It is estimated that by 2020, 80% of the US hospital will shift to some form of value based healthcare model. It means that the system will need to successfully transit from a transactional per procedure/per patient/per visit model to early diagnosis, treatment and management of the population system. This system will not only benefit the care providers, but will also benefit the patients. Innovative solutions that offer earlier detection, increased patient engagement or improved disease management could save the healthcare system billions of dollars every year. Lean innovations in healthcare will assist care providers to create a successful strategy in order to provide better care. Constant technological improvement has changed the dynamics of healthcare. Hospitals are looking for cost-effective solutions that integrate data into every pre- and postoperative procedure plan to better evaluate and treat patients. So, now healthcare leaders will focus on big data analysis to progress in business. Read more about this aspect at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/reenitadas/2014/04/30/the-truth-behind-value-based-healthcare-are-companies-really-getting-it/

Technology has redefined healthcare industry.  Lot of new dimensions are active into the arena of healthcare industry today, but we have to look into the other side of technology in healthcare as well. The cost of medical treatment is going higher & higher as many new technology enabled options are coming up. "Computers make things better and cheaper. In health care, new technology makes things better, but more expensive," said Jonathan Gruber - an economist at MIT. We need to manage data both on patient and system level - to realize higher-quality and better-value care. We also need technology that will take us to the next level and will reduce costs. To read more, visit: http://recode.net/2014/04/28/technology-made-health-care-expensive-can-it-now-control-costs/

If you are a call center provider, then you must know that performance is an important parameter. Every day, large volume of management information is produced from different call center systems where each center is given a business target to achieve. This target is then fragmented into smaller ones to team levels where individuals have to work in order to meet it. Apart from this, you have to take into account different generic measures like volume of total calls answered, percentage of calls abandoned, and average call duration, turnover and percentage of absenteeism of your staff, etc. Together, this will tell you how efficiently your call center is operating.

To make your task easy, there are different performance management solutions that you can put to use to know various aspects – out of which you can make out areas of improvements. But for this, you have to know how to use your performance management solution. Read more at: http://www.callcentrehelper.com/trade-secrets-getting-the-best-from-your-performance-management-solution-60462.htm to know the secrets and increase your profit.

A recent research by Deloitte Consulting revealed that a strong majority of respondents are rethinking their approach towards performance management. From this research, Deloitte also found that organizations need to shift from annual performance evolution towards continuous improvement of performance. 

To read more, visit the following link: http://www.hrreporter.com/blog/Compensation-Rewards/archive/2014/04/15/fresh-thinking-needed-to-fix-performance-management

Every day enterprises are overflowing with abundance of disorganized data i.e. transactional data, market research, and social media. It is quite difficult for companies to track down these unstructured data.  Blueocean Market Intelligence, a global analytics and insights provide, helps companies to realize a 360-degree view of their customers through data integration and a multi-disciplinary approach. They have predictive capabilities, where they extrapolate historical data to identify future behavior.

To read more, visit the following link: http://www.siliconindia.com/magazine_articles/Blueocean_Market_Intelligence_Transforming_Data_Analytics_and_Research_with_a_360_Approach-LGWX73078464.html

Klipfolio, a provider of cloud-based business intelligence dashboard, announced a new partnership with Marketing Intelligence Consultant, TDHI.  In this partnership, Klipfolio data visualization platform will combine TDHI's marketing analytics and will streamline the delivery of marketing intelligence to European CMOs.

To read more, visit the following link: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1889960

Previously, I wrote that before stepping into Big Data, you should set up your question first. Now, it’s time for you to get accustomed to it. Every one of us knows that Big Data is changing the world of business. It has reshaped the ways companies normally look for gaining customer insights and is also helping entrepreneurs. But, still there is an important question that needs to be answered. Let’s talk about it.

One of the main advantages of implementing Big Data is that it helps you to take smarter decisions about your product as you get to know lots of customer data. You have to remember that using Big Data should not be expensive.  So the mantra will be - minimum expenditure, maximum benefit. You may be thinking ‘how can it be done? It’s an impossible task!’ But the good news is that it can be done and yes, in a cheaper way. Interested to know? Know the inexpensive ways on how to manage huge data sets and get the maximum out of it here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/233280 .

We all know that Big Data and Analytics help businesses a lot. Now let's take a shift. Big Data and Analytics also help in retaining nurses. Sounds interesting, right?

 Based in Dallas, Texas, Tenet Healthcare used Predictive Analytics to increase nurse retention rate. You know very well how much it costs to recruit new employees. Few years ago, American Organization of Nurse Executives estimated that in conservative approach, direct recruitment fees cost $10,000 to replace a nurse; and if you take indirect costs into account, the actual cost will mount to $42,000. This cost escalates to $64,000 for hiring specialty nurse. Now, just imagine, if your organization wrongly recruits a person, or if your employees leave your organization too early, how much more will it cost you, given that you give expensive training to them. In fact, Tenet observed that many high quality nurses were leaving them due to which they incurred considerable cost and also it caused inconvenience to patients and other staff members.

