4 Tech Gadgets That Will Help Your Business

Web admin on January 28, 2022

It’s no secret that there are many different types of tech gadgets that can help make things more convenient for you, both at home and at work. But if you are a business owner or manager, staying on top of advancements in technology is especially important because you might be able to try out new gadgets that will exponentially improve the way you run your business, helping you to keep costs down and increase sales and productivity. Here are 4 tech gadgets that will help your business.

Security Cameras

Security cameras may sound like nothing new, but there have been lots of advancements made and there are many brand new models available. Doorbell cameras have become quite popular for homeowners and business owners alike, and with good reason. They are available at a very low price point and offer incredible features and high-quality footage to help keep your mind at ease.

Do your research to decide which model of camera may be best for you, and keep your business safe by investing in one or more security cameras so that you can prevent theft or vandalism as well as avoid any threats to yourself or your staff.

Hiring Apps

Less of a gadget and more of just a general perk of advancements in technology, hiring apps are great for business owners in so many different capacities. You can use them to find new clients, hire staff, and even hire a cleaner to help keep your business clean and tidy.

Tracking Devices

Tracking devices are great for everyone because they help prevent losing all sorts of items from wallets to phones, keys, and even cars. Naturally, they are also very helpful when it comes to owning a business because you won’t have to worry about losing track of anything important ever again.

One of the best things about these tracking devices is that they are super affordable and very easy to attach and install using your smartphone. Pick one up for anything at your business that you can’t risk losing or having to replace.

Tablets

Tablets are another gadget out there that can help streamline your business in so many different ways. Depending on what you need it for, you may choose to invest in just one or several different tablets. They can be used for running credit cards, placing orders, playing music, keeping track of spreadsheets, and so many other things – all in a much smaller and portable package than a computer.

You may think your business is doing great, but there are always things that can be improved so that you continue to be the best at what you do. Hopefully the gadgets on this list can help you on that journey!

Jurgen Cautreels Shares Outdated Marketing Practices You Need to Avoid

Chris Turn on December 21, 2021

Marketing is complex and is always evolving. People’s habits and behaviors change with time.

Since the goal of marketing involves persuading people to make a decision in your favor, a good marketer must be aware of these changes. Also, new marketing innovations are being created on a regular basis and if a marketer is to be successful, he must be aware of these new innovations.

Since marketing is an age-long practice, different methods have been used by marketers in the past. Any marketing practice that doesn’t bring good results, might be damaging your brand and should be done away with.

In this article, renowned investor, marketer and NFT expert, Jurgen Cautreels highlights some outdated practices that people trying to sell in today’s market should avoid.

Non-Targeted Direct Mass Mailing

The idea behind mass mailing is to send to as many as possible, with the belief that not all, but some of the mails would convert. In today’s market, this does not work anymore. With the number of businesses making targeted adverts, a general advert is likely to be disregarded. Most often, they turn out to as spams.

Instead of this, you should send mails only to members of your target audience. To take it a step further, where you can, streamline your mailing list across different customer types; then send messages accordingly to the different categories.

Using social media only for promotion

Although the goal of your business is to make sales, your social media accounts shouldn’t be only for promotion. Where your account interacts and enlightens its followers, your content would reach a larger audience. Whereas if your account is only about your business’ sales, it would not perform adequately for your business.

In today’s world, social media has a huge impact on how a business succeeds. Your account should be managed to garner large followership and reach a wide audience.

Blogging without promoting

Your blog is where your customers get to know the most about you. If you’re blogging and people are not being directed to your blog, you’re losing. Direct links from your blog to your social media channels in whatever way you can. 

Also, always make sure your audience is very aware of your blog posts. If you can get people to keep coming to read new updates about your business on your blog, you’re establishing a bond with them.

Using intuition and not facts

Data is available now more than it has ever been before. A good marketer would not assume, he would get his facts and statistics right. I’ve seen many people make mistakes in their marketing because they made wrong assumptions.

If you’re marketing goods or services, there’s no need to stick to old methods that do not produce results anymore. Learn to use new technologies to market your goods for the best conversion results. A while ago, way early marketing career, I learned about non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Years ago, many people were hesitant with the technology but today, NFTs are being considered as the future. And I’m glad that I was able to invest in it early.

