Smartphone
SaaS

Is WhatsApp Chatbot Right For Your Business Growth

WhatsApp has approximately 1.5 billion monthly active users in 180 countries, making it a messaging industry pioneer. Furthermore, the app has 96 million downloads in February 2020, demonstrating its widespread appeal. Although WhatsApp began as a platform for consumers to interact with family and friends, a portion of the network is now used by businesses to communicate with customers.

As a result, the WhatsApp Business API and WhatsApp Business application were created. WhatsApp for Business was created to assist medium and large enterprises in engaging with consumers all over the world and sending quick and automatic responses. We will learn about the WhatsApp business, the WhatsApp chatbot, and its different benefits and applications in this article. Let’s get started!

WhatsApp

Reasons How WhatsApp Chatbot Is Right For Your Business:

  1. Omnipresence:

Customers who have had a positive experience with customer service are more inclined to buy from the company again. Customers want businesses to be where they are when they need them. A chatbot takes care of the “when” with its 24/7 automation. WhatsApp also allows you to optimize for the “where” because of its massive market penetration. Your brand and organization are never more than a click away with WhatsApp. Your products are simple to find, and your services are simple to use.

  1. Human intervention:

The issue with brands’ unmanned channels/tools is that human intervention is never fast enough. An email thread can take hours to enlist the help of the appropriate department or agency. Humans, on the other hand, can effortlessly and instantly pick up chats from a WhatsApp Business Chatbot. This allows agents to provide outstanding customer service without having to deal with thousands of repetitive interactions.

  1. Excellent Metrics:

WhatsApp is one of the most effective marketing platforms available. WhatsApp achieves outcomes that leave its competitors in the dust because of its convenience and simplicity. Furthermore, the best WhatsApp chatbot has a delivery rate of 100%, a read rate of 95%, and a conversion rate of nearly 3x that of other channels. This guarantees that your brand’s digital assets engage all of the people who are supposed to see them.

  1. Simple To Automate:

A chatbot enables businesses to automate a major portion of their consumer interactions. WhatsApp Business chatbots can handle everything from generating and qualifying leads to automating FAQs and decreasing support tickets. But that’s just the start; Verloop enables businesses to automate even more. Automatically transfer data from your chatbot to your preferred CRM/OMS system. Use webhooks to pull data from your systems and offer it to your customers in a seamless manner.

How WhatsApp Chatbot Is Right For Your Business?

WhatsApp business chatbots provide businesses with a fantastic opportunity to reach out to a larger audience and provide them with the best customer care that keeps them coming back to you. The following are some of the advantages of using a WhatsApp chatbot for your business owners:

  1. Small, family-run businesses, as well as major corporations, can use the platform
  1. Chatbots on WhatsApp provide a more enriched client experience, which aids in customer retention and engagement
  1. Enhances customer interactions while increasing brand exposure and loyalty
  1. Makes your company accessible through a variety of methods
  1. Clients can receive broadcasts and outbound notifications
  1. Businesses can use an interactive and visual medium to connect with customers
  1. WhatsApp is available worldwide (except in China), allowing you to create a customer-centric chatbot that caters to a global audience

Functionality Of WhatsApp Chatbot:

The following are the top 3 functionalities of the WhatsApp chatbot to look upon:

  1. Secure:

WhatsApp is one of the most secure services on the planet because of its end-to-end encryption. End-to-end encryption on WhatsApp means that only you and the person with whom you’re conversing can read what’s sent, with no one in between, including WhatsApp. As a result, WhatsApp is an excellent platform for sending messages containing sensitive information. WhatsApp can be used to send OTPs, transactional updates, and follow-ups.

  1. Media Rich:

Apart from its mobility and ease of use, WhatsApp’s media richness makes it an excellent platform for businesses to communicate with their customers. Unlike email or phone support, brands can send photographs, videos, gifs, audio recordings, and documents using WhatsApp.

  1. Ease Of Use:

WhatsApp is known for having one of the most user-friendly and straightforward interfaces available. As a result, all clients will be able to use the platform to its full potential – without needing to be technologically savvy. This facilitates user onboarding and increases user retention. When businesses utilize WhatsApp Business Chatbots for customer service or lead generation, their customers get the same great experience they’ve come to expect.

Wrapping It Up:

Today’s businesses recognize the necessity of reaching out to clients where they are already. One of the most significant benefits of WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Business chatbots is that they can assist in the development of a steady and long-term relationship with your clients without requiring them to seek you out on multiple platforms. 

Businesses can profit from the benefits of a devoted audience and better engagement afforded by WhatsApp by developing a user-friendly chatbot. Customer support operations may be streamlined with the correct chatbot platform, and your consumers will receive better service than your competition.

________________________________________________________________________

Author’s Bio:

Alishba Memon is a content writer at Botsify. She is a staunch believer in the theory of making anything happen. She specializes in SEO writing and content writing. She aims to spring up in a pragmatic way.

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Author: Alishba Memon

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alishba-memon-2b38a7190/

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Email: alishba@botsify.com

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DevelopmentSaaS

Progressive Web Apps: Future Of Web Development

Introduction

Mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, have changed the way that many people access the internet.

According to Statista, there are 7.1 billion smartphone users in the world now, which indicates that 80.76% of the world’s population owns one.  These numbers show that a huge amount of internet users are now connected via mobile devices.

A very important challenge faced by businesses is how to reach out to both mobile and desktop customers without having to create and manage both a mobile app (iOS and Android) and a responsive website.

With so many people using mobile devices to browse the web, developers have started designing more simplistic websites for users who don’t have time to download bulky applications. 

These websites are called Progressive Web Apps (PWA), and they behave like native mobile apps but can be accessed from almost anywhere with an internet connection. Because of this, PWA is the latest trend in web development.

