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pickceldigital · 1 year

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Engaging Millennials in The Workplace: The 'TME' Strategy

Dynamic. Energetic. Young.

Aren’t we all looking up to people who bring new ideas to the table, are super enthusiastic, and are ready to give it a shot?!

Welcome, millennial workforce! The ‘81-’97 liners are looking for more than just a stipend or some recognition and rewards; they are here to innovate, learn, experiment, and get ahead. The list goes on, from the general workforce to the most influential entrepreneurs!

Who are your millennial employees?

By definition, millennial employees are those aged between 25 to 41 years as of 2022 (yeah, pretty much the ‘young blood’ of a company).

Now, if you think the 25-year-olds are too inexperienced to understand how corporates work, let me tell you, over 66% of the workforce are millennials holding important positions in large business houses. By 2025, millennials will comprise 75% of the total new hires.

Millennial engagement 101: Remember to TME

Probably the question of the moment: What is the best way to engage your millennial employees?

And what can help you with that? The TME mantra: Train, Motivate and Engage.

Let’s discuss each of these three strategies in details.

T: Train your millennial workforce

The ‘on your marks’ agenda!

Before you put millennial employees to work, it is essential to give them a perspective on what they are about to do and why they are to do it (identify the purpose, uh-huh!)

3 Quick tips for training the millennial squad

A. Incorporating Microlearning Programs: People tend to notice and remember things that engage them in more than one way, and digital displays are the right tool for you!

Publish short quizzes with real time downloadable reports on your office screens (you can add interactivity too!)

By adding a QR code, you can also let your employees scan and download the on-screen training content on their mobile devices for self-paced learning & development.

Step up the employee productivity with Pickcel!

Manage and publish any content on your corporate screensGet Free Demo

B. Opportunities for upskilling: Millennials like to work hard, improve and own what they do. For them, setbacks or a lag in performance transgresses as an avenue to improve and learn from past mistakes. And this is why upskilling courses and mentorship are required to help them get going!

Such programs help them set realistic work goals alongside fulfilling their personal developments. Whether it is to achieve a lateral career shift or add a new badge or degree to extend their resume, vocational training is a massive motivator for GenY and GenZ workers.

C. Go Social: Did you know your Instagram posts or company tweets help millennials, especially the new joiners, understand your company’s culture?

What percentage of millennial employees are there? How diverse is the workplace? Is the management a big stickler for dress codes, or can I pull a pair of jeans and sweatshirts, and as long as I do my job, they don’t care?

Suggested article: How to use your office displays to improve employee engagement?

M: Motivate your millennial workforce

Be it for a trivial task such as folding clothes or completing a pending project, we all need that ‘get, set’ at some point in our lives. So do our millennials!

And trust me, it is not always money.

A pat on the back or a simple ‘kudos’ can make someone’s day. But you can do a lot more to keep your young employees happy.

5 tips to motivate the millennial workforce

Put up your employee of the month or an employee recognition wall to show that their hard work is appreciated.

Don’t keep work hours too rigid. Allow employees to set their time limits. Observations by Bentley University have pointed out that over 77% of millennials said a flexible work schedule helps to increase their productivity.

Plan a self-care session with your workers by planning a meditation, spa session, or a weekend trip together. It would help them calm down and get a clear mind.

Do away with that gender pay parity and provide equal opportunities to everyone.

Last but certainly not least, train managers and employees in leadership positions to be affable and approachable. A heart-to-heart conversation is the best motivator! 73% of workers in a research said that in-person meetings help to cement professional relationships.

E: Engage your millennial employees

The ‘go’ plan, yes!

In a recent survey, more than 27% of respondents said that they enjoy doing things that add meaning and purpose to their ideas, and there isn’t a better way to get your millennial workers hooked than showing them a reason for which they should keep the show going!

Be that digital whiteboard that helps plan their week’s schedule or events that test their creativity, engaging your employee is an indispensable

So, how to foster millennial engagement in your company culture? I have got you covered!

4 highly effective ideas to engage the new-gen employees at work

Show them the results: Gone are the days when your staff would work, have lunch, send some end-of-the-day emails, close their systems and forget about work when they step out of the office.The millennial workers want to know the bigger picture of the game. How does my work bring profit to the company? How does my performance look next to my peers’?As a manager, you can engage these eager minds by showing them their work results and progress. For instance, showing various project management, sales, and KPI dashboards on your office TV displays can give them the ‘bigger picture.’ Conducting retrospective meetings is another fantastic way to build meaningful engagement.

Make them your first customers: Launching a new product? Get your employees to test (and taste - if you are into the culinary world) your offerings first! Ask for feedback and incorporate these ideas to improve what you just created! This goes to show your workforce that their opinion makes a difference!

Bring in digital transformation: Millennials are digital natives; they live to love technology, play with it and make the most of it. So an office that still uses paper catalogs, pin-and-cork bulletin boards, and printed log registers will surely not appeal to them.If you want to attract the Gen Y and GenZ talent, your workplace needs to be equipped with quick collaboration & information-sharing tools, different automation technologies, and sophisticated meeting rooms.

Let them explore: An essential part of millennial employee engagement is to allow them a safe space to explore new ideas and solve day-to-day challenges through unconventional means. While doing that, it is also essential for you as a manager not to discourage them if they fail.

Do millennials find their workplace relatable? Here are 5 tricks to find out and make them do!

Here are some quick tricks to find out if your employees like your way of working and making them do!

Check on the turn-ins for a non-work session: It indicates if your employees like their workplace. If the number showing up for Friday nights or weekend trips is too low, do an opinion poll and organize something your team would like to be a part of.

Analyze feedback and see how honest they are: Very important! If there are too many yes-folks or only good things to say, time to be alert! Ask your employees to drop honest feedback without hesitating.

See how they perform when in a challenging situation: Another check-off! If your employees can keep their heads and deliver while their creativity is challenged, they are true to their craft and understand your vision.

Inter-team engagement matters: If your teams can work in perfect sync with one another, they have found their ideal co-workers. Check how collaborative they are and how much they are willing to help each other; it’s necessary for brand building.

If possible, let them choose tasks and see what they prefer: This will help you get an idea of how these bunch of millennials want to work and live (take some notes here for personal research 😊)

How are millennials changing the workplace dynamics?

For years, employers have had quite a time figuring out what millennials might relate to and what could immediately get them to sulk! And with that comes its share of myths and hits!

Myth breakers: There is a theory about millennials being the most unruly tech-obsessed of employees who only believe in smart work.

Untrue!

According to reports, millennials are the most hard-working employees using their creativity to channel hard and smart work. They are willing to listen and are honest in making the most of available technology and possible communication channels.

Prefer flexibility: Not an unreasonable demand since most millennials manage more than one job, including a side hustle! And guess what? They have managed to incorporate this culture right into the system!

Remote and hybrid work modes are the new normal (the pandemic did add some fuel, true!), with technology enabling them to manage more than one screen simultaneously!

Constant appetite for knowledge: Now, this is something even boomers will agree upon!

Millennials are the most willing to learn― be it finding inspiration in things stirring up their curiosity just like that or finding out about something they came across while doing some daily activity such as being out for an evening jog! This energy is reflected in how they communicate, juggle tasks, and keep the energy going!

Value Transparency: Millennials did pave the way here!

They prefer a clear understanding of everything before proceeding to work on them, a quality that also spills into their money management techniques! Most studies have pointed towards them vouching for a clear set of terms, conditions, and deadlines before committing to tasks- a quality that brings efficiency and clarity to their work!

So, Summing it Up…

So, what engages these people fresh out of grad school or a job that didn’t match their vision (emphasize the latter because you surely don’t want to lose out on this new hire who seemed to fit your energy)?!

Is it just the stipend or something more they are looking forward to? There are!

An innovative and collaborative work culture.

Flexible schedule

Management that understands and gives them the freedom to explore their ideas

Quick redressal of work-related difficulties and an accommodative attitude

A healthy work-life balance

Post-work week fun activities

Appreciation of their hard work and honest feedback about results

A competitive culture that allows them to upskill and find their strengths and weaknesses

So, the moral of the story?

Millennials are that team that builds up and turns a business into the brand originally envisioned. So, try to retain these young talents in your organization by chalking out a fantastic employee engagement strategy.

For more click on the link engaging the millennial workforce

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atinyidea · 5 years

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Glitch | Ateez Gang! AU | THREE

⟶ gang!au, hacker!au, love triangle? poly? female!original character

How curious it is, the fact that the police just gave a media conference, confirming ATZ’s involvement in Kyungri’s families newly-appointed murder, just as she sat down for her best friend, Jaehyeon, to be tattooed by one of the gang members?

⟶ glitch ml! main ml!

⟶ prologue | previous | next

⟶ note! @atinyluna @iis4d @untainted-memories !! if anyone wants to be on a tag list for this fic just let me know!

⟶ 4000 words

⟶ edited 08.03.2020

THREE: The Loft, 15:03,

Saturday 25 October 2025,

“Ah! There she is! Our princess has arrived! Finally!” The voice of her boss, Noh Gongmyung, filtered through the hidden speakers and to her ears as soon as she stuck her key into its lock. With a roll of her eyes, she looked up to where she knew a camera was and sharply turned the key, opening the sliding door.

“I’m not a princess, Gongmyung. How many times do I have to tell you?”

“At least once more!” The speakers hummed as she slammed the door shut, it’s automatic locks clicking into place. Kyungri could just hear the grin on his face from his words.

She walked up the metal floating stairs that led to the loft, her workspace and also home to her boss. She hadn’t cared that she worked in someone’s house, she knew well enough how well she worked when she was in the comfort of her own space. When they started working together Gongmyung hadn’t lived in the loft – it was a home away from home for both of them. However, while Kyungri chose to stay at home with her aunt and younger cousin, Gongmyung realised that he spent all of his time in the loft and that the gas money was not worth the thirty-minute trip from his house to the loft every day.

So he moved in.

He had offered Kyungri a room of her own and, while she did take it, she told him it was mainly for when they had to work long jobs. She didn’t like taking their not-so-legal jobs back to her aunt’s house.

The loft was quite large, having three separate rooms, one bathroom and an open-plan kitchen-living room that they turned into what Gongmyung called The Hacker’s Cave.

After a few years of making modulations to the loft, the two of them decided to buy the whole building, converting the downstairs area into space for their unsanctioned work. More specifically it was essentially a giant closet, locked under a padlock and a fingerprint scanner. Gongmyung had wanted to add a retina scanner but Kyungri thought that would be pushing it a little too much. They had only just been able to hide the fingerprint scanner in the wall, having a camera outside the door would just be suspicious.

She typed in the code specific to her entry and opened the door to the loft. Closing it behind her and listening for the tell-tale click which signified the door was locked again.

Once, a while ago now, Chaeyoung had called everything over the top and that the two hackers were overly paranoid. Now she just called them “hacker spies.” Chaeyoung was the only one of her friends – and family – that had been to the loft, that had seen inside the loft. Kyungri didn’t exactly know why Chaeyoung had been let onto their little secret but she couldn’t say she was complaining. Gongmyung liked Chaeyoung too, which was always a plus, he referred to her as his second employee even though Chaeyoung couldn’t hack anything to save her life. She was a good informant and strategist though, which is why she fits in so well in their unofficial jobs. Kyungri wondered if Jaehyeon even knew they partook in felonious jobs too.

“Good afternoon, princess.” Gongmyung grinned at her, twisting his spinning chair around to face her as she entered the room.

“I brought you a coffee.” Kyungri smiled at him softly, holding the paper cup out to him, her own still half full in her other hand. She had stopped at another café, one closer to the loft, on the way – having forgotten to buy it when she was at The Café – so it was still piping hot. Just how he liked it.

“You’re buttering me up,” Gongmyung stated, taking the coffee anyway, leaning back in his chair and letting out a satisfied sigh as he took a sip. “What do you need?”

“A favour,”

“Of what kind, pray tell?” He raised an eyebrow, leaning forward in his chair.

Kyungri took a second to reply, speaking slowly like the words hurt to say, “I need your help.”

