Arduino platform consists of two parts -  the hardware and the software and is hooked on sensors. You can build as simple as pressing a button, or as complex as using ultrasound to detect distance or sending a message to your computer. So, the Arduino is a simple computer which you can built yourself. It is popular because the hardware is cheap, it is easy to program and there is a huge web community. Read more at: https://www.wired.com/2008/04/just-what-is-an/

To learn more from the expert, visit: www.gosigmaway.com/events

The Arduino platform, introduced in the year 2005, provides an inexpensive way for hobbyists, students and professionals to create applications that can be played in the human interface world using sensors, actuators, motors, and other basic products.

Arduino is a single board microcontroller that can be designed to make applications, interactive controls, and at the same time is environment friendly. The hardware consists of a board designed with an 8-bit microcontroller or a 32-bit ARM. Nowadays, the current model has features like USB interface, analog inputs, and GPIO pins which usually allows the user to attach additional boards.

Common applications include making of simple robots or motion detectors. It also offers a simple integrated IDE or Integrated Development Environment that runs on our personal computers and allows the users to write programs for Arduino using C or C++. Arduino boards can be purchased pre-assembled or as do-it-yourself kits.

 The five major benefits of using Arduino starter kits are:

 1.       Inexpensive – Arduino boards are cheap as compared to other micro controller platforms and Arduino modules
       can be assembled by hand, and even can be pre-assembled.

2.       Cross-platform – The software can run on Windows, Macintosh OSX, and Linux operating systems.

3.      Simple programming environment – It is easy to use for beginners, and also flexible for advanced users.

4.  Open source software - The Arduino software is published as open source tools, available for extension
    by experienced programmers. The language can be expanded through C++ libraries.

5. Open source  hardware – The Arduino platform is based on Atmel's ATMEGA8 and ATMEGA168 microcontrollers.

Interested in getting started with Arduino?  visit: www.gosigmaway.com/events

Earlier, CRM solutions have focused only on sales operations and management. It is found that users reluctantly turn to CRM, since these platforms represent added work for the typical rep and are not easy to use. This is where good sales automation can play an important role and would use CRM automation.  

In CRM automation, instead of CRM serving as a management reporting tool and system of record for contact details, automation can make CRM more useful for sales department by streamlining contact management, reducing workload and creating more opportunities for closing sales. Read more at:  http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/six-tips-for-better-crm-sales-automation-78365

In today’s business world, robotic process automation or RPA is everywhere. Nowadays, you can automate any business function with a software robot you wish to. It is found that the emergence of RPA in the enterprise is like an arbitrage of software i.e.  you can use the price differences between business process outsourcing and RPA as an advantage in a business. It is also predicted that the RPA market would grow to $2.9 billion by 2021 from a base of $250 million in 2016. The basic advantage of  RPA is that it can unite with existing business process management (BPM) and workflow tools. Read more at: http://www.cmswire.com/digital-workplace/robotic-process-automations-reach-expands-in-the-enterprise/?utm_source=cmswire.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cm&utm_content=nl-daily-170823&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTW1SbE16ZzRPVE0wT1dZeCIsInQiOiJ5WXd3XC9Ybm45d3FvUnRwZjIxcGdzcENSK0ZPNCtjNlAraTZ2c2NZMjUyMythMlwvbjJ5dXpVSDJtVXFDWnNVYnRKM2ZcLzB4eGxhbTNia0hwaWlmRWxIMmlJWlhDclhYMTl5bVlVZUdBVklZVFwvQUxTM1NYNVdEamIzTmV5Tmk2YVgifQ%3D%3D

Major reasons why chatbots fail is their inability to understand the context if someone is being sarcastic. They fail to decipher if customers try to mix two languages or more. More than aiming for convenience, it ends up harming the user experience. Trying to make the bot answer every query rather than on a particular area makes it dysfunctional. In many cases, bots may fail to have human intervene into a problem or escalate the issue that it is not able to answer. It is more about how the chatbot is deployed. Disconnect occurs when businesses put chatbots without thinking through the customer or internal user journey. Nonetheless, chatbots would still make sense for functional activities for e.g. looking for nearby restaurants, flights between two cities, weather etc., instead of evolved transactions like choosing products and adding to cart that’s more suited to a browser experience. The technology is here to stay but it is not mature currently. In next three-five years, there will be a  lot of industry segments replaced by chatbots. Read more at https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/297633

According to authors, innovations in the areas of Artificial Intelligence(AI),Machine Learning and Deep Learning are beginning to dominate the technology landscape but the actual user experience and concerns about privacy and security are obstacles that can prevent AI from reaching its potential. Despite it’s negative implications, a Consumer Intelligence Report by PwC, revealed, that most consumers believe AI will help humankind, by solving complex problems, like fatal diseases, city traffic, cybercrime, infrastructure and fraud, that plague modern societies , thereby helping people to live more fulfilling lives. AI could revolutionize  personalized healthcare by analyzing data thus helping in maximizing life expectancy and enhancing wellbeing.AI will expand access to financial, medical, legal and transportation services to those with lower incomes thus emerging  both as a process and a product that instills trust and transparency in consumers. Read more at https://aitrends.com/security/consumers-welcome-ai-despite-lingering-privacy-concerns/

