Category: Web Analytics

5 Quick Tips to Improve Your Website Speed in Under 5 Minutes
Introduction
In today’s digital world, every second counts. When it comes to website performance, even a few milliseconds can mean the difference between a visitor staying or leaving your page. Fast-loading websites improve user experience, boost SEO rankings, and increase engagement. Here’s a breakdown of five actionable website speed tips you can implement in minutes for an instant speed boost.

1. Optimize Your Images for Speed and Quality
Large, unoptimized images are one of the leading causes of slow-loading sites. Compressing images reduces file size without sacrificing quality, making a huge difference in load time. Free tools like TinyPNG or ImageOptim are simple and quick ways to compress images before uploading them to your site.
Action Tip: Compress all images before uploading, or consider a WordPress plugin like Smush for automated optimization. This will prevent large images from slowing down your site.
Pro Tip: Resize images to match their on-page display dimensions. For instance, if your site displays a banner image at 1200×600 pixels, avoid uploading a much larger file size, as it unnecessarily consumes bandwidth and increases load time. Using an appropriate file format also matters: choose JPEG for photographs and PNG for graphics with transparency.
Adding these optimizations can lead to noticeable improvements in speed, especially on image-heavy pages, while also enhancing the overall appearance on various devices.

2. Enable Browser Caching for Faster Repeat Visits
With caching enabled, your website loads faster on repeat visits by storing common files (like images and CSS) on the user’s browser. This means that returning visitors don’t have to reload all elements, resulting in a smoother experience.
Action Tip: Add caching headers to your .htaccess file or activate a caching plugin like WP Rocket if you’re on WordPress. These headers define how long elements should be cached, making repeat visits much faster.
Pro Tip: Set expiration times for frequently used static assets—like logos and stylesheet files—to around a month or more. This allows a more efficient experience for users, who won’t have to re-download these assets each time they visit your site. Browser caching also helps reduce server strain, allowing it to handle more visitors smoothly.
Caching is a foundational speed optimization technique and can make a substantial difference in loading times, especially for regular visitors.

3. Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML for a Leaner Site
Minifying your code removes unnecessary spaces, line breaks, and comments from your files, keeping your site lean and fast. Smaller file sizes mean faster load times and less bandwidth usage, especially important for mobile users.
Action Tip: Use free tools like MinifyCode or a plugin like Autoptimize to automatically minify files, removing excess data that can slow down your website.
Pro Tip: If using WordPress, some caching plugins offer minification. Enable this feature to save time and streamline your code effortlessly. You can also minify files manually if you prefer more control, using text editors or development tools.
This is a straightforward improvement that typically has an immediate impact on page load speed, especially on resource-heavy websites.

4. Limit Redirects to Boost Speed and Simplify Navigation
Redirects are often necessary to manage site changes, but they create additional HTTP requests, slowing down load times. Reducing unnecessary redirects, especially chains (where one redirect leads to another), can improve overall performance.
Action Tip: Use a tool like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs to audit your redirects and eliminate any unnecessary chains. These tools can help you quickly locate redirect chains or loops that may be impacting speed.
Pro Tip: For key pages like your homepage, ensure the URL redirects are minimal—e.g., skip lengthy redirects and use “https://example.com” directly. Be mindful of maintaining an updated sitemap to prevent unintentional redirects due to outdated page links.
By keeping redirect paths clean, you reduce the need for unnecessary server processing, which keeps your site fast and responsive.

5. Enable Gzip Compression for Smaller, Faster Files
Gzip compression allows your server to send compressed files to the user’s browser, reducing the size of your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files for faster delivery. Most hosting providers support Gzip, so activating it should be straightforward.
Action Tip: Enable Gzip compression through your hosting provider or by adding a code snippet to your .htaccess file. If using WordPress, certain performance plugins also offer easy Gzip compression settings.
Pro Tip: Double-check your setup with Check Gzip Compression to confirm it’s active and effective. Enabling Gzip can reduce file sizes by up to 70%, significantly lowering loading times, especially for mobile users or those with slower internet connections.
Gzip compression is a quick, effective way to deliver optimized content with minimal effort.

