Each year, thousands of ambitious entrepreneurs start new businesses. These entrepreneurs feel bright and full of hope. And plenty of small business statistics show that by the end of four years more than half of them will be gone.

Small business failure rate aside, many small businesses make it past that critical period and thrive. How many make it and what industries fare best? We’ve collected these startup statistics for small businesses from a variety of sources to answer those questions.

GENERAL STARTUP STATISTICS

69 percent of U.S. entrepreneurs start their businesses at home.
According to the National Association of Small Business’s 2017 Economic Report, the majority of small businesses surveyed are LLCs (35 percent) followed by S-corporations (33 percent), corporations (19 percent), sole proprietorships (12 percent), and partnerships (2 percent).
51 percent of people asked, “What’s the best way to learn more about entrepreneurship?” responded with “Start a company”.

SMALL BUSINESS OWNER STATISTICS

Who’s starting small businesses today? Here’s a look at small business owners:

Gender:
- 73 percent identify as male; and
- 25 percent identify as female.

Age Range:
- 50-59 years old: 35 percent;
- 40-49 years old: 25 percent;
- 60-69 years old: 18 percent;
- 30-39 years old: 14 percent;
- 18-29 years old: 4 percent; and
- 70+ years old: 4 percent.

Education:
- High School / GED: 33 percent;
- Associates Degree: 18 percent;
- Bachelor’s Degree: 29 percent;
- Master’s Degree: 16 percent; and
- Doctorate: 4 percent.

Reason for starting business:
- Ready to be his/her own boss: 26 percent;
- Wanted to pursue his/her passion: 23 percent;
- The opportunity presented itself: 19 percent;
- Dissatisfied with corporate America: 12 percent;
- Laid off or outsourced: 6 percent;
- Not ready to retire: 6 percent;
- Other: 5 percent;
- Life event such as divorce, death, etc.: 3 percent.

Ethnicity:
- White/Caucasian – 71 percent;
- Hispanic/Latino – 6 percent;
- Black/African American – 7 percent;
- Asian/Pacific Islander – 11 percent;
- Other – 5 percent.

82 percent of successful business owners did not doubt they had the right qualifications and proper experience to run a company.

STARTUP FAILURE RATE STATISTICS

Of all small businesses started in 2014:
- 80 percent made it to the second year (2015);
- 70 percent made it to the third year (2016);
- 62 percent made it to the fourth year (2017);
- 56 percent made it to the fifth year (2018).
Given those numbers, a bit more than half of all startups actually survive to their fourth year, while the startup failure rate at four years is about 44 percent.

Top 10 causes of small business failure:
- No market need: 42 percent;
- Ran out of cash: 29 percent;
- Not the right team: 23 percent;
- Got outcompeted: 19 percent;
- Pricing / Cost issues: 18 percent;
- User un-friendly product: 17 percent;
- Product without a business model: 17 percent;
- Poor marketing: 14 percent;
- Ignore customers: 14 percent; and
- Product mistimed: 13 percent.

STARTUP FINANCE STATISTICS

Money is a key ingredient to the small business success rate. Here’s a financial snapshot of small business startups:

A third of small businesses get started with less than $5,000 and 58 percent got started with less than $25,000.
- In addition, 65 percent admitted to not being fully confident they had enough money to start their business and;
- An overwhelming 93 percent said they calculated a potential run rate of shorter than 18 months.

The most popular small business financing methods in 2018 were:
- Personal funds 77 percent;
- Bank loan 34 percent;
- Borrowing from family/friends 16 percent;
- Other funding 11 percent;
- Donations from family/friends 9 percent;
- Online lender 4 percent;
- Angel investor 3 percent;
- Venture capital 3 percent;
- Crowdfunding 2 percent.

40 percent of small businesses are profitable, 30 percent break even and 30 percent are continually losing money.
Having two founders, rather than one, significantly increases your odds of success as you’ll:
- Raise 30 percent more money,
- Have almost 3X the user growth, and
- Are 19 percent less likely to scale prematurely.
82 percent of businesses that fail do so because of cash flow problems
27 percent of businesses surveyed by the NSBA claimed that they weren’t able to receive the funding they needed.

FASTEST GROWING SMALL BUSINESS INDUSTRIES

The industries with the top number of small business startups in 2018 were:

Business services: 11 percent;
Food/Restaurant: 11 percent;
Health/Beauty/Fitness: 10 percent;
General retail: 7 percent;
Home services: 6 percent.

INDUSTRIES WITH THE BEST STARTUP STATISTICS

The 10 most profitable small business industries by net profit margin (NPM) are:

Accounting, Tax preparation, Bookkeeping, and Payroll Services: 18.4 percent NPM
Lessors of Real Estate: 17.9 percent NPM
Legal Services: 17.4 percent NPM
Management of Companies and Enterprises: 16 percent NPM
Activities Related to Real Estate: 14.9 percent NPM
Offices of Dentists: 14.8 percent NPM
Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers: 14.3 percent NPM
Nonmetallic Mineral Mining and Quarrying: 13.2% NPM
Offices of Other Health Practitioners: 13 percent NPM
Medical and Diagnostic Laboratories: 12.1 percent NPM

INDUSTRIES WITH THE WORST STARTUP STATISTICS

The 10 least profitable industries in the US by net profit margin (NPM) are:

Oil and Gas Extraction: -6.9 percent NPM
Software Publishers: -5.1 percent NPM
Beverage Manufacturing: -3.7 percent NPM
Semiconductor and Other Electronic Component Manufacturing: -0.3 percent NPM
Forging and Stamping: 0.4 percent NPM
Farm Product Raw Material Merchant Wholesalers: 0.9 percent NPM
Beer, Wine, and Distilled Alcoholic Beverage Merchant Wholesalers: 2.1 percent NPM
Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers: 2.8 percent NPM
Grocery Stores: 2.2 percent NPM
Bakeries and Tortilla Manufacturing: 2.3 percent NPM

Bottom Line

So, if you want to start your own business, don’t let the startup statistics above put you off. After all, you’re more likely to succeed if you’ve failed than if you’ve never tried:

Consider, founders of a previously successful business have a 30 percent chance of success with their next venture, founders who have failed at a prior business have a 20 percent chance of succeeding versus an 18 percent chance of success for first-time entrepreneurs.

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Technology

Why is Digital Marketing so Important for Business in 2019? [Infographic]

By Editorial Team on

April 17, 2019

- Technology

By now, you no doubt understand that digital marketing, in its various forms, should be a key part of any modern business approach. I mean, you probably wouldn’t be on this site right now if you didn’t.

But are you aware of the various ways in which digital marketing can benefit your company, and how consumers now rely on social media, SEO and other tools to make their product discoveries and purchase decisions?

That’s the focus of this new infographic from Point Blank Digital, which lays out 100 different data points that underline the importance of utilizing digital marketing elements in your promotions.

There’s a heap to take in – if you were looking for some key insights to get a better understanding of why each element is important, or you need some stats to back up your business plan, this infographic may help.

Infographic provide an overview of key digital marketing stats

Education, Technology

11 Effective Dental Patient Marketing Methods Your Practice Should Use

By Editorial Team on

April 6, 2019

- Education, Technology

All dental practices understand the importance of dental patient marketing. It brings in new patients, and it can even help to strengthen ties with existing patients. Marketing is essential if you want your practice to thrive.

It’s easy to know that you should market your dental practice. It’s much more difficult, however, to know exactly how to do that.

There’s no one right answer to this, and there’s a large number of different strategies you can use. For most practices, using a combination of several different dental marketing methods will yield the best results.

Not sure where to start? Let’s take a look at 11 of the most effective dental patient marketing strategies you can use to market your dental practice.

1. Get Involved with the Community

It goes without saying that if your practice is in Ohio, you won’t really be treating patients in Kentucky. Dental practices, by their nature, are local businesses, and they rely heavily on the local community to provide patients.

Get involved with your community. This can include anything from attending festivals or sponsoring a little league team, both of which allow you the opportunity to build relationships in person.

You can even teach a class on dental hygiene at an elementary school, or share your knowledge at the local University. This lays an excellent foundation for how the community will view you, and it gives you a chance to engage in some word-of-mouth and direct marketing.

2. Build a Community on Social Media

Social media gives your practice another excellent way to reach out to potential patients and build or strengthen relationships. This goes for existing patients, too.

Now, when someone follows you on social media, they won’t only be hearing from you once every six months—they’ll have a constant source of communication with you year-round.

Facebook is an excellent platform that dental practices can use to build online communities of their patients.

In addition to staying in touch and generating conversation, you can also provide updates and information (including contact information) and you can collect reviews from existing patients. This can provide new patients with more potential touchpoints, and a better immediate first impression whenever they find you.

3. Focus on Local SEO

Search engine optimization for all essential dental terms can help your business, but local keywords will be what really brings you new clients. Who cares, after all, if a patient in New York City finds your site if you’re based on Arizona?

No one. That’s who.

Local SEO is the way to go for dental patient marketing. This means that you’ll want to rank for terms like “Chicago dentist” instead of just “dentist,” or “best Chicago orthodontist.”

Not only will this help you find your target audience who is Googling for exactly these terms, it will also give you an edge in voice search, where users ask Siri or Alexa to help them find a local dentist “near me.”

4. Create a Strong, Well-Designed Site

There’s about a 70% chance that a potential patient’s first interaction with you will be on your site, so it must make a good first impression. Your site needs to look professional, be well-organized for easy navigation, and be thorough in the information it offers visitors.

Not sure exactly what that looks like or how you can stand apart? Check out our full post on dental patient marketing websites here.

5. Use Content Marketing to Offer Value

Content marketing is the practice of using content like blog posts or ebooks to bring visitors to your site, build relationships with them, and eventually convert them into patients.

On-site content marketing in the form of a blog or FAQ gives you an opportunity to regularly add new content (and keywords) to your site, increasing your overall ranking and sending more traffic to your site.

You can read our full guide on content marketing for dental practices here.

6. Run AdWords Campaigns

Google AdWords is a strong pay-per-click platform that allows you to have your ad displayed to users who are searching for certain keywords.

If they’re looking for “Orlando dentist,” your ad for your Orlando practice could pop right up.

When using AdWords campaigns, you’ll definitely want to be targeting location-based keywords in order to increase the relevance of your ad placements. Use your descriptions and headlines to highlight unique offers, or other features of your practice that set you apart.

7. Postcards & Mailed Offers

A dentist office has a big advantage over plenty of other businesses; they know that their audience will be local. Because of this, if you send out post cards or mailed offers to people within a set radius of your office, you know that you’re guaranteed to hit your target audience.

Everyone needs good dental care, after all.

In addition to sending out rounds of postcards every so often to attract new patients, you have a few additional strategies you could use to target specific high-value potential patients. This includes:

Sending brochures about upscale cosmetic procedures to high-income neighborhoods, where the homeowners are more likely to be able to afford them
Including a flyer with a discount in the welcome packet that’s given to new homeowners after they change their address. If they’ve just moved to the area, after all, they don’t have a dentist yet

8. Appointment Reminders

Growing your practice isn’t just about attracting new patients. Maintaining relationships with your existing patients matters just as much.

Sending them appointment reminders—or reminders to schedule their appointment—is a great re-engagement method and a sure-fire way to make sure they’re getting the care they need.

Appointment reminders can come in the form of:

Emails
Texts
Phone calls (this may be the least preferred method)
Post cards (there’s always the risk these get lost or delayed in the mail)

Many practices use a combination of a physical reminder, like a postcard, with a digital reminder like an email or text.

9. Newsletters

Newsletters are a bit like content marketing, only the blog post is delivered right to your patients’ inboxes. It’s about reaching out to them instead of hoping they come to find you. Newsletters should contain snippets of valuable information that your audience will want to see.

After all, if they don’t, you’ll go the way of the unsubscribe button before you know it.

When sending newsletters, it’s a good idea to ask patients to opt-in and to send it infrequently enough that no one will send you to spam. Again, if you make this valuable, people will be happy to see it in their inbox.

10. Remarketing Campaigns

Remarketing is the practice of reaching out to users you already have an existing relationship with and trying to get them to take a specific action. You can use remarketing to get users to book their six month check-up, or to connect with potential patients who checked out your site but didn’t convert.

Facebook Ads is one of the best platforms for remarketing, giving you the option to retarget based on specific activity on your site or by uploading custom audiences.

You can even use remarketing to promote new products or cosmetic procedures to existing customers, like if you add Invisalign to your line-up or have a new, safer tooth whitening procedure.

11. Diversify Your Keywords

Keyword research is obviously essential if you want your site to stand a chance to rank well in the search engines. And while you should absolutely be shooting for the basics like “Washington dentist,” you should also think outside the box, too. Diversify your keywords.

Taking emergency keywords into consideration, for example, is an excellent strategy. “Emergency wisdom tooth removal,” and “emergency broken tooth” are great examples. You could even try to rank for “dentist open on weekends.”

Note that any emergency service has a higher likelihood of being searched through voice search, and adjust the keyword accordingly.

Dental Patient Marketing

There are a lot of different ways to do dental patient marketing and these eleven are all effective. Your best bet will always be to check out what your competition is doing, and to see what you can offer that’s unique and different.

Put your knowledge of your patients first, and use that information to connect with them on the platforms they’re on, target keywords you think they’d be searching for, and attend events you think they’d be.

Use a combination of different strategies that work best for your practice and the patients you want to attract, and you’ll start seeing an increase in appointments before you know it.

Trust us Your dental marketing. We know how to rock it. Let`s talk NOW!

Technology

Top Brands Share Their Instagram Strategy Secrets

By Editorial Team on

March 29, 2019

- Technology

While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to effective Instagram strategy, there are some tips and tactics you can learn from social media experts who manage large, high-visibility Instagram accounts.

We reached out to 10 different digital strategists and social media managers at brands like Random House, Lexus, and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams to find out what strategy secrets they’ve seen be most effective. With this insight, we’ve created an ebook where you’ll find new tactics and tips that make your Instagram efforts even more powerful. Here’s a preview of what you will find in this ebook.

1. Focus on Consistency & Listening

Insight from Sophie Vershbow, Senior Social Media Manager for Random House Publishing Group (@RandomHouse)

Random House Instagram Strategy: The Instagram strategy for this well-established publishing house is all about maintaining a reputation of reliability and consistency. How do they do that? They use a flexible editorial calendar to plan and execute Instagram content that drives engagement for the brand.

Types of content: Brand photography, video, user-generated photo content

Image source

Their secrets to success:

Going into every month with a skeleton of post dates and ideas
Using topical content to capture the interest of the audience
Allowing room for flexibility to capitalize on timely content
Monitoring weekly stats to see which content performs best and then integrating that into future strategy

2. Get Good at Creating Low-Cost Video Content

Insight from Diane Le, Director of Digital for The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (@thecoffeebean)

image: https://cdn.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Social-media-expert-series.png

The Coffee Bean’s most effective Instagram strategy: For this coffee shop chain, an Instagram strategy that leverages video helps boost engagement, as the platform rewards video content by giving it more organic reach.

Bonus: When they do promote video content, they often see it reduces their cost per engagement in comparison to static photos.

Types of content: Videos, brand photography/illustrations, user-generated content, boomerangs

Image source

Their secrets to success:

Creating low-cost video content from a single image: Take a single image, add different variations of text on top, save each one as an image, and then turn the images into a GIF
Boosting engagement by asking questions in the post text
Promoting video content that has already demonstrated organic effectiveness

Thanks for the article https://www.business2community.com/instagram/top-brands-share-their-instagram-strategy-secrets-02183210

Technology

LinkedIn Announces New Data Partnership with Adobe to Improve Ad Targeting

By Editorial Team on

March 27, 2019

- Technology

LinkedIn continues to expand its audience targeting capability, this time through a new partnership with Adobe which will expand LinkedIn’s account-based marketing capabilities to Adobe Experience Cloud users.

As explained by Adobe:

“Adobe and Microsoft are aligning key data sources to populate account-based profiles in Adobe Experience Cloud, including Marketo Engage and Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales. This will empower B2B marketers and sellers to easily identify, understand and engage B2B customer buying teams.”

The deal will essentially enable marketing and sales teams to utilize data from LinkedIn, Marketo Engage and Microsoft Dynamics 365 to gain greater insight into the audiences they need to reach, and target them more effectively. So say, for example, an Adobe customer is selling office supplies – they’ll now be able to utilize LinkedIn’s audience data and ad targeting tools to show ads to the specific decision-makers, based on job roles, locations, etc., to more effectively market their offerings.

The main target for this new partnership appears to be Salesforce, which provides similar targeting and reach capacity, though without the full, in-depth professional and career dataset of LinkedIn. As you may recall, back in 2016, when Microsoft’s pending takeover of LinkedIn was first announced, Salesforce voiced its opposition to the merger, noting that:

“Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of LinkedIn threatens the future of innovation and competition. By gaining ownership of LinkedIn’s unique dataset of over 450 million professionals in more than 200 countries, Microsoft will be able to deny competitors access to that data, and in doing so obtain an unfair competitive advantage.”

This new deal, partnering Adobe’s back-end tools with LinkedIn’s insights, will definitely broaden their combined offering – and with LinkedIn now serving more than 610 million members, and seeing ‘record levels‘ of engagement, that data resource is growing every day.

As noted, this is the latest in LinkedIn’s efforts to make better use of its professional dataset, and expand its advertising potential. The platform also recently launched lookalike audiences and new integration with search data from Microsoft Bing, further building on its targeting capacity.

Each of these moves has significant implications for advertisers, making LinkedIn a more powerful tool for reaching the right people.

Thanks For the news : https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/linkedin-announces-new-data-partnership-with-adobe-to-improve-ad-targeting/551353/

Technology

Top Software Development Trends in 2019

By Editorial Team on

March 26, 2019

- Technology

What are the Top Software Development Trends in 2019? This is a common query among businesses & developers alike. Let’s find some of the best software trends for 2019:

Trends change in every arena from fashion to education every day. Similar is the case of software development trends. In fact, in the era of digitalization, software development is one of those fields which is changing at an extremely fast pace.

Every year brings some brand new surprises for software developers. 2018 was the year of complete acceleration for the software development companies worldwide. From blockchain to Artificial intelligence, software technologies have remained a hot topic throughout the year.

According to a report by Gartner in 2018, the IT industry has seen dramatic growth. It has also forecast growth of 8.3 % in 2019. Below is an image of exact figures from the published report:

The reason behind the growth of every industry majorly depends on the innovations introduced in that field. No static industry can see such remarkable results and this is the hard work of full-stack developers that we can view some awesome changing trends in this industry.

Every year restyling and enhancements in software product development technologies are creating new trends. New technologies from PWAs to blockchain are getting a larger market constantly.

According to a report by Statista, global blockchain technology worldwide is predicted to increase dramatically from the year 2016 to 2021. Undoubtedly, it has become a hot topic in the tech world from the past few years. Here is the statical representation of the same report:

Also Read: HOW TO START AN IT COMPANY

Here are some software development trends in 2019 that need your attention. So let’s start the trends:

Software Trend 1: Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is not much complicated to understand for a layman. In fact, every person has some idea about this technology. It involves developing software that thinks intelligently in the same manner as a human.

Today companies providing machine learning services and solutions are on a boom and more-and-more businesses are shifting towards AI as a necessity. It helps to improvise the tasks and increasing the business in the software market. It has reached the fields like healthcare, education, banking as well which has widened the scope of constant experiments by web app developers.

Software Trend 2: Blockchain

Blockchain has gained its popularity with Bitcoin. But, now it is widely used in banking & finance, media & publishing, and healthcare software development services.

We have already discussed the current scenario and predictions of the highlighted technology in the contemporary world. Blockchain technology relates to simplifying banking transactions like transferring money by creating a single ledger for different parties.

All these services need blockchain software which is why a large number of blockchain developers would be needed to serve in this sector.

The advantageous and growing opportunities in this arena have made more companies to extend their arms in blockchain development services.

Software trend 3: Low Code Development

If you dare to think of web & software development as an approach similar to building lego blocks, what you’ll get would be something known as low-code development.

In a world where standards, policies, regulations, and procedure keep getting updated from time to time, standard coding practices make the process of adapting slow and gruesome for companies and IT developers alike.

Low-code development is a panacea for all these problems, and in the absence of complex codes which require expertise- it can help clients understand their project in better ways, and perhaps enable them to perform customizations on their own.

Low-code development is a huge boon for enterprise software development, and at the same time is a crucial aid for companies seeking digital transformation. But before you decide to jump on the bandwagon, it must be known that even in 2019- such a practice would only benefit normal business use cases. In scenarios where businesses require complex and structured solutions, a low-code development practice simply wouldn’t work.

Software Trend 4: Code Quality

As technology is flourishing, it is essential to focus on the quality of your codes and language trends also. The need for the year 2019 is to have a special eye on the development approach as well.

As discussed earlier, low code development is also on a rising trend in the software industry. This means that even non-technical employees can be hired to program software by information technology companies.

Every software or web development company must have clear development approaches and structures to provide coding to their software. The task type should decide the coding quality and structure solely for the best outcomes.

Software Trend 5: Language Trends

Most of the full stack developers are using Javascript to program the software. The popularity of this language is due to its great adaptivity for hybrid applications as well.

