The biggest threats to cyber security in 2017 were: (i) Shadow Brokers, a hacking group hacked NSA-linked operations which are a huge threat to all software users. (ii) Wannacry, a ransom wire which crippled public utilities and large corporations. (iii) Petya/NotPetya/Nyetia/
A researcher in University of Washington in Seattle has developed a phone that can be used to talk and text even without a battery. Backscatter, a technology which enables devices to communicate by reflecting incoming radio waves have been innovated which works on analog signals. There is a base station which transmits power to the device within a range of 15 meters. The device comes in a small LED display and one cannot talk and listen at a time. The technology is at its primary stage and considering that it is much cheaper than a normal phone; people will not have to worry about carrying power banks in the near future. Read more at: https://www.wired.com/story/
Google Photos has brought out a new feature in their app- Suggested Sharing. The feature will use facial recognition and machine learning technology and will identify people who are most frequent on our sharing list. It also compartmentalizes photos according to the location and can be shared via email and text. When invited to a particular shared album, one can add his/her photos. There is another feature- Shared Libraries which will let to share an entire album or a selected number of photos with someone and recipients can choose the files they want to save. The new features, much like Facebook Moments add more feathers to Google Photos' hat. Read more at: https://techcrunch.com/2017/
Research has estimated a loss of about 6 - 7.5 million jobs in the US within the next 10 years due to automation. The worst hit will be the retail sector where the sales division is most likely to get automated. Women working mostly as cashiers are the most vulnerable. 'Stock shelves' and 'inventory control' will be made easy by robots. With increasing wages in the retail sector and stiff competition from e-stores like Amazon, automation is beneficial from the producer's point of view but the idea is devastating for employability in the retail sector. Read more at: http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/
The new HR trends for 2017 are: i. Absorbing the generation Z and discarding the traditional idea of recruiting millennial. ii. Build strong morale and ethics in the employees and not just pressurize them for numbers. iii. Demeaning the annual performance report is not enough as some companies have done and HR's are emphasizing more on data collection and chance managed management. iv. A new technique like peer-based evaluation is an alternative to annual reports but it is difficult to separate pay from performance. v. Contingent workforce is on the rise and HR's are developing new methods to train them accordingly. Read more at: https://www.fastcompany.com/
Capital is the backbone of every new business and is the most concerning issue for every startup. However, a new business can be set up at a minimal cost if one has the acumen to achieve big. Creating a market with proper strategies can be a matter of time. In India, there are several options to start a business with only 10,000 in your pocket. To name a few, these are: Travel, Breakfast Joints, Fruit Juice Kiosk, Online Bakery, Blogging, Event Management, Online Courses, Customized Jewellery and Garments, Fashion Designing, Script Writing and Consultancy Services. Dreams, once chased, can be realized and the whole world can be conquered with these small steps. Read more at: https://yourstory.com/2017/02/
The logistics industry in India is growing rapidly because of the growth in retail, e-commerce and manufacturing sectors. Though it has been underperforming over the years, it has received importance recently and is expected to reach a worth of $2 billion by 2019. Lack of facilities, technology and manpower have been reasons for the loss in the perishables sector. Better infrastructure, better storage, better network and warehouse facilities are the way forward. The sector is currently using IT solutions and the hub-and-spoke model for freight movement. It provides end-to-end supply chains to the consumers and being a key player in the economy, it is expected to grow by 10-15% annually in years to come.Read more at: http://www.iamwire.com/2017/
Savings account with online banks are useful for people who do not need a banking service frequently. The key benefits of an online bank are: i) It offers higher rates of interest than traditional banks because of its lower maintenance and running costs, ii) It takes lower fees for a service, for example discounting overdraft fees partially or even fully and also issuing free debit cards and allowing free online payment of bills, iii) An online bank takes substantial time to transfer money to another bank's account. This is a blessing in disguise as savings accounts are meant for saving and online banks provide the incentive to save more and spend less. Online banks for these purposes are becoming extremely popular these days. Read more at: http://www.savingsaccounts.
The Automotive Mission Plan(AMP) of 2016-2026 aims at making India one of the three leading global automobile manufacturers. An annual revenue of $300 billion in 2026 is targeted. The AMP aims at contributing 13% to the GDP and a creation of 100 million additional jobs to name a few. Basic requirements to be met are safety, quality improvement and technological advancements. The Indian Government has already spent a bulk in this regard. Besides, a target of 7 million electric cars by 2020 with benefits for both consumers and manufacturers is set. Despite a large series of challenges, tax reforms in this sector by the government are a testimony to the fact that the mission is on the right track to be accomplished to a large extent. Read more at: http://www.forbesindia.com/
Demonetization was a shock to the growing Indian economy. The effects of demonetization are steadily getting neutralized. With banks issuing more liquidity in the market,availability of cash has almost come back to that of the pre-demonetization era. Government online initiatives in the form of BHIM and Aadhar Payments have gained massive popularity and private companies like Paytm and Mobikwik have found grounds in the Indian online market post demonetization. A fully digitized economy is not feasible but the country has at least taken a huge step forward to be a digital-friendly economy and the government has to properly nurture the ongoing trend to materialize its motives. Read more at:http://www.indiainfoline.com/a
A company named ORS is offering to clear scrap and also paying one for this with just one click on the app. ORS (Old Raddi Sold) app allows customers to book for scrap to be cleared from their doorstep. There are different rates for different things like newspapers, carton, metal scraps, e-wastes, etc. The company earns by selling these things to different industrial leader who are in need of them for recycling and charges some commission from them. Awareness is the biggest challenge when dealing with waste management in such unorganized sectors. Currently the company is dealing with only dry wastes that too only in Bengaluru. But, with the help of BBMP it is trying to provide solutions for wet waste management and planning to move across India. Read more at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/296723