Why Speed Optimization Matters
A fast website is essential for SEO, user retention, and even your conversion rates. With Google placing high importance on Core Web Vitals, a quick-loading website can set you apart in search rankings, helping you engage visitors and keep them coming back. Implementing these quick, effective tips will get you closer to a high-performance site in minutes.

Looking for More Advanced Optimization?
At Technocratiq Digital, we specialize in on-page SEO and website performance. Whether you’re after in-depth audits, expert speed enhancements, or custom optimization, we’re here to help you reach your site’s peak potential.
Contact us to get started and make every second count!
November 5, 2024
How we optimized eCommerce Site for Maximum Growth
Introduction
In today’s competitive digital marketplace, growing an eCommerce business requires more than just having a functional website. The real challenge is to create a seamless, optimized experience that converts visitors into loyal customers. At Technocratiq Digital, we recently worked on an exciting project for an eCommerce brand that was struggling to scale despite having a great product range. Here’s how we turned things around with strategic eCommerce site optimization that led to significant growth in both traffic and sales.

Understanding the Client’s Challenges
The client’s primary issue was a lack of consistent conversions. While they were driving traffic, most visitors left without making a purchase. Upon conducting a thorough audit, we identified several key areas that needed attention: slow page load times, confusing navigation, poor mobile responsiveness, and ineffective calls to action. Each of these factors was contributing to the high bounce rate and missed opportunities for conversions.

Our Approach to eCommerce Site Optimization
We began by prioritizing website optimization for eCommerce with a data-driven strategy. We focused on improving user experience (UX) by enhancing site speed, simplifying the navigation structure, and making the product pages more engaging. By compressing images, enabling browser caching, and reducing server response times, we were able to decrease page load times by 30%. Faster loading speeds directly contributed to a better user experience, encouraging visitors to stay longer and explore more products.
Additionally, we revamped the site’s mobile experience. With more than half of eCommerce traffic coming from mobile devices, it was critical to make the site fully responsive. After the optimization, mobile users experienced a smoother, faster experience, which led to an uptick in mobile sales.

Increasing eCommerce Sales Through CRO
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) was the next logical step. We employed A/B testing on critical elements such as the call-to-action buttons, product descriptions, and checkout process. The goal was to eliminate friction points and create a streamlined path to purchase.
One of the biggest wins came from optimizing the checkout process, which had been unnecessarily complicated. By simplifying it to a few easy steps, we reduced cart abandonment rates by over 20%, leading to a noticeable increase in e-commerce sales.

Leveraging SEO and Paid Ads for Growth
SEO played a major role in driving organic traffic to the site. We focused on targeting high-intent keywords, such as “buy [client’s specific product] online” and optimized meta descriptions, headers, and alt tags accordingly. By doing so, we improved the site’s search engine rankings, leading to a 35% increase in organic traffic within three months.
At Technocratiq Digital, we also leveraged paid ads to complement the SEO efforts. By running targeted Google Shopping campaigns and social media ads, we were able to drive high-converting traffic directly to the optimized product pages, which further boosted sales.

How Technocratiq Digital Can Help
Technocratiq Digital specializes in eCommerce site optimization, helping businesses grow their online sales through strategic website improvements and digital marketing. Our tailored approach ensures that each aspect of your eCommerce site—from page load speeds to checkout processes—is fine-tuned for maximum growth. If you are looking to increase eCommerce sales and enhance your website’s performance, our team is ready to help you achieve these goals.
We also offer website optimization for eCommerce as part of a larger digital marketing strategy that includes SEO, paid ads, and B2B lead generation. By partnering with us, your eCommerce business can not only attract more visitors but also convert them into long-term customers, ensuring sustainable growth over time.

Results and Takeaways
Through our comprehensive optimization strategy, the client saw a 50% increase in sales within the first six months. By focusing on both the technical and user-experience aspects of the website, we were able to create an eCommerce platform that not only attracted traffic but also converted visitors into paying customers. The long-term impact of this project is continued growth, as the client now has a robust, scalable website that can support further expansion.
For businesses looking to unlock the full potential of their online stores, eCommerce site optimization is not just a one-time task but an ongoing process. At Technocratiq Digital, we are committed to helping our clients achieve long-term success by continually refining their digital strategies.

