What is Cognitive Computing?

Cognitive computing is the simulation of human thought processes in a computerized model, or an attempt to make computers mimic the way human brains work. Cognitive computing platforms help create automated IT systems capable of solving problems on its own, without human assistance.

Cognitive computing epitomizes a shift from programmed-systems to systems that learn and understand. Apps using cognitive computing technology feature self-learning algorithms. It makes use of techniques such as data mining, natural language processing, and pattern recognition, to acquire knowledge from the data it mines or is fed into it. The system looks for patterns and refines itself as it encounters more and more new data.

Impact of Cognitive Computing

Cognitive Computing is a disruptive technology, with major transformational impact. It has the potential to take enterprises much further than what traditional business intelligence and analytics solutions take them, manifested in several real-life use cases already widespread now.

The range of insights offered by cognitive applications extends far beyond what a traditional analytical tool provides. The process of continuous improvement and refinement makes cognitive application systems capable of anticipating new problems and modeling possible real-life solutions.The tips and recommendations get better with time, as more and more data enters its range.

Cognitive computing is already in widespread use in several artificial intelligence applications, such as robotics, virtual reality solutions, and more. Among the various sectors where the adoption is already widespread, a key area where results are already obvious is in healthcare, fitness, marketing, and sports technology.

“Coach Watson” to Set the Stage on Fire

Cognitive computing is all set to unleash big disruptions in sports technology, and change the way athletes and other stakeholders approach major sports tournaments. Leading the disruption is IBM Watson.

The versatile IBM Watson is donning a new hat, of coaching elite runners in America’s top running clubs. While there are several apps already leveraging big data to offer valuable insights and optimize an athlete’s performance, “Coach Watson” goes beyond. As it is with any typical cognitive computing application, Coach Watson pulls in data from a wide gamut of sources, analyze such information in real-time, identify trends, and deliver actionable tips to athletes, in natural language.

The following are some sources from which IBM Watson gets inputs, on the basis of which it conducts its analytics:

• Watson collects physiological and biomarker data from wearables worn by athletes.
• The system takes in the tons of unstructured data which conventional analytical tools usually fails to factor. Examples include travel schedule, the attritional effect of a long season, work and family stress, body recovery time, and more, all of which are seemingly not related but can play a critical role in an athlete’s performance
• The system pulls in latest research findings from medical journals, health and fitness history of top performers in the particular environment, and more.
• IBM has co-opted Orreco, a working partner with Oregon Track Club for six years running. Orreco provides insights on physiological test data and biomarker data and data on nutrition and sleep.
• IBM has tied up with Triax Technologies, 113 Industries, and Spare5 to enlarge the Watson ecosystem, and further deepen insights.

The insights generated by cognitive computing apps such as Watson facilitate drawing up highly customized training programs and optimizing schedules. For instance, a Cognitive computing powered app draws in data from the wearable devices, compares it to optimal body parameters, and indicate how much harder or longer to carry on with a workout, whether to lower the intensity of the workout, take a few days off to recover on encountering fatigue, how to optimize sleep schedules around travel, and several other rich insights. Such insights, hitherto not easily discernable with any authority, ensure each athlete remains in a zone of peak performance on the day of a competition and could make all the difference between a medal and an “also-ran.”

At another pane, Coach Watson works to preempt injuries, which can severely disrupt or even end an athlete’s career. For instance, continuous monitoring of biomarker data could make evident iron deficiency in the blood, offering early warning signs of an upcoming injury, weeks in advance.

Watson Powers Many Actionable Apps

Cognitive applications are in the throes of revolutionizing sports technology. Many Watson powered cognitive solutions have already hit the market, to empower coaches, trainers, players, managers, and other stakeholders in a big way.

The Triax Smart Impact Monitor (SIM), a wearable sensor embedded in headbands or skullcaps track the force and frequency of head impacts, offering proactive assistance to mitigate the situation. The device factors in diverse data sources to offer sound advice on the best course of action.

The cognitive app powering Spare 5’s Watson Golf Pro is akin to a highly resourceful personal caddy. The app accumulates a corpus of knowledge on mechanics and drills, gathered from contracted golf professionals. Amateur golfers may consult the app in natural language, and gain crucial insights related to the course, such as wind velocity, the best shots to play, and more. Seeing a golfer’s swing, the app provides feedback for improving that swing.

Cognitive Systems Lend Objectivity to Player Selection and Management

There is a big element of subjectivity in sports selection and management. Cognitive apps can offer greater insights which allow selectors, coaches, managers and other decision-makers to make informed decisions, and support their gut instincts with hard data.

For instance, cognitive computing apps can read and interpret all the press conferences made by players over the years, offering insights to selectors and managers on the mindset of the player, as in whether the player is becoming more positive, more optimistic, and other innate characteristics traits. Likewise, coaches get detailed and in-depth information about the player’s physical and mental faculties, and how they react to specific situations, allowing them to take proactive actions to manage the player well.

Cognitive apps have the capability to analyze unstructured data, meaning it can make an in-depth analysis of videos and footage of the athlete’s performance, and give real actionable recommendations. This is a big improvement from coaches and training staff watching videos, and generating pointers, manually, based on their gut instincts, and with a high degree of subjectivity and assumptions.