According to authors, modern-day marvels are the result of machine learning, which are programs that combine through millions of pieces of data and start making correlations and predictions about the world , by using machines that uses cold hard data to make decisions that are sometimes  more accurate than a human’s, thereby reducing biases. Computers don’t hold any inherent biases, as machine  knows only one approach i.e. the objective analysis and are capable of analyzing massive amounts of information, thus having  a distinct advantage over humans. Utilizing the data for machine learning, can uncover contradictory and surprising results by making data more accessible, more understandable and  enabling the organization to achieve a new level of business intelligence, thus empowering decision makers at all levels with a powerful tool. Read more at https://aitrends.com/machine-learning/machine-learning-cure-decision-bias/

According to authors, the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) creates several opportunities for retailers to improve their customer services , insights and business processes. AI makes it possible to generate insights on a scale like never before, it does this by combining customer data  across all platforms( from social media to CRM) like past purchases, search habits, click behavior, age, gender, season of the year and various other variables and self learning algorithms. By crawling the web and aggregating various forms of customer data, AI gives retailers the opportunity to engage with customers on a more personal level. Through chat applications such as Facebook and Messenger and by using chat bots on websites, the potential customers can communicate with the retailers using speech or text, that will assess and answer customer queries, thereby assisting in the selection process and helping in the execution of simple tasks. Read more at https://aitrends.com/retail/robots-ai-retail-8-things-must-know/

According to authors, the days of journeying to a travel agency and sitting at the desk of an agent to book a trip have all but disappeared as technology is increasingly putting that level of personalised service in the palms of our hands by launching travel apps that incorporate artificial intelligence and technology .One such app is the Green Card app, that simplifies the process of getting a green card to  enter  into a foreign country, on the basis of a bot, that files out a questionnaire ,which when answered,  generates  a package of documents that can be filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to complete the application process. This saves ample time. Another personal travel assistant Mezi,  designed for travel management companies, corporate and travel agents was launched two years ago and claims to have AI capabilities that customises travel suggestions based on past searches and online habits. Read more at https://aitrends.com/mobile/a-i-innovation-finds-a-home-on-mobile-devices/

According to authors, two of the machine learning APIs introduced by Google in the month of March, has moved forward into a new dimension i.e. open beta status. Cloud Natural Language APIs which analyses syntactically and assigns a constituent structure to the meaning of texts, helps in finding out the sentiments expressed via texts and online reviews, the syntax of the text and assists in understanding  entities like people, places, events, products, and media. New York used this techie for exploring sentiment analysis of  the stories published in The  New York Times and it was found that relevant updates about news didn’t enjoy a favourable environment, whereas, the arts stories enjoyed positive support. Read more at https://aitrends.com/business/googles-cloud-adds-machine-learning-apis/

According to the author, Artificial intelligence is one of the most effective technological tools, if used properly, businesses can witness reduced requirement of human hands in performing the tasks. Using Artificial Intelligence in the following ways, business can achieve its success: 1) AI should be used smartly to mechanize all the tasks, thereby,minimising the requirement of manpower, to achieve the goals. 2) Artificial intelligence is most efficient in identifying patterns, medical sectors can be benefitted largely if they make judicious use of AI. 3) Rather than replacing the human elements from the system with AI, focus should be on increasing the use of AI and atomizing the tasks that don't require much skills. 4) Artificial intelligence should not only be used to analyze data, but also to be used creatively in other uncommon areas. Read more at http://www.tomsitpro.com/articles/using-ai-for-business,2-1144.html

Across the globe, in the banking sector, the increased exigency for sturdy laws to keep the customer's personal information secure is a result of increased involvement of Information Technology(IT) in the banking sector. In India, the following legislations have been introduced in the banking sector to protect customer's personal details: 1) As per the Credit Information Companies Act, 2005, CICs, based on the past records of the customers, determine whether they are eligible to access credit facilities, after which information are provided to the  financial institutions and have a restriction of not sharing the informations with any other party except the user, unless otherwise stated. 2) Another notion has been introduced under Insolvency and Bankruptcy code, 2016, known as Information utilities. It creates a robust data storage platform to store all the financial informations of the customer, helping the banks in lending credit to take better decisions. Despite having such strong legislations, customers often fall prey to phishers and end up sharing their personal details, which is clearly a result of lack of implementation. Read more at http://bankingfrontiers.com/data-privacy-banking-sectorstriking-balance/