To mitigate this problem, they used Predictive Talent Analytics and Big Data. Tenet took an assessment test for their nurses creating behavioral DNA or a thumbprint which the software then matched with individuals’ performance data. From this, Tenet got an insight of a list of characters which are common to best performing nurses within each specialized category. So, you may be thinking what are the benefits they reaped from it? Read them at http://www.informationweek.com/healthcare/analytics/nurse-retention-rate-improvement-secret-analytics/d/d-id/1234912  to know.

In recent times, if you have surfed internet, then you have probably come across cloud computing. Due to its benefits like mobility, cost advantage, etc. companies are switching rapidly to cloud environment from existing on premise platforms. With Big Data in forefront, the usage of cloud computing has spurted.

To win the heart of prospective customers, cloud based IT service providers have started to offer cloud services and at present, a stiff competition is going on between them. Surrounded by this fierce competition, you may become confused about choosing the right type of cloud service provider for your organization, since it comes at a cost. Whether you are a technology chief, a business owner or alike, while selecting your cloud service provider, you should ensure that its potential benefits are in tune with your business objectives. For that, it is a must that you should ask some critical questions about the architecture and management of the service being considered.

So, what are the areas that you should consider while framing up the questions before you actually avail the services from a cloud service provider? Read them at http://www.zdnet.com/key-questions-when-selecting-a-cloud-based-provider-7000027391/ to know.

ADP, a global provider of human capital management (HCM) solutions, had announced a new enhancement to its "ADP Workforce Now" for midsized employers. This ADP Workforce Now platform will help midsized companies to improve their business performance and gain a competitive edge by creating a pay-for-performance, simplifying regulatory compliance and leveraging analytics to inform business decisions.

Read more at: http://www.sys-con.com/node/3066746

SyncHR, an innovator for cloud-based human resource, payroll and benefit management software, announced an upgraded version of their software- release 5.2. The latest release have an improved reporting and analytics platform. The company also launched a new corporate website to showcase their unique single database and single application technology.

To read more, visit the following link: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/human-capital-management-firm-synchr-announces-new-software-release-and-launch-of-new-website-256601391.html

Hyper growth - this term is on its way to become attached with the 'Public Cloud' market.

As per the report of Forrester Research, the global public cloud market is expected to rise to $191 billion by 2020 as compared to 2013 which stood at $58 billion. The reason behind this growth is the shift from on premise technology to cloud which has proved to be cost effective. Nowadays cloud technology is considered as a replacement of the existing systems. Forrester’s report also predicts that by 2020, the global public cloud platform service will soar to $44 billion, the cloud business service will hit $14 billion and the cloud applications which will be Software – as – a – Service or SaaS, will hit $131 billion. The cause of this whopping valuation is attributable to the fact that more and more CIOs and their technology management organizations are taking initiative for this change.

So, what’s the future of public cloud market? Read at http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9247883/Public_cloud_market_ready_for_hypergrowth_period_ for more details. 

Building a strong relationship with your customers is very important for your company to prosper because then only they will return to you and buy products or services from you time and again.

Earlier, what used to happen is that customers went to favorite retailer and the product they needed was made readily available in front of them – this happened because the retailer knew what type of product they wanted. Now there is a shift. People are going to supermarkets or even they are buying products online. Unlike the old days, where the retailer chatted with customers to know their likings, they do not chat with the owner – be it supermarkets or online shops. So, how, you as a shop owner or a retail owner must try to maintain strong relationship with your customers in order to attract them and make repeated purchases?

Thanks to Big Data, you can now again personalize your relationship with consumers and build strong bonding with them so that your customers buy more and more. But what are the ways to do so? Read them here: http://venturebeat.com/2014/04/21/5-ways-big-data-is-helping-companies-help-their-customers/.

When we talk about Big Data and the stuffs alike, we normally think of how it helps in running any business. But, hold on a second. Here, we will talk about something fundamental related to our society.

In order to drive a country economically forward, we need talented people, no matter whether the country is a developed country or a developing country. You know that talented people cannot be formed just like anything. For this, you have to invest in education and training. To end poverty, bridge the gap of economic inequality and rise on the economic ladder, we must find better ways to teach that are cheaper and can be applied on a vast scale – because, we are talking about a country. It is of no doubt that binding technology with education has proved fruitful tremendously; and now, with techniques of analyzing Big Data known to us, we can leverage the power of it for betterment of education. With the help of Big Data, teachers and companies can get several information about students’ learning patterns and depending on that, schools can design personalized instructions in a more sophisticated way.