Cognitive Applications Enhance Fan Experience

Cognitive applications work wonders not only for athletes and the business side of sports but also for fans. A good case in point is 113 Industries “Pi” service, which has been put to good use by Pittsburgh Penguins, the famous hockey team, to analyze the huge volumes of fan-based data. The club uses such insights to develop specialized offers and services for fans, relating to concessional merchandise, pre and post game entertainment at the CONSOL Energy Center, and more.

Cognitive apps could likewise guide fans proactively, such as making explicit the train to catch to reach the stadium on time, factoring in traffic, fares, preferences, and other innate traits which the fan had to consider manually before. Cognitive apps would also guide the fan to the best parking space, without having to drive around in circles. Once inside, a cognitive app could guide the fan to the toilet with the least wait time. All these are possible in natural language.

The application of cognitive computing to enhance sports technology can deliver rich rewards across the board for all stakeholders, players, tournament organizers, coaches, spectators, fans, television broadcasters, and everyone else. However, as always, the devil lies in the details. Success depends on designing the apps right, with clarity on the objectives, and the development task done by competent and resourceful professionals who know what they are doing.

Cognitive computing in a broad sense refers to software mimicking the functioning of the human brain, to make better decisions.

Computers have caught on ever since its inception, owing to its ability to undertake lightning-fast calculations, much beyond the range of human capabilities. However, computing devices face a serious limitation in not being able to accomplish tasks humans take for granted, such as understanding the natural language or recognizing unique objects in an image. While artificial intelligence offers a start in this direction, cognitive computing represents the coming of age in this front.

Cognitive computing, in a sense, represents the third era of computing, with computers that could tabulate sums the in-thing in the 1900s, to programmable systems in the 1950s, and now cognitive systems.

Personal digital assistants such as Siri, already present in smartphones come close to cognitive computing but are not true cognitive systems. Such systems can only respond to a preset number of requests, whereas true cognitive applications give a thoughtful response, without being restrained to a preprogrammed response set.

How Do Cognitive Applications Work?

Cognitive computing aims to simulate human thought processes in a computerized model. To this end, cognitive applications use deep learning algorithms and neural networks and leverage the latest technological solutions such as data mining, natural language processing, and pattern recognition.

Cognitive applications draw on multiple sources of information, including structured and unstructured digital information, sensory inputs such as visual, gestural, auditory, information, sensor-provided information, and more. It then processes the gathered information by comparing it to the set of data it already knows. As such, the more data the system encounters, the more it learns, and the more accurate the system becomes, over time.

Cognitive computing applications integrate data analysis with adaptive page displays (AUI) to tailor content for the specific audience and specific situations.

IBM Watson, one of the earliest approaches to cognitive computing, offered a path-breaking combination of natural language processing, machine learning, and knowledge representation. Watson ingests questions or inputs in natural language mode, search its repository for information, develops and analyze hypotheses on its own, and generates answers, also in natural language mode. What made Watson successful was not just the combination of the multiple capabilities, but the seamless and powerful integration of such different capabilities in a way it influences each other.

Basic Characteristics of Cognitive Applications

Cognitive applications are a cut above ordinary applications, as evident from the following basic features or characteristics.

Adaptive: Cognitive applications are adaptive, capable of integrating information around its ecosystem, as it changes. These systems feed on dynamic data in real time, or near real-time, to master ambiguity and unpredictability. It adapts to the changing goals and requirements of the enterprise, which is common in today’s highly fluid business environment.

Interactive: Cognitive applications interact easily with users, and also with other processors, devices, and cloud services. Such seamless interactions allow users to make explicit their requirements comfortably, and the network ascertains the requirements automatically to some extent.

Iterative: Cognitive applications are iterative and stateful. These apps ask questions or find additional sources by itself when a problem statement is ambiguous or incomplete. It also remembers previous interactions, and pulls in suitable information relevant to the current context, from such corpus.

Contextual: Cognitive computing applications understand and identify contextual elements such as location, time, meaning, syntax, processes, regulations, user’s profile, and more, connected to its ecosystem. The apps act on the basis of such information, automatically.

Dark Data Compatibility: Cognitive computing systems have the capability to deal with “dark data.” Traditional business intelligence and analytics solutions are mostly unable to comprehend social media postings, electronic medical record notes, electronic fitness device readings, unstructured images, and the bulk of general data generated by users in normal day to day settings today. Cognitive Computing apps process such multi-structured and unstructured dark data, to pull out non-obvious insights and subject it to analytics. Combining such dark data with the readily available structured information such as customer records unearth patterns, relationships, and other contextual associations not discernable otherwise.

Cognitive Applications in Action: Use cases

While cognitive computing has been around for quite some time, it is only recently, with the advancements in technology giving it a boost, that it has come to the mainstream. Several practical use cases have already emerged.

Many businesses now use cognitive computing applications to connect with their customers and other stakeholders at a more personal level and offer highly relevant recommendations. Such apps modify the recommendations automatically as they understand more about the stakeholder, and as the situation unfolds. Furthermore, such apps pick up subtleties that traditional analytics would miss.

IBM Watson, one of the earliest manifestations of a cognitive computing platform, already finds widespread use in healthcare. The cognitive computing platform collates the entire gamut of knowledge around a medical condition, such as patient history, journal articles, best practices, diagnostic tools, and more. It then analyzes the information, and offer a recommendation in sync with the changing condition of the patient. It is virtually impossible for any human to possess such vast range of information, leave alone analyze it. Doctors may leverage such insights to adopt evidence-based treatment options considering all factors, including the individual patient’s presentation and history. This is a big upgrade from the present scenario where the doctor makes educated guesswork, based on grossly incomplete information, with the decision based on the doctor’s limited range of knowledge. The insights available through cognitive computing enable even fresher doctors to perform as effectively as experienced specialists.

