General Data Protection Regulation

GDPR

Data has been the buzzword for ages now. Whichever industry you work in, or whatever your interests are, you will almost certainly come across the story about how data is changing the face of our world.

Good old days, there was a famous quote which was penned by a prolific English author stating "A pen is mightier than a sword". Looking at the feet achieved by the industry today, it wouldn't be incorrect if we rephrase it to say "Data is mightier than a sword". Data is what drives a study helping to cure a disease, boost a company's revenue, forecast a certain event or be responsible for those targeted ads you keep seeing.  Having said that, there is also a lot at stake when we use data to change to the world. Data is one of the most important assets a company has. For that reason alone, data protection should be a top priority for any company. The fact that data can be used in so many ways is what makes it such a dangerous tool. A single company may possess the personal information of millions of customers data that it needs to keep private so that customers' identities stay as safe and protected as possible. Data breaches happen inevitably. Information gets lost, stolen or otherwise released into the hands of people who were never intended to see it and those people often have malicious intent. As more of our data has become digitized, and we share more information online, data privacy is taking on greater importance. Data privacy relates to how a piece of information or data should be handled based on its relative importance. For instance, you likely wouldn't mind sharing your name with a stranger in the process of introducing yourself, but there's other information you wouldn't share, at least not until you become more acquainted with that person.

This is where the European Union has stepped in and made a momentous decision of introducing a new data privacy law which can be termed as a game-changer. This new law is known as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). The law was enforced across all EU member states on 25th May 2018, which turns out to be a landmark in the European privacy framework. It will apply to all companies selling to and storing personal data about citizens. According to the GDPR directive, personal data is any information related to a person such as a name, a photo, an email address, bank details, and updates on social networking websites, location details, medical information, cookies, digital footprints or a computer IP address.

       
Before GDPR was enforced, the previous data protection rules across Europe were first created during the 1990s and had struggled to keep pace with rapid technological changes. GDPR alters how businesses and public sector organizations can handle the information of their customers. It also boosts the rights of individuals and gives them more control over their information. The goal of the new legislation is to give EU citizens more control over when and how their personal data is used by online entities, but it also has the far-reaching effect of requiring all websites, no matter where they are based, to take a tougher stand on managing the privacy and safety of users' personal data. The GDPR's stated mission is to help EU citizens protect their online data. 

The GDPR does not prohibit sites from collecting and using visitor data, but it does require them to give users clear and explicit control over how they do so. Until the GDPR took effect, many sites relied on "assumed consent," that is, by the act of using the site in any way, you were consenting to allow the site to store and use your personal data for its own purposes. Now, websites that collect any of these kinds of data need to get users' explicit consent via a positive opt-in, such as a checkbox, and to inform them clearly how their data will be used. 

                 
The GDPR also clearly establishes users' rights to their own data. Along with clearly stating how, why, and where the site stores and uses data, websites must allow users to download the information the site is holding, and to request to have it deleted at any time. For example, if you had subscribed to a particular site's newsletter, but then closed your account, you must be able to have access to your information stored on the site and to ask the site to remove it as soon as possible.

Moreover, the penalties for non-compliance with the GDPR can be stiff. First-time violators receive a warning. After that comes a reprimand. If problems aren't addressed, the site is suspended from all its data processing activities. And if that isn't enough, stiff fines are imposed which amount up to 4 percent of a company's annual global revenue, or 20 million Euros, whichever is greater.

The provisions of the GDPR have website owners around the world worried and because there are so many different ways in which information is exchanged, it can be easy to miss a crucial step and fall into noncompliance. The whole digital marketing industry has been taken aback by this new regulation. The companies can no longer leverage the data as easily as they could earlier.  There are huge repercussions in terms of finance as well because Enterprise interest and investment in data privacy is driven by financial risks which are not just the regulatory fines, but the potential brand damage as well. 

Companies, therefore, need to do more as regards to transparency and more to demonstrate how they are acting ethically and responsibly with regard to their customers' data. But the question arises will the companies be able to cope up with the new regulations or will they succumb to the pressure. Well, let's leave it to the expert (TIME) to decide. 


Blog Written By: Debesh Prasad Das


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

NAVIC

 NAVIC 

What Do We Know, What Have We Learnt?

Global Positioning System (GPS): We all know about it, don't we? We use it to book a cab or to find a restaurant, to locate nearby Shopping Malls, Railway Station and what not. GPS makes our journey easier when we travel to an unknown place. Without it, we feel lost. But, do we ever try to know, how it works? Well, the answer is simple, it works through satellites. But, who owns those satellites? Well, it is owned by the US Government. India only has commercial access to it. 

Then, why doesn't India have its GPS??? 

This question was answered in 1999, just after the Kargil War. It was all during the Kargil War when India needed military access to US-owned GPS to locate enemy positions in hilly areas of Kargil and Dras, but the request was turned down as Pakistan was an ally of the US since Cold War(The present situation is different). So, India decided to build its Positioning System: Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS). 

