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Network OS: An Unsung Hero

Author: Ciente Editorial Team

Network-OS
Blogs

Network OS: An Unsung Hero

Network OS: An Unsung Hero

The interconnectedness of computers is a fascinating topic. The way machines interact with each other has enabled us to streamline our work and exchange knowledge with each other.

Internet, cloud, the edge, and even AI are facilitated by the vast connection of computational networks. Ada Lovelace and Turing would be delighted at the turn of these technological advancements.

The need to harness and manage this complex network to the fullest facilitated the creation of network operating systems, making communication with network-based computational machines easier.

As organizational complexities increase and more machines become connected, they must be managed efficiently. To manage such vast communication networks, developers designed an OS specifically for this task. These Network OS enable network admins to facilitate and instruct servers and other network-based configurations to behave a certain way.

The importance of network OS is lost to most, however, it is a vital piece of software that helps networks run smoothly. That includes the vast connection between AI and blockchain technologies.

It is imperative to understand the importance of network OS and its role in the larger picture of computer-to-computer interaction for successful organizational implementation.

Network OS or NOS facilitates communication that keeps the network connected.

Network OS is vital for the entire organization.

  1. It ensures that access to information is available to the correct parties.
  2. Stored and shared files can be accessed for viewing or editing purposes.
  3. Access to sensitive information is protected at all times.
  4. There is no low latency between the data flow to the end-user or buyer from an organization’s side.
  5. It ensures a smooth workflow by enabling collaborative work across connected systems. (Even tools like Google Docs use Network OS in the background for real-time updates)

What is a NOS?

What is a NOS
computer network concept. 3d illustration

Athletes have to be very strict with their instructions. They need to play games to perfection. And follow the rules of the court of their game. Enforcing these rules are referees.

These instructions are known to athletes; all rules are preset. However, as games are dynamic, there are unforeseen events where the referee has to enforce rules based on context. They ensure protocols are met, and fouls are penalized or brought to attention.

Network OS is similar.

In a sense, data are athletes who must move around in a dynamic yet rule-bound environment. And network OS is the enforcer or referee. Data can move dynamically, but it has to do so according to the laws of the governing OS. This enables safe and secure transportation of information. And this happens at an unimaginable scale. Millions of calculations per second. It is a game like no other.

Using NOS

While NOS makes life simpler inside an organization, for its larger purpose, we have to look beyond organizational walls.

Network OS permeates every technological touchpoint. As cloud-native applications become the norm and SaaS takes over the playing field, marketing and tech teams benefit from understanding the NOS.

But what are their applications?

  1. NOS are used to manage CDN
  2. They ensure compliance with local data laws.
  3. Improve network reliability
  4. Provide IoT integration

And so much more.

Akin to a basic operating system, NOS decides where to allocate resources, accesses, and data and helps us interact with our systems through cloud-native applications.

The software directs tasks based on inputs by the GUI of our apps to perform tasks, and in the backend, if a particular organization needs more power, it diverts it there. Performing all computations for efficient workflow.

Types of Network OS

Organizations can choose to build their own NOS (which is cost-intensive). Usually, large enterprises build a proprietary version and mix it with a Linux base. But the main types of Network OS are: –

Types of Network OS
  1. Linux (Many servers in use, especially the ones running AI, are usually Linux-based)
  2. Windows Server
  3. Cisco’s OS
  4. MacOS Server (defunct), now MacOS comes in-built with server capabilities.

To name a few. Usually, these are Unix or Linux-based systems (they are Unix-like) in their nature. Since Unix-like systems offer flexibility, security, and customizations, they are the preferred choice for servers.

Network OS manages Cloud and AI servers.

Servers have become a driving force of computational power. The amount of data stored in these servers is vast. And this incomprehensible number of data increases every year (It is around 79 zettabytes. That is around 72 trillion GBs of data. Wrap your head around that!). And most of it is not original.

Data processing requires a lot of duplication and caching— these moving pieces must be distinguished, managed, and stored securely. Our tools depend on this management system called NOS.

The Tech Perspective

The tech world has decided to make abstract ideas into a reality. With web3, AI, blockchain, and even VR, our virtual world has begun permeating our physical one.

To manage this torrential flow of information and provide it in a cohesive experience— product teams and their collaborators— the administrators must ensure smooth delivery to the end user.

Network OS enables these real-time changes. But there is a real problem in the network world: that of data management.

As data servers grow and edge, AI, and cloud computing make computation efficient, and teams face the onslaught of managing vast amounts of physical servers. Data flowing from these servers must not stay siloed. Insights will be lost if this happens.

The solution is easy: Automation.

AI-powered computation will soon become a standard, as did our previous iterations of computation. From predictive analysis to abstractions coming to life, these supercomputers will become tools for day-to-day chores. The software that manages these supercomputers will have to catch up.

With data growing at such a pace and becoming a currency, NOS that come up will be designed for simplicity and to make connections between two dots that seem unrelated.

