SigmaWay Blog

Mobile computing has changed the consumers as well as enterprise landscapes. Due to this, businesses are being forced to develop mobile-based strategies, Business Process Management (BPM) software being one of them. BPM software allows companies to gain faster and better insights into the operations taken by it. It offers a bouquet of possibilities, the major ones being business model analysis, mobile features, social interactions and cloud technology.  This software is also useful for company workers having a mobile workforce. The software can be used to operate all aspects of the business. The adoption of this platform allows companies to achieve increased efficiency, productivity and future integration of business entities to the system. In order to fully utilize the benefits of this platform, it is suggested to focus on processes that are essentially important to the business. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/7922-why-companies-are-adopting-mobile-bpm

Digital disruption, adopted by several agile institutions has serious impacts on their customers. They have been successful in creating winners and losers.

According to the author, six things to be kept in mind for disruption are:

1. Thing 1 and Thing 2 - The Internet of Things will get modified in the upcoming years thereby benefiting the customers.
2. You are what you wear - Nowadays, humans are becoming technological. Wearables benefit customers and brands with better products. 
3. Don't show me the money - Apple Pay helps the customers, banks and brands with better security and convenience.
4. Growing importance of phone - With the rising importance of mobile phones, brands are required to embrace a real-time mindset.
5. We're all publishers now - Social media directs the market forces.
6. Self -driving cars- Self-driving cars would reorganize roadway security.

Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/7830-let-s-get-disruptive-a-cmo-s-view-of-the-future

Each and every generation thrives on a different technology. The Millennial Media Report examines the relationship that the various generations share with technology and also the way they obtain information online. The report focuses on three age groups - Millennials (18 - 34), Generation X (35 - 54) and Baby Boomers (55+). With the rise of Smartphones, it has been observed that the Millennials have been discarding their desktop devices. Mostly, they access the internet through their phones. At present the trend is for screens sized between 5 - 6 inches. The rising popularity of mobile has huge ramifications across industries. The growing emphasis on mobile is likely to increase in the following days and the firms can develop by exploiting it.

To know more about this study, please follow the link: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/the-millennial-media-report

While opening a business, it’s difficult to decide whether the owner should spend money on hiring an accountant to manage the books and keep them balanced or do it on their own which can lead to mistakes causing major problems for the business. Accounting software programs came into existence which helped the owner free such costs and was easy to use. With today’s programs, anyone can be their own business accountant using the right accounting software’s. Accounting software helps the business in the following ways:

• Dealing with multiple datasets: dealing with several datasets together can be very time consuming and expensive for the owner, hence accounting software programs plays the role of an accountant reducing costs involved.

• Accurate numbers: accounting software programs work with precision and accuracy using the data entered and calculates them correctly.

• Access to data: accounting software programs allows the owner to get access to all his data any time he wants as it is stored in the program every time entered.

• Excellent records: using reliable software helps to update accounts on daily basis without paying for it every time.

• Reduced expenses: using such software programs helps the owner to lessen the costs of managing book of accounts and hiring an accountant is also not required anymore.

Accounting software is helpful for a business of any size and it helps the business to grow, cutting down unnecessary expenses required for maintaining records. Using an easy-to-use software has helped the owners save a lot of money and time and provided them with access to all their financial records.

Read more at: http://www.smartdatacollective.com/rehan-sheikh/327759/accounting-software-saves-time-and-money-businesses

Businesses should always keep invoking new technology in their systems to keep themselves updated. A recent study has revealed that innovation occurs when business models can be matched with one or more of the six patterns where technological advances and market needs overlap, thus leading to growth and transformation. These six points of overlap are named as Six Degrees of Innovation which are as follows:

(i) Meeting customers’ individual needs with tailor-made products and services.

(ii) Achieving sustainability by minimizing waste and managing resource cost.

(iii) Possessing jointly owned assets to boost efficiency and minimize cost.

(iv) Saving money whenever possible by paying only for the services that are used.

(v) Monitoring supply chains effectively by using tracking systems.

(vi) Using data and analytics to gauge customer needs and easily adapting it. Read more at:      http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/8199-innovation-technology-adoption.html

The newest development in the technical world today is smart buildings, buildings. This development has been riding the wave of IOT. It has been expected that demand for such buildings will increase to 70% by 2050. Smart cities are also a possibility, using linking devices to communicate with each other thus making it possible to analyze huge amounts of data in real time. Efficient infrastructure and storage for the information is a necessity. This set of IOT solutions has huge potential which seek to improve quality of life and well-being clubbed with increased efficiency, productivity and economic growth. Similarly, the transport sector can also be upgraded by IOT. Smart transport for these smart cities can soon be a reality. To know more, please follow: http://www.dataversity.net/how-cities-will-benefit-from-the-smart-buildings/