It is essentially vital to choose the correct language to avoid any kind of repercussions in the later stage. There are various surveys that let us know about the popularity of different languages.

In the stack overflow survey of commonly used libraries, frameworks & programming languages, Node.js scored 49.9% and Angular scored 39.6%. Some other popular libraries, frameworks & languages are React, .NET core, spring etc. Here is the graphical representation of their findings:

This data clearly shows the most used and popular languages which are in trend this year in software developing industries. You can utilize this information to finalize your year plan in custom software development.

Software Trend 6: Progressive web applications

These applications are different from regular mobile apps. You can understand it as a hybrid of web applications and mobile applications. They work on a script called service worker and it is their integral part.

They are faster to load and provides some amazing features like push notifications. PWAs are easy to develop and maintain that’s why many mobile app development companies have focused on them in recent years.

Software Trend 7: Cybersecurity:

Security is an issue in every parameter of human life and this issue spreads its presence in all sizes of business as well. Data and software loss threats have become a major part to look out by custom software developers.

The image below shows the data that has been lost or stolen industry wise in 2017 by a report published by Wipro in 2018.

This report is evidence that almost every industry is facing cybersecurity issues and they all look upon the software industry for support which makes it a trendy service requirement in the IT sector.

Software Trend 8: Outsourcing

Global outsourcing market is rising every year and has tremendous trends. A survey by Statista shows the global market size of outsourcing services. A graphical representation of the same survey is given below:

This gives a clear picture that the outsourcing market is on a rising spree worldwide. IT industry also has many outsourcing projects as business owners prefer outsourcing developers rather than hiring in-house developers.

Industries in all almost every arena in the age of digitalization have a high demand for full stack developers to look into their software needs. From elearning software development to financial software development, software requirements are rising with every passing year.

Software Trend 9: IoT

IoT app development is the latest advancement in software development which has its effects spread at both the consumer and industrial scale. The technology that essentially binds that all technologies together is set to witness an exponential demand across the domains of safety and customer experience.

As per PWC estimates, over 90% automobiles will be IoT enabled by the year 2020. Such a degree of connectivity and control is expected to deliver incremental efficiency in fields of transportation, logistics and supply chains.

CISCO’s former researcher David Evans’s calculations give an idea about the reach of IoT over time- Over 127 new devices are connected to the internet every second! This adds up to the evergrowing number of IoT devices globally- over 23.14 billion devices as of 2018, with the number expected to rise up to 26.66 billion by the end of 2019.

Software Trend 10: The Mixed Reality

Mixed Reality worldwide Market size in 2017, 2018 and 2025. Source: Statista

The twin technologies of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), combine to form what we call the mixed reality. One of these twins- AR has witnessed an incredible amount of growth over the years thanks to its integration on smartphone apps. Undoubtedly, the reason why AR and hiring AR developers is so popular, and why companies are scrambling to have an AR application is primarily because of smartphones. AR apps don’t generally require hardware with high specifications as compared to its twin technology: VR.

Many say that the demand for VR has saturated since its explosion in 2016 and that its scope doesn’t extend beyond entertainment and gaming. However, it’s effective utilization by the US Army and Walmart, among others doesn’t seem to indicate so.

Amongst the crowd that seems to have lost confidence in VR app developers, some have been able to find the best uses for this technology. While Walmart plans to use VR in 2019 to train its employees in customer service and compliance, the US Army is already using Microsoft’s HoloLens’s mixed reality tech for military training purposes.

Final words:

These trends very clearly give an idea about the constant research and development that is taking place in this industry. The software development is working at a full and same pace all over the world. The one thing that every developer must keep in mind is that change is vital and inevitable. Every software development or software consulting company must focus on the evolution of the industry and follow the same trend to become a leader.

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Education, Technology

How to Start an IT Company

By Editorial Team on

March 21, 2019

- Education, Technology

If you enjoy the fast-paced world of technology, then starting a tech company may be a great fit. Setting up an information technology company and running it is sure to keep you on your toes.

“The IT world is an ever-changing industry, so every day is exciting,” said Greg Davis, president of South Coast Computers, a full-service external IT firm founded in 1988.

An IT business can also mean making a very nice income, Davis added.

“IT is one of the few businesses where you can be profitable very quickly, and you can continue to make very good money,” he said.

Even better, a tech company is a good way to start a startup with no money.

“You don’t need a lot of startup funds to open an IT business,” Davis said. “It’s possible to open with very little working capital and grow organically. I’d actually advise this so that you don’t become overextended.”

at you don’t become overextended.”

Steps for Setting up an IT Company

If you’ve decided that an IT business is right for you, you’ll want to determine what type of tech company you wish to open. In general, you need to decide if you’re going to offer generalized services or specialize. There are pros and cons to both choices.

Specialized IT Company

The opportunities abound when it comes to working in IT. Specialties include cybersecurity, cloud computing, business intelligence and analytics, application development, networking, data recovery, data center management and web design and development.

Pros of being specialized in the tech industry include being able to charge more per hour, Davis said.

“This can allow you to make a substantial amount of money,” he said. “When you specialize, you master one particular topic.”

Cons of specializing include experiencing more demanding clients.

“Customers will have higher expectations of your company when you specialize,” Davis said. “They expect you to be the best at what you do.”

Another drawback of specializing is the possibility of your specialty losing demand or even becoming obsolete. This will require you to retrain and pivot.

General IT Company

If you decide you’d like to provide IT service in several areas, then you’ll want to generalize. Doing so allows you to service a variety of clients.

Pros of providing generalized service include a wide client base. Just about every business and person requires computer assistance. You will also have the opportunity to learn a great deal about the IT business in general and keep up to date on changes in the industry.

Cons of running a generalized computer business include not being able to charge as much as if you were specialized. You also need to be a “jack-of-all-trades” and make sure you keep up with all of the latest technology, which can be time consuming.

Form an IT Business Team

While technology is the driver when setting up an IT company, your staff is your most critical asset.

“Ensure that you have the right team members in place to do the job you intend,” said Barry Newman, chief technology officer at DentalPlans.com. “It all comes down to whether your employees have the required expertise. You need to make sure to cover all of your bases so you can do a good job servicing clients.”

If you decide to specialize, it may help to start your business with a partner, added Pedram Amini, CTO of InQuest.net, a network security company focused on cyber resilience.

“A partnership allows you to divide and conquer and can result in double the success,” he said.

Choose a Company Name

Pick a company name that completely describes what you do.

“While you want the company name to have a nice ring to it, you also want it to be self-explanatory,” Davis said. “Make the name simple and straightforward and searchable, which is critical in today’s digital landscape.”

Form a Legal Business Entity

Before starting a tech company, decide on the type of business structure you need. Although you can change later on, doing so can be difficult. Here are the four main types of business entities from which to choose.

Sole proprietorship: Unless you will be working alone or just with a spouse, this type of business structure isn’t ideal for many IT companies. If you intend to keep the business small, however, a sole proprietorship can work. It is easy to set up and maintain, and you may pay fewer taxes than with other business entities.
General partnership: If you’ll be working with one or more partners, you need to set up a partnership. With your partners, you will share in all of the profits and losses. You also share responsibilities. For such a structure, you must file an annual company tax return and each pay your own income taxes separately.
Limited Liability Corporation (LLC): An LLC can include one or more owners. This type of business structure requires that members decide if they wish to be taxed as a partnership, corporation or sole proprietorship.
C Corporation: If you plan to grow your business and go public at some point, a C corporation is the ideal choice, but these business entities are the most complicated. You need to follow certain rules when you have this type of business structure, though all owners are protected from personal liability if the company goes bankrupt.

Determine Marketing

Deciding how you’ll market your business is important before setting up an IT company.

“A good option for getting the word out about your IT company is to contact your local Chamber of Commerce and go to any events they have,” Davis said. “Another potentially helpful choice is to join lead-oriented networking groups.”

Aligning your company with other businesses is another good practice, he added: “For instance, if you’re a general IT company, you might want to develop a relationship with companies that specialize – such as in cloud computing and data recovery.”

Obtain Necessary Certifications

It’s vital that your company is certified in the industry or industries in which you are working. For example, if you’re in cybersecurity, there are corresponding certificates you will need. The same goes for cabling.

If your IT company is generalized, you will likely require several certifications. Generally, it’s required that you become certified in products you sell and install. While you can get certified once you open your business, it’s a good idea to get certified as quickly as possible. You wouldn’t want to miss out on a job because you aren’t certified.

Purchase Required Insurance Coverage

In this day and age, it’s important to have the necessary insurance coverage.

“My employees aren’t able to even step through the front door of a company until they show proof of general liability and workers’ compensation insurance,” Davis said.

Even if a company doesn’t require proof, the right insurance still protects you and your business. Other types of coverage you may need include commercial property, auto, cyber/data breach and business interruption insurance. Also, require any subcontractors you use to be properly insured.

Develop Systems

Start your company on solid footing by developing systems from the beginning. Use accounting software to record all of your sales and expenses. Employ time-tracking software to ensure that you record all billable hours, and a good invoicing system to make sure you get paid for all hours worked. This will help you stay profitable.

Also make sure to store sensitive data, such as customer and proprietary information, in a secure digital location.

Thanks for the article https://smallbusiness.chron.com/start-company-43143.html

Technology

Why Office Automation Is So Important

By Editorial Team on

March 1, 2019

- Technology

A large part of a company’s success depends on day-to-day processes that are easy to overlook. Office automation (the digitizing of clerical functions such as printing, photocopying, and data storage) is a system that’s invisible when everything’s running smoothly. It proves its necessity, however, when something goes wrong, and business is thrown to a screeching halt.

What makes automation such an integral part of doing business, that firms like JJ Bender can carve a brand out of the need for pre-owned automation equipment? Office automation provides four key advantages over manual systems: efficiency, productivity, consistency, and economy.

Efficiency

Whether a company is situated within a fast or slow-moving industry, automation allows for the quick and seamless execution of various tasks. Printing is an obvious example, with the constant demand for new or used printers, photocopy machines, and other types of office machinery.

But functions such as secretarial work can also be automated thanks to the growing popularity of freelancers, virtual assistants and shared calendars–to name just a few of the innovations coming out of the tech industry in the last decade. These products of the information age allow the modern office to ensure that routines are followed to the tee, and to speed up their workflow to make the most out of the 9-to-5.

Productivity

Quick business processes are one thing, but the high output is another gem entirely, and one the modern office owes to automation. Because machines can perform repetitive tasks at high speeds without the burden of fatigue, an office can produce more of the factors that go into their workday: marketing letters, memos, brochures, and the like.

Since information organization plays a large part in optimizing an office, the human end of the work process also receives a significant boost, as employees can focus on increasing their creative output and reaching more clients and consumers, no longer having to start from scratch when organizing their schedules, mail, and address books.

Consistency

While the human touch is necessary for designing marketing paraphernalia, writing documents, and building systems, human execution can yield inconsistent results and the certain risk of errors.

Automation comes with the guarantee of consistency, meaning that overlooked updates and reminders are virtually a thing of the past and that an increasing number of office functions can yield an output of similar quality.

Economy

The most noteworthy benefit of office automation is also the most strongly-felt: modern offices minimize costs after streamlining their processes through automation. There are many reasons for this, but the most intuitive is the ability to keep corporate structure efficient by reducing the number of redundant positions. Automation allows companies to keep their staff populated by the best and brightest, trained to make the most out of the technology at hand and avoid reliance on assistants.

The cost of office automation varies, but the right setup can save you a fortune in salary and business lost to human error.

All told, office automation is responsible for considerable strides in corporate success. Like any great technological revolution, companies that learn to ride the wave have received and will continue to gain, a significant edge over their competition.

Thanks for the article https://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/freelancing/business-automation\

Technology

LinkedIn Marketing Priorities in 2019 [Infographic]

By Editorial Team on

February 28, 2019

- Technology

Are you planning to make LinkedIn a focus of your digital marketing efforts in 2019?

For those that are looking to get more out of the professional social network, it can be helpful to know what others are doing on the platform, and what they’re looking to achieve with LinkedIn’s tools. That’s the focus of this new infographic from LinkedIn – the platform recently surveyed its members to get more insight into expectations, priorities and more, related to platform use.

There are some interesting insights here. The questions are obviously LinkedIn-specific, but it’s worth noting the most popular topics (the platform’s ‘Matched Audiences‘, which combines your data with on-platform insights, is a key focus) and what other marketers are using LinkedIn for.

You can read LinkedIn’s full report here, or check out the graphic below.

Thanks for The Article https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/linkedin-marketing-priorities-in-2019-infographic/548935/

Technology

5 Secrets of Super Successful Video Marketing

By Editorial Team on

February 21, 2019

- Technology

Is it viral yet? Is it viral yet?

While going viral should never be the objective of your video marketing campaign (never ever!), the term itself has seemed to have taken off this year, exploded even…

Marketers, we’ve been hearing lots of stats like these: by 2017 video marketing will account for 69% of all consumer traffic, mobile video ads will grow 5 times faster than desktop and landing pages with videos lead to 800% more conversion.

Eek…Well, if that’s the case then you best get to grips with the best practices for ensuring your video marketing campaigns smash your objectives and propel your social media forward. Below we reveal some of our favorite tips to help you create compelling, inspiring and actionable online videos.

1. Center Your Video Around the Story, Not The Sale

There is a heap of sales clutter on the Internet that is actively annoying and repelling your customers. Don’t let your brand be that guy – instead, your video should be centered around the story and not the sale. Remember: the same rules that apply for written content marketing apply for video marketing – concentrate on the value you’re providing for your customers.

Make the most of the emotive power of video by appealing to your consumers’ needs and hidden desires. Scared you’ll lose leads this way? You can always place a strategic and relevant call to action alongside a tracked URL at the end of your video (just make sure it fits into your overall story).

Take Warby Parker’s ‘How Glasses are Made’ video, a great example of storytelling it focuses on the origins of the brand, their ethos, culture, and people to showcase their eyewear.

2. Make your Video Feature the Best 10 Seconds Ever

One-fifth of your viewers will click away from a video within 10 seconds or less. Short and to the point – that’s what the video experts are recommending. Our advice? Get right to the grit of the tale and manage expectations from the outset (within the first 5 to 10 seconds).

Try sparking your audience’s curiosity by asking questions and using teasers to hook their attention right away.

Your video should immediately convey its value and answer that “why should I watch it?” question that will be on your audience’s mind. Should they watch it because it will make them laugh, because it will inspire them to act or because it will teach them something new?

3. Use Humour in Your Video. Stop Being So Boring!

According to Tim Washer, Social Media Manager at Cisco “Often in the corporate world, people get nervous about comedy and say it doesn’t belong here. But if it might help you get a point across efficiently and economically, why wouldn’t you try it and see if you can make it work?”

So what does your audience want instead? They want to laugh, they want to feel enlightened, they want to be pulled out of their boring 9 to 5’s and forget about their realities.

Done well, a brand can reap the rewards from using humor in their video content. Take Snickers as an example.

“Caption writing develops your ability “to get into what John Cleese calls the open mode, where you’re playful and having fun and relaxed and not worried,” Tim continues. “The more you can get into the open mode, the more often you’ll find yourself coming up with fresh ideas in all areas of your life.

The takeaway here is to not feel constrained by what’s gone before in your industry and don’t try to emulate your competitor’s stiff tone and yawnsome script. Stand out and take a chance on being funny.

4. Optimize Your Video for SEO – Tag it Up

There are plenty of tactics you can use to ensure your videos get found easier in search engines. The first thing you should do to derive the maximum SEO value from your video (before you upload your video to any sharing sites) is to host it on your own domain.

It’s also important to enable embedding on your video as this will help you increase the likelihood of receiving inbound marketing links. Oh and don’t forget to avail of video sitemaps – in this nifty document Google explains how to create a video sitemap with ease.

When it comes to video for SEO, descriptions are everything. Why? Well, descriptions allow Google’s search spiders to make sense of your video and understand what the content entails.

To ensure that your videos are tagged with relevant keywords and fully explained with fleshed out descriptions and unique titles. Keep this rule in mind: if it has a box, it has a purpose – Google needs you to fill it out to help you rank.

5. Educate your Customers with Video & Prove Yourself

Did you know that 65% of your audience are visual learners? One of the most powerful methods you can use for video marketing is to educate your audience. And the great thing is that education comes in many forms. For example, you can teach your customers how to use your product or service and provide useful tips on how to make the most of it. Or you can create a webinar to showcase your industry knowledge, position your brand as a thought leader, add value to your consumers’ lives and collect leads in the process.

Video can also provide social proof for your product or service. According to WebDam, customer testimonials have the highest effectiveness rating for content marketing at 89%. When creating video success stories focus on the story of your customer and the success he/she achieved from using your product/service. This nifty question template from Copyblogger will help you create awesome and human-focused video and written testimonials.

Take Upwork’s series of video that showcases their role in providing skilled talent to companies of all sizes on a global scale.

Thanks for the article https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/5-secrets-super-successful-video-marketing

Education, Technology

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Having A Virtual Office

By Editorial Team on

February 15, 2019

- Education, Technology

Virtual offices are fast becoming the go-to solution for startups and businesses looking to reduce their operating expenses and expand into other marketplaces.

While they may have their own pros, they also come with drawbacks. Some include reduced human interaction and message distortion.

Take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of virtual offices if you intend on setting up one.

Flexibility

With flexibility comes convenience. A virtual office offers flexibility since you can run your business from anywhere in the world. Whether you’re on the road, at the shop or at home, you can attend to all business needs instead of sitting at a physical office all day.

Thanks to technology, you can reach all your clients and they can reach you.

Professionalism

Clients know a fraud when they see one. This why you must be professional as possible in your business dealings. It doesn’t matter whether you work from your bedroom or kitchen table, your clients must never know that.

It’s understandable that you’re just starting out and staffing an entire office isn’t within your budget. This is where virtual offices come in. Instead of using your home’s address as your business address, it’s important to acquire a Virtual office address. This way you’ll attract more clients

Reduced Operating Risks

Starting a business is difficult. You spend a lot of money before you start getting a return on investment. For example, you must consider furnishing your office and covering the utilities.

A virtual office offers a solution which allows you to use your capital to fund other income generating activities instead of having your money tied-up in liabilities.

This reduces the risk involved in the business, thus allowing you to venture into wider markets and diversify your services. Furthermore, you can set up other virtual offices in new markets and grow your presence in these markets.

Save on Office Rent

This is the biggest advantage of having a virtual office. As a startup, you don’t have the amount of money needed to rent out office space and you want to grow organically instead of borrowing money to expand the business.

In addition to the rent, there’re other office-related expenses. They include furniture, utilities such as electricity and water. You must also consider the stationery needed not forgetting the office equipment such as computers, printers and telephones.

With a virtual office, you’ll save on office rent and still get a virtual office address to look professional.

Apart from saving money, you’ll also save on time spent commuting to the office every business day. For example, if you spend 2 hours commuting daily, it means you’ll spend a total of 10 hours every week. This is valuable time which you can spend on your business.

The Disadvantages

Reduced Physical Interaction

Some businesses require physical employee interactions every day to work. As such, a virtual office may not offer the best working environment because it doesn’t employees don’t report to a physical office. Instead, they work from wherever they deem fit.

Reduced Social Interaction

Virtual offices have limited physical contact. Therefore, employees don’t meet to interact. Some don’t see this a disadvantage, but extroverts may find this difficult. This group of people loves interactions which virtual offices lack.

Lack of Motivation and Distractions

Self-disciplined individuals look at this as an advantage. On the other hand, those with self-discipline challenges find this difficult since there’re numerous distractions and lacks the motivation to boost their morale to work.

Message Distortion

One on one talks are different from texts, social media, tele-conferencing and emails. For this reason, a message may be distorted by the other thus leading to poor communication and misrepresentation. One on one communication involves more than just talking.

Rather, there’re non-verbal signs crucial to a conversation which you can use to gauge the conversation’s direction.

If you’re starting a business, these insights about a virtual office will go a long way in helping you to make a decision. However, due to financial constraints, a virtual office may be the best solution to your startup at this point.

Thanks for the article https://ceoworld.biz/2019/01/24/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-having-a-virtual-office/

Technology

Could These Companies Be the Next Billion Dollar Unicorns?

By Editorial Team on

February 14, 2019

- Technology

Venture capitalist Aileen Lee, the founder of Cowboy Ventures and more recently a founding member of All Raise, in 2013 coined the term unicorn to describe companies that are valued at least $1 billion.

At the time, Lee identified 39 companies, including now usual suspects Instagram, YouTube, Hulu, Airbnb, Uber, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Lee dubbed Facebook a “super unicorn” because it was worth more than $100 billion in 2013.

In 2017, there were 71 new unicorns and in 2018 there were 112. As of the beginning of 2019, CB Insights found that 315 companies from across the world could claim membership to the club.

In the recent study, CB Insights noted that of the categories that had the most unicorns, internet software and services came out on top with 24 percent of unicorns, e-commerce second with 13 percent of unicorns and then fintech with 10 percent of unicorns.

Some of the businesses that are currently on the list include 23andMe, shoe manufacturer AllBirds, Buzzfeed, DoorDash, HR solutions platform Gusto, Squarespace and Warby Parker.

