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Marketing Automation for Businesses: The Ultimate Guide

Aditya Chakurkar | December 10, 2021 | 14 views

Marketing_Automation_for_Businesses

“When we look at the usage of AI and cloud, I think it is especially going to accelerate also not just us, but how our clients are going to go on their digital transformations. And I believe this crisis is only going to accelerate that as we go over the next few months.”

Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM

What is arguably the most important secret to any company's success?

Profit, right?

And what can drive the best earnings for any company?

That’s marketing!

The journey of marketing till now has been genuinely fascinating. From billboards to inbound calls and radio commercials to personalized Facebook ads, marketing has evolved tremendously. Technology advancement has played a significant role in shaping today's top marketing practices.

Today, marketing activities around the globe are undergoing enormous disruptions caused by technological progress, and companies are forced to embrace new strategies to stay competitive. And of these new techniques, marketing automation platforms have gained the most reputation.

This article explains what a marketing automation platform is, its types, features, and how it can benefit businesses of all sizes. So without further ado, let’s dive right into it!

What is a Marketing Automation Platform?

Have you ever given a post-sales survey on any product you purchased to share your experience with a particular brand? These kinds of surveys are routine tasks of marketing automation.

Simply put, marketing automation streamlines various business operations with the help of software (often referred to as a marketing automation platform). Using the same example of a post-sales survey, the marketing automation platform sends surveys automatically to consumers to learn more about their experiences with the brand. Marketing teams can automate this work by setting up the required triggers and parameters. Such applications relieve your marketing team of some of their responsibilities, allowing them to focus on more important objectives.

Marketing automation refers to software intended to automate marketing actions. Many marketing departments have to automate repetitive emails, social media, and other website actions. The technology of marketing automation makes these tasks easier (the definition of marketing automation by Hubspot).

Types of Marketing Automation

Marketing automation can take care of both internal and external marketing tasks. Marketing teams choose repetitive and tedious tasks, and based on that; they incorporate the most helpful marketing stack into their business operations. The following are the most renowned types of marketing automation used globally:

  • Customer relationship management automation tool
  • Website forms automation software
  • Social media tasks automation tools
  • Emails automation platforms
  • Blogs automation tools
  • Landing pages automation software
  • Marketing analytics automation tools
  • Content automation software


Features of Marketing Automation

Companies count on marketing automation to streamline their multi-channel marketing workflows through automation without hiring a team. So what are those features of marketing automation that enable businesses to simplify their marketing process? Let’s have a look! The following are the top features of marketing automation to consider:

  • Lead generating and nurturing
  • Build web forms and landing pages
  • Monitor the activities of your prospects
  • Marketing content tracking
  • Visitor tracking
  • Improved profiling
  • Native integration
  • Smart list segmentation
  • Software integration and A/B testing
  • Dynamic content creation

Ensure to look for these features to choose the most suitable marketing automation tool for your business.


Marketing Automation for Small Businesses

Customer communication is one of the most vital tasks small businesses need to succeed. Marketers use various marketing automation tools for small businesses to optimize and automate different means of customer communication. It helps small businesses to analyze customer behavior, the sales cycles, the buying patterns, etc., to ultimately tweak their marketing campaigns to gain more and more profits. Many small business owners worldwide have confirmed that marketing automation helps them draw more gains through improved productivity.


Top Automation Marketing Software for Small Businesses

Choosing the best automation marketing software for small businesses can be an overwhelming job, considering millions of tools are available in the market. To narrow down your search, we bring you the top automation marketing software for small businesses:

  • ActiveCampaign and MailChimp for email automation
  • HubSpot and Marketo for multi-channel marketing automation
  • Ahrefs and Google Analytics for marketing analysis automation
  • ZOHO and SalesForce for CRM automation
  • WordPress for content automation
  • Engagebay for multi-function marketing automation


Conclusion

Marketing automation can do wonders for your business. It has the power to accelerate ROI growth, improve productivity, save time, boost efficiency and increase the value of your brand. The wide range of benefits it offers is enough to consider investing in it. It is your practical and trustworthy solution to take care of all the time-consuming tasks and focus on growing your business.

The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself.”

Peter Drucker,  A Renowned Management Consultant, Educator, and Author.


Frequently Asked Questions


How does marketing automation help your business?

Marketing automation complements various internal and external areas of your business. The following are the significant benefits your business can get from marketing automation platforms:

  • It helps you monitor data from your marketing campaigns
  • It enables you to get rid of the silo mentality
  • It improves your customer retention
  • It helps you identify customer behavior in the best way


Can both marketing and sales teams use automation platforms?

In every company, sales and marketing teams are co-dependent, and their responsibilities go hand in hand. So yes, both sales and marketing teams can use marketing automation platforms.

Before you purchase, check if the tool is helpful for both teams. Also, see how many users can work on your device simultaneously.


Is budget a significant factor in choosing a marketing automation platform?

Yes, budgeting is essential before choosing the most suitable marketing automation platform for your company. Even if you should not go ahead and splurge on the purchase, you should also not limit yourself, because purchasing a tool simply because it is inexpensive may result in additional costs in the long run.

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Natural Language Processing: An Advanced Implementation of AI