Conclusion
Optimizing an eCommerce site for maximum growth involves a careful blend of technical improvements, user experience enhancements, and targeted marketing efforts. By addressing critical areas like site speed, mobile responsiveness, and conversion rate optimization, we were able to significantly boost both traffic and sales for our client. At Technocratiq Digital, we understand that effective eCommerce site optimization is the key to unlocking long-term success in the digital marketplace.
If you’re looking to increase eCommerce sales and create a website that not only attracts visitors but also converts them into loyal customers, we can help. Our expertise in website optimization for eCommerce, combined with our comprehensive digital marketing services, ensures that your business achieves sustainable growth. Reach out to Technocratiq Digital today to start your journey toward higher conversions and greater profitability.

Contact us today to get started!
Email: info@technocratiq.com
Mobile: +91 99711 50579
October 22, 2024
Unveiling the Future: The Evolution from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4
In today’s fast-paced world of data analytics, keeping up with the latest technological advancements is crucial for businesses aiming to thrive in a fiercely competitive landscape. That’s where Google Analytics 4 steps in – it’s not just another analytics platform; it’s a game-changer that’s set to redefine how businesses perceive and interpret consumer behavior across websites and apps.
Imagine having a tool at your fingertips that goes beyond the standard metrics, offering you deep insights into how users interact, their preferences, and the trends they follow, regardless of the digital platform they’re on. That’s the power of Google Analytics 4 – it’s not just about collecting data; it’s about understanding your audience on a whole new level.
But what makes Google Analytics 4 stand out is its ability to adapt seamlessly to the ever-changing technological and regulatory landscapes. In a world where technology evolves at lightning speed and data privacy regulations become increasingly stringent, businesses need an analytics solution they can rely on. Google Analytics 4 rises to the occasion, continuously evolving to meet the demands of today’s dynamic environment.
And let’s remember the magic of Google AI. By harnessing the power of sophisticated machine learning algorithms, Google Analytics 4 doesn’t just crunch numbers – it provides actionable insights that help businesses make smarter decisions. From analyzing past consumer behavior to predicting future trends, Google Analytics 4 gives businesses the edge they need to stay ahead of the curve.
In essence, Google Analytics 4 isn’t just a tool – it’s a game-changer. It offers businesses a comprehensive understanding of their audience, unmatched adaptability to technological advancements, and the predictive capabilities of Google AI. So as businesses navigate the complexities of the digital age, Google Analytics 4 emerges as their trusted ally, helping them unlock valuable insights and drive informed decision-making every step of the way.
Prepare for the future with Google Analytics 4
Significance of Transition:
Universal Analytics, a trusted tool since 2005, is being deprecated in favor of Google Analytics 4 (GA4), necessitating a shift in analytics platforms.
Google’s announcement in October 2020 marked the beginning of the transition process.
Challenges and Adaptation:
Switching from Universal Analytics or GA3 to GA4 may appear daunting initially due to the introduction of new complexities.
However, with the impending sunset of Universal Analytics, transitioning to GA4 becomes a necessity rather than a choice.
Timeline and Sunset Dates:
As of July 2023, the free version of Google Analytics will cease data collection, prompting users to migrate to GA4 promptly.
The updated sunset date of July 1, 2024, for enterprise publishers emphasizes the urgency of the transition.
Access to Previous Data:
Users will have access to previously processed data in their Universal Analytics property for at least six months after July 1, 2023.
Exporting all previous reports during this period is crucial to ensure the continuity of data insights.
Forecast for Universal Analytics Properties:
Google will provide a forecast indicating when current Universal Analytics properties will no longer be accessible.
After this forecasted date, users won’t be able to view reports or interact with analytics data via the API.
Impact on Small Publishers:
The transition will have a significant impact on small publishers and independent website owners who rely heavily on the free Google Analytics account.
Transitioning to GA4 is imperative for small publishers to continue utilizing Google Analytics for free and accessing valuable data insights.
Embracing GA4 for Future Success:
While the transition may pose initial challenges, embracing GA4 ensures alignment with Google’s latest analytics platform.
Transitioning to GA4 enables businesses to stay ahead in understanding and optimizing their online presence for future success.
Account Structuring for Efficiency: Maximizing Data Governance and Integration
Subproperties and Roll-Up Properties for Data Governance:
Subproperties and roll-up properties in Google Analytics 4 play a crucial role in organizing and managing data effectively.
