We have all heard of this buzzword: Internet of Things (IoT)

Some of you may truly understand what IoT means and how drastically it has revolutionized the industries of today. But for many, it’s just another word that’s been making its rounds in the tech world.

So what is the Internet of Things? Simply explained,

IoT is a fundamental concept that means connecting everything – such as home appliances, tablets, smartphones, and laptops – to the Internet.

IoT connectivity sets a new bar for the insurance business. Based on sensors to calculate insurance risks and transform data into information that could add value to insurance, this new approach will completely transform the industry. The integration of IoT in insurance will increase productivity, streamline long-term goals, and enhance the profitability of the business. Leveraging IoT in insurance will ensure better experiences for the insurers and the customers.

Reports say that global spending on IoT is expected to reach $1 trillion by the year 2022. That’s huge!

Like many other industries, the insurance industry has seen a revolution of radical proportions due to the Internet of Things. From home insurance to auto insurance, IoT has changed the landscape by encouraging the integration of tech-based solutions in the insurance business.

Let’s take the auto insurance sector as an example.

1. The Effect of IoT on the Auto Insurance Industry

Auto insurers have to dredge up vast amounts of data to take calculated risks and set premiums. The sector solely relies on information like the age, address, credit history, run-ins with the law and such to determine the credibility of the driver.
Once that’s done, data is needed to evaluate driver behavior such as how fast and how often the vehicle is driven. IoT can help insurers assess risks accurately. We can leverage IoT to calculate the mileage and driver’s behavior at different locations using a telematics device installed in a port inside the car.
The device helps insurers calculate the following parameters:

• The Distance Traveled
• Location of the Vehicle (via GPS)
• Hard Braking
• Speed of the Vehicle
• Air Bag Deployment

How Does It Work?
The program is initiated via a web app or mobile app that enables user interaction. They enter their policy number into the system, install the device in the car, enter device ID, and allow the system to collect the data.

How Does It Benefit the Insurance Company?
Here’s how IoT benefits the insurance companies:

• It enables them to manage their services.
• Allows accurate individual risk assessment.
• Supports fraud detection and enhances security.
• It provides a better chance of recovering stolen cars.

How Does It Benefit the Customers?
The telematics in-vehicle device gives customers as well as the insurance company a clear view of the vehicle and its activity. The transparency of the entire process results in overall customer satisfaction.

2. The Challenges Faced by IoT in the Insurance Industry

Despite its many feats in various industries, IoT has faced some significant challenges in the insurance industry. The proper implementation of IoT requires lots of time and resources to get the software and revolutionize operations. Owing to these challenges, we don’t see a welcome adoption of IoT in the insurance industry.
Here are a few challenges IoT has faced in the insurance sector.

Business Models
IoT transforms typical business operations. In the beginning, the insurers may even face a slight decrease in revenue, but that would be for early stage only. As a result, many companies are reluctant to adopt IoT and improvise their business models.
Once the model is implemented, it would become more profitable for the insurance company.

Data Management
The increase in real-time data is too complicated to store, manage, and process efficiently. As a result, data-hungry insurance companies are always looking to invest in new data management tools and strategies.

Data Security
The more network connections we make, the more vulnerable our systems become to frauds and hackers. These days, the elevated need for cybersecurity is one of the elemental data security concerns for insurers. As a result, the insurers will have to make investments in IoT data security and fraud protection to ward off claims and breach of data.

Regulations
The insurance sector is a regulated industry closely monitored by public and government authorities worldwide. Regulation of the data gathered by sensors is one of the primary concerns of insurers. Due to the invasive nature of IoT, there’s an incremental need to regulate data privacy.
So, these are some of the major challenges faced by the insurance industry today. The IoT evolution cannot be effective unless we resolve these challenges and pave the way for smoother IoT adoption by the insurance sector.

3. Leveraging IoT – Effect on the Insurance Sector

Leveraging technologies like IoT has been a critical turning point for various industries. The technology has the potential to have a massive impact on the insurance industry in the upcoming years. From life and health to home and auto insurance, IoT will help companies prepare better coverage plans personalized to fit your insurance requirements.

Moreover, the integration of IoT will make cars and homes smarter. The use of telematics and videos allow companies to gather information on driver’s driving habits and then use this real-time data to offer discounts on insurance premiums. For insurance companies, this is an excellent opportunity for them to understand customer behavior and promote safe driving.

Similarly, companies are designing IoT-based solutions to gather ample information via motion detectors, sound, temperature, and humidity sensors, etc. Technologies such as this allow homeowners to keep tabs on their home expenses and maintain their homes. Home monitoring systems like fire sensors and burglar alarms allow homeowners to avail discounts when applying for home insurance.

