There is no privacy in the era of big data. Personal data is collected and traded and there are few ways to control it. "We're being monetized in essence. We are being mobilized as products with inducement of the services of we use such as Facebook and Twitter" says Rob Livingstone, a fellow of the University of Technology and the Head of a Business Advisory Firm. However, major problem that regulators are facing is - how they can regulate the collection, storage and trading of personal data on the internet, when all of these activities, and corporations, operate across multiple continents and jurisdictions. Read more at: http://analytics.theiegroup.com/article/53a4371c3723a8398400014e/Little-Privacy-In-The-Age-Of-Big-Data

Information available about consumers on the web is enough to scare marketers. There are large rewards for those who confront and harness big data. Big data can create problem for brands. Information collected from large, complex data sets weblogs, social media, smartphone analytics and even medical records is difficult for brands to manage and process within traditional database systems. According to a report from the McKinsey Global Institute, Big Data is the next big thing for innovation, competitive advantage and productivity. But, some companies are missing this opportunity because of a lack of data management expertise. Retail is one industry that has a great potential for big data. Customer transactions (on & offline), conversations and intentions can all be brought together so that brands can get ideas how to reach potential consumers. Read more at: http://analytics.theiegroup.com/article/53a2f6693723a807f3000029/Big-Data-Embracing-The-Elephant-In-The-Room

The most important part in determining a company's stock growth is extremely difficult. But, by asking a few key questions, investors can improve the accuracy of their guesswork. Firstly, take some time to examine the market growth rate- For example, Apple less than a decade ago, was known only for computers, but now it has a market share on the phone and tablet market. To get some hints of their future prospects, you need to estimate the percentage of people who already have smartphones and the percentage of customers who will buy new smartphones etc. Secondly, a company's market share impacts in a big way on its future sales growth. Coffee-retailer Starbucks and automaker Honda are examples of companies that have used their brand name to grow their market share. Also, pricing is an important factor and needs to be considered as it has a big impact on sales revenue growth of any company. Read more at: : http://www.investopedia.com/articles/stocks/04/100604.asp

A European Telecommunications company wanted to lower its customer service operation costs but worried from the loss of revenue by doing so. In investigating its options, the company learned that 70 percent of existing customer-service contacts could be delivered through digital solutions that had proved effective in other industries. E-care involves the delivery of customer service via web-based user accounts, social networks, mobile phone, and the Internet rather than call centers or facilities open to the public. Such digital services are increasingly demanded by customers, who are already using digital platforms to research and review products, as well as broadcast their service frustrations. And it makes sense from a financial perspective, too. It has the potential to significantly lower the cost of customer service operations while increasing customer satisfaction. Not only this, but e-care also brings a company closer to its customers. Adopting e-care is worth the effort and that virtually every consumer-facing industry that has high customer-relationship needs can benefit from it. Read more at: http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/why_companies_should_care_about_ecare

Social media screening has become common among recruiters and hiring any official and also in many college admissions. It is primarily focused on job candidates and employers, but it can be applied to students, athletes, admissions offices and coaches as well. Employers are "googling" job candidates and searching social networking sites as part of their pre-employment background checks, and admissions counselors and coaches are using similar practices to make acceptance decisions about prospective students and athletes. An article in New York Times reveals that the reasons to reject - and accept - students based on their social media activity are similar to those used by employers. Read more at: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/social-media-screening-guidance-individuals-and-organizations-slideshare

According to some people branding is equivalent to ranking but actually you can position yourself at different times in different markets as different things. Branding is a hard-core recognition factor. We are a generation and a nation wanting to be special. We want to be richer, more beautiful, better dressed, and more effortlessly gorgeous than any other generation that we know. Contrary to how many people think branding is not just a logo and brings with itself benefits of it. Branding your business ensures that consumers will know what you're about and so you are remembered. Secondly, people build close bonds with brand identities. Consumers want quality products that they can trust and you gain customer loyalty easily. While Internet branding offers huge opportunities for business, in order for it to be effective, one needs to attract and engage its customers and that is not easy on the Internet. Your Internet branding strategy should make your online brand noticeable and apparent. Think of the message you want to convey and the image you want to be formed and that is your brand. Read more at: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/understanding-branding-importance-marketing-your-business

