Category: Internet Marketing

This day in search marketing history: February 4

Microsoft’s bid to buy Yahoo, Day 4

In 2008, there were some big developments following the news of Microsoft’s bid to purchase Yahoo. 

Google wasn’t happy about the news. The company objected, suggesting that the move would hurt what it called the underlying principles of the internet: “openness and innovation.”

There was some ironic back and forth, as Google had spent the past year arguing that it should be able to acquire DoubleClick, which Microsoft argued against because it would make Google too dominant in online advertising.

Meanwhile, was Yahoo considering an alliance with Google? And why did Google CEO Eric Schmidt call Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang to offer Yahoo help?

And what about post-acquisition “integration” issues? Local, maps, and mobile were areas where both companies had made significant investments but also had significant duplication and redundancy.

Microsoft sounded pretty confident the deal would happen. As Kevin Johnson put it:

  • “It doesn’t make sense to have thousands of engineers at Yahoo working on a search index, thousands of engineers at Microsoft working on the same search index. By combining, we can have one team of people across the two companies working on the search index, and then have others continue to focus on areas where we’ve defined differentiation in search. New search verticals and expanded user experience for search. We’ve got so many ideas, more engineers applied to those ideas will drive breakthroughs in search.”

Dig deeper:

Also on this day

Enhanced conversions: Google tests global site tags with automatic collection

2022: The global site tag could now automatically collect the information (e.g., email, telephone number) that a user submitted on the website.

Microsoft Bing adds automobile and car search features

2022: There were links to the MSN Autos marketplace in the knowledge panels for these car-related searches under “learn more” and “shop used cars” right above the car specifications.

Google expands phrase match to include broad match modifier traffic

2021: Phrase match would expand to include additional broad match modifier traffic and support for broad match modifier would end.

5 takeaways for marketers from Google’s Q4 2019 earnings

2020: For the first time, the company disclosed YouTube advertising revenues.

Hitwise halts some reporting services in wake of Jumpshot’s closing

2020: Hitwise informed its customers that daily, weekly and monthly metric updates were on pause until further notice.

Filter, sort, bulk manage product groups in Microsoft Shopping soon

2020: Scripts were also coming to Shopping campaigns in Microsoft Advertising.

Bing doesn’t show ads for queries around Super Bowl commercials, while Google does

2019: The company’s primary goal was not to drive revenue and chose not to monetize search results.

Survey: Local SEO an ‘artisanal’ discipline dominated by small agencies

2019: Roughly 53% of firms doing local SEO had 10 or fewer clients.

Google Adds JSON-LD Support For Structured Data Markup

2016: Google started supporting JSON-LD for structured data markup for reviews and products rich snippets.

Google Revamps Mobile Travel Search Results, Almost Making Web Results Irrelevant

2016: Once you clicked on the “more destinations” button, Google led you into a travel search experience that made it harder to view organic search results.

Bing Updates Android & iOS Apps To Enable More Finding With Less Searching

2016: The idea, according to Microsoft, was to help users “find” and “do” faster.

Google Expands Webmaster Documentation Around Reconsideration Requests

2015: Google clarified and expanded on their reconsideration request documentation for those who had been hit by a Google manual action.

Report: Google Will Get Access To Twitter’s Firehose Again

2015: The agreement came 3+ years after a similar arrangement ended. It would make tweets easier to find via search.

Google Answers Now Showing Blue Icons Linking To Publisher Sites Or More Google Answers

2015: This had been done previously for easter eggs and Google’s own content, but now it worked for third-party publishers.

Bing Ads Discusses 3 New Initiatives: Native Ads On MSN.com, Mobile Ad Formats, Remarketing

2015: The company’s foray into native advertising would harness intent signals from Bing Ads.

With Nadella’s Appointment, The “Search CEOs” Now Run Google, Yahoo & Microsoft

2014: For the first time in ages, the three major search companies in the US were all run by CEOs who either came out of a search background or had a solid understanding of it.

Google AdWords To Roll Out Flexible Conversion Counting, Says Goodbye To 1 Per-Click, Many-Per-Click

2014: Converted clicks = Conversions (1 per-click) and Conversions = Conversions (many-per-click).

