Online Behaviour and Social Media

Deciphering the role technology and social media play in the daily life of young people can help one in facilitating safe and healthy online behavior. There are guides that introduce the role of technology in youngster’s lives and directs towards supporting safe and healthy use of technology.

Social Media 101: Social media is a fast-paced discipline. With Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, Tumblr, Pinterest just to name a few, sometimes it's tough to keep up to the speed.

Young people love being online, and communications technology plays a strong role in their lives. They voice out their opinions on technology in many ways; they feel technology to be a useful tool to improve life, but it does not complete life. Technology is a bridge to stay connected to people around the globe. Technology means freedom!

Social media has many benefits which are fascinating to discover. It has turned youngsters into social participants, active citizens, content creators, collaborators, team players,  explorers, learners and many more!

Socialising Online: Perpetuating and sculpting social connections online can form a large part of a young person's time online, and is invariably ranked as highly enjoyable by young people. For many people, online relationships can be a vital part of their friendship group and their support network.

There are many ways in which young people socialize online. Some of the online socializing methods include client chats or instant messaging services, forums, social networking sites, writing/seeking reviews, recommendations and bookmarking, etc.

Accessing Media Online: Music, television, movies, books, comic books, and art are all readily accessible online, and consuming such media makes up a large proportion of a youngster's online time.

Streaming and downloading media such as movies, music, and books are becoming a common way for people to consume media.

There are many other factors which help in understanding Online Behaviour of youngsters using Social Media; such as Online Gaming, How people seek help online, Disclosing Personal Information, Talking about Online Safety, Internet Addiction, Statistics on Internet Use, etc. Studying these factors will help us understand behavioral changes and help youngsters take a safer path if they are trapped in any kind of possible risks/threats posed by Social Media!

LI-FI TECHNOLOGY

Transferring data from one place to another is one of the most important day-to-day activities. The current wireless networks that connect us to the internet are very slow when multiple devices are connected. As the number of devices that access the internet increases, the fixed bandwidth available makes it more and more difficult to enjoy high data rates and connect to a secure network. Nowadays, everyone is interested in using his mobile phone, laptop to communicate with other people through Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) systems but the capacity is going down due to the limitation of Radio Frequency (RF) resources. In order to overcome this problem in the future, Professor Harald Haas, an expert in optical wireless communications, proposes in 2011 a brilliant and applicable solution by using light to transmit data, he demonstrated how a Light-Emitting Diode (LED) bulb equipped with signal processing technology could stream a high-definition video to a computer and he showed that one watt LED light bulb would be enough to provide network connectivity to four computers. This new technology is known as Light–Fidelity (Li-Fi).

What is LI-FI?

It is a short-range wireless communication system based on light illumination from the LED, and use the visible light as a signal carrier instead of traditional RF carrier as in Wi-Fi. Professor Harald Haas coined the term "Light-Fidelity" and set up a private company, called “Pure Visible Light Communication”, to exploit that technology. He envisions a future where data for laptops and smartphones are transmitted through the light in a room in a secure way.

Li-Fi technology is implemented using white LED light bulbs used for illumination by applying a constant current. However, by fast variations of the current, the light output can be made to vary at extremely high speeds. If the LED is on, it transmits a digital 1 otherwise it transmits a digital 0. The LEDs can be switched on and off quickly to transmit data that can’t be detected by a human eye. The LED bulb will hold a microchip that will do the job of processing the data. The light intensity can be manipulated to send data by tiny changes in amplitude.

Figure 1

Figure 1 shows the working principle of Li-Fi system, for data transmission, it can be done by a single LED or multi-LED. On the receiver side, there is a photodetector, which converts this light into electric signals and it will give the electric signals to the device connected to it. Voltage regulator and level shifter circuits are used on both sides to convert or maintain a voltage level between transmitter and receiver

LIFE WITH LI-FI

The dramatic growth in the usage of LEDs for lighting provides the opportunity to incorporate Li-Fi technology into a plethora of LED environments, for instance, any lighting devices like car lights, ceiling lights, and street lamps are used as a hotspot which helps us to lower cost architecture for a hotspot.

This technology is particularly suitable for many popular internet applications; you can download movies, games, and music in just a few minutes with the help of Li-Fi.

Figure 2

Figure 2 shows the environment with the Li-Fi technology where light bulbs are used as a data communication medium to PC, Laptop and Tablet as it all have photodetector connected to it as a receiver.