Cognitive computing applications are also making its mark in a big way to improve consumer behavior analysis, facilitate personal shopping bots, in education, diagnostics, and other areas. A good real-life example is Hilton Hotel’s Connie, the first concierge robot, which helps visitors with regards to hotel information, local attractions, and more, with questions posed in natural language rather than computing language.

Cognitive computing delivers positive ROI. Enterprises have already succeeded in applying it to convert even traditional cost centers such as customer care to profit centers. For instance, a packaged goods company applying cognitive computing to resolve customer problems automatically, pre-empting the usual practice of customers raising a ticket, could achieve a 30% reduction in tickets. Considering the cost of each ticket was $24 to $160, the savings are substantial.

Enterprises adopting cognitive computing, however, need to develop purpose-built applications to address specific use cases relevant to their stakeholders. Success depends on not just technical competence, but the extent to which the cognitive computing technology is interwoven with the business or customer needs.

What is Business Intelligence?

Business Intelligence (BI) turns data into information. It is the sum of applications, technologies, and methods adopted to glean strategically relevant information for the business. The task involves collecting, integrating, analyzing, and applying historical, current and predictive information related to the business. The objective is to gain strategic insights, evaluate risk, and improve decision-making capabilities for top management, business owners, and other stakeholders.

Business intelligence information encompasses both internal data and external data related to the business. Internal data may include operational data, data from sales, financial data, and more. External information is fairly wide in scope and may include information from the external supply chain, social media channels and more. Another dimension to external information for business intelligence is information about competitors and other companies, for benchmarking, and to gain a competitive edge over such companies.

Many businesses now apply business intelligence to make informed decisions, rather than relying on hunches or unfounded assumptions. For instance, restaurant owners use business intelligence to decide the menu to be added and removed from a restaurant menu. Automobile manufacturers apply business intelligence to add new features to their car models. Tour operators use business intelligence to optimize their itinerary. The possibilities are endless. Businesses may use Business intelligence to modify their internal work processes as well.

Business Intelligence Vs. Analytics

One might mistake Business Intelligence as being another name for the much-hackneyed business analytics. While both business intelligence and analytics involve aggregating and analyzing data, the similarity ends there.

Business intelligence aggregates data to make it explicit what is happening to the business, whereas analytics aggregate data to delve into why it happens. For instance, business intelligence evaluates sales performance by extracting data from various sources and presenting it in the form of intuitive graphs. Analytics involves running statistical tests to make explicit whether sales performance correlates with advertisements and promotions undertaken.

While both business intelligence and analytics involve analysis of data, the scope is markedly different. In a sense, Business Intelligence ends with the basic mathematical operations of addition, averages, and percentages to the dataset. Applying advanced algorithms complex formulas, statistical operations such as regression analysis, correlation analysis, and more, to answer deeper questions related to the dataset comes from the realm of analytics.

Technically, Business Intelligence encompasses ETL tools to access and transform data,  OLAP (online analytical processing) tools to handle complex queries, tools to manage metadata, development tools to generate various reports and dashboards, and others tools for publishing, scheduling and distribution capabilities. Analytics co-opt different methods of analyzing information, such as descriptive, predictive, regression, neural networks, and the tools to apply such methods.

What is a Business Intelligence Software?

Business intelligence software enables enterprises to undertake business intelligence tasks.

Any Business Intelligence system worth its byte involves the following activities, and software to undertake such activity.

1. Data warehousing, or bringing together all data, such as sales data, operational data, data from financial reports,  competitor sales data, social media talk, and more. ETL (extract-transform-load) tools usually facilitate the task of extracting data from several databases, systems, and applications, transforming it as required, and loading it into the target data warehouses, analytical applications, and other systems.
2. Data visualization, or presenting the information in a visually appealing way, for users to make sense of the data in a better way. There are different visualization types, such as charts, graphs, infographics, and more, and various enabling tools for each type. Each visualization type serves a specific purpose. For example, Pie charts are best suited to communicate relative performance, whereas bar charts depict trends in the best way. Some intuitive methods such as “slice and dice” are gaining popularity of late, for its powerful capabilities.
3. Management dashboards, or well-grouped set of visualizations containing most relevant information to any stakeholders, usually reserved for top management. OLAP tools, used to aggregate data and handle complex queries, are commonly associated with Business Intelligence

Several types of tools enable data visualization and management dashboard capabilities.