Google’s DoubleClick Search Ramps Focus On PLAs And Ecommerce With New Commerce Suite

2014: The suite was comprised of two new capabilities: Dynamic Product Listing Ads creation and Product Listing Ads optimization.

Google Showing Large Video Embeds In Some Search Results

2014: Searching Google for video-related content would return a large, playable, video directly at the top of the search results.

Google Maps App Now Continually Searching For Faster Route

2014: The app would notify you if a faster route was available while you were in transit.

Beyonce, Blackout, Ravens And M&Ms — What We Searched For During Super Bowl 2013

2013: Viewers turned to their devices to ask [why did the lights go out], [superdome power outage] and [what caused power outage].

Bing: Why Google’s Wrong In Its Accusations

2011: Bing said it has search signal, not Google signal.

Yelp: 35 Percent Of Searches Mobile Now

2011: The mobile audience on Yelp was more active and engaged than its PC audience.

Search In Pics: Google Sweden License Plate, Yahoo Beach Sandals & Google Privacy Cup

2011: The latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more.

Google Maps To Add “Google Store Views”

2010: Google Store Views would allow people to virtually walk into the store, off of Google Street Views.

Yahoo Sells “Non-Core” Asset HotJobs For $225 Million

2010: Yahoo would continue to have a career site, but it would be powered and populated by Monster.

2001 In Review: Search Engine Marketing Gets Respect, As Does Search Generally

2010: Major events from the year 2001 in consumer search. 

Google Latitude: Share Your Location On Google Maps

2009: More coverage: Google Latitude Turns Maps (For Mobile) Into Social Tool

Google Android Phone Finds Its Voice (Search That Is)

2009: Google was rolling out voice search on the Android platform via the new software update.

FriendFeed Improves Search Features

2009: You could use the advanced search features and then subscribe to that search via RSS.

Internet Explorer 8 Search Now Showing Instant Answers From Live Search

2009: Instant answers were shown for searches related to financial information, weather conditions, movie show times, calculations, equations, conversions, and definitions.

Yahoo Starting To Roll Out “Search Pad” Feature

2009: The application automatically collected sites and content as users conducted online research.

Google’s Influence In The Oval Office

2009: Google was the “fourth-largest corporate source of campaign cash” for President Obama’s presidential race.

Virtual Earth’s First 2009 Imagery Update

2009: The major updates included the new Digital Globe satellite imagery they recently licensed and “bird’s eye” photos of Paris, France. 

IAC Troubles, Ask.com, And Post-Yahoo Search Share

2008: IAC claimed the legal battle for control of IAC’s board was impeding the company’s ability to effectively operate.

Microsoft’s Prize: Big Yahoo CPMs, Largest Display Share

2008: Yahoo ranked as the top site with just under 19% of US online display advertising.

Google Releases New Urchin Beta

2008: For those who required server-based analytics.

EU Prepares “Objections” To Google-DoubleClick Acquisition

2008: The European Union’s antitrust regulator was likely to impose conditions or ask Google for concessions in order to bless the acquisition.

Google Files Screenshots Of Compensation Tool With SEC

2008: The tool modeled the potential value of Google equity awards, including transferable stock options.

From Search Marketing Expo (SMX)

Past contributions from Search Engine Land’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

These columns are a snapshot in time and have not been updated since publishing, unless noted. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

< February 3 | Search Marketing History | February 5 >

The post This day in search marketing history: February 4 appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/search-marketing-history-february-4-392677

5 Reasons Why Your Startup Needs a Data Governance Strategy Now

Home Business Magazine Online

Any startup needs an effective data governance strategy to maximize its business potential and stay ahead of the competition. By developing a comprehensive, well-defined data governance policy, startups can protect themselves from unforeseen risks like legal issues or unauthorized access to privileged information. In this article, we’ll discuss why it’s time to establish a robust data governance plan and share how you can use a data governance software review.

Increased Efficiency and Productivity

Implementing a data governance system helps organize a business’s critical data sets and ensures that resources are well-spent running duplicate reports or using outdated information. It also clarifies who is responsible for managing specific data and analytics, ensuring that everyone uses current and accurate numbers for budgeting, planning, and other operations. In short, this powerful tool will give the startup an edge in its operations, leading to better efficiency and more excellent overall results.