“You? Need my help?” Gongmyung emphasised, placing his free hand to his chest as if he was clutching his heart. Kyungri’s eyes closed as regret washed over her. “Our Great Hacker, the Pyo Kyungri…” he placed his coffee down on a nearby table, “wants her poor, old mentors help? The honour!” He shouted dramatically. Kyungri was tempted to just walk back out, but before she could, Gongmyung had shot up from his chair to place a hand against her forehead. “Are you feeling ill?”

She swatted his hand away, a small scowl taking over her features. “You’re thirty-four.” She rolled her eyes. Poor and old my ass, she thought. “Can you not be a dramatic dick right now? I ask you for help all the time.” She grumbled, finally taking her jacket off, hanging it on the back of the couch.

Gongmyung grinned at her. He didn’t have to verbalise his acceptance to help, he would help Kyungri even if she hadn’t asked. With the flourish of a hand, he turned to kneel on his chair with one knee and kicking off from the floor with the other, using his chair to glide across the room towards his set up area. Kyungri shook her head slightly, walking after him. Sometimes she wondered how he was the older one.

Gongmyung’s set up was… over the top, to say the least. He had lined a wall with monitors, twenty-four in total, with four servers ranging in sizes and psychedelic colours underneath them. Kyungri had always wondered why he kept a few servers upstairs, especially when they had a whole room dedicated to server’s downstairs, but she couldn’t fault him for wanting to keep the ones he built from scratch separate. When the monitors weren’t being used – by the surveillance cameras or from completing several long-range hacks at once (or downloading the latest version of his favourite video game, unreleased to the public) – they linked with each other to create one big screen. Usually when the loft had visitors – sometimes the police liked to pop in uninvited – the monitors served as a functioning TV. Gongmyung’s over the top personality and a rather large bank account had saved them from suspicion numerous times.

Kyungri had often told him that it wasn’t necessary, that everything could be done on a singular screen. He had always answered her with a simple “I know, this is just more fun!” to which she would roll her eyes, silently agreeing with the eccentric man. Their set-ups were like them: total opposites. While Gongmyung’s took up half a room, Kyungri preferred to stay mobile. She was simplistic, having three of each kind of electronic (two for her and one as a backup). Three phones – two iPhones and a Huawei – three tablets – two Samsung and a Huawei – two iPod and three laptops – her treasured Microsoft laptop and her two new ones: a MacBook and a Huawei laptop. (They had done a job for the company Huawei and were gifted with their electronics, which they kept after completely wiping them and making sure they were secure.)

In a way, the two hackers were described by how they worked. Gongmyung was over the top, in your face with a dramatic flair that everyone had to appreciate no matter how hard they tried not to. Kyungri was mobile, working incognito, on the move, classic. It was why they worked so well together: he was the guy in the chair, and she was the girl on the move.

(Chaeyoung loved to refer to their little team as spies. “We could totally be Charlie’s Angels.” She had said once. “We just need the third angel.” At her words, Gongmyung drew in a theatrical gasp, hand to his chest, offended. “How dare you say that I’m not an angel.” That day was fun.)

“What’s got you in a rough patch?” He asked, grabbing a neon pink keyboard – the one that was connected to the hot pink server, the one he kept separate because it was the only one connected to the dark web.

Kyungri pulled her own laptop out. Her trusty laptop lovingly named Microsoft (All her laptops were names as such: Mack the MacBook, Huawei the laptop.) and began typing away, still standing up next to him. “Two people apparently don’t exist anywhere other than a singular police file.”

“Now, this is interesting.”

“That’s the weird thing! It’s like these men only exist for the purpose of one measly police file and nothing else.”

“You only used your laptop to search, right? Microsoft?”

Kyungri nodded.

“Perhaps your server isn’t strong enough. Run the searches again with Huawei connected to the server room downstairs. Maybe you’ll get wider search field parameters.” Gongmyung grinned. While he wasn’t exactly a patron of the black net, he did have access to it and its connections – anything was findable for the right price. “Also, just send me all you’ve got, and I’ll get in touch with connections.”

Kyungri nodded again.

“This is quite unusual, isn’t it?” Gongmyung said after a few minutes of silence as he read over the information she had gathered. “Jo Jowon. Choi Jongho. Pictures.” He mumbled, narrating as he typed out an invisible email – an incognito way of communicating with his contacts without a trace. “I don’t think my contact is online at the moment. It might take a while to get a response.”

Kyungri nodded a third time. She wasn’t in a rush. She just got easily frustrated when things didn’t go right, quickly.

“So the police are re-investigating their deaths.”

“Yeah.”

“And Soonchul is the lead.”

Kyungri hummed in agreement.

“You have to know that ATZ aren’t even five years old yet. The crash was –’’

“Seven years ago. I know.” Kyungri cut him off, fingers stopping their tapping as she looked over at him. “I figured that out the same hour I heard the police were suspecting them.”

“So why are you still looking for them.” He asked, also stopping, having finished for now.

“I don’t know. Something doesn’t feel right, it’s bugging me.”

“Ah, and then these two boys don’t seem to exist.” He realised, teasing her slightly, “you can’t resist.”

“Soonchul is trying to pin my family’s death on a gang who hadn’t even formed yet. It’s sloppy, and I don’t appreciate it.” She shrugged, turning her attention to a monitor on the wall, where a figure had walked to the front door. She looked away after realising she knew who it was, continuing her little speech. “I don’t understand the connection. I’ve been waiting for six years for them to re-open the case and when it is, I can’t help but feel angry.”

“My father wants to find ATZ, everyone wants the Pyo Crash case solved once and for all. He’s killing two birds with one stone, trying to twist everything together by his own will.” Chaeyoung called loudly, having heard the last part of Kyungri’s sentence as she entered the door. She leant back against it, waiting for the click before she wandered into the room. While she wasn’t a hacker, Chaeyoung worked with Kyungri on their out-of-hours jobs. She had her own keys and her own password for the loft, she was part of the team. She shrugged her black trench coat off, throwing it haphazardly in the direction of the couch, not bothering to see if it fell on the floor or not. “I went to lunch with him last week, he wouldn’t stop muttering about how he was going to get the station to look for ATZ and get off his back about the Pyo case.” Chaeyoung rested on Kyungri, her arms over the now seated Kyungri’s shoulders and her head resting on her shoulder. Kyungri leant back into the orange-haired girl, trying to give her stronger stability to lean against – she knew she was tired. “We are talking about my dad, right?”

“Bit of a poor solution. It’s not even thought out well.” Gongmyung tsked.

Chaeyoung yawned a little, “I don’t think the station cares if I’m being honest. They’re just happy he’s finally doing it.”

“Anyway, now that both of you are here, I can brief you of tonight’s job.”

“Sure thing GM but, can I go get pizza first? I came straight here from the café, and I’m starving.” Chaeyoung’s tired expression had cleared into a livelier one at the thought of food through her words still slurred a little. Gongmyung mirrored her grin and pulled a silver card out of thin air, holing it out in front of her.

“It’s on me or rather, on you. That’s your card for the night, there’s five million won on it.” He told Chaeyoung, emphasising the amount on the card. “It’s for the job, to keep up appearances. You have to be expensive to look like a regular at an expensive club.” Chaeyoung nodded, plucking the card from his fingers. She pressed a gentle kiss on Kyungri’s cheek before standing, walking to the door and scooping her coat up from the floor on the way.

“Got it! You want the usual?” She called over her shoulder as she opened the door.

Kyungri and Gongmyung hadn’t left it a second before they chorused a ‘yes’. After the orange-haired woman had left Gongmyung turned to Kyungri, another card in his hand.

“Thank you.” Kyungri smiled at him softly. He reached out the same hand to pat her hair gently. “While she’s gone I’ll go shower, the world knows I'm quicker. She’ll need at least an hour just for her shower.” Kyungri let out a laugh as she slapped her hands against her thighs as she stood.

“I’ll keep you updated.”

“Ah yes, we can play Is Gongmyung’s Voice Louder Than The Shower again.”

The bathroom was standard compared to the rest of the building. Kyungri only really used it for its essentials – to shower and to use the toilet – while Gongmyung couldn’t care less what a bathroom looked like. Chaeyoung kept bringing in little decorations around every now and then, but they always seemed to go missing after a week or two. The walls were tiled in white, a toilet sink and shower the only appliances inside. On one wall hung five towels, two were black, two were hot pink and the last of was a white hair towel, stained with diluted hair dye. Also hung on the wall, above the sin, was a large square mirror.

Kyungri stared at her reflection, letting the shower warm-up before she got in it. She had bags under her eyes that would need to be covered properly before they left for the job, no one going to the club would flaunt their designer eyebags. She’d have to get Chaeyoung to fix her up with the strong stuff later. Kyungri took her hair in her hands, looping it through her fingers. It was getting quite long, the black hair dye starting to leave her roots. They weren’t that bad, her natural hair a dark brown anyway, but she knew they would bother her is she didn’t get them done again soon.

The water was hot against her skin; it almost burnt. But that’s how she liked it. She liked being warm and would often cuddle herself up under at least three blankets when she could. She closed her eyes and leant her head back, letting her hair fall down her back, under the steady stream of water. She liked showers, they were relaxing. However, she could never spend more than fifteen minutes in there. She washed out the shampoo in her dark locks and applied the conditioner, twisting her hair into a makeshift top-knot to sit for a little while as she bent over slightly to shave her legs. Kyungri liked having smooth legs but, in reality, she hated having to shave them. Just as she finished up with the razor and went to wash the conditioner from her hair, the bathroom door bounced open startling her a little but not enough for her to make a sound.

“I’m back, and your pizza will get cold if you take forever!” Chaeyoung shouted over the flow of water. Kyungri shook her head in amusement, continuing to wash out her hair.

“Thanks, Chae.” She shouted back. She could feel Chaeyoung’s cheeky grin as she heard her laugh.

“OH! Before I forget! After you left the café earlier, I overheard Mr Tattooist and his friend. Whose name is Yoosang by the way and, he’s completely one-hundred-per cent cute. Apparently San did something, and you didn’t notice? I assumed it was that he tried asking for your number by the way Yoosang laughed at him, but I had already given him your number, so it got me thinking.”

Kyungri switched off the water, stepping out of the shower. She didn’t rush to cover herself in front of Chaeyoung, but she wrapped a pink towel around her body because the window was open, and the breeze was cold.

“Just be careful around him okay, he’s like super pretty to look at but, now I have a funny feeling about that tattooist. Like there’s something hidden about him.” Chaeyoung spoke seriously as she sat on top of the toilet as if it were a chair.

“You gave him my number?”

“Before he was being shady!”

Kyungri couldn’t help but laugh, and after a few seconds, Chaeyoung had joined in.

“I also went outfit digging so finish up in here and then just come through to the room, yeah?” Chaeyoung smiled up at her tall best friend. Kyungri returned the smile and kissed her cheek as Chaeyoung departed from the bathroom.

She left the bathroom, hair and body wrapped up in pink towels and headed towards the living room. She didn’t care that she was in just a towel around Gongmyung, he was essentially her brother for all intents and purposes.

“I did tell Chae you were in the shower, sorry she interrupted you.” He told Kyungri as she stopped next to him at the table. From where she was sat on the floor on the opposite side of the table, Chaeyoung grinned up at Kyungri with a wink.

“It’s not like she doesn’t do it every time anyway but, thanks,” Kyungri replied to Gongmyung with a small amused smile. She propped a hand on her waist, her other hand holding its wrist as she focused back to Chaeyoung. “So what are my options, Chae?”

“Under very tight time restrictions, not fair by the way,” She glared at the man in the room for a second, “I’ve given you a dress and a crop-top-shorts combo.” Chaeyoung gave her a dazzling smile, hands shaking back and forth like she was in a jazz number. Kyungri nodded a little, looking over both options. “I get to wear the other one so, please choose the one I don’t want,” Chaeyoung added with a rushed mumble and a little squeal, her hands shooting into the air to show off her crossed fingers. Kyungri rolled her eyes a little, the smile growing on her face. She should have known.

