SigmaWay Blog

In simple word, UX Design means User Experience Design, while UI Design means User Interface Design.

Before proceeding into details, first, let us explore what is UX/UI all about. User Experience is an accumulation of tasks which focuses on optimization of a product for effective use; User Interface Design on the other hand, is the look and feel, the presentation & interactivity of a product. But, UX is usually and is often confused by the industries that employ UI Designers.

User experience design (UX, UXD, UED or XD) is the procedure of how to enhance user satisfaction with a product by improving the usability, accessibility, and pleasure provided in the interaction with the product.

Now, UI and UX design consists of different aspects of creative flow for digital products. Fundamentally, UI design aims to create effective and attractive user interface whereas UX design aims to provide the positive user experience. You can relate a merchandise through the user interface as it is always part of user experience, therefore, UX design is much wider and includes UI design as its vital part.

So, when designers work on UX and UI for any digital product such as a website or a mobile app, they need to focus on some core aspects like:

·         Usability – The product should be convenient, clear, logical and easy to use

·         Utility – The product should provide useful content and solves users’ problems

·         Accessibility – The product should be convenient for different categories of users

·    Desirability – The product should be attractive and problem-solving. Thereby, it should retain users and create the positive experience which they are ready to repeat.

The website or mobile application which are planned and designed by UI/UX designers are developed or build by programmers or developers. In other words, they just give life to the plan, with the code they create. Programmers can transform the structure and visual performance, which are meticulously planned and created by designers, into the real interface.

The awesome power of Excel lies not only in its processing ability but also in its uniqueness. It is just like oil and water; our lives are governed by Excel from the beginning of office work. Most people will only cautiously sum up the odd columns, but there are many others who can really take advantage of complex calculations and analysis by using the advanced formulae and other analytical tools. So, take some time to play with the formulas and Excel will reward you big-heartedly with some great magic. It will immediately show you error when you use some wrong formulae e.g. it would hourglass for a while before finally concluding that there were not enough resources for that operation. 

Most importantly, did you ever harness the power of Advanced Excel i.e. macro, goal sheet analysis, what-if analysis, forecast sheets, data validation and pivot tables. These unique operations will not only help you to present data in a systematic, but will also help you in taking managerial decisions without wasting much time. Moreover, the knowledge of Advanced Excel will make you valuable in the eyes of your team members and boss. So, Excel is still indispensable in this age of big data.

If you still do not know Advanced Excel, it is better to up skill yourself rather than to do nothing.

What automatically comes to our mind when you hear the term, Microsoft Excel? Well, there are many possibilities that may come to your mind. You may think of number-crunching careers like accounting, finance or you can think of organizing and interpreting information more easily, making your resume more attractive. But, do not rule out other fields, such as non-profits, administrative work, health care etc. where you could really make the most of your Microsoft Excel training. 

Whether you are working with cells or protecting relevant information or creating charts or formulae or integrating Excel with other software, you may find numerous uses for Excel as a student or an employee or an entrepreneur or a COO.  

But, first let us understand why Microsoft Excel is becoming a valuable as well as universal tool in today’s business world. MS Excel is a spreadsheet that empowers users to organize huge data by performing functions like calculations, graphs, pivot tables, data analysis among numerous other features. So, in short, Microsoft Excel makes it easier to interpret numbers and information in an organized manner and thereby, helping in taking managerial decision quickly. Moreover, MS Excel has several abilities that are suitable for information management. They are: 

• Arranging information in an organized manner

• Filter those information with the help of the tools available and

• Lining up and reviewing that information to take any decision.

the common jobs, besides finance or accounting, where Microsoft Excel skills are necessary are:

• Business analysts and Consultants

• Students

• Marketing managers

• Project Managers

• Administrative assistants etc.

Therefore, if you want to gain some knowledge of Microsoft Excel, here are some convincing reasons to learn it:

1. Improve your skills - Advanced Microsoft Excel training teaches you a huge array of skills including the ability to:

a. Visualize and manipulation of data

b. Build complex equation to get answers about company finances, efficiency, workflow, inventory etc.

c. Clean up data, analyze data and information quickly and accurately

d. Put data intelligently and usefully in front of high level management

e. Solve business problems with the advanced application of data etc.

2. Make your resume look better – It is a fact that recruiters are always on the lookout for hot keywords in the resumes and when they find that Advanced Excel is listed on your resume, they may be more likely to give your resume a closer look. 

3. Organize and interpret information more easily – MS Excel is not just a huge spreadsheet with endless rows and columns.  It is that instrument that sorts and filter lists, track numbers, create formulas, perform calculations, develop graphs and charts and many such things. If these skills give you the impression that they could be a great enhancement to your career, then an online course in Excel is good for you. 