The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) has an operational name of NAVIC (an acronym for NAVigation with Indian Constellation). 

NAVIC is a regional satellite navigation system that provides accurate real-time positioning and timing services covering India and a region extending up to 1,500 km around it. There are currently 7 working satellites in the system. 

Development: 

In April 2010, it was reported that India plans to start launching satellites by the end of 2011, at a rate of one satellite every six months. This would have made NAVIC functional by 2015. But the program was delayed, and India also launched 3 new satellites to supplement this. 

Seven satellites with the prefix "IRNSS-1" constitute the IRNSS. IRNSS-1A, the first of the seven satellites, was launched on 1 July 2013. IRNSS-1B was launched on 4 April 2014 onboard PSLV-C24 rocket. The satellite has been placed in geosynchronous orbit. IRNSS-1C was launched on 16 October 2014, IRNSS- 1D on 28 March 2015, IRNSS-1E on 20 January 2016, IRNSS-1F on 10 March 2016 and IRNSS-1G was launched on 28 April 2016. 

In 2016, the Atomic Clock of IRNSS-1A failed. So, it had to be replaced. The eighth satellite, IRNSS-1H, which was meant to replace IRNSS-1A, failed to deploy on 31 August 2017 as the heat shield failed to separate from the 4th stage of the rocket.IRNSS-1I was launched on 11 April 2018 to replace it. 

Features: 

NAVIC will service to all users with a position accuracy up to 5 m whereas The GPS, has a position accuracy of 20–30 m. Unlike GPS which is dependent only on L-band, NAVIC has dual frequency (S and L bands). Low-frequency signal when travels through the atmosphere, its velocity changes due to atmospheric disturbances. So the US has developed an atmospheric model to assess frequency error and it has to update this model from time to time to assess the exact error. In NAVIC, the actual delay is assessed by measuring the difference in delay of dual frequency (S and L bands). Therefore, NavIC is not dependent on any model to find the frequency error and is more accurate than GPS.

Some applications of IRNSS are:

• Terrestrial, Aerial and Marine Navigation 
• Disaster Management 
• Vehicle tracking and fleet management 
• Integration with mobile phones 
• Mapping and Geodetic data capture 
• Terrestrial navigation aid for hikers and travelers 
• Visual and voice navigation for drivers 

Current Scenario: 

The global wireless communications standards body 3GPP has accepted the interface specifications of NavIC. With this permission, NaVIC can be integrated into devices like smartphones and tablets. The announcement gives a big boost to India's mobile telecom industry while also encouraging the use of NavIC throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

Smartphones and cellular internet-of-things (IoT) devices that use location information will begin to use the NavIC system in contrast to the current usage of the American GPS. This will bring NavIC technology to the mass market for use in 4G, 5G and Internet of Things (IoT).

It also means that Indian companies and startups have an opportunity to design ICs and products based on NavIC. The potential market for these chipsets and products can be large as it can be exported to other countries as well. This will produce a significant increase in NavIC usage and the uptake of NavIC enabled services and applications throughout India.

Qualcomm – ISRO Collaboration: 

In a bid to improve location services in the region, Qualcomm has officially announced support for IRNSS in select chipsets across the company's upcoming portfolio. This initiative, which was undertaken in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organization.

The collaboration successfully conducted its first-ever NavIC demonstration using the Qualcomm Snapdragon Mobile Platform in September 2019.

According to Qualcomm, support for NavIC will be made available in select Qualcomm Technologies' chipset platforms starting November 2019, with commercial devices expected to hit the market in the first half of 2020. Upcoming Snapdragon 7-series and 6-series chipsets are also expected to come to NavIC.


Blog Written By: Rajesh Pattanaik


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

FACEBOOK LIBRA

The financial world is rapidly spreading their services by integrating with the latest technology, since the currency is  the only oil which runs finance of any organization, business of a country, Facebook has taken initiative to launch its very own digital currency or virtual currency or cryptocurrency “Libra”, which lets you purchase things and send money with Zero fees. To date back the existence of cryptocurrency, it was created in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto, which is actually the first Decentralized cryptocurrency is popularly known as “Bitcoin”. Later then many digital currencies came into existence to name a few are Litecoin, Ethereum, Dash, ripple, NEO, Monero and others but these have not made an impact in the digital currency system. Facebook has launched Libra with the main aim of becoming a global currency with the same population of user base it has, especially for those developing countries which have poor financial and banking systems. However Facebook is not alone in developing this system, Facebook tied up with a couple of hotshot companies in silicon valley, Libra is governed by the Libra Association, which is a swiss group and has around 28 members including facebook subsidiary Calibra, uber, MasterCard, Paypal, Spotify, visa and others.

