SigmaWay Blog

The first major U.S. bank to offer card free ATM is Wells Fargo. In this the customers can simply use their mobile phones to access the bank's ATM's. The process is very simple. They need to download the app, login to their accounts and request for a unique verification code which they must type in and thereafter they should put their PIN number. This is a very secure process as the PIN expires in 30 minutes. The customer also requires to login to their account either using a thumb scanner or online banking password. Read more at: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20170402/business/170409979/

Blogging and social media must coexist, complementing each other. The first step is that content should be of high quality but what if it has no viewers? To run a successful blog, one has to engage with the audience via social media and always interact. So, instead of pleasing others to share your blog, the trick is to find a piece of article/news which is performing well and all you need to do is improve it. It should be rich in content. You must find your own way to improve one's digital strategy. Read more at: https://hellboundbloggers.com/articles/blogging-social-media-intertwines/65003/

Bitcoin is not something the average person will ever use to buy and sell stuff, but is useful mainly as digital gold-as an investment, also a useful way of moving money across international borders, and that will likely be its main application over the next several years. It is most valuable as something that enables financial phenomena that have never existed before, what is known as "programmatic finance." Read more at: http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21722235-bitcoin-far-only-game-town-surge-value-crypto-currencies

Data federation and data virtualization are both terms that have been coined to describe the process of collecting and compiling data. Data virtualization is a superset of the ten-year old data federation technology. It also includes the advanced capabilities of performance optimization as well as self-service search and discovery. Data federation is a distributed access to data residing in multiple systems with the purpose of joining the data together as if it came from the same system. Data virtualization on the other hand, has evolved from data federation by improving performance and adding other advanced capabilities such as self-service search and discovery. Advanced data virtualization products like the Denodo Platform have evolved to include dynamic query optimization techniques to determine the best query execution plan thus delivering optimal performance times.  Read more at: http://www.datavirtualizationblog.com/leading-analysts-mixing-data-federation-data-virtualization-terms/

Artificial Intelligence is a reality today and is impacting our lives in every sphere be it the voice assistant SIRI in our smartphones or the Netflix recommendations we receive. AI is a blend of three advanced technologies- machine learning, natural language processing and cognitive computing. Banking is one industry that has been impacted by AI more than any other. The key application of AI that revolutionizes the banking industry over the last 5 years includes:
1. Anti- Money Laundering (AML) pattern Detection:
2. Chatbots for better customer interaction 24x7.
3. Algorithmic Trading
4. Fraud Detection using Machine Learning algorithms
5. Customer recommendation using recommendation engines
For smaller banks, AI can make a greater impact in differentiating them against intense completion from larger banks where they can benefit from operational efficiency.

 Read more at https://www.analyticsvidhya.com/blog/2017/04/5-ai-applications-in-banking-to-look-out-for-in-next-5-years/

The 4Ps of marketing by Neil H. Borden: Product, Price, Place, Promotion have been the cornerstone for decades. However, technology and innovation have led to just as powerful and as a game-changing new strategy- the new 4Ps of marketing.
Digital marketing has been failing as savvy customer now know how their private data is collected, used and benefits businesses in profiling customers. The new approach consists of the following 4Ps-
1. Permission: Consent for collecting data and being responsible for its usability for building trust.
2. Preferences: Let customer control their marketing channel.
3. Profile: Ask the customer about their preference rather than profiling them which actually hurts the customer.
4. Persona: Allow the customer to tell their own details and needs.
Read more at https://www.digitaldoughnut.com/articles/2017/may/the-new-4p-s-of-marketing

According to the author, the updated healthcare marketing has to be more value based, data driven and customer centric. In the coming years, success rate and customer experience are likely to decide the fate of the companies. Real world data with economic outcomes can demonstrate a brand’s value. New marketing techniques will require- 1. Quick and effective marketing activities. 2. Use of advanced technologies and analytics for finding valuable insights from data. 3. Provision of better and innovative customer experiences, which will maximize brand value. 4. Collaborating with partners to create unique solutions.