• Spreadsheets such as MS-Excel are the most common method of presenting the Business Intelligence data. The ease of work nature and universal availability of spreadsheets are however marred by serious limitations, such as limited security, limited collaboration features, limited automation capabilities, and a high degree of inaccuracy and variability. Various other tools offer seamless and advanced automation, security, and audit capabilities, which MS-Excel lacks.
• Operational reports, often custom made for the enterprise, list data at a very detailed level, in a highly-structured and logical format.  
• Querying and analysis solutions allow business users and analysts to generate business queries and reports rapidly. The ad-hoc nature of these tools offers unbridled flexibility. These tools also come with intuitive graphical interfaces. A middleware layer which converts database conventions to normal business nomenclature, and dashboard drag-and-drop functionality spares end-users from the need for technical proficiency to use these tools.
• Dashboard management systems offer easy access to key information in intuitive and graphical formats.  It displays the required set of key performance indicators, metrics, and other relevant information in a single consolidated view, greatly improving the user’s decision-making capabilities.
• Data mining tools allow analyzing large data sets to discover patterns and build predictive models. data mining application use algorithms, statistics, advanced mathematical techniques, and sophisticated data search capabilities, to unearth insights otherwise not discoverable.
• Online analytical processing (OLAP) tools facilitate the rapid visualization and analysis of business metrics. Users may store and access data in multidimensional OLAP cubes comprising of measures, and text values. Queries from OLAP cubes are much more powerful than simple database tables and offer users advanced insights into past performance and various “what-if” scenarios. Users may use such cues to evaluate information from various dimensions and perspectives. In fact, OLAP operations constitute the fundamentals of most advanced functionality used by data visualization tools.

Top Business Intelligence Tools 2017

Until a few years ago, users had a limited choice of comprehensive Business Intelligence tools. The choice was limited to platforms offered by biggies, such as IBM, Oracle, SAP or Microsoft. The high cost of the software and the associated complexities made business intelligence out of the reach of most enterprises, except big corporations.

The advent of the cloud changed things, making business intelligence more democratic. Business no longer needed to build their own BI infrastructure in-house, as SaaS providers perform the resource-intensive tasks of data gathering, persisting and reporting, allowing businesses the ease, affordability, and convenience of the subscription model.

Some of the top ETL tools include Oracle Warehouse Builder, SAP Database Services, IBM Infosphere Information Services,  SAS Data Management., Elixir Repertoire for Data ETL, SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), and more.

Some of the top OLAP tools in vogue include Yellowfin, Stratum, Birst, Profitbase BI, and the quintessential Microsoft SharePoint, among others.

Here is a rundown of some of the leading data visualization and dashboard software in 2017

• Dundas BI, one of the most popular browser-based business intelligence and data visualization platform, offers integrated dashboards, reporting tools, and data analytics capabilities.
• Domo, A cloud-based suite, makes it easy to integrate multiple data sources, including databases, spreadsheets, social media and also legacy cloud-based and on-premise solutions deployed in the enterprise.
• SiSense support business data with powerful visuals and tools, making it handy for users with little or no technical skills.
• BOARD, a centralized tool, hosts data and conducts multidimensional analyses. It boasts an impressive client list, which includes US Navy, Giorgio Armani, and Puma, among others.
• IntelliFront BI enables viewing multiple data sets from a single pane. It also distinguishes itself with strong automation features, real-time dashboards, and on-demand reporting.

Self Service Tools

The emerging trend of self-service business intelligence, made possible by the advancement of mobility, analytics, and other relevant technology, empower end-users with the ability to undertake business intelligence tasks by themselves, without necessarily having advanced technical skills.

As it is with several other sectors, Google has also entered the business intelligence space, and with time, is sure to give established incumbents a run for their money. It is now possible to build an intuitive BI dashboard powered by Google Data Studio reporting tool and Google BigQuery, a cloud-native data warehouse capable of analyzing petabytes of data in double quick time. As always, all these Google tools are open-source and free, giving developers the unbridled freedom to co-opt it in their systems, the way they want it.

Google’s new offering competes with Microsoft Power BI, another free, self-service cloud-based business intelligence offering from the Microsoft staple. Non-technical users may leverage this offering for aggregating, analyzing, visualizing and sharing data easily.

Businesses would do well to consider developing custom suites facilitating such self-service options, integrating ready-to-use Business Intelligence tools to the extent required. Partnering with a competent IT software solutions provider would enable the business to roll out highly intuitive business intelligence apps and other solutions, empowering end-users to gain the required insights easy and fast, without having to wait for the IT team to do the job and spoon-feed them with reports.

M-commerce and Application Performance Management will Reign

Nearly 179 billion mobile apps are downloaded for big and small businesses every year. Unless you live under a rock, our guess is that you may have considered developing an app to help consumers to land straight on to your responsive website. Today, the mobile app technology is being driven by consumer needs and habits. A futuristic vision is essential for successful M-commerce even if competition is slack.

The following tips will help to engage your potential consumers who are glued to their smartphones 24 x7 into your business.  We will also see why application performance management will reign in 2018.

This chart represents the guideline to create a successful biz-app.

Market Research Determines the Feasibility of the App

Apps are profitable for all businesses.

From the number of apps you have on your smartphone, its profitability can be gauzed. As biz-apps grow exponentially, they are a single platform to promote a brand/product, give an ad, offer rebates or codeshare for freebies. This mobile channel offers a fantastic range of processes. But for its success, market research and feasibility are absolutely vital. Hundreds of biz-apps are downloaded, and some fail miserably either because the consumer undermines its actual utility and relevance, or the app fails to bring anything new compared to its competitors in the market. Hence a feasibility report before developing the app is vital. Ask yourself-do people need your app? Are you fulfilling any specific need? Ground level figures will indicate if the app is worth or it needs to be tweaked to suit consumer preference.

Improvise and Innovate

If an already existing app fulfills the need, why should you still make one?

If the feasibility report reveals that you can bridge a gap (improvise) or add (innovate), then go ahead and create the app. It will answer the pain points of the consumers and they will appreciate it.