In this Progressive Web Apps post, we’ll cover what PWAs are and the difference between Progressive Web Apps and native apps. We’ll also go over some of the benefits of developing a PWA and how organizations use PWAs.

What are progressive web apps?

Computer
As seen on monitors, the new website is developed

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are web applications that use modern web capabilities, such as service workers and push notifications, to deliver an app-like user experience, such as working offline or push messages, making them more user-friendly than traditional web apps.

Components of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) include a website, which is the basis for your application; service workers, which allow PWAs to work offline or on low-quality networks; and a web manifest file, which describes the web app to the browser so it can be displayed full screen on launch.

Website

The first step is to create a website that will serve as the basis for your application. It should adhere to responsive web design principles and be as small as possible: the first interaction should be quick and painless. There is no need to install a development environment because PWAs are created using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, just like any other website.

A website that uses different technologies (e.g. web app manifest, push notifications) to make it act like an app. The web app works like a normal website, but once saved to the device home screen, it can send push notifications and work offline.

Service Worker

A service worker is a script that runs in the background of your application. It is only active when you’re online, which allows you to send push notifications and keep data synchronized even when the web app is closed.

Website Manifest File

A manifest file is a simple JSON file, which tells Chrome how your web application should look once installed on the user’s device. It provides information about the application’s name, its icon, where to start or activate it, and more.

Top benefits of progressive web apps

There are many advantages of using PWAs over traditional native applications, and they include:

Smaller and lighter

The average application is about 25MB, while PWAs are usually less than 100kb. This is because the only file required to run a PWA is the manifest.json, which can be as little as 4kb in size.

Budget-friendly

They are a cost-effective way to engage with your existing user base and gain new users as they can be saved to the device home screen. It is also possible to send push notifications to both Android and iOS devices without building two separate applications.

Easy to maintain

Because PWAs are web-based, there is no need to update them separately. Instead, they can be updated as and when required, directly from the server. This means no additional storage space on the device is used as well as the user requires less effort as they don’t have to download a new application after an update.

Low bounce rate / increased customer engagement

PWAs provide a way for users to engage with your website even when they’re offline. For example, users who add your web app to their home screen won’t have to wait for it to load each time they open the browser, which leads to lower bounce rates resulting in higher customer engagement.

Offline mode

PWAs also work offline and can be used even when the device is not connected to a network. This is because the data required to use the application is stored locally. This means that your site will still be accessible even when a connection isn’t available, ensuring continuity of service and making it an attractive option for users with poor or no internet connectivity.

No app store submission

There is no need to go through the app store submission process and wait for approval. The Google Chrome store automatically detects changes made to the manifest file, allowing you to distribute updates directly from your server without resubmitting your app or making changes on a developer’s end.

Use of hardware features

PWAs can be used to access a device’s hardware, such as the camera or microphone, without going through the app store submission process. This is useful if you want your users to take photos and upload them directly to your website – something that would otherwise normally require an app store submission.

Mobile like behavior

PWAs behave like mobile apps and load instantly on devices. They can also send push notifications to users, which means you can stay in touch with your customers without them having to manually check for updates.

Progressive web apps vs native apps: Difference?

Gadets
Progressive web apps are the future of web development and are easy to access

A native app is a non-web program designed for a specific platform, written in a programming language specifically for that platform. This means it can only be run on the operating system for which it was developed, while PWAs work across different platforms, including iOS and Android devices.

A progressive web app uses modern web standards to provide an app-like experience using Application Cache (AppCache) and service workers. These features must be used in combination to take advantage of the “app-like” nature progressive web apps provide.

One of the main differences between a PWA and a native application is that PWAs run on different platforms, while native apps are for one platform only. This means fewer development costs as well as app store fees. Additionally, there’s no need to build or maintain two code bases since they can be built and maintained on one platform.

PWAs run on browser-like websites, while native applications are installed onto a device like traditional software. This distinction makes PWAs more secure, reliable, and faster than native applications.

  • Cost of development and maintenance

Native apps require developers with expertise in the particular platform for which they are intended, as well as a great deal of time, effort, and monetary investment. This means native app development is usually more costly than PWAs.

Due to their browser-based nature, PWAs can be tested on real devices through an emulator or a simple addition of a meta tag on the website’s head section. No installation is required, so it can be tested directly from a web browser. This saves time and lowers development costs since no developer expertise is required for specific platforms.

  • Convenience

PWAs can be easily distributed and updated on the web, while native apps must go through an app store where they need to meet strict requirements set by platform owners. This means that the frequency of updates is greatly increased for PWAs.

  • SEO & discoverability

PWAs are discoverable through search engines, making them a quick way for users to find your app. Since they behave like traditional websites, PWAs also have the advantage of being indexed by search engines as opposed to only those that meet specific store requirements or those that are submitted as per store guidelines.

  • Security

PWAs are more secure than native applications since there is no need to protect the operating system or device from application threats.

  • Installation

A PWA does not require installation like a native application, making it easier and more convenient for the end-user. However, some browsers will prompt users to add the website as an app if they visit often enough. With this method, there is still no need for an application store submission or update process since PWAs can be updated from the browser itself.

  • Performance

PWAs are faster than native applications since they run on a web engine rather than directly on the device. In contrast, they may be slightly slower when compared to a fully optimized native app. However, this difference in speed is offset by their advantage of being updateable from within the browser itself with no outside interference required.

How Do Organizations Use PWAs?

Leading businesses are driving increased support for PWAs by adopting that they are used to their maximum potential. Below are some instances of progressive web apps to demonstrate the growing importance of progressive web apps:

Google is using PWAs in their NewsStand, which offers users the ability to browse various topics, download content for offline browsing, listen to podcasts, and more with little data usage. On top of that, Android users will now see an “Install” button when they search for apps on the Play Store – this feature will be rolled out later this year.

