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Companies may put off the expansion of their vendor bases for two reasons: the process of new supplier enrollment is time-consuming, and further managing multiple relationships and contracts is complicated. Vendor management software is designed to cope with both problems at once.
VMS has an easy and clear self-registration process for vendors that saves your procurement staff from unreasonable efforts to collect all the required information about new suppliers. With VMS, you can pre-qualify vendors against your critical requirements like an ability of a vendor to produce goods under your brand or to ship products to certain countries.
All in all, using a vendor management system, you can obtain all the necessary vendor information (such as bank details, regulatory data, capacity details, etc.) in a fast and error-free way for approval. The sooner you onboard new vendors, the faster you start getting value from your cooperation.
A vendor management system brings increased visibility into all transactions with your vendors. You can, for example, detect hidden costs or note discrepancies in payment details reported by a vendor (e.g., exaggerated pay rates). Besides, when integrated with accounting software, a VMS system can enable automated invoicing, allowing your business to cut costs associated with manual invoice processing and get rid of mistakes caused by manual data entry.
An effective vendor management system helps you reduce operational costs, assess vendor risks more accurately, and facilitate supplier search and onboarding. If you feel hesitant to go into VMS implementation investment right now and need to get a better understanding of the business value it can bring, you can start with a free demo from different VMS providers and get real experience with the tool. And if you are looking for professional help in implementing a vendor management system, don’t hesitate to contact ScienceSoft’s team.
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The threat group behind the attack is highly sophisticated, and it has been determined from analysing the TTPs (Tactics, Techniques and Procedures) that the attack involved infecting the Codecov’s CI/CD pipeline, gaining access to thousands of customer networks in the process, in a bid to steal user credentials and export customer data in user continuous integration environments.
Codecov state that, with the infected credentials, ‘services, datastores, and application code could be accessed’.‘Supply chain, phishing, and ransomware attacks reflect a broader trend that cyber criminals want to exploit multiple organisations through a single point-of-attack.’ – Eva Velasquez, CEO Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC)
The attack was made public knowledge in April, but it is said that reports of interference had been made as early as the 31st of January, three months prior.
Rapid7 have reported that the Bash uploader was used on a CI server that the company applied to text and build tooling internally for their Managed Detection and Response (MDR) capabilities, and infiltrated source code repositories for MDR, internal credentials. They report that the breached source code subset was used for internal tooling.
Rapid7 were notified of the breach via an email from Codecov app. Since then, Rapid7 report that these repositories have now been rotated and the customers have been alerted about the data breach and that the attackers may have downloaded source code repositories.
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IPA mimics activities carried out by humans and, over time, learns to do them even better. Traditional levers of rule-based automation are augmented with decision-making capabilities thanks to advances in deep learning and cognitive technology. The promise of IPA is radically enhanced efficiency, increased worker performance, reduction of operational risks, and improved response times and customer journey experiences.”
5G also complements other emerging technologies such as IoT (Internet of Things) and AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning) to further drive digital transformation both internally within an organization and externally in customer engagements.
Quality of Experience (QoE) and Quality of Service (QoS)
While 5G promises a whole new equilibrium of enhanced customer experience that was never witnessed before, measuring its QoE remains a puzzle.
The 5G architecture implements end-to-end network slicing to ensure QoS for all the new use cases. To meet service specific performance objectives, virtual networks are created that receive dynamically allocated end-to-end virtual resources. Emergency services would receive a high priority slice when compared to other less critical services, thus ensuring higher QoS.
By applying the concept of intelligent automation in the software testing lifecycle to achieve intelligent test automation, the digital-first organizations can build a process that is embedded with next-generation technologies and is robust enough to tackle continuous changes.
Driving agility and quality with Intelligent Test Automation
In an effort to accelerate digital transformation, organizations are adopting the modern software development methodologies of DevOps and Quality Engineering, while shifting Quality Assurance to the left.
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AI-driven predictive analytics are helping telcos provide better services by utilizing data, sophisticated algorithms and machine learning techniques to predict future results based on historical data. This means operators can use data-driven insights to can monitor the state of equipment, anticipate failure based on patterns, and proactively fix problems with communications hardware, such as cell towers, power lines, data center servers, and even set-top boxes in customers’ homes.
In the short term, network automation and intelligence will enable better root cause analysis and prediction of issues. Long term, these technologies will underpin more strategic goals, such as creating new customer experiences and dealing efficiently with emerging business needs. An innovative solution by AT&T is using AI to support its maintenance procedures: the company is testing a drone to expand its LTE network coverage and to utilize the analysis of video data captured by drones for tech support and maintenance of its cell towers.
SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) isn’t actually a type of telephone system: it’s a protocol used to enable data packets to be transmitted between devices via the Internet. A SIP telephony system usually consists of internet telephone lines that are attached to a traditional onsite PBX (private branch exchange) telephone system.
VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) systems often use SIP trunking to transmit data, but you don’t need to have a PBX system in order to use VoIP devices. Instead, you can make calls via a remote system operated by your service provider.
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Today U.S. telecommunications infrastructure has little fiber to the premises, although fiber makes up most long-haul and metropolitan area networks. Realizing the goal of fiber everywhere involves a number of problems requiring research. For example, while the cost of optical components is not a significant problem in core networks because the cost is spread across many users, the components represent a nontrivial expense for local access networks, which serve only one user or a handful of users. How can the cost of optical components be reduced sufficiently to make fiber to the home affordable? What architectural approaches offer the best mix of affordability, performance, and evolvability? What are the future applications that will drive the need for increasing bandwidth?
Metropolitan area networks are currently receiving much commercial attention. With today’s abundance of fiber in the core, and with access networks creating larger demands, an important focus of research is to develop architectures that effectively handle ever-greater volumes of optical transmission in metropolitan areas. Core networks themselves will require advances, and as more capability is introduced into the access networks, the need will grow to continue to improve the bandwidth-times-distance product, as will demands to increase the performance of national networks.
Wireless networks provide an even more fertile area for exploration. Access to higher bandwidth, which has spurred growing use of the wired Internet and is now becoming available to wireless LAN users (via WiFi and WiMAX) and fully mobile users (via 3G technology), is basic to the creation of the so-called mobile Internet. There are many opportunities for further progress.
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Because fixed VoIP numbers require an address, and therefore an owner, they’re regarded as more credible than non-fixed VoIP numbers. This affects whether your customers will feel inclined to pick up calls from you.Moreover, scammers tend to prefer non-fixed VoIP numbers because the absence of an address requirement makes it easier to mask their identity. VoIP service providers also tend to charge for fixed VoIP numbers rather than offer free services with a quick signup.
One key advantage of fixed VoIP numbers is that, unlike non-fixed VoIP numbers, they send the exact location of a 911 dialer to public safety answering points (PSAPs)—allowing the call to be traced in an emergency.
A non-fixed VoIP number, otherwise known as a virtual phone number, isn’t linked to a physical address. Non-fixed VoIP numbers have the same calling capabilities as fixed VoIP numbers, and can likewise be used for residential or business purposes.
While non-fixed VoIP numbers aren’t tethered to a geographical location, accounts can be created to serve any desired address. This allows businesses to contact customers all over the world.In addition to establishing a local presence, non-fixed VoIP numbers can bring together remote teams and unify global communications.Non-fixed VoIP numbers are easier to put in service than fixed VoIP numbers. Platforms such as Google Voice and Skype offer non-VoIP numbers in return for as little information as a name, email address, and payment information whenever relevant, although these services are usually low-cost or free.
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They can easily do this through a live chat from home, without requiring to speak on the phone or send emails, eliminating waiting times and complicated internal processes.If the bot's answers are the best they can be but you keep getting negative ratings, it’s time to think about adding automation. Why? Because your customers want to handle an issue immediately without being transferred to another channel or following a bunch of steps in order to get help.
Automations are done through technical integrations with the information or management systems you use.For example, if a customer's card is blocked and they need to change their PIN, they need to change their PIN. Taking them on tour through different channels only makes the situation worse. They need a practical answer right away.
If you're interested in a case study, read how Banco Comafi implemented automations to improve their answer quality.Integrations will also let your customers check a line of credit or a credit card balance, find out their order status, schedule an appointment, etc.
Technology from the cloud
If your agents are going to be working from home, your team will need a software solution that can be easily used and managed from anywhere.Like so much in life, learning from customers and improving the service experience is a process. Some implemented actions will work, and others you’ll have to adjust little by little.
Analyze performance reports, evaluate survey ratings again and see if there were changes in the experience after implementing the modifications. Based on that information, continue perfecting the experience.
Long story short, what's important is constantly working to discover new and better ways to give customers the service they're looking for.
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The challenge as ever will be developing new business models and services to meet this opportunity. The good news is that the search for 5G use cases and returns has already prompted operators into action, and customers will prove more receptive to new ideas as they look to adapt to the realities of the post-COVID world.
