SigmaWay Blog

I found this interesting article which described transformation to Agile using a metaphor of the train's journey. Source and destination points are described as process initiation phase and successful completion of the process. An agile coach is the driver of the train which leads the transition. This approach made sure that Agile coaches were available at the right time and helped coaches transforming 800-900 individuals per year with the help of 10 agile coaches. There were certain steps followed by each team- Agile introduction workshop, Management Start-up, Training and Start-up, Warm-up, Ongoing support, and evaluation. But this metaphor was used in the starting days of Agile. In the present time, we need something faster than a train. So, how about a racing car? Why? Because, it’s fast and will help the team in understanding the need to respond rapidly to changes. Read more at: : https://www.scrumalliance.org/community/articles/2016/january/travelling-without-moving

We all are aware of the revolution brought by the cloud computing in today's business functionality. The management and storage of big data in cloud is well known to everyone. One of the best outcomes of cloud based solutions is the Hosted VoIP technology which is changing the way we communicate. On an average, 7 out of 10 telecom customers still do not understand what Hosted VoIP is. In short, VoIP is the concept of using the internet and cloud based servers to place calls instead of using traditional PBX boxes and phone cables. The same concept applies to telecoms solutions built on a larger scale. Irrespective of the type of business Hosted VoIP is beneficial to all. To read more about Hosted VoIP visit at:http://www.smartdatacollective.com/josh-rose/367715/72-people-aren-t-familiar-hosted-voip

Drop shipping refers to the direct delivery of the products from a manufacturer to the retailer or the customer. This is very convenient if you are going to start an ecommerce business. This decreases the overhead as the costs of purchasing inventory or managing warehouses is eliminated. The businesses using drop shipping find scaling easier. For example: if you receive four times as much offers, you'll usually need to do four times as much work. But with drop shipping most of the work to satisfy the additional orders is to be done by the suppliers. This makes businesses flexible. Most of the startups find difficulties in raising funds. So, it is easier to start with drop shipping. It even offers the largest variety for the customers. Being directly linked to the manufacturers selling the products, number of middlemen decreases. Fewer the middlemen, bigger the profits of a business. Read more at: https://econsultancy.com/blog/67406-what-is-dropshipping-and-is-it-right-for-your-business/

Firms often spend a huge amount of money on display marketing. But as a consumer, do you remember at all the last display ad you saw. The answer is NO. Display Marketing can be very effective if targeted. It is important to know which item should be placed on which site and what part of the site. Most vendors don't go into details of the strategy, thus shelling out more money out of those interested in display marketing. Algorithmic attributions can be used to determine how the impressions will impact the ROI. Learn more about it in the article written by Sandy Martin (Sr. Business Consultant) at : http://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/analytics/how-to-get-more-from-display-marketing-with-analytics/

Yes! Agile is for everyone, not just for IT industry, though it has become a misconception because it is majorly implemented in IT world only. Let's just understand what is agile. Agile is a framework which helps in problem solving with use of teamwork, with main focus and priority for delivery and a constant effort on finding ways to improve the quality of work and the product.  So this can apply whether you are building software, a toothpaste, a dam, or managing a restaurant. There are some things which surely must be kept in mind while considering a shift to agile. Like, what am I really trying to build or achieve? How do I create a creative environment where the right people on the team? How to keep focused on the agenda? How do I measure progress? How to increase feedback and learning cycle? If you can answer these questions considering your business, then, welcome to the agile world! Read more at - https://adtmag.com/articles/2015/07/06/does-agile-apply-to-you.aspx

A system outage is worse than a nightmare for the IT managers. Downtime is when, the system on which your business relies is dead, down or unavailable. In spite of any levels of preparation, this problem is faced by most of the organizations. And the recovery period builds astronomical pressure on the IT team. A report suggests that the majority of the system outages is due to ill planning. System Outages lead to huge revenue losses each year. Downtime affects the reputation of the business firms significantly. Read more about system outage at: http://www.evolven.com/blog/downtime-outages-and-failures-understanding-their-true-costs.html

We often get placed or appointed for roles which we don’t want to pursue after few years but it’s not so easy to change the line of course. For example, if you are part of the technical team, it is not easy for you to switch to the managerial team. But the organizations must understand that rather than appointing people to work or designating work, they sometimes should create vacuum holes. By vacuum holes, I mean an opportunity which is open to all to work on. But then this might create a problem that everyone would want to work in some profile which they love and the actual work which is to be done will lose its priority. So the company should make policies to balance the two things. For example in Google, an employee can invest 20% of his/her work hours to do something he/she likes to do. So rather than appointing work, companies should create a vacuum and should see who steps up to fill it in.  Read the complete article by Mike Cohn (Founder of Mountain Goat Software) at: https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/leave-work-unassigned-and-see-who-steps-forward

