A lawyer juggles many cases and a plethora of information. Much of the information has to be sorted for relevancy, and processed on a real-time as and when it becomes relevant. The consequences of a crucial document or evidence not filed in a timely manner can mean the difference between victory and defeat. In such a state of affairs, a case management software is indispensable for any serious lawyer.

However, not all case management software is equal. A poorly designed software may, in fact, do more harm than good by making work tedious and blocking the easy access to documents.

Here are some key considerations when deploying case management software.

•    Go Cloud

On-premises is passé. Security and confidentiality, two critical reasons why many enterprises still preferred on-premises suites until not too long ago are now effectively addressed by the cloud. The cloud is not equally, if not more secure than any connected on-premises solution. In addition, the cloud delivers several unbeatable advantages such as easy scalability of resources, anytime and anywhere availability, and more. For small firms, the cloud is also much more affordable. Not only do they save the costs of deploying on-premises servers and related infrastructure, they are spared of the hassles of maintaining their suite and can focus on their core cases more intensely.

Law firms can simply pay the subscription, login, and start using a cloud-based case management suite. They can do away with the time delays of deploying the on-premises infrastructure, the hassles of identifying and hiring an IT consultant, be spared of the worries of updates and security patches for the software and do away with all related hassles. What’s more, they can access the suite easily even when on the move, when commuting, when at the court, or even when at collecting or investigating evidence in the field.

•    Look into the Feature List

All practice management software offers certain basic features such as contact management, matter management, task management, document management, calendar, time and billing module, and more. However, the devil lies in the details. Consider the document management module. While one suite may feature an integrated document management system, another suite may simply offer a connector to Dropbox or some other external system.

In addition to such basic features, there are invariably a host of additional features, which may be optional add-ons. Some examples include email management modules, accounting module and more. Many lawyers would especially want a billing module integrated, allowing them to bill their clients in a timely and accurate way, improving both revenue and cash flow.

There is no gold standard in regards to what constitutes the best list of options. What is best depends on the specific needs of the law firm, at any point in time. For instance, questions such as whether the suite integrates seamlessly with the existing email or calendar system do it offer sync with the existing accounting suite, or should the system have an integrated accounting module, all become critical factors when deciding on a practice management suite. Make sure the suite not only has all the required features but also implements it the way it is required.

•  Consider Integrations

No case management software can cover everything a lawyer needs to do, and if it does, it would anyway become bloated and unwieldy. A lawyer, during the course of his work, invariably relies on a multitude of software such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook, Gmail, third-party document management systems , financial management systems, and even systems in use at various courts. The best case management suite facilitates seamless integration with such suites, or at the very least seamless copy-paste of data from such diverse sources.

•    Consider Usability

Many lawyers make the mistake of ignoring usability and remain blind to the feature list on offer. Usability is just as important as the feature list. A good UX, accessibility through intuitive mobile apps, a lean design which speeds up thing, ability to enter data offline, and more are critical requirements for a smart suite to complement the highly competitive and dynamic nature of today’s work environment.

The best case management suite is self-evident and easy to use by a lay user without having to go through training or even a steep learning curve. It allows the user to access the required information in the way the user prefers. IT would also automate whatever is required, including auto-population of fields, making the life of the lawyer considerably easier.

•    Do Not Ignore Backend Design

While feature list and UX are important considerations, it should never be the only consideration when selecting a practice management suite.  Consider the design and architecture of the suite, and ask pressing questions such as the security layers available, whether the suite complies with the ethical stipulations governing advocates and as stipulated by the State Ethics panel, whether the suite gives unrestricted access to the uploaded data, how the data is backed up, how and where the data is stored, and more. 

A case in point is all Ethics Panel require lawyers to keep client data and information confidential. This raises an onus on the lawyer to make sure the selected solution is capable of upholding confidentiality and withstanding breaches. As such, the reputation of the provider, in terms of their ability to keep sensitive data confidential and protect the suite from breaches should always be a key consideration. 

Lawyers can organize themselves better by adopting a practice management suite. The suite helps them reduce time spent on administrative activities, allowing them to bill more hours and generate more revenue. It also helps them do their tasks in a timely and more accurate way, improving client satisfaction while reducing overheads at the same time. However, such benefits realize only with a sound practice management suite, delivered by a competent company who are not just technically competent but have an established reputation of having successfully implemented projects for clients.

Experts from Fingent offer insights on various topics ranging from enterprise app development, the compatibility of Odoo for businesses and tips to scaling down enterprise app development cost. We also focus on the significance of the academic research in driving innovation. Let’s dig in!

Enterprise App Design: Does iOS Fare with Android in terms of Security? | ReadWrite

With Apple constituting a major share of the world smartphone market, iOS tend to be the most preferred platform in enterprise app development. But there are stronger competitors in the current market competing directly with iOS. Google-owned Android have fared remarkably well in the mobile market largely due to its swift integration with Google’s extensive services, flexibility, and support.
So, will iOS fare with android in terms of security?

How Academic Research is Driving Innovation and Growth | Emerald Insights

The acceptance of academic research among enterprises has been low, not because of its lack of value, but due to underutilization.  Propelling innovation within an enterprise rests chiefly on relying on information derived from external sources. In this case, academic research from universities seems a valuable cache of information that enterprises can depend on for using in all their crucial processes and operations.

How Compatible is Odoo for Your Business | This Host Rocking

Having an ERP system integrated into your workplace can guarantee efficiency and productivity. So, what can you gain from integrating one into your business? An ERP solution can lift the burden of operations by shifting to a software-based model. It allows you to streamline, organize and integrate your core business processes.

Tips to Scale down on Enterprise App Development Costs| DZone

Enterprise apps are extremely popular now. However, developing apps can turn out to be a costly endeavor. Here are some tips to keep costs in check, while still developing high-quality apps. Developing large scale enterprise apps can be incredibly expensive, so take a look at how you can cut costs with these tips.

What you didn’t know about creating iPhone apps | BEST IN AU

Developing apps for iOS is something you can learn from a certified developer training program or by using tutorials on the web. But mere technical knowledge is inadequate if you fail to comply with the regulations of the App Store. Knowing about these can ensure that your app never gets rejected from the App Store citing compliance issues. Besides, it can provide a certain amount of guarantee about your app’s success and popularity. Here are some crucial things they never say but you should understand when making apps for iPhones.

The rapid diffusion of digital accessibility among all generation of consumers has led to an increased prominence for customer-focused strategy in many businesses. There are several cases of companies on the brink of bankruptcy or acquired by larger corporations even after producing superior quality products. This is because they were unable to cope with the advanced marketing and sales activities of their competitors. Companies such as Toys “R” Us, Abercrombie & Fitch, H.H. Gregg, Aerosoles, Compaq, BCBG, etc. could not get along with the increasing competitive pressures, changing customer behaviors, emerging technologies, and global sourcing.

