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The number of employees working from home on a full-time or part-time basis has increased in the past few years. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, this number has increased many folds. Although it is the need of time but working from home poses some challenges such as lack of face-to-face supervision, lack of access to information, distractions at home, sense of being left out, security breach, etc. This is exerting pressure on businesses to implement effective remote work strategies to tackle the challenges/risks and improve the efficiency of the workforce.

Here are some tips for implementing a successful remote work strategy:

• Structured Daily Check-In: Remote managers should make it a point to establish a daily call with the remote employees. It may be an individual or team call based on the nature of individual work (whether the remote workers operate independently or in a collaborative manner). The aim of the call should be to provide a forum to the employees where they can discuss any work-related concerns and get an effective solution. The call can also be used as a platform to discuss daily goals and progress to keep a tab on productivity.
• Provide Different Communication Technologies: Making use of different communication technology options can be imperative for a successful remote work strategy. Businesses should consider a video conference for maintaining a personal interaction between the employees. The video conference technology may be used for conducting complex or sensitive communications. The organizations can also make use of mobile-enabled individual messaging functionalities for handling simpler, less formal, or time-sensitive conversations. However, remote managers should make it a point to consult the IT department of the organization before making use of any communication tool to ensure data security.
• Lay Out Ground Rules Of Engagement: Lay out clear rules to maintain uniformity of engagement channels among the remote employees. The rules should discuss the mode of communication to be used based on the nature of communication. It is also important to state a fixed time for team meetings and video conferences. Once the rules are set, the managers should monitor the communications to ensure that the employees are adhering to the rules and sharing information as per the directives.
• Educate Employees On Data Access And Sharing Policies: A key challenge in implementing a remote work strategy is to ensure data security. So, remote managers should collaborate with the IT department to lay out strict data access, data sharing, and user login policies. Educate the employees about the data policies, data breach, ways to detect a cyber attack, etc. A good approach is to organize webinars for the team to provide the required information and acquaint the employees with the security protocols.

For more information on ways to implement a successful remote work strategy, call Centex Technologies at (972) 375 - 9654.

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Data intelligence is an important aspect of every organization. It lays the foundation for data analytics and decision making by the company executives. However, data collection and analysis are conducted by computers that store them in languages that are not comprehendible by humans. Thus, in order to facilitate decision making, it is imperative to make data analytics available in natural human languages.

Once the metadata is annotated in human languages, it provides information about events such as when, what, where, how and why they occurred. When the information is available in tangible form, it can be used to gain situational awareness and stimulate thinking by forming patterns or relationships between data. Formatting the data by forming visuals such as tables, charts, and graphs help in understanding the patterns and interdependency of various factors. This understanding defines the course of future actions to achieve desired organizational goals.

In order to understand how to make data analytics human for decision making, let us consider the following aspects:

Type Of Data:

Traditionally, metadata management focused on technical metadata including platform, structure and physical characteristics. However, as the business organizations are now relying extensively on data analytics, equal focus is being laid on collection and correlation of business metadata (business rules, associated applications, and business capabilities) and semantic metadata (business terminology and ontology).

Finding Data Patterns:

A large amount of data is collected on a daily basis. But in order to gain meaningful results, it is required to understand the relationships in the data. An example of data mapping for understanding interrelationships between entities, their properties and relationships is ‘Knowledge Graphs’ pioneered by Google. Although such graphs provide good information, they alone cannot be used for reliable decision making. Thus, more related data has to be collected from parallel platforms and databases to create a ‘Knowledge Platform’.

As the information is classified in classes and concepts across different datasets, it makes it easier to interlink and find related information. Businesses tend to make use of query languages to search for information across the contents of enormous datasets.

Narratives:

After understanding the patterns of data, the next step is to form a data narrative. It includes reasoning and learning in addition to data patterns. To create a narrative, it is important to understand three things:

• Types of questions that may be asked based on data patterns
• Answers to these questions
• Questions that will arise based on previous answers

Data patterns may indicate information such as the effect of a variable on business metrics. But data narrative includes answers to questions such as ‘If metric goes up with time, how will it affect the business?’, ‘Does the metrics accumulate over time or is it point-in-time?’ and ‘What does it mean for our sales?’.

Decision Making:

The data narrative forms the basis of decision making. The decision makers of an organization analyze the narrative, visualize the supporting data, and test the hypothesis to identify gaps. The final decision conveys the required actions for achieving business innovation and goals.