For the health insurance sector, IoT has already proven to be elemental in consumer health accessories. These devices allow people to keep a check on their activity and diet. IoT provides healthcare services with information about people’s daily activity and diet. This allows insurance companies to evaluate their customer’s preventive behavior with respect to their food intake.

As IoT gains traction in the insurance sector, customers can now avail benefits such as cheaper premiums and swift settlement of claims. For insurance companies, information shared by the customers allows them to calculate risks, prevent potential hazards, and decide premium amounts.

Takeaway

Integration of IoT and the use of customized insurance have the potential to take the insurance sector to the next level. The customized approach will benefit both the insurer and the customer where drivers who abide by the traffic law will have to pay less in insurance; where as those who are rash drivers will have to pay more.

Consequently, this will benefit the entire ecosystem of life and responsibility from insurance companies and customers to walking pedestrians. The adoption of IoT in insurance can save lives, promote sensible driving, encourage cautious road behavior and make roads all over the world a safer place to drive.

Author:- Mr.Gagandeep Singh
Dated:- 23/07/2020

The post The Insurance Industry to Brace the Big IoT Revolution – Benefits, Challenges & Solutions appeared first on Gsbitlabs.

As the COVID-19 virus continues to shape the retail space, we see a new pattern emerging that will streamline a new retail landscape.
Soon, we will have an evolved retail space with the recipe for retail success in the post COVID-19 era.
Here’s what the pandemic has taught retailers these past few months.

• Consumer behavior is changing.
• We have to accelerate digital shopping and omnichannel retail to adjust to the new consumer behavior.

And this is precisely what the new retail landscape looks like – Going Digital.
So, here are a few ways you can combat the effects of the pandemic and win in the retail space post COVID-19.

1. Go Online to Keep Your Customers

We already know how crucial marketing and advertising during a crisis is. If a retailer does not rigorously advertise, they will end up with sales loss.

The ultimate purpose is to keep your customers interested. Advertise and market your product to engage with them and keep them interested.

Let’s take Nike as an example. Nike made the premium version of the Nike Training Club app free for everyone during the pandemic. Since Nike has the app connected to its highly active eCommerce store, its online sales hiked to 79% which is 30% of its total revenue, a goal that was initially set for 2023.

It’s time to interact with your customers, learn their behavior, and build an online experience that will mutually benefit you and your customers.

2. Encourage COVID-19 Protocols and Provide Self-Service Solutions

Shoppers are following the government protocols of social distancing and limiting their interaction with other people.

Here’s what a retailer can do: provide self-service solutions to support the behavior of their customers.

Innovative AI-powered solutions, facial recognition, infrared technology, and more digital in-store experiences can make shopping during the COVID-19 easier for customers.

Retailers can introduce chatbots and self-service tools to encourage contactless shopping and payments via smart tablets, digital kiosks, and robots.

COVID-19 is shaping human behavior for the future. So, even after the pandemic has subsided, the shoppers will proceed with caution and demand more control over their shopping experiences.

Cutting-edge technology to promote self-service will make shopping highly intuitive, faster, easier, and safer for customers.

3. Accelerate Omnichannel Retail

A retailer’s ultimate goal is to provide a seamless customer experience across all channels of shopping.

So, whether a customer is shopping at a brick and mortar store or shopping online from their mobile screens or laptops, the unified omnichannel shopping experience will hike sales and garner customer satisfaction.

COVID-19 has encouraged retailers worldwide to adopt an omnichannel retailing strategy to provide a fully-integrated, uniform shopping experience to customers.

You do not immediately have to pull out the big guns. Start small, evaluate customer behavior, devise customer-centric strategies, and introduce them to tools that provide a unified shopping experience across all channels.

Wrapping Up

So, here’s our take on retail success in the post COVID-19 era.

It all depends on how retailers leverage technology to cater to revised and completely evolved customer behavior.

Going digital and adopting a customer-centric approach to retailing is the secret recipe for retail success post COVID-19.

Author:- Mr.Gagandeep Singh
Dated:- 15/07/2020

The post What is the Secret Recipe to Retail Success Post COVID-19? appeared first on Gsbitlabs.

At a time when everyone is concerned about survival during lockdown, perhaps we can take an entirely different approach to being confined in our homes and isolated from the rest of the world. It might seem like a flat outdense concept, but during this unprecedented crisis, there are ways to benefit from the situation and leverage it to increase the profitability of your small business.
The lockdown has made a lot of people anxiety-ridden and frustrated, inhibiting any and all chances of productivity. Yet, if we look at the bigger picture, this seems like the perfect opportunity to steer your service-centric small organization into the future with by leveraging newer and better technology.

How Does Your Small Business Benefit from the Lockdown?