Shadow BI is nothing but BI applications developed by non BI professionals. It usually comes into practice when a business user loses patience in an incumbent software solution and comes up with a solution of his/her own. Shadow BI applications might appear as user friendly and appealing but most likely it might do some damage to the organization in the long run. There has been a debate as to whether shadow BI must be removed or not. Some experts believe when shadow BI becomes successful it will contribute to the BI ecosphere. Constructive professional guidance will be required to make the solution sustainable. Sometimes, it can even lead to better alternative solutions. However, there are some risks associated. The organization might be exposed to risks if the software has poor functionality, data integrity and might run into legal issues if it violates the software license agreement. Read more at: http://www.dataversity.net/how-to-overcome-the-big-data-hoarding-monster/

Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a field of computer science, artificial intelligence and computational linguistics concerned with the interactions between computers and human languages. NLP executes various tasks by understanding the language. It converts it into a machine representable format to tell the computer what needs to be done. An important aspect of NLP is Natural Language Generation (NLG). It takes the input, processes it and thereby helps to generate natural language back to the user. NLP uses machine learning in order to determine language from bunch of data. It is crucial to demonstrate milieu and subject of each word. NLP has its applications in various fields. It is also used to categorize text into different sections and also to translate the language.

For further details on Natural Language Processing, please follow the link: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/a-beginners-guide-to-nlp

Road cycling had been a dominant sports form through publicity of celebrities. But mountain biking has never been so easy because of its complex technology. Effective suspension to absorb huge bumps with powerful pedal strokes are required for mountain biking. World’s top mountain bikers, Tracey Moseley and Jerome fitness, endurance as well as technical skills, all are required to be at the top of the list. Practice makes a person perfect – so better to practice at various terrain in various weather to know how to use skills efficiently.  The new technologies include increasing stiffness of bikes allows for a better power transfer from pedal strokes to the drive train. Thus basically technology is improved based on the performances. According to both, the skills learnt in mountain biking provides a broad base which can be transferred. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/talking-mountain-bikes-with-two-world-champions

Companies are constantly generating large amounts of data both from internal and external sources. They are even storing these data. But some of it are useful for future projects while others are never used again. In today’s world of big data, storing data does not create a challenge as does managing and utilizing information. Storage costs are beginning to hurt companies but connectivity allow for some relief. Timing is crucial as presenting data at the right time matters a lot. Retrieval of the data with relevancy, accuracy and integrity can sometimes pose a challenge. With storage and backup infrastructure in place, storing data becomes relatively cheap. Read more at: http://www.dataversity.net/how-to-overcome-the-big-data-hoarding-monster/

Medium and large enterprises are increasing their investment in data center facility particularly in health and financial sectors. There has been increased investment in cloud and colocation providers and more investment is expected. Most of this investment is targeted at rack and cabling, power equipment and data center infrastructure management software. Investing in data centers have become an important part of supporting growing business demands.  Enterprises are allocating more budgets in coming up with modern datacenter facilities. This increase in spending will let equipment vendors with large premium sites of their clientele gain the most. To know more, please follow: http://www.dataversity.net/enterprises-increasing-investment-in-datacenters-focus-on-upgrades-and-retrofits/

Machine learning has showed tremendous potential to transform companies from inside out. Everyday new algorithms are coming up that are being used to encounter data and tackle new problems. On the other hand, a closer look at machine learning reveals it to be nothing more than a branch of statistics for a world of big data. Business executives with a thorough understanding of machine learning have the ability to reach efficient business outcomes. In this age of data, firms have to work with large scale data. Both advanced software and hardware is needed to manage, analyze and store it. Herein lies the applicability of machine learning. To know more, please follow: http://www.dataversity.net/what-business-execs-need-to-know-about-machine-learning/

The present events ongoing in the world economy give us the impression that we are amidst turbulence and chaos. To become more active and adjust to rapidly changing events, Finance Planning and Analysis (FP&A) departments should consider a vast amount more of data for forecasting. A lot of this can be achieved by making use of advanced technologies like Cloud, Big data and analytics. With Cloud, necessary information can be disseminated to required destinations. FP&A organizations are now moving from spreadsheets to enabling technologies and integrated platforms thus ensuring transparency of assumptions and drivers. Big data and analytics enables faster than ever processing of data. Using software, sifting through a chunk of unstructured data and identifying patterns has become easier. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/the-rise-of-the-rolling-forecast-for-fp-a

Delivering added business value to existing product and services can be done through the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT can help organizations improve relation with customers without much physical interaction. Using IoT, personalized services can be delivered in a less personal way. The key to launching IoT is to think big. Organizations should be able to identify the limitations yet be able to offer integrated services including IoT and other services and applications. After creating an understanding of IoT, companies should communicate its values, potential, risks and ecosystem roadmap implications. An example of how IoT can be used to deliver personalized services can of the car insurer who, in the event of an accident of his customer, is informed immediately through the car's on-board systems. Read more at:https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/7726-why-a-customer-is-never-a-thing

