Web, Mobile&IT category:
AI and Web Development: Complementing Each Other for Better Results
AI is becoming increasingly essential in Web Development. As more businesses move online, there is a growing need for websites and applications that are intelligent and responsive. By using AI algorithms, web developers can create websites that are more user-friendly and engaging.
Personalized experiences: One of the key benefits of using AI in Web Development is personalization. By extracting data about a user’s preferences and behavior, AI algorithms can create personalized experiences tailored to each user. For example, an e-commerce website might use AI algorithms to recommend products based on a user’s browsing and purchase history. This leads to higher conversion rates and more sales.
Automation: Another benefit of using AI in Web Development is automation. By automating certain tasks, web developers can save time and reduce errors. For example, AI algorithms can be used to automatically generate responsive designs that adapt to different screen sizes. This saves web developers a lot of time and effort. It ensures that their websites look great on all devices.
Web Security: AI can also be used to improve website security. By analyzing user behavior and detecting anomalies, AI algorithms help prevent fraudulent activity and cyberattacks. This is becoming increasingly important as more businesses move online and become vulnerable to cyber threats.
Improved Website Performance: AI is also used to improve website performance. It analyzes user behavior and identifies bottlenecks, AI algorithms help optimize website performance and speed. This leads to better user experiences and higher engagement rates.
Machine Learning
Machine learning is another area where AI and web development complement each other. Machine learning algorithms can be used to analyze user behavior and make predictions about user preferences and behavior. This information can be used to personalize the website content and improve website performance.
Easier Search Engine Optimization
With the advent of AI, Search Engine Optimization has become much more sophisticated. AI-powered tools can analyze search data and provide insights into the keywords and phrases that are most commonly used by people searching for specific topics. This allows writers to create content that is optimized for specific search queries, improving the chances of the content appearing in search results.
Testing for Website Vulnerabilities
Designing and executing website codes can be extremely engaging. Each time a test runs, programmers must monitor the findings, adjust the tests, identify the best test cases, and stay up-to-date with new modifications. Automating the maintenance of simple tests while programmers focus on issues that need more investment. Artificial intelligence can improve the efficiency of this process.
So, Is AI replacing web developers?
AI cannot and will not replace web developers. It is only a means to simplify some of the complex coding and tasks for web developers to save time. It certainly has made certain aspects of web development efficient. But it cannot replace the creativity, and human touch that is essential to web development.
Source: Startup.info
Marketing&Sales
4 Marketing Trends You Should Implement This Year to Drive Growth and Improve Sales
Over the last few years, marketing automation has quickly become a critical tool within organizations’ tech stacks — including small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) — to grow sales pipelines, enhance customer support and increase revenue. In fact, in a 2022 Act! customer relationship management study, SMB owners stated that implementing marketing software and other innovative tech, like CRM, led to increased sales and business productivity, customer satisfaction and retention, marketing outreach and company growth and revenue. With marketing automation applications unlocking untapped markets and growth for businesses worldwide, it is no surprise that the global marketing automation market has reached new highs in 2022 ($5.2 billion), according to Markets and Markets.
Here are four marketing automation trends for SMBs to implement to make a splash in 2023.
1. Delivering funnel-optimized content
Today’s customers don’t just want a personalized experience, they expect it. A recent McKinsey study found that 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions. Personalized customer experiences have long been an area of opportunity for SMBs, and the explosion of digital channels and the migration of consumers online shouldn’t change that. In 2023, it simply will not be enough to add a customer’s name to an email subject line or trigger discount emails on their birthday. But, with the right marketing automation tools, marketers can gain the knowledge and tools to adequately cater to the right audiences.
2. Enabling strategic decision making
Through marketing automation, SMBs can easily track the activity on different communications channels. This enables teams to not only gather intel on customer behaviors but monitor how different marketing campaigns and messages are performing with audiences. And, powerful marketing automation platforms come with testing tools, like a/b testing, that allow marketers to adjust and fine-tune email and web messaging and campaign designs. With marketing automation’s data tracking and testing, SMBs can simplify data analysis and improve decision-making through knowledge-based findings.
3. Enhancing lead generation and nurturing
SMBs looking to take lead capturing to the next level can integrate their marketing automation with their customer relationship management (CRM) software. In so doing, teams can further eliminate manual work and improve customer interactions by automatically transmitting and segregating prioritized lead information and automating lead profiling and scoring based on prospect behavior.
