Tech Trends Reshape the Banking Industry; Innovations Dictate the Future of Banking Operations

Started off with the concept of taking care of finances of people and handle their cash, the banking industry has grown to new heights. The banking industry is valued for giving credits to let people have the opportunities to start new businesses, introduce new innovations in the form of start-ups. Hence, banking sectors are always on the verge of innovating and adapting newer ideas to improve customer experience.

In order to improve how they serve customers, the banking sector is seen adapting to various transformations in technology. This helps them give best-in-class experience to their customers. Banks are getting more tech-savvy which lets them communicate and interact with the customers more easily. There are various technological trends that are taking the banking sector to another level with their convenience, easy deployment and quick approach.

Artificial Intelligence to carve innovations in banking

Similar to other industries, artificial intelligence has played an important role in transforming the financial and banking sectors. The growing need for smart solutions and convenient handling has given rise to this innovation. The growth in the banking sector has also given rise to the amount of data that needs to be managed.
Endless customer query phone conversations, emails, articles and important documents are to be managed on a daily basis. Dealing with such a cluster of data is no simple task, which is where artificial intelligence comes to rescue. Private cloud-based machine learning systems help analyze and manage the data much easily and helping them reduce cost and save time.

Smart payment cards change the way you pay

With banking taking an all new turn, there is a smarter approach to handling money. Powered by fingerprint sensor technology, the new smart cards are sure to revolutionize the way people pay. The Chinese payment network is all set to witness the arrival of dual-interface biometric cards that can be applied for identification access control and faster payments. This card brings the ‘tap to pay’ concept to life along with an added security for their customers.

Mobile: Your digital bank

With compact and portable technologies advancing in the new digital era, there is no doubt about mobiles becoming the new digital banks for customers. The convenience of enjoying banking functionalities all in your palm is quickening the entire banking process for the customers. Mobile banking lets customers carry out basic functionalities within minutes without the need to visit the bank. All thanks to the technologically driven approach adopted by banks today.

With the deployment of these trends in the real world, the banking industry is sure to reach new horizons.

Why Customer Service Matters While Meeting Your Business’s Bottom Line?

When it comes to customer service, the key to every successful business is the proverb – ‘Treat them mean, keep them keen’. For growing and establishing the business’s bottom line, a high-quality customer service is vital, as it drives profits and allows businesses to compete against rivals with more funding and resources in their pocket. The reasons on why customer service matters are listed below.

You’re Evoked

When the customer service you provided, reaches at the end, your standing and customer interaction lives on whether you like it or not. But due to human nature, customers tend to remember their poor customer service experiences more than their positive ones, as it is hard to shift a negative image. According to a study, 12 positive experiences are necessary to requite for one unsolved negative one, hence you need to get it often and right.

A Testimonial of Business

Your entire business is reflected by the customer service you provide. Your customer service whether good or bad is related to your product or service and is assumed rightly or wrongly by the people. A same attitude should be adopted as a business owner by devoting time and money to your support team just as you give it to your products or sales.

Showing Care

It is significant to treat your customers with genuine courtesy and respect as they like if you show some care towards them. By doing this they will be far more likely to invest their faith in your business. For customer service it will not be difficult for you to solicit some genuine appreciation for them.

A Lucrative Marketing Strategy

As word-of-mouth is the divine strategy for marketing in customer service, doing more than the most marketing experts, your customers speak favorably and widely about your business. It is a brilliant trend to start as advertising your business’s customer satisfaction standards is an excellent technique. By using customer testimonials and happiness ratings it will help you to show superior in customer service.

Substitutions are Always Available

The most risky strategy is undervaluing customer service because in this world of competition there is always a competitor who is doing the opposite. According to a survey, it was found that approximately 78% of consumers have backed out of a transaction because of sub-par customer service.

Unswervingly Striking Retention

As retention matters, attracting new customers is a difficult task while keeping hold of current customers costs considerably less. Unless you prioritize customer success, the worth won’t pan out from loyal customers. It is significant to consider the costs such as time money and many more of onboarding new clients, if you are a service based operation.

Impacting the Conversion Rates

It is not only important to drive traffic, but it is also important to generate this traffic into leads and ultimately sales. Eased along with customer service, adapting someone from consideration to commitment is a careful balancing act.