Big Data technologies can even be used in strengthening a country’s national educational system. In fact, The World Bank Group in association with its private sector lending arm International Finance Corporation (IFC) are presently working on this to support national educational systems. They recently launched an initiative named Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER), which collects and shares comparative data on educational policies and institutions from countries around the world. In private sector, Big Data can create favorable impact by collecting information about interactions between teachers and students and between students and learning systems. Spreading the light of education can become much easy with increasing a country’s literacy rate and educating poor students.

Read more at http://businessdayonline.com/2014/04/big-data-for-poor-students/#.U1SHFPmSxqI on how the power of Big Data and adaptive technologies can be utilized in fortifying education.

No matter, how modernized your IT systems are, but data loss is a major problem. And what will happen if you lose your big data?

More companies are keeping on using big data analytics to analyze real time data – and it has gone to such an extent that now, it is most important to your company. To prevent loss of your big data and to ensure that you are not ruined, it is vital that you should have a proper disaster recovery plan of Big Data. Unlike your conventional data, you cannot apply prevalent data recovery practices. You have to keep in mind that you are dealing with big data and so, you need to formulate your plans properly.

Mary Shacklett, president of technology research and market development firm Transworld Data, takes you through some guidelines. Read them at http://www.techrepublic.com/article/stop-procrastinating-formulate-a-big-data-disaster-recovery-plan-today/# .

It is of no doubt that switching to cloud platform will benefit you; but, have you ever thought which cloud platform will you use? Now, you may be wondering what the various cloud platforms are. Let's know it.

Cloud platforms can be private, public, managed or hybrid. The first two types are self-explanatory. While private cloud refers to an infrastructure operated and run for the benefit of your company only, in public cloud, this infrastructure is available for public use and can be accessible over the internet. On the other hand, managed cloud platform gives you services that are offered to manage and maintain the underlying technology to run cloud services.

So, what is hybrid cloud? You may have guessed it right – it’s the combination of two or more cloud services. Hybrid cloud has an edge over types of cloud services. If you opt for private, then it may prove costly to you, on the other hand, if you choose public, then although you will get the cost advantage, but a security concern will lie over you. However, if you go for hybrid, then they remain unique and in addition to that, you can access extra resources on an as – needed basis. So, for example, when you use hybrid cloud, you may use your private cloud application to store confidential data and for billing and ERP, you may use your public cloud application which is cost effective. The other main advantage of hybrid cloud is that, you have the option to switch to public cloud resources temporarily, if at any time your own capacity is exceeded.

Thinking of switching to hybrid cloud? Read more at http://cloudtweaks.com/2014/04/importance-hybrid-matters/ to get an idea about what is the importance of hybrid cloud and why it will matter to you. 

An article by Sandra Erwin, editor of National Defense Magazine, talks about how Homeland Security Solutions is facing changes in their business and how market intelligence is helping them to overcome such changes.

To read more about this topic, visit the following link: http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=1484

Nowadays software industry around the world is focused on the cloud. Workday Inc. is a human capital management and financial management software firm that joined the cloud bandwagon recently. HCM which falls in the domain of ERP solutions is becoming more and more acceptable ever since ERP solutions are available over cloud. The global SaaS-based ERP software market will grow at CAGR of 14.21% from 2011 to 2105. The major factor for this ERP growth as SaaS model is due to the lower cost of ownership.

Read more about this aspect, visit the following link: http://www.gurufocus.com/news/255442/workday-growth-continues-with-erp-as-the-saas-application-market-is-booming 

Whether you are a startup, entrepreneur, SME or a large business enterprise, cloud technology is the thing that should come to you handy. Unlike the past, where a newbie in a business has to think twice over investing in costly equipment, cloud has made the job easy. With scalability, ubiquity and user centricity, it is the cloud that should be on your agenda in setting or developing up your business, irrespective of size.

With cloud, you can have access to technological advancements at a cheaper cost enabling you to compete with your rivals. With cloud technology in your hands, it can even happen that you are defeating your rivals!

Read more at: http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2014/apr/15/cloud-computing-large-businesses-benefit.

As disruptive technologies are taking place often, CIOs need to take a look at their roles and they need to rebrand themselves as drivers of digital innovation. According to a survey done by consultancy firm EY (known formerly as Ernst and Young) titled 'Born to be digital: How leading CIOs are preparing for a digital transformation', social media, cloud, data analytics and mobile are acting as disruptive forces for businesses across all industries - whether it's a retailer or an automobile manufacturer. The way social network, cloud, data analytics and mobile have evolved; companies need to think alternate approaches to interact with their customers. Not only this, the change has helped the businesses to search for new opportunities to expand.

All these have redefined the roles and responsibilities of the CIOs. To take their organization forward, they have to become key drivers of digital innovation and can handle the technological transformations the businesses are undergoing.

Read more about how the leading CIOs are preparing for the technological changes that will guide you through the path here: http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY_CIO_-_Born_to_be_digital/%24FILE/EY-CIOs-Born-to-be-digital.pdf.