Improved Data Quality and Security

Data governance helps you understand how data is collected, processed, and used, ensuring that businesses impose appropriate policies and procedures to secure confidential information, protect customer privacy and maintain the overall quality of your data. With data governance in play, you can establish controls to ensure that access to critical business information is authorized by the appropriate personnel.

Furthermore, it helps identify where personal or highly sensitive data needs special protection and provides unified standards for data organization, documentation, and processing. Investing in a solid data governance strategy now will guarantee that your startup complies with industry regulations while protecting consumers’ private details, making sure you cover all bases for success in the long term.

Better Decision-Making Capabilities

Data governance ensures that the data businesses use is accurate, easily accessed, and protected from unauthorized alteration. By creating a data governance framework, organizations can ensure that employees at all levels have access to the correct information at the right time to make decisions based on reliable and up-to-date data. Additionally, by controlling your organization’s data, it will be easier to create metrics to measure its performance and quickly identify any gaps or problems in its operations.

Reduced Risk of Regulatory Compliance Violations

A data governance policy is the key to ensuring a company meets regulatory compliance standards and lowers its risk for violations. It not only provides rules for what to do with the data but also systematizes a process for collecting, interpreting, storing, and sharing information to mitigate against any misuse or mishandling. With a thorough data governance plan, any start-up can secure customer trust, create new strategies and develop customized solutions using their customer data while abiding by decentralized regulations across markets.

Enhanced Collaboration Between Teams

A data governance strategy is the answer for business owners looking to increase department collaboration. A well-designed governance plan can ensure that everyone in your organization has access to the same information and procedures, making it easier for teams to work together and make informed decisions. Stakeholders across departments can use data more efficiently due to a clearly-defined ownership structure and streamlined processes.

Implementing a data governance strategy now is an ideal opportunity for startups to eliminate communication inefficiencies between departments and reduce risks associated with poor data management. By ensuring everyone knows their role within the organization and understands how their actions affect each other, teams can go beyond mere cooperation. They can truly collaborate.

What Is Data Governance Software?

Data governance software is a powerful tool for organizations to correctly organize and manage copious amounts of data. This software helps maintain the accuracy and quality of databases, metadata, applications, and more, ensuring all data processes adhere to the organization’s policies and comply with the latest regulations from lawmaking bodies.

High-quality data governance software allows companies to analyze their existing data infrastructure, uncovering ways to optimize performance and increase efficiency. The result is a secure environment for managing structured and unstructured data without compromising accuracy or integrity.

If you are still trying to decide whether you need this software for your business, check out a data governance software review online. This way, you can see how companies have made strides toward improving their operations through this technology.

Conclusion

All startups need an effective data governance strategy to be successful. By having a comprehensive, well-defined data governance policy, startups can improve their efficiency and productivity, data quality and security, and decision-making capabilities, reduce the risk of regulatory compliance violations and enhance collaboration between teams.

The post 5 Reasons Why Your Startup Needs a Data Governance Strategy Now appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Original source: https://homebusinessmag.com/management/operations/5-reasons-why-startup-needs-data-governance-strategy-now/

Pounds Is the Ground: Investing in Gold Mining Stocks

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With inflation over the past years increasing steadily and experts expecting this trend to continue in the future, gold has become one of the most popular investments out there. After all, its reputation as a safe haven and one of the best hedge tools is widely known.

Expert-reviewed gold IRA companies enable investors to use a gold IRA to invest in many kinds of gold-linked assets, gold mining stocks included. With gold mining stocks, you can add the opportunity for capital appreciation to a long-term physical gold position.

Physical gold requires a higher initial investment than other assets and logistics, but it also requires a deeper understanding of how investing in precious metals works. As such, many people who consider investing in gold never actually do it.

However, the good news is that it is possible to invest in gold without actually buying gold. One of the best ways to do so is by investing in the companies that are mining it. In many cases, gold mining stocks can outperform the yellow precious metal, but they aren’t a replacement for gold.