Interviewing a ScrumMaster is pretty much similar to interviewing any other employee but there are certain attributes which must not be neglected. They are :

• ·         Responsible: Its Scrummaster’s responsibility to bring the best out of each team member.
• ·         Humble: ScrumMaster must work with “we” ideology rather than “I”
• ·         Collaborative: SrumMaster must ensure a collaborative environment where anybody can raise questions.
• ·         Committed: ScumMaster must be committed to success of the project
• ·         Influential: ScrumMaster leads the team without direct authority, so they must be influential.
• ·         Knowledgeable: having the knowledge of the domain or the project is a big plus

To know more, read the article by Mike Cohn (founder of Mountain Goat Software), at: https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/advice-for-interviewing-scrummasters

Cybersecurity is a very important and is becoming one of the biggest worries for companies. According to various surveys, companies are investing a lot of money in cyber security and training their employees in it. It is estimated that till 2020 investment in the cybersecurity will be around $170 billion. In today’s world as the data is rising, so the risks on it are also increasing. The pattern classification systems that machine-learning algorithm rely on themselves exhibit vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers. As we know machine learning algorithms train themselves with the training data set so it may be manipulated according to the needs as hacker wants. For example, Search-engine-optimization algorithm was trained and manipulate website content to boost results in the search ranking or senders of junk emails try to fool spam-filtering algorithm. Even the results of the public election can also be affected by 20% or more as it is found that the order in which candidates appear in search results can have significant impact on perception. To read more about Cybersecurity risks, follow the article by Dr. Kira Radinsky (CTO and Co-founder of SalesPredict) at: http://blog.kiraradinsky.com/author/kiraradinsky/

Predictive models are used to predict future outcomes on the basis of data collected from past. Many organizations take their crucial decisions based on the foundations laid by the predictive models. But what if the model goes wrong? "BOOM"- crash of a significant part of the strategy! Though each predictive model has some scope of error. There are chances that the input variables considered for the model were not appropriate. But we need to find out what kind of error and to what extent it is acceptable. There is a need to work on the foundation of the predictive models to prevent failures.  Read more about it in the article written by John Bates(Senior Product Manager for Data Science & Predictive Marketing Solutions) at: http://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/analytics/what-to-do-when-your-predictive-marketing-is-wrong/

Gone are the days when the tiny pieces of paper were most essential parts of CRM. Automation has made it lot easier by keeping the data records. Sticky notes are quite prone to physical damage, leading to loss of critical information. Automated systems keep data records safe and highly organized. This way data can be efficiently sorted or searched. If you still continue to wholly rely on sticky notes, come out of the cocoon and take the benefits of technology. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/crm-and-the-death-of-the-sticky-note-70917

When we talk about Artificial intelligence, we always come across the question,' will there ever be possible that machine replaces humans and preforming better than us?' The answer is partially 'yes', as at least in many things machines are performing as unchallenged champions of creativity and intelligence. Areas where artificial intelligence already performing better than humans are.

• Search the web quicker. Machine learning AI helps in web engine optimization through understanding the meaning of words and phrases, and can therefore guess what should be in the page ranking in never seen before searches.
• Work in deadly environments. Robots can survive in conditions where humans can’t like deep space, the oceans penthouse, or inside a radioactive reactor.
• Get a PhD quickly. Few critics of AI argue that machines could never be creative, or curious, or discover anything of significance, but team at Tufts have proved the naysayers wrong.
• Deliver a correct medical diagnosis.
• Translate in many languages.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-zarkadakis/5-things-ai-can-do-better_b_8906570.html?utm_hp_ref=technology&ir=Technology

Two main goals of Agile Sprint are building new functionality and building new knowledge. Building new functionality seems obvious for sprints, but teams also need to focus on building knowledge.  Each sprint should end smartly from its inception.  A UI designer should focus on both of these goals. Within a sprint, a UI designer helps in coding and testing of his/her design while simultaneously, he/she focuses on the next design feature to be built. A UI designer's top priority should be working in the current sprint. If a developer or tester needs any clarification regarding the design than he/ she should immediately halt the work and attend to their queries. But then one might say that every member of the team does so. Be its analysts, architects, database designers. The difference lies in the amount. Designers spend majority of time in building knowledge. To know more, read the article by Mike Cohn (founder of Mountain Goat Software), at: https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/incorporating-ui-design-in-scrum-sprints

A customer visits your site or product, checks the available options and services offered. Then he decides to go along with you or not.  Good business policy is to give a personal touch to each customer so that they feel at home each time. But taking care of their needs at each step becomes a time taking process if done manually. On the other hand automation makes it more smooth and effective. If CRM is practiced along with automation, it sets everything into a correct perspective.