Jack Plotkin, Former Goldman Sachs Banker, on Cryptocurrency Investing

Article Editor on August 24, 2020

With all the media focus on the stock market and its remarkable upward trajectory, it is easy to miss the reemergence or cryptocurrencies. Even during its 2017 peak, many established investors dismissed Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as nothing more than a speculative bubble. The euphoria indeed subsided in 2018, with Bitcoin’s price dropping six-fold. However, cryptocurrencies have been surging again recently and Jack Plotkin explains why.

Jack Plotkin has more than a decade of experience as a Goldman Sachs investment banker and financial strategist and has been following the markets for twice as long. He is considered an authority on financial markets. “The crypto inflows are not surprising,” says Jack Plotkin. “Stocks have come untethered from gravity while bonds are offering extremely low yields. In this unpredictable environment, investors are hungry for alternative asset classes.”

“Unlike traditional currencies, crypto does not have a physical form,” explains Jack Plotkin. “You can’t pull Bitcoin bills out of an ATM. It is also not issued by a government but rather created by an algorithm. That makes it something of a hedge against inflation because a government can’t just decide to print a billion more Bitcoins and dilute all existing owners.”

What is cryptocurrency?

The concept of cryptocurrency was first conceived by American cryptographer David Chaum in 1983 and the first implementation was DigiCash in 1995. Bitcoin did not come until more than 15 years later in 2009. What made Bitcoin so powerful is that it was based on a system known as blockchain that makes counterfeiting largely impossible. Blockchain assures the validity of each unit of cryptocurrency by using encryption that is based on each preceding block, which makes it impossible to insert a fake unit of cryptocurrency as it would invalidate the algorithm.

“Crypto has introduced some groundbreaking concepts into the mainstream,” notes Jack Plotkin. “Blockchains, digital wallets, crypto mining. Many people have heard of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Libra, but there are actually more than 5,000 different cryptocurrencies out in the market right now.”

Cryptocurrencies have met with a great deal of skepticism since Bitcoin’s debut in 2009. They have been described as “pyramid schemes”, derided for the use in black markets, and characterized as an economic bubble. Several of the world’s most respected investors and economists, including Warren Buffett, George Soros, Alan Greenspan, Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, and Robert Shiller have publicly spoken against the risks of cryptocurrencies. 

“With the Federal Reserve printing money like it’s going out of style to buoy the economy, investors have to be legitimately concerned about the specter of inflation,” says Jack Plotkin. “When I was at Goldman Sachs, we closely followed the Fed’s actions in the aftermath of the dot com bust and during the subprime mortgage crisis. But their quantitative easing program back then was far less than the current pump being applied to the monetary supply and the markets.”

Historically, when governments have printed more money, they caused the money to become less valuable. The direct impact was an increase in prices, meaning each unit of currency had less purchasing power. In economic terms, this is referred to as inflation. Usually, inflation in the United States is slow and grows at around 2% per year. However, when the government floods the market with an oversupply of dollars, inflation can increase at a much faster pace, as occurred in the 1970s.

“How do you protect your hard-earned dollars against inflation?” asks Jack Plotkin. “You invest in things that maintain their value, like gold. Given that Bitcoin cannot be artificially inflated, some investors are thinking of it as a sort of digital gold.”

Getting started

Jack Plotkin points out that there are several ways of gaining exposure to cryptocurrency. “There are a lot of exchanges where you can buy crypto directly and many digital wallet services that let you store and spend that crypto outside the exchange,” he says. “You can also invest in crypto mining companies or buy exchange-traded funds that invest in crypto. However, this is not a risk-free investment. Because cryptos are not backed by a government authority or supported by underlying asset values, they are only as valuable as the market deems them to be. Compared to major currencies, they are still very new. This makes them highly volatile. For these reasons, cryptocurrencies should only be considered in the context of a diversified portfolio.”

Because cryptocurrencies only exist in digital form, investors are also exposed to risk related to computing reliability and security. Since the emergence of Bitcoin, large sums of cryptocurrency have been lost due to storage failures, hacking attacks, and misplacement of digital keys. 

Despite its risks, the prevalence and usage of cryptocurrencies have grown over time. Beyond offering a value store, cryptocurrencies also make it easy to transfer funds without requiring the use of traditional banking institutions. “As long as there is demand for crypto, there is going to be an investment market,” Jack Plotkin says. “With regard to whether that market is appropriate for any given investor, it comes down to their sophistication and risk tolerance. My final advice? Tread carefully. Ease into this market, stick to well-known names like Bitcoin, and carefully calibrate the extent of your commitment.”