4. Creating cohesive omnichannel marketing
Omnichannel campaigns often fail because they lack consistency among different channels and audiences. By integrating marketing automation and CRM, SMBs create a seamless flow of information in all business departments. The combination of data unification and automation will pave the way for SMBs to drive sales from each of their marketing channels while maintaining a cohesive user experience.
In order to improve on 2022’s successes, SMBs must take the next step in their digital journey — starting with marketing automation. By following the marketing automation trends of 2023 and enhancing their knowledge of marketing automation capabilities, SMBs will position themselves to expand outreach, increase sales and drive business growth.
Source: Enterpreneur
Business&Consulting
7 Best Recommended Books for Every Management Consultant
Being well-read is essential in the consulting industry. A consultant should be well-versed in all aspects of management, as well as in finance, strategy, and communications, among other things. Regardless of whether you work as an independent consultant or a consultant at a firm, the management consulting books give you access to business and strategy insights that you can use to establish yourself as a successful consultant.
Here are the top 7 consulting books that every new consultant should read.
The McKinsey Way
This 200-page book, written by a former McKinsey associate, should be the first read for anyone aspiring to be a management consultant or those curious about this strange world.
The McKinsey Way will provide a useful overview of how McKinsey-ites approach Fortune 100 companies’ problems and successfully sell their solutions to their clients.
Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting your Expertise Used
A good consultant is a people person, and Peter Block explains how to communicate effectively throughout the five phases of the consulting process in this book.
He teaches us how to understand clients, deal with resistance, and ultimately build a successful relationship with these clients based on his experience.
This book is fantastic for anyone who wants to master the art of communication, not just new consultants.
Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies
Mastering corporate valuation is critical for making value-creating decisions, and this book will help you understand it more thoroughly. It covers a variety of valuation techniques and includes real-world examples.
However, unlike the previous two books, Valuation is more technical and finance oriented, making it difficult for a beginner to understand.
The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
In his book, Dan Roam communicates his ideas through two simple concepts “keep it simple” and “one picture is worth a thousand words”.
He teaches that simple drawings, rather than software like Powerpoint, can be a more powerful tool for solving and selling business ideas. Drawing your ideas allows you to think things through, think outside the box, and find solutions you might not have considered otherwise.
Case Interview Secrets: How to Get Multiple Job Offers in Consulting
Cheng provides extremely useful information on what to expect from interviewers, how to please them, and the major blunders to avoid. It should be noted that this book does not include practical cases but instead focuses on providing step-by-step instructions on how to develop the right mindset to solve these cases.
Succeeding as a Management Consultant
The management consulting book is written as a weekly story that takes you into a study as seen through the eyes of the business case leader. You can follow the team’s preparations for the study step by step, all the way through to the final report. You will be able to see the analyses and slides that were created.
The Consulting Bible by Alan Weiss
Alan Weiss, bestselling author, speaker, and legendary consultant, demonstrates how to establish an independent or boutique consulting practice and grow it to seven figures. This invaluable resource walks you through the process of attracting clients, maximizing your value, and achieving your career objectives step by step. This newly revised and updated edition of this management consulting book offers specific approaches and techniques for mastering the new consulting environment and transform.
Source: The Economic Times
Customer Support
How to Improve Your Team’s Customer Service
One of the best things a business can do to improve its customer service is to add a call queuing function. Creating a queue lets customers know what place they’re in so they are aware of how long they have to wait. They can even be given the option of holding their spot in line and getting a call back when it’s their turn. This creates convenience on the customer’s side; they can go about their business without having to worry about whether they’ve lost their place.
The old ways of doing things are over. Customers no longer want to live chat with a robot, wait in line, or even fill out countless forms. They want the experience of talking to a real person who is going to understand their needs and treat them with importance.
Investing in great software is sure to help; it can cut minutes into seconds by having all the client’s information right at your disposal, enabling you to provide more as you talk to them in real time.
Here are other things you can try:
1. Reduce Stress for Both the Team and the Customer
A major complaint that many teams are dealing with is the fact that they have a hard time accessing customer information. This is where having the right software comes in, and making sure that the team is properly trained in using it will greatly benefit your company.
2. Humanize Customer Interactions
Customers want to feel heard, so practicing active listening skills can be another useful skill to implement. Empathizing and reflecting on what they just told you could help to show that you care. The biggest tip is to make sure that you ask to clarify if you don’t understand something.