Extensive Real Estate Strategies for Medical Device Companies

All signs point to growth in the year ahead for the medical device companies. More medical device companies are turning to a new source of hidden value to give them an advantage of real estate, as competitive and pricing pressure is intensifying. To extract more value from real estate investments, we anticipate that leading medical device companies will increasingly examine their real estate portfolios with these three perspectives in mind listed below.

Improving Operational Efficiencies Is Imperative

Medical device companies are seeking ways to achieve efficiencies and gain access to new markets and innovations. Some medical device companies are recognizing that the real estate portfolio of the combined company should be a major priority with regard to value creation. Evaluating the real estate portfolio to identify the right places for consolidation must be done with care. Operational costs are only one of numerous factors to weigh.

A big concern for medical device companies right now is optimizing the inventory they have in the field and being able to move it around the country with ease to get as much product turned as possible with as little inventory in the field as possible. The surgical trays are expensive and can be costly to ship, so finding ways to transfer product or restock quickly without incurring significant shipping costs is an increasingly important factor in real estate decisions.

Medical device companies are using the strategy of outsourcing facility management, to become more agile and realize greater efficiencies from their real estate. But the practice of facility management operations is becoming increasingly common as medical device companies are becoming laser-focused on innovation. With deep experience in managing sensitive and complex production, today, several medical device companies are turning to seasoned facility management providers with complex production and R&D environments, as well as office workplaces.

Attracting Talent for Future Growth

There is a high demand in medical device companies for talent pool, which includes researchers, data scientists and engineers. To find them, they are setting up shop near the source. The medical device companies aren’t settling on one location, either. They are placing their bets across multiple markets. Big names are investing in small R&D labs inside several major markets while keeping other employees at less expensive properties. Being in the center of the action can have a significant influence not only on talent and innovation, but also on customer relationships.

Getting More Customer-centric

Real estate strategies are getting a fresh look because medical device companies are pushing to make their business models and innovations more customer-centric. In the race to get to market, being physically close to the customer can make a big difference. Last year in November, Johnson and Johnson’s Medical Device Companies (JJMDC) opened a Center for Device Innovation at Texas Medical Center in Houston. It facilitates collaboration between the JJMDC and a leading medical center. The Center for Device Innovation gives the medical center access to emerging medical technologies and gives JJMDC a place to rapidly prototype and test new developments.

The key for maximizing real estate investments is the tight alignment between the real estate strategy and corporate goals. A well-planned future strategy provides a strong foundation upon which your business can scale appropriately, build a strong customer base and secure the best talent.

IoT Changing the Face of Mobile App Development Realm

It is for the first time that controlling from a central device, individuals and companies can create an interconnected ecosystem of devices. Internet of Things (IoT) is spanning a variety of devices ranging from the wearables and fitness devices to household goods and utilities. Each having their own mobile app development ecosystems, large tech companies such as Apple, Google, and

Amazon serves as a base for third-party developer integration. In order to allow for their system to be used by a large number of people, the mobile app developer is then free to choose an ecosystem to integrate their hardware with or support all ecosystems in mobile app development.

Integrated Services

In mobile app development, the ecosystems in the large companies are based on prebuilt APIs, which allows the developer to integrate with the main central device and this has affected mobile app development. It has shifted the focus of developers from the need to focus on the features developed in an independent mobile app development to utilizing a service to integrate well with a voice assistant or central smart home application. As Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri have already gained popularity, for both control and effective access, the development of hardware like light fixtures and thermostats must be designed with voice assistant integration in mind.

Unified Ecosystem of Devices

In mobile app development industry, a number of appliance companies have already started to create smart appliances that connect to a central app and voice assistant. It provides a unified experience if each of these devices is able to connect with other devices in the mobile app development ecosystem. Many refrigerators have begun to ship with touch panels integrated on the doors. This can enable functionality of being able to display reminders and notes from a phone, display a recipe that you want to bake, or connect to your phone and, through built-in cameras, can show a live view of what’s inside for when a user is at the grocery store. That same company could design an oven that connects with the refrigerator via an internet connection. This will allow the user to maintain full control of the kitchen without being near the oven or fridge by communicating with a mobile device.

Connecting the Virtual World with the Physical

The integration between the software and hardware is an additional way IoT is changing the mobile app development landscape. Wearables and microcontrollers can be programmed and controlled through an application. Similar to what smartphones and tablets allow, the smartwatch industry also allows for third-party mobile app development. The user interface and application designs must be significantly different from applications developed for the phone or tablet due to the size of their displays and their location on the wrist.