The finance function has undergone a metamorphosis in recent times owing to financial crisis and several other events. The treasurer is now being relied upon to cut costs and add value to organizations. Treasurers, today, face the challenge of doing more with less and this is being facilitated by cloud. Cloud facilitates movement of money and information between countries. Having a centralized treasury team can be done away with as using cloud platform facilitates management of operations from every corner of the world. Communicating with partners outside the organization is also made easier with a cloud-based treasury management system. Treasurers are being prevented from using Cloud due to safety and security of data issues which can be overcome with cloud providers providing better security than in-house systems. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/the-treasurer-and-the-cloud

Hadoop has grown to be one of the best large scale and batch oriented analytics tool, used by webscalers as well as enterprises. Hadoop was designed to integrate with and complement the existing business intelligence of any corporation. But, the issue with Hadoop is that the adoption rate is very slow with the data center administrators. So, most developers have been looking at possible alternatives. Today we will name a few worthy alternatives that you can look at which have a potential of replacing Hadoop in the years to come. They are:
• Disco
• Misco
• Cloud MapReduce
• Bashreduce
• Qizmt
• HTTPMR
• Skynet
• Sphere
• Riak
• Octopy
• MapReduce
• Filemap
• Plasma MapReduce
• Mapredus
• Mincemeat
• GPMR
• Elastic Phoenix
• Preregrine
• R3
• Ceph
• QFS
• Cloud-Crowd
• HPCC
• Condor
• Storm
• HaLoop
• MapRejuice
• GoCircuit
• Spark
• Stratosphere
• Gridgain
• MongoDB
• Mars
• Minceat
• Dato Core
• HPCC
• MapReduce Lite
• Gearman

For more information visit:
http://www.fromdev.com/2015/03/hadoop-alternatives.html?m=0

Up to 16 Exabytes of RAM can be supported by a 64-bit system. Machines with 128GB RAM or more are becoming common with this era of Cloud Computing and Big Data. The data sets for Big Data are getting too large for even heavily loaded machines with memory despite the best efforts, don't fit into the RAM even after clustering in some cases. Researchers at MIT created a cluster called BlueDBM using Solid-State Drives (SSDs) to get rid of the memory problem. They also moved some of the computational power off the servers and onto chips. By pre-processing known parts of the data onto the flash drives prior to passing it back to the servers, the chips made distributed computation much more efficient than before. They thus got rid of the overhead of running an operating system. Read more at: http://www.itworld.com/article/2947839/big-data/mit-comes-up-with-a-no-memory-solution-for-big-data.html

Uncontrolled urbanization is posing as a great threat as it puts immense pressure on the resources available. Some of the issues that will be faced in this scenario are clean water, clean air, power, waste management and living space.
Big Data and Internet of Things (IoT) are some of the technological forces which are pushing towards smart cities. With the help of Big Data a range of applications are being made available with the help of which smart cities can be made more livable. Applications like smart street lights are already being used in smart cities like Birmingham. Street lights are attached with sensors which monitor footfall and noise levels and based on this data, the light turns on or off. Cities like Bristol, England are installing an infrastructural network that will support the data generated through Big Data and IoT.
These examples are minor steps in building of Smart cities which can sustain growing population without hampering the quality of life. Read more at: https://icrunchdatanews.com/big-data-building-smart-cities/

In today's world most of the jobs which were performed by humans have been replaced by robots and computers leading to increase in unemployment. For example: robot waiters, robot doctors and self-driving cars. A company in China is installing 30,000 robots every year that has snatched the work that was earlier done by human beings. Today robots are becoming cheaper so there is possibility that they might take over the jobs of human beings even in low cost companies. The main cause of this threat is the invention of smart machines. There is inverse relation between smarter computers and employment. Every year computers are becoming smarter, doubling their processing power and memories.  Machines that have Artificial Intelligent (AI) and smart computers that can act own their own have adversely affected humans, leaving them unemployed. Also high skills are required to operate these smart computers and not all humans got the same. According to some economists, AI should be controlled otherwise the results could be disastrous. Read more at:http://www.smartdatacollective.com/bernardmarr/330436/ai-biggest-threats-your-job

The introduction of Hadoop has changed the outlook of businesses. It is a software system that has made processing large sets of data located on distributed servers an easy task. Hadoop is mainly used for analytical purposes boosting business performances and customer relationship management. It has worked wonders for small businesses as it has incorporated concepts of big data analytics. Data is much more accessible now and the cost of procurement has been drastically reduced. Some convenient features in Hadoop has made it much more attractive for small businesses. Hadoop has made effective use of big data possible to optimize businesses. With its value increasing day by day, more and more companies from various sectors are going in for Hadoop. Read more at: http://www.dataversity.net/an-introduction-to-hadoop-for-small-businesses/