Business Archives - Jessica N. Abraham | Designer. Writer. Publicist.

AccuWeatherIQ — The Randall Pearson of brands and advertisers

September 5, 2019 No Comments

Accuweather, AccuWeatherIQ, Advertising, Business, Business Tools, Data Privacy, Economy, FTC, Global Economy, Investments, Marketing, Markets, news, Randall Pearson, ROIs, Solutions, Sterling K. Brown, Tech News, technology, This is Us, Trade, Trading, Trends, Weather Predictions

Previously Published to tEQ.life

The average American had never heard of a weather trader or how the weather could play a major factor in the Global Economy – and then, we did. In fact, almost eight-million viewers quickly learned what it meant to be a weather trader, as we became more familiar with one Randall Pearson (Sterling K. Brown), on NBC’s hit television series, This Is Us.

We caught a glimpse at just how important weather economics were to both trade and the stock market, as Randall pounded away at the keys, making his predictions, and even burning himself out in the process. Investors may have found new ways to capitalize on this practice, as business owners became hip as to how the weather could be used to forecast products would sell, according to last minutes changes in the weather or climate, and its impact on the economy, overall.

If you were paying close enough attention, those charts and graphs were painful to look at – and, maybe even to understand. But, Randall did so quite diligently, meeting his deadline, and the rest became history from there on out.

New scalability with little-to-no effort at all.

Thankfully for you, AccuWeather, one of the world’s most recognized and trusted resources in weather and climate, is making it easier to predict the impact of the weather on business, as they launch a new solution for brands and advertisers, everywhere. With the launch of AccuWeatherIQ™, AccuWeather allows the average business owner to target their audiences, based on weather patterns, and has made it possible for those brands to integrate this data into industry-leading data platforms.

According Scott Sameroff, AccuWeather’s Senior Director of Data Products and Partnerships, “AccuWeatherIQ answers a critical need identified by our many advertising clients, which is to efficiently and effectively extend weather-based campaigns from AccuWeather properties across their entire media strategy and spend using the same weather data assets — with assurances that the toughest standards of data privacy, consumer choice and protection are applied to such assets.”

A recent press release further explains that “AccuWeatherIQ will help advertisers connect with U.S. users experiencing a variety of weather conditions today, tomorrow, or ‘next weekend’ [in order to] provide effective messaging based on lifestyle activities and health management preferences influenced by the weather.”

Every day, over 1.5 billion people worldwide rely on AccuWeather to help them plan their lives, protect their businesses, and get more from their day. Since 1962, radio stations, television networks, newspapers, and now mobile widgets on our lock and home screens, have relied on AccuWeather for their ability to accurately predict the weather for days, weeks, and even months ahead of time. So, it’s safe to say that they “know weather.”

Through the use of AccuWeather’s many innovative, patented and award-winning features, including MinuteCast® Minute by Minute™ forecasts, AccuWeather produces and distributes weather-related news, content, and video for more than 180,000 third-party websites and mobile apps, around the world. But, this time it’s different.

AccuWeatherIQ will help advertisers connect with U.S. users experiencing a variety of weather conditions today, tomorrow, or “next weekend” to provide effective messaging based on lifestyle activities and health management preferences influenced by the weather.

By utilizing AccuWeather’s unique proprietary weather forecasts weather data and proprietary forecasting tools, such as its exclusive AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperature and Lifestyle Indices, brands will be able to create more personalized and contextual digital marketing campaigns that reach customers at relevant moments in time – with little-to-no effort at all. In fact, weather data segments are currently available and able to be imported directly within Salesforce and LiveRamp Data Stores, in addition to AccuWeather’s owned and operated media properties.

Advertisers will be able to schedule their campaigns, based on the weather, and better budget their spending on days that would provide either little or greater significance to their bottom line. Not only would they cut back on unnecessary spending, but they would have more to invest at times that would prove more profitable to their ROIs. While annual budgets may already be budgeted, based on the month, season or even year, they will now be more flexible and able to allocated based on day, week or even hour!

Data Privacy & Consumer Protections.

In light of yesterday’s decision by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and New York Attorney General that both Google and subsidiary, YouTube, would pay a record $170M fine for allegedly violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), you may be wondering just how this new platform will ensure your privacy, as you make the decision to carry an umbrella to work or make your children wear a rain jacket to school.

