https://in.godaddy.com/blog/how-to-start-a-small-business-in-india/

https://in.godaddy.com/blog/how-to-start-a-small-business-in-india/

Artificial Intelligence in Daily Life

We hear about how artificial intelligence has become all pervasive making its way into all kinds of systems and gadgets. People view artificial intelligence with a bit of wariness, because of its perceived nature-one that is perhaps autonomous from human control.  People fear that it might somehow make humans a little or totally redundant and that is a feeling they are not very comfortable with! Sometimes the fear of artificial intelligence almost turns into hostility when one perceives that it might take away one’s right to work and earn a livelihood.

Of course most of these fears are unfounded and artificial technology is just another technology created by humans to make their own lives better.  Sure its autonomous nature causes one to think of the best way of deploying it, but these are challenges mankind has always grappled with. From using the first horse drawn carriage to an automobile and finally an aircraft, humans always faced a struggle with regard to accepting a new, albeit better way of doing things. This was because of the perceived threat of disruption that the adoption of any new technology carried. As time went by of course, these so called disruptive technologies became a part of our lives.

Perhaps people would not be as apprehensive of artificial technology making an appearance in their lives, if they realized that the technology is already a part of their daily lives, possibly without their being aware of it. Yet they are safe and sound, and not under the despotic rule of some robotic autocrat!  That should certainly make them feel more accepting of AI in their lives.

Examples of the Use of AI in Our Daily Lives

You probably think nothing of an Amazon making a recommendation about a book or a ride sharing app like Uber organizing a cab and calculating the price that you need to pay in no time?  How does Netflix come to a conclusion that you might want to watch a certain show?

Well that’s artificial intelligence at work for you.  Using algorithms that analyse your preferences and needs, product and service companies can come up with just what you might need or desire at a point in time. This has taken some getting used to by people who are often stumped to receive notifications in their mail or social media about products and services they were at the moment contemplating buying!

However, AI is used not just for pesky marketing approaches, but for things that we would be truly grateful about. For instance by using location data collated from smartphones, Google Maps is able to analyse the traffic situation that is likely to confront you on your daily commute and suggest the optimal route to take saving you valuable time and money.

Aircraft have been flying on autopilot that could be defined as a variant of AI technology for as long as one can remember. Now, that hasn’t resulted in pilots getting laid off in large numbers. In fact, not a single one has been sacked for that reason till date. In fact it has made the airline pilots’ lives a lot easier!

Business Opportunity                            

Companies around the world realize that AI is having a seminal impact upon how businesses will conduct their affairs. It is not surprising therefore to discover that a very large proportion of start-ups these days are centered upon artificial intelligence. In terms of ubiquity you could say that AI s going the way of data. Everybody is going for it.

The way things are panning out, AI will soon be incorporated in literally everything.  From healthcare and logistics to law and transportation AI is increasingly being deployed across sectors that are the pillars of our everyday lives.  By some accounts AI is expected to add a whopping $1.2 trillion to the value of business globally, which is 70% more than the figure for the corresponding period last year. In fact it is estimated that the value derived from AI could well touch $3.9 trillion by 2022.

Do Companies Need An Artificial Intelligence Strategy?

That artificial intelligence has had an enormous impact on the way business organizations conduct their affairs is already an undisputed fact.  In fact, the time has come for businesses of scale to seriously analyse the impact that artificial intelligence or AI is having on their businesses, so as to be able to optimally leverage its immense advantages. Rather than view it as a mere productivity or efficiency tool that they have to budget for, they should formulate an artificial intelligence strategy.

Advantages of Having an AI Strategy in Place

1.       Business Perspective- It is all very well to get enamored with new fangled terminology and think of inducting artificial intelligence technology into one's business process like everyone else seems to be doing. But unless one is able to dove-tail it to one’s strategic business objective, one would have spent a fair amount of money without much reason.

With all the talk about how the adoption of AI technology is extremely important if businesses are to stay profitable in the digital era, having a well thought out strategy about optimally leveraging AI is the crucial first step. They have to be able to determine the value that the implementation of AI imparts to their organization before they actually invest in it.

