Daily Cup of Tech

AI for Recruitment Process: Pros, Cons and Key Use Cases

Miley on May 31, 2020

For some years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is used by recruiters and HR professionals around the world. The kind of potential is shown to us, and AI is going to be a mainstay technology for the years to come. A large number of companies have embraced AI-based automation for recruitment and talent acquisition.

Here through the length of this post, we are going to explain the pros, cons, and some of the critical instances of AI implementation for recruitment.

Pros of AI-based Recruitment

The use of AI-based tools and software solutions for the recruitment process has become extremely popular because of the array of advantages they offer. Let us briefly see some of the key benefits of AI-based recruitment.

Process Automation: Automation in the recruitment process results in optimum efficiency, faster processing, and resource-saving. AI-based automation tools and chatbots used in the recruitment process can free a lot of time for the company’s manpower.

Boosts Engagement: AI implemented through a chatbot, or virtual assistant solutions can boost engagement of the prospective candidates throughout the recruitment process. An automated process can easily keep the employees updated and help to stay tuned to the process requirements from time to time.

Minimizing Human Bias: In any recruitment process, human bias is quite common that prevents optimum efficiency in spotting the right talents and required skills. This is where AI-powered automation tools can help. AI-based automation can help hire professionals purely based on skill and merit and keep any bias or discrimination scope at bay.

Cons of AI-Based Recruitment

Despite several key benefits of AI in the recruitment process, there is an equal share of disadvantages as well. The future of AI largely depends on how these shortcomings are dealt with. Let us have a brief look at some of the cons of AI in recruitment.

Inaccuracy: Despite the vast capabilities that AI-based tools offer, there are still a lot of inaccuracies that make the output of AI tools suffer. Many AI tools still suffer from the less reliable output because of the incomplete or non-optimized training data that does not accurately represent the applicants or the domain.

Missing Human Judgment: Since a machine is only capable of handling data, it fails to notice some crucial human traits and qualities, such as personality, personal interests, individual character, and work ethics.

The Key Use Cases of AI in the Recruitment Process

Over the years, AI has been successfully used in the recruitment process for many tasks. Some of the use cases of AI-based recruitment truly boasts of efficiency and performance optimization in a never before way. Let us have a look at the key use cases of AI in recruitment.

AI-based Recruitment Apps

Some recruitment and hiring companies now have their own mobile apps equipped with tools and all relevant UI/UX attributes. These apps equipped with intelligent AI-powered chatbots can communicate with the prospective candidates while helping with the process of screening. You can hire app developers in India who are experienced in building recruitment and Human Resource apps to optimize mobile communication and screening candidates.

Talent Hunting and Acquisition

For most businesses, talent acquisition remains a crucial challenge to win over the market competition. AI can help sourcing candidates automatically by digging into the resume databases. AI-based tools can also screen the candidates efficiently in the early stage of the process.

Screening the Recruits

AI-powered automated recruitment tools can quickly screen vast numbers of resumes and can shortlist potential candidates who are fit for the job position. Thanks to the absence of human error and bias in assessment, AI-based screening tools can sort out the right talents more efficiently.

AI Chatbots for Communication

AI-powered assistants or intelligent chatbots are playing a significant role in handling various recruitment and human resource-oriented tasks. Besides cutting short, much lengthy communication and corresponding resources, chatbots can help an organization respond faster and reduce employee hiring time.

AI for Relationships Development

These days, to attract the best talents, any organization treats prospective candidates as their customers and so focuses on building relationships through the recruitment process. AI-based automation tools in this respect can play a highly effective and efficient role.

Creating Attention-Grabbing Job Advert

Since talent acquisition is a very competitive field, you cannot leave anything to chance. The same goes for the case of job adverts for your recruitment needs. Since the job adverts make the first impression on candidates’ minds, you need to be creative and meticulous about it. By utilizing the right data and predictive analytics, an AI-powered tool can help you create the job adverts that quickly grab attention and look convincing at first sight.

The Future of AI in Recruitment

The advantages of using AI-powered recruiting tools are too many. AI, along with machine learning and predictive tools, can help organizations in everything related to recruitment and talent acquisition. The use of smart AI-powered interviewing tools helped organizations to improve the output of the HR team in terms of time-saving, quality of recruits, and better attrition rate.

At the same time, it must be admitted that the AI-powered recruitment tools are new, and they are not being used for a long time by the HR professionals around the world. So, these tools need to evolve for some time before they prove to be more efficient. It is just the early stage of AI solutions being used for recruitment, and we can expect that they will be more mature and tuned to the specific recruitment needs of organizations.

