Seventhman Blog

1. How to Make Software Implementation Faster and Hassle-Free

   Speed is essential when it comes to IT projects.  Your clients don’t want to wait that long for you to come up with an innovative software that will help their business.  These are tough times, where the fast beats the new and budgets are down-sized.  As the software industry is expected to come up with something useful in a snap, there is a shift towards new methodologies that steps away from the conventional way projects are managed – to set developers free from rigid project timelines which are unacceptably longer than they used to be.  Should you speed up the software implementation process?  Does that mean sacrificing quality over speed?

   Focusing on Real Metrics

   What is success?  You have to define this when it comes to achieving specific goals and outcomes.  Having this early consensus can help in coming up with best approaches in building a software that really works.  There must be a meaningful collaboration among businesses and developers to make sure that there is little room for error due to poor planning.  Trouble is, people are focusing on the wrong thing where software implementation is involved.  We don’t simply have the luxury of time to wait for two years to come up with something cutting edge these days. لعبة تربح منها فلوس   We may have reached an inflection point in tech and things are happening faster.  You need to kick those old tires and come up with a better system that works – or you’ll be left behind.  You have to focus on priorities and make sure to map your project based on these. bwin

   Collaboration is Key to Successful Software Deployment

   Sometimes, software developers are lost as to whether they should please the C-Suite or the end users.  There are a million things that can satisfy.. or not.  Most often, when software projects fail, the managers blame the technology or the vendor. كيف تلعب لعبة البوكر   If only IT departments and business stakeholders collaborated, they wouldn’t have come short of expectations instead.  Total success demands that the two work closely together, given that there is low tolerance for delays and extra costs.  What is the point of developing something when real metrics of the outcome haven’t been talked about?  If you want to solve the client’s unique requirements, you have to adopt sophisticated ways of creating custom software solutions that are not time-consuming.

   Best Practices for Rapid Software Implementation

   While there’s no one-size-fits-all way of addressing this issue, these have worked well for Seventhman and we’re sharing these tips to help you deal with complex software projects:

   1.  Never force a client to change.  Rather, come up with a product that can rapidly adapt to how the client’s system operates.

   2.  Always involve the client in each stage of software development.  The earlier you get the feedback, the more time you save when pursuing multiple milestones – simultaneously.

   3.  Get the software up and running quick to make users get the feel of a fully-functioning system.  This helps you get feedback in less time so you can continuously improve the end product.

   4.  Don’t make the whole experience a hassle to your clients.  There’s no need for them to test something that you have tested already.  Instead, make them review and validate that the software  has met their needs – from system configuration, migration, work-flow to integration with what they currently have.

   5.  Allow room for adjustment.  After your software went live, allow 90 days for you to make a list of what needs changing.  Then, you can make those final changes.  At this time, you must have a 100% running software that comes with support, documentation/licenses, and minimal bugs/risks.

   This is just a roundup of what clients should expect and what vendors must deliver when it comes to software development.

   If you’re an entrepreneur who wants to turn your dream IT project into a reality.. or someone who’s lost on how to deal with complicated software projects – Simply Ask!  How can I help you achieve that vision?

2. Are You Ready to Disrupt and Innovate?

   If no one has come up to challenge the old, we won’t even have new market and technologies today.  Thanks to disruptive innovation, businesses are continuously finding ways to improve in a volatile market with fast-changing trends and shifting consumer behavior.  Last time, I invite you to innovate processes and that’s not without a reason.  Truth is, if you don’t have anything of value – people won’t notice you.  Simple.  If you want to shape the future and create a lasting impact in the tech world, you simply have to create something that will disrupt the market with cutting edge tools.

   Identifying Opportunities for Disruptive Tech

   With the consumerization of IT comes this great potential to improve productivity.. at lower costs.  We are living in a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) age, there is a need to bridge the gap between work and play – to make people’s lives easier.  The most disruptive technologies of them all are the ones that completely change how we communicate and live.  Take for example the case of cloud computing.  While USB flash drives replaced downloadable digital media like CDs, DVDs.. the cloud got rid of having a local physical storage for data.  Now, people can access their files, anytime and anywhere.  No matter what your business prefers when it comes to innovation, keeping an open mind helps a lot if you want to move forward.

