SigmaWay Blog

Customer relationship management deals with all types of interaction between a company and a customer, whether it is sales or service-related. Customer relationship management is generally used to explain the relationship between business houses and customers. CRM systems are also used to manage business contacts, clients, contract wins and sales leads. Technology Advancement have changed consumer buying behavior, and today there are many alternatives in which a company can get in touch with its customers and collect data about them. Technology and the Internet have changed the way companies approach customer relationship strategies. There are various benefits of CRM strategy like it helps  understanding the customer, retaining customers through delivery of better customer experience, attracting new customers, win new clients and contracts, increased profitability, decrease customer management and helps the companies to know what the customers and the general market want. To know more about CRM go to:http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/CRM.html

Healthcare industry has changed a lot from what it was five years ago. Thanks to influx of technology, policy reforms and care model innovations. Patients, today, are better informed by instant access to health information sources. According to a recent study by Intel, patients today are ready to see technology play a greater role in their care. Technologies like ingestible monitors can collect valuable health data and also the providers are eagerly using mobile devices and telemedicine tools to better care for their patients which in turn helps to increase operational and administrative efficiencies. Health systems are also dependent on big data to improve and better manage population health. Physician and hospital use of health IT has already more than doubled in 2013, and 2014 is going to see another exponential innovation. Cutting costs and broadening access to quality of care and also emphasizing on patient's experience, providers are refining ways to better serve their patients. Apart from such innovations, use of sensor technology, relying more on big data will increase. Health systems will become more transparent. Read more at:http://www.informationweek.com/healthcare/leadership/healthcare-in-2014-innovate-or-be-left-behind/d/d-id/1204285

Disruptive technologies are technologies that will transform existence, commerce, and the worldwide economy. According to a report, there are twelve technologies that could bring massive economic alterations and disturbances in the coming years. The report also states how these technologies could modify our world, their profit and confront, and propose rule to help leaders’ .Business leaders should update their organizational strategy continuously with the developing technologies, and use technologies to progress inner presentation. Disruptive technologies can change the strategy for businesses, create completely fresh yields and services, and changing team of value between creators or from producers to customers. Organizations use business model improvement to arrest that value. Leaders need to presume from where risks are coming from and should look further than confirmed models. Organizations also need to make sure to keep their workers’ abilities advanced.Read more at:

http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/disruptive_technologies

It will take several years for banks to implement the necessary changes to become customer-centric. They need to assess their operations, identify what needs to change, and then implement the changes and the systems to support them. After the 2008 crisis, customers have eschewed “too big to fail” institutions in favor of local banks. Customers realize they have multiple banking options, often selecting different institutions for different services. A customer with a credit card from a multinational may keep savings and checking accounts locally. Attracted by competitive interest rates, the same customer may apply for a loan or mortgage with a regional bank – or even an online institution.To increase their share of wallet with customers, banks must address three fundamental areas: organization, processes and technology. However, once they crack the code on how to deliver a better experience to customers, they will position themselves to seize phenomenal opportunities to engage with customers. Ultimately, that translates to higher revenues. To know more on why banks should embrace a customer-centric model go to:

http://www.banktech.com/business-intelligence/banks-must-embrace-a-customer-centric-mo/240166955 .

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 .

Wearable technology is the latest trend in healthcare industry. This technology helps doctors, by assisting them in the operating room and providing real time access to electronic health records. By collecting information through this technology, healthcare providers now have more complete and essential real-time data to treat patients. David Peterson - CMO Emdeon Inc., believes that the adoption of wearable healthcare-related devices could indeed be a significant step in patient engagement and improving population health. Not only doctors, now patients can also monitor their own health continuously. Read more about this technology at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vala-afshar/wearable-technology-the-c_b_5263547.html

For emerging markets, exploring data to predict trends is not an easy option, mostly because of less availability of data in new fields. However, organizations in the emerging markets have the option of gradual progress. They have to start with analysing small data and then there will be scope to move into big data in near future. Problems for companies trying to do business in these areas are limited access to information and appropriate analytic modelling techniques. Gartner reports that companies are predicting 40 to 60% of their growth in revenues will come from emerging markets over the next decade, and McKinsey & Company predicts that in 12 years, 57% of the nearly one billion households with earnings greater than $20,000 a year will live in the developing world. "Companies need analytics to cope with these new markets," said Richard Howells, vice president of Go to Market for SAP. To know about this aspect, please visit the following link: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/start-with-small-data-in-emerging-markets-to-get-to-big-data-analytics/#. 

The sheer proliferation of new online devices and digital consumer channels is pushing leading-edge companies to rethink how they connect and engage their customers. Connection between business and customers in digital channels is known as customer journey. An integrated portfolio of technologies including self-service mobile apps, customer communities and open product development can reshape today's customer journey. To know more about the change in customer journey, go through the article by Dion Hinchcliffe, expert in information technology, business strategy and next-generation enterprises.

http://www.zdnet.com/the-new-digital-customer-journey-cross-channel-mobile-social-self-service-and-engaged-7000015570/

Chief Information Officer of any organization should realise the change in technology and making enterprise software attractive should be the part of their strategy. Strong, responsive, high-energy, customer-focused service is what delivers value and makes a company attractive and this is being enabled by the digital transformation. To know more about the points which CIO should keep in mind while entering the digital age, go through the article by Vala Afshar, Chief Marketing Officer of Extreme Networks.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vala-afshar/do-cios-need-passion-to-s_b_4802303.html

Nowadays technology has thoroughly engulfed the workplace. Its strategic adoption and meaningful application by the typical worker is just the beginning. The shape of digital workplace will change in recent days. To know the change of the digital workplace, go through the article by Dion Hinchcliffe, an expert in information technology, business strategy and next-generation enterprises.

http://www.zdnet.com/examining-the-digital-workplace-in-2014-7000026781/

When it comes to businesses and increasing their profitability, it is of no doubt that Big Data has brought in revolutionary changes. With proper handling of Big Data and data management, companies are trying to increase customer satisfaction and increase customer retention. Now, let's take a different look. 