With Help from Technology, Freight Hub Group Streamlines Offerings

Article Editor on May 21, 2020

Like many parts of the economy, the field of third-party logistics has undergone significant changes in recent history. One of the key drivers of these changes has been technology and the ways in which it can allow customers unprecedented access to information and customization. To explain the impact this is having in greater detail, we turned to the case of Freight Hub Group. Founded by CEO Luis Lopez, the South Florida company is a great example of how the industry’s leaders are changing the scope of how we ship and store goods locally and nationwide.

About the founder

To better understand Freight Hub Group as a company, it is first useful to understand the story of Luis Lopez, the mind behind its operations. The CEO was first introduced to the logistics industry through an unlikely avenue — his passion for golf. While playing the sport in high school, he crossed paths with some of the notable people operating in Miami’s logistics industry at that time. From those contacts, he landed a job in the field and promptly began a self-motivated education that introduced him to some of the fundamental concepts of the work.

That education touched on a range of items, such as storage techniques and shipment requirements, however, one of the main areas that caught the eye of the future entrepreneur was the way in which the shipment of hazardous materials was handled. Even at that early age, he recognized that there was an opportunity to be found in making this process work better for customers. Years later, when he went into business for himself, the first company he founded focused on making the shipment and storage of hazardous materials more accessible to customers. One of the ways in which he accomplished this was to offer same-day pick-up, bringing a flexibility to his work that remains a calling card of his businesses to this day.

Company principles

That spirit of customer-centric service eventually led the entrepreneur to found Freight Hub Group. The company was conceived of to offer a full range of third-party logistics services to customers around the Miami area. This not only includes previous focuses like the pick-up, storage, and delivery of hazardous materials but also works to provide advanced shipping and storage solutions for a range of goods.

This breadth of service offerings is largely accomplished through the large-scale adoption of technologies designed to improve business effectiveness and empower customers in a variety of fashions. When it comes to storage, this use of technology manifests through fully-equipped storage yards that can accommodate a wide range of goods for varying lengths of time. State-of-the-art tools are available for oversized loads in order to improve the company’s ability to handle shipments of unique weights and sizes. A full contingent of security equipment operates 24/7 to protect goods and provide customers with peace of mind. Together with extensive indoor and outdoor space, these pieces of technology offer a complete suite of storage options for customers of many different needs.

TruckHub Service

One of the standout pieces of technology that has helped Freight Hub Group define itself as a notable company in its field is its proprietary logistics management platform. This software was created under the direction of Luis Lopez after testing out existing products to see what he could use to improve his customers’ experiences. Though he tested plenty of applications during that search, he was unable to find one that met the long line of features he wanted to provide to his customers. Rather than settle for less, he decided to create his own software.

That software would eventually develop into what is now known as TruckHub and has become a cornerstone for the company’s shipping operations. The all-in-one transportation management system allows dispatchers, shippers, and drivers to seamlessly connect and provides customers with up-to-date information on the status of their deliveries. The easy to use platform features GPS live tracking, user-friendly dashboards, on-board communication, access to analytics, and more. The flexibility offered by the platform speaks to the very core of the company’s goals, which has long-pursued the ability to offer its services to customers on-demand to better meet their changing needs.

Subdivisions

To help organize the company’s vast array of services, it has subdivided its operations into four main components — Dray Hub, WHSE Hub, FTL Hub, and LTL Hub. Together, these subdivisions allow the company to better concentrate its resources on the specific needs of individual customers, while still offering a range of flexible options under one umbrella. This approach again uses the power of technology, via web-based individualized quotes, to provide customers with the ability to best meet their own needs.

The company’s storage subdivisions focus on drayage and warehousing to ensure that goods are properly cared for. Based near both the Port of Miami and Port Everglades, the company offers easy and flexible options to accommodate a large number of drayage needs. Warehousing options provide short-term and long-term solutions that can also accommodate goods requiring special attention such as liquor, pharmaceuticals, and hazardous materials. Delivery options are similarly diverse and include a wide range of trailer sizes to provide the most efficient deliveries possible. Refrigerated trailers and specially licensed drivers again allow the company to accommodate a variety of goods including perishables, liquor, and certain chemicals.