CHALLENGES

Apart from many advantages over Li-Fi, this technology is facing some problems such as Li-Fi requires line of sight (LOS) and receiving device would not be a shift in indoors. A major challenge is how the receiving device will transmit data back to the transmitter. Another important issue is interference from external light sources like sunlight, normal bulbs, opaque materials in the path of transmission will cause an interruption in the communication. Another disadvantage is that Li-Fi doesn’t work in the dark or light can’t pass through objects, so if the receiver is inadvertently blocked in any way, then the signal will immediately cut out. And the signal is easily blocked by somebody simply walking in front of the LED source.

Finding the universe

Tourism has been a part of human life since the beginning of the mankind of existence. tourism expanded during the twentieth century and now represents more than a half a trillion dollar industry worldwide and the recent buzz in the industry is space tourism.

            Space tourism is a space travel for recreational, leisure& business purposes. The pioneer of the idea is SirRichard Branson in the year 2004.Founder of the Virgin group he founded space flight corporation Virgin Galactic a spaceport which is designed for space tourism. There are different types of space tourism orbital, suborbital and lunar space.

            Earlier in the 2000s, the Russian Space Agency took seven paying members of the public into space. It canceled the programme in 2010 when the end of Nasa’s Space Shuttle programme meant the US agency needed seats aboard Russian flights to send its astronauts to the International Space Station.later the private players entered into the sector. The major players in the industry are Virgin galactic founded by Sir Richard Branson, Blue origin founded by Jeff Bezos.space-X founded by Elon Musk.

             Soon it won’t only be Nasa-trained astronauts who can experience the wonder of space travel, but us mere mortals too. You won’t need any science qualifications either, as a fully-trained crew will be on hand to make sure your journey goes smoothly.

“Virgin Galactic” a space tourism company which is creating historic milestones in space industry reached the edge in achieving the success

Virgin Galactic is planning to offer sub-orbital flights to paying passengers aboard their craft, the SpaceShipTwo. Sub-orbital means that you’re not high enough to actually orbit the earth, but as the goal is to pass the 100km line that marks the edge of space, you will technically be in space, and also experience weightlessness.

On 13/12/2018 the virgin galactic sent a space flight, with a rocket motor burn of just 60 seconds, but the mission reached the company's targeted altitude, hitting a peak of 51.4 miles achieving a new record (82.7 kilometers), the speed is nearly three times the speed of sound and the journey was for 14 mins. which it deems meets the requirement for spaceflight. 

            

A camera on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity captured this view of the Earth from over 51 miles (82.7 kilometers) up during a test launch on Dec. 13, 2018, from Mojave Air and Space Port in California. It was Virgin Galactic's first trip to space.

Upcoming projects:

·       Elon Musk announced that substantial deposits from two individuals had been received by SpaceX for a Moon loop flight using a free return trajectory and that this could happen as soon as late 2018.

·       A trip to the international space station

·       Traveling from place to place through space.

“Without change, there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement.those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable.”

3D Metal Printing

3D Printing has been gaining traction through many scientific and engineering disciplines as an easy way to print complex structures, some of which are not possible by other means and the recent trend in the industry is 3D metal printing.

What is 3D printing and 3D metal printing?

3D printing is an approach that fuses together different materials into various complex structures, which have previously been designed and pre-programmed.it is done by a novel layer-by-layer deposition method that can be designed in three-dimensions.

The 3D metal printing is a process that uses metals. it fuses layers of metals together using a laser, The process is controlled by scanning the structure with the laser. there are different methods to 3D print metals. the materials that can be used in 3D metal printing includes aluminum, copper, gold, platinum, titanium and various metal alloys

Recent developments in 3D metal printing:

1. 3D printing aluminum structures at room temperature:

 The process is considered to be a non-melt method and has been proven to create structures that have a density in excess of 99%.

2. 3D printed vaccines: 
SEAL (StampEd Assembly of polymer Layers), a new 3D printing technique. Created by 3D micro particles capable of holding vaccine doses. It enables the release of their contents into the body at different stages. this groundbreaking project will improve immunization rates for those without regular access to healthcare.this is been funded by bill gates foundation

3. 3D printing in the construction industry:
A Dutch company and the Eindhoven University of Technology used their giant concrete printer to construct a pedestrian bridge. 