Apple app store functions as a PWA that allows users to search for apps from their browser, then install them from the mobile device itself. This is similar to how Google Search works on Android devices with the Play Store.

Forbes is using PWAs in a way to improve page views and time spent on their site. Instead of visitors having to wait for the web page to load with ads, Forbes has created a PWA that allows users to download content for later use when they have no connection. Additionally, when not online, users can still read articles from the cache version of the website allowing for a more fluid user experience.

Flipkart also uses PWAs in their online shopping experience by keeping track of user preferences and allowing for context-based search results. Customers can also integrate the Flipkart app with the website, so they don’t have to leave the device to check out.

Twitter has been using PWAs for a while now, allowing users to open the app from a mobile browser without going through any extra steps. This has been great for users since opening links from non-native apps fall back to mobile websites.

Conclusion: Are PWAs the future of web development?

PWAs are becoming more and more popular among smaller companies that want to increase their user base but don’t have the funds for a fully-fledged app. They’re also great for larger corporations who are already used to web software which can save them time, money, and effort when it comes to updating content or rolling out new features.

The bottom line is this: PWAs may not be able to replace native apps altogether in every industry – but they offer many benefits that make them worth considering if you’re looking into creating your own mobile application. If you need help deciding whether progressive web applications are right for your business needs, contact our web development company today! Our team of expert developers and analysts will show you how we’ve helped other businesses succeed with PWA solutions.

Monitors
Insights

Positive Effects of Online Games

Dota 2, Call of Duty, Minecraft, and even World of Warcraft – online gaming is here, and it is here to stay. Several years ago, many concerned parents were complaining about the time their teens spent on online gaming. Today, we find that parents have become far more accepting of this fun hobby.

For a good reason too. Online gaming has some excellent benefits that we will discover throughout this article.

A global community becomes a global village.

When we started our investigation into the positives of online gaming, the team at Pelajaat.com gave us some excellent insights.

“Online gaming with its benefits and without harm belongs to everyone. Many may have prejudices about online gaming, but in today’s world, people’s own gaming community, from Habbo Hotel to Dota 2, can offer the same value as a local basketball gang or pottery club.

The researched benefits of gaming are indisputable and already familiar to many: for example, memory improves and speeds up, one can learn new skills and languages, and boost social life. The latter, in particular, has been emphasized during the Covid-19 pandemic. Gaming can also be casual or hardcore – exciting or relaxing, basically something for everyone. It’s also always fresh. This is ensured by countless genres and the ever-accelerating gaming market.

These great qualities are worth protecting because there are ways one can harm its relationship to gaming. Susceptibility to gaming addiction is, of course, one thing. In addition to that, it has also become more common to pursue an esports career in recent years, which is a good thing, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that gaming at its deepest is having fun. One should not forget to enjoy the game. For many, gaming is one crucial part of life, along with other things. If one finds itself playing at the expense of other essential things, you might want to take a break.

A healthy attitude towards gaming increases its benefits and enjoyment for all. Let’s play!”

Two boys are playing online  games on computer

IDC Games is an online game distribution platform for pc games that offers game developers content delivery, user registration, in-game payment solutions, loyalty programs, Eports, video streaming solutions, live chat, and a customer support system for all its published games. The IDC Games team adds a few more benefits of Online Games:

Tons of games and fun at home

One of the most outstanding benefits of online gaming is that you don’t need to go out of your home. All you need is an internet connection in order to enjoy a huge variety of games.

Socialization

When you play online you meet people which can even get to be your friends. There are a lot of cases in which 2 people met in an online game and finished getting married.

Online games finish boredom

It is normal to get bored, especially when you are tired. Boredom often causes negative thoughts, and can easily cause depression if you don’t interact with people. As mentioned by gaming experts a mind-blowing game can keep your mind engaged. As you play, you will be psychologically and mentally active, and the chances are high that you will get the peace of mind you need.

Online games relieve stress

Multiple Scientific studies have found a direct connection between online video games and stress reduction. According to the studies, the level of cortisol reduces by more than 17% when playing. The significant decrease in the stress hormone improves recovery from stress, helping you to relax, have fun, and have excitement.

We agree wholeheartedly. Today, the entire world has been turned into one friendly global village. You can pick up a controller and play with your friend in Finland and the UK. 

Did you notice that? Years ago, having friends in different countries was unheard of. Today, we all have friends hailing from all over the world. It isn’t uncommon for couples to meet online while playing a game. Some of these long-distance relationships turned into real-life romance stories. Besides, bonding over a common interest, such as online gaming, is one of the healthiest experiences that couples can go through.

We can be social without being at risk.

Not only do we now have friends from all over the world, but we can also be social without putting ourselves at risk. This was especially true during the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

For some, stuck indoors due to hard lockdowns and curfews, online gaming was the only way to connect with friends and be social. Several games, such as Guild Wars 2, saw players organize all-night parties and events to keep their spirits up. Despite being removed from each by thousands of miles, the connections between these gamers were real.

Statista reports that there are over a billion global gamers today participating in online gaming. This massive community doesn’t only offer us the fun of being social and supports us when we feel down, but they also help improve our knowledge and skills.

Friendly communities like those at time2win.net gather players that help each other reach mutual goals in online gaming. But, also, gamers here can find the best and most advanced software that will give them the most intense and awarding gaming experience they have dreamed of. 

We improve our skills when playing online.

Another thing, that our friends at Genvel.com reminded us about, is the fact that online gaming exposes us to new skills. 