   Do You Have the DNA for Disruptive Innovation? موقع رهانات

   Let’s take the case of the software as a service.  The most important question of them all is how can small players disrupt the market that is currently dominated by the Silicon Valley big wigs?  As I have mentioned before, the greatest challenge in the tech world is developing new business models based on open source/freeware.  In the race for the next big thing, the last thing you want is for your ideas to be stolen.  For the same reason, new software is often sold with proprietary licenses, protected by intellectual property rights.  It means that you can’t share or improve this openly with others.  There will always be security and privacy risks where innovation is concerned.  In this sharing economy, maximizing profit for all while allowing the adoption of new tools, software, and technologies is still a work-in-progress. الرهانات

   Taking a Leap from Idea Generation to Execution

   Be a leader, not a follower.  You often hear this when it comes to creating a new product or service.  You know that those who are in the mainstream may not be interested in what you’ve come up with and you’re smart enough not to listen to them.  You have been smarter to ditch your traditional business metrics when it comes to measuring the ROI of what you’ve just created.  You’re even wise enough to match the right people with the right ideas, without ever falling into the pitfall of copying what top companies have come up with.  You may not be the next Google or Apple, but that’s totally fine.

   In the end, what matters most is coming up with a product that delivers on the details… and keeping your promise to customers.

   How can you enter the market at the right time, for the right potential customers to accept the innovation you have built? لعبة الرهان الرياضي   That’s the real question.

    

    

    

3. Should Entrepreneurs Learn How to Code?

   Tech entrepreneurs have been asking themselves if they should learn how to code.. or if they should take an MBA instead.  While both are very different, they are both applicable in doing business.  If you will pause for a moment to think of the outcome you want to achieve, would you hire an MBA or a developer to build stuff for you on the Web?  Of course, you’ll go for someone who can code.  You need someone with the hard skill to build things for your startup and you can innovate from there on, that is, if you have coding skills to build that prototype and take it to the next level.  Which leads us to another question: Should you really learn how to code?

   To Code or Not to Code

   Last time, I wrote about how automating certain processes in your system will help you get more done for your business.  But, what if you can build these from scratch?  You’d be surprised that there are self-taught coders out there whose apps got them earning enough profit to make a living out of it.  Thanks to the proliferation of MOOCs (massive open online course) these days, one can learn how to code from online learning sites out there – for free or for a fee.  There’s Udemy, Codecademy, Udacity, Code School for a start.  I bet there are plenty more out there.  You may even ask if you should learn coding in your spare time or if you should get a formal degree.

   “If You Want Something Done Right, Do It Yourself”

   Many will argue that in technology, this is the No.1 rule.  How can you even know if your idea is executed right if you don’t know how things are done? العاب قمار حقيقي   Thanks to new applications, it is easier to bring more functionality to your sites.  The truth is, if you want to produce a great product, you have to learn to write that code.  It’s like art; you need to know the skills of the craft to produce a masterpiece.  You might have been moved by this celebrity video from Code.org that advocates coding.. even the mayor of New York City is on the coding rush.  If you decide to learn how to code, you have to consider your time and budget for this.  After all, a successful startup needs a very strong product vision, a good user interface design and developer skills that can be achieved in and out of the classroom.

   Why Do You Want to Learn to Code?