Article | June 1, 2022

Natural Language Processing, also known as computational linguistics or NLP, is a branch of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and linguistics. It is a subfield of AI that enables computers or machines to understand, manipulate, and interpret human language. Simply put, natural language is the natural method by which humans communicate with one another. We have now trained computers to interpret natural language. Communicating with computers has become simpler with voice queries such as "Alexa, what's the news today?" or "Ok Google, play my favorite songs." Similarly, when you ask Siri, Apple's voice assistant, "What is the cheapest flight to New York later today?" It instantly searches airline and travel websites for flights from the user's location to New York. It also compares the prices and lists the one with the lowest fare first. So, even without specifying a date or the "lowest fare", Siri understands the inquiry and returns accurate results. This is the result of NLP in action. Natural Language Processing: Business Applications Natural language processing has a variety of applications, some of them are listed below. Summarize text blocks to extract the most relevant and core concepts while excluding unnecessary information. Develop a chatbot that makes use of Point-of-Speech tagging to enhance customer support. Chatbots are AI systems that use NLP to engage with people through text or voice. Determine the type of extracted entity, such as a person, location, or organization. Sentiment Analysis can be used to recognize the sentiment or emotions of a text string, ranging from highly negative to neutral to very positive. HR teams can utilize NLP-based solutions to scan resumes based on keyword synonyms and swiftly shortlist candidates from a pile of resumes. Extracting Text data from the data storage allows in extracting specific information from text. Text can be broken down into tokens, or words can be reduced to their root or stem. Topic categorization helps users organize unstructured text. It's a great way for businesses to obtain insights from customer feedback. How Can Businesses Prepare for the NLP-Powered Future? NLP has evolved tremendously, and has benefited both companies and consumers. NLP technologies are assisting businesses to better understand how consumers perceive them through channels such as emails, product reviews, social media postings, surveys, and more. AI technologies can be used not just to analyze online interactions and how people speak about companies but also to automate tedious and time-consuming operations, enhance productivity, and free up staff to concentrate on more meaningful duties. When it comes to NLP the sky is the limit. As NLP technology is becoming more prevalent and greater advancements in ability are explored, the future will witness enormous shifts. Here are some of the ways in which businesses can prepare for the future of NLP. Analyze your company's text data assets and evaluate how the most recent techniques can be used to add value. Understand how you can use AI-powered language technology to make wiser decisions or rearrange your skilled labor. Start implementing new language-based AI tools for a range of jobs in order to better understand their potential. Prepare now to capitalize on transformative AI and to make sure that advanced AI contributes to society fairly. Closing Note Thanks to natural language processing technology, conversational commands and everything related to conversational AI in businesses have become faster and better. Natural language processing helps large businesses make flexible choices by revealing consumer moods and market movements. Smart companies now make decisions based not only on data but also on the intelligence derived from NLP-powered system data.

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Augmented Reality: A Dynamic Change to Enhance Your Business

Article | May 5, 2022

Meta Description: Evaluating the impact of augmented reality in business ROI, while also understanding how CMOs leverage AR effectively in their marketing mix. While several technological advancements have been aiding in improving lifestyle, they have also been making drastic impacts on the business front. Over several years now, the world has seen various exposure to augmented reality. The usage of Augmented Reality for business has effectively transformed the technology from an entertainment concept to a crucial enterprise tool. According to Statista, 23 million jobs across the globe could be directly affected by AR and VR by 2030, and over 824,000 of those jobs are currently using these technologies in their workplace. Impact of Augmented Reality on Business In simple terms, Augmented Reality (AR) is a computer-generated enhancement that is placed over the existing reality we see with our human eyes. It offers the option to add dimension, sound and other experiences to any two-dimensional picture or video. Even when this might seem like something complex to be implemented in business, it isn't as challenging as it looks. With each passing year, AR has effectively been penetrating deeper into businesses, making a drastic impact on various functioning. Marketers have effectively been integrating the use of AR into their marketing strategies, and it has grown overall in the mainstream business functioning by being readily available for users to leverage. Industries That Should Leverage Augmented Reality Technology Uses of Augmented Reality is a prospect that business owners across multiple industries leverage to their advantage. While the core idea is to use the technology to aid and improve human performance, the industries that effectively utilize this resource are: Healthcare Education Travel and Tourism Manufacturing Defense Automotive Industry Retail How Seamless Integration of AR Can Impact Your ROI? Facebook said in March 2021 that it had allocated a complete 20% of its personnel to AR and VR development. That is a really massive investment by a corporation that has built a reputation for wisely investing in monetization and focused on creating bottom-line results. Augmented reality is on the path to becoming the next most significant development in an array of industries, ranging from medical to consumer retail. With the nature of augmented reality technology being highly dynamic, it is essential to have a successful strategy that ensures the integration of AR solutions that provide accurate and tangible results that align with the audience. Additionally, uses of augmented reality in business have also been capable of creating more meaningful engagement with customers. For the first time, new forms have made interaction real and measurable. As a result, brands may see precisely how many people engage with their collateral, how many times and where, for how long, and which direct actions they took: purchase, discount coupon, or social shares, for example, by leveraging IR/AR to turbo-charge paid media. "I do think that a significant portion of the population of developed countries, and eventually all countries, will have AR experiences every day, almost like eating three meals a day, it will become that much a part of you." Tim Cook, Chief Executive Officer of Apple Future of Your Business with AR Integration While augmented reality in business is becoming a crucial component for businesses these days and will revolutionize the future of business. According to Global Market Insights, the global market for AR goods will rise by 80% to £165 billion by 2024. The rise of the AR industry is closely tied to increased attention and investments from leading technology firms such as Facebook. Overall, the augmented reality technology market will develop at the fastest rate by 2023, primarily to the growing usage of smartphones, tablets, and other devices in consumer, commercial, and business settings to adopt AR technology. Furthermore, with the rising need for augmented reality in healthcare and retail, there are a plethora of new prospects and rising demand for augmented reality in architecture and the corporate sector. How Are CMOs Leveraging AR for Their Marketing Mix? Several top executives and leading CMOs are leveraging the benefits of augmented reality to expand the engagement, awareness and value around their services and products. In addition, numerous organizations from different industries and of various sizes in the B2C and B2B space are now using augmented reality technology to differentiate their product and services by effectively implementing AR strategies in their marketing mix. With a game-changing armor in their arsenal in the form of augmented reality, marketing executives trying to promote and sell more successfully can hence perform better, with purchasing experience becoming the new focal point. Conclusion Augmented reality in business is a prospect that offers a massive opportunity to engage with millions of users effectively. AR offers executives to ideally establish an immediate and sensory-driven connection of the brand with consumers by forging an emotional interaction. Repetitive engagement is a successful advertising approach for companies since it only requires AR app development expenditures, and additional benefits may be gained via repeated exposure. In the ever-dynamic state of our current existence, leveraging the benefits of augmented reality can come handy in elevating your business to the next level. FAQs How Can Customers and Businesses Benefit from AR? AR effectively increases engagement and interaction and helps provide a richer user experience. Several research has shown that AR increases the value of products and brands. Implementing AR activities is ideal and conveys innovation and responsiveness from forward-thinking brands. How Does AR Help Organizations Gain a Competitive Advantage? Augmented reality allows the organization to create a unique customer experience while also eliminating cognitive overload. It also ensures that user engagement heightens along with competitive differentiation. AR, after all, is a technology that enables a pure blending of physical and digital reality. How Will the Use of AR Technology Impact the Future of Business Functioning? Augmented reality is constantly evolving to become an emerging marketing and sales strategy trend. AR technologies allow organizations to provide their customers a unique experience with convenience by tapping into their smartphone devices.