Let’s have a look at a few ways how your business can thrive during these trying times.

• Seamless Communication
  Regular meetings via platforms like Skype, Zoom, and Whereby enable clients and business owners to have fast and seamless video collaborations from anywhere in the world.
• B2B Management Software
  The use of Project Management Software like Asana, Slack, and Trello allow team members to simply log in and check their dashboard for the tasks assigned to them. This makes collaboration between team members effective and time saving.
• Leverage IT to Grow and Expand
  With little to no choice left to us except to depend on technology to run our businesses, conservative and reluctant business owners, and old-school employees are now forced to upgrade to modern IT standards to enhance business growth.
• Written Work Records
  Since we no longer have the convenience of working together in an enclosed space, employees now have to submit written work records of what they achieve on a day-to-day basis. These records will prove insightful in assessing employee performance, making well-informed future business decisions, and deciding the next course for your small business.
• Saving Electricity
  Since office space is no longer functional during the lockdown, there is a massive decrease in office electricity bills. During these times of crisis, employers no longer have to worry about high electricity bills and the government gets to save commercial units for electric supply.

How Do Small Business Employees Benefit from the Lockdown?

Besides business owners,the lockdown also provides employees the freedom to work from home and take a breather from the routine office environment.

Here are a few way small business employees can benefit from the lockdown.

• Increment in Productivity
  Online video conferences allow employees to communicate directly with their employers. This medium of interaction bridges the communication gap between the employer and employees and allows them to understand one another better. As a result, the employees are more satisfied and being more productive at work.
• Relaxed Working Atmosphere
  Most offices have the unhealthy atmosphere of unnecessary pressure and petty competition. Working at home has allowed employees to relax during work, take a breather every now and then, and concentrate more effectively on their tasks.
• Save Transportation Costs
  For those who have to commute to work every day, the lockdown has provided great relief from this everyday hassle. Not having to commute to work saves time as well as money spent on transport.
• Respect for Executives and Managers
  Every employee envies the position of power the executives and managers have over the rest of the people employed. Yet, most often fail to discern responsibility from authority. Those with more authority and a better salary are highly accountable and carry greater responsibility than the rest of the work force. Working closely with their executives and managers will allow employees to understand and respect those with higher authority.
• Reconnect with Family
  It’s a day to day struggle for some people to stay away from their families and earn a livelihood. This lockdown has allowed people to reconnect with their families and earn a living from home.

How Does the Environment Benefit from the Lockdown?

There has been a significant decrease in air pollution over the past few days. Since there are fewer cars on the road, the mining and factory operations have come to a halt, and agricultural activities have dwindled, the air in some of the most polluted countries seems cleaner, fresher, and healthier.

So, now you know how to be productive during the lockdown. There’s no reason to waste away hours being agitated when you could use that time to cultivate business relationships and forming a stronger bond with your family.

Author:- Mr.Gagandeep Singh
Dated:- 29/04/2020

The post How Companies can benefit from Coronavirus Lockdown? appeared first on Gsbitlabs.

For years now, AI and Big Data are playing various roles in the key divisions of the fashion world, turning the retail world on its ear. Despite being a well-established industry, the advent of AI and Big Data has transformed the fashion world to make for better shopping experiences for customers.

From manufacturing and logistics to supply chain and marketing, the making and selling of clothes have evolved into a systematic network of complex algorithms that ultimately hike up sales and profit fashion industries all over the world.

AI in the Fashion World – Design, Manufacturing, Supply and Retail

Design

AI integration in the fashion world makes introducing new trends easier than ever. The algorithms analyze designs and pick new trends with reduced forecasting error.

Through a series of images, AI analyzes designs and compares the data to find out what sells in the market. Data analytics allows designers to foresee fashion trends and launch new designs in the market.

Manufacturing

In the labor-intensive textile manufacturing industry, AI-enabled machines and robots make sorting or sewing the dresses faster and more accurate.

This reduces the cost of workers and helps detect faults in stitches or fabric.

Supply Chain Management

AI integration in inventory and SCM is facilitating the logistics and supply chain processes by cutting down costs, improving routes, foreseeing unfavorable weather conditions and fast deliveries.

Retail

AI in retail provides automated solutions to monitor store activity, oversee customer complaints and analyzes what kind of products the customers like to buy and which products they don’t.

Many brick and mortar fashion stores use AI to track footfalls or record the overall shopping experience of their customers to generate feedback on their services and how they can improve in the future.

Visual-based AI models allow store owners to categorize the merchandise and keep records of the inventory for efficient store management.

The Use of Big Data for Quality Control in the Fashion World

Companies use Big Data to protect brand integrity via pattern recognition. This not only happens by maintaining quality control but also by building resistance to counterfeiters looking to replicate the designs sold by the company.