Thus relying on an optimal Customer Relationship Management software has indeed become the need of the hour for both established businesses and startups alike. It enables them to fully utilize the digital capabilities in having flexible business models, innovative customer interaction, and identifying new sales channels. Moreover, with the increasing relevance of data and user privacy, organizations should remain versatile to change their customer engagements and marketing strategies.

In this context, this blog discusses, compares and guides business analysts in choosing from two different CRM software – SAP CRM and Odoo CRM system. These CRM systems were chosen, keeping in mind the versatile Enterprise Relationship Management (ERP) capabilities they offer for organizations planning to upgrade their business lines. These include Human Capital Management, Financial, Supply Chain Management, Supplier Relationship Management, Warehouse Management, Logistics,  etc.

Moreover, this comparison could provide a general methodological framework to compare any other ERP systems to satisfy various requirements. The parameters of evaluating the software are selected based on the key inputs obtained from numerous consultations that we undertook across various industry satisfying business, stakeholder, solution, and transition requirements. These are:

1. Functionality and Customizability – The major demands of new generation sales and marketing along with established practices should be supported by the CRM system. As organizations would not like to change their current proven business practices, the system should be versatile enough to have varying levels of customization.
2. Usability and Mobility – When it comes to luring and engagement of customers, you need a CRM software that is easy to use and comes with a high degree of mobility. Customer details and their buying parameters at a crucial time could increase the chances of winning an opportunity.
3. Time of Implementation – Unlike an ERP, you need to have an urgency in implementing a CRM system, as who knows, you may be missing out a high potential customer that could have changed the future of your company. In addition, the ease of migrating the legacy data to the new system should also be considered.
4. Analytics and Business Intelligence – There is a great level of importance for the analytics and reports that provide an insight into the unknown buying patterns and other opportunities. Moreover, the massive data produced by the customers and other entities in social media and other digital platforms should be analyzed and monitored to keep up with the brand name and credibility of the organization.
5. Cost and ROI – The investment costs involved in rolling out a CRM system includes the cost of software licenses, implementation, customization, hosting the server, subscription, maintenance cost, and so on. The returns involve tangible and intangible benefits such as an increase in revenue, customer base, brand value, customer satisfaction etc.
6. Upgrades and Support – Software upgrades are significant for CRM systems due to the increasing novelty of customer engagements and evolving privacy regulations. Marketing requirements keep changing frequently. As a result, support and upgrading of the software become crucial to keeping up with the market demands. This support could be obtained directly from the vendor, implementation partner or local specialists.
7. Scalability – Scalability in business applications ensures smooth functioning in an organization as their business expands. Moreover, the company would be able to invest in applications according to their use without any worry over future expansion.
8. Integration with other Modules – It is a daunting task to integrate business software and enable them to talk with each other. There could be restrictions in integration, which creates a superior CRM system unusable in an organization.

SAP Versus Odoo CRM

• Functionality and Customizability

While looking at the functionality of any CRM system, we need to perform a detailed analysis on the customization part that determines whether it is functional enough for actual usage. Through a quick analysis, we could infer that the functionality in SAP CRM systems seems to be lucrative with the addition of a Hybris suite of applications. These functionalities will cover the sales, marketing, and services related functionality in detail.  

Moreover, it can also cover the business process across various industries such as retail, real estate, etc. Odoo, on the other hand, leads in terms of functionality with its modular structure. Users particularly SMEs could simply deploy new modules based on their needs to expand its functionality so that it suits their requirements well.

• Usability and Mobility

Even though SAP application is robust and superior in terms of features and backend architecture, Odoo scores in extracting data from outside the organizational boundaries to enable greater usability and mobility. In an SAP environment, you require separate systems like the Netweaver gateway in addition to regular security systems such as firewall and reverse proxy setup.

But once the architecture is in place for SAP, we could use the Open APIs, which includes the rich set of OData and SOAP web services to create customized mobile applications. Odoo applications are compatible with mobile devices and as we choose the right template, it turns out to be a very responsive web application.

• Time of Implementation

The time of implementation is closely linked to the level of customization offered. Odoo is the preferred application when it comes to the time it would take to make an instance into a working application if there are no customizations required.

There are certain restrictions in the level of customization that could be done in both the applications. Based on the complexity, the time to create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) would vary. In our experience, clearly Odoo applications outpace in which we could Go-Live a CRM application.

• Analytics and Business Intelligence

Analytics and business intelligence is crucial in closing critical deals and the pace at which it is received. The quality of data generated from SAP CRM systems is of superior quality. But if we cannot access them on the go, it may work toward its disadvantage. SAP Hybris systems could easily be integrated with an in-memory database such as HANA and could identify critical patterns from the big data.

• Cost and ROI

It is a fact that the cost of SAP systems are much higher compared to Odoo. Odoo application contains a community version, which you could obtain under a free license (GNU AGPLv3). The absence of license fees is a notable boon of Odoo as it allows you to allocate that budget for customization and implementation. The community version can be obtained for a price of  $100 for a single user per month (varies with country). 

The cost of SAP CRM systems is not available openly. You need to contact their sales representative to obtain a quote based on your company size and feature requirements. Apart from the licensing and customization costs, you need to calculate the implementation and maintenance cost along with. The cost of customization of these features needs to be analyzed further considering the cost of the resources required to make those changes.

For example, the cost of an SAP Hybris developer is $86 per hour whereas it is $49 for a Python developer  (for customizing Odoo application) according to payscale.com website. This will have an impact while calculating the cost of the changes. Return on Investment (ROI) varies based on your business and will play a crucial role in selecting the software and also in acquiring the funding. You could use the online tool provided by Forrester Consulting to calculate the ROI of SAP Hybris product.

• Upgrades and Support

The upgrades and support for Odoo community version are provided solely by in-house developers or via crowdsourced initiatives. There are several modules created by various third-party organizations that could be further customized and integrated into both the community and enterprise versions of Odoo. The enterprise Odoo version and SAP products receive regular upgrades and support from the company to an extent.

• Scalability

The scalability of Odoo or SAP application is possible from an architecture perspective. Depending on the mode of deployment as if we are having the online version as SaaS product or in-house deployment, it has an impact on the possibility of scalability. You could tweak your licenses to easily increase your per-user usage of Odoo enterprise applications in the cloud.

• Integration with other Modules

Both Odoo and SAP application provides APIs that could be easily integrated with other applications or ERP systems.