Conclusion

The presence of AI-powered tools across human resource departments across companies is extremely becoming common as AI tools are doing great in saving time and money while helping with high-quality talent acquisition. The future of recruitment seems to be inseparable with AI tools.

Development Insights Martech

Maximizing Your Impact Through Digital Advertising

Miley on May 31, 2020

It goes without saying that the Internet has become essential to modern life. Ever since its widespread use began in the 1990s, the Internet has become woven into the very fabric of our daily lives. According to Internet World Stats, there are over 4.5 billion people who use the Internet as of December 2019 – over half the world’s population. And as Internet use has become more widespread, so too have the tools we use to access it. TechJury reports that there are 3.5 billion smartphone users in the world, a number that is quickly growing as smartphones become cheaper and more accessible.

This new digital culture has impacted business in several ways, but perhaps most notably when it comes to marketing. Only a few years ago, advertising was associated with print media, billboards, and television commercials, as it has been for decades. But with the advent of the online world, that’s quickly changed. Now, it’s become faster and easier for you to learn about new brands through digital advertising and social media.

To say that marketers shouldn’t underestimate the impact of digital advertising might be a bit of an understatement. Nearly every company has begun the shift into digital marketing, and those who haven’t are quickly changing gears. Compared with traditional routes, digital advertising is more cost-efficient, and in many cases can reach a wider number of people.

However, although digital marketing has become increasingly popular, getting your campaign to rise above the crowd isn’t that easy. Competition can be fierce, and many companies may find that their investments in digital marketing aren’t getting the return that they want. If you’re looking at how to make the most of the digital sphere in your marketing efforts, then here are a few tips for maximizing your impact below.

Test, Test, Test

With digital advertising being so affordable and with much of your potential market spending their time online, it can be tempting to cobble together a digital campaign and send it into the wild as quickly as possible. After all, digital is cheap, and it can’t be that hard to do, right? Well, not exactly. Like traditional marketing strategies, digital marketing has its strengths and weaknesses, and companies will have to learn how to maximize these strengths while minimizing weaknesses.

One of the methods of doing this is through a simple, but often neglected strategy: testing before launching. A simple A/B test can be the key to determining whether you’re getting the most out of your campaign or not. Digital Marketing Magazine describes A/B testing as a test that determines whether subtle changes in your campaign might influence consumer behavior. Many companies, in their rush, to get their marketing off the ground, end up forgetting this, but executing a quick test to see whether your new website or newsletter works could be the difference between success or failure for your campaign.

Maximize Impressions

Companies who make use of digital marketing are often told their campaigns should maximize their impressions, but finding the best way to do this can often be difficult. After all, with such a diversity of content and approaches, find the sweet spot of effectiveness for your digital marketing campaign is easier said than done. For many companies, it can be tempting to invest in only one or two tools. However, with digital marketing, a multiplicity of methods is better than one.

Marketing solutions company Triadex Services describes several ways that companies can trace and maximize their impressions through their mobile marketing campaigns. These methods include ensuring ads are smartphone-friendly, using tools like search engine optimization and geofencing, and researching current trends. Digital marketing requires careful investment and planning in order to be effective, and companies who put in that time and effort quickly find that those efforts pay off.

Tap into Video

If there’s one thing that’s begun to stand out in the last couple of years — even in a landscape that’s as information-rich as the Internet — it’s video. Advertisers are familiar with video in a more traditional sense, such as in a television commercial or infomercial, but it’s quickly becoming the newest plaything on the digital advertising front. Video marketing is quickly becoming popular, keeping potential customers’ attention for longer and increasing brand recognition and recall.

Forbes writes that video marketing is increasing in importance, thanks to the ability to customize content and personify brands, as well as its high ROI. Video offers companies the ability to track their results, engage with customers, and become easily visible and recognizable. If you haven’t thought about using video in your materials, now might be the best time to start.

Development Insights

10 Amazing Benefits of Online Learning (Infographic)

Miley on May 22, 2020

Thanks to rapid advancement in technology over the last few decades, online learning has been growing exponentially. It is now possible to become an expert in any subject without ever leaving your own home. Whether you wish to further your career with training, complete a degree, or learn for fun. Distance learning has multiple advantages over traditional education methods. Online tuition provider Tutorful outline some of the positives associated with e-learning including flexibility and value for money!

Infographic on 10 benefits of online learning

Development Insights Martech

How Content Marketing Can Get Your Startup Off the Ground

Miley on May 22, 2020

If you’re getting a business up and running, you know how many tasks are involved. You have to secure funding, create a reliable system to track revenue and expenses, hire good talent, and line up help with software development (see https://www.bairesdev.com/insights/python-development-services).