Counterfeit and piracy of fashion-wear have led fashion brands and tech startups to find an automated solution to the long-standing problem and minimize losses by using pattern recognition. From Rolex and Gucci merchandise to Armani and YSL products, these counterfeit products could even be found in the stores of global retail giants like Amazon, Alibaba and eBay.

However, as tech companies seek a solution to counterfeit and piracy, technology has made replicating products infinitely easier. Copied to every minute detail, the luxury and medical products are replicated and sold all over the world, especially in developing countries where it is difficult to monitor activity and exercise control.

Takeaway

Like all industries, the fashion industry, too, is facing the possibility that AI integration and Big Data may replace human designers, analysts and factory workers. While we’re yet to see an AI-enabled robot become the next Tom Ford, new technology like IBM’s Cognitive Prints is paving its way into fashion design.

So, we guess it’s safe to say that AI and Big Data add value to every part of the fashion industry from design to brand integrity and customer satisfaction.

Author:- Mr. Saroj
Dated:- 18/03/2020

The post How AI and Big Data are changing the Fashion World? appeared first on Gsbitlabs.

The advent of technology has completely revolutionized the way we think, learn, and interact. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has integrated itself so deeply in our day-to-day living, that from Google and Netflix to Amazon’s Alexa, we bank on technology to get us through the most minimal tasks.

Today, we’re on to a form of AI we refer to as Natural Language Processing (NLP). With a rapid increment in human to machine interaction, the need for Natural Language Processing has expanded consequently.

What is Natural Language Processing?

Natural Language Processing is a technology that allows computers to understand human language. Machines operate in machine codes, and similar to how we don’t understand their language, they do not understand ours.

NLP changes that. A branch of Artificial Intelligence, NLP deals with communication between humans and computers by using the natural language.

Ultimately, NLP is designed to read and decode human languages and derive information from them that is valuable.

How Does Natural Language Processing Work?

NLP applies smart algorithms to identify the human language and convert it into a form that computers can understand.

When text is given as input, the computer applies its algorithms to extract information from each sentence and collect the required data to process. Failure to accurately interpret the meaning behind a sentence may lead to inconclusive or inaccurate results.

Here’s how NLP works in steps:

1. Voice recognition software like Alexa or Google Assistant translates your speech into the form of a text. The Hidden Markov Models (HMM) utilize mathematical models to understand your speech and convert it into text that is ready for use by the NLP system.
2. The next step focuses on the understanding of the language and the context in which it is spoken. Every NLP system has a different set of techniques to perform this task, but ultimately, they’re all quite similar. The NLP uses coded grammar rules to break down each word into its part of speech.
3. The last step is to categorize the input speech or text in different ways. It depends on the focus of the NLP technology to determine what to make of the information.

Why is Natural Language Processing Important?

We have a few reasons why NLP has become an integral part of technology today.

• The NLP software can process large volumes of textual data to help computers communicate with humans and scales many language-related tasks.
• Without bias, NLP structures highly unstructured data in hundreds of different languages.
• NLP possesses a commendable semantic and syntactic understanding to eliminate the obscureness of language and make it clear.

Why Should You Use Natural Language Processing?

NLP software is capable of analyzing more language-based data than humans without fail or fatigue. It leverages AI for context-driven data to interpret the implications of the speaker – which is what makes it so valuable.

For instance, when you type out a text to your friend, your phone’s language predictor shows word suggestions based on your typing pattern and what you’re currently writing. This is NLP at work.

In advertising, NLP is an irreplaceable tool. NLP uses data such as search trends and compiles that data into terms that could help businesses bring more traffic to their adverts. Companies capitalizing on NLP find ways to advertise more competitively and effectively.

Wrapping Up

So, there you have it: Natural Language Processing. This software sits at the core of rapidly advancing technology like Google Voice Assistant and Alexa.

It’s time you start using NLP to increase the functionality of your application!

Author:- Mr.Gagandeep Singh
Dated:- 11/03/2020

The post What Do We Know About Natural Language Processing (NLP)? appeared first on Gsbitlabs.

It’s true that of all industries, real estate – particularly residential real estate – is the one that has remained the most unaltered during the digital tsunami that has swept over the world economy.

The digital revolution has changed the corporate landscape. Every sector from retail to finance and transportation has seen a drastic transformation brought about by the advent of technology.

However, after all these years, the way we buy and sell property remains the same. The real estate industry had been slow to experience this radical advancement on the same footing as other industries. But that’s not to say, the real estate market is bereft of any evolution in this digital age.