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) are a major consideration for any fixed income portfolio and offer a wide diversification and higher returns. There are many types of REITs available but we will have a look here at some of them. Approximately 24% of REIT investments are in shopping malls and freestanding retail. This represents the single biggest investment by type in America and is known as Retail REITs. REITs that own and operate multi-family rental apartment buildings as well as manufactured housing or the residential REITs are mostly urban centered. Healthcare REITs invest in the real estate of hospitals, medical centers, nursing facilities and retirement homes. The success of this real estate is directly tied to the healthcare system. Office REITs invest in office buildings and they receive rental income from tenants who have usually signed long-term leases. Approximately 10% of REIT investments are in mortgages. Here investing in mortgages instead of equity does not imply that they are risk free. The bottom line is REITs, like every other investment in 2008, suffered greatly. But despite this, they continue to be an excellent addition to any diversified portfolio. Read more at: : http://www.investopedia.com/articles/mortgages-real-estate/10/real-estate-investment-trust-reit.asp

The growth of e-commerce in present times has been a cause of worry for many analysts and they proclaim that traditional "bricks and mortar" shopping was going to extinct. But a new study shows the traditional shopping is still alive and well for many Americans. According to new study by global consulting firm A.T. Kearney, consumers continue to flock to physical retail locations and are actually crucial in generating online sales for retailers. According to the study, 90% of all U.S. retail sales conducted last year was done in a physical store versus only about 9% done online. Moreover, 95% of sales were accounted by retailers with bricks and mortar presence. Kearney noted that stores make a significant contribution to generating sales, even if the transaction is eventually done online. Through the five stages of a retail transaction - Discovery, Trial & Test, Purchase, Delivery or Pickup, and Returns - at some point along the chain, the majority of consumers will use a physical store. One could be in smaller mall operators. While Simon is the largest owner, smaller firms like CBL & Associates Properties Inc. (CBL), Macerich Co. (MAC) have all experienced faster funds-from-operations (FFO) growth than their bigger rival. The bottom line is Bricks and mortar stores aren't dead or even dying. Not by a long shot. For investors, that mean the owners of shopping malls, power centers and other retail real estate are in a prime position to continue paying strong dividends for years to come. Read more at: : http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/080614/why-bricks-and-mortar-retail-remains-solid-bet-spg-cbl-mac-amzn.aspx

One may think how anyone can make a profit by issuing credit cards. Lending money to people up front, so they can buy what they want to with it, then 30 days to pay it back without interest. But the contradiction is with a market valuation of about $133 billion and profit margins at 42%, Visa has proven that extending credit to consumers and assuming they'll be irresponsible is as gainful an industry as any. The process involved in the Visa model is: Bank X distributes its Bank X Visa cards to accountholders, who now have the convenience of not having to carry wads of bills for every commercial transaction. Now the banks start charging 14% or 19% or 24% interest which keeps adding to its total revenue. Visa, in the form which it is today would not have existed if people bought only what they could afford and saved for their large purchases. If you pay your Visa bill entirety every month, it costs your financial institution to accommodate you. They'll lose money on the deal. On the other side if you incur a balance and add to it with each pay period, you'll be contributing to a scenario whereby Visa's stock price has not only tripled over the past three years, but remains well shy of an ambitious one-year target estimate. Read more at: : http://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/080714/how-visa-counts-your-credit-card-balance.asp

Many companies have a huge capacity for making money though they have a small clientele. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) is unusual among the largest companies in the United States ranked by market capitalization. Their profit margins are small, but their stocks are expensive. It is one of those companies which tries to do something novel and thinks of its impact on finances later on. So, the answer to the question on how Amazon makes money is simple. Revenue is only a part of profit and Amazon's most profitable endeavor to date is something blessedly low-tech - the one-price shipping of Amazon Prime. Amazon has redefined commerce for the whole world and has leveraged itself to a position of market dominance. With unparalleled convenience and receptive customer service, Amazon seems bound to continue its prosperous growth in its third decade of existence and beyond. Read more at: : http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/060914/how-well-all-be-amazoncom-customers-eventually.asp