CB Insights conducted an analysis for The New York Times identifying which businesses on the rise are on track to a potentially $1 billion or more valuation.

So who’s next?

Millennial beauty brand Glossier, wedding planning platform Zola and Faire, which connects retailers and wholesale merchandise, were highlighted, as were businesses such as Checkr, a background check platform for startups, Benchling, which makes data management software geared to scientists, and Earnin, a company that aims to help employees track their earnings.

According to the analysis, the path to unicorn status is a global one, with CB Insights noting that five businesses in India, four in China and three in Latin America could achieve $1 billion valuations.

Thanks for the article https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/327836

Technology

The greatest way to visualize data for real estate company

By Editorial Team on

February 13, 2019

- Technology

Home ownership is everyone’s dream. We spend a lot of time finding the best property for us. Consequently, it is one of the crucial decisions of our lives.

Real estate clients have enormous needs for as many insights as possible. In other words, they want to acknowledge the surrounding, transportation, to compare it with other options, find out the nearest mall, kindergarten or school.

Real estate challenges

Real estate businesses are developing globally. Real estate industry, like other markets, faces a lot of real estate challenges. Interestingly, here are some of the substantial real estate challenges; to decrease the risk of buying a wrong property, to cut time of finding the right home, to develop a practical business approach, and to come to a buying decision easier. Most importantly, for investors, it’s important to make sure, that they invest in the right property, which represents the real value of its advertisement.

World leading real estate companies has already accepted the challenge of using new and innovative technologies, which is, in fact, the need of your customer in a contemporary market.

Most discussed tech challenges for real estate are A/B testing, machine learning, business intelligence (BI), and cloud computing. Big Data and analyses are changing all the imagination about real estate challenges.

What does big data mean for real estate data visualization?

Big data is a large volume of structured and unstructured data. Big data is usually collected from a large amount of information. The information often comes from the recent analysis.

The other interpretation of Big Data is Business Intelligence, which uses statistics to measure items and find out new trends.

Data visualization can help real estate companies track the actions, assess risks, optimize the process, analyze, and get the visualization of GEO analytics.

Why visualize real estate data?

Visualized Data has a lot of benefits for real estates. Real estate data analyzing is an essential factor when buying or renting the most desired property.

BI helps us get visualized context which is more straightforward for an eye for obtaining the information. It shows infographics, charts, pies, as well as maps.

This is a de facto standard for modern business intelligence (BI)

It Cuts Your time

WIth data, you reduce your agents and brokers time, and the money You need to pay them for finding the best home for customers. Sometimes the process takes a long time. For example, the price for a car to accompany your home buyers for the first view. You can have all AI data of the view from the house, the malls, the kindergartens. With data visualization, the buyers will get all the answers regarding the property. If a buyer doesn’t have any interest in it, you will not visit the house. If you’re a realtor, you’ll evaluate, that this is a time-consuming process, and cutting down this, undoubtedly, is beneficial. You will make sure that you don’t wast your time for the wrong options.

Personalized experience

Losing one real estate buyer will cost too much for your company than paying a company to create Mapbox for You. If you don’t give personalized experience, there is a lot of chances to lose the potential client.

Now it’s easy for you to create software that can help your customers reveal their expectations and housing aspirations, as well as to uncover the types of ideal buyers. As a result, this will help you improve your targeted marketing.

It makes Your realtors’ life easier

Does the house have a garden? Whats the facade like? Is it close to a bus station or a subway? We know how it feels, and sometimes you are becoming tired of these questions. It’s better to show the property than to speak about something intangible. Your customers and brokers will appreciate your care.

Be an innovative real estate agency

In the contemporary market place, businesses are dying without taking the chance to innovate their approach. Real estate numbers are increasingly growing, and the ones who are innovative will survive, unlike the others who are doing dinosaur marketing.

It reduces financial risks

Data visualization helps real estates to track investment details. For example, it’s easy to find out whether the home repaired recently or not, to uncover the status of loans and investment.

FIlters and comparisons

Sometimes it’s hard for customers to remember all the aspects of the home they have seen. Their lousy experience of recognizing the ideal house for them will turn into disappointment. Data visualization will help you always compare each aspect and find the best set of variables for the client. For example, if John wants to buy a house he can view the prices of properties which are located on street X, he can compare it with the features in Y location. He can see the pros and cons of these houses. Also, the homes in X location are cheaper, but they are way more far from the station, consequently, but this one has a beautiful balcony in comparison with the houses of Y location.

The importance of data visualization tools?

Digital Map market revenue is projected to grow in a short period. The reason for this is that smartphones, and other mobile devices or navigation tools have their specific role in each aspect of our life.

Data visualization tools are essential for getting analyses, data-driven insights for the workers through organizations. Data visualization software also plays a vital role in big data and advanced analytics projects.

Visualization software is based on customers behavior and needs. It helps them find their desired home. They can discover how many bedrooms it has, what the neighborhood looks like, does it feel like their home?

What is the best data visualization technology?

The most common Data Visualization software which is excellent for maps is the combination of Mapbox and Deck.gl.

What is Mapbox

Mapbox is a solid provider of the best online maps for websites and applications. First of all, It helps developers to create smooth, fast, on the other hand, its a real-time map. It includes more than 130 multi validated sources for a world map. Map APIs get 5 billion requests per day. A dozen templates are available for you to choose.

What is Deck.gl

This is a data visualization tool. Many web applications, like Uber, are based on it. Above all, Deck.gl is created with React JavaScript library.

The article is written by Gayaene Melkumyan

Technology

Long-Tail SEO: How to Reach Page One of Google Through Content

By Editorial Team on

February 12, 2019

- Technology

A small business can’t possibly compete online with the Kogan’s of this world, right?

Wrong – so long as you pick your battles.

Armed with keyword search tools and your own, shrewd judgment, you can stake out your own small, lucrative territory in the Googleverse by optimizing for ‘long-tail’ SEO.

And an effective way to do this is by producing high-quality content that answers the questions Google users are asking – whether that’s articles, videos, infographics and so on.

So what are ‘long-tail’ terms?

Usually, one or two words long with huge monthly search volumes, ‘head’ keywords tend to be dominated by the biggest companies. Long-tail keywords, which often involve more words with lower search volumes, represent a more realistic route onto page one of Google search results for small businesses.

So while yes, retail powerhouse The Iconic is number one for ‘buy clothes’, the rather less famous Rusty Zipper tops search results for ‘buy 1970s retro fashion’.

There should be three parts to your SEO strategy, with the final part informing the first step in the next cycle.

1. Planning

First, you need to decide which long-tail terms to target.

You can’t do everything so you need to target, say, 10-20 keywords with a reasonable balance between monthly search volume (the higher the better) and competition (lower the better). The lower your domain authority, the harder it is to compete, and the more this balance should tip towards less competitive terms with lower search volumes. Google AdWords still has the definitive keyword tool – no surprise given Google is privy to all data driving its search results. Enter the most obvious term for your product or service to generate a list of alternatives. AnswerthePublic is another free tool that generates related questions to your keyword – the hows, whys, whats, and when (e.g. for books: ‘Why books are better than movies’ or ‘which books should I read’).

Enter any promising questions into Google Keywords to see how they score. Question-based keyword phrases are becoming more important with the rise of Siri: people speak in sentences but typed searches tend to be 1-3 words long.

Other useful keyword tools include:

* Google Suggest

* SEMrush

* Moz Pro

* Keyword Tool

* SpyFu

* UberSuggest

* Google Trends

Once you have a shortlist of promising terms, it’s time to find flaws in the competition.

Open an incognito browser (it’s called InPrivate if you’re using Internet Explorer and not Google Chrome) – because its searches are unprejudiced by previous search activity – and click on the top five pieces of content in the search results, one by one.

When were they published? Google likes fresh content.

Though some publishers periodically update content, some content will obviously be out of date.

What is their domain authority? (Check this with the free moz.com toolbar) Is it badly written with long sentences? Does the page take a long time to load? (You can get specific load results with Google’s free PageSpeed tools)

User experience becomes more important with each Google algorithmic update. If you can produce something that beats the top five on all these points you can be confident of eventually reaching the top five search results – which account for more than two-thirds of all clicks.

2. Execute

As well as creating new articles you can refresh promising archive pages. Use Google or Adobe Analytics to find out which historic articles get the most traffic.

Updating them with the latest information or optimizing their keywords and otherSEO components is a much quicker way to boost traffic than writing fresh content.

Build a hub page – a definitive guide to the topic – for your long-tail term. Then link to and from subsequent articles on this topic. HubSpot does this brilliantly with, ironically, the term ‘SEO’. Think of the hub page as the hub on a bike wheel and the spokes as related articles.

Subheaders should answer the reader’s main questions on this subject but still include the focus keyword. So subheaders for a hub page on 1970s prog rock could be: ‘a history of prog rock’, ‘prog rock bands’, ‘decline of prog rock’ and so on. AnswerthePublic is a useful tool here.

And periodically update your hub page – as we said before, Google likes up-to-date content. ‘Evergreen’ content, which means it remains relevant and up to date for longer, is easier to maintain (e.g., ‘1970s fashions’ is highly evergreen; ‘popular smartphones’ would need frequent updates).

Some tips for on-page SEO:

* Is your headline interesting? Does it offer an unexpected solution (‘How to look good on a budget’)? Is it provocative? (‘Why it’s time to ditch give up on diets’)

* Focus keyword: ideally at beginning of headline and URL slug – although this is becoming less important as Google becomes more sensitive to linguistic nuance

* Meta description appears under the headline in Google search results. Its purpose is to entice people to click rather than determining Google rank

* Image file name and image alt text: prosaic, descriptive (so a picture of Nike Gazelle trainers? Simply: ‘Nike Gazelle trainers’)

* Include periodic contextual links – to relevant articles on your site but also externally. Ask yourself: is this link helping the user find the information they need?

* Link to the most authoritative related page on your site (see hub posts above)

* Use bullets and subheads (like we are here!)

* Short sentences and paragraphs. Don’t be too hung up on this. Google probably ascertains the average sentence length. If it’s good, clean copy for a print magazine it’s probably good, clean copy for Google too

* Word count: 400 minimum is a good rule of thumb

* Use images, tweets, gifs, videos and so on for variety. Google increasingly analyses dwell time and bounce rates. Infogrames, Apester, and Thinglink are great tools for charts, infographics, and other visuals

* Include CTAs for social sharing – so people can tweet, share on Facebook and LinkedIn (social shares influence SEO) Moz On-Page Grader will offer clues on how well optimized your page is – through its advice is imperfect, so take as a guide, not as the gospel.

Get relevant, high value links to your piece of content by asking people or brands quoted or mentioned in your article to link to it from their press section or elsewhere on their site.

If you source guest posts from external writers, offer them suggestions that cover keywords that benefit you as well as matching their own expertise.

3. Monitor

Put aside some time, say, once a month to gauge the success of your strategy using analytics software – and Adobe Analytics is arguably the best out there, though it can be pricey. Google offers rather comprehensive software for zero cost.

Among other invaluable metrics over any period you specify Adobe Analytics tells you:

* Percentage of visits from search

* Number of unique users

* Dwell time of articles

You can also compare your key metrics – share of traffic from search, from social and different countries, among others – to those of your competitors on SimilarWeb.

Moz Pro is also invaluable – for page maintenance, determining whether you are climbing or descending Google rankings for your target terms and how well optimized your backlinks are.

Finally, the higher you climb on Google the harder it gets to climb further still. It can take 6-12 months to really reap the dividends of your strategy – so be patient, and stay positive.

Technology

4 Points For Innovation-minded CEOs In The Disruptive Tech Era

By Editorial Team on

February 12, 2019

- Technology

Being an innovative-minded CEO means to be able to always explore the new technological trends. If You`re a type of this, You will win the competition. Discover how to be an innovative-minded CEO with us.

While scanning recent business headlines, innovation-minded CEOs may well feel as if the ground is shifting beneath their feet yet again. From General Motors’ announcement of the upcoming closure of five North American plants—in part mirroring an evolution in consumer demand toward more technologically advanced vehicles—to Apple’s recent iPhone woes, it is clearer than ever that staying profitable while pursuing innovation remains a daunting challenge.

From my own experiences as CEO of a company developing an alternative battery technology that could help advance the burgeoning electric and autonomous vehicle market, several insights have proven valuable:

Quick, nimble and entrepreneurial-minded is crucial. Even if your company is big, it pays to think like a startup. For example, there are plenty of large battery companies that could be rethinking the current lithium-ion standard for electric vehicle batteries, which have proven disadvantageous for several reasons relating to recharge time, safety and recyclability. But they have not done so, in part because the entrepreneurial infrastructure is lacking within many big corporations.

Eliminating this kind of inertia is crucial to survival for companies across many sectors grappling with technologies that are evolving rapidly. Innovative-minded CEOs in the tech space may be inspired to look at what is happening at the cutting edge of their own space and decide that innovation must supersede traditional work patterns. Large manufacturers like GM may be learning this the hard way as consumer tastes change, and where markets have yet to come to their full fruition. Meanwhile, CEOs of smaller companies may have more leeway to focus their teams’ efforts on transformative technology.

Tomorrow will be nothing at all like today. Due to the coming era of autonomous and electric vehicles, my newborn grandson may never need to learn to drive. He may never own a car. He may never ride in anything that is not propelled by electricity. In short, his world may be totally different from the one in which we’ve all grown up. This is a key realization for CEOs grappling with the innovation that is sweeping their respective sectors: it is wise to prepare for a radically transformed world.

Keep in mind that the first iPhone was introduced only 12 years ago—and how the smartphone era has changed how we work and interact with each other. Once-dominant brands like Nokia have lost out while other more nimble players have stepped in to take their place. It stands to reason that similar changes are due to sweep the automotive industry as electric vehicle technology reduces its costs and continues to be refined. Forget what you know! Embrace and develop new ideas!

Expect new competitors you’ve never heard of—and others you already know. The advent of disruptive technologies won’t just reshuffle who’s on top among existing companies; they allow new entrants to come into the market as well. For automotive industry CEOs attuned to the incipient electric vehicle revolution, this means paying less attention to what Elon Musk and Tesla are doing today and paying more attention to brands that are currently active in regions of the world such as China and India yet largely unknown in the West. Because their current markets are so large, they have not yet had to sell vehicles outside their own territory—but that is likely to change, and when it does, expect their products to be sold at significantly lower prices. At the same time, some very familiar names—like Apple and Google—may also decide the time is right to venture into the electric and autonomous vehicle space, and when they do, their clout will shake up the field further.

Innovation appeals to all ages. Some CEOs in the automotive space, looking at the incipient electric and autonomous vehicle revolution, might be tempted to market their future wares primarily to younger consumers. And it is true that for young people challenged by the cost of insurance and other factors, reasonably priced electric vehicles will offer great appeal. The era in which people stay loyal to one particular brand, in the automotive sector as in every other sector currently being impacted by waves of technological innovation, is drawing to a close. But it is also true that a world in which electric and autonomous vehicles are commonplace will appeal to older segments of the population. Imagine, for example, how retirement communities could be transformed once its residents are capable of traveling to their destinations via autonomous vehicle. Similarly, future population shifts into urban centers are likely to open up new markets for innovative vehicle technology that offer an attractive alternative to current transit options.

Attention to these four precepts may help CEOs in any sector navigate what is shaping up to be a turbulent and uncertain era—one in which disruptive technologies can either propel a business forward or help sink it.

Thanks for the article https://chiefexecutive.net/4-points-innovation-minded-ceos-disruptive-tech/

Technology

15 Smart Tips For Introducing Automation To Your Business

By Editorial Team on

February 4, 2019

- Technology

Automation is everywhere in today’s business world. By programming software to complete tasks based on a series of “if-then” conditions, you can greatly increase the speed, efficiency and accuracy of processes like marketing and recruiting, freeing your team up to focus on bigger, more important strategy work.

It may seem tempting to dive in head-first and automate everything you can, but it’s wise to have a plan in place to make the best use of the time and resources required to implement automation. We asked 15 members of the Forbes Technology Council to each share their best piece of advice forcompanies looking to automate more of their business processes.

1. Let Your Team Test And Implement Solutions

Find the best automation tool and assign a team in charge of testing and implementing it gradually. You’ll see that the amount of resources you’ll be saving will be astonishing and that your collaborators will soon feel comfortable in adopting the new changes. – Nick Chandi, SlickPie

2. Fully Understand The Process You’re Automating

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people try to automate an existing process without ever looking at the process itself. Take time to evaluate the process and, where necessary, change it, particularly in areas where automation can streamline it. – Lisbi Abraham, Andela

3. Help Your Team With Adopting Automation

Remember to help the team adopt the new automated processes. Perfectly designed automation will only work as well as it is adopted by the people who use it. Change is hard; most people don’t like change, even if it will make their jobs and lives easier. So to make sure it’s successful, remember to build in change management and training to any workflow automation you introduce. – Leah Allen, Radius

4. Plan Ahead For The Switch To Automation

Business automation is a key to success in a lot of areas. However, when you’re building a new product or an MVP, be careful about the number of things you automate. Often, it’s more efficient to start fast, do things manually and then switch to automation when you understand the domain better. In the end, you’re still going to have to wire everything up, so be ready! – Andrey Neverov, Trucker Path

5. Calculate The ROI Of Automation

Automation isn’t always easy. Make sure to estimate the time/cost savings that automating a process will give and compare to the time/cost it will take to actually automate that process. If you invest the time/money now, is the amount of time it takes to recoup that investment acceptable? Make sure to prioritize automating the processes that will save the most time and have the biggest ROI. – Matthew Kolb, AnyplaceAmerica.com

6. Think Long Term

When automating, consider what will make the most sense in the long run. Make sure that whatever solution you employ has the flexibility to grow and adapt to future changes in your development process. The worst thing is becoming dependent on a solution you have limited or no control over — an issue many cloud-based systems and third-party apps are known for. – Chris Kirby, Voices.com

7. Use Task Dependencies Sparingly

Complex workflows can have multiple divergent critical paths. When you use task dependencies and logic-based deviation, you can easily create a workflow that is not user-friendly. To avoid this, allow larger blocks of tasks to be triggered at any given time. This will give users enough wiggle room to make the automated workflow work for them. – Dan Pennell, WMtek

8. Work Backward From Your Ideal Workflow

Far too many automation projects get blown out of proportion and go over budget. It’s important to set a clear vision of what the end state of the automation will look and behave like and then work backward in defining the phases of delivery needed to address it. This makes it difficult for the project to fall by the wayside and sets clear expectations for all involved upfront. – Bijan Vaez, EventMobi

9. Consider The Security Risks Of Automation

What is automated and digitized can be hacked. Automation makes tasks one click easier and a thousand times faster for you — it also does the same for the malicious attacker. Be mindful of security and plan accordingly. – Satyam Tyagi, Certes Networks

10. Seek Ready-Made Solutions

When you want to automate a process, research what’s available before you decide to build your own. Using what’s already available will save you time and money. And in business, time is money, so you need to move fast. Leverage as many ready-made solutions as you can, connect them together and test that they work. – Lubo Smid, STRV

11. Go Slow And Prioritize

Automating workflow takes a lot of upfront time and resources, both of which you’ll recover exponentially if you do it right. There’s also a steep learning curve involved, so start by creating a list of what measures will have the largest impact on the company and then prioritize by how much work/effort/risk is involved in implementing each. – Or Shani, Adgorithms, creators of Albert

12. Write Down Your Processes

Before you automate your workflow, you should document all of your processes and go through them with a fine-tooth comb. In this step, you’re looking for edge cases — problems that occur when something operates at an extreme parameter and will derail your systems when you automate. – Pin Chen, ONTRAPORT

13. Keep High Quality Control Standards

Automation, like any computer system, will have bugs. Sometimes these bugs are obvious oversights, and other times they are “corner cases” resulting from unlikely boundary conditions. You must subject your automation procedures to the same degree of quality control that you would do for your product development. Once your automation project is deployed, monitor and measure its effectiveness to ensure it works as expected. – Arvind Prabhakar, StreamSets

14. Start Off Simple

Automation is a bit like digging a tunnel: You don’t know what you’re going to run into. It’s best to begin with something useful but simple. You’ll avoid wasted time and resources but learn a lot about your organization and infrastructure. Carry those lessons forward, taking an incremental approach, and you’ll maximize your productivity gains while preparing yourself forbigger projects. – Matthew Russell, Digital Reasoning

15. Use Automation To Solve Specific Problems

It’s easy to develop the tech first and find applications later, but this can be a fool’s errand. For instance, at Endgame, we recognized that sifting through queries took analysts too long. So we built and released Artemis, a chatbot assistant to automate analysts’ data workflows into conversation-style queries, which frees them up to immediately stop suspicious activity from that pulled data. – Jamie Butler, Endgame

At Great Department we can help You identify gaps and automate Your business.

Thanks for the article https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2017/05/15/15-smart-tips-for-introducing-automation-to-your-business/#638661f42c71

Technology

Apple bans Facebook research app from tracking web activity

By Editorial Team on

February 1, 2019

- Technology

Earlier this week, Apple bans Facebook from using its Enterprise Developer Certificate because the company had improperly used it to track the web-browsing habits of teenagers. Soon after this happened, Google stepped out to announce that it has disabled its own iPhone app — Screenwise Meter — that it had paid some users to install to study their digital habits.