3. Adapt to Your Customers
People are all different and require that you interact with them as such. Handling surprises well will show the customers that you’re not treating them like the rest. Everybody hates it when salespeople read straight from their prompt, no matter what is being said. Adapting does the opposite.
4. Use Direct Communication
No one wants to play the guessing game, especially clients who are in a hurry. Making sure to be clear about what you’re saying to the customer is the best way to keep them satisfied and coming back for more. You don’t want to confuse 50% off with 50% more when it comes to customers.
5. Hire Hardworking Reps
A rep who’s willing to work hard for the customer’s sake will keep the customer coming back for more. It is highly appreciated when a rep can deal with a problem from beginning to end. Even if the problem is not solved by them personally, it shows that they care.
6. Seek Criticism
Some reps don’t believe that taking criticism from customers is beneficial. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Customers know what they want and will tell you when you ask them. On the other hand, getting advice and throwing it aside will never help your business.
7. Find the Right Strategy
It may take some time but having employees who know how to interact with the customers based on the script prepared will bring in trusted clients. Creating a proactive service that’s designed to help put the customer first will ensure that they are happy during the process.
8. Create Forums
Forums allow your business to improve its brand relationship with potential clients as well as newcomers. You can even answer questions in those forums directly; this helps reassure customers that they are talking to real people instead of a chatbot.
9. Enable Feedback
After helping a customer, sending out surveys is the best way to find out what they think about your service. If they are in a hurry, you can even suggest emailing them so they can do it when they have time. The whole point is to make sure your customer service grows.
Source: TechDay
Engineering
Combining Surgery and Robotics to Design Bionic Implants
From the outside, the UCLA Outpatient Rehabilitation Services looks like most other physical therapy and rehabilitation centers, complete with a check-in desk and a waiting room filled with patients.
Clites’ lab is developing an implanted ankle-hindfoot prosthesis that has the potential to alleviate pain and restore function to these patients, without requiring amputation.
“Typically, when developing bionic systems, engineers focus their design efforts on the machine but leave the body unaltered,” said Clites, who recently received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s New Innovator Award. “Instead, we use surgery to engineer the body in parallel with the machine, opening the door to bionic systems that integrate more fully with the human.”
With his research at the nexus of engineering and orthopedic surgery, Clites credits UCLA’s strengths in engineering and medicine for his research capabilities.
“UCLA is built to foster the clinical collaborations that are fundamental to my research,” Clites said. “This goes beyond sheer proximity between the engineering and medical campuses. Research is deeply rooted in the culture of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, which has made it a pleasure to find and maintain close collaborative relationships.”
Through a joint program between Harvard Medical School and MIT, Clites continued his studies under the direction of MIT’s mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Hugh Herr, who specialized in bionics.
“Hugh taught me to innovate, and gave me a powerful framework for thinking about bionic systems and disability,” Clites said.
Source: UCLA
Writing&Translation
Top AI Translation Software/Tools (2023)
Translation tools are equally crucial for industry experts who employ the most recent machine learning translation technologies daily.
Several translation services combine machine translation with human assistance to guarantee the translation is unique to the destination locale. This permits the usage of certain idioms, societal allusions, and more in the material.
Some of the top tools and software for AI translation are listed below:
- Google Translate
- DeepL
- Alexa Translations
- Bing Microsoft Translator
- Taia
- Mirai Translate
- Sonix
- TextCortex
- Unbabel
- Microsoft Translator
- SDL Machine Translation
- Amazon Translate
- Reverso Translation
- TransPerfect
- AppTek
- Memsource
- Alibaba Translate
- iTranslate
- memoQ Translator PRO
- Systran Translate PRO
- Smartling
- Crowdin
- TextUnited
Source: Marktechpost
Design&Creative
11 Best AI Tools for Web Designers
Let’s consider some other benefits of AI tools for web designers, check out their shortcomings and limitations, and examine 11 of the best solutions in this niche that already help creatives make the web a better place with outstanding, high-end, and inspiring web designs done with AI assistance.
Colormind and Khroma
Colormind has been around for several years; therefore, it has been thoroughly tested and approved by the community. It learns color styles from photographs, movies, and popular art that have been uploaded every single day. It already has a vast database of color palettes generated by others.
Khroma is an AI-based color tool you can train by choosing 50 colors you like. The machine generates an endless combination of color palettes based on these preferences. They can be shown on templates that cover popular use-case scenarios—for instance, Type, Poster, Gradient, and Image. On top of that, users can test color schemes on their custom images.
