TMT Q1 2018

Q1 2018 www.tmt-magazine.com

Also in this Issue...

Best Telecommunications Integration Company Europe - AdEPT

Experts in Saving Money As one of our CEO’s of the Year in 2017, Ed Ramirez gives us an overview of SLC’s services and offerings, as well as discussing the success of the firm and its future aspirations.

Editor’s Note

Welcome to the first edition of TMT Magazine for 2018, your source for the latest news and features on trends within the technology, media and telecoms markets.

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In recent news, results from a new research by RSM Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University has found that information taken from Twitter posts could be used to predict the stock market – and help traders to make better investment decisions.

In other news, CENX, a global leader in next generation service assurance software, has announced it has been selected by a leading Tier 1 Communication Service Provider (CSP) to serve as the single source of service assurance for wireless, wireline and cloud environments, facilitating a transition to full automation across the CSP’s global network.

In this month’s issue, we discover more about Kichler Lighting the company that offers a distinctive array of lighting solutions that reflect its clients’ individual personalities, tastes and plans. We profile the company and speak to Steve Hammond, who tells us how he feels IT has transformed the organisation, having begun as CIO in 2008.

Elsewhere in this edition, Software Licensing Consultants (SLC) helps clients in the Fortune 500 reduce their costs associated with Oracle Software licensing. Featuring as one of our CEO’s of the Year in 2017, Ed Ramirez gives us an overview of SLC’s services and offerings, as well as discussing the success of the firm and its future aspirations Lastly, Mark Izzard, Sales and Marketing Director of Switched On Insurance gives his take on the key issues buyers need to explore before they choose a side in the Samsung Vs iPhone debate.

Here at TMT News, we hope that you thoroughly enjoy reading this edition and wish you all the best for 2018!

Jessica Daykin, Editor Phone: +44 (0) 203 725 6842 Email: j.daykin@aiglobalmedialtd.com Website: www.tmt-magazine.com AI Global Media, Ltd. (AI) takes reasonable measures to ensure the quality of the information on this web site. However, AI will not assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, correctness or completeness of any information that is available through this web site. If errors are brought to our attention, we will try to correct them.

The information available through the website and our partner publications is for your general information and use and is not intended to address any particular finance or investment requirements. In particular, the information does not constitute any form of advice or recommendation by us or any of our partner publications and is not intended to be relied upon by users in making or refraining from making any investment or financial decisions.

Appropriate independent advice should be obtained before making any such decision. Any arrangement made between you and any third party named in the site is at your sole risk and responsibility.

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Contents

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Contents 4. News 6.

Experts in Saving Money

10. Best Emerging Lifestyle Social Media Specialist 2018 12. Lighting That Energises, as Well as Enhances Life 14. Best Telecommunications Integration Company - Europe- AdEPT 16. Renfrewshire Tackles Fuel Poverty with IoT Technology 18. Samsung vs iPhone - the Debate that Rages on 20. Carbon Black Announces Cb ThreatSight 22. Getting Engaged: The Why, How and When of Workplace Communication 24. Leader in Learning Assessment Technology Unveils New Brand 26. Raising the Status of Outbound Dialling in Contact Centres 28. Website Planning: Why Strategy Beats Design Every Time 30. Semalt Expert Provides a Compelling Search Engines Review 31. Winners’ Directory

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NEWS

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CENX Announces Exciting New Deal CENX becomes single source of service assurance for wireless, wireline and cloud environments to tier 1 communications service provider, as the firm looks to drive the transition to full automation across global physical and virtual networks.

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NEWS

, CENX, a global leader in next generation service assurance software, has announced it has been selected by a leading Tier 1 Communication Service Provider (CSP) to serve as the single source of service assurance for wireless, wireline and cloud environments, facilitating a transition to full automation across the CSP’s global network.

The CSP will utilize CENX 7, the latest iteration of its namesake hyper-scale assurance platform, which enables closed-loop assurance automation across virtual and hybrid networks.

CENX has successfully deployed the next-gen solution across the entirety of the CSP’s global network, which will help it increase network operations efficiency through completely automated processes.

With CENX 7, the CSP can assure and monitor assets across multiple business segments, within one single-pane solution, allowing it to move away from its traditional operational support system (OSS) siloes. Rather than using centralized OSSs to provide a specific function across multiple domains, CENX enables the use of closed-loop solutions per domain. This solution monitors and analyzes the health of each individual domain, evaluates the root cause of any issues and triggers actions to mitigate these concerns automatically, without the need for manual input.

“CENX is very excited to deploy CENX 7 for yet another Global Tier 1 CSP that is leading the way in network virtualization,” said Jay McMullan, Senior Vice President at CENX. “The importance of service assurance and monitoring during a deluge of new network deployments, from SDN and NFV to 5G and IoT, cannot be understated. With the influx of emerging data-driven technologies, it is crucial for Tier 1 global providers to implement highly reliable automated processes and have access to a holistic view into their entire network. Siloed visibility adds unnecessary complexity to networks; CENX 7 eradicates these barriers, opens the gateway to true network automation and offers a simplified view of the entire network.”

New Algorithm Uses Twitter to Predict the Stock Market Researchers develop a way for traders to use Twitter to make better investment decisions.

New research from RSM Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University has found that information taken from Twitter posts could be used to predict the stock market – and help traders to make better investment decisions.

Ting Li, Professor of Digital Business and Dr Jan van Dalen analysed over a million twitter messages that mentioned stocks listed on the S&P 100 share index.

The researchers then developed an algorithm that looked at the sentiment of the tweets and extracted distinct ‘buy’, ‘hold’ and ‘sell’ signals embedded in them before comparing them to actual price fluctuations on the stocks over the following days.

They found that stocks that are tweeted bullish sentiments such as ‘buy!’ experience, on average, higher abnormal returns. The results also showed that the relationship between bullish language and increased stock performance was even stronger for influential Twitter users who are frequently retweeted and often mentioned - and that the number of tweets about a particular stock could predict trading volumes, volatility and follow-up return on a stock.

The results often showed that the more that Twitter users disagreed about a particular stock, the higher the trading volumes.

To test if these findings could be the basis for a profitable trading strategy, the researchers ran a 21 week simulation using the information from the study and found that, even taking transaction costs into account, the simulated returns beat the market.

Li says this could be useful for investors: “This study shows the potential value of information on twitter for making informed trading decisions. In the simulation we showed that if you invested money in the S&P 100 and used the information gleaned from twitter using our algorithm, you would beat the market. You could invest in one company or a number, you could sell at the end of each day and reinvest the next or you could trade every other day or every 3, 4 or 5 days – and even when you take transaction costs into consideration, you’d still come out ahead.”