The IoT technology is already changing the mobile app development strategy. IoT has made an integrated mobile app development ecosystem to control the devices around a user with third-party apps already serving as extensions to already existing frameworks. As the IoT market is young, there is still quite a lot of innovation yet to come.

Electric Vehicles – Driving Vehicle Businesses to Success Horizons

The growing environmental concern and the awareness towards a sustainable ecosystem have given rise to various innovations in favor of a promising and healthy environment. This has resulted in the revolutionary shift of interest from traditional petrol and diesel powered vehicles to electric and hybrid vehicles ensuring a sustainable future. Electric vehicles are being produced in an increasing fashion to promote the idea of environmentally friendly transport and spread the awareness of the need to take care of the ecosystem making it more energy efficient.

Tesla to grow its electric vehicle market

Specializing in electric vehicles, Tesla is all set to grow its market in order to promote and encourage use of electric vehicles. Along with China, Tesla also plans to grow their business with a manufacturing unit in Europe too. Advancing towards an energy efficient sustainable world, Tesla is constantly working towards building affordable and easily accessible vehicles for their customers. Their vision to develop clean energy-driven vehicles and sustainable transport has brought them this far and will soon drive them even further.

Tesla being one the biggest players in the electric vehicle market redefines how electric vehicles will soon take over the rest in the market.

This smart city in New York is ready to set an example

The Schenectady city of New York is working on the initiative of ‘Electric Vehicle Destination’ of driving electric vehicle growth in the city. They are also working on the idea of expanding the use of electric vehicles in the city, for which they plan to replace old traditional vehicles with plug-in electric hybrid vehicles.

Their efforts allow us to foresee the future of the vehicle businesses as they look forward to spreading awareness of the importance of using electric vehicles for transport in order to create an energy efficient environment in the city.

Future of transport

The increasing use of electric vehicles will mark the future of transport. The evolving smart cities and smart initiatives towards a promising future of transport are altogether linked with energy-efficient hybrid vehicles. Businesses are transforming globally in order to prepare for the depletion of petrol and diesel to ultimately shift the transport on energy-efficient vehicles. This approach will result in reducing production of gasoline vehicles and eventually decline it, marking the beginning of an era of smart transport. Having said that, there can be possible innovations in hybrid vehicles too.

With renewable energy being used to recharge electric vehicles and the incredible zero exhaust emission, electric vehicles will change how we commute. Electric vehicles, therefore, would result in driving the future of vehicle businesses around the globe.

Can Traditional Farming Get a Facelift with Robotic Technology?

Robotics is one of the many intelligent branches of engineering and science that outgrows the traditional machines which have the capabilities of duplicating actions of humans or simply substituting them in certain tasks. With the advancement of technology, robotics is growing rapidly with its successful application in domestic, commercial and military sectors. This potential technology has been utilized in various fields and with prolonged research being carried out, robotics will reach greater heights in the years to come.

One of the most important discoveries in the field of robotics would be the application of robotics in agricultural sector. With the introduction of robots for carrying out complex farming activities could help farmers work efficiently.

Farm robots provide greater efficiency

A recent trends stated the development of farm robots that were designed to work under the covering of the crop. These robots are designed in such a manner that they could research on the condition of the crops. Other uses could be weed control, efficient production and harvesting. They are also planning to develop universal climate-friendly robotic innovations.

With the enhancement in technology, the horizon of innovation keep rising and therefore, it becomes more possible to experiment with what robots could possibly do in the agricultural sector. One such promising innovation would be, the marriage of artificial intelligence and robotics to advance the ability of robots. Small robots or ‘farmbots’ could be used for precision farming and carry out tasks that could be hard to execute for farmers. These intelligent robots could be designed to predict actions that need to be taken to improve the health of the farm and the nutrition quality of crops as well as reduce labor costs.

New age developments are giving researchers the opportunities to think out of the box and develop robotic vehicles for farming, which can be used to sense the data of crops and robotic motors to perform certain activities in the farm. Robotics in agricultural sectors would give rise to automated farms that would be well equipped to perform almost all the significant functions in the farm with timely inspection by the farmers.

Robots bring accuracy, perfection, efficiency and consistency to the farms, which may not be possible by humans all at the same time. The way robots are being designed for farming, will have advancements with respect to the requirements and technical capabilities. This is why the application of robots in farms is an essential approach to revolutionize farming and welcome technological transformations for one the most important and vast sectors round the globe.