Let’s find out why…

What Are Mining Stocks?

Mining stocks are shares in companies dedicated to the extraction and processing of different minerals and materials like silver, platinum, copper, limestone, lithium, and of course, gold. As these companies increase the global supply of the elements they mine, investing in them is effectively investing in the underlying elements.

Investing indirectly in gold by investing in one of these companies is simple.

However, as the minerals and materials each company focuses on differ, you want to ensure that the company you choose includes or focuses on gold. One good way to do this is buy shares in the major gold producers, and diversify your gold portfolio.

Why Are Mining Stocks a Good Option?

Acquiring mining stocks is a good opportunity to gain exposure to gold in an indirect manner. By doing this, you will still benefit from any positive changes in the value of gold while also gaining multiple benefits.

You can think of investing in gold mining stocks as a combination of investing in stocks and gold. When people go for gold, they go wild for gold mining stocks.

The benefits of investing indirectly in gold through stocks are numerous. Capital appreciation and the potential for passive returns in the form of dividends are the most important. However, there are also other benefits that can play an important role depending on your needs, such as higher liquidity, diversification, and leverage.

Add to Your Golden Retirement with Miners

Like any investment, gold miners aren’t perfect. The main disadvantage of investing in mining stocks is the increased volatility.

Not only will the price of the stock be impacted by the price of gold and other minerals relevant to their operations, but also regulations, public perception, human capital, and many other factors.

Keep this in mind, and consider adding some gold miners to your gold-based IRA retirement account. Gold mining stocks are easy to buy, and give you incredible leverage to the gold price!

The post Pounds Is the Ground: Investing in Gold Mining Stocks appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Original source: https://homebusinessmag.com/money/stocks/pounds-ground-investing-gold-mining-stocks/

Google search, network, and YouTube revenue all fell in Q4 2022

Search, ad network, and YouTube revenues all fell in the fourth quarter of 2022, Google reported yesterday. Overall, Google ad revenue fell 3% to $59 billion. 

Search advertising revenue was the most resilient, falling 1.6% in Q4 2022 compared to Q4 2021. Google Network and YouTube revenue declined 8.6% and 7.0%, respectively. 

Google Q4 2022 ad revenue by segment
Q4 2022 Q4 2021 Change
Search & other $42.6 billion $43.3 billion – 1.6%
Google Network $8.5 billion $9.3 billion -8.6%
YouTube $8.0 billion $8.6 billion -7.0%

A poor economic climate. Google CFO Ruth Porat told CNBC the YouTube slowdown was the result of both planned and direct response advertising in a challenging economic climate. She said Google is slowing the pace of hiring in an effort to deliver long-term profitable growth. Last month, Google said it would lay off around 6% of its workforce or roughly 12,000 jobs. The company has about 187,000 employees. 

ICYMI, Meta also blamed a poor economic climate on their own weak ad demand.

Trouble for YouTube. YouTube’s ad revenue fell below analyst predictions to reach $7.96 billion, a decrease of 8% from the previous year’s $8.63 billion. On Thursday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in addition to the overall pullback in ad spending, YouTube is also facing heightened competition from TikTok in short-form videos. Meta also said competition from TikTok was limiting growth. 

The financial outlook at YouTube could get even bleaker as it begins paying for rights to professional football games. In December, the National Football League announced that YouTube will pay approximately $2 billion annually for the rights to broadcast “Sunday Ticket” to homes, in a seven-year deal. That’s expected to be a loss-leader that enables YouTube to acquire more paying subscribers. 

Dig deeper. You can review the earnings here.

Why we care. A decline in ad revenue could affect the platform’s ability to reach its target audience and in turn, the success of its advertising campaigns. Lower ad revenue could also result in less investment in platform improvements and innovations, leading to a less favorable advertising environment.

Additionally, a continual decrease in ad revenue may cause a shift in pricing, competition for ad placements, and changes to the platform’s advertising policies. If Google shifts its attention toward AI, advertisers could lose more control over their campaigns. 

On the other hand, a decline in revenue could result in a decline in demand, which could lower ad costs for advertisers.