Li adds, “This could be used by institutional investors or home-based day traders and proves that twitter isn’t just noise – useful information can be extracted and could help investors make better decisions.”

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Experts in Saving Money Software Licensing Consultants (SLC) helps clients in the Fortune 500 reduce their costs associated with Oracle Software licensing. Featuring as one of our CEO’s of the Year in 2017, Ed Ramirez gives us an overview of SLC’s services and offerings, as well as discussing the success of the firm and its future aspirations.

SLC spends the majority of its time coaching clients on how to optimize their unique software environments in order to save money. The firm is the premier backstage resource for the CFO and CIO when it comes to dealing with Oracle Software purchases and negotiations.

CEO’s, and CFO’s across the country have praised SLC as one of those rare services that deliver true cost reductions and improve a company’s bottom line.

Enjoying extensive experience working throughout the different levels of the organization, SLC helps all verticals and works with a variety of clients of all sizes, dealing with all things related to Oracle Software deployment, audits, and policies.

Differentiating itself from other similar firms within the finance industry, Ed alludes to the expertise that the company boasts and how it was a pioneer, developing innovative solutions for new clients. SLC’s track record speaks for itself, and thanks to its impressive portfolio, it is clear why so many clients see the company as the first choice in who to call.

“Making ourselves out as the best possible option for clients,

we have been in business for over 15 years and were the pioneers at creating this service.

Before our creation, customers had no way to get help or advice from anyone. We were the first to create this business model and we have been involved with more clients and have participated in more negotiations than any other competitor in the market place.

Not only does our competition lack the experience that we have, but they also lack the exposure to problems that IT organizations face related to Oracle over the last 15 years. Our track record delivers savings to clients in the range of 30% to 40% and our competition will average 10% due to lack of experience and exposure.”

When undertaking a new project, it is vital that the team and staff get to know the client, looking to understand their needs and what exactly the end goal is for their project or solution. Ed outlines the firm’s approach to new clients and what steps the team takes in order to ensure the client receives the best possible outcome.

“Essentially, we are a service company and we like to take a very thoughtful approach in listening to what the client’s needs are at the very start of every project. We craft our

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strategy to best accomplish those needs in the timeframe and costs the clients have learned to appreciate. I have found that by being very honest and transparent, our clients can see the savings for themselves and understand how they might do it themselves. We consider knowledge transfer as empowering the customer.”

Having alluded to what type of projects SLC undertakes within the financial industry, Ed provides us with an overview of the market itself, discussing what challenges and outside influences there are affecting it. He notes that one of the main issues is that other firms do not have the required expertise which SLC possesses, and that eventually many clients come to SLC rather than its competitors.

“SLC has clients across the country and in different time zones, so we try to treat the entire United States as our region. The market is saturated with start-up firms that claim they can save people money, have Oracle expertise and know how to reduce costs. However, currently, we are experiencing many customers returning to us because the company they selected that charged very little money really did not help

them. Not only did they not help them, but they created licensing problems for the customer. The customers come back to us and requested that we help them fix the problems created by the other consulting firms.

“Oracle licensing is very complex, and many years are needed both inside and outside Oracle to fully develop the skill sets needed to both reduce and manage costs. Clients are also sold a false sense of security when they purchase Software Asset Management software to help them keep track of their Oracle environments.

These software systems do not interpret contracts and do not make rational decisions of deployments. However, customers purchase these systems and feel they have the silver bullet to face an Oracle audit without risk. Again, this is a false sense of security.”

Working within the industry, SLC employs many different techniques which help the firm to stay ahead of emerging developments. Ed refers to these methods, citing the constant refreshment of knowledge and education of staff as key aspects of the company’s success. Keeping on top of any developments is vital to the company, as falling behind on

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any trends could be catastrophic to the firm, as Ed states.

“Fundamentally, we work on so many different Oracle transactions per year and this gives us a very good advantage.

This keeps our knowledge fresh and up to date, like with cloud and virtualization. Oracle is a constantly moving target so we need to move very fast and change on the spot. If we do not move fast we will fall behind and there is no time to recover.”

Describing his responsibilities as CEO, Ed tells us what methods and steps he takes to enable him to get the best out of his staff and his company. He comments on his leadership style, citing trust as a major factor in his success, as if he trusts his staff, his staff will trust him. Ed also mentions that his staff know that he will never let them down.

“As the Co-Founder and CEO, I have the overall responsibility to ensure that we are positioned well in the market place to meet our customer’s needs.

I am in charge of company strategy development, company vision, company direction and developing the steps to get the company to the desired position in the market. I am a firm believer in leadership versus management. A good leader can lead people and they will follow both willingly and gratefully. A manager will demand or order instead of lead. I am loyal and reward loyalty. My senior staff and the rest of the team fully understand that I will never let them down and if they give me their loyalty, I will repay them with my loyalty.”

Furthermore, as an indication of his success, Ed has been selected as CEO of the Year 2017, and he describes how it feels to be recognized, before going on to describe the key attributes he possesses which make him an award-winning business leader.

“Wow! It is an honour for sure. Getting recognized for contributions to the field is extremely rewarding. I started

my career in the restaurant industry working with minimum wage employees and in the most difficult business climate I can imagine. I had to extract the best possible work from my staff without being able to pay the top salaries to everyone. This gave me the best possible training on leadership. Ask yourself how you can make people happy to work in a place and make people like what they do? It was amazing training and no other job in my career has been as hard. I look at myself as a visionary. I am not a details person at all but I see the big picture. I can see where we need to go and I surround myself with very talented people that help me work out the details on how to get there.”

Regarding the internal culture within SLC, Ed talks about an honest and open culture, explaining how all staff are provided with everything they need in order to improve.

In particular, he mentions that sometimes not knowing something can be turned into a positive, as it helps people to grow and expand their knowledge. Learning every day and gaining new knowledge is all part of working at SLC. “Knowledge is power. We promote always learning and accepting not knowing. Too many times people truly do not know what they need to know, but it is not seen positively, nor coached effectively. We foster a culture where it is OK to not know something rather than posturing and covering up not knowing as long as you are willing to dig in and learn. We all learn every day so it is OK if you do not know it all. I like to see our staff learning and taking the initiative to explore or work with those market leading technologies.”

Building on the success of the company is something that excites Ed. Maintaining a mission of helping customers understand all the different aspects of the software industry, SLC looks to help clients navigate one of the most complicated software landscapes around, Oracle.