Summing Up

In conclusion, it is hard to give a clean verdict on which application is the ideal CRM platform to choose as it depends solely on your requirements. The choice is entirely yours, as Odoo edges out with it’s affordable, modular and highly customizable application. SAP, on the other hand, is the proven industry leader and is built to fit in with enterprise requirements with its backward compatibility feature. Fingent has wider experience in evaluating the requirements to suggest an appropriate CRM application that could transform your sales activity by making it more productive and quick.

Evolution of Software Testing

We all want quality in everything that we use. Quality is the standard of something measured against things of similar kind. It is the measure of the excellence of a product, process, service or experience.

Quality in the Olden Days

From ancient times, societies have made significant efforts to achieve quality in various strides of life. In the hunter-gatherer and agricultural economy, humans did not have much choice. During the middle ages, people started specializing in their own fields and became experts in them. The sheer sophistication of Greek construction and Egyptian architecture point to the standards that were established during those times.

In the pre-industrial era, markets were monopolized mainly by the Guilds, which were a union of craftsmen formed during the 13th century. The Guilds were responsible for maintaining or verifying the quality of goods and services provided by the members. The guild masters inspected the goods to make sure that the necessary standards were maintained.

Quality was person dependent during this era. Individual skill was the driving factor for quality. People took pride in their products and worked hard to maintain quality. This lasted until the late 19th century when industrialization gained a rapid foothold. Mass production broke the manufacture of goods into simple steps.

The division of work led to specialization and quality started becoming more process-oriented than people oriented. There was a reduction in labor costs as the unskilled workers could be trained to perform specific tasks. But, people lacked motivation and got weary with the monotonous and repetitive work. Moreover, as the jobs were split into different levels such as lower level tasks, the workers found it difficult to relate with and be proud of the final product.

They were general discontent among the laborers with the work they were doing and as a result, the quality of products started going down significantly. Mass production also led to manipulation and exploitation of unskilled laborers. Moreover, the process made workers dispensable and increased the power vested on the foreman and managers, which often led to misuse and exploitation.

Scientific Management

Frederick Winslow Taylor improved the industrial efficiency by using the Scientific Management concept, which consisted of training the employees, implementing documentation, dispersing work equally among workers and limiting quality control to few specific individuals. This management theory focused on improving the workflows by analyzing and integrating them, which sought to enhance economic efficiency and labor productivity.

Henry Ford emphasized implementing standard designs and components. Quality control was the responsibility of machine inspectors who covered quality checks at frequent intervals so that no faulty operations proceeded to longer intervals.

Walter Shewhart further improved the scientific management method and came up with the concept Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA), which is, plan the action, do the work as plan, study the output and take corrective action if needed. This concept gives focus to efficiency and quality. Using this method, General MacArthur along with W. Edwards Deming rebuilt Japan after the defeat in WWII.

In the early 50’s, Joseph M. Juran who is considered as the father of quality management defined quality as fitness for use. Software development also became a field in its own right, during this period. Ensuring the quality of software became an important need. It progressed simultaneously with the developments in computing spearheaded by pioneers in the field during the final decades of the twentieth century.

From the first software to several high-level programming languages like Fortran, it ratcheted the personal computing era with the development of microcomputers. A notable impact on software development was made with the release of the Apple II, which was followed by numerous advancements.

Software Quality via Testing

Software quality is defined as the degree to which a system meets specified requirements or user needs and expectations. It includes a measurement of the quality of design used in the software and how it corresponds to the design. Software quality is mainly determined by analyzing several key variables, which are both internal and external.

The user experience constitutes the major part of external quality whereas the code forms the internal quality. Testing has become an important segment in the software development process to ensure its quality. Previously, the software developer and user were the same people usually a scientist. It was quite easy and quick to do the quality check on their own.

Software quality assurance was very efficient, user-centric, focused and had the fastest feedback cycle. It dealt with ensuring quality for the entire phase of software development by detecting and resolving weaknesses. Software testing has undergone an evolutionary process, which resulted in its advancement from its preliminary forms to the end-to-end framework based testing used today.
David Gelperin and Bill Hetzel in their study, ‘The growth of software testing’ asserts that software testing has undergone an evolution with noticeable changes in the testing process model. A similar proposition is mentioned in the white paper, ‘The continuing evolution of software testing’ by the authors Hung Q. Nguyen and Robert Pirozzi. The former discusses the evolution of software testing based on time while the later is based on processes, methodologies and tool usage.

Evolution of Software Testing – based on time

Software testing has undergone tremendous changes during the evolution process it went through. We can divide the evolution of software testing into various phases based on time.

Debugging Oriented Phase

This phase is the initial period of testing. The term checkout was used for testing and it focused on getting the system to run. Programmers usually performed this themselves as a part of software development until they made sure the program was running fine. There was no clear distinction between software development, testing and debugging.

Demonstration Oriented Phase

The term debugging continues in this phase. Charles Baker pointed out that the purpose of checkout is not only to run the software but also to demonstrate the correctness according to the mentioned requirements. Thus, in this phase, the scope of checkout increased from program runs to program correctness. Moreover, there was a misconception in this phase that software could be tested exhaustively.

During this phase, the testing effort includes the detection, location, identification, and correction of faults. The first test team was formed by Gerald M. Weinberg in 1958 as a part of Project Mercury, the first human spaceflight program of the United States.

Waterfall model, a sequential development model for managing large software programs was also introduced during this time.

Destruction Oriented Phase

G.J. Myers changed the view of testing from ‘testing to show the absence of errors’ to ‘testing to find more and more errors’. He separated testing from debugging and stressed on the importance of test cases to detect more bugs. This phase gave more importance to effective testing in comparison to exhaustive testing. The importance of early testing was also realized in this phase.

Evaluation Oriented Phase

Gradually people realized that it was cheaper to debug if the bugs were identified during the early stages of development, which involved the requirements gathering and design phases. This phase stresses the quality of software products such that it can be evaluated at every stage of development. The early testing concept was established in the form of verification and validation activities, which helps in producing better quality software.

Prevention Oriented Phase

By detecting the defects early and correcting them, we can prevent bugs in further development phases. Beyond this, bugs can also be prevented in future projects with the experience gained from similar projects. The prevention model utilized includes test planning and analysis. The test design activities play a major role here, unlike in the evaluation model where analysis and reviewing techniques are important.

Process Oriented Phase

In this phase, testing was established as a complete process rather than a stage in the software development lifecycle (SDLC). The testing process starts as soon as the requirements for the projects are specified and it runs in parallel to SDLC. The emphasis is also on the quantification of various parameters, which decide the performance of the testing process.