The post Google search, network, and YouTube revenue all fell in Q4 2022 appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/google-search-network-and-youtube-revenue-all-fell-in-q4-2022-392611

New Bingbot user-agent now fully live

Microsoft’s Fabrice Canel confirmed this morning that the new Bingbot user-agent is now 100% live today. The new Bingbot will generally be used for crawling 100% of sites, unless something goes wrong and Bing has to fallback to the previous Bingbot user-agent.

Bing’s confirmation. Fabrice Canel posted on Twitter, “yes, 100% today. We fallback to previous user agents where appropriate.”

He linked to the updated Bing crawler user agents page that previously listed this as the user agent:

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; bingbot/2.0; +http://www.bing.com/bingbot.htm)

Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; bingbot/2.0; +http://www. bing.com/bingbot.htm) Chrome/ WXYZ Safari/537.36

Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 6.0.1; Nexus 5X Build/MMB29P) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/ WXYZ  Mobile Safari/537.36 (compatible; bingbot/2.0; +http://www.bing.com/bingbot.htm)

The new user agent is documented as:

Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; bingbot/2.0; +http://www.bing.com/bingbot.htm) Chrome/

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; bingbot/2.0; +http://www.bing.com/bingbot.htm)
W.X.Y.Z Safari/537.36

Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 6.0.1; Nexus 5X Build/MMB29P) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/W.X.Y.Z Mobile Safari/537.36 (compatible; bingbot/2.0; +http://www.bing.com/bingbot.htm)

Some history. In 2019, Microsoft Bing announced new Bingbot user-agent names that fit better with its evergreen Bingbot crawling and rendering service. Then in April 2022, Microsoft announced a name change, a user agent name change, for BingBot. In December, Microsoft told us the new Bingbot user agent would be 100% live by January 2023.

Old user-agent. Microsoft said it would stop using its historical user agent by the Fall of 2022. That user-agent looks like this:
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; bingbot/2.0; +https://www.bing.com/bingbot.htm)

New user-agent. Bing will use a user-agent that identifies the specific version of Microsoft Edge is crawling your site. Here is the format for both desktop and mobile:

Desktop – Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; bingbot/2.0; +https://www.bing.com/bingbot.htm) Chrome/W.X.Y.Z Safari/537.36

Mobile – Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 6.0.1; Nexus 5X Build/MMB29P) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/W.X.Y.Z Mobile Safari/537.36 (compatible; bingbot/2.0; +https://www.bing.com/bingbot.htm)

“W.X.Y.Z” will be substituted with the latest Microsoft Edge version Bing is using, for eg. “100.0.4896.127″.

Why we care. You probably should have been prepared for this change since it was announced back in 2019. But in any event, this change can impact your site if you have any user agent detection methods for BingBot. Make sure to test your site to see if it supports the new user agent. Most sites probably do not need to worry about this, but if you have done any advanced bot detection, you may need to take steps to update those scripts.

It seems that if you did not make the necessary changes, then Bing will use the old user agent as a fallback.

The post New Bingbot user-agent now fully live appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/new-bingbot-user-agent-now-fully-live-392665

Sundar Pichai confirms Google is working on AI search feature users can “engage directly with”

Google announced its Q4 earnings just hours ago, more on those numbers later, but Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, confirmed in the earnings call the search company’s plans to bring AI-like search features that “people can engage directly with.”

Sundar Pichai said, “In the coming weeks and months, we’ll make these language models available, starting with LaMDA, so that people can engage directly with them. This will help us continue to get feedback, test, and safely improve them. These models are particularly amazing for composing, constructing, and summarizing. They will become even more useful for people as they provide up-to-date more factual information.”

Sundar Pichai said that he “first spoke about Google being an AI-first company” more than “six years ago.” “We have been preparing for this moment since early last year, and you’re going to see a lot from us in the coming few months across three big areas of opportunity; first, large models. We published extensively about LaMDA and PoN, the industry’s largest, most sophisticated model plus extensive work at DeepMind,” he continued to say.

During the question and answer period, Sundar added “We’ll be launching — we’ll — more as labs products in certain cases, beta features in certain cases and just slowly scaling up from there. Obviously, we need to make sure we’re iterating in public, these models will keep getting better, so the field is fast changing. The serving costs will need to be improved.”