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How Does IT Vendor Selection and Management Work?

Article | May 4, 2022

What Is the Importance of IT Vendor Selection and Management? Ideally, the IT vendor management process is an umbrella term for all the processes and systems organizations use to manage their IT suppliers. This is where an organization works with vendors to optimize its supplies and services. There could be several vendors an organization is associated with for unique services and offers. With proper vendor management, an organization can take appropriate measures to control costs, reduce potential risks, and ensure excellent service delivery. But the catch here is that it isn't as easy as it sounds. This includes researching the best available vendor, sourcing and obtaining pricing information, gauging the quality of work, managing relationships, and evaluating performance by setting organizational standards. Most Common Challenges in Vendor Management Even though there are many benefits, organizations face certain challenges during IT vendor selection and their management. Some of these most common challenges are mentioned below: High administrative costs Incomplete documentation Non-compliance Poor vendor relationships Security breaches Supply chain inefficiencies While there were some nuanced changes in the selections between various businesses, both large and small, the results indicate that organizations often face the same challenges no matter where they’re coming from. How Do IT Vendor Selection and Management Help an Organization? In contemporary times, with geographical and economic barriers constantly diminishing, organizations look for different types of vendors worldwide. Even if the organization is working with just one vendor, it is essential to have effective vendor management in place. With proper vendor management, an organization can experience the following benefits: Better Selection With the right vendor, your organization can benefit from a more extensive selection of vendors, resulting in more choices and better costs. Better Contract Management If there is multi-vendor management in place, your organization can benefit from a centralized view of the current status of all contracts and other useful information. This will enable your organization to achieve better decision-making capabilities. Better Performance Management Using a vendor management system, an organization can get an integrated view of the performance of all the vendors. This would give your organization a clear understanding of what is working and what is not. Better Vendor Relationship Managing multiple vendors at the same time can be a difficult task. By accumulating all vendor-related information in a single place, organizations benefit from getting all required information at once, and this can influence your decision-making process. Exploring the Ideal Process of IT Vendor Selection In a world where we are constantly progressing with increasing IT specialization, organizations must be able to rely on their partners. There are some specific steps that an organization can take up to make the whole IT vendor selection process more successful. The six-step process of ideal IT vendor selection: Kick-off and requirement definition Market research and first vendor filtering Request for proposal Evaluating responses Proof of concept Choosing the vendor There are also some common mistakes that organizations make while selecting their vendor. Some of these common errors are listed below: Not evaluating the vendor and only their offerings Communication indiscretion Not comparing vendors or similar stature Today, outsourcing is increasingly used by companies as an enabler for innovation. Technological advancements drive improvements in service delivery, which positively impact cost, enhance functionality, improve service quality, and reduce the importance of location on service delivery. Disruptive technologies like cloud computing enable solutions such as Salesforce.com or ServiceNow to accelerate speed to value and drive business growth. This leads to a change from the traditional IT organization to the next generation IT organization. The operating model needs more agility to respond faster and at different speeds to new service offerings. Outsourcing models have reached their third generation and involve a multi-vendor environment, requiring more transparency and integrated vendor management. Best Techniques to Improve Vendor Management The vendor management process is a crucial component for any organization, as it allows them to build a relationship with their suppliers and service providers that would help strengthen their business. Vendor management is not only about negotiating the price; the most essential aspect is coming to a conclusion that would mutually aid both organizations. Some effective techniques that can be utilized for effective IT vendor management are: Share information and priorities Balance commitment and competition Allow critical vendors to help you strategize Build partnerships that would last long term Try to understand your vendor's business process Negotiate and conclude with a win-win agreement Come together on value Conclusion Ideally speaking, vendor selection and managing that relationship can sometimes be challenging. Once you follow the process mentioned above to select the right vendor for your organization, the steps ahead will get a little easier. However, there is still the process of managing and building that relationship with the vendor. "The objective of vendor management is to fortify company success and overall marketplace performance." - Sean-Michael Callahan, Principal at The NiVACK Group. FAQ What Is Vendor Management in the IT Sector? The process that allows organizations to control costs, strengthen service, and reduce risks throughout the process of outsourcing to vendors while getting the most value from the investment is called vendor management in the IT sector. What Is a Vendor Selection Process? The vendor selection process is a subsidiary stage that allows for the clear stating, defining, and approval of those vendors who are eligible to meet the requirements of the procurement process. What Is the Role of Vendor Management? The vendor management process ideally facilitates and maintains relationships between your organization and vendors, negotiating contracts, creating standards for the vendors, and finding the best available vendors.