Teaming up with a select group of trusted data partners in data privacy and protections, AccuWeather states its commitment to consumer privacy and protecting the rights of consumers by through increased transparency within the marketplace:

“By working with world-class partners, such as Salesforce, LiveRamp, and Beemray, we are committed to maintaining industry-leading data privacy and consumer protection practices, while supporting business innovation and growth,” vows Eric Danetz, AccuWeather’s Global Chief Revenue Officer. The AccuWeather app allows users to control when AccuWeather or its third-party partners may access user data, including device location data, and for what purposes such data may be used, with clear prompts and navigation screens and specific notice and consent language.

Keeping this in mind, Danetz goes on to say, “We have been dedicated to building products and advertising solutions that embrace the best practices of data privacy regulations to enable our U.S advertising partners to reach AccuWeather users at the right time and the right place, with the right context, while putting our users in charge of their data.”

Advertisers may not yet be able to change the weather, but at least now they can change their efforts at the drop of the barometer. And, while they may not have a life as perfect as Randall Pearson, they can still rake in the big ones by learning how to invest in the weather economy!

DISCLAIMER: Neither NBC, This is Us, nor Sterling K. Brown have any affiliation with the AccuWeather brand or its product lines.

Cool Technologies, Medium Contributions, tEQ.life

Wearables, disrupting an industry and helping you to “feel sound like never before”

August 16, 2019 No Comments

Wearables, Technology, Tech News, Technology News, News, Music, Gaming, VR, AR, XR, Music, Music Tools, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, Experience, User Experience, Sensory, Digital Gadgetry, Audiophile, Business, Investments, Sensory, Gamification, Woojer, MusicProduction, CCS Insight, Markets and Market, Market and Markets, Kickstarter, Startup

Previously Published on tEQ.life

In a world where we thrive off of live experiences, it’s a wonder that most of us are still living in stereo. Sure, we attend live events. We might even know the soft spot at the movie theatre. But, on a daily basis, we are literally just getting by on “right, left, center” technologies, and so far — no one has done anything about it!

Today, we watch movies in surround sound. We play games using our headsets. We live the virtual experience, but our audio keeps us grounded. The good news is… that’s all about to change — and, it’s thanks to Kickstarter, wearable technologies and a team of lifelong audiophiles.

Meet Woojer.

Woojer, Born to Feel. Courtesy of Woojer on YouTube, 2019.

Woojer, a company based in Tel Aviv, has been dedicated to bringing biotechnologies to the world of consumer audio design. Their mission is to introduce consumers to immersive experiences and allow them to feel the sound just as they would in real-time. They do this by tapping into the acoustics and frequencies that we feel, but naturally, we cannot hear.

Founded in 2008, Woojer has been working diligently to study, design and perfect those technologies in which are soon to become acknowledged as a standard for the “new norm.”

With three separate Kickstarter campaigns, starting in 2013, the company has been introducing their product in phases, aimed at perfecting their line, their designs and in creating a more 360 experience. Introducing and reintroducing each product, based on the feedback of research and development and the patents they received, they are now ready to launch their new high-fidelity products into global markets, worldwide.

An introduction to innovation.

In the Streets. Courtesy of Woojer on YouTube, 2019.

Since the beginning of the year, Woojer began teasing their products at festivals and conferences all over the world, including E3 and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in 2019. Disruptive to an entire industry, thousands have lined up to experience the power of stimulating gameplay, haptic transducers and polyphonic experiences first-hand. They now await mass production, which should wrap up by the end of November and deliver to more than 900 early adopters by the end of December.

With 55 days still left to their campaign, Woojer has already surpassed its initial goal of $20K by more than 904%!

Reproducing dynamic sound systems on a more personal level, the new Woojer products allow consumers to feel the “oomph of bass and the pulse of energy” with frictionless motion and dynamics falling outside of the standard 20Hz to 20kHz range. Soon, they will be able to experience frequencies as low as a 1Hz tone with adjustable sensations and volume control.

Strap Edge Vs. Vest Edge Technologies.

Strap vs. Vest Edge Technologies. Courtesy of Woojer on YouTube, 2019.

Strap Edge and Vest Edge technologies include patented OSCI transducers, haptic feedback and sensors that guarantee full immersion, precise harmonic reproduction and durability for everyday use. Consumers will be able to feel the sound through waves of pressure and the caustic movement of air. With the patented oscillating frame, movements are accurately reproduced, as frequencies are played at up to 500Hz, including the subsonic frequencies, undetectable by the human ear.

Both devices are ultra-silent, have low-latency and can get up to eight hours of battery power per charge. Equipped with Bluetooth 5.0 and analog headphone amplification, The Vest Edge targets sensory points in key areas of the human body that allows the wearer to “feel sound like never before.” The Vest Edge was created for use with virtual reality, gaming and music production. In fact, Woojer’s Kickstarter pagegoes on to state:

“The Vest Edge gives you 360 degrees of immersion, delivering accurate and detailed sensations that’ll raise your pulse. It’s got out-of-the-box stereo haptics and is the perfect companion for at-home gaming and VR. If you’re a music pro- this’ll pump the low-frequencies through your body as it engages you in a unique and mesmerizing audio experience.”

