WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

Must-do's in order for your hires to reach their full potential you need to put a structure in place that encourages and nurtures their growth, both technically and as managers and leaders.

In the connected era, an increasing number of IoT solutions will make our homes, public areas and workplaces, smarter. Building managers will have access to real-time, cloud-based analytics, reporting and services, allowing for informed decision making. With the increasing market demands for cost-saving occupancy comfort solutions, connected technologies are well-positioned to meet the needs of the automated building industry. 
From fire detection to temperature control and energy management, these applications are a part of a growing market. In fact, Allied Market Research forecasts that by 2024, the global intelligent building market will be valued at over $42 billion. Additionally, a recent Research and Markets report estimates that over 483 million IoT-based building solutions will be installed by 2022. To support this growth, IoT-based building solutions require reliable technology that will enable full use of its connective capabilities in a complex environment. 

Companies transforming to become customer-obsessed are using customer journey analytics to help them become customer-led, insights-driven, fast, and connected, and to ultimately be more effective in acquiring, serving and retaining customers.  

This report from leading global research and advisory firm, Forrester, identifies the 12 most significant customer journey analytics platform providers today, and reveals how each measures up based on 26 different evaluation criteria, to help you make the right choice for your organization. You'll get a complete overview of the current customer journey analytics market, including;

• The two primary journey analytics provider categories, visioning and orchestration, and four core capabilities: (1) data fusion, (2) journey design & planning, (3) journey testing & optimization, and (4) journey automation & orchestration
• The 2018 Forrester Wave Journey Visioning Platform rankings and scorecard
• A breakdown of each journey analytics provider’s offering, strengths, specialties, and customer base
• Key criteria that helps leaders stand out from the pack

Customers expect a personalized shopping experience. All retailers—even leaders—must advance their capabilities to deliver it.

In mature markets like Web Content Management, there is almost always a single proprietary leader and a single Open Source leader. There is Oracle and MongoDB. Splunk and Elastic. VMWare and Docker. Gitlab and Github. That is why I believe that next year it will be Acquia and Adobe at the very top of the WCM Magic Quadrant. Sitecore and Episerver will continue to fight for third place among companies who prefer a Microsoft-centric approach. I was not surprised to see Sitecore move down this year as they work to overcome technical product debt and cloud transition, leading to strange decisions like acquiring a services company.

• Content creation functions, such as templating, workflow and change management
• Repositories that organize and provide metadata about content
• Library services, such as check-in/check-out, version control and security
• Website management features, such as layout, menus and navigation
• Content deployment functions
• Personalization and analytics capabilities
• The ability to integrate well, via APIs, with adjacent technologies such as digital commerce platforms, social media platforms, marketing automation platforms and broader digital experience platforms (DXPs)
• Hybrid (traditional and headless) and pure headless capabilities for API-driven omnichannel content delivery

Machine learning is the process of a machine attempting to accomplish a task, independent of human intervention, more efficiently and more effectively with every passing attempt i.e learning phase.

As the retail industry continues to be disrupted by emerging technologies and shifting consumer behavior, how do you keep up? One of the first steps is to keep up to date with the latest innovations and trends that will transform how you start, market, manage, and grow your business in 2019 and beyond.

We’ve put together a list of our favorite retail blogs on the internet and outlined the subjects each of them covers. We’ve selected blogs based on their industry expertise, the volume of content they publish, and how actionable their content is.

The 15 best retail blogs that every retailer needs to add to their reading list. Convince and convert. Retail Dive. Insider Trends. Retail Wire. Harvard Business Review. TechCrunch. Lightspeed Blog. The Retail Doctor. The National Retail Federation. Medallion Retail. Forrester Retail. Hubspot Blog. Retail Design Blog. Neil Patel Blog.

If you’re new to this, a “marketing stack” is the collection of software that a marketing team uses to ply their trade. The Stackies is a fun awards program at the MarTech conference where we invite marketers to send in a single slide that illustrates their marketing stack in some conceptual way.

IoT has paved the way for brands to use connected devices in their physical spaces too. Learn how location-based brands can invest in technology-rich locations that raise the bar for customer experience.

Top 20 new social media tools to try in 2018, including their prices, a quick walkthrough, and a review.

Learn about Bitcoin, Ethereum, blockchain and cryptocurrency. Discover topics with easy, hand-illustrated guides. Explore what blockchain technology is about. Get everything you need to know about digital assets!

Those who identify the potential of new technologies, trends and technological progress at an early stage have a competitive advantage and build the foundation for innovation. Constantly increasing technological complexity is leading to a growing number of areas that are relevant for our company to keep an eye on.