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How SAAS Is Redefining Software Industry

Article | April 21, 2022

Software-as-a-Service (SAAS) has been a trending topic in the tech field in recent times. The success of the cloud has accelerated the demand for software delivery from on-premises to cloud-based. Start-ups are in a rush for SAAS transformation, delivering the very same solution over the internet. From Google Docs and Sheets to enterprise-level software, SAAS has established a foothold in every sector. With the oncoming of SAAS, the perception of computer software has changed. In this article, we will take a look at how SAAS is redefining and transforming the software industry. Better Accessibility Any software that is preferred to have better and centralized availability is preferred. Better availability is one of the factors that makes SAAS stand out. With centralized availability of both applications and data, users will have a hassle-free experience – with zero installation overheads and no commitments to carry in any device and data. SAAS is accessible from anywhere around the world on any device. There is a big advantage to SAAS over traditional software, which can only be used on a specific device. Ease of Upgrade To ensure continued security and access to new features, software releases are followed by updates and upgrades, which, once issued, become the sole responsibility of the user to install. A hassle-free upgrade makes SAAS the solution to be chosen. All updates and upgrades are performed on the server side, ensuring no downtime and minimal installation troubles. Moreover, most users do not take the updates and upgrades into account due to their delay in installation and trouble setting up. In this aspect, SAAS enables providers to better serve their users by ensuring they are using the latest releases and fixes. Zero Hardware Upgrades As time moves on, software demands higher resources for it to work smoothly. Zero hardware upgrades will bring a new and better user experience. All the hardware configurations will be managed at the cloud level, with no changes required on the client-side. A large increase in resources might have an influence on the subscription cost, but it is a better alternative to requesting end-users larger hardware. This will be a beneficial aspect for resource-heavy applications like graphics and design-related applications. Thus, a major part of configuration at the hardware and software levels (drivers) is abstracted from the users. Better Security and Protection from Piracy Traditional on-premise software is always vulnerable to cracking and piracy. With SAAS tools and software, there will be no piracy, and increasing security can be feasible. SAAS works on a subscription model where the purchase of the software is tied to a user account, and a fee is paid monthly or yearly to use the software. On-premise software is subject to reverse engineering, where the activation system is tampered with, and the software can be used for free. Similarly, data has better security in the cloud with continuous encryption and backup than on an on-premise system, wherein the data security and backup require user effort as well. Zero Compatibility Issues Software programs are subject to compatibility requirements where the OS or certain dependencies might not support a specific piece of software. With SAAS, there are no more compatibility-related conflicts since the OS and other dependencies and resources are managed by the provider itself. End-users need not comply with any compatibility requirements for the software to work. This aspect also provides users an advantage in terms of storage. The application and its dependencies usually take up a large amount of space. SAAS takes care of dependencies on the server end. Better Team Collaboration SAAS is an option that proves better for collaboration-based teams. Software delivery over the network comes with an account linked to it for sign-in and collaboration. Teams that work together can get better benefits when using SAAS tools since they enable sharing and collaboration on work items. Traditional software has limited or no collaboration capabilities, thus limiting productivity. SaaS can also keep data in sync on a number of devices, giving users a real-time experience.

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Natural Language Processing: An Advanced Implementation of AI

Article | June 1, 2022

Natural Language Processing, also known as computational linguistics or NLP, is a branch of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and linguistics. It is a subfield of AI that enables computers or machines to understand, manipulate, and interpret human language. Simply put, natural language is the natural method by which humans communicate with one another. We have now trained computers to interpret natural language. Communicating with computers has become simpler with voice queries such as "Alexa, what's the news today?" or "Ok Google, play my favorite songs." Similarly, when you ask Siri, Apple's voice assistant, "What is the cheapest flight to New York later today?" It instantly searches airline and travel websites for flights from the user's location to New York. It also compares the prices and lists the one with the lowest fare first. So, even without specifying a date or the "lowest fare", Siri understands the inquiry and returns accurate results. This is the result of NLP in action. Natural Language Processing: Business Applications Natural language processing has a variety of applications, some of them are listed below. Summarize text blocks to extract the most relevant and core concepts while excluding unnecessary information. Develop a chatbot that makes use of Point-of-Speech tagging to enhance customer support. Chatbots are AI systems that use NLP to engage with people through text or voice. Determine the type of extracted entity, such as a person, location, or organization. Sentiment Analysis can be used to recognize the sentiment or emotions of a text string, ranging from highly negative to neutral to very positive. HR teams can utilize NLP-based solutions to scan resumes based on keyword synonyms and swiftly shortlist candidates from a pile of resumes. Extracting Text data from the data storage allows in extracting specific information from text. Text can be broken down into tokens, or words can be reduced to their root or stem. Topic categorization helps users organize unstructured text. It's a great way for businesses to obtain insights from customer feedback. How Can Businesses Prepare for the NLP-Powered Future? NLP has evolved tremendously, and has benefited both companies and consumers. NLP technologies are assisting businesses to better understand how consumers perceive them through channels such as emails, product reviews, social media postings, surveys, and more. AI technologies can be used not just to analyze online interactions and how people speak about companies but also to automate tedious and time-consuming operations, enhance productivity, and free up staff to concentrate on more meaningful duties. When it comes to NLP the sky is the limit. As NLP technology is becoming more prevalent and greater advancements in ability are explored, the future will witness enormous shifts. Here are some of the ways in which businesses can prepare for the future of NLP. Analyze your company's text data assets and evaluate how the most recent techniques can be used to add value. Understand how you can use AI-powered language technology to make wiser decisions or rearrange your skilled labor. Start implementing new language-based AI tools for a range of jobs in order to better understand their potential. Prepare now to capitalize on transformative AI and to make sure that advanced AI contributes to society fairly. Closing Note Thanks to natural language processing technology, conversational commands and everything related to conversational AI in businesses have become faster and better. Natural language processing helps large businesses make flexible choices by revealing consumer moods and market movements. Smart companies now make decisions based not only on data but also on the intelligence derived from NLP-powered system data.