Vance AI
Vance AI excels at handling real details because it uses Deep Convolutional Neural Networks that are trained on millions of images.
Use the platform to simplify workflow and open new possibilities for creative photo manipulations and edits that meet the brand’s guidelines and client’s expectations.
Stable Diffusion
It generates detailed images based on a text prompt that describes elements to be included or omitted from the output. On top of that, the model can redraw existing images to incorporate new elements described by the user.
Stable Diffusion can also be applied to other tasks, such as outputting a new image based on the original image that features elements provided within the text prompt or generating image-to-image translations.
Dall-E
Dall-E is an AI machine that generates images based on prompts. It can create realistic pictures at higher resolutions that reflect certain concepts, feature specified attributes, and even imitate preferred styles.
Midjourney
Midjourney is a chatbot that communicates with users through a native language. Web designers may give it instructions and commands to create images, including web interfaces from textual descriptions and prompts. It is great for brainstorming and generating original content ideal for so-called “custom ads created for individuals.”
ChatGPT Prompts – Curated Collection
As mentioned earlier, ChatGPT has revolutionized the way to get web design tasks done. All it needs is a simple instruction. It takes an input sentence provided in the chat, processes it using algorithms, and generates an output that is relevant to the input.
Designs AI
Designs AI is a powerful AI-based all-in-one solution for users without design skills and web designers who need to create beautiful templates within minutes. It can do a range of vital things for presenting the brand online and public.
Zyro
This AI-powered content machine generates a unique and personalized copy, including blog titles, within seconds, based on your settings. Trained on millions of resources, it follows the best online copywriting and SEO practices.
Uizard
Uizard can create interfaces for mobile applications and websites, from small landing pages to massive e-commerce projects and web applications. It covers various scenarios applicable to product managers, UX designers, startup founders, consultants, and developers.
Sketch to Code
Created by Microsoft, this outstanding AI-powered tool is gaining popularity in the web community quite rapidly. It already has a huge fan base that exploits its potential to simplify workflow processes and push boundaries.
Sensei by Adobe
Adobe Sensei is an artificial intelligence tool that integrates with Adobe software. It was created to help marketers, advertisers, and, most importantly, creatives, including web designers, to deliver the perfect customer experience through their means of communication within a short time. It offers a range of capabilities.
By delegating tasks and doing some menial chores quickly and easily, web designers will have time to explore more creative ideas while applying minimum effort.
Source: Designmodo
Legal&Finance
Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast Episode: A Deep Dive into Mass Mailings by Debt Relief Law Firms
In recent months, debt relief law firms have mailed volumes of cease and desist letters, credit reporting disputes, and debt validation requests to creditors. These mailings, which are typically lacking in credibility, place an undue burden on businesses. We first discuss responsive strategies creditors should consider for each type of mailing, including what obligations, if any, a creditor has to respond and the impact of state law. We then discuss consumer litigation filed against the debt relief law firms, potential industry-wide responses to the use of mass mailings, and how Ballard Spahr attorneys can assist creditors and servicers in crafting and implementing a strategy for handling mass mailings.
Source: JD Supra
Medical&Healthcare
Investors Project Behavioral Health Will Be the Most Active Medical Speciality in 2023
Investors project that behavioral health will have the most investment of any medical specialty over the next 12 to 24 months.
Cardiology and orthopedics were the second and third highest projections for investments, respectively.
Investors foresee value-based care becoming a major driver in health care. The value-based care trend could impact the behavioral health sector.
“The long-term trend toward value-based care will continue to drive business model changes in some specialties,” the authors of the report wrote. “Across government and managed care payers — commercial and Medicare Advantage — primary care is leading the way, with nephrology and women’s health close behind. We also see growing interest in behavioral health, cardiology, and oncology.”
Across-the-board, investors project that medical physician groups will continue to face headwinds related to staff recruitment and retention, along with Medicare reimbursement rates. On the flip side, more practices are pushing staff to perform at the top of their license and training non-clinical workers to provide more support to clinical staff.
Despite digital health’s somewhat tremulous 2022, survey responders still said they saw a growth opportunity in behavioral health tech.
“Virtual care remains vitally important to many patients and providers, many of whom now use blended virtual and in-person care models, and government and commercial payers continue to reimburse for virtual visits,” authors of the report wrote. “We expect virtual care to continue expanding in behavioral health and other specialties that require less in-person intervention, and in rural and other remote settings where virtual care provides access not otherwise available.”
Source: Behavioral Health Business
