SigmaWay Blog

If we talk about the recent past, machine learning was only used by a few who understood the algorithms and had access to very huge amount of data on which to employ it. But with the evolution of big data technology becoming a commodity and algorithms easier to use, machine learning has moved out of the hands of the few to the hands of the citizen developers and regular users. Four key steps taken in 2015 for the development of the machine learning are:-

# learning became easier to use.

# Everyone and their brother released a machine learning library or toolkit. 

#Big data to feed machine learning also became cheaper and easier.

#The label “machine learning” was applied to way too many items.

Read more at: http://www.infoworld.com/article/3017250/application-development/4-great-leaps-machine-learning-made-in-2015.html

Even at the time of hiring, workforce analysis influences from starting i.e. creation of a job description and worker roles, till the recruitment of the person with better chances to succeed in the organization. Through the analysis, companies can make better hiring choices and monitoring the performance in real time. This will help companies to refine their organizational structure and develop talent and leadership within the organization. Workforce analysis will also help in reducing legal claims issues. These all will contribute in cost reduction and smooth working of the organization. Read more at: http://www.smartdatacollective.com/sarah-smith/358073/control-business-costs-workforce-analytics

Agile teams must embrace change. After all, that is what agile means, right? Accommodating changing customer's requirement… But the stakeholders or customers must also understand that nothing comes for free in the world. So are changes. They have a cost related to them. Scrum works on a rule that once the required changes are fully stated, a sprint begins. And no changes are allowed into a sprint. Once a sprint is started, it’s not disturbed and the team’s entire focus is on selected work. This is good and works efficiently, but can sometimes backfire. The customer can question that the foundation of being agile is to welcome changing requirements. Well, yes, but they aren’t free. Customers must understand that changes introduced beyond a certain point have a cost related to them. And both the customers and organization should work together to optimize results with the minimum cost.To know more, read the article by Mike Cohn (founder of Mountain Goat Software), at: https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/change-isnt-free

Every project starts with a Software requirement Specification (SRS) document, but somewhere in the middle a decision to adopt agile methods is made. So the question arises whether an SRS can serve as agile's product backlog? Let's find out. An SRS is a document with all the direct or indirect requirements of the system are listed. It generally has statements like "The system shall.."

Whereas product backlog serves two purposes: 1. It lists the work that is to be done and 2. It prioritizes the work to be done. It is different with the SRS in the sense that SRS only tells about what work which is to be done, not the priorities. So just for the sake of adopting agile, SRS should not be mixed with user stories, instead a product backlog should be created which will serve the purpose well. To know more, read the article by Mike Cohn (founder of Mountain Goat Software), at: https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/can-a-traditional-srs-be-converted-into-user-stories#

It's all about customer experience - make it better using Data Driven Marketing! It's important to treat them like true customers by taking them through personalized life cycles. Normally, customers are expected to feed the website with lots of data regarding their preferences and personal details. So there is a lot of data in the hand of an owner. But the value lies in effectively scaling data and analytics to enrich their journey. Thus, planning the marketing strategies by keeping in focus the results of this data analytics. The article written by Kevin Lindsay digs deeper into the power of Data Driven Marketing at: http://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/personalization/strength-in-numbers-best-practices-for-data-driven-marketing/

Clickstream is recording of the parts of the screen of a computer user clicks on while web browsing or using another software application. Clickstream Analysis refers to collecting, analyzing, and reporting the data about visitors visit. This is generated by recording the succession of clicks each visitor makes. This helps you to get insights of the behaviour of the visitors. Hence, you can manouver your strategies as per this analysis. It gives you the information of how long a visitor stayed on your website and how often he returns.  This gives a wealth of information to be analyzed.  To know more about clickstream data analysis go through the article written by Jaoa  Correia at: http://www.blastam.com/blog/index.php/2015/04/move-into-limitless-world-of-clickstream-data-analysis

As the field of Data Science is growing, the confusion regarding the skills needed to be a data scientist is also increasing. Most of us think data science skills range from computer science and statistics, to machine learning and strong communication. But, the top data science skills list includes data analysis at the top, followed by others like R, Python and machine learning. As per recruiter lists, R, Python, SQL, SAS and Hadoop are appreciated. To know more about data science skills, follow the article written by Daniel Levine (Content Marketer for RJMetrics) at: http://www.smartdatacollective.com/daniellevine/366486/top-20-data-science-skills

We all have bid our goodbyes to 2015, and as we begin to focus on 2016, there are many accelerating business intelligence trends that must be kept in mind. Business Intelligence continues to be one of the fastest developing areas in 2016. The craving for more advanced and affordable business intelligence tools and techniques is increasing each day. More and more people have begun to realize the world of data and are using it to get some meaningful insights. Read more about top business intelligence trends of 2016 at:http://bigdataanalyticsnews.com/10-business-intelligence-trends-for-2016/