   The case for learning how to code will all come down to how much time you are willing to spend to do so.  In reality, there’s really no right way of learning it and that a year of learning doesn’t mean you’ll come up with something that will solve your problems.  You need to find what motivates you first to learn this language or framework and once you have figured that out, you can start signing up for a class. استراتيجية الروليت   Still, you will spend valuable time.. I’m not really against the idea that everyone should learn how to code.  But this concept is setting up wrong expectations that coding is essential, like reading and writing.  Because coding is not just about creation of codes but coming up with solutions, you don’t simply learn something in 24 hours and get thousands of dollars out of it.  Like the rest of us, you have to spend years of perfecting that skill. العاب مربحة على النت

   Realistic and Smarter Approach

   It’s your choice whether to learn something new.  But pushing for everyone to learn coding is like saying we should all learn how to do our plumbing.. and so on.  It is much better to learn the basics of coding enough for you to understand what’s going on and leave the ability to write well to those who have encountered all the bugs and fixes in their years of dabbling with technology.  Let these specialists do the work for you so you can save that precious time and focus your energy in growing your business instead.

   Bottom line: You don’t need to learn how to code.  BUT, you need to know when to call the experts.

   
   

4. Can Big Data Save Our Planet?

   March 23rd marked another historic event across the globe as countries participated in Earth Hour 2013.  What has this to do with my post today?  I am a big data enthusiast and my eyes are set on how big data will be the biggest driver in sustainability to date – that is, if security is combined with clean technology.  Imagine the vast potential on how big data can provide a solution that doesn’t only power businesses, the people.. but the entire world.  Can big data save the planet?  Definitely.  There must be a middle ground somewhere where security won’t be compromised in the name of cost.  We are getting closer each day in managing large streams of data in a safer environment that runs on projects utilizing a clean energy ecosystem.  It’s a tough challenge to take, but the initiative is growing.

   Big Data Saving Lives

   It’s not news that big data saves time and money.  But, what seemed like a hype can actually save lives.  Imagine a huge city that uses high volumes of information that help reduce fatalities on roads. لعبه البوكر لعبه البوكر   This is already happening in Edmonton.  In times of emergencies, people have been using social networks to reach out.. or unite for peace in major uprisings.  Thanks to big data, real-time data is more flexible, allowing a two-way street for both businesses and consumers.  Medical researchers have been using information that helped them aggregate data faster so they can come up with treatments against deadly diseases.  Big data is also harnessed in programs dedicated to collecting data about the environment for scientists around the world to help in economic and political decisions that will reduce negative effects against the planet’s rich bio-diversity… and the list goes on.

   Why the Long Wait?

   According to this recent survey on Big Data and the Public Sector, real-time big data can save the government at least ten percent each year.  Law enforcement can gain a lot when tools will help them develop models that can predict where crimes are likely to occur.  Insights from volumes of data can help connect the government with the public – making sure that its citizens voices are heard so that key services can be improved, which comes with a higher satisfaction rate.  But just like the vagueness of the term ‘cloud’ – big data is also wrapped in controversies where people are primarily concerned about their data falling into the wrong hands.  It’s already annoying how user data is used to target ads based on their online behavior.  No one wants to feel this vulnerable when we hear of security leaks and hacks every week.

   Big Data in a Changing World

   You don’t have to be big to make a huge difference in the world.  While ROI is still a major concern for those who are investing in big data solutions, the mere fact that it can save lives should make sense as to why it should be adapted.  Organizations should rethink how they perceive the relationship between business and IT. تعلم بوكر   The Web runs on data and for us to know what the world needs in terms of using data for the common good – one has to integrate efforts across political, technological and cultural perspectives in a transparent manner.  It’s not just about finding developers who can build the backbone for this data that matters, nor relying on data scientists to analyze data itself.. but, it’s all about finding new ways in exploring data that have never been tried before.

   It’s a long way.. and we’re surely getting there!

5. Big Data or Big Lies?

   Would you agree if I say that 2013 is the year of big data?  There were talks on big data last year and now, it’s the center of data analytics as we know it.  Both private and public sectors alike would want to tap into predictive analytics, of having access to information that can be used not only in growing business and customer base, but also to enhance homeland security, law enforcement, finance, health care and a whole lot more.  The race is on in finding value in the vast volume of data, like ripe apples ready for the picking.  We’ve only scratched the tip of the iceberg and we haven’t unlocked big data’s fullest potential yet.  One can only ask if outdated policies can really keep up with these new technologies (soon?)