Evolution of Software Testing – based on processes and tools

Software testing is divided into three different phases based on this classification.

Software Testing 1.0

In this phase, software testing is considered a single phase after the software is coded in the development lifecycle. No test organization was there. A few testing tools were present, but their usage was limited due to the excessive cost. Management was not concerned about testing as there was no quality goal.

Software Testing 2.0

In this phase, software testing gained importance in software development life cycle and the concept of early testing also started. Testing evolved in the direction of planning the test resources. Many testing tools were also available in this phase.

Software Testing 3.0

In this phase, software testing evolved as a process, which gives a roadmap of the overall testing process. Moreover, it is driven by quality goals so that monitoring and controlling can be performed by managers. Thus, managers are actively involved in this phase.

Future of Software Testing

Today, testing constitutes one of the core processes in software development that involves several technical and nontechnical aspects including specification, design and implementation, maintenance, process, and management. Software testing is mainly done under limited resources in terms of time, budget or personnel. Hence, the test process should always be adjusted to fit within these limitations. These limitations highlight the importance of automation tools in the process.

Despite the significant changes that automation has created, manual testing still remains an integral part of the development lifecycle. Depending on the application, some tests can be automated, while some others still need to be done manually. And without a doubt, some types of software testing require total manual effort in the process.

For this, knowledge of tools will be a great asset to the testers as it will help them complete the tasks quicker and with precision. There are countless opportunities waiting for testers in the future who are ready to change their profile.

With software testing progressing rapidly with each year, testers can adopt these new trends by becoming more skillful and well versed in all the latest developments. The skills of a human tester are indispensable and automation is still far away leaving countless possibilities for the testers.

References:

•     https://blog.smartbear.com/process/the-history-of-quality-assurance/
•     The Growth of Software testing by David Gelperin and Bill Hetzel
•      The Continuing Evolution of Software testing by Hung Q Nyugen and Robert Pirozzi
•       Software testing – Principles and Practises by Naresh Chauhan

Legal matters usually involve a lot of hurdles, especially among the underprivileged sections of the society. The hassles involved in legal proceedings such as terminologies, documentation and costs put the underprivileged outside the line from getting access to legal services.

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) in its Report of The Summit on the Use of Technology to Expand Access to Justice states there is a large indifference in the way Americans get access to legal care. Justice systems cover the needs of only 20 percent of the low-income populations across the country.  

So, how does society get rid of this disparity existing in access to legal services? The LSC report provides us with answers, which is by inculcating technology in the form of an integrated service delivery system to bridge the gap and make civil legal services available to all citizens equally.

By identifying legal aid technology as a major tool in narrowing the gap, legal services can orient themselves to adopt this model and cover the needs of all. Expert systems, remote service delivery, mobile technologies are some ways that can bring legal aid into the hands of the underprivileged.

Adopting technology in legal services is becoming the need of the hour. The legal side has already adopted technology such as with the digitization of court resources and the use of analytics in law. Meanwhile, legal service firms that used technology have improved accessibility among all sections of the society such as the case with one of our client.

The Case of Legal Aid of Nebraska

One of our clients was Legal Aid of Nebraska (LAN), a non-profit law firm committed to providing free civil legal advice and assistance to the underprivileged people. In operation since 1963, Legal Aid of Nebraska has been helping low income and illiterate people from surrounding counties by giving them free civil legal services. Their service extended to diverse areas of the legal side from consumer and family law to tax and power of attorney.

What LAN Needed?

As a legal services firm dedicated to the ideal of equality of all in getting law services, LAN was in need of a solution that will make available its services in a simplified form. Devising a solution to help low income and illiterate people avail the benefits of law and deal with the legal formalities easily. 

LAN pitched forth the idea of a web-based solution that aids underprivileged litigants thoroughly understand the case, fill up forms, and have a proper communication with the personnel to help guide them through the hassles involved in legal matters.

The legal team at LAN approached Fingent with the aim of developing a web-based self-help interview system. They proposed that this system could make the law accessible to everyone irrespective of their education or social background by guiding them readily through complex legal procedures.

Fingent’s Novel Approach

What Fingent did was to conceive a solution that could provide valuable assistance in legal matters to a diverse low-income population. With this objective, Fingent proposed building up a knowledge base that can address the queries of Self Represented Litigants’ (SRL) related to different areas of law.

Alongside that, Fingent undertook a detailed study about the main difficulties that litigants face while filling forms and other legal procedures. We collected and analyzed sections of the forms to create detailed metrics and identify areas where the users abandon them.

Fingent envisioned a solution for LAN that improved the overall accessibility of its legal resources. It meant simplifying the legal processes and making available legal services, resources and solutions to the litigants in real-time.

Fingent’s Solution – An Expert System that Simplified Legal Procedures

By conforming to the needs of Legal Aid of Nebraska, Fingent developed an expert system that makes it easier for their personnel to create and conduct interviews. We included the findings from our own analysis while designing the system to uphold accessibility and eliminate common issues. 

The web-based solution developed actually simplified the legal interview system. Moreover, Fingent created a statewide triaging portal for LAN that gathers data from a user having a legal issue. The advanced algorithms in the expert system can then direct the user into the suitable legal resource.

Fingent’s expert system enabled the litigant to obtain the right legal information related to matters such as:

• Civil cases in the courts to defend or prosecute
• Obtain legal help via an online application
• Get referrals to specific community agencies

Salient Features of Fingent’s Self Help Expert System

The expert system receives the nature of the legal issue and the user, its complexity as well as the knowledge and capacity of the user. The system then generated a referral for that particular user through an array of questions and other forms of data collected.

At the legal forms endpoints, the system will present questions to the litigants, which upon answering fills up the blank areas in a legal form. The litigants can then obtain these filled forms, either via email or as a pdf file available for download.

After this is done, it directs the user to give them the right solution in the form of plain or visual information, fact sheets, referral sources, LAN intake, and a form builder.

Some of the salient features of Fingent’s self-help system are:

• Pinpoint legal issues based on the interview or data collected
• Ascertain whether the litigants are eligible for legal assistance and guidance
• Provide a user with legal resources and guides pertaining to the case
• Guide litigants in filling legal forms
• Connect self-represented litigants with LAN’s legal services intake system

Helping LAN Bridge the Divide – Making Legal Services Accessible to All

Fingent worked upon LAN’s requirements and developed an online system that could serve the legal needs of illiterate and low-income people. It essentially bridged the gap between our client and the underprivileged by enabling them to provide expert legal assistance with ease.

We believe in providing our clients with a system that not only could help them make their service accessible but is self-sufficient and adaptable according to the capability of the users.