Google said, “…this was a mistake, and we apologize”, and probably thought it would get away with that. However, as reported by The Verge, Apple has blocked Google’s ability to distribute its internal iOS apps. Apparently, early versions of Google Maps, Hangouts, Gmail, and other pre-release beta apps, along with some employee-only apps like a Gbus app for transportation and Google’s internal cafe app, have all stopped working.

Representational image. Image: Reuters.

“We’re working with Apple to fix a temporary disruption to some of our corporate iOS apps, which we expect will be resolved soon,” a Google spokesperson told The Verge.

Interestingly though, Apple too seems to be “closely” working with Google to find a fix to this, according to what an Apple representative told BuzzFeed.

Apple offers what are known as certificates that let businesses have deep controls over iPhones, with the potential to remotely install apps, monitor app usage, and access, and delete data owned by a business on an iPhone. Apple designed the program for organisations whose staff use iPhones for official duties when privacy needs are different from phones for personal use.

However, Apple took this bold move this week, because both Facebook and Google were found to be misusing these certificates to track their users’ mobile and web activity.

According to a recent update though, Apple has reactivated Facebook’s employee apps.

Thank You for the article https://www.firstpost.com/tech/news-analysis/apple-has-now-blocked-googles-ability-to-distribute-its-internal-ios-apps-6004031.html

Technology

Launching Custom Layers with Uber: Add deck.gl layers to Mapbox maps

By Editorial Team on

January 29, 2019

- Technology

Earlier this summer at Locate, we announced our partnership with Uber’s data visualization team to integrate deck.gl with Mapbox. Our mission is to build incredible developer tools that help us understand and explore our world. Today we’re launching an integration between Uber’s data visualization library, deck.gl, and Mapbox GL JS. This means developers can add more types of data to their maps — with less code and higher performance.

At Great Department, we have a solid experience in creating amazing maps and data visualization (mapbox + deck.gl.

Let`s speak about Your Next Project

For those new to visualizing data with deck.gl and Mapbox, deck.gl is an open source geospatial analysis toolbox built on top of Mapbox GL JS that makes understanding location data simple. This toolbox is used to visualize massive datasets without compromising performance, from mapping hundreds of millions of trips as a ridesharing company to analyzing network models and cellular coverage as a telecommunications company. Together, we’ve made it easy for developers to add any of the beautiful data visualization layer types in deck.gl to a Mapbox map.

*Add deck.gl 3D hexbins to visualize the density of road incidents —* *try the live demo*.

This integration is powered by a new feature in Mapbox GL JS v0.50: Custom Layers. Custom Layers works with popular WebGL rendering libraries like deck.gl and three.js for adding 3D models, data visualization layers, and animated scenes. This enables developers to render a WebGL scene directly into the Mapbox GL context as a layer, giving full control over what’s brought into the map — whether that’s a 3D CAD rendering, a SpaceX rocket launch simulation, or a GLTF solid model.

Here are a few visualizations enabled by Custom Layers that we’re most excited about.

Deck.gl data visualizations

Before Custom Layers, visualizations with origin-to-destination great-arc circles were difficult to create. Deck.gl arc layers make this easy.

The visualization below shows US migration patterns between cities. Mouse over each city to visualize the volume of people moving to other areas of the US. Blue lines indicate net migration into a city, while red lines indicate net migration out. Not only can users clearly see city labels above their data, but developers can create this visual by adding a deck.gl layer at runtime.

*Add origin-to-destination great-arc circles to a map.* *Try the demo*.

To add arc layers to your Mapbox map, follow the example from deck.gl’s Mapbox layer docs:

Deck.gl has many more advanced data visualization layers you can add to a Mapbox map, including point clouds, contours, and more, enabling you to build the best visualization for your location data.

3D models

Developers have long requested full support for 3D models in Mapbox GL JS. With Custom Layers, it’s easy to add 3D models to a Mapbox map with three.js.

Andrew Harvey of Alantgeo created a basic example of how to load a GLTF 3D model and render it under a label layer. Prior to Custom Layers, developers had to manually work with coordinate matrix projections to synchronize two WebGL canvases for the map and the 3D model. Now, developers can control exactly where the model is placed in the scene, and Mapbox handles the synchronization of the model with the map while the user pans and zooms.

*Add a three.js GLTF solid model to a Mapbox map as a Custom Layer.* *Try the demo*.

What’s next

deck.gl data visualizations and three.js 3D models are just the beginning of what’s possible with Custom Layers. To get started with deck.gl and Mapbox, head to the deck.gl + Mapbox docs. And to start building with Custom Layers in GL JS, check out our developer example and documentation.

Want to have amazing mapbox and deck.gl data visualization? WRITE US NOW and we will help You create amazing maps.

Article by https://blog.mapbox.com/launching-custom-layers-with-uber-2a235841a125

Technology

How to use the psychology of color when marketing and branding

By Editorial Team on

January 28, 2019

- Technology

“Color provokes a psychic vibration, color hides a power still unknown but real, which acts on every part of the human body”

Wassily Kandinsky

What is the psychology of color for branding?

Whether You are designing Your company`s logos, signages, or other marketing materials, the color choice is the primary and important question that`s always running through your mind.

Before choosing the best color for Your brand, let`s understand what is the brand.

A brand is a personality that identifies a product, service or company, including a name, term, sign, symbol or design. A brand also represents the relationships between customers, staff, partners, investors, and so forth (Boundless).

Your brand`s color is a “face of Your brand”.

The external appearance is the first thing people stick to. Firstly, People used to come to a decision based on the appearance. So, Your brand image should be in harmony with Your business culture, people, mission and vision as well.

The psychologists prove the fact that 60% of your buyers may accept or reject Your brand because of your brand`s color.

At Great Department, we offer You the best branding services for Your business.

The right colors can attract people, evoke positive reactions and make the buy from You. Logo and signage color can even make people contemplate, or may distract people from concentrating on important tasks, as well as,
colors can stimulate, increase appetite and create a feeling of worth or loneliness.

“All colors arouse specific associative ideas…” – Yves Klein

Important color choosing tips

Find Your message

When starting to work on your company`s branding or marketing materials, you need to reveal the hidden message of Your brand. In particular,

What do you want to say to your customers?

What kind of associations do you want to create around your brand? For example, are you in the IT industry Which is in need of building trust, safety or loyalty?

Are you offering psychological services which need to create peaceful interior and make clients feel relaxed? Evan though, there is no rules, no any accepted and ideal color for each category of brand, but you need to be realistic and optimistic about color choice.

2. Differentiate from Your Competitors

Some businesses may play in a red ocean, (Blue Ocean book by W. Chan Kim), but some businesses must play in a different new marketplace, where there is no a brand like yours. The more your brand colors are different from the competitors` brand color, the more original and catch it can be, but don’t forget to never ever be an eco-tourism company with red or black signages or logo. Anyway, creativity has no limits for brand designers and marketers. What if you are thinking of being extraordinary?

“Creativity is putting your imagination to work, and it`s produced the most extraordinary results in human culture.- Ken Robinson

3. Color tells your customers who you are really

Colors arise positive or negative emotions towards your products. It attracts your targeted and potential customers, remains on people mind even if they don`t remember about Your brand`s name

Let`s unlock the hidden messages about the psychology of color in marketing In order to create an impactful logo, build brand loyalty and win in a marketplace, where there are lots of competitors existing.

Red makes people eat or buy.

It comes as no surprise that color red stimulates the senses and raise the blood pressure. Some researchers show that people tend to gamble more and play riskier bets under a red interior. Color red arouses the appetite, that’s why it’s an excellent color for food products and restaurants. There is an interesting fact about eating
habits as well, related to the color red.

According to one study by German and Swiss academics, eating meals on red plates, or drinking from red cups cuts consumption by about 40 percent.

There are many food companies, associated with food product who admit red as a brand color, some of the companies are Coca-Cola, Red Lobster, McDonald`s, Burger King. The red branding of these brands makes customers enter the store and buy more food than they are in need of.

Yellow is the color of positive energy and happiness.

Yellow is very warm, playful and happy color. It is psychologically optimistic, brightening. Yellow creates a friendly, positive atmosphere. Yellow is a color of intellect as well, and maybe this is the reason why 75% of the
pencils sold in The United States are yellow. You can try to use yellow utensils to boost creativity and act like you are a bright entity.

On the other hand, the color yellow can cause aggression and anxiety. The color Yellow inspires people to keep moving as well, it is the reason why some huge companies use the vivid yellow color in their branding. Some of them, are Ferrari, and McDonald`s. A bright yellow is an ideal option for playful and entertaining products or companies. There are much huge company`s using positive associations of yellow in their brand marketing. For example, Ikea, Best Buy Blue builds trust and calms the mind.

Blue Color branding for IT companies and telecommunications. Dell, HP, GAP,AT&t, Pay Pal logos

Interestingly, the color blue is the most preferred color for a lot of businesses. The color blue is a symbol of dependability and safety, as well as blue is a color of the sky which is used to be related to a peaceful atmosphere. Blue also has a therapeutic meaning, that’s why, a lot of psychological clinics make the blue interior, in order to bring harmony to the mind and body.

Blue is often used in corporate businesses because it is productive, it boosts communication, and obviously, blue is a color of intellect. A lot of IT companies, telecommunications, and Hi-Tech companies benefit from blue`s calming features. For example, Facebook, Twitter, and AT&T use color blue in order to build trust and honesty.

Black and white symbolize opposition and contrast.

It’s a shining fact that the color white is the presence of all colors, however white is not a color itself, because white and black are always interrelated, especially in brand design. Black is teh color of authority and strength. Sometimes, some brands use black and white logos to imply the hidden meaning of femininity, and classy. A brand is also used to create logos in black when they are in a luxury marketplace. For example, Channel, Adidas, Hermes, and other luxury brands.

Green is eco-friendly and relaxing

This color is suitable for logos of health-related stores because it is used to be associated with natural and organic products. Green is a color of health, nature, and trust.

Hospitals and schools use a pale green, soft green because it’s too much relaxing to eye and soul for the clients who are staying there. Green creates the vision of being connected with nature. A lot of brands using green color marketing to make people feel connected to nature. For example, WhatsApp, Starbucks, Acer, Heineken, Skoda, and other big companies.

Let`s sum it up

Researches on color psychology in Marketing and branding shows that colors affect our lives in an unconscious and mysterious way. We used to make impulsive decisions and jump on buying counting on our emotions gives us the colors of the brand.

One of the most interesting examinations is the JOE Hallock`s work on “Color Assignment, which is going to show that even man and woman refer to colors in different ways. So, starting to work on your brand color you need to choose your target. Are They Woman, or Man? Some studies on color perception show that shades and
tints are important as well, in this case, men prefer bold colors, and woman prefers soft
Tones.

Deal with the magic and use the psychology of color to keep ahead of the competition!

Write us NOW and let`s speak about Your brand.

Article by Gayane Melkumyan

Technology, Uncategorized

The 9 Habits of Highly Successful Content Creators

By Editorial Team on

January 27, 2019

- Technology, Uncategorized

Peanut butter and jelly. Batman and Robin. Eggs and ham. You’ve probably heard of these famous pairs (or, in some cases, noshed on them), but for inbound marketers, there’s one pair in particular that goes hand-in-hand: content and marketing.

Ninety-one percent of business-to-business (B2B) professionals use content marketing as part of their strategy. Still, that doesn’t mean all the content they create is top-notch, compelling, or valuable content.

But what does it take to become a good content creator? How do I become one that peers in my industry would look to for advice and opinions?

It all starts with what you do before you put your fingers to a keyboard.

Content Creator

A content creator produces entertaining or educational material that caters to the interests and challenges of a target audience. The content he/she produces can take many forms, including blog posts, videos, ebooks, photos, and infographics. Today, businesses employ content creators to engage new and existing customers on the brand’s behalf.

Whether you work on a content marketing team at your company or you’re riding solo, there are some tried-and-true habits you can adopt that will put you on the path to being a truly successful content creator.

Fair warning: Like all good things, it’s not going to happen overnight. And it shouldn’t, because you’re trying to get good at it, not just simply do it. But the sooner you start working these five habits into your routine, the sooner you’ll be well on your way to becoming a high-quality content creator.

How to Become a Content Creator

Read news about your industry every day.
Write on the regular.
Study your industry’s audience.
Establish your own voice.
Curate other people’s content (when it makes sense to).
Understand your KPIs.
Network at every opportunity.
Offer solutions, not just commentary.
Question everything.

1. Read news about your industry every day.

A book in a room, a glass, and pillows in a nice reading atmosphere

Creating great content that really resonates with your target audience requires you to know what’s going on in your industry. And the best content creators scour — not just read, but scour — the internet for industry news and trends. This sets them up nicely to understand the context behind what’s happened historically in their industry and how that shapes their target audience’s mindset in the present.

Get in the habit of reading by putting everything you read in one place. You can set up an RSS feed with an app like Feedly for blogs you know that contain relevant industry news. Also, ask a few colleagues what they’re reading these days and follow suit. Discover where your buyer persona spends time online and snag those blogs, too. Ahead of the game and have a few favorites already? Add ’em to the list.

2. Write on the regular.

If you don’t use it, you lose it. Successful content creators understand the importance of constantly flexing their writing muscles. Doing so helps them work through ideas that might be jumbled in their head and identify nuggets that could turn into fully realized ideas later. Successful content creators may not always be inspired to write, but they know something inspiring can come from their writing.

Get in the habit of writing by doing it daily or every other day. I’m not saying you need to write a polished, 1500-word essay on an industry-relevant topic daily. Rather, I’m talking about setting aside 10 or 15 minutes to jot down some thoughts and ideas. Figure out when your mind is the clearest — for most people, that’s after or during a cup of coffee — and just free-form write. What did you read yesterday that stuck with you? What didn’t you understand? Asking yourself those questions should start the flow.

3. Study your industry’s audience.

One of the hardest pills to swallow as a creative professional is that you are at the mercy of your audience — and the needs of that audience can sap your creativity.

But, at the end of the day, your audience pays your bills. And if you study your audience deeply enough, you’ll find interests and creative opportunities you wouldn’t have found without them.

The third quality of all successful content creators: They know their audience inside and out. Examine your own readers and viewers: What do they want that you’re not yet giving them? What problems do they have that you can solve for them? Here are some other characteristics of your audience you can identify for yourself or for your employer:

Age
Gender
Location
Family size
Job title
Salary

4. Establish your own voice.

Quick reality check: You’re not the only content creator in your industry. That means you’re not the only one offering the advice, observations, and thought leadership your industry is asking for. There are lots of things you can do to stand out from the other content creators in your field: diversifying into a new content medium, promoting your content on different channels, and naturally gaining experience and trust over time. But even then, the content producers with whom you’re competing for attention are doing the same thing.

What you can bring to your content, that nobody else can, is your own personal voice.

Readers click on your content for the information, but they come back for the personality. Writing about cybersecurity? Don’t just offer fresh insight on today’s malware; offer analogies and personal stories of data breaches that justify your insights and that only you can offer. The brand you write for might restrict you from opinionated or overly informal content, but that doesn’t mean you can’t indulge in the unique perspective that inspired you to join this business in the first place.

Learn how to blend your employer’s content guidelines with your own creativity, and you’ll become a much more valuable content creator in the long run.

5. Curate other people’s content (when it makes sense to).

here’s no shortage of people curating content these days. In fact, anyone on the internet can take someone else’s content and retweet it, share it on Facebook, pin it — the list goes on. But successful content creators know it’s not enough to take relevant industry news and spit it back out to your fans and followers.

“You must also position yourself as an expert and genuinely interact with your communities,” says Guy Kawasaki, the New York Times best-selling author. Sharing content isn’t enough. Engaging with the content you’re sharing now makes it unique to you.

Get in the habit of curating content when you have something valuable to add. Now that you’ve started scouring the internet on a regular basis for industry news, you probably have a wider depth of knowledge than you think. So be confident, and give your readers additional, useful information or even a thought or opinion when sharing others’ content. Your networks will appreciate it, and the author probably will too (or it could at least spark a debate — bonus!).

6. Understand your KPIs.

The internet is a big place (obviously). In fact, it’s safe to say it’s too big for your content to be discovered by your audience all by itself. In 2018, 61% of professionals stated that generating traffic and leads was their top marketing challenge.

Just because you publish content online doesn’t mean you’ll get the traffic your insight deserves. To get your content discovered, you first need to focus in on a key performance indicator (KPI), and optimize your content for it. A KPI is a specific metric you’ve chosen to measure how well your content is doing against your expectations. Modern KPIs include:

Social media traffic, the number of visitors that come to your content from a social media post.
Direct traffic, the number of visitors that come to your content by entering your website’s URL directly into their browser’s address bar.
Organic traffic, the number of visitors that come to your content from a search engine result link.
Submissions, the number of people who visit your website and leave having submitted their contact information in exchange for a resource you offered them (a form of lead generation).

If you or your employer chooses to focus on organic traffic, for example, it’s a good idea to study Google’s search algorithm to find out how it ranks content. Then, optimize your content so that it performs well under the organic traffic KPI. The more knowledge you have of the KPIs available to content creators now, the more successful you’ll be as a marketer.

7. Network at every opportunity.

Successful content creators know their success is due not only to their passion, but also to those who taught them, inspired them, and pushed them to think in different ways.

This is one-way content creators grow into successful content creators. They’ve accepted the fact there’s more to learn than what they already know, and they’re open to new ways of thinking. Networking forces you to do just that. It’s a time to listen to others’ ideas and take them into consideration alongside your own.

Get in the habit of networking by seizing the countless opportunities you have to do it. They aren’t called social networks for nothing! Spend some time on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to check out who the thought leaders are in your industry and follow them.

Once you do that, you can ease into in-person networking. If you’re not a natural extrovert, the thought of networking can make you cringe. Make it easy on yourself and start small with colleagues. You already have something in common, so striking up a conversation in the kitchen or at your desks shouldn’t be too scary.

8. Offer solutions, not just commentary.

When you’re just getting started as a content creator, you might already have the knowledge your market is looking for. For successful content creators, however, expertise isn’t everything.

Want your audience to remember your content? Don’t just recite the things you know — explain why they’re important and what your audience can take away from it. The people consuming your content aren’t interested in just hearing you talk. They come looking to satisfy specific needs. Whether those needs are to solve a problem to simply increase their confidence in your industry, it’s your job to put your market observations into terms they can understand and find lessons in.

9. Question everything.

Polished content creators are curious by nature. They’ve learned to be curious about the internal knowledge they already have and the external information that’s being promoted out in the world. It’s the insights that come from this inherent curiosity that makes great content.

“You need to be curious to identify problems worth solving,” says Lorraine Twohill, head of marketing at Google, “and then come up with new solutions.” It’s these proposed solutions to age-old problems that gets content creators on the radar.

Get in the habit of questioning the status quo by constantly playing devil’s advocate. Taking the contrarian view of a piece of content can be difficult at first, but if you start to question why the author thinks this way and what happened in the industry that triggered this viewpoint, you’ll begin to think more critically about the content you’re consuming. And if you didn’t know, critical thinkers make great content creators.

There’s a lot of pressure on content creators — and every inbound marketer, for that matter — to churn out great content as part of their marketing strategy. Just know that being a successful content creator starts with the habits you form, as they’ll set you up to produce some seriously valuable content for your target audience.

Thanks for the article https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/5-habits-of-highly-successful-content-creators-list

Technology

Netflix Adds New Instagram Stories Sharing Function, a New Marketing Consideration

By Editorial Team on

January 24, 2019

- Technology

As Instagram Stories usage continues to grow, you can expect brands to be looking for more ways to utilize the option to expand their reach and tap into the rising trend. And this new integration could become a key consideration for more businesses in 2019 – streaming giant Netflix has this week announced a new process which will enable users to share the latest TV show or movie they’re watching in the app direct to their Instagram Story.

Netflix Instagram Stories integration examples

As explained by TechCrunch:

“The feature will add the title’s custom art to a users’ Instagram Story, where it’ll remain visible for 24 hours. The Story can also be customized with other options, like a user poll, for example.”

And as you can see in the second frame above, if the viewer has the Netflix app installed on their device, there’ll also be a ‘Watch on Netflix’ link at the top left of the image, facilitating direct connection to the title.

The option could spark a lot of interest from other organizations – Facebook actually announced the Instagram Stories third-party integration process last May at its annual F8 conference, with Spotify, Musical.ly and GoPro among the initial small group of partners. But given the rising popularity of Netflix, and the more visual, and viral, nature of its offerings, this variation, in particular, could spark a lot more interest in the process, and get more brands thinking about how they might be able to add the same, with the direct link back to their own apps also providing a lure.

If this piques your interest, you can read the full documentation on how to enable Stories integration from your app on Facebook’s developer blog. It’s a fairly technical process (and the attribution link option is only available to approved developers), but it enables essentially the same functionality as Netflix is utilizing, while there’s also an option to create similar for Facebook Stories too.

As noted, given the rising popularity of the Stories format, you can bet more businesses will be looking for options – and this new Netflix integration could spark a lot more interest.