While the logistics industry has long been a necessary fixture of the world’s economy, it has undergone a number of significant changes in recent years to better account for the changing face of technology. These technological shifts have shown up in a variety of areas such as shipment capacity, warehouse security, and more flexible pick-up and delivery abilities. The above overview of Freight Hub Group, under the leadership of Luis Lopez, helps to show this shift in action. This is perhaps best exemplified by the ways in which the company’s TruckHub software empowers customers and connects delivery personnel to each other. To learn more about this still-changing field, look to the company for more information about its ongoing technological initiatives.

How Shasta Ventures Helps Encourage Tech Innovation

Article Editor on March 30, 2020

Venture capital firms have provided the fuel behind the modern technological explosion. The backing of these firms can grant a host of benefits to entrepreneurs, including funding, go-to-market support, institutional experience, and more. But not all of these firms are created equal. To get a sense of how a prominent firm can truly encourage innovation and the development of new ideas in tech, we turned to the case of Shasta Ventures, a prominent venture capital firm based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Company background

Shasta Ventures, founded in 2004, is one of the leading early-stage venture capital firms working in tech today. Under the guidance of Managing Directors Jason Pressman and Ravi Mohan, Shasta has worked with more than 100 startups focusing on enterprise software and technologies. Mohan, one of the firm’s co-founders, has a keen interest in SaaS applications, data and analytics, and infrastructure, and has served as a key advisor many of the entrepreneurs that the firm supports. 

In his role as the firm’s other Managing Director, Pressman draws upon his professional operational experience. Known as a company builder, he made his mark as the leader in charge of launching Walmart.com in 2000 and selling it back to the company five years later. Today, it is one of the largest online retail businesses. That experience helped develop his understanding of the work required to scale fast-growing businesses while improving operations through the use of software. In his present role, he often acts as an advocate and counselor to entrepreneurs who are seeking to grow their businesses at scale.

Policy of support

Through the influence of its leadership team, the company is known in the tech community for its strong partnerships with entrepreneurs. Their business style is evident in the small number of companies the firm partners with each year — typically about ten — and allows the firm’s partners to give each entrepreneur a level of attention that is most conducive to a favorable outlook. The approach prioritizes patience, grit and long-term success, empowering entrepreneurs to grow their companies at a rate that makes organic sense.

In the pursuit of these partnerships, the venture capital firm seeks out entrepreneurs who are brilliant and driven by what they do. An entrepreneur’s track record of strong iteration is a priority. Shasta Ventures believes that driven professionals who are pragmatic and able to iterate are best at adapting to the demands and realities of ever-changing markets and customer needs. This is of paramount importance in a world where the realities of daily life are continually shifting and businesses are on constant alert for the ways in which they must adapt.

Portfolio examples 

To better understand the work of Shasta Ventures, which focuses on enterprise software, let’s take a look at two notable companies in its portfolio. The first brand we’ll highlight is AppSheet, which has made headlines of late for its recent acquisition by Google. The startup, founded in 2014, helps businesses build data-based apps without the need for large development teams. The company already serves thousands of customers including Solvay, American Electric Power, and Boom Technology. To date, companies have used the service for a range of needs including inventory management and customer relationship management. Its broad existing customer base includes companies in fields such as manufacturing, scientific research, and construction.

Another standout from the company’s portfolio is Zuora, which offers software that helps any company create a cloud-based subscription business. The platform offers a number of SaaS applications to help companies manage different aspects of their recurring revenue streams, including billing, quotes, and orders. The Zuora Marketplace offers companies a chance to browse prebuilt apps configured to be of use for a number of needs specific to role, industry, and geography. With a majority of consumers in many parts of the world demanding new consumption models based on the subscription economy, the need for the types of services offered by Zuora has never been greater, a recurring theme of the companies reflected in the venture capital firm’s portfolio.

Power of products

The two examples above form only a piece of the firm’s experience and expertise but help to illustrate a key part of what motivates the team. With the state of the economy ever-evolving to keep pace with consumer needs and desires, new approaches to business are of consistent importance. This deep understanding of the fabric of modern society is a driving force for the company’s passion to seek out entrepreneurs creating the next wave of powerful tech innovation in the workplace. This commitment to development not only helps support entrepreneurs in bringing their unique ideas to market, but it also helps contribute to the vibrancy of the economy and its ability to act as a force for positive change.

