Aishwarya Srivastava – Cyfuture Blog https://cyfuture.com/blog Mon, 24 May 2021 11:35:14 +0000 en-US hourly 1 IoT – A Plausible Solution For Better Agricultural Production? https://cyfuture.com/blog/iot-a-plausible-solution-for-better-agricultural-production/ https://cyfuture.com/blog/iot-a-plausible-solution-for-better-agricultural-production/#comments Sun, 18 Aug 2019 05:50:09 +0000 https://cyfuture.com/blog/?p=6448 The post IoT – A Plausible Solution For Better Agricultural Production? appeared first on Cyfuture Blog.

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As per Irish trade unionist and politician E. W. Stewart, agriculture was the first occupation of man, as it embraces the whole earth, it is the foundation of all other industries. This is something that we as a species do that outsteps all other beings when it comes to intelligence, which has forgotten over time because we are so busy advancing to new avenues of development and civilization.

Our hustle to excel in different walks of life and rapid industrialization has pushed us to the verge of survival crisis. As pollution levels grow phenomenally, we are a generation that is greeting the possible threats of climate change and as agricultural lands are captured by greedy industrialists in the name of development, we are soon heading towards starvation.

The generations to come will suffer due to our actions because plastic won’t feed hungry stomachs and technology won’t help put food on the table when farming is beginning to be extinct as a profession. However, it is not that people deliberately do not wish to be a farmer by profession, it is the foul play of covetous politicians and industrialists that is pushing farmers in India and many other countries to sell their fertile lands and live in misery.

As per census 2012, farmers make up a staggering 11.2% of suicides committed in India and it’s a shame for the country, where agriculture is a major occupation and resource for economic development. This is data from a study conducted eight years back and the political shenanigans in the country are the reason why the data pertaining to this crisis has been manipulated for years now; in fact, there is no farmer suicide data availability in India since 2016. While countries like Japan are realizing the importance of farming by promoting new strategies like urban agriculture, most other countries stay ignorant of the fact that sustainability is the key to long-term wellbeing.

Who Will Feed The Hungry?

From 1930 to 1960, the agricultural revolution was focused to enhance the production of food grains and other cultivations via technological advancement and mechanization. The goal was to help farmers grow healthy crops and reduce manual labor, thus enhancing productivity but 50 years after the revolution 795 million are starving and sadly 1 in 7 people is undernourished in the world.

The population is exploding and humanity will reach the mark of 9.8 billion by 2050 and to feed such a massive population, the world’s agricultural production needs to be accelerated by 70%. This seems like a farfetched dream when the current situation is out of control; we need to pick up the pace because the clock is ticking and 30 years from now, we won’t even be able to repent for our actions of today.

Technology May Be The Answer

When humanity found answers to its woes in technology, the mission of innovators was to make this world a better place to live. Years down the line, the visions of innovators turned into reality and today, not all but a lot of us live a life our ancestors could only dream of. We have come so far and technology has been at the forefront of development in various domains, but can technology propel the agriculture industry?

While there are numerous machines and equipment to help farmers produce more with less labor and investment, agriculture being a part of the digital realm is something that seems quite incomprehensible. However, experts working with the associated innovations are assertive about the premise that technology can aid in making agricultural activities more productive than ever.

IoT & Agriculture – What’s The Promise?

IoT can be the next big thing in the agriculture and farming industry because unlike a few years back, the availability of the Internet has amplified drastically. More and more number of devices are coming with Wi-Fi capabilities and IoT sensors and the cost of deploying these technologies for varied applications is no more skyrocketing. Technologies like IoT and AI are no more out of reach for people from all walks of life.

In the agriculture industry, IoT application includes activities like farm operations management, vehicular tracking, storage monitoring, and livestock monitoring. The IoT sensors can be installed in the ground, vehicles, and even to monitor the water flow to gather data that can come handy when it comes to assessing and improving operations.

However, the idea behind this is certainly not expecting farmers to operate complicated software on computer systems to gather and analyze the data; it actually is to make the data accessible via easy-to-use mobile applications. IoT application can help farmers take care of their crops from even their homes, monitoring everything conveniently, from water flow to the pest infiltrations that need to be checked and eliminated expeditiously.

Plausible Benefits

When an innovator introduces new technology, his prime motive is to ensure that the target audience is aware of the offered benefits. Though IoT isn’t a new invention in the technology realm but its application in the agricultural activities sure is new. So, it is vital to be aware of the advantages that the Internet of Things can offer to the agriculture industry, a few of which are mentioned below.

  • Farming activities can be simplified with the aid of IoT applications, as the technology aids in gathering and analyzing data to offer valuable insights that can thereafter be deployed to make the required amendments for better production.
  • Water usage optimization is another major advantage of integrating IoT-based irrigation systems in farms. This can be a major benefit for drought-stricken areas and places where water scarcity is common.
  • Weather prediction and monitoring is another advantage of IoT application in the farming industry. The technology can help farmers keep a watch on their crops.
  • The inputs gathered via the IoT sensors can be deployed even for cost-cutting, which sure can be quite beneficial for farmers.

Apart from all this, IoT-based smart farming can also be helpful in terms of environmental issues, which is a matter of concern for the whole of humanity today. The negative impact of urbanization and industrialization on the environment has made sustainable farming practices crucial and recommended. This, of course, makes it absolutely essential to opt for revolutionary technologies like the Internet of Things to bring about changes that can be beneficial for our environment.

The deployment of IoT can also be quite beneficial for agriculture segments like precision farming. This type of farming involves the need for precise data about the crops and the environment. IoT-based farming techniques and technologies can be immensely helpful in managing the massive amount of data to give reliable results.

These are just a few factors behind the invasion of technology in the agriculture industry but they sure are enough to specify how beneficial innovations like IoT can be in this domain. Agriculture is a critical part of our world and it is essential that we put in every possible effort to make it more productive, considering the booming population stats of our planet.

If nations fail to make such technologies readily available for the farmers, then it is likely that the coming generations are doomed to starve to death. Technology can save mankind from such horrors and it is high time that it is used to rescue us from possible calamities of starvation and annihilation.

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Artificial Intelligence – The Future Of Fashion https://cyfuture.com/blog/artificial-intelligence-the-future-of-fashion/ https://cyfuture.com/blog/artificial-intelligence-the-future-of-fashion/#respond Sat, 17 Aug 2019 05:45:39 +0000 https://cyfuture.com/blog/?p=6445 The post Artificial Intelligence – The Future Of Fashion appeared first on Cyfuture Blog.

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What you wear says a lot about you, without requiring you to speak a word. Someone dressed to the nines will always attract more attention, irrespective of gender, race, color, and religion. It is not necessarily important to a part of the fashion industry to dress up and present the best version of you to the world. How you dress up is how you are setting out in this world, it can often be the butterfly effect that can kick start a wave of events to lead you to your destiny.

In today’s world, fashion has become a powerful tool of self-expression not just for fashion icons but also artists and even for the masses. The fashion industry is propelled by an incredibly growing demand for new trends that don’t just bedeck the runways but also appeal to the most well-aware generation of fashion lovers ever.

Millennials and Zillenials, two of the generations that received maximum exposure to technological advancements growing up, together form a major portion of the target audience for the fashion biz; both of them are more informed, more expressive, and more demanding. They know about the latest trends and are eager to invest in clothes, shoes, accessories that can help them stand out and can complement their personality.