Suddenly you are picking up phrases in Spanish and German. Online gaming not only improves your language skills but also teaches you how to manage teams and take responsibility for your actions. 

This newfound knowledge helps you to communicate and strategize better. Gamers are some of the best team coordinators that you can get. You get exposed to different cultures, various ways of thinking, and yes – thinking outside the box.

All of these new skills have real-world applications too. Next time you order that tasty sandwich from a German restaurant, you can use a couple of German phrases that you learned while playing games online. 

At the next corporate retreat or team building session, ask your gamer colleagues to help finetune a strategy for beating the opposing team.

Online gaming is becoming a career.

A kid is playing an online game

eSports are quickly becoming bigger and bigger. Some schools in America are even teaching eSports as a class. Today, League of Legends, Dota 2, and Call of Duty have some of the highest-paying tournaments globally. 

This creates exciting new job opportunities for gamers. Everybody benefits from the online gaming community from coaches to organizers, marketers, and players.

Online gaming and the Cyberpunk genre

We are more and more connected, may it be on PC, console, or on your mobile phone, we’re already permanently online and able to reach everyone we care about, and that can also be your favorite game community on Reddit or Discord, but the next step is almost there thanks to technological advance spearheaded by geniuses such as Elon Musk. His StarLink satellite internet will allow us to be online no matter where we are on Earth, but there’s one step further: NeuraLink, his startup currently working and making great progress on implantable brain-machine interfaces, which will make us “enhanced” humans. If you are into this type of futuristic technology and are a gamer, you should definitely try Cyberpunk 2077. The game is not only a great experience, it allows you to discover what society could become tomorrow, with humans using cyberwars to upgrade their bodies with a simple visit to a cyber doc. Cyberpunk 2077 also has a great community, with many positive reviews pouring in lately from new players who are finally enjoying this game thanks to a large number of bug fixes. This action RPG has an incredibly immersive and rich storyline that will leave you breathless and you’ll definitely want to share how it made you feel with other Cyberpunk 2077 players. If you’re new to this genre and want to get the most out of this masterpiece of a game, you should consider following a guide, such as Jame’s Cyberpunk 2077 100% Walkthrough, which takes you through all the steps to becoming a Night City legend!

Are you ready to start playing online?

There you have it—some pretty incredible benefits to playing online. The online gaming community is a thriving, healthy community. They are accepting of all types, races, genders, and cultures. 

Of course, like most things in life, you should only play games responsibly. Don’t neglect the real people in your life. If you can balance a healthy online gaming lifestyle with your relationships with real people in life, you will be happier and more successful. Happy gaming.

Small business
DevelopmentInsights

7 Ways Small Businesses Can Use Artificial Intelligence to Boost Their Sales

The need for small businesses to increase their market share in an increasingly crowded business landscape is more important than ever before. One way that small businesses can do this is through the use of various types of artificial intelligence (AI). Here are seven ways that these companies can use AI to increase sales and generate positive ROI.

1) Chatbots

Chatbots are working as they should do

When done correctly, chatbots have the potential to enhance the customer experience by helping customers quickly find answers about products or services. By using a chatbot, companies can provide customers with instant answers when they have questions about inventory, shipping dates, payment options, etc. For example, IBM has developed a chatbot called ‘Smarter Commerce’ which allows customers to communicate with AI-powered agents over live chat to get information about their purchases. This is particularly helpful for customers wishing to purchase high-end products where there are often questions that go beyond the scope of a company’s online FAQ page.

Chatbots can also be used as an early warning system for customer dissatisfaction, allowing companies to proactively address potential problems before they escalate. Using AI, companies can monitor social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook in order to spot unhappy customers who are discussing your brand or products on these sites. Monitoring this commentary allows companies to act quickly when something negative is being said about their company or product by flagging it for immediate attention.

2) Product Recommendations

Product recommendations are one of the most common ways for e-commerce businesses to drive additional sales by encouraging customers to buy more. Using AI, companies can analyze a large set of data about their users in order to make personalized recommendations based on what each individual customer has bought before or is currently browsing. Companies like Amazon and eBates use this tactic for increasing sales by collecting data from past purchases as well as items that are added to a shopping cart but not purchased.

3) Improved Customer Service

One way that small businesses can beat larger competitors is through superior customer service – just think about how Zappos gained a loyal following because of its unmatched customer service standards. Artificial intelligence can be used by small businesses to help them achieve these standards by improving the quality and speed of interactions between businesses and customers through chatbots, intelligent agents, and predictive text.

4) Improved Data Analysis

Due to the smaller size of many small businesses, they often don’t have access to large data sets that can be analyzed to drive important business decisions. By using artificial intelligence and AIOps, companies can take advantage of the ability of AI algorithms to analyze massive data sets quickly and efficiently in order to spot trends or patterns that may otherwise go undetected.

This allows businesses operating on a limited budget to make better business decisions because they will have access to more data than ever before which will allow them to make smarter choices about their company strategy without needing massive amounts of capital investment.

5) Better Inventory Management

One way that small businesses can improve their return on investment (ROI) is through effective inventory management. Smaller companies often struggle to keep track of inventory because they can’t afford the luxury of dedicated IT personnel who could be tasked with this responsibility. By using artificial intelligence, companies can accomplish tasks that would normally require human intervention, like predicting future product demand by examining current sales or automatically reordering products when inventory has fallen below a set threshold. This type of optimization results in less time spent managing inventory which allows employees to focus their attention on other important business concerns.

6) Automated Employee Scheduling

Another way that small businesses can use AI to improve ROI is through automating processes that are traditionally completed by humans. Using AI, companies can automate scheduling for back-office functions like accounting and customer support but also for front-line workers within specific departments like marketing or sales. Artificial intelligence can be used to track individual employee productivity and use this information to automatically assign tasks throughout the day based on each person’s work capacity.