That concept has helped technology alter much about life in the modern world and the way that change is delivered to the everyday person in the workplace. This high bar is not just an aspiration, it also helps to serve as a metric for evaluating startups and their creations. To determine whether a product truly meets its standard for excellence, the firm looks to a few key factors. Can the product serve a single purpose exceptionally well, create an outstanding user experience, and have a lasting impact? Potential products that demonstrate these characteristics are candidates for the company’s exclusive portfolio and are poised to help contribute to its extensive legacy.

By looking to the above overview, one can begin to understand the traits that help set Shasta Ventures apart from its competitors in the field of tech and elsewhere. From the experience and passion of its leadership team to the relentless search for products that can improve our everyday quality of work-life, Shasta is willing to work hard to promote excellence. In light of past successes, and with many of its exciting startups already making breakthroughs, those interested in software innovation would do well to monitor the firm’s moves as it develops into the future.

How TAMKO Focuses on Family and Community

Article Editor on January 17, 2020

The building supply company TAMKO has long garnered attention for its products and services. With a long history of producing quality roofing shingles, the company has been a resource for contractors and building professionals for years. However, in addition to its success in business pursuits, the company has built a name for itself through its focus on family and giving back to the community. To better acquaint readers with this multifaceted organization, we dove into TAMKO’s history and values. Read on to see how the company stands out from others in the field.

From Past to Present

TAMKO was founded in 1944 by E.L. Craig. At the start, the company had a single manufacturing location in Joplin, Missouri, that focused on the production of asphalt shingles. Since that time, it has expanded into a nationwide manufacturer with locations spanning the entire country. This expansion has coincided with an increase in the range of products manufactured by the company, which now includes roofing accessories, waterproofing supplies, and more. This growth has been part of an ongoing effort to build upon the company’s offerings to best meet the needs of industry professionals.

That effort has partly been the result of a push beginning in the 1980s, when the company formally launched its first continuous improvement program. The program was based on the work of Dr. W. Edwards Deming, a statistician famous for helping rebuild the Japanese industrial economy after WWII. The work with Deming’s theories allowed the company to develop a greater degree of efficiency, removing waste and other undesirable byproducts of manufacturing processes. This work not only helped the company better serve its customers, but it also supported its core values of honesty, integrity, and compliance.

Family Connections

One of the manifestations of the company’s focus on strong values is its ongoing status as a family-led organization. When E.L. Craig founded the company at the age of 69, he’d already had a vast degree of experience running companies in many different fields. When it came time to transition the leadership of the company, Craig opted to keep the business in his family and hand the reins over to his wife, Mary Ethel Craig. In addition to serving as a capable head of the company, Mary Ethel’s tenure also established a tradition of family leadership that has continued to this day.E.L. and Mary Ethel Craig’s grandson, David Humphreys, now serves as the president and CEO of the organization. In that role, Humphreys continues the tradition of relying on a culture of strong values to improve the work that TAMKO does. These values help the company hire and develop thousands of committed and hardworking professionals at its locations across the country. This focus comes alongside the CEO’s desire to use the resources at his disposal to benefit the communities where the company operates. One of his primary pursuits in this area is making educational opportunities available to young people.

Community Outreach

One example of how TAMKO’s leadership supports education is through annual grants to public and private schools in the Joplin-area, as well as supporting many academic teams and their activities. TAMKO also sponsors the area’s annual spelling bee through its support of Newspapers In Education. And the company stepped up to support its local public school district by donating $500,000 and inspiring another $250,000 gift towards rebuilding, after the company’s hometown was hit by an EF-5 tornado in 2011 and many of its school buildings were damaged or destroyed.

The company’s focus on giving back to the community extends beyond education and touches many other aspects of life in Joplin and beyond. One area that the company prioritizes is athletics, maintaining a firm belief that engagement in sports builds character early in life. This work goes all the way back to 1947, when the company sponsored the “TAMKO Roofers” basketball team as part of the YMCA Open League. Not only was the team successful, but it also got the opportunity to play against the Harlem Globetrotters. To this day, the company continues to sponsor teams across a number of different sports and places particular emphasis on supporting young women in their athletic pursuits.

Employee Culture

TAMKO also prides itself on supporting employees in their lives both inside and outside of work. Not only is the company known for providing well-paying jobs with an excellent array of benefits, but it has also put in place numerous professional development programs to help employees realize their full potential. These efforts all serve to underscore the family-oriented culture at the company, with employees being valued as contributing members of a larger team.

