department. Not having one, is a cost saver. For small businesses facing such situations, there are a number of online HR tools available that can help them cope with the demands of HR needs. The following article at business2community.com lists 5 best HR tools. They are:

1) The Resumator

2) Zenefits

3) oDesk

4) Staff Squared

5) Jobatar

Review these HR tools and chose the one that fits the needs of your business in the best possible manner.

To know more about them, please visit the following link:

http://www.business2community.com/human-resources/top-5-human-resource-tools-01227232

Paul Mandeville, Chief Product Officer, QuickPivot, in his article at cmswire.com has given 3 C’s of modern retail marketing. They are:

• Context
• Content
• Customer Experience

Combining these three with big data, can do wonders for retailers. All they need to do is to clean up their organization’s database and find a common thread between these three C’s of retail marketing.

The retailers need to realize the power of these C’s for capturing their customers’ hearts. To know more, please visit the following link:

http://cmswire.com/digital-marketing/the-3-cs-of-modern-retail-marketing/

The pursuit of data and analytics is helping companies to venture into new fields, transcending the fine lines between different industries. For example, a well-known sports company has ventured into the market of wearable technology, with the release of its fitness tracker, containing sensors, which automatically collects data regarding one's sleep patterns and the number of steps taken in a day.  Consumers must first download the fitness tracker app in their laptops or mobile devices. So, indirectly the company is also involved in the software business. Since the objective involves collection and analysis of data, to get customer feedback, the company is also involved in the analytics business. Cable and satellite suppliers are also using analytic tools to get deeper insights into viewing trends and ideas about more profitable programming opportunities. Read more at:

http://blogs.teradata.com/bill-franks/big-data-blurring-industry-lines-nike/

More and more music companies are turning to data analytics as people are increasingly listening to music online. Social media is providing newer ways to reveal the variety of factors affecting the different artists' sales. Music analytics companies now have access to information regarding the frequency, a song is heard, when it's heard and by whom, which help them in forecasting future hit records. Musicmetric, a music analytics platform, also focuses on gathering customer opinion from social networking sites to gain information regarding different artists' popularity for understanding the best platforms to market them. Even data related to ticket sales to live concerts can help in planning tours. To know more about music analytics, follow:

http://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/how-is-analytics-changing-the-music-industry

77% of the contact center's cost is associated with employees. Therefore, managing them effectively is the most important task. Workforce management is the process of getting the "just right" number of staff in place every hour to maximize service and minimize cost and it's one of the most important planning and management functions in the call center. It also helps in controlling wait time effectively. We can create schedules while tracking Real-Time Adherence and monitor intra-day change to provide a consistent and superior level of customer service. Tips to enhance the productivity of contact center agents are:

• Use blending approach if you have inbound and outbound operations.
• Provide full access of schedule to staff members.
• Use workforce management software for planning.
• Use automated workforce management to find the skill gap.
• Use adherence to manage contact center agents.
To know more tips and how to use them, please follow this link: http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=143454

60% of CLOs are dissatisfied with their internal learning analytics capabilities. Most of the CLO are dissatisfied with their traditional organizational approach Kirkpatrick to evaluate learning. They want an analytical enhanced approach in learning. Modern analytical enhanced approach measure overall management and development of a company's employees. Laurie Bassi (CEO of McBassi & Company) and Dan McMurrer (Chief analyst of McBassi & company), talks about how to transform an organization's learning analytics:

1) Create an “authentic” learning impact evaluation by embedding it in a more holistic framework.
2) Stop waiting for the perfect data warehouse. Instead, create a “data hut.”
3) Don’t let the perfect become the enemy of the good.
4) Choose your initial analytics project carefully.
5) Start under the radar.
6) Insightful reporting trumps data dumps.
7) Use learning evaluation to improve the effectiveness of learning.
Read more at: https://www.td.org/Publications/Blogs/Learning-Executive-Blog/2015/05/7-Steps-to-Using-Analytics-to-Improve-the-Evaluation-of-Learning

In an age, where a large proportion of email opens are done via mobile devices, marketers should consider responsive design, which allows them to control the email display, according to the size of the viewer's screen, adding flexibility to the content display of the mail. Email marketing solution providers are there to help. Pre-send testing is important, which makes sure that the messages look as good as desired across all devices ranging from tablets, mobile phones and desktops. To know more, please follow the article by Akin Arikan (Contributing Author) at:http://www.cmswire.com/cms/digital-marketing/the-age-of-mobile-moves-from-static-to-dynamic-029255.php

According to the 5th annual Sensis Social Media Report, the percentage of small businesses with social media accounts has declined from 37% in 2014 to 31% in 2015. 68% of the broader population use social media sites, 61% of small businesses don't know how much they spend on social media each year, with just 17% actively measuring return on investment. 57% of small businesses don't know whether they've recovered their investment in social media. 70% of consumers' access social media from a smartphone, 52% use a laptop, 34% use a tablet and 28% rely on desktop computer. To know more, please read this interesting article by ANDREW SADAUSKAS (tech-company editor) at: http://www.smartcompany.com.au/technology/social-media/46997-small-businesses-flying-blind-on-social-media-and-some-are-walking-away-report.html 