The dress was a lively red colour, the woven cotton was laced with glittered fabric to give off a shine under every angle. It was lined with cream-coloured silk, smooth to the touch. It was also quite small, and Kyungri knew it would fit Chaeyoung better. The orange-haired girl had even paired it with a pair of black criss-cross stiletto heels in her size.

The other outfit was quite racy, but Kyungri really didn’t care. While she preferred to live her life in leggings and jumpers three sized too big for her, she knew her body was fit. She looked after herself; going to the gym every other day and running two miles every morning. Her core was strong, ready for anything that was thrown at her. She knew she had abs, not rock hard, but there was some definition there. She knew she would feel comfortable in the crop top (which was actually just a fancy lace bralette) and matching shorts. It was placed with a peached coloured jacket - a thin material studded in large sequins - and a pair of black sneakers that were jazzed up with the same peach colour, but the sequins were extra small. She loved it, she knew that Chaeyoung had expected her to choose that outfit and so, just to mess with her she picked up the dress and turned on her heel towards her bedroom.

“Kyungri!” Chaeyoung called after her. Kyungri couldn’t help the giddy laugh that left her lips as Chaeyoung started chasing her.

“You’re too easy to wind up, Chaeyoung.” She told her once they had stopped running around. Kyungri handed the dress and heels over to the shorter girl with a teasing smile over her lips. Chaeyoung grumbled a little under her breath, making her look slightly younger than she was than how she acted. Kyungri was reminded that Chaeyoung had only just turned twenty the other month.

Kyungri returned to the living room to scoop up her outfit, and the two girls left Gongmyung to eat his pizza alone. Which wasn’t particularly unusual.

An hour and a half later, Chaeyoung was out of the shower and drying her hair out with a hairdryer as Kyungri nibbled on the last slice of her own pizza, still in her towel as she worked on Sam, her Samsung tablet. (Truthfully, she had been distracted by Twitter.) The two girls got dressed together, helping one another with small adjustments and styling choices. Chaeyoung helped Kyungri twist her long hair up into two twisted space buns, doing her makeup for her since Kyungri was kind of helpless. Kyungri had pulled a detailed braid through one side of Chaeyoung’s hair, decorating it with small metal loops and hair gems. By eight P.M they emerged from Kyungri’s bedroom, dressed to the nines and glowing. Gongmyung, who had seen them dressed up for club jobs before, let out a little wolf whistle as they came into view.

“Stunning, as always.” He complimented them. Kyungri gave him a small, yet confident, smile as Chaeyoung dipped down into a curtsey.

“Thank you, I know. I know.” She spoke in a fake posh accent, dramatically waving her hands around as if she were royalty. They all made their way to Gongmyung’s set up, waiting to get briefed.

“The club is called X-Clusive.” He began, sitting down in his chair. The two girls sat down together of one of Kyungri’s huge beanbag chairs, sharing a tablet to see what Gongmyung would be talking about. “The official job Kyungri’s on tonight is to figure out how one gets through all their security. There's a singular back door entrance under a set of seven different electronic locks. The bouncers are given a printed version of the guest list, which is very specific, so as a fall back you will both be on it as yourselves.

“However, for your second job tonight, you will be known as Park Hyeri and Lee Chanmi, two old college friends who reconnect after seeing each other at a fancy club. There is talk of a gun pass happening in the high levels of X-Clusive tonight. The gangs are unknown, but connections think NCT will be there. You are to observe and relay information. Do that by any means necessary, we don’t know who else we’ll be dealing with.” He finished.

Both girls nodded once in unison.

“Great. After that, you’re free to stay as long as you want and spend as much as you want. Stay alert, I want to be able to get to you if anything happens, got it?”

Again, the girl’s nodded, grinning at one another. Time to go clubbing.

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nasahomelove-blog · 5 years

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About NASAHOME

It is noticeable that Viet Nam is one of the top 10 of the best countries all over the world; especially, it is also the considerable destination for foreigner in recent years. Viet Nam witnesses the experiences for significant trips and job opportunities.

On one hand, when paying a visit to Viet Nam for trip and job, several foreigners have to face with the severe atmosphere, different customs, lifestyle, society, and job.

The reality indicates that these serious factors mentioned above will more barriers; but thanks to the humorous, friendly, and generous characters, there is no doubt that foreigners will be familiar with Viet Nam’s society soon.

On the other hand, no one can deny that Vietnamese gets a feeling of regard for comprehension a variety of cultural customs among various nations such as communication, workspace and the style of job. We are excited about the integration among other ones in order to bring the general development for society aims.

From the sharing and support aspect, the year 2018 marked the Nasahome (NSH) was created with the obligation for foreigners the best accessible communication in lifestyles and traditions.

By the serviced systems: serviced discovering, short-time serviced apartment, and long-time one. The serviced apartment plays a crucial role in the foundation of the other developments in more sectors.

‘HOME’ – guideline for any activities of NSH, also stands for our style. NSH team guarantee the significantly comfortable stay for customers and partners like as their house. Moreover, it brings the high-quality service as well as variable resonance.

The NSH team is hopeful that:

In terms of partners:

Co-operating bases on the respects and development for the long time, shares difficulties and gains benefit together. The ethics value and academic knowledge. It becomes the strong unit together with supporting hand for any partners corporation with NASAHOME.

Regarding customers:

Honest, carefulness, and kindness.

Every staffs of NASAHOME always highly appreciates the ethical values in job, improves dramatically skills for the demand of qualified supply so as to bring the well-qualified for customers; especially, NSH is the best place for the belief.

In relation to employee:

Ensuring the full of policy and create the fair, efficient, and feasible workspace for the development opportunities and far career. It becomes the first unit has the direct connection and guarantee the demand of turnover for the labor force having the desirable with travelling and serviced apartment.

In terms of environment and society:

Behavior boosts the cultural values, natural inheritance, follows the rules about the protection environment and the order of society.

The history of creation and development guideline:

· 01/04/2018: NASAHOME starts serviced apartment in Vinhomes central park

· 11/2018: open the office (35 Trần Lựu, W.An Phú, D2, HCMC)

· 03/2019: scandalize and develop the size in Vinhomes central park

· 09/2019: develop scale and advance the quality of service

· 03/2020: The ecological step 1: supporting to customers about the resonant trip and adding services

· 09/2020: the ecological step 2: distribution system in various transports inside and outside city.

VISION- OBLIGATION

VISION:

The year 2020:

• Satisfying mental value as well as advancing service quality for guys and partners

• Becoming the unit of exploit, manage and believable rent.

• Keep trying to become the optimal choice for guests when coming HCMC in general and Viet nam in particular.

• Developing ecology and river trip with safe and well-qualifying transportation system

The year 2025:

• Becoming the unit supply trip service and homestay ensurance in Viet Nam

• Less than 1 hotel rated 3 stars in any travelling locations

OBLIGATION:

• Careful service

• Changing and being creative, developing good service to meet end needs for the customer various requirements inside and outside.

• Customer’s beneficial values along with the guarantee such as safety in tourist sector to stay when using the new products of NASAHOME.

NASAHOME SERVICE:

1. To advice the investment:exploit, research and analyze in order to give the essential methods in homestay aspect and the suitable values for the investors. Moreover, it brings the investing values giving the optimal profit with the eliminating risks

2. Exploitation, management and real property for rent: Customer caring service is supported by experts for help customers rapidly exploiting by the renting the real property.

3.The research market: the research market makes use of academic knowledge in main sector as well as the best experiences to give methods for the investors. Give guideline and solve efficiently in the flow finance helping boost the value more increasing day by day.

CORE VALUE:

Devoting: is the important value, placing the demands and benefits of customer on the top of priority.

Loyalty: to give the prominence teamwork as well as the mixing mentality for the general aims

Profession: from behaviors to actions. .

NASAHOME APARTMENT

Address: Landmark 2, 208 Nguyen Huu Canhstreet, Ward 22, Binh ThanhDistrict, HCM City.

Phone:(+84) 916 32 39 68

Website: www.nasahome.vn

Email: [email protected]

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copperdigitalinc · 3 years

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IoT in Retail Applications, All The Challenges, and their Solutions

The world is 24/7 connected today, and IoT holds the potential to make buying and selling of goods and services easier for sellers and buyers. For example, your voice assistant at home can order specified products for you as soon as your smart refrigerator sends a notification to it. It may also order a bulb for your home as soon as it stops working. However, it all depends on the number of connected devices and appliances you have at home. Retail IoT is evolving in every segment of retail and e-commerce. According to Markets and Markets, The global IoT retail market is expected to grow from USD 14.5 billion in 2020 to USD 35.5 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 19.6%.

When we talk about how we experience IoT as a consumer, we come across it many times. Some of the engaging IoT and e-retail / e-tail experiences include trying eyeglasses or sunglasses virtually. Some brands scan your body fit and measurement to suggest apparel sizes on their applications. Gone are the days when very few retailers were using such features. A considerable percentage of retailers are into digital transformation now. Retailers are converting their stores into connected stores. In the past few years, consumers’ lifestyles have become more adaptive to e-commerce and e-retailing platforms.

Hence, we must accept the drastic change in consumer behavior who are exploring the internet at its best. IoT retail and e-commerce are grabbing the opportunity and are connecting the unconnected world for global trade.

The digital transformation in e-retail is not just limited to consumers. Retailers have been deploying IoT in every possible way for smooth operational and manufacturing processes. It has become crucial for the industry to hold and update the technology for customer satisfaction. The Internet of Things is the new revolution after the internet and mobile networks in the IT sector. IoT-enabled devices use the internet to exchange data. It helps e-retail businesses to carry their workflow and operations efficiently.

Retailing includes both B2B and B2C sales of products and services. According to Intel Corporation, 8.3% of the entire usage of IoT is in the retail sector. Companies are now required to alter their business models to capture in-store and online sales. For this, digital transformation in distribution channels, product shipping centers, etc., is a must. Or we can say that proper integration and implementation of e-retail can do wonders. Let’s get into the details about applications of the Internet of Things in retail.

Applications of IoT in Retail/ E-Retail

Retailers are adopting the IoT to improve the consumer experience worldwide. The revolution of IoT offers opportunities to retailers and e-retail in the following areas:-

Inventory Management System

IoT devices allow businesses to streamline their operations. The tracking and handling of inventory become more accessible with the monitoring of connected products. Smart retailers are getting well equipped with warehouse inventory management software. Since connected products are traceable in real-time, the data alerts the manufacturers of low and slow-moving stock. The sensors and RFID tags make it easier to manage the inventory in real-time. In addition, there is a reduction in human errors as the system automatically stores all other information without human intervention.

With the help of IoT in retail, managing inventory becomes more accessible. Such as introducing smart shelves that inform about overstock and under-stock. Also, there are temperature monitoring sensors and other sensors that examine the forklifts and other maintenance issues. Therefore, an efficiently managed inventory ensures the availability of products to the consumers on time.

2. Logistics

We all want our products to reach us in time. It is just possible because of efficient and effective logistics. Technologies such as RFID and GPS allow tracking every stage of a shipment, including journey and weather. But, there can be an unforeseen delay in the shipment sometimes. We all have been facing such delays for the past one year due to lockdowns in this pandemic. Well, all thanks to the retailers who kept us updated about the delivery status. All this was possible with the help of IoT that sends automated messages about the shipment.

In logistics also, sensors can be deployed as per the need. For instance, temperature control sensors in the delivery van of frozen products inform drivers as soon as the foods start getting warm. It enables him to take action on time. Hence, IoT ensures smooth transportation of products as the success of any e-retail business demands uninterrupted and seamless supply chain management. The sensors and detectors track every step in transit for the safe delivery of products.

3. Customer experience

The Internet of Things connects retailers to customers through e-retailing like never before. Every shopping experience can be a digital experience. It has given rise to “Internet of Me”, which is about a one-off network. It describes how businesses create products that are specifically designed, built, and customized for an individual. This way, retailers can differentiate themselves from their competitors in front of customers.

Some brands are working hard on it by gathering as much data as possible about the consumers and potential customers. It helps them in offering a personalized experience for customer satisfaction and engagement. Hence, deploying IoT in e-retail can give a lot of information about consumer behavior. It enables the businesses to be ahead of competitors in approaching the target group. The information gathered should also be about shopping habits and preferences to create suitable marketing campaigns at individual levels.

