The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has now taken the first step in its ambitious initiative to provide travel insurance to its users. The railways, in partnership with insurance major, New India Assurance, will now provide insurance which will depend on the length, class, etc, of the journey. In the first phase of this project, insurance will only be provided via IRCTC website. Further, the aim is to reach at least one million customers.

According to a senior railway official, "For the railways, it may be a win-win situation. It anyway ends up paying out of its own pocket a considerable amount as compensation to train accident victims. The travel insurance will only mean that the railways will have a corpus, that too as commuter contribution, to pay insurance for such incidents."

To know more about this project, visit the following link:

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-how-about-railway-insurance-of-rs-10-lakh-for-a-premium-of-rs-25-2077535

According to the World Bank report, there is a fall in the growth rate of developing countries like East Asia and China. According to the Washington-based lender, growth in China is going to be 6.7% in 2015 and 2016 from 6.9% growth in 2014.  And according to the World Bank, developing East Asia countries excluding China is expected to grow at 5.1% in 2015 and 5.4% in 2016 from 4.6% in 2014. Reason for China, is slow down in its policies that aimed at putting its economy in a more sustainable way.  And higher US interest rates and an appreciating US dollar may raise borrowing costs. Read more at:

 http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/world-news/world-bank-cuts-east-asia-growth-forecast-warnsrisks-to-outlook_1355974.html?utm_source=ref_article

According to John Mills (Industry week), manufactures have less visibility than others and manufactures can’t wait for a longer period. In manufacturing companies conditions change frequently. In North America, factory activity has been trending down after the fall of 2014 and the Institute for supply Management said US index falling is falling since five consecutive months. Therefore, we need to predict the future of manufacturing firms by conducting some test quarterly. To know more about test read at:

http://www.industryweek.com/leadership/assume-nothing-5-tests-every-manufacturer-should-run-quarterly

Amazon launches new supply chain management technique “Dash Button” which allows the customers to order products automatically at the actual point of use.  According to Paul Myerson (Industry week), Amazon’s new launch Dash button puts pressure on the retailers, especially grocers who have very small profit margins (1-2%) and have a huge impact on the retail order fulfilment process.  This will bring a new concept called focusing on value to the customers and eliminating waste not only in the business environment, but now at the actual home of the customers. To know more about dash button read at: http://www.industryweek.com/inventorymanagement/amazon-dashes-make-consumers-and-their-supply-chains-leaner

According to Mike Dalton (Industry Week), innovation requires risk and the goal of a firewall is to identify that risk. The firewall block projects that score low on five feasibilities i.e. commercial, technical, manufacturability, regulatory and intellectual property. At the project charter stage, it is useful to identify all of the stakeholders and solicit their input on all the potential ways the project could fail and what the impact would be. A study of the telephony industry (Ogawa & Ketner, 1997) showed that bottom 80% performers cancelled nearly 30% of their projects late in the process and about top 20% top companies cancelled the same percentage of projects early. Read more at: http://www.industryweek.com/product-development/obstacles-new-product-growth

Bitcoin (BTC) is the first decentralized peer-to-peer payment network that is powered by its users with no central authority or middlemen. This digital currency, designed by Satoshi Nakamoto, has seen a huge rise in trading volume since 2013. This rise can be attributed to different types of merchants that use Bitcoin like online marketplaces, payment and funding services worldwide, social services, media sources and travel companies. Besides merchants, Wall Street players and investors are also using BTC wallets.

To know more, read the following article by Jamie Tolentino (Digital Marketer at a Global Asset Management firm), which talks about the advantages and disadvantages of using Bitcoin:

http://thenextweb.com/future-of-communications/2015/04/13/how-safe-are-your-bitcoins/

The focus of any news organization is to understand what it is that readers like, what they actually read and what they really should know about. To achieve these goals, The Guardian, is using its in house analytics engine, Ophan, to track page views, median attention time and identify the type of marketing required for each article. It also provides exploratory data for further research. According to Chris Moran, The Guardian’s digital audience editor, “Being informed by the data can actually lead to higher quality journalism.” 