   

2.    Putting Data to Good Use- Making sense of the vast amounts of data that businesses come by is right up the AI street. Ensuring that you deploy AI to make big data work for you has to be part of your AI strategy. It will allow your business to make sense of huge amounts of information about your customers in an optimally efficient manner.

3.       Engaging with Your Employees-With all the bad press that AI gets as a job killer you need to use AI to empower and grow your manpower along with the business. Like all technology, AI is best used as an enabler than this indiscriminate disruptor. Remember we are talking about intelligence here, not brawn. A smart AI strategy will enable you to do just that.

4.       Artificial Intelligence Is All About Training- AI starts off with what may be termed bare algorithms, which in a sense acquire intelligence, only after receiving training, working with vast amounts of company data. This is something that many people who are thinking of going in for AI have no clue about. An AI strategy can help one obtain a better grasp of the implementation roll out.

5.       Learning to Organize AI- Important as proficiency in data management is for the successful implementation of AI,  the ability to organize it in a manner that people from different disciplines are able to work in tandem with AI experts is just as significant. To be able to manage such a diverse team will necessarily require business leaders to both develop a core understanding of how AI functions and make it relatable across the board.

6.       Learning to Synergize Humans and Computers- This calls for reorganizing a company’s organizational structure in a manner that it becomes flexible enough for people to work in consonance with machines. A change in the cultural values of a company, which will be necessarily accompany the introduction of AI, will be extremely challenging and something that will have to be managed with deftness and sensitivity.

7.       The Impact Of AI On Jobs- A favorite bugbear for opponents of AI is its perceived negative impact on jobs. In reality, AI is expected to have a  far more benign effect upon employment, though it will definitely lead to an evolution in the way jobs are performed. Most people would only need to prepare to take on a different role of deploying AI to help enhance a business's performance, rather than face the prospect of unemployment.  Having an AI strategy will help a business dispel any negativity that the planned adoption of AI technology might otherwise engender.

8.       Preparing For The Future- The rate of adoption of AI may not be all that right now, but it is growing exponentially and sooner rather than later it will become all pervasive across industries. Companies who have already formulated a definite strategy to incorporate it into their business processes will be at a definite advantage in the years ahead when AI is expected to transform our very society.

The coming decades will see businesses innovate in ways that will usher in unimaginable levels of efficiency and output-all thanks to AI. It is for companies to ready themselves for the exciting times ahead than fear the changes to come.

How To Save Your Job From A Robot?

Just a few years back an article like this would sound like the title of a sci-fi story, but most will agree that this is a scenario most people would have worried about at some point or the other.  The way that automation, driven by relentless technological change and advancement  has made jobs redundant across industries is a specter that is all too real for people, to not worry about it.

“Where are we headed? Are there going to be any jobs left for humans to do at all?

When people like Bill Gates suggest that robots that take away people’s jobs should be subject to a tax, you and I cannot be blamed for worrying about the future of human employment. But wait a second-are things really as bad as they seem? Some experts actually believe that unbridled automation and advances in robotics will lead to the creation of newer jobs. After all someone is required to build and manage the robots, they argue.

In any case, there is no doubt about the fact that you do need to do something about the situation, even if it means acquiring new skills that will ensure your employability in a world swarming with robots! Not exactly, but you know what I mean. Maybe, you should take some steps to save your job from a robot. Here’s what these might be: 

1.  Know Your Enemy- If you can’t beat them join them! Well, at least try to understand the threat that you face from them. If you are an Uber driver in the US, you might be genuinely concerned about driver-less cars rendering you jobless in a few years’ time. On the other hand, if you are an Uber driver in India, no way are driver-less car  a threat to one’s livelihood,  for another decade and a half, given the state of the roads and traffic here!

You may even want to turn around the situation to your advantage. Say you are a marketing manager who needs to enhance business generation in a hurry. You may want to leverage technology and create an automated lead funnel by optimizing your online customer outreach. So rather than technology taking away your job, it may provide it with a fresh lease of life.