Mobile Marketing is the use of the mobile medium as a means of marketing. According to a report, the IoT device market will double the size of smartphone, PC, tablet, connected car, and wearable devices combined by 2019. The Internet of Things provides a network of physical objects or things embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity, thus enabling collection and exchange of data. To know more about how it can hit the target mobile marketing, follow the article written by Arun Bhattacharya (author) at: http://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/mobile/how-to-add-wearable-devices-to-your-mobile-marketing-strategy/

Datafication is a process that captures almost every aspect of the world as data. With datafication, interactions can be quantified easily with the help of big data analytics. Data is generated for almost everything ranging from temperature readings to social media. This data is useful for analyzing patterns and making predictions about the future. These predictions not only improve business efficiency and finances, but also boosts customer experience and improve relations with the customer. Big data's tools' ability to extricate insights from the collected data have led to a new information revolution of sorts. Universal applicability is another exciting opportunity in this field. The future of retail commerce seems brighter now as datafication is here to stay. Read more at:http://insights.mastercard.com/2015/07/06/datafication-the-new-buzzword-for-business/

There is a misconception about agile model with teams across the world. They create an iterative waterfall model and call it agile. In a traditional waterfall development, analysis of the entire project is done first, followed by design for the entire project, followed by coding and testing. In iterative waterfall, the same approach is followed, but each story is treated as a mini project. They do the analysis for one story followed by design, coding, and testing. This is not agile. They confuse both the model because they thrive to build an agile model without exactly considering its meaning. The incorporation of user stories, or treating it as short placeholders for future conversations; each story becomes a mini-specification document. Ideally, in an agile model, all types of work would finish exactly at the same time, be it analysis, design, coding or testing. It is not always possible to achieve this, but it should become team's goal. To know more, read the article by Mike Cohn (founder of Mountain Goat Software), at: https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/an-iterative-waterfall-isnt-agile

Many people worry about reaching out to unknown professional. Here are some tips to introduce yourself to new faces. 1) Personalize your invitation letter to connect avoiding usual generic format. 2) Don't waste time in getting to the point after your personalized introduction. One must be straightforward and state your intentions up front. 3) Whenever a person receives an invitation, they try to find common ground with another individual. Don't let him hunt for it, instead mention it in brief example, common skills or organization. 4) End with a call for action and lastly, always keep your profile updated before sending messages to new contacts. Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/linkedin/5-tips-connecting-strangers-linkedin-01412129#AVQmfkk5uvJit3qh.97

This New Year, let's look back at the marketing experiences throughout 2015. We have learned that the fundamental concept of digital marketing is unaltered, no matter which industry we target. But, it teaches us to adapt to changing habits and practices of customers. Here are 3 digital marketing truths you should keep in mind - 1) to grow our presence across different channels, mobile is the only channel that has grown so rapidly. 2) Removing barriers across different channels so that your customer is able to communicate better. According to customers different preferences it's necessary to use data management platforms for organizing information. 3) Use of automation to use right content at the right time. Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/digital-marketing/top-3-digital-marketing-truths-take-away-2015-01413555#Cll3tXd2oAKuqhgF.97

Nowadays, many businesses have discarded content marketing because it has many things to create and promote that it has become time consuming. But, today's consumer need more information about brand relationship and trust. Social media is becoming an important source of information through various channels. Organizations should drive people to that blog or to other pages on the website where they can get things of value and it should be done very effectively. Nicole Boyer (a valued contributor to Business 2 Community), writes in her article about some ways to make your social media promotion the best it can be. They are -  1) Use related visual which engages more consumer to like and share information 2) Headlines does count, so it as to be catchy and appealing. 3) Choose the right platform for posting content according to the target audience. 4) Multiple posting is also becoming trendy to gain attention by changing names or headlines. But you should know the perfect time for re-sharing. 5) Try to keep the conversation rolling by adding comments and feedbacks from readers. Lastly, get everyone to share your post. Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/social-media/get-social-9-ways-promote-content-brand-social-media-01411863#pBWAtI7cbRYeEqG8.97