The company also places emphasis on honoring military veterans and hiring them whenever possible. These efforts stem from a deep recognition of the character and skills that veterans possess and has led to 15 percent of the company’s nationwide workforce being made up of those who have served in the armed forces. The company also seeks to support veterans through charitable initiatives of its own, such as a program to help transport wounded veterans for treatment via the use of corporate jets. The company also supports a number of veteran-related initiatives such as races, honor ceremonies, and philanthropic drives.

While TAMKO is widely known for the quality of its building supplies – especially its extensive line of roofing shingles and related products – it has also distinguished itself over its long history for a variety of other initiatives. The company’s focus on family values and leadership has seen it remain a family-led operation since it was founded in 1944. It has extended this focus on values to the work that it does in its community and in supporting veterans throughout the country. By understanding how the company works to go beyond its goals in business, it becomes increasingly apparent how it hasmaintained its high level of success for so many years.

Work of Jonathan Cornelissen Shows Impact of Education

Article Editor on January 2, 2020

Education is a key part of what makes any economy function. As the population grows, jobs become increasingly specialized, requiring new and unique kinds of training to maximize effectiveness. One area in which this has become especially relevant is in the field of data science. To further explore this topic, we looked to the work of Jonathan Cornelissen, who has dedicated a large portion of his life to helping improve educational resources in the field. Read on for a look at this work and how these types of educational efforts fuel the modern workforce.

Company Creation

Much of the work of Cornelissen stems from his efforts to create DataCamp, an online resource aimed at educating people on issues related to data science, such as specific programming languages. The founder came up with the idea when he was pursuing his doctorate in econometrics. During that time, he was required to learn the programming language R, which he found difficult. Once he was teaching courses of his own, he saw that his students had similar difficulties with the programming language, so he sought out additional resources to make it easier for them to engage in their studies.

To his surprise, there weren’t any effective and engaging tools at the time for students looking to increase their understanding in this area. For that reason, the data scientist decided to build just such a tool that could help students grasp some of the more difficult aspects of the field. After developing the prototype with a small team, he partnered with existing educational platforms, such as those offered by universities, to provide access to the software. The results were immediate and encouraging, as students found the tools useful for furthering their abilities. Since that small beginning, the company has expanded to assist millions of additional students.

Education and Opportunity

The ability to build on one’s existing skill set, such as through the company’s offerings, provides learners with increased access to opportunity. This is one of the clearest ways that education can improve quality of life, since that opportunity can improve one’s job satisfaction, earnings, and general happiness in a work environment. When these aspects of a person’s professional life are maximized, they tend to perform better and make more impactful contributions.

These benefits have effects outside the workplace as well, with plenty of studies pointing to the profound effects that our experiences in employment can have on other aspects of our lives. One way that this manifests is through our social interactions. Many studies have drawn a connection between a person’s general happiness and their willingness to engage in social activities. Since education can increase a person’s happiness through professional opportunity, it also has an effect on a person’s ability to engage socially and connect to friends. This principle extends to all other areas of life as well, such as satisfaction with family and romantic partners. The ways that education improves one’s happiness at work can have sizable impacts on nearly every aspect of life.

Data Science

The educational work by the company founder is especially impactful when you consider the ways that the field of data science is expanding to touch many areas of modern life. This is evident in the nomenclature that we use to describe this period in history. While the recent past has been dubbed by many as the “Information Age,” many have taken to labeling the present period as the “Data Age.” This can be attributed to the many ways that data availability has increased starkly with the continued maturation of the internet and related technologies.

As a result of this increase in data availability, businesses and other organizations can now focus on data science in a manner that was never before possible. New data collection and analysis methods are illuminating paths toward increased efficiency and even entirely new methods of operation. While these changes are fueled by the general increase in data availability, they are equally driven by the ability of employees to work with the data at hand. In other words, without educational efforts to increase data literacy, the effect of new data flowing into organizations would be severely limited.

Expanding Effect

Due to the widespread need for data fluency, the data scientist’s company has seen its reach grow steadily over the years since its inception. This stands as a testament to the priority that people are placing on data and the need for individuals to fill more and more roles in the field. While the early days of the company saw it partnering with educational institutions based on the strength of its initial prototype, its current work is largely based on its independent platform that draws learners from all walks of life.