For more information on making data analytics human for decision making, call Centex Technologies at (972) 375 - 9654.

Artificial intelligence has garnered immense applications in various industries including banking, manufacturing, and healthcare. A branch of healthcare that is benefitting from Artificial Intelligence is the ‘Pharmaceutical Industry’. It is met with new challenges in the face of new viruses, mutated antigens, drug-resistant strains, etc. on a daily basis. Additionally, it has become common to see the rendition of once eradicated diseases such as polio. Under these conditions, traditional R&D can be very time consuming and costly.  

Traditional drug discovery methods are objective driven and work well for targets whose structure and interactions in the cell are understood. However, most of the cellular transactions have complex pathways.

In order to overcome these challenges, Artificial Intelligence-powered drug discovery offers an effective alternative. Following are the ways in which AI transforms the drug discovery process:

• AI-powered drug discovery follows a data-driven approach that is based on the vast patient datasets. The data is studied and categorized by complex algorithms into understandable information for facilitating drug discovery at a faster pace.
• It applies machine learning to study new incoming data for recognizing new opportunities and information.
• The algorithms search through vast databases of compound structures to identify a compound that can bind to the antigen protein (even if the structure of the target protein has not been yet identified). This saves a lot of time when compared to manual screening of compounds that can act as drug candidates.

How It Works?

• The first step is to take sample from people with and without a disease. Also, samples are taken from people who are at different stages of disease progression.
• The sample data is then extracted into genomics, proteomics, metabolomics and lipidomics for identifying the target.
• AI and Machine Learning software study the information to identify any differences between the disease and non-disease states, proteins, and other features that may impact the disease state.
• The identified proteins and metabolites are considered to be target candidates by the software.
• The candidates are then queried against databases of patents, publications, chemical libraries, clinical trials, and approved drugs. This facilitates a precision-medicine approach by offering a means to triage the patients in an in-silico manner before entering a clinical trial to determine the effectiveness of a potential drug.

Benefits Of AI-Driven Drug Discovery:

• AI does not rely on predetermined targets which rules out the chances of subjective bias.
• AI amalgamates the latest technology in biology and computing to develop algorithms for drug discovery.
• AI offers high predictive power to define meaningful interactions in drug screening. This reduces the chances of pursuing false potential drugs.
• AI moves drug discovery to a virtual lab where screening results can be obtained at a faster pace and efficiency.

For more information on transforming drug discovery through AI, call Centex Technologies at (972) 375 - 9654.

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5G is the fifth-generation mobile network. 5G offers greater download/upload speeds and reduced latency. Some other features of the 5G data network include increased traffic and seamless tech integration. Such features of the 5G data network facilitate it to play a great role in the success of business organizations.

In addition to these benefits, following are the roles that 5G can play in business growth:

• Intelligent IoT: Greater speed offered by 5G is expected to bring an increase in the number of intelligent IoT devices. 5G will provide better data insight and enhance infrastructure diagnose systems to improve the performance of IoT device networks.
• Remote Working: An increasing number of organizations are planning to inculcate remote working culture to improve the productivity of their business. However, slower network speeds and technology restraints have acted as a hurdle in the practical implementation of remote work culture. High data network speed allows seamless AR, VR and connectivity experience for integration of remote workers via quality conference calls, video streaming, etc. to create flexible office spaces.
• Rural Innovation: 5G will enable the government to connect the rural communities for generating opportunities for rural businesses. Alternatively, this will help established businesses in reaching out to a new customer base set in rural areas. 5G will enable marketing professionals in analyzing customer data, demographics, campaign results, and data product performance.
• Network Slicing: Network slicing allows the creation of multiple virtual networks on top of a common shared physical infrastructure. In the case of 5G, multiple virtual networks created from a single physical network can support different Radio Access Networks (RAN). This will allow businesses to set up a network as per their business goals. Businesses can provide an end-to-end virtual system encompassing networking, computing and storage functions.
• Manufacturing: Some common problems being faced by manufacturing companies across the world are timely product delivery, product complexity, skill drain, and process intricacy. 5G will assist manufacturing businesses in automating the processes to achieve process efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
• Retail: 5G offers improved connectivity resulting in a better retail experience. Retailers can make use of AR technology to provide additional information about their products. It will also facilitate services such as retail apps to attract customers and increase in-store as well as online sales.
• Transportation: 5G network will facilitate the usage of self-driving vehicles. Driverless delivery vehicles will enable businesses in ensuring timely and efficient delivery of products.