The notably slow progress has a lot to do with the fact that real estate is a high stakes business. It’s capital-intensive and ultimately more complex than food delivery or ride-sharing.

Yet we do believe the real estate market is going to change drastically in the upcoming 5 years. Real estate corporations like OpenDoor, Zillow and Trulia have already digitized the typical broker model. Moreover, Bungalow is using technology to simplify the rental process for both home-owners and renters.

Here’s how we believe technology is changing the real estate industry in 2020 and beyond:

Buying and Selling Platforms

The main purpose of buying and selling platforms is to make selling properties easier. These platforms are easy to navigate and make it very quick and easy for home-owners to get their houses for sale on the real estate market.

Similarly, these platforms make it time-saving and less complex to look for property to buy. Buying and selling platforms contribute to better experience and more sales than typical brokerage.

Virtual Reality (VR)

Ever heard of virtual walkthroughs?

One of the most important steps in buying a property is to get a proper view of it. Virtual Reality allows tenants and home buyers to take a virtual tour of the property before buying them. It offers 3D views of properties from the inside and out and is going to get more popular in the upcoming years.

The Smart Home Technology

Smart home technology has changed real-estate through home-automation. Home automation gadgets and appliances improve comfort, increase energy efficiency and tighten security for a better living experience.

According to the National Association of Home Builders and the Customer Electronics Association, smart home technology has helped homeowners increase their property sales price by 3-5%. To add to that, statistics show that 81% of people who currently live in homes with smart devices are likely to buy a home with similar technology.

The Cloud

Every business owner’s ultimate savior Cloud is the go-to platform for real estate professionals, too. It makes the lending and closing process easier, simpler and faster.

Via the Cloud platform, the data can be securely managed to facilitate real estate deals.

Takeaway

To sum it up, perhaps the effect of technology on real estate hasn’t been as outstanding and rapid as in other sectors.

However, slowly but surely, the real estate sector is evolving to become more tech-focused to land more sales, facilitate the buying and selling process and help the industry outgrow its typical broker model.

Author:- Mr. Saroj
Dated:- 04/03/2020

The post How Technology is Changing the Real Estate? appeared first on Gsbitlabs.

Which one is better, paid marketing or organic marketing?

Honestly, there’s no one answer to this. Depending on the stage their business is in, people organic marketing usually takes a distinctive approach to marketing. Some may rely on good SEO to garner traffic while others may want to spend on paid adverts to reach their business goals. However, you achieve the best result when these two work in tandem.

Before we argue about which one’s better, let’s have a look at their differences.

Paid Marketing

Paid advertising costs more money than organic marketing, but takes up less of your time. It gives you an easy outlet to build brand recognition if you have the funds to spend. From social media advertising to paying for ranking on search engines, there are plenty of ways to go about paid media marketing.

Here’s how paid media marketing may have an edge over organic marketing:

· Scales Up Quickly

The more money you spend, the more traffic you get. If you pay now, your ads will begin to show up now.

· Target Marketing

Target any region you want. For instance, if you only do business in Queensland, you can target your adverts for the Queensland audience only.

· Leverage Dayparting

It allows you to pick during which hours you want your ads to show up. This way, you can save money on advertising during the hours you are closed for business.

· Converting Landing Pages

With SEO, pages that rank at the top have a lot of content, often exceeding 2000 words. Nobody wants to read this much and this type of content is not instantly converting. Paid marketing allows you to create precise and aggressive landing pages.

Organic Marketing

Organic search marketing is cheaper and has less direct costs. Different types of organic marketing include Social media, Content Marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). You don’t always have to hire someone else to do organic marketing for you. You can learn it and do it by yourself.

Here’s how organic search marketing may have an edge overpaid marketing:

· More Traffic with Time

Even if you slow down on organic marketing, all the traffic that you built up does not go away (organic traffic); unlike paid advertising where you have to keep spending money to keep the traffic.

· Cheaper Costs

Even if you hire someone to do organic marketing for you, you are spending a lot less than you would in paid marketing. If you do it by yourself, it may take up your time, but it’s still cheaper.

· Higher Click-Through Rate

Organic listings have a higher click-through rate than paid listings.

Which One Is Better?

Let’s be real. When you type in a keyword on Google and it pulls up search results, which listing do you choose? Paid or organic?

According to research, more traffic goes to organic listings than paid ones.

Here’s why: people trust organically marketed content. Everyone knows the downside to paid search marketing: the audience’s skepticism. And that’s exactly what we see at play here.

However, organic marketing takes effort and time. You have to wait for at least a year before it pays off. Moreover, with Pay Per Click (PPC), you can control the kind of traffic you get. With organic marketing, it’s a mix of everything and you don’t get much say over who visits your site.