 2. Revel In Being Human- This may appear counter intuitive, but this may be the best way to ensure that the robots never take away your job.  You have got to remember that robots are created by human to serve humans. So enhance an inherently human skill, that a robot will find difficult to replicate. This is usually possible in  distinctly human realms.

For instance a robot might provide a technical resolution to a problem, but it lacks the human interface which becomes a problem in managing customer relationships. That’s an opportunity for customer service personnel with superior people management skills. Alternatively,  take the case of content creation, writing and translation. Though there already is software that can perform some of those tasks, it is clearly not the same thing.

Human beings need a philosophy of life in order to be happily successful. That cannot come from robots. You can’t have a robot CEO manage the strategic affairs of a company!

3.  Use The Robots- Remember that robots are nothing more than tools and machines to help you accomplish goals with greater efficiency and in the process provide you more quality leisure time. When the automobile was invented mankind didn’t fear that their legs would atrophy. Instead, they learnt to drive the damn thing and achieve far greater mobility than their own legs ever gave them.

There is nothing that stops one from acquiring the skills required to leverage the benefits offered by new age technologies like robotics, the Internet of Things, Augmented Reality and all the other wonderful stuff that we keep hearing about.  Don’t fear robots. Welcome them to your life. If anything they will only add value to it.

Human beings have a tremendous capacity to absorb new technology in their lives and become the better for it. There was similar fear and consternation among workers when the industrial revolution was around the corner. But everything worked out quite alright and nobody any more insists that we go back to the ear of horse drawn carriages and chicken pox!

4.    Math and Science Are Important- Remember that much of the job creation in the coming years is going to be in the high technology realm. The inexorable growth in the use of AI or artificial intelligence will lead to the creation of a slew of jobs requiring the employees to be proficient in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

For instance the expertise of a data scientist is already one of the most in demand skills, on account of the advantages that accrue to companies that can effectively leverage big data. Now this was a job that didn’t even exist not all that many years back!

The only thing that is constant in today’s times is the fact that nothing is constant and static, including keeping pace with technology. With redundancy dogging the heels of every new technology that ever gets invented and implemented, staying not just abreast, but ahead of the curve is the best way to ensure one’s relevance in the job market.

Conclusion- While there will certainly be some jobs lost to technology, there is no danger to humans’ ability to find gainful employment on a mass scale. The world is too large and complex for such a situation to occur.

Besides, like other technologies before it, robotics and AI too will ultimately lead to enhanced efficiency and growth, albeit on an unprecedented scale unprecedented scale. That can hardly be the cause of mass unemployment. On the contrary, there will be whole new categories of jobs being created all the time. Here’s to a brave new world!

Blockchain Technology Has More To It Than Cryptocurrency

The rise and rise of Bitcoin valuation has everybody talking excitedly about the technology that makes cryptocurrencies like that possible. This has shifted attention from the enormous impact that this technology is beginning to have in a whole array of areas that may have nothing to do with digital currencies like Bitcoin.

Before we delve into what those seminal changes might be, we have to get a handle on something called a smart contract, which is a central premise of blockchain technology. The term itself describes a technology that has the ability to substitute legal contracts with digitization and automation. This would cut down delays in successfully carrying out transactions that is the norm in conventional contacts. The moment a delivery would happen a payment would get made.

These days smart contract has come to denote the software that makes computation on blockchain possible. That brings us to what blockchain itself is. To the uninitiated, it can be described as a widely distributed and highly decentralized ledger that has been cryptographically secured. Each block within the ledger is referenced to the previous block and all the approved transactions, since that approval.

Now this transaction may pertain to myriad things. Everything from government, logistics, and education to healthcare, manufacturing and energy can leverage the properties of blockchain technology to obtain unprecedented enhancement in scale and efficiency. It is estimated that the adoption of blockchain technology across industries will add value to the extent of trillions of dollars in the next twelve years.

