Gone are the days when the tiny pieces of paper were most essential parts of CRM. Automation has made it lot easier by keeping the data records. Sticky notes are quite prone to physical damage, leading to loss of critical information. Automated systems keep data records safe and highly organized. This way data can be efficiently sorted or searched. If you still continue to wholly rely on sticky notes, come out of the cocoon and take the benefits of technology. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/crm-and-the-death-of-the-sticky-note-70917

When we talk about Artificial intelligence, we always come across the question,' will there ever be possible that machine replaces humans and preforming better than us?' The answer is partially 'yes', as at least in many things machines are performing as unchallenged champions of creativity and intelligence. Areas where artificial intelligence already performing better than humans are.

• Search the web quicker. Machine learning AI helps in web engine optimization through understanding the meaning of words and phrases, and can therefore guess what should be in the page ranking in never seen before searches.
• Work in deadly environments. Robots can survive in conditions where humans can’t like deep space, the oceans penthouse, or inside a radioactive reactor.
• Get a PhD quickly. Few critics of AI argue that machines could never be creative, or curious, or discover anything of significance, but team at Tufts have proved the naysayers wrong.
• Deliver a correct medical diagnosis.
• Translate in many languages.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-zarkadakis/5-things-ai-can-do-better_b_8906570.html?utm_hp_ref=technology&ir=Technology

A customer visits your site or product, checks the available options and services offered. Then he decides to go along with you or not.  Good business policy is to give a personal touch to each customer so that they feel at home each time. But taking care of their needs at each step becomes a time taking process if done manually. On the other hand automation makes it more smooth and effective. If CRM is practiced along with automation, it sets everything into a correct perspective.

Read more about it in the article written by Inside-CRM at http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/five-ways-marketing-automation-and-crm-go-together-like-peanut-butter-and-jelly-70904

Why to go far? If we see in our recent past artificial intelligence and machine learning were very exciting and dream topics among engineers and developers. But now machine learning has emerged as the ideal branch of big data and working as oxygen to concepts like artificial intelligence. Year 2015, was a year of massive market shifts. Machine learning (ML) and its super set artificial intelligence (AI) where computer receives new information and learn without supervision have played very important and revolutionary role for the shift. Still Machine Learning has much more in the store. Year 2016 is going be a big year for machine learning. Usually, computers have been used to enhance the ability to carry out tasks. Users see this with features like auto completion and spell check. In the upcoming year these leaps are likely to be made on three fronts: natural language processing, personalization, and security.  To know more about machine learning follow the article written by Motti Nisani(author) at: - http://www.geektime.com/2015/12/27/2015s-big-leap-into-machine-learning/

Those using Predictive Analytics easily outpace those who don't. There is a clear incremental sales lift in the marketing campaigns which consider predictive analytics. Every organization strives to achieve a higher return on investment (ROI) from that spend on marketing. Predictive analytics help creation of unique customer profiles by analyzing the data.  Read more about how Predictive Analytics can be useful in B2B marketing in the article written by Laura at: http://blogs.forrester.com/laura_ramos/15-07-02-the_power_to_predict_can_give_b2b_marketers_an_unfair_advantage

If customer experience is better then only customer will be loyal to the brand and according to many surveys, customer experience improves sales. Thus, investing in improving customer experience is not typically an investment, but a sales opportunity. It becomes more important in case of online websites as there are a limited number of interactions to impress the customer. Word-of-mouth is a significant and cheapest source of marketing that directly affect the targeted audience. This reputation of a firm is affected by a customer’s experience. So to conclude, improved customer experience will result in improved sales, better reputation and loyal customers. Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/invest-improving-customer-experience-01418769#WJErvfXdbvlskeWL.97

Cloud was an unknown term to almost all small and medium businesses (SMB) 4 years back but now nearly half of the SMBs have adopted cloud. There are many factors behind it. The first is ability to access to data stored on cloud with mobile devices and mobility is very important in today’s world. Second factor is backup and recovery adequacy of cloud which is a cheaper option than buying and maintaining a backup system. Another reason why cloud is an attractive option is that standardization leads to improved data security. With cloud gaining immense popularity in the future any SMB not using it would be a rare site similar to a person not using smart phone in current era! Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/cloud-computing/rise-cloud-small-medium-business-market-01418782#ORT38DDsW5VFwVHp.97