Read More
FUTURE TECH

Augmented Reality: A Dynamic Change to Enhance Your Business

Article | May 5, 2022

Meta Description: Evaluating the impact of augmented reality in business ROI, while also understanding how CMOs leverage AR effectively in their marketing mix. While several technological advancements have been aiding in improving lifestyle, they have also been making drastic impacts on the business front. Over several years now, the world has seen various exposure to augmented reality. The usage of Augmented Reality for business has effectively transformed the technology from an entertainment concept to a crucial enterprise tool. According to Statista, 23 million jobs across the globe could be directly affected by AR and VR by 2030, and over 824,000 of those jobs are currently using these technologies in their workplace. Impact of Augmented Reality on Business In simple terms, Augmented Reality (AR) is a computer-generated enhancement that is placed over the existing reality we see with our human eyes. It offers the option to add dimension, sound and other experiences to any two-dimensional picture or video. Even when this might seem like something complex to be implemented in business, it isn't as challenging as it looks. With each passing year, AR has effectively been penetrating deeper into businesses, making a drastic impact on various functioning. Marketers have effectively been integrating the use of AR into their marketing strategies, and it has grown overall in the mainstream business functioning by being readily available for users to leverage. Industries That Should Leverage Augmented Reality Technology Uses of Augmented Reality is a prospect that business owners across multiple industries leverage to their advantage. While the core idea is to use the technology to aid and improve human performance, the industries that effectively utilize this resource are: Healthcare Education Travel and Tourism Manufacturing Defense Automotive Industry Retail How Seamless Integration of AR Can Impact Your ROI? Facebook said in March 2021 that it had allocated a complete 20% of its personnel to AR and VR development. That is a really massive investment by a corporation that has built a reputation for wisely investing in monetization and focused on creating bottom-line results. Augmented reality is on the path to becoming the next most significant development in an array of industries, ranging from medical to consumer retail. With the nature of augmented reality technology being highly dynamic, it is essential to have a successful strategy that ensures the integration of AR solutions that provide accurate and tangible results that align with the audience. Additionally, uses of augmented reality in business have also been capable of creating more meaningful engagement with customers. For the first time, new forms have made interaction real and measurable. As a result, brands may see precisely how many people engage with their collateral, how many times and where, for how long, and which direct actions they took: purchase, discount coupon, or social shares, for example, by leveraging IR/AR to turbo-charge paid media. "I do think that a significant portion of the population of developed countries, and eventually all countries, will have AR experiences every day, almost like eating three meals a day, it will become that much a part of you." Tim Cook, Chief Executive Officer of Apple Future of Your Business with AR Integration While augmented reality in business is becoming a crucial component for businesses these days and will revolutionize the future of business. According to Global Market Insights, the global market for AR goods will rise by 80% to £165 billion by 2024. The rise of the AR industry is closely tied to increased attention and investments from leading technology firms such as Facebook. Overall, the augmented reality technology market will develop at the fastest rate by 2023, primarily to the growing usage of smartphones, tablets, and other devices in consumer, commercial, and business settings to adopt AR technology. Furthermore, with the rising need for augmented reality in healthcare and retail, there are a plethora of new prospects and rising demand for augmented reality in architecture and the corporate sector. How Are CMOs Leveraging AR for Their Marketing Mix? Several top executives and leading CMOs are leveraging the benefits of augmented reality to expand the engagement, awareness and value around their services and products. In addition, numerous organizations from different industries and of various sizes in the B2C and B2B space are now using augmented reality technology to differentiate their product and services by effectively implementing AR strategies in their marketing mix. With a game-changing armor in their arsenal in the form of augmented reality, marketing executives trying to promote and sell more successfully can hence perform better, with purchasing experience becoming the new focal point. Conclusion Augmented reality in business is a prospect that offers a massive opportunity to engage with millions of users effectively. AR offers executives to ideally establish an immediate and sensory-driven connection of the brand with consumers by forging an emotional interaction. Repetitive engagement is a successful advertising approach for companies since it only requires AR app development expenditures, and additional benefits may be gained via repeated exposure. In the ever-dynamic state of our current existence, leveraging the benefits of augmented reality can come handy in elevating your business to the next level. FAQs How Can Customers and Businesses Benefit from AR? AR effectively increases engagement and interaction and helps provide a richer user experience. Several research has shown that AR increases the value of products and brands. Implementing AR activities is ideal and conveys innovation and responsiveness from forward-thinking brands. How Does AR Help Organizations Gain a Competitive Advantage? Augmented reality allows the organization to create a unique customer experience while also eliminating cognitive overload. It also ensures that user engagement heightens along with competitive differentiation. AR, after all, is a technology that enables a pure blending of physical and digital reality. How Will the Use of AR Technology Impact the Future of Business Functioning? Augmented reality is constantly evolving to become an emerging marketing and sales strategy trend. AR technologies allow organizations to provide their customers a unique experience with convenience by tapping into their smartphone devices.

Read More
SOFTWARE

How Does IT Vendor Selection and Management Work?