Subproperties allow businesses to segment their data based on different properties, such as regions, product lines, or business units, ensuring a clear and structured hierarchy.
Roll-up properties aggregate data from multiple subproperties, providing a consolidated view for overarching analysis and strategic decision-making.
This structured approach enhances data governance by ensuring data consistency, accuracy, and compliance with regulatory requirements.
Access Control and Reporting Goals:
Subproperties and roll-up properties also facilitate access control by enabling businesses to assign specific permissions and restrictions to different teams or stakeholders.
This granular access control ensures that users only have access to the data relevant to their roles, enhancing security and confidentiality.
Moreover, customized reporting experiences can be assigned to different teams within each subproperty, allowing for tailored insights and reports that align with specific reporting goals and objectives.
Integration with Display & Video 360, Campaign Manager 360, and Search Ads 360:
Google Analytics 4’s upcoming integration with Display & Video 360, Campaign Manager 360, and Search Ads 360 further enhances efficiency and streamlines media buying goals.
This integration enables seamless data sharing and synchronization between Google Analytics 4 and these advertising platforms, providing a unified view of campaign performance and attribution.
Businesses can leverage integrated insights to optimize media buying strategies, allocate budgets effectively, and maximize ROI across multiple channels.
Additionally, the integration facilitates cross-channel attribution, allowing businesses to understand the full customer journey and allocate resources based on holistic insights.
Benefits of Integration:
By integrating Google Analytics 4 with Display & Video 360, Campaign Manager 360, and Search Ads 360, businesses can break down data silos and achieve a holistic view of their marketing efforts.
This unified approach enables better decision-making, improved targeting, and enhanced campaign performance across all digital channels.
Furthermore, the integration fosters collaboration between marketing teams and advertising partners, facilitating seamless execution and optimization of marketing campaigns.
The Future of Analytics: Transitioning to Google Analytics 4
In today’s digital age, data is the lifeblood of businesses, providing valuable insights that drive strategic decisions and fuel growth. For years, Google Analytics has been the go-to tool for businesses seeking to understand user behavior and optimize their online presence. However, with the introduction of Google Analytics 4 (GA4), a new era of analytics has dawned, offering enhanced capabilities and features designed to meet the evolving needs of modern businesses.
Enhanced Data Export to BigQuery
Google Analytics 4 significantly improves data export capabilities, particularly with its integration with BigQuery. Imagine you’re a marketing manager for an e-commerce company. With GA4’s faster and more complete export type to BigQuery, you can now access real-time insights into customer behavior, campaign performance, and sales trends. By harnessing first-party data from GA4, you can create customized predictive lifetime models in BigQuery, allowing you to anticipate customer preferences and tailor your marketing strategies accordingly.
Migration to Google Analytics 4
As a business owner or digital marketer, the urgency to switch from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 cannot be overstated.
Let’s consider a scenario: you operate a global online retail store. Failure to migrate to GA4 by March 2024 could result in data loss and disruptions to your data analysis workflows. Moreover, the migration is about staying compliant with regulatory requirements and unlocking new capabilities and features that GA4 offers, such as cross-device tracking and event-based reporting.
Programmatic Upgrade via API
Managing multiple properties can be a daunting task, especially when it comes to transitioning to a new analytics platform. However, with Google Analytics 4’s programmatic upgrade option via the API, the process becomes seamless and efficient. For instance, if you’re a digital agency managing thousands of client properties, the API-based approach simplifies the migration process, saving you time and resources while ensuring consistency and scalability.
Partnering with TIQ Digital: Your Path to Digital Excellence with Google Analytics 4
TIQ Digital is your reliable partner in this endeavor as companies handle the challenges of making the switch to Google Analytics 4. Being a top digital marketing agency, TIQ Digital enables companies to take advantage of the newest analytics platforms and realize their full potential for expansion. TIQ Digital is dedicated to supporting your success in the rapidly changing digital landscape, offering everything from smooth transfer methods to customized insights and optimization tactics. You may successfully embrace the future of analytics and seize new opportunities when TIQ Digital is on your side. Allow us to lead you towards a more promising future in which data-driven choices advance your company. Join TIQ Digital as a partner now to start your journey towards digital excellence.
April 8, 2024
What do 2022 Search Trends mean For Your Digital Strategy?

