SigmaWay Blog

An article by Ryang Huang, Editor at ZDNet's Asia/Singapore, conveys that there will be both practical and commercial risks when choosing a cloud service which can be mitigated by focusing on the service contract. He also mentioned that the service contract must enable organizations to comply with their own obligations. Also, the service contract should include a plan detailing the steps to be taken on exit and how data will be extracted from the vendor. As cloud services may involve the use of software and other intellectual property rights under a license, organizations could be dragged into a legal dispute in the event of third party claims of infringement against the cloud service provider.

To gather better insights in this aspect follow http://www.zdnet.com/how-to-manage-contractual-risks-in-cloud-computing-7000027568/ 

It is of no doubt that Big Data is transforming businesses greatly. But, this advantage is compromising a big issue. Have you guessed it?

Well, as Big Data is growing day by day, privacy and legal concerns have cropped in. So, does that mean you will stop using Big Data? If you do, you will surely fall behind your competitors because this data is now a resource which any marketers can use to gain competitive advantage.

While handling Big Data, the fundamental thing you have to keep in mind is data anonymity that will help you to avoid and tackle privacy and legal problems with Big Data.

To manage risks associated with it, you can follow the guidelines from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) which includes a Code of Practice on Anonymisation. Kim Walker, partner at law firm Thomas Eggar LLP, talks about them here: http://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Big-data-big-legal-trouble .

Michael Kitces, a partner and the director of research for Pinnacle Advisory Group, conveys in his article that how we can compare human capital with stock and bond in life.

To read more, visit the following link: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/human-capital-stock-bond-life-110000357.html

ADP, a global provider of Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions, announced that it has been ranked 24th on The 2014 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list. The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list began in 2001 and also includes companies from a wide range of industries.  ADP also made the DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Veterans.

To read more, visit the following link:http://www.marketwatch.com/story/adp-ranked-24-on-the-2014-diversityinc-top-50-companies-for-diversity-2014-04-23?reflink=MW_news_stmp

A recent research report by Netscribes Inc., a global market intelligence firm, reveals that Business Intelligence and Analytics Market in India are growing. According to the report, continuous rise in trade and business activity across the globe have increased and this resulted in a huge amount of digital data. Over the last few years, social media also generated large amount of data. This data can be analyzed efficiently only with the help of Business Intelligence and Analytics.

To read more, visit the following link:http://www.pr.com/press-release/554334 

SyncHR, an innovator for cloud-based human resource, payroll and benefit management software, announced an upgraded version of their software- release 5.2. The latest release have an improved reporting and analytics platform. The company also launched a new corporate website to showcase their unique single database and single application technology.

To read more, visit the following link: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/human-capital-management-firm-synchr-announces-new-software-release-and-launch-of-new-website-256601391.html

Offshore outsourcing will make sense only when customer needs, business requirements and offshore supplier's capabilities are properly aligned. In an article, "The Hidden Costs of Offshore Outsourcing", it was noted that around 72% of stated cost savings on offshore projects was lost at the start-up stage, transition, productivity and maintenance phase. DFSS can effectively reduce the risk of offshore outsourcing failure by quickly deploying a road map. Combination of various tools and behaviors are designed to reduce defects and cycle time to complete the requirement phase of a typical software project. Design for Six Sigma provides a structure, a strong deployment option to better manage business plan for profit maximization. Please go through the link for more details: http://www.sourcingmag.com/content/c060301a.asp

Electronic Commerce, Inc. (ECI), a provider of web-based Human Capital Management (HCM) applications, upgraded their software,Empower Onboarding Solution. Onboarding software makes the process more user-friendly and efficient for the new hire and the HR manager. It decreases the time taken for a new employee to become a fully productive, well-adjusted team member and reduces the costs associated with manual and paper processes.

To read more, visit the following link: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1883047#ixzz30QwHqucB 

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/

WORKTERRA (provider of Human Capital Management software solutions) partners with Premier Consulting Associates LLC, to deliver their clients best of online benefits enrollment and private exchange platforms. WORKTERRA BenAdmin and WORKTERRA Exchange has been designed to incorporate many benefits into a single mobile accessible application.

Read more about this aspect, visit the following link: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1894225

Infor, a provider of business application software, released two cloud based applications: Infor HR Knowledgebase and Infor HR Case Management.  These applications are designed to support shared services organizations with advanced human capital management (HCM) capabilities. Infor HR Knowledgebase 10.2 supports enhanced knowledge base portal analytics and reports. Infor HR Case Management 5.2 helps HR service representatives manage and track employee inquiries, offers users configuration of agent, manager, and administrator role-based dashboards and ad hoc email communications from agent case.