The Strap Edge, on the other hand, was created to be worn on the hip, chest or across one’s body, providing a polyphonic, stereo experience. It was created for everyday gamers and music enthusiasts, on-the-go. Basically, no matter which device you choose, you will be able to feel the music as if it was flowing through your veins, giving every performance an additional boost of reality.

Both devices can be paired with the Woojer Haptic Metronome App, helping you to live life to a new beat. When synched, the metronome works with the rhythm and tempo of the music, providing additional training and sophistication to the audio pro or music producer.

The rapid growth of wearable technologies.

Lee Shupp — “The Future of Wearables.” Courtesy of TEDx on YouTube, 2015.

In 2014, CCS Insight predicted that within five years, the Wearables Industry would only be worth $25B by 2019. Instead, it hit $21.7B in 2016 and according to MarketsandMarkets™, the Wearables Market is set to grow at a rapid CAGR of 15.5% and expected to reach $51.6B by 2022 — more than double what we had expected to see in previous years. Whether you’re a music producer, avid gamer or simply an investor, Woojer is definitely worth checking out.

Medium Contributions

5 Tips for Transitioning Managers in the World of IT

July 23, 2019 No Comments

Medium, Information Technologies, Project Management Professionals

Previously Published to Medium.

Let’s face it, technology has rapidly changed the way we do business — and markets, themselves, are shifting in a major way. We’re seeing steady progression across an entire industry and are taking on higher-paying opportunities in sectors that we never thought we would be. Managers are entering into new markets, as the realm of technology continues to evolve before our very eyes.

We demand innovation and watch it transform on a daily basis. Technologies broaden, but the markets haven’t been nearly as kind. Most agencies are understaffed and roles unfulfilled.

We’re seeing those with no formal education compete against MIT graduates. Project managers are stepping up, some of whom have never spent a single day behind the scenes. We’re seeing interns become directors and start-ups popping up all over the country. More people are working remotely, and central offices are no longer commonplace.

The workforce has become global, and we have begun to control our teams at a distance. We have more power than we ever did, and the possibilities are now endless.

With more opportunities in our hands, all it takes is a little bit of ambition and a simple roadmap to get you where you need to be. Let us help position you on your journey with these five tips for transitioning into IT project management — and ultimately, the transition to success!

#1 | Define your scope, build teams accordingly.

Before defining your scope, you will want to pay attention to your client’s business-related needs and objectives. This will include budget and resource availability, critical timelines and expectations. Your scope will give you a solid foundation to build upon and help you better identify the teams you will need to hire to get the job done both effectively and within a timely manner.

Identify your ideal team members, including areas of specialization, level of skill and how they will interact with one another.

Ask yourself:

ü Do you need them on-site, or can they work remotely?

ü How many people can you hire, and will you need to train them?

ü Will you need to hire an outsourcing agency, or are you going to recruit each member directly?

#2 | Schedule teams based on need, availability and areas of expertise.

Once your scope has been mapped out and your teams have been built, you will begin scheduling each member, as according to need, availability and area of expertise. You should pay special attention to the previous achievements and contributions made to other projects that they have worked on in the past.

Find common ground. Where previous contributions were with companies much larger or smaller than your own, translate scalability and decide whether those team members are capable of handling the tasks that you throw at them. Are they able to streamline daily tasks with speed, agility and a certain level of specialization?

Before positioning each team member, ask yourself how they will measure up against:

· Technical, leadership and/or managerial capabilities.

· Productivity, performance and/or efficiency, both as a team or on an individual basis.

· Dependability, resourcefulness and the customer experience.

#3 | How will your teams interact? Pay attention to interdisciplinary communication.

As you may already know, teams work differently, based on the admixture of personalities types, therein. This is where predictive hiring, behavioral analysis, networking and cultivated relationships can come in very handy for a project manager, regardless of industry.

If you have too many influencers on your team, who will plan and analyze? If there are too many leaders, who will handle administration and ensure compliances? Pairing teams, based on personality type, will allow each team to thrive, while encouraging personal growth and individual commitment.

Friction often leads projects to fail, underperform or fall short of expectation. This often happens when the team dynamic is overlooked and communication falters. On the contrary, teams matched based on personality, prove more productive, as they tend to exceed expectation for quality, turnaround and the overall customer experience.

#4 | Optimize your workforce, define the strengths and weaknesses of new and existing team members.

