SigmaWay Blog

A chatbot or talkbot is a computer program which conducts a conversation via auditory or textual methods. The service could be ranging from functional to fun, and it could live in any chat products like Facebook Messenger,Text Messages, etc. There are two types of chatbots,

1.Chatbot that functions based on rules and  2. Chatbot that functions using machine learning or AI.  Chatbots  are  gaining popularity  as people are using messenger apps more than they are using social networks. To know more about chatbots, read: https://chatbotsmagazine.com/the-complete-beginner-s-guide-to-chatbots-8280b7b906ca

Not all of us are good at knowing how ripe a fruit or a vegetable is just by seeing it. But the research at MIT has solved this issue. They have created a hand-held device which would say how ripe an apple is based on the glow of chlorophyll in the fruit's skin under ultraviolet light.

The device is 3.5 by 1.5 inches mostly made up of all the commercial objects available in the market making a chip that picks up the fluorescence an exception which the researchers had specially ordered.

The device interacts with the user via the Bluetooth and the android app. With advancement, this device would be able to go for many other fruits and vegetables with dealing with a great amount of data. Read more at : https://www.livescience.com/56040-handheld-device-tells-if-fruit-is-ripe.html

Exoskeleton is a combination of technologies that allows limb movement with increased strength and endurance. For now, it is worn on the shin and foot and applies forces to the ankle and toes. An exoskeleton has a variety of applications. With many advancements coming along in exoskeleton, one of the advancement is a customizable exoskeleton.

The customizable exoskeleton uses the human in the loop algorithm which has reduced the energy used by the participants by 24% which is highest till now. A customizable exoskeleton helps you cover more distance and with the high pace. A personalized exoskeleton would make an easier job of walking for the physically impaired people. An exoskeleton is designed with various pattern implementation with two factors consideration; 1) amount of force 2) when the force is applied. Read more at: https://www.livescience.com/59595-personalized-exoskeleton-learns-from-your-steps.html

Mobile app analytics is used by professionals today to track their app. But there are flaws which needs to be fixed. One flaw is that the app focuses mostly on quantitative analysis and there are other general flaws. One must add quantitative analysis to the workflow in order to complete the picture. This analysis is further divided into heatmaps and user sessions recordings. Touch heatmaps gather all the gestures a user does in the screen and it also sees where the users are trying to interact. User session recordings enable to see what users are doing. Combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis has potential in terms of workflows and app optimization. Read more at: http://online-behavior.com/analytics/app-workflows

Competition today is much fiercer than competition in yesteryears. In such a world getting a comparative advantage of machine learning would be beneficial. Though in their initial phase data analytics and machine learning faced criticism, the development of data structures and more accessibility helped to minimize criticism. Data is the source of information and the mining right kind of data would lead to significant results. There are four elements of data management, namely hybrid data management, data governance, data science and data analytics. Linking all the departments of a company is necessary to ensure free flow of information and accessibility of data. Read more at: https://readwrite.com/2017/06/21/competitive-advantage-machine-learning-dl1/

Organizations which create maximum employment tend to be the most disrupting. Like the agricultural sector, which employed nearly 40% of the population in the 20th century now it employs less than 2%. As we know financial services form a big part of the workforce. Is it going to disrupt too? A new technology, Block-chain technology is threatening to disrupt it. So how does this technology work? The key point being encryption and storing them in an append only method. The basic concept is a user first encodes a message Using a private key and then shares a corresponding unique public key with anyone authorized to read the message. The public key not only allows the authorized person to read the message, but also verifies without a doubt as to who the source of the message is. The data should be updated at regular intervals, thus making the data immutable, tamper proof removing the need for any mediators. The biggest challenge of Block-chain is its integration with other systems and phased roll out. Read more at: http://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/dobig/news/detail/1472

A screen- replacement for the cracked screen is one of the expensive costs you incur in maintaining your smartphone. It is a must do thing and costs almost 1/3rd of the total cost of the cellphone. But thanks to the collaborative research of Queen's University Belfast, Sanford University, the  University of California, Berkeley, California State University, and the National Institute for  Materials Science in Japan who came up with the research of alternating the material of the cellphone screens. The new research has come up with the combination of 3 materials for the replacement of silicon. The material also referred as 'magic material' is made by layering hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), graphene, and C60 which complement each other in some or the other way. Read more at: https://www.livescience.com/59397-cracked-cell-phone-screens-could-soon-be-a-thing-of-the-past.html

