When technology is running fast in the cloud way, taking multinational companies as its partner, restaurants are not very much successful in it. Most of them are still using costly proprietary software that never gives benefits in return. If MNCs can adopt the cloud and mobile technology, why do restaurants, which have large number of transactions per day, are not able to do it?

With the world becoming increasingly mobile, cloud services becoming cheap, restaurants have ample chance to switch over to cloud and mobile technology. You may be thinking of what are the benefits of switching? Well, you will be able to increase your operational efficiency and better manage your employees and that too while dealing with your customers and simultaneously not sitting in front of your desktop.

So, what are you thinking of? Making your restaurant system interesting and keeping in sync with the technological advancement?   Larry Abramson, CEO of Red Book Connect writes about why you should switch to cloud and mobile technology. Read them at at http://www.fastcasual.com/article/231005/3-reasons-why-restaurants-need-mobile-cloud-technology.

Neural Network is the buzzword in Financial Analytics nowadays. You may be thinking now 'what is a neural network?' Well, Neural Network is a state - of - the - art trainable algorithm which is emulated to function like a human brain. Speaking in terms of stock markets, you can train the algorithm with some historical stock market data and the algorithm will predict the pattern for you.

As forecasting of stock markets, currency markets and other markets are becoming increasingly difficult, neural network is gaining prominence among traders to predict where markets are heading in the near future. Certainly, there are reasons for it. As generation is progressing at a fast pace, people are adopting technologies quickly. The usage of Neural Network has amplified because of the availability of several open source software which have the capability to form a neural net framework. To enhance your shareholder wealth maximization, it is desirable that you must be equipped with the knowledge of how neural network is applied in forecasting markets. Though, as a thumb rule you must remember that no forecasting is accurate, but still this neural network can give some valuable insights.

Wondering how to go about it? Read at http://www.geocities.ws/francorbusetti/KaastraArticle.pdf to know how a neural network is designed for forecasting financial time series data.

In his recent article on human capital management, Leanne Hoagland-Smith, proprietor of ADVANCED SYSTEMS, speaks about how to handle the most expensive asset of a company-Human Capital.  Human capital management emphasizes in recruitment, managing the work force and developing workforce skills. Sustainability is the issue in today's dynamic business world. An efficient human capital management can transform a small business to achieve a foothold in a bigger sphere of operations.

To read more, visit the following link: http://posttrib.suntimes.com/news/hoaglandsmith/26937937-452/ignoring-human-capital-is-beyond-foolish.html#.U1SVMFWSyZY

In an article written by Stephen L. Cohen, a private practitioner, strategic and business planning, said how one can identify the talent management growth strategies. In talent management industry, there are only a few ways to differentiate the business: content, delivery, or expertise. This article also describes the above business aspects in details.

To read more, visit the following link: http://www.astd.org/Publications/Blogs/Human-Capital-Blog/2014/04/Talent-Management-Growth-Strategies

One important call center metric is that you should pay attention to abandon rates. An abandon rate is the percentage of calls that people disconnects before an agent can take a call. To keep your customers satisfied with your service, it is important that you should keep your abandon rate to as low as possible because, if a customer hangs up a lot, they may not like the speed of your service. The longer it takes to answer a call, the higher is the abandon rate. High abandon rate can cause a much bigger problem - they can inflate future call volumes which resonates to even higher call abandon rates. Inflating call volume means that the same caller tries to call your call center agent for second or third time.

So, how will you progress to reduce your call abandon rates? Read at http://www.callcentrehelper.com/how-to-bring-down-your-call-abandon-rates-50805.htm  to get some guidelines.

The power of Big Data is used by many industries ranging from healthcare to finance and automobile manufacturer to government. But, a recent survey showed that the retail sector is not an ardent participant in using big data. Research by eCommera reveals that only 23% of UK retailers are able to interpret data quickly for making business decisions, 16% of them are confident about how to use this data to get a clear picture of their requirement and 50% said that they do not have correct business intelligence tools.

It is data, more appropriately Big Data, which will be the future driver in the retail sector. So, to be able to survive stiff competition, it is vital that you should properly use it and interpret it. The question is how will you progress? You will face challenges and you should overcome it.