4. Supply Chain Management

With the help of the “Industrial Internet,” data is directly sent from products to retailers. It helps to identify the issue in products even before it reaches the customer. Then there is data visualization technology which enables the employees to track the whereabouts of the products in the supply chain. Also, the prices of the products can be fixed using this technology. The price change is instantly done based on product promotions, demand, and turnover.

Deploying a fully integrated pricing system enables pricing synchronization between shelves, registers, and channels. Through this, prices are verified consistently between e-retail and brick & mortar stores.

5. Marketing

Smartphones play the most crucial role in the purchasing process. Sharing a prevalent example, we start getting personalized messages from a food delivery app or a grocery app if we do not order through them for an extended period. Those SMS and push notifications are reminders from the app that it’s been several days since you ordered something. In addition, it offers special discounts to you for the following order. Now that is what we appreciate sometimes.

If mobile apps and websites for e-retailing don’t deliver what the user wants, most people would prefer to go back to stores. Hence, IoT plays a significant role as it detects the device that belongs to an individual. It allows marketing to the individual as per the data collected. The targeted groups’ daily actions, shopping habits, and preferences are tracked and used to create other marketing campaigns. IoT devices contain much information about customers. That is the reason we see a lot of personalized advertisements sent our way.

6. Dynamic Pricing and Promotions

Earlier, keeping an eye on competitors was a tedious process for businesses. However, today because of IoT and e-retail, it has become a matter of a few minutes. Companies can now beat the competition from moment to moment by applying dynamic pricing to their e-retail apps as well as in stores. Promotions are easy to alter according to what and when competitors are offering. That is the reason you see a lot of promotional activities these days in e-retailing also. Every other day we see new offers by the brands on our favorite e-retail apps and websites.

IoT Retail – Challenges and Solutions

IoT in retail has now enabled cashless and cashier-less stores. The smart shelves, sensors, and detectors monitor customers and merchandise. You can collect the items and exit the store with your account automatically being charged. However, IoT retail security and privacy concerns still push back the customers with all of these possibilities. The main challenges are in terms of security, infrastructure, and data management.

Security

The IoT technology is still not fully mature and requires long-term focus and improvement. There are certain areas where digital transformation in retail is still struggling to improve. You may not like to hear this, but cyber security is a primary concern for customers and retailers.

Though IoT security is now effectively developed, it still leaves questions about safety in customer’s minds. There are still many concerns for data privacy that inhibit the use of connected devices for making purchases.

For this, Retail companies are dealing at their level and calling for government intervention to provide better guidelines. It has also led to the adoption of blockchain by a small percentage of consumers. Such groups of consumers are more knowledgeable about cryptocurrency and use them for making transactions. Using a Cryptocurrency wallet is much safer regarding security, data privacy, identity, and authentication. Moreover, many e-retailing apps accept cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Cardano these days.

However, to provide a safe and secure customer experience, retailers should work closely with IoT software developers. They should make sure that the sensors and apps are designed with a robust security mechanism. For example, there should be completely secure passwords along with more advanced security infrastructure like end-to-end encryption. There should also be regular software updates and regular scans for bugs and vulnerabilities.

2. Infrastructure

A lot of retailers lack the infrastructure and network components required by vast volumes of IoT data. To have a digitized retail store and a well-functioning e-retail app, they should have a robust network, end-user solutions like barcode scanners, cloud solutions.

All these things require considerable investment.

But you need not invest all at once and can follow a step-by-step approach of transforming into a successful digitized retailer. Then, gradually, you can become more sophisticated with your IoT solutions.

3. Data Management

Carrying out real-time data communication and management on time becomes a huge challenge for retailers due to a lack of expertise. Generally, companies suffer due to a lack of technical and analytical skills to get valuable insights from the huge data collected from IoT.

In such a scenario, businesses should hire domain experts who can handle data management processes.

By overcoming such challenges, retailers can make their IoT investments profitable and gain a competitive edge in the market.

Conclusion

The IoT technology evolves drastically over time and has a tremendous impact on e-retail and in-store shoppers. If IoT technology is integrated into businesses, it will benefit both their customers and the bottom line. Additionally, for developers and designers, the fundamental essence of work lies in innovation. A great user experience is essential for e-commerce or e-retail apps, or a retail store.

However, when the IoT has become even more prevalent, web developers must work on harnessing the increased data on offer. Eventually, this will lead to more intelligent, wise apps capable of offering personalized browsing experiences. If you want to know further about IoT in retail and how to leverage it for your business, feel free to contact our experts today.

#app #development #company #IOT #internetofthings #e retail #e retailing #ecommerce #mcommerce

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outsourcingbd · 8 months

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iknockfashion · 4 years

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“Waste Isn’t Waste Until We Waste It!”

No matter how many people around the world are concerned about pollution and wastage, their support for promoting and adopting sustainable fashion still tends to vary. But from the past few years, there’s been a turning point for sustainability in the fashion culture, majority of the fashion brands, be it fast fashion brands in India or international fashion brands in India, along with fashion designers of India are trying to take sustainable fashion to greater heights. This development is beyond appreciation but more needs to be done. Like every other industry, the fashion industry also holds a responsibility to improve its environmental and social performance. Being a $2.5 trillion global industry, the fashion industry represents a vital interest in securing a prosperous and sustainable future. Environmental stresses are growing with each passing day, and this is going to have a transformation in consumer behavior. To sum it, consumer behaviors and rapidly evolving technology will soon shape and challenge the fashion industry in unpredictable ways. At the end of the day to survive, the fashion labels will have to adapt to the change and produce accordingly. Almost half of the fashion players have initiated laying the foundation for change by adopting sustainability. Now after the outbreak of the deadly Coronavirus, it has become more obvious that even the fast fashion brands in India and international will drive towards sustainable fashion culture. Continue reading to know if sustainable fashion business is profitable in reality?

“Going Green In Fashion”

Regarding fashion, the definition of sustainability means utilizing a process that isn’t injurious to our lives or the life of our planet. The aim of adopting sustainable fashion is, to minimize any harmful environmental effect of the product’s life cycle by-

A) Ensuring careful and minimal use of natural resources, in short, not exploiting water, energy, land, soil, animals, plants, biodiversity, ecosystems, etc.

B) Choosing renewable energy resources above natural resources like wind, solar, etc at every possible stage.

C) Preaching the concept of repair, remake, reuse, and recycling of the product.

Now that the people are focusing on increasing climate change, the fashion industry is thriving to adapt to sustainable fashion culture. Apart from the apparel industry, the footwear space is also becoming environmentally conscious and focusing on the durability of their products. Consumers slowly are also adopting the sustainable fashion culture, according to speculated data, in 2018, 49% of consumers aged 18-24 were very supportive of sustainable fashion, with a further 27%. Traditionally profit-driven fashion companies are also introducing eco-friendly product lines, recognizing the strong demand from consumers and also as environmental responsibilities. The international fast-fashion brand in India, Zara recently announced that all of its collections will be created 100% sustainable fabrics by the year 2025. During the G7 Summit in summer 2019, Emmanuel Macron’s fashion pact which states science-based targets in three areas-

A) Global Warming- The aim is to achieve 0 greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050 to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius until 2100.

B) Restoring Biodiversity- Major focus on restoring natural ecosystems and protecting species.

C) Preserving The Oceans- Reducing the use of single-use plastics.

The Emmanuel Macron’s fashion pact was signed by global fashion brands and fast fashion brands in India and international places, almost 32 companies and roughly 150 brands joined the pact. All these key players of the industry joining sustainable fashion culture bring us to the question of whether sustainable fashion business is profitable?

How To Develop A Sustainable Fashion Business?

Post pandemic the one thing that’s certain to happen is sustainability will become the new normal. There’s a reason why fast fashion brands in India are moving towards adopting organic’, ‘green’, ‘cruelty-free’, and ‘eco-conscious’ products. Both international fashion brands in India and fast fashion brands in India and across the globe have realized the need to change their business models to succeed in the new paradigm. Consumers are becoming aware than ever according to Sustainable Fashion Blueprint Report- 2018, sustainability is regarded as one of the key factors while purchasing fashion products by the consumers. It leads to greater challenges for brands and fashion companies about how to become sustainable in the way they operate.

Mindset- Although the making of a sustainable brand has a lot to do with resources, but it is most essential to have a mindset or determination that goes a long way in making one such brand.

Value Chain- The employees should be asked to adopt sustainable practices throughout the supply chain.

Education- Enlighten the issues of environmental sustainability and encourage people to adopt green practices within the company.

Creating a sustainable garment is not easy, whether it has to do with finding the right materials or the right vendors. There are several challenges involved in starting a sustainable fashion business.

Challenges Involved In Starting A Sustainable Fashion Business

For fashion brands in India, building a unique supply chain is a major challenge, from the farm to the yarn mill to the fabric mill to the dye house to the cut and sew it involves a long process. The other major challenge is searching partners who understand the brand’s vision, brands need partners who understand their views of treating and respecting people. In the early stages, brands can face issues related to the quality and quantity of the raw material from suppliers. A supplier’s lack of professionalism can also cause problems.

Implementation of sustainable practices like working with fair trade artisans and fabric often leads to little expensive products when compared to other products available in the market. This too leads to a major problem as the consumers find products made with sustainable practices costlier than other products and they easily get attracted towards the less expensive products which makes it difficult to convince them that if they spend on sustainable clothes instead of fast fashion brands it would be much worthwhile for them. In the initial stages, a company may face this issue but as soon as the brand’s name becomes known due to its quality no one can stop them from reach heights. One of the major problems is the lack of educated consumers about the benefits of sustainable fashion. The main question arises can sustainable fashion business be profitable too?

Source: https://www.iknockfashion.com/can-sustainability-and-profitability-go-hand-in-hand/

#fashion culture #sustainable fashion #fashions culture #i knock fashion

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dheerajkochhar · 4 years

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ITS LOCK ON for Indian Real Estate

LOCK – ON means 'Disambiguation' which refers to the removal of ambiguity by making something clear.

We never would’ve imagined a day when 1/3rd of world’s population would be in a lockdown. While the wrath of the lockdown has totally changed our lives, putting our work and finances in a jeopardy, our future will depend largely on how we utilize the time available today. The lockdown gives us ample of time to ponder upon key decisions taken and to be taken, explore avenues for reviving the finances, make mindful investments and rectify the unpreparedness with which we are facing today’s situation. Make a choice now, whether you want to repent over what went wrong or make lemonade out of the lemons life (or the virus) has thrown upon us. If you choose the latter, then this article is for you to read ahead.

This pandemic has rightly taught us that uncertainties come unexpectedly. How prepared are we to face an adverse situation again?

Businesses are adversely hit and job security has gone for a toss, leaving us in a catch 20 situation. Talking about investments, the FDs, Stocks, shares that we invested in are witnessing negative returns. Our priced possessions like jewelry and gold are locked up in banks and not helping us get through the situation. Fancy cars are stationed in parking lots, unused. The alternate investment options like SIPs, Mutual Funds too aren’t performing.

Remarkably, one thing that has stood between us and the disaster is HOME. A sense of safety and security that a home brings for a family is irreplaceable. It is a physical as well as an emotional comfort zone where one heals and recuperates through tough times. Man, right from the stone age has been wandering in search of a home (caves), to protect himself, establish a family, dwell in and flourish.

A critical question arising out of the Covid19 scenario is what will be the fate of home buying and Real Estate post the lockdown?

Studies and reports suggest that the real estate sector will decline; witnessing the worst hit till date and survival will be a challenge. However, as said by Benjamin Franklin, “Out of Adversity comes Opportunity”. The sector also flashes rays of positivity and you would be intrigued to know about the potential to INVEST in Real Estate, against all the current odds.

Real Estate will be the most reliable investment option, considering the conditions of banks, share market crash and capital depreciation or any other option that may appear to be safe initially.

Why will the Indian Real Estate sector grow faster than that of the world?

1. The world economy will go into recession this year with a predicted loss of trillions of dollars of global income due to the coronavirus pandemic, spelling serious trouble for developing countries, with the likely exception of India and China, according to a latest UN trade report.