Mobile and Cloud applications allow people to work from anywhere. Employee work styles are changing. 84% append at least 1 work day outside of the office. 82% value work-life integration. Employers have a lot of catching up to do. 55% agree that their organisation is committed at the leadership level to close the digital skills gaps within the workforce. 70% are empowered by their organisations to embrace flexi-work. 77% respondents feel that their organisation is equipped for the digital workplace. In terms of technology only 53% agreed that their organisation has invested in analytics and data tools to help make informed and immediate decisions. Only 56% agreed that their organisation has given them tools to simplify and standardize their workflow.  The top 3 attributes in creating collaborative teams: 43% access to collaborative technologies, 41% face-to-face meetings, 38% diverse team members. Read more at: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/digital-empowerment-of-employees-are-companies-helping/articleshow/59116512.cms

 In choosing a payment gateway one must not only consider the logistic and technical hurdles, but also the security it provides. It is a merchant service used as third party to authorize credit transactions. First, you need to decide whether you need a classic; require you to apply for a direct merchant account or modern setup; allow you to use their services without one and are easier to set up, but have higher. Most gateways strive for compatibility though they are easier to integrate. In order to maximize the average user experience and make transactions fast, a processor that can secure credit card authorization in seconds matters. A gateway with thorough reporting features is required. If a business plans for handling huge data it has to look for fraud detection and other security features. One with built-in invoicing capabilities and better usability. Finally, you’ll need to consider the costs and fees associated with each payment gateway. There is no perfect payment gateway out there, so one need to find the best fit for your specific business. Read more at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/294964

Data is an important tool which manages a lot of important activities in the business. And this is further enhanced by artificial intelligence and machine learning and by ease of collecting and storing data. Managers rely too much on data for the guidance which abdicates their knowledge and experience. In a big data project the manager connects the internal and external team to collect and process the data in order to solve the problem. Data must be in usable form and the algorithms must identify statistically significant patterns. The results are then presented to the manager through different visualizations. The main problem is the managers are not good with data science and the scientists are not good with the businesses.  Read more at: https://hbr.org/2017/06/the-best-approach-to-decision-making-combines-data-and-managers-expertise

After acquiring a customer, the goal of a company is consumer retention through various techniques, namely customer value maximization which would maximize the revenue for the company. Their main aim should be to increase the length of time period they remain loyal to business, frequency of transactions and monetary value of transactions. Maximum value is thus the product of all three. Main characteristics of customer value maximization are customer segmentation, predicting consumer behavior instead of just looking historical data, looking at customer lifetime value and dynamic segmentation. The marketer should know what actions to take on what customers at the right time. Read more at: http://www.optimove.com/blog/maximize-customer-value-smart-way 

In a non-energy efficient and air polluted world, an innovation which helps purify the air and store the hydrogen gas is like a boon. The device is a result of the two separate teams working in for their respective tasks of air purifying and gas storing. The two teams merged and made a single device capable of doing both. The air purification is done with the help of sunlight which would help in eliminating the volatile organic compounds present in the air which are extremely harmful. Read more at: https://www.livescience.com/59173-device-purifies-air-and-creates-energy.html

Data driven analytics is must for all business functions because of increasing complexity and market volatility. According to the survey of more than 300 executives in North America, U.K. and Ireland conducted by Dun & Bradstreet and Forbes Insights, 1.) Senior executives finally understand the value of analytics and are making investments in technology, people and processes. 2.)Data analytics skills gaps persist across the enterprise, as 27% of analytics professionals surveyed cite this skills gap as a major impediment in their data initiatives.  3.)Analytical methods and tools trail both the appetite and ambition of most business leaders. Analytics now drives today’s enterprise, from formation of business strategy to powering operational excellence. It has clearly moved from being an optional operational element to serving as the core of corporate activities. Read more at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/295522