At the same time, you need to immediately start building brand awareness to stand out from the competition. One of the most powerful and cost-effective ways to accomplish this task is to use content marketing.

What Is Content Marketing?

Content marketing involves publishing valuable, high-quality content pieces, like blog posts, videos, and podcasts, that offer solutions to your target audience’s problems. Unlike traditional marketing plan, this method doesn’t focus on selling products or services to customers, but instead builds brand awareness and develops trust, which can result in loyal customers.

This cost-effective approach can work well for many types of business but is especially useful for startups. While it costs 62% less than traditional marketing methods, it can yield three times the leads per dollar spent. It can also help attract and retain good talent.

You Need a Content Marketing Strategy

Before you start producing content, you need to develop a solid strategy using the following steps:

1. Research target audience

Identify and learn about your target audience, since you will build content around how you can help them:

What are their demographics (age, gender, location, income)?
What are their interests and hobbies?
What are the problems they face that your products or services can solve?

2. Determine content type

Use surveys, interviews, and analytics to discover what types of content your target audience prefers to consume. If they like to read about solutions, focus on creating blog posts, articles, newsletters, and case study reports. If your audience is more visually oriented, consider infographics, videos, and images. For those who want to listen to information, there are webinars and podcasts. Keep in mind that the best choice for your audience might be a combination of different types.

3. Develop objectives

It’s essential to know up front what you want to accomplish. Your objectives should be specific, measurable, and realistic and relate directly to your general business goals.

Some common content marketing objectives include:

Brand awareness, which can be measured by assessing changes in website traffic
Customer education and engagement, revealed by the number of shares and comments on social media
Brand loyalty, which shows up in the form of repeat purchases and referrals

Build a Content Marketing Plan

Once you know your objectives, you need a plan for how to achieve them. The following are possible plan components:

Keyword research

Identify a set of terms that your target audience is searching for. Aim for three to five core keywords, along with a longer secondary list. You’ll expand these keywords into topics to cover in your content pieces.

Make sure to include relevant SEO terms so your audience can find your content through organic search. Ideally, the keywords should be high traffic and low competition.

Content calendar

Scheduling content helps maintain consistency in quantity and quality, which is key to good results. Use a tool, such as Google Calendar or a project management app, to create and manage a content calendar. Ideally, you should plan out content for the coming year, but even a few months at a time can be helpful.

Assign each content piece a target keyword, topic and title, creator, completion deadline, publishing date, and where it will be published.

Where to publish

Where you publish content should be based on where your target audience goes for information. Some options include:

Your website, perhaps in a special content section
Relevant social media platforms and groups
Email newsletters with exclusive content for subscribers
YouTube, where users perform 50 million searches a day and there is less competition for keywords than on the Google search engine
Third-party sites relevant for your niche and audience

Gather Resources to Create Content

Someone will need to create your content pieces. While you can try to do it yourself, you’ll likely need to outsource some or all of it or build a dedicated in-house team. Typical roles you’ll need, depending on the type of content, include writer, editor, graphic designer, and videographer.

Develop guidelines for your creators to follow, including a chronological checklist with specific deadlines, design standards to promote a consistent look, and an editorial process.

Some affordable content production tools can help, including Google Docs for collaborating, Google Keyword Planner to find the best keywords, Mail Chimp for targeted emails and newsletters, and Grammarly to correct errors.

Measure Your Success

To accurately measure success, you’ll need key performance indicators (KPIs) based on your objectives. Make sure to include incremental milestones to assess progress along the way. You can create a “scorecard” with performance benchmarks for each content piece.

Examples of KPIs include:

Lead generation
Traffic to website
Increase in money spent per sale
Social media follower growth and engagement
Search engine rankings

Check regularly how your content performs related to the KPIs, then promote what does well and adjust what doesn’t. You can use your best performing topics for new posts by creating a different type of content (such as making an instructional video based on a successful blog post topic).

Periodically review your overall strategy to make sure you’re still using the right message in the right places to reach the right audience.

In Summary

Content marketing is a smart approach for startups who want to build visibility and promote brand awareness on a limited budget. Successful content marketing is a slow and steady process, but if you maintain consistency and quality, you’ll see success over time.