Most of us do not think too much about retirement though we change our jobs and careers many times. But when we reach our midlife it is the time for us to get organized. The first step is to locate what you have and search for all assets scattered as they might add to the retirement funds. Also, locate your lost records especially if you have moved a lot. For any policy purchased earlier find out how much cash value is in the policy, if any, and the amount of its death benefit; whether it is still in force or how much it will cost to reinstate it if it has lapsed. Find your misplaced saving bonds, bank accounts and safe deposit boxes. It's worth checking with Social Security to make sure earnings from all your jobs are factored into your benefits. Then determine your objectives, organize your assets and future plan is ready. To know more, follow Mark P. Cussen (financial author)'s article link: http://www.investopedia.com/university/consolidating-your-retirement-money/

This is the age of Big Data and the amount of data surrounding us is actually huge. The rate at which new data is created almost doubles every month. Some examples to show the trend of data driven decisions in almost every sphere are as follows. The big business of sports has led the charge. We're using our smart phones, watches, and other wearable devices to gather data about ourselves to better understand fitness, nutrition, health, and behavioral tendencies. Local and national governments are contributing too with significant movements towards transparent publication of data on websites. The approaching Internet of things -- as governed by new devices such as the Nest Thermostat, Quirky devices, or even the Waze service that uses consumers' GPS-enabled smart phones to gather information --have such companies as GE and Google making substantial investments based on their potential to both generate and find value in big data. Though there exists so much of data some companies still face problem in dealing with it due to existence of some challenges. Read more at: http://tdwi.org/articles/2014/07/08/turning-big-data-into-smart-data-1.aspx

The use of the statistical software R in healthcare analytics is growing and has become quite widespread. Some reasons for appreciating R as the statistical tool are: It is an open-source software. There are several graphical user interfaces like R Studio. The R user community is very large and always there to answer any conceivable question. The availability of numerous packages that add capabilities ranging from machine-learning to Six Sigma quality improvement; if you need it done, chances are that somebody’s built a package that does it. The capabilities and features of R are to expand and has future scope due to its active user base. To know more the use of R in healthcare analytics, follow the link: healthcareanalytics.info/2014/05/get-up-to-date-with-r/#.U95q6OOSyBk

Research shows that fraud against bank deposit accounts cost the industry $1.744 billion in losses in 2012. Debit card fraud accounted for more than half of 2012 losses (54 percent), followed by check fraud (37 percent). According to Prakash Santhana, a director in the Advanced Analytics practice for Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP, there has been a significant increase in the number of cyber-criminal groups who are trying to get their hands on customer lists, personal identification data, and anything else that could be of economic value. Some strategies for fighting fraud are listed below: Continuous tracking of online and face-to-face transactions to avoid any unauthorized ones. Development of “chip and PIN” technologies. The implementation of additional controls within ERP platforms that require dual approval on all payments to vendors. Read more at: http://deloitte.wsj.com/cio/2014/07/30/fraud-trends-in-the-banking-industry

Results show that over 75 percent of the organizations have gained big payoffs with the application of big data and analytics in their organization. Also the Return on Investment (ROI) has increased within six months of application. Certainly executive support as well as their involvement in analytics is vital to value creation since in organizations with low levels of executive support, analytics implementations are hampered by lack of funding, resources and follow through. Besides, strong governance and security are important in instilling confidence in the data, and trust is necessary. Also the direct factor which has implication on organization's value is the trust between people within an organization. This is not trust in the quality of the data but the old fashioned trust that is earned by getting to know someone's character and what they are capable of delivering. The level of trust - a belief that others will do a competent job, deliver on promises and support the organization's best interest - among executives, analysts and data managers significantly impacts the willingness to share data, rely on insights and work together seamlessly to deliver value. Read more at: http://www.informationweek.in/informationweek/perspective/286293/roi-about-trust