7) Improved Customer Targeting

Customer targeting is  important for small business

Small businesses often struggle with an inability to target their ideal customers due to limited data about these individuals. By using artificial intelligence, companies can now collect massive amounts of data continuously about consumers in order to find patterns that indicate who their most valuable customers are. A wealth of information collected from social media accounts, online shopping behavior, web browsing history, etc., allows companies to identify customer needs at a micro level which allows them to serve up targeted offers or advertisements through email marketing platforms or social media sites like Facebook & Twitter. One way that small businesses can proactively embrace AI is by partnering with a digital marketing agency that understands the benefits of using advanced technology and can help their clients implement it in order to remain competitive.

Since smaller businesses often do not have dedicated data scientists or machine learning experts on staff, they should look for an agency that offers a team of experts who can guide them through the implementation process and explain how AI can provide a multitude of benefits. With proper guidance, small business owners can understand what types of tools are available to them and how they work so that they can make educated decisions about which technologies would be best suited to their specific company needs.

Though artificial intelligence may conjure up fears of our robot overlords, many forms of artificial intelligence exist today – from chatbots on websites to email marketing platforms that proactively suggest content to send out to customers. As long as businesses are able to understand how these tools work and harness them for their own purposes, AI can be a powerful tool for growing small businesses.

Database
SaaS

Modernizing Cloud Platform: Don’t Worry Data Lake Got You Covered

Data lakes are succeeding hybrids frameworks that are capable of addressing big data problems while also enabling new heights of true intelligence. Their scalability system can handle very huge data quantities, and it accepts data in its rawest form from a wide range of data sources, including the internet. In order to serve as a complement to your database system, it also serves as a foundation for computer vision and genuine analytic tools in a cooperative way. 

Despite decreasing compliance issues and shortening time duration of discovery, Snowflake data lake services allow the democratization of data via identity entry while also democratizing data. By successfully creating and using data lakes, businesses may reap a variety of advantages. 

Some of the major advantages of Snowflake Data Lake: 

  1. Development is being accelerated. 
  2. Connection with organizational objectives 
  3. Adaptability and adaptability 
  4. Administration and successful implementation are two important aspects of every organization. 
  5. Quality, safety, and confidentiality are all important considerations. 

Modernization of data warehouses and lakes presents many difficulties 

Customers encounter a variety of obstacles when it comes to speeding their cloud machine learning algorithms projects. In fact, as per McKinsey, approximately 70 percent of companies attempting to grow digital applications in the cloud will fail in their efforts. A study of the business noticed that 95% of CIOs had difficulty putting combining data from various platforms in order to evaluate the effect of IT expenditures on the company’s bottom line. 

  • Common problems, such as those listed below, may cause cost and complexity to rise. 
  • The amount of data being generated is increasing all the time. 
  • There is a lack of synergy among individual solutions. 
  • Failure to adhere to especially data and control standards 
  • The integrity of the network system from beginning to finish is lacking. 
  • keeping up with constantly evolving technology is a challenge 
  • Materials are in short supply. 

How is Data Lake the trend and how can it overcome the challenges? 

A simplified view of database storage on the internet
  1. Data lakes, whether managed or unmanaged, are the trend of a not future, and they are set for becoming crucial parts of the contemporary data structure. It allows businesses to handle the large amount, variety of data formats, and real-time accessibility of data that is produced today with the versatility, durability, and mobility that they need. They may also democratize access to the data for a greater number of people for almost any reason. 
  1. Data lakes may be an excellent initial step for many businesses, especially when used to supplement an established corporate data warehouse (DW). Additionally, it provides you with greater versatility and efficiency in terms of information handling and collecting uncontrolled, semi-structured and method of investigating, as well as allowing you to free up capacity in your data warehouse for data analysis analyses. It’s also a use case that, in most cases, results in a definite return on the investment. 
  1. Data democratization is also beneficial when it comes to avoiding data silos. Users who have been granted access to the data are not subject to any limitations. The Data Lake method helps in managing all of your data from a single location, centralizing a variety of data forms and kinds, and providing access to everyone authorized stakeholders at any time. 
  1. DLs are more versatile they do not need the forecasting of every other business aspect throughout the development process. You may gather data without consideration to its organization initially, provided you plan to impart structure to the data since the very start of the meeting. In other cases, though, this is precisely what you want to accomplish, particularly if a portion of your database is shared and consumable along with a variety of economic activities. 
  1. When data is ingested into a data lake, there is no need for data modeling to take place. It is possible to do so throughout the process of locating and examining data effectively. It provides unparalleled freedom in terms of asking any commercial or industry inquiries and drawing inferences. 
  2. It is necessary to develop a high availability absorption system that pulls data from a variety of sources, including WebPages, mobile applications, social networking sites, Internet of Things devices, and current Data Management systems. It ought to be able to operate in bulk, yet another, or genuine methods, and it must handle all kinds of data, as well as new information sources, to maximize its flexibility. 

Bottom Line 

Maintaining a high level of customer engagement is critical to keeping the competition at bay for any company. As the company becomes more digital; the availability of data as well as the quickness with which it can be developed and deployed would become progressively important considerations. The data lake is a pipe dream which could meet all of these requirements. 

Webinar
DevelopmentSaaS

Why You Should Start Using Webinars for Your Business

Webinars add significant value to any business. In modern companies, webinars are used for marketing, educating, training, or product launch. Whether you want to promote a new business or increase sales of an existing business, webinars are beneficial to get things done.

In this article, we have penned down some of the top benefits every organization can get by using webinars for their business.