Article | May 4, 2022

What Is the Importance of IT Vendor Selection and Management? Ideally, the IT vendor management process is an umbrella term for all the processes and systems organizations use to manage their IT suppliers. This is where an organization works with vendors to optimize its supplies and services. There could be several vendors an organization is associated with for unique services and offers. With proper vendor management, an organization can take appropriate measures to control costs, reduce potential risks, and ensure excellent service delivery. But the catch here is that it isn't as easy as it sounds. This includes researching the best available vendor, sourcing and obtaining pricing information, gauging the quality of work, managing relationships, and evaluating performance by setting organizational standards. Most Common Challenges in Vendor Management Even though there are many benefits, organizations face certain challenges during IT vendor selection and their management. Some of these most common challenges are mentioned below: High administrative costs Incomplete documentation Non-compliance Poor vendor relationships Security breaches Supply chain inefficiencies While there were some nuanced changes in the selections between various businesses, both large and small, the results indicate that organizations often face the same challenges no matter where they’re coming from. How Do IT Vendor Selection and Management Help an Organization? In contemporary times, with geographical and economic barriers constantly diminishing, organizations look for different types of vendors worldwide. Even if the organization is working with just one vendor, it is essential to have effective vendor management in place. With proper vendor management, an organization can experience the following benefits: Better Selection With the right vendor, your organization can benefit from a more extensive selection of vendors, resulting in more choices and better costs. Better Contract Management If there is multi-vendor management in place, your organization can benefit from a centralized view of the current status of all contracts and other useful information. This will enable your organization to achieve better decision-making capabilities. Better Performance Management Using a vendor management system, an organization can get an integrated view of the performance of all the vendors. This would give your organization a clear understanding of what is working and what is not. Better Vendor Relationship Managing multiple vendors at the same time can be a difficult task. By accumulating all vendor-related information in a single place, organizations benefit from getting all required information at once, and this can influence your decision-making process. Exploring the Ideal Process of IT Vendor Selection In a world where we are constantly progressing with increasing IT specialization, organizations must be able to rely on their partners. There are some specific steps that an organization can take up to make the whole IT vendor selection process more successful. The six-step process of ideal IT vendor selection: Kick-off and requirement definition Market research and first vendor filtering Request for proposal Evaluating responses Proof of concept Choosing the vendor There are also some common mistakes that organizations make while selecting their vendor. Some of these common errors are listed below: Not evaluating the vendor and only their offerings Communication indiscretion Not comparing vendors or similar stature Today, outsourcing is increasingly used by companies as an enabler for innovation. Technological advancements drive improvements in service delivery, which positively impact cost, enhance functionality, improve service quality, and reduce the importance of location on service delivery. Disruptive technologies like cloud computing enable solutions such as Salesforce.com or ServiceNow to accelerate speed to value and drive business growth. This leads to a change from the traditional IT organization to the next generation IT organization. The operating model needs more agility to respond faster and at different speeds to new service offerings. Outsourcing models have reached their third generation and involve a multi-vendor environment, requiring more transparency and integrated vendor management. Best Techniques to Improve Vendor Management The vendor management process is a crucial component for any organization, as it allows them to build a relationship with their suppliers and service providers that would help strengthen their business. Vendor management is not only about negotiating the price; the most essential aspect is coming to a conclusion that would mutually aid both organizations. Some effective techniques that can be utilized for effective IT vendor management are: Share information and priorities Balance commitment and competition Allow critical vendors to help you strategize Build partnerships that would last long term Try to understand your vendor's business process Negotiate and conclude with a win-win agreement Come together on value Conclusion Ideally speaking, vendor selection and managing that relationship can sometimes be challenging. Once you follow the process mentioned above to select the right vendor for your organization, the steps ahead will get a little easier. However, there is still the process of managing and building that relationship with the vendor. "The objective of vendor management is to fortify company success and overall marketplace performance." - Sean-Michael Callahan, Principal at The NiVACK Group. FAQ What Is Vendor Management in the IT Sector? The process that allows organizations to control costs, strengthen service, and reduce risks throughout the process of outsourcing to vendors while getting the most value from the investment is called vendor management in the IT sector. What Is a Vendor Selection Process? The vendor selection process is a subsidiary stage that allows for the clear stating, defining, and approval of those vendors who are eligible to meet the requirements of the procurement process. What Is the Role of Vendor Management? The vendor management process ideally facilitates and maintains relationships between your organization and vendors, negotiating contracts, creating standards for the vendors, and finding the best available vendors.

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SOFTWARE

How SAAS Is Redefining Software Industry

Article | April 21, 2022

Software-as-a-Service (SAAS) has been a trending topic in the tech field in recent times. The success of the cloud has accelerated the demand for software delivery from on-premises to cloud-based. Start-ups are in a rush for SAAS transformation, delivering the very same solution over the internet. From Google Docs and Sheets to enterprise-level software, SAAS has established a foothold in every sector. With the oncoming of SAAS, the perception of computer software has changed. In this article, we will take a look at how SAAS is redefining and transforming the software industry. Better Accessibility Any software that is preferred to have better and centralized availability is preferred. Better availability is one of the factors that makes SAAS stand out. With centralized availability of both applications and data, users will have a hassle-free experience – with zero installation overheads and no commitments to carry in any device and data. SAAS is accessible from anywhere around the world on any device. There is a big advantage to SAAS over traditional software, which can only be used on a specific device. Ease of Upgrade To ensure continued security and access to new features, software releases are followed by updates and upgrades, which, once issued, become the sole responsibility of the user to install. A hassle-free upgrade makes SAAS the solution to be chosen. All updates and upgrades are performed on the server side, ensuring no downtime and minimal installation troubles. Moreover, most users do not take the updates and upgrades into account due to their delay in installation and trouble setting up. In this aspect, SAAS enables providers to better serve their users by ensuring they are using the latest releases and fixes. Zero Hardware Upgrades As time moves on, software demands higher resources for it to work smoothly. Zero hardware upgrades will bring a new and better user experience. All the hardware configurations will be managed at the cloud level, with no changes required on the client-side. A large increase in resources might have an influence on the subscription cost, but it is a better alternative to requesting end-users larger hardware. This will be a beneficial aspect for resource-heavy applications like graphics and design-related applications. Thus, a major part of configuration at the hardware and software levels (drivers) is abstracted from the users. Better Security and Protection from Piracy Traditional on-premise software is always vulnerable to cracking and piracy. With SAAS tools and software, there will be no piracy, and increasing security can be feasible. SAAS works on a subscription model where the purchase of the software is tied to a user account, and a fee is paid monthly or yearly to use the software. On-premise software is subject to reverse engineering, where the activation system is tampered with, and the software can be used for free. Similarly, data has better security in the cloud with continuous encryption and backup than on an on-premise system, wherein the data security and backup require user effort as well. Zero Compatibility Issues Software programs are subject to compatibility requirements where the OS or certain dependencies might not support a specific piece of software. With SAAS, there are no more compatibility-related conflicts since the OS and other dependencies and resources are managed by the provider itself. End-users need not comply with any compatibility requirements for the software to work. This aspect also provides users an advantage in terms of storage. The application and its dependencies usually take up a large amount of space. SAAS takes care of dependencies on the server end. Better Team Collaboration SAAS is an option that proves better for collaboration-based teams. Software delivery over the network comes with an account linked to it for sign-in and collaboration. Teams that work together can get better benefits when using SAAS tools since they enable sharing and collaboration on work items. Traditional software has limited or no collaboration capabilities, thus limiting productivity. SaaS can also keep data in sync on a number of devices, giving users a real-time experience.