4. 3D printing in robotics:

Create complex parts from a range of materials that are capable of performing diverse functions.

Major players in the industry :

•  HP metal jet:

HP claims that the new additive manufacturing system will provide users with up to 50 times more productivity at a significantly lower cost compared to other metal 3D printing methods.

•        Desktop metal:

This groundbreaking hardware tandem is making metal additive manufacturing much more affordable and capable of producing parts faster.

And many more.

Metal 3D printing processes are used to manufacture complex, bespoke parts with geometries that traditional manufacturing methods are unable to produce. the parts can be topologically optimized to maximize their performance while minimizing their weight and the total number of components in an assembly.

The 3D metal printing trend is already established in Germany and we will see more widespread adoption globally in 2018. Soon there will be a future of a 3D printed world , and the time is now to find the right-fit for your organization.

NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the author's and not necessarily represent or reflect the views of DoT Club as a whole.

DRUPAL – Deliver the Right Content!

A well planned website with great content can out-roar its heavy pursed rivals who are less focused and savvy in their online presence! A content management system (CMS) allows you to create, edit, manage and maintain website pages on a single interface. Also, website run lead generation campaigns run through the content management systems.

Drupal is one such technology, which is an open source content-management framework written in PHP. It provides a back-end framework for at least 2.3% of all web sites worldwide – ranging from personal blogs to political, corporate, and government sites. It’s a digital experience platform that knows your web content must reach more than just websites. It is built in such way that you can deliver the right content to the right person at the right time - on the right device!

Why Use Drupal?

·       Innovation: Drupal is a platform for digital innovation and ideas. Drupal enables continuous digital upheal at leading organizations like Weather.com and NBCUniversal. Marketers and web developers can create, develop and manage great web, mobile and social encounters. Also, they can improve and adapt quickly, all credits to ongoing innovation and ideas from the Drupal community. 

·   Speed: Speed is essential in digital marketing. Drupal enables to build new sites and experiences faster. Digital based organizations need a platform that helps them grow quickly and capitalize on business opportunities. Drupal’s flexible platform allows marketers and developers overcome gridlocks and delays so they can run a fast and agile team, creating amazing experiences.

·   Scalability: Drupal is enterprise-ready for the world’s busiest websites. More than just supporting high traffic sites, Drupal will scale with your business and your brands for your next-generation digital transformation and allow you to evolve down the road without losing the track.

Drupal provides a lot of flexible tools for different tasks, from end users to developers. There are various building blocks and tools in Drupal. There are various roles as well – Site Builder, Themer/Front End Developer, Developer.

Drupal Community:

Along with being a great tool for building websites, one of the main strengths of Drupal is that it is one of the largest open-source communities, which creates software, writes the documentation, provides support, and runs events all over the world. To dive into the true strength of Drupal and open source, the community is your best tool for making connections and expedite learning.

NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the author's and not necessarily represent or reflect the views of DoT Club as a whole.

Start Your Cyber Security Career

Right now, IT is a very competitive and rapidly changing environment, but many organizations still can’t fill cyber security jobs. There is an increasing demand for cyber security professionals as the impact of cyber-attacks continues to rise. The 2017 Global Information Security Workforce Study (GISWS), in its 8^thedition, estimates that there will be a shortage of 1.8M cyber security professionals by 2022, while ISACA estimates a global shortage as much as 2M in 2019 and 3.5M by 2021. The increasing threat landscape and the growth rate of the Internet of Things (IoT) is outpacing our ability to expand security. It’s unfortunate, but true: we are losing ground.

Cyber-crime damages also continue to increase and are expected to reach $6T by 2021. With projections like that plus the lack of current cyber security talent, it’s safe to say there’s probably no better job market than cyber security. Cyber security professionals help protect our critical infrastructure and our most important and private information. A lot of organizations are doing some great work in educating the workforce, but we need more pros who specialize in security. If this is a path you are interested in pursuing, there are a few ways to get you there.

Cyber Security on the Job

If you are just starting out, focus on networking basics. Everything security-related starts at the network, so a good understanding of how the network works will start you off in the right direction. If you’re already in IT and work in an environment where you have access to networking hardware, spend some time studying network design, endpoint security, and data protection. IT-related jobs such as Network Engineer or Systems Administrator together with some analytical abilities and good communication skills can pave the way and provide a transition into a cyber-security career.