NOS must go beyond the administrator’s role and unearth insights stored in the computer and automate tasks crucial yet unnecessary tasks. The OS itself must be AI-powered.

While researching, we found this great article, or as Cisco calls it, their data sheet for the Cisco IOS XR.

It highlights the importance of:

  1. A NOS must be designed for cloud-native architecture for scalability, agility, and automation for modern networks.
  2. As server needs become dynamic, the OS must anticipate client needs and allocate necessary resources to accommodate them.
  3. An OS should be optimized for DevOps strategies and allow continuous integration and development (CI/CD) to provide real-time updates and accelerate service delivery.

For the tech world, Network OS seems like an untapped area. The discourse behind NOS is how it is used rather than the potential for growth available in the market.

Product teams and administrators should notice this change. As Cisco says, the needs of the servers are constantly changing. A change in network strategy can signify the shift to faster delivery and insights unearthed from the network OS.

It has vast potential to end data silos — a boon for AI. And speaking of data silos. Let us consider another perspective that benefits from the NOS.

The Marketing Perspective

Data has become marketers’ goldmine. It enables teams to reach customers with a message that resonates.

Data is empowering in the right hands, but it remains siloed. And products promising the world to users cannot seem to work as advertised.

It is a real problem for marketing teams when products do not meet customer requirements due to network technicalities. For these reasons, a CMO must familiarize themselves with the Network OS. A tool that manages networks your product runs on.

Marketing and customer success teams are gatekeepers to clients’ experience. Which can be nurtured through communication and data.

A network OS facilitates both. As automation takes hold of our server capabilities, our server OS must connect the dots that humans did not.

  1. The data from the product should be automatically shared with marketing teams (of course, conditionally)
  2. Marketing teams’ data must be shared with sales (Again, conditionally)
  3. Maybe data from operations makes sense with marketing and sales. Or any other departments.

As we know, data tells stories, and machines can help us connect the dots between two unrelated data sets. In marketing, that is a lot to ask for.

A network OS supports security and delivery. It enables CDN (Content Delivery Networks) to reach audiences in microseconds. There is no lag between content and the user today because of efficient NOS. But the journey does not end there.

CMO and marketing leaders must ensure their servers have an NOS that automates information flow and presents the connection between data sets. All serve two vital functions:

  1. Elevating the customer’s experience
  2. Providing an organization with essential and insightful data.

A NOS does more than leaders think it does.

The evolution of NOS towards a more distributed cloud-based design

Let us reiterate: tech is undergoing a phase of agility. And our software and hardware must prepare for this shift.

Our cloud systems and software will move towards a distributed cloud-based design. Handling data and users becomes complex, and use cases like edge computing and local data centers will become popular.

To run a cohesive experience, the OS must work together in distributed settings as they would have on a singular data center. In a distributed cloud-based design: –

  1. There are multiple instances of the same OS running on different centers.
  2. There is a centralized OS instance running on a “main” server.
  3. It stays operational even if one center fails. So, there is no downtime, increasing delivery and reliability of information.
  4. Enables data centers to store and operate data exclusive to a particular region.

Distributed cloud-based designs will transform the future of connectivity. And provide users with a seamless experience. A faster way of connection.

A NOS runs organizational connectivity.

As we move to an era of computational connectivity, NOS and their implementation for unique use cases will become crucial for organizations.

As an organization grows, it will need robust security measures and software in place to discover data hidden in silos. Or have your servers anticipate resource-heavy sectors while under development.

For developers and tech teams, this offers a new promise of agility. Imagine documentation and resources available as you need them. NOS will enable this going forward while keeping data safe from people who do not have the right to access it.

For marketing leaders, it offers the path of reaching their relevant audience quickly and managing the flow of information, ensuring products and services provide a seamless experience. Network OS drives cohesion.

SWIFT-Payments
Blogs

A Comprehensive Guide to Effortless SWIFT Payments

A Comprehensive Guide to Effortless SWIFT Payments

Businesses are crossing borders and scaling across time zones plus geographical barriers. How can you ensure seamless and secure financial exchange?

The digital era is revolutionizing businesses globally. And with these, financial transactions are being executed across nations. How do you make sure it all goes smoothly? A secure cross-border payment system is the need of the hour for brands of all sizes. They optimize your payments and invoice workflows within the landscape of the B2B market, improving efficacy by incorporating automation.

What Are SWIFT Payments?

The biggest advantage of SWIFT (The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) payments is a secure and hassle-free exchange of finances. It works by facilitating fund transfers through intermediary banks. The network is not a banking system, but a medium that facilitates payments between different banks with the help of SWIFT codes.

Key Advantages of SWIFT

It operates across 200+ nations, which makes it one of the leading international payment networks in the world. Several financial institutions and businesses utilize SWIFT to move funds across borders. Members enroll with a one-time entry fee and annual dues, with fee structures for participating members differing as per time zones. One of the highlights of using SWIFT is the ability to accept/send international money via electronic or credit card payments. And that’s possible even if you have an account in a different bank than the payee.