2. The virus pushes U.S.-Chinese relationship towards fracture; the fallout from the global pandemic threatens the recent U.S.-Chinese trade deal and could undermine future global stability. This rift will lead India to gain interests of global investors and companies. These investments open doors for better infrastructure, leading to the opening of multiple employment opportunities. These factors directly balm the upward movement of real estate in India.

3. China lost its goodwill and trust from investors and the corporate world, owing to the (rumored) conspiracies in the way the country handled the spread of COVID 19 to the world. After China, India is the only country with the capacity to handle the magnitude of the Global scale, in terms of manpower, resources, transport systems, etc.

4. India so far, has augmented trust in handling corona and has bravely fought pandemics in the past too. Indian Real Estate gains appreciation form world economists for its perception as a Nation full of values and ethics, leading India with great avenues to become a Global Superpower.

5. NRI investment in real estate is bound to improve amidst Rupee fall.

While the above conditions make India a lucrative hotspot of real estate investments, below are few points to consider towards real estate buying:

Emotional Investment: In India, owning a home is a matter of pride and esteem. The sentiment runs around passing the home possession as a heritage from parents to the future generations. Interestingly, after our first name, ‘Home’ is second most used Word in the world every day. Ultimately, whatever be the circumstances people across the World will not stop investing in a home or buying real estate.

Statistics: The Indian Real estate growth trajectory, since the past few years was likely to emerge stronger and is projected to be USD 650 Bn by 2025 and USD 1,000 Bn by 2030. Residential, commercial and Retail are the three key asset classes, which have primarily been contributing to the sector’s growth. Real estate contributed nearly 6% to India’s GDP in 2017. As per the projected growth trends, the sector’s contribution is likely to rise to 13% of India’s GDP by 2025.

· Real Estate – Largest Employment Generator: After agriculture, Real estate is the largest employment generator in the country, creating tremendous opportunities for the skilled and unskilled workforce. India’s Real Estate employee base is estimated to be 67 Mn by 2022.

· High Tangible Asset Value: Real estate is not paper money, this is the asset you can hold tangibly which again increases its reliability and return on investment.

· Competitive Risk- Adjustment Returns : Based on July 2018 data from National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF), private market Commercial Real Estate returned an average of 9.85% over the past five years. This credible performance was achieved, together with low volatility relative to equities and bonds, for highly competitive risk-adjustment returns.

· Attractive and Stable Income Return (Specially in Commercial space): The rental yield from real estate is much higher than returns on any traditional sources of investment. Commercial investment can yield upto 12% ROI and lowest to 5% ROI (with capital appreciation) depending upon the construction stage and lease terms of the property.

· Inflation Hedging: The inflation hedging capability of real estate stems from the positive relationship between GDP growth and demand for real estate. As economies expand, the demand for real estate derives rents higher and this, in turn, translates into higher capital values.

· Long Term “Assured” Wealth Building Asset with “Predictable “ Returns and least Risk :- Real Estate helps you build wealth in long term due to dual advantage of Regular “Predictable” Returns (yield is higher than Dividend Returns) and an “Assured” Capital Appreciation in long term, don’t be scared of Corporate Scams, while they can affect the company’s stock price or your bank’s health, but it cannot junk out the value of real estate you own

· “Helps you Raise Money Quickly” - Hard Asset is the most preferred collateral for a Bank, to raise capital through a loan (LAP/LRD) your property is the best asset you could own!

· The Ever Rising FSI Benefit - “Wine and Real Estate improve with Age” - While as per accounting standards real estate is not a depreciating asset, in practical life too an older development can reap benefits of redevelopment wherein due to ever increasing FSI norms of MMR the incoming developer would not only offer rent for transit accommodation and corpus as hardship allowance, but also offer at least 25% to 30% enhanced Area (which is of great value as remember, 1 sq.ft of Real Estate in Central Mumbai is valued more than 10 gram of gold) !!

· Work from Home Culture: We are in the middle of the largest test of home-working in history and corporates are adopting, refining and testing policies, processes and infrastructure to make it work. We expect quarantine protocols to encourage work-from-home initiatives and for these practices to be adopted in new geographies as the contagion spreads. Large multinationals who recently, and publicly, announced the scaling back of home-working practices now indicate a desire to embrace widespread use of this practice until the outbreak passes. So commercial demands and co-working space or bigger house may increase.

· Student Housing: An unusual market development that is gradually emerging is student housing in India. Real estate consultancy firm, Anarock Property Consultants says that of the 37 million students pursuing higher education in India, more than 75% live away from home. Existing hostel facilities can accommodate only 18%-20% of this migrant student population. Developers in Mumbai & Pune have already ventured into this space that offers 7% returns.

· Co-living market size across India’s top 30 cities is expected to grow more than double by 2025 to $13.92 billion from current $ 6.67 billion. The demand for co-living in terms of beds is slated to grow to 5.7 million from 4.19 million, while the share of private beds is likely to rise from 15% to 30% of total demand in the co-living segment, showed a Cushman & Wakefield India report.

· REITs are a great investment avenue not only for institutional investors but also for retail investors, who find it difficult to invest in the commercial real estate, which has a better rent yielding than residential properties. Unlike other equity investments, REITs provide assured returns to the investors through a compulsory dividend distribution policy. REITs are mandated to distribute 90% of their net distributable income as dividend. There is also a further upside potential for the investors from periodic property valuations. India's first listed REIT, has gained 50% since listing in March 2019 as against a 10% gain in the Nifty Realty Index and 5% return of the benchmark Nifty 50.

· India’s improved rank on Ease of Doing Business and the courage to implement reforms such as DeMo, RERA, and IBC are indeed creditworthy. These are expected to yield fruitful results in the future and help establish Indian real estate as a preferred destination for global investors, occupiers, and homebuyers.

WHY REAL ESTATE DURING LOCKDOWN?

Probably most of the people interested in buying real estate would be holding their decision till the lock down opens due to speculations in the market or risk pertaining to economic conditions. Yet for any clever investor who is observing the current market will testify buying of real estate during lock down to be the smartest move. Here is why –

1. Reduction in Home loan rates: On 27 March 2020, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reduced the repo rate by 75 basis points (bps). The reduction saw the repo rate reduce from 5.15% to 4.40%. New home loan rates start at 8% from 1 March 2020. So indeed this is good time to buy your home if the decision was just hiding behind the corner for some better rates or good units.

2. Low Demand – Value for Money: Real estate is facing deficit demand in the market which leads to generation of various attractive offers by Developers. To maintain the good books, builders are currently offering very low rates, lucrative payment plans and additional offers resulting in lowering the cost of property. End-user can expect to buy a property as low as the launch price during this lock down.

3. Reduction in Stamp Duty: The Maharashtra government on March 6 announced that it is reducing stamp duty on properties by 1% for Mumbai, MMRDA Region and Pune for a period of two years.

4. Passive Income: Various small investment options are being introduced in the market starting as low as 5 lacs in real estate that too with a rental income. This is again an opportunity to create a separate asset class in your portfolio and start a source of passive income.

5. Demand- Supply breakthrough: Due to low demand, discounted rates on good inventories are available. But once the economic condition will start settling, the bargain will reduce and demand will also start floating upwards. The rates will not be as low as they are now during lock down.

6. Segment Shift : Earlier Lower middle class people used to buy 10 to 12 Lakh property. Now middle class will buy those as an investor and rent it out to lower middle income group. Similarly shift will take place on affordable segment likewise. Middle income group will emerge as new investor community.

7. Strike the Iron when it is Hot: We all must have heard this at least once. But it’s time to implement the strategy to gain extensive returns on the investment. Not only the rates are strikingly low, the return on investment that are being offered by some Developers is as high as 15-18%.

Final Thoughts:

Your Money is SAFE IN Indian Real Estate

- Regulator like MahaRERA leading the cause of timely justice,

- High Court Judiciary being extremely proactive and pro-consumer / investor,

- NCLT giving prompt hearings and orders favoring customer and financial institution and lastly

- The Supreme Court judgment re-affirms the rights of the homebuyers as financial creditors under the bankruptcy code....

Simply put, it means that homebuyers share equal rights of recovery in the developer's assets which are liquidated as part of the bankruptcy process

The Bottom Line

Real Estate cannot be lost or stolen, nor can it be carried away, purchased with common sense, paid in full, and managed with reasonable care , IT IS ABOUT THE SAFEST INVESTMENT IN THE WORLD.

Real estate is a distinct asset class that is simple to understand and can enhance the risk and return profile of an investor’s portfolio. On its own, real estate offers competitive risk-adjusted returns, with less principal-agent conflict and attractive income streams. Though ill-liquidity can be a concern for some investors, there are ways to gain exposure to real estate yet reduce ill-liquidity and even bring it on-par with that of traditional asset classes. Real Estate investing even on a small scale, remains a tried and true means of building an individual’s cash flow and wealth.

“BUY Real Estate in areas where the Path EXISTS , AND Buy MORE Real Estate where there is no PATH, but YOU can Create Your OWN. Don’t WAIT to BUY Real Estate , BUY Real Estate and WAIT.

Thoughts Compiled By :

Dheeraj Kochhar

Capitor Ventures Pvt Ltd

Navi Mumbai

References :

Anarock Report March 2020, Varsha Rathore, Zricks.com, Pic Credits: Google stories and newspapers

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jigneshthanki-blog · 5 years

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TOP 5 Main Reasons to Outsource Chatbot App Development

In the incredibly demanding field of technology, Chatbots are exceptionally widespread today, primarily among companies seeking immediate customer service. In most substantial sectors like e-commerce, healthcare, and BFSI sectors, chatbots are now essential. Advancements in speed, accuracy, usability, and affordability make them a necessity for businesses of all sizes.

A recent survey report by Chatbot Magazine on Global trends in Chatbots found that 69 percent of consumers prefer chatbots to traditional forms of communication. Studies show that 85 percent of all varieties of commercial-customer interaction will incorporate chatbots by 2020, and then by 2025, the international chatbot market will exceed $1.23 billion.

By 2020, mobile communication applications will be used by more than 25% of the world’s inhabitants. In this context, Chatbots are now increasingly used not just through forums or cellular facilities since these days customers mostly rely on live chat for conversations. But sometimes the call went unanswered because the calls received by the employees had a typical waiting time of three minutes which push clients back in an age of anticipated immediate validation. Chatbots resolve this problem by providing scalable, effortless and reliable customer service for use in any form, but notably instant messaging applications.

Quick Turnaround

Before developing a chatbot for your company, a thorough investigation, and evaluation of the business requirement is crucial, to have a correct knowledge of what is optimally suited for you and which technology is best suited for your business. Once the purpose of building a chatbot has been identified, the next question to consider is how much time it will take to prepare a chatbot. Depending on the difficulty of the task, the period needed to build a chatbot for your company can vary in between 2 weeks to 3 months.

If web applications or APIs exist, you can readily customize the current business logic to your mobile apps.

Saving Cost on Skill Development

By adding the resources needed to support different business strands and languages, the headcount and skill set needed to serve customers around the clock will also be increased. Here the virtual assistant Chatbots acts as the first line of defense, and human agents can only be escalated by more complex inquiries. Regardless of whether a call is raised to a human specialist, the chatbot “holds on” to the call. About half of the client support calls received are for routine demands that can be rapidly resolved with the help of bots.

Chatbots manage thousands of requests from customers in various languages at once. Not only can they operate with multiple languages, but they can also comprehend distinct intentions. This makes them very versatile and useful, particularly for global businesses. Sometimes it is difficult to train or locate some native speakers, so these bots are a useful option.

Chatbots also provide coherent answers that can be used without bias to evaluate client reactions. This enables companies to enhance their business policies since it is difficult for humans to remember every part of a conversation, and analyze all the details to improve services and help meet better customer expectations.

For a well-rounded and strong customer service approach, chatbots are becoming vital. Chatbots provide answers and assistance that can either reinforce or replace the need for personal involvement in two-way human intervention. This reduces operational costs and also results in much greater customer satisfaction rates over time.