So, what are they and how should you mitigate them? Caroline Baldwin from ComputerWeekly.com writes about them here:  http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240218550/Are-retailers-using-data-analytics-to-their-advantage. 

Much is being talked about how to protect our environment. But, have you ever thought that how Big Data can play a major role in it? Certainly not, right?

Well, let me tell you then – Big Data is the future for bringing an eco-friendly environment at a time when all of us are chanting the ‘Go Green’ mantra.  Due to its versatility, Big Data is necessary for various environmental needs. It can help in surveying a large area and can also assist you in monitoring a small city’s water supply. With Big Data enabling you to collect data having no limit, it can be implemented with rapidity and ease. As opposed to traditional ways where analyzing environmental data was a slow and laborious task, you can collect the same information much faster with Big Data leading to application of it in a shorter time.

By tackling the grievous environmental problems like deforestation, oil dumping and more, Big Data can help our environment to paint in green. Read at http://www.bigdata-startups.com/5-ways-big-data-protect-planet/ for more details on this.

RiseSmart, an enterprise career management solutions that drive employee engagement, won the 2014 Leadership 500 Excellence Awards program. The 2014 Leadership 500 Excellence Award is given by Leadership Excellence, a publication in partnership with HR.com, to recognize the top 500 leadership organizations and also their strategies and solutions. This year award recipients were selected based on both an application and nomination process as well as voting.

To read more, visit the following link:http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1852993

Handling phone calls to serve your customers is definitely important for your company. But, have you ever calculated how much it costs you? A research by ContactBabel, shows that for making a live agent call, it costs you £ 3.87 in average!

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) can be effective in reducing this cost. According to the report, it can bring down your operational costs by 6 times. Also, with increasing usage of smartphones, a new type of IVR menus can be provided known as Visual IVR, where a caller can navigate a visual IVR menu between 4 and 5 times faster than a traditional audio IVR menu. The direct impact will be enhanced customer experience.

Read at http://www.callcentrehelper.com/ivr-self-service-costs-6-times-less-than-a-phone-call-59403.htm for more research findings on how IVR can help you reducing your costs.

In a recent research by Commodity Technology Advisor, an analytical firm covering the ETRM and CTRM markets; it was found that cloud technology will be the next big thing for Energy and Commodities Trade and Risk Management (E/CTRM) solutions. More firms are accepting this technology replacing the on premise software model once preferred by companies. Cloud technology also helps in quicker realization of ROI. Other factors which help in accepting cloud technology are: speed of implementation, ease of integration, centralized vendor support and device mobility.

To read more why more firms are switching to cloud technology, follow the link below:

http://www.commodities-now.com/reports/technology/16598-future-of-commodities-trading-secure-in-the-cloud.html

Nucleus Research, a global provider of investigative and case-based technology researcher, finds in a study that leading vendors are giving importance to core Human Resources (HR), talent management and workforce management (WFM) functions and putting them onto a single platform. In this study Nucleus Research also finds that vendors are linking HCM with Big Data analytics and business intelligence (BI) to integrate functionality across the core competencies of HCM. To make data more accessible, they are integrating their data sets to compile analytics into common dashboards.

To know more, follow the following link: http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwgeeks/article/Nucleus-Research-Value-Matrix-Finds-Competition-Intensifying-for-Human-Capital-Management-Vendors-as-they-Race-to-Deliver-Integrated-End-to-End-HCM-Platforms-20140410#.U0pYYFWSyZY 

In a recent research it is found that most small businesses are now spending their budget in retaining existing customer rather than acquiring new one. The research also found that 61% small businesses generate 51% of their annual sale from repeat customer. To read more about this aspect, please visit Ayaz Nanji's article link as given below:http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2014/24869/small-businesses-focused-on-existing-customers-in-2014

As with any sustained marketing effort, it takes hard work, collaboration, and regular review to realize a successful PR campaign. The story to get success via Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has transformed with the wake of recent updates from Google. Although SEO is here to stay, its evolution will lean toward the more traditional practice of public relations (PR) in the coming years. Google wants its algorithms to behave more like a human when displaying search results. Accordingly, the general consensus among the experts is that more weight is being placed on factors such as inbound links and Google +1s. The way that personalized results are being rolled out to more and more users are further proofs of that theory. Webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by creating high-quality sites that users will want to use and share. And that's exactly where PR excels. Once you have the technical elements down, the focus switches to consistently producing valuable, shareable content that appeals to your key audiences—a task that traditional PR agencies have reams of experience in.
To read more, visit Gerald Heneghan’s article by clicking on the following link:

http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2014/24859/why-the-future-of-digital-marketing-is-pure-pr