Fingent conceived a solution that LAN could implement as a first step to help them deliver their services on a wider level across the state to address the legal needs of those deprived of them.

LAN derived exclusive benefits from the web-based system developed by Fingent. Some of them include:

• Simplification of the entire process in which a litigant files a case or seeks information.
• Helped LAN personnel effectively manage their time and focus on crucial legal areas of their litigants.
• 45 percent of the clients of LAN reported that they took less than 10 minutes to complete the interview and fill forms.
• 60 percent of litigants felt that the system guided them effectively in knowing about their legal problems.
• Simple and uncluttered interface gave litigants more ease and comfort when it comes to understanding legal procedures.

Fingent, with its wide expertise in developing legal service management software for over a decade was the perfect partner for Legal Aid of Nebraska. Our global client base has benefitted from our state of the art software solutions that transformed business processes and drove efficiency.

As a legal technology services provider, we applied that same level of commitment and expertise with LAN to deliver them a dependable solution, which they can leverage for fulfilling their aim of delivering free civil legal assistance to the underprivileged without any hassles.

Just as legal firms that use such knowledge-based software solutions have availed its benefits, technology has also touched upon other forms such as legal services case management software. Aside from serving the clients, legal aid survey software have helped legal organizations to effectively manage the procedures and assist the litigants accordingly.

By using a law practice software, legal firms were able to devise effective methods to train their personnel. Criminal legal aid billing software helped manage the fees incurred by their clients whereas a legal services accounting software could simplify the financial aspects involved in legal procedures.

Numerous technological innovations in legal services like the legal files document management system, law practice software, criminal legal aid billing software,  legal services accounting software is also widely used. This has indeed benefited legal service firms to simplify their procedures for their team as well as their clients.

HR plays an important role in all businesses nowadays. Traditionally, the department has played a supportive role and does not take part in any number-oriented departments like marketing and business development. Today’s organization have realized the further potential of the HR department to enhance and develop a business enterprise.

HR deals with the management of the most important and valuable asset to any organization viz, human capital. HR is being considered an employee’s sponsor or advocate. The department continuously monitors and finds out the talent needs of an organization and fills the gap that is being formed usually by hiring employees with a specific skill set to match the needs. In addition, HR act as strategists in the organization contributing to the development and accomplishment of the business plans and objectives.

The HR personnel is responsible for designing a working system in which people succeed and contribute. Establishing a favorable and safe work environment, culture and climate in the organization where the people feel competent, concerned and committed to serving the customers well.

The Payroll function of the HR Department is considered as very important. Payroll is the process of compensating employees, balancing the payroll data, wage deductions, reporting taxes, record keeping, verifying the payroll data, calculating reimbursements, bonuses, overtime, holiday pay, etc.

The HR section keeps all the records of the employees in the organization. Performance appraisal is a function of HR Department by which job performance of an employee is documented and evaluated. Decisions like transfer, salary hike, promotions, etc. are all taken by an HR person.

As the functions of HR is complex and important to the business organization, it needs to be done effectively and efficiently throughout the organization. The need for proper integration of the activities of every department in order to carry out the process led to the implementation of ERP software systems in organizations.

ERP- Meaning

ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning is software providing integrated management of core business processes mediated through software and technology. It allows the organization to use integrated applications in order to automate back office functions and minimize the replication of work. ERP is a single system where all the information is stored in a single database, which can be accessed by all the functional areas in an organization.

Nowadays, almost all the large business enterprises have ERP software or else it is close to impossible to handle the complexity of the data by the personnel alone. ERP has different modules that mimic the different functional areas of business. Microsoft Dynamics AX, Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning, Odoo, WebERP are some examples of ERP systems. Odoo is an open source ERP.

ERP- Functional Modules

ERP has different modules that mimic the different functional areas of a business. Common ERP modules that are found implemented are: Financial Module (FI), Human Resource Module (HR), Materials Management Module (MM), Production Planning Module (PP), Quality Management Module (QM), Sales and Distribution Module (SD), Controlling (CO), Supply Chain Management (SCM), General Logistics (LO), Project System (PS), Plant Maintenance (PM), Customer Relation Management (CRM), E-commerce (E-COM), Advance Planner Optimiser/Advance Planner Scheduler (AO/APS) etc. These modules comprise several submodules.

ERP Assisting Human Resource Planning

Companies use an HR module for creating and maintaining a complete list of employees, track their performance, streamlining compensation, etc. It helps to track the workforce of an organization real-time. Variable compensation plans can be prepared based on qualification, role and work experience in order to motivate the employees. Managing leaves is never been easier. More importantly, it streamlines the process of recruitment easily.

OPEN SOURCE ERP/ ODOO

Out of all ERP’s in the world, Odoo has its own place. Because of its free license to use, easy customization and quick implementation, Odoo is highly preferred by enterprises with less capacity to invest in ERP packages like SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle etc.

Leave Management

Using this module, it is easier to track the leaves taken by each employee. Employees can request for leaves and the manager can approve or reject them with a note of explanation. The agenda of each employee is updated accordingly. 

The manager can view the leaves of his/her own team and also forecast the distribution of future tasks accordingly. The module creates statistics, reports based on request type, employee, department or even for the whole enterprise. You can plan for the upcoming to make sure that the company runs at the highest level of productivity.

Recruitment

The recruitment process can be a bit of a headache for HR people in an enterprise. Odoo can handle this process easily right from the sourcing to contract. Just as we did previously, you need to install a specific app to use that feature.  By installing Recruitment Process App, you can create job positions and set objectives in terms of recruitment for that particular position, assign responsibility to an HR manager, create an email to generate applications automatically from emails received at this email address, add job descriptions and requirements and customize the process in order to fit your environment. Odoo can also help in the interview process by scheduling the first interview date, adding appreciation, expected salary and internal role. 

After the first interview, an HR manager can add department manager in the loop to schedule a second meeting with the applicants. After the next action, maybe briefing with the manager, the manager can look at the message received and open the application forms. After the meeting, a manager can add an internal note asking the HR manager to hire the applicant.

Indexation of resumes is another feature where you can search for certain keywords and you’ll get CV’s that contains that keywords. It helps in finding applicants having required qualification and skills from all the applications received.

Employee Directory

This is a core application of HR in Odoo. It keeps records of all the employees in one place. And it is very easy to manage and maintain these records. To use, first you need to install the Employee Directory App and then you can start creating new employees on the list. You can set up departments and assign managers to each while also creating job positions within each department. Keeping track of all the employee details is easy with Odoo.

Payroll

With the Payroll app of Odoo, it becomes easy to manage allowances and deductions, configure basic/gross/net salary, managing employee payslip, maintaining payroll register. Moreover, it comes integrated with holiday management.