Saving cost on Specialized hiring

Chatbots can assist companies to save on client delivery expenses by accelerating response rates, enabling representatives for more difficult jobs and responding up to 80% of regular issues. Exactly, during this point, we will require the chatbot integration to visit assistance from a live chat agent. At the very least, clients will be glad to get an appreciated message from a chatbot disclosing to them the specific time they will get answers for their difficulties, particularly when the arrangement has not been customized to the bot yet.

While chatbots can’t completely replace customer service agents, they can save money significantly, as you don’t have to deploy customer service representatives to manage the repetitive queries of your customers.

Proven expertise guaranteeing successful implementation

Besides the fundamental components of technology, knowledge management pushes a chatbot to the finest of its objective. It is essential to have an enhanced knowledge database as the responses to client queries are based largely on the same. Also, information needs to be tailored for customer understanding to promote human-like interactions.

There should be a single concrete knowledge framework behind a chatbot as telecom companies need to produce coherent levels across lines. A data structure with edited content focused on Natural Language Processing (NLP) crosses the gap between user’s complex demands and the distribution of alternative solutions in real-time.

Minimal R&D cost for feasibility check and technical exploration

The estimated price of building a chatbot can vary anywhere between $6000 and $12240. The expenses are generally lower, so you can assume to pay about $10,000 to $15,000 for custom backend chatbots which can also be connected to third-party integrations and CRM and for a small business a Facebook Messenger chatbot can cost around $ 2,000 to $ 5,000.

There are two types of Chatbots: AI-based and Command base

The Command based Chatbot is based on the set of rules and is limited in terms of conversing with visitors. These type of chatbot can only react to the command and cannot become smart. However, these chatbots are one dimensional and are the least expensive to create and provide effortless development and integration whereas the AI-based chatbot application with each newly held conversation, AI-powered chatbots can comprehend human language, manage actual conversations, and consistently become smarter. Except for the capacity to execute everything that command-based chatbots can do, AI-driven chatbots can create real-time choices, provide quick customer support, and server analytics.

Intelligent chatbots involve a knowledge of machine learning, AI and NLP technologies, as well as back-end design abilities and a deep knowledge of a variety of languages and technologies.AI opens up a whole new opportunities, as this generic term includes an array of functionality that enables software to perform tasks that are being frequently performed by humans. The processing of natural language is the core of AI-driven chatbots. The received text can be processed by chatbots using advanced NLP algorithms are then interpret, infer, and determine what might be intended (written or said) and then define a sequence of appropriate actions.

Why choose Let’s Nurture for Chatbot App development?

Let’s Nurture is an ISO 9001:2015 Certified leading Mobile App Development Company. Empowered with AI Technologies, NLP, and Machine Learning technologies, we, at Let’s Nurture, offer complete Social Media Chatbot Solutions and ever since its existence, Chatbot development has been a core service of Let’s Nurture, have developed several applications depending upon diverse business needs.

Planning to Hire Chatbot developers for awesome chatbot app development services for your business? Contact Us now!

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giancarlonicoli · 5 years

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Newsonomics: Inside the new L.A. Times, a 100-year vision that bets on tech and top-notch journalism

It’s a few years behind its East Coast brethren in New York and Washington. But tens of millions in new investment and ambitious digital plans are showing a path back to its former prominence — and beyond.By

KEN DOCTOR

@kdoctor

March 27, 2019, 2:05 p.m.

Look past the view of the 105. Beyond it is the unfolding of the 21st century, delayed but now in full force at the Los Angeles Times.

That’s my big takeaway from a visit to Patrick Soon-Shiong’s new temple to next-stage journalism. Last summer, he moved his just-purchased L.A. Times (whose lease was expiring) to one of the sprawling L.A.’s least glamorous addresses: 2300 E. Imperial Highway, El Segundo, CA 90245. (Google’s satellite view is revealing.) That move stirred some newsroom complaints early on, though the new address seems to have receded as an issue as Soon-Shiong and editor-in-chief Norm Pearlstine have laid out their fast-paced, if still incremental, visions of a new Times.

The visions are big enough, but they stand out even more dramatically in a newspaper business still cutting its way to the future, looking to mergers and acquisitions as a short-term lifeline in the cash-poor trade. Like The New York Times and The Washington Post, the new L.A. Times wants to tell a contrarian story: Investment in the daily press underlines a deep belief in the power of journalism, optimism that it can make both readers’ lives and their democracy run better amid the gobsmacking rate of political and technological change.

“So my concern was editorial, the newsroom. That was my very, very, very first concern,” Soon-Shiong told me in a two-hour interview. “I knew that that’s where I needed to go as my first and highest priority. My second priority now is the business model, but the business model, sadly — and I don’t mean this to sound in any way arrogant — has to be consistent with this next generation, not with the past generation,” says the 66-year-old Soon-Shiong. He’s put his money behind his ideas, taking a loss of about $50 million this year as he marches the Times forward.

Soon-Shiong has been a man of some mystery in the news trade, his entry having been midwifed clumsily by one-time Tronc chairman Michael Ferro. In our wide-ranging interview — to be published in full here tomorrow — the med-tech billionaire connects many of the missing dots that have characterized coverage of him over the last several years.

The Times’ turnaround from those bad old days (actually quite recent!) of the Tronc/Tribune/Ferro reign is nothing less than remarkable.

The Times’ newsroom had unionized as Tronc’s tragicomic handling of its properties reached a denouement, and Ferro made Soon-Shiong an offer he figured he shouldn’t refuse. Soon-Shiong believes that had Tronc/Tribune kept title to the Times, it would have cut as many as another 100 jobs in the newsroom in short order.

His June 2018 purchase stopped any new cuts in their tracks.

Norm Pearlstine, one of America’s top editors whose career had been built at The Wall Street Journal, Time Inc. and Bloomberg, inherited a newsroom of about 440, including part-timers and contractors. That still ranked among the largest in the country; The New York Times counts 1,550, The Washington Post about half that number.

Want a number that symbolizes the Soon-Shiong era? That 440 less than a year ago stands today at 535 newsroom employees.

Many in the business thought that Pearlstine, 76, would play something of a caretaker role — a short opening stint to help orient Soon-Shiong in this business and then stepping aside to pick a younger successor. But Soon-Shiong told me Monday that he’s signed Pearlstine to a new multi-year contract extending his term as executive editor.

“When Norm agreed to come out of retirement and become the executive editor of the Los Angeles Times, we were thrilled,” he said. “He has a long, impeccable track record as a journalist and as a media executive. He is truly enjoying the challenge of guiding the L.A. Times through the transition and positioning the company to succeed. As part of that, he is developing a diverse team of managers and possible successors. We are moving forward in a very positive direction and Norm and I have agreed to a multi-year extension of his term as executive editor. I could not be more pleased.”

How does Pearlstine now look at this almost unique turnaround opportunity? “I’m a little bit torn because I don’t think I’ve ever met an executive who did a turnaround who looked back and said, ‘I went too fast,'” he said. “So the pressure intention is to want to move quickly. But that said, I think we need a pause to just catch our breath and integrate…If you think about [Soon-Shiong’s] ambitions and what the brand lets you do, we need to do additional hiring as we roll out some of these products that we think will induce people to pay for content. What we’ve done over the last eight months has been to fill critical vacancies that had resulted from either layoff, buyouts, or attrition.”

Pearlstine described his Times journey so far in depth in two additional hours of conversations. (We’ll run a transcript of that interviews, like my one with Soon-Shiong, later this week here at Nieman Lab.)

It’s not just the number that matters — it’s also the kind of hires Pearlstine is making, near the top of the newsroom and throughout it. In leadership, he lured away from the East Coast both The New York Times’ Sewell Chan, who heads the news desk and is also responsible for audience engagement, and Slate’s top editor Julia Turner, who is creating the Times’ playbook for upping its arts and entertainment game. In this hiring binge, Pearlstine aims to do both the basic blocking and tackling required to heal an ailing news enterprise and to draw from the new world of digital journalism. His key hires of food critic Bill Addison from Eater and Peter Meehan from Lucky Peach signal an appreciation of journalism that comes from beyond old “newspaper” formulas.

But even that almost 25 percent headcount increase in less than a year marks just the beginning of the Times’ expansion ambitions.

Behold the fifth floor

Among the projects soon to get more attention is on the fifth floor. There, Soon-Shiong says, about 100 new staffers — about 80 of them still to be hired — will operate what he calls a new transmedia operation. The idea — in video, TV, audio, VR, games, and plain old-fashioned social management — is multiplication.

The strategy: Even as fundamental newsroom resources are being rebuilt, magnify their impact across all the means of distribution and audience engagement that technology now enables. Which will work and which will prove to be experiments to retire? Soon-Shiong is the first to say he’s not sure. (A previous transmedia company he backed, Fourth Wall Studios, closed in 2012.) But while his optimism about applying his Nant medical tech to journalism was sometimes lampooned when he first bought into Tronc three years ago, he’s undaunted in explaining tomorrow’s potential.

Take another number: 157,000. That’s the number of digital subscriptions the L.A. Times has today. It’s roughly doubled over the past two tumultuous Times years. The growth rate is significant, as is the fact that it’s more than any other “local” daily in the U.S. But Soon-Shiong sees it as just the first handhold on a towering mountain. He wants to get to 1 million quickly and has a stretch target of 4 million over the next four years.

That quest for fast scale helps explain the Times’ decision to become a major partner of Apple in this week’s launch of the Apple News Plus subscription package. It’s another step in increasing reader revenue. Both The New York Times and The Washington Post declined to join Apple’s service, it makes more sense for Soon-Shiong’s paper. The L.A. Times wants to do everything it can to get “discovered” by new readers, and it has much less to fear from the cannibalization of existing direct digital subscribers. Says Soon-Shiong of the deal: “Apple News editors will be able to curate current and recent coverage from all of our sections…We are delighted to be one of just two U.S. newspapers selected to participate at launch and to share in the revenue from the premium subscription service, which will help fund our journalism.” (Some content, such as the paper’s archives, won’t be accessible through Apple News Plus.)

As for Soon-Shiong’s stretch goal, New York Times CEO Mark Thompson’s recently setting of a 10 million subscriber total by 2025 is instructive. Thompson had laid out that seemingly impossible number two years ago, but back then, he didn’t put a date on it. Now, having reached 4.3 million total subscribers, no one laughs at the 10 million aspiration anymore. That tells us a lot about the digital news business and all the ground Soon-Shiong’s paper will have to make up quickly.

How far is his paper behind The Washington Post or that other Times? (“You mean The New York Times,” he notes several times in our conversation, as if to emphasize there is another Times back in the national media conversation.) Jeff Bezos faced a similar challenge when he bought the Post six years ago, and the paper’s ascent since then has surprised even the most skeptical about the chances of journalistic rebirth. (Amazingly, when Bezos bought the Post, its newsroom staff was smaller than the L.A. Times’.)

Figure the L.A. Times is 6 to 10 years behind its East Coast models, the “papers” it once called its brethren and would like to again.

As it retools, the L.A. Times faces new competition — including from that other Times. The New York Times is intently focused on California, home to 40 million people. It has more digital subscribers in California than in the state of New York. Its California Today newsletter is its Trojan Horse into the Golden State, competing with the L.A. Times’ “Essential California” newsletter. Even as the L.A. Times works to maintain its claim on food coverage, The New York Times went and hired its first-ever California restaurant critic.

Maybe the meaning of the geographic identifiers in these two “newspaper” brands will be something quite different in the years ahead.

Why the long turnaround?

Why might it take the L.A. Times a half decade or more — and continued reinvestment — to enjoy success similar that of The New York Times or The Washington Post?

While any keen Angeleno will tell you that the Times’ troubles began when the Chandler family sold it (and the rest of Times Mirror) to Tribune Company in 2000, it’s been the past decade that inflicted the most pain to what was once one of the most powerful and influential of American press institutions. Certainly, the Chicagoans who ran Tribune — and often tried to run the Times from Chicago — never quite got it right, but it was the seizure of Tribune by bottom-feeder financier Sam Zell in 2007 that sent it into a deepening tailspin.