Make the App in Two Months

Although it is a long period, don’t delay further.

Let’s put it this way- apps also have a shelf life or an expiry date. If you have done a study and waited for 3 months, by then the consumer habits might have changed! They are fickle-minded and will move on to another vendor and brand who addresses their pain points better. Quickly launch the app to ensure that the reports are relevant to the research.

M-marketing is Gaining Traction

Yes, it is trending to market via apps.

In the peak season, your product will need to go public/live. Develop and launch the app a little before that and script out the marketing strategies. Align them together for best results. Ensure to make use of optimization searches.

The App Should be Smooth

Expecting a consumer to navigate is counter-productive.

Most consumers may have smartphones, but are not smart enough to use them! An easy interface and download are recommended. An easy-peasy app will be appreciated by all consumers. Not only the download but also its continuous use should be considered. No one will bother to learn how to use it. So, make your business app intuitive and progressive.

Do not Overdo Ads and Banners!

Too much of ads and banners ruin the user experience.

One of the reasons for mobile app failure is the number of ads added. A consumer can delete it anytime if he finds it is bothering his browsing experience. This is a very broad hint and not just a friendly tip!

Application Performance Management (APM)

Why is it poised to rule in 2018?

The new generation of smartphones are designed to integrate various kinds of apps. The screen size, resolution, ability to navigate the content are just a few things that will drive the success of a potential app for m-commerce. A single device platform works well. Can it be transferred to another device? That will surely make it more versatile for better user experience. Thus one needs to apply mobile metrics to solve the double trouble. This is where APM is useful for the qualitative behavior of the app. The tools for its feasibility can be equally challenging as they collect the data, assist in monitoring, providing insights and then ultimately align it with the business.

So your company has recently purchased an Enterprise Software that will help the organization run. But did you check whether the technology solution provider has provided a maintenance plan along with it? Or, have you researched whether the software builders are competent when it comes to after-sales support? Like a vehicle that requires maintenance, software is no different. It is imperative to include a maintenance plan when you buy a software solution because:

Corrections and bug fixing

A fully-functional software might not display errors and bugs in the beta stage until it is put actively in the environment. A maintenance contract will ensure that these bugs and bad codes are fixed. It also covers the systems for major repairs and advanced problem solving that otherwise would cost more money and time.

Flexibility

A software solution is adaptive since it evolves with use every single day. With changes on a daily basis, your software might need an upgrade, update, and even change in modules. Plug in these changes can along with the maintenance team that knows the ins and outs of the software. It also keeps the software up-to-date and increases its lifespan in the company.

Compatibility

Since technology is growing each day, the addition of new hardware to the systems is inevitable. A maintenance contract from your software provider can help in addressing compatibility issues with this newer hardware. It would help one tackle with ease, any modification of the existing system.

Improve performance

Some vendors provide one or two free upgrades and patches in their maintenance contract that help in keeping your software on par with the latest trends. These upgrades might include some major overhaul or issues raised by other users.

Saving IT expenditure

A smart move in any business is to save money before earning the profits. Having a maintenance contract does cost a little extra but covers important bug fixes, routine upgrades, and critical problem-solving. In a way, it fixes an annual price on the IT expenditure and removes the chance of any unforeseeable expense that might occur due to the software.

Re-engineering the software

As a part of preventive maintenance, the software can be re-engineered and restructured to adapt to the changing conditions. This type of maintenance is mostly used as a preventive measure to avoid problems that might occur instead of fixing existing problems.

Staying ahead in the race

As you evolve and grow, so does your competition. Your enterprise software plays an important role when it comes to staying in forefront of the competitors or fulfilling the requirements of tech-savvy customers. A regular maintenance can help with adapting to time. Also, changes in business patterns and legal government rules can be done easily under a contract.

Remember each technology solution provider will offer various types of maintenance. You will have to first identify what are the requirements of your business and what type of maintenance will suit them. Secondly, check if the contract is worth the price with respect to the coverage and the background of the provider. See what are the different maintenance features provided. These may include the number of updates provided in a year, availability of support team in need of emergency, and turnaround time for problem-solving.

Robert Glass has a very well-written fact about maintenance that goes like this – ‘60% of software’s cost is maintenance, and about 60% of the maintenance cost is an improvement.’ Established and genuine software providers not only offer complete software solutions but also maintenance services that encompass all the said points that help run a smooth business.

Cloud computing refers to the method of computing in which an interconnected network of remote servers is utilized for the execution of the operations such as storage, management, and processing of information. The business units in the current era are making use of multiple cloud computing services and techniques in an integrated architecture. There are various deployment and delivery models of the cloud which are amalgamated as one unit for the execution of business processes and activities. However, with the expansion of such practices, there are some security issues that have been observed.

The security issues and occurrences are primarily associated with network-based security risks, availability, confidentiality threats and integrity risks. Events such as Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, malware attacks, message/media alteration attacks, spoofing and phishing attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, and eavesdropping attacks are common in the multi-cloud environment.

Organizations are required to follow certain steps towards security to make sure that the security risks and occurrences are prevented, detected and controlled. The following security measures and steps shall be included in for achieving a secure multi-cloud environment.

• Prioritization of Visibility: The business organizations in the multi-cloud environment must ensure that they have complete visibility across all the cloud instances. Behavior-based monitoring shall be adopted for enhancing the visibility. Objectionable modifications and malevolent activities will also be highlighted with this process.