By measuring site data more closely, The Guardian has now become a news powerhouse. To know more, visit the following link:

http://thenextweb.com/media/2015/04/13/how-the-guardians-ophan-analytics-engine-helps-editors-make-better-decisions/

Human resources analytics, also called talent analytics, is the application of sophisticated data mining and business analytics (BA) techniques to human resources (HR) data. The “Ulrich model with four specializations” is quite handy in case of HR operations and widely adopted throughout the globe.

Depending on the level of formalism in the organization, a lot can go into the wording of job descriptions here. It starts with the hiring manager looking for specific skills and operational responsibilities of the candidate. Moves into the negotiation with HR where it fits in the performance and compensation plans, and with the hiring practices. Recruitment firms provide the added value of data on candidate availability to the given descriptions, in addition to their access to such candidates from their networks. With the right data, companies can change their strategies not only for individual job descriptions but also bigger decisions like broader hiring, flight risk, or where to better place a new business office.

Rawn Shaw speaks in depth about modern HR operations and what will define the future of HR strategies. To read more, visit the following link:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rawnshah/2015/04/13/taking-hr-analytics-beyond-technologists/4/

On 8^th April, 2015, Snapdeal announced that it has acquired FreeCharge, an online recharge platform, for an estimated $400 million. This is one of the biggest acquisitions in the history of the internet industry in India and sets up Snapdeal to build the most impactful digital commerce ecosystem in India. According to Snapdeal co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl, “The joint entity would create the country's largest mobile commerce platform with over 40 million customers.”

To know more about this deal, read the following Times of India article:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Snapdeal-buys-Freecharge-for-400m/articleshow/46857876.cms

Snapdeal (E-commerce online marketer), on 31^st March, 2015, announced its entry into the online financial services segment by acquiring a majority stake in RupeePower, a leading digital financial products distribution platform. Snapdeal will now offer a wide range of financial services like personal loans, educational loans, credit cards (co-brand–B2B & B2C), auto loans, home loans and extended warranties among others.                                                                                                .
To know more, read the following Forbes article:

http://forbesindia.com/article/special/snapdeal-acquires-rupeepower-enters-financial-services-business/39939/1

According to Aaron Agius (Contributor), social media is an effective marketing medium. There are many marketers who use Facebook followers, retweets, etc. to monitor their performance, but there are some other metrics like brand search volume, lead growth, brand sentiment, inbound links, and klout score. Social share provides very little information about the overall effectiveness of your campaign because: Many social shares come from bots.
• Social shares many not come from your target customers.
• Social shares can be from people that are speaking negatively about your brand.
Read more at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244669

According to Travis Hessman (Industry week), the digital revolution will take us in the digital age from the information age. This will bring massive changes in our computing ability, our access to the internet and access to and proliferation of mobile devices. We use mobile digital technologies which allow us to stay connected to information and helps in taking decisions. We want to grow in this competitive world and move towards the fourth industrial revolution which opens up many opportunities.

Read more at:  http://www.industryweek.com/digital-revolution

Over the last two years, Big Data and technological advancement have transformed the way industries operate and compete. Financial Services industry, in particular, has adopted big data analytics to inform better investment decisions with consistent returns. It is widely used by investment banks, asset management firms, insurance firms and stock exchanges, to name a few.

The Investopedia article by Trevir Nath, talks about 3 V’s of Big Data i.e. volume, variety and velocity, how they are applied by financial services industry, algorithmic trading and the challenges faced by this industry in the increasing embrace of big data. In the nutshell, this article explains that despite the challenges, the financial services industry is trending towards Big Data and Automation.

Read more at:

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/active-trading/040915/how-big-data-has-changed-finance.asp

Big Data Analytics is generally used for building models to periodically optimize processes i.e. After-it-Happens business. But this limits the use of Big Data as there is always a delay in the data-to-action cycle and also, the analytical capabilities are limited at the business’s disposal. A better application of big data analytics is using it for As-it-Happens business. It enables us to leverage the data and models moment by moment to make an impact on business operations in real time.

