How To Keep Up With The 4th Industrial Revolution?

Throughout history, we have witnessed three industrial revolutions. First one was responsible for mechanizing production using steam power; the second one for the application of electrical power for mass production; and the third one for the emergence of technology to automated production. Now the world is on the brink of the 4th and most complex industrial revolution. All of these, however, have one thing in common — they all led to the death of jobs and businesses that didn’t adapt accordingly.

What is the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR)?

In simpler terms, the 4th industrial revolution or Industry 4.0 is the fusion of our digital and physical world. In other words, the various branches of information technology i.e. robotics, IoT (internet of things), Big Data, AI (Artificial Technology), 3D modeling, VR (virtual reality), and quantum computing will merge to blur the boundaries of physical and digital realms.

This article will describe how this tide of innovation will shape the reality around us and the steps businesses can take to keep up with the 4th industrial revolution.

How can 4IR Impact the Future of Business?

The 4th industrial revolution is expected to revolutionize the way we live, work, or even interact with fellow human beings. This upcoming revolution will unfold at an unprecedented, whirlpool speed resulting in new results driven primarily by vast amounts of data. During the coming years, accelerated innovation in the field of information technology will completely change the course of production, endorsement, trading, and management within a company. So how will it impact the nature of business and the workforce responsible for running it?

What Steps Businesses can Take to Keep Up with 4IR?

So here are a few ways organizations can prepare themselves to safely ride the wave of the 4th industrial revolution:

Tailored Engagement

The physical retail world is set to shift completely online, generating massive amounts of data in the process. This coined with groundbreaking advancements in the fields of data science and artificial intelligence can allow businesses to communicate effectively with the consumers.

Experts can leverage information from past interactions with customers to identify their behavior and meet their expectations. Tailored engagement will be highly crucial in the future to stand above the competitors as customers will have tons of options at their disposal.

Data Protection

However, the accumulation of personal data by the companies raises serious concerns among the public regarding privacy protection and data integrity. Customers are now more concerned than ever regarding how companies are using their personal information.

Therefore, online retailers and businesses should devise the required strategies to address the rising fear among the masses regarding the protection and security of their data. 

Data Transparency

One of the ways customers can feel safe while sharing their information online is when companies offer complete transparency of how their data is used. Apart from offering tailored engagement for generating exceptional sales, companies should focus on building trust with their consumers.

In the words of Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce: “A trust revolution is needed if businesses are to fully embrace the potential of the Fourth industrial revolution”.

Digital Transformation

To match the fast-paced digital disruption of our physical world, businesses should proactively engage in developing a digital transformation strategy. Start by identifying the processes and practices that can be enhanced digitally. Then, optimize the workflow by using AI-powered automation tools for increased productivity.

The next step is to future-proof the workforce by recognizing the skill set that can help employees keep up with the digital revolution. Invest in their training to learn new tools and take advantage of groundbreaking technology. This is the only way to help the employees overcome the fear of job security.

Process Automation

With the emerging technologies, we are moving farther down the road to industry 4.0 that promises higher automation of manufacturing processes than the third revolution. The prime difference is that this wave offers automation of operations and management practices as well.

Robots and Machine Learning algorithms have been designed to carry out monotonous yet high-volume tasks. Thus, allowing workers to shift their focus towards more productive problem solving through critical thinking.

Choosing the Right Tools

This is a pivotal element while developing a successful digital transformation strategy. Consider the following factors when selecting digital tools for your business:

·         One-stop-solution

• Integration with the current software environment
• Cloud-based, centralized data management system
• Cyber- and malware-protected
• Allows optimized automation
• User-friendly interface
• Allows real-time processing of data

The 4th industrial revolution will pose unique opportunities and challenges for us both individually and socially. However, we humans still have the power to ensure that it benefits everyone by creating economic opportunities, providing training for new tools, and raising awareness about cyber protection.

 

Upstream Security Partners with Volvo for Safer Connected Vehicles

Herzliya, Israel-based automotive security pioneer Upstream Security has announced a partnership with Volvo to create safer automotive connections. The collaboration announcement comes as a direct result of Volvo's partnership with DRIVE, an innovation hub that focuses on disruptive start-ups in the Israeli mobility sector.

“The partnership approach is becoming ever more important, and the result of the collaboration between Upstream and Volvo can be beneficial to many people,” said Tommy Hansson Strand VP Volvo Group Connected Solutions Innovation Lab.

The partnership with Upstream Security will help Volvo, which is kicking off the global commercial corporation. Volvo will benefit from this partnership with Upstream Security as the latter provides cybersecurity solutions that are designed specifically to protect connected vehicle from cyber threats.