Cyber Security Certificates

Another great place to begin is with a certificate program. Certificate-level training will mean that you are job-ready when you start your career, and you can obtain these certificates in a few different ways, such as classroom-based training, online instructor-led modules, private on-site training, or self-paced learning. Either way, you can differentiate yourself from other candidates with a certificate in hand.

Individuals interested in a certificate path will need an IT-related specialization. CompTIA A+, Network+ or Security+ is where many people start. Some employers will be looking for applicants entering the workforce with an industry-recognized certification from organizations such as CompTIA or ISC2.

Professional Cyber Security Career

If you are focusing on a professional degree, look at Computer Science or Information Technology courses with an emphasis on cyber security. Many universities offer specific cyber security degrees as well. Most employers and recruiters will be looking for a bachelor’s degree or a minimum of 3–5 years’ experience. Having that degree will help get you in the door and can lead to higher pay and promotions and a lifelong career. You can then advance your career by building knowledge through a certificate program such CISSP, CISM, or CEH.

If you are just curious about entering the cyber security workforce, there are also cyber security educational conferences held around the country that provide high quality professional development opportunities. ISACA offers an annual CACS (Computer Audit, Control, and Security) conference. NIST offers their NICE (National Initiative for Cyber Security Education) conference. There also are a number of vertical-specific security conferences, such as local HIMSS (Health Information and Management Systems Society) events or ICS (Industrial Control Systems) SCADA conferences. These educational conferences offer an environment where you can quickly catch up on the latest technologies and learn how many vendors are combating the latest threats.

NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the author's and not necessarily represent or reflect the views of DoT Club as a whole.

Will Chatbot Ever Rule the World?

Advancement of technology never stops on edging a new dimension to the digital connectivity and thereby furnishing the way of conducting business in this tech-savvy world. Chatbots have evolved significantly in the last few years and thanks to the artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) that empowers them.

Now questions must be rising in your mind like; “what is a chatbot?”, “Can it be implemented in every business irrespective of its nature and conventional division of sectors?”, “Is it going to adversely impact the involvement of human capital in near future?” and so on. In simple terms, Chatbots are computer programs that interact with people in a way that resembles with the approaches of human interaction. The interaction can differ in terms of complexity from simple keyword-driven queries to elaborate conversational systems based on the type of chatbot. This conversational form of user-machine interaction can act as a framework for various types of useful applications. These days’ chatbots are functioning all over the internet in customer support, as virtual assistants like Google Assistant, and in many other roles. They are no longer confined to imitate human conversation through text chats rather they are equipped for voice commands and much more. Siri, Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa etc are prime examples of interactive voice-based chatbots whereas XiaoIce from Microsoft’s, Mitsuku, Facebook M etc are classic models of chatbots.

Be it a business process that deals with Banking & Financial Services or Retail or any service sector, chatbot can enrich the customer experience by building natural and rich conversational experiences. Chatbots are promising an exceptional ability to engage their customers in the right place, at the right time, with the right information in a cost-effective manner. Adding chatbots to a conversational platform lets people ask questions, issue commands, and so on without changing context. Also, it helps to streamline the process in the back end by interacting & establishing coordination with other systems. Starting from hotel booking to purchasing in e-commerce platforms, chatbots are providing an excellent framework for various processes, including workflow management, setup and configuration, order generation, search, data collection and thereby simplifying the process in almost every industry.

The chatbots market size is expected to grow from USD 703.3 Million in 2016 to USD 3,172.0 Million by 2021, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 35.2% during 2016–2021. This statistical information indicates the significance in the coming decade which further reinforces the ability to provide access to a wide range of resources with a unified cognitive experience. Though the future seems to be aligned with the techno-managerial aspects, it creates speculations regarding the utilization of human capital. But every change in technology opens up a new dimension and new possibilities in the workforce. Businesses can be more productive and plan out the further expansion with the existing human resources by empowering them with proper skills and training. In this rapidly evolving era of technology, chatbots hold a lot of promise and there is still some way to go before they can completely replace humans. The scope is enormous for creating extremely sophisticated and adaptable tools that can help the firms to automate their business processes and its only possible with an effective coordination between man and machine.

NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the author's and not necessarily represent or reflect the views of DoT Club as a whole.

Print! Print! 3D Print!!!