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software which helps to monitor your customer relationship before and after the sale of your products and/or services is on the rise and it is expected to grow steadily over the next few years. Thanks to Internet of Technology (IoT), its emerging trends can make way of some serious innovations and investments in CRM space in a very short time. To stay ahead in the winning race, it is vital that you should focus on it.

There are some reasons to do so. At present, CRM zeroes in on employees’ efforts facilitation to help the customers. But in the next few years, a shift in the paradigm will take place roping in advanced analytics. With this, you can be able to predict customer happiness and behavior. Then you will be able to use Big Data to use the numbers that can help you to respond to customers’ wants and needs and in some cases even before the customers are aware that they need your service!

So, are you ready to hop on the new trend? Read more on the new trend here: http://midsizeinsider.com/en-us/article/the-internet-of-things-will-revolutioniz .

Social, video and marketing - these three words have different meanings. But if we club them together then they create a very powerful message which will engage customers and improve their on-line experience. Social video marketing has the power to reach a wide range of consumers. A video carries the exact brand image though just posting a video is not enough to engage consumers. It is important to create conversations in order to engage consumers. In a recent article, Dr. Melody King, vice-president of sales and marketing, Treepodia, speaks about how to start marketing your product via social media. For more details please visit: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2014/24860/social-video-marketing-create-conversations-and-build-customer-loyalty

Making your customers happy over calls is an arduous task, but it is the most important thing you should look over. A survey done by Five9, a call center software provider, shows that to get their service seventy percent of U.S. adults use phone as their first choice to contact a company. But, if they receive bad support eighty five percent of the aggrieved customers resort to take inverse actions. Of them, forty nine percent do the worst thing – they prefer to stop dealing with the company. Not only that, if the customers are within the age group of 18 to 34 years, they do not hesitate to create adverse publicity about the company in the social network. Now surely, you do not want your call center business to be tarnished in this way.

So, what are the ways you should follow to ensure that your customers do not have a harrowing experience? Transera, a customer engagement software provider gives you some tips on how to prepare for customer service disasters before they actually take place. Read more at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6164-call-center-tips.html .

Human Capital Management help companies  to organize their human resource and improve employee productivity. Human capital management tries best to utilize the knowledge and skills of an employee. Human capital management drivers act as an important tool for effective human resource management.  Human capital management drivers fall into five major categories, which are: leadership practices, employee engagement, knowledge accessibility, workforce optimization, learning capacity.

Read more to know about Human capital management drivers: http://managementstudyguide.com/human-capital-management-drivers.htm

You may think that a call center business is pretty simple. But, as customers are changing their interaction behaviors, modernization of call centers is an imperative point of today’s business. Customer retention is an important parameter here and you must aim to reduce it to as minimum as possible because a slight reduction in it can benefit you by reducing your cost to a considerable extent. While looking at your call center business, you must aim for its effectiveness and must ensure that it is productive. But, the question is how should you go for it?

Mary Velan, author at Business 2 Community gives you some tips to revamp your call center customer experience from scratch. Read them here: http://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/4-tips-modernize-call-center-customer-experience-start-finish-0840687#!DylE3 .

The main principle of Lean Six Sigma is to reduce waste and defects, thereby improving your process performance. But, just implementing it may not help you to bear the fruit. In the first step, you have to think ‘What will be the financial implications if I apply Lean Six Sigma on this process?’ Your company’s bottom line is the ultimate thing that speaks. So, it should be in such a way that when you apply the principles of Lean Six Sigma on the right processes, it will help you to optimize the costs associated with it and generate maximum return out of your investments.

Chris Rees, Director of Operations for SigmaPro and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, talks about how to go about for tuning your process that is financially beneficial. Read it here: http://www.business2community.com/strategy/linking-process-financial-performance-0834974#!Dswbh