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Sapot Systems Inc

Sapot Systems Inc is an IT Development & Services company with a vision to combine industry knowledge with technical expertise and provide enterprise wide solutions. We are a leading provider of Business Intelligence, custom application development and integration services to fortune 1000 companies. We are a minority owned business enterprise, provides client-focused engineering, information technology and staffing solutions company. Through its Talent & Technology Solutions division, Sapot Systems is the premier choice for custom and efficient solutions with specialized IT and Engineering talent. Our recruiters combine their in-depth understanding of the industry with the knowledge of who is who in the discipline they specialize in. Technology Solutions include assessments, business application services, web development, digital solutions, service management, IT security & risk management and program management.

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ConsenSys uses Flowcode to power the Web3 economy

ConsenSys | June 24, 2022

Consensys NFT and Flowcode, the most cutting-edge QR technology in the world, are excited to announce a strategic alliance to democratize access to NFTs and tokens. ConsenSys, a leader in Web3 technology and the developer of MetaMask, the most popular self-custodial wallet in the world, and Infura, a Web3 development platform, introduced ConsenSys NFT. With the first significant NFT platform to fully integrate offline to Web3 utilizing QR technology, Flowcode and Consensys are reinventing how consumers access the Web3 economy. When it comes to tying Web3 experiences to the physical world, Flowcode is the market leader. The activation with POAP at the renowned Red Rocks theater was first announced by Flowcode earlier this year. All of the special event NFTs were delivered via Flowcode. In addition to VaynerX and Gary Vaynerchuk's VeeFriends, other recent Flowcode Web3 partnerships include VaynerX, where Flowcode-enabled special edition NFTs will be given away at their Cannes Lions events. Additionally, Flowcode held a pop-up this week for The Hundreds in their SoHo garage, enabling AR experiences, NFT minting, and cryptocurrency payments. Moonpay's much-awaited minting-as-a-service technology, HyperMint, was introduced to NFT.NYC participants in large part thanks to Flowcode. "Flowcode is transforming the way consumers interface with crypto, which is why we are so thrilled to announce this partnership. We are committed to building Ethereum and global blockchain innovation; and partnerships like this help us accelerate our mission to decentralize the future." Tyler Mulvihill, Global Co-Head, ConsenSys NFT ConsenSys NFT users may now simplify payments and simply store and transfer their NFTs and tokens from any offline experience and setting thanks to Flowcode's next-generation QR technology. This new cooperation offers ways for users to quickly access their NFT collections on a Flowpage, Flowcode's unique, mobile-first landing page platform, in addition to means for Flowcode to validate NFT ownership. With MetaMask, which serves 30 million active users each month across the blockchain ecosystem, ConsenSys NFT is natively integrated. The Web3 economy is now receiving the same service from Flowcode, which offers hundreds of millions of direct linkages from the offline to the online economies. The cutting-edge product suite from Flowcode, which supports DeFi partners, DAPPS (decentralized applications), and NFTs, integrates with the leading cryptocurrency wallets and blockchain protocols to promote widespread use of Web3 applications through DTC distribution.

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eFraud Services Launches AI Fraud Detection Software

eFraud | June 22, 2022

eFraud Services, the leading provider of financial fraud detection software, today announced the launch of its flagship product eFraud Converter. eFraud Converter is an AI-driven, SaaS-based solution solving the problem of the time-consuming and labor-intensive process of analyzing bank statements. eFraud Converter uses state-of-the-art AI technology to convert pdf images of bank statements into Excel without manual intervention. Once the conversion is complete, users review and correct suspected errors. This is a crucial step because investigators must attest to the accuracy of their reports when testifying in court. eFraud Converter solves the problem for government agencies and businesses that still rely on paper bank statements to uncover fraudulent activity. These include Law Enforcement, Federal, State and Local Governments, Forensic Accountants, Valuation Specialists and Attorneys. Currently, detectives and analysts manually type bank statements into Excel, draining valuable time that should be spent conducting investigations. As an alternative, agencies use software that relies on templates or gridding, manual processes that are labor-intensive. eFraud Converter replaces these processes with Artificial Intelligence. "We reduce the time it takes to analyze bank statements from weeks and months to minutes and hours. With our 'Pay for What You Use' pricing model, any entity can afford to use our application. Since it is browser-based, there is no limit to the number of users who can work concurrently." Barbara Steinberg, CEO About eFraud Barbara Steinberg, CEO, and Robert Hayum, COO, founded eFraud Services Inc. in January 2020. eFraud Services aims to be the provider of choice for any size entity that needs to analyze bank statements quickly, accurately and affordably. eFraud Services is a U.S. company providing fraud detection software to government agencies, law enforcement, forensic accountants and attorneys to help them close more cases in less time with increased efficiency. With feedback from our existing customers, we are developing new applications using Artificial Intelligence to reduce the time it takes to analyze fraud cases by up to 90%.

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Pega Releases Pega Process Extender for Salesforce Lightning

Pegasystems | June 22, 2022

The business complexity-crushing software company Pegasystems Inc. announced today that the new version of Pega Process Extender for Salesforce Lightning is now accessible for download on both the Salesforce AppExchange and Pega Marketplace. Organizations can easily add Pega Infinity workflow automation and AI-powered decisioning capabilities to already-existing Salesforce Lightning deployments with the help of this component. Even while Pega powers the business logic and workflows, the entire experience runs on the users' accustomed Salesforce desktop. Salesforce Pega Process Extender By extending the capabilities of the default Salesforce workflows, lightning enables users to maximize their Salesforce investment. In addition, it enables customer service teams to use Pega to automate and coordinate multi-dimensional operations from beginning to end, including traditionally divided divisions of business and customer touchpoints. Based on features from Pega Infinity, a collection of cloud-based digital transformation tools that enables companies to boost customer engagement and operational effectiveness, Pega Process Extender for Salesforce Lightning enhances the capabilities of Salesforce Lightning. As a result, the most complex business processes in the world are driven from beginning to end by Pega Infinity's AI-powered decisioning and workflow automation. "The world's leading organizations are pursuing AI-powered and workflow-driven digital transformation for customer service. Trying to deliver that by building for individual channels, like agent desktops, is cumbersome and can only go so far. Now Salesforce agent desktops, and any other channel infrastructure, can be instantly optimized around the end-to-end service process, providing greater efficiency and a unified service experience for customers across every touch point." John Huehn, general manager, customer service and sales automation, Pega