In fact, it’s no more just about celebrity fashion, people today are eager to get their hands on runway fashion. No more tie on tank tops and chunky crystal bracelets, the current cohort of buyers follows what’s in Vogue, quite literally! Fashion magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue were once limited to the elites but with digital media, these journals find a huge amount of followers and readers online.

This has led to an increase in the pressure on retail brands, who are competing with each other both offline and online. They are expected to not just innovate when it comes to design but also offer quality while pricing the offerings competitively. It’s not easy to accomplish these tasks all at once, which is why businesses in the fashion world are now heavily depending on technologies like artificial intelligence.

Artificial Intelligence – Powering The Fashion Industry

Varied applications of artificial intelligence in our day to day lives have made it an integral part of our world. This technology took over various segments of the business world sooner than anticipated and its benefits have powered enterprises at various levels. In the fashion industry, AI has turned out to be an incredible advancement; let’s take a look at how it is contributing to the world of ever-changing trends.

Now, a lot of people would say that how can you automate the operations of an industry that is entirely based on human creativity and if you believe the same then here is what you need to know. This industry has access to some of the biggest data sets in the business world with deep market and consumer insights. AI Promises to be a powerful competitive edge when coupled with creativity that businesses in the fashion domain already possess.

The application of artificial intelligence in the fashion realm is to take away the more mundane tasks from the hands of designers, marketers, and merchants. This, naturally, will lead to more focus on creativity and will aid businesses in concentrating on higher-value decisions. AI can never become a fashion designer for your business but it can significantly contribute to certain tasks performed by him/her, thus enhancing the overall productivity.

Enhancing Productivity

Businesses in the fashion domain can ameliorate some processes to generate better profits. The application of artificial intelligence in such processes can not only boost the speed but also lower the operational cost while enhancing flexibility at various stages. This technology can also aid in various areas including merchandising, forecasting, production, capacity planning, and delivery. AI can also help businesses accelerate product availability and order fulfillment.

Enhancing Creativity

Apart from boosting productivity, the application of artificial intelligence can also contribute to the creative process of designing and related tasks. Numerous enterprises in the fashion designing industry are resorting to the efficiency of AI in augmenting their designing and product development skills. Sifting through the consumer data swiftly, artificial intelligence can aid in suggesting product features that consumers will most likely prefer.

AI-Powered Fashion

Amazon is one of the leading e-commerce giants known for making online shopping swifter and smarter. The company is about to launch an AI-powered clothing designer that will be based on advanced algorithms to analyze as well as replicate popular styles. This system will crunch and analyze data at a lightning speed to develop designs as per the previous preferences of customers.

Bringing the artificial intelligence to India’s fashion industry, designers Shane and Falguni Peacock are deploying this technology to assess as many as 60, 000 couture images from runways all across the globe. Their aim is to actually predict the future of fashion with the aid of trends that wowed fashion lovers for a long time and with the trends that kept coming back in different years and seasons.

Stitch Fix, a startup hustling in the competitive fashion realm is another major example of AI application. Instead of depending on traditional mood boards, the designers at Stitch Fix are AI-driven when it comes to the creative process. A customized artificial intelligence system goes through a massive database of customer behavior insights and changing trends to create a combination of designs that are more likely to succeed in the market. The system of Stitch Fix is capable of going through as many as 30 million combinations to handpick items that can match the taste, requirement, and budget of customers.

Getting Closer To The Customers

A leading name in the industry, Tommy Hilfiger is deploying a chatbot to communicate with potential customers. The AI-powered bot not only manages live conversations but also offers answers via a huge database of FAQs and can customize the content for potential customers. This is a huge step for businesses in this industry, as this technology can automate customer support to an extent, even though the need for physical agents will not cease to exist.

However, the potential of this technology isn’t confined to transforming the online service experience, it can also power offline engagement at retail stores. AI and IoT AKA the Internet of Things with the aid of some sensors can assist customers at physical stores and when we talk about the potential of this technology, the sky is the limit. Whether we talk about digital mirrors at Farfetch’s Store or any other advancement, AI integration offers a whole buffet of possibilities to the businesses in the fashion realm.

Technologies like AI hold the power to change the way fashion businesses interact with customers. Leading enterprises in the fashion realm are already benefiting from this technology, as they are able to engage customers in a better way. Gathering better customer insight from rich databases and offering advantages like dynamic pricing, enhanced customer relationship management, and product recommendations, AI is all set to change the way fashion businesses operate.

In the coming years, we might be able to witness new developments in this domain and soon there will be a day when AI integration will power every business operating in the fashion realm.

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Grover – Countering Fake News With AI https://cyfuture.com/blog/grover-countering-fake-news-with-ai/ https://cyfuture.com/blog/grover-countering-fake-news-with-ai/#respond Thu, 01 Aug 2019 05:36:40 +0000 https://cyfuture.com/blog/?p=5520 The post Grover – Countering Fake News With AI appeared first on Cyfuture Blog.

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The growing popularity of social media platforms and an increasing number of social networking sites have turned out to be a breeding ground for fake news. I can’t even count the number of times I have rolled my eyes when fake news has infested my social media timeline.

In fact, today there are so many groups on messaging platforms like WhatsApp that spread fake news like wildfire in a jungle. A few days back, I actually got in a tiff with a close friend who apparently believed in a piece of fake news she read on a group and it was both hilarious and worrisome.

This obviously has made it absolutely essential to keep a check on what is being posted and promoted online under various propagandas. You never know whether what you are reading is a truth or an outright lie, promoted for an agenda or just for some fun by a buffoon, who thinks it is ok to lie and mislead people.

The misleading information often has a really negative impact on mass perception, which shouldn’t happen; considering the fact that sometimes it can be the cause of public outrage. For instance, if there is a piece of fake news about the demise of an important political figure, his supporters might take over the streets.

Apart from this, what about the fake news that can misguide people to register their social security number or even bank details on an online portal as per government regulations? Such information is often disseminated with an intent of committing a felony and embezzling data as well as money.

You can never completely trust everything you read online and it is only wise to read news from credible websites and other mediums. However, this cannot be a completely dependable solution in the long run, which is why more efficacious measures need to be taken.

AI Can Be The Solution

Application of artificial intelligence in various fields has been quite successful in the past years and it sure is one amongst the most widely deployed technologies that are shaping and reinventing our lives. From our smartphones to self-driven cars, AI is making what seemed impossible a couple of decades back, possible.

When it comes to tweaking the information available online to check for fake news, AI can be the solution too. However, before it can be the remedy of the problem, it needs to first understand what it is. Just like snake bite is treated by the antidote made from snake venom itself, to make AI capable of dealing with fake news, it should first know how to create it.

This is the idea behind the development of ‘Grover,’ a generative adversarial network (GAN) to counter fake news which is spreading like an infestation of termites on a wooden plank. However, to enable machine learning that can help AI detect misleading information, it is first made to generate some. Grover is an incredible AI breakthrough that can generate fake news that too, almost a little too real to be fake.

Familiarizing AI With Fake News

“The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.”    

                                                    – Abraham Lincoln

As said by the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, destroying an enemy becomes easier when you befriend him. However, let’s not run in circles and jump right to the topic, which is fake news; an enemy of mass media that needs to be checked right away and to do so, it is vital to be a little more than familiar to it.