To access the SWIFT network, you must set up NOSTRO accounts by collaborating with corresponding banks cross-borders. To make a transfer with this payment channel, these are the details you will need.

Required Information for SWIFT Transfers

  • Bank details of the recipient, such as bank name, address, country, and routing code.
  • The recipient’s details including company name, current address, and account number.
  • The Swift code of your recipient’s bank account.
  • Your government-issued ID

Additionally, you may also need to supply other documents as requested by the local or international bank.

The features that make SWIFT stand out

Network availability

SWIFT offers a highly efficient network and accessibility at various locations across the globe, thereby ensuring reliable and continuous service. 

ISO Compliance

With this payment network, your worry about compliance can take a backseat. It aligns with the ISO 20022 standard for payments, allowing you to experience a seamless and quick funds transfer process. 

Transaction fees

Depending on your location and that of your client company, you may be surprised to find out that the fees for messages are quite small. However, banks may add their own feed to this amount, increasing the gross amount.

What is the use case of Swift?

The intent of SWIFT is to establish a route for banks to communicate faster and more securely within themselves. These payment channels consist of payment instructions from the issuing bank (the payee) to the remitting bank (the beneficiary/receiver). 

All banks participating in a SWIFT mode of payment transfer are required to move funds from one account to another depending on an underlying network of Nostro and Vostro accounts. This refers to accounts that share a branch or more for the main objective of executing international transactions. 

Steps involved in the payment network

A SWIFT transaction requires you to follow these steps:

Reach out to your bank: 

Share with them the details of the financial exchange: the recipient’s name, bank name, account number, amount, currency, and other relevant information.

Fill out forms:

Collect the forms required to initiate the SWIFT transaction from your bank. Each form comprises details such as the originator and beneficiary of the transaction, the amount, and the currency.

Provide payment: 

After filling out the forms, you must focus on making the payment. This step involves transferring funds from your account to the recipient’s account.

Await confirmation:

Post the initiation of the transaction, wait for confirmation to double-check the funds have been transferred successfully. The confirmation process can take hours or days, depending on the banks involved and the complexity of the transaction.

Wrapping up

Advancements in digital marketing call for adopting a secure alternative to SWIFT payments that support cross-border business. NOSTRO/VOSTRO ledger system adds to the network’s flexibility, allowing compliance with standards set by financial institutions. SWIFT platform is not a payment processor, but a messaging system between banks that enables brands like yours to handle a large volume of traffic.

Brand Identity Crafting
Blogs

Brand Identity: Crafting a Timeless Presence

Brand Identity: Crafting a Timeless Presence

Brands are no longer just symbols, names, or designs. They have become an identity. A cohesive message delivered in unison.

Products have become abundant in the market. There is a technology that can solve every business problem. And, with the technology comes the buyers and competitors.

An organization or individual must compete for the attention of the buyer.

With social media, individuals can position themselves as solutions to problems, too. This could be a marketing problem, as the rise of influencer marketing would suggest. Or they could sell their product, like Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest. Have no doubt, he is an SEO influencer and the face of his organization. People buy his product because his name is attached to it.

But why is this? Some organizations and individuals present themselves in a manner that we find refreshing.

Their charisma is infectious and investing our attention is entertaining and enlightening. Once an organization or individual is perceived to be charismatic, they begin to hold the attention of a relevant audience.

These organizations and individuals are called brands.

For all the vagueness of the term, we must ask: What is a brand?

Why is brand identity important?

Let us talk about a famous story: Michael Jordan and Nike. In 1984, Nike and Michael Jordan created a historic moment in sports and fashion: the Air Jordan.

The legendary red and black Jordan pair were on full display during a pre-season game when Michael Jordan wore it for the first time.

The NBA was furious. They sent a letter to Nike stating the shoes violated policy and would levy a fine of $5000 per game. Nike agreed and paid the fine for each of his games, revolutionizing marketing.

The Air Jordan became an anti-establishment and a rebel-figure sneaker in the market, becoming the most popular individual-led brand ever. The legendary sneakers sold enough copies in May to reach $70 million in sales.

You may think that Nike here is the brand in question, but let us pivot and understand that while Nike defined itself as a disruptor and risk taker, it was Michael Jordan, the conqueror, who would take the limelight. And not just for his exceptional skills on the court but his presence and sense of marketing.

From his iconic ‘Be Like Mikeʼ marketing campaign to Space Jam, he became a phenomenon. A brand.

Defining a brand.

A brand is any distinctive feature like a name, term, design, or symbol that identifies goods or services. That is what it says on the American Marketing Association.

But looking at Jordan, doesn’t it feel more than that? He had no term or design. All Michael Jordan had to offer was him.

In the influencer market of personal branding, where thought leadership has become vital to stand out—a brand should be defined as the ability of an organization or an individual to craft a recognizable voice that creates an emotional response within an audience.