“So I view it as very, very early days, but we are committed to putting our experiences, both in terms of new products and experiences, actually bringing direct LLM experiences in Search, making APIs available for developers and enterprises and learn from there and iterate like we’ve always done. So I’m looking forward to it,” he added.

Sundar goes on to add, “In terms of Search too, now that we can integrate more direct LLM type experiences in Search, I think it will help us expand and serve new types of use cases, generative use cases. And so I think I see this as a chance to rethink and re-imagine and drive Search to solve more use cases for our users as well. So again, early days, you will see us be bold, put things out, get feedback and iterate and make things better.”

Earlier reports. Earlier this week, we reported Google is rumored to have started on its own version named Apprentice Bard. CNBC reported,

When a question is entered, the search results show a gray bubble directly under the search bar, offering more human-like responses than typical search results. Directly beneath that, the page suggests several follow-up questions related to the first one. Under that, it shows typical search results, including links and headlines.

Google responded:

“We have long been focused on developing and deploying AI to improve people’s lives. We believe that AI is foundational and transformative technology that is incredibly useful for individuals, businesses and communities, and as our AI Principles outline, we need to consider the broader societal impacts these innovations can have. We continue to test our AI technology internally to make sure it’s helpful and safe, and we look forward to sharing more experiences externally soon.”

Microsoft. Meanwhile, Microsoft invested heavily in OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT. Microsoft is rumored to be bringing GPT-4 to Bing search in some way in the very near future. Many companies, especially those in search, are taking these technologies very seriously after the explosion OpenAI made with the debut of ChatGPT.

Why we care. We don’t know yet how Google or Bing would incorporate these Q&A style AI features into search. But we all know it is an important space to keep an eye on to see how marketers can leverage it for their brands and how they use utilize these features to better connect with their customers and users.

The post Sundar Pichai confirms Google is working on AI search feature users can “engage directly with” appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/sundar-pichai-confirms-google-is-working-on-ai-search-feature-users-can-engage-directly-with-392628

Jonathan Kniss Explains How Technology Has Impacted How We Do Business

Home Business Magazine Online

Technology has drastically changed how businesses in Tacoma, Washington operate over the past few decades. Expert Jonathan Kniss says from the rise of digital marketing to automation and artificial intelligence, technological advances have revolutionized how organizations conduct their operations. These advancements have profoundly impacted every aspect of business, from customer service and sales to accounting and analytics. Let’s take a closer look at how technology has revolutionized our industry. Read on to learn more about technology’s impact on business.

The Digital Revolution 

Jonathan Kniss says digital marketing has been one of the most significant transformations for businesses in the last decade. The internet and social media have opened up an entirely new world of opportunities for companies to reach potential customers with targeted ads and content. This allows them to create more effective campaigns tailored to their target audience and measure their success with detailed analytics.

Furthermore, digital marketing enables companies to interact with customers directly through social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter. By engaging in conversations with users, businesses can get valuable feedback on their products or services that can be used to make improvements.

Automation and Artificial Intelligence 

Another area where technology is making its mark is in automation and artificial intelligence (AI). Automation can be used by businesses to streamline their processes and save time and money by eliminating manual, labor-intensive tasks such as data entry or customer service inquiries. AI can also be used in various ways — from analyzing customer data for personalized recommendations to detecting fraud before it happens — allowing companies to optimize their operations even further than ever possible.

Additionally, AI-based chatbots are becoming increasingly popular for customer service needs; they can provide quick responses 24/7 without human intervention, making them ideal for providing timely support for customers around the globe.

Communication and Collaboration Tools 

One of the most important ways technology has impacted businesses is through communication and collaboration tools. These tools make it easier for teams to stay in touch with each other no matter where they are. For instance, video conferencing tools like Skype or Zoom allow people to have meetings from anywhere in the world without being physically present in the same room. Similarly, instant messaging apps like Slack or Microsoft Teams enable team members to share messages quickly and efficiently without picking up the phone or sending an email.