   Responding to the Big Data Challenge

   Are Fortune 500 companies making big data investments like some digital gold rush?  One thing is for sure, business decisions are now data-driven and they need to measure what they want improved.  Simply put, data is everywhere and the world just got bigger as we see structured and unstructured data proliferate online documents, websites, social media, mobile and relational databases.  To be highly productive where big data is concerned will mean finding the right data scientist to interpret things accordingly.  The issue here is not so much about a lack of talent where big data initiatives are concerned, but organizational alignment – of making sure that business and technology will work together for a common goal.  This is still a work-in-progress among many who are trying to manage data and create an environment with the greatest probabilities of success. ربح المال من الالعاب اون لاين

   Big Data, Bigger Myths

   Just as there’s huge enthusiasm over big data, there are those who call it a hype.  I was just reading this post by Matthew on how President Obama really beat Romney – and it’s curious to see bias in the interpretation of data presented.  I’ve been following all these talks about the big data buzz and compiled these myths as follow:

   1. Size matters – Not really; bigger volumes of data doesn’t necessarily mean it’s valuable.

   2. You Have to Know Hadoop – while this open-source Apache software is great for working with big data, you don’t need to master it just for you to leverage customer data to improve your business ROI.

   3. It is Unstructured – which is not really accurate.  Big data is multi-structured as it can come in any (and many ) forms

   4. It’s only used for analyzing social feeds or user sentiment – which big data can do, but it has more to offer than that ( This article on Forbes shows you other ways of using big data ).

   5. There’s an Ultimate Solution – The complexity of big data shows us that there’s just no silver bullet to solve it.  You need to have a dynamic environment to effectively collect, manage and draw insights from big data

   If you collect quality data, you’ll get quality results.  While these myths abound, let me say this: Knowing is Better than Guessing.  Like it or not, big data is here to stay. bet 365   It may be a tough road to take as you switch from information overload to focused data.  In the end, everyone wins.  Just take a holistic approach, be open to new data patterns and integrate the old into the new. لعبة القمار

   Then, reap bigger rewards..

6. Does Your Business Really Need to Be Mobile?

   The age of mobile is here.  More people are owning smartphones and other types of mobile devices. العاب سلوتس   They’re checking websites online to stay connected. شرح لعبة روليت   Now, the real question is: Do you have a mobile-friendly site where they can check you out to see what you have to offer?  Most probably, not.  It still amazes me how many small businesses are over-looking this matter, that they’re missing lots of chances to connect with their target mobile users.  It’s not just about building better business relationships, but it’s also about increasing connectivity.  How convenient do you make it for people-on-the-go to find you on their devices?

   The Mobile Gold Rush You Simply Can’t Ignore

   You’ll find plenty of stats on the subject of mobility and the mobile consumer.  Did you know that more than five billion own mobile phones worldwide?  The number of Google searches on mobile devices increased dramatically by 500% and Google predicts that by 2016, mobile searches will outdo PC searches on local search ( Google 2012 Our Mobile Planet Smartphone Research ).  For those in the travel, restaurant and auto industry – it’s definitely good news that 50% of mobile queries result in a purchase (  2012 Telmetrics Survey ).  In fact, early last year, TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site, reported a spike in download of travel apps.  I bet there are plenty more to add to this list and one thing’s clear: People are looking for mobile solutions… so how can businesses create a better connection, stay efficient and increase sales?  Simple – provide value and better user experience.