The need for a brand voice or identity

Have you heard about CEPs? These are Category Entry Points. These cues inside the buyer’s head help them retrieve a brand from their memory banks.

In any category, certain brands will come to your mind. Think about smartphones. Which brand comes to your mind? Apple or Samsung?

Think about AI. It’s OpenAI’s ChatGPT, is it not? Whatever the category, you have associated certain products with a brand. For a brand you trust, you don’t buy only for the product but rather the experience the brand provides through them. You want to be identified with it.

A brand voice helps organizations and individuals develop a unique voice that can be thought of easily in buying situations. This voice can generate an emotional response. Or generate trust from B2B buyers in the market for risk-mitigating solutions. A brand voice helps buyers understand what you/your organization stand for.

Crafting a brand identity takes creativity, patience, and experimentation.

Why do you connect with certain brands? It is because something resonates with you. Something that the brand does or conveys speaks to you on a personal level.

That is the brand identity. A way of saying and expressing their ideas. Crafting this voice or identity takes patience, a readiness to experiment, and creative risk-taking.

Let us break the brand voice down into two parts.

  1. Crafting an identity from the organization/individual perspective.
  2. The importance of the voice for the buyers/consumers.

Brand Identity: The creator’s perspective

To find the brand identity, the creator— organization or the individual—must understand the why. This is the noble mission of the brand. For businesses like Apple, it is to bring the best user experience through their services, products, and software.

For SEMrush, it is to make marketing competition fair and transparent. For individuals, take the de facto productivity brand, Ali Abbdal. For him and his team, it is helping people build a life they love.

Knowing the why helps brands craft a clear and concise message. The why provides the core of a brand identity.

Once a brand identifies its core, it can move towards the next layer, the how.

The how details the process of you bringing your mission into reality. If Apple wants to create the best user experience, how are they doing it? It is by using the best available specs in the market and designing their products to have a premium feel.

Or Ali Abbdal? How does he help people lead a life they love? Through free productivity resources online and actionable steps for successful and time-efficient people.

The how brings your why into existence and provides a platform for people to believe in you.

The next layer of this equation is the what. What are the methods by which you deliver your why and how? For Apple, the iPhone, iPad, and Mac are the what.

For individual-led brands, the recent trend is that of the content. Individual brands deliver the what by showing themselves to the world. It is their personality and their life that draws audiences in.

Many platforms enable this, from the GenZ culture of TikTok to thought leadership on LinkedIn. Social media empowers anyone to rise, organizations included and become a cultural phenomenon.

And brand identity is all about it: Becoming a cultural icon.

Keen readers must have noticed that a brand voice follows Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle. But it is not that he discovered the formula. He observed that successful leaders and brands followed this type of identity exploration. A differentiating brand builds from the inside.

Brand Identity: For the buyer

Why would the buyer decide to go for your brand? For B2B buying scenarios, they want to mitigate risk without disturbing the status quo.

While purchasing, they think along these verticals:

  1. Will our purchase integrate well within our existing systems?
  2. Does the purchase solve a problem we are facing?
  3. Will it solve any potential risks we will face in the future?

There is a reason why SEMrush, Salesforce, and HubSpot are so easy to integrate with existing software and data collectors. And vice-versa.

Usually, the conversations are around avoiding market failures and adding organization-elevating solutions. For B2B buyers, disruption of their organization is not a safe option. This rings true for most traditional organizations.

According to Gartner’s survey, the B2B buying committee has 6 to 10 individuals. Each individual has concerns and options they would prefer. Yet this group of opinionated individuals manage to reach a conclusion.

ABM is to be greatly appreciated for this. The core of ABM campaigns is a cohesive, consistent, and seamless brand identity.

If the majority in the buying committee: –

  1. Can identify with your brand
  2. Find it relatable
  3. Believe the solutions align with their mission and values.
  4. Accepting the promise to deliver a positive outcome is tangible and achievable.

They will accept your solution as the best in the market for them. With an over-flooded market of goods, services, and personalities, buyers will purchase from you because of trust and perception.

Your brand identity will do the selling. Now, it is your product team’s job to deliver on the promises the voice has made.

Marketing and Storytelling.

Human beings are wired for stories. We derive meaning from understanding a person’s or organization’s story.

Microsoft as the underdog, Or Metaʼs electric rise to stardom. We love a good story. Here is where brand identity is found, in the story of your brand.

Marketing messages can do a lot of things. But it cannot replace a good story. All good stories are marketing, but not all marketing is a good story.

Some messages seem underhanded, while some feel shallow and full of empty promises. A brand’s story relies on resonance and the ability to deliver. A brand that cannot make good on its promise will not find its identity because it is based on false promises. But truth without a distinct voice will fall flat on the audience’s ear.

Marketing teams must deliver the message with creativity, passion, and a deep understanding of their “productˮ and audience.

To understand what works, use a growth marketing approach. Experiment, analyze, create, and reiterate.

As David Ogilvy says, tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating.