According to the author, in this age of technology and machines, where almost everything is being replaced by the machines for avoiding errors and for the simplification of work, the old definition of being smart is no longer valid. The new definition of being smart is the one that makes us improve our high order thinking skills. The new definition of being smart is determined by the quality of our analytical skills, effective listening and the ability to relate for better understanding of the goals. Read more at http://smmry.com/https://hbr.org/2017/06/in-the-ai-age-being-smart-will-mean-something-completely-different#&SM_LENGTH=7

At the 10th anniversary of the original iPhone, Apple decided to do something unique. The design changes brought on the iPhone includes edge to edge LED and many more. According to the sources, more changes can be brought like eliminating the home button by building the fingerprint sensor into the display. Read more at: http://www.firstpost.com/tech/news-analysis/wwdc-2016-siri-imessage-and-maps-open-to-third-party-devs-3683655.html

Cloud solutions for small businesses is efficient as you don't have to worry about physical storage of important documents, not pay anybody to maintain it and can access it anywhere, anytime you want to. You can do online banking and pay off loans and bills on the go, manage payroll and attendance of employees on the cloud. With cloud collaboration tools, employees can be connected via emails and video chats. Cloud solutions can help one to manage social media where you can plan the best posts at one time and queue them up to get published one by one. Cloud accounting software lets you monitor your company's financial health, check cash flow and makes you independent of an accountant. Read more at :

http://www.business2community.com/cloud-computing/use-cloud-solutions-business-save-time-money-01874209#6YlfjXuxx1wflP1Z.97

AI and machine learning is making progress and covering every sector possible, and this aspect has lead it to make advancements in the field of medical science as well. AI is now being used to detect which fertilized egg will lead to healthy babies in the process of in-vitro- fertilization. IVF in its initial days was highly dependent on the experience of the doctors and the embryologists for the detection and choosing of the correct eggs, but with time, this scenario has changed. Usage of AI in this field has lead to the elimination of the potential, human errors, accuracy in detection and speedy results. Scientists believe that instead of human looking at thousands of images, a piece of software looking at them could lead to an eventual learning and hence better predictions. TO READ MORE GO TO: 

http://analyticsindiamag.com/ai-steps-decide-embryo-will-result-ivf-success/ 

We all need data and findings to go about our work in our respective organizations and, to some extent, make our own deductions from a database available to us. To understand and consume our data well, we don't have to be an expert in interpreting the data, rather we could use this opportunity to learn and also gain knowledge to help ourselves in future data interpretations. In fact, we should seek help from the team in charge for more information. An organizational data can help you know a lot about the people working in it and the trends of your organization. One shouldn’t let inexperience hinder data implications. A little practice and confidence will help you go long in this path. Read more at :

 http://www.business2community.com/big-data/responsible-data-consumption-know-enough-not-dangerous-01697405#EBAq0QXBKKRFl0Qm.97

According to authors, target  marketing  strategy  is the key to success ,which propels new technology into action to communicate effectively and quickly with the customers. Understanding the intricacies of both changing technology and Artificial Intelligence, is crucial for achieving success, as much of this is happening through machine learning and taking advantage of robots and AI. It’s the responsibility of the Chief Marketing Officer(CMO) to transform and spot out the same, thereby, changing the company’s identity. This requires skilled manpower, who can understand and effectively combine human interaction with machine learning. According to stats, the top revenue generator in the upcoming years will be marketing. Therefore leveraging AI is crucial to amplify the potential gains. Read more at https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2017/06/30/how-the-cmo-can-leverage-ai-internally-and-externally/&refURL=&referrer=#6974b0db367d

According to authors, the remarkable impact of Application Programming Interfaces(APIs), is in the analytics front. From accumulating data from new root to evaluation, it has radically changed the face of analytics and the core role of the citizen data scientists ,by gathering right and reliable datasets ,thereby simplifying advanced analytics and enabling them to devote more time behind identifying and interrogating new and valid questions about data. Developers can borrow functionality from other apps by allowing interaction between two pieces of codes , thereby bringing different bits of software together. Efficiency depends on use. Whether APIs will replace citizen data scientists or not, in future, is unpredictable, as, on one hand, business users will have easy access to analytics without their support and on the other hand, their role will also evolve. Read more at http://blogs.sas.com/content/hiddeninsights/2017/06/23/apis-data-scientists/

According to authors, AI and Machine Learning algorithms, introduces us to an era of intelligent conversational environments , by  bringing about a paradigm shift in technologies and strategies ,thereby collaborating the rate of progress in business and process for automation, thus making an enterprise more smarter ,flexible and conversational. AI mainly focuses on making support systems more efficient across a multitude of applications, processes and business domains, bringing about intelligent collaboration capabilities to the emerging Conversational Workspace platforms, improving workflows, automating repetitive tasks and initiating automated interactions via voice assistance ,thereby, helping an organization to take better decisions and grow. Read more at https://aitrends.com/speech-recognition/idg-contributor-network-the-growing-impact-of-artificial-intelligence-on-workplace-collaboration/