The Automotive Industry is in a state of flux. Significant swings in gas prices challenge the industry to balance between economics of gas guzzling SUVs and lightweight electric vehicles. Where ride sharing and public transport are steadily growing; leaps in technology have put autonomous vehicles on the road, changing the way we see our usage of cars. Automotive manufacturers must adapt to all that change, while also facing the age old challenge of minimizing production costs. One such methodology or should we say, technology is - 3D printing.

For better understanding, let us learn the basics of 3D Printing. Going by the definition, 3D Printing is the process of making a physical object from a 3D digital model, typically by laying down many thin layers of a material in succession. To put it in simple words, 3D Printing is a process of making real life models of your imagination of any object or a part.

Now let’s move onto the steps to create the part of your dreams! This typical love story starts with the designer realizing the needs of the product and giving it a virtual shape. After long sessions of corrections and improvisations, the final design is ready to leave the desktop and enter the world of 3 Dimensions. The design work is complete now, which marks the beginning of printer preparation. Followed by that, comes, layer by layer 2D printing which is all about patience as, based on the complexity of the object to be printed, the span of printing varies. Simply all that one has to do is wait and perform random checks to make sure everything is being done flawlessly.

Having the basics cleared about the working of 3D Printers, let us move on to some pros and cons. It offers you – Rapid Prototyping, Low material consumption and wastage which ultimately leads to low cost along with added flexibility in the operations of the whole manufacturing process. With these advantages, several OEMs are increasingly investing in and exploring the uses of additive manufacturing. Every technology comes with a few down points, which in this case can be – Inability to use it for mass production because of its slow processing speed, size restriction, and lack to available technology for manufacturing original parts in bulk.

What might a car look like when there’s no need to have the primary occupant facing front with their hands on a steering wheel? Throughout history that position has been a key, defining feature of a vehicle interior. Will future vehicle interiors serve different purposes, with a desk and chair, or a couch and TV? Or a bed to catch a few more minutes of sleep on the commute? The possibilities are endless, and we will see a lot of variety in the types of functions vehicle interiors begin to serve. More flexibility and more options, ultimately means mass customization over mass production of the same part again and again. And that is clearly a fit for additive manufacturing..!


NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the author's and not necessarily represent or reflect the views of DoT Club as a whole.

Artificial Intelligence: Shaping the Future of Marketing

Artificial Intelligence: Shaping the Future of Marketing

With the paradigm shift in digital connectivity and technological advancement, the way of conducting a business is evolving rapidly. Business firms are looking for an integrated approach to market their products in a digitally empowered platform along with a brick and mortar store. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT) etc are already transforming the technological landscape with a considerable scale. Be it FMCG or Healthcare or automobile industry, the essence of enriching the customer experience prevails on gathering the data to understand the interaction with the product and strategizing the plans to reach out the right customer at a right time.

In traditional marketing, measuring the conversion of any marketing activities is always counterfactual. But nowadays, marketers can monitor almost every interaction through the cybernated involvement with modern day gadgets and applications. To understand such huge data on customer interaction and draw a meaningful pattern is very important in an intensively competitive environment.

Artificial intelligence is broadly dealing with the process of making intelligent machines which are capable of solving problems. At its core, machine learning is paving a new way for building those problem-solving abilities in technological systems. With machine learning, computers can be programmed to learn and interpret the theoretical aspects with a base of stringent guidelines. In this way, the modern day systems are so intuitive to find the pattern and mould suitable strategies to yield maximum conversion.

To leverage the optimum conversion from each marketing activities and enriching the customer experience, the business firms are taking help of artificial intelligence. Let’s explore some of the examples to understand the usability of AI in modern day marketing.

Campaign Targeting

With the help of AI, marketers can filter customer interests, interaction with similar products to trace the characteristics of the customer. Accordingly, the campaigns are targeted on various communication networks on a real-time basis. Also, it helps in formulating the dynamic pricing on the basis of impressions and clicks. Dynamic airfare can be sited as a premium example. Similarly, after identifying typical attributes of potential customers, the marketing activities can be automated through programmatic advertising.

Simple and Accurate Forecasting

AI enabled systems helped to minimize the gap by moving far past human limitations to consume and analyze data on a large scale. It added an extra edge to business intelligence to analyze data of a high volume and high veracity at a speed and accuracy better than any human. Analyzing and predicting the market fluctuations are becoming way easier. Meaningful insights are derived by programming the systems to respond to change indicators and thereby strategize with minimal human interference.