Before discussing the working of cryptocurrency, there is a huge confusion among the people to differentiate between Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is a digital currency which uses cryptocurrency and it is completely governed by a decentralised authority such as government currencies, whereas cryptocurrency refers to the technology that just catalyses the process of financial transactions. Now, Does actually does Libra work? The technology which runs Libra is “ BLOCKCHAIN”, which is written in the Libra white papers of technical manifesto.

Blockchain is a concept which is not enough to understand in a passage or two but we can understand a few applications in Libra. Firstly Blockchain is infrastructure or the backbone on which all the cryptocurrency payments take place. It is an unchangeable, digital, transparent and most fastest record of all payments that can ever happen in any cryptocurrency. Secondly Blockchain is completely Decentralised, which means all the transactions are processed and verified by a bunch of independent systems, rather than a central system, with the primary main to increase security so that no single entity of the process is hacked also guaranteeing the users that these transactions cannot be blocked even by government bodies. These independent systems are referred to as nodes. These conclude that these are anti-state and anti-bank tools.

Libra’s nodes will run only through servers of Libra’s Associations numbers which are Facebook, PayPal, Uber and others, so there is no single system which verifies the transitions, Libra’s transactions are collectively processed and verified by many independent systems which are good according to blockchain experts. Also, this makes a lot of fear among the developers that put them into pressure if the government ordered to block the transactions.

Decentralisation makes any system less vulnerable to malware, hacks and misfunction. Blockchain generally makes around 7 transactions per second, But on the other hand by centralisation, it takes around 24,000 payments per second. The only reason why the Facebook platform has a stable bitcoin is only because of its Huge users. Which means that the value of Libra will be connecting to the real-valued assets.

Libra’s Associations will initially store a different currencies such a Dollars, euros, pounds and others in a Unit, the value of this unit will determine the Libra’s total unit circulation .whenever a user tries to trade cash for a Libra, the same cash will be added to the associations reserves. At the same time, Facebook is launching its wallet Calibra which lets users transact through Facebook messenger, WhatsApp or a standalone app.

Recently France announced that only the government can mint money, the bank of England announced that Libra has to meet a sustainable standard to be allowed in the UK, PayPal, Visa and Mastercard have left the collaboration. Facebook which is well known for its oversized user base, unaccountability arrogant monopoly has put questions to the globe if it can maintain its standard in the financial domain, with all these controversies and struggles lets see how far Libra can meet the digital financial world.

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

BITCOIN-THE NEXT BIG THING IN FINTECH

Digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange that uses strong cryptography to secure financial transactions and control the creation of additional units is called Crypto-Currency.

Presenting Bitcoin

• It’s decentralized.
• Doesn’t have a central authority.
• No central server; Bitcoin network is Peer-to-Peer.
• No Central Storage; Bitcoin ledger is distributed.
• Ledger is public; Anybody can store it on their computer.
• No single administrator; Ledger is maintained by a network of equally miner.
• Anybody can become a miner.
• Addition to the ledger is maintained through competition. Until a new block is created, it’s not known which miner will create the blog.
• Issuance of bitcoin is decentralized; Issued as a reward for the creation of a new block.
• Anyone can create a new bitcoin address.

·  Inception: January 9,2009 as BITCOIN 0.1.0 Invented by an unknown person named Satoshi Nakamoto.

·   Current Version: August 9,2019 as BITCOIN 0.18.1

·   Technology Used:

1.     . Block-chain Technology
2.     . Data Mining
3.     . POS Technology

Block-Chain Technology:

The bitcoin blockchain is a public ledger that records bitcoin transactions. It is implemented as a chain of blocks, each block containing a hash of the previous block up to the genesis block of the chain.

A network of communicating nodes running bitcoin software maintains the blockchain. Transactions of the form : player X sends Y bitcoins to payee Z are broadcast to this network using readily available software applications.

Network nodes can validate, add them to their copy of their ledger, and then broadcast these ledger additions to other nodes.

In about every 10 minutes a new group of accepted transactions, called a block is created, added to the blockchain and quickly published to all nodes, without requiring central oversight. This allows bitcoin software to determine when a particular bitcoin was spent, essential to prevent double-spending.

·     Data Mining

Data Mining Techniques

Mining is a record-keeping service done through the use of computer processing power. Miners keep the blockchain consistent, complete and unalterable by repeatedly grouping newly broadcast transactions into a block, which is then broadcasted to the network and verified by the recipient nodes.

Each block contains an SHA-256 cryptographic hash of the previous block, thus linking it to the previous block and giving the blockchain its name.

Early bitcoin miners used GPU’s for mining as they were better suited to the proof-of-work algorithm than CPU’s.

Later amateurs mined bitcoin with specialized FGPA and ASIC chips. The chips have become obsolete due to increasing difficulty.

Today bitcoin mining companies dedicate facilities to housing and operating large amounts of high-performance mining hardware.

Pooled Mining

Computing power is often bundled together or “pooled” to reduce variance in miner income. In a pool, all participating miners get paid every time a participating server solves a block. This payment depends upon the amount of work an individual has contributed to help find that block.