4. Upskilling and Increase Value as an Employee – It is imperative to upskill yourself at work. It is obvious that more skills like Advanced Excel will increase your value as an employee as you will do quality work in a minimum span of time and become indispensable to your employer. So, upgrade yourself by constantly learning, starting with advanced Excel.

Learning Advanced Excel online course from SigmaWay will provide you the whole new dimension in your career as you will be capable to build solutions in different worksheets and workbooks, produce multifaceted charts, organize and arrange information, forecast data accurately, make use of advanced functions, safeguard information and design standard design templates. The case based training fulfills the significance of developing complex Excel results with using improved solutions, dashboard, pivot tables and pivot charts. 

The field of project management has evolved a lot over time. From the days of Egyptian pyramids to today where projects are remotely managed, a lot has changed.

During this period, three major project management methodologies have emerged. They are:

1. Waterfall
2. Agile
3. Scrum

Of these, agile methodologies are seen as the future of project management. This is because of the following advantages that this methodology provides:

• Faster ROI
• Lower risks
• More transparency
• Lower defect density
• Stronger and better visibility
• Higher customer satisfaction

With the increasing importance of project management, the demand for a successful project manager is expected to rise.

To know more about the future of project management and what is expected of a successful project manager, please read the following article by Jenny Beswick at business2community.com:

http://www.business2community.com/leadership/project-management-evolving-01237110

The world of Web Experience Management has come a long way. Starting from traditional, brochure-ware, static web content management to a now more efficient – agile service - oriented web experience management platform. With the help of this platform, we can get the following benefits:

• Ability to mix content management with line-of-business applications and existing customer data
• Be prepared for all the changes occurring in this dynamic world

To avail these benefits and while considering an agile or content-services approach, firms look for the following capabilities:

• Decoupled Architecture
• Agile Deployment Model
• External Preview
• Structured Content
• NoSQL Database

To know more, please read the following article by David Hillis, VP, Business Development, Ingeniux at cmswire.com:

http://www.cmswire.com/customer-experience/agile-web-experience-management-content-as-a-service/

Nowadays with the wide use of "SMART" objects , the task of the marketing departments is to communicate this information to the consumers so that they not only understand but adopt. The success of marketing and incorporation of the Internet Of Things depends on how the information is disseminated which helps the consumers understand the ins and outs of the technology and its use.  A sudden change is more preferred than a gradual change, especially where technology is concerned. Social Media incorporates some of these technologies like smart vending machines, video media advertising, etc. that paves the way for the future.  In addition to social media messaging, the following methods are used to educate consumers  :  webliners, videos, online presentations, white papers. Read more at   http://www.socialmediatoday.com/technology-data/elizabethvictor/2015-05-28/internet-things-and-implications-social-and-branding

When it comes to the Internet of Things (IoT), one of the biggest challenges is managing the data created by devices and their flow in and out of the system a developer creates. This data is vital for an efficient system. The initial step is where the data is created and enters the Internet. In the second step, a central system holds on to this data, organizing it constantly. In the third stage old data is sore for future needs. NoSQL platforms like Cassandra are a suitable fit for IoT systems. Distributed database systems like Cassandra have no 'primary' server that controls the rest. Each node in a cluster can handle the incoming transactions. Read at:  http://www.wired.com/2015/03/internet-things-data-go/

A famous marketing automation provider claims that the new analytics abilities of the company are helping consumers in retrieving marketing data and transferring it for 'deeper analytics' to business intelligence (BI) systems. The features include accessibility of configured datasets and integrations. Traditional marketing automation systems didn't give marketers enough flexibility and accessibility to their specific, desired data, also requiring them to use a specific BI platform only. Present automation systems not only give access to the specific, required data but it can also be analyzed using any tool ranging from excel to different other BI tools. Read more at:

http://www.cmswire.com/marketing-automation/act-on-debuts-data-studio-capabilities/

More than $380 billion will be invested in IoT between now and 2025 is predicted. Ben Gardner, President, Northeast Group says, "Smart meters with two-way communications and other sensors across the power grid are already providing tangible benefits for utility customers. The next decade will see billions invested in the global smart grid market, creating a huge opportunity for vendors." Partnership, mergers and acquisition activity is also accelerating. Infrastructure investment is moving out of developed markets to take advantage of opportunities in emerging global markets. Vendors are branching out from traditional investment and exploring the potential of new smart city and smart infrastructure market segments. They are rethinking of their business models; moving away from hardware development into analytics software and services. To know more about this interesting article by author Ken Briodagh (writer and editor) at:  http://www.iotconnectivitysolutions.com/topics/iotconnectivitysolutions/articles/404036-iot-developers-start-looking-economies-service.htm

There are two general ways to navigate information to make a manufacturing decision. First is to use intuition, experience, and rules of thumb which helps us to take correct decisions. Second is a methodical approach which is based on analysis and objective information.  Bill Frahm (President 4M Partners LLC), writes in this article link about how metal-formers make many of their forming and die-engineering decisions based on the results of finite element analysis (FEA) simulations. Read more at: http://www.thefabricator.com/article/shopmanagement/decision-making-in-metal-forming 

"Your strategies and budget on business technology agenda-technologies, systems, and processes to win, serve and retain customers"- Kyle McNabb (Vice President of Research Strategy at Forrester Research). In the age of customer era, all B2C organizations need to find ways to meet the needs of the customers.  They are also forming customer-obsessed operating model which focuses on customer loyalty, innovation and growth.