Grover, which is a collaborative effort of the Allen Institute of AI and the University Of Washington, is capable of writing highly convincing news that is far away from facts, yet extremely believable. As mentioned in the above paragraph, it is an enemy and to take it down, AI needs to befriend it and be more familiar with how it is created in the first place.

This was the reason why researchers first enabled the system to create fake news and detect patterns that can help it in recognizing fabricated information. This idea of generating fake news isn’t new though, as recently OpenAI made news by announcing that the AI-based fake news generator that they created is actually dangerous and unfit to be released publically.

However, the creators of Grover disagree with this notion; as per them, advanced tools and technologies can prevent the system from causing any sort of harm. According to them, the AI system isn’t capable of inflicting any harm but in the future, it might do so. Technology, as they say, is tricky, for a moment it aids in making new discoveries and the next moment, it becomes the root of a problem.

In any case, as per the makers, the possible issues that can surface shouldn’t be the reason behind not releasing such an incredible technology for researchers. In fact, they say that releasing Grover is essential to develop a better defense against fake news that currently invades numerous online platforms and misleads people.

The researchers behind Grover believe that it is crucial that communities and techies discuss the associated aspects like security and machine learning instead of being entirely unaware of the existence of this technology. If you find it interesting then you can try it for yourself and then decide how convincing it is to release Grover.

How Did It Come Together?

After reading so much about Grover, you might be curious how this system was invented and programmed to work almost like a human mind. If yes, then let me end your curiosity, the system was actually made to devour a huge database developed alongside it, known as RealNews. It is a 120-gigabyte library that comprises of articles from 2016 from the top 5000 news publications, as per Google News.

Via machine learning, Grover has studied numerous news articles that are real; thereafter, deploying the amassed information to build a complex model of writing styles and phrases, also incorporating the features and topics that are relevant to each other and how they are linked to various ideas and outlets.

To create the same, the makers deployed an “adversarial system” that has two aspects that work collaboratively. While one of the aspects amongst them creates content, the other rates how real and convincing it sounds. It is a long process, where both of them try and try again to eventually come up with content that appears to be believable.

These adversarial setups are one amongst the most powerful applications of artificial intelligence, capable of creating realistic news even from the scratch. The whole system is self-sufficient and in the right hands, it sure is capable of bringing changes in verification that can aid in nipping fake news from the bud.

Final Word

As per my view, Grover is no magic but a technology that may have its own setbacks, but it certainly shouldn’t be the reason for banning it completely. Technology, as part of science, needs experimentation and failures are inevitable but once researchers will get past them, they will be able to come up with inventions that can bring about significant changes; ushering mankind towards a new world, where everything is secure, transparent, and as real as the existence of humanity.

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Big Data Propels The Fashion World – The Data Science Behind The Success https://cyfuture.com/blog/big-data-propels-the-fashion-world-the-data-science-behind-the-success/ https://cyfuture.com/blog/big-data-propels-the-fashion-world-the-data-science-behind-the-success/#respond Sun, 21 Jul 2019 08:59:52 +0000 https://cyfuture.com/blog/?p=5455 The post Big Data Propels The Fashion World – The Data Science Behind The Success appeared first on Cyfuture Blog.

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American fashion photographer Bill Cunningham once said that fashion is the armor to survive the reality of everyday life. This holds so much relevance to us as a generation that has watched technology, art, food and numerous aspects of our day to day life evolve at such a rapid pace. I can’t believe that we are the kids who were once slurping on slushies and are now relishing gourmet ice-cream, frozen with the aid of liquid nitrogen.

Amidst it all, we have seen fashion evolve from overalls and mood rings to the little black dress and funky joggers. It is really refreshing to buy or wear something trendy because one piece of apparel can have such a massive impact on your confidence. Fashion is meant for everyone, whether you are a man, woman, boy, or a little girl, it has so much power and it can really help you express yourself.

You must have noticed that artists have a rather eccentric sense of style and corporate hustlers prefer clean cuts on their outfit to look a bit sharp and formal. Everyone, from your hairstylist to your boss, has a specific sense of fashion and that speaks so much about their personality and profession. For instance, when you see someone wearing the boho-chic look, you can be sure about them being the happy hippie person with most probably a degree in fashion or fine arts.

The importance of fashion is undisputable in the age of social media and we millennials want to look good not only when we are in public but also on our social media accounts. This has helped the fashion industry amass enormous success in a couple of years. Today, we can buy a Prada handbag in a few clicks (P.S. you need a fortune to do that), and global trends are walking on the ramps of fashion shows all across the world.

Globalization and digitization have helped fashion houses spread their roots to emerging markets all across the globe. You can find the showrooms of the most posh fashion brand in your own city, whether you live in India or the USA. However, what a lot of people aren’t aware of is how Big Data has contributed to the development and expansion of the fashion Industry.

Big Data & The Fashion World

When we talk about Big Data, fashion for sure isn’t what hits our mind because we are unaware of the probability to use it in this industry. Well, this might surprise you but fashion designers have been deploying Big Data nowadays, to not just create designer apparel and accessories but also market them. By deploying it designers can, not just learn more about their designs but also about their target audience.

How Big Data Is Changing The Fashion Game?

Let’s take a look at how Big Data solutions are aiding designers in keeping pace with the changing dynamics of the fashion market and consumer behavior.

Runway To Retail

Runway fashion is aesthetically great but isn’t really practical wear. These models aren’t always comfortable donning the outfits with sharp cuts and heavy embroidery, with some really hard to carry accessories. This is the reason why what you see in retail stores is quite different from what you see on runways.

Runway designs simply become an inspiration behind the creation of practical outfits that can be rolled out in the retail stores. Big data aids designers in developing the required understanding to add and remove elements to outfits in order to create practical wear from high-end designs of the runway.

Picking Remunerative Products

Whether you run a food-chain business or a fashion house, no matter what your business line is, what really matters is what the customer needs. Big Data helps fashion enterprises develop an understanding of how lucrative it is to launch a product in the market.

How does this work? Let’s take an example. Say, your business is dealing in sports and fitness wear and a particular style of yoga pants can give you an edge over competitors while there is also another variant of sports shoe style that can benefit your business.

After an in-depth analysis with the aid of Big Data, if the probability of the yoga pants being a hit is higher than that of the shoe style, then you can concentrate more capital on the former. This will help you earn better profits and will greatly reduce the chances of loss.

Picking The Right Colors

If you are remotely familiar with the fashion world then you would know that every year certain colors trend on the runways all across the globe. However, when you run a designer clothing or accessory business you can’t just go with what’s trending, you need to find out about the colors that your target audience wishes to wear.

Big Data is used to determine the range of the colors that were more favored by the customers while purchasing. This helps businesses in the fashion industry pick shades that can do well when it comes to sales.

It is quite simple to use and is effective in comparing outfit or accessory colors that were picked by the customers more frequently. Big data helps businesses see beyond the trends and get the pulse of what their customers want.

Getting Closer To Customers Than Ever

As mentioned afore, the implementation of Big Data to pick trends in colors and designs that can favor retail is quite common. However, one of the biggest application of Big Data solutions in the fashion industry is understanding customer behavior.