Throughout it all — Zell’s reign, his five-year “bankruptcy from hell,”Tribune’s split into newspaper and broadcast companies, new management, and then the company’s second legal seizure by the arrivisteFerro in 2016 — the Times resisted. That resistance was both staunch and at times comical. The L.A. Times newsroom would come to be known, rightly or wrongly, as the toughest room in the country.

Amid the turmoil, the L.A. Times was more a punchline than a setter of the news agenda, even though its newsroom through the years (and still today) has produced among the highest-quality newspaper reporting and writing in the country.

There was the midnight firing of publisher Austin Beutner by then-CEO Jack Griffin — who himself was dispatched just five months later by Ferro. Who can forget the three-month tenure of Lewis D’Vorkin as editor-in-chief, after longtime Timesman Davan Maharaj was axed? Or Maharaj’s secret taping of Ferro, chronicled in David Folkenflik’s watchdog reporting on Tronc excess for NPR and giving us the wonderful headline: “Tribune, Tronc And Beyond: A Slur, A Secret Payout And A Looming Sale“? Or the cameo appearances of serial CEO Ross Levinsohn and his sidekick Mickie Rosen in the farce? It all makes the Times’ breakout true-crime podcast Dirty John seem fairly tame. (Anyone written the Times’ screenplay yet?) Keen industry observer Tom Rosenstiel calls the Times, at the time Soon-Shiong bought it, “the most degraded major metro in the country.”

That environment is just part of what Soon-Shiong inherited when he decided to buy. (Ferro had given him a weekend to decide whether he wanted his hometown paper so much that he’d pay a half a billion dollars for it — not allowing him to do much due diligence. In our interview, Soon-Shiong also tells the story of how he entered into a “partnership” after a first whirlwind weekend courtship.)

Soon-Shiong, Pearlstine, COO Chris Argentieri, and the emerging new order of management also inherited a broken technology stack. As Tribune/Tronc reeled for a decade, it had both centralized its operational systems and technologies — and failed to sufficiently invest in them to keep them up to date.

Argentieri describes what taking back the Times from Tronc/Tribune meant operationally: “Tribune operated with a number of functions shared across the company over the last couple of years — well beyond your typical shared services of finance, IT, HR. More than just the back office — so consumer marketing, circulation, national sales. Really, in Los Angeles at the end of Tribune’s ownership, we were essentially left with the newsroom and local advertising — and virtually everything else, including manufacturing, distribution, was all centralized.”

As Soon-Shiong told me, “With regard to the technology, I found it was non-existent. Not even…to fix. Just non-existent. I worried about the systems to the extent that I was worried: Could I run this paper with these systems that are so archaic?”

So even as the L.A. Times became “independent,” it remained — and still remains, roughly through the end of this year — stuck in part on aging, fatigued systems. Observers who wondered why Soon-Shiong signed a “standstill” agreement in January — allowing Tribune to commit to a merger or sale without his assent — have their answer. It was all that old tech that the Times still needs to publish (until its fast-paced plan to replace it all is complete) that was responsible. Soon-Shiong agreed to the standstill — which should make it possible for Tribune to merge with a McClatchy or otherwise sell itself — and in return got his “transition services agreement” extended until June 2020.

There are still many decisions to be made as the clock runs toward that date. Among them: Will the Times keep or replace Arc, The Washington Post’s fast-emerging new newspaper platform standard? Does it believe that Arc can rise to the occasion and help power Soon-Shiong’s expansive vision for the Times?

Overall, says Argentieri, the Times is “probably 40% there, I would say, through transitioning of services.” The big remaining piece, he says, “is to stand up our own traditional IT infrastructure — so our own HRISsystem, our own ERP system, our own infrastructure from a hosting standpoint. All are underway and will happen in 2019.”

Argentieri notes the unique perspective Soon-Shiong brings to the beleaguered newspaper industry. If Jeff Bezos brought the best consumer marketing chops, Soon-Shiong brings his own highly profitable experience.

“Nant [Soon-Shiong’s collection of tech enterprises] brings a pretty deep understanding from a technology standpoint. It’s a little different than how certainly we had looked at things…They look at things from fiber in the ground all the way up through the technology stats. Most, particularly legacy media companies have looked at IT as a major cost center, and put every bit of investment they could make into ‘digital business.’ We’re trying to look at it more holistically, because storage is cheaper, the infrastructure, there’s more things you can do today to have a site and app load faster, and all that leads to better user experience — where we just wouldn’t have focused on moving an infrastructure off servers in a data center in Chicago to somewhere else.”

After the buy and the building, $50 million

All of this transition — in hiring and in technology — comes at a hefty price. Which brings us to the third noteworthy number about the Times: $50 million. That’s the amount Soon-Shiong will have spent on the new Times in his first year of ownership.

How much more investment may be possible? Says Soon-Shiong: “I’m willing to continue to make an investment and collectively, as a collective, to work together” — mindful of the first contract with the News Guild, which unionized the place the week before he took title.

Like most other people of great wealth — Soon-Shiong’s fortune has been reported at over $7 billion — he’s not one to throw money around. Like Bezos, he’ll invest, but “he’s focused on where every dollar goes,” one insider says. As at The Washington Post, good ideas can get funded, but they’re approved by Soon-Shiong on an initiative-by-initiative basis.

How has that tough (and “abused,” as Soon-Shiong puts it) newsroom responded? Conversations with several staffers suggest a wary optimism — about as good as it gets in any newsroom. When the first union contract is concluded, staffers will see raises that mark a clear departure from the experience of their brethren at other dailies, including those still residing within Tribune. Those raises should add up to at least a 10 percent increase over the next three years.

“For staff who are over scale, they would see a 5 percent raise in year 1, 2.5 percent in year 2, 2.5 percent in year 3 under the company’s offer,” says Matt Pearce, a News Guild leader at the Times. “So in other words, pretty much the worst you can do is a guaranteed 10 percent raise across three years. It’s not quite enough to get us to match the pay standards at our East Coast competitors, and doesn’t repair the 10 years the newsroom went without regular raises, but it’s a decent bite out of the apple.”

For those who had been “underpaid,” the impact will be greater. “The company’s last/best/final offer on pay creates a series of pay minimums that would lift up some underpaid staffers fairly dramatically — in some cases, we’re talking raises of 30 percent or more on ratification,” says Pearce.

In addition to wanting a piece of the intellectual property action involved in Soon-Shiong’s multimedia adventures (which Soon-Shiong discusses in our interview), the contract addresses the usual issues: severance, jurisdiction, and seniority. It could be a month or two away from completion.

The guild, representing a workforce still recovering from shellshock, wants to add another clause to the new contract, one on “successorship.” Pearce: “So the contract survives, in the hopefully remote scenario that Patrick decides to sell the paper sometime in the next three years.” Just. In. Case.

Not yet defining the new L.A. Times

If you are reading this hoping to hear the new Times’ leadership clearly outline its strategy for the years ahead — sorry to disappoint you. Ever since Soon-Shiong bought the Times and pledged to rebuild it, people have been wondering about the big strategic questions.

Will the new L.A. Times be more national, expanding still further a fairly robust and re-energized D.C. bureau? More global, seizing the opportunity of the “Asian century” and its spot on the Pacific Rim? More California-centric, seeing a “nation” of 40 million to serve? Or will it be happy to focus on dominating the large and wealthy southern California market?

In other words, what category does the Times fit in now — or will it fit in in a few years? Is it America’s largest local newspaper in the country or its smallest national one?

(In Monday’s keynote, Apple split the difference, calling it “the country’s largest metropolitan newspaper and a rising star.”)

It’s both and neither at the same time, and that makes classifying it tough. “It’s probably safe to say if we’re trying to get to a million digital subscribers over a number of years, we will start with local. But we’ll have to evolve into California stories that have a global relevance,” Argentieri told me. (Former publisher Austin Beutner hired Argentieri, a magazine veteran, back in 2014, and through all the Tronc turmoil, he somehow managed to keep his head down. He widely receives plaudits for his steady hand.) “I think we’ll reach a point of penetration with people that are, you know, ferociously into local content, and we’ll have to go beyond that in some areas that travel better.”

The reality is that the Times is creating the building blocks that could easily be used across multiple strategies and target audiences. For now at least, instead of worrying about classification, let’s watch what’s in at the new L.A. Times. Its ownership is only nine months old, but Soon-Shiong talks about a 100-year vision — there’ll be plenty of time to classify later.

POSTED

March 27, 2019, 2:05 p.m.

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infradapt · 6 years

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The Most Devastating Hacks of 2018… So Far

Network security is a crucial consideration for every contemporary business owner, as there are just too many threats that originate from an Internet connection to be overlooked. One only has to look at what businesses of all sizes have dealt with, even within this calendar year, to gain an appreciation for how crucial it is that every business owner consider their cybersecurity.

Here, we’ve assembled a few statistics and examples to illustrate just how serious the threat of cyberattack can be, hopefully inspiring you to prioritize your company’s network security. Consider these cybersecurity figures:

In 2017 over 130 large-scale breaches were reported, a 27 percent increase over 2016.

Nearly 1-in-3 organization have experienced some sort of cyberattack in the past.

Cryptojacking (stealing cryptocurrency) increased 8,500 percent in 2017.

100,000 organizations were infected with the WannaCry ransomware (400,000 machines).

4 billion WannaCry attacks were blocked in 2017.

The average monetary cost of a malware attack is $2.4 million.

The average time cost of a malware is 50 days.

Ransomware cost organization’s over $5 billion in 2017.

20 percent of cyberattacks come from China, 11 percent from the United States, and six percent from the Russian Federation.

Phone numbers are the most leaked information.

21 percent of files are completely unprotected.

41 percent of companies have over 1,000 sensitive files left unprotected.

Ransomware is growing at 350 percent annually.

IoT-based attacks are growing at about 500 percent per year.

Ransomware attacks are expected to quadruple by 2020.

7 percent of web requests lead to malware.

There were 54 percent more types of malware in 2017 than there were in 2016.

The cybersecurity market will be worth over $1 trillion by 2025.

If that wasn’t convincing enough, what follows is just an assortment of the attacks that 2018 has seen (as of July). To simplify things, we’ve organized them by the intended targets: public (like individuals and government bodies) and private (such as businesses):

Public

January

The Department of Homeland Security was affected by a data breach that exposed information about 247,167 current and former employees.

March

Atlanta, Georgia was targeted by a ransomware attack called SamSam. This resulted in a massive problem for their municipal infrastructure. The ransom price given was $51,000, but Atlanta’s leadership refused to meet these demands. Overall, the numbers show that Atlanta has spent more than 10 times that number in the fallout of the attack. Some estimates place the actual cost of this event at nearly $20 million.

India’s national ID database, Aadhaar, leaked data of over a billion people. This is one of the largest data breaches in history. A user could pay 500 rupees, equal to about $7, to get the login credentials that allowed anyone to enter a person’s 12-digit code for their personal information. For 300 rupees, or about $4.20, users could also access software that could print an ID card for anyone associated with the database.

Cambridge Analytica, a data analytics company that U.S. President Donald Trump used to help his campaign, harvested personal information from over 50 million Facebook users without asking for their permission. Facebook hasn’t called this a data breach, but Cambridge Analytica has since been banned from using the service thanks to this event.

June

A hack of a U.S. Government-funded active shooter training center exposed the personal data of thousands of U.S. law enforcement officials. This also exposed which police departments aren’t able to respond to an active shooter situation.

Private

January

280,000 Medicaid records were exposed when a hacker attacked the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences. Among the information exposed were patient names, provider names, and full names for affected individuals.

February

An unsecured server owned by Bongo International, a company acquired by FedEx, leaked over a hundred-thousand files of FedEx customers. Some of the information leaked included names, drivers’ licenses, national ID cards, voting cards, and utility bills.

March

Orbitz, a travel booking site, fell victim to a security vulnerability that exposed 880,000 customers’ payment card information. There was also about two whole years of customer data stolen from their server.

French news site L’Express left a database that wasn’t password-protected up for weeks, despite being warned about the security issues regarding this.

134,512 records regarding patients and financial records at the St. Peter’s Surgery and Endoscopy Center in Albany, NY were accessed by hackers.