Educating others and stopping

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them from making potentially damaging mistakes is the main goal for SLC leading into the future.

“Put simply, our mission is to help customers understand all of the nuances of licensing Oracle Software. Licensing Oracle Software is extremely complicated and even the most sophisticated clients with very talented IT staff members do not understand all of the licensing requirements. This in turn leads customers to make extremely costly mistakes. So, through education and knowledge transfer from us, the client is able to avoid such costly mistakes or even fix some of their previous mistakes. We create options for clients so that they can choose the right path for them in dealing with Oracle and avoid potential costs in the future.”

Ultimately, capitalizing on its ongoing achievements, Ed predicts what the future holds for SLC. He tells us his future plans for the company, and after a very good 2017, he hints at exciting times ahead in 2018. Launching new products focused on helping CEO’s like himself he says will firmly cement SLC as leader in the industry.

“Moving forwards, the future is very bright for us. We are expecting to close 2017 with record revenue for the past five years in a row and we forecast the same for 2018. We are also launching the development of our own proprietary tools that will help CEO’s get some visibility into mega vendor spend such as Oracle Software provides. We continue to have success helping clients and because of that, we have enjoyed many longstanding relationships.”

Company: Software Licensing Consultants Contact: Ed Ramirez Contact Email: ed@slc.us.com Address: 1001 Shannon Ct., Suite B, Livermore, CA, 94550, USA Phone: 1-925-961-9741x21 Website: www.slc.us.com

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Best Emerging Lifestyle Social Media Specialist 2018 Cannot Make This Up is an innovative blog designed to provide readers with an overview of a range of industries and ensure that they remain informed on the changes that matter to them around the world. We find out more about this emerging media outlet and the services it offers.

Drawing on the experience of seasoned blogger Shawnequa Alleyne, Cannot Make This Up offers editorial and insight across a range of spaces including politics, money, and fashion. This creative lifestyle blog offers posts spanning a range of formats including videos, articles, and lists, each designed to grab and retain the reader’s attention.

Alongside the blog, Shawnequa also offers speaking engagements and guest appearances so that she can share her knowledge and experience with her followers in the real world as well as in the virtual one.

Overall, Cannot Make This Up is an innovative platform which will continue to offer visitors the very latest in insight, news and editorial to keep them up to date with the latest changes within a range of markets.

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Best Emerging Lifestyle Social Media Specialist 2018

Company: Cannot Make This Up Contact: S. Alleyne Address: 3776 Blowing Leaf Place, Dumfries, Virginia, 22025, USA Phone: 001 571 330 3880 Website: www.cannotmakethisup.com

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Lighting That Energises, as Well as Enhances Life Kichler offers a distinctive array of lighting solutions that reflect its clients’ individual personalities, tastes and plans. We profile the company and speak to Steve Hammond, who tells us how he feels IT has transformed the organisation, having begun as CIO in 2008.

Established in 1938, Kichler has since offered so much more than just distinctively beautiful home products. The organisation has also backed each style with award-winning craftsmanship, unparalleled quality and superior service.

Embedded in the company ethos, is the belief that the products which clients choose for their home should exceed functionality and possess the ability to transform their spaces into stunning, inspiring and luxurious settings.

Variety and adaptability are key factors in the company’s success, with Kichler bringing clients an unparalleled variety of exciting style families, unique finished, fresh colours and unrivalled quality.

At the heart of the company are its mission and its core values.

Pursuing quality and improvement at every turn, the ability to succeed is ingrained in staff, the company processes, its products and its services. Customers need to look no further than Kichler for unmatched quality products across all Kichler interactions.

Working with a commitment to quality will continue to be the Kichler brand’s single greatest competitive advantage, as it forms the foundation for future success.

Kichler’s core values exemplify its ownership, management and employee ideals. These core values define the company’s attitudes and beliefs, and establish interactions with one another, its customers, sales representatives and vendors.

Arriving as CIO of Kichler over ten years ago, Steve informs us of how IT has been able to transform itself into a low-cost and high value organisation. He tells us about his priorities when he first arrived at the company.

“When I arrived at Kichler, IT annual spend was over 6% of sales.

My top priority was to get that percentage closer to 2%, which Gartner rates as world class for organizations like us.”

Subsequently, much of the low-hanging costs were quickly reduced. These included; eliminating leased PCs, eliminating maintenance on unused software

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products, negotiating telecom contracts, reducing redundant headcount, among many more.

However, the largest spend in IT was all around it’s PeopleSoft ERP, including the software maintenance, leased hardware, consultants, headcount, and other such aspects of IT. As a result, approval was granted to replace PeopleSoft with a much lower cost of ownership ERP package.

“Replacing an ERP system after years of customisation is very difficult. The organization was not going to go through this effort if it did not have a true return. We justified the project cost on the annual savings in IT alone.”

As Kichler began to experience increased revenues, IT has been able to maintain a level operating budget and it is at 2% of sales in 2017. This reduction has been accomplished even as the number of employees at the company has grown by nearly 30%.

“New employees raise IT costs in hardware, software and Help Desk personnel. I cannot imagine how steep the IT spend would be if we did not replace ERP platforms” Ultimately, as CIO of the Year in Ohio 2017, Steve has rejuvenated the IT department at Kichler. This leadership has led to Kichler being much better positioned to continue to produce quality products, and establish itself as an industry leader with regard to lighting solutions.

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Lighting That Energises, as Well as Enhances Life

Contact: Steven Hammond Contact Email: shammond@kichler.com Address: 7711 East Pleasant Valley Road, Cleveland, Ohio, 44131, USA Phone: 001 216 573 1005 Website: www.kichler.com

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Best Telecommunications Integration Company Europe AdEPT unite communication and innovation through the use of technology, offering a unique range of solutions designed to meet the varied needs of its clients. We invited Ian Fishwick to tell us more.

AdEPT Telecom plc is one of only a handful of Telecoms companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, supplying services to about 15,000 customers across the UK including worldwide and national companies, over 100 Local Councils and some Central Government departments. The UK Government has set a target that 33% of public sector spend will be with SME’s (small and medium sized enterprises such as AdEPT) by the end of 2022. AdEPT is well placed to focus on this market opportunity, as Ian highlights.

“Over the last two years we have transformed ourselves from a Telecoms company into a managed service company for IT, Unified communications, connectivity and voice. We now filter over 1 billion web requests per day. We have over 1 million Office 365 users: one of the largest single deployments anywhere in the world. We are Chief Technology Partner to the London Grid for Learning

and provide over 50 bespoke education apps to 2 million plus users.