Be it text or voice recognition through smart gadgets or enabling chatbots to ensure faster customer interaction, the role of artificial intelligence is helping marketers to achieve better business outcomes. The biggest and most prominent example of artificial intelligence is experienced in search engine prediction which covers a major portion of digital marketing. With the help of AI, businesses are enabling themselves to provide the personalized and enriched user experience. The personalized user interface of e-commerce platforms, shopping recommendations etc are some of the most common examples.

Even marketers are looking for building smart appliances like television and refrigerators which are empowered by artificial intelligence. For example, an artificial intelligence-enabled refrigerator can inform you about the chocolate or any other products of your choice when to buy and from where to buy on a real-time basis. According to a recent press release, Samsung is going to launch advanced home appliances which are integrated artificial intelligence to ease out day-to-day problems. Such advanced appliances are not only helping the customers but also to the marketer to get the information about the potential customer, how the existing customers are interacting and so on.

Undoubtedly, the future of marketing is going to be exciting with the introduction of more and more intuitive technologies. The opportunities are enormous and marketers should be ready to encompass new experiences and reinvent existing products to sustain in this competitive environment.

NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the author's and not necessarily represent or reflect the views of DoT Club as a whole.

How Technology is changing Human Resource Management ?

HR Technology is currently undergoing one of the most disruptive periods it has seen in a decade. Investors and investing more and more and seeking the next big thing in breakthrough technology, plunged more than $2 billion into HR tech systems and platforms in 2016. HR tech activity has grown consistently in the last 5 years and at the current rate is expected to grow further more. Majority of the investment growth was spent on integrated human resource management system (HRMS) platform for midsize companies and this shows how volatile the industry is. This shift is seen from cloud to mobile, the explosion in analytics and artificial intelligence, and the emergence of video, social recruiting and wearables in the workplace. What not has changed in the field of HR? Just wait for the day when robots will take interview of humans for recruitment.

Everything is quickly changing. This includes all the technology HR professionals use, the experiences those systems deliver and all the underlying software designs- making many of the traditional HR systems purchased only a decade ago seems out of date. These changes will bring in lot of advancements in the field of HR. It will reshape HR. All the technological changes have affected businesses in more ways than we can count. It has changed the way the organizations worked. Technological advancements have to be on time and when people need it the most. From globalization and organizational adjustments to a workforce clamoring for remote and mobile job opportunities. Human resources had to adapt swiftly. If HR wants to continue to play a critical role in helping businesses anticipate, find faults and manage organizational change, it must have technology at its base and as one of the most important things.

HR advancements are necessary to meet both employee expectations and business requirements. Talent analytics and workplace analysis have become more commonplace, and companies using the data available to them will be far more competitive. As it is millennials are more than half of the current workforce- and predicted to make up 75% by 2020.

Let’s see what has changed in HR due to technology…

1.     Get smarter with big data- Technology has given HR professionals access to the power of Big Data. This has impacted the way businesses understand their customers/ consumers, market to new audiences, and communicate with existing and prospective employees. A lot of time consuming duties including paperwork with which HR has always been linked has been barred and changed to technological aspects.

Big Data has been useful in giving HR a fact based view of the current workforce, identifying emerging trends so businesses can adapt. Analytics is a growing field in HR. It has helped employers to find prospective employees because of this. Hiring decisions are being made using analytics so that lesser hunches come in the recruitment process and is real-time.

2.     Clean up your office with the cloud- Cloud based systems and Big Data go hand in hand. All the information can be nowadays easily stored in cloud rather than all those tedious papers. Employee information and many other things like tax forms, payroll data, performance reviews, and contact information — can be archived and organized in one secure location. Data interpretation becomes easy when you have all the data in just one place.

3.     Many Businesses waiting to make the change- for now- Many companies are still waiting to change/ switch to modern HR systems. But time will make them change also. HR has to look forward to cloud computing, easier storage, better insights, and greater transparency are only the beginning. Technology is a critical business to ignore.

NOTE:The views expressed here are those of the author's and not necessarily represent or reflect the views of DoT Club as a whole.

Electric Charging – Running the Sweden Way

“We should move towards alternative fuel… I am going to do this, whether you like it or not. And I am not going to ask you. I will bulldoze it.” 