Let us look at the ways blockchain technology could prove to be a major disruptor in the near future:

1. Decentralized Cloud Storage- Even though we all store a lot of our vital information on the cloud, the fact is that we are queasy about handing control of important aspects of our lives to another entity. You always worry about how your data might get compromised and misused.

Blockchain data storage will resolve that problem in one fell swoop. No longer will any single entity be the sole custodian of all your data. Besides, the level of security will be a lot higher in the case of blockchain data storage on account of the very nature of the technology. This is because multiple copies of every transaction exist on multiple computers making hacking impossible.

2. Digital Security- Everyone knows that digital security is a huge issue worldwide. This is something on which billions of dollars are being spent annually. Blockchain technology can provide a secure way of carrying out all manner of digital transactions. If for instance, banks were to adopt blockchain technology, their customers could receive a secure digital ID rather than have accounts opened in their name. What's more, only they would have access to both the details of the account and the funds therein. Even the banks would not possess the ability to access their customers' funds!

3. Transformation Across Sectors- The application of blockchain technology across sectors is only a matter of time.  Take the case of the real estate sector where there is a lot of opacity in the transactions. Often the records are inaccurate due to mistakes or fraud. Plus there is loads of paperwork. Blockchain technology can comprehensively cleanse the system of all these problems. With very little paperwork involved and the documents becoming easily verifiable with regard to their accuracy, issues pertaining to the transfer of title will be a thing of the past.

Healthcare institutions like hospitals can share vital information across their networks without in any way compromising the sensitive data being conveyed. Similarly, blockchain technology can make the voting system faster, more accurate and extremely secure.

What On Earth Is Cryptocurrency?

There is a buzz around the term cryptocurrency these days and apparently the most popular kind of this strange new currency goes by another esoteric term- bitcoin! But what on earth is cryptocurrency and what the devil is a bitcoin? For all the news that is being generated about cryptocurrency and bitcoins, one would imagine that there would be many who would understand what the fuss was all about.

Here in India, there is even more confusion about the whole hoopla surrounding bitcoins. Ever glued in to news about newer ways of getting a fair return on their investments middle class India has begun to look at bitcoins with a fair amount of interest and curiosity This is largely on account of the fact that one hears so much about the fantastic returns that one makes by investing in this new age wonder.

But ask someone if they know what these terms signify, chances are you will draw a bank. For all they might know this could be currency that settlers on Mars might use. After all wasn't their talk of settling people on Mars?! This kind of abysmal ignorance about cryptocurrency is not restricted to India. An overwhelming majority of people around the world don't have a clue either.

So let us try and understand the nature of the beast over here and try and gather a basic understanding of what one means, when one says cryptocurrency. A lot of people think that cryptocurrency is a form of digital money and they are bang on. Add to it the fact that it is extremely secure and anonymous, you begin to understand its allure.

The way it works is that it leverages  the power of the Internet by using cryptography that helps transform legible information into a codified one, with which to track any purchases or transfers. As many would know cryptography has its origins in the secret method of communicating by code that was evolved during the Second World War. The digital era has seen it transform further into a foolproof method of online security that encompasses not just data, but communications and money as well.

Bitcoin was the very first cryptocurrency and was launched back in 2009. Being the first off the block it soared in value from zero value in January 2009 to more than $11,000 in November 2017! No wonder everybody wants to know more about cryptocurrencies. It is not surprising therefore to discover that there are more than a 1000 cryptocurrencies available on the Internet.

Understanding Cryptocurrency

 If one were to define or explain cryptocurrency you could call it a process which entails making limited entries in a database that cannot be altered by anyone unless certain specific conditions are fulfilled. If you think that there is nothing extraordinary about this, think again.

This is exactly how real money functions.  The money in one's bank account is represented by certain certain specific entries in the bank's database that can be altered only when certain basic conditions are met. Money is basically  a verified entry in some kind of an accounting database.

A similar principle operates in the case of  the databases of a cryptocurrency. Take the case of  bitcoin where every member network of peers keeps a record of the entire transaction  and balances pertaining to every account. There is a seven stage process that explains the entire cryptocurrency concept and how it functions.