“Our Unified Communication solutions utilise the worldleading Avaya Aura technology integrated with a range of Contact Management systems, and our hosted telephony solution: Nebula.

We specialise in specific vertical markets: health, public sector and business centres. Around 70% of Private Hospitals in London and over 200 Business Centre’s use our services.”

Looking ahead, Ian foresees a greater focus on cloud technology in the industry, which will benefit AdEPT, as he concludes.

“Overall, the adoption of cloud technology means that we are increasingly supporting products supplied from our data centres rather than on-site. We are seeing many companies opt for a private cloud solution where only their systems sit on their identifiable equipment. Others are happy to

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share servers. The requirement for faster and faster bandwidth is being driven by the increased use of the cloud, video and online gaming. If your network connectivity is over three years old then it is almost certain that we can provide you a new connection that is better, faster and cheaper.

“Different telecom networks are available in different parts of the UK and not every technology is available in every town. AdEPT is completely carrier independent and uses the best supplier and technology at your post codes to create the optimum data networks combining best speeds and best prices. In simple terms: why deal with one Telecom network, when you could deal with them all?”

Company: AdEPT Telecom plc Contact: Ian Fishwick Address: 77 Mount Ephraim, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN4 885, UK Phone: 01892 55022

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Renfrewshire Tackles Fuel Poverty with IoT Technology An internet of things (IoT) initiative underway in Renfrewshire is helping to tackle fuel poverty in social housing and could save local authorities millions of pounds on property management and repair bills.

Working with Renfrewshire Council, smart asset management company, iOpt Assets, has been detecting temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide levels at 50 social homes around Paisley over the course of the of the project. The pilot scheme, which has been running since July 2016, is monitoring a range of property types, including high rises, cottages, and terraced housing.

Capturing this data in near real time is allowing the local authority to identify anomalies in housing and take preventative action to protect tenants and its property assets. Consistently high humidity and low temperatures, for example, could indicate a tenant is living in fuel poverty; while high carbon dioxide levels suggest there might be a problem with ventilation and air quality.

The data from the sensors installed in the homes is currently transferred over Wi-Fi, but will move onto Renfrewshire’s Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN), using LoRaWAN™

technology – also known as a LoRa™ network. The IoT network was deployed last year by a consortium of organisations, including CENSIS, the Scottish Innovation Centre for Sensor and Imaging Systems; Stream Technologies; and Boston Networks.

So far, the project has helped the local authority to spot a number of potential issues at its properties, including homes that have impending damp, tenants who needed help with their heating system, and several occupants living in fuel poverty. All of the residents at the properties being monitored have opted into the project.

David Amos, Head of Policy and Commissioning at Renfrewshire Council, commented: “The health of our tenants is of paramount concern. iOpt Assets’ easy to install technology gives us the ability to spot problems they have with energy or any issues with their housing that might affect their health. It will also help us take preventative action, where necessary, to protect, manage, or even improve our homes – from

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damp and moisture detection, to issues with air quality.

“The Council is working with partners to create an environment in Renfrewshire that supports the testing and deployment of innovative Internet of Things technology and we were delighted to have facilitated this successful test with iOpt Assets.”

By the end of the year, iOpt Assets hopes to have rolled out the sensing technology to 2,000 homes in Scotland, spread across a variety of local authorities and housing associations. The Renfrewshire project has delivered an estimated 600% return on investment to the council, by preventing costs that would have arisen from damage to properties over the next two years. iOpt Assets is also going through a funding round to secure investment for the development of low-cost, battery-powered sensors with a five-year life, supported by a robust IT and data management system that can handle all the data from hundreds of thousands of homes. The company will

work with CENSIS, as one of the winners of the CENSIS through its IoT Explorer accelerator programme, aiming to install the technology in up to 400,000 rented homes over the next six years.

Dane Ralston, Director at iOpt Assets, said: “The results of the project have proven the business case for this service – it’s delivering significant returns by allowing the council to predict issues and be proactive with maintenance, which is invariably more cost effective than having to deal with them after the fact. It also reduces the need for regular property visits and administration, while also leading to reduced premiums in large property portfolios.

“The potential market is huge – figures from the Chartered Institute of Housing suggest there are 3.9 million local authority and housing association homes let at a social rent in England alone.

When you look internationally, the possibilities become even vaster – all sorts of organisations, such as Stena Line’s 24,000-strong portfolio in Sweden, own a broad range of residential property

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Renfrewshire Tackles Fuel Poverty with IoT technology

assets that could benefit from smart monitoring.”

Stephen Milne, Business Development Manager at CENSIS, added: “This is an excellent example of the IoT in action, delivering significant benefits to society and business.

Damp in homes has been linked to the development of conditions like asthma. At the same time, iOpt’s technology could help Renfrewshire save on asset management – it shows how technology can be used to help everyone.

“With six LoRa™ networks in operation, stretching from Orkney to Paisley, there are a broad range of trials going on across the country that could have a serious impact on how we use technology in the future; from flood prevention to monitoring emissions in cities.

Scotland is becoming a real hub of IoT activity and we have all the potential ingredients required to be a world leader in this field.”

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Samsung vs iPhone the Debate that Rages on Mark Izzard, Sales and Marketing Director of Switched On Insurance (switchedoninsurance. com) gives his take on the key issues buyers need to explore before they choose a side in the Samsung Vs iPhone debate.

Yes, there are other brands of smartphone available, but Samsung and iPhone remain the dominant ones in most markets around the globe. Both brands have a tranche of loyal users to call upon who will decry the other. That’s the thing - brands tend to engender loyalty among their customers, at least if the businesses behind them are doing anything right. As the Sales and Marketing Director for Switched On Insurance, a business which also focuses on keeping its clients loyal, we’ve become increasingly interested in which brand is better from a customer point of view. Repair costs, vulnerability to hacks, second-hand resale value and durability against bumps and scrapes are all important factors from a consumer standpoint.

It’s important to also factor in the user experience, when weighing up the relative merits of each smartphone manufacturer. After all, who would judge a car by how much it costs alone? Surely its practicality, driving experience and comfort is just as important?

Perhaps it’s time we discuss these flagship smartphones based on the quality of their parts and the experiences offered. Maybe it will convince some gadget loyalists out there to try a different phone in future!

Value For Money

Displays

In a recent study, we looked at the relative costs associated with two of the latest smartphone products by Apple and Samsung, namely the iPhone 8 Plus and the Galaxy S8. During our study, we wanted to determine the relative costs of each of the phones’ major components. Only then is it possible to draw any conclusion about the different list prices of each product - £799 for the iPhone 8 Plus and £689 for the Galaxy S8. This way, it is possible to get past the assumption that many consumers make; that on a likefor-like basis, the S8 offers greater value for money because it is over a hundred pounds cheaper.