Brand voice and identities are an organization and individual way of showing their personality and explicit truth. It is a platform to attract and engage with the right buyer.

However, the line of cultural relevance and customer sensitivities must be considered. What kind of cultural impact does your brand want to make?

Believe it or not, every organization and individual has the power and accessibility to become an icon. The trick is to find the correct audience and the right voice.

Create an identity with your brand positioned to say something unique to you.

Points of Parity and Points of differentiation The players of innovation 10 1
Blogs

Points of Parity and Points of differentiation: The players of innovation

Points of Parity and Points of differentiation: The players of innovation

We often compete to be different. But what happens when the audience can’t relate to us? Think, it’s all about parity.

Competition between organizations is a necessary factor for economic growth. As markets worldwide become saturated with solutions, the buyer asks: What do you do differently?

This is an overlooked, almost silent question lurking in their minds.

The customer drives comparison between two businesses. They want something different; they want to be served according to the market standards.

A business must offer what its competition has and more. It’s called parity and differentiation.

Parity and differentiation are crucial for a brand to thrive in saturated markets. While this may seem like a lot to ask for, business success boils down to meeting a customer’s needs better than anyone else.

But how can a brand create a positive loop that benefits customers and organizations alike?

Parity and Differentiation are a positive loop that drives innovation.

Innovation has driven every part of our society and will continue. Especially in the knowledge era, we find novel solutions to most problems. But are these innovations in your opinion?

Innovations are considered great works. To do great work, Paul Graham of Y Combinator says, one must find a knowledge frontier and identify its gaps.

Within the context of brand strategies, it means recognizing the points of parity and bringing differentiation.

It is a continuous process as standards evolve and new opportunities arise. Brands that succeed at this process sit at the top of the food chain for longer periods. They identify emerging trends and cause disruptions. But to understand how you can do it.

You need to understand

What are Points of Parity (POPs) and Points of Differentiation (PODs)?

Parity POPs and Points of Differentiation PODs
  1. Points of Parity: Every industry has a standard that they must maintain. If a business wants customer segments to take them seriously, they must provide these services. These services are uncompromising and expected from any player. Explore Lead generation services.
  2. Points of Differentiation: These are the unique selling points of a product. What does a business’ product do differently than a market? PODs empower a business to bring a change that gives them a competitive edge.

What makes them so important?

As we have said before, you could say these two are the dimensions necessary for innovation.

If your product is too different from its competitors and does not do the basics of what is needed, there is a chance it could be ignored completely. On the other hand, if it is just as good as the competition, then there is a zero-sum game. For new companies, it is difficult to supplant an existing player in the field.

For brands and their organizations, if they wish to create a difference, they first need to provide the market with what they want. Blind differentiation or straightforward parity will cause difficulty in competing, slowly causing downfall.

And that is best exemplified by the two products below.

  1. The Google Glass:

Google Glass is an innovative technology. But it was ten years ahead of its time. General people did not understand the use of the glass. A unique product with no competitor. And that is where it failed. Only tech lovers understood what it was trying to do. It was not relatable to the public at large.

There was no parity.

Between privacy concerns and low profits, Google had to discontinue the product, to the dismay of many. In the VR/AR market, it is difficult to imagine the product losing.

  • Microsoft Zune:

The Zune presented itself as a competition for the iPod. But it did not take off. Zune was plagued by a single problem: It had no differentiating features.

The iPod was established, and it had the advantage of iTunes and Steve Jobs backing it up. Zune, on the other hand, failed at conveying its message. There was no clear message. Zune presented these beautiful and artistically inspired ads but it failed to reach the wide market.

And in the end Zune couldn’t establish a real reason to choose it over the iPod. Causing its failure.

For a brand and product to work, it has to walk the thin line of parity and differentiation. Organizations are bound to this loop, but it is not a negative loop. This loop sets the industry standards and then breaks them by innovating inside the frame of reference.

It allows customers to adapt and change with the product instead of causing a backlash or misunderstanding.

That is true innovation.

Points of Parity: Competitive Advantage

Parity can be used to undermine your competition’s uniqueness by adopting it as a market standard. As such, these innovation loops are not just good for isolated companies but for the competitive market in general.

Point of parity avoid the pitfall of alienating the audience by providing context and a frame of reference for the product. Ensuring that a large portion of the market does not find the product irrelevant or unrelatable.

And they empower a business to disrupt another by emulating or providing a better experience for the end customer.

Example: Google Workspace has been disruptive to Microsoft Office. Google’s tools allow users to collaborate worldwide because of its cloud-native solutions and cost-effective pricing.

It enabled small businesses to set up their workspaces quickly and at cost. On the other hand, big organizations could use sheets, docs, and Google Meet to set up meetings and work on large projects together.

This caused a problem for Microsoft. So, what did Microsoft do to break this advantage? They adopted Google’s toolset. They rebranded Office 365 as Microsoft 365, providing cloud applications and AI-driven features. And integrated Teams in their suite, helping businesses streamline their communication in one place by offering safe file sharing, chatting, and video conferencing.

