SigmaWay Blog

Big data developments in 2015 show significant change in terms of data storing as well as data analyzing techniques. Measuring data agility is becoming more and more popular, as opposed to the conventional system of storage and management of data resources. The investment and scope of big data projects will be directly related to the impact and of an organization's response to changing trends among consumers, markets and competition. Another big trend organizations will focus on in 2015 is usage of data lakes. Using data lakes, Hadoop and BI systems and cloud computing, real time data analysis and decision making is expected to be fast. So the dynamic change in technology will bring revolution in terms of business decision making. Read more at: http://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/advancements-in-big-data-in-2015 

Yes, a $10 supercomputer swept Wall Street away. Braxton McKee, math and computer whiz, is tapping into the cloud to fetch all that market data inexpensively and built a software that employs Machine Learning algorithms to understand this data. Thanks to Cloud Computing and Big Data analytics getting cheaper, many startups and businesses can now employ their functionalities to provide services that are efficient, fast and scalable. The large amounts of data is mostly unstructured data, such as corporate documents, transcripts and social media and with the rise of Cloud Computing, the process is finally cost effective. Entities have begun leveraging cloud power to help hedge funds and other financial players run complex, big-data computer models. Maybe Cloud based Big Data analytics is the future. Read more at: http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/10-hedge-fund-supercomputer-sweeps-wall-street-with-power-from-the-cloud-20150521-gh68hx.html

Software as a service (SaaS) is a software licensing and delivery system in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. The advantages of the SaaS model are that it is easier to manage and that all the users have the same version of the software because updates and patching is done automatically. It grants global accessibility, making remote working models easier, which reduces costs and improves performance. The SaaS industry is now maturing beyond simple, historical financial measures towards a sophisticated operational measure in the form of a new Customer Success Metrics and Predictive Analytics.
Some of the giants in the industry are Salesforce, LinkedIn and Workday and while their services vary, the most significant one remains their cloud computing applications and platforms. Read more at: http://zeendo.com/info/top-10-software-as-a-service-saas-companies/

According to James Heskett, Predictive analytics have the potential power to produce remarkable services and longer lives. Now, predictive analytics is also applied on humans. Recently, companies are sending information to target customers about products of their interest. With the advancements in big data and cloud computing, the accuracy of this science is improving now. Predictive analysis is also essential for organizations focusing on customer satisfaction in delivery time. Read More at:http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/7527.html

Cloud computing is a type of computing that relies on sharing computing resources rather than having local servers or personal devices to handle applications. Cloud is powerful but many of us our in beginning stage. Here are some benefits of using clouds:
• It helps to your Manage Cash Flow
• As all new innovations are happening in Cloud so there are wider choices
• Automate and Drive Efficiencies
• Gain better insights into your business
• Cloud helps us to grow cost effectively
• With the cloud you can keep your IT equipment costs low, and minimize your hardware and software maintenance costs
Read more at: http://smallbiztrends.com/2015/04/reasons-to-move-to-the-cloud.html

According to John Sculley (entrepreneur and the former CEO of Pepsi-Cola and Apple) a drastic change is taking place in marketing with the expansion of incredible new technologies like big data, cloud computing and numerous miniature sensors as well as mobile devices, making customers smarter. Nowadays customers value each other's opinion more than the producers'. With the beginning of a big-data marketing era, the prospects for entrepreneurs to disrupt and build companies have improved because technology costs have reduced. Read more at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/238363

The first milestone in cloud computing history was marked by the arrival of Salesforce.com in 1999, which is the pioneer of the concept of delivering enterprise applications via a simple website. . The next development was Amazon Web Services in 2002, started providing a suite of cloud-based services including storage, computation and even human intelligence through the Amazon Mechanical Turk.In 2009, as Web 2.0 hit its stride, Google and others started to offer browser-based enterprise applications, though services such as Google Apps. According to Dan Germain, chief technology officer of Cobweb Solutions, “The most important contribution to cloud computing has been the emergence of "killer apps" from leading technology giants such as Microsoft and Google. When these companies deliver services in a way that is reliable and easy to consume, the knock-on effect to the industry as a whole is a wider general acceptance of online services.” To know more about the history of cloud, go to: http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/A-history-of-cloud-computing

What are the problems faced when migrating multiple IT services to the cloud?  Inconsistent service attributes: Service attributes include security, reliability, availability, scalability, quality of service (QoS), support, and service level agreements (SLAs).  They determine how well a service will perform and how much time and energy will be required. Crosstalk: This can happen when multiple services compete for the same resource, such as bandwidth or network router processing power. Cloud services money pit: Each cloud service provider must charge a minimum monthly fee to cover its infrastructure costs which becomes excessive as the number of services and the number of providers increases. User friction frown: While single sign-on can alleviate a small portion of the redundant task "friction" caused by multiple IT services, keep in mind how much aggravation your users may experience. However moving to cloud computing can lower capital expenses, lower onsite management and upgrade costs, global service consistency, virtually unlimited scalability, and better support for remote and mobile workforces. Read more at :

http://www.informationweek.in/informationweek/news-analysis/297554/headaches-multiple-cloud-services

There is a blending of the system administrator and network administrator roles as a result of emergence of cloud computing and software defined infrastructures. Historically, the demarcation of the two, happened at the RJ-45 socket on the NIC. Anything that involved the cable, switches, routers etc. was not the concern of the sysadmins. Likewise, if the light was blinking on the NIC, anything happening inside the box was not the problem of network admins. Now, sysadmins, particularly application administrators, must now be cognizant of network technologies and operations, network admins who want to keep networks in top shape must now have an awareness of what application traffic is flowing across the network and how to design and implement networks to support those needs. Thus the roles are merging and in the near future, they both can be together known as "cloud administrators". Read more at: http:

http://www.informationweek.in/informationweek/news-analysis/297170/rise-cloud-administrator