The study showed that Apple wins in several areas, including the display. Samsung spends more on their display technology, but this translates as well over 27 per cent of the total cost to the consumer of their product. The iPhone’s display constitutes only 18 per cent of the product’s retail value. This story is repeated in other areas, such as the accessories you get in the box, like charging adapters and cables.

Components First, let’s look at where the S8 is a winner. Research determined that the manufacturing costs associated with the mechanical and electro-mechanical components used in the S8 cost the maker £21.15 per unit, which is passed on to the consumer at £62 or about 9 per cent of the total product price. The corresponding manufacturing costs for the iPhone is £38.21, but the price consumers pay is a whopping £136 or 17 per cent of the total cost. Although Apple is using more expensive components, there is a much greater effect on the total cost when compared to Samsung.

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RAM Memory is another crucial area of smartphone manufacturing as it has a significant impact on both the performance and cost.

The investigation showed that Samsung gives its S8 phone 4GB of RAM which, at a cost of £31.13, is passed on to the consumer at £93; an impressive mark-up. For the Apple product, £23.40 is spent on its 3GB of RAM. This is priced into the iPhone at £84, lower than the Samsung price but with 1GB less RAM available.

Processors With an Exynos 9 Octa 8895 chipset, the Samsung S8 has a fast processor which runs at 2.3 GHz. Despite the £38.14 price tag the manufacturer pays for each processor fitted, this element costs consumers £113 a go. The research has revealed that Apple’s iPhone 8 Plus has the latest

A11 Bionic hexa-core chipset fitted. Running at 2.53 GHz, this processor costs Apple £20.63 and costs the user less than Samsung’s version at only £72.

Summary Overall, from a component point of view, the iPhone 8 Plus beats the Samsung S8. It is also important to factor in the relative costs of each of the component categories - including those not mentioned in my summary, here, such as batteries – and see how this impacts on the overall product sale price. Yes, both manufacturers’ mark-ups do make your eyes wince at times, but Apple edges it on value once you compare the level of profitability built into Samsung’s finished product when broken down, component-bycomponent.

Quality of Experience With different operating systems, comparing Apple with Samsung might seem like weighing up the relative merits of apples and oranges. Some will always say that Bixby on the S8 beats Siri on the iPhone 8 Plus, no matter what. Nonetheless, I still think it is fair to regard Apple’s operating system as superior to anything else currently on the market from an end user’s standpoint. I know some will claim that it is stifling to use iOS, but its compatibility with

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Samsung vs iPhone - the Debate that Rages on

other Apple products certainly makes it a winner. Having said that, Apple uses a hefty amount of memory just to run iOS in one of its products which can become a frustration when you run out of free space.

Some of the components in an S8 mean that it is superior from a technical point of view, such as the 8MP camera compared with the iPhone’s 7MP one. However, the iPhone’s superior aperture means that this is not a great advantage for the average user. In summary, the functions that most smartphone users are looking for, run just that little bit more smoothly with an iPhone. The S8 is a top of the range product, too, but the iPhone, in my view, is ahead of the game.

What Does This Mean For the Tech Industry?

Although Apple brought out the iPhone X soon after the 8 Plus and not that long after the iPhone 7, sales of their latest models continued to be robust. Throughout December, over a million of these models were sold per day globally, according to Forbes the business magazine. This could adequately demonstrate that the phonebuying public appreciate the hardware’s value as well as its overall usability and user experience. Nevertheless, third quarter sales of Samsung phones saw a rise in purchases of the S8 and S8+ at almost 20 per cent. Given these two tech rivals are performing so well in the marketplace, the question for the rest of the industry is whether they can convince users to either sacrifice quality for a lower cost, or pay premium prices for a better experience. In this case, the latter wins in the end.

Editorial credit: Shutterstock.com

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Carbon Black Announces Cb ThreatSight Cb ThreatSight leverages the Cb Predictive Security Cloud (PSC) to deliver managed threat hunting services while empowering the entire Carbon Black ecosystem.

Cb ThreatSight leverages the PSC to provide customers with a managed threat hunting service, which simplifies alert management to prioritise and streamline the validation of important alerts.

The service is staffed by top threat experts who keep constant watch over an organisation’s environment, alert teams to emerging threats, and provide access to critical security services when they are needed most.

As the global threat landscape accelerates, security teams often worry an attack will slip through.

Compounding this issue is a scarcity of cybersecurity staffing and expertise. Many organisations, especially SMBs, lack dedicated security professionals to investigate and respond to the flood of alerts and attacks they face. Even skilled professionals miss important alerts in their own environments (or trending threats in the public realm) because they are so resource constrained.

protected by some of the world’s best threat hunters.

Cb ThreatSight provides customers with: •

•

With Cb ThreatSight, organisations can better understand context surrounding alerts, ensure the most important alerts are adequately addressed, and earn peace of mind, knowing they are

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24x7 Expert Threat Validation from Threat Hunters: Enterprises face a shortage of skilled security professionals, and security teams often spend too much time monitoring and validating alerts, limiting the time available to perform true security analysis. Cb ThreatSight experts analyse, validate, and prioritise alerts from Cb Defense, helping assure customers see the threats that matter.

An Early Warning System for Emerging Threats: When prevalent and newsworthy attacks occur, security team investigations are often limited by the scope of resources and data available in their own environment. Cb ThreatSight proactively identifies trends by monitoring threat activity across millions of endpoints, advising customers on widespread attacks, and retroactively detecting and confirming emerging threats based on iterative discovery techniques.

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Roadmap to Root Cause During Investigations: During active investigations, it’s difficult to craft an effective remediation plan before determining the full scope of the attack. Cb ThreatSight provides additional context to Cb Defense alerts, such as connecting alerts caused by the same root cause, to help customers streamline investigations and resolve security issues.

“CbThreatSight makes it easier for businesses to have world-class security managed by leading cybersecurity experts,” said Paul Morville, Carbon Black’s vice president of product management.

“Leveraging the Cb Predictive Security Cloud, Cb ThreatSight uses our collective threat intelligence from around the world, delivering a game changer for organisations looking to enhance their security posture.”

The Cb Predictive Security Cloud The Cb Predictive Security Cloud ™ (PSC) is a converged endpoint protection platform delivering next-generation security and IT operations services through the cloud and ensures that products and services are delivered in an

effective and timely manner.