Do you know that…Recently, we have seen an increasing buzz in the industry around 6G, also referred to as beyond 5G.
Be it the launch of Next G Alliance in Q4 2020 or of what China claimed to be the first compatible satellite, 6G is clearly on the radar of industry. Developments like China claiming domestic companies account for about 35 per cent of related patent applications and the establishment of vision group within the ITU-R to define key capabilities of 6G, are some of the contributors to propelling the industry to announce plans.
The U.S and Japan joined forces to invest $4.5 billion in R&D, testing and deployment of secure networks for the next generation of communications.
Germany’s government earmarked up to €700 million ($855 million) for 6G research by 2025. The initial investment of €200 million will be injected to create research hubs which will work towards preparing the next generation of communications by coordinating activities and working with other international bodies.
Huawei, at its global analyst conference, announced plans to launch 6G equipment in 2030. Reportedly, Huawei is also planning to launch two test satellites in July to explore the technology
The Next G alliance announced the formation of working groups and the launch of its technical program. The National 6G roadmap working group is the key group and will address the full lifecycle of commercialisation.
Where our figures show 5G connections accounted for only 4.21 per cent of global connections by the end of Q1 2021, the recent announcements and initiatives on 6G leave many people pondering if now is the right time for the clock to start moving or if the focus should remain on 5G.
We know commercial mobile 5G networks only saw the light of the day in 2019 and have a long way to go to reach their full potential, from exploring digital innovations enabled across various sectors to the deployment of pending standards from 3GPP Release 17.
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Earlier fraud systems only used to describe unusual activities. The traditional fraud systems used to develop reports that showed traffic levels, changes in call duration and so on. And experts would determine what was really happening and find the root cause. With the development of big data techniques and statistical analysis, fraud systems have evolved into diagnostic and predictive analytics.
To prevent churn, data scientists are employing both real-time and predictive analytics to:
Combinevariables (e.g., calls made, minutes used, number of texts sent, average bill amount, the average return per user i.e.ARPU) to predict the likelihoodof change.
Know when a customer visits a competitor’s website changes his/her SIM or swaps devices.
Use sentiment analysis of social media to detect changes in opinion.
Target specific customer segments with personalized promotions based on historical behavior.
React to retains customers as soon as the change is noted.
Predictive models, clustering would be the ways to predict the prospective churners.
Using big data and python, I have developed the solution to find the upcoming network failure before it takes place.
In the past, telecom companies have handled this problem by putting caption data and developing tiered pricing models.
But now, using real-time and predictive analytics, companies analyze subscriber behavior and create individual network usage policies.
When the network goes down, every department (sales, marketing, customer service) can observe the effects, locate the customers affected, andimmediately implement efforts to address the issue.
When a customer suddenly abandons a shopping cart, customer service representatives can soothe concerns in a subsequent call, text, oremail.
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Heading into 2021, telecommunications, media, and entertainment industry leaders should consider three key strategic opportunities both to recover from the COVID-19 crisis and to boldly position themselves to thrive in the future:Renewing the focus on customers’ needs by taking a more nuanced approach to customer engagement Converging and remixing entertainment experiences through new service offerings and entertainment bundles—and by adopting new strategies that can enable business agility
Repositioning to monetize advanced wireless networks through new products, services, and business models
It is important for M&E companies to understand consumer needs and behavior patterns in order to develop services that both attract and retain customers. They should understand the economic needs of consumers.
The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed severe economic constraints on millions of consumers: 39% of respondents to Deloitte’s COVID-19 digital media trends survey reported a decrease in their household income since the pandemic began. Consumers who lost income during the pandemic were more than twice as likely to cancel a streaming service because of cost, compared with those whose income was unchanged.
They also should understand consumer needs around content. As we enter 2021, original content will almost certainly remain the No. 1 factor driving consumer adoption and cancellation of streaming services. The challenge then becomes how to retain those customers before they seek other streaming options. As a result, the next level of focus should be on consumer experience: How do I attract you with original content, but then retain you by knowing more about you as a customer?
The churn rate among over-the-top services in the United States rose from 35% in Q1 2019 to 41% in Q1 2020.The implications for M&E companies are clear: Customers want tailored options in terms of content and pricing. Therefore, while the availability of original content is typically critical for attracting customers, a broad content library and tiered pricing (including free, ad-supported offerings) are increasingly essential for retaining them.
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