Development Insights SEO

MilesWeb – Perfect Web Hosting For Web Developers

Miley on May 22, 2020

Being a web developer is not an easy job, every time a website demands new changes and you need to keep your heads on it. Web developer looks after various tasks like coding, management of the website, updating site with new applications, etc. In the middle of all this chaos, a developer might not get time to look after the web hosting issues, or he might think that it is not his work. Yes, as a site owner you cannot blame a developer for that because web hosting is a service offered by web hosting providers that work separately. Web hosting is definitely an important parameter of a working website but is often neglected. So, if you are a web developer reading this article, and if you are frustrated with some web hosting services then this article is for you.

Most of the web developers look for a cheap web hosting company that offers great reseller hosting plans so that the developer can start their own hosting company, well this article will help you too.

MilesWeb has a large customer base of web developers who are happy with the services they are getting. So, today, I thought I should reveal some points about MilesWeb.

MilesWeb

The company was started in the year 2012, with an aim to provide web hosting at very cheap rates without compromising over its services. Their shared hosting plan is a popular one in the market, where you get unlimited hosting starting at just Rs.40/month.

Within this short term, the company has now reached many hearts due to its integrity and outstanding support.

MilesWeb for developers

If you are a developer having a good customer base, then you must broaden your horizon by starting a web hosting business. That means you can now provide everything under your brand, right from domains, web hosting, and sites. If you are thinking the same way, then reseller hosting is structured for you only.

The important thing is, all the reseller plans from MilesWeb come with a 100% white label so that you can sell all the products under your brand name. All you have to do is, just buy hosting from MilesWeb and sell it to your customers, under your brand name and price. This is one in a million opportunities for developers to start their web hosting business.

C:\Users\ADMIN\Desktop\Images and Plans\Unlimited reseller hosting India.png

Additionally, reseller hosting from MilesWeb ensures that a user doesn’t require any lump-sum amount, our huge infrastructure, also don’t need to spend on servers or to hire employees, as everything is managed by MilesWeb on behalf of you. This also ensures that in any process while dealing with your customers, MilesWeb maintains a 100% white label and provides service under your brand name. You can gain more information about them by directly initiating a chat from their website, the technical support team will help you properly.

MilesWeb offers a wide range of products like shared hosting, VPS hosting India, reseller hosting, dedicated hosting, cloud hosting, etc. All these hostings come with a lot of best-hosting features, and the following are few of them:

1) Free SSL certificate

As a web developer, you must be knowing the importance of HTTPS symbols padded on a site. To ensure the safe transmission of data, MilesWeb provides a free SSL certificate with every web hosting account bought from them.

2) SSD storage

SSD storage speeds up websites so that visitors can have better site experience. A fast and smooth loading website gains more visitors than a site hosted on outdated hard drives.

3) Latest PHP and MySQL

A developer knows how many times he needs to update the software running on the website. But, all web hosting plans from MilesWeb offers the latest version of PHP and MySQL and they get updated as soon as the latest version releases, this eases the work of the developer.

4) Protection against virus

A website is prone to viruses if it is working on the internet. This doesn’t mean, you don’t need to have a working website, because proper protection can save a site from any misfortune. MilesWeb servers are scanned on a daily basis that protects each and every site hosted on them from all types of malware.

5) Free website migration

Migrating a website is very tedious work. One single mistake can break the whole website and lose its data. So, if you want to switch your hosting to the MilesWeb server, then just contact their technical support team, and they will migrate the website on their server without any data loss.

You can see, MilesWeb being a web hosting company, takes the responsibility of various technical work so that a user doesn’t have to invest special time in it.

Want to try MilesWeb?

If you want to free yourself from the burden of web hosting issues, then MilesWeb is an answer to you. The plus point is, the hosting comes with 99.95% uptime, 24/7 technical support, and 30 days of a money-back guarantee.

Insights

[Infographic] The Growing Need of Mobile Threat Defense

Miley on May 21, 2020

The ever-growing pertinence of mobile devices and our increasing dependency on them is like a coin with two sides – at one end, the benefits and convenience provided by mobile devices, in both personal and professional world, are matchless and totally extendible, but on the other side, mobile devices have the capacity to expose sensitive data to the wrong people who can do us irreparable harm. The risks and threats posed by cyber-criminals, hackers, and identity thieves are now dangerously real.

The fact is, as mobile technologies are getting more and more sophisticated, so are the advancements in new attack vectors that the cybercriminals are exploring to fulfill their malevolent intentions. However, with the expanding mobile threat landscape, companies too have become aware of the impending attacks and hence have started to embrace a mix of on-premise and cloud-based services to decentralize data storage. On top of it, the adoption of next-generation mobile threat defense mechanisms and antivirus solutions has prepped the companies to fight against malware-based risks.