Even if investment is carefully performed, it still has chances of losing money. Some risks & it’s mitigation are: i) Basing Calculations on the Wrong Numbers, i.e. the trades should be carefully placed. ii) Overlooking Extraordinary Gains or Losses: Close judgment and critical thinking is required. iii) Ignoring the Error in Financial Ratio analysis: defining the terms carefully is important. iv) Overpaying:  Overpaying for Investments should be avoided. v)  Not Diversifying: Diversifying risk in stocks is necessary. vi) Basing Investment Decisions on Fraudulent Accounting Statements. vii)  Selling at the wrong time:  The ideal time to sell the stock is when shares are overpriced relative to the company's intrinsic value. Read more at: http://value-picks.blogspot.in/2017/05/managing-risks-in-value-investing.html

This article link describes how to generate business from social media for B2B companies. The 4 steps are: 1) you should first see which channel they are engaged with then don't only show you follow the prospect but you should also engage with their content. 2) You should make your email signature interesting. There are many ways to do that for example you can add P.S. message in the end. 3) There should be a strategy to distribute your article, since there is no point of writing a book if nobody reads it. You can use the strategy of email signature, you should also set up a blog retargeting the social media. 4) Direct message via different social media programs should be sent this is equivalent to door-to-door selling. This is a cheaper and more effective solution. Read more at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/295649

Economics is encountered in everyday by us. Product team can get benefited in attempt to build a good product if they keep in mind some principles and economics theories. i) Trade-off by product team for retaining a potential product feature may end up because of negative reviews by users. ii) Release changes have opportunity costs attached to them. iii) Since users respond to incentives, product team should contain gamification in checklist, iv) Behavioral economics can be useful to figure out the areas where users are struggling with respect to product. v) There should be minimum information asymmetry to drive positive user experience vi) Game theory can be helpful in decision making to improve market strategies. Read more at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/295741

Research show that providing feedback is always important as it increases the engagement three times than leaders. Positive feedback has biggest positive impact on engagement when feedback relates to positive strengths, weaknesses. But, negative feedback disengages employees. There should be two types of considerations while giving feedback: 1) Caring personally about the person one is giving feedback to. 2) Being clear and direct about the feedback. Giving wrong feedback to employees should be avoided. While reading and mentorship are valuable, best lessons come from experience i.e.; giving and receiving feedback is an art and skill that can be developed. Receiving feedback is equally important as giving it. Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/leadership/need-give-employees-feedback-01864336#xkvGRIOh7vuw2eQB.97

When Consumers look at brand, they expect to see true features and promises. According to research from CMO council, 23% respondent say false and misleading brand advertisement bothers most, 22% respondent gets bothered by pop-up ads, 17% gets bothered by auto-playing video ads (digital advertising). In this way, the negative advertising experience makes them feel differently about a brand or choose not to do business with the brand. Also, alongside interesting content, irrelevant ads put impact positively irrespective of the brand but poorly conceived and insulting ads put negative impact. Read more at: https://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2017/32275/what-bothers-consumers-most-about-brand-marketing

Measuring the effect of quality on revenue and profits is one of the biggest challenges faced by digital publishers. It can be measured by measuring engagement of customers, i.e., their frequency of visits, how recent their last visit was, etc., which confirms the quality of the product. The next is that the publisher’s dilemma is balancing advertising revenue with audience revenue. Advertising revenue depends on quantity of audience impressions while audience revenue depends on quality of content. Also, more audience revenue requires higher quality user experience. As digital advertising revenue, particularly display ads, the need for greater audience revenue is very important. To measure success, the important data to capture are revenue by individual user. Using these data, the publisher can identify the combination of product attributes and price point, thus maximizing expected advertising revenue and audience revenue. Read more at: https://www.webanalyticsworld.net/2017/02/digital-publishers-analytics-dilemma.html#more-23565

To become a digital expert, customer experience should be put above everything and methodologies should be found to adjust to the continuously changing demands. The following are some ways to do so. The first is to become a top-notch expert with industrialized IT services, where quality should be improved and it should be ensured that the product line is aligned with business needs. The next is to modernize, during which architecture must be planned and implemented. The last stage is Optimize in which improvements are made. The second is switching to agile operations to achieve maximum efficiency. Third, is to create an engaging experience for the consumers by designing a unique omni-channel approach, analyzing real-time data, thus improving purchase journey. Lastly, opportunities for digital services must be availed. The end result is the delivery of a truly digital experience. Read more at: http://www.datasciencecentral.com/profiles/blogs/enterprise-journey-to-becoming-digital