It helped Microsoft not lose relevance as a collaborative solution. But they could not break Google Workspace’s market share, which sits at 44% compared to Microsoft 365’s 30%.

Even though Microsoft was an early player in the productivity game, Google broke it by adopting its point of parity and then putting their spin on it. They overtook Microsoft by a margin, making Microsoft adopt their differentiation as a new point of parity.

By understanding a market’s point of parity, you can position yourself as a disruptor, thereby adopting the points and differentiating.

Understanding your brand and the market is the road to finding parity and differentiation.

Discovering parity is not as simple as copying the existing trends that your industry falls into.

Parity is found by understanding the needs of your market, the existing solutions to their problems, and customer expectations.

A phone that does not provide advanced network connectivity will fail to the one that does. Even though it is the same market, there is a difference in expectations.

The two dimensions are closely linked together. And differentiation, essentially, is putting a spin on parity.

To find parity, an organization will usually go through these steps: –

  1. Conduct Market Research
  2. Identify customer expectations and existing solutions.
  3. Match your product to the existing market
  4. If the product is not ready to be understood by the market, it lacks relevant parity.
  5. Integrate customer expectations (A picture editing tool, for example, must have a .raw file editor)
  6. Rematch the product to check if it has the basic functions of an “industry-standard” product.

Once you know the points of parity. What is your brand or organization ready to add to it?

Adding your unique proposition to the market standards will create differentiation and innovation.

For Google Workspace, this was their cloud-native environment.

Equality and difference— that is innovation.

Parity and differentiation cannot exist in silos. To bring forth innovation, organizations must base their brand strategies on implementing the two together.

A unique perspective that does not resonate with the intended buyer will fall flat. And the same set of solutions will not rouse anyone into buying either.

After all, the race is on to provide an unmatched experience. But if the experience is not a mix of known and unknown, the end buyer will be disoriented and unable to understand what you offer, even if it is good.

Only by incorporating old strategies, finding their gaps, and then spinning them will organizations place themselves as customer-centric and innovators at the same time.

Business-Intelligence-Platforms
Blogs

Business Intelligence (BI) Platforms to Help Optimize Your Workflow

Business Intelligence (BI) Platforms to Help Optimize Your Workflow

How can businesses overcome the challenges of data mining to unlock the hidden potential of raw data and convert them into meaningful insights?

Organizational discipline is the key to workflow management. Decluttering and sorting through the data we work with streamlines our operations and boosts productivity.

To play chess, the pieces must be staged in a specific way and move strategically. We consider all the positions on the board before making a move against the opponent.

Managing the heaps of data is one of the most complex tasks. Our business objective should be improving our management skills to curate a smart business strategy. The more sorted the data is, the higher the possibility that it’s manageable, accessible, and easier to understand.

Data is omnipresent but how we interact with and study it remains different. We streamline these ways by engaging and understanding it through data analysis software.

Businesses require such tools for swift and comprehensive analytics to drive growth.

Each department in an organization understands and presents the relevant data differently to condense the condition of the business.

Significant BI tools for workflow management

Business intelligent platforms are crucial tools for workflow management.

These platforms combine software and additional services transforming raw data from multiple channels into actionable insights.

Business intelligence platforms work as catalysts, converting raw data into meaningful information, i.e., declutter and sort. These platforms collect, manage, organize, and analyze large quantities of data to make informed business decisions.

Additionally, it is through their functioning that data becomes accessible. They help businesses retrieve the latest, past, in-house, third-party data, etc., to help evaluate the performance. BI platforms allow the IT and other departments to work with and understand each other beyond making assumptions.

The nervous system of your organization

The right business intelligence platform works as the nervous system of your organization.

Business intelligence software integrated with visualization tools, advanced analytics, and data mining technologies offers a centralized platform.

By providing accessible insights, this software propels your business to become data-driven, and gain a competitive edge by helping simplify customer behavior.

In this fast-paced juncture where everyone requires a kickstart, business intelligence tools help you stay ahead of the curve.

How do these tools help us do that?

In practical terms, the standard BI tool helps identify the snags and address them accurately to streamline workflow operations. Additionally, it has become an efficient tool to optimize overall operations and track key metrics introducing cost-effective solutions into the business structure.

Business intelligence solutions are integral in administering your organization as data-driven.

Automation is the vehicle unleashing its potential to become one.

Use of automation in the fast-paced digital world

Across the business intelligence landscape, automation is crucial to maintaining a competitive edge in the fast-paced digital world.

Automation in business intelligence helps streamline, optimize, process, and analyze the collected data by boosting the capability to save time. Equipped with automation tools, business intelligence platforms underscore strategic and recurrent business decisions and tasks.

Have you heard of the terms, technologically-challenged or technophobe?

This is what you are labeled as if you manually attempt to collect and enter data into the system.

Introducing automation in business intelligence platforms helps save time and effort. Certain automated processes help avoid manual data entry or processing, increasing employee productivity by allowing them to focus on other strategic tasks.