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ConsenSys uses Flowcode to power the Web3 economy

ConsenSys | June 24, 2022

Consensys NFT and Flowcode, the most cutting-edge QR technology in the world, are excited to announce a strategic alliance to democratize access to NFTs and tokens. ConsenSys, a leader in Web3 technology and the developer of MetaMask, the most popular self-custodial wallet in the world, and Infura, a Web3 development platform, introduced ConsenSys NFT. With the first significant NFT platform to fully integrate offline to Web3 utilizing QR technology, Flowcode and Consensys are reinventing how consumers access the Web3 economy. When it comes to tying Web3 experiences to the physical world, Flowcode is the market leader. The activation with POAP at the renowned Red Rocks theater was first announced by Flowcode earlier this year. All of the special event NFTs were delivered via Flowcode. In addition to VaynerX and Gary Vaynerchuk's VeeFriends, other recent Flowcode Web3 partnerships include VaynerX, where Flowcode-enabled special edition NFTs will be given away at their Cannes Lions events. Additionally, Flowcode held a pop-up this week for The Hundreds in their SoHo garage, enabling AR experiences, NFT minting, and cryptocurrency payments. Moonpay's much-awaited minting-as-a-service technology, HyperMint, was introduced to NFT.NYC participants in large part thanks to Flowcode. "Flowcode is transforming the way consumers interface with crypto, which is why we are so thrilled to announce this partnership. We are committed to building Ethereum and global blockchain innovation; and partnerships like this help us accelerate our mission to decentralize the future." Tyler Mulvihill, Global Co-Head, ConsenSys NFT ConsenSys NFT users may now simplify payments and simply store and transfer their NFTs and tokens from any offline experience and setting thanks to Flowcode's next-generation QR technology. This new cooperation offers ways for users to quickly access their NFT collections on a Flowpage, Flowcode's unique, mobile-first landing page platform, in addition to means for Flowcode to validate NFT ownership. With MetaMask, which serves 30 million active users each month across the blockchain ecosystem, ConsenSys NFT is natively integrated. The Web3 economy is now receiving the same service from Flowcode, which offers hundreds of millions of direct linkages from the offline to the online economies. The cutting-edge product suite from Flowcode, which supports DeFi partners, DAPPS (decentralized applications), and NFTs, integrates with the leading cryptocurrency wallets and blockchain protocols to promote widespread use of Web3 applications through DTC distribution.

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eFraud Services Launches AI Fraud Detection Software

eFraud | June 22, 2022

eFraud Services, the leading provider of financial fraud detection software, today announced the launch of its flagship product eFraud Converter. eFraud Converter is an AI-driven, SaaS-based solution solving the problem of the time-consuming and labor-intensive process of analyzing bank statements. eFraud Converter uses state-of-the-art AI technology to convert pdf images of bank statements into Excel without manual intervention. Once the conversion is complete, users review and correct suspected errors. This is a crucial step because investigators must attest to the accuracy of their reports when testifying in court. eFraud Converter solves the problem for government agencies and businesses that still rely on paper bank statements to uncover fraudulent activity. These include Law Enforcement, Federal, State and Local Governments, Forensic Accountants, Valuation Specialists and Attorneys. Currently, detectives and analysts manually type bank statements into Excel, draining valuable time that should be spent conducting investigations. As an alternative, agencies use software that relies on templates or gridding, manual processes that are labor-intensive. eFraud Converter replaces these processes with Artificial Intelligence. "We reduce the time it takes to analyze bank statements from weeks and months to minutes and hours. With our 'Pay for What You Use' pricing model, any entity can afford to use our application. Since it is browser-based, there is no limit to the number of users who can work concurrently." Barbara Steinberg, CEO About eFraud Barbara Steinberg, CEO, and Robert Hayum, COO, founded eFraud Services Inc. in January 2020. eFraud Services aims to be the provider of choice for any size entity that needs to analyze bank statements quickly, accurately and affordably. eFraud Services is a U.S. company providing fraud detection software to government agencies, law enforcement, forensic accountants and attorneys to help them close more cases in less time with increased efficiency. With feedback from our existing customers, we are developing new applications using Artificial Intelligence to reduce the time it takes to analyze fraud cases by up to 90%.

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Pega Releases Pega Process Extender for Salesforce Lightning

Pegasystems | June 22, 2022

The business complexity-crushing software company Pegasystems Inc. announced today that the new version of Pega Process Extender for Salesforce Lightning is now accessible for download on both the Salesforce AppExchange and Pega Marketplace. Organizations can easily add Pega Infinity workflow automation and AI-powered decisioning capabilities to already-existing Salesforce Lightning deployments with the help of this component. Even while Pega powers the business logic and workflows, the entire experience runs on the users' accustomed Salesforce desktop. Salesforce Pega Process Extender By extending the capabilities of the default Salesforce workflows, lightning enables users to maximize their Salesforce investment. In addition, it enables customer service teams to use Pega to automate and coordinate multi-dimensional operations from beginning to end, including traditionally divided divisions of business and customer touchpoints. Based on features from Pega Infinity, a collection of cloud-based digital transformation tools that enables companies to boost customer engagement and operational effectiveness, Pega Process Extender for Salesforce Lightning enhances the capabilities of Salesforce Lightning. As a result, the most complex business processes in the world are driven from beginning to end by Pega Infinity's AI-powered decisioning and workflow automation. "The world's leading organizations are pursuing AI-powered and workflow-driven digital transformation for customer service. Trying to deliver that by building for individual channels, like agent desktops, is cumbersome and can only go so far. Now Salesforce agent desktops, and any other channel infrastructure, can be instantly optimized around the end-to-end service process, providing greater efficiency and a unified service experience for customers across every touch point." John Huehn, general manager, customer service and sales automation, Pega

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