Similar to pairing based on personality types, we also find that one path to success may actually come from optimizing the workforce, directly. In optimizing the workforce, we look for certain factors or KPIs that will allow us to measure individual contributions and/or takeaways, such as:

· Behaviors in certain environments.

· Reactions to stress or actions under pressure.

· Individual strengths.

· Weaknesses amongst the team, itself.

These points will be indicators that someone is or isn’t a good fit for a particular project. While we can always develop strengths in an individual, sometimes time is a vital factor. Adding new teams would offset those members, who would not otherwise live up to certain expectations — or the skill level, necessary, to carry out individual tasks or timelines, as associated with each project.

Pairing teams, based on personality type, will continue a major hand in the success of each project or client portfolio. However, strengths can be drawn from those individual aspects and used as additional indicators of key personality types we need to recruit in optimizing the workforce, directly.

#5 | Understand missed opportunities in the hiring cycle.

We face many roadblocks, as project managers, when it comes to hiring qualified talents for key projects within our portfolio. These roadblocks almost seem counterproductive from the start of each project and in the development of our teams, over time. We rush hiring processes to meet deadlines and in catering to dependencies across entire lifecycles, therein.

Due to the lack of efficient manpower, budget shortages and the fulfillment of outside obligations, the hiring process is often one of the first processes to be shortchanged at the onset of each project. And because we ultimately must juggle each project on an individual basis, we can’t spend a whole lot of time in the recruiting, training, interviewing and onboarding of incoming talents. We end up relying too much on our immediate networks, career sites and job boards to provide us with the talent we need to get the job done.

To make matters worse, most of these resources will then rely on ATS engines to provide us with a pool of qualified talents, who we must then interview, develop and onboard accordingly. ATS engines, however, will only provide us with those candidates who meet certain criteria and have found a way through key algorithms. Up to 75% of today’s top talents will actually never be seen.

TMC Net Contributions

How Millennials are Shifting the Cloud Contact Center in 2016

January 4, 2016 No Comments

PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED TO TMCNET’S CLOUD CONTACT CENTER

According to Datamark, there are six contact center trends to watch this year. In case you didn’t get the memo, 2016 is already here; and the future of our cloud contact centers will to be reshaped by our millennial generation. These young, social savvy professionals are hungry for innovation, full of passion and really hate to be tied down. They were born with a silver keyboard glued at the fingertips and are now powering a $2.45 trillion marketplace.

Everything powers on. Everything is connected.

One thing that often goes unsaid about millennials is that they are truly workaholics. Many of them are content with working around the clock and have leveraged this quality to quickly build and accelerate their careers. But, millennials are also full of adventure. They prefer to be “out and about” while doing business than cooped up inside staring at wall in between business transactions.

For this reason, companies are okay with investing into necessary resources to keep Millennials focused, happy and working around the clock. Because other millennials are also connected around the clock, they seem to find their way to one another on social media at all hours of the night. Businesses are learning that social media growth is definitely a resource they want to shift into the New Year.

The goal with social media is efficiency. Many of our millennials grew up with platforms like Yahoo! Answers and Cha-Cha in which answers are provided to them immediately with little effort on their behalf. These same millennials are now returning the favor and providing their on consumer base with the same efficiency they once craved. Doing this on an enterprise level is one thing, personalizing the experience is another?

Businesses are listening to their consumers now more than ever. Much of this is happening via social media and proving extremely beneficial in acquiring new customers and combatting negative feedback before it goes viral.

One Harvard Business Review shows that from 2013 to 2014, customer service has grown by 70 percent on just Twitter (News – Alert) alone. Couple this with the fact that Pinterest is named the most effective network for converting customers during marketing campaigns and that YouTube (News – Alert) has now become our largest search engine provider and the possibilities have become endless.

External devices that stick out of our computers and memory cards larger than a pinky nail have become irritating to us. We don’t like lugging them around – potentially losing them with valuable data in tote. Shoot, we don’t even want to bring the laptop with us any more.

We want to leave our table at Starbucks without worry of someone taking off with our previous devices. The set up and tear down even becomes a nuisance for a split-second purchase or at a time we just want to empty our bladders. For this, we have adopted the cloud and have made it the new norm.

We now have ability to connect to extensive storage systems access programs at a distance and we can even connect directly to another human, as we collaborate to launch our new product line – from the middle of the Grand Canyon.

Life has become more flexible, and we owe it to cloud. And, while 13 percent of our workforce still refuses to adopt this technology based on security paranoia—a majority of our corporate world rather not have it any other way!