• Adherence to the Best Practices: In the case of the multi-cloud environment, there are various systems, devices, and networks that are involved. Each of these entities has a set of guiding principles and standards. The cloud security team must analyze and understand the best practices that are associated with each entity. For instance, in case of NoSQL databases present in the multi-cloud environment, it would be best to meet the compliance requirements, install advanced access control and authentication measures and promote database security for the overall security of the cloud.

• Flexible and Secure Governance: Governance is a critical element in any of the organizations. It is possible to establish trust and security across the organization only with the aid of well-governed systems. In association with the multi-cloud environment, the processes such as identity management, scheduling activities and resource allocation must be securely governed.

• Encryption of the Data at Rest: It is often witnessed that the business organizations enforce and implement the encryption of the information that is in-transit. However, the encryption of the information at rest is often not paid due attention. Such loopholes in security provide the attackers with an opportunity to get hold of the information at rest and misuse the same. It is, therefore, extremely necessary to encrypt the information at rest using advanced encryption algorithms.

• Advanced Shared Responsibility Model: Sharing of resources is one of the prime features of cloud computing, which gets enhanced in the multi-cloud environment. There are overlapping responsibilities and ideas that are often observed which may lead to the occurrences of loopholes in the security. Every entity that is present in a multi-cloud environment must make sure that complete justice is done to the shared responsibility model of the cloud. The allocation of roles and responsibilities shall be done in such a manner that there are complete transparency and ease of execution that is involved.
• Network-based Security Controls: Most of the security issues that occur in the multi-cloud environment have networks as the prime agents of the threats. It adds to the requirement of implementing automated and advanced network security tools and controls to ensure that such risks are avoided and controlled. Some of these tools include network monitoring tools, intrusion detection systems, intrusion prevention systems, anti-malware tools, and anti-denial tools.

Cloud strategy and planning has provided the organizations with the ability to enhance the performance, speed, and quality of their respective business operations and activities. With the occurrence of the security risks and threats, there is a poor impact on the business continuity and customer engagement. It is, therefore, required to include the basic and advanced steps to security to deal with the security issues and problems. These steps shall combine administrative, physical, logical and technical controls.

The use of security solutions that are available in the market will allow the organizations to achieve and maintain security in the multi-cloud environment. These solutions will provide an integrated security mechanism and will eliminate the need to deploy security measures for each of the cloud model and elements. Security concepts and requirements, such as information security, network security, and database security are now provided in a single package by the leading software solution providers while entrusting them for your digital transformations.

Businesses in the present are making every move to ensure that they stay ahead of their competitors in the market. A rapid growth in terms of market share, revenues and customer base is desired by every business unit. One of the strategies being used by the businesses to ensure faster growth is the development and deployment of the enterprise mobility applications.

Enterprise Mobility is the trend that allows the employees of a business organization to work remotely to fulfill the business tasks and activities using mobile devices, mobile applications, and cloud-based solutions. An enterprise mobility application refers to a mobile app that is developed to target the enterprise-related problems.

Enterprise mobile applications can enhance business growth for companies in the following ways:

• Better Work-Life Balance

Every employee engaged with an organization aspires to maintain a healthy balance between the professional and personal commitments. Enterprise Mobility Applications allow the employees to experience better flexibility by allowing them to carry out business tasks from any of the remote location. 69% of the IT decision-makers support the idea of BYOD as they have witnessed positive results with the inclusion of the same. Workers in the United States on an average save 81 minutes per week with the aid of BYOD. There are 49% employees that say that they are more productive while working on their personal devices.

• Improved Workflow

Critical issues may crop up in a business environment anytime, without prior notices or hints. Enterprise mobile applications allow the employees to resolve such issues on an urgent basis irrespective of their presence and availability at the office location. Real-time interactions are also made possible with the clients that result in better customer engagement and satisfaction. The overall workflow, therefore, improves with the use of such applications.

• Reduction in Costs

Enterprise mobile apps can be made compatible and accessible on the personal devices of the staff members. It leads to the reduction in the cost of the devices and the share may be used in other significant business requirements.

• System Independence

There is a higher level of system independence provided to the employees with the use of enterprise mobility applications. It leads to the execution of the tasks from any network and the tools are installed in the devices of the employees.

• Reduced Paperwork

More paperwork leads to increase the number of risks in the business, such as loss of documents, replication of data and inefficiency in the storage and management of the documents. With the use of enterprise mobility applications, there are electronic documents that are used for sharing and transactions. These are easier to maintain and can also be processed at a faster pace as compared to the paper-based documents. The overall business speed, therefore, gets enhanced as a result.

• Customer Engagement

With the improvement of the workflow of a business and the non-stop availability of the employees, the customers feel connected with the organization. There are higher levels of transparency that can be maintained to gain customer trust and satisfaction. Rapid resolution of the defects and issues along with urgent sharing of information are some of the abilities that are made possible through the enterprise mobility applications. It leads to the better engagement with the customers and the reputation of the business organization also improves in the market.

• Empowers the Field Workers

There are several businesses that include a lot many field workers to carry out operational business activities. These field workers may experience certain issues such as difficulty in understanding a task or emergence of a conflict between two resources. Enterprise mobility applications may be used in such scenarios to contact the team heads and managers for maintaining the continuity of the operations. Also, activities such as status reporting and sharing of information can be done in a matter of seconds. All of these capabilities lead to enhancement of the processing speed of the operations resulting in faster business growth.