Big data analytics is the joining of two or more sources of information, so that it can be comprehended from the comparison of the new, expanded data set. Success with healthcare big data analytics relies on vendors, team of experts, and people who understands health management. Collecting and leveraging patient-generated health data from IoT devices will be the key in health care analytics. To know more how IoT helps in healthcare big data analytics, read this interesting article by Jennifer Bresnick (author) at: http://healthitanalytics.com/news/why-healthcare-big-data-analytics-needs-the-internet-of-things 

Data analytics, especially the predictive ones, enable companies to obtain forward-looking insights they wouldn't otherwise have been privy to -- such as forthcoming changes in customer behavior and buying patterns, or the formation of new market segments as-of-yet unserved by the industry. The problem is that while you typically can't achieve the competitive edge you're looking for without analytics, you can't achieve it when you over-analyze, either which becomes a balancing act. Optimization is certainly a critical part of what companies should seek to derive from analytics, so too is innovation. Analytics becomes exclusively about finding ways to cut costs whereas also about finding ways to be cutting edge. It becomes about protecting today's existing revenue stream and should also be about finding tomorrow's new one. Thus, focusing too much on optimization can have the unintended effect of making organizations afraid to take on any risk. To know more, please read this interesting article by Joanna Schloss at: http://www.cmswire.com/cms/analytics/why-companies-cant-afford-to-go-overboard-with-analytics-029179.php

The business world is eager to choose the right Digital Access Management (DAM) system so that vendors can provide the necessary technology to meet key business needs. Selection of a vendor can be a complex process and focusing on key elements will lead you to take a right decision. A successful implementation of DAM depends not only on new technology but also on sound digital strategy. This in turn ensures that assets generate revenues, increase efficiency and remain updated with emerging market trends. Digital strategy should be given the most importance. Strategy should be based on a well-established foundation. This foundation should include rich media collections, metadata, taxonomy and governance among other things. To know more, please follow the link:

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http://www.cmswire.com/cms/digital-asset-management/making-a-dam-decision-029041.php

It has been documented that traffic can change for a certain website or app while reviewing analytics report. It is difficult to prepare an analysis as most often it is not clear from where to start the diagnosis. There is no best way to start the analytical reporting, the key being finding the exact reason behind the traffic drop; whether technical or marketing influence.  Traffic declines can be categorized into two category i.e. sharp declines or gradual decreases. Sharp declines over short stretches can point to technical issues while gradual declines may be inclined towards marketing and digital influences. Various solutions are available for change in traffic due to technical issues. To know more, follow:

http://www.cmswire.com/cms/analytics/where-did-it-go-understanding-traffic-drops-in-google-analytics-028468.php#null/  

According to a research by Society of Human Resource Management, “More than 75 percent of managers, employees and heads of HR feel that PM results are ineffective and/or inaccurate.”

Performance management is considered as one of the most difficult tasks by HR managers. As, there may be different ways of performance evaluation available, but still something still looks left out. This leads to a need for disruptive innovation in this process. This is mainly because of two reasons:

• Employee expectations
• Disruptive market forces expectations

To understand them in detail and know why there’s a need to put performance back in performance management, please read the following article by Sameer Patel, SVP for Enterprise Social and Collaborative Software in SAP's Cloud Business Unit, at enterpriseirregulars.com:

https://www.enterpriseirregulars.com/89515/performance-management-needs-disrupted-pronto/

Sustainable development is the development of the society, keeping in mind the needs of the present as well as future generations. It is this development that is the ultimate goal of every nation. For this, UN will launch a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2016. These goals will give rise to various important questions such as:

• How will we achieve these goals?
• Who will finance these goals?
• Which countries will need most resources and of what type etc.

For answer to these questions, the decision makers refer to the data provided by various international institutions like UN, IMF, World Bank, etc. But while doing this, they face a big hurdle i.e. Incompatibility of Data in terms of definitions, methodologies and sources.

Now, with the data revolution going on and big data and analytics taking the centre stage, we now have an opportunity to collect and produce high quality data that will provide the right information on the right things at the right time. The need is – its correct implementation.

To know more, please read the following article by Gail Hurley and Jos Verbeek at brookings.edu:

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/future-development/posts/2015/05/26-financing-for-development-hurley%E2%80%8F

Big data combines unstructured data with structured data to produce a report which provides a complete view of the organization. This report helps in decision making. Big data provide real time or near real time data. According to Mark Shacklett (President of Transworld Data), big data analytics results have impacted corporate revenues, expenditure and customer satisfaction. Web-based analytics on e-tail users helps in generating more sales by assessing customer preferences. Network diagnostics toolset analyze network and machine-generated data and produce predictive reports. This tool set gives a real-time view of network traffic. Sensors placed on railways and tram tracks, help crew members to proactively repair or replace equipment and railway tracks before they fail. Read more at: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/4-ways-real-time-analytics-lead-to-competitive-advantages/

According to James Heskett, Predictive analytics have the potential power to produce remarkable services and longer lives. Now, predictive analytics is also applied on humans. Recently, companies are sending information to target customers about products of their interest. With the advancements in big data and cloud computing, the accuracy of this science is improving now. Predictive analysis is also essential for organizations focusing on customer satisfaction in delivery time. Read More at:http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/7527.html