In early April, a new law in France banned the organizations from sending mails to their employees after 6 p.m. according to The Economist, it was not a law at all but a labor agreement aimed at improving health among a specific group of professionals. This workload at bed is not being busy but ineffective also. Facebook and Twitter report that their sites are most active during office hours. And research shows that these digital derailments are costly: it’s not only the minutes lost responding to a tweet but also the time and energy required to “reenter” the original task. This is not multitasking but multiswitching which gives extra pressure on us. The great tech historian Melvin Kranzberg said, “technology is neither good nor bad, nor is it neutral.” Instead of falling prey to ambient work or play we should decide our different levels of tech engagements at alternate times and maximize productivity, efficiency and success. Read more at: http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/08/if-youre-always-working-youre-never-working-well/

For healthcare Analytics one of the greatest contributors of data is mobile phones. Not only doctors but even patients access their Smart phones or tabs to track healthy behaviours. But the problem is the risk increasing simultaneously. Although Short Message Service (SMS) can be a quick and effective way to communicate, there are definite drawbacks to the use of SMS. First of all delivery of a Short Message service is not guaranteed. Also, the Joint Commission has, in essence, banned physicians from using SMS for any communications that would result in the transmission of ePHI [electronic protected health information] data or orders for a patient to a healthcare organization (such as hospital or other service). So a safer alternative like Secure Messaging should be used instead. It enables secure and protected transmission of healthcare information that employs bidirectional encryption of point-to-point delivery of messages, stores information on a secured network server, and ensures delivery of the message to a single known receiving entity. Read more at: : http://healthcareanalytics.info/

According to Larry Fink, if you want to be a better investor than stop worrying about daily fluctuations and think of long term investing goals. Also, three major changes worth noticing have happened in past years which have long term implication on the economy. The developed world’s aging population is the first changing picture as the proportion of developed market population is expected to double (30%) by 2025. As a result labour force will shrink and greater people will take advantage of entitlement programs. It will be a challenge to all government to maintain the spending with such a rise. The phasing out of financial repression by U.S., i.e. financing its debt on own will benefit shareholders through capital structure arbitrage, while not appreciably hurting debt holders. These conditions will create a framework for equity optimization that allows risk asset prices to grind higher even in the face of what some believe are extended valuations. The rapid change in technology has displaced a lot from employment in many sectors. As such structural unemployment is expected to rise there will be a check on core inflation ( because inflation in real economy is generally due to wage increase). All these shifts matter a lot while deciding upon investment and also encourage corporations to engage in aggressive stock buybacks at the expense of capital reinvestment. Read more at: http://www.investopedia.com/partner/blackrock/articles/investing/072514/three-big-picture-shifts-worth-paying-attention.asp

Over the last few years, stocks have climbed to lofty heights. Dow Jones Industrial Average, NASDAQ index all have gained new heights. It is the great time to own stocks but at the same time, it is hard to please investors. For rational investors the continuous rise might seem to be a bubble and they can start getting defensive. Many companies that have recently released earning reports have either missed expectations or relied on cost cutting measures rather than revenue growth to bolster their results. While the ride can continue stocks can also go sideways. The bottom line is though it has not yet happened, but the stocks can be frothy and correction could be near. So, investors getting defensive will make sense. Read more at: http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/073114/it-finally-time-get-defensive-def-usmv-idlv-hdge.aspx

Email is one of the oldest tools which is still relied upon by the marketers. There is lot of information on optimizing email marketing but not all are true. To make email marketing as effective as possible it is first necessary to separate out the information which one can believe from ones to discard. Myth 1: Consumers are drowning in emails from trusted brands. Myth 1: Consumers are drowning in emails from trusted brands. 60% receive less than 6 mails per day. Myth2: Best time to mail is at 3 pm on Thursday. Only 21% of purchases happen within 2 days of sending mail. Myth 3: You should stop sending to inactive users after 6 months. They are still alive. Myth 4: Consumers mark email as spam. One out of 2000 does this. Myth 5: More the emails sent by brands, ignorance from customer’s side increases. Number of consumers checking the mail increases, increasing revenue. Myth 6: Short subject lines give better results. Over 70 characters increase clicks. Myth 7: Because of subject lines, email lands up in spam folder. According to 540bn emails sent till date, ‘spam’ keywords have little effects on ending up in spam folder. Read more at: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/email-marketing-myths-infographic