Primary activities of any oil and gas company generate large amount of data. This is developing heightened demand for big data and services in this sector. The market ofr such solutions is expected to grow by $3.99billion to $5.41billion in 2020.  Big data analytics could help in reducing time lag, and improving drilling parameters in identifying any traces in seismic signatures derived from geological and operational data. Employing data analytics can also help detect any abnormalities in drilling and could save millions in labor and equipment costs. Recovery and production can be enhanced by applied analytics seismic and drilling data. One of the major challenges faced by large companies is lack of skilled labor which can be solved with knowledge management using big data. Recent Paris Agreement has created unprecedented opportunity for countries for decreasing temperature less than two degrees celcius above pre-industrial time which encourages oil companies to improve operational performance and efficiency. Read more at: http://www.technavio.com/blog/how-oil-and-gas-using-big-data-better-operations

3D printing technology was first used in 1980s, but was mostly limited to government and industries that time. Later in 2009 it became commercially available for consumers. Despite its more and more consumer-friendly models introducing in market, 3D printers continues to be out of the financial reach of average consumer. Makerbots costs $2,000 which is by the way still not bad compared to the price tag of industrial printers ($5.000-$10,000). There are some open source projects happening to make technology make more widely accessible. Others are providing customizable services through internet options. Global 3D printing market takes into account shipment from OEMs in automatics, consumer products, healthcare, aerospace and defense. Due to which its expected to boost the marker from 1.95 billion to 11.07 billion. Industrial side is what pushing the technology forward in automotive sector contributing 21.2% to the global market.  Honda and Peugeot have used 3D printers which are released in files so that anyone can achieve that design. Read more at: http://www.technavio.com/blog/car-parts-body-parts-3d-printing-showing-no-signs-slowing-down

Nowadays, Marketers are re-examining the role of TV advertisement in digital age for making budget modification, as very few are tuning in TV to watch your ads. The number of Youtube viewers are increasing marketers are blending it and new viewing trends to learn new ways of drawing customers. The first driver of Youtube visitors is it  variety of content such are mash-up of memorable events, movies trailers etc. This has lead many personalities to entertain online which are rather becoming more famous among viewers according to a survey. Secondly, Youtube is gaining respect in media industry as it garners credibility to views as reach metrics Third drivers has to be the cord- cutting movement as people are purchasing digital programs instead of cable or satellite which offers them the flexibility of when and what to watch along with engaging in their other important business simultaneously. Moreover, these viewers preference offers analytics opportunities to understand the changing trends in peoples preferences. Read more at :- http://www.cmswire.com/digital-experience/are-you-really-reaching-customers-with-tv-ads/

Unprecedented growth of e-commerce industry, has given marketers a hard time to acquire and retain shoppers. The retailers need to have the right insight in collecting analyzing data as well determining the actions that will resonate with consumers and deliver best experience. 1) Marketers need to have a long sighted approach towards consumer lifecycle and tactics within their acquisition. It helps in identifying the consumer goal from specific interaction and what this long term engagement will offer to shoppers. 2) The shoppers needs to develop the capability to anticipate shoppers actions and to do marketers must learns individuals likes and dislikes, their interests and most of all be able to discern individuals intent from collected rationalized data. 3) E-Commerce brand should use ensure that their data must be collected from each interaction and across every touch point to create one cohesive customer experience. Lack of persistent communication within various interaction units hurts the data aggregation and analysis. Read more at: http://www.cmswire.com/digital-marketing/keep-one-step-ahead-of-your-e-commerce-competition/

Call for innovation is acknowledging efforts which are required to lead the market. But innovation initiatives without a plan or meaningful approach can be delayed. First setback does not understand the need of innovation, which may result in the lack of explanation and context leaving staffs in jittery. It's essential to have a specific objective that fits the central need of the customer telling them what you are all about. Secondly, it's more important to learn and listen the original problem rather than hunting for solutions. Third, mishap is by solely asking for ideas of innovation without much interaction over the problem or the matter at hand.Read more at : http://www.cmswire.com/social-business/why-your-call-to-innovation-keeps-falling-flat/

Large companies are collecting big data every minute. The need for new data base analyst and system programmers is increasing having specialised skills and in depth knowledge. Their roles include 1) management of databases and their recovery readily measured and monitored against disaster. 2) Implementation of self-realising and self-tuning processes. 3)SQL and database performance tuning. 4) Database logs and error management. Many of these roles are unnecessary due to high speed of big data analyst solution. Similarly, database performance tuning has become redundant as it lacks internal performance tuning resulting of no need of specialist in new enterprise environment. The task of specialist involves, 1) System and network performance tuning along with software installation and migration. 2) They be the leading technical specialist for critical application assisting data architecture changes. 3) Set the performance benchmark for prospective vendor tools. This infers that less and less specialist will be required in the coming phases when the role of generalist can be easily done by supplementary staff. Read more at:  http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/database-administration/big-data-technologists-transition-to-customerfacing-roles-the-current-team-70675