Consider trading - capital market is one industry, where millions and millions of data float around. Regulatory bodies, banks, financial institutions store and analyze all these data that range over a large time horizon. They also need to study risk management practices and create new trading strategies. In capital market where focus has shifted from high frequency trading to discovering patterns and insights from financial data that can be used as case studies, big data can be made to its use. Financial services organizations are needed to invest in data management software that can harness the power of big data technology and extract hidden information.

How can they do so? Read them at: http://www.bankingtech.com/221932/big-data-and-data-management-in-capital-markets/ .

Docker is an open source Linux containerization technology which lets an admin run multiple apps with all their dependencies in secure sandboxes on the same underlying Linux OS. It makes an attractive alternative to typical virtualization. Hadoop community is working on patches that will bring Docker into the data management system. To know more, go through the article by Jack Clark, World's only Distributed Systems Reporter.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/02/docker_hadoop/

Dialogic Inc. (the Network Fuel company), announced that CreaLog (a telecom platform provider), is using its PowerMedia™ XMS media server software. This software allows customers to have face-to-face conversations with agents through its call center. The WebRTC capabilities of the PowerMedia XMS let CreaLog add real-time web conferencing over an Internet browser, accessed through a PC, tablet, or smartphone.

To read more, visit the following link:http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/05/prweb11869403.htm

Mortgage Returns, a provider of TRUE CRM technology and automated marketing solutions for the mortgage industry, has added new features to their TRUE CRM system. It provides companies with new marketing materials, content control and advanced reporting capabilities.

To read more, visit the following link: http://www.contactcenterworld.com/view/contact-center-news/plumchoice-establishes-new-training-facility-to-support-growing-subscriber-base.aspx 

In an article by Anuradha Divakaran, ‎marketing executive at Harbinger Knowledge Products, we get some insights about how technology has radically transformed the way of human capital management. The inundation of technologies like cloud, mobile, social media, big data and analytics in various HR processes has streamlined and automated workforce acquisition and management. Analysis of crucial data on employee remuneration, performance, learning and development helps organizations to draw a connection between employee efforts and business success to enhance performance management.

To read more, visit the following link:http://blog.harbinger-systems.com/2014/05/technology-revolution-in-human-capital-management/

Big data is one of the important buzzwords in technology world. Nowadays, in addition to traditional enterprise data, companies are collecting data from different sources. Though big data is being used in high pace, companies working with big data are only concerned about the best product. To know more impact of big data, go through the article by Natalie Gagliordi, ZDNet staff writer.

http://www.zdnet.com/the-impact-of-big-data-on-enterprise-apps-7000028994/

Technology has redefined healthcare industry.  Lot of new dimensions are active into the arena of healthcare industry today, but we have to look into the other side of technology in healthcare as well. The cost of medical treatment is going higher & higher as many new technology enabled options are coming up. "Computers make things better and cheaper. In health care, new technology makes things better, but more expensive," said Jonathan Gruber - an economist at MIT. We need to manage data both on patient and system level - to realize higher-quality and better-value care. We also need technology that will take us to the next level and will reduce costs. To read more, visit: http://recode.net/2014/04/28/technology-made-health-care-expensive-can-it-now-control-costs/

Customer contact centers fulfil different functions according to the organization they serve and the industry that they function in. Regardless of their objectives, the focus should be on the customer - meeting expectations, enhancing service levels and improving satisfaction. Contact centers are finding it necessary to add more communication channels to their platforms in order to get in touch as easily as possible. Customer satisfaction and performance levels remain among the most important tenets of any call center and the market is changing to address customer communication needs. Technologies like unified communications will be playing a greater role in going forward.

 To know more about this aspect, read the article by Mike England, content director of Imago Techmedia, follow http://www.callcentrehelper.com/customers-driving-unified-communications-55759.htm

Mark Russinovich, Member, Microsoft Azure team, said he sees PaaS as “writing code that is integrated with a runtime environment, as opposed to code that is dropped into a virtual machine that's sitting on a bare-metal server, a legacy kind of server. That is the key differentiator point. The software knows something about the environment it is running in”. In a panel on "The Future of PaaS in an IaaS World" at Cloud Connect Summit, with a high level of disagreements among panel members, much has been revealed about PaaS.

To read more, visit the following link:

http://www.informationweek.com/cloud/platform-as-a-service/what-is-platform-as-a-service-experts-disagree/d/d-id/1141665

Private banking in Asia-Pacific is a dynamic and evolving market with regional variations in regulations and requirements. As wealth management continues to grow with more opportunities in the mass affluent market, private banks will need to rely on technology to handle the increased volume. In addition, private banks are also dedicating more resources and budget on technology solutions to support and ensure compliance with regulation changes. While there is potential for the convergence of private banking and asset management, it is still important that the technology platform can deliver a personalised client experience as wealth management is still predominantly a relationship-based business, especially so in Asia-Pacific.

Together with panellists from Bank Julius Baer and Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, investment management solution provider Charles River has drawn some key conclusions about the industry in the Asia-Pacific region during Private Banking Asia 2014 event, held on March 19th and 20th in Singapore. To read more, visit the following link:

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140410005052/en/Charles-River-Discusses-Increasing-Role-Technology-Wealth#.U0dzt1VgXgw