Cloud solutions can help businesses lower total costs and transition from a fixed cost structure to a variable one while freeing up critical IT resources for strategic initiatives and innovation. In case of Cloud applications cloud providers are responsible for the maintenance, operations, and bandwidth of the software and not the cloud customers. Finally, cloud applications are accessed through standard web browsers, providing scalability and agility to the customer. Unlike traditional on premise software applications, cloud applications are located and managed remotely and built with a single code-base customized to the company's needs. Some advantages of cloud computing are: Increased speed in responding to unforeseen events, Easy to get the latest updates, adoption is quick and simple, improved information security, deployment time decreases from years to months, lower risk with subscription based cost model. Increased strategic agility, short deployment times, lower risk and costs - the advantages of cloud computing are compelling. To know more, go to: http://blogs.sap.com/innovation/cloud-computing/6-benefits-of-cloud-computing-032893 

Cloud is the most scoring buzzword in technology and business spaces. Everyone is talking about the business benefits of cloud - benefits like cost, affordability, storage, etc. It is known to all of us.

Cloud has a flip side also. While there is no problem with data storage, but retrieving and uploading them is a problem. The problem is because of limited bandwidth. But, the way everything is now becoming connected – from jet engines in airplanes to mobile devices in your hands, we cannot reject data connectivity. It is not possible either – because predictive analytics has gained prominence where real time data serves as input and the analytics tools are located remotely. Third and fourth generation cellular networks are simply not fast enough to stream data to and fro. When there is a problem, there must be a solution to it. Experts are saying to stop concentrate on cloud and look at an alternative approach. Christened as ‘fog computing’ by Cisco, it has some edges over cloud computing. In cloud computing, where devices are distant and remote, in fog computing, it is just the reverse. Things are done near to the devices that are not so much powerful, but can make decisions.

So, the next time you go for cloud computing, give a thought over fog computing. Know more about it at: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304908304579566662320279406?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304908304579566662320279406 .

Nowadays large suppliers are improving their products while making them easier to implement and simpler for users to adopt. Cloud computing has totally changed the enterprise environment. To know more on the transition of enterprise software, go through the article by Michael Krigsman, analyst, strategy advisor, enterprise advocate.

http://www.zdnet.com/saving-the-dry-lifeless-soul-of-enterprise-software-7000026198/

In an article written by Chris Preimesberger (?Editor, Features & Analysis eWEEK web magazine), gives us some reasons that why we should move our contact centers to cloud. Moving contact centers to the cloud will ensure better security, flexibility and productivity. It also opens an opportunity for companies to adopt cost-efficient IT, which empowers customers to be in control of their software. Cloud-based software focuses on the customer needs and business goals and simply enables a better user experience.

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Cloud computing enables companies to get agile, leverage infrastructure on demand, and run it like a utility. The cloud environment provides flexibility, scalability and continuous availability with expert services. Rapid prototyping and to solve business process through analysis can be easily done by having access to a cloud environment. While the benefits are many but, the public cloud does not fulfill the needs of individual organizations which need better privacy and data security. In public cloud, many clients can access virtualized services from the same pool of servers and resources, but in private cloud clients mainly access services from a distinct pool of physical computers. Nowadays many organizations opt for a middle way i.e. hybrid cloud solution to avoid disadvantages of private cloud. Please go through the link for more details: http://www.daywatcher.com/what-is-a-private-cloud/

It is true that cloud computing is rapidly changing the nature of businesses. Now, it is spanning across various industries. Even, the legal industry has adopted the cloud technology in recent years.

Though, it is a fact that cloud has brought in numerous benefits, but security and privacy are main concerns. Particularly, these are very much important in legal issues as they deal with clients which are privileged information. But does that mean that lawyers will stop adopting cloud technology? Definitely not. They have to use the technology in such a way so that they can realize maximum benefits of using it.

At a panel discussion titled “Privacy and Your Practice: Data Sovereignty for Lawyers,” held at CUNY Law School, experts discussed how lawyers can cope with the technology maintaining privacy and security simultaneously. To know the discussions, read them at http://venturebeat.com/2014/05/06/practicing-law-in-the-age-of-cloud-computing/ .

In recent times, if you have surfed internet, then you have probably come across cloud computing. Due to its benefits like mobility, cost advantage, etc. companies are switching rapidly to cloud environment from existing on premise platforms. With Big Data in forefront, the usage of cloud computing has spurted.

To win the heart of prospective customers, cloud based IT service providers have started to offer cloud services and at present, a stiff competition is going on between them. Surrounded by this fierce competition, you may become confused about choosing the right type of cloud service provider for your organization, since it comes at a cost. Whether you are a technology chief, a business owner or alike, while selecting your cloud service provider, you should ensure that its potential benefits are in tune with your business objectives. For that, it is a must that you should ask some critical questions about the architecture and management of the service being considered.

So, what are the areas that you should consider while framing up the questions before you actually avail the services from a cloud service provider? Read them at http://www.zdnet.com/key-questions-when-selecting-a-cloud-based-provider-7000027391/ to know.

Whether you are a startup, entrepreneur, SME or a large business enterprise, cloud technology is the thing that should come to you handy. Unlike the past, where a newbie in a business has to think twice over investing in costly equipment, cloud has made the job easy. With scalability, ubiquity and user centricity, it is the cloud that should be on your agenda in setting or developing up your business, irrespective of size.

With cloud, you can have access to technological advancements at a cheaper cost enabling you to compete with your rivals. With cloud technology in your hands, it can even happen that you are defeating your rivals!

Read more at: http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2014/apr/15/cloud-computing-large-businesses-benefit.