The Cb Predictive Security Cloud provides customers with: •

Better protection – predict and prevent emerging threats and preemptively address security gaps

•

Simplified operations – one lightweight agent and an easy-to-use console with an extensible set of security services, all delivered from the cloud

•

Empowered teams – services, tools, and global intelligence that help teams prioritise security tasks and take action quickly

“Cybersecurity powered by the cloud empowers enterprises with better and faster security to combat the expanding attack landscape,” said Fernando Montenegro, Senior Analyst, Information Security, 451 Research. “Offerings such as the Cb Predictive Security Cloud, with the use of big-data analytics, offer the market better protection and more simplified operations, while providing the necessary agility to respond to threats quickly.”

Rapid Innovation Delivery with the PSC Rapid innovation in the PSC has led to two new services made

g Carbon Black Announces Cb ThreatSight

available by Carbon Black during the last two months. In addition to Cb ThreatSight, Carbon Black and VMware recently made generally available a joint solution that helps transform current approaches to cloud and data centre security.

Cb Defense for VMware dramatically shrinks an organisation’s attack surface, while empowering security teams with automated threat detection and remediation to react faster and more effectively to attacks.

The solution combines VMware AppDefense and Cb Defense’s advanced threat protection to provide a unique one-two punch for stopping threats to applications inside the data center.

Connecting Customers with the Carbon Black Ecosystem Overall, Cb ThreatSight makes it easy for customers to tap into the wide network of MSSPs and IR firms partnering with Carbon Black. Through this program, Carbon Black will match interested customers with the top MSSPs and IR firms on the planet to deliver various advanced security services such as: targeted threat hunt, root-cause mitigation, and incident response services for risk assessment.

Q1 2018 / TMT MAGAZINE 21

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Getting Engaged: The Why, How and When of Workplace Communication

By Baxter Willis, Head of WM Reply’s Engage team, specialists in using Yammer to help businesses engage with their most valuable asset: the workforce.

The film director Ridley Scott describes his job as: “to engage you as much as I can, and as often as I can.”

It’s an easier goal to achieve when you work in the movies, but the recipe doesn’t change that much whether you’re in Hollywood or a London blue chip. The point is; engagement is everything.

When talking about engagement, it can feel like quite a nebulous concept. Everyone appreciates it’s important, sure, but it doesn’t make it any easier to quantify. So first, here’s an outline of the reality of what engagement means to an organisation.

Studies ranging from the world of high academia, right through to simple employee research have all come to the same conclusion: an engaged workforce makes a huge difference. If productivity is considered key, engagement has been shown to generate a 43% increase, if the bottom line is the focus then engaged workforces generate two and half times the revenue of comparable, less engaged workforces. Even if your

sole measure of employee value is retention, engagement has been shown in academic studies to significantly reduce an employee’s likelihood of leaving, or even thinking about leaving.

Then there’s the flip side of engagement. Workers in the top 1% of productivity add around £4,000 of profit on average, but a “toxic worker”, one who is severely unengaged and drags others down with them, can cost a company more than double that.

Having established that engagement is invaluable to an organisation’s success, how exactly does it come about?

The building blocks of engagement There’s plenty of nuance with a subject like engagement, but that doesn’t stop it having some strong core principles. Just as Ridley Scott points out, engaging people should be a full time endeavour.

It must be something that’s built into the living culture of the organisation, reinforced through a strong emphasis on collaborative

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processes, given space by the absence of an overly hierarchical structure and backed up by a clear sense of purpose.

All of these things are directly controlled by how and when a company communicates. For example, authoritative top-down communiqués impose a strong hierarchy and make it harder for individual employees to connect with the company vision. Quarterly announcements are often long, uninteresting and far too infrequent to feel like something that any individual can have an impact on. Instead, communication has to be two way, always on, and relevant to the goals, aspirations and objectives of each group of employees. Something which isn’t nearly as hard as it sounds.

Yammering it home Perfect company communication is impossible without the right tools. In fact it’s difficult to even try and take the right approach when employees aren’t able to openly exchange ideas and collaborate with ease.

Enterprise social networks – Yammer from Microsoft being the perfect example – provide exactly those tools, and make the whole process of engaging employees through proactive regular two-way conversation far more accessible. But that’s not to say that companies don’t still have to work hard to encourage the right behaviours.

As McKinsey points out, while collaboration through solutions like Yammer can drive productivity up by a quarter, there are behavioural metrics that are required to make that a reality, the simplest and most important of which is that employees need to be using it on a daily basis. But even with only a third of staff on board, the benefits start ramping up fast.

Getting employees to join in is relatively easy if getting involved has clear benefits to them.

Yammer, used through Office 365 has efficiency benefits that leave older systems in its dust.

A simple example is the ability to access and collectively edit live documents in the cloud while concurrently discussing

g Getting Engaged: The Why, How and When of Workplace Communication

their development with live collaborators on instant chat.

It’s impossible to deny that this live, interactive form of work is more engaging than the isolated, stilted, email-attachment-driven workflows that still exist for so many companies.

Omnipresent communication The fear of change is inevitably still an important factor, but when it comes to systems like Yammer companies are able to gently encourage employees to open their eyes. By moving everyday processes, from diary cooperation to team planning, into the cloud, enterprise social networks become an inevitable core component of what it is to be at work.

The recipe isn’t so complicated: Define a clear purpose for internal communications and deliver it at every level at once, not top down or bottom up. Use Yammer to facilitate. Then enjoy the benefits, but whatever you do, don’t sit back and relax. Cultures are like relationships; they take constant nurturing. And looking after a relationship usually means being in regular contact with the other person, even if there are 10,000 of them.

To change communication, drive collaboration and unleash the benefits of those tandem pillars of success, the right communication tools can’t be a bolt-on or an optional extra, they have to be the core around which the day to day work-lives of employees are centred. Once that becomes the reality, there’s no going back.

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Leader in Learning Assessment Technology Unveils New Brand Leading assessment and accreditation management provider introduces new company name and logo.

When the three leading providers of assessment management solutions for colleges and universities joined forces in 2017 –Taskstream and Tk20 in March with LiveText following in September – the combined entity became the largest provider of assessment software for higher education worldwide. With nearly 50 years of combined experience and 300 employees supporting over 1,000 institutions across the globe, the company has continued building momentum by integrating operations, resources, and personnel – leading to its most successful year to date.

As the company continues to execute an ambitious vision and prepares for another year of growth, it is poised to re-introduce itself to the market at the Association of American Colleges & Universities 2018 Annual Meeting as: Watermark™.