Leveraging Big Data to Improve Healthcare

The advancement of concepts like big data are not new to the world of digitization. The importance and application of data analytics to break down complex tasks has been the researcher’s prime goal. It is no surprise that big data has now rooted its presence even in the healthcare sector. With the growing complexities, healthcare has evolved in terms of the facilities provided to the patients as well as the various possibilities of improving intensive care.

With the growing need to be able to ensure quicker treatments and enhanced therapies to heal patients, various steps are being taken. With the implementation of predictive analytics, complex data processing of biomedical data can simplify the process of treating patients.

What the data scientists and clinicians have to say?

Modern day data scientist and clinicians talk about the importance of big data in health and intensive care. Next-generation big data -enabled electronic systems that record medical data in ICUs and the entire hospital help the clinicians on proving better patient care and also assist in decision making for their treatment. These systems allow development of machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms that simplify tasks for medical professionals.

Countries such as Australia and Singapore have adapted to this advancement by implementing use of such clinical big data systems in their intensive care units. Health care units are now more advanced and developed with the installation of these data systems.

Big data for cancer care

Doctors have always wished for an intelligent data-system that could integrate the patient data and help comprehend predictive decision making to treat the cancer patients. Recent trends saw the grant received by University of Cambridge for addressing this problem. Their aim is to implement the concepts of machine learning and artificial intelligence into a system that would be capable of transforming the insights received from cancer patient data into approaches that help in clinical decision making. This revolutionary idea would simplify the process of treatment with the help of predictive analytics, help doctors to solve complex cases in the future by studying each patient thoroughly with the help of iterative analysis and enhance healthcare.

How big data can cater to ICU complexities?

The intensive care units are responsible for providing accurate, timely, precise and specialized treatments to the patients suffering from life threatening illnesses. However, doctors are often entangled in the complex strings of biomedical data that is generated by the equipment.  Therefore, with the rightly implementation of big data analytics, achieving an integrated setup of the entire data in a comprehensive manner will add into the accuracy and efficiency of medical procedures.

By combining the intelligence of medical expertise and efficiency and the big data analytics technology, medical professionals can achieve considerable improved outcomes that could help provide better treatments for patients.

Accelerating Cash Movements from Clients through ‘Invoice Discounting’

Invoice Discounting, to simplify, is a practice of using company’s due accounts received as collateral for loan purpose. We can consider this unpaid amount to be distributed by a finance company. This mode known as invoice discounting is a very short-term approach of borrowing because the finance company can change the value of debt unsettled. The debt amount given by the finance company is low than the amount of outstanding receivables.

Invoice discounting is a method which essentially speeds up cash movement from clients and there is no need to wait for the clients, to pay within their credit terms. The cash is obtained instantly when the invoice is issued. Due to credit crisis, invoice discounting is a main source of working capital finance as the limit of bank financing. Relying on the invoice security from the debtor, invoice finance is more attractive to a bank. As invoice discounting allow businesses to recover cash flow, recompense employees and suppliers, plus reinvest in processes, we can also refer invoice discounting as an approach for business to borrow money based on sums.

So What’s the Difference between Invoice Discounting and Invoice Factoring?

The financial facilities, Invoice Discounting and Invoice Factoring has the capability to release the capitals in your unpaid invoices. Invoice discounting is taken into account by larger and more reputable firms and on the other hand, small businesses and small firms apply invoice factoring.

With Invoice Factoring, supposing the responsibility of managing the sales ledger, other responsibilities of the provider are credit control as well as chasing customers for their invoices settlement.

With using Invoice Discounting, your business holds control of its personal sales ledger and a normal payment method is followed.

Another difference between invoice discounting and invoice factoring is in the range of confidentiality. Through factoring, the invoices of the customers are directly resolved by the Factoring Company. While through Invoice Discounting, customers still identify that a third party is engaged in this.

Is Invoice Discounting Superior?

Choosing the appropriate method whether to go for Invoice Factoring or an Invoice Discounting totally depends upon the business size and also on your sales ledger management capitals.

The benefit of invoice discounting is that it licenses a financer to run business without funds, which is no different procedure than bank overdraft. In invoice discounting, the interest amount is paid by the debtor only on the sum of money used. As there is a tough competition prevailing in the market to range such credit, therefore, there are numerous different products to fulfill the requirements of the client. If you want your own business to contract with debt, then also invoice discounting can be used.