It has helped fashion businesses get closer to their customers than ever and has helped them mold the designs, patterns, and colors to suit the customer’s needs best. Big Data sure is a great tool to understand the requirements and behavior of customers and make the end products more relevant to them.

Forecasting Fashion

Apart from all this, Big Data can also forecast what you can call the shelf life of a product. Trends come and go so quickly but you cannot discontinue products with each changing trend because this can incur more loss than you can anticipate.

The production of one designer product at a mass scale costs your business a fortune and you cannot just expect it all to sell out overnight. This is the reason why forecasting how long a product can last in the market matters a lot.

Big Data solutions can be quite handy in forecasting the changing trends and can help designers put together designs that don’t go out of fashion for a few seasons. This, obviously, can help fashion houses make the most out of their investment with each line that they launch in the market.

Bottom Line

These are just a few of the ways Big Data has enabled the fashion industry to operate in a more organized way and to understand what their customers really want. However, they are enough to explain why it is changing the way businesses in this domain work, and how it is making fashion more practical than ever.

Big Data is a harbinger of good luck for the enterprises in the fashion industry and we can say that it has immensely helped in making global trends and runway fashion more buyable and customized to suit modern fashionistas.

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Big Data Empowers Media & Entertainment https://cyfuture.com/blog/big-data-empowers-media-entertainment/ https://cyfuture.com/blog/big-data-empowers-media-entertainment/#respond Tue, 25 Jun 2019 10:30:12 +0000 https://cyfuture.com/blog/?p=2301 The post Big Data Empowers Media & Entertainment appeared first on Cyfuture Blog.

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As period dramas dazzle the silver screen and streaming subscriptions like Netflix and Amazon Prime bring outstanding entertainment to our homes, the entertainment and media industry is annexed to our routine. Now, with the aid of our smartphones, the accessibility to entertainment and infotainment has grown drastically; you can go through news or even watch your favorite show on the go, anytime and anyplace.

If you commute via public transport then you can surely spot many co-travelers busy scrolling through their phones, tablets, and laptops or keenly staring at their large screens at home. This is how the entertainment and media industry has captured the interest of a massive audience across the globe. In fact, it has become a focal point of our evolution as a society; tending to each and every aspect that affects us as an intelligent species.

Through decades, this industry hasn’t just entertained and informed us but also shaped mass perception. It is no secret that media massively affects mass opinion and is an incredible platform to promote products, services, and ideas. This is the reason why organizations from different verticals sponsor entertainment programs and news segments that run on televisions and stream on various online platforms.

In the past few years, the media and entertainment industry has evolved at a rapid pace due to the changing behavior and growing knowledge base of the target audience. The World Wide Web has opened new avenues to attain credible information and view the latest in the entertainment realm, which is why the audience expects the highest quality when it comes to credibility and entertainment.

The Big Data Edge

Undergoing a huge transformation, the media industry is susceptible to wake up to a new dawn of content-centric entertainment and news; powered by a business model that is entirely based on relevant content creation to not only enhance the customer satisfaction rate but also cut down customer churn, retaining the existing audience and attracting more viewers.

To create content that meets and exceeds the aspirations of the target audience, topnotch media houses are resorting to big data. Offering valuable insights and helping media houses focus on bringing together unique and appealing content, Big Data is evolving at the core of the entertainment and media industry.

Let’s take a look at how Big Data solutions are ushering businesses in the entertainment and media world towards growth and success.

Getting Close To The Audience Than Ever

One amongst the major advantages of the insights that any business gets via Big Data analytics is a better understanding of the target audience and their behavior pattern. From gathering data regarding factors like personal profiles of the potential customers to understanding their preferences and attitude, Big Data solutions offer an incredible resource of information to help engage current and potential viewers.

Data is captured from platforms like social media to understand the viewership of the content and the related trends to further modify it or put an end to a practice that isn’t going really well with the viewers. In fact, prominent news channels are resorting to data analytics to disseminate news stories that are engaging and interesting, offering viewers a richer experience.

Without Big Data and akin analytics, the whole approach of finding content that is relevant to today’s viewers will be wasteful and random; incapable of rendering results that can really generate positive results. The orthodox journalism practices and entertainment ventures cannot keep the interest of viewers for long; as humans, we are always curious about the new, and untrodden paths of the entertainment and media realm.

Innovative & Ingenious

Today, viewers are no more beguiled by the lavish sets of period dramas and news segments that aren’t informative enough. They want something that is brilliant, honest, and more interactive. Generation Y and Z, who form the major target audience of entertainment and news businesses are quite particular about what kind of content they wish to view.

The ever-increasing competition in this domain has pushed media and entertainment biz to not just think out of the box but be eccentric. Any organization in this domain is susceptible to get lost in the crowd if it fails to bring fresh content on board. The times are changing and so is the audience, by not keeping up with the same; it is hard to survive the competition.

It is a known fact that big data-driven media houses are capable of producing content that is created after careful analysis of quantitative insights. These insights are derived after a careful assessment of heterogeneous datasets. Apart from this, careful curation, psychological assessment of the target audience, and the editorial prowess held by media houses are a few other elements that bring impactful content to life.

Updating Legacy Systems

Just like any business, media houses can massively benefit with updated legacy systems in the Big Data way. The cloud and open source IT infrastructure that is essential for integrating it in the work processes offer a host of advantages. Advancing the operations to a new path of a transition towards better technology. Adapting to data-driven modules of business operations can allow steady growth and help businesses attain an edge over competitors.

Yes, it isn’t a child’s play to bring together legacy systems and data-driven modules but in the long run, it sure is beneficial. Allowing media businesses to capture information that can be deployed for amendments that are both required and remunerative, these modules set up a healthy base for futuristic and growth-oriented operations.

However, to make the transition from the proprietary technology to data and cloud-based technology seamless, it is best to hire outsourced support. Today, you can find a plethora of organizations that not only cater to the need for big data solutions but also offer cloud infrastructure services. So, finding a reliable service provider for the same shouldn’t be too much trouble.

This collaboration intends to reaffirm your position in the market; henceforth, resorting to outsourcing sure is lucrative but before you opt for it here are a few things to keep in mind.

  • Firstly, it is vital that your service provider holds expertise and experience in serving organizations in the media and entertainment domain. Relevant experience sure is necessary when it comes to offering tailored Big Data solutions that can benefit your business.
  • Apart from this, discussing the repercussions of this business collaboration with your service provider is also crucial. You need to have a deep understanding of the plausible pros and cons as well as the remedies to diffuse certain situations, where the integration can lead to disturbance.
  • Last but certainly not the least, a discussion regarding the possible upsurge in the CAPEX or the capital investment is also crucial. Migrating your data to the cloud for money-spinning Big Data solutions usually shrinks the capital expenditure. However, this may not be the case for your organization, which is why quantifying the possible upsurges is highly recommended.

Data-driven media and entertainment houses have achieved roaring success within a short span of time but this won’t be possible for your business if you fail to track all the consequences that this collaboration precipitates. So, before you go for it; assess all the related statistics and outcomes; this will help you reap all the perks of Big Data whilst not getting deep in the weeds at any moment.

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Online Food Delivery – Customer Service Changes The Game https://cyfuture.com/blog/online-food-delivery-customer-service-changes-the-game/ https://cyfuture.com/blog/online-food-delivery-customer-service-changes-the-game/#respond Thu, 06 Jun 2019 08:55:41 +0000 https://cyfuture.com/blog/?p=2155 The post Online Food Delivery – Customer Service Changes The Game appeared first on Cyfuture Blog.