Steve Wooledge, Vice President of Product Marketing at MapR, gives examples of real life applications that leverage a big data environment that integrates OLTP and analytical databases in his following article:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/teradata/2015/04/09/creating-the-as-it-happens-business-analytics-drives-action/

 According to Dave Blanchard (Industryweek), customer’s demands for lower delivered costs are seen to be a big challenge. But, by using predictive analysis, we can identify patterns and predict future events. An organization using predictive analysis can make better decisions. George Prest (CEO of MHI) says that companies that continue to use traditional supply chain models will struggle in the future.  According to the MHI/Deloitte study, it was found that less than 25% of companies have adopted predictive analytics though that number is expected to climb to 70% over the next three to five years.

 Read more at: http://www.industryweek.com/supply-chain/predictive-analytics-let-manufacturers-see-more-clearly-their-supply-chains

Cloud computing is a type of computing that relies on sharing computing resources rather than having local servers or personal devices to handle applications. Cloud is powerful but many of us our in beginning stage. Here are some benefits of using clouds:
• It helps to your Manage Cash Flow
• As all new innovations are happening in Cloud so there are wider choices
• Automate and Drive Efficiencies
• Gain better insights into your business
• Cloud helps us to grow cost effectively
• With the cloud you can keep your IT equipment costs low, and minimize your hardware and software maintenance costs
Read more at: http://smallbiztrends.com/2015/04/reasons-to-move-to-the-cloud.html

According to Larry Fast (president of Pathways to Manufacturing Excellence), inventory remains a key area where we want to improve processes and eliminate waste. In the manufacturing industry, we basically have three types of inventory (raw material, WIP and finished goods). If we have an excess inventory it means that processing issues are hidden. CI (continuous improvement) strategy in an organization generally reduces their average cycle time by 70.4%, reduce scrap by 50%. Read more at: http://www.industryweek.com/ask-expert-lean-leadership/are-you-overlooking-inventory-focus-process-improvement-and-waste-reducti

Purchase behavior of consumers are changing. Nowadays, consumers are more informed, connected and empowered than before. But, some retailers are not applying new retail strategies and technologies. Retailers respond to customer preferences, overtake their competitors, lower their total cost of ownership (TCO) and grow company revenues when an integrated mix of retail strategies are well coordinated. To know about future of retail, follow Chuck Schaeffer (Vantive Media CEO & Blogger) article link: : http://www.crmsearch.com/chuck-schaeffer.php

Various industries grow due to Indian Premier League (IPL). This year, insurance industry has benefited a lot from it. The BCCI has purchased an insurance coverage of around rupees 1,200 crore, which will make up for the loss of revenues from sale of broadcast and other rights if any of the IPL matches fail to take off. Also, Multi Screen Media (MSM), the official broadcaster of this tournament, has bought an insurance coverage of around rupees 800 crore to cover for the loss of revenue from advertisement if a game is called off after 10 or 20 overs, or the number of overs is reduced.

These deals have come in time when 49% FDI has also been allowed for insurance industry after a long wait of 6 years. Both the events indicate a growth year for insurance industry.

Read more at:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/finance/insurance-industry-rides-the-ipl-wave-115040700436_1.html

Predictive analytics is a “business game changer” that will separate the winners from the losers, according to Forrester. The better a company is at predicting what will happen in the future, the better positioned they are to do something about it. While data scientists will do the heaviest analytic-related lifting at big enterprises, the improvements that have been made to predictive analytic (also called advanced analytic) applications enables regular business people and developers to partake of the predictive bounty. With so many companies coming into the foray of analytics services, today the users have more options to choose from keeping the cost-benefit & need-value trade-offs in mind.  RapidMiner offers a “rock solid” enterprise solution with more than 1,500 methods that address all stages of the analytics lifecycle and has among the tightest integration with the cloud, Forrester says. There are also other options like SAS, SPSS, KNIME, sap, oracle to name a few.

To read more, visit:

http://www.datanami.com/2015/04/07/predictive-analytics-now-in-reach-of-the-average-enterprise-forrester-says/