Sometimes, algorithms can be nasty. You could be doing everything right but you still won’t be able to get traffic or the traffic may fluctuate drastically. In paid advertising, this rarely happens because you’re paying money to run your ads.

The Verdict

So, which one should you choose?

Well, our answer is, both. If they both pay off, why would you leverage only one? To achieve your business goals, you must use every marketing channel that works and keep scaling it. So ultimately, it doesn’t matter which one’s better if it’s profitable for your business, leverage it.

Author:- Ms. Neha
Dated:- 28/02/2020

The post Will Paid Media Marketing Surpass the Organic Search World? appeared first on Gsbitlabs.

As a result, software and mobile development have become imperative to the growth and success of a business. We’re already two months into 2020 and it’s clear as day that whoever has the arsenal of cutting-edge software technology, will come out on top in this year’s corporate battle.

Here’s our programming languages trends list that will dominate the software and mobile development trends of 2020:

Native App Development Will Remain Unparalleled

Native app development refers to creating software programs that are fit to run on specific devices, unlike hybrid apps. The most common target device for native app development is a smartphone. Since iOS and Android have captured the world market and are not planning to let go anytime soon, businesses are investing in multiple native apps for iOS and Android.

Even with the advent of cross-platform tools like React Native and Flutter that offer faster development velocity, investment in native app development continues simply because they provide an enhanced user experience and powerful performance.

Angular 2+| React | NodeJS will be Starring in the 2020 Showdown

With NodeJS, Angular 2+ and React being the top three frameworks used in 2019, we can assure you that they’re staying for a sequel i.e. 2020. Here’s what we think about the three powerhouse frameworks of software development:

• Angular 2+ is a fully-featured framework that allows simple routing and helps you build compelling user interfaces.
• ReactJS is a library where you have to write less code and the implementation of virtual DOM allows for enhanced performance. Today, ReactJS is the common choice of JavaScript Framework Developers.
• NodeJS is fast and lightweight. It is the go-to framework for fast and scalable networking applications.

Big Data Computation – Apache Spark at the Heart of Data Analysis

Previously, Hadoop Map-Reduce was the framework utilized for the computation of large scale datasets. Today, Apache Spark has taken over the Distributed Batch Job and has bested Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) in performance and costs.

Apache Spark has specifically targeted the limitations of Hadoop Map-Reduce. It processes everything in memory instead of storing data after each operation. Spark is predicted to rule over the batch processing framework in 2020 and even afterward.

Rust Programming Language to Top the Charts in 2020

In 2019, Rust garnered plenty of attention from programmers and many software giants including Microsoft, Intel and social media enterprise Facebook that come out in support of Rust. If you’re still asking why you should choose Rust as your next programming language, here’s an answer that will get your attention: Microsoft is looking into adopting Rust.

Rust has started to gain a lot of traction in the industry and even though it still has a long way to go, more and more companies are looking into adopting Rush in 2020. One of the reasons behind this is that Rust is more than just a set of libraries or a compiler.

The Rust community aims to make programming easier, safer and more fun. This approach has proven critical in the journey of Rust from a hobbyist language to one of the main programming languages in the industry.

Kotlin | Scala | Java are a good trio

Java programming will continue to dominate the market in 2020. Java’s runtime, Java Virtual Machine offers an excellent foundation for JAVA and many popularly used programming languages like Kotlin and Scala use JVM as their runtime.

However, Oracle has changed the license for JVM and a one-time license for Java SE 8 or later is no longer available. That means all the companies using Java, Kotlin and Scala (JVM languages) now have to pay large subscription fees.

Database: Watch Out for Distributed SQL

Here’s a fact most people in the software industry have taken their sweet time to come to terms with: the world cannot be run without SQL databases. SQL has bagged the top spots for popular databases in 2019 mainly because SQL offers durable ACID transactional guarantees. Since this transactional system is essential for business applications, we can rest assure that SQL databases will still be in business this year.

Web-scale companies, however, are seeking a combined solution to rid themselves of SQL databases while keeping the ACID guarantee. They are looking for a database that offers the ACID guarantee of an SQL database but the horizontal scaling of a NoSQL database. At this moment, we find two solutions that fulfill this requirement: Amazon’s Aurora and Google’s Spanner.

But there’s still a catch. Aurora does not offer horizontal write scaling even though it has the majority of SQL features. Spanner, on the other hand, offers horizontal write scaling yet lacks the support for many SQL features.

2020 is looking at a Distributed SQL Database that will finally fulfill the requirements of web-scale companies. Whichever company succeeds is looking at an excellent business for the next few years.