Thanks for the beautiful article https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/netflix-adds-new-instagram-stories-sharing-function-a-new-marketing-consid/546681/

Technology

How To Use Video Marketing To Promote Your Business

By Editorial Team on

January 24, 2019

- Technology

To drink a glass of wine with or without a slice of cheese?

That is the best combination that always goes together. Nowadays Digital marketing can`t exist without Video Marketing. Video marketing is the new trend of an old and famous romance.

As per another creative example, for me, Video content is not a king but a queen. We know that in chess the queen has more power than the king.

No matter what kind of business You have, video marketing will boost Your conversion rate, help You in better SEO ranking, generate conversions and increase customer engagement. These are not all the benefits You will gain while using video power.

After watching a video, 64% of users are more likely to buy a product online.

We live in an over automated era. It was only in 1930 that the washing machines became automatic. It changed our lives drastically. Now, Video Marketing play the same role.

Play with the illustrations, imagine with no boundaries, create lifelike motions…

How one could reject the new awesome video marketing trend?

Robotics, machine learning an AI has improved productivity. People evaluate their time, resources and speed more than before. In this hectic pace of life, marketers will try to find the most simple yet effective ways to achieve their marketing prospects. Video marketing automation do this job amazingly.

Video marketing does not steal You time. It gives You a lot of time for Your other marketing tasks to do. Video marketing software takes care of Your budget as well. Here are some of the benefits.

Customizable videos- You can change fonts, branding, color easily.
It’s easily transforming into every video format. For example, on Youtube, on Facebook, and on other platforms.
The orientation. Create square, vertical, landscape videos in one step.

Video Marketing now is easier, time-consuming and cost-effective for Your business.

Animated videos are going to accomplish the wine and cheese scenario. What about to Invite a cut and eye-touching girl to a party. Is it attractive? Then use video animation and invite Your customers to a party to win their heart. You can organize a party on online social media, on your website, on Your landing page, on email marketing, on messenger.

Video content is more natural, more simple yet user-friendly. This is relevant to develop user manuals, how-to videos, product explanations, brand stories, and promotional videos.

You can use the magnet of animated videos on varied business purposes.

Emotion trigger works well when it`s about animated videos.

It`s not a quite surprising fact that people buy products relying on emotions, not on logic. The illustrated videos are excelling in this job. You can create animated videos to boost warmest feelings, remind of joyful happy memories, say words from different mouths and so on.

Fantasize.

Your mind has no limitations, especially when it is about animation.

“ Well, luckily with animation, fantasy is your friend “. If You sell perfume You can show how people get lost on another planet when filling the aroma. Show the process with creative and illustrated patterns.

We create animated explainer videos which will make Your business stand out.

Be the next level marketer.

Marketing is all about to be a step forward. For example, if You wrote a book on marketing yesterday, today you can refer to it as a lost. So, animated videos allow You to create future. Does it make sense on You? For example, Your scenario can take place on a new imaginative planet with new characters like an animal who have awkward gestures. You can create astounding animation so that Your blogging strategy will be up to date.

Exaggerate emotions and touch people hearts.

Sometimes in ordinary videos, it is hard to show such kind of feelings; guilt, love, hug, shy, or to describe the feelings with illustrated patterns. With animated videos, You can promote Your fashion shop. For example, show a man who becomes more powerful like a strange animal with Your wearing. People will associate Your brand with power.

Want to promote Your business with amazing video content? WRITE US NOW and we will tell Your story

Make your customers fall in love with Your brand- Brand storytelling.

Brand stories are one of the most effective ways to stick on peoples mind. Remind about Your name and business. One of the shining examples of animated brand stories videos is a Lego`s brand story. It will make You want the lego, even if You are not a child.

With online video animation makers, You can create Your content both for the visual, and audial and kinesthetic audience.

What does it mean in digital marketing? People gain information in different ways. Work with all type of leads and customers. Video marketing is the best strategy for Your business, whether it is a type of B2C or B2B business.

Either You can hire a video animator whom you need to pay on average $5000 and spend a 3-5 day to manage the process for a 30-sec promotional video or You can develop a unique and high-quality video with simplified automated software which will cost almost nothing. For example, the Great Department offers You such kind of creative solutions. Video Marketing automation based on AI and machine learning is the best solution for Your business.

Rock it!

WRITE US NOW and let`s talk about Your next Video project.

The article is written by Gayane Melkumyan.

Technology

14 Video Production Tips to Enhance Quality and Drive Views

By Editorial Team on

January 23, 2019

- Technology

Video content can be a valuable asset in your inbound marketing content mix. In fact, by the end of this year, video content is expected to represent nearly three-quarters of all internet traffic.

But getting people to sit through your videos can be challenging, considering that the longer your video is, viewers will consistently drop off and stop watching, in most cases.

Your video is being judged on its content, presentation, production quality, style, and the valuable information it provides. What does this tell us? Your content must be truly remarkable to maintain your audience’s attention.

Below are our tips to instantly improve the production quality of your video marketing content to give it a nice little boost.

14 Video Production Tips for Your Next Marketing Video

Video Pre-Production Tips

At Great Department we understand Your Business Scope and know how to add value with amazing videos.
Let`s talk about it!

Be well-prepared and organized for your video shoots. If you show up to your shoot unorganized and decide to “wing it,” your final product will look unprofessional and sloppy. On the other hand, if you’re prepared, you’ll be able to focus your efforts on directing your actors rather than figuring out last-minute logistics.

Time is of the essence, so don’t waste hours trying to figure out which angle you want or what line needs to be delivered next. Know exactly what you want before the day you film by following the steps below.

1. Be original.

The concept for your video project should be original and creative. Don’t take the easy route and copy someone else’s idea. Instead, conduct persona and keyword research, find out which types of video content are popular and successful in your industry, and double-check to make sure another brand hasn’t covered the exact same angle already.

2. Plan it out.

Write a script, draw out a storyboard, and create a shot list before you start filming. Plan your b-roll shots so you have extra footage when it comes time for editing (more on that below). If you think writing a video script is the same as writing a blog post — think again. Here are Column Five’s best tips.

Want to drive more views? Order Your creative video creation NOW.

3. Be selective when choosing video subjects.

Set high standards when casting actors for your projects. Pick someone who can deliver dialogue naturally, who can memorize lines, and who isn’t stiff in front of the camera. If possible, plan time for a few run-throughs to work out any mispronunciations or giggles.

4. Carefully consider the set.

Don’t try to fool your audience by “set dressing” your office to simulate another location. Your audience is paying close attention to every detail of your video. Shoot your video projects in locations other than your office — in front of textured and interesting backdrops, but ones that also aren’t too busy.

Video Production Tips

You can always touch up your footage when you edit afterward, but remember that editing takes time. If you can make everything look as close to perfect as possible during filming, you’ll save yourself a lot of valuable time in post-production. If you shoot a scene and it doesn’t come out great, learn from what went wrong the first time, and shoot it again. Here’s how to do it:

5. Be cognizant of sound quality.

Don’t come off as an amateur with poor sound recording quality. Use lapel or lavaliere microphones — both of which are hands-free — when shooting sit-down interviews, or use microphone and boom setups for bigger shots. If you’re filming a video with a smartphone, you can purchase microphones that fit into the phone’s headphone input to quickly and easily improve sound quality.

6. Set up lights.

You don’t want your footage to be under or over-exposed, so set up lights and eliminate any unwanted shadows. We recommend a three-point lighting setup to illuminate video subjects from a variety of angles. Check out this video for a DIY guide to lighting:

7. Use a tripod.

Use a tripod to keep your video stable — and not wobbly, as it most certainly will be if you hold it yourself. Get a standing tripod or a tabletop tripod for tighter shots to keep your video looking professional.

8. Focus.

Make sure the camera is in focus — and then lock the exposure so it stays in focus. Be mindful of keeping shots white balanced to keep lighting neutral and even, too.

9. Obey the rule of thirds.

The rule of thirds involves splitting up your shot into thirds, horizontally and vertically, and framing your subject off-center. It creates movement and life in your shot the way a straight-on, centered shot wouldn’t.

Here’s an example — try to film individuals in one of the side panels of the divided frame, like so:

Video Editing Tips

Make sure your content is remarkable and tailored to your target audience. Edit your video so that it gets to the point, and doesn’t drag on. Remember, you don’t have long to capture (and hold) your viewer’s attention, so make sure that the beginning of your video is engaging, informative, and relevant to the viewer, and that she’ll clearly understand the message.

10. Align the flow of the video with the emotional response you want to evoke in viewers.

The tone, structure, and pacing of your video have a major influence on its effectiveness and the emotional impact on your audience. Tell a story that would be compelling to you — build tension and drama by arranging shots according to your storyboard and script.

11. Leverage b-roll.

Cover up your cuts with b-roll footage that complements the narration. You can find b-roll and other stock footage on sites like Vizeedy if you didn’t film it yourself, but it’s best to keep your shots all in the same setting to maintain the video’s consistency. Take the extra time to go back and film more b-roll if you need it.

12. Use background soundtracks.

Light background music can cover any ambient sound and provide tone and emotion to your video that words and images otherwise can’t. You can find royalty-free stock soundtracks that you’re allowed to use on sites like AudioMicro — make sure you’re not using songs that are licensed, or else it could result in your video getting taken down.

13. Optimize video text.

Keep the style of your text and titles simple, classy, and sharp. Choose a clear and bold font, keep words on your video screen to a minimum, and use text animations to keep the viewer engaged with new additions to the video they watch.

14. Optimize your video for the platform.

Be mindful of where your video will exist while you’re editing. Is it for your website, YouTube, or Facebook? Each platform has different specifications — for example, on Facebook, where 85% of viewers watch videos without the volume turned on, you’ll want to use captions, so people can follow along without the sound. YouTube videos don’t count views until someone watches for 30 seconds or more, so make sure the first 30 seconds are as interesting and eye-catching as possible.

If you’re looking for more ideas for how to get started filming, it’s as easy as pulling an iPhone out of your pocket. Learn how to do it in the video below:

Want more tips for creating visual content? Check out these best practices for taking pictures on your phone.

Thanks for the interesting article. https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/29075/12-tips-to-instantly-enhance-video-production-quality.aspx

Technology

37 Outstanding Video Marketing Statistics For Your Business

By Editorial Team on

January 21, 2019

- Technology

As digital marketing evolves, we continue to see trends favoring video! See some outstanding video marketing statistics that will help You with better marketing results and Ads. Here are some quick and easy video marketing statistics to use to convince your boss to invest in that video project, YouTube ads, or simply qualify your Snapchat habit.

Video Marketing Volume Statistics

82% of Twitter users watch video content on Twitter
YouTube has over a billion users, almost one-third of total internet users.
45% of people watch more than an hour of Facebook or YouTube videos a week.
More than 500 million hours of videos are watched on YouTube each day.
More video content is uploaded in 30 days than the major U.S. television networks have created in 30 years.
87% of online marketers use video content.

72 Hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every 60 seconds. Looking for keywords to implement in your TrueView strategy? Try our Free Keyword Tool.
One-third of online activity is spent watching video.
Saudi Arabia is the country with the highest daily online video access, with 98 percent of online video penetration among the population (via statista).
85% of the US internet audience watches videos online.
Every second, a million minutes (17,000 hours) of video content will cross global IP networks by 2021, according to Cisco (via Forbes).
The 25-34 (millennial) age group watches the most online videos and men spend 40% more time watching videos on the internet than women.
Over 500 million (half a BILLION) people are watching video on Facebook every day (via Forbes).

Want Better Results From Your Video Marketing? Trust Us For Your Video Creation.

Mobile Video Marketing Statistics

Over half of video content is viewed on mobile.
92 percent of mobile video viewers share videos with others.
90% of Twitter video views happen on a mobile device.
Periscope users have created more than 200 million broadcasts.
10 million videos are watched on Snapchat per day.
Video Marketing Engagement Statistics
51% of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI.
Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users.
Sixty-four percent of consumers make a purchase after watching branded social videos (via tubularinsights).
59% of executives agree that if both text and video are available on the same topic, they are more likely to choose video.
Social video generates 1200% more shares than text and images combined.
Views on branded video content have increased 258% on Facebook and 99% on YouTube as of June 2017 (via tubularinsights).
[NEW] You can now use GIFs in Facebook ads! We tried it out ourselves, and on the first day the ad below outperformed any other live Facebook ad we were running.

Want better marketing results? Claim Your amazing video Now

Video drives a 157% increase in organic traffic from SERPs.

Videos up to 2 minutes long get the most engagement.
85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound.
Video on a landing page can increase conversions by 80% or more.
Native videos on Facebook have 10 times higher reach compared to YouTube links.

(Sprout Social’s Video Engagement)The average CVR for websites using video is 4.8%, compared to 2.9% for those that don’t use video.

Having a video on a landing page makes it 53% more likely to show up on page 1 of the SERP.

46% of users act after viewing an ad.

An initial email with a video receives an increase click-through rate by 96%.
Cisco states that Live internet video will account for 13 percent of the total video traffic in 2018 (via Forbes).
Video attracts two to three times as many monthly visitors.
Blog posts incorporating video attract 3x as many inbound links as blog posts without video.
Combining video with full-page ads boosts engagement by 22 percent.

Order Your Video NOW and Start Excelling Your Competitors With Amazing Video Campaigns.

Fun Video Marketing Facts

Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text.

Internet video traffic made up 69% of all global consumer Internet traffic in 2017.

By 2019, internet video traffic will account for 80% of all consumer Internet traffic.The average user spends 88% more time on a website with video.

Thanks for the amazing article and video marketing facts https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/03/08/video-marketing-statistics

Technology

Salesforce’s Chief People Officer explains how and why the company has spent $8.7 million to close its gender pay gap

By Great Admin on

December 21, 2018

- Technology

Salesforce’s C-level people officer has explained how the company achieved the gender gap closing in the original article by Business Insider.

On Tuesday at Business Insider’s IGNITION conference, Salesforce Chief People Officer Cindy Robbins shared the story of how her company became committed to equal pay for its employees.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff was initially surprised by Robbins’ request, but ultimately he agreed.
Over the last three years, Salesforce has paid around $8.7 million to close its gender pay gap.
“Unless you have flawless systems and flawless processes, you’re going to have to run the audit every single year,” Robbins explained. “This was not a one-and-done thing.”
Robbins says Salesforce’s effort around equal pay is a call to action for other companies to start doing the same.

On Tuesday at Business Insider’s IGNITION conference, SalesforcePresident and Chief People Officer Cindy Robbins shared the story of how the cloud software company became committed to equal pay for its employees. It’s a story that she first brought to the public’s attention on 60 minutes earlier this year.

Robbins said it started around 2014 when CEO Marc Benioff held his quarterly meeting with 60 to 70 top executives at Salesforce — and realized there were hardly any women in the room. Benioff knew there were strong female leaders within the company, and decided that moving forward. at least 30% of attendees to that meeting would be women.

“He gave us a seat at the table,” Robbins remembers. “Our job was to stay invited to those meetings — which we did.”

Robbins rose the ranks at Salesforce and became the head of human relations — or officially, Chief People Officer. Soon after the promotion, she starting thinking: “Why isn’t easier for women to elevate at Salesforce?”

Robbins (second from the right) teamed up with Leyla Seka (far right), an executive VP, and formed a list of how to help women grow in their careers at Salesforce. Equal pay was a concept they could not ignore. Robbins and Seka met with Benioff and — without any data — said they wanted to investigate whether Salesforce had a pay gap between men and women.

Benioff was surprised at the request given the efforts he and his team had made to make Salesforce a place of equal opportunity and benefits. But ultimately he agreed and supported the initiative.

Technology

Top 20 ECommerce Trends For 2019 To Boost Your Sales

By Great Admin on

December 14, 2018

- Technology

Psd Center has a closer look at eCommerce trends that will significantly boost your sales in 2019.

According to Statista, 46% of the total Asian internet users bought products or goods from the mobile, and the number is surely going to increase in the upcoming years. In the past few years, we have seen a lot of evolution in eCommerce practices, and we’re still witnessing. Starting from increased use of mobile to the entrance of Augmented Reality, eCommerce has changed faces and will continue to do. So, Whether it is B2C or B2B, you can’t ignore these 20 upcoming trends that will change the way eCommerce run in the year 2019.

Top 20 ECommerce Trends For The Year 2019

Better Customer Experience
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
Mobile App Dominance
Advanced Product Search
Machine Learning and AI
Personalisation
Interest-based Advertisements
Voice Search will change the face of SEO
Research Online Purchase Offline (ROPO)
Better Payment Methods (Cryptocurrency)
eCommerce with Better Visuals
Video in Hero Carousel
Amazon and Amazon SEO
Image Search
Fast Shipping and Better Logistics
Chatbots
Social Media
Physical Stores Aren’t Dead Yet
B2B = B2C
Less Browser Use

Better Customer Experience (Virtual Assistant)

Purchasing things from an online store and physical stores are two different experiences. BUT, the way eCommerce is practicing, both of these experiences will be almost the same in the nearest future.

What happens in a real store is – a human assistant helps you find the right products for you, according to your taste and preference. What could happen in the upcoming years is, you enter into an eCommerce site, and a virtual assistant suggests and guide you by asking various questions.

Virtual assistants will make the purchase more realistic, and purchase decisions will be better.

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in eCommerce

Augmented Reality is one big move in eCommerce, and it is one of the rising eCommerce trends for 2019. AR helps buyers to choose products by creating an environment where buying can be more realistic.

Sephora, a French cosmetics stores chain founded in 1969, quite famous for great customer experience. Sephora uses augmented reality to try different makeup looks, and take pictures with the outfit you’re planning to go with.

Lenskart – an Indian eCommerce platform for eyewear allows users to try out hundreds of frames in 3D. It captures the shapes of your face, and creates a virtual face, so you can try out different frames, and then go for buying.

Amazon and IKEA are two developing giants in terms of AR. Amazon lets you try out multiple products or appliances with an AR app, so you can make an informed purchase. IKEA Place is an AR-based app that allows users to try out furniture and accessories before buying.

Here, buyers will get the exact idea about the product. You no longer have to imagine how this sofa would look in my living room, you can actually see it!

AR has already made a great progress up till now, and it is definitely one of the game-changing eCommerce trends in 2019.

Mobile App Dominance

An efficient eCommerce website development is the first step for any online selling business, but the hustle doesn’t stop here. Buyers are more focused on mobile and prefer to purchase from mobile itself. According to SearchEngineLand, nearly 60% of the total Google searches are from mobile devices. Search engines have already advised businesses to make their websites more mobile friendly, but mobile apps win the race here. Users browse 286% more products on mobile apps than mobile web.

Mobile application industry will cross $189 billion revenue by 2020, and all the eCommerce leaders are pushing the use of mobile applications. That is a clear sign of increasing revenue for all the eCommerce, and that’s the reason why they are promoting the use of mobile app over the website.

Advanced Product Search

When you type down “Samsung” in the Amazon search bar, it suggests various products that consist of the keywords for “Samsung”. Like, Samsung Headphones or Samsung Galaxy J7. These suggestions are based on popularity. It saves time, and also give you a slight idea of the highest selling products of a particular brand. Add-ons like these add values to a particular website, and if you’re working in BigCommerce technology, you must try these BigCommerce Add-Ons that we have made.

So, one of the eCommerce design trends 2019 could be Advanced Product Search where we can see the more personalized suggestion. These suggestions will be more refined and interest-based. This will definitely shorten the buying cycle time.

Machine Learning and AI

Machine learning and AI are already making a huge impact on major business areas. Machine learning is the application that delivers a better user experience based on your previous data and buying behaviors. It completely makes sense in eCommerce because everyone has different choices and preferences.

Just like in a physical shop where you’re a regular customer, shopkeeper knows what kind of clothes you like, eCommerce will make you feel the same in upcoming years. Machine learning and AI are two of the most awaited eCommerce trends in 2019.

Personalisation

45% of customers would prefer to buy from an eCommerce platform that can deliver personalized recommendation. And 56% of the online shoppers would return to the eCommerce store that gives personalized recommendations.

Amazon has understood it very well, and you can actually see tons of recommendations based on your history. Starting from “Your Wishlist” to “Your Collection”, Amazon gives the feel of complete personalization. But personalization doesn’t stop right there. According to your buying behavior, eCommerce platforms send various emails with exciting offers.

With the integration of Machine learning and AI, we would hope to see more personalized stores in 2019.

Interest-based Advertisements

Personalised advertisements also known as Interest-driven advertisements will be more precise in 2019. Google has been trying to provide the best advertisements that fit well according to user preferences, and personalized advertisements are one of the 2019 eCommerce trends to look forward to.

eCommerce Digital Marketing Services are evolving, and it will provide the ads that you want to see. Machine learning fused with your browsing history will give you the best ads that will improve chances of sales and conversion.

Voice Search will change the face of SEO

According to Comscore, more than 50% of the total searches will be voice searches by 2020. Now, it’s a known fact that business websites will change according to search engine updates. And Google will make sure the users get the best results on voice search. This is going to be a game changer in Search Engine Optimization and will design eCommerce websites according to voice searches.

Dominos, Lyft, and Walmart have already taken this seriously, and provide voice-based services to their customers. It would definitely be an eCommerce trend to look forward to in 2019.