Timesheets

With this module, you can implement a timesheet within your system. A Timesheet is a method of recording the amount of time a worker spent on each job. Each employee can encode and track their time spent on each project or assignments. It is completely integrated with the cost accounting module.

Attendances

This module manages the employee’s attendances based on actions performed by them like check in/check out.

Employee Appraisal

Employee performance appraisal or performance review or performance evaluation is a method of evaluating and documenting the employee’s performance. Through Odoo Employee Appraisals Application, you can manage employee evaluation, set up a periodic employee evaluation and appraisals. You can create surveys right from the app and collect employee’s answers. There are several templates to choose from or you can create one of your own. Employees can send these evaluations to subordinates, juniors as well as to their managers. You can create evaluation plans with a clear schedule to automatically generate interview requests. You can specify which employee or department or level in the hierarchy can answer the survey. Then allow managers to review the content and finalize the evaluation.

Expense Tracker

Odoo Expense Tracker provides online expense management, which allows you to manage your employee’s daily expenses, whether it is travel related or any other costs. You can access all your employees expense details such as the fee notes and validate or refuse them. Employees can add copies of the receipts and proofs directly to the expense records to avoid losing them. As a manager, you can follow the expenses recorded to keep an eye on the costs and make sure to keep the target and budget. The workload can be shared among employees, managers, and accountants as they are included here to save time.

Fleet Management

Fleet or vehicle management includes management of vehicles such as cars, vans or trucks, private vehicles, also known as the grey fleet, aviation machinery such as aircraft, ships, rail cars etc. Fleet management includes various functions like driver management, vehicle financing, speed management, fuel management, health and safety management, etc. It helps to minimize the risks associated with vehicle investment and reducing transportation and staff cost. 

Odoo Fleet Management helps the manager supervise the organization’s vehicle, contracts, costs, insurances etc easily. It provides a specialized tracking system for company vehicles such as Odoo’s Smart App which can keep track of fleets.

Other Third Party Apps

There are over 14,000 apps in the Odoo App store to choose from. There are many third-party applications available. Following is the top 10 in Odoo App Store:

Common Calendar: Synchronize different objects in one calendar such as meetings, tasks, holidays and other custom models.

Employee Workload Calculation: Employee calculation and notification for next given days based on project tasks.

Employee Overdue Task Reminder Mail: You can see the total on employee kanban and form also.

HR Payroll Dashboard: View, edit and compare all your company payslips in a page.

HR Config: Add HR configuration Company form.

Open HRMS Core: Bring all the Open HRMS modules.

HR Dashboard: Dashboards for HR managers and Officers.

Biometric Device Integration: Integrates Biometric Devices with HR Attendance (face + thumb)

Payroll Slip Reporting: Payslip Pivot view report.

HR- LinkedIn Integration: Integrates LinkedIn with HR Recruitment.

Some applications are free and some are paid. The main advantage of Odoo is that it can be easily integrated.

Why Odoo?

Odoo is indeed a comprehensive platform that efficiently manages different business applications. Being opensource, it is available in the enterprise version, online model and community version which is open source.

Odoo has many advantages like easy and simple navigation, keeping up the pace with business operations, availability of 1000 + modules, flexibility in the sense, implementation and addition of basic and new modules, easy integration, good user experience, up-to-date technology and most importantly, budget-friendly.

Summing Up

Odoo has about 700 partners and over 2 million users because of its error-free nature and proven quality. Small Business or Startups, which find themselves hard to manage their finances and operations can choose Odoo without any doubt. But if you have a higher capacity and budget for investment, you can go for more conventional and fully established ERP systems like the SAP. The decision comes down to your company’s requirements and needs.

In this monthly insight post, we’re covering some of the major buzzwords in the world of enterprise software. We look at how AI can be potentially be misused in the enterprise, impact of machine learning on enterprise software, how technology can help legal aid services and how prepared are you to overcome the misuse of AI. We also look at how safe is crowd testing platforms for enterprises.

How Prepared Are You To Overcome The Misuse Of AI | CloudTweaks
The introduction of AI has been a great boon for enterprises. Compared to all other fields, the enterprise sector has remained open to all technological trends. However, the potential for misuse of AI still exists and is the one reason why you should be informed about it. This can help you take the necessary precautions to overcome the misuse of AI if it happened within your organization.

How Enterprise Software Is Getting Intelligent Through Machine Learning | Towards Data Science

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Neural Networks have become the focal points of innovations and developments in computing. They have inched closer to achieving their full potential and are currently finding applications in almost every field of human activity from agriculture to transportation. Furthermore, this evolving forms in computing had a notable effect in the enterprise field too.

How Technology Can Help Legal Aid Services Run More Efficiently: a technologist’s view | Law-Tech
Using technology to serve legal aid is nothing new. A huge corpus of legal material and resources are available online. Emerging technologies enable legal aid services to become more efficient than ever before.

Are Crowd Testing Platforms Safe for Enterprise? | Technology Advice

As a much better alternative to outsourcing, crowd testing is an entirely different approach that still provides insights into the level of functionality and any possible defects in the software. Crowd testing puts QA testing into a community of freelance software testers and users from around the world, who evaluate the software and give timely feedback to the developers.

5 top facts how IoT integration is influencing custom software development | TechGenYZ

With over 28 billion connected devices expected to go live by 2021, IoT is all set to unleash a major shake-up to the internet as we know it today. The coming IoT wave will drown all areas of Information Technology. Custom software development is no exception.

IT is entrenched in today’s enterprises and constitutes a critical component of operations. However, many enterprises still deploy IT just because everyone else is doing it. They do not take the pains to synchronize their digital solutions with enterprise goals. A lack of intent or focus to create business aligned software could be fatal for most enterprises, in today’s highly competitive environment.  On the other hand, the benefit of creating business aligned software is far-reaching. It is often a valuable source of competitive advantage for the enterprise.

Here are some ways developing business aligned software helps the enterprise.

Better Products and Services Delivery

Until not too long ago, IT largely played a secondary or supporting role in core business operations. Today, emerging technologies have propelled IT as an integral part of enterprise operations. IT influences every step of a company’s activities, helping the enterprise optimize the workflow and resource management. Well aligned software is indispensable to enable better integration and collaboration between departments, improve customer experience, optimize the supply chain management, and overall infuse dynamism into the enterprise.