October is the month dedicated to National Cybersecurity Awareness – a collective effort taken by the US government and corporate industry to spread awareness about the criticality of cybersecurity and the measures businesses need to take to keep their mobile/online data safe from any threats. This specific Infographic will elucidate the growing cyber threat landscape, its impact on enterprises and ways to fight it back by leveraging Android MDM along with a robust MTD solution to seamlessly secure & manage your enterprise data and services.

Considering this year’s underlying message – Own IT. Secure IT. Protect IT, you can relate to the insights and facts we conveyed through the illustration.

[Infographic] The Growing Need of Mobile Threat Defense by Scalefusion Kiosk Solutions

SEO

Why Did My Rankings Drop After Using Google’s Disavow Tool?

Miley on May 18, 2020

As the 21st century continues to unfold, more and more business owners are recognizing the importance of implementing effective internet marketing strategies. By maximizing SEO and other such strategies, business owners can ensure that they continue expanding their online presence and thereby gain more revenue through the goods and services they sell. For quite some time now, many website owners have been aware of the integral role backlinking can play in affecting website ranking. If, for example, a website receives a backlink from a low quality website, this can cause the original website to gain a less prominent position in the search engine results pages.

For this reason, Google has put in place a disavow tool which permits website owners to rid themselves of connection to bad backlinks. Despite the apparent efficacy of this option, many website owners have experienced a drop in search engine ranking after using the Google disavow tool. By learning more about the Google disavow tool and how its use can affect your search engine ranking, you can make a prudent decision regarding whether using the tool would be appropriate or advantageous for you.

Google’s Disavow Tool-A Basic Overview

The basic premise of the Google disavow tool is simple. Oftentimes, website owners find that their sites have been backlinked to other sites that are either low quality, spammy, obscene, or questionable in some other manner. To remedy the problem of being linked to these types of questionable websites, Google gives site owners the ability to disassociate from them through use of the disavow tool. To use the disavow tool, the website owner creates a list of the URLs from the unwanted backlink site in a text file. Once you have successfully created a file, you can then access Google’s disavow link through Google Webmaster Central. After selecting your website, you’ll go through a list of warnings and subsequently select and submit your file.

Once you’ve successfully submitted your file, Google will not immediately discount your links. In fact, Google representative Matt Cutts has stated that it can take several weeks for the disavowal to be processed and actualized. Additionally, Cutts pointed out that Google can opt not to use disavowal submissions if the company believes they are not to be trusted.

After your disavow file is submitted, you will have the option to download the file and resubmit it to reflect any necessary changes. The file limit in terms of size is 2MB.

How The Disavow Tool Gained Prevalence

In determining whether you should use Google’s disavow tool, consider the fact that it was primarily designed for website owners who were adversely affected from Google’s Penguin Update. The Penguin Update had a profound effect on websites that Google believed were spamming its search engine results, especially those who did so through the purchase of links. After the Penguin fiasco, many web publishers and SEO companies went into panic. One of the primary concerns was how to develop a way to get rid of bad links and start anew. Other people grew concerned that some individuals might direct bad links to their web pages for the purpose of destroying their online presence with negative SEO. As a result of these concerns, new businesses that made money by charging to remove harmful links gained prevalence.

Why Your Rankings Can Drop Through Use Of The Google Disavow Tool

As many Google experts know, implementing the Google disavow tool can have an adverse effect on your search engine results page rankings.

Based on Kuan’s assessments regarding the Google disavow tool, it is clear that disavowing links that are helping you earn a competitive ranking can have a detrimental effect on your Google search results. The rationale is simple: Even if you are being backlinked by a spammy or low-quality website, that site can be generating visitors to your own pages.

How To Use Google’s Disavow Tool Effectively

In recognizing the fact that the Google disavow tool can have an adverse effect on your search engine rankings, you may wonder whether or not you should make use of the tool when attempting to solidify your internet marketing campaign. In discussing this matter, several internet marketing experts have pointed out that the key to success with the disavow tool is to avoid blindly disavowing links out of fear. Rather, you should take the time to do your research on the sites that you have been backlinked to before you begin the disavow process. In discussing how to use its disavow tool effectively, Google has stated that it frowns upon using the tool frivolously. In a 2012 slideshow on the disavow tool, Google representative Matt Cutts outlined several tips for effective use. They include:

1. Avoiding use of the tool unless one is certain that it is needed

2. Remove all the links from the web that you can prior to using the disavow tool. To do so, website owners can make several link removal requests for themselves. Website owners should wait until there are just a few links left to remove before resorting to the disavow tool.