These students sign up with the company to learn basic data concepts and programming languages related to statistics and data analysis. With these tools, they can go back into the workforce and increase their ability to contribute to their organization’s goals. With that in mind, the company’s effect on the greater workforce has been expanding precipitously over the years. Now, as one of the go-to organizations for those seeking to improve data fluency, it contributes a sizable amount of talent and expertise to the overall economy.

From the above analysis, it’s clear that education is intricately connected to the viability of any economy. Without the ability for individuals to learn new skills, the potential for an economy to grow and change is extremely limited. This is relevant to the work of Cornelissen, as the economy once again makes a profound shift in focus. With the emergence of advanced data collection and analysis techniques, the work that the data scientist has done in creating new learning methods in the field is invaluable. For those interested in data science or the effect that a singular idea can have on others, the founder’s work makes for an interesting area of study.

Africa’s energy resources have the ability to create sources of economic growth. Creating beneficial deals have been difficult, until now.

Bree on November 27, 2019

Business deals with energy companies, associations, and beneficial investments are the wisest strategies to promote sustainability in global economies. Africa has begun to utilize their developmental resources.

The International Energy Agency (IEA)states that with the growing appetite for modern and efficient energy sources, Africa emerges as a major force in global oil and gas markets. In the natural gas markets, Africa is projected to see a substantial growth as it becomes one of the largest sources for global gas.  IEA Executive Director, Dr Fatih Birol gives her take on the importance of Africa’s energy.

 “How Africa meets the energy needs of a fast-growing and increasingly urban population is crucial for its economic and energy future – and the world.”

The commentary by Dr Faith Birol addresses the promising view of Africa’s resources and how they are valuable and substantial to Africa’s growth, as well as global economies.

Buy on Amazon

NJ Ayuk, the author of Billions at Play: The Future of African Energy and Doing Deals states that Africa has been an oil-market force for decades. In Africa, the oil and gas sector in Algeria is said to be the main foundation for the economy, it represents 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), and a sum of 85 percent in exports. Angola produces 50 per cent of the nation’s gross domestic product and around 89 per cent of exports from oil and related functions. Congo is a net exporter and producer of crude oil. 10 percent of (GDP) gross domestic product from Nigeria comes from the oil and gas market. Exports of petroleum produces an estimated 86 per cent of total exported revenue.

Presently, the largest refinery is located in Nigeria. Analysts predict that by 2022—650, 000 barrels of crude oil should be produced by the day. The refinery has created thousands of jobs, with hundreds of technicians and engineers from Nigeria studying in different countries on how to manage it.

More oil and gas representatives have come forth but oil and gas lawyer, NJ Ayuk remembers the need for African representatives early on in his career.

“Africans were not part of any kind of deal-making structure: When negotiations involving foreign investors’ oil and gas exploration, production, and revenue-sharing took place, Africans were not at the table—or even in the room.”

But now, as news spreads about Africa’s impact on the oil and gas sectors, African oil and gas representatives and investors may finally begin to make better deals. Africa Oil Week has reported Africa’s deals with oil investments, and billions of dollars will be invested towards the development of continental hydrocarbons. Five specific regions that are located in Nigeria, Mozambique, Egypt, Mauritania, and Equatorial Guinea have been named the hot spots in oil and gas development and investment. BP, Noble Energy and other oil and gas companies from around the world have expressed an interest in the natural resource hot spots located in Africa.

How Technology Can Cut School Costs

Jen Lambert on August 13, 2018

The role of education in life is changing at all levels with continuing education keeping individuals in school throughout most of their lives. As the educational environment evolves, the reliance on technology is growing at a fast rate with schools and students hoping to keep costs low by increasing the level of technology used. Across the world, government cuts to educational programs are changing the way we look at the traditional school day. D2L reports school-age students in Germany are facing spending levels ten percent lower than those seen in 2008 meaning new ways of obtaining information must be found.

Less reliance on printed resources

The first benefit any student or educator will identify when using technology is the lower cost involved in using digital platforms instead of traditional textbooks. Scholastic explains private-public partnerships can play a major role in developing technology-based learning platforms where information is sent directly to tablets, laptops, and other mobile devices.

One of the costliest aspects of the educational experience for administrators, educators, and students is the use of paper textbooks which can be outdated in a short period of time. The use of digital materials allows a textbook can be automatically updated and corrected remotely without a great deal of extra expense for an academic institution.

