Discussing the drought of IT skills in today's economy can be an intriguing and alarming conversation. Even with the abundance of post-secondary tech-specialized education programs that are now being offered, along with the market's awareness increasing for the value that is provided by full-time equivalent specialists (FTEs), the gap is still quite significant. In fact, according to Bloomberg reports, approximately 45% of today's small businesses are unable to find qualified applicants to fill their job vacancies within the technology...
The mobile AR platform war
Mark Zuckerberg’s “We’re making the camera the first augmented reality platform” was the most important step so far towards mass market AR. Where Pokémon Go gave consumers their first taste of mobile AR, and Google Tango ushered in the race towards high end mobile AR phones, Facebook’s AR Platform now democratizes mobile AR regardless of hardware. Apple launching an AR enabled iPhone this year or next year could combine with Facebook to kick-start the mobile AR market at scale, and...
Customer experience is not user experience (and why this distinction matters)
Customer experience is not user experience (and why this distinction matters)
User experience (UX) is not customer experience (CX). CX spans everything from the perceptions customers build using a company's web store to customer service, product trials and more. How are the two interlinked and how can good UX improve overall CX?
Defining user experience
Customer experience is not user experience (and why this distinction matters)
UX is the customer or user’s interaction with a product...
Customer experience is not user experience (and why this distinction matters)
UX is the customer or user’s interaction with a product...
IoT: Customer Experience Leading the Way
I certainly have a biased perspective, having spent the past 27 years of my career working as a contact center industry analyst, but I believe that the Internet of Things (IoT) will find much of its early success improving the customer experience.
I had the opportunity to hear a joint presentation by Dimension Data and Bosch at the Genesys G-Force event in Miami, Fla., in October 2016, and one...
6 Hot Internet of Things (IoT) Security Technologies
Internet of Things (IoT) security breaches have been dominating the headlines lately. WikiLeaks’s trove of CIA documents revealed that internet-connected televisions can be used to secretly record conversations. Trump’s advisor Kellyanne Conway believes that microwave ovens can spy on you—maybe she was referring to microwave cameras which indeed can be used for surveillance. And don’t delude yourself that you are immune to IoT attacks, with 96% of security professionals responding...
Here’s How Apple Is Trying to Get People to Think Differently About Its Iconic Stores
Faced with the growing decline of brick-and-mortar shopping, Apple is leveraging its large network of stores and trying to create a place for people to learn new skills and gather. The new initiative is being branded as "Today at Apple" and is now available at all 495 Apple stores worldwide, 271 of which are in the U.S.
The program's class sign up sheet went live on Apple's site on...
Local e-commerce industry can fast-track economic growth
The growing local e-commerce industry presents an exciting solution for fast-track growth in the SMME sector.
“E-commerce represents a fundamental change in the way that trade is conducted, and offers up a new, more efficient way to connect producers and merchants directly to customers around the country and in fact the world, bridging the gap between demand and supply. This presents major potential for the expansion of small businesses, improved...
What is UX and How Can it Help My Business?
UX design is one of those topics you can’t ignore as a marketer because it has deep roots in everything you do for an online brand. It’s something you and everyone in your team must understand, even if you’re not experts in the field. So what exactly is UX and why is it important to every business?
This is the question we’ll be answering today so there’s no more confusion about...
Snapchat is losing twice as much money as it did last year
Snap reported its earnings for the first time since becoming a public company in March of this year. Its daily active user count clicked up to 166 million, a 5 percent increase over last quarter, up 36 percent from this time a year ago. That puts it behind Instagram Stories, a competitor launched by Facebook that copied heavily from Snapchat and has already passed 200 million users. It also means...
Reality Check: Technology is killing fewer jobs than ever
Despite widespread fears that artificial intelligence and automation will create mass unemployment, job losses due to technology are at historic lows, according to an analysis published Monday by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.