Implications of the Google Disavow Tool

Although the Google disavow tool has been effective in helping many people cut ties with shady and/or scammy websites, some website owners are disgruntled about the fact that use of the tool can cause their rankings to drop. Interestingly, Google has not always taken definitive action against negative links. In the past, the company has frequently opted to simply ignore the bad links. Yet by choosing to interpret bad links as “negative votes,” Google facilitated the rising concern regarding adverse SEO activity which it is now attempting to quell through its disavow tool. Moreover, Google has also stated that its algorithms are designed to prevent negative SEO, meaning that the majority of web owners shouldn’t have to worry about the presence and effect that SEO might have o n their search engine result page ranking.

Despite Google’s efforts to prevent web owners from being subjected to negative SEO from bad backlinks, many people remain disgruntled. At this point, many web owners argue that links are ultimately disadvantageous to them because getting quality links is difficult. Moreover, when one obtains a quality link, the link itself might not count. Finally, the process of disavowing links can take time which one might want to devote to more productive activities such as web design, content creation, or social media network marketing efforts. In response, Google has emphasized the benefits offered by the disavow tool and how it enables people to obtain a “clean slate.”

Conclusion

As made plain by the information listed above, Google’s disavow tool can be an effective medium to use when attempting to disassociate from bad backlinks. At the same time, however, using the tool can have an adverse effect on your search engine ranking. In recognizing both of these realities, be sure to use the disavow tool strategically and as a last resort when implementing your SEO techniques to expand your online presence. Get a help from SEO Philippines Company.

Insights Martech Products

4 Ways Fintech Is Making Life Easier for Businesses

Miley on May 14, 2020

Fintech means streamlined communication and more convenient financial and banking solutions for consumers. It’s also making life easier for businesses and their customers, too. Combining finance with digital technology, it offers more reliable, convenient, innovative, and secure platforms for facilitating transactions and other services at faster speeds than the brick-and-mortar and even earlier online alternatives.

Just how, specifically, is Fintech solving problems for businesses of all sizes? There are plenty of ways, from enabling them to accept payments on the go with ease to allow them to offer better customer service to current and prospective clients.

It allows businesses to accept payments — practically anywhere

Finding a way for customers to pay for products via digital technology doesn’t seem like it should be all that difficult, but there are many intricacies. That happens due to the many payment methods available, issues like tax discrepancies in different locations, processing fees, and other issues.

Fintech has the answer, though, in the form of platforms like Square. A small attachment adapter allows businesses to swipe credit cards and accept payment on the go — even when they’re not connected to WIFI — whether they’re in a conference hall, restaurant, greenmarket, or storefront. Today, many businesses use Square with a stand to replace a cash register, so it’s no longer just for transactions away from their home base.

Stripe is another helpful Fintech tool that allows businesses to accept payments. The major difference between the tools is that while Square is primarily used for payments made in-person, Stripe focuses on online payments usually made remotely.

Securing transactions

Security is a huge concern for both businesses and consumers. Fortunately, blockchain technology has made transactions a lot safer and easier for organizations and people who use it. Essentially, the technology keeps a record of information within a transaction in a “block” that’s linked to other blocks on a virtual chain — hence the name. The blockchain is encrypted and enormously difficult to corrupt because altering one block will affect the entire ledger.

Moreover, transactions don’t require third-party, intermediary processing, which means they occur much more quickly than they would if they did need an intermediary, as transactions typically do, as well as safely. This is helpful for many types of businesses, such as retail, which benefits from secure, swift transactions. Even fast-food chains like Starbucks and Burger King are accepting cryptocurrency in some locations, with transactions conducted via apps.

Digitizing currency

Some countries, such as Sweden, are already well on their way to becoming cashless societies. The Harvard Business Review reported that cash transactions under $20 had dropped to 37% in 2019 in the United States, down from 46% in 2015. Digital currency could be well on its way to replacing physical currency for good, increasing efficiency, speed, and convenience.

Credit card payments are nothing new, of course, but today, more and more businesses are accepting them for smaller transactions. Some are even taking cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, which, through blockchain technology, allows customers to pay for purchases without an intermediary to process the transactions. Many small businesses are doing away with cash transactions entirely.

Facilitating payroll

Fintech also offers platforms that intersect with responsibilities generally handled by human resources or accounting. Software such as ADP, HReasily, and even Square will take care of your payroll processing, tax documents, benefits information, and more.

This can be especially useful for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that usually deal with these issues on their own, often spending too much time dealing with the various intricacies of bonuses and tax-filing. Not only does this free up time for SMEs, but it also takes concerns about areas they may not understand or have a dedicated staff to handle fully off of their plates.