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One of our fondest memories as a child is often the taste of our favorite home-cooked meal; the steaming hot flatbreads and rich curries or a bowl of pasta, seasoned to heavenly perfection. Food is not just a necessity; as we evolved into a civilized species it became a part of our cultures and traditions.

In fact, there is hardly any religious ceremony or social gathering that can ever be complete without some home-cooked delicacies. Whether it is Diwali, Ramadan or Christmas, food has always been a part of our celebrations and gatherings.

I was born in a Hindu family and I have been really enthusiastic about learning how to prepare my favorite meals, especially the ones that are a part of our festivities. However, as time passed and I started working; cooking turned into a task from a recreational activity.

Today, just like lots of people all across the globe, I live far away from my hometown and family. The work schedule and traveling leaves me with just enough time to prepare a simple meal and on certain occasions I rely on restaurants and food deliveries. The sacrifices you make for your passion and career!

However, as much as I miss home cooked food on certain occasions, I find it really convenient to sometimes order in rather than preparing a decent meal. Yes! Home cooked food is the best and my mother (just like yours, I’m sure) is always right! However, it is ok to just enjoy good food from your favorite restaurants occasionally, especially when you have burnt your dinner!

Today, as technology has taken over our lives we can order our favorite food in a jiffy. Food delivery apps have made it so easy to grab a bite at almost any time of the day, and in fact, you can even order some food while travelling.

Isn’t it just great for those days when you are tired and maybe a little stressed? Just a little bit of food therapy with your favorite web-series or movie and you will feel better for sure. Apart from this, you have healthy food options too on food delivery apps like Zomato and Swiggy. So, it is not like you have to always relish carb and fat loaded dishes.

Food Delivery Apps – Customer Service A Concern?

No matter how convenient I find ordering food online, one thing that sometimes aggravates me is bad customer service. You can easily seek support from most food apps but there still are some glitches that become an obstruction in making their services truly seamless. Let’s take a look at some of them to understand how online food delivery businesses need to evolve in order to serve the ever more demanding Generation Y and Z.

Time Is Ticking!

Time is a major customer satisfaction metric that can define the efficiency of services rendered by a business. While a customer can wait for a while for his food to be delivered or to get connected to a live agent for reporting an issue, if the wait time keeps increasing; he is likely to get irritated and tired soon.

You cannot keep someone waiting for his/her food or support services because they are paying you for both. A business, no matter what vertical it operates in, needs to remember that customers can make or break it. Take them for granted once and bid them goodbye because they aren’t coming back to be dissatisfied.

While the optimal wait time for customer service shouldn’t exceed 1 minute, there is a 60 minute time window to ensure that customers receive their food. They wouldn’t expect to wait longer than this unless they have ordered a whole feast for a party.

So, it is critical to ensure that the services are streamlined to ensure timeliness. For the efficient flow of support functions, some major food delivery businesses have resorted to business process outsourcing. This collaboration has helped them deliver great services expeditiously without annoying customers with extended wait time.

Order Spikes – Yikes!

There are days when restaurants have the busiest kitchens, like weekends, festivals, and holidays. They don’t have to just serve the customers waiting on tables, they have to also ensure that food deliveries move timely.

However, the load to move food deliveries timely isn’t just affecting restaurants, the food delivery service providers also endure order spikes on such occasions. They have to make sure that the delivery persons are assigned tasks expeditiously and are provided with the required support to make sure that steaming hot food reaches its destination timely.

During order spikes, even the support functions suffer because there may or may not be enough resources to take up complaints and answer queries. This can be a major setback for the food delivery service provider because customers will not just get irritated but will also write bad reviews online, massively destroying the business’s reputation.

Today, customers are more powerful than ever, their reviews and ratings can rapidly affect a business’s reputation in the market. This is the reason why BPO services are a crucial requirement for enterprises in domains like online food delivery. Outsourced support helps them thrive even in stiff competition with startups and even multinational giants like Uber Eats entering the market.

UX – Is It Personalized?

This is one support function of some food delivery apps that I believe is pretty useful on days when you can barely open your eyes to go through menus. Personalizing the ordering experience and offering options to repeat your past order is really impressive. You can click on a past order and you are done, no more unending discussions on what you want to eat, phew!

However, certain apps do not offer this feature and they might be losing customers because of this. You aren’t really personalizing the user experience, how can you expect the customer to come back when he has an option to switch to a competitor who is providing the same?

This is a bummer! It often makes me switch from one app to the other because I either don’t have time to scroll through menus or am too tired to do so. User experience (UX), just like business process outsourcing, is a major competitive advantage for businesses.

The market leaders who understood this are thriving with the trust of their loyal patrons and those who didn’t, gradually sank in the swamps of growing competition. If you want your customers to keep coming back, then you need to give them a delicious reason. They will appreciate your efforts to keep them hooked and will not just come back but recommend you.

Final Word

The rapidly developing online food delivery industry demands businesses to evolve and adjust to the demands and behaviors of the modern consumer. It is no more as simple as pizza delivery: the market is aggressive and the consumers have options.

If you won’t serve them right, they will sooner or later move to a competing service provider. Believe it or not, people are really sensitive about their food and if you disappoint them once, they aren’t coming back. They can wait for a faulty electronic device to be replaced but cannot wait for a food order replacement because they will be hungry or angry; probably both, hence the neologism which is feeding the rage these days: hangry.

By putting customers through bad service experience, businesses would lose both reputation and profits. So, opting for solutions like business process outsourcing and UX personalization is essential.

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Businesses Evolve To Socialize With Their Customers https://cyfuture.com/blog/businesses-evolve-to-socialize-with-their-customers/ https://cyfuture.com/blog/businesses-evolve-to-socialize-with-their-customers/#respond Mon, 03 Jun 2019 11:26:01 +0000 https://cyfuture.com/blog/?p=2095 The post Businesses Evolve To Socialize With Their Customers appeared first on Cyfuture Blog.

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The president of a prominent advertising agency in the USA once said that Social Media puts the ‘public’ into PR and the ‘market’ into marketing. This as per me is a really concise and impactful representation of what social media means to the business world.

It is a major touchpoint that businesses should operate on in order to communicate with customers efficiently. The reason being the fact that today, approximately 56% of the world population has access to the Internet and an average adult spends close to 5 hours each day online.

The 80s and the 90s were all about the television industry growing as a platform for commercial organizations to advertise services and goods. However, the onset of the 2000s pushed us to a new millennium marked by the growing popularity of the World Wide Web.

Though the first workable prototype of the Internet came into existence in the 1960s, its popularity grew amongst the common man in the 2000s due to the sudden deluge of social media platforms. Platforms like Orkut, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram helped users create their own content and share it with the world.

Today, these sites have become a part and parcel of our lives connecting us with the world. Social media keeps us entertained, updated, and also somehow occupied. Amidst all this, platforms like Facebook emerged as an opportunity for businesses that wished to connect with the customers better.

These platforms offered better exposure and leads that can be pushed through the sales pipeline. It’s not that commercial organizations haven’t been online before the emergence of social media platforms. Most of the businesses have had websites for a long time but driving traffic to these sites was quite challenging previously.