Well aligned business software offers a mechanism to support the strategic goals of the business. It offers the platform to develop a systematic approach to initiate and prioritize tasks, and also evaluate and repeat key tasks and strategic initiatives on a regular basis.
Software aligned with business needs and processes makes the business more agile and competitive. Through automation, highly synced workflows, machine learning, and other technologies, a business-aligned software offers the perform platform to aid innovation, improves efficiency, accelerate processes, and reduce waste. The net result is an overall increase in workforce productivity and product quality.

Improved decision-making based on advanced analytics

Well aligned business software generates precise and accurate analytics, which identify pain-points, deliver valuable insights on how to sell, and delight customers better. The relevance of the big data insights depends on the data fed into the analytical engine. Software aligned to the business is an important prerequisite to generate and collect the right data.  The advanced analytics, based on relevant and accurate data offers valuable insights to assess performance, employee wise, team wise, unit wise, and with various permutations and combinations.
Integration of the analytics with the actual operational systems, to offer real-time visibility is an important component of aligning software with business needs.

Lesser Risks

IT cannot properly customize software if they are not sure of the goals of the business in the first place, or the exact output various stakeholders expect from the system. For instance, attempting to implement a solution, to automate a process that was broken, to begin with, only aggravates the problem.
Managing risks is critical for the health of the enterprise, yet often an underestimated function. Regarded as cost centres, it is often ignored in favor of more expedient issues. A business-aligned software factors in or pre-empts several risk scenarios. Several risk management and associated compliance task are factored into the process and even automated.
Enterprises investing in the hype-driven software development, or committing to some cutting-edge technology, without a sound proper understanding of the underlying risks and rewards, or without a clear idea of the objectives of the implementations, bear higher risks and invariably pay the price in terms of customers leaving, and the workforce getting discontent.

Improved Teamwork

True alignment of software with the business processes and requirements changes the way team functions. IT acts as a great catalyst for team members to embrace and inculcate team top management decisions and organization actions.  
Well-aligned business software invariably includes a strong collaborative platform, which enables each team member to articulate their value within the organization.  It helps in not just demolishing data silos, but also facilitates the free and easy access to information, which has a spin-off effect in eradicating barriers to teamwork.
Aligning the software with the operational context enables team members to see the larger picture, and also spot potential roadblocks.  A good software integrates disparate silos within the enterprise, allowing all the members of the team, and several teams within the enterprise, to move toward the same strategic goals seamlessly.

Improved Productivity

Misaligned IT solutions force the business to make compromises, and adjust to the way the software functions. While there may be some benefits in such a generic IT implementation, the ill-effects are usually far greater, with IT coming in the way of smooth and seamless workflow.
A misaligned system may actually impede productivity. A field service executive, for instance, may be hampered by having to manually update a report through a smartphone on the move, when the UX is developed for a PC terminal. An aligned system, on the other hand, would capture information automatically, and give a mobile-optimized UX to make it as easy as possible for the executive.

Cost reduction

Business-aligned software reduces costs. It automates the routine task, speeds up the workflow, and improves accuracy, enabling the workforce to do more work in the finite time available. The direct benefit is cost savings through such reduced waste. 

The indirect benefit of a business-aligned software is improved customer delight, which improves sales manifold and delivers long-term benefit for the enterprise. A system which enables the enterprise to perform its functions seamlessly allows matching customer expectations to the hilt, and serving customers on their terms, effortlessly. Customers increasingly view such enterprises with favor, and patronize it more, leading to more sales. More sales not only increase revenue but also result in lesser per-unit costs, further boosting efficiency.
The need of the hour for enterprises is a flexible yet robust solution which can seize opportunities on the fly, and also be updated constantly. IT is in a continuous state of flux, with new technologies making older ones irrelevant almost by the day.  Likewise, the business is also changing. When the enterprise shifts its priorities, as it often does, the software would also require immediate revision and updates.

Overview

What follows is an exemplary story of an Odoo implementation in just 3 days! Hard to believe right? We just did that for our internal sales team last month!  Odoo is well known in the ERP world for its really short implementation durations and flexibility to accommodate changes on the go. We wanted to share the experience of how we went about selecting Odoo from the gamut of ERP/CRM platforms available in the market today and managed to implement it within 3 business days.

Why we needed a CRM?

This implementation story started when our sales team experienced difficulties in managing leads for one of our products ‘ReachOut’, a custom field services management platform. When we started out with ReachOut, we had about 3 or 4 signups weekly and emails were sufficient for our Sales team to handle., However, as the number of leads grew rapidly, it became increasingly difficult for the sales team to manage with only emails. To tackle these challenges, we considered the need for a proper CRM software and saw a lot of potential in Odoo due to its flexibility and short implementation durations.

The Implementation

After the Sales team were previewed with a demo using default Odoo CRM features, they were instantly convinced that it will ease their workflow and improve productivity to a large extent.

Upon implementation, our convictions proved right as the managers were content with the way they were able to seamlessly track their team’s work.

The next step was an integration between Odoo and ReachOut, a couple of hours of development, followed by deployment, which was done on a server with specs as minimal as 2 CPU, 4GB of RAM and a one hour training for the sales team followed by UAT for a day, we were all set to start using the system!

And to add to the benefits, Odoo User documentation is available online for most of the major apps in the system which is really easy to follow and something that anyone from a non-technical background can understand.

Yes, three days is all it took to implement a CRM system for a sales team that was handling hundreds of leads per day. The fact that Odoo is very flexible and one of the most sustainable ERPs gives us more confidence about implementing other modules for various team in the organization. And as I’m writing this, we’re all set to roll out Odoo HRM in our company, but that’s another story which we will definitely touch upon another day.

Impact of Odoo CRM

The problem we had prior to implementing Odoo CRM was that the leads had to be picked and assigned manually from the emails that came in. The follow-up process was really difficult to manage since it was not so organized, and there was a lot of effort being wasted in maintaining excel sheets to track the leads.

Enter Odoo, and the assigning process is totally automated. Follow-ups became more organized, and the managers are getting really good insights into the activities of the team members. The status of every lead that each member is working on has become more transparent, and the management team feels that Odoo CRM will definitely improve the sales numbers as the processes are getting streamlined.

Why should you consider Odoo CRM for your organization?

The amount of consumer data generated for business owners is increasing on an hourly basis. Without the proper tools to handle all these customer information, decision making, forecasting, purchase and sales processes have become a great chaos in terms of efficiency.

The Odoo CRM deals with aspects of the business like:

1. Sales tracking
2. Prospecting
3. Recording customer interactions
4. Pipeline management
5. Evaluating marketing campaigns

Since satisfied customers are your most valuable asset, imagine what a unified system that includes major business apps and a VOIP system would do for your business.