Fintech is important for all businesses that depend on customer service, from retail to insurance. It facilitates greater reliability and security, which is essential for an organization’s reputation. In the future, we’ll likely see Fintech touch even more areas of the business world and provide solutions we can’t even imagine, driving increased consumer engagement and trust in brands.

Development Insights Products

Stolen Vehicle Recovery with Thatcham Insurance Approved Trackers

Miley on May 13, 2020

The continuous efforts of car manufacturers, tech companies and police forces to combat vehicle theft across the UK led to a steady decline in the number of stolen vehicles between 2003 and 2014. Improvements to built-in vehicle safeguards and enhanced car security systems helped to stop criminals from breaking into and getting away with our precious vehicles. However, in 2014, a simple security oversight with the introduction of keyless entry systems – which were supposed to improve our quality of life – fuelled a drastic increase in vehicle theft throughout the UK. Criminals adapted quickly to the emerging technology, finding a simple and inexpensive way to steal vehicles with keyless entry systems in under a minute, without even needing to touch the key.

This so-called “relay theft”, in addition to the other known ways to break into vehicles, has exacerbated the situation to the worst it has been for years. Since 2014, the West Midlands has seen a shocking 214% increase in theft rates, while London remains the UK’s worst location for theft with a 61% rise in stolen vehicles. However, car owners aren’t totally helpless against these prolific thieves.

Here are some simple tips for preventing car theft:

Keep your vehicle locked at all times
Invest in effective anti-theft systems
Keep your keys safe, hidden away from out of sight
Keep your keys in a Faraday pouch overnight as a precaution against keyless theft
Choose safe parking locations for your vehicles, even for shortstops
Keep valuable items out of sight to not provoke a theft attempt

While these tips should be practiced by all drivers, a skilled auto thief can still get past these security measures and get away with your vehicle. Considering the time and money we invest in our vehicles, it’s worth investing a bit more to install a superior security system to guarantee their safety. High-end vehicle trackers accredited by Thatcham Research can protect your vehicle against even the most skilled criminals on the streets. With effective security measures against theft and a 96% stolen vehicle recovery rate, these sophisticated systems are one of the best – if not the best – vehicle security systems on the market.

Do you really need a Thatcham Vehicle Tracking Device in the UK?

Unfortunately, the answer to this question is a resounding yes. In 2017/18 alone, 112,174 vehicles were stolen in the UK, and according to the Met Police, 50% of stolen vehicles are never recovered. Unless you have a Thatcham vehicle tracker fitted in your vehicle, there’s a good chance you’ll never see your car again should you fall victim to vehicle theft. Thatcham Research Centre is the industry authority on vehicle security systems in the UK. Thatcham certifies vehicle security devices through careful analysis and a stringent testing procedure and categorizes the approved devices according to the level of security and features they offer.

Reliability and Accuracy

Thatcham tracking devices are equipped with advanced GNSS chips that utilize multiple orbital satellite networks, including GPS, Galileo, and GLONASS. The ability to pick up signals from different satellite systems improves the accuracy of Thatcham vehicle trackers, which helps immensely to locate a vehicle in an emergency situation or if targeted by theft. Even if an adept thief steals your vehicle and drives it to a remote location, your Thatcham-approved tracking device will keep broadcasting its precise location.

Driver Recognition

Vehicle owners are given two encrypted driver identification fobs as per Thatcham standards for Category S5 and S5+ tracking systems. The fobs are vital in detecting a theft attempt if a vehicle is stolen without using the keys. As soon as a vehicle’s engine is started without the tracker recognising the proper driver identification tags, an alert is issued to our monitoring centre. The teams at the monitoring centre will immediately contact you to confirm if a theft has actually occurred, and upon confirmation, our staff will contact the authorities on your behalf and facilitate the recovery of the stolen vehicle by providing real-time location updates. Driver identification has multiple uses for businesses as well; for example, the driver recognition tags can be utilized to prevent unauthorized vehicle use for companies that operate a vehicle fleet.

Remote Immobilisation

Remote immobilization is one of the most powerful security measures against vehicle theft, and especially useful when the police are in pursuit of a stolen vehicle. It allows vehicle owners and on-call teams at the monitoring center to stop a stolen vehicle’s engine remotely, rendering the car useless once it comes to a complete stop. The employees at the monitoring centre can then guide the authorities to the location of the immobilized vehicle with pinpoint accuracy for a safe and speedy recovery. Thatcham-approved tracking systems offer multiple additional layers of security – one of which is that the ignition can be turned off to prevent the vehicle from starting without authorization from the owner.