There are technological innovations and advancements that are being carried out with each passing day. It is required for the business organizations to remain updated with the technological changes and adapt the same to their functioning. The practice will allow the business units to achieve their goals accurately and rapidly. Enterprise mobility applications are a contribution of technology that has benefitted a lot many organizations. However, the inclusion of these applications in the business architecture may vary from one business unit to the other. Factors such as nature of the business, projects that are undertaken by the organization, customer expectations, project team members etc. shall be considered before moving on to the use of enterprise mobility applications.

A business can significantly benefit from top-of-the-line IT infrastructure that helps reduce costs and thereby increase revenue. Organizations today find it necessary to have an entire space dedicated to top data centers as opposed to few years before, when, having a few servers on premises was the norm. Enterprises demand a robust IT infrastructure model that delivers operational efficiency, high performance, minimum downtimes and maximum cost reduction.

Advocating for improved DevOps is not easy for growing organization, especially when infrastructure is not a core competency.  Let’s consider the case of our client, a manufacturing giant,  whose growth is constrained by a weak IT Infrastructure. Here, what should the world’s largest cooler manufacturing company, headquartered in Texas, the United States with over 1200 employees and over 500 different products do, – focus on their business or spend their time and resources on infrastructure and facility management?

The Client

Our client is world’s #1 cooler, drink containers and supporting accessories design and manufacturing company, shipping products to more than 250 retailers worldwide. They wanted to do away with the hassles of managing their IT infrastructure management and needed a right partner to independently manage their systems, data centers, facilities and infrastructure support.

IT Challenges Faced by the Client

In an effort to optimize ownership costs and system performance, the client transformed their IT systems from IBM mainframes to Sun SPARC servers and Oracle software. The client faced several issues after the implementation of Oracle’s Enterprise Business Suite, for which they sought Fingent’s Help.

Their core applications ran on Solaris OS upon Sparc hardware, Oracle Linux on Intel and Microsoft Windows server on Intel. To better support the applications, better synergy was needed between the OS Systems Administration and the Oracle DBAs. The client also had to relocate their data center twice, relocate several terabytes of data, and immediately implement a Disaster Recovery site at their co-location facilities.

How Fingent Helped Igloo Manage Their IT Infrastructure

The client asked Fingent to replace their previous OS Admin team to enhance their IT operations, infrastructure, upgrade technology and systems and minimize outages to have a stable and high-performance environment. We installed the latest Solaris, including Operations Center, allowing Igloo to move away from Zone virtualization to a multi-node database and application servers. With Ops Center, they are now able to move their core EBS application from one Sparc machine to another in real time – without any downtime hindering their business processes. Also, the maintenance patches are applied without any outage.

Fingent offered the following services to the client:

• Desktop Management
• Server Management
• Network Management
• Vendor Coordination and Management
• Data Center Virtualization & Relocation
• 24*7*365 Days Support for Production Environment

Solution & Technology Highlights

• Full-Scale IT planning, installation, & project management
• X86 & Sparc Server Virtualization and management using Oracle VM manager & Oracle Enterprise Manager OpsCenter with Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance resulting improved application and DB performances and increased revenue for the customer.
• Disaster Recovery Datacenter build to a new location
• Introduced Cloud Environment
• 24/7 monitoring, maintenance and supporting of entire Customer Infrastructure.
• Automation of OS deployment for Solaris, Linux and Windows Servers.
• Enabled monitoring of all hardware using Nagios for proactive support.

Business Benefits for the Client- A ROI of approximately 165% over 2 years

We ensured that the client’s IT environment ran efficiently and optimally throughout a year to ensure maximum uptime and minimal costs. Our team constantly worked to solve every challenge that the client faced in a very short span of time, and supported their future expandability and redundancy, within their budgeted cost factors. And as a result, the following benefits and results were incurred:

• 24*7*365 availability of IT infrastructure management
• Consistent increase in productivity and turnaround time
• A return on investment of approximately 165% over 2 years
• World-class infrastructure maintenance, Stable productive environment & guaranteed uptime
• Better control over existing infrastructure

Fingent’s Team was able to build trust and confidence in the client’s infrastructure, by building better speed, efficiency, and manufacturing readiness.

“ Indeed, the ultimate goals was to ensure that we guarantee a degree of quality and service to ensure that the client has no roadblocks in its growth path” says Vincy, Manager, Development and Operation- Infrastructure.

Fingent was an ideal choice for the client as their facilities management partner because of our expertise in providing top-notch IT services across various industries and landscapes. We ensured that the complete responsibility of IT infrastructure management was taken over from the client’s shoulders.

Want to get better ROI from your IT Infrastructure investments? Take a tour here or talk to us today.

In today’s digital age, a website is your business’ window to the world, irrespective of whether you are a brick and mortar establishment or an online entity. Similarly, the need for a dedicated website is not just limited to startups but is equally vital for established business. Even if your business is doing exceptionally well, investing in a well-designed and responsive website can help you reach out to a wider cross-section of the audience and increase your sales manifold.