To read more, visit the following link:http://www.marketwatch.com/story/infor-enhances-key-human-capital-management-applications-2014-05-05

In an article by Nancy Duta (a health consultant with Sibson Consulting) and Christopher Calvert (a senior vice president and the Health Practice leader for Sibson Consulting), we get some insights about what employers must know in order to make informed decisions to chose a health insurance plan for his employee. Employers primarily collaborated with insurance carriers to provide health benefits to their employees. In order to make informed decisions, employers need to fully understand what exchanges are and how they operate.

To read more, visit the following link: http://www.sibson.com/publications/perspectives/Volume_21_Issue_1/private-health-insurance-exchange.html

Lean - a set of tool that improves efficiency and the most important - improves profitability. 

Nowadays, hospitals are also using lean tools. Hospitals and other healthcare institutions are required to spend considerable time with patients which keeps other patients in line waiting. To clear problems of all of them, is a stressful job for doctors who attend them. One way to solve this is to add more staff to your organization. But, this has a flip side also. It will add cost to you. So, you have to think in a different way. You have to think in such a way, so that you clear all your stresses without incurring any extra cost.

This is where the Lean comes handy. By streamlining your process, it will add efficiency to your healthcare institution. Some of the immediate outcomes include reduction of lab turnaround time, reduction of emergency department turnaround time, etc. Apart from this, with effective management, doctors, nurses and other staffs attending patients can ease their stress and also they do not keep other patients waiting. You do not have to add extra workforce. Your healthcare institution’s efficiency will improve and cost will reduce.

Located at Sioux Falls, United States, Avera Medical Group applied lean practices to improve efficiency. Read at http://www.argusleader.com/story/news/business-journal/2014/05/07/health-systems-learn-lean/8781179/  to know how the clinic did it.

What many social and marketing professionals fail to acknowledge is the reality of what can be called the coherent customer. As lines in between marketing and IT merge, the consumer has a huge head start in their daily lives. While device adaptation is a fairly blunt tool to gauge new coherent customer, studying consumer trends increasingly points to not only cohesive elements but to stratification as well. Marketing needs to play a bigger role in harnessing all that data and determining how to use it to drive customers through the purchasing life cycle.

To know more read the article by Phil Butler, editor-in-chief of Everything PR, follow http://socialmediatoday.com/philbutler/2368211/new-marketing-paradigm-coherent-customer-satisfaction

Digital technology has evolved largely over the last decade. It can change the future of a organization. For digitalizing businesses, companies should follow some necessary steps. To know more on the digitalization process of business, go through the article by Dion Hinchcliffe, an expert in IT and business strategy.

http://www.zdnet.com/businesses-have-digitized-but-not-transformed-7000027190/

The IT enterprise field is slowly going to a saturation point. But, this sector is still facing competition. To know more on the growth areas in IT sector, go through the article by Dion Hinchcliffe, an expert in IT and business strategy.

http://www.zdnet.com/the-enterprise-products-with-disruptive-potential-for-2014-7000027859/

Human element plays an important role in the application of big data. Though data science is based upon business analytics, it is different from business analytics. Data science collects data and other information from different systems and then asks many different questions. To know more about whether it is necessary to include data scientist when a company is deploying big data solutions or not, go through the article by Daniel Kusnetzky, software engineer and product manager in Kusnetzky group.

http://www.zdnet.com/the-human-element-is-critical-in-applying-big-data-7000028983/

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/

Though Red Hat, Ubuntu and Linux are rivals, yet all of them agree in one point - Docker, a container technology. Docker is potential as well as disruptive in different aspects. Now the question is- can containers with Docker be the next great revolution in virtualization and the cloud? To know the answer of this question, go through the article written by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, writer of technology.

http://www.zdnet.com/red-hat-ubuntu-and-docker-container-virtualization-goes-mainstream-7000028610/

Enterprise portals provide semi-personalized access to important applications from a single screen. Liferay ( a Los Angeles-based company), provides portal technology to organizations, is observing a shift in its business as social, mobile, analytics and cloud is becoming the new foundation of enterprise computing. Building an open source community around its portal platform will deliver more long-term dividends than short-term profits. To know more on this topic, go through the article by Joe McKendrik, author, consultant and speaker specializing in trends and developments.

http://www.zdnet.com/what-happens-when-a-software-vendor-decides-not-to-follow-the-silicon-valley-path-7000028210/