New search technology is changing the way we find and interact with content online. We all know how quickly we can find the information we’re looking for on the internet, and as technology continues to evolve, we’ll be able to find what we need even faster. To meet this fast-growing consumer search demand, marketers should be able to fulfil this demand in real-time and deploy budgets efficiently.

Adopt Current Marketing Techniques
Many people know that consumer search trends are changing and will continue to change in the future. B2B marketing trends, consumer buying trends, and advertising trends are all evolving and becoming more and more influential in the sales and marketing arena.

How can one prepare for the future?

I would answer by saying that we should always be investing in our knowledge and use that knowledge to educate our future selves. This is why we need to follow trends and consider how those trends will affect our current and future strategy.

The first trend is that we’ll no longer search for product-specific keywords like “shoes” but instead will go straight to a product page and buy it. This trend will also carry over to other searches, such as “jobs” or “flights” and even to “near me” searches. “Near me” searches, for example, a hotel near me, a restaurant near me yield a better result to consumer search queries with reviews which helps them make better choices.
Bidding, keyword targeting, and creatives are all automated in today’s search campaigns.
The combination of broad match keywords and smart bidding, which may help advertisers keep up with fast-changing customer behaviour, is a vital component of current search advertising.
Marketers can unlock growth by combining a thorough awareness of global search trends with the technological ability to capitalize on increasing and decreasing behaviour patterns.
We all know that voice search is becoming a much more popular way to search for information online. The number of voice searches will overtake typed searches. With that said, it’s important to have a strategy in place for how to take voice searches into account. To be successful, it’s essential to take these trends into account. You need to be aware of what’s going on so you can prioritize your digital marketing campaigns.

Under the current consumer-driven trend, search engines are now catering to the needs of consumers instead of the traditional thought of catering to the needs of people looking for information. Businesses have both obstacles and possibilities as a result of changing consumer behaviour, so marketers need to follow the changing trends to make the best gains in their digital marketing strategies.

January 12, 2022
3 Ways Humans Can Do PPC Better Than Machines Alone
Artificial Intelligence is a hot topic in PPC, but until the machines fully take over day-to-day account management, there are a few key areas where human PPC pros can still add a lot of value.

Use business data for bid management

Bid management can be one of the most repetitive and boring tasks of managing PPC because after a model has been built, you are left with an ongoing task of executing the plan, and this may involve downloading the data, putting it into the correct format, and then running it through your formulas to determine the new bid. For machines, this might sound like the perfect dinner on a Caribbean beach at sunset, but for us humans? Not so much. Repetition is dull, and since it’s a dull task, we tend to become a bit less thorough with our analysis as time goes on.

This is why both Google and Bing offer automated bid management solutions. There are also many third-party bid management solutions that aim to improve on shortcomings of the bid management solutions from an engine. Though it is a well-known fact that the engines can do amazing bid management work, their solutions are generic and can ignore aspects that the business owner knows will impact their online conversions.

There are four clear advantages to using the engine’s bid management systems:
1. They are free to use.
2. They are based on best-in-breed algorithms.
3. They have access to a lot of auction-time signals that advertisers don’t get (e.g., who is the user, what did they search before).
4. They can set bids in real-time based on auction time signals.
But there are several things these automated bid systems cannot do:
1. Know the context of the performance that is measured through conversion tracking (e.g., conversions were slow yesterday because there was an issue with servers in one of the data centers).
2. Understand the factors that impact the industry (e.g., a plumber with 15 vans will be better able to service a distributed customer base than one with just three vans).
The ideal bid management system combines the algorithms from the engines with data from your business. To this end, advertisers should calculate their own CPCs based on in-house data and then submit these bids to the engine as an Enhanced CPC, so that Google or Bing can adjust the bid up or down based on what they know about each auction.