Here is rundown on how custom website development services can turn the tide for your business:

Website Development and Its Advantages

Custom web development is one of the finest things you can do to guarantee the success of your business. In addition to improving your visibility, customized website development can help your business in the following ways:

1. Customized website development boosts your credibility and adds a certain brand authority to your business.
2. A professional-looking website can bring you big gains without an astronomical investment, thus, offering a higher return on investment (ROI) than traditional means of advertising.
3. It does not matter whether you are a newbie or a seasoned market player, there is bound to be competition in your realm of trade. A dedicated website can assist you in leveling playing field and even beating your competitors.
4. It boosts your advertising and marketing endeavors across different channels. Your social media marketing and email marketing campaigns are likely to resonate better with your audience if these lead them to a website.
5. Custom designed websites are cross-browser well-matched.
6. Custom developed websites also costs nearly same as of any template based solution. They may have little higher cost but offer numerous benefits and total control on each part and role of the website.

Specialized, clean, and well-organized online presence is essential for preserving your brand reputation. General designs can create a negative impression of the product or service quality, the reason being customers see you as no dissimilar from thousand other companies. The website represents your business in terms of superiority, quality, and individuality, so you need to have one developed skillfully.

Importance of Multiple-Channel Presence

At a time when smartphones and handheld gadgets rule the roost, the number of people accessing websites through a desktop computer is fast dwindling. Almost everyone likes to browse the internet on the go. Therefore, a website with a responsive design – that ensures your website is displayed correctly and uniformly across platforms, devices and screen sizes – is essential to stay relevant in the dynamic online landscape.

As per statistics, whopping 67 percent users are more likely to use an enlisted service or buy products on a website with a clean, responsive design. In contrast, 61 percent users are likely to exit a website with an unfriendly layout and design. The bottom line is – a potential user may bounce back from your website and move to that of your competitors if you don’t cater to a multiple-channel presence.

How Digital Marketing Can Help

Building a website from scratch is no big deal, given the user-friendly content management systems like WordPress. Even so, if you really want to make an impact with your web presence, it is advisable to use professional custom website development services because you don’t just need to build a carefully-strategized site but also work toward improving your search engine rankings to attract massive traffic. People will know that you exist, only when your website is visible in search engine results. A smart digital marketing campaign can help in bolstering your web presence to clock-in tangible gains.  

Enterprise software solutions are the backbone of an organization. Selecting one for your organization is a great responsibility as it requires detailed analysis at each and every step. The major challenge lies in understanding that every organization’s structure is different and cannot do with the same software that was used in your previous organization or is used at the competitor’s company. To make your task easy, here are 8 challenges to avoid before purchasing an Enterprise Software.

1. Change Management

One of the key understandings that should come with a new Enterprise Software is that there is a need for identifying the changes in the IT infrastructure beforehand and then implementing it. Know how much change is required and if it is possible to handle before purchasing the new software. Also, the employees need proper training for change management and to get them comfortable with the new system before it goes live on an organizational scale.

2. Physical Requirements

Before jumping into a purchase decision, figure out what is the current IT infrastructure landscape, if it fits well or requires changes. For a newer setup, choose the software wisely and then plan the landscape. But remember, the software you choose defines this landscape and should be thoroughly checked to avoid any unwanted changes in the future.

3. The load of migration

Data is the basis for every industry functioning in this day and age. Introducing newer software to the system means adding your current data to it for validation and future operations. Check the requirements of the new system you plan on incorporating and if the required is way too much. Remember data is imperative to the organization and correct migration will minimize errors.

4. What the vendor has to offer

Sometime Enterprise Software vendors are too enthusiastic to sell the product but lack a structure post-purchase. Figure out what are the key support promises that they offer and if they have a track of delivering them. A due diligence of the provider should not be skipped especially if the vendor is not a big company.

5. Readying the team

Internal challenges are one of the key points to consider for the purchase. You will have to understand the requirements of the enterprise software development company well along with the features required. Each department will offer a different list of features they need. The challenge is to create a project scope that encapsulates all these important points and uses it as a foundation to identify the right software.

6. Software scope

Considering any enterprise software, and its capabilities, it is quite hard to find one that has everything that a business needs. As organizations strive to meet individual customer demands, they rely on customization to align their strategic objectives with enterprise solutions. For instance, one of our leading real estate organizations wanted to add a document management function that enabled them to share documents easily with their field agents. However, this posed numerous regulatory constraints considering security and privacy. Our solutions experts realigned the software architecture and build processes to meet the client’s requirement.

7. Taking unwanted risks

The market has opened up for Enterprise Software like never before and every day a new solution surfaces that promises to offer the best of all worlds. New-age technology can be highly enticing but always look under the hood and see if it has been taken for a test drive. Check LinkedIn, job boards, or other forums to find out more about the seller and the software itself. Don’t elevate your risks by getting attracted to high-end technology or pricing.

8. No detailed analysis

One of the issues that hamper the procurement of the right enterprise software is the lack of understanding of your own system. Run the analysis several times and match it with what the software will provide. Keep in mind to not depend on what the next version update will feature, rely only on what the solution provides today.

9. Cutting the influences  

Decision making in organizations sometimes doesn’t necessarily stay with the designated employees. It is directly or indirectly influenced by the owners or other people in important positions. No matter how well they know or what better deal is offered through a reference, ensure that the decision, in the end, comes keeping the organization in mind and not the influences.

10. Exploring all opportunities 

Do not hesitate to look at third-party support alternatives as they might offer something similar or better than premium vendor support. Look at the maintenance rates that come with the software as it is something that your organization will incur on a regular basis.

Whether you are trying to set up a new system or replace an old one, an expert perspective can help reduce these risks and challenges.