Amazon | Microsoft | Google

Cloud providers Amazon, Microsoft and Google will continue to make the big bucks in 2020. It seems like every business from a small startup to conservative companies like health care, government organizations, banks, insurances and intelligence agencies are turning to cloud vendors. This trend will only grow in 2020 as more companies of all sizes move to Cloud. So if you’re still hesitant about Cloud, maybe it’s time to leave your inhibitions and move to Cloud.

Cloud Vendors Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are giving out free credits to give hands-on experience in the cloud. Google offers up to $300 free credits for the duration of a year.

Takeaway

Software development trends change each year and this will continue to happen in the years that follow. More programming languages will rise to the forefront of software development and older ones will lose business. A major software powerhouse will fall and we’ll see the rise of another. The software industry is one of the most competitive industries today, largely because technology can no longer be kept separate from business. The software industry is affecting every sector and that has given rise to fierce competition in the industry.

These are our predictions for the programming languages that will dominate the software development trends in the year 2020. But our list is by no means all-inclusive. We’ll have surprises along the way as the software industry grows larger and more diversified.

Author:- Mr. Gagandeep
Dated:- 26/02/2020

The post 7 Predictions about Software Development trends in 2020 appeared first on Gsbitlabs.

They’re called influencers or social media influencers because they influence i.e. impact the decision-making process of a rather large part of the global population, including and especially the decision of what to buy and what not to buy. They help businesses sell their products and widen their reach to the audience. This, in effect, has laid down the foundation of influencer marketing.

Influencer marketing exhibits the combined effect of old and new marketing strategies, propelled by the ultimate decision-making weapon: celebrity endorsement. In other words, it is the ultimate marketing strategy used by businesses to drive sales!

However, as it turns out, not many people believe that the content created and promoted by influencers is instrumental in their purchasing decisions. So while influencer marketing may be an excellent way to create brand awareness, is it enough to secure sales?

Here are two main reasons why we believe that influencers may not be enough to sell your product:

Loss of Credibility

Suppose you have collaborated for an ad deal with a YouTube influencer.

They’ll review your product, sing a few praises, put a link in the description and boom – suddenly people will begin checking out your product. However, if this is the primary method of how people visit your website to check out your product, then it means that your product has not yielded any organic searches and the visits to your site have been solely through a social media platform. This can prove to be detrimental to your SEO ranking.

The credibility of your business relies on SEO ranking. Ranking well in organic searches will build trust, get your site – and ultimately your product – more traction and help you build credibility amongst searchers. Influencer marketing takes away the element of credibility from your business.

Skepticism on the Consumer End

You design a product, place it on the market and get an influencer to do the bidding for you. They put up your product on their channel, get people interested and soon visitors begin checking out your product. So money well spent, right? Well, no. The ultimate purpose of marketing is to hike up and maintain your sales. This may not happen when you’re facing skepticism from the audience, birthed by the idea that you paid someone to endorse your product.

It is extremely important to build your advertising campaign on strong CTAs that prompt people to buy your product. But how are you going to get your message across to the audience if the CTA itself is questioned and doubted on consumer-end?

This is why, if the influencer faces a significant amount of backlash for their endorsements, your product could garner attention for all the wrong reasons. So yeah, money wasted.

Takeaway

As we come to conclude our discussion, our readers must realize that influencer marketing is not always a hit amongst the audience. It can potentially fail or backfire (which is worse), just like any other marketing campaign, which brings us to the crux of this discussion: always have a backup plan.

Our advice is, in addition to collaborating with an influencer, hire a marketing agency that will help you develop authority on search engines and have a presence on sites like Instagram, Facebook and Google.

Author:- Ms. Neha
Dated:- 21/02/2020

The post Why Influencers Aren’t Enough to Drive Sales? appeared first on Gsbitlabs.

Financial inclusion is on the rise globally. The 2017 Global Findex database shows that 1.2 billion adults have obtained an account since 2011, including 515 million since 2014. Between 2014 and 2017, the share of adults who have an account with a financial institution or through a mobile money service rose globally from 62% to 69%.
Now consider the amount of data we routinely give away to banks and other organizations. What are the banks going to do with all that data?
There are many ways in which Big Data Analytics are changing Banking. Here are the six most conspicuous big data applications:

• Performance Optimization
• Customer Segmentation
• Effective Personalized Offers & Feedback Analysis
• Fraud Detection
• Risk Management
• Compliance to Regulations

Performance Optimization

The very name – Big Data – can be overwhelming. The truth is, however, that the aim of Big Data technologies is to take big volumes of data and use them to simplify tasks.