For the most part, the millennial generation is constantly found texting. If they had to thumb wrestle for their next dinner, they would be the new gladiators. By 2017, Millennials are expected to surpass the baby boomers; who are now retiring and stepping down to less demanding positions.

Millennials hate sitting through telephone prompts. Why take a survey via inaccurate touch-tone keypads when we can reply to a text message? Without major providers raping us for short codes like they use to, consumers find it easier to interact with their favorite brands via text. In fact, they prefer it … especially if the conversation circumvents a discount or exclusive offer!

These same brands can choose to upsell products and services to their consumers thanks to the level of customer satisfaction that they have already cultivated. In fact, it is this same customer satisfaction that is leading companies to throw old mentalities completely out of the window.

When measuring call quality, they are learning that volumes and call times aren’t always the best indicator of good quality service. Very often, good quality service comes from an agent taking the time – no matter how long it takes – to understand their audiences needs and handle issues right then and there. In fact, the more time spent listening to the customer, the better the agent can paint a picture of the crisis.

The loyalty that is gained from a customer who feels important and has just found a solution to their problem is priceless. Rushing customers off the phone will only make them irate and teach them to distrust a brand that has them forking over hundreds of hard earned dollars every month.

A positive response rate and an amazing customer experience will lead to work of mouth opportunities that the brand can cash in at a later date.

DigitalPivot Contributions

2016 Predictions in Mobile Trending by Appery.io

December 15, 2015 No Comments

Previously Published on TalentZoo’s Digital Pivot

Who better to make predictions about top trends in mobile app development for 2016 than the development platform Appery themselves? Appery.io has been widely received amongst small to enterprise businesses, with over 300,000 developers and counting. Encouraging productivity in the workspace by facilitating collaboration, communication, and cross-platform connectivity, Appery gives well-educated insight into what we can expect to see in the upcoming year. This comes with the estimation that by 2020, we will also see over 26 billion IoT devices connecting professionals across enterprises all over the world.

1. “Hybrid HTML5 development will gain enterprise momentum.”
Appery points out that native apps are much more constricted and hinder evolution more than hybrid HTML5 apps. They consider this especially true for the enterprise infrastructure and see many more organizations adopting a total HTML5 or hybrid approach. Appery points out that, economically speaking, HTML5 and all hybrids are more favorable while cutting back time-to-marketing and improving the user experience.

According to Appery, “In 2015 there were significant advances in JavaScript frameworks, which enabled platforms such as Appery to close the user experience gap that existed between hybrid HTML5 apps and native apps. As a result, apps built with these frameworks now look and perform like native apps, while still enjoying significantly better economics.

“Because of these advancements made in 2015, hybrid HTML5 will become the most obvious choice for most enterprise use cases in 2016. Only specialized apps that can justify very large budgets and slow times-to-market will be built as native.”

2. “Enterprise mobility will become more widely adopted. We will see more mobility and digitalization projects.”
With a huge revolution in 2015’s mobility scope, more and more enterprises are expected to adopt mobile technologies and use them to simplify their current business models. Allowing users to collaborate and communicate while outside of the office has proved very effective in the previous year.

While many businesses have only “tested the waters” in one or two departments within the organization, they are learning that productivity has been enhanced and employees are more motivated than before. Appery expects to see expansions in enterprise mobile infrastructure. We will see more advances in mobile payments, healthcare, automotive, and energy.

3. “A fragmented industry will continue to consolidate into fewer, better platforms.”
Especially towards the end of the year, we have seen a huge movement in the strategic pairing of mobile app providers, teaming up for cross-platform integration and allowing businesses to operate on a global scale while scattered across the planet.

Integrations have been huge, because we are now seeing international conference calling platforms, like UberConference, teaming up with businesses like Slack and HipChat, encouraging the collaboration while in conference with company decision makers. This will keep people connected at the same time and allow multitasking to take place more effectively in one centralized location.

With strategic pairing, we will see many hybrid mergers coming to life, allowing businesses to focus on one thing while giving life to a whole business package for the on-the-go professional. Think of this as a Power Ranger. Different elements come together to create one massive fighting machine. They can be used separately, but they were meant to work as a monster of a product, with each company bringing specialization to the forefront of the user experience.

Appery expects many products to go out of business if they do not team up with other powerhouses. With developers lining up to create the next best solution for business, many organizations are catching on that they will need to take advantage of the ability to create all-in-one technologies, customized through integration, with appeal and aesthetic.

On the go, customers are looking for speed, reliability, and control. They want to be able to do what they want to do when they want to do it. Partnering will allow brands to provide a resource that will allow quick, seamless connection at any given time — and without the need for sending any apps to the background to do it.