“Our mission is to protect every connected vehicle and smart mobility service on the planet. The collaboration with Volvo will take us even further towards our mission. With our data-driven, cloud-based platform, we can provide Volvo with the capabilities to accomplish secured connected vehicles,” said Yoav Levy, Co-founder and CEO Upstream Security.

This week, Upstream Security closed its Series C funding round which included BMW i Ventures as a new investor.

 

Wipro Unveils a Contactless Car-Buying Solution

Wipro has unveiled its contactless car-buying solution that addresses the complete automobile-buying journey. It is called Click-Shift-Drive, and will enable automakers and dealers to everything from research and loan approval to purchase and delivery at a time when 50% of car-buying journeys begin online.

"With Click-Shift-Drive, automakers and dealers can launch e-commerce solutions and provide a virtual direct-buying experience in just eight weeks. Click-Shift-Drive uniquely incorporates a range of Salesforce technologies so companies can provide an enhanced user experience throughout the customer journey. In addition, Wipro partnered with ThreeKit 3D & Augmented Reality to provide an augmented reality component so buyers can visualize a virtual rendering of the automobile in their own driveway," mentioned the Wipro press release.

Research has suggested that 59% of automotive customers today are interested in purchasing cars online. The Click-Shift-Drive is part of Wipro's $1 billion investment in cloud over 3 years.

"Building relationships and knowing your customer is key to the success of any commerce business," said Lidiane Jones, Executive Vice President & General Manager, Salesforce Commerce Cloud. "For many customers, this requires a suite of integrations made possible by our partners. With Wipro’s Click-Shift-Drive and Commerce Cloud, companies will be able to take customers beyond traditional product catalogues and lead management in the car buying journey to a highly customizable commerce engine."

 

How video technologies change in our today’s world

The new age of video technologies has come. After the TV and internet revolutions, we actually thought that we had reached the top of this industry. But we couldn’t be further from the truth.

Today’s state of social media marketing and marketing, in general, shows that videos only start their fabulous journey to take over the world. If you are interested in what is around the corner for this amazing industry, keep reading.

The golden age of video content

Today we live in the golden age of content when we get new breakthroughs and innovations in this area every day. It not only changed the way we consume information, but it also changed us: the way we learn, speak and collaborate with others.

One of the most popular careers nowadays is a Youtuber, and most kids dream about a job in the creative field. And the thing is that this dream is much closer to an average person than even five years ago. It’s practically in our hands.

You don’t need a big product team, stuff, and countless hours in the editing room to make a single video anymore. You can do it on your own, in your home with a regular camera and video editing software like Adobe Premiere or any online video editor of your choice.

The widespread usage of drones, once exclusively a professional tool but now a piece of standard video equipment, also gave more opportunities for new people to come into the video-making industry. Today everybody can make quality video content, and it helps to grow competition and create new, previously unseen technologies for recording and editing videos.

Streaming: the biggest trend in video marketing

The hottest and most trending video technology in 2021 is streaming services. And we mean not the only platform for gamers like Twitch, but also video streaming websites like Netflix or Hulu. 

According to studies, an average person watches about 16 hours of video per week, and it is more than 34 days spent watching videos a year. This shows how important the video industry is in the life of an ordinary human being. So it is safe to assume that in times of constant lockdowns and never-ending restrictions, video streaming services became the most needed thing in homes.

Also, marketing trends show that people are actually ready and will love to pay for high-quality content. For example, most videos on Youtube are free to watch, but websites like Patreon (ones that help content creators get extra money) are still on the rise.

People support favorite creators and shows, and since we are all in a state of war with the pandemic, we are absolutely sure that streaming services are only at the start of their successful path.

Next step of video making evolution: AI and VR

The widespread introduction and incorporation of AI in all spheres of our lives have already happened. Today, we can only watch how AI and VR will be more and more involved in our lives.

Soon enough, we will be living in a world where we don’t need any special software or an online video editor to edit our content. The only thing that will be needed is to tell AI: “edit video,” and it will do the job for you.

As for VR, we already have many great and absolutely realistic games with VR, and this industry is just starting to take off. It is possible that soon VR will be an important part of our day-to-day lives, and we will use it in routine Zoom conferences, for example.

In general, the video industry also tries to move towards a better user experience: increased framerates, improved visuals, and higher resolution. We already have games that look much better than the real world (like 2018 hit Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice), so we can confidently assume that in the future, the video and gaming industry will continue evolving in this direction.

Conclusion

Video technologies are an essential part of our everyday lives. We learn from YouTube videos, entertain with Netflix, and come for advice to the internet videos in almost every case.