Read more at: http://www.adageindia.in/others/misc/the-seismic-shakeup-in-healthcare-marketing-are-you-ready/articleshow/58809226.cms 

There is no doubt that Artificial Intelligence is impacting all walks of life toady-be it driverless cars, automated surgeries, AI robot and more. AI was recently introduced at the Zurich Insurance company for claims handling and it did the magic- saved 40,000 work hours, while speeding the claim processing time to just five seconds. The insurers are now planning to reap the benefits of this technological advancement and expand the use of AI. The days are not far when AI boats will be deployed to help in setting up policies and process insurance claims. The accuracy is expected to increase over time better performance. For a good read, follow the link below: https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2017/05/ai-adopted-by-zurich-insurance-to-assess-personal-injury-claims/

Low-tech micro finance institutions(MFI's) can capture the base-of-pyramid(BoP) population effectively. Taking the client's need into consideration from a sympathetic mindset, traditional MFI's have proved that high-tech credit providers are their complements and not substitutes. High-tech services can serve a very low percentage of the targeted population because of its prerequisites of smart technological availability which is still a rarity. Small transactions can be met by the high-tech system, but for larger needs, clients prefer face-to-face interaction. Fintech in micro finance is not experimented and it must consider the basic criterion that has enabled the success of MFI's-provide credit responsibly and productively rather than a simple profit-generating motive. Read more at: https://cfi-blog.org/2017/05/11/fintech-in-microfinance-in-search-of-the-high-tech-high-touch-unicorn/#more-23611

Dashboard has changed drastically since its beginning and lots of vendors are catering toward big data etc. nowadays. Now the focus has shifted from Excel to Big Data. But it is going to coexist for a long time. A good BI Ecosystem should allow for an easy assemblage of such small sized datasets, whether it be excel/csv or any other text file into a central repository. Visualization will continue to improve and no longer be a differentiating factor among vendors. Users will be able to perform advanced visualization by simple drag and drop operations. Dashboards will continue to be used for monitoring real time events as well as publish scorecards and performance metrics. The line between a dashboard page and any other internal web page will fade. Read more at: http://www.datavizualization.com/blog/what-is-the-future-of-data-visualization-and-dashboard-solutions

Today, "big data" is associated closely with profit maximization techniques (such as recommendation lists on e-commerce sites and targeted ads), high-profile data leaks and privacy issues. However, not all data are bad. Here are the positive side of Data Science:  LOGISTICS: e.g.: Airlines Schedule Flights predict delays based on precise weather forecasts, and other market and political happenings. HEALTHCARE : Big data power the idea of self-learning healthcare programs, which will be able to interpret the data of individual patients: not only their gender, age, weight, and medical history, but also their lifestyle, habits, preferences and give the personalized recommendation about adjustments that would be the most beneficial.  FACE RECOGNITION: Long time ago, it was tough to even think about it, but nowadays, Many tools are there which capture details of the current face and match it with millions of faces in about no time.  Self- Drive Cars : It has made life much easier. Either you are driving or you are on a walk, you don't have to worry at even new places. Many taxi companies are dependent on this and even self-driving cars are also there which is dependent. It finds shortest routes, routes without traffic, etc. in about no time. Read more at: http://www.datasciencecentral.com/profiles/blogs/how-data-science-has-changed-everyday-life-for-the-better

AI or Artificial Intelligence is the hottest sector in India with lots of innovation across sectors. With China is leaping ahead in the AI race on many levels (research papers, R&D, investment and even policies) India is only now waking up to the benefits of AI. If India wants to participate in the AI revolution, then it needs a policy that brings together Indian academicians, researchers, labs, private players and investors on the same platform. Read more at: http://analyticsindiamag.com/india-stand-ai-race-vis-vis-china-us-rest-world/

Nowadays, people are not interested to read huge paragraphs of text. Several researches have shown that Internet users have time to read at most 28% of the word displayed on a web page but most of them read only 20%. On the other hand, visual content has the power to hold the attention longer. If you are just browsing on the Internet as a casual user, not reading all the text wouldn't be a problem. But, when you have a responsibility to process information, things are not that simple. Reasons why the brain needs that kind of visualization: i) You need a visual tier to process large volumes of data. ii) Visual data trigger retentive processing. iii) Visual Data Brings Together All Aspects of Memory.    Visual data presentation relates these three memory functions. When we see the information presented in a visually-attractive way, it triggers our sensory memory and makes it easy for us to process it. Read more at: http://www.datavizualization.com/blog/why-your-brain-needs-data-visualization