1. Someone makes a transaction request which travels via a P2P (peer to peer) network of computers, which is called nodes.

2. The network of nodes validates both user status and the transaction.

3. The verified transaction now becomes part of all the other transactions, thereby  creating a new block of data in the ledger.

4. The new block becomes a permanent and unalterable part of the existing block chain

5. There is a complete transaction.

Cryptocurrency has certain unique characteristics that make it new and revolutionary-

1. It does not possess any intrinsic  value and as such cannot be redeemed against any commodity which has that kind of value.

2. Unlike conventional money cryptocurrency is entirely digital and does not have a physical form.

3. Unlike conventional money, the supply of cryptocurrency is not regulated by any central bank with its network being totally decentralized.

In India though there is heightened interest in cryptocurrencies, most people are extremely wary of investing in these till the time that the concept becomes better understood and more mainstream. Though the Reserve Bank of India has not banned cryptocurrences outright, it has cautioned people against trading and creating virtual currencies because of the inherent risks involved.

However more than cryptocurrency it is the block-chain technology that has the conventional banking sector interested as it can be used for functions other than creating cryptocurrency. These include tracking of ownership and origin of documents, physical and digital assets and so on. ICICI Bank actually went ahead and used block=chain technology to execute India's first banking transactions on block-chain.

As for cryptocurrencies, notwithstanding all the hype surrounding it, most Indian investors would likely steer clear of investing in it until such time the concept of cryptocurrency has official sanction. A more or less similar wait and watch approach has been taken by governments and investors worldwide.

There are some leading voices who herald the ushering in of the era of cryptocurrency as the dawn of a new world financial order, while many others think of it as an inflated bubble waiting to be burst. Clearly one will hear a lot about both cryptocurrencies and bitcoins till the debate is settled one way or the other.

Are You an Old School Marketer Who’s Intimidated by Digital Marketing?

      

If you are, take heart, as you are not alone. For most people who started their career in the last decade of the last century, digital marketing is something that came as a rude shock. Many of these confounded people made their peace with it, not without their share of kicking and screaming though, and many never could reconcile themselves to it. This blog is addressed largely to the latter category of people and not necessarily of that generation, who consider themselves born marketers but for their inability to master digital marketing.

The biggest reason for people getting intimidated by digital marketing is the nagging feeling that you are not in control-everything that you thought defined marketing doesn’t matter a whit anymore.  That sure would scare everyone! Now this is a catch-22 situation if ever there was one. On the one hand you resist digital marketing as it negates everything you thought marketing was, yet you have the sneaking suspicion that digital marketing is the right way of going about things.

How do you resolve this impasse? Firstly acknowledge that digital market is indeed indispensable in today’s times. The digital revolution has brought about a paradigm change in the way business is carried out.  The situation today is akin to what it must have been when industrial revolution began to disrupt the traditional manufacturing processes. It was the same when air travel began to be the preferred method of traveling over very  large distances. So accept that progress can’t be rolled back  and the more efficient way of doing things will ease out the less efficient ones. This is truer of business and marketing than any other field of human endeavor.

Once you have that part out of the way, try and analyze what it is about digital marketing that you fear. Let’s check out the reasons that likely make people like you, perpetually wary of digital marketing-

1)    The known devil vs. unknown devil syndrome-Most people fear change-especially when you don’t know what the change entails. Adopting digital marketing might be akin to wearing a parachute and jumping off a plane, in that you don’t know how it will end.

            It might seem a lot like that to somebody new to it. 

           

           There are lots of new terms to get acquainted with and plenty of new information to take 

            in and process. With no idea as to whether one will get the hang of what the hell it is 

            that one is supposed to do with all the newfangled tools, one might well be excused

            for thinking- “Why not leave well enough alone and get involved with something that is 

            yielding fair results and not risk complete failure?”

            This is especially true if you have had a fair run of success doing things the old   

            fashioned way.