Research Online and Purchase Offline (ROPO)

82% of mobile users search for local stores to buy any product, and 18% of that gets converted within just 24 hours.

Research Online and Purchase Offline is a new measure to evaluate the effectiveness of digital campaigns. With a crazy combination of mobile device, social media, CRM, payment gateways, and POS system, the effectiveness of online campaigns can be measured and 2019 will be a year to get ROPO more refined.

Matalan – A British retailer gets £46 in sales after investing £1 on AdWords.

Better Payment Methods (Cryptocurrency)

Online payments used to be a fearful activity about 10 years ago, but now that fear is slowly dissipated. People are using various methods to pay online. USA and Canada are at the top to pay via credit/debit card, and PayPal.

But the use of Wallets are drastically increasing, and Apple Pay, Walmart Pay, Samsung Pay, and Android Pay are the leaders. Wallets make the transaction easy and quick with a touch of safety, so it is quite obvious to see this change.

With the Cryptocurrency introduced, eCommerce will be driven to a stage where buyers can purchase the product and pay via cryptocurrency.

eCommerce with Better Visuals

Visual is the best way to let any customer know that your product is promising. Online businesses are now preferring eCommerce themes with great visuals, and video content to let their customers know how promising their products are.

Bellroy – An online Accessory provider uses tremendous visuals to introduce each of their products, and shows how great their products are compared to others.

Video in Hero Carousel

A video is a great way to let people know what capabilities your products hold. We always give the example of Bellroy when it comes to product presentation through videos. But, putting videos in Hero Carousel helps to attract more customers.

When potential buyers land on a homepage, a high-quality video in hero carousel can make visitors pause for a second and check out the product. It can surely increase the number of visits to the product page, hence the conversion rate.

Amazon and Amazon SEO

Amazon is the largest search engine in terms of product finding, and it will continue to rise in 2019 as well. Amazon is the third largest retailer after Walmart and CVS. It is the most trusted brand in Canada with 15 wins out of 23 eCommerce categories.

As we know, Amazon is the biggest search engine for products, and hence an individual Search Engine Optimization [SEO] for Amazon has developed. Amazon SEO is a process of uplifting a particular product on desired keywords, just like a normal SEO process. Over the time, Amazon has developed, and it has created an individual digital marketing world consisting SEO, PPC, Content Development and Marketing, A+ Content, Storefront, and Enhanced Branded Content [EBH].

Amazon will add more users and create a new milestone in 2019. With an individual market growing for Amazon SEO, marketers had to take it seriously. In 2019, Amazon and its SEO is one of the curious eCommerce trends to look for.

Image Search

In 2019, a better approach to Image search will be coming. eBay’s visual search allows users to find the matching product by using their own photos or online pictures or a blog. Pinterest is working really hard to refine the visual search, and 2019 will be about image search for eCommerce.

Fast Shipping and Better Logistics

Same day delivery is highly expected these days, and it will be a huge change in the year 2019. We will see more eCommerce platforms delivering the same day and providing various delivery options. The platforms will provide flexibility in delivering the product, and the logistics will be smooth in upcoming years.

Chatbots in eCommerce

The chatbot is a machine learning technology that comes up with suggestions and has the conversation with the customers. It creates an interactive environment for the customers where chatbot asks questions to the customers and deliver the best possible results.

It is an interesting way to deliver interest driven results to the customers, and eCommerce has the most benefit from it. Artificial intelligence will be $36.8 billion industry by 2025, and eCommerce will share a huge part of the revenue.

eBay, SnapTravel, Aerie are the few examples that are using chatbots for customer conversion.

Social Media

Social media is already a huge hit for eCommerce. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are the leaders in driving potential customers to the website and they are one of the finest tools for customer engagement.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat are the leading social media tools for eCommerce right now, and in 2019 we would see more personalized ads that will drive relevant traffic increasing conversion rate.

Physical Stores Aren’t Dead Yet

Yes. Physical stores still have a lot to offer. Many online platforms have opened up physical stores for various reasons like product exchange, product trials, premium experiences, etc.

IRL (In Real Life) is one such example where the shop allows its online brands to showcase their products on the display.

Amazon Go is a revolutionary grocery store that allows users to choose the products, and leave! The payments will be automatically deducted from the account.

Kanuk’s physical store has a real life environment with -25°C to try out their winter wears.

B2B = B2C

56% of B2B buyers are expected to purchase more than half of their total purchases from online platforms. More than 70% of the B2B buyers start with a generic search. In 2019, we will see a lot in favor of B2B buyers, and the way it’s flowing, it would be as same as B2C.

Less Browser Use

In the upcoming years, we will see a drastic downfall in the use of browsers. Mobile apps are already covering the market, and all the major eCommerce giants are promoting the use of apps.

On the other hand, advertisements are becoming more focused and interest-driven with connections of social media apps, that search engines will not remain the major source of traffic to eCommerce platforms.

It would be really interesting to see the future of browsers in upcoming years and the effect on eCommerce in 2019.

Bottomline

These are the eCommerce trends that will hit in 2019, according to PSDCenter. Do let us know your thoughts in the comment section below, and we would be happy to discuss your ideas. And if you think, we are missing out on a major eCommerce trend for 2019, do let us know.

Technology

Top 10 Digital Transformation Trends For 2019

By Great Admin on

December 13, 2018

- Technology

Forbes has prepared a great insight at the digital transformation trends we need to know in 2019.

Over the past few years, I have made the commitment to looking forward to the year ahead to predict some of the most significant digital transformation trends.

Knowing that digital transformation is not only a technological shift, but an organizational change at the intersection of technology, business, and people, such reflection must take into account countless possibilities. In this year’s predictions, I try to take a year’s worth of technology and digital transformation research to better predict where are we going? Why are we going there? And what potential surprises are in store? Hopefully, these top trends can serve as a compass of sorts, for organizations looking to move their business and digital transformations forward.

While a few of my top 2019 digital transformation trends build on the trends I predicted for last year, there are definitely a few new additions as we round the bend of 2018. And as a note to everyone that reads this, remember, the technology in itself does not equate to digital transformation. The customer, culture and employees along with business continuity must be at the heart of every technology investment. Without further ado, here’s my take on what to expect in the year ahead.

1. 5G Fixed to 5G Mobile: Here’s the thing about 5G: we’ve been talking about it for a while. And if you’re a world traveler or on certain networks like Sprint, you know it’s still possible to slip back into 3G zones from time-to-time without realizing it. So, what’s the big deal with 5G now? In short, we’re finally in a spot where we will start seeing 5G everywhere.

If you have been following the tech community, you will have seen that there are a wide number of fixed and test deployments with companies like Qualcomm, Intel, Nokia, Ericcson, Samsung and Huawei all getting into the action. We are also seeing new companies like Mimosa Networks making it possible to roll 5G out to both rural and urban locations, paving the way for bullish 5G mobile providers—i.e. ATT and Verizon—to start offering new, cooler, faster, more innovative services for mobile users. It’s an exciting time for 5G and mobile alike. While 2018 was the year that fixed 5G applications found their legs, in 2019 we are going to see 5G finding its way into the upper corner of our Mobile devices, albeit for you iPhone users it is more likely going to be 2020 or later.

2. Chatbots Good to Great: Hear me out on this one. I know we’ve all had extremely frustrating chatbot experiences as we round out 2018. But the good news is that huge steps continue to be made in the way of natural language processing and sentiment analytics—so many, in fact, that some believe NLP will shake up the entire service industry in ways we’ve never imagined. Think about all the services that could be provided without humans—fast food lines, loan processors, job recruiters!

What’s more, NLP allows companies to gather insights and improve their service based on them. Some 40% of large businesses have or will adopt it by the end of 2019—which makes it one of our top 2019 digital transformation trends. Now, I know many are alarmed by where AI and Chatbots may impact the workforce, but I’m also bullish that companies are going to be upskilling their work forces rather than displacing them as machines may be good at delivering on clearcut requests but leave a lot to be desired when it comes to dealing with empathy and human emotion required to deliver great customer experiences.

3. Connected Clouds (Public, Private, Hybrid): Honestly, we can just file this as “the continued evolution and growing pains of cloud adoption.” Basically, what’s happening is that companies are realizing that going all public cloud, private cloud, or data center isn’t the best option. Sometimes, they need a mix of all or both.
Thus, connected clouds are continuing to develop to meet companies’ changing needs—whether they want to cloud-source storage, networking, security, or app deployment. Major public cloud providers like Amazon and Alibaba are answering the call, offering private cloud (or in Google’s case, container-based) options. We are also seeing Microsoft via Azure, HPE with their 2017 acquisition of Cloud Technology Partners and their consumable IT services as well as VMware with their recent acquisition of CloudHealth Technologies all show increased commitment to connecting clouds.

The term, Multicloud will be the new buzzword for the cloud conversation and what I believe this movement means more than anything else is that no matter which workloads are being run in which cloud, the experience for IT and those that are utilizing the applications needs to be seamless, secure and streamlined. For most businesses this means a mix of workloads running in public, private and hybrid environments and this will be a big topic in 2019.

4. Blockchain Finally Understood and Flops (kind of): Forget everything magical I ever said about blockchain. Just kidding—kind of, but bear with me here. As we continue to explore this technological miracle worker, we’ve come to realize that blockchain is kind of a mess.

It’s too complicated for lay people to use right now, and there’s no standard way to use it because we all want to use it different. The only way to get mass blockchain adoption is to create a plug-and-play version that all of us can use and understand. I’m watching closely as leading technology firms like IBM continue to make massive commitments to the potential of Blockchain for applications beyond cryptocurrency.

The financial industry are also looking at this closely as well as a mass of applications in transportation of goods and services. However, to this point, it seems more of a marketing ploy than a bonafide technology offering. My guess is a lot of smart developers will continue to work on realizing the potential of blockchain in 2019, but I’m of the mindset that it will be 2-3 more years before we start to see the traction that has been promised.

5. Data to Analytics to Machine Learning to AI: At the center of all of these technological trends and in the center of this list falls the linchpin to so many of these trends and to digital transformation as a whole. Data is key to companies being able to make good decisions about products, services, employees, strategy and more.

We won’t see a slowdown anytime soon. As recent data has shown we have created 90% of the world’s data in the past year, research is also showing that we are only using 1% of the data effectively. While being in the top 1% is often a good thing, this is a 1% that most of us preaching the power of analytics should be ashamed about.

With a plethora of companies like Microsoft, SAP, SAS and Salesforce (just to name a few) showing market leadership in the promotion of data being made into meaningful business analytics, there is much to be done by data driven organizations to realize the power of the data on hand and the data that they are collecting. With improved processing power that can increase machine learning, we are going to see digital leaders investing in making more of all of their data and this will be done with machine learning and AI and I believe that 1% figure will grow to 3 or 4% by 2020; which may seem small but is a massive increase in data utilization.

6. GDPR Forces Brand Hands: As of August 2018, about 1/3 of companies were still not compliant with the Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which aims to provide huge layers of data protection for users. In fact, at this time, about 1,000 U.S. news sites still aren’t available in Europe, generally because they don’t care enough about data security to make the GDPR a priornewity. What does this mean in terms of 2019 digital transformation trends? It means informed customers will start to see which companies truly care about protecting their data, and which companies really don’t.

I believe that GDPR is the start of a more global trend that will hold companies accountable for how they treat privacy and personal data. While brands do not necessarily want to have to comply, this movement will serve as a warning to companies to figure out better ways to genuinely build relationships with their audience as opposed to the often clear misuse and abuse of personal data in the name of marketing and selling.

7. AR Yes, VR (Still) No: I’m kind of starting to feel bad for virtual reality (VR) because it’s so cool, but it just isn’t feasible beyond gaming and highly specialized applications in today’s marketplace—yet. Instead, augmented reality (AR)—VR’s less sexy little brother—continues to be the name of the game in 2019 digital transformation trends.

AR has found tons of use cases in enterprise workforce training, meaning it’s not just cool, it’s useful. And that’s what technology is all about. In fact, even though some think it will be slow, I believe AR’s development will ramp up in 2019. I’m even bracing to hear something about a new AR or mixed reality product and/or developer kit on September 12 from Apple’s big announcement. Hopefully something promising.

8. Edge to Core and IoT Much More: Last year, my first four trends were basically around IoT, AI, Machine Learning and Edge. This year, the four become one because they are so deeply interconnected.

As the IoT grows—and the number of connected devices skyrockets—it makes sense that we need more space—and closer space—to process the data it’s working to capture and process. The concepts of Smart Cities and Autonomous Vehicles have zero chance of being realized if data processing has to happen in the cloud.

That means we’ll be leading more and more toward edge computing in terms of 2019 digital transformation trends. Analytics and data won’t just be for processing—they’ll be for processing in real-time. And that’s something only the edge can support right now. Now, its important that I emphasize that edge and cloud are not mutually exclusive. Cisco refers to the interdependence of edge and cloud as “The Fog” as they recognize that critical data interactions that take place between the edge and the cloud to maximize data utilization. While their vernacular may or may not become ubiquitous with the connection between edge and core, you can be certain that the two will work together tirelessly to achieve the possibilities being sold to us with AI, IoT and Machine Learning.

9. Consumption-Based IT Services for the Win (FTW): This year, we did our homework, and asked the CIOs and IT executives about their IT budgets and trends in their consumption of cloud and overall, they are interested in creating efficiency, having more flexibility with their workloads (note trend 3) and having the ability to scale up and down quickly based on the business requirements.

This means, much like we saw Salesforce become a heavyweight for CRM as a Service, that the idea of anything and eveyrthing as a service is highly desirable. With the as-a-Service industry growing, companies are becoming more sophisticated in choosing “a la carte” IT services to fit their needs. This ITaaS allows for scalability, the latest technology (without the latest tech price tag), shorter procurement cycles, and increased agility. It only makes sense that companies are leaning this way and they will be more and more in 2019.

10. CEOs Take the Reins: Honestly, it’s about time and while I’m putting this as my closing prediction, it is also the one that has me the most nervous. Countless studies have shown an overwhelming desire from employees to see digital transformation start at the very top of the company, however, trends are still showing that the task is being too often delegated to IT, Marketing or HR departments. So even though we’ve seen a range of C-suite leaders charged with taking the reins of digital transformation, I believe that the CEO will (must) finally step up in 2019, realizing digital transformation isn’t going anywhere. They’ll be making it more of a priority to hire for digital transformation, recognizing the critical nature of building cultures that can change, and the value of reskilling employees and hiring for agility—learning to trust data more than ever before. That’s good news for all companies in 2019.

If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that digital transformation will continue to change how we do business—in every industry. While it may be hard to see the inroads some of these technologies are making right now, their potential to change how we work, socialize, and interact is tremendous—and their implications will continue to land far beyond the year ahead.

Technology

Tim Cook’s estimated net worth is $625 million

By Great Admin on

December 10, 2018

- Technology

Business Insider has published updates on Tim Cook’s net worth and news are exciting.

✔ Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, has an estimated net worth of $625 million, but he’s not a typical tech giant executive
✔ Cook’s net worth is lower than many of his tech CEO peers and he doesn’t lead a lavish lifestyle
✔ His leadership at Apple led to a shift in philanthropic giving.

Tim Cook is worth an estimated $625 million. As the CEO of Apple, he’s the first openly gay CEO in the Fortune 500. And in 2018, Apple became the first US company ever to be worth $1 trillion. But compared to his counterparts in the tech world, his net worth is pretty modest. Google founder and Alphabet CEO, Larry Page, is worth $53 billion. Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is worth just under $70 billion. And Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos is the first person in modern history to accumulate a fortune north of $100 billion

Cook doesn’t lead a lavish lifestyle and has said, “I like to be reminded of where I came from, and putting myself in modest surroundings helps me do that.”

The Alabama native had a humble start in life as the son of a shipyard worker and pharmacy employee.When he was promoted as Apple’s CEO in 2011, his base salary was $900,000, and has risen to $3 million in 2017. He also receives a cash incentive based on the company’s performance, which pushed his total pay for 2017 to over $12 million. But his net worth consists mainly of $622 million worth of Apple’s stock and options he has collected since becoming CEO. And $3.4 million of Nike stock options he gets as a member of Nike’s board of directors.So, how does Apple’s leader spend his fortune?

Quite different than other CEOs of tech giants. In 2012, he bought a 2,400 square foot home in Palo Alto, for $1.9 million, the median cost of a home in Palo Alto in 2018 is $3.3 million. And his frugality doesn’t stop at the housing market.

He reportedly buys his underwear at Nordstrom’s semi-annual sale.

But Cook does splurge when it comes to donating to good causes, a philosophy that differs from that of his predecessor, who lacked a record of public giving.

He encourages his employees to give and has led Apple into many philanthropic endeavors. In 2011, he instated a company-wide, nonprofit donation matching program. Over the past 10 years, Apple has contributed $130 million to help RED fight AIDS, $100 million to advance diversity in tech, through President Barack Obama’s Connected initiative, $50 million to hospitals, and more.

Cook practices what he preaches, too. He’s donated to civil rights efforts and in 2018, he donated more than 23,000 shares of his Apple stock, valued at just under $5 million to an undisclosed charity. He also regularly makes campaign donations.

He’s hosted fundraisers for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and in 2016, he donated $236,000 to the Hillary Victory Fund.

Cook’s altruism even applies to his future financial plans. He intends to use his wealth to put his nephew through college.

And upon his death, he plans to give away all his money to good causes. He told Fortune magazine, “You want to be the pebble in the pond that creates the ripple for change.”

Technology

Top 5 free apps for iPhone you’ll love

By Great Admin on

December 7, 2018

- Technology

There are a lot of apps we use daily, but there are also a few you may not know about.
Let’s check what’s cool, new, exciting and free.

1. Noted

Noted turns your iPhone into a powerful audio recording and note-taking tool perfect for keeping track of lectures, meetings, interviews, and other occasions. The app records audio, while also allowing users to type out notes (with rich text and image support), which are automatically time-stamped with bookmark-like searchable “time tags” for easier navigation. Recordings and their accompanying notes can be synced through iCloud, organized into notebooks, and quickly searched through, with the help of time tags, audio scrubbing and fast playback. Tomsguide has a great insight on the app.

2. Civilizations AR

The Civilizations AR app taps into iOS’s ARKit tools to bring ancient relics and cultural treasures to life with augmented reality. You can view each artifact as a life-like 3D rendering, using your phone as an AR viewfinder. Not only do you get unprecedented views, you can also zoom in and spin around objects. Interactive features like x-ray views and narrations add to the experience, as you learn about the secrets, origins, and history of these global cultural treasures.

3. WhatThe front

WhatTheFont helps even the most basic layperson identify fonts, using optical character recognition and your iPhone’s camera lenses as a viewfinder. Simply snap a picture of the font you want to ID, and the app does the rest, finding the closest matches in MyFonts’ database in addition to similar fonts. You can even test drive the font by typing out text within the app.

4. Quartz

Business news app Quartz doesn’t inundate you with voluminous long reads that will wind up in the land of “TL;DR.” Instead, the app offers you bite-sized digests and summaries, almost in the form of text messages that you can react to, click through to more detailed writeups, or simply breeze past. Quartz’s notifications can come with photos, news digests, charts, GIFs, or even 3D augmented reality objects that you can play around with or learn more about.

5. AnyDo

Busy people often forget daily tasks and chores, but Any.do is there to keep your schedule on track with to-do list, reminders, notes and the ability to share lists with and assign tasks to others. The app lets you sync between phone, desktop, web, and tablet to keep your lists up to the minute. A voice-entry feature lets you add items to your task list just by speaking. Calendar integration is available for better task list management. Further enhance your productivity with cross-platform support for sub-tasks, notes, and file attachments. Choose either a free or premium version with advanced features.

Technology

Big Data Trends We Should Know About in 2019

By Great Admin on

December 6, 2018

- Technology

The term Big Data refers to the entirety of the process that information goes through for real-world application. This means that it encompasses data gathering, data analysis, and data implementation.
This post is Marketing Insider Group’s insight on the trends we should be aware of today.

1. Fast growing IoT networks
People can now control their humble home appliances through smartphones, all thanks to the concept of IoT. No one knows yet if gadgets like the Amazon Echo will be a mainstay in homes, but the involvement (and investment) of big companies means that businesses and consumers will continue to use internet-connected devices.

With more organizations launching IoT solutions, the growing IoT craze will help create more data and touchpoints for businesses to collect information. Many will also need new technologies and systems to manage and analyze the flood of big data coming in as a result.

For 2018 and beyond, responsive devices and smarter networks are what the market will be focusing on. With all the new devices coming online, there is also an expected increase in the growth of data collected. Expected total business expenditure towards IoT will be at $6 trillion by 2021, with a $15 trillion contribution to global GDP by 2030.

2. Artificial intelligence is becoming more accessible
Companies, both large and small, are now utilizing AI functionalities like chatbots to automate specific processes. Since there are prebuilt AI applications now due to high demand, SMEs can easily get their hands on this technology, which levels the playing field for all. It’s now up to their Sales and Marketing teams on how to better utilize this technology.

3. Predictive analytics is on the rise
Analytics is now a substantial strategy for businesses to achieve their targets. Companies look at big data to see what happened and use their analytical tools to find out why those things happened. Predictive analysis uses big data to predict what might happen in the future.