MyFitnessPal, an application used by Under Armor, exposed about 150 million people’s personal information to threats.

The WannaCry ransomware claimed another victim in Boeing, which stated that “a few machines” were protected by Microsoft’s 2017 patch.

May

Thanks to Twitter storing user passwords in a plaintext file that may have been exposed by internal company staff, the social media titan had to force hundreds of millions of users to change their password.

An unauthenticated API found on T-Mobile’s website exposed the personal information of all their customers simply through the use of their cell phone number. The following information was made available: full name, address, account numbers, and tax IDs.

A bug found in Atlassian development software titles Jira and Confluence paved the way for hackers to sneak into IT infrastructure of several companies and one U.S. government agency.

Rail Europe, a popular server used by American travelers to acquire rail tickets, experienced a three-month data breach that exposed credit card information to hackers.

June

A marketing company named Exactis had 340 million records stolen from it, but what’s most shocking about this is that they had accumulated information about nearly every American out there. In response to the breach, there was a class action lawsuit made against the company.

Adidas’s website was hacked, resulting in a loss of a few million users’ personal and credit card information.

A hacker collective called Magecart initiated a campaign to skim at least 800 e-commerce sites, including Ticketmaster, for sensitive information.

Clearly, if these lists are any indication, companies of all sizes need to commit to maintaining their network security, holding it to a higher standard. For assistance in doing so, you can rely on the professionals at Infradapt. We can design and implement security solutions to protect you from threats like these, and others that may rear their ugly heads. Give us a call at 800.394.2301 to get started.

https://www.infradapt.com/news/the-most-devastating-hacks-of-2018-so-far/

#Cybersecurity #Infiltration #Phishing #ransomware #Vulnerability

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brandufo · 3 years

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Top 10 Best Upcoming Startups Coming 2021

In this article we will discuss Top 10 Best Upcoming Startups Coming 2021. A startup is a company formed by its creators on a concept or an issue that has the potential for substantial business success and also effect. Sometimes, the initial production begins well before that, with the quest for a concept or a meaningful challenge worth solving, accompanied by the creation of a dedicated founding team associated with a common mission to carry the vision to life. The goal of the initial founder(s) is to form a dedicated co-founder team with the requisite expertise and abilities to verify the initial problem/solution match and product/market fit before scaling it to a significant organisation and self-sustaining enterprise. So, in addition to the creativity phase itself, from concept to value-generating product to business model, startups must also have a large and dedicated founding team to turn all of these into a real growing enterprise and organisation that captures the value generated as a successful company.

The enterprise tech startup market is brimming with businesses capitalising on rising demand for tools in big data, devops, cloud, mobility, the internet of things, and also safety, even as the pandemic triggers disturbances.

1. Cockroach Labs

Cockroach Labs is a software development organisation that produces industrial information management systems. CockroachDB, a cloud-native, distributed SQL database that offers "next-level accuracy, ultra-resilience, data locality, and also large scale to modern cloud apps," was created in 2015 by three ex-Google employees. Cockroach Labs' sales more than doubled in 2020 as a consequence of the COVID-19 epidemic, due in part to rapid cloud adoption. The startup anticipates similar development this year and also expects to be on target to increase its staff from 200 to 400 workers by the end of 2021. Cockroach Labs received $160 million in Series E financing on January 12, 2021. The round comes only eight months after the startup received $86.6 million in Series D financing, valuing the venture at about $2 billion.

2. Layer CI

LayerCI (backed by Y-Combinator) assists technology-forward companies in disrupting their markets. They built the world's first Continuous Staging platform, an easy-to-use and Also flexible cloud-based SaaS that offers any app developer the best CI/CD + staging experience.

3. ODAIA

ODAIA is a leader in integrating process mining, consumer path analysis, and AI to provide sales and marketing analytics as well as process automation solutions to enterprise businesses around the world. The ODAIA is based in Toronto, Canada, and was established at the University of Toronto. ODAIA is operated by a seasoned team of serial founders, data analysts, and AI developers, and it is trusted by leading global organisations. Maptual and also Multitüd, AI-powered consumer segmentation, commercial automation, and predictive analytics SaaS platforms for Pharma and eCommerce, respectively, were recently unveiled by ODAIA. Based on clear success targets, ODAIA feedback and also predictive analytics enrich consumer profiles and identify audience targeting segments.

4. AIRenty

AIRenty is a SaaS PropTech platform that uses AI to streamline the Real Estate rental phase. They render the quest activity more fun and also less time intensive for all by automating and simplifying the workflow!

5. Local logic

Local Logic is a location intelligence platform that quantifies a location's "sense of position." Local Logic provides predictive analytics to inform real estate decision making in the built world, with over 20 billion individual data points — the highest unique position data collection in the United States and also Canada. City architects and also data scientists are among the founder members of the company. The organisation integrates geospatial, user-generated, and real estate data to provide a comprehensive view of space, as well as how users interpret and appreciate it. The technology of Local Logic brings clarity to the real estate industry.

6. NorthOne

NorthOne is a mobile-first, tech-powered bank account designed for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small/medium-sized companies, allowing them to bank, handle their money, and combine all of their financial resources in an easy and also intuitive manner. Poor financial literacy has a disproportionate effect on SMB expenses and failure rates, and NorthOne is on a quest to eradicate these issues so that company owners can concentrate on what really counts – building a profitable business. NorthOne is more than just a financial platform; it's the world-class Finance Department that SMBs can't manage.

7. Remitr

Remitr is a Toronto-based fintech company that provides a safer solution to money transfers, check payments, and also bank visits for company payments. The Remitr Global Network enables companies to send payments through Canada and to over 150 countries in a matter of days. Remitr, co-founded in 2016 by Kanchan Kumar and also Sandeep Todi, currently handles hundreds of millions of dollars every year and is funded by institutional investors.

8. PointClickCare

PointClickCare's revolutionary cloud-based platform has driven the business from startup to market pioneer, advancing the senior care sector and creating a real change in people's lives. PointClickCare, recently called one of Deloitte's fastest expanding technology companies and also one of Canada's best run businesses, offers numerous benefits and a fantastic atmosphere for workers.

9. Viafoura

Viafoura assists businesses in creating productive, civil, and committed online communities through best-in-class interaction and content moderation solutions such as real-time chats, live blogs, group talk, personalization software, and AI-powered moderation. Customers may now gain access to new and also useful insights into their target audience's habits and interests thanks to sophisticated data analytics.

10. Ruckify

Firstly, Ruckify is the world's largest peer-to-peer renting marketplace, with the aim of reducing needless consumerism and allowing customers the chance to make money from ordinary things they already own. Ruckify believes in groups that share, cooperate, and support one another whilst fostering sustainability. You can rent items from other members of the group, or you can launch your own side hustle and also list your own products for rent. Well, Ruckify partners with people, small businesses interested in rentals, and also established rental firms. To further reduce the environmental impact of consumer products, also Ruckify plants a tree with every sign-up, rental, and analysis produced in the marketplace. Recent articles - Top 10 Best Upcoming Startups Coming 2021 - The Top 10 Most Rewatched Action Movie Scenes Ever in Hollywood- Click here - The Top 10 Hardest Monsters to Kill in Movies in Hollywood- Click here - One of Top 10 movies related to 21st-century software technology you must watch- Click here - Top 10 best American Tv Series you must watch 2021 - Click here - Future Trending Tech 2021 to 2025 Next 5 Years- Click here - Top 10 Startup Ideas Entrepreneurs become Billionaires- Click here - Penny Stocks buy in 2021 - ReactJS Not Recommend Building Enterprise Applications- Click here - Famous Indian celebrities enter Tech startups- Click here - Top 6 Digital Marketing Agencies San Francisco- Click here - Top 5 Backend Programming Languages Higher Growth 2025 - Click here Read the full article

#AIRenty #CockroachLabs #LayerCI #Locallogic #NorthOne #ODAIA #PointClickCare #Remitr #Ruckify #Viafoura #Whatarethetop10startupscomingin2021

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perfectirishgifts · 3 years

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Does Your Employer Match Charitable Gifts?

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/does-your-employer-match-charitable-gifts/

Does Your Employer Match Charitable Gifts?

The Covid-19 pandemic and protests against racial injustice drove spikes in donations via corporate … [] virtual giving programs.

More people are donating to charity via new workplace online giving platforms than ever, and they’re donating more than ever. It seems they’ve been spurred on in part by the issues of 2020—the Covid-19 pandemic and racial justice—and in part by the lure of company matching gifts. Toyota, Nordstrom and Comcast all launched new online charitable gift matching programs this year. Yet millions of Americans are missing out on the chance to grab an employer charitable match. Does your employer match employee donations to charity?

Here’s an example of how employees can double—or triple—their donations. Comcast introduced a new online matching gift program this summer, powered by Cybergrants and branded myImpact. Thousands of employees have signed in to support more than 3,000 non-profits across the country so far, a company spokesperson says. Employees log into myImpact to track volunteer hours, search for volunteer opportunities and donate to charities. Comcast matches the first $1,000 of charitable gifts at 100%. You give $1,000; Comcast gives $1,000. In addition, in the first 10 days of December, Comcast offered a double match on employee gifts of up to $250 to charity. So an employee could give $1,250 out-of-pocket to non-profits this year, with Comcast giving $1,500 to those same non-profits. (My husband and I signed into his myImpact account to make gifts to charities including The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, which supports emerging artists and fosters critical discourse.)

What’s driving these new programs? They’re part of the corporate push to embrace social responsibility. UK private equity firm Hg just announced it’s buying a majority stake in Benevity, the leading “corporate purpose” software provider, valuing Benevity at $1.1 billion. Social impact software gets Unicorn status! The funding interest in Benevity is “a tremendous testament to the acceleration of the importance of corporate purpose, ESG and the appetite for companies to use their reach, resources and people to help solve some of the world’s most pressing social issues,” says Benevity founder and CEO Bryan de Lottinville in a blog post about the deal on LinkedIn.

The issues of 2020 have accelerated corporate social impact programs, with giving, volunteering, and corporate grant making at record levels. Benevity, which serves 650 companies with 19 million eligible workers, processed more than $1.6 billion in donations this year through October 31, a 64% increase over the same timeframe last year. Employees donated $500 million on their own, a 76% increase over last year. New companies using the Benevity platform include Toyota, Nordstrom and Jacobs Engineering.

Nordstrom says that helping its employees personally give back to the causes that matter most to them is core to its corporate philanthropy program. It aims for 20% employee participation in its charitable match program by 2025. Employees can get up to $5,000 annually to match their personal contributions of cash or volunteer time to qualified charities.

Benevity says that 11% of eligible employees on its platform have made a donation this year—that leaves a big gap for more people to get involved.

Full Coverage: America’s Top Charities 2020

Some companies restrict the charities that qualify for matching gifts. Comcast, for example, doesn’t match gifts to religious organizations or colleges and universities. By design, companies can increase giving. Some company programs enable payroll deductions for gifts. Some programs let employees create and share giving “opportunities” to help promote their favorite cause. Some feature rotating causes. Benevity has partnered with Give Blck, a new database that makes it easy for companies and individuals to find and donate to Black-founded nonprofits.

There’s an added tax incentive for donating to charity this year, so save your receipts. Even if you don’t itemize deductions on your tax return, you can still get a small “match” by way of a tax deduction from Uncle Sam. As part of the pandemic relief CARES Act, Congress put in a special charitable contribution deduction for the 2020 tax year of up to $300 per tax return. This helps the majority of taxpayers who take the standard deduction instead of itemizing deductions. There’s a new line 10b on the 1040 tax return to report these donations, which must be cash, not goods. The CARES Act also increased the deduction percentage limitation for cash charitable contributions from 60% to 100% of adjusted gross income for 2020.

For larger gifts, it might make sense to give a gift of appreciated stock directly to charity. Forbes’ Bruce Brumberg explains how making donations of stock instead of cash provides critical financial support for charities and a potentially bigger tax deduction for you in Stock Donations: 7 Essentials.

To see how far Benevity has come in two years, see: More Power With Your Pay: A Millennial-Friendly Charity Platform Is Transforming Corporate Giving