The sudden outpour of social media sites bought more and more people online and presented businesses with an opportunity to advertise where they can be seen. Yes, the television industry still thrives as an entertainment and advertising medium but people today don’t have much time to watch television.

Apart from this, who will care to switch on the television when smartphones and the Internet, together have bought the world to the palm of our hands? This is the reason why businesses are increasingly switching to social media platforms and video streaming platforms to deliver impactful commercial messages.

Customer Support Becomes Social

Gone are the days, when business process outsourcing service providers were restricted to phone calls and Emails. Businesses in the outsourcing domain and beyond are now resorting to social media chat support, which is quick, dependable, and convenient!

A thriving business, irrespective of the fact that it is depending on outsourcing services or not, offers chat support via mediums like Twitter and Facebook. Now, you can conveniently get in touch with any business for queries or issues via your social media accounts.

Just search for the verified account of the business and type a message or tag them in a post stating your query or issue. They revert within minutes and most of the prominent names in the business world render diligent support because they know how restless today customers are.

Our generation, as a consumer base are used to instant everything! Instant coffee brew, instant service, we want it all within minutes and to serve these impatient consumers businesses had to evolve. This is the reason why today organizations including business process outsourcing service providers are becoming as social as their consumers are.

Addressing Flaws – The Social Media Pressure

Customers can call out businesses at any point today, they can complain, rate, and review without any restriction. They hold the power to force businesses to not just address their flaws but also work towards improving the same.

Commercial organizations today, are working under a constant pressure to check the loopholes in the operations and glitches in the products. If they don’t, then businesses are doomed to lose credibility due to the wrath of customers who are anything but satisfied with the services and products.

Business process outsourcing companies are turning out to be a major support in this matter. Their diligent services help organizations of all sizes develop immunity against the attacks of unsatisfied customers.

Social media support offered as a part of outsourcing services helps businesses in diligently addressing glitches and uncalled for circumstances that have led to the dissatisfaction of customers. Social media combined with outsourcing has turned out to be a powerful medium for earning and maintaining credibility in the market.

Caring For Your Customers Is Caring For Your Business

The emergence of social media as a customer service touchpoint has also been a reason behind businesses understanding why they need to care more about what their customers think. Businesses don’t just have to put up a show to express their care and gratitude, they need to reinforce the same with their actions.

Considering that as much as 70% of buying decision depends on past service experience, it is vital that customers feel valued in each interaction. Social media helps businesses respond quickly, making the customer feel like he/she is heard and there is a surety that the required action will be taken in a due course of time.

The advent of social media in the customer service domain has led to the strengthening of the bond between customers and businesses. It has helped businesses connect with customers better and care for their needs and aspirations, thus forging an association that brings forth not just profits but also recommendations.

Speeding Up The Support

Another major performance metric that has popularized social media in the customer service industry is the speed. While on call, an agent can attend one customer at a time but social media chat support helps him handle multiple queries at a time.

Apart from this, the speeding up of customer support also turned out to be fruitful for the FCR score. First call resolutions AKA first contact resolution, which is a major performance metric in the outsourcing service industry has helped businesses resolve issues expeditiously.

When compared to the traditional methods of customer service, social media sure is faster, highly responsive, and efficient. Ever since its debut in the business world in the early 2000s, it has proved its mettle in delivering great services whilst minimizing the cost and enhancing the delivery speed.

Bottom Line

Businesses that go an extra mile to adapt to the changing customer behavior and market dynamics are bound to succeed. This is exactly what the integration of social media has turned out to be for corporates operating across diverse verticals.

The deployment of social media in the customer service realm is an additional way to wow your customers. The businesses that understand the same have touched new milestones of success and they sure will continue to do so in the coming years.

In the words of Canadian digital marketing agency founder, Matt Goulart, “social media is about the people! Not about your business. Provide for the people and the people will provide for you.”

This is what businesses should seek in order to not just serve customers but create an experience that keeps them coming back. As you know, great service will not just keep your business running on stable revenue resources but will also open new avenues of growth and success.

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Unethical Use of AI – And Why It Needs To Be Checked https://cyfuture.com/blog/unethical-use-of-ai-and-why-it-needs-to-be-checked/ https://cyfuture.com/blog/unethical-use-of-ai-and-why-it-needs-to-be-checked/#respond Tue, 21 May 2019 06:00:45 +0000 https://cyfuture.com/blog/?p=1866 The post Unethical Use of AI – And Why It Needs To Be Checked appeared first on Cyfuture Blog.

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The Canadian computer scientist Yoshua Bengio, noted for his exceptional work on artificial neural networks, recently became the co-recipient of the prestigious A. M. Turing Award for his work on deep learning. He, along with Geoffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun, made groundbreaking discoveries in the field of artificial intelligence and the trio was rewarded for the same.

The trio is often referred to as the fathers of deep learning, which is basically a technique to combine large data volumes with the aid of multilayer artificial neural networks. This whole innovation was inspired by the neural networks that are present in our brain, and it has immensely contributed towards the advancement of artificial intelligence and related technologies.

Bengio works for Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms as Scientific Director, and has recently raised concerns regarding the risks of unethical use of artificial intelligence. This compelled him to develop and present a set of guidelines that can result in the ethical use of this technology and keep a check on malicious attempts to deploy it for anything illegal or destructive.

 “AI is a tool that can be used by those in power to keep that power and to increase it.”

         – Yoshua Bengio

As per Bengio, the threat of this technology is as real as its advantages. No wonder the humanoids and AI drones have made the impossible possible, but who is checking their unethical use? This powerful tool is not accessible to everyone, but those to whom it is cannot be completely trusted with its usage.

He said that this tool in authoritarian hands can wreak havoc too. There are so many people involved in both government and private projects that deploy the application of artificial intelligence. Even one individual amongst them, who somehow is susceptible to abusing this power, can be the cause of unethical usage.

Another factor that Bengio put forth in an interview with Nature International Journal of Science was that unchecked usage of this technology can also amplify discrimination based on gender and race, the reason being the fact that the data or the cause is already present in this technology, which was probably fed in during the training process that helped AI reflect human behavior.

Montreal Declaration

One of the most admirable qualities of Yoshua Bengio, as per my perspective, is that he doesn’t just support the advancements in technology but also brings to our notice the downsides. This is really important considering we are advancing new innovations at a rapid pace and we need some sort of scrutiny to keep a check on how we, as humanity, are handling this superpower.

Technology for humanity is just like a superpower: in the right hands it will do well and in the wrong hands, it will destroy the world. This is exactly why the Montreal Declaration for AI came into existence. Experts like Bengio formed not just policies and rules for the ethical use of AI, but also involved the public and organizations.

The involvement of so many people and even commercial organizations led to the development of principles that were more open-ended. They weren’t created by just some experts who thought ‘ok, let’s ration this technology or make it available under certain regulations’.

It was created with the involvement of so many individuals that it brought to the table a lot of perspective to why we need to have certain guidelines to gauge the use of artificial intelligence. It’s a decision taken by the masses and not just a few experts who claim to be aware of the downsides.

The Montreal Declaration is a whole new level of monitoring that can bring about groundbreaking changes in how we make AI a part of our lives. It can prevent all the malicious attempts at exploitation that can make this technology a nightmare for humanity.