Jonathan Kniss says these tools have also made it easier for companies to manage remote teams and collaborate with people outside their organization. For example, many companies use project management tools like Asana or Trello, which allow teams to easily track tasks, assign responsibilities, and keep projects organized. Additionally, cloud-based document-sharing services such as Google Drive and Dropbox make it easy for multiple users to access documents simultaneously from anywhere in the world.

E-commerce Platforms 

Another way technology has changed how businesses operate is through e-commerce platforms such as Shopify or Magento, which enable companies to set up online stores quickly and easily without technical knowledge. These platforms provide a wide range of features, including payment processing solutions, website customization options, inventory management systems, shipping integrations, etc., all of which help streamline operations and make it easier for businesses to sell products online. These platforms help reduce overhead costs by eliminating the need for physical storefronts and enabling companies to reach a much broader audience than ever before — opening up new growth opportunities domestically and globally.

Data Analytics and Business Intelligence 

Finally, Jonathan Kniss says technology has transformed how businesses use data analytics and business intelligence (BI) tools. Companies now have access to real-time data that provides insight into customer behavior, market trends, competitor analysis, financial performance, etc., which decision-makers can then use to make informed decisions faster than ever before possible. Data analytics also allow companies to identify areas where they may need improvement or additional resources; this could include identifying problems in supply chains or pinpointing inefficient processes within an organization’s workflow that could benefit from being replaced with automated solutions. These capabilities give businesses a tremendous advantage in staying ahead of competitors in today’s fast-paced global marketplaces.

Conclusion

Technology has completely transformed business practices over the past few decades. From digital marketing strategies that help target potential customers more effectively online through automation systems that reduce costs associated with manual, labor-intensive tasks; up to AI-based chatbots providing round-the-clock customer support globally; these advancements have enabled companies from all industries and sectors to stay competitively agile amidst today’s rapidly changing market space.

Data analytics offer an invaluable resource for understanding what is working (and what isn’t) within an organization’s infrastructure while simultaneously unlocking new insights into customer behavior or emerging trends — empowering leaders with actionable insights needed for making decisions quickly and efficiently to stay ahead of the competition. In short, technology has truly revolutionized our approach to doing business!

The post Jonathan Kniss Explains How Technology Has Impacted How We Do Business appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Original source: https://homebusinessmag.com/management/technology-management/jonathan-kniss-explains-how-technology-impacted-do-business/

What Are the Advantages of Credit Management in SAP ERP?

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It is essential to protect your company from late payments and customer defaults. The SAP credit management system now acts as the foundation of any business. With the advancement of technology, SAP ERP credit management has aided in streamlining all business credit management processes.

Improved customer satisfaction due to faster credit approvals, better management of customer credit limits, improved efficiency and accuracy in credit management — these are some of the advantages provided by SAP ERP credit management. Read on for other major benefits the system provides companies.

Improved Access to Real-Time Data

SAP’s ERP boosts performance, and you can access real-time data insights with the entire data volume. It helps you to perform big data analysis further. A major advantage is that you can corporate wide-planning and make flexible decisions. With real-time data, the company can make faster credit approvals.

Enhances Proper Utilization of Resources

Overall cost reduction is achieved with the use of SAP ERP systems. The most powerful and centralized ERP system requires fewer expenses for maintenance and hardware composition. Therefore, you can save funds and use them to reinvest and develop your company.

Better Management of Customers’ Credit Limits

Customers’ credit limits are determined by their payment methods and history. With proper credit control, you can track your customers’ performances. All the descriptive statistics for customers, external credit agencies, and partner products are accessible in SAP’S simplified system.

With this flexible design, and using the current credit information, you will be able to assess a company’s or individual’s creditworthiness. This further simplifies the detection of possible risk indicators for individuals and businesses.

Improved Decision-Making

Better decision-making will, in turn, keep your business productive and make it ready for the future. SAP ERP software has the credit decision accelerator leverages. It extends the software’s functionality, drives automation, and gathers reports of the credit bureau, customer finances, and payment history.

The credit decision accelerator incorporates data into a configurable score model within SAP. Therefore, the system can make credit decisions efficiently without relying on human judgments. Information acquired is important in decision-making.