   More than Changing How the World Shops

   There are many reasons why you need a mobile site for your business.  In fact, it’s a hot topic these days and I only have to thank Marsha Collier for sharing with me Google’s Howtogomo.com test to see how my website looks on a mobile phone.  It will also ask you a couple of questions and give you a free report on the mobile-friendliness of your site.  Now, many have been asking if they should go for a mobile version of their site or build an app instead.  I guess, the apps market is a bit fragmented and for now, going for mobile site is a better investment.  While it is important to put usability in mind when it comes to site navigation,  it’s always crucial to put yourself in your visitors’ shoes and identify which information they will need the most.  It’s not just about mobility, but a simplified browsing experience that will push them to buy. قوانين لعبة القمار

   Your Business Needs a Mobile Strategist

   Yes, mobile technology may seem complex and those who are still trying to cope up with social media tools are already scratching their heads in confusion.  But these myriad of new inventions are here to stay – from location/content-based apps, mobile payments to augmented reality.  How do you manage the mobile eco-system?  When your business moves in the speed of mobile, you will need someone to create a balance between mobile functionality and user needs.  This person will implement your business goals objectively, making sure that mobile projects are profitable as well as intuitive.  S/he will discover new challenges and opportunities in the mobile landscape, to understand consumer behavior and lifestyle as major players in their decision-making process.

   Are you ready to take your mobile strategy seriously this time?

7. Workplace Revolution: Are We Thriving or Surviving?

   How people work today defines the future of the workplace.  In this multigenerational work environment, our responses to drivers of change will lead to our survival – to secure a job that’s safe, challenging and satisfying.  If you take a closer look at how people work today, it is a fact that office workers have to deal with volumes of data from a variety of sources.  With new technology comes increased productivity… and together with it comes negative effects that affect our very own happiness at work. موقع بوكر   If you take a step back to how we worked from the Stone Age, you’ll surely see how complex our needs have become.  The hunt for food became a hunt for ambition. موقع مراهنات المباريات   I can’t believe how fast we have evolved until I saw this infographic on the Evolution of Workplace Technology.  This makes me wonder if we’re really moving forward, or we’re still doing the same thing we’ve done ages ago, only this time, with a new shiny object to seek for.

   The Only Limit is Your Imagination

   Everything seems high-tech today and one can only guess if we have pushed ourselves to the limit of how, what, when and where of solving problems through knowledge and manpower.  We see new ways of doing business and it seems like we didn’t even take a slumber since the transformation from the Industrial to the Information age.  If you take a dive into history, that’s less than 50 years.  We are currently working at the speed of type ( and thought ).  Globalization has encroached upon us at uncontrollable speed that may have opened up doors of opportunities, as well as drove shortages in talents that businesses suddenly felt the need to outsource offshore.

   The New Economy: Are We Surviving or Thriving?

   The World Economic Forum may have stated that we are entering an era of scarcity, where talent is much sought for.  We are living in a universe that’s continually expanding, and a perfect mirror to this is the growth of a new breed of workers who are far from the traditional way work has been done.  These days, work isn’t defined by location anymore, thanks to the wonders brought about by this digital evolution we now enjoy.  Sometimes, you can’t help but ask if we have been forced to adapt to these advancements so we can complete our tasks each day.. or have we really changed our perspectives to deal with these developments?  Have we really reached the peak of innovation.. or are we just trying to make ends meet in this so-called golden age bubble?

   The Real Challenge to Economic Change

   You might ask why I’m writing about a subject that doesn’t seem to relate to my business.  In fact, all of us who work should reflect on what we have reached so far.  Know that intangible forces are still at work and this workplace evolution brings with it core values that has a major impact , both on society and culture as a whole.  For example, just take a look at how baby boomers use technology for work against the Generation Next.  As work becomes a melting pot of people across the globe, the cultural divide widens; differences clash.  The ability to adapt to change is called for in such a dynamic workplace, and leadership is needed in order to perform and excel.  Just as there’s collective unity, there’s also a collective fear where people are wary of those who don’t belong to their race.  This can put a dent on collaboration for many stakeholders who rely on teams from various countries.  Companies may try their best to keep a tight ship when it comes to discrimination and in the end, it all comes down to individual dialogue, of empowering the workforce amidst all the attempts to standardize and regulate work process.

   Are you ready to adapt your way of working.. to deal with change?