Taskstream, Tk20, and LiveText were each pioneers in the field of learning technology for over 20 years and known well to their partners for high levels of customer support and effective assessment technologies. Like the rich history associated with each company, the use of watermarks also has a rich and varied history and is a fitting

description for its representative companies.

Defined as a mark of identification embedded during manufacture and visible when held against the light, watermarks serve as stamps to validate authenticity and demonstrate a commitment to quality. As a name for the company, Watermark, represents an enduring commitment to developing high-quality technology and providing data customers can trust. Customers will recognize immediately a continuing promise to maintain high standards of customer support and to provide solutions that empower institutions. Quite literally, a watermark shows how high water has risen and, as a name, it reinforces the company’s mission to put better data into the hands of administrators, educators, and learners everywhere, so they can better understand progress towards goals and use these insights to drive improvement.

“This is an important moment in education technology. We consolidated the top three competitors because we realize that, together, we can do more to empower institutions with the kind of data needed to improve learning,” said Kevin Michielsen, CEO of Watermark.

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“With our new shared vision, we are working to provide an educational intelligence platform that helps institutions connect information across the institution and gain meaningful insights into student learning. We deeply value the strides made to date with our clients and partners and remain steadfast in our commitment to building purposeful technology that engages students and enables educators to demonstrate and improve institutional effectiveness, program quality, and student learning.”

Each aspect of the new brand has been designed to convey the strength and multi-faceted approach that customers have come to expect of Watermark’s products and services. With the goal of helping institutions use better data to make decisions that will improve student outcomes, Watermark partners with its clients to support an intentional strategy of engaging students in compelling learning experiences and backing institutions with the educational intelligence needed to improve outcomes at all levels.

As part of this project, Watermark has launched a new corporate website, www.watermarkinsights. com, where customers and the public can explore the new brand identity and find more information, including an introductory video.

g Leader in Learning Assessment Technology Unveils New Brand

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Raising the Status of Outbound Dialling in Contact Centres Outbound dialling sometimes has a dubious reputation but used properly, is a powerful outreach tool. The trick is to embed it firmly into agent culture and the customer journey.

Christian Thorsrud at Puzzel explores the options.

Whatever way you look at it, traditional outbound dialling has received bad press over the years.

From simple calls for contact list updating, surveys or verification services to hard-sell telemarketing, sales or fund-raising calls, customers often dread outbound dialling, complaining of timewasting at best, harassment at worst and of course “silent calls” where agents aren’t connected to destination numbers quickly enough, resulting in a silent call.

However, it is a very different story for the organisations using outbound today. FiveCRM cites five vital benefits of ‘outdialling’ as a valuable outreach tool, particularly when put into the hands of the contact centre. Far more cost-effective than hiring traditional outbound sales teams, a contact centre set-up has the potential for more predictable overheads than travelling salespeople. Furthermore, contact centres can reach a far larger geographical area more quickly and connect with far more people in a single day than a field sales team ever could.

So, why the disparity of opinion between contact centres and those on the receiving end of outbound dialling and what can be done to close the gap? Essentially, it’s a case of joining the dots between agent culture and technical innovation. It’s also time to raise the status of outbound dialling from tactical, second-class citizen to strategic enabler of a first-class customer experience.

‘managing director’ is just not acceptable! Then, call at the right time – when people are more likely to answer the phone ie. not during meal times. Finally, schedule agent breaks and training during quiet times to maximise productivity and campaign results •

Measure what you do and act upon it – Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are there for a reason but they need to be actively monitored and adapted to changing customer and business requirements. Make them relevant and use the results to plan for the future

•

Reward and train agents – they’ll work harder if you do. However, be sure to set realistic targets and incentives for agents in the short, medium and longterm, with something they actually want (within reason) to keep them motivated.

Never under-estimate the importance of good, ongoing training. Help agents to understand the customer information being presented to them so they keep preview times to a minimum and keep human interactions to a maximum.

Step One: Take the right approach Far too often, agents make a half-hearted attempt at outbound dialling without any real thought behind it and then wonder why it doesn’t work. Consider these three steps: you might think them logical and simple, but you’d be surprised how few organisations actually take the time to follow them: •

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Be prepared and professional - understand the reasons for outbound dialling and establish the end results you’re aiming for. For example, if it is straight sales, ask yourself how many calls you will need to make the campaign successful and financially viable. Know your audience: find out the name of the person you should speak to – ‘proprietor’ or

Step Two: Make technology work for you Now you have established the right culture, take a closer look at the technology underpinning your contact centre. It could be the perfect opportunity for a complete refresh. As we all know, automated cloud-based solutions bring a series of significant benefits: including preview, predictive and power modes for outbound dialling activities; skill-based routing to accelerate first call resolution rates; integration with databases and CRM systems and support for new communications channels.

Furthermore, efficient blending of inbound and outbound calls increases agent productivity, streamlines staffing and improves customer service. The most recent innovations in outbound dialling take these benefits to the next level through: •

Efficient call scheduling - if customers do not have time to take or finish a call, agents can arrange a future outgoing call at an agreed time.

Customers can also request callbacks online, specifying both a day and time for the call. At the scheduled time, the same agent is called as soon as they are available, and on answering, the destination number is called

g

•

Easier integration of data – the flexibility of the latest technology enables data to be imported easily from CRM solutions, databases and campaign management systems.

At the click of a mouse, customer contact details on imported lists can be added, deleted or edited without having to de-duplicate external lists prior to import. This saves time and guarantees the latest customer data is always used

•

Relevant reporting – different metrics are often applied to outbound activity, however, the most important are the most relevant to your campaign.

These are likely to include the success or hit rate ie. the number of connected calls that lead to a conversation and the outcome of those calls such as sales (conversion rates), agreed call backs or no further interest. Quality reports are more relevant than simply counting volumes.

Raising the Status of Outbound Dialling in Contact Centres

Running an effective and profitable outbound campaign is about combining skilled, dedicated people with efficient technology and giving agents the right tools to do their job. It might be time to reassess your own approach to people and technology with this simple two-point plan.

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Website Planning: Why Strategy Beats Design Every Time Susan Friesen, founder of eVision Media, a boutique web development and Digital Marketing firm of over 15 years that specializes in designing, building and marketing professional, unique websites for entrepreneurs, businesses and organizations, explores what to do first before designing your business website.

I see it all the time.

People are excited about their business.

They set out to hire a web designer. They share their vision for their website and excitedly wait for the big reveal.

Then, disaster strikes. “You got it all wrong.” they say.

Design dollars are wasted.

Revisions begin. Everyone scratches their heads and wonders where it all went wrong.

And before you know it what should have been a simple project becomes a nightmare.