A system like Odoo which has capabilities of adapting to the growth of your company is something that every organization that needs a CRM should consider. And people often make the mistake of choosing big names in the CRM arena, whereas something more flexible and integrated with other business apps that can be deployed as the company grows is a much better choice any day for an SME.

We can definitely go on and on about the advantages of Odoo CRM, but considering that your time is precious, all we can say is that this exercise showed us how even a small sales team can use Odoo for the benefit of their customers. We hope this story may help other growing SAAS companies save time, improve visibility and manage customer relationships using Odoo.

Computers are getting faster and smarter with each passing day. It has been spearheaded in a direction where computers are taught to mimic natural human intelligence, a concept and now a reality known as Artificial Intelligence (AI). Since its coinage in 1956, AI has been predicted to lead computing for automating and substituting all human processes, particularly in the industry and commerce.

Processes like supply chain management, which needs relentless focus and labor in all its operations can benefit deeply from the use of AI. With the developments in AI moving at breakneck speed, companies have already invested in AI for managing their supply chain. The result is complete automation from production to delivery along with an overall improvement in efficiency and speed. 

The application of AI has made the entire process of supply chain management more streamlined and accurate. It takes human labor out of the process, which is one crucial aspect companies look forward to reducing costs and errors. Meanwhile, AI is proving advantageous to other areas of supply chain management as well, which resulted in more companies adopting it into their workplaces.

Let’s digress a bit to talk about what artificial intelligence is about. Artificial intelligence is about taking the capabilities of Machines in terms of Intelligence beyond the monotonous processes, and adding a dash of autonomy to the decision-making capabilities. The advent of artificial intelligence has expanded the capability of automation and technology and has forayed into a Territory of operations that was once reserved only for human beings.

When it comes to the application of artificial intelligence, many industries and segments have benefited from it. One among those is the domain of supply chain management. Supply chain management is gaining importance by the day going to the disappearance of Geographic and physical borders when it comes to transactions.

As inferred by Gartner, the application of artificial intelligence in the field of supply chain management can be broken into two categories:

Augmentation:

Augmentation is really a sophisticated word for addition. Artificial intelligence is seeing its uses even in everyday activities like setting an alarm using personal assistant like Google Assistant or Siri. This kind of Artificial Intelligence can be used in spaces where the guy does not have complete control over the outputs, but rather augments the human effort with some intelligence that needs to be essentially gathered from monotonous tasks. 

AR has transformed the software used in supply chain management. AR help truck drivers, warehouse workers, and management keep track of products by overlaying information onto the real world. Augmented reality is used efficiently in “pick and pack” service. In a large warehouse, AR enables to locate products easily and pack them. Logistics robots can easily scan a product for damage, check its weight and adhere to package shipping instructions.

Automation:

Automation seems to be the password in every industry. There are certain instances where the process is so simple that Artificial Intelligence can take over the entire process including the final output. This completely eliminates the need for human intervention. With this elimination of human intervention, the probability of error is also greatly reduced. One fine example would be the implementation of robots in performing a few key steps when it comes to the manufacturing industry.

A few specific aspects in which Artificial Intelligence can assist in supply chain management are:

Using chatbots:

We have been using the internet as a communication medium using instant messengers for a while now, and the conversation generally starts with a templatized set of questions. These templatized questions and the conversations surrounding them can be automated using a chatbot. Chatbots help in streamlining the procurement related tasks through automation and augmentation. These chatbots can be used to help with the initial steps of procurement. The information that we receive from this chatbots could also help determine the validity of the leads. 

Chatbots can be used to automate numerous tasks especially in communicating with the customers via direct calls or text messages. The advancements in chatbot programs have enhanced their communication abilities, which have made them useful aids for a variety of tasks besides answering calls or queries. Most chatbots are able to place purchase request, conduct research, answer questions, file and document invoices alongside communicating with the customers.

Supply chain planning and machine learning:

Machine learning is the technological twin of artificial intelligence. Intelligence can only be achieved by learning, and if machines have to be intelligent, they have to learn automation. Supply chain management can incorporate machine learning, even if not for execution, at least for planning. Machine learning can help in a variety of aspects in supply chain planning.

Machine learning can help with the forecasting of inventory based on demand and supply. Facilitating the machine to learn with the right segments of data could also bring in a revolution in terms of agility and optimization of even the decision making processes in supply chain management. Teaching the human beings something is an arduous task -stitching machines the same thing only makes it a little bit more challenging. However, you can expect the Machines to learn things a bit faster and get more accurate with the time then you can expect human beings to be!

Machine Learning for Warehouse Management: 

Warehousing is an integral part of any Logistics Company, and it requires a good understanding of the inventory, the demand, the supply and the challenges in facilitating a smooth transition between the two ends to be successful in the field of Logistics.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence come in handy at this juncture, because the planning and Management for warehousing depend on the intelligence that can be gathered from the data. The data can analyze vital pointers, including the supply floors like overstocking or understocking, and even the kind of inventory that we are looking at, including the attributes of longevity and susceptibility to damages when in storage. 

Natural Language Processing for Data Sanitization:

The last couple of aspects that we have been looking at talks about data point data is very important to make calculated decisions. If the data is not like it, the decisions might not serve the purpose of being beneficial for the business. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that the data is clean and business-worthy.

Natural Language Processing, commonly abbreviated as NLP, is an element of artificial intelligence that takes care to decipher foreign language data, and streamline them in a way that it can be used for data processing. With the humongous amounts of data that the logistics industry Encounters, it is important to sanitize the data before it can be used to make important business decisions. The aspect of Natural Language Processing develops with Machine Learning and artificial intelligence.  

Autonomous and Self-Driving Vehicles:

Thanks to the innovations by Elon Musk and the automobile company Tesla, self-driven cars are no longer an element of science fiction. Self-driving vehicles have started to take over the realm of montane transportation. If there is one territory where this advancement can make a significant impact, it has to be in the field of logistics and shipping.

Driverless trucks might be in the nascent stages of development, but the progressive only point towards a positive conclusion. If driverless trucks are introduced, it can overcome a lot of hurdles, especially with respect to the mandatory crest that humans require. The laws in most of the countries mandate that drivers can only engage in 11 hours of break-free drive. With driverless trucks stepping in, the driving can go on effectively for 24 hours, and it will definitely reduce the cost by at least 25%.

With the advent of e-commerce on both B2B and B2C fronts, logistics is only gaining more importance by the passing day. A lot of eCommerce companies depend on the data from the logistics service providers to make more calculated decisions. By incorporating the latest in the world of Technology like the concepts of machine learning and artificial intelligence, it would not be right to say that the logistics industry would be far ahead of its time, because, in today’s world of rapidly changing advancements, it is important to be technologically advanced to even stay in the race!