This is a reason why tools like Optmyzr are popular for managing bids. They can help automate bid strategies that use a combination of data from the search engine (like historical conversion rates for individual keywords) and business data (like phone sales data, e-commerce returns data, or even how the weather impacts sales).

Optmyzr’s Rules-Based Optimizations let advertisers mix business data with AdWords data to create the perfect bid management automation.

Optmyzr’s Rules-Based Optimizations for bids are also ideal for agencies who want to add value beyond what the engine’s own bidding system can do but don’t want to build complex technology in-house that they need to maintain as Google and Bing go through their frequent updates to the API. Prebuilt recipes can be installed in seconds to help advertisers reach goals like target CPA, target ROAS or target position. These recipes can be enhanced over time as more is learned about factors that impact performance, whether they’re based on Google’s data or internal business data.

Use keywords to target shopping ads

A second area where PPC pros should take back some control from the machines is with managing keywords for shopping ads. While shopping ads are automatically targeted to relevant queries that match the product in an advertiser’s feed, there is always the option of adding negative keywords.

In a rather extreme, yet interestingly practical way, you could actually target a specific keyword not by the inclusion of that term, but rather by the exclusion of all other terms.

This is the foundation of “Query Sculpting,” a PPC technique that deploys negative keywords to drive traffic to the desired target. And because negative keywords are much more explicit than positive keywords, they are the main tool.

Even in search campaigns, query sculpting is done with the addition of negative keywords. And while this makes a strange sort of sense, our logical side is still asking, “Why can’t it be done by simply adding exact match positive keywords?” Because ever since Google’s latest change to the algorithm, exact match no longer truly means “exact.”

Query sculpting for shopping campaigns was invented by Martin Roettgerding and later refined by various entities, including SmarterCommerce. Martin’s technique requires maintaining three parallel Shopping campaigns and proactively adding certain types of negative keywords.

But proactively adding extra campaigns and unnecessary negative keywords can really eat into an account’s allowance for a number of keywords under management. Optmyzr, taking into account the pros and cons of both sides, has a solution that uses recent performance data to sculpt queries when it is clear they could perform better elsewhere in the account: The Shopping Negatives Tool.

The Shopping Negatives Tool analyzes the performance of the same search queries across different ad groups in a shopping campaign, finds the ad group in which the query is not performing well, and recommends adding it as an exact match negative.

Optmyzr’s Negative Keyword tool for shopping ads identifies where negative keywords should be added to “query sculpt” the traffic so that more sales, and more profitable sales, will result from the budget spent with the search engine.

Using this technique, advertisers can run as many shopping campaigns in parallel as they want or keep everything in one campaign, and Optmyzr’s analysis will make suggestions for how to sculpt the traffic to drive more sales at a better ROAS.

Create better ad tests

Googler Matt Lawson has recently covered the new ways to think about A/B ad testing. Thanks to Google’s improvements in Machine Learning, there is less need to manually cull underperforming ads from an account. The premise is that the worst ad in an ad group could actually perform quite well with a subset of users hitting that ad group, which means that removing a slightly losing ad could actually be counterproductive.

But he also says, “Delete stuff whenever an ad stops seeing a large fraction of the impressions and therefore generates minimal to no clicks. Then add a new ad to the mix. It’s better to have options.”

To help with cleaning up ads that are seeing a minimal share of impressions in an ad group, you could use AdWords Scripts, like some that are part of Optmyzr’s suite of tools.

While Google is removing the need for manual testing of ads, and though they’re even doing some automatic generation of new ad text challengers, this remains an area where the human expert — someone who is close to the business being advertised — will have a leg up on automation.

You’ve heard the story that if you gave 1,000 monkeys typewriters and an infinite amount of time, they’d eventually write all the works of Shakespeare. But monkeys eat lots of bananas and tend to prioritize climbing trees before writing those famous soliloquies, so they’d most likely take forever. And though the concept of play-writing monkeys does seem very attractive, advertisers aren’t willing to wait for an infinite amount of time. That’s why we still need tools that help us write great ads in the least possible time.

Tools like Optmyzr can help with the ideation for new ads by highlighting ad text elements that have performed well historically.