The future of the video industry looks bright: it is now an essential part of marketing, and companies are ready to put resources into this industry’s development. Without a doubt, we should wait for some amazing breakthroughs in this area that will give us absolutely new experiences.

We can only guess what it will be, but only time will tell.

 

 

Starting a Business? Avoid These Common Traps

Whenever the global economy enters periods of uncertainty, people from all walks of life start thinking about opening their own businesses. It's a natural human response to a risky job market, rising inflation, and political unrest. If you are one of those entrepreneurial types who is seriously considering starting a company from scratch, it makes sense to review a few of the most dangerous pitfalls that first-time owners encounter. Simply knowing what they are is often protection enough against the common traps that appear along the road to success. In no specific order, here are several obstacles that thousands of people face when attempting to unleash their creative spirit on the marketplace of ideas, goods, and services.

Not Researching the Competition

Far too many prospective owners spend little time doing in-depth research on their competition. Again, this mistake can be chalked up to human nature because it's easy to spend hundreds of hours writing business plans, designing products, assembling mailing lists, and essentially focusing on getting the company's doors open. What often falls by the wayside is opposition research, the investigative phase of any competent startup operation. Take the time to identify every viable, potential rival in your niche. Study their websites, prices, special offers, shopping carts, advertisements, ‘About Us’ website sections, and more.

Ignoring Potential Sources of Financing

Unfortunately, too many stop before they start, assuming they don't have enough financial resources to sustain the months it can take to get a company off the ground. Most working people have more available capital than they at first suspect. Among the many hidden sources of financing for a young business, one of the most overlooked ones is life insurance.

It's worth remembering that you can sell almost any type of life policy you currently own. Check the fine print to discover how you can sell the contract to a third party for cold, hard cash. The best way to begin is to review a complete online guide to the subject that explains everything you need to know. Plus, once you sell your policy, you can use the money for any purpose under the sun, and that includes financing your brand-new business.

Assuming You Need to Rent Office Space

In your mind's eye, you've probably envisioned yourself sitting behind a desk in a rented office, working away at the keyboard and telephone. In reality, most new organizations don't need dedicated, rented office space for the first few months of their existence. As an alternative, use an extra room, corner of the garage, or an attic loft as a temporary headquarters until you acquire enough regular customers to support the expense of a more formal office. And there are plenty of ways to track employee performance when working from home as you expand your team or outsource work.

Doing Your Own Books and Taxes

Unless you have a degree in business administration and know enough about accounting, finance, and tax law to do your own books and file tax returns, hand the job over to someone else. Fees are very competitive, and you'll have the peace of mind that comes with having all the financial statements and tax issues in perfect order.

 

Google to Develop a Brand New App to Help People with Speech Impairments

Tech giant Google has stated that it is currently working on an Android app known as 'Relate', and it will help people suffering from speech impairments. The ultimate aim of Relate is to help people who have difficulty in speaking to communicate and interact with people and Google Assistant more easily.

According to Google, the app is designed with the help of over a million speech samples that participants have recorded during its research process. The app is still being developed, and it is currently not available for users to download. Google is searching for English-speaking testers in regions like Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the US to experiment with the working capability of the app and provide feedback.

Google will be asking testing the app by asking users to record a set of phrases. Later, these phrases will be used by the app to automatically learn how to understand speech patterns and provide access to the app's three major features: Listen, Repeat, and Assistant.

 

Similarweb Announces Acquistion of Leading Mobile-Insights Provider Embee Mobile

The Tel Aviv, Israel-based leading digital intelligence company Similarweb announced that it was acquiring Embee Mobile for an undisclosed amount. Embee Mobile is a San Francisco-based mobile insights provider and market leader in mobile audience analytics, consumer panels, and mobile sampling.

“We believe Embee’s metered panel is one of the largest in the world, and it adds a new dimension to our highly differentiated approach to digital measurement,” said Benjamin Seror, Similarweb Chief Product Officer. “With consumers spending increasingly more time — over four hours per day — on their mobile devices, the granular insight into mobile app usage that Embee enables is more valuable than ever, across a wide variety of industries and use cases. Beyond this, Embee positions us to introduce additional exciting new market research capabilities in the future.”

The acquisition of Embee Mobile will enable Similarweb to make its data edge in digital measurement stronger and improve its mobile app intelligence offering. Embee’s metered panel technology and direct relationship with panelists will allow extensive mobile app behavioral and performance data to be integrated into Similarweb’s insights, allowing customers to go beyond traditional app store metrics such as downloads and DAU and access deeper behavioral insights, such as in-app searches, clicks, and journeys.