Creating An Appropriate Forum

Yoshua Bengio is now working with his team to create a forum for discussions related to the possible downside of technologies like AI. The innovations happening in the field of artificial intelligence, from India to the United States, UK, and Australia need to be kept under scrutiny to not just achieve maximum benefits but also to check inventions like Killer Robots.

Yes, you read that right! Military superpowers are planning this, and it would be far more destructive than portrayed in movies. Killer Robot AKA LAWS (lethal autonomous weapons system) was even a topic of discussion at the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.

However, these weapons are not humanoids from a sci-fi movie, they are actually just like the standard jet fighters, tanks, battleships, and submarines. The only difference is that they can make the decision to kill masses, and considering how powerful these mean machines already are, they are capable of mass destruction.

This is the reason why creating a forum to check the usage of technology in fields like the military is absolutely essential. You wouldn’t want to put the lives of so many people in the hands of a technology that has a mind of its own. This suddenly made me remember something that Stephen Hawking once said.

“The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.”

  • Stephen Hawking

He said this in an exclusive interview with BBC in 2014 but as we swiftly move towards the public embracing of AI, we see this as a distinct possibility. If a forum is not created to check the same then powerful nations will slaughter humanity in the greed to achieve supremacy.

In fact, in a recent development, Russia has introduced a doomsday armament, which is capable of carrying nuclear weapons of mass destruction. This may or may not involve AI but it can be the lethal dawn of World War III that can certainly spell the end of humanity and make Hawking’s statement a reality.

The point is that the weapons we have for destruction are already powerful enough. By integrating advanced technologies like artificial intelligence we can make them the “Gods of Death.” This isn’t what the inventors would have ever thought AI would become when they strived to take us as a species to a new level of innovation.

Artificial intelligence should be deployed to automate business processes and to make our lives easier. It should be the technology behind inventions that can support our progress. It shouldn’t become a weapon that powerful nations can use to fight wars. Any nation or organization that encourages the same should be restrained.

In the coming years, AI is anticipated to develop the kind of high-level intellect that can even recognize emotions and this, believe it or not, can be a positive development. However, in the wrong hands, this technology is capable of causing irreparable damage.

It is vital that organizations and nations develop forums to discuss the ethical use of AI. We shouldn’t wait for the day when we get on a path where there will be no turning back. This will help us save not just our world but also save a technology that sure is a boon to mankind.

AI is leading us into a world where we won’t just accomplish tasks in a matter of seconds but also devise treatments for deadly diseases. I hope that in the process of progress, we don’t lose sight of our aim: development not destruction.

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Technology Empowers & Enriches The Business World https://cyfuture.com/blog/technology-empowers-enriches-the-business-world/ https://cyfuture.com/blog/technology-empowers-enriches-the-business-world/#respond Tue, 21 May 2019 05:58:42 +0000 https://cyfuture.com/blog/?p=1847 The post Technology Empowers & Enriches The Business World appeared first on Cyfuture Blog.

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We all are well aware of the saying that necessity is the mother of invention and it holds a lot of relevance today, considering how far we have come as a species that once lived in caves and hunted to feed itself. We have advanced in different walks of life and have created an ecosystem of technology that can benefit society as a whole.

As technology is gradually surpassing every impossibility, we are becoming more and more desperate to know what’s next! From machine learning augmenting the resourcefulness and usability of AI to businesses relying on technology for better customer support, the desperation to invent is giving birth to numerous innovations.

Commercial organizations have evolved incredibly due to the accelerated transformation of business technologies. A few decades back, businesses were relying on a database stored in floppy disks and physical documents, but look at now, they are all over the cloud. Cloud management platforms are helping businesses work efficiently, enhance data availability and a lot more!

Let’s explore how technology is enabling businesses to function better and adapt to the ever-changing dynamics of the market.

Communication – Cogent & Convincing

First and foremost, technology is the reason behind business communications becoming more cogent and convincing. Whether it is the internal communication within the organization or B2C interactions, technology has made it all so seamless and impactful.

Mobile apps, social media platforms, chatbots, and highly responsive websites have led to a paradigm shift in the way businesses communicated. Apart from this, business process outsourcing has also enabled a smooth transaction of information within organizations and outside them as well.

Outsourcing has been a major game changer in the business world that is driving enterprises of all sizes towards better revenue generation and success. How are these services and collaborations growth-centric? Well, they depend on an effective amalgamation of skills acquired through years of experience and new age technology.

Outsourcing services are shifting businesses towards more efficient customer support and are empowering various other processes. These services offer enterprises the support to not just counter competition, but pioneer in their respective operational domains; whilst amputating obstacles that bar their growth and success.

Positioning Enterprises In The Digital Realm

As digital platforms became the meeting point for people and businesses, positioning your business online became more crucial than ever. Enterprises today, irrespective of size and operational vertical strive to maintain an online presence to stay relevant to the modern customers and grab their attention via various online platforms.

Technology has also helped organizations anticipate the changing market trends more efficiently. This, of course, is the reason behind businesses getting ahead with better opportunities whilst securing improved sales and profit figures.

Engaging new customers and retaining loyal patrons, who don’t just come back but recommend them; tech innovations enable businesses to thrive by leaps and bounds. The amalgamation of technology and business is an infallible concoction to achieve success.

Apart from it all, certain software and business solutions available online help enterprises analyze market trends and know the needs of customers before they realize. These software and solutions assess the purchasing patterns and customer lifecycles to render metrics that can be deployed to improve strategies and tactics, helping businesses channel the resources meticulously in order to be more productive.

Influencing The Customers

As discussed afore business process outsourcing and the associated technologies are dramatically changing the way businesses interact with customers. However, most people aren’t aware that technology isn’t just changing the way businesses interact with customers but also influencing their decisions.

Have you ever wondered why Google Ads popup on webpages suggesting you to purchase products that are similar to your search history? It is no coincidence, the ads that appear on webpages and your social media timelines are as per your recent searches online.

The advanced artificial intelligence of Google’s search engine is keeping a track of your searches and is suggesting you products and services that you might be interested in. This is how businesses with the aid of technology are influencing the purchasing decision of buyers and guiding them to avail certain services and buy products.

It is an undeniable truth that technology is the most sophisticated form can influence our decisions and businesses are turning to it for better sales and profits. The heavily influenced modern buyer is depending on the content that he is presented with online, where businesses pit against each other to grab his attention.

Business Process Automation

Business processes like accounts and HR earlier drained a colossal amount of money from enterprises. However, this has changed rapidly over the course of a few decades; as technology automated business processes.

Process automation started basically from the cost centers of enterprises i.e. the processes that do not directly contribute to the profits yet indirectly are a resource for revenue generation; for example the customer support, it isn’t a profit center but its operations can drastically affect the profits generated by a commercial organization.

Automating the cost centers with software and business applications immensely contributed towards the overall operational efficiency of organizations across diverse verticals. Business process automation today is the reason behind the success of numerous enterprises that are spinning money due to not just enhanced efficiency but also due to the decrease in the requirement for human resources.

Automation is one amongst the major reasons that have helped organizations economize on human resources that are certainly more expensive than technology in the long run. Today, commercial organizations operate with a harmonized symphony between human skillsets and automation capabilities.

Globalization & Communication Technology

Globalization is a product of communication technology that grew rapidly after the invention of the telegraph in the early 1800s. Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 gifted humanity with the telephone, an invention that formed the base of modern-day smartphones. Soon after that Guglielmo Marconi in 1894 invented radio.