Top reasons to use webinars for your business

Position yourself as an expert in your field

Even though you conduct a free webinar, your audience cares about it a lot. And a free webinar doesn’t mean that you cannot exchange valuable content during the webinar. Your audience has to book a slot for your webinar, mark the date in their calendar and give you more than 1 hour of their time to listen to you. It positions you as an expert in your field, even before you start the webinar.

Communicate with people around the world

It is one of the crucial reasons why webinars are considered effective channels of marketing for any business. You can communicate with any number of people around the world, virtually, through webinars. Moreover, both the host and the audience need not move out of their homes or offices to attend the webinar.

Is it possible for every client to travel across the globe to have 1-on-1 sessions? Every business cannot afford 1-on-1 meetings all the time. 1-on-1 meetings in person are more effective in any business than webinars. So, having a remote webinar helps the hosts to connect with hundreds of audiences at once at no extra expense.

Keep your audience engaged with valuable content

A man is attending a webinar session

Webinars are best for two reasons: Scarcity and engagement. In the first scenario, when the audience misses either a part of an entire webinar, they will miss the valuable content you will deliver. Hence, it gives a feel of scarcity to your audience. They feel the pain of missing your webinar.

In the second scenario (engagement), every audience can chat with you, ask their queries, and solve it instantly. When the audience gets their queries answered, they feel more engaged and focused on your content. Ask your audience as many questions as possible and prepare tailor-made content for them. It will help you establish short trust among your audience and generate sales with no or minimal cost.

Generate new leads and build a relationship

Every business runs on leads. A company with high-quality leads never needs to worry about growth. Webinars are one way to generate high-quality leads for any business, as they attract a new set of audiences and ultimately convert them.

For every webinar, registration is a must. When registering, people leave their personal information like email ID, phone number, and address to attend your upcoming webinar. It means that the audience is interested in whatever information you share during the webinar and opted to join.

You can generate new leads for your webinar through organic promotions like referrals, affiliates, etc., or by running paid campaigns on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Once you have the new leads generated, it is time to share valuable content in your webinar. You must help the audience understand how your product can help solve their problems. Once they start interacting with you over the webinars, a relationship is established. 

It will create a great first impression among the new leads and help you drive either regular conversions or seasoned conversions.

Invite guests and leverage their audience

Having industry influencers and specialized guests at your webinar will often help you leverage their audience to drive attendees. Webinar platforms like Clickmeeting allow you to invite multiple guest hosts to make your webinar more effective.

Apart from getting exposure for your business, you can also borrow the credibility of your guests. Since the industry expert is associating their name with your brand, you’ll further establish yourself as an expert. The result will be an increase in attendance rates, social sharing, and overall excitement.

Speed up your sales process and ROI

Revenues are significant to drive your business. If you are unable to convert your potential leads to customers, your business cannot grow fast. Webinars can help to speed up this process as it does the initial funnel set up for you. It enables you to build trust, kill your customers’ doubts, and deliver value to them in the shortest time.

For example, if you have spent $5 to run ads and get each signup for your webinar, and your webinar gets $5 average earnings for every audience, then you already broke even. Post webinar, whatever sale you make is considered a pure profit.

Conclusion

Webinars are one of the most potent ways to improve sales for your business. Whether it be increasing sales, generating new leads, or training your customers, webinars prove to be very effective.

Digital marketing
SEO

Why Do You Need an SEO Consultant and What Do They Do

Digital Marketing. Many of you wonder why the word digital got added to marketing. Marketing is important, but why is there a need for digital marketing? Considering the movement of the world from the offline realm to the online sphere, you have to change your ideology of selling your products and services. If you are sitting in London and want to showcase your product in Hamburg, you have to approach that place definitely. But being a businessman, you will also like to search for cost-effective methods with which the Hamburg people know about your venture and the items you are producing or services you are providing. So, how to do it? Go digital is the two-word answer. 

Assuming the online space and its outreach after the arrival of several social media platforms, even terminologies like globalization have taken a digital turn. So, why not you and your businessman? Okay, if you accept going digital, you will like to know about those tools that will help you grow your revenue and get leads. And, you know that Rome was not built in a day. Yeah, you cannot learn those skill sets required for digital marketing within hours. Hence, it’s better to give this work to a renowned and reputed SEO consultant. You will surely get the best SEO consultant in Birmingham who knows how to deliver concrete results related to your business by expanding your sales to a great extent. 

Marketing data is displayed on a computer

When it comes to defining the responsibilities of the SEO consultant, the first and foremost niche is to understand your business and what products or services you are providing to your customers. Accordingly, an SEO consultant will build strategies and plans, find those keywords relevant to your products and services, and work on them to ensure that whenever a potential customer is searching for it, your page ranks in the visible range of the customer. Through this, an SEO consultant creates a blueprint that can compel a customer and your clients to land on your website and explore all options you are delivering. 

For this purpose, an SEO consultant also analyzes the traffic on your counterpart or competitor’s website to understand what is attracting customers and clients and how you can steal (a bit negative word but healthy in terms of the market) them and drive them towards your side. An SEO consultant also works on building engagement activities to inform your customers of the current campaigns you are running for them by maintaining the budgetary constraints you are giving for marketing operations. 

An SEO consultant must closely coordinate and collaborate with the web development team to add those essential elements of the best SEO practices to bring traffic to your pages. Hence, there may stand a chance that to inculcate and adopt these practices, your web development team may have to change the entire framework and website architecture. In addition, they have to work with content marketing by letting this team know what keywords during the content curation will help grow your organization’s business and sales. Even to involve your customers deeply with your website, the SEO consultant you hire or give an off-sourcing task may advise building and creating blog posts frequently.