Security is an important aspect in any organization. In case of a security breach, company suffers a loss of trust in addition to money. For security, organizations are storing terabytes of data and with big data analytics security has become a nimble and deterrent strategy. It rapidly spots a suspicious pattern. In enterprise security, a small anomaly can be of great importance. Security breach occurs via an unimportant channel in a long period of time. If the organization has right tools, then only it can detect a hacker’s actions in time. With big data analytics data at rest and real time activity can be monitored with ease and organizations can be safeguarded in better way. Read more at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2015/11/23/improving-data-security-through-big-data-analytics-2/

If we talk about the recent past, machine learning was only used by a few who understood the algorithms and had access to very huge amount of data on which to employ it. But with the evolution of big data technology becoming a commodity and algorithms easier to use, machine learning has moved out of the hands of the few to the hands of the citizen developers and regular users. Four key steps taken in 2015 for the development of the machine learning are:-

# learning became easier to use.

# Everyone and their brother released a machine learning library or toolkit. 

#Big data to feed machine learning also became cheaper and easier.

#The label “machine learning” was applied to way too many items.

Read more at: http://www.infoworld.com/article/3017250/application-development/4-great-leaps-machine-learning-made-in-2015.html

Even at the time of hiring, workforce analysis influences from starting i.e. creation of a job description and worker roles, till the recruitment of the person with better chances to succeed in the organization. Through the analysis, companies can make better hiring choices and monitoring the performance in real time. This will help companies to refine their organizational structure and develop talent and leadership within the organization. Workforce analysis will also help in reducing legal claims issues. These all will contribute in cost reduction and smooth working of the organization. Read more at: http://www.smartdatacollective.com/sarah-smith/358073/control-business-costs-workforce-analytics

It's all about customer experience - make it better using Data Driven Marketing! It's important to treat them like true customers by taking them through personalized life cycles. Normally, customers are expected to feed the website with lots of data regarding their preferences and personal details. So there is a lot of data in the hand of an owner. But the value lies in effectively scaling data and analytics to enrich their journey. Thus, planning the marketing strategies by keeping in focus the results of this data analytics. The article written by Kevin Lindsay digs deeper into the power of Data Driven Marketing at: http://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/personalization/strength-in-numbers-best-practices-for-data-driven-marketing/

Clickstream is recording of the parts of the screen of a computer user clicks on while web browsing or using another software application. Clickstream Analysis refers to collecting, analyzing, and reporting the data about visitors visit. This is generated by recording the succession of clicks each visitor makes. This helps you to get insights of the behaviour of the visitors. Hence, you can manouver your strategies as per this analysis. It gives you the information of how long a visitor stayed on your website and how often he returns.  This gives a wealth of information to be analyzed.  To know more about clickstream data analysis go through the article written by Jaoa  Correia at: http://www.blastam.com/blog/index.php/2015/04/move-into-limitless-world-of-clickstream-data-analysis

As the field of Data Science is growing, the confusion regarding the skills needed to be a data scientist is also increasing. Most of us think data science skills range from computer science and statistics, to machine learning and strong communication. But, the top data science skills list includes data analysis at the top, followed by others like R, Python and machine learning. As per recruiter lists, R, Python, SQL, SAS and Hadoop are appreciated. To know more about data science skills, follow the article written by Daniel Levine (Content Marketer for RJMetrics) at: http://www.smartdatacollective.com/daniellevine/366486/top-20-data-science-skills

We all have bid our goodbyes to 2015, and as we begin to focus on 2016, there are many accelerating business intelligence trends that must be kept in mind. Business Intelligence continues to be one of the fastest developing areas in 2016. The craving for more advanced and affordable business intelligence tools and techniques is increasing each day. More and more people have begun to realize the world of data and are using it to get some meaningful insights. Read more about top business intelligence trends of 2016 at:http://bigdataanalyticsnews.com/10-business-intelligence-trends-for-2016/