      2)    Imposter Syndrome- One of the most  intriguing phenomena that afflicts a surprisingly large  
            number of successful achievers is the so called imposter syndrome. These are  

            people who somehow feel that their success a fluke and they don’t deserve it. A fear 

            lurks somewhere in their minds that they will be found out and exposed for the 

            imposter that they are.

           This fear is possibly accentuated in some people when confronted with the seemingly 

            complicated and highly technical world of digital marketing. They probably tell

            themselves, “There is no way I can fake my way through this one. This is the real big 

            deal and now people will know me for the charlatan that I am.

          The irony is that they deserve every bit of the success that they have achieved and  

           their fear of digital marketing is likewise ill founded. Connected with the same 

           phenomenon is the fact that online marketing requires you to leave a digital trail of 

           your actions. You cannot be secretive or surreptitious the way you might be in the off- 

           line world

          3) The Belief That Digital Marketing Is Overrated- A surprisingly large number of 

              marketing professionals still believe that digital marketing is overrated and real 

              marketing  and selling happens off line. In their view real networking happens when 

              you meet someone in person and not the make believe virtual world- this when the 

              sheer efficiency and economic viability of digital marketing is obvious even by a 

              cursory understanding of its tenets.

Taking to Digital Marketing

What is it that one needs to do to stop being intimidated by digital marketing and leverage it to one’s advantage? There are a few steps that one can take-

●     Take the bull by the horns- What is the worst thing that can happen if you fail at your attempt at learning digital marketing? At least you will have tried and not always wondered if you could do it.

           

            On the other hand if you do succeed in learning it, of which there are far higher chances  

            you would have set yourself on an exciting new path that would provide a massive fillip

            to your marketing and sales efforts. There will be a number of things in life which you

            are afraid of doing because you don’t know how you will fare. The only way of finding  

            out is doing it.

             

             Digital market is nothing other than the most cost effective and efficient way of reaching

             out to your target audience- really nothing more, nothing less. What is there to not like

             about it or fear? Besides, the online world is a great place to seek help and advice. 

             There are thousands of blogs that will tell you of the last intricate detail of digital   

             marketing.

●     Digital marketing is time well spent- If you are one of those who keep postponing the decision to learn digital marketing because you would rather spend the time meeting real people in the real world, you need to do a rethink. Digital marketing will free up time for you to meet up with far more committed prospects than is ever possible with conventional marketing outreach.

                      

●      Inherent advantages of digital marketing- The reasons for digital marketing becoming so important for most businesses are found in the distinct inherent advantages that it possesses. These come in the shape of the very low cost of technology allowing unprecedented outreach, the ability to focus on a well-defined target audience and possessing the wherewithal to track every dollar spent. To top it all you are able to obtain instant real time feedback from your clients.

           

           

            Is there anything to not like in this?

●     Performance and growth- In the highly competitive marketing environment of today, only those businesses who are able to perform and grow have a future. There is no place for laggards. That is why it makes eminent sense for all businesses to turn to digital marketing to help them achieve these twin objectives, if they haven’t already.

           

           The greatest contribution of digital marketing has really been in creating a level playing  

           field for businesses irrespective of size, scale and resources. This is evident in the  

            exponential growth in the global digital economy which is expected to touch a size of   

           $1.36 trillion in a little over two years’ time. That is more than the size of the South     

            Korean economy!

Considering that the so called digital economy (it is much more than that) is barely more than two decades old, that is no mean achievement. But consider this. We are only at the start of a major disruption of the global economy that is no less momentous than the industrial revolution.

With wave after wave of new technology upsetting and replacing long held notions of running and managing myriad industries, the economy world is in the midst of unprecedented churning. The Internet of Things, robotics, augmented and virtual reality, more perceptive algorithms and of course artificial intelligence are already working in tandem to create a world whose ultimate shape  we possibly cannot even fully imagine fully.

For one to stand on ceremony about whether to adopt digital marketing or not is really beside the point. It is not a question of digitization being inevitable. We are past that stage. It is where it will take us.