In his article “Building A Customer-Obsessed Operating Model,” suggested some ways to make a customer obsessed operating model:
• Investment in new skills like analytics and big data.
• Rethink your process and try to apply agile in your entire organization.
• Re-engineer your systems.
• Modify governance.
• Transformation of organizational culture into more customer-oriented culture.
Read more at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/forrester/2015/05/26/building-a-customer-obsessed-operating-model/

Do you think security questions are secure? Well think again. These questions meant to provide an extra layer of security. Google conducted a study collating hundreds of millions of these questions and their answers. It showed that these questions are neither secure nor reliable. They can be easily hacked or faked. A considerable percentage of the population could not even recall the questions. It was found in some cases that answers to some questions were similar for many people. Logic dictates that if anybody can guess the answer to a question, more security questions should be added. But this hikes up the probability that the user forgets them.  Researchers argue SMS backup codes, secondary email addresses should be used for authentication. Read more at: http://techcrunch.com/2015/05/21/google-study-shows-security-questions-arent-all-that-secure/?trk=pulse-det-art_view_ext

Every businessman wants to enter into new market for growth or better opportunities, but most of the time they won't able to succeed because of competition. An article by Samit Varma (CEO of Pizza Studio), discusses about three components which can help organization to enter into the new market:

·         Focus on consumer impact: Provide high quality, consistent product. People buy products based on their initial experience, so try to make a positive impression. Customer satisfaction is the only key for success.

·         Allow for customization: Today’s customers believe in customization, so to succeed in new market an entrepreneur need to provide customized product with quick delivery.

·         Streamline for predictability: Consistency in operations is very important for timely delivery of products. Implementing forecasting and planning can help entrepreneurs.

Read more at:   http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/245813

To measure CRM one must choose the right metrics. It is the most important decision you will have to make when you launch a CRM program. Metrics should be meaningful i.e. they should relate directly to the outcome desired. It should also be achievable. To know more, follow: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/making-crm-metrics-work-64584

Disruptive technologies are technologies that will transform existence, commerce, and the worldwide economy. According to a report, there are twelve technologies that could bring massive economic alterations and disturbances in the coming years. The report also states how these technologies could modify our world, their profit and confront, and propose rule to help leaders’ .Business leaders should update their organizational strategy continuously with the developing technologies, and use technologies to progress inner presentation. Disruptive technologies can change the strategy for businesses, create completely fresh yields and services, and changing team of value between creators or from producers to customers. Organizations use business model improvement to arrest that value. Leaders need to presume from where risks are coming from and should look further than confirmed models. Organizations also need to make sure to keep their workers’ abilities advanced.Read more at:

http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/disruptive_technologies

Unless one puts in the effort of being beside their customers they can never receive helpful word of mouth. In times of crisis if employees want to protect the company's reputation, they should instil a customer service culture, then empower staffs for making decisions, and perform properly in case of a problem. In times of crisis a briefing should be done to the frontline staffs about the crisis, which is a part of the crisis communication plan. This approach helps protecting one's reputation. Words of support from the directly affected people provides opportunity to enhance one's reputation further. There is no formula for gaining goodwill and loads of satisfied tweets and Facebook posts from customers. Frontline staffs as brand ambassadors and crisis communicators and hard work only pleases customers and satisfies them. Read more at:http://managementhelp.org/blogs/crisis-management/2010/12/13/crisis-management-customer-service/ 

Rapid Miner had an existing partnership with Radoop - an analytics company that optimizes the big data platform known as Hadoop. Now, after successfully acquiring Radoop, Rapid Miner will be able to provide access to many other Hadoop features to its customers which will in turn build a larger presence in the Hadoop ecosystem for RapidMiner. The acquisition also brings partnerships with Hadoop platforms Cloudera and Hortonworks, and adds 20 new clients to RapidMiner’s customer base. The powerful combination of RapidMiner and Radoop will allow applications of advanced analytics to big data. Apart from providing scripting and advanced predictive analytics for experts, it will also help non-technical people to access, analyze, and visualize big data.

To read more, Visit the following link:

http://betaboston.com/news/2014/06/17/rapidminer-acquires-big-data-analytics-company-radoop/