·     POS Technology.

Wallets: A Wallet stores information to transact bitcoins. More specifically, a wallet stores the digital credentials for the client's bitcoin holdings and allows one to access them.

Bitcoin uses Public-key cryptography, in which one public and one private key are generated for the wallet to operate.

Modes of Wallet Operation :

1.  Full Clients: Verify transactions directly by downloading a full copy of the blockchain. These are the most secure and reliable way of using the network. Full clients check the validity of mined blocks, preventing them from transacting on a chain that breaks or alters network rules.

2. Lightweight Clients: Consults full clients to send and receive transactions without requiring a local copy of the entire blockchain.Much faster to set-up and allows them to be used on low power, low bandwidth devices such as smartphones.

Safety Issues.

• Each blockchain is registered to a bitcoin address.
• Bitcoin address requires a valid private key.
• If a private key is lost then the bitcoin network won’t recognise any other evidence of ownership.
• Coins are then unusable & effectively lost.

EX:- In 2013 a user claimed to have lost 7500 bitcoins worth $7.5 million at the time when he accidentally discarded a hard drive containing his private key.

• If a private key is revealed to a third party e.g. through data breach, the third party can use it to steal associated bitcoins.

EX:- In December 2017, around 980,000 bitcoins have been stolen from cryptocurrency exchanges.

Bitcoins are mainly used in bitcoin exchanges, venture capital by payment service providers . Industries using Bitcoin as a mode of monetary transaction are

• Online Shopping Industries

Companies like Microsoft has added bitcoin to its list of payment methods back in 2014.This made shoppers possible to pay using bitcoin money to buy videos, games, apps and other services offered by the company.

• Other companies that have added bitcoin to their list of payment methods includes Overstock, Dell, TargetDirect, and CheapAir. Target, Wallmart, Nike, Amazon also accept bitcoin payments, especially from gifts.
• Hotels & Restaurants
• Travel companies like Espedia has added bitcoin to their accepted modes of payments. Bars and Restaurants of North America also accept bitcoin money as payment for their service.
• Online Casinos: Most gamers and especially gamblers prefer using bitcoin for betting or any other transaction in online casinos because betting with bitcoin provides a fast, safe and secure way to pay online. Bitcoin also enables us to keep track of all the bets placed in the online casinos through blockchain.
• Charity: Some of the biggest charity organisations like “Save the Children”. “Human Rights Foundations”, “The Water Project” and “Freesnowden” accept bitcoin contributions to the accounts. 

Also, bitcoin reduces transaction costs significantly, meaning more money goes to charity organisations.

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

Wi-fi -The Form of Electricity through Rectennas

Ever thought that connected to a Wi-fi network would be a rather become more helpful without thinking of the battery draining out with the continuous usage. Well, that is a myth that we used to believe but now it is not.

Image source: MIT/Christine Daniloff

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have designed the first fully flexible, battery-free “rectenna” — a device that converts energy from Wi-Fi signals into electricity — that could be used to power flexible and wearable electronics, medical devices, and sensors for the “internet of things.” (Image source: MIT/Christine Daniloff)

Massachusetts institute of technology (MIT) has developed a new way of charging electronics devices without the use of wire. Yes, they have devised a new way of powering electronics devices through Wi-Fi signals.

Researchers at MIT have developed a new flexible device that can convert the Wi-Fi signals into electrical power that can power electronic devices like laptop, mobiles, etc. MIT scientist made a device from flexible, inexpensive that powers electronics devices, medical equipment and wearable devices. These devices that convert AC electromagnetic waves into DC electricity are known as “rectennas.” This is a two-dimensional flexible device that is powered solely by Wi-Fi waves passing through it. 

All rectennas consist of a component known as a “rectifier,” which converts the AC signal into DC signal. The researchers used a 2-D material known as molybdenum disulphide (MoS2), which is three atoms thick, is one of the thinnest semiconductors present in today world. As the WIFI signal hits the antenna, it picks up the electromagnetic radiation, converting it directly into an alternating current, and then it is passed through a diode, which converts the signal to direct current for use in electrical circuits. It can capture higher frequencies than other flexible rectifiers, which can't capture the gigahertz frequencies in which Wi-Fi signal operates.  The devices are flexible and it can be fabricated in a roll-to-roll process to cover very large areas.

Researchers have demonstrated a new rectenna that uses a flexible radio-frequency that captures electromagnetic waves carrying Wi-Fi signals as AC waveform. It has a novel device made out of a two-dimensional semiconductor just a few atoms thick which is connected with an antenna which receives the ac waveform and converts them into dc signals which powers the electronics devices. 

“What if we could develop electronic systems that we wrap around a bridge or cover an entire highway, or the walls of our office and bring electronic intelligence to everything around us? How do you provide energy for those electronics?” said Tomas Palacios, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US.