All these innovations helped our world become more connected than ever and changed the way humans interacted with each other. The BPOs that render outsourcing services wouldn’t have even existed today if pioneers like Graham Bell wouldn’t have actively worked towards developing and improving communication technology.

As the barrier of geographical location receded with these technologies, businesses entered the era of globalization. The market reach of commercial organizations grew remarkably as communication technologies and the World Wide Web bridged the gap of time and space.

Today, no matter what part of the world you live in; finding a product sold by a multinational giant online is no big deal. Everything is just a click away and whatever you want can be shipped to you within a matter of days, even when it’s from the other end of the world.

Conclusion

These are just a few ways in which technology has changed the face and altered the very existence of the business world. However, they sure are enough to elaborate on how technology is an intrinsic part of the commercial realm. Businesses in the modern world cannot thrive without it, no matter what.

Today, a startup cannot even penetrate the market without technology and as innovations continue to surprise us; we might be the generation that will witness miraculous inventions in the coming years that will bring about unanticipated modifications in the way businesses operate.

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Transportation & Logistics Embrace The Cloud https://cyfuture.com/blog/transportation-logistics-embrace-the-cloud/ https://cyfuture.com/blog/transportation-logistics-embrace-the-cloud/#respond Wed, 08 May 2019 06:38:53 +0000 https://cyfuture.com/blog/?p=1598 The post Transportation & Logistics Embrace The Cloud appeared first on Cyfuture Blog.

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The acclaimed science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke once said that any sufficiently advanced technology is equivalent to magic. And can we ever disagree with this? There was a time when a simple ringtone on mobile phones amazed us and now, as we live our life around numerous innovations, isn’t technology magical? There are so many gadgets, machines, and equipment that are now a part and parcel of our routine that separating technology and mankind is impossible today. We no more live doomed lives and are capable of working and traveling with ease, as per our wish.

One of the most groundbreaking accomplishments that we as the most intelligent species alive have achieved is transportation. Now, you must be wondering that how can this be a significant achievement, think again! Let’s turn back the wheel of time and go back to 3100 BC, when Egyptians started their first voyage on boats to transport goods and travel; or let’s go back to a couple of hundred years back when Silk Route came into operation in 1877, connecting traders and cultures across China, India, Persia, Arabia, Greek, and Rome. It took months to transport goods via these routes but now we have technologies and vehicles that have made transit swift and less time taking.

Without high-tech vehicles and associated technologies, your Amazon package would have taken months to reach you; in fact, online businesses like Amazon that have brought about an evolution in the retail world wouldn’t have existed without it all. Transportation technologies are the lifeblood on which businesses across various verticals depend; without them, the globalization of business ventures and organizations wouldn’t have been possible.

Large-scale manufacturing made goods cheaper but setting up a unit in each and every city and town isn’t possible due to factors like consumer demand and consumption. This is the reason that led to an escalation in the need for more sophisticated transport technologies and vehicles. Empowering the manufacturing industry was crucial, which is the reason why maritime, aeronautical, railways, and roadways transportation technologies developed at a rapid pace.

Ascending To The Cloud

Embracing the vigorously growing innovations of the technology world, transportation and logistics are more efficient than ever. Technologies like cloud computing have reinvented the way various operations related to transit were processed. Annexing more efficiency to logistics and transportation operations, cloud managed services enabled a seamless flow of processes whilst dealing with possible glitches head on.

To understand how cloud computing solutions benefit logistics and transportation, let’s discuss some of the major leverage points.

Narrowing It Down To A Single Point System

Tracking management system (TMS) and warehouse management system (WMS) play an instrumental role in facilitating quick procurement and transmit of goods via various modes of transportation. While these systems are quite efficient in handling the associated tasks, they also lead to a lot of confusion and miscommunication; reason being the fact that the data comes in direct contact with multiple users. It’s just like the game of Chinese Whispers, the information from the source can get altered on its way to the end receiving point.

While contrary to the game, this information isn’t miscommunicated deliberately; it is just that the chances of it happening are still high. This is the reason why cloud-based solutions are revered in the logistics management industry. Offering a single-point system, the cloud-based software efficiently coordinates the task of data management, preventing delays as well as obfuscated information dissemination that is caused due to miscommunication.

Real-Time Inventory Management

With the aid of services rendered by a competent cloud hosting provider, you can manage inventory in real-time; thus minimizing the scope of plausible errors. Whilst controlling risk, cloud-based solutions also aid in optimizing cost and maximizing the capacity to respond to frequent demand fluctuations.

Data flowing through a cloud-based atmosphere offers precise control over the inventory generated in the logistics and transportation business. It can be said that inventory management isn’t just easier with cloud-based solutions, but is also more accurate. Achieving this level of preciseness isn’t possible with most other inventory management systems, which is the reason why most of the businesses in this domain are resorting to cloud-integration.

Real-Time Price Management

Price management is at the core of every business in the logistics and transportation industry. This is an aspect that can decide the profit generated by the business, which is the reason why managing it with finesse is all the more crucial. Pricing in warehousing and transit fluctuates due to reasons like demand, weather, and market conditions.

This is where cloud-hosted business solutions can come to rescue; managing volatility on the fly and making amendments as per requirements, these solutions offer a host of benefits when it comes to pricing. Price or cost of operation in transportation and logistics amasses at a rapid pace, which is why real-time pricing is considered remunerative. It allows businesses to save a good amount of money while staying on point when it comes to price management.

Breaking Geographical Barriers In Logistics Management

Since the data is readily available and accessible from almost any location across different countries, cloud-based services initiate more coordinated operations than ever. You don’t have to worry how your team members, working across different locations will access the data and how will they provide their inputs and information. With the cloud, you can seamlessly share it all in a secure environment.

Logistics management and optimization is a critical task that requires a lot of time and resources. With cloud-based monitoring and sharing, everything can be accomplished within the dedicated deadline whilst making sure that the security aspect isn’t compromised at any stage.

Managing Resource Utilization

Keeping a track on the freight movement, equipment utilization, and the frequency of transits are all crucial tasks. While processing these tasks matters a lot, synchronizing the data and checking its preciseness holds a lot of importance too. With cloud-integration, one can accomplish all this with minimum scope for glitches.

Cloud-integration also allows pattern recognition that is further deployed to enhance capital investment or scale down, as per requirement. Cloud-integration enables better analysis of metrics, rendering results that are dependable and resourceful.

Merging Transit Model Precisely

Transportation and logistics businesses have to coordinate data and components from numerous sellers, sometimes even from foreign lands. This is the reason why synchronizing data attained from various resources is a task of paramount importance.

To accomplish this task without any glitches, cloud-integration turns out to be extremely favorable. This whole process was quite complicated before we started deploying cloud solutions but now it is seamless and accurate; as it offers real-time data online.

These are just a few reasons that make cloud-integration a propitious deal for businesses in the transport and logistics industry. The cloud advantage brings a lot to the table and it is high time that we appreciate and integrate it into business operations of every vertical.

This technology has ushered businesses towards path-breaking success and it sure is promising in the long run, considering the changing dynamics of various business verticals. With the cloud enterprises of all sizes and from all verticals can set-up operations that are cogent, dependable, and remunerative.

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