This doesn’t have to happen to you.

Without a map, it’s easy to get lost in unfamiliar territory. The same is true of website development.

Before you begin you really need to have a solid plan in place.

That’s the real difference between working with a full-service marketing firm or a solo website developer. A marketing firm can help you do the proper due diligence and analysis needed to make sure the website designed for you truly meets your business needs.

Much of the design process breaks down to a few simple steps: Messaging Who do you serve? Defining your ideal client is one of the most important steps before building a website. The more specific you are about who your ideal client is, the better you’ll be able to speak to their needs when they visit your site.

them how you will help them overcome their challenges or how your products will alleviate their concerns.

Here are some questions to ask yourself while doing an ideal client analysis: • Who do you have a passion for serving?

• What are their biggest pains?

• Are they men or women?

• What level at they in their business or situation: newbies, established, or experts?

• What are their values?

• What are their biggest goals?

• What is their personality?

Credibility comes through testimonials, media clippings, blog articles and sharing results you have achieved with clients.

Showcasing the education, training and credentials you achieved also shows prospects you have expertise in what you do.

This clarity helps you laser-focus your messaging to speak directly to their needs.

Everyone has the same basic human needs. Knowing and understanding the pains of your target market is critical. Tell

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Having credibility is also important.

Most prospects haven’t heard about you upon their first encounter with your website. So it’s your job to build trust that you have knowledge and experience and proven results.

Function Another critical part of the web design and development process is being clear on the website’s function. The layout for your website will vary greatly depending on your business goals.

• What is the goal of your website?

• Will it be an online store?

• Do you want to build a list and online community?

• Will it serve as a free information site where you gain revenues on advertising and affiliate sales?

• •

Are you selling services?

Is your website an online brochure?

Once armed with this clarity, your designer will know if you need a landing page, chat tool, email list management software, online booking tool, or other special features in order to support your vision.

Knowing the path you want visitors to go and take the desired action helps your designer put the right elements in place to accomplish that.

Look And Feel If you have ever gone shopping in a store with a friend you have probably experienced that we all have very different tastes. The same is true when you design a website.

Even though you have described what you envision, the web designer may have something entirely different in mind. The goal for both of you is to create a visual brand that is appealing to your target market. It needs to immediately say to them they are in the right place.

Before sending your designer a bunch of colour swatches and other websites you want your site

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Website Planning: Why Strategy Beats Design Every Time

to look like, the better approach is to create a brand standards guide first that encompasses the colours, fonts and style of your overall business brand. This process should be done at the time of designing your logo since your logo functions as the basepoint of your brand.

The key is to remember you are designing a website for your target audience in relation to your business, not for you personally.

Yes, for many entrepreneurs, your personality is directly infused into your brand but it is possible the look and feel could be quite different from your personal taste.

It all depends on who you are trying to attract to your business.

In saying that, it doesn’t hurt to still send your designer sample websites that you like and be specific about what exactly you like about them. That kind of feedback is very valuable especially with the layout and overall messaging of the site.

The Do It Yourself Dilemma It’s easy to think when you start out doing it all yourself is a better way to save money.

But how much is your time worth?

How much do you know about copywriting or effective marketing strategy or design?

How much more revenue could you create if you focused on business building and outsourced your web design and marketing?

Finally, you can’t put a value on the insights and expertise that a marketing team brings to the table. It’s well worth investing in a polished website that converts clients.

Whether you are building your first website or redesigning your existing one, taking time to carefully plan it will save you time, headaches and money.

Q1 2018 / TMT MAGAZINE 29

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Semalt Expert Provides a Compelling Search Engines Review Before the introduction of the web in ranking, there were search engines that primarily worked on helping online users to find their preference information online. Existing programs like “Archie’ and “Gopher” collected information and kept the information on servers that were connected to the internet.

Michael Brown, a top expert from Semalt, shares in this fascinating article some compelling issues that will help to boost you SEO campaign.

How search engines work Search engines entirely depend on web spiders to retrieve documents and files from the web. Web crawlers work on perusing all the available web pages found on the web and building a list of documents and programs through a process known as web crawling.

Web crawlers start collecting information from the most popular used pages and the servers with high traffic. By visiting a favorite site, spiders follow every link within a site and indexing every word on their pages.

The birth of Google Search Engine Google is one of the top-ranked search engines that started over as an academic platform.

According to a release that was made regarding how Google was developed, Lawrence Page and Sergey Brin imply that the initial system was built to use two or three web crawlers at a time.

Each crawler was developed to maintain an approximate of 320 connections to the Web pages running at once.

Google hit the headlines when it used four spiders, and their system could cut across over 99 pages per second. During that time, the system generated an approximate of 600 kilobytes of reports per second. The debut Google system worked on providing some URLs to the web spiders via a server. To minimize the maximum time taken before an online user gets their documents and programs, Google had their Domain Name Server (DNS).

By looking and analyzing an HTML page, Google noted on the number of words within a page, and the specific location of words. Words reflecting in the meta tags and subtitles were prioritized during a user’s search.

Google spider was developed to index words of utmost importance without including articles “the,” “a,” and “an”. However, other web

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crawlers take a different approach of indexing significant words as compared to Google.

To make the searching experience great, Lycos used the approach of tracking the phrase included in the meta tags and marking the top 100 most used words. When it comes to AltaVista, the approach is entirely different. The indexing process entails every word included on a page, not to mention articles “an,” “a,” and “the”.

The future search According to Boolean operators, the engine checks on the phrases and words as they are entered by a user. Literal search that works on eliminating unwanted searches helps to find the best result on the Web. Concept-based searching is of utmost importance when it comes to searching for information. This research works on using statistical analysis on the pages containing the phrases you are interested in.

Impacts of meta tags on web search Meta tags play a vital role when it comes to content marketing.

Meta tags allow website owners to specify converting keywords and phrases to be indexed. Spiders identify meta tags that do not correlate with the content and vice versa. The importance of meta tags cannot be snubbed. They play a part in the identification of the correct phrases matching the user’s search.

Web search engines work by reducing the time required for online visitors to find content and computer programs. In the past, getting valuable information and programs from the web implied that you had to know how Veronica and Archie worked. In the modern world, a good number of internet users entirely limits themselves to the Web, a key factor that has contributed to the growth of web search engines.

Listings

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Winners’ Directory

Title: Manager of the Year TMT News 2017 Business Elite Awards Company: DLT Solutions Contact: Jonathan Matthews Email: jonathan.matthews@dlt.com Telephone: (+1) 703 709 7172 Web Address: www.dlt.com

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