No doubt that it will be useful for data-driven marketing, as it can help analyze data to predict consumer behavior, allowing Sales and Marketing teams to know a customer’s next action before they even take it. Analytics is also trying to provide more context to data to help understand the why behind the what.

Today, only 29% of organizations use predictive analytics, according to a survey from PwC. This number is expected to grow this year moving forward, as many vendors have recently come out with predictive analytics tools.

4. Dark data in the cloud
Dark data, or information that is yet to become available in digital format, is an untapped reservoir for now. In 2018, these analog databases will hopefully be digitized and put in the cloud so they can potentially increase the range of trends and cycles that businesses can predict.

5. CDOs are stepping up
With data becoming an integral business strategy, Chief Data Officers (CDOs) are becoming a more critical role in an organization.

In a Forbes survey, more than 50% of CDOs will likely report directly to the CEO in 2018. They’re bound to take on more active roles in shaping their businesses’ initiatives. This is good news for data marketers in a more personal sense, as this means there is room for career growth.

6. Quantum computing
Imagine being able to crunch billions of numbers at once, in a matter of minutes. Such immensity and speed cut big data processing time by more than half, allowing companies to take action in a more timely manner for improved results.

Something this massive is only possible through quantum computing, which will likely be utilized soon as companies like Google, Intel, and the Turing Institute start actively developing and battery testing quantum computers.

7. Better, more intelligent security
Last year’s scandals are enough to make any enterprise paranoid about hacking and breaches, so in 2018 companies are focusing on fortifying data confidentiality. IoT is also a cause for concern with possibilities of cybersecurity issues. Big Data companies are now helping providers market products that use data analytics as a tool to detect and predict threats.

Big Data can be used as a security strategy. A security log data can provide information about past threats, which companies can use to prevent and mitigate future attempts. There are also those that can choose to integrate their security information and event management software with Big Data platforms.

8. Open source

It’s likely that public data solutions like Apache Hadoop and Spark will continue to dominate. In 2017, enterprises expanded their use of Hadoop and NoSQL and looked for ways to speed up data processing. In 2018, technologies that allow access and response to data in real time will be in high demand.

Open source applications are no doubt cheaper and will cut costs for your business, but as with any other good thing, there are certain drawbacks that you should be aware of.

9. Edge computing

With edge computing, the big data analysis happens not in the data center or cloud, but close to the IoT devices and sensors. For companies, this means better performance since there’s less data flowing in the network and fewer cloud computing costs.

Storage and infrastructure costs also decrease because the company can choose to delete irrelevant IoT data. Edge computing can also speed up data analysis, allowing for faster action times from decision-makers.

10. Chatbots will get smarter

In 2016, Facebook allowed developers to integrate chatbots in its Messenger service. Since then, many companies have deployed bots to take queries from customers, giving them a more personalized method of interaction without the need for human customer service personnel.

Big Data is the foundation of this customer experience, as bots process volumes of data to produce the most relevant answer based on keywords in the query. They’re also able to pick up and analyze information about customers based on a conversation.

The improvement of bot technology will help marketers collect more/better data to develop both their customer service strategy and targeting of online ads. It also helps businesses cut costs on support resources.

Things to remember

The advancement you enjoy today in virtually every industry can all be traced to Big Data. It has helped create smarter cities, better academics, medical breakthroughs, and more efficient enterprise resource planning.

But for it to reach its full potential, you must thoroughly understand and use the right technology, skills, processes, planning, and industrial applications.

As it becomes more available and affordable to implement Big Data strategies, you can expect more changes and trends that will help your business grow and thrive.

At Great Department we have a huge expertise in working with data; managing, analyzing and visualizing. Check our services here.

Technology

Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and 12 more successful people reveal their favorite places to ‘think big’

By Great Admin on

November 27, 2018

- Technology

Business Insider had a closer look at the places where the Planet’s most successful people think.

Where is the place you think big?

That’s the question LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman said he asks every one of his guests on his podcast “Masters of Scale,” from Mark Zuckerberg to Bill Gates.

On a “Masters of Scale” episode from earlier this year, Hoffman revealed several of the responses he’s gathered over the years. He learned that Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg does her best thinking on the treadmill, for example, while Netflix CEO Reed Hastings thinks best while sitting in his living room.

Then there’s Spanx CEO Sara Blakely, who said she wakes up an hour early every morning so she can drive around Atlanta aimlessly, all because she does her best thinking in the car.

Here’s what Zuckerberg, Gates, and 12 other successful entrepreneurs said when asked about their favorite places to think big.

Technology

Facebook’s Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and bitcoin: The biggest Tech Turkeys of 2018

By Great Admin on

November 23, 2018

- Technology

Cnet has announced the list of the most successful players of the tech industry. For generations, the president of the United States has ushered in the holiday season by pardoning a turkey, saving it from the Thanksgiving dinner table.

Unfortunately for the tech industry, there’s no saving its turkeys. The list of tech screwups, blunders and embarrassments is long this year. And much of it intersects with politics because Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Reddit are now ground zero for election interference, fake news, hacking and online troll wars that spill into the real world.

I guess you can’t expect much from a year that began with Logan Paul, one of YouTube’s biggest stars, publishing a video that included irreverent scenes with a dead body he found in a Japanese forest. It didn’t get better from there. The year has seen massive hacks of Facebook, tech hearings on Capitol Hill and a $20 million fine levied against Elon Musk by the Securities and Exchange Commission over tweets made by the Tesla CEO. And that doesn’t even include the run-of-the-mill antics of runaway Silicon Valley. You know, the scores of scooters that littered San Francisco, Santa Monica, Washington, and other cities. Or the boom and inevitable bust of bitcoin. Or MoviePass, the too-good-to-be-true, oh-wait-it-is-too-good-to-be-true movie ticket subscription service.

The much-debated smartphone notch gets a mention, now that it’s part of the design of nearly all high-end phones. Also, it’s worth noting that prices for those phones have risen at least 13 percent over the past two years, much higher than the roughly 2 percent inflation rate in the US. Beyond all that, the tech industry still hasn’t figured out how to hire, retain and promote women and minorities. In October, Intel said it was “proud” that women make up 26.8 percent of its employee base, up from 24.7 percent in 2015. Yay? It’s been an emotional, exhausting and seemingly nonstop year. Maybe 2019 can be less turkey-filled.

Technology

Apple CEO Tim Cook on privacy: ‘we have to admit when the free market is not working’

By Great Admin on

November 19, 2018

- Technology

According to the Business Insider Apple CEO Tim Cook in an interview with Axios, said that regulation was “inevitable.” Apple CEO Tim Cook says regulation is coming but plans to roll with the punches. In an interview with Axios, previewed on their site early Sunday, Cook told Mike Allen that despite his general dislike of government regulation on business, “we have to admit when the free market is not working.” In regards to user privacy, Cook said, “it hasn’t worked here.”

Cook was blunt in warning “I think the Congress and the administration at some point will pass something.” Previously, Cook has advocated for self-regulation, particularly around privacy issues. In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Cook told Recode, “I think the best regulation is no regulation, is self-regulation, however, I think we’re beyond that here.” Recently, however, Cook has begun to discuss government regulation as an important aspect of the recent cultural discussion happening around user privacy.

In a Vice News interview, Cook said, “some level of government regulation is important.” Cook told Axios that he welcomes coming regulation in the realm of privacy, arguing pitting privacy and profits or innovation against each other was “a false choice.” Cook has shown a willingness to work with government officials, having met with President Donald Trump multiple times in 2018.

Technology

Salesforce’s Marc Benioff has an advice for the industry players

By Great Admin on

November 14, 2018

- Technology

Marc Benioff, the billionaire Salesforce co-founder and co-chief executive officer, has a message for the leaders of big tech: You’re thinking too small. Below is Jasmine Boyce’s nbcnews insight about tech mogul’s views on the necessary change in tech.

“I believe that business is the greatest platform for change,” Benioff said. “This is a more important time to have a positive global impact than ever.”

Benioff said that big tech’s leaders needed to shift from a money-centric worldview to one that focuses on civic improvement, calling out Facebook in particular as having a negative impact.

“Facebook is the new cigarettes,” Benioff said. “You know it’s addictive. It’s not good for you… Facebook can have very serious effects on society the same way that cigarettes can.”

Tech giants have recently come under increasing scrutiny amid reports of questionable data privacy practices, the use of technology by governments and issues of sexual misconduct by senior executives.

Benioff is ranked No. 259 on Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index with a net worth around $5.8 billion. He helped found Salesforce in 1999, building the company into one of the biggest providers of cloud-based business software. In September, he bought Time magazine for $190 million and pledged to a “steward” of the publication.

During the interview, Benioff reiterated his support of Prop C, the legislative measure adopted by San Franciscans during the 2018 midterms that taxes tech companies in order to provide funding to address the city’s rising homeless population.

Other tech executives, including Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, spoke out against the taxation measure. Dorsey tweeted that while a giant like Salesforce — which is now the largest employer in San Francisco — can easily handle the tax, smaller tech innovators would find it harder to sustain their business in the Bay Area.

Benioff added that he was disappointed by the lack of support from other tech executives at first.

“I had the rabbis and the imams and all that helping me,” Benioff said. “But there were no CEOs on my side. I was the only CEO. Now they’re coming out and it’s really helpful.”

“And that is a message, by the way, not just for every tech company,” Benioff stated. “It’s for every company which is, you know, we’re in a trust revolution.”

Technology

SAP is acquiring Qualtrics for $8 billion

By Great Admin on

November 13, 2018

- Technology

CNBC confirms SAP is acquiring Qualtrics for $8 billion, snapping up the survey software company just before its planned IPO.

The all-cash deal has been approved by the boards of both companies and by Qualtrics shareholders, SAP said in a statementon Sunday. Qualtrics competes with SurveyMonkey, which went public in September. Qualtrics is bigger and growing faster than SurveyMonkey and is also more profitable.

SAP has been counting on new cloud products for growth as the transition away from traditional desktop software has taken business from its core enterprise resource planning business. In October, the German software company raised its outlook following a 41 percent jump in third-quarter cloud revenue. SAP said it now expects revenue growth of 7.5 percent to 8.5 percent this year, up from the prior range of 6 to 7.5 percent.

The deal is SAP’s second-biggest acquisition ever, following the $8.3 billion purchase of travel and expense software company Concur in 2014. To build its cloud business, SAP acquired SuccessFactors in 2011 for $3.4 billion, and earlier this year purchased Callidus for sales performance management at a price of $2.4 billion. Qualtrics is the latest software company to get acquired just before its planned IPO. Cisco bought AppDynamics in 2017 right before its debut, and Workday bought Adaptive Insights earlier this year prior to an IPO. It also marks another blockbuster software deal and comes just two weeks after IBM announced plans to buy Red Hat for $34 billion, the industry’s biggest ever acquisition. Earlier this year, Microsoft bought GitHub for $7.5 billion and Salesforce paid $6.5 billion for MuleSoft. J.P. Morgan Chase advised SAP on the deal. Qatalyst Partners, Frank Quattrone’s firm, advised Qualtrics even though Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were the listed lead banks for the IPO. Goldman and Morgan Stanley did not know about the sale, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private. Based on investor demand, the Qualtrics IPO was 13 times oversubscribed, a person familiar with the offering said. Qualtrics gets most of its sales from subscriptions and also generates revenue from a research on demand option that existing customers can use to get feedback from “a curated group of respondents,” and from professional services. In the first half of 2018, Qualtrics recorded revenue growth of 41.7 percent to $184.2 million. By contrast, SurveyMonkey had $121.2 million in revenue during that same period, up 14 percent. After generating a profit in 2017, Qualtrics reported a $3.4 million net loss for the first six months of this year. Qualtrics was founded in 2002 by brothers Ryan and Jared Smith and their dad, Scott, along with Stuart Orgill, who resigned from the board last year. The company had 1,915 employees as of Sept. 30, and is based in Provo, Utah. Ryan Smith, the company’s CEO, was reluctant to do the deal. He went back and forth on the sale, leaving SAP unsure if it would get done until Sunday, according to a person familiar with the matter. While the $8 billion price had been agreed to weeks ago, Smith struggled with the idea of losing control of the company he founded, said the person. The Smiths owned 48 percent of total voting control, according to the IPO prospectus. When it comes to money, Qualtrics has always steered clear of Silicon Valley norms. The company didn’t raise venture funding for its first decade in business, choosing instead to bootstrap, running its operations on revenue and staying lean with expenses. In a 2016 column for Fortune, Ryan Smith wrote that, “Working with limited resources compels focus and fine-tunes problem solving.” Based on the stockholders section of the prospectus, the Smiths will make about $3.3 billion from the deal. Venture firm Accel’s shares are worth about $1.5 billion, followed by $1.35 billion for Insight Venture Partners and $910 million for Sequoia. Qualtrics has more than 9,000 customers, including BlackRock, Kellogg, Microsoft, Mastercard and Under Armour. In addition to SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics said its competitors include Aon Hewitt, Medallia and Willis Towers Watson.

Technology

Innovations and trends: How AI is improving predictive analytics

By Great Admin on

November 9, 2018

- Technology

Over the last five years, big data has become one of the most valuable assets in business. Although the process of gathering and storing large quantities of digital information has been around since the nineties, it’s only in recent years that it’s been put to good use. Indeed, as Harvard Business Review’s Kristian Hammond noted in 2013, big data is the means to evidence-based decision-making. By analyzing large quantities of information from a variety of sources, companies can make better decisions and, in turn, grow in a more efficient way. Taking this concept, companies of all sizes and persuasions have developed technology to harness the power of big data. As per a 2016 report by Forrester and TechRadar, the industry is evolving rapidly. The report noted the trend trajectory of 22 technologies within the big data sector, many of which have flourished as predicted. Of those highlighted, Forbes Gil Press noted 10 of the most significant for businesses: Predictive analytics This is the process of using data mining, statistics and modelling to make predictions about future outcomes. In other words, historical data defines a set of parameters, which computers can then use to determine what user behavior/responses might be in the future. Search and knowledge discovery These tools support self-service extraction of information from large, unstructured databases. In other words, search and knowledge tools allow someone to input a query and pull in data from a variety of unconnected sources in order to cover a single topic/request. Stream analytics This technology can take information generated from a variety of connected devices and sensors and turn it into actionable insights in real-time. This technology is most concerned with IoT and using data from a variety of smart devices to make almost instant predictions. For example, stream analytics could be used in an IoT home system to help determine the optimal living environment (heat, lighting etc.) for the user based on masses of data from the thousands of homes. NoSQL databases The use of NoSQL databases makes the processing of some big data sets more efficient. Because these databases are structured using key-values, graphs or documents instead of tabular structures found in relational databases. Distributed file stores These systems store data on multiple nodes instead of a single point. The data is replicated on each node to allow for improved processing performance i.e. the information is more readily available. This type of data storage is similar to the decentralized structure of block-chains. In-memory data fabrics This technology groups independent sources of data into a grid. This grouping not only allows each source to operate independently but as part of a collective, through which information can be analyzed either in parts or as a whole unite. Data virtualization Drawing information from disparate sources, this technique allows users to gain an overview of large sets of data in real time. This is possible because the software doesn’t replicate the data from each source. Instead, it simply delivers a unified data service that can support multiple applications and users. Data preparation With big data insights increasing, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to process it all in an efficient way even with all the current software on the market. Data preparation involves collecting and editing data from multiple sources before it’s plugged into a system and analyzed. Data integration To improve the communication between unconnected data sources, integration software has become important. Through products such as Apache Pig and MongoDB, it’s now possible to link data in a meaningful way even if the sources are completely unconnected. Data quality Not all data is good data. With speed and efficiency crucial in today’s world, businesses are now using products that analyze and cleanse data before it’s stored/analyzed. Predictive Analytics starts to shine Of the innovations listed, predictive analytics is one that’s showing it has the most utility in the current business climate. Despite the fact it’s been around for more than a decade, machine learning (a part of the artificial intelligence realm) has made this technology more effective. Prior to machine learning giving computers the ability to adapt in real-time, predictive analytics struggled with scale. Because AI systems can operate without human intervention, they can process more information. As an example, Magnetic’s AI system can process 1 petabyte of consumer information to suggest potentially profitable actions. Combining this technology with predictive algorithms can result in models that consider more information and, in turn, generate more precise outputs.

In simple terms, predictive models allow businesses to determine customer responses or potential purchases by using historical data. An example of this would be the way gaming operators draw data from in-house marketing campaigns and external comparison sites to define their next marketing campaign. For instance, after sending out a promotional email, the company has the ability to record the number of clickthrough responses. On top of this, affiliate data from comparison sites gives the company further insight into what’s hot and what’s not. Indeed, because a platform like Casinos Killer ranks sites using a myriad of data, including betting options, bonuses and overall quality, it’s easy to see which offers players are attracted to. Just like PriceGrabber and NexTag are hotbeds for user preferences, the same is true in the gaming sector. So, by tracking data from affiliates and combining it with its own insights, it becomes possible to use predictive analytics and AI to highlight trends and launch campaigns based on this analysis. Of all the trends in big data, the evolution of AI-powered technology is by far the most significant. As we’ve shown, the ability to process larger quantities of data in real-time can result in more accurate predictions. The upshot of this is that business can be more efficient in whatever task it is they’re interested in. Whether it’s security or marketing, the crossovers between big data technology and AI are playing a central role in the action. Article by Daniel Smyth

Technology

Facebook’s ‘Unsend’ Feature is Going to be Released Soon

By Great Admin on

November 8, 2018

- Technology

Great news we were all have been waiting for! Facebook Messenger will soon allow you to delete sent messages up to 10 minutes after you’ve originally sent them.

According to 9gag a Twitter user spotted that the feature is listed as “coming soon” in the release notes for version 191.0 of Messenger’s iOS client.

The note states that users will be able to remove a message within 10 minutes of sending it “if you accidentally send the wrong photo, incorrect information or message the wrong thread.”

Similar features already exist on other apps that Facebook owns: WhatsApp users were given the ability last year to delete messages for up to an hour after they’re initially sent, and Instagram has let you “unsend” messages ever since direct messaging was first added to the platform in 2013.

Messenger’s “unsend” functionality has been on the cards since April, after Facebook admitted that it had been quietly deleting messages sent by its CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The functionality was first spotted in October during testing.

Technology

Top data management challenges and how to overcome them

By Great Admin on

November 6, 2018

- Technology

While most businesses have a desire for data-driven insight, many are not realizing that ambition. The result is that data management is often fragmented and driven by multiple stakeholders. This leaves organizations dealing with a high degree of inaccurate and disparate data and BBA brought up a number of challenges to maintaining it:

Sheer volume of data

Every day, it’s estimated that 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created. This leaves organizations continuing to face the challenge of aggregating, managing and creating value from data. The sheer amount of data being created and the numerous collection channels make good data management an important, yet elusive goal.

Taking a reactive approach to data management

One of the biggest problems we often see, is that firms often don’t realize they have a problem with their data. This means many organizations take a reactive approach to data management, and will often wait until there are specific issues that need fixing.

Lack of processes and systems

When data is extracted from disparate databases, the inevitable result is data inconsistencies, and nobody trusts the numbers. A lack of processes, data management systems and inadequate data strategies contribute towards inaccurate data.

Fragmented data ownership

A lack of data ownership is one of the key shortfalls for most organizations we speak to. Data ownership is still predominantly fragmented, with the management of data quality driven by multiple stakeholders and frequently measured at a department-by-department level, rather than across the business as a whole.

Driving a data culture

Many organizations cannot invoke enough support to improve data culture. This may be due to organizations often lacking the knowledge or skills around data management and the resources required to manage data properly. A new dawn for data management As organizations begin their shift to that of a more data-centric organization, they recognize both the importance of quality data and having a more sophisticated approach to managing data. From building better customer relationships to overcoming internal and external data management challenges, organizations will need to overhaul and evolve their data processing practices. In addition, as organizations shift towards a centralized data management strategy, they will be able to take on more sophisticated data projects. The ability to use high-quality data to make critical business decisions and improve your bottom line should be a huge focus in the coming months. Data Management Services At Great Department we provide the Complete Cycle of Data Management Services. We have what you need;

Great understanding of research survey design, data collection and processing.
Advanced knowledge and skills in data analytics and statistics.
Unique visualization techniques and creative, beautiful, outstanding reports.