Numbers are less important

No matter what form of academic course is being explored, technology can play an important role in providing learning materials for every student. Charter schools are often seen as the major users of technology for their students as highlighted in this recent article. Online MCAT practice and the development of skills across the board makes it easy for technology benefits to be identified. Educational costs are an important factor for all institutions but the private sector is often seen as leading the way forward by lowering costs.

Private-public partnerships are a good way of lowering costs across all platforms with the scalable nature of technological platforms important to most administrators. In the past, schools would be forced to purchase a specific number of physical textbooks and materials. Switching to an Online-based platform allows more resources to be purchased through a private-public partnership program.

Visual learning environments

One of the most important developments of recent years has been the introduction of Visual Learning Environments, often referred to as VLE. These Online platforms are based around the ability of an educator to release information at specific times and in a style suited to each learner.

The traditional learning materials and environments are no longer enough to allow a student to achieve their potential through the introduction of new learning activities. Online platforms allow learning options such as Online games, videos, and audio all being used to lead individuals to their potential.

As yourself and your student move through the educational system of the 21st-century, you will find the reliance on technology continues to grow. The introduction of a VLE at the U.K.’s Nottingham University led to more than 80 percent of students increasing their study time because of the ease of use. Pass rate increases have also been directly linked to the use of a VLE with the pass rate at Mohawk College rising by an impressive 20 percent following the use of a Visual Learning Environment.

Smart Cities: Addressing Old Challenges with Modern Technologies

Jen Lambert on May 15, 2018

Is your city a city of the future? Is it on its way to becoming a “smart city” that’s well-equipped to face enduring problems with new technological solutions? On that note, what is a smart city, anyway? How is the term used, and in line with what goals for a city?

A city is considered a “smart city” when it engages its citizens via a high level of electronic and intelligent infrastructure. A smart city employs technological solutions to manage a number of assets, ranging from its information systems, transport systems, and healthcare systems, to energy infrastructure, educational institutions, and law enforcement assets.

Utilizing principles like the Internet of things, a smart city harnesses technology in the public sphere by using real-time control systems and sensors to record data, manage public assets, and efficiently use public resources. The rationale of a smart city, then, is to improve the citizens’ quality of life and fulfill the mandate of public service with these technologies.

On that note, what are some of the urban challenges met and addressed by today’s smart cities via new and evolving forms of technology? Read on about four of these key issues here.

Health management

One of the foremost challenges of a city is being able to meet its citizens’ healthcare needs, and regulating the healthcare situation both in public and private institutions. One innovation that a city can consider in order to become “smarter” about its health policy is the use of AI solutions for health management. In particular, using AI in initiatives that deal with population health can help a city analyze and process high volumes of health-related data from its citizens. This includes collecting and organizing information about health and illness issues that are unique to the city, as well as studying and predicting health trajectories for specific groups of citizens in order to properly address their most pressing health concerns.

Environmental management

Also key to sustaining any city’s overall development is its environmental management. A city can level up to a smarter status by adopting more modern waste management solutions such as smart refuse and recycling bins and air quality monitoring equipment. Solutions like these pave the way for smarter strategies in improving the city’s air quality, energy savings, recycling capabilities, and solid waste management.

Utilities management

Closely tied to the environmental aspect is that of utilities management. In the utilities sector, cities can take on smarter solutions with smart grids, smart meters, and smart water and electricity monitoring, among others—thus granting utilities provider and citizens greater savings, resource control, and levels of cleanliness in their areas of jurisdiction and residences, respectively.  

Traffic management

In the area of traffic management, obvious tools that can be added to a smart city’s arsenal are quality CCTV security cameras and traffic or street light sensors. Wise usage of these tools can lead to the reduction of congestion in public roads, better street lighting, and noise reduction in places where sound pollution is deemed undesirable. One success story in this vein is Cambridge Transport’s Smart Traffic Management project, which utilizes centrally controlled traffic signals and sensors to regulate traffic in the city of Cambridge in the UK. The system adequately manages vehicles that approach junctions, smoothens incoming traffic flow in real time, and facilitates quick responses to traffic accidents.

More intriguing questions come to light as the concept of smart cities materializes worldwide. What efforts has your local government taken to make your city a smarter one? In what new, groundbreaking ways will technology affect everyday life within your city? The items above are just some of the starting points in terms of the challenges that need to be continually addressed by cities. Overcoming them in the interest of innovation, sustainability, good governance, and civil participation is something that can be made possible by adopting best practices in smart city development.