• It enables banks to optimize and streamline backend processes through technologies like Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.
• Operations like algorithmic trading and commercial loan agreement interpretation can be made as easy as never before.
• Scanning through documents available in the cloud instead of sifting through mounds of papers increases accuracy and efficiency.
• Data-based automation can be improved through Machine Learning to reduce turnaround time in reviewing documents to just a few seconds.
• Not only do record-keeping and retrieving become more efficient, but man-hours are also reduced substantially, performance is boosted significantly and operational costs witness a remarkable reduction.

Customer Segmentation

Big Data helps immensely in analyzing customer data, segmenting it for banking business and making personalized offers & services based on this analysis.

• Analytics help banks to transform from being product-centric to customer-centric, which is what the customers demand today. Understanding customer behavior and spending patterns help to segment them and supports the transformation.

When banks divide their customers into segments, based on several variables like demographics, transactions, interactions with the bank, external customer data and customer asset value, it enables them to become more customer-oriented.

Effective Personalized Offers & Feedback Analysis

As Big Data analytics are used to go above and beyond customer segmentation, they can give banks an edge above their competitors with personalized marketing.

• Rather than rolling out general offers that may or may not be leveraged by all customers, banks can introduce personalized offers to customers who could use them the best.
• Banks can also leverage Big Data for effective customer feedback analysis since segmentation will be already in place, and based on feedback, even better analysis can be done.

Fraud Detection

Frauds are bigger than ever given the introduction of the digital channels.

• Big data applications can aid in telling authentic business transactions from fraudulent ones by analyzing customer transaction history, their spending behavior, saving sources, income sources, etc. Unusual activities can often be an indication of fraud.

Notification and subsequent blocking of such irregular transactions can be a step in preventing fraud before it can happen

Risk Management

Apart from the regulatory risk assessment through stress testing, banks can also not only manage but exponentially reduce risk by way of assessing customer profiles.

• Back-testing historical data can help manage the risk of algorithm trading. In case a risk threshold is exceeded Big Data can enable real-time risk altering to help banks do optimize risk management.

Compliance to Regulations

Since the 2008 financial crisis, the scenario regarding compliance with regulations for Banking and Financial Services is heavy-duty. Monitoring and reporting of every transaction are mandatory.

• With the assistance of Big Data, this monitoring and reporting of data can be used for surveillance and recognition of trading patterns.
• Artificial Intelligence and advanced Big Data Analytics are already helping in anti-money laundering function, leading to better risk detection and prevention.
• In fact, a report from McKinsey & Company, dating back to 2015, revealed that around a dozen European banks were already leveraging Machine Learning based on Big Data Analytics for better function.

With the rapidly changing face of Banking and Financial Services industries, it is important to ride the wave. The power of Big Data can not only enable banks to gain actionable insights but also help them move from a static to a dynamic plan.

Big Data Has Changed Banking For Good!

As the Banking sector struggles to deal with the overwhelming data load, we’ve come forward with solutions that help banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions make good use of these huge data loads through Big Data technologies.

As a specialized Big Data developer and service provider, we have served clients in the United States of America and across the world. Helped financial institutions make the best use of their data, especially when it comes to data security and compliance. We cater to our clients’ needs with customized solutions such as:

• Performance Optimization
• Customer Segmentation
• Fraud Detection
• Offer Personalization
• Feedback Analysis
• Compliance to Regulations

With over a decade of experience in Big Data, Scala and ETL Development covering various sectors of Banking and Financial Services Industry, our proficiency revolved around data technologies. We have been working closely with some of the top 5 US banks helping them enhance their data management capabilities.

For instance, we helped a top 5 US bank with extracting valuable knowledge from huge – both in terms of structure and size – market news files that could not be processed by regular RDBMS systems. Big Data technologies and specifically Spark was used to process huge data files and store them in HBase. While the project started as a proof of concept, after going life it has been in full productive use.

As there is a lot of talk in the market but a lot less action, we enlist below a selection of specific work items we have delivered to our customers:

• Laid down the foundation of Big Data Architecture and chose technologies to be used.
• Delivered on Big Data technologies like Apache Spark, Hadoop, HBase, Hive, Impala on Cloudera. Big Data Eco-System was designed to end with back-end batch processing using Scala in Spark, storage using HDFS, database using HBase and Impala, and scheduling using Control M.
• Worked on the average file size of around 100 GB (often parsed 3 times a day) while maintaining history. The news database had hundreds of Terabytes.
• Modeled the Hadoop database HBase per the feed file and reporting requirements.
• Developed efficient transformational and storage mechanisms to process massive data files in minutes.
• Developed end-to-end pipeline from fetching relevant data files, storing and processing them using Apache Spark and HDFS.
• Created a querying methodology over HBase to enable reporting.

Author:- Mr.Gagandeep Singh
Dated:- 19/02/2020

The post Big Data and Banking: Changing Customer Experience appeared first on Gsbitlabs.