Automation also helps negate other human mistakes. It reduces and corrects any errors in reports, ensuring the business maintains updated, precise, reliable, and accurate data.

In simpler terms, there are specific components of automation through which business intelligence platforms cater to your data processing and management preferences:

Data collection

Data collection is the first and most basic step of data processing.

In this step, raw and unstructured data is collected from different sources (internal and external systems), segregated to find clean authentic data, and structured uniformly for comprehensive data analysis.

Clean data is a requirement for accurate, to-the-point insights. Hence, the automation highlights and eliminates any inconsistencies, duplicates, or discrepancies.

Data Analysis

After collecting, cleaning, and integrating data, the next step is inspecting and transforming data i.e., data analysis.

Automation helps in the reliable data description, modeling, and interpretation to make data-driven decision-making using advanced analytics. In this stage, the tools help identify patterns and trends to establish correlations between data sets.

After finding a correlation, it becomes much simpler to extract meaningful insights, accentuate important information, and draw conclusions to plan a roadmap for the future.

Monitor and Track

After swift data analysis, automated processes leverage the easy access to big data to monitor and track the workflow performance.

It simplifies report generation through customizable dashboards for a clear visual representation of data and automated reporting tools.

By creating and sharing detailed and accurate reports across a user-friendly interface, stakeholders can easily access important business information.

Automation in business intelligence platforms can manage and organize large heaps of data. As the business gradually expands, it is needless to expend additional costs and resources as the automation tools have scaling-up capabilities.

The overall function of business intelligence platforms is catering to real-time insights for organizations without slowing down, such that resources and time are freed up for more significant tasks.

Understanding market trends with business intelligence tools

But the major question is – are they reliable?

Each organization has distinguishable business requirements. Choosing the perfect business intelligence software depends on the department’s needs and the volume of data.

With the data mountains inherently present within, how do businesses harness their power? Through BI systems.

However, before finalizing the right tool, your business has to consider particular specifications –

  • Ease of access and use: The BI platform should be easily accessible by all employees, i.e., from tech-savvies to technophobes. It should confidently allow the user to configure the data, process natural language, and provide required setup assistance.
  • Automation capabilities: Automation is the principal foundation of business intelligence platforms. The chosen BI platform should then seamlessly integrate automation, and support natural language insights and visual report creation with one click.
  • Does it support AI? With the onset of AI, we aim to look past data. To establish simpler customer service structures within the business, the software should allow chatbot assistance and other interactive and conversational AI services.
  • Seamless Integration: To elevate operational management and seamless integration of processes, is the BI platform part of an ecosystem of apps? This enables an organization-wide improvement in productivity. Does the BI software allow integration with multiple data sources?

Broadly, your chosen business intelligence tools should be adept at data management. It should assist data warehousing, allow easy data mining, and aid in data modeling processes.

Top services to manage your workflow

The ideal tools and services for your business can transform your workflow and instill productivity.

Here are the 5 best business intelligence platforms of 2024:

QlikSense by Qlik

Qlik is available for Web, iOS, and Android.

QlikSense comprises a diverse range of visualization and data reporting features offering versatile options.

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Image source: https://www.qlik.com/us/products/qlik-sense#:~:text=Qlik%20Sense%20is%20a%20complete,to%20fully%20customize%20analytics%20solutions

QlikSense is a complete, fully customized analytics solution.

Sample data is already available within QlikSense which saves you the importing time. This BI platform works efficiently with one dataset or hundreds, enabling comprehensive visuals detailing the sales numbers.

These are structured into customizable graphs and provide an overview of the dataset(s). After the platform completes uploading and visualizing your data, its built-in AI-powered Insight Advisor allows you to ask questions regarding natural language, insights, summaries, and predictive analysis across different data sources.

One of the best features of this platform is its accessibility. Available across different devices, you can access your reports and graphs to make edits anytime and anywhere – all-in-one-functionality.

Microsoft Power BI by Microsoft

Microsoft Power BI is available for Web, iOS, and Android.

Power BI is one of the most widely used business intelligence platforms.

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Image source: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-bi

It allows effortless integration with other Microsoft products to quickly track any edits/changes made to the available data. One of its most supportive features is access to Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams with a click.

Microsoft Power BI, a web-based business analytics suite, highlights real-time trends and offers valuable insights through comprehensive data visualization. This BI tool seamlessly integrates and is highly intuitive. If two datasets are connected, it can recognize the correlation, and changes to one are visible in the other dataset as well.

Zoho Analytics by Zoho

Zoho Analytics is available for Web, iOS, and Android.

Zoho Analytics is a self-service business intelligence software.

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Image source: https://www.zoho.com/analytics/whats-new.html tm_source=Ent_analytics_campaign&utm_medium=Ent_BI-banner

Zoho Analytics offers in-depth analysis and reports using automatic data syncing, scheduled periodically. This BI tool is one of the straightforward platforms to navigate and learn through a free on-premise plan.