Dedicate your time to your next project, we’ll take care of the routine work for you! Ping us at hello@greatdepartment.com

Technology

9 Surprising facts about Bill Gates you didn’t know

By Great Admin on

November 2, 2018

- Technology

Most people know three things about Bill Gates:

He’s the richest man in America (second-richest in the world right now).
He co-founded one of the most successful tech companies of all time in Microsoft.
He’s an extremely generous philanthropist through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

But there are a lot of things about Gates you probably didn’t know, Business Insider took us through the most interesting parts of his life. 1. As a young teenager at Lakeside Prep School, Bill Gates wrote his first computer program on a General Electric computer. It was a version of tic-tac-toe, where you could play against the computer. 2. Once his school realized Gates’ proclivities for coding, they let him write the school’s computer program for scheduling students in classes. He even slyly altered the code so he was placed in classes with a “disproportionate number of interesting girls.” 3. Like many other successful tech entrepreneurs, Gates was a college dropout. He left Harvard University in 1975 to fully devote himself to Microsoft. 4. Gates was once arrested in New Mexico, in 1977. He was driving without a license and ran a red light. 5. He used to fly coach until 1997. Now, he has his own plane. He calls that his “big splurge.” 6. One of Bill Gates’ biggest splurges, besides his plane, was the Codex Leicester, a collection of writings by Leonardo da Vinci. He acquired the codex at a 1994 auction for $30.8 million. 7. Despite his immense wealth, Gates says his kids will only inherit $10 million each. It’s just a fraction of his $81.1 billion net worth. “Leaving kids massive amounts of money is not a favor to them,” he says. 8. Gates doesn’t know any foreign languages. That, he says, is his biggest regret in life thus far. 9. His favorite band? Weezer. He also calls U2 a “favorite,” and says he’s still “waiting for Spinal tap to go back on tour.” Read more exciting news here.

Technology

Samsung Galaxy S10 – it’s closer than you think!

By Great Admin on

November 1, 2018

- Technology

Samsung is planning another impressive release on 2019 and it’s rumored to be breathtaking. Techradar analyzed all the information we have so far. The Samsung Galaxy S10 has the potential to be the most exciting phone of 2019, as after the incremental upgrade that was the Samsung Galaxy S9 the South Korean firm is poised for a major overhaul. The Samsung Galaxy S9 and Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus are strong, but not 5 stars strong, and we’re going to need to see some big changes for the brand to stay on top, especially in the face of fiercer competition from the likes of Apple and Huawei. We don’t know everything about the Galaxy S10 yet, but we are starting to hear a number of rumors, all of which you’ll find below. And below that you’ll find a wish list of the main things we want – nay, need – from the phone, including an in-screen fingerprint scanner and a fresh design. The good news is that if early rumors are to be believed we might get at least one of those things. Cut to the chase • What is it? Samsung’s next main flagship • What will it cost? It’s sure to be very expensive • When is it out? Probably early 2019 Samsung Galaxy S10 release date and price The Samsung Galaxy S10 launch date is likely to be in early 2019. More specifically we’ll probably see it at MWC 2019, which takes place from February 25-28. Not only does a leaker claim we’ll see it then, but Samsung announced the Galaxy S9 range at MWC 2018, so the 2019 show is the most likely release date. Samsung doesn’t always announce its Galaxy S flagships there, but recent models have all been announced in the first few months of the year, so we’d be surprised if we don’t see the Samsung Galaxy S10 by the end of March 2019. Though it could arrive earlier, as we might see it in January at CES 2019 if one rumor is to be believed. That takes place from January 8-11, but that feels too early for such as major announcement, so we’d take this particular Galaxy S10 leak with a fair pinch of salt. Of course, whenever it is announced you might not be able to buy it straight away. When it does go on sale it’s sure to cost a lot. There aren’t any Samsung Galaxy S10 price rumors yet, but the Galaxy S9 launched at $719.99 / £739 / AU$1,199, while the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus went on sale for $840 / £869 / AU$1,349. We’d expect the Galaxy S10 range will cost at least that much when it does arrive. Samsung Galaxy S10 design and display Hottest leaks: • Three different screen sizes • A bezel-free design • A 19:9 aspect ratio and 1440 x 3040 resolution According to Samsung’s mobile business chief, DJ Koh, the Samsung Galaxy S10 will have some “very significant” design changes and come in some “amazing” colors. One leak from OnLeaks suggests those colors may be Black, Grey, Blue, Red, Green and Yellow. DJ Koh didn’t get more specific than the above, but a benchmark for a mystery Samsung phone which could be the S10 points to a 19:9 aspect ratio, which would make it taller than the 18.5:9 Galaxy S9. Along with that the benchmark suggests a resolution of 1440 x 3040, which would be a slight boost, and there’s every chance that to achieve those things Samsung would slim the bezels, fitting a larger, sharper screen into the same size body. One thing the Galaxy S10 probably won’t have though, is a notch, because, as noted by T3, Samsung has taken to Twitter to criticize the notch on the Google Pixel 3 XL, so presumably it won’t be going down that route for its next flagship. It could ditch bezels completely though, as Samsung has teased another phone(the Galaxy A8S) in the image below, showing a handset that seemingly has no notch or bezels. This might be achieved by drilling a hole into the screen for the camera, according to one source. Of course, this isn’t the Samsung Galaxy S10, but the S10 could well sport a similar design. We’ve also seen a photo, possibly showing a prototype of the Samsung Galaxy S10 (though notably the source didn’t refer to it by name but did say “this may be a design beyond”, and ‘Beyond’ is believed to be the codename of the Galaxy S10). The image, which you can see below, shows a handset with a curved screen and almost no bezel on any edge. There seems to be less bezel in fact than we’ve seen on any other phone, suggesting the front-facing camera may either pop up or be built into the screen. You can’t see much else, but in addition to the power and volume buttons it looks like the Bixby button is making a return – if this photo really is showing the S10 and if nothing changes in the design before launch, which are two big ifs, especially as reputable leaker @OnLeaks has poured cold water on the image, claiming it’s fake. When it comes to the screen though it’s worth noting that there’s sure to be more than one size. In fact, this time around there might be three. One of these, apparently codenamed ‘Beyond 0’, is said to have a 5.8-inch screen which might be flat. That would be the most basic model, but there’s also said to be ‘Beyond 1’, which apparently has a 5.8-inch curved screen, and ‘Beyond 2’, with a 6.2-inch curved screen. There’s also said to be differences in the three models’ fingerprint scanners and cameras, which we’ll get to in the relevant sections below. All of that has been given more credence thanks to people familiar with the matter speaking to Bloomberg. Those sources also confirmed the company is experimenting with a prototype that loses the 3.5mm headphone jack.

Samsung Galaxy S10 biometric security Hottest leaks: • An in-screen fingerprint scanner • An improved 3D face scanner The picture above is our only real possible sighting of the Galaxy S10 yet (and we use the term ‘real’ very loosely), but we have heard a number of things about it, and one rumor we have seen pop up numerous times is the presence of an in-screen fingerprint scanner. This would go nicely with the all-screen design that’s being tipped for the phone, and would see the Galaxy S10 follow in the footsteps of the Porsche Design Huawei Mate RS and Vivo Nex. A report claims that it will use an ultrasonic Qualcomm scanner, and that Samsung has felt pressured to include it due to Vivo and Huawei both having phones with in-screen scanners. Multiple separate sources who spoke to The Bell have said as much, adding that Samsung will also look to ditch the iris scanning tech in the Galaxy S10 in favor of an improved 3D face scanner – much like the one found on the iPhone X. An earlier rumor also talks about an in-screen scanner, stating that while an in-screen scanner wouldn’t be ready in time for the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, it would be ready by sometime next year, making the Samsung Galaxy S10 a candidate for one.

And we now have an idea of why it took so long to be ready – because reportedly Samsung is using an ultrasonic scanner, rather than an optical one, as while the latter could apparently have been implemented years ago it’s said to not be as good. More specifically, Samsung has been rumored to use a third-generation ultrasonic scanner from Qualcomm. This generation hasn’t even been announced let alone used in a phone yet, but it could mean Samsung’s in-screen scanner is the best found on any phone. Another recent report has added that while the two top-end Samsung Galaxy S10 models will apparently get an ultrasonic scanner, the most basic model will get an optical one. The difference essentially being that the ultrasonic one can map a 3D picture of your print, making it more accurate than the 2D optical option. That’s at odds with an earlier rumor though, which claims that the most basic model (the one codenamed ‘Beyond 0’), will have a side-mounted fingerprint scanner instead of an in-screen one. The other two models (apparently codenamed ‘Beyond 1’ and ‘Beyond 2’) supposedly have in-screen scanners though. But Samsung might go even further and also put the speakers in the screen, as just such a display has been shown off by Samsung Display, according to OLED Info. And the earpiece could go in the screen too, as Samsung is said to be planning a ‘sound-emitting display’ for use in a phone early next year, having already shown off the tech at an industry expo. All that combined could mean a truly bezel-free look, like the one shown in the image above, though the front-facing camera will still need to be put somewhere. Samsung Galaxy S10 camera Hottest leaks: • A triple-lens rear camera on the top-end model • 12MP, 13MP and 16MP lenses • A dual-lens front-facing camera An analyst reckons Samsung is considering a triple-lens camera for the Samsung Galaxy S10, along with a 3D sensor for augmented reality content. Analyst chatter isn’t always that reliable, but it would make sense if Samsung wants to compete with the Huawei P20 Pro and the rumored triple-lens iPhone. It’s also a rumor that we’ve now heard again, with a source claiming that while the most basic model of the Galaxy S10 might have just a single-lens camera and the middle model might have a dual-lens one, the biggest (and most expensive) version of the Samsung Galaxy S10 would have a triple-lens camera. More recently we’ve heard more details on the possible specs of the triple-lens camera, with it apparently consisting of a 12MP wide-angle lens, a 16MP super wide-angle lens and a 13MP telephoto lens. An even newer report echoes those camera specs, but adds that the 12MP one will be an f/1.5-f/2.4 variable aperture lens , just like the camera on the Samsung Galaxy S9, while the 16MP lens will have an f/1.9 aperture and a 123-degree field of view, and the 13MP lens will have an f/2.4 aperture. Some or all of the S10 models might also have a dual-lens front-facing camera according to one report, which would give the top model five lenses overall. It’s not known what the extra front lens would be used for, but it’s likely to improve the face unlock feature if nothing else. Samsung Galaxy S10 power Hottest leaks: • A Snapdragon 855 chipset • 8GB of RAM • A minimum of 128GB of fast storage We also have an idea of what might be powering the Samsung Galaxy S10, as it’s reportedly going to use the unannounced Snapdragon 855 (at least in some regions). This is said to be a 7nm chipset, which is smaller and likely both more powerful and more efficient than the Snapdragon 845 found in many of 2018’s flagships. The 855 is also said to be capable of supporting theoretical download speeds of up to 2Gbps, up from 1.2Gbps on the Galaxy S9 – though don’t expect to get speeds anywhere near this in the real world. Still, it could be a big upgrade. As could the RAM, as Samsung has announced that it’s developed an 8GB RAM chip built on a 10nm process. This, while not confirmed for the Galaxy S10, apparently has a data rate that’s 1.5 times as fast as current flagship RAM chips and can also reduce power consumption by up to 30%. One odd report has suggested the phone may sport 12GB of RAM too, but we’re inclined to believe the above about an 8GB of RAM mode. Onboard storage could also be faster for the S10, as Samsung is set to start using UFS 3.0 storage in early 2019. This is supposedly two times faster than current phone storage modules and takes up less space, so there’s more room for other components. Plus, the minimum size it comes in is 128GB, so if the S10 uses it then all models will have to have at least 128GB of storage. Samsung Galaxy S10 name We’ve also heard talk that Samsung might rename the range, launching the next model as the Samsung Galaxy X rather than the Galaxy S10. That might sound unlikely, but Koh Dong-jin, the head of Samsung’s mobile division, has been quoted as saying that “we have been thinking about whether we need to maintain the S moniker or the numbering system” so it’s possible. What we want to see As good as the Samsung Galaxy S9 is, it’s also rather too similar to the Samsung Galaxy S8, so we hope Samsung changes things up for the S10. Here’s what we want to see. 1. A new design The Samsung Galaxy S9 looks almost identical to the Galaxy S8, so it’s high time we got a new design from the South Korean company. Whether that means a notch, a new material or even a foldable phone we’ll leave to Samsung, but we want to see something new. 2. Dual or triple-lens cameras on both models While the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus has a dual-lens camera, the standard Galaxy S9 only has a single-lens one. For the Galaxy S10 we want both models to have two lenses, or better yet, three. After all, the Huawei P20 Pro has landed with exactly that to stunning effect. Samsung’s been delivering top smartphone cameras for a while now, but this year it has some real competition from Huawei, so for the Galaxy S10 we want to see it take steps to get ahead. The good news is that a triple-lens camera has already been rumored, though it sounds like only the priciest model will get it. 3. An in-screen fingerprint scanner In-screen fingerprint scanners have been rumored for various Samsung phones and the Galaxy S10 is no exception, but now that other companies have launched commercially available handsets with them we might finally see Samsung roll one out. Having a scanner in the screen means it doesn’t need to take up space on the front or be awkwardly placed on the back, plus it looks high-tech enough to make owners of other phones jealous. This too has been rumored for the Galaxy S10, so there’s a very real chance it will happen. 4. More vibrant photos While the overall quality of photos taken by the Samsung Galaxy S9 is very high, some lack vibrancy and a few are also more washed out than we’d have expected or liked. This is especially true when there’s background light, so we’d like the Samsung Galaxy S10 to be able to cope with this better. 5. Improved AR Emoji AR Emoji were one of the more hyped features of the Galaxy S9 range, but they were also one of the least impressive aspects of these phones. There are a few reasons for this. Beyond their inherently gimmicky nature it can also be hard to create one that looks like you, and when recording a video of yourself using the emoji, the camera’s facial recognition isn’t powerful enough to do it justice. While AR Emoji will probably never be an essential feature, if Samsung’s going to keep using them we’d like to see them at least rival Apple’s Animoji next time around. 6. Better battery life Battery life is one thing that doesn’t improve with each new phone generation. In fact, sometimes it gets worse. In the case of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus you’re only really looking at a day of life. And while that might generally be okay for anyone who doesn’t mind plugging their phone in every night, it’s worth remembering that the battery will start to wear out over time, so a day of life when you buy the phone means less than a day a year or two on. As such we really want to see improvements to the battery in the Galaxy S10, whether that’s through a larger unit than the frankly small 3,000mAh one in the Galaxy S9, or just through more efficient hardware and software. 7. A totally bezel-free look We’ve said already that we want a new design from the Galaxy S10, but what we’d really like is a complete absence of bezels. As in no notch either, just an all-screen front. We’re not expecting this, not least because it would presumably mean building the camera and sensors into the screen, but it’s possible and would surely be less ambitious than a fold-able phone, which we might also get from Samsung in 2019. The fold-able Samsung Galaxy X could land in 2019.

Technology

Google or Bing? Search Engine Comparison

By Great Admin on

October 31, 2018

- Technology

It’s a common practice calling internet search just googling. But do we really always google? What about the other industry giants? And is Google the best search engine? Let’s have a closer look. Who has the biggest search engine market share worldwide? Carolanne Mangles at Smartinsights analyzed the data and according to Net Market Share the global marketing share percentage, in terms of the use of Search Engines heavily favored Google throughout 2017 – averaging a net share of 74.54%.

This again reinforces the fact that Google is the market leader, however, it also highlights that the “Others” such as Yahoo, Bing and Baidu etc still hold a large audience and it would be silly to simply ignore them (averaging between 5-10% market share). It is interesting to note that although Google holds the most market share month on month it has been slowly decreasing from August, with Badui’s share slowly rising to 14.69%. Other search engines like AOL, duckduckgo and Ask all have less than 1% market share. How many searches are made each day? In 2017 46.8% of the global population accessed the internet and by 2021 this figure is projected to grow to 53.7%.

The number of people using internet search engines is increasing year on year and is almost unfathomable. Using the above Market Share chart and the data from Internet live stats, we can see the number of daily searches on Google – 3.5 billion, which equates to 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide. It is interesting to note how far search engines have come – in 1999 it took Google one month to crawl and index 50 million page, however in 2012 it took less than one minute! The internet is moving at a much faster pace and it is important to keep up in order to keep your content seen. How many searches are made on Desktop vs Mobile vs Tablet? Knowing whether your target audience is searching via desktop or mobile is vitally important for knowing how to set out your landing pages. Responsive design is a must if you want to provide a mobile-friendly UX for users and optimize content for readability and ease of access. Mobile and desktop searches have been fluctuating in dominance in the past year years, at one point Google announced that we had passed the tipping point whereby the number of Mobile searches had taken over that of Desktop stating… “more Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries including the US and Japan.” BrightEdge reports that 79% of keywords overall and 47% of keywords in positions 1- 20 rank differently in search on mobile and desktop SERPs. The graph below from comScore’s global mobile report shows the share of total UK minutes by industry on mobile and desktop. Health, news and media, games and social media have the largest mobile minute share in the UK, whereas travel, finance, B2B and portals have the highest desktop minutes. Mobile phones have been gaining website traffic year on year – in 2009 only 0.7% of web traffic worldwide was generated through mobile phones. This is probably due to the slow internet connection and the lack of mobile-friendly sites which hindered an easy user experience. However, with technological advancements and the strong growth of smartphones throughout the last 9 years, mobile internet use is much easier, quicker and accessible. In 2017 mobile accounts for 50.3% of all web traffic generated worldwide. Are you interested to raise your search engine rankings? At Great Department we have experts who can make you stand out. Check our services today!

Technology

9 great technology products that didn’t exist 10 years ago

By Great Admin on

July 16, 2017

- Technology

Everything was absolutely different a decade ago. Technology products we can’t imagine our lives without today just did not exist 10 or even 5 years ago. Below we’ve listed 9 great tech products that now make our lives more convenient and in addition saturated.

1. Android

2. The iPad

3. Instagram

4. Chrome

5. Spotify

6. Airbnb

7. Snapchat

8. Pinterest

9. Whatsapp

In conclusion isn’t it amazing how these tech products that didn’t exist 10 years ago changed the world?!

Technology

Facebook adds adverts to Messenger app

By Great Admin on

July 13, 2017

- Technology

According to the BBC – Business News Facebook is going to add adverts to Messenger app. The social platform just hit two billion users. The move follows tests of the feature in Australia and Thailand. But Facebook is still describing the facility as being in “beta”, indicating it may still tweak the service. Last month, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg told shareholders he expected Messenger to become “a big business” within five years despite it not generating a “meaningful amount of revenue” yet. He made a similar prediction for his other chat app, WhatsApp. But despite changing WhatsApp’s terms last year to permit businesses to send messages to users, Facebook has not yet revealed how it intends to deploy adverts within it.

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Education, Technology, Uncategorized

STARTUP STATISTICS – The Numbers You Need to Know

GENERAL STARTUP STATISTICS

SMALL BUSINESS OWNER STATISTICS

STARTUP FAILURE RATE STATISTICS

STARTUP FINANCE STATISTICS

FASTEST GROWING SMALL BUSINESS INDUSTRIES

INDUSTRIES WITH THE BEST STARTUP STATISTICS

INDUSTRIES WITH THE WORST STARTUP STATISTICS

Bottom Line

Why is Digital Marketing so Important for Business in 2019? [Infographic]

Education, Technology

11 Effective Dental Patient Marketing Methods Your Practice Should Use

1. Get Involved with the Community

2. Build a Community on Social Media

3. Focus on Local SEO

4. Create a Strong, Well-Designed Site

5. Use Content Marketing to Offer Value

6. Run AdWords Campaigns

7. Postcards & Mailed Offers

8. Appointment Reminders

9. Newsletters

10. Remarketing Campaigns

11. Diversify Your Keywords

Dental Patient Marketing

Top Brands Share Their Instagram Strategy Secrets

1. Focus on Consistency & Listening

2. Get Good at Creating Low-Cost Video Content

LinkedIn Announces New Data Partnership with Adobe to Improve Ad Targeting

Top Software Development Trends in 2019

What are the Top Software Development Trends in 2019? This is a common query among businesses & developers alike. Let’s find some of the best software trends for 2019:

Here are some software development trends in 2019 that need your attention. So let’s start the trends:

Software Trend 1: Artificial Intelligence

Software Trend 2: Blockchain

Also Read: WHY OFFICE AUTOMATION IS SO IMPORTANT

Software trend 3: Low Code Development

Software Trend 4: Code Quality

Software Trend 5: Language Trends

Software Trend 6: Progressive web applications

Software Trend 7: Cybersecurity:

Software Trend 8: Outsourcing

Software Trend 9: IoT

Software Trend 10: The Mixed Reality

Education, Technology

How to Start an IT Company

Steps for Setting up an IT Company

Specialized IT Company

General IT Company

Form an IT Business Team

Choose a Company Name

Form a Legal Business Entity

Determine Marketing

Obtain Necessary Certifications

Purchase Required Insurance Coverage

Develop Systems

Why Office Automation Is So Important

LinkedIn Marketing Priorities in 2019 [Infographic]

5 Secrets of Super Successful Video Marketing

1. Center Your Video Around the Story, Not The Sale

2. Make your Video Feature the Best 10 Seconds Ever

3. Use Humour in Your Video. Stop Being So Boring!

4. Optimize Your Video for SEO – Tag it Up

5. Educate your Customers with Video & Prove Yourself

Education, Technology

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Having A Virtual Office

Could These Companies Be the Next Billion Dollar Unicorns?

So who’s next?

The greatest way to visualize data for real estate company

Real estate challenges

What does big data mean for real estate data visualization?

Why visualize real estate data?

It Cuts Your time

Personalized experience

It makes Your realtors’ life easier

Be an innovative real estate agency

It reduces financial risks

FIlters and comparisons

The importance of data visualization tools?

What is the best data visualization technology?

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Article by https://blog.mapbox.com/launching-custom-layers-with-uber-2a235841a125