Lastly, the core niche of these SEO individuals is to go for web and content auditing from time to time to check that they are not obsolete, which is dropping customer conversion rates on your website. In a nutshell, an SEO consultant is the one who has to go sometimes out of the box thinking style to comply with the big picture that you are aiming for your business. So, don’t think or ponder upon it and start looking for local SEO firms that can give a credible space to your venture in the digital world. 

Graduates
DevelopmentStartups

Why Should Tech Companies Look at Hiring Graduates?

For all companies, the hiring process should be one that is careful and considered. Even when hiring quickly, it is crucial to make sure that the employees you’re bringing in are a perfect fit for the company.

In the last few months, there has been an investment boom in the UK tech industry, with IT and tech vacancies now accounting for 13% of all UK job vacancies. This is the perfect time for companies to pursue graduate hires, as they can offer something truly unique to this industry.

Bringing a fresh outlook, adaptability, and ambition in abundance, there are a number of reasons why you should consider graduate recruitment and plenty of ways that these young individuals will help grow your business.

The FinTech Sector

One specific technology sector that is of interest is the FinTech sector, which has witnessed unprecedented growth over the course of the last few years.

With the UK standing at the forefront of the global FinTech scene, it is the perfect industry for tech-minded graduates to look at pursuing. As a dynamic and ever-growing industry, it is also precisely the sort of work for which graduates should be hired.

Graduates are flexible, diligent, and forward-thinking individuals, who are so well-suited to these expanding industries. So, when considering FinTech hiring, graduates should be at the top of companies’ lists.

Key Reasons Why Tech Companies Should Hire Graduates

Graduates Understand Technology

Today’s graduates represent a generation of ‘digital natives’ – those who have been brought up during the age of digital technology. Naturally, this means they are more in tune with digital products; and regardless of their role – whether it’s in IT, marketing, or a client-facing position – will be better placed to understand technical problems, terminology, and trends.

This means graduates are the sort of employees that can settle in very quickly, as the onboarding process will be streamlined by their natural prior knowledge. They’re very likely to possess a level of comfort with technology that cannot be guaranteed in other candidates and will assure you that your new hire is well on their way to helping your company turn better profits.

Graduates Have The Skill Set

Graduates are walking together smiling

There are hundreds of thousands of people studying Computer Science degrees, and that’s not taking into account other STEM degrees like Engineering, Mathematics, and Physics. This means that there is a wealth of students with in-demand IT skills who are graduating year on year and are on the lookout for high-end tech jobs.

Likewise, more and more young people are upskilling: developing IT skills off their own back through coding programs; learning AI; machine learning and blockchain university societies; and hackathons. Not only do today’s students and graduates possess an interest in digital products and innovations, but they are actively building up their skill sets in their own time, and are becoming increasingly prolific in the tech expertise they can offer.

Graduates Are Affordable

One of the main advantages of recruiting fresh graduates is that hiring them costs far less than more experienced candidates. The average starting graduate salary is at the very bottom of the general salary bracket for IT & tech roles, so you can be expected to be spending far less on hiring young, with all the benefits that graduates naturally bring!

Graduates can offer a proven return on investment. By hiring a talented candidate on an entry-level salary, and investing in their professional development, you can mold your graduate into what you want them to be. You can set them to work across several areas of your business, enable them to learn a number of new skills (both technical and non-technical), and turn them into an incredibly valuable asset for the company.

New Perspectives

Straight out of university, uninfluenced by previous jobs, and have just arrived at your company, graduates will be able to offer a completely new perspective – one that might force you to look at things in a different way and modify out-of-date practices.

Graduates are also likely to be in tune with current trends, especially digital ones – something that will prove extremely valuable as technology continues to revolutionize every industry. A natural aptitude for technology that graduates tend to possess will prove to be invaluable as your startup grows and looks to advance its online presence.

So, there’s no need to wait around! If you’re hiring for a tech company, start thinking about hiring graduates now!

Court hammer and pair of books
Insights

How an Accident Lawyer Can Save You Money

There are many different types of accidents – from accidents at home and workplace injuries to medical negligence. However, car accidents seem to be the most common type.

Every day, car accidents occur, causing injury and pain to the victims. You can never be too careful when it comes to car accidents as they come when you least expect. However, overspeeding, distraction while driving, drunk driving, and failing to obey traffic laws are common causes of accidents. 

Unfortunately, some of these accidents lead to death, permanent injuries, or loss of livelihood. As such, it is essential to get prepared for any unexpected eventuality by contacting an experienced attorney to represent you in case of an accident. Besides, never underestimate the impact of an accident lawyer in your case. Here are some of the common ways an accident lawyer helps you save money. 

Experience 

File a claimant for the first time, and you will appreciate the need for an experienced lawyer in the process. While the attorney will make it look easy, skipping a simple item in the process could see you lose the claim. Hence, hire a lawyer, and you will save money and the pain of filing the claim. Besides, a lawyer will provide you with precise evaluation figures and help you pursue payment of damages from the beginning to the end. 

Connection To Expert Doctors 

To successfully claim damages from an insurance company, you will need to come up with solid arguments. Since you are aggrieved, you have the burden of proof to show how someone caused you the damages. 

Filing such detailed claims will need the expertise of a prudent car accident lawyer. The attorney will ensure you submit enough credible evidence indicating the defendant’s role in causing you harm. Besides, the lawyer could connect with the right people who will help create a water-tight case against the defendant, such as medical experts. Thus, hiring a lawyer is essential as they will offer more than legal services to ensure you successfully file the claim. 