The report suggests that the maximum output efficiency for the current device stands at 40%, depending upon the input power of the Wi-Fi signal. At the typical Wi-Fi power level, the power efficiency of the rectifier is about 30% i.e. it can produce about 40 microwatts of power when exposed to the typical power levels of Wi-Fi signals (around 150 microwatts). The power generated is more than enough power to light up a simple mobile display or silicon chips. Today’s rectennas made from rigid, more expensive materials that are able to achieve around 50 to 60 % efficiency. The team is planning to build a more complex system and improve efficiency. 

The device could also be used for practical use like medical implants and swallowable sensors.

These sensors can also be used to harvest energy from the environment to power up the small labs inside the body and communicate data to an external computer.

The development team says the as molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) rectifier can capture and convert up to 10 GHz of wireless signals with an efficiency of about 30 %. This is much higher than other flexible designs available, and the researchers also say that it is faster as compared to other devices.

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

RERA & Technology-Reshaping the Real Estate Sector

RERA (Real Estate and Development Authority) Act 2016, a bill passed by the Modi government with the sole objective of establishing a Real Estate Regulatory Authority for the regulation real estate sector. The act ensures the sale of plots, apartments, buildings and setting up of a tribunal for grievance redressal and to set up rules and regulations of the regulatory body. As per the present scenario, the real estate sector is experiencing a massive slowdown, therefore RERA Act and the infusion of Technology can be fruitful in reviving this particular sector. Focus on technology is imperative because it is the key driver for growth in all spheres.

The adoption of technology has been very late in the real estate sector but has made it easy and attractive with the help of advancements and innovation. As the government aims towards a five trillion economy, the real estate sector plays a pivotal role in it. According to IBEF reports, the real estate sector in India is expected to reach US$1 Trillion by 2030 and by 2025 it will contribute 13% to the GDP. The fact that this sector holds a market size $150 Billion still has tremendous growth ahead and eventually will become the major player in the contribution of the GDP of the country.  As far as technology is concerned it has made the way simpler for the people as it can meet its customers within seconds. The conventional method of using paperwork for all invoices, transactions done have now been converted to a digitalized platform. Technology has increased the quality standards of the construction and has tremendously reduced the construction time of a project. Developers have started using a common platform which brings the developers and customers together were buying of properties has become smoother. Focusing on various technologies that are used or can be used in this industry.

⮚Blockchain Technology:

Though India has not been fully operational in adopting the blockchain technology still there are various opportunities in this sector. It will bring transparency and increase the efficiency of India's Real Estate sector. It enables safer and faster transactions with minimal intervention. It makes buying and selling more convenient by removing the intermediaries.

⮚Internet of Things:

Today IoT has hugely penetrated the real estate industry at a building level. It has made the lives of people simpler. People having home appliances, security cameras, etc. can now control it via the internet. People can also use this technology for energy saving.

⮚Process Automation:

The larger player has been using ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system for a long time but due to process automation affordable ERPs using SaaS subscription model are being made available. This prevents the players from spending large capital costs in the development of ERPs.

⮚ Augmented Reality (AR):

It uses a computer-based model to visualize what the project/construction will look like upon completion. So it allows developers to make corrections before the construction starts in this way they can eliminate the flaws in the project.

Artificial Intelligence is considered as the major technology in shaping the Real Estate future. Also, it is the radical and groundbreaking technologies set to transform the market shortly. Ways in which AI is modifying the real estate sector are:-

1. Chatbots: They have penetrated every aspect of our lives. When it comes to Real Estate they have revolutionized the selling and buying activities, chatbots have proved itself in saving time, cost-cutting and saving additional resources. Introduction Chatbots in websites have optimized the time spent on common queries.

2. Construction Automation: Some tools have been developed to provide good quality materials at cheaper price from suppliers. Robots have been deployed to handle materials used for construction which cuts down the cost and triggers profit by extensive use of AI.

3. Drones: Another next-gen technology is drone. It has become a new medium for developers to build houses in a cost-effective, faster and safer manner. They have been fitted with high-resolution cameras so that inspection becomes easier and pics can be taken at different stages.

4.Investor Analytics: An intellectual robot can check the revenue and growth goals set by the property investors and can also, evaluate the risk based on investor's parameters that they can make necessary modifications for which they can meet their monetary goals.

Real Estate sector was traditionally functioning offline but when advancements came and technology was embraced in this sector it led into a scalability impact in various markets. Now technology integrates two polarised part which existed in isolation before like search and discovery platform thriving in the country and the fragmented brokerages, retailers. What tech does is it consolidates them and bring them to a common platform.

So what technology means when it comes to the Real Estate sector, the answer is it builds affordable houses, modular homes and creates an efficient process to build projects. Finally, the sole objective remains that how to build low-cost houses or how you can use technology to achieve that target.