These are the strong words said by India’s Road Transport and Highways Minister, Mr. Nitin Gadkari, something which will lead to a complete overhaul of the power delivery system in the vehicles and the facilities required for it.

While many experts believe that India is not yet ready for such a huge mutation, there are already many countries, testing out their new techies such as Night Vision with Pedestrian Detection, Self-Driving Car, Biometric Vehicle Access, Active Windows Display, Comprehensive Vehicle Tracking and what not!

But out of all these gadgets and advancements, there is one thing that stands out – World’s first road that allows electric vehicles to recharge as they drive. Implemented in Sweden, the electrified road works by transferring charge from the rail through a floating arm on the bottom on the electric vehicles. When the vehicle moves over the rail, the floating arm, equipped with various sensors, detects its location and moves into contact with it. The floating arm automatically raises when vehicle starts getting misaligned from the rail, especially while overtaking.

The rail is coupled with the power grid and the energy consumption is calculated for applying individual electricity cost. Even though only 1.2 miles of electric rails have been built at various places, plans are already in place to expand the project throughout the country. The ‘Dynamic Charging’, as compared to the roadside charging post, means that vehicle’s batteries can be smaller which will ultimately help in – reducing its manufacturing cost, not judging a vehicle’s performance based on its range (which has been one of the biggest problems faced in India) and helps achieving independence from fossil fuels. According to statistics, with the cost of €1m per kilometer, the cost of electrification is said to be 50 times lower than that required to set up an urban tram line, this project can surely be looked up to for changing the source of energy used in transportation.

Despite the fact that this project has still a long way to go, but it is one of the most effective methods which can help India and Mr. Gadkari to take a step forward towards achieving ‘Full electrification by 2030’.


NOTE:The views expressed here are those of the author's and not necessarily represent or reflect the views of DoT Club as a whole.

TECHNOMAT - MANAGEMENT through TECHNOLOGY !

We are living in such an era where the word “Technology” provides us everything. Even a one-year-old child uses Technology in some form or the other. We homo sapiens are so dependent on technology, like peanut butter and jelly or shoe with its anklet. Now let us connect this technology to the management. Technology actually defines management in this trending era because we have been surrounded with it. We can also have prediction and assumptions using technology in a better way so that we can estimate the profits or losses for the company. We can use knowledge in a creative way so that management can run in the most efficient and smooth manner. It can also be very supportive in terms of profession. 

Now you must be wondering what is technology. So to answer this I went to another technology (A.K.A Google) and ask this question and it gave me the following answer -  " To use knowledge in practical way". Then I got the idea that our human brain is the biggest technology. We can either make it a boon or a curse. Today when we actually talk about technology and management on a parallel basis, it comes out as a techno-managerial aspect which is being followed by different users. Software and the Internet have transformed the world and Industries, from shopping to entertainment to banking etc. Software no longer merely supports a business, rather it becomes an integral component of every part of a business. 

DevOps is currently the train every enterprise wants to climb aboard. Transitioning to DevOps requires a change in culture and mind set. At its simplest, DevOps is about removing the barriers between two traditionally siloed teams, development and organisations. DevOps is a new term emerging from the collision of two major related trends. The first was called “agile infrastructure” or “agile operations”; it sprang from applying Agile and Lean approaches to operations work. The second is a much expanded understanding of the value of collaboration between development and operations staff throughout all stages of the development life cycle when creating and operating a service, and how important operations has become in our increasingly service-oriented world.

Tech!Tech!Tech....The buzz around is vibrantly adding up to each one's era today with utmost audacity of its own...Though the techniques and the software provides simplicity, it is all up to a human being to relate it and utilize it well.

NOTE:The views expressed here are those of the author's and not necessarily represent or reflect the views of DoT Club as a whole.