  • The service managed is confidential and you remain in interaction with your customers with them unaware of the capital agreement.
  • A large number of human resources are succeeded by Invoice Discounting.

Innovations in Hospital Information Systems to Enhance Quality of Healthcare Delivery & Patient Experience

The healthcare system has come a long way over the decades, and is continually evolving to consistently improve the quality of healthcare delivery. Hospital information system has been an impactful technological breakthrough, enabling effective patient records maintenance and efficient patient data management – to aid healthcare professionals in delivering a higher level of experience to patients. With the growing adoption of information systems by hospitals and other healthcare entities, the industry has been witnessing visible transformation in their inventory functionality, in addition to an improved administration system.

As hospital information systems contain all the minor and critical data related to patients, the utilization of these systems can potentially help healthcare professionals provide customized treatments. While this still remains a relatively less untapped area, it certainly has the capability to assist medical professionals with quick and hassle-free information access.

Mubadala Healthpoint is keeping up with the cutting edge Hospital Information Systems

In collaboration with Cerner, Mubadala Healthpoint has recently upgraded to the latest version of Hospital Information Systems. The simplicity and reliability with which this hospital information system has been designed are expected to act as the help desk for patients to help them understand the entire treatment process. The hospital association would be able to keep consistent records helping them access the right information at the right time, and eventually deciding the correct line of treatment. With this new advancement in their system, Mubadala Healthpoint aspires to achieve greater standards of providing excellent healthcare to their patients.

Advanced Cardiac Centres at PGIMER to deploy information systems for Anesthesia

The deployment of Anesthesia Information Management System (AIMS) that would be linked to the existing hospital information system of the PGIMER operation theatres, is another innovation on the hospital information systems space. While this innovation is intended to aggregate patient data from the equipment used during surgeries, it will allow real-time visualization of the patient data even from distant locations. Such a system is efficiently performs data analysis and predictive analysis for decision making with respect to the safety of patients.

The widespread application of information technology in other fields is seeing its traces in the healthcare sector as well. With an efficient and up-to-date hospital information system, providing better treatments and healthcare has become relatively more feasible for hospitals and other facilities. This approach helps not only to treat hospitalized patients well but also to assist patients once they discharge. Hospital information systems have therefore, triggered the power of technology into the healthcare sector.

Connected Technology Drives Efficient Energy Management in Households

With the technological advent, mankind is surrounded by various devices that could simplify the routine lifestyle and perform regular tasks at an improved speed, and with high accuracy – when compared to manual performance. Connected homes or smart homes is one such intelligent technological innovation that modernizes homes into a connected system that can be controlled and monitored dynamically. Having said that, the addition of connected homes to the list of impactful technologies discovered in recent decades, has given life a whole new dimension.

Connected homes are playing a vital role in the growing implementation of the smart city concept worldwide. The idea of connected homes is the perfect combination of advanced communication and home area networks, facilitating a series of critically important tasks in households with the help of relevant data. Right from high level monitoring and tracking of electricity usage and overall energy consumption, to allowing complete control over connected appliances, the connected homes technology is transforming the way households have been working over the years.

Voice-control enabled connected homes – An initiative towards efficient energy management

A value-based smart home brand, Jeeo, easing its way towards designing energy efficient homes, recently announced its first step in the smart and connected homes realm – with voice-control enabled devices such as smart light bulbs. The company’s Wi-Fi LED light bulbs can be directly connected to a home Wi-Fi network, offering brightness and scheduling control through their mobile app. The color lamps come with special recurring features, which enable the lamps to adjust the intensity of light and temperature accordingly. Similar features are likely to regulate the energy consumption patterns within households, eventually extending support to a sustainable lifestyle.

Optimum energy usage is the ultimate objective

With the growing use of electronics and Internet enabled devices, there is tremendous amount of energy consumption, which needs to be managed efficiently so as to support a few more devices as well. The connected homes technology facilitates this through controlling the energy usage either from home or remotely. From smart thermostats that regulate indoor temperature according to external weather conditions, to smart controllers that switch off the lights of unoccupied rooms, this technology holds the potential to take the control of everything inside the futuristic homes. Optimal management of energy consumption has been one of most sought after research areas over the past few decades, which is evidently gaining momentum with the connected homes technology.