When it comes to RERA Act, it is also very imperative for this sector by introducing Regulatory body for grievance redressal, speedy recovery of cases which will ease the problems of people and builders would be able to get occupancy certificate early if they are eligible for. I think both the RERA Act and the use of tech in the Real Estate industry is very important for the revival of the slowing industry as it will eventually help in the growth of the economy of our country.

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

OTT MEDIA: PAVING A NEW WAY OF MARKETING

The rising clout of digitalization has shaken the conventional pattern of conducting the business and with no differences; media business has embraced the changes. Starting from the methodology of producing the content to delivering to the audience, everything has been metamorphosed with the rapidly evolving technology as well as the changing taste & preferences of customers. Concurrently the number of customers & market players are exponentially increasing and the task of brand positioning is becoming more difficult for marketers. Marketing mix aims at bundling the factors that can be controlled by a firm to influence consumers for experiencing its products. As the Nextgen marketer, the approach of informing, persuading and reminding about particular goods or services has been changed drastically with the change in lifestyle & product attributes. The traditional pattern of marketing requires a perfect mix of the modern approach to reach plausible customers. Within the busy lifestyle, the customer touch points are slowly diverting towards the tech-savvy platforms. The affordability to access such platforms and improved connectivity support this transformation. Through OTT media the promotional efforts can be strategically designed and targeted to the right customer at the right time. Measuring audience engagement with advertising is more prominent in the case of OTT than conventional advertising through TV advertisement & OOH advertising. Moreover promoting through OTT can put an intense impact because of the content and positioning the message. Also, it can help the marketer in understanding the entire journey of the customer and derive strategic implications to improve product performance.

OTT Platforms Scenario

The OTT content is gaining momentum across the globe because of the improved connectivity and accessibility to smart gadgets. The busy lifestyle and a quest for change in the engagement with video content are driving the audience towards the OTT media. As the meaning suggests OTT is independent of the typical transmission mechanism. Leading names like Amazon Prime & Netflix stikes into our mind whenever we take up about OTT media services. From the introductory business line of online bookselling and DVD by mail rental service, both the players forrayed into digital video distribution in the early 21st century. By 2012 they had created a decent share in the markets of US, UK, Canada. Sweden, Germany and other Nordic countries. Gradually Amazon Prime & Netflix expanded to other developing with their region-specific marketing strategies. To captivate the increasing demand new OTT content players emerged and some existing television media players diversified their offerings into OTT media services. According to a report by eMarketer, 10.2% of the global population has access to OTT media content and the subscription rate is growing by 24.0%. In line with global trends, the consumption of the content on digital platforms is increasing in India with more than 560mn internet users. Though Amazon and Netflix hold a major portion of the market, other players like ALT Balaji, Viu, BigFlix etc are coming up. Popular television media operators like Viacom, Sony entertainment, Star, ZEE entertainment etc have entered into OTT media services through VOOT, ZEE5, Hotstar, Eros Now and other subscription-based platforms. The main source of revenue is generated through subscription fees. For the developing-market, the OTT players have designed their pricing strategies with an eye to lifetime profitability from the subscribers and aim at increasing the subscriber base. The main focus of these OTT content players is producing original content with the touch of regional preference. Each OTT content has its specific objective of attracting as well as retaining audiences. These days leading movie production houses are releasing their movies exclusively on OTT platforms and the response as well as engagement quite satisfactory. On the other hand, it is becoming a marvellous platform to integrate brands which attempts at reaching the audience with a similar buyer persona. OTT media is getting wider acceptance across the regions and demographics because of creative and region-specific content. Using the analytics, the content creators are able to gauge the audience reaction and deliver the content with a great watching experience. Considering the booming demand in the Urban area, the OTT players are taking the assistance of Out of Home(OOH) advertising in prime locations of metro cities.

With the evolution of technology and ease of accessing the internet, Indian OTT market has flourished. The major players follow the various business model in order to cope up with their competitors. A key element that plays a major role in the success of OTT is that these major players would also likely concur with is that when a market is changing as rapidly as today’s OTT landscape, hence the business plan is getting strong in technical agility and operational flexibility. The media business has flourished with a combination of transactional business models and free, ad-based, subscriptions. In addition to it, many of the most successful OTT services have amalgamated the available existing model, layering new models on top of the available existing services in order to increase revenue growth. These business models have been broadly classified into 4 types: Platform, Processor, Performer and Player. These fall along with the scales of business integration scale, using content directly to generate revenue and simple support to other marketing and communication systems as a contributor.

The continued advancement of technology and certain new acronyms like IoT (the Internet of Things) being a master of our lives, it becomes really hard for consumers to really understand what a product does, especially if that product is software. On top of that, consumers often prefer the tangibility of a product and they want to see and how something works versus just read about it. This gives huge scope for the market players to make a huge business of out of this. Hence if the content is marketed right like a video on- demand content, it can be boon for a company. Undoubtedly the future of OTT Media marketing is effulgent and it is the chore of the marketer to leverage the best out of it.