SELF-SERVICE BI

SELF-SERVICE BI

In the early 2000’s the IT sector was facing an issue of report backlog. Report backlog problem arises when the data needs to be analysed by business users who are not so apt in technical or statistical concepts. This led to the rise of self-service BI tools in the market which really helped the sector solve the report backlog issues to some degree. These tools made analysts more self-dependent with minor help from IT department and hence it was easier for analysts to develop insights on data with such tools. Today’s era is considered the era of schema free data where the business analyst find it more quicker to work by themselves and not have to rely on the traditional process that has been followed before of schema development and developing an appropriate structure right and so this helps analysts explore data almost immediately. Because self-service BI software is used by people who may not be tech-savvy, it is imperative that the user interface(U I) for BI software be intuitive, with a dashboard and navigation that is user-friendly. Ideally, training should be provided to help users understand what data is available and how that information can be queried to make data-driven decisions to solve business problems, but once the IT department has set up the data warehouse and data mart that support the business intelligence system, business users should be able to query the data and create personalized reports with very little effort.

For example, casual BI users who are apt in IT skills, only need to be able to filter and categorize data. In a similar environment, power BI adapters or business analysts might have to merge local data from diverse sources on their own so they can quickly build or enhance existing reports. Therefore, the need for self-service within a BI environment varies depending on the user’s profile in an organization.

            The requirements of business may range from basic analysis to complex dashboards. 

These requirements can be categorized as below:

1. Modification of reports and dashboards

Self-service business intelligence tools enable business analysts work on reports and dashboards. It is easier to filter and produce visual reports highlighting the key indicators in the most insightful way. Furthermore, reports can easily be adapted. The self-service tools in this way, provide users with a optimum level of flexibility in the visualization and analysis of reports.

2. Creation of Ad Hoc Reports and Dashboards

With new predictive tools, it is easier for business analysts to work on reports with predetermined report templates. They can create ad hoc reports and dashboards which will further help business clients understand the business model with better visualization.

3. Integration of Private, Local Data

     Another complex part of the self-service BI is merging private data and local data with the existing report prototype. This data maybe from any source with software’s like Alteryx they can be mapped to any report or dashboard. Self-service functions help business users to quickly integrate data into reports. Local data can be used to extend the information delivered by the data warehouse limiting the pressure and workload on data management.

      4. Modification or Creation of Data Models

With better visualization capabilities and being able to connect to any kind of databases, self-service BI tools must enable business analysts to prepare their own models with the most flexible interface. The business analysts can thus also act as business data modelers, who don’t have to depend on the 

Why is self-service BI important?

In most of the organizations today, business intelligence is used for a central data warehouse or data marts. Moreover, the process, design and software solutions that have been considered best practice in data warehousing for a long time are now are suddenly not sufficient to meet the developing needs of major organizations recently.

One of the major reasons why companies growingly adopt self-service solutions is to address the challenge of business departments to have access to data and information anytime and anywhere. To stay ahead in the brutal competition, companies need to act rapidly on new insights based on analytics. Traditional BI models, still suitable for minor operations, cannot offer the level of ease and efficiency that rapidly changing environment demands. 

Changes in Self-service BI since last year:

·      While consultants and vendors see self-service BI as slightly more important, the figures for business and IT users remain unchanged.

·      In financial services and utilities, there is an increase in importance, but we are seeing a decrease in the manufacturing and public sectors.

·      While the importance of self-service BI is rising in South America and Europe, it is falling in North America.

·      There is a major increase in importance in Eastern Europe and France.

·        The Adoption Rate Is StagnatingSurprisingly, over the last few years, the adoption rate of self-service BI hasn’t changed – despite about 15 percent of BI Survey respondents saying every year they will implement self-service BI over the next 12 months. The percentage of respondents using self-service BI tools has remained unchanged at about 55 percent since 2014.This is rather unexpected considering the high level of importance companies attach to self-service BI. But the reason for this is probably mostly a labeling issue. Since most solutions now support self-service BI use cases and the marketing buzz around it has faded, many users are using these kinds of functions on a regular basis and perhaps aren’t aware of the term self-service BI.Surprisingly, over the last few years, the adoption rate of self-service BI hasn’t changed – despite about 15 percent of BI Survey respondents saying every year they will implement self-service BI over the next 12 months. The percentage of respondents using self-service BI tools has remained unchanged at about 55 percent since 2014.
This is rather unexpected considering the high level of importance companies attach to self-service BI. But the reason for this is probably mostly a labeling issue. Since most solutions now support self-service BI use cases and the marketing buzz around it has faded, many users are using these kinds of functions on a regular basis and perhaps aren’t aware of the term self-service BI.

References:

https://bi-survey.com/self-service-bi

NOTE:The views expressed here are those of the author's and not necessarily represent or reflect the views of DoT Club as a whole.