Tools like Optmyzr help you create better tests in less time. Here the tool makes suggestions for ad text variations to try.

Frederick Vallaeys made the point that the PPC agencies of the future will be the ones with the best process for testing. Machine learning means computers can figure out the winners and losers, but conclusive test results will happen more quickly when using human insight to prioritize the most valid hypotheses for testing.

Conclusion

Exciting and perhaps scary times are ahead for all sorts of professions where AI will take over a plethora of tasks that used to require human intelligence. There’s a slight fog surrounding the future of human intelligence in the workplace, and though it isn’t thick enough to cover us just quite yet, it creates a bit of unease in many circles. What will happen when machines take over?

It’s an inevitable passage, but the more human input we give these machines all throughout this transition period, the more effective they will be at helping achieve the shared goal of improving PPC performance. And in the meantime, human PPC pros have many opportunities to transform their day-to-day into something that will endure over time and set a solid foundation for working in an AI-first world.

Source
January 31, 2018
New report: The Internet of Things and blockchain tech are made for each other

A new report from research firm Kaleido Insights proposes that two of hottest new technologies — The Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain — would make a really hot couple.

In IoT, wirelessly connected sensors are embedded in almost everything — refrigerators, auto parts, dog collars, perhaps even cereal boxes.

On the one hand, this means everything can be tracked, inventory-managed and made selectively accessible through a continual stream of signals. This flow of constantly talking objects and devices will help propel businesses away from a product-orientation (sell this car) to a service-orientation (sell the car, but maintain a connection with the car and the car owner).

On the other hand, it means that there is a continual stream of signals for as many as 10 billion connected devices and objects in the next four years, according to some estimates. Needless to say, that’s a huge amount of tracking to identify those Things, verify who owns them, authenticate their interaction with other Things and so on.

“The Internet of Trusted Things” report (free, registration required) proposes that blockchains — or other kinds of decentralized ledger technologies — could form the mechanism to monitor those oceans of signals.

Among other features, blockchains can permanently record transactions and make them immediately available to every participant in the blockchain network.

They can also enable “smart contracts,” which are software programs with a trigger and a payoff that can represent an agreement between buyer and seller, such as an automatic, agreed-upon payment when an ad is run on a site.

And they can provide a coordinated, secure and transparent tracking of transactions and activities without the need for a centralized governing authority. Here’s a report illustration (originally created by IBM) visualizing the management of roles, behaviors, permissions, transactions and events through the use of a universal digital ledger:

For report authors Jessica Groopman and Jeremiah Owyang, these and other characteristics make blockchain or similar distributed ledger technologies ideal for tracking the zillions of activities, identities and authentications that IoT devices and objects will require.

This kind of decentralized tracking, they contend, can be essential for supply chain management, scheduling, repair histories, end-user authentication, asset sharing networks and other use cases in a world where every part, every product and many unsuspecting objects are constantly communicating.

The report points to an IBM/Walmart pilot project that tracked food safety by monitoring the supply chain, using IoT sensors and blockchain. A startup called Everledger is employing public and private blockchains, along with sensors and computer vision, to maintain permanent records for fine wines, diamonds and fine art so that forgery is much more difficult. A group of companies is developing CarPass to track cars’ digital records as they go from manufacturer to a succession of buyers.

Blockchains, however, currently have some issues that can derail this vision. First of all, they are relatively slow in processing, so the current generation probably wouldn’t scale to handle all those signals.

Groopman acknowledged that blockchain’s processing speed is a “serious issue,” but she pointed to various other developing distributed ledger technologies — such as Tangle and Hashgraph — that could dramatically change that factor.

Then there’s the matter of decentralized governance. Many blockchains process transactions through the use of electricity-demanding computer processing run by human “miners.” It’s decentralized because many people are involved, but that also won’t scale.

Ledgers that are completely run by software could solve the scaling problem, but blockchain’s purported trust factor has been driven in part by the fact that every participant is checking everyone else.

At any rate, this report has pointed out the huge, hidden drawback in the emerging world of constantly signaling Things. Some fabric of awareness has to be listening to all the time, and it can’t be humans.

Source

January 11, 2018