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

BEACONS TECHNOLOGY

Beacons are small and cost efficient, micro-location-based technology devices that can emit radio frequency signals and notify nearby Bluetooth devices of their presence and transmit information. Smartphones or other mobile devices can capture the beacon signals and distance can be estimated by measuring Received Signal Strength Indicators (RSSI). Stronger signals are received with the proximity of the receptive devices. Various industrial sectors including retail, educational institutions, transit systems, travel, enterprises, event organizing, finance etc. have started leveraging beacons solutions to track and communicate with their potential and existing customers. A beacon fixed on to a shop wall or event location or any public place, can communicate easily with a corresponding smartphone app and figure out where the person is located currently with great accuracy. The retailers or event organizations can then come up with a much targeted or personalized communication based on the proximity of the customer.

How do beacons connect to the web?

You’ve probably heard of Bluetooth. It’s present in more than 90 per cent of all phones and has been around since the 1990s. While many consumers don’t use Bluetooth on a daily basis, it’s hugely important to the Internet of Things. Being in 90% of the world’s phones, Bluetooth technology means beacons are compatible with devices consumers use on a daily basis around the globe. Bluetooth provides the infrastructure for the entire beacon ecosystem. It’s a standard for sending data over short distances, a wireless technology not so dissimilar from Wi-Fi. This is why beacon hardware can be simple. There is already a web of Bluetooth around you that can connect beacons and smart devices and almost anything else.

How do beacons work?

As you move through a shopping mall installs beacons in their shop, all of the beacons will have certain IDs, registered in their dedicated app. This means a smartphone app can immediately recognize that the incoming ID is important and that it’s from that particular mall. The ID, however, has little meaning on its own; it’s entirely up to an app or other programs to recognize what it means.

What happens next? That depends on what the owner has programmed it to do. One code could trigger the app to send a coupon. Another could offer navigation services. The possibilities are nearly endless. All the beacon has to do is connect your exact location to the app, and the rest is up to the program.If this sounds a little too big brother for you, don’t worry. There are limitations to what they can do.

First, beacons only work if you have the right app. Beacons can’t ping your phone unless you give them permission to pair, which is done through installing the mobile app. If you don’t have the app installed, you won’t ping the beacon.

Second, beacons don’t work with when your phone's Bluetooth is turned off. Unlike the store’s Wi-Fi network, you’re in full control of whether your phone pings beacons. Even if you have the app installed, you can manually turn off your phone’s Bluetooth to cut off any communications with beacons.

Third, beacons have a limited range. If you’ve ever used a Bluetooth device, you know the range is limited to half a mile in the most ideal, unobstructed, outdoor conditions. Walls, merchandise, other device signals, and other obstacles limit this range to 100 meters or less.

Beacons in Retail industry

Customer experience has become the key to the success of any industry including retail. Retailers can deliver a much more appealing customer experience for consumers by implementing reliable Beacon Solutions. These micro-computing devices can easily figure out interested customers, loyal customers, potential customers exactly where the person is, what they are interested in, when they enter into the store environment and many such attributes. This provides an opportunity for retailers to provide a much engaging Customer experience by sending contextually relevant, hyper-local, significant messages and advertisements on their smartphones. Beacons solutions will act as a bridge between the online and traditional offline shopping by capturing and sending consumer data to retailers and vice-versa to create an enhanced shopping experience.

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

ROBOT - DEXTERITY

Imagining robots part of human world is a common buzz because some human must design and build, Program it, to serve its purpose but it’s all mechanical. What happens when the robots start learning everything by itself – ROBOT DEXTERITY. The irony of robotics is “What’s hard for humans is relatively easy for robots, and what’s easy for humans is nearly impossible for robots.”

Dexterous Manipulation is an area of robotics in which multiple manipulators, or fingers, cooperate to grasp and manipulate objects. Dexterous manipulation differs from traditional robotics because they are mainly the object-centered ones. That is, the problem is formulated in terms of the object to be manipulated, how it should behave and what kind of forces should be employ upon it.

In General case a robot can pick an object as programmed like Location co- ordinates, size, shape, color etc. if any of the programmed specifications changed the robot fails. This is where ROBOT DEXTERITY masters the technology. It will help the robot to manipulate the object with trial and error method. This improves the efficiency and it rises to the next stage “self-learning Robots”.

“Dactyl” a new advancement is a system for manipulating objects using a Shadow Dexterous Hand. For the Re-orientation/Self learning there are few things first robotics should expertise at first. Real world experience, High Dimension control, Noisy and partial Observations, Manipulating more than one object at a time. The problem is Traditional robots can easily provide enough data to train complex policies, but most manipulation problems can’t be modeled accurately enough. Training directly on physical robots allows the policy to learn from real-world physics. Domain randomization deals with simulation which is designed to provide a variety of experiences. This gives robots learning in simulation, gather more experience quickly by scaling - up, and by de-emphasizing realism, tackle problems that simulators can only model approximately.