Negotiation Proficiency 

After filing a claim, you will need negotiating skills with the insurance to receive reasonable rewards. Remember, the insurance will investigate the grounds on which you bring the case. Documents and evidence submitted will be reviewed, and if the company is satisfied with the claim, you will be settled. However, remember insurance companies are in business and will look for a lame excuse to forfeit the payment. As such, you will need to hire a lawyer to help you negotiate with the insurance company. The attorney is likely to deliver better results thanks to their antagonistic negotiating abilities. 

Lawyer is walking down the street

Trial Skills 

The majority of personal injuries are settled out of court, but some proceed to court hearings. A trial is necessitated when insurance offers an offer that the lawyer believes is not fair or when a claim is denied outright. In such cases, a lawyer comes in handy as they will help you take the defendant to court and put up a spirited fight for a better settlement. 

Taking the defendant to court will force them to pay the claim and compensate for all damages incurred. Working with a lawyer helps you save a lot of money and time as they will be giving you much-needed advice and prevent you from making costly mistakes. Besides, an attorney helps in mounting pressure on an insurance company, causing complete and timely compensation. 

No Payment Unless You Win 

The majority of personal injury lawyers offer their services on a contingency fee contract. The agreement means a lawyer does not charge for the services until the court grants the financial award. Besides, the arrangement relieves you from additional costs as you will pay the attorney when they deliver results. Here you do not have any financial risks while pursuing the case giving you ample time to think and produce any document needed by the court. 

Peace of Mind 

A lawyer will significantly contribute to you having peace of mind while pursuing the claim. Lack of stability could be very costly as it could lead to more medical complications and less performance. Your lawyer will help you answer all arising questions from the case, assuring you of a better outcome. As a result, you save money from paying extra hospital bills and remain optimistic of favorable effects from the point. 

Conclusion 

Hiring a personal injury lawyer will surely save you money in more ways than one. Remember to do a background check of the attorney before assigning the case to ensure you have the right person for the claim. Finally, insist on payment after delivery of results to avoid more financial risks while pursuing the claim.

Digital Disruption
Development

Preparing Your Small Business for Digital Disruption: 6 Essentials to Follow

It is hard to deny that over the last couple of years, the digital tide has brought down the floodgates and swept away everything in its path. As a result, all facets of our lives have been profoundly changed by digital tech. Of course, the business world has not been excluded from this tectonic movement.

On the contrary, being so dependent on the latest fruit of tech innovations, companies of various scales and industries have always tried to catch the wave and get ahead of the competition. Of course, this competitive edge is reserved only for the leaders of the pack.

So, let us take a look at a couple of ways you can set your business for digital transformation and set the pace of the industry instead of following disruptors.

Embrace the idea of perpetual evolution

Let us start this discussion by stating that all the steps we are going to cover in the following passages are not a temporary measure. Digital disruption has become a new normal. Smartphones have become an integral part of our lives and AI is taking over more and more tasks from human employees.

These circumstances are not going to change, let alone revert to the old status quo. On the contrary, the shadow digital technology is going to cast over the business world is only going to grow. So, be prepared to approach this issue more as an ongoing evolution rather than a one-time overhaul.

Take a cue from other industries

This is especially true if you are working in the SMB sector and don’t have the privilege to engage in expensive experiments. What you should do instead is always keep one ear on the ground, see what’s going on in other niches and do your best to emulate the moves that are making the most sense for your specific industry.

For instance, we are all noticing that the sale of printed media is on a constant decline. This could be one of the cues telling your marketing team that traditional printed newsletters and leaflets are probably not the best way of appealing to a modern tech-savvy audience.

Consider outsourcing tech-related departments

Setting your company up for a digital transformation doesn’t necessarily have to entail extensive and taxing infrastructural changes. On the contrary, one of the greatest advantages of present-day digital tech is that all these tasks can be carried out by third-party vendors while your efforts can still be concentrated where the money is made.

Let’s say you want to move your operations to Cloud and start using Amazon Web Services, you can simply outsource this activity to a professional AWS cloud management team without having to develop the department in-house and train new employees.

Think outside the box

When talking about digital transformation and disruption, most business owners think about the ways to leverage the latest digital assets in order to increase productivity and efficiency. However, you have to be aware that digital tech is far too holistic for such short-sighted goals. So, while you are building the foundation for your future transition, keep in mind that digital technology can be used for team bonding activities, encourage creative thinking, provide your workers some much-needed distraction, and as a reward. Setting up all these things from the get-go will save you a lot of effort down the road.

Update your business model

Tying your business closer to the currents of the digital world can only be effective if changes are not applied only at a surface level. A couple of useful cloud tools and cheap gimmicks simply won’t cut it. That is why you should adopt the very core of your business for the changes awaiting ahead.

So, think about how digital technology can become an integral part of your business facets and particles in the following period. Some of the most important questions you should answer are:

  • How digital technology changes daily operations
  • How transition affects workforce (existing employees and new hires)
  • At what instance will new tools be implemented
  • Will you need to adjust the essential functions of the company
  • How digital tech affects the market position
  • How new tech affects the customer base

Improve core products and services

The goal of every big corporate overhaul is to improve the efficiency of the company and generate revenue. This job will be made considerably easier if your digital transformation goes hand in hand with the new set of improved products, features, services, and marketing strategies. Digital technology can do a tremendous job in helping you grow, but it can’t carry the weight of the entire company on its shoulders. The foundations of your company should be made of top-tier products and services. So, using the digital transformation to fine-tune your business portfolio can only help your efforts.

We hope these few suggestions give you some general idea about the steps you should take to tie your business closer to the ongoing evolution of the digital world and, as a result, set yourself as a leader and disrupt your own market. The business world always relied on the latest-gen tech to evolve and grow. Digital tech only speeds this process up to an extreme and makes early adoption imperative. So do your best to be the disruptor rather than disrupted.