Database vendor choice is one of the factors affecting the cost of provision of data. Even when licensing pricing is unpredictable we need database pricing to be low and stable. The pricing model can be per storage/ per server or user based where users need to create their separate profiles. Another type of models is in which cost structure have an influence over architecture where customers are not able to get all the expected cloud features such as independently scaling computing and storage. Computing and storage should be priced independently. This works well in case of the seasonality of data where one only has to pay for what he uses. Read more at https://gigaom.com/2017/05/08/know-your-embedded-database-cost/
Marketing Managers requires excellent productivity tools for smooth functioning. The best productivity tools are Collaborative, Easy to use and Cloud-based. The article explains the 7 best productivity tools for marketing managers:
i. Trello
ii. Slack
iii. CoSchedule
iv. Quip
v. Github
vi. Waffle
vii. Mention
Read more at: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/7-excellent-productivity-tools-marketing-managers
For much of the past five decades, financial capital was considered a scarce resource. Today, however, capital is abundant and cheap, and the authors expect the same in another 20 years. Global financial assets have been growing faster than global GDP, and they explain why that trend is likely to continue. It is found that as the supply of capital has increased, the cost has plunged, making it possible for many large firms to borrow funds for next to nothing. Companies can no longer sustain competitive advantage simply by allocating capital skillfully. Now, business leaders need to lower hurdle rates and change their investment strategy, moving away from a few big bets and instead pursuing numerous small, varied growth opportunities. Organizations need to manage their work forces as carefully and rigorously as they manage their financial assets, unleashing and supporting the talent within their organizations. Read more at: https://hbr.org/2017/03/strategy-in-the-age-of-superabundant-capital
Finance is a daunting subject for someone who is not a numbers person. But understanding concepts like EBITDA and net present value are important no matter where you sit on the org chart. Here are some strategies for boosting your financial acumen. Get acquainted with your company’s income statement. Reproduce the numbers in a spreadsheet then group them into categories of profit and loss. Your goal is to understand how much your company spends and where it makes money. Play with the numbers. Experiment with the figures on the balance sheet by going through a series of “what if” scenarios. What if prices were lower? What if revenue was higher? This exercise helps you internalize how financial models work. Find a financial mentor. Foster a relationship with a senior financial or operations manager who can teach you and answer your questions. This person can also serve as a sounding board for financial decisions you need to make. Read more at: https://hbr.org/2017/03/how-to-improve-your-finance-skills-even-if-you-hate-numbers
Location data can be mingled with technology to better manage traffic issues, infrastructure as well as planning city development. CARTO a SaaS platform creates mapping tools that help governments and citizens take smart decisions. For example, in SanDiego, visualizations with the help of data assisted citizens to track the progress of their street repairs. In Finland, reindeers could be detected from reasonable radius which could avert their deaths by car. Similarly, location intelligence could be used for tree plantation in appropriate habitats. Businesses can decide on their investment strategies based on locations and planners could do predictive intelligence in handling traffic. Overall citizens should be a part of development. Read more at https://readwrite.com/2017/07/05/location-intelligence-key-citizen-centric-smart-cities-cl1/
New leaders when inherit a group that is not enough hard working should take some time to listen and appreciate whatever the present situation is rather than imposing new norms to make their own mark. After assessing the situation, if the managers find the need for quick and fundamental change then they should address the problem systematically. The key to become an effective leader is to first get feedback from trusted sources. One should consult with his HR to ensure new standard doesn’t conflict with company policy. You can have a conversation with your peer managers and boss before addressing workgroup. While discussing business case the leader should be open to all ideas and shouldn’t come across as a resentful person. If any problem of transgression or insubordination arises, calmly and deliberately confront the behavior and impose appropriate consequences. Effective communication can raise the bar of your new team. Read more at https://hbr.org/2017/06/what-to-do-when-you-inherit-a-team-that-isnt-working-hard-enough
How can we use AI to better understand the future? What will our clients and the marketplace need and want one year, two years, five years from now?” This is a shift from analytics that automatically collect and analyze data from past interactions (buying behavior, customer service engagements, etc.) to leverage AI to provide solutions that address both current and future challenges.
Now, instead of using chatbots and other AI tools as communication devices to interact with customers at various phases of their shopping and decision-making process, many companies are exploring how bots can collect and analyze customer needs and business data for solution development.
Read more at : http://www.cio.com/article/3200667/artificial-intelligence/robots-are-not-coming-they-are-already-here.html
In today's dynamic marketplace, it has become necessary for businesses to be able to use data to identify challenges and meet them. So, to establish a data-driven culture that empowers employees with skills to use data for accurate decision making is important. Ways in which this transformation can be done are by establishing a clear vision by imparting knowledge about the use of data, ensuring easy and secure access to data, keeping the data organized, clean and up-to-date, creating agile multi-disciplinary teams, i.e. forming teams which have at least one member who's well experienced in data analytics, and lastly by developing reward mechanisms by sharing data successes to inspire others. Thus, analyzing the data in the right way and cultivating a data-driven culture is necessary to make accurate decisions. Read more at: http://www.datasciencecentral.com/profiles/blogs/5-ways-businesses-can-cultivate-a-data-driven-culture
Association with a brand or building relationships is all about how a consumer feels when he is having shopping experience. Emotion AI can be used to find out consumers emotions while shopping and interacting with them. Use of AI in retail stores has received positive responses worldwide. Emotion AI would be more consumer friendly and would add the much-needed personalization to better understand the customers. Opinion mining would help brands to grow and build trust. With the help of traditional methods of consumer feedback, emotion data can provide an overall understanding of consumers. Read more at: https://readwrite.com/2017/07/04/retailers-emotion-ai-online-store-dl1/