24-Hour Monitoring Centre

Thatcham-approved vehicle tracking devices are effective against all known methods of vehicle theft, including the all-too-popular relay theft, replicated car keys and the hacking of onboard computers. The 24-hour monitoring center is always on alert for any theft attempts against your vehicle, and the experienced staff on-site will immediately contact the responsible parties to confirm the threat to your vehicle and take appropriate action. 24/7 surveillance is one of the core security measures provided by Thatcham vehicle tracking systems – it ensures that one of the employees is always keeping tabs on the movements of your vehicles, and they will immediately contact you in the event of any suspicious activity.

Conclusion

Vehicle theft is one of the inevitable truths of living in the UK – your vehicle is at constant risk of being targeted by organized criminals and opportunistic thieves. Thatcham approved vehicle tracking systems are designed with the most effective security measures in mind, offering a wide range of tools that are instrumental in protecting your vehicle against theft. They integrate the powerful tools of GPS tracking technology with Thatcham security protocols to provide car owners in the UK with the highest level of security that today’s technology has to offer. With a recovery rate of close to 100%, Insurance GPS trackers are unrivalled in recovering stolen vehicles compared to other vehicle protection systems. Whether you have a high-end performance vehicle or own a vehicle fleet, Thatcham vehicle tracking systems are the best solution on the market against the experienced car thieves roaming the streets of the UK.

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Crypto Exchange Volumes Are Not Accurate

Miley on May 12, 2020

Today, there are more cryptocurrency exchanges than ever before. In fact, popular platforms have started offering whitelabel services for anyone to start a new platform. The way these platforms work is simple. Users who want to buy and users who want to sell come together to trade their cryptocurrency, in hopes of profit. The total amount (in USD) of these trades, forms the daily volume of the platform.

Since platforms like these started becoming popular with the public, daily volumes were a solid method to understand how popular a platform is, as well as its ability to provide liquidity to smaller altcoins.

In time, however, the reported daily volumes started to seem somewhat inaccurate. The top exchanges seemed to be relatively unknown, sometimes even unheard of.

Many traders started to question the validity of those daily volumes. Is it possible that an exchange with a mere 2000 Facebook makes more than $10 million in daily volume? Wouldn’t there be a more active community to support this?

As a response to this inconsistency, the asset management firm Bitwise decided to explore the topic in further detail. The investigation led to a 104-page whitepaper which revealed some shocking findings.

Exchanges artificially inflate their volumes

The analysis of Bitwise led researchers to an eye-opening, yet not shocking, conclusion. Most cryptocurrency exchanges were artificially inflating their reported volumes using a variety of methods.

What did surprise the researchers was the vast amount of platforms engaging in such practices. More than 95% of the reported volume was actually nothing but smoke and air. Non-existent!

Why would these platforms purposefully ruin the reputation of the crypto markets? Well, to understand this, we need to look at CoinMarketCap. The popular tracking platform includes a list of the most popular exchanges’ reported daily volume. The higher this volume is, the more they can request for new altcoin/ICO listings. It also makes these platforms more visible to new investors.

Of course, this misinformation does not serve investors. In fact, it makes the space less trustworthy. So how can one then find platforms that are actually transparent with their customers? Thankfully, Bitwise managed to discover all exchanges that reported the actual trading volumes of their platform.

In efforts of making the findings easier to understand, Paybis created a helpful infographic. Check the following overview to get a better understanding of Bitwise’s findings.

The findings of Bitwise’s research report was disheartening for crypto-enthusiasts. Some even argued that the purpose of this research was to create more FUD in the market. CoinMarketCap, however, validated the findings and introduced new metrics to fix the issue at hand. In late 2019, the company introduced the Liquidity metric. Using this metric as a filter gives more reliable results and helps users better distinguish platforms that are trying to improve their image using shady methods.

A short while ago, CoinMarketCap got acquired by Binance, and the Reported Volumes metric finally started showing information in a more transparent way. The information now looks a lot more realistic and favors the platforms that have been doing all the hard work in the past few years.

2020 and beyond

The cryptocurrency sector is still making its first steps as an investment option. The good news is that the metrics of data collection keep improving, together with the crypto space itself. In time, irrelevant platforms will not be able to sneak into top listings using unethical methods.

Additionally, Binance seems to have set the new standard when it comes to the operational practices of crypto exchanges. Thanks to its multiple acquisitions, it is no longer possible to build a strong brand without being compliant to the new industry standards.