The new Robot “MuJuCo” with Dactyl has been built. This copies the simulation by seeing the other one. Example if a human turned an object in a particular direction the robot copies the simulation and places the object in the same direction. This is happening cause of the robot can manipulate the object by repeatedly making contact with it. Dactyl was designed to be able to manipulate arbitrary objects, not just those that have been specially modified to support tracking. Dactyl uses regular RGB camera images to estimate the position and orientation of the object.

The important factor is tactile sensing is not necessary to manipulate real-world objects and Randomization developed for one object generalize to others with similar properties. The key players in this area are the Open AI

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.

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN REAL ESTATE

Real estate is a cyclical industry, reacting to macroeconomic trends such as interest rates, population growth, and economic strength. It takes care of one of our very basic needs i.e. a home to stay, for which in this sector the demand is very high and profitable too. 

Talking about the real estate industry earlier, it was tougher than what it is now. People had to go to the sites and search for favorable sites in person. But, since the last decade with the increase in the use of the internet widely all over, it has been easier for the real estate sector to reach their customers and for the customers to find the perfect property for themselves. The extensive use of internet gave birth to a new way i.e. digitalization. Digitalization is spreading all over like an epidemic. With this major change, all sectors need to adapt it to perform the best.

In the real estate industry, Digital Marketing is playing a major role. It is true that people will make a final decision after seeing the property in person. But investors are likely to conduct thorough research before viewing the properties, for which it is ideal that as a realtor and property, one must have a strong online presence. As per Digital Marketing Activities, there has been a phenomenal increase in the number of leads (at least 300%) from marketing real estate online via digital marketing platform. Undoubtedly, buyers get interested in personal buying experience when it comes to high monetary value products, digital marketing makes the real estate or developers in India create a huge impact on the buyers. To attain this objective of reaching out the target users, digital marketing is applied. The various channels used to achieve these are:

Optimize your On-Page Real Estate Content

Today, the need for a more intricate strategy is needed in order to get your website rank in the top few pages of search results. This includes:

• Create user-friendly navigation and design elements.
• Keywords are implemented in prominent areas.
• Develop many pages to showcase housing markets, company info and listings. 

Blogging

This is a crucial aspect of the real estate agent and marketing plan whether we are a seasoned agent or first-time agent. However, once you realized which type of content the audience likes, it will be a lot easier to do it. Since most of the sellers and buyers turn to real estate websites in order to find out who an agent is, information about their markets, what distinguishes them from the pack, and so on. Therefore, to know your users and what drives leads to you, there is a need for content marketing strategy for real estate.

Social Media

1. The first thing that is needed to be done is to make sure your profile is filled in properly.

Sounds obvious, right? But you’d be surprised at how many real estate companies overlook this aspect of their social media accounts, especially if they’ve recently moved office or changed their phone number.

For each platform you’re using, Add your: Contact details, Address, Profile photo, Website URL etc. That way, if your audiences are looking for a way to get in touch, inquire or simply learn more about your business, the information is there to do so. We all love convenience.Fancy taking this tactic a step further? Dive into the details of your real estate business and use the Story section on the Facebook Page to build those all-important personal connections

       2. Real estate video marketing to showcase properties should be used

97% of marketers say video has helped increase user understanding of their product or service, 76% say it has increased sales, and 76% experienced more support queries after using video in their strategy.

But while you might already know how to record, upload and promote basic video content on social media, you’ll need to adapt—and test new video formats—if you want to make your content a success.

For example, these can be done:    

a. A series of Instagram Stories to show the interior of a property they’re selling (remember these expire after 24 hours unless pinned to an Instagram profile)

b. A Facebook Live video at one of their open house events

c. A Snapchat Story which encourages their followers to take part in a property Q&A

d. A YouTube video which explains the step-by-step process of buying a house

e. A 360 post to give their audience a full, 360-view of the property

SEO or Search Engine Optimization

It would let us be found at the top of search engine results when you optimize your agency’s site for the services your agents offer. Outrank your competitors time and time again as your strength in search grows and you continue to drive traffic to your site.

A strong organic strategy will drive more and more traffic to your agency’s site over time. You can even leverage local SEO strategies, so people searching for agencies near them can easily find you and map where your agency is located thus also driving traffic not only online but also through your agency’s doors.

If any real estate company wants to be the best then online marketing is very important as well as in an effective way. When they are planned to do online marketing then they should remember one thing that they are going to provide the best value. They should be very careful while giving the information online because they are going to take part in someone’s very important decisions about the home.

Their online strategies should show this desire. While creating the content, it should be designed in the way, when the user is going to take the decision it would be easier for them to choose. If they actually help the user in searching for a desired home then the chances of engagement will increase. In the end, a successful digital marketing strategy will help them to generate and convert more leads into potential clients.

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.