Mobile Marketing is the use of the mobile medium as a means of marketing. According to a report, the IoT device market will double the size of smartphone, PC, tablet, connected car, and wearable devices combined by 2019. The Internet of Things provides a network of physical objects or things embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity, thus enabling collection and exchange of data. To know more about how it can hit the target mobile marketing, follow the article written by Arun Bhattacharya (author) at: http://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/mobile/how-to-add-wearable-devices-to-your-mobile-marketing-strategy/

Datafication is a process that captures almost every aspect of the world as data. With datafication, interactions can be quantified easily with the help of big data analytics. Data is generated for almost everything ranging from temperature readings to social media. This data is useful for analyzing patterns and making predictions about the future. These predictions not only improve business efficiency and finances, but also boosts customer experience and improve relations with the customer. Big data's tools' ability to extricate insights from the collected data have led to a new information revolution of sorts. Universal applicability is another exciting opportunity in this field. The future of retail commerce seems brighter now as datafication is here to stay. Read more at:http://insights.mastercard.com/2015/07/06/datafication-the-new-buzzword-for-business/

Many people worry about reaching out to unknown professional. Here are some tips to introduce yourself to new faces. 1) Personalize your invitation letter to connect avoiding usual generic format. 2) Don't waste time in getting to the point after your personalized introduction. One must be straightforward and state your intentions up front. 3) Whenever a person receives an invitation, they try to find common ground with another individual. Don't let him hunt for it, instead mention it in brief example, common skills or organization. 4) End with a call for action and lastly, always keep your profile updated before sending messages to new contacts. Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/linkedin/5-tips-connecting-strangers-linkedin-01412129#AVQmfkk5uvJit3qh.97

This New Year, let's look back at the marketing experiences throughout 2015. We have learned that the fundamental concept of digital marketing is unaltered, no matter which industry we target. But, it teaches us to adapt to changing habits and practices of customers. Here are 3 digital marketing truths you should keep in mind - 1) to grow our presence across different channels, mobile is the only channel that has grown so rapidly. 2) Removing barriers across different channels so that your customer is able to communicate better. According to customers different preferences it's necessary to use data management platforms for organizing information. 3) Use of automation to use right content at the right time. Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/digital-marketing/top-3-digital-marketing-truths-take-away-2015-01413555#Cll3tXd2oAKuqhgF.97

Nowadays, many businesses have discarded content marketing because it has many things to create and promote that it has become time consuming. But, today's consumer need more information about brand relationship and trust. Social media is becoming an important source of information through various channels. Organizations should drive people to that blog or to other pages on the website where they can get things of value and it should be done very effectively. Nicole Boyer (a valued contributor to Business 2 Community), writes in her article about some ways to make your social media promotion the best it can be. They are -  1) Use related visual which engages more consumer to like and share information 2) Headlines does count, so it as to be catchy and appealing. 3) Choose the right platform for posting content according to the target audience. 4) Multiple posting is also becoming trendy to gain attention by changing names or headlines. But you should know the perfect time for re-sharing. 5) Try to keep the conversation rolling by adding comments and feedbacks from readers. Lastly, get everyone to share your post. Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/social-media/get-social-9-ways-promote-content-brand-social-media-01411863#pBWAtI7cbRYeEqG8.97

Primary activities of any oil and gas company generate large amount of data. This is developing heightened demand for big data and services in this sector. The market ofr such solutions is expected to grow by $3.99billion to $5.41billion in 2020.  Big data analytics could help in reducing time lag, and improving drilling parameters in identifying any traces in seismic signatures derived from geological and operational data. Employing data analytics can also help detect any abnormalities in drilling and could save millions in labor and equipment costs. Recovery and production can be enhanced by applied analytics seismic and drilling data. One of the major challenges faced by large companies is lack of skilled labor which can be solved with knowledge management using big data. Recent Paris Agreement has created unprecedented opportunity for countries for decreasing temperature less than two degrees celcius above pre-industrial time which encourages oil companies to improve operational performance and efficiency. Read more at: http://www.technavio.com/blog/how-oil-and-gas-using-big-data-better-operations