Increases the Company’s Sustainability

Integrated memory of the SAP ERP database works more efficiently and requires less space. It reduces the cost of maintenance since less hardware is used. With its elaborate scaling tools, you can measure the data footprints, making it more secure and aiding in the company’s sustainability.

Improves Accuracy and Efficiency in Credit Management

Humans are error-prone. Sometimes, they tend to forget easily. Humans are also sympathetic in the sense that they can give out credit to bad credit customers. SAP ERP system monitors the customer’s credit behavior accurately and makes a precise decision.

The software will let you automate policy implementation and manages all risks, since it evaluates data from multiple sources.

Conclusion

There are many benefits gained from SAP ERP credit management system. Generally, it is advised to integrate this system for improved operations of your company.

The post What Are the Advantages of Credit Management in SAP ERP? appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Original source: https://homebusinessmag.com/money/money-management/advantages-credit-management-sap-erp/

ChatGPT Plus launches, it costs $20 a month

OpenAI announced that its highly-anticipated paid version of ChatGPT has launched. Called ChatGPT Plus, it will only be available for people who live in the U.S.

Despite earlier pricing rumors reported in the media, ChatGPT Plus won’t cost $42 a month. It will cost $20 per month.

People who have been on the waitlist for the paid version should expect an invite “over the coming weeks.” The company also said it plans to “soon” offer the service in additional countries.

What you get for $20 a month. OpenAI said the paid version will offer three benefits over the free version: 

  • General access to ChatGPT, even during peak times
  • Faster response times
  • Priority access to new features and improvements

Why we care. ChatGPT is a technology that has several use cases in search marketing, whether it’s for SEO or PPC. So if you’ve found yourself unable to use ChatGPT because the service was at capacity, now you have the cure – and it will cost you $20 a month. 

ICYMI. Yesterday, OpenAI launched a new AI tool to detect AI-generated text. Called AI Text Classifier, it predicts how likely it is that text was written by a human or AI.

The post ChatGPT Plus launches, it costs $20 a month appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/chatgpt-plus-launches-392558

Report: Microsoft Bing’s ChatGPT feature to be faster and richer with GPT-4

As reported earlier, we are now learning more about Microsoft’s plans to incorporate ChatGPT into Bing Search. Reed Albergotti said that it is not just ChatGPT from OpenAI that is being added to Bing Search but a faster and richer version named GPT-4.

The report. The report says, “The most interesting improvement in the latest version described by sources is GPT-4’s speed. Right now, it can take a while — sometimes minutes in my experience — for ChatGPT to answer.”

Currently, ChatGPT, which runs off GPT-3.5, feels slow and can take minutes to output the result. The replies generated through GPT-4 reportedly “sound more human and are more detailed,” the report says.

GPT-4. GPT-4, which stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer 4, is a neural network created by OpenAI. It is the next version of GPT-3.5, which is currently used by ChatGPT.

As a reminder, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT in November 2022. It is built on OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 family of large language models, and is fine-tuned with both supervised and reinforcement learning techniques.

ChatGPT uses content across the web from before 2021 to teach itself how to answer questions, but when it comes to recent and trending topics, it has difficulty. You can learn more about how it technically works in this blog post.

Google in trouble? As I said before, I don’t think Google is in trouble despite reports of “code red” at Google over the AI based Chatbot. Google has advanced AI and machine learning that can likely do exactly what ChatGPT does already or better. In fact, Google is rumored to have started on its own version named Apprentice Bard.

Google’s spam team said they have methods to detect and neutralize AI plagarized scraped types of content. Plus, we know there are plenty of tools to detect AI generated content, so if AI can detect AI, I wonder how much of a code red it is?

Why we care. Any new search feature, especially a chatbot, can change searcher behavior. Understanding searcher behavior, and showing up in the places that people are searching, is important to drive awareness, traffic and business for you and your clients.

This is very new but there has been a lot of interest in this type of AI by search engines and marketers alike. I am sure we all will be carefully watching this space to make sure we smartly leverage it for clients and stakeholders.

The post Report: Microsoft Bing’s ChatGPT feature to be faster and richer with GPT-4 appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/report-microsoft-bings-chatgpt-feature-to-be-faster-and-richer-with-gpt-4-392565