Tag Archive for: Google

Using the Latest Technology to Increase Productivity

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Part of maintaining a competitive edge in business is making sure you are keeping up to do with the latest technology. The right network and infrastructure can dramatically increase the efficiency of your employees and your company. That said, here are some infrastructure-enhancing technologies that can revolutionize the way your company does business:

  • High Performance Mobile Networks:With over half of all workers using their phones to access work-related content, it is important to have a solid phone and network that will be there when you need it.
  • Social Networking: Interact and target your audience using social media to drive sales and raise awareness for your brand.
  • Cloud Computing: Access your data anywhere with cloud computing technology. Increasing your productivity, data security, and efficiency, you should look into adopting software like Google Drive or Dropbox for your company.

Technology is core to keeping a business up to date. Adopting the technologies above will make for happier employees who are able to effectively do their job by empowering them to effectively manage their data and target your appropriate audience.

Here is the full article on Tech.co

Google vs Apple: Tech Giants Duke it Out to Serve You Better

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With Google and Apple in a perpetual war to provide you with their tech goods, what is even worth paying attention to anymore? Will any of their new products or features really save you time? Here are a few new features the tech giants have announced, and how they may prove useful to your business and personal life:

Apple:

  • Siri Spotlight: “Suggests people to contact based on future meetings or nearby businesses. It will also find gas stations once you’re near the rental-car office,” as it gathers data on your patterns and behaviors to better serve you.
  • Traffic: Apple will phone tap traffic signals to let you know the most optimal time to be leaving your meeting in order to make it to your next endeavor before getting caught in the traffic or rain.
  • Privacy: Apple’s devices will know a lot about you, but Apple won’t as personal data will never leave your device.

Google:

  • Google Now: Have content from emails and messages instantly become entries on your calendar. Receive an email to meet a certain deadline? Set a reminder with just a single tap.
  • User Data: While Google doesn’t sell your info, it does use it to target to your for paying advertisers. If this makes you uncomfortable, you many want to opt out.
  • Invasive, but Helpful: Google is counting on using your data to best serve you and save you time. But how much it peeks into your data may be off-putting to certain users.

Overall, both giants are looking to save you time and money, but ultimately it may come down to how much of your privacy you are willing to give up in order to receive the best service. Is the convenience worth giving all your information over to Big Brother? That is for you to decide.

Click here for the full article in The Wall Street Journal

Google’s Race to Stay on Top

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A key component of any business is a company’s website, and Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, is key to getting that website seen by customers. Google is the world’s premier search engine, and Amit Singhal is the man responsible for the 200+ factors that determine your website’s ranking in the search engine. Amit also keeps track of incoming trends, and how to adapt Google’s software to reflect changes in the way people look up their information. What someone may have asked a search engine 5 years ago is vastly different from what will be asked today, and it’s Amit’s job to ensure Google is optimally responding to a user’s search query.

How can you ensure that your own business remains up to date? Having your website optimized for mobile is key to being relevant and ranking high in the search engine’s results. With a surge in mobile users on both phone and tablet, a website that doesn’t read well on a phone will not fare well with Google’s algorithms. Quick load times and relevant information are always important, as people want responsive sites with the information they need so they can put their phone down and get on with whatever they were doing.

As a search engine, it is Google’s purpose to deliver exactly what the user needs as soon as possible, and Amit’s job to make sure Google keeps doing that as well as it possibly can. With so many startups being acquired by both Google and now Apple, Google cannot take its position as the #1 search engine for granted. Startups with algorithms for apps and music are appearing, and Google’s ability to adapt to that change will determine its relevance in the decades to come.

 

Read the full article in The New York Times here.

E-Commerce Dips into the Home Services Industry

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The biggest names in e-commerce are now competing in the home services industry, attempting to bundle your recently purchased items with related services. Giants like Amazon give approved businesses a chance to bid against one another to provide your desired service. How will this affect you? Here are some things to consider:

  • This is a ridiculously huge, untapped industry: “Angie’s List … estimates the home services industry is $400 billion. Others put it at more than $800 billion. ‘There are few pots of gold left as big as this on the Internet,’ said Marco Zappacosta, chief executive and co founder of Thumbtack.”
  • Amazon is king and is only getting bigger“‘I can tell you that with 85 million customers purchasing products from Amazon that needed installation or assembly, customers have told us that Amazon Home Services fills an important need,’” says Peter Faricy, VP of Amazon Marketplace. “For Amazon it is another step toward becoming the conduit through which we buy everything, not just goods but services and entertainment as well.”
  • Google is another top contender: With services like Google Express to compete with Amazon, Google isn’t going to give up this sector of this emerging market without a fight. With the ability to provide services directly from its own search engine, Google will be sure to have its share of the market.
  • Home service providers have to cut prices to compete: Small business must cut costs in order to compete with Amazon’s bidders, but at the same time are gaining volume. “‘I look at it as an opportunity – it’s Amazon,’ […] I would say it’s early days still. We are trying to make it work. It’s a little difficult adjusting with the new prices, but there’s definitely volume there. We’re interested, but a little nervous about the low prices,’” says Matt Feldman, an entrepreneur who’s business is changing due to this bidding process.

In summary, expect your next Amazon flatscreen TV purchase to come bundled with a dozen of TV installers fighting with one another to give you the best price possible, and other e-commerce retailers to follow suit. What does this mean for home service providers? Smaller margins and a lot more work.

Click here for the full article in The New York Times.

For Ad-Tech Biz, NY is the Place to Be

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Silicon Valley may have more startups and money, but New York City is a predominant force in ad-tech, with two other key sectors that are being transformed by technology – digital media and e-commerce. And, New York City is also a strong contender in other emerging industries such as financial tech and health tech.

Scott Knoll, CEO of Integral Ad Science, started in ad tech at DoubleClick, a Manhattan startup formed in the 90’s and was eventually purchased by Google. When it came to choosing a location it made sense to have an ad-tech firm in Silicon Valley, New York. Today, it’s essential.

NYC TECH, 2003-2013

2,206 companies started

336  acquisitions and IPO’s, worth $18.1 billion

$14.2 billion in investment capital

13.3% annual growth in VC investments

53,000+ jobs

“If you are building an ad-tech company, this city is a must-have presence, you have to be in New York. You don’t necessarily have to be in Silicon Valley.” said Mr. Knoll. New York has started to develop boundless networks where successful entrepreneurs develop new companies and hire new entrepreneurs.

There’s every reason to believe that New York’s emergence as a major tech center is still in its early days.

To read the article in it’s entirety, click here.

Emerging Web Conglomerates Affect Buying Strategies

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With a steady stream of head-shaking acquisitions, Google, Facebook, and other Internet Giants are speedily transforming themselves into web conglomerates. While this is unquestionably making fortunes for the venture capital industry, it does beg the question whether is can be good news for everybody else.

The giants’ buying sprees have not only created a handful of powerful young millionaires; it has revolutionized the venture capital business model. Outside the tech-bubble, it used to be that someone struggled for years to build a company before it went public. Now the idea is to move into the social media hot-spot by developing a product that the new web conglomerates buy at prices never before seen in private deals.

Consider the following transactions:

  • WhatsApp sold to Facebook for $16 Billion;
  • Instagram sold to Facebook for $1 Billion; and
  • Beats Electronics sold to Apple for $3 Billion.

Would you like a piece of that pie? If you answered in the affirmative (let’s assume that you did), the goal is no longer building a business to compete with these tech giants, but work to be established within their orbit and share in their success.

It will be interesting to observe how this strategy morphs and develops in the years ahead. Click here to view the related article by Steven Davidoff Solomon in the New York Times.