The growing potential of big data should incorporate analytics into its strategy to make better and faster decisions. Businesses can use data and analytics to make better decisions by using granular data. New machine learning has a lot of applications and benefits. Systems enabled by machines can provide better benefits. The technologies could generate productivity gains and an improved quality of life, but they carry the risks associated. Industries are getting greatly influenced by data and analytics, and the effects will become more pronounced when it reaches the masses. Organizations that can harness these capabilities will be able to create significant value and differentiate themselves, whereas other people might not be happy with this. Read more at: http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/et-citings/managing-analytics/

A Mass based digital agency Stone Temple collected 5,000 questions to ask both Google Home and Amazon Alexa and discovered that Google Home answered more than three times the amount of questions compared to Amazon Echo (3,383 versus 1,030). Out of all the queries Google Home answered, 2.3 % of the queries it answered were incorrect versus 6.3 % of the Amazon Echo device. So, Google Home seems to be the smarter device. With access to Google's repository, this is often hardly shocking. Amazon Alexa performed well, while apparently not counting on Google for its answers. Read more at: http://www.zdnet.com/article/google-home-versus-amazon-alexa-which-one-is-smarter/

Social media marketing can be used to generate leads and drive growth. According to the author, to survive the present competition, most ecommerce owners influence their target audience through social media. Social media provides a global platform and an effective one. Successful marketing can be ensured by choosing target audience and then choosing social media sites accordingly. Effective content strategy and effectively managing customer service can go a long way. Starting a loyal community to the target audience is also important. Keeping the rivals one step behind requires engaging with potential customers, making social media marketing absolutely necessary. Read more at: http://socialbarrel.com/why-social-media-marketing-matters-in-ecommerce/110855/

We need social listening tools to execute a perfect strategy. Regular social media monitoring is not enough. A social listening tool that informs you whenever your company name is mentioned online and there are many such benefits. Top list of such tools: 1) Brand24: where you can view what people are posting about your company on social media in real-time. You can respond to these comments directly through the Brand24 dashboard. 2) Aware: This is a very effective social listening tool that lets you track real time updates on various websites and track keywords in any language.3) Mention: it too helps to keep track of what people are saying online. Mention provides detailed analytics to help you measure and analyze your results. This includes checking the sentiment impact. The data is presented in the form of easy to understand graphs. Read more at: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/3-top-social-listening-tools-you-should-use

There are endless lists of applications that leverage networks’ data provide businesses with actionable business intelligence and qualified leads. In small and medium businesses, companies jump into social media through isolated initiatives that are not a part of consistent plan towards a given goal.

Moreover, maximum businesses use social media to amplify customer experiences with their products beyond the moment they’re being used.

The extent of how this is happening in specific businesses depends on the priority social networks have been given at strategic level and on the basis of teams, tools and processes that have been put in place to accomplish this.

This changes the way businesses connect with each other, just like social networks made for individuals before them.

Read more at : http://socialmediaexplorer.com/content-sections/tools-and-tips/social-networking-tips/

Making social media contents attractive is a not a difficult task. It just requires certain techniques. According to the author, the headline and the first ten words are important. Quirky verbs, uncanny twists and surprising examples can do the trick. Keeping readers engaged after attracting their attention requires simple stories describing certain events that transform the protagonists of the stories. Another important factor is an implicit story structure. Specific details should be used to deliver the message. Authenticity and stories reflecting the vision of the company are the key elements to draw and sustain customer attention. Read more at : https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/273733

An ESOP (employment share ownership program) is an entity created by an employer to hold securities for the benefit if its employees. Here the employer sets up ESOP entity so that each company employee receives a membership share from the entity. The income earned from ESOPs has tax advantages as it falls under capital income. The ESOP scheme provides flexibility as it incorporates securities of parent company along with its employer securities. Although ESOP is a lucrative scheme for payments it has some pitfalls. Remuneration policy and contracts need to be framed.To ensure unwarranted discrimination or to avoid any restriction on the owners' decision-making rights. An ESOP is not an alternative channel for regular salary payments rather, it's a vehicle for payments of bonuses and other awards. Read more at https://www.hg.org/article.asp?id=43423