Read more about it in the article written by Inside-CRM at http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/five-ways-marketing-automation-and-crm-go-together-like-peanut-butter-and-jelly-70904

Why to go far? If we see in our recent past artificial intelligence and machine learning were very exciting and dream topics among engineers and developers. But now machine learning has emerged as the ideal branch of big data and working as oxygen to concepts like artificial intelligence. Year 2015, was a year of massive market shifts. Machine learning (ML) and its super set artificial intelligence (AI) where computer receives new information and learn without supervision have played very important and revolutionary role for the shift. Still Machine Learning has much more in the store. Year 2016 is going be a big year for machine learning. Usually, computers have been used to enhance the ability to carry out tasks. Users see this with features like auto completion and spell check. In the upcoming year these leaps are likely to be made on three fronts: natural language processing, personalization, and security.  To know more about machine learning follow the article written by Motti Nisani(author) at: - http://www.geektime.com/2015/12/27/2015s-big-leap-into-machine-learning/

Those using Predictive Analytics easily outpace those who don't. There is a clear incremental sales lift in the marketing campaigns which consider predictive analytics. Every organization strives to achieve a higher return on investment (ROI) from that spend on marketing. Predictive analytics help creation of unique customer profiles by analyzing the data.  Read more about how Predictive Analytics can be useful in B2B marketing in the article written by Laura at: http://blogs.forrester.com/laura_ramos/15-07-02-the_power_to_predict_can_give_b2b_marketers_an_unfair_advantage

Generally, product owners' role is to tell WHAT TO BUILD instead of HOW TO BUILD it. But there are some situations when product owner must specify some architectural decisions. Let's consider a scenario, years ago; when Sun was looking for the ways to promote Java, they paid companies who made certain applications using Java. But, such decisions should not be taken regularly. Product owner can decide what hardware pieces to be used to make the product economically viable. So product owner can dictate architectural decisions, but they should take good care and should make decisions sparingly, wisely and ideally. To know more, read the article by Mike Cohn (founder of Mountain Goat Software), at: https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/can-a-product-owner-dictate-the-architecture

If customer experience is better then only customer will be loyal to the brand and according to many surveys, customer experience improves sales. Thus, investing in improving customer experience is not typically an investment, but a sales opportunity. It becomes more important in case of online websites as there are a limited number of interactions to impress the customer. Word-of-mouth is a significant and cheapest source of marketing that directly affect the targeted audience. This reputation of a firm is affected by a customer’s experience. So to conclude, improved customer experience will result in improved sales, better reputation and loyal customers. Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/invest-improving-customer-experience-01418769#WJErvfXdbvlskeWL.97

Cloud was an unknown term to almost all small and medium businesses (SMB) 4 years back but now nearly half of the SMBs have adopted cloud. There are many factors behind it. The first is ability to access to data stored on cloud with mobile devices and mobility is very important in today’s world. Second factor is backup and recovery adequacy of cloud which is a cheaper option than buying and maintaining a backup system. Another reason why cloud is an attractive option is that standardization leads to improved data security. With cloud gaining immense popularity in the future any SMB not using it would be a rare site similar to a person not using smart phone in current era! Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/cloud-computing/rise-cloud-small-medium-business-market-01418782#ORT38DDsW5VFwVHp.97

Security is an important aspect in any organization. In case of a security breach, company suffers a loss of trust in addition to money. For security, organizations are storing terabytes of data and with big data analytics security has become a nimble and deterrent strategy. It rapidly spots a suspicious pattern. In enterprise security, a small anomaly can be of great importance. Security breach occurs via an unimportant channel in a long period of time. If the organization has right tools, then only it can detect a hacker’s actions in time. With big data analytics data at rest and real time activity can be monitored with ease and organizations can be safeguarded in better way. Read more at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2015/11/23/improving-data-security-through-big-data-analytics-2/