It has built-in AI-powered features such as conversational AI, unlimited detailed reports, and predictive analytics and allows third-party integrations.

Zoho Analytics is designed to help solo entrepreneurs manage and analyze big data, even for the novices.

If you do not understand its functionalities, it offers demo videos with a user-friendly interface with walk-throughs.

Zoho Analytics leverages visual data representation to signify data flow from one end of the pipeline to another. It offers geo maps, i.e., map layering that unearths multiple data layers and identifies the hidden dimensions.

One of its most fascinating features? Immersive report viewing between different tabs, widgets, and an upgraded dashboard builder.

Domo Data Experience Platform by Domo

Domo is available for Web, iOS, and Android.

With cloud computing taking over the internet for flexible resource sharing and economic scaling, Domo is one of the best business intelligence tools for optimizing your workflow.

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Image source: https://images.app.goo.gl/4us1wVgUzPZSKNKu9

Domo allows seamless data integration from multiple sources such as databases, spreadsheets, social media, etc. It is entirely cloud-based with a faster load speed, making it easier for multinationals and small businesses.

Imagine it as a data library that connects, supporting over 1000 pre-built ones. Once the data is connected, managing it is as easy as a pie.

Additionally, it helps prepare your data, identify relationships, automate, and filter without any prior SQL knowledge. The Domo app hosts APIs, data management, and manipulation tools for all your data management preferences. It can also make the required data calculations with the Beast Mode available in the app.

Tableau by Salesforce

Tableau is available only on the web.

Tableau is one of the dynamic data visualization builders that allows diverse sharing options for team collaboration.

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Image source: https://www.tableau.com/products/tableau

Tableau is one of the top-rated BI tools for team collaboration. It specializes in data visualization and discovery and its collaborative capabilities.

Using this, you can share dashboards and workbooks with your teammates. They can leave the necessary comments on the work and collaborate on the data analysis process to streamline workflow.

Tableau supports data integration from multiple platforms such as SalesForce, Google Analytics, and MS Excel and has in-built workbooks, known as Accelerators, to support the imported data. Tableau offers different products depending on your business needs, such as Tableau Server for organizations, Tableau Desktop for the general audience, and Tableau Online for hosted analytics.

What’s next for the business intelligence market?

The Business Intelligence market, valued at $33.34 billion, is expected to grow by $61.86 billion by 2029.

Making important business decisions in the minimum amount of time is the need of the hour.

Business intelligence platforms rely on technological advancements to analyze data and help employees and high-level executives make significant decisions.

The business intelligence platforms help administrators extract, monitor, and enhance data from internal and external systems while producing reports and dashboards easily accessible to stakeholders and decision-makers.

Graphs, infographics, and scorecards are increasingly necessary to develop these reports.

The BI platforms offer a helping hand in Zoho analytics, data mining, modeling, and statistical analytics to harness insightful conclusions and curate these embedded graphics smoothly.

Data is the backbone of every industry.

Business intelligence platforms offer a structure to this heap by organizing and attributing meaning to them.

With the focus on automation in recent years, the demand for BI software will increase significantly for all businesses as they rush to propel their decision-making processes with confidence that their data is accurate and trustworthy.

An AI breakthrough by Demis Hassabi & Dr. John Jumper in protein structure wins the Nobel Prize
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An AI breakthrough by Demis Hassabi & Dr. John Jumper in protein structure wins the Nobel Prize

An AI breakthrough by Demis Hassabi & Dr. John Jumper in protein structure wins the Nobel Prize

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(Source: Science.org)

AI turns a 50 year-old-dream of scientists into a reality! A chess genius creates history.

For a groundbreaking discovery, Sir Demis Hassabi was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Google DeepMind Director, Dr. John Jumper. Hassabis, the Co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs invented AlphaFold— a unique system that integrates predictive analysis of protein 3D structures from their amino acid sequences.

Over recent years, the world has witnessed impactful transformations introduced by the advent of artificial intelligence in various domains. There is a new addition to this list of applications—protein design.

Protein structure is increasingly complex, involving a series of amino acids in different arrangements/patterns. For several decades, researchers have attempted to decipher proteins’ 3D structures with various experimental techniques that involved extensive procedures.  Predicting the structure is cumbersome and intense, but not anymore. The latest AI-integrated innovation has simplified this process and made it possible.

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(Source: Chess.com)

Before pioneering AI to decode protein structures, Demis Hassabi was a chess prodigy. He believes that the strategic thinking he applied in chess was the driving force behind his AI journey. In 2018, when he first competed with the algorithm, it was based on a comparative analysis. However, the updated model added deep learning which is quick to identify patterns and determine protein structures accurately.  

There is no doubt that the AI revolution is an asset for not only brands but also scientists. It is paving the way for technological adoption in developing novel solutions for complex processes such as protein sequencing. As the world continues to adopt and integrate AI on a larger scale, we are sure to experience more marvels thanks to this technological advancement.