For more information about 5G internet and its utilities, call Centex Technologies at (972) 375 - 9654.

Human augmentation refers to technology that enhances productivity/capability of the human body. It can be broadly classified into two types:

Physical Augmentation: This class focuses on increasing the inherent physical capabilities of a person by implanting a technology within his body. It includes:

• Sensory Augmentation: It is a category of physical augmentation that includes human senses such as hearing, vision, and perception. Examples include Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, smart contact lenses, electronic nose, etc.

• Appendage & Biological Function Augmentation: It includes the use of exoskeletons and prosthetics to enhance or replace appendage and biological function of the human body. Some examples are cochlear implants to replace non-functional auditory nerves, the surgical augmentation of eyes, etc. The technology has found applications in cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.

• Brain Augmentation: This technology focuses on altering the human brain. A common use of technology includes treating seizures. More extensive applications involve memory storage, decoding neural patterns, synthesizing speech, etc.

• Genetic Augmentation: This category of human augmentation facilitates somatic gene and cell therapies for the treatment of children with severe combined immune deficiency and related diseases.

Cognitive Augmentation: Cognitive augmentation refers to technologies that improve human thought and decision making. It also includes physical implants that deal with cognitive reasoning. It also includes accessing information and exploiting traditional computer applications for creating smart spaces. Another scenario that involves cognitive augmentation includes the use of artificial intelligence to facilitate decision making and learning among humans.

As the applications of human augmentation are spreading across industries, organizations are taking a plunge to utilize it for improving their business processes. However, in order to ensure beneficial incorporation of technology with business operations, it is important to consider the following factors:

• Security: When augmenting a human asset instead of a device, organizations need to pay thorough attention to possible security risks and ways to tackle these risks.

• Privacy: Human augmentation technology requires intimate knowledge about the concerned person. This may lead to privacy concerns such as data breach. Thus, organizations should formulate extensive strategies to ensure the privacy of collected data.

• Compliance: It is important for organizations to have knowledge about the laws and regulations pertaining to human augmentation in their state. It is advisable to seek professional assistance to ensure compliance with the laws.

For more information about applications of modern technology for business organizations, call Centex Technologies at (972) 375 - 9654.

Bluetooth beacons are hardware devices that use low energy signals to transmit periodic information to electronic mobile devices in close proximity. The beacons transmit their id to the mobile devices, which return this identification number to the cloud server. The server responds by sending the information attached to the identification number. It could be a product detail, a webpage, a phone number, etc.

Business marketing professionals are using Bluetooth beacons in numerous ways to increase sales and revenue:

1. Tracking customer’s in-store movements: Bluetooth beacons can be used to track the movements of a customer in the store and send relevant offers. For example, if the beacon detects that a customer is in shoes section, it makes sense to send her a shoe discount coupon. This motivates the customer to make a purchase.

2. Help Customers In In-Store Navigation: It is common for customers to abandon the store if they can’t find what they are looking for. Bluetooth beacon technology can be used to tackle this problem efficiently. The technology can be used in conjunction with the store app to create an in-store mapping experience. Businesses can develop their apps to assist the customers in creating a shopping list as they enter the store. The app can then be used to show them the location of the selected products. The Bluetooth beacons detect the real-time location of the customers as they move and create a map to show them if they are moving in the right direction or not in relevance to the products.

3. Attract Customers To In-Store Events: Retail businesses commonly organize in-store events to attract customers during holiday seasons. The events may range from free makeup tutorials to gift wrapping presentations. Traditionally, the business marketing professionals used emails or telemarketing to inform their customers about the events. However, customers have a higher probability to walk in the store for attending an event, if they are already in the vicinity. Thus, you can use Bluetooth beacon technology to alert mobile device users in the proximity of your store about the ongoing events. This will help in increasing the footprint traffic, giving you a chance to generate leads.

4. Improve In-Store Conversion Rates: Using Bluetooth beacon technology, you can have an idea of the products that are being purchased by a customer via his online shopping list or in-store location. This information can be used to transmit notifications or reminders to purchase related products. For example, if a customer purchases cereal in a supermarket, a notification such as ‘Do you also need milk?’ can make sense to him. Such targeted messaging helps in increasing in-store conversion rate.

For more information